Knowledge

Music Theory

Melody

• The note alphabet & octaves
• Half steps & whole steps — the ruler
• Intervals — the distance between two notes
• The major scale — the basic pattern
• Minor & the relative relationship
• The pentatonic scale — five notes, five boxes
• The blues scale — one more note
• Modes — a brief look ahead

Harmony

• What a chord is built from
• Reading chord names — the types
• Chords all over the neck
• Key — where melody and harmony meet
• Function — why chords pull
• Progressions — the recurring sequences
• Modulation & borrowed chords — a brief look ahead

Pulse

• 4/4 time & the "one"
• Note values & subdivision
• Tempo
• Time signatures — not everything is four
• Strumming patterns — the pendulum
• Groove & feel — straight or swing
• Syncopation & accents

Reading Notation

Chord diagrams

• The grid: strings and frets
• Dots, fingers, and the signs O and X
• The barre line
• When the diagram isn't at the nut: the position marker
• Capo in the diagram
• The chord symbol above the diagram

Tablature

• Six lines are six strings
• Numbers are frets
• One after another and stacked
• Hammer-on (h) and pull-off (p)
• Slides (/ and \)
• The bending family (b, r, pre-bend)
• Vibrato (~)
• Palm mute (P.M.)
• Dead note / mute (x)
• Ghost and grace notes (brackets)
• Let ring
• Trill (tr) and tremolo picking
• Tapping (t)
• Harmonics
• Whammy / vibrato bar (w/bar)
• Rake and staccato

Strum notation

• Arrows: downstroke and upstroke
• The gap: no strike
• The eighth-note grid
• Finer still: the sixteenth grid
• Accent and muted strum
• Held or stopped
• How it looks in the Strumming Trainer

Gear & Sound

Electric Guitars

• Body Types of the Electric Guitar
• Pickups: The Core of the Electric Tone
• Woods and Their Influence
• Neck, Radius and Scale Length
• Setup and Intonation
• Strings: Gauges, Material, Changing

Amplifiers

• Tube, Transistor, Digital
• Wattage and Volume
• Preamp and Power Amp
• Classic Amp Characters
• Combo, Head and Cabinet

Speakers

• Speaker Sizes
• Construction and Efficiency
• Open Back and Closed Back
• Classic Speaker Characters

Pedals

• The Signal Chain
• Overdrive
• Distortion
• Fuzz
• Compressor
• Modulation (Chorus, Phaser, Flanger)
• Delay
• Reverb
• Wah and Filter
• Boost and Buffer
• Looper

AMP Modellers

• Concept and History
• Digital and Analog Approaches
• Modeler and Real Amp Compared
• IR Cabinets (Cabinet Simulation)
• Modelers Live and in the Studio

Recording Techniques

• Microphone, DI and Modeler
• Miking an Amp
• DAW Basics
• Home Recording
• Re-Amping

Learn it right

Facts

• 90% of beginners quit within the first year.
• A teacher is still the best choice, but …
• YouTube — the quiet star
• Playing songs and practicing aren't the same thing.
• Four chords, a thousand songs — and a lot of promises.
• Regular beats rare — every time.
• Muscle memory takes many clean repetitions.

Science

• How the brain learns movement
• Why distributed beats marathon
• Sleep does half the work
• The valley of disappointment
• How much time it really takes

What follows

• Practicing isn't playing through
• Slow is fast
• Isolate, then integrate
• What the tools take on
• What comes first — and why
• Songs that practice exactly what's due
• Honest expectations: how long it takes
• The F — the wall everyone hits

Hands, Posture, Pain

• Fingertips and calluses
• Grip loosely, don't clamp
• Posture: straight joints, loose shoulder
• Pauses are part of practicing
• When it's no longer practice pain