Lesson 3
The subjects for lesson 3 will be arpeggios and guitar tablature, plus we'll learn a new chord. Lets take a look at guitar tablature first.
Guitar Tablature
Tablature is a system for writing down music for the guitar. It consists of 6 horizontal lines which represent the guitar strings. Numbers on the strings indicate the fret to be played.
Example 1 - The exercise below demonstrates how D Major would be written in tablature. The notes would be played 1 at a time.
Example 2 - This exercise is an E Major chord. The notes are stacked vertically so this tells us to strum the chord.
Note - Tablature relies on you being able to hear the piece of music you are learning as it does not convey any information about the rhythm of the song.
Arpeggios
An Arpeggio is a chord with its notes played in succession. Example 1 in the previous guitar tablature explanation is a good example. Play the arpeggios by fingering the chord as normal with your left hand but pick the strings individually. Sometimes not all of the notes from a chord are used when using arpeggios. For instance the G Major in the first example doesn't use the 2nd fret on the A string or the 3rd fret on the high E string.
Now try the arpeggios below.
Note - these are repeat signs
When you reach the second sign go back to the first sign and repeat the section.
In the last part of this lesson we going to learn a barre chord. When a finger (almost always the 1st) is used to play 2 or more strings this is called a barre. Barres are usually played from the 5th and 6th strings (A & low E). The F Major is called a partial barre because the 1st finger is only barring 2 strings. Full barre chords are the topics of lessons 9 and 10.
Soundfile Download
Tip - The F major chord will probably prove more difficult than the other chords you have encountered so far. When you have mastered it try to use it with some of the chords and strumming patterns from the previous lesson.
Setting Up Your Guitar and Amp
These are the Marshall Rock-Kit guitar and amp settings used by us for the sound file recordings that accompany this lesson.
