Music Space Pilot Episode - Guitar Fingerstyle and Strumming Lessons

Hi Guys,I hope you enjoyed Learn To Play Music's first 'Music Space' hangout show. I had a great time testing out the set and the equipment, and chatting with those who tuned in live. During our topic of the week I discussed some different guitar fingerstyle and strumming techniques, and played a few examples. These guitar lessons focus on the fundamental techniques involved in how to fingerpick and strum. I'm just going to expand on those a bit more here -Fingerpicking and strumming are equally as important in my book and both were a big influence on me when learning to play guitar. I love the Beatles, amongst others they were my teachers and mentors. One of my favorite techniques, and one commonly used by the Beatles is strumming and picking simultaneously. As demonstrated in today's hangout, Norwegian Wood and Here Comes the Sun are two great examples of picking out a melody whilst strumming along; creating rhythm. A good technique when playing a picking part at the same time as strumming a rhythm accompaniment is to play the individual notes a little louder. This helps to make the notes more pronounced meaning you can easily hear the melody. This technique can also be applied to other styles of music, e.g., jazz, blues, rock, pop and just about anything else you can think of. When learning how to play the guitar, focusing on your favorite style of music can be a good motivator. Once mastered it can open doors to a whole new world of styles and rhythms.I hope you enjoyed the show! And I look forward to seeing you all next week; 7:30pm EDT (US) Wednesday the 21st of May. We'll be chatting with guitarist Ricky Horton from Jacksonville Florida, about the importance of melody and rhythm when learning to play the guitar. - Written by Gary Isaacs