GSCC Lesson 09
Revision of Lesson 01-08
We had covered the common chords in key of C Major:
And their counter parts in a new key : G Major
Key of C major and G major are common keys used by guitarist to play sing-along guitar.
We also looked at the guitarist best friend – CAPO , and it’s application.
When we use the CAPO in conjunction with chords from C and G keys above , we are able to play almost every pop songs we wanted to play.
We have also looked at some basic strumming patterns:
| 1 | One strum per beat |
| 2 | Up-stroke strumming |
| 3 | Strumming lightly on first few strings |
| 4 | 16 beat strum |
| 5 | Campfire Strum |
| 6 | “Chuck” Strum |
And of course, we had fun learning all these songs !!
| Lesson | Song |
| Lesson 1 | Song #1 (English: Because I Love You) Lesson 1 |
| Lesson 1 | Song #2 (Chinese/Cantonese: 喜欢你) Lesson 1 |
| Lesson 2 | Song #1 (English: Happy Birthday) |
| Lesson 2 | Song #2 (Chinese: 月亮代表我的心) |
| Lesson 3 | Song #1 (English: Let It Be – Beatles) |
| Lesson 3 | Song #2 (English: Perfect – Ed Sheeran) |
| Lesson 3 | Song #3 (Cantonese: 海闊天空) |
| Lesson 4 | Song #1 (English: Deperado – Eagles) |
| Lesson 4 | Song #2 (Chinese: “最长的电影” – 周杰伦) |
| Lesson 5 | Song #1 (English:”Creep” – Radiohead) |
| Lesson 5 | Song #2 (Chinese: “你要的愛”) |
| Lesson 5 | Song #3 (English: “Last Christmas” – Wham) |
| Lesson 6 | Song #1 (English: “Reality”) |
| Lesson 6 | Song #2 (Chinese: “刻在我心底的名字”) |
| Lesson 6 | Song #3 (English: “Auld Lang Syne”) |
| Lesson 7 | Song #1 (English: “Country Roads”) |
| Lesson 7 | Song #2 (English: “Time of Your Life”) |
| Lesson 7 | Song #3 (Cantonese: “朋友”) |
| Lesson 8 | Song #1 (English: “Sweet Child O’ Mine”) |
| Lesson 8 | Song #2 (English: “I’m Yours”) |
| Lesson 8 | Song #3 (Chinese: “简单爱”) |
If you are new to this series, here’s the links to past lessons:
Click here to ask a question …
If Strumming is the KING, now I give you the QUEEN – Plucking
Strumming guitar produces aggressive/happy/uptempo feel . Plucking allowed us to play song in a mellower mood. It is great for ballad and slower paced music.
Basic Mechanism: Using your finger to “pluck”(play) individual guitar strings separately (instead of playing all strings at once like in strumming).
Thumb(T) is for the bass string, the 1 2 3 (index, middle, ring fingers respectively) are for the treble strings which define the chord/harmony. For a start, finger 1 2 3 take cares of the top 3 strings respectively, the thumb play the bass string of the target chord.
Bass string is different for each chords. Check out the diagram below.
Bass strings of all primary chords in key of C and G (red circle):
Here’s are the bass strings for all the chords we learned thus for:
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Basic Guitar Plucking –
8 beat Pluck # 1
Let’s start our plucking practice by learning this very first plucking pattern.
For strumming, we strike all strings for all beat in “1n2n3n4n”. For plucking, we play a singer string using right hand finger for each beat in “1n2n3n4n”.
Practice#1: Try to listen to the counting beat (the Tok-Tok cowbell sound) below and try executing the plucking pattern above:
Practice them with chords (pay attention to the changing BASS strings where right hand thumb has to switch to different string)
* Pay attention to the changing bass strings.
We always start a new chord by playing the bass string. This produce the strong definition of that chord because the bass is often the ROOT of the chord. eg. “C” note for C Major chord, “A” note for Am chord.
*Chord is a group of notes. Bass is only a single note for now.
Practice #2: Follow the chords changes and pluck with the beat count
Practice #3: Using this plucking pattern (8 beat pluck #1) , listen to the practice songs in lesson 1-8 and pluck together with the counting beat
| Lesson | Song |
| Lesson 1 | Song #1 (English: Because I Love You) Lesson 1 |
| Lesson 1 | Song #2 (Chinese/Cantonese: 喜欢你) Lesson 1 |
| Lesson 2 | Song #1 (English: Happy Birthday) |
| Lesson 2 | Song #2 (Chinese: 月亮代表我的心) |
| Lesson 3 | Song #1 (English: Let It Be – Beatles) |
| Lesson 3 | Song #2 (English: Perfect – Ed Sheeran) |
| Lesson 3 | Song #3 (Cantonese: 海闊天空) |
| Lesson 4 | Song #1 (English: Deperado – Eagles) |
| Lesson 4 | Song #2 (Chinese: “最长的电影” – 周杰伦) |
| Lesson 5 | Song #1 (English:”Creep” – Radiohead) |
| Lesson 5 | Song #2 (Chinese: “你要的愛”) |
| Lesson 5 | Song #3 (English: “Last Christmas” – Wham) |
| Lesson 6 | Song #1 (English: “Reality”) |
| Lesson 6 | Song #2 (Chinese: “刻在我心底的名字”) |
| Lesson 6 | Song #3 (English: “Auld Lang Syne”) |
| Lesson 7 | Song #1 (English: “Country Roads”) |
| Lesson 7 | Song #2 (English: “Time of Your Life”) |
| Lesson 7 | Song #3 (Cantonese: “朋友”) |
| Lesson 8 | Song #1 (English: “Sweet Child O’ Mine”) |
| Lesson 8 | Song #2 (English: “I’m Yours”) |
| Lesson 8 | Song #3 (Chinese: “简单爱”) |
Click here to ask a question …
Song #1 (English: “Hey Jude” – The Beatles)
Normal speed
Slower
Slowest
Click here to ask a question …
Song #2 (Mandarin Song: “小幸运” 田馥甄)
Normal speed
Slower
Slowest