Blog - Guitar Lessons by Genaaron Diamente

Rhythm – Pulse, Meter And Subdivision

In this first lesson from ‘Open Chords Made Easy’, we are going to explore what rhythm is.

If the concept of rhythm is at all confusing to you, you’ve come to the right place. This section is a bit lengthy, but I have written it using very simple concepts and without relying on standard music notation. This is not to dumb it down at all. I have kept it simple for two reasons; Firstly, to demonstrate that rhythm is a simple and instinctive concept. If you can count, you can understand rhythm. If you have ever clapped along to a song, danced, or tapped your foot, you intuitively understand rhythm. Secondly, using this system to explain how rhythm works also makes the explanation of strumming a logical extension.

Rhythm is easy. Strumming is easy. But understanding both requires knowing a little bit of theory. Don’t worry, if music theory is ‘not your thing’, it won’t matter. This guide is written in a way that is very easy to grasp, no matter what level of music theory you posses.

Lessons From The Book ‘Open Chords Made Easy’

by Genaaron Diamente

I’m going to release a bunch of lessons on this blog from the book ‘Open Chords Made Easy‘.

The book includes a collection of 23 guitar pieces, written to help students work through different chord progressions and strumming patterns. The pieces of music are really only one part of the book though. The other part is the theory and explanations on how to play chords and how to strum.

I figure that the theory side of things would be a great thing to include on this blog, as it contains a lot of fundamental lessons on rhythm and practice. The lessons will be adapted and modified slightly to fit the style of this blog, but they will be more or less direct lessons from the blog.

This page will serve as a sort of index that will contain links to all the lessons in the series. The links will be updated as the lessons are added.

Large Intervals And Geometric Hacks

by Genaaron Diamente

This is the final lesson in a brief series of lessons. So far we have looked at the following:

In this lesson, we are going to look at a range of other intervals, as well as using a few geometric tricks on the guitar, to help you navigate the guitar fretboard.

Why The Major Scale Is The Master Scale

by Genaaron Diamente

I have written extensively about major scales and the importance of them on this site already. From that end, there’s no need to reexplain what’s already been explained. The purpose of this lesson is to demonstrate how the major scales is in a sense the ‘master scale’.

If you’re not sure what a major scale is. Read the lesson on major scales. Also, this lesson is a sort of follow on from the following lessons:

Major Scales And Keys

One of the most obvious reasons why major scales are so important is that they determine the notes in any given key. What are the notes in the key of D? The same notes that are in the D major scale? Which scale do we use to figure out the notes in the key of B? The B major scale.

By knowing which notes are in different major scales, we know which notes are in different keys.

Using Intervals To Build Scales

by Genaaron Diamente

I have written extensively on this site about scales. Scales form the basis for a whole range of music theory, from building chords, to composition, to soloing.

They are very important.

What we’re going to do in this lesson is explore the concept of scales, and use our knowledge of intervals and the fretboard to construct them. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of intervals, read the lessons in the links above.

Unlocking The Fretboard With The Musical Alphabet

by Genaaron Diamente

This lesson is a follow-on from the lesson on basic intervals. In that lesson, we explored the concept of tones and semitones. If you’re unsure of what tones and semitones are, read the lesson here. In summary, a semitone is an interval of one fret and a tone is an interval of two frets.