Guitar Basics Handbook by Guitarist Kevin Briggs

7/29/2019 Guitar Basics Handbook by Guitarist Kevin Briggs

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Welcome to the Guitar Basics eBook!

In this book I have compiled a list of open position chords,barre chords and scales that are very useful. These chordsand scales can be used for playing rhythm and soloing in the

styles of music I perform most often - rock, funk, r&b, soul,blues and pop music.

It is important to memorise all of these chords and scales.These are tools that will help you in building the foundationsto becoming a confident and versatile guitarist.

The chords and scales included are the fundamental tools

needed to write songs or perform in a band. Although notcomprehensive, the chords and scales listed cover most ofthe basics you need to know to play rhythm guitar and tocreate melodic and expressive solos.

I hope you enjoy the book and are inspired to be creative bysome of the chords and scales listed. Good luck on yourmusical journey!

Kevin Briggs


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The diagram below represents the guitar neck, fretsand strings as well as which finger to place on a certain

string. The string furthest to the left (on the diagram) is

the low E string (thickest) and the string furthest to the

right is the high E string (thinnest).

If you see an X over the top of a string, it means do not

play that string. If you see an O over the top of a string,

it means play that string without a finger on it. (This is

referred to as an open string)

Left hand fingers are numbered 1 (Index) 2 (Middle) 3

(Ring) 4 (Pinky)


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Barre Chords

Barre chords are a type of chord where one or more fingers

are used to press down multiple strings across the guitar

fretboard.

Barre chords are transposable (movable) shapes.

This means that you can move the shape of the barre

chord and it will still be the same type of chord. If the shape

is major, it will still be major wherever you move the shape

on the guitar neck. It does not matter what type of barre

chord it is, major, minor, minor 7th, major 7th or any other

type of barre chord. The only thing that will change is the

root of the chord. For instance if you play a major barre

chord shape from the low E string at the 5 th fret the name of

the chord will be A major. This is because the note at the 5th

fret on the low E string is A. If you play a major barre chord

shape from the low E string at the 3 rd fret the name of thechord will be G major. This is because the note at the 3rd

fret on the low E string is G.

The chord below is an F major barre chord because the 1 st

finger is at the 1st fret on the low E string (F). The line across

the top of the guitar fretboard is telling you to place (barre)

your first finger across all of the strings


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Finger Exercises

Here are some great exercises to help develop your left and right hands.DON'T FORGET TO ALTERNATE PICK!

Alternate picking = strictly alternating downward and upward picking strokes. Picktowards the floor and then the ceiling. Make sure the majority of the movementwith your right hand is coming from your wrist. Example of alternate picking withthe sequence of fingers 1234. 1 (Down) 2 (Up) 3 (Down) 4 (Up). Down is towardsthe floor and up is towards the ceiling.

Here are 24 different exercises.Take one exercise at a time to begin with. Start at the 1

stfret, on the high E

string, first descend (Go down the strings EBGDAE) then ascend (Go up thestrings EADGBE). Continue moving up one fret at a time using the sameexercise.

After you are feeling comfortable with each exercise, combine two differentexercises. Descend on the first exercise and ascend on the second exercise.Practice slowly at first making sure that all of the notes are sounding clean andaccurate. You should always practice with a metronome.

1234 2134 3124 41231243 2143 3142 41321324 2341 3214 42131342 2314 3241 42311423 2413 3412 43121432 2431 3421 4321


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Looking for something to take your playing to a higher level?

Do you need musicians to jam/play along with but cant find anyone in your area?Would you like some backing tracks to solo over using scales/licks you've learned?With a couple of other musicians (Nick Marangoni and Nick Cohen) I've released 4backing track albums since 2010. These albums have charted very well on iTunes.

People are really enjoying practicing along to the tracks. The first album released wasthe Blues Backing Tracks album. The other three in the series are Rock Backing Tracks,Blues Shuffle Backing Tracks and Blues Funk Tracks. See below Swamp Blues from the

Album Blues Backing Tracks charting number 7 on iTunes September 2011!


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What you will find when you download the albums are Blues, Rock and Funk tracksrecorded by professional musicians for you to practice along to. These tracks will reallyhelp you to develop your soloing and rhythm skills. A perfect way for you to developyour own style of playing. You can play along with any instrument. Doesn't matter ifyou're a guitar player, sax player, trumpet player, vocalist or tuba player. Anyone canuse these backing tracks!

Besides being educational, it's fun and you can use all of the scales listed in this eBookto jam along with the tracks. You can even create your own melodies and write songsbased on the chord progressions. It's just like having your own live band to write songswith!

You can download these albums from iTunes. Just follow the link to your country. Youwill see the country listed below the link. If your country is not listed, please just go toiTunes and search Briggs/Marangoni or Briggs/Cohen/Marangoni. Links are listed on thenext page.


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http://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6

iTunes U.K.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6

ITunes Australia

http://itunes.apple.com/nz/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6 itunes NZ

http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6 iTunes USA

http://itunes.apple.com/it/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6

iTunes Italy

http://itunes.apple.com/de/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6 iTunes Germany

http://itunes.apple.com/at/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6

iTunes Austria

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6

iTunes Canada

http://itunes.apple.com/jp/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6

iTunes Japan

http://itunes.apple.com/no/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6 iTunes Norway

http://itunes.apple.com/ie/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6

iTunes Ireland

http://itunes.apple.com/nl/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6 iTunes Netherlands

http://itunes.apple.com/se/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6

iTunes Sweden

http://itunes.apple.com/pt/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6 iTunes Portugal

http://itunes.apple.com/fr/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6 iTunes France
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/au/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/au/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/nz/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/nz/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/it/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/it/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/de/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/de/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/at/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/at/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/jp/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/jp/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/no/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/no/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/ie/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/ie/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/nl/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/nl/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/se/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/se/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/pt/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/pt/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/fr/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/fr/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/fr/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/pt/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/se/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/nl/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/ie/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/no/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/jp/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/at/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/de/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/it/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/nz/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/au/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6http://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/briggs-marangoni/id368096583?ign-mpt=uo%3D6


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I've been a guitarist/performer/teacher/songwriter for many years. I've had the privilege

of performing around the world with many very successful artists. Although I really enjoyworking with other artists, I also enjoying creating my own music. Have a look out for myEP release in 2012. It will be a mixture of styles and there will be some special guests!

Also if you are interested, please have a look at my youtube page and facebook page.On these pages you can see me perform and keep up to date with what I'm doing withmy musical career.http://www.youtube.com/guitaristkevinbriggshttp://www.facebook.com/guitaristkevinbriggs

I hope you have enjoyed the information in this eBook!

Kevin BriggsContact - [email protected] (Subscribe to this address for occasional updateson album releases etc.. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.)

Information on the other musicians performing on the Backing Track Albums.

Nick Cohen - Bass GuitarNick Cohen is a top UK session bassist and songwriter, whose credits include Eurythmics, RoyAyers, Massive Attack, M-People, Matt Bianco and Ive Mendes among many others.

Nick Marangoni- DrumsNick is an in demand drummer on the London session scene. He has performed with many artists

ranging from Jazz to Blues to Rock. In 2011 Nick toured and recorded with the Polygram signedband Cat's Eyes.

Album Artwork and Layout - Dan PerryPhoto on the Guitar Basics Handbook - Benny Edwards

You do not have permission to sell or modify this eBook!

Kevin Briggs 2012

Guitar Basics Handbook by Guitarist Kevin Briggs

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