Guitar Tuition - Video Tutorials

I have recorded some video content and tutorials to help you with your guitar playing.

These videos are designed to explain, in simple terms, how to play Major chords, Minor chords, Lead scales, (both Major and Minor) and various other tips and advice that will help you learn both acoustic and electric guitar.

By double clicking on the video - you will be also brought to the rest of my "You Tube" videos which include various covers and some of my own songs - Let me know what you think!!

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CHORDS

MAJOR CHORDS (FOR ACOUSTIC AND ELECTRIC GUITAR)

A, B, C, D, E, F and G

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MINOR CHORDS ( FOR ACOUSTIC AND ELECTRIC GUITAR)

Am, Bm, Cm, Dm (Open), Em (Open), Fm, Gm

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LEAD GUITAR - BASIC SCALES

Without scales on the guitar you would literally be "groping in the dark" trying to guess where to go next. In its simplest form, a scale is a set pattern of notes which is moveable that fits over a chord sequence whether they are Major or Minor Chords. The trick to using scales is to choose the right one when playing over a chord sequence.

There are thousands of scales!! but some you will probably never need - the ones I have on the website here are some of the most common patterns and can be expanded upon when you are confident you know what and where to go next.

NOTE: To play lead guitar or scales effectively you MUST know the chord layout and structure of the song you are about to play over just in case there are any nasty surprises i.e, "key changes" or chords thrown in that don't fit in the scale.

Scales MUST be practiced and learnt until you know them inside out - its the only way to effectively play smooth lead guitar and not be "hesitating" or "guessing" where to go next.

EXPLAINING OCTAVES AND TERMINOLOGY

Scales come in Octaves - i.e, a 1 Octave scale is simply some basic notes from the "lower" end of the scale.

A "2 Octave scale" is just "adding on" more notes to the 1 Octave Scale or "extending it" to give you more notes to work with. If you watch the video below and then have a look at the other videos on scales this might make a bit more sense.

VARIOUS (BASIC) 1 OCTAVE SCALES

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MAJOR SCALES

As the name suggests these are "Major Scales" and basically fit over a Major chord sequence i.e, G, C, D or E, D, A etc....there are some similarities when playing these to other scales, i.e, you will notice some notes "overlap" with other scales but it will become clear when playing a major scale over a minor chord sequence (or vice versa) how the scale just doesn't go.

NOTE: All these scales are "moveable" up and down the fretboard - the basic idea is to find a "root note" or main note and start the scale from there - e.g., if the song had the chords C, F and G - you could start the scale on the C Root Note - 8th Fret Low E string and play this scale over this chord sequence.

The key thing to watch out for is the "opening" chord of the song - if its a "G" then play the scale from G, if an "A" then play the scale from A and so on..

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MINOR (PENATONIC) SCALES

Again, as the name suggests these are "Minor Scales" and basically fit over a Minor chord sequence i.e, Bm, A, G or Am, F, G etc... there are some similarities when playing these to other scales, i.e, you will notice some notes "overlap" with other scales but it will become clear when playing a major scale over a minor chord sequence (or vice versa) how the scale just doesn't go.

NOTE: As stated above these scales are "moveable" up and down the fretboard - the basic idea is to find a "root note" or main note and start the scale from there - e.g., if the song had the chords Bm, A, G - you could start the scale on the B Root Note - 7th Fret Low E string and play this scale over this chord sequence.

The key thing to watch out for is the "opening" chord of the song - if its a "Bm" then play the scale from a B Root Note, if an "Am" then play the scale from A Root note and so on...

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A WORD FROM THE TUTOR

I hope the above makes some sense and even though I only have a few of the scales that you could use on the site at present - these are enough to get you started and hopefully you can begin to understand how the lead breaks you hear from the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Joe Satriani etc... come into being.

I hope you have found these videos helpful and I will be posting more soon covering other topics i.e, rhythm techniques strings bending, vibrato, hammer-on's and pull-off's and various other techniques that bring these scales "to life"!!

James Ledley

Please keep checking back to the site for more videos soon to be added.

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This site and all songs/audio copyright James Ledley and JLG Guitar Tuition 2007