For those who have just signed up for a Full Access subscription, congrats! Guitar Tricks offers literally thousands of lessons on a variety of techniques and songs. With that being said, it can be overwhelming and you may be wondering where to begin. That’s why we’re here to help!
When you log into your account, you’ll be taken to the home page. In the middle of the home page, there are four big buttons. And below those four buttons, are the lessons you most “Recently Watched” as well as a list of the “Newest Tutorials.”
For the purpose of this blog post, we’ll focus on the four main buttons. The first button labeled “Beginner Lessons” is where the majority of you will want to start. Clicking the button will take you to what we call the Core Learning System.
As you can see below, the Core Learning System is split into different courses. Starting from the left side and working your way towards the right, you will learn how to play as an absolute beginner all the way up to playing blues scales, riffs, barre chords, and more.
Since Guitar Tricks offers lessons that vary in difficulty based on our ratings system, which you can learn all about right here, it’s important to know your skill level so you can find your starting point. Overall, the Core Learning System starts off easy then slowly builds up to more complicated concepts and techniques.
If You’re an Absolute Beginner
If you’re a beginner guitar player you want to start with Guitar Fundamentals 1. Guitar Fundamentals 1 will show you how to play basic open chords and will teach you how to use these chords in songs. This is for anyone who has no experience with guitar, or very little knowledge of playing.
Lisa, the instructor for our Fundamentals courses, will also show you how to strum correctly with the tempo of a song, as well as how to change from chord to chord, an essential building block to all of guitar playing.
If You’re a Beginner and You Know Some Basic Chords
If you already know how to play some barre chords, and some open chords, then you’re ready to tackle Guitar Fundamentals Level 2. In our Level 2 beginner course, you’ll learn how to play the major and minor scale, new chord variations and you’ll even learn a bit of music theory.
Music theory can be daunting but Lisa breaks it down in an easy-to-understand manner. You’ll learn how chords relate to one another so you can create your own chord progressions, and you will also have the opportunity to read actual music!
If You’re More Experienced
For those of you who already know how to play open chords, barre chords comfortably, and you know your way around the major and minor scales, then you’re ready to jump into one of our experienced courses. To get to our experienced courses, you can click on the button that says “Experienced Lessons” on the home page.
There are three courses meant for experienced guitar players and they’re all taught by Anders Mouridsen, guitarist for the Grammy-nominated singer, Cam. These courses are genre-specific and guitar learners are able to choose between Rock, Country and Blues. For example, if you jump into Blues Level 1, you’ll learn how to play the 12-bar form, while those that choose Country Level 1 will learn how Chicken Pickin’ and country-specific arpeggios.
Level 1 Rock, Country and Blues
These lessons are for those who have mastered the teachings within Guitar Fundamentals 1 and 2. You know how to play barre chords, open chords, and change between them all. You know how to play simple licks using the major and minor scale, and you understand how chord progressions work.
Depending on your taste, you may choose to start in any of these courses. And since Guitar Tricks is all about learning at your own pace, feel free to jump into any of these courses at anytime, even if you already started on one.
Level 2 Rock, Country and Blues
If you finished the level 1 course, then it’s time to jump into the highest level in our Core Learning System. The techniques you learn in this course are synonymous with their genre. For example, you’ll learn how to bend, tap and solo in a myriad of ways in Rock Level 2, while you’ll learn Hybrid picking, and advanced-level electric Travis picking in Country Level 2.
We even recently updated our Country Level 2 course, read all about it here.
Songs and Styles
Once you’ve made it to the end of the Core Learning System, you can always go back to one of the style courses you haven’t yet tackled. Or if you want, you can always explore our vast and ever growing song lessons here.
Our song lessons come in two forms, the full lesson and the Made Easy versions. The full song lesson breaks down a song step by step so it's easy to learn from. Full song lessons include all guitar parts, including the intro, verse, chorus, bridge and solos if the song has them.
The Made Easy song lessons take the popular classic songs you know and love and breaks them down to the essential strum patterns so you're able to play the entire song by yourself with chords you already know. Check them out here.
And remember, there are tons and tons of styles and techniques not covered in the Core Learning System. Tutorials on classical guitar, funk, metal and more are all available in our styles section.
If you ever feel stumped on a lesson, don’t forget that you can always watch the lesson again, or go back to pick up on a concept you might have missed.
That's it! I hope this helped you figure out what to do after signing up for our award-winning guitar lessons. For more tips be sure check back on the blog every week!
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