Ben Lowrey teaches you to play the guitar for free

The techniques I'm going to show you today, are going to make you into a serious riff-master! Have you ever watched a guitarist in a band on stage and wonderd how they manage to bash out such cool licks and make it look so easy? Have you ever watched a lead-guitarist do a screaming guitar solo, playing ten billion notes without even moving his fingers? Well I'll let you into a little secret, if you want make progress as an electric guitarist you must realy learn to master "Hammer-ons" and "Pull-offs". Now.........I don't mean just understanding what they are.....I don't even mean being able to play them slowly, I'm talking about sitting and practising them until you can have a conversation with your grandmother whilst your hands carry on playing on their own.

At the bottom of this email is the link to the mini-video-guitar-lesson where I will teach you the "blues scale" and the "hammer-on" and "pull-off" techniques. But before you go there let me explain a little bit about the psychology behind this.

You see.......If you practise enough, the finger movements will become second nature, effectively programmed into your subconscious mind so you don't even have to think about it any more.

Think about it, that's how all learning takes place doesn't it? Think about when you learned to walk or ride a bike.......

The 4 stages of learning are....
1) Unconsious incompetence - at first you couldn't ride a bike, but you didn't know you couldn't ride a bike! You watched an adult, maybe your dad, or maybe a friend, and for all you knew it was easy to ride a bike. After all it looks easy when dad does it! At this stage you have no references, experiences or memories because you've never been on a bike before. You are unaware of you in-ability to ride (unconscious incompeteance) . (Like when you first saw somebody playing guitar and thaught to yourself "I want to do that!"_)
2) Conscious Incompetance. The first time you got on a bike and tried to ride, suddenly you realised it's more difficult than it looked. Maybe you fell off, got frustrated or you felt tempted to give up. This can be the most frustrating part of the learning process because you become aware of the fact that you can't do it (conscious of your incompetence). This is also the stage where you learn the most even though it might not feel like it. (think about the first time you picked up a guitar and tried to play).
3) Consciouse Competance - as you practised riding, there came a moment when suddenly, you could ride without stabalisers, and your arms and legs had gained enough experience to keep you balanced so long as you concentrated. This is the most exciting part! This is the moment of victory! You're aware of everything you need to do in order to ride the bike (you're consciously competent) (think about how it feels when you're able to play your favourite guitar song and actually make it sound cool!)
4) Unconsciouse competence - This is the stage where the skill becomes a habit, second-nature. You no longer have to think about it. You just aim your eyes in the direction that you want to go and the bike just takes you there. (guys, this is when you can chat to the girls in the front row of your gig whilst still playing an amazing guitar solo!) You can talk to a friend whilst riding, you can think about what's on television tonight, and your body takes care of the rest, the skill is now deeply ingraind in your sub-conscious. This is the result of all the practise. You are now Unconsciously Competant!

Now......I'm sure you realise that the story about riding a bike is just metaphor for playing guitar. There will be times of excitement, fun, progress and vicktory. There will also be times of frustration, no-progress and sore fingers! It's all part of the learning process.....but......listen to me closely now this bit is important.......the students who become great guitarists, are the ones who are prepared to put the time and effort into practising basic techniques such as scales, hammer-ons and pull-offs.

One of my best students ever was a young guy about 17 years old. He had never played guitar before his first lesson, within 6 months he was making me look like a beginner! He progressed so quickly I couldn't believe it. One day I asked him, "Anthony, I'm very impressed with your playing, how much time do you spend practising?"_ - His answer : "between eight and ten hours per day"_ ! $!@?& !?% ! No wonder he got so good so quickly!

Listen up guys........I'm not suggesting you need to play guitar for eight to ten hours per day! Infact, I recommend between half hour and one hour per day is plenty for most people. But I do want to make it clear that you must do the ground-work.

When I teach, I distinguish a clear difference between practising techniques, and learning songs. Techniques are more boring, songs are more fun, but you need the techniques to be able to play the songs! The blues scale, hammer-ons and pull-offs I'm going to show you in this mini-video-guitar-lesson are techniques, but you will need them if you want to play songs. If you want to be a good batter, you have to practise your swing and it's the same with guitar.

Hold yourself to a high standard and the rewards will be worth it. Think about your favourite musicians, bands, guitarists, singers. They are devoted to their art and that is the reason they now enjoy such rewarding success. I think you deserve the same, don't you??

So.....Would you like to learn these techniques? Would you like to be so relaxed while you play that you don't even have to think about it? Would you like every finger movement to be smooth, fast and effortless? Would you like to be an Unconsciously Competant guitarist?....Ok Good.

(if you have been playing for some time already, you may already be familiar with these techniques. If so, I suggest you watch the mini-video anyway, then click the link below and go to the archive where you will find "full-length-video-guitar-lessons ", more advanced techniques and songs which will challenge your playing ability even further such as, "Oh well by Fleetwood Mac", "Layla by Eric Clapton", "I believe in a thing called love solo by the Darkness", "Sultans of swing by Dire Straits". Remember , this 12-part eCourse is mainly aimed at beginner guitarists so some of it may seem obviouse to you. However, stick with me, because each segment I send you will focuss on different techniques, such as strumming, Punk rock, lead solos, bar chords, improvising, funk-rythms, rock'n'roll, etc. so there's plenty here for you to enjoy, and if you have friends who are learning guitar, send them this link www.vGuitarLessons.com/course because I'm sure they will benefit from this eCourse also. )

So.....to BROWSE THE ARCHIVE where you will find over 100 of the most popular guitar songs as full-length-video-guitar-lessons , you'll find everything from Green Day to Bob Marley, click www.vGuitarLessons.com/archive

And to Watch Your MINI-VIDEO-GUITAR-LESSON "blues scale, hammer-ons and pull-offs"_ (I suggest you do watch it!) click link at the top or bottom of this page.

Until next time, keep practising, and enjoy playing guitar no matter what standard you are at. I'll see you in a few days with the next segment of your eCourse where we will learn.....Finger picking, "Brace yourself, you're going to have a queue of fans and admirers!"

Ben Lowrey

The Killer Strumming Pattern Which Will Make You Sound Like A Pro!

I promise you're going to have a lot of fun with this lesson. I'm going to teach you a way of strumming chords which will make you sound like you've been playing for years. Look....I know that sounds like a bizarre claim for me to make but it's true, I've been teaching guitar
for over 7 years and I can tell you for a fact, if you learn this technique called a 'chop', it will make the difference between you sounding like a "beginner guitarist" or sounding like a "guitarist".

It's sort of like sport...any of you who play golf or baseball or football will know that it only takes a tiny shift in hand position or foot position or body posture to cause a radical difference in the accuracy of your shot, and it's the same with this strumming technique called the 'chop'.

So..the link at the bottom of this email will take you to your mini-video-guitar-lesson where I will teach you how to do the chop, but before you go and watch that, let me tell you a little story about how I became aware of it.

I was on holiday with my friends many years ago, we went to a beach party in the middle of the night where there was a bon-fire and dozens of people sat round watching a guy playing acoustic guitar. He was a surfer type; in fact, I'd seen him playing at a local bar a few nights earlier (and probably being paid for it). We joined the circle, and listened to him play. He was strumming and singing away, and he had everybody spell-bound. He was playing popular songs which his little audience were loving and every time he finished one song, every body went crazy, clapping and cheering him to play another., and calling out request like "play brown eyed girl again"_ or, "play stand by me" or "play Californication"_. He was certainly getting a lot of attention from all the cute girls who were huddled closely by his side and watching every move he made. As I watched, I was impressed with the amount of energy and enthusiasm he put into his playing, the same energy and enthusiasm that was drawing people towards him like a magnet.

Here's where the story gets interesting...and here's where I learned a big lesson from this guy...and here's where you're going to learn a big lesson from me now.... are you ready,? Here's the thing....He wasn't a very good guitarist! In fact, I only saw him play about five chords the whole time I was sat there! But what he did have was some killer strumming patterns. That is what made him sound like such a class act, that is what made him sound like a one-man-band, that is where the energy came from, and that is what I want to show you how to do!

Would you like to learn these strumming patterns? Would you like to be able to entertain strangers at a beach party? Would you like to be paid to play? Would you like to get lots of attention from cute girls/guys?............Ok Good.

(if you have been playing for some time already, you may have developed a natural instinct for more complex strumming patterns. If so, I suggest you watch the mini-video anyway, then click the link below and go to the archive where you will find "full-length-video-guitar-lessons", more advanced techniques and songs which use different strumming patterns such as "long train running - doobie brothers", "can't stop - red hot chilli peppers". Remember , this 12-part eCourse is mainly aimed at beginner guitarists so some of it may seem obviouse to you. However, stick with me, because each segment I send you will focuss on different techniques, such as strumming, Punk rock, lead solos, bar chords, improvising, funk-rythms, rock'n'roll, etc. so there's plenty here for you to enjoy, and if you have friends who are learning guitar, send them this link www.vguitarlessons.com/course because I'm sure they will benefit from this eCourse also. )

So....

to BROWSE THE ARCHIVE where you will find over 100 of the most popular guitar songs as full-length-video-guitar-lessons , you'll find everything from "Rage Against the Machine" to"Bob Dylan", click www.vGuitarLessons.com/archive

And to Watch Your MINI-VIDEO-GUITAR-LESSON "strumming patterns for chords" (I suggest you do watch it!) click the download link above or below.

Until next time, keep practising, and enjoy playing guitar no matter what standard you are at. I'll see you in a few days with the next segment of your eCourse where we will learn, , , , blues scale, hammer-ons and pull-offs.

Ben Lowrey

O.K! Listen ...Those first few lessons were really just an induction to make sure you understand the basics. Now you're in tune and familiar with strings, frets, fingers and tab, it's time to learn the next most important thing. Chords. A chord is when you strum lots of strings instead of just plucking one note.

If you would like to be able to play songs, you are going to have to learn some chords. It's like saying, if you would like to drive a car, you'll have to fill it up with fuel. There's no escaping it.

I divide guitar playing into two categories. Rhythm and Lead. Rhythm is strumming and chords. (usually multiple strings at once) Lead is riffs and solos, (usually playing one note at a time).

Some people enjoy strumming chords, other prefer learning licks and riffs, so throughout this eCourse I am going to give you a taster of both. If you are a singer, it's likely that you will want to strum chords whilst you sing. If you don't sing, it's likely that you will want to play riffs and lead. Both are important, so it's best to be skilled at both.

It has long been an 'in joke' among musicians that some bands such as Status Quo and even The Beatles only use three chords to play songs.
This may be an exaggerated claim, but it is true for a lot of songs especially in the genre of Rock n Roll. When you say "I'm going to play a song by using just three chords"_, it feels the same as saying, "I'm going to have a conversation by using just three words"_. It seems rather ridiculous, but the truth is, when we are learning guitar, it's nice to learn something simple which still ends up sounding good.

So....we are going to learn chords E A and D.

It's possible that you already know these chords, if so, I encourage you to watch the mini-video-guitar-lesson anyway, because you may still pick up some useful information to increase the quality of your playing. Remember this eCourse is designed for beginner guitarists, but each new segment focuses on different techniques so there is plenty for
you to learn which will challenge your playing ability even further.

Also, you're welcome to browse the archive where you will find over 100 full-length-video-lessons of advanced techniques, bar chords and interesting chords sequences of songs such as "Hotel California by the Eagles", "Wonderwall by Oasis", and many more.

So...Would you like to learn some chords which will allow you to play songs?, Ok Good.

To BROWSE THE ARCHIVE where you will find over 100 of the most popular
guitar songs as full-length-video-guitar-lessons , you'll find everything from Oasis to Bob Marley, click www.vGuitarLessons.com/archive

And to Watch Your MINI-VIDEO-GUITAR-LESSON "introduction to chords"_ (I suggest you do watch it!) click the download link above or below.

I'll see you in a few days in the next segment where we'll learn the next important skill...The Killer Strumming Pattern Which Will Make You Sound Like A Pro!

Ben Lowrey

So,Now your guitar is in tune, and before we start playing cool stuff, there's one more thing you should know which will make life so much easier....How to read tab.

Let me tell you a little story..it's very short, but I think you will enjoy it... ready, here goes...you don't need to learn to read music, THE END.

Let me ask you a question, when you see Jimi Hendrix, Greenday, Rage Against the Machine, Blink 182, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, Santana, Bob Dylan, Red Hot Chli Pappers, Nirvarna, on stage, do you ever see any sheet music? Answer: No. These guys play by ear. And that's what I'm going to teach you to do throughout this eCourse.

For times when we do want to learn something from paper, we have our own type of written music for guitarists; it's called Tablature (Tab for short). It's easy to read, it can be learned in 10 mins, and I'm going to teach you it in this mini-video-guitar-lesson.

It's extremely convenient to search the internet for guitar tabs, you will find practically every song in the universe, and you can then print them out and learn the song just by reading the numbers. Please understand, this is not as good as actually being shown the song by a real guitar teacher, but it's quick and simple and can be a great help.
Tab is also a brilliant way of writing down riffs that you want to remember.

It's possible that you are already familiar with Tab, if so, I encourage you to watch the mini-video-guitar-lesson anyway, because you may pick up something new. Remember this eCourse is designed for beginner guitarists, but each new segment focuses on different techniques so there is plenty for you to learn which will challenge
your playing ability.

So...Would you like to begin your Journey to becoming an incredible guitarist? Would you like to be able to entertain friends and family at parties? Would you like to write your own songs and get bucket loads of attention and admiration from everybody?......Ok Good.

So...to BROWSE THE ARCHIVE where you will find over 100 of the most popular guitar songs as full-length-video-guitar-lessons , you'll find everything from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Eric Clapton, click www.vGuitarLessons.com/archive

And to Watch Your MINI-VIDEO-GUITAR-LESSON "how to read tab"_ (I suggest
you do watch it!) click the download lesson button.

I'll see you in a few days so we can learn the next important skill...how to play chords.

Ben Lowrey

P.S.

Remember I'd love to hear from you personally so if you have any feedback about our vGuitar Lessons, send it with a pic of you and your guitar to students@vGuitarLessons.com and we may put it on the homepage.

P.P.S

If a song you want to learn isn't listed on our archive, send me the track name and artist to requests@vGuitarLessons.com and I will find it, listen to it, figure it out, record a full-length-video-guitar-lesson and post it on the archive for you to download.