Teachings and Tutorials

There is so much to learn about music and often the challenge is knowing where to start.  You will find all the resources you need on the teaching and tutorials pages.  There are step by step guides for beginners to advanced, and for the young to the not so young. Every topic you may be trying to master will be covered in depth to give you the confidence to play but to also understand how music works.
There is so much to learn with an instrument that sometimes it seems an insurmountable task to even find where to start.  If you are new to guitar or want to research a certain topic, the lesson plans are the best place to start.
If there is something you don't understand about music, there is a tutorial here that will help you.  Knowledge is very important, but the application of this knowledge is where wisdom become prevalent. 
Students often ask me "why do I need to be able to read music.  My response is "do you need to be able to read to get by in life?" That question usually invokes thought in favour of both responses.  Yes you can have a perfectly happy life without being able to read music, but it will always be limited.  I'm really glad my first guitar teacher made me learn to read music (yes I was MADE too). It's not hard, just takes a little time each day to work on, the you will gain a skill that is very helpful. 
Often we learn how to do something, or gain the knowledge of what something is, but doing it is that extra essential step. I would find my hands couldn't keep up with what I was telling them to do.  Processing exercises will help alleviate this problem.  My teachers would often say, "there is an exercise that will solve every limitation." So if you are having trouble with speed, alternate picking, tapping, sweep picking etc, there is an exercise here that can help.
Playing Chords is an essential part of learning guitar. Most likely you will play more chords as a guitarist than you will individual notes. There are many chord shapes to learn, so you can have the knowledge required to play every chosen song. If it's learning chord shapes you require, click on the link to the left.
Chord progresions are a series of chords that form music.  Here you will find many charts of progressions ranging in difficulty.  They will require you to have knowledge of the chord shapes used, and then practice your way through these progressions.  Once you are confident with the progressions, head over to the strumming section to turn these into cool sounding music.
Strumming is a large part of playing chords.  You could define strumming as the method of sounding chords.  The dictionary states is as running either a pick or your thumb / fingers up and down, across the strings of an instrument. You can strum in many ways, but there are several important principals to learn in order to strum effectively. Click on the link to the left to explore the world of strumming. 
Guitar Riffs are a repeated phrase of notes from a song.  Usually the phrase becomes the famous guitar part that everyone recognizes as the main part of the song.  They are heaps of fun to learn and will demonstrate principals and key components of music that are essential for a guitarist to know.  Have fun in this section. If something is demonstrated in this section, be sure to check out the teaching and tutorials page for a full breakdown on that technique.
There are many charts available here of famous songs, that have been arranged for anything from 2 to 4 guitars plus a bass line.  Guitar parts 1 and 2 are usually the more challenging parts and guitar 3 is a little easier if you are just starting out learning. These songs are often simple versions of the original song, usually the melody sung is translated into one of the guitars and the chords are either broken into parts or simplified for easy guitar.
When you practice your instrument, playing at a constant speed / tempo is essential.  These recorded drum loops will ensure you maintain a consistent tempo and also make learning more fun.  These loops are divided into groups of rhythmic division, namely crotchets, quavers, quaver triplets and semiquavers.