One thing that many teachers who offer a country guitar lesson program seem to not realize is that their students will, most of the time, be devoid of any knowledge of music theory. I know that when I first started, there was very little focus on theory. This was of course partly my fault, as I wanted to start impressing everyone right away with the songs I could bang out on my guitar.
However, I have since often regretted that I did not use those beginner’s guitar lessons to broaden my musical understanding. I think that knowing a lot more theory would have helped me to become a much better guitar player in many different genres, from blues guitar to rock guitar and of course country guitar.
One of the first things I learned on guitar was the formation of some basic chords, but I was never told just how these chords could fit together in a song. Over time I’ve figured it out, but think of all the country guitar music I could have written years ago if I’d known earlier. Below, you will find groupings of the different chord families, so you can both write your own tunes after your first few lessons and some practice, and anticipate what’s coming up when you’re playing a song.
“A” family: A-D-E
“D” family: D-Em-G-A
“G” family: G-C-Am-D
“C” family: C-Dm-Em-F-G-Am
I recommend learning the families in that order, because each will introduce you to one or more new chords. Once you get to the C family you’ll have to deal with F, which you can cheat your way through at first but sooner or later you are going to have to start attempting to barre! When you decide to attempt barres (and once you have them down you’ll be able to play a lot more chords and therefore a lot more songs) it can be easier to pick them up on the electric guitar first.
photo credit: Micah Taylor
whats the strumming pattern ?
SInce this is my first guitar, I can’t comment on how it sounds, as compared to other guitars. I purchased this unit solo without an amp (which I purchased at a later date). The guitar came prestrung (I’m assuming all come that way) however you have to tune it yourself. For me, the guitar seems to lose its tune almost every day. Now, this could be from various reasons but tuning is simple with a tuning device. It came with a cord and allen wrench for adjustments to the neck.
The difference between an Epiphone Les Paul Studio and an Epiphone Special II is simple: with the Les Paul Studio, I’d recommend you get a $500-$600 PRS SE instead, but it’s not the worst decision you could make and it’s viable if a $600 budget vs a $300 budget just isn’t doable. With the Special II, you’re wasting your money; but it’s better than a $30 First Act.
Many people over the age of 40 think that they are too old to learn a musical instrument – that is not fact – you are never to old to learn, never to old to start a program that teaches you the drills and the music content.