Hi there! I'm sorry this is a day late; I had to leave town yesterday and was gone all day. Now to lesson one....the excercises may seem silly and small at first; but you need to instill good habits in the beginning of your adventure with the guitar. BAD habits are very, very difficult to break! The first good habit can be found on page 3 of the "Primary guitar Method" Book one. It is very important that you hold the guitar parrelel against your body. So many beginniers have the tendency to hold the guitar in an open style upon their lap so that they can see what they are doing. But in learning properly; you will need to learn that smooth, accomnplished playing is done by the hearing,the feeling, this kind of familiarity with the sound and touch of your strings. SO...resist that temtation to hold the guitar open faced upon your lap!!!:) In tuning the guitar...you will always need a well tuned instrument to learn and perform upon. Thats a given!!!! Using a pitchpipe, bring your 6th string (E string)(thickest string) in tune with the E pitch on your pipe. Tighten for higher pitch; loosen for flatter. Take your time to get it right. Now, hold your first finger on the 6th strings fifth fret....right above the meatl bar...not on it,but just above it. that will produce an A note. Tune your 5th string from this A in the same manner as you had the E....first finger on fifth fret of fifth fstring will give you a D note. Tune the 4th string from this; first finger on fifth fret of 4th string gives you a G. Now put your first finger on the FOURTH fret of the fourth string,this will produce a B note. On the fifth string, go back to first finger on fifth fret to produce an E note. Viola!!! Give a few strums....you should have a smooth, harmonious sound. Page 5....technique. You can of course read the lesson yourself; my notes are this....just as you learn to hold the guitar properly; you must learn to have your hand on the guitars neck properly as well. KEEP tyour thumb in the area of the second fret!!!This will help you in your fingering....moving your FINGERS...not the hand.....efficiently in your chords, notes, etc. This is very important! Lesson.....read pages 6 and 7 to yourself. Familiarize yourself with the names and positions of the notes on the music staff. This will get more difficult later on;trust me, so take care to learn the easy,small things well!!!! Exercise....Fingerboard work. this is an ideal warm up and exercise that should be done with daily practice. Holding the guiars neck properly;pick the first E string (the thin one) open--with no fingers on frets, then place your first finger on the first strings first fret, quickly put second finger on second fret, third finger on third fret, and fourth finger on fourth fret. Repeat this back and forth a few times. Proceed to do the same exercise with all six of the strings. By about the fifth string you're going to feel a little stretch in your hand....but thats ok, this will be developed in time.

Lesson....Lets learn our notes on the first string. the E note is this first string picked open. The F note is the first finger on the first fret,and the G note is the third finger on the third fret. Carefully go through the exercises on pages 8, 9 and 10; but please keep in mind that it is very important to familiarize yourself with recognizing (reading) the notes as well as playing them. I know this seems very simple, but they are necessary beginning steps in l;earning how to read music and play guitar!

So...recap....lessons for this week include reading pages 6 and 7 to learn the music staff, measures, signatures and notes. Pages 8, 9 and 10 will give you exercises on the first string of the guitar. Learn your fingerboard work, practice daily, instill good habits in the beginning, and I'll see you next week! E-mail me privately for further questions, comments,etc. on this study!!! Beth

-- Beth Weber (talmidim88@hotmail.com), December 05, 2000