Open G Guitar in the Style of Keith Richards

Open G Guitar tuning is D-G-D-G-B-D. This is the tuning most used by Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards. If you are looking for lessons on this style you should check out Open G Tuning Chords.

Guitar Lessons for Kids

Are you considering getting your child some guitar lessons?  There are some things to consider when making this decision.  Here is a great article that will help you determine guitar lessons for kids.

Top 10 Guitar Tabs for Beginners

Here is a great list of 10 easy guitar tabs to get you playing some songs right away! Reading tab is one of the best things to learn when you are starting out. Makes it so much easier! While learning to read standard music notation is important for those wanting to be professional musicians, tab is best for hobbyists.

Check out some great free guitar lessons here!

Learn how to play ukulele

Check out Center Stage Ukulele Academy's top 10 ukulele songs and the lesson on the super popular Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Alternate G Chord - Online Guitar Lesson

Learn how to play guitar with these online guitar lessons from Center Stage Guitar Academy.

In this video blog by Center Stage Guitar Academy instructor Bryan Billhimer covers an alternate way to play an open G Major chord. With this fingering you can play a Gsus4 and alternate with a C/G chord in the style of Keith Richards. For more guitar lessons from Center Stage Guitar Academy visit http://csgacademy.com

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Why The Blues?

Some may ask why a lot of the online guitar lessons focus on the Blues. Well, there are a few reasons for this. First, I am more versed in the Blues than most other styles of playing guitar, so it is natural that I would teach this way. Second, blues music is the foundation of rock n roll and nearly all forms of American music today. Without the blues, you would not have Zeppelin, Hendrix, Maroon Five, Cee Lo, or even Metallica. That being said, I feel it is important to learn the fundamentals of American music. Third, blues music is relatively easy for beginners to grasp. It's just 3 chords! It serves as a great vehicle to learn basic improvisational skills. If you can't solo over blues changes, then its going to be hard to solo over other more complex chord progressions.

I realize that not all of you dig the Blues to much, but I promise it will make things more understandable and easier to grasp in the future. And who knows, it just may grow on you!

The Latest Online Guitar Lesson

Check out the latest online guitar lessons from Center Stage Guitar Academy.

Learn Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd

The Thing About Tone

There are several factors to consider when establishing a good guitar tone. Lets start with electric guitar tone. With electric there are three major factors to consider...the guitar, the amp, and the effects. There are all types of guitars with all types of pickups. Single Coil pickups and humbucking pickups are the two main pickup categories. I prefer humbuckers for the simple reason that they are less noisy. I like the tone of a good single coil pickup but I have never had much luck with keeping them from buzzing terribly. This is especially a factor when you are playing gigs in dive bars or clubs with bad electric wiring. You are much better off with a humbucking pickup. If you are gigging musician I would suggest having at least one in your arsenal. Generally speaking your Fender strats have single coils and your Les Pauls have humbuckers. Just to give you an idea of the difference. Guitars with maple fretboards tend to be brighter whereas rosewood gives a little darker tone. The thinner the body of the guitar the less resonance and the less meaty the tone. Compare an SG with a hollow body guitar...the hollow body will tend to have a much fuller, bigger tone. Now lets talk amps. I have always felt like you could hand me a great guitar played through a bad amp and I would get a bad tone. However, I can make a bad guitar sound decent through a good amp. The amp, in my opinion is the most crucial part of your tone. I always prefer tube amps that deliver a much warmer, natural sound then the solid state counterparts. However if you are play jazz or something that requires a clean crisp sound, a solid state amp good be great. All the great rock legends used tube amps such as Marshall Plexi's, Vox AC30, Hi Watt, Fender Twins, Fender Bassmans etc. Now days they make all kinds of boutique amps that are modeled after these classic amps. Matchless is my amp of choice which is loosely modeled after the Vox AC30. As far as effects go, you just have to experiment. Just keep in mind that the more you add in the signal chain the more likely you are to have unwanted noise. I like to keep it simple. My effects pedals consist of a Boss Tuner, Boss Blues Driver, Boss Tremelo, and occasionally a Wah pedal. But that's just me. We just have to experiment. 

As for Acoustic guitars go, you are somewhat limited by the make and model of the guitar. You can make differences in tone by the type of picks you use and also the thickness of your strings. Actually the string factor goes for both electric and acoustic. The thicker the strings the fuller the tone. It kinda whatever you can stand on your fingers. I like to use 11's. Stevie Ray Vaughan used crazy thick gauges of strings and had an incredible tone. Bottom line...you have to try different things and experiment to find the right tone!

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How To Practice

Developing a good practice routine is essential to learning how to play guitar and improving your guitar playing skills.  Like any physical activity, it is a good idea to warm up with some exercises.  I like to warm up by playing through scales.  I usually start with the Major scale and play through all 12 keys.  Then I move on to the Minor scale and play through all 12 keys.  I will repeat this process with all the scales and modes I know.  I might also throw in exercises of playing scales in thirds.  Practicing the connection of relative scales is great finger work and increases your knowledge of the fingerboard for improv purposes, so it would be good to practice this daily as well. After scales, I might run through some arpeggios as well.  Now that I am nice and warmed up I can focus on whatever particular technique or song I am working on.  Currently, I am working on Travis Picking and Ragtime style finger picking.  Once I am warmed up with exercises I play through several songs I have been learning in this genre.

Part of practicing is having the discipline to correct yourself when you mess something up.  If you are having trouble playing something it is always good to slow it down.  If you can’t play it slow, you will never be able to play it fast. Don’t just play through entire songs or pieces at once.  Stop and work on the sections that give you the most trouble. Once you have mastered the troublesome part, then move on.

When learning guitar online it is important not to rush yourself through the lessons.  My advice would be to watch a lesson and then practice that lesson for 4 to 7 days.  Do not move on to the next lesson until you have mastered the previous lesson.  Playing guitar is like any other talent.  It takes time, patience, and discipline.

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Learn Payphone by Maroon Five on Guitar

Learn Guitar Online

The days of guitar heroes like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, and Joe Perry are long gone unfortunately.  You rarely even hear a guitar solo anymore.  Even artists that used to have guitar in their recordings have moved to more synthesized sounds.  Are the eighties back?  Man, I hope not, but it sure is looking that way.  Maroon Five used to have some good guitar riffs in their songs.  Doesn't seem that way anymore.  

Learn Pay Phone by Maroon Five on guitar. It is literally four chords the entire song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwGkVX8aDMs

Jimi vs. Jimmy

Several people have asked me in the past who I thought was a better guitar player, Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page.  Well that is a tough one.  This is how I answer.  Personally, I like Jimmy Page a little better.  In my opinion, Page is a more eclectic player.  He played blues, slide, country, rock, classical, etc.  He was kind of a sloppy player but it had a ton of vibe.  You can always tell its Jimmy Page.  He also had many different tones to his sound and experimented with alternate tunings.  All these things keep my interest.  Don't get me wrong, Hendrix was incredible as well and hands down the most innovative player ever.  He did things with the guitar nobody ever thought of doing with an instrument.

The truth is I loved both when I was younger, learning how to play guitar.  I probably burnt myself out on both guitar legends.  It is sad sometimes when I hear Purple Haze or Whole Lotta Love and get kinda bored because I have heard them 1000 times.  It would be awesome to hear them for the first time again.  I envy you, if you have not had the "Experience" yet.  No pun intended.

Learn how to play guitar online

Looking for a Gift Idea????

Need a gift idea?  Center Stage Guitar Academy is running a Holiday special...$4.99 a month for the life of your subscription if you sign up by December 31st!  This is an incredible offer!!! $60 a year for guitar lessons.  You can not beat that anywhere!  Learn how to play guitar now at Center Stage Guitar Academy.

Learn guitar for $4.99 a month

Center Stage Guitar Academy is running a Holiday special! $4.99 a month for the life of your subscription if you sign up by December 31st! This is an incredible deal! Private lessons would cost you $1200 a year. Center Stage Guitar is giving you a years worth of lessons for $60!!!! Learn Guitar Now!

Why is Center Stage Guitar Academy so affordable?

You might be asking yourself why Center Stage Guitar Academy is so affordable compared to other online guitar lesson sites. Some of the most popular online guitar lessons sites are priced at around $20.00 a month.  Center Stage Guitar Academy only costs you $9.99 a month and we are getting ready to offer a Christmas special of only $4.99 a month for life if you sign up by December 31st! Does this mean Center Stage Guitar Academy is not as good?  How can we do it so cheap?  Well here is the answer.  Firstly, we are a new company and don't have the quantity of lessons that other sites have, so we don't feel like we can charge you the same price.  However we add new lessons on a monthly basis, so we are constantly building our repertoire of lessons. The quality of our lessons are on par with other lesson sites.  We have high quality, split screen videos that give you full access to the instructor with several angles.  Second, we can offer you quality lessons at a lower price because we are a small, personalized business with very little overhead.  The company is made up of only three people...an instructor, video producer, and web designer.  We keep it small in an effort to bring you high quality lessons at a very affordable price so everybody has the opportunity to learn guitar.  Please visit us at www.csgacademy.com and start learning how to play guitar.

Private versus Online Guitar Lessons

Is there a big difference between private, in-person, guitar lessons and online guitar lessons?  Well I think that depends on the individual and how far along you are in the process of learning guitar. First, if you are a beginner and not a very disciplined person then online lessons would not be the best choice.  However if you are disciplined and can hold your own feet to the fire then I think you could benefit from online guitar lessons.    Online guitar lessons offer a lot of benefits over private lessons.  One, way way cheaper.  Learn guitar at Center Stage Guitar Academy and pay $120 a year.  Learn from a private instructor and pay $1200 a year! Big difference.  Two, you can learn how to play guitar at your own pace with online lessons.  You can go as fast or slow as you want.  Three, you can do it from home at your own convenience.  If you are already playing and just want to expand, then online lessons are great because you already know the basics.  If you need someone to hold you accountable for learning then private lessons are the answer.  However, if you are not motivated enough to keep yourself accountable then you are probably not going to see it through anyway. And in the process waste a lot more money on private lessons.

LEARN GUITAR ONLINE

Center Stage Guitar Academy has just finished filming the next two volumes for www.csgacademy.com.  These two volumes include 20 online guitar lessons that cover such topics as Suspended Chords, slash chords, connecting chords with scales, Triads, Inversions, and much more. These lessons should be edited and published within the next two weeks.  Learn guitar now at Center Stage Guitar Academy!

Online guitar lessons seem to be the popular thing now.  There are hundreds of products out there that offer free and easy guitar lessons.  Some of them make claims such as "Learn guitar in 3 weeks" or "Play like a pro in 2 days!"  While I think there are several high quality sites out there, no site or teacher can promise these claims with any certainty.  The only way to become a good guitar player is to practice, practice, practice!  So remember when you sign up to learn guitar online , it is still up to you to put them time and effort into learning.

Learn Guitar with Online Guitar Lessons from Center Stage Guitar Academy. Center Stage Guitar Academy offers high quality online guitar lessons for the most affordable price in the market.  Learn Guitar Now!

If you are looking for good online guitar lessons check out Center Stage Guitar Academy.  They have a great curriculum for beginners and it is very affordable.  They are always adding new volumes of lessons.  Almost 100 lessons at your fingertips for less than $10 a month.  Free lessons are available as well.  www.csgacademy.com