Never Played A Guitar Instrumental Before?

Don't worry. Go from Zero 2 Hero with this course!

zero 2 hero - enables Non-Music Reading Guitarists to play song melodies as beautiful guitar instrumental pieces. This course takes a quick and simple one or two string approach, unlike other courses that just teach fingerings that are impossible to play and take years to learn.

I Am A Beginner

You will begin with the tune “Happy Birthday To You” to get you up-to-speed with all the basics that you will need. You will learn the melody on one string. Next you will add a Simple Bass Note. That is your first simple Solo Instrumental Piece. It really is as simple as all that. Now you are ready to perform in public.

The next stage is to add another note to the melody. This becomes a harmonised 2 note melody. Then we add bass and we have a full chordal sounding version of Happy Birthday.

And because I believe in having fun as you learn, there is a fantastic dexterity challenge at the end of the section too! Be the Guitar Hero, learn it. Then, impress and challenge your guitar playing friends to play your cool version of Happy Birthday!

Learn By Doing

You play along WITH each video. This is not a course where you watch me demonstrate each technique and then you try to figure out what I just did and decipher it. You play ALONG WITH ME. I break each section down into tiny pieces and we play them together, bar by bar, as we learn the whole tune. So you are going to have to work – but not too hard. It’s only a few notes at a time after all! And, I try to make sure that we have fun while doing so.

After all, it is learning by doing.

To Go Fast, Go Slow

This is a comprehensive course that is over 5 hours long. The good news is that you do not have to finish the course to start using what you learn straight away. In fact, the best way to use this course is to go slowly.

The course is taught in a slow, deliberate yet dynamic fashion. You play everything a note at a time, each one building on what came before. How far you choose to go with it is up to you.

You can choose to learn the melody and use it as a solo piece when playing with friends. Or add some bass notes and play it as a beautiful simple instrumental. Add harmonised notes and sound like two instruments at the same time. Add bass and chordal ideas and play a more complex arrangement. Or take bits of each section and come up with your own unique, instrumental version of each tune. How far you go and how quickly you go is up to you.

I Cannot Read Music

You do not have to be able to read music to learn how to play instrumentals on your guitar. Also, the videos are very clear, shot from two points of view. Everything is broken down clearly. And slowly.

All examples taught are notated in TAB. There are .pdf files for you to download and keep.

This All Sounds Complicated To Me

I understand your fear. I want you to imagine how you felt just before you learned your first ever guitar chord.

Imagine how you feel about the same chord Now.

Learning to play instrumentals is no more difficult than learning your first chord.

Using this course, it becomes a simple skill that any guitar player at any level can learn.

I Don’t Have Time?

Everyone has time to learn a few notes on a few strings. Surely it is worth the effort to be the player that you know you can be?

Sounds Like Hard Work

There is an awful lot of very good information in these lessons. This information can be applied to many of the other tunes which you already play. The songs are deliberately chosen for 2 reasons; they are popular tunes and the techniques required are timeless and can be easily transferred to many other songs and styles of music.

Even if you choose to never play the tunes, you will very quickly learn some lick, chord inversion or run that you will find an immediate use for. This is what I call “the gold dust,” the nuggets that are contained within the course that will transform your playing.

Final Words

Imagine yourself the next time you pick up your guitar. As you smile to yourself, your fingers gracefully glide up the neck, on one string. Your thumb instinctively adds an occasional bass note. You have just played your first guitar instrumental piece. With such simple playing you will have the power to captivate your listeners and lead them on a musical journey through the story of the song.

It really is as simple or as difficult as that. So what are you waiting for? Go on. Get this course now. And be remembered as the great guitar player that you are meant to be. Create meaningful experiences.

COURSE BREAKDOWN - SONG BY SONG

Amazing Grace

This course starts away back in 1779, with the beautiful Amazing Grace.

You will Learn SIX versions of this tune. Yes SIX.

You will play this in the key of E. There is so much “gold-dust” in this tune alone. In this tune you will find lots of techniques, hints and tips that you will find yourself using again and again in lots of other tunes that you already play. These extras are not just for instrumentals but for all guitar playing genres.

You will start with the melody. You will get to learn and use three important techniques from this alone as follows:

(1) Vibrato to add emotion and sustain to notes

(2) A finger per fret with some nice stretches that will also exercise and strengthen your pinkie finger

(3) Alternate picking

And I forgot to mention. . . You will learn all this using ONLY ONE STRING!

Next, you will learn to add bass notes enabling you to play your first solo instrumental version of Amazing Grace. You will also learn a nice bass run from A to E that you can take away and use it other tunes.

Then, you will add harmonised notes in 3rds and 6ths. In this 12 minute section you will learn to add a single note harmony to the melody. This, in itself, makes a beautiful piece of music that you can play as an instrumental. If you play with other instruments, you will sound like two guitarists playing in harmony.

And all of that is great. To me the hidden gem of this piece is that harmonising the melody also enables you to move freely between the chords of the song, E, A, B7. And as the chord progression is a common one you will find yourself using some of the harmonised runs in your other playing. This song alone opens up lots of possibilities in terms of harmonic interval runs in the key of E, one of the most popular blues keys that exist. So you are not just getting a harmonised version of Amazing Grace but you also get to experience a whole raft of harmonic interval runs in E. They are all there waiting for you to explore and use in your everyday playing. As I am fond of saying “Experiment, experiment, experiment.” (And have fun too!)

To top it all off, you will add bass notes to the harmony. First of all you will play a sparse simple, method. Then you will go deeper into the tune by adding bass runs and implying augmented chords and runs to create even more light and shade and colour to your playing. The final part is where you will look at alternative options and at combining the lessons so far in various ways to produce your own version of Amazing Grace, depending on your ability and how you want to make your very own “best version” of this tune.

Amazing Grace Version FIVE and SIX – The Bass String Version

When I record my videos, I like to do them in one take. This works for me 99% of the time. There are very few edits within each video as I like to turn on the camera and mics and start playing. I try to explain everything in plain English, avoiding jargon and theory as much as possible.

With Amazing Grace, I had no idea that I was going to end up with 6 variations. The more I went through the first 4 the more obvious it became to me that I was going to keep on going. The tune provides an opportunity to explore playing with the bass strings on the guitar and use them for the melody in the same way that you use treble strings. And then, add bass to the bass melody as well! It sounds complicated but why should it be. After all, you are still only using 2 strings! My goal is to demystify this stuff, because at its core it's not really that complicated.

So, in version 5, you will learn the melody on the bass strings. And in version 6, you will add bass to the bass string melody. That is the simplified version! As usual, there is lots more gold-dust in these 2 variations. You will learn to add augmented bass notes as simply as moving one finger, lots of pinkie finger work and there’s even a natural harmonic.

I could have made a whole course out of Amazing Grace. Not just because it is such a beautiful tune, but because it is the ideal tune for you to start playing so many essential guitar techniques that will transform your playing from just playing straight chords to complex, beautiful improvised instrumental music.

Take this one slowly and you will transform all your playing, for better, forever.

Danny Boy – (The Londonderry Air)

Among scholars there is no definitive agreement as to a date or composer but the melody appears to exist from around mid-1850!

We are in the key of A.

Firstly, you will learn the melody. This is a sparse and haunting melody. It moves up and down the scale giving you another chance to become proficient at a finger per fret and alternate picking.

Then you add bass notes. You then have a simple instrumental version under your fingertips. Then you will explore other options and appropriate bass patterns to further enhance the tune. These patterns can also be used in other tunes you play.

Next you will learn to add another note to the melody. This will make your listeners sit up and listen as you will sound as if two guitars are playing together. Again, you will play runs in the key of A that take you from A to D and back again and from A to E and back to A which you will find that you can use in other songs that you play in that key. The more you use these the more uses you will find for them.

Lastly, we will explore together a chordal arrangement of the tune. This is followed with a final lesson where you will get a chance to play other interesting alternative ideas all designed to encourage you to mix and match and come up with your own arrangement. And as usual, have fun and enjoy!

Greensleeves

Now we are back to the mid 1550’s – Exact date unknown.

This has long been a favourite of guitarists everywhere. Firstly, you will learn the melody as single notes. Then you will add simple bass notes around the chords.

Add a touch of romance to your playing and emotionally engage your listeners. A lovely instrumental piece, which adds a touch of serious, classical-style guitar playing to your arsenal. A must know piece that is timeless. And if you think that you do not know it? You do. It has been played anywhere and everywhere that you can imagine – from churches to rock stadia. Enjoy.