Some of you who read this blog are worship leaders & play guitar, or play guitar whether for church or elsewhere! Some of you also know I just purchased an acoustic guitar, & I would love for you to answer some or all of the questions posed here! I have experience with other instruments (my degree is in music), but guitar is fairly new to me, despite the few chords I know & being able to tune it thanks to my sister picking up the instrument during our childhood years. I’m hoping to learn guitar to expand my worship leading abilities, & also to enjoy worshiping the Lord & writing songs to God through another instrument in addition to the others I play! 
So here ya go:
- Since I’m focusing on worship music, could you recommend any particular instruction books/CDs/DVDs, easier worship songs to learn (& what keys), etc.? (If it helps–I have piano experience & theory training, & I’m especially curious about a guide or list of chords you see in worship chord charts, some of which I don’t always see listed in the usual chord “lists,” like those E/G# and D2s & what not, or alternative fingerings for any chords. I know what to do for some of them when it comes to piano, but guitar–I have no idea!
- Are their any care & maintenance measures I need to be sure to take with the guitar, items to purchase, etc.?
- I have small hands — any tips for playing, especially left hand? Any tips for getting the left fourth finger to be more useful? (seriously!) Anyone relate?
I look forward to your responses, & feel free to even just point me to a helpful web site or whatever else as well. Thanks!
Filed under: Christian, Encouragement, Worship , acoustic guitar, guitar, guitar playing, guitarists, learning, learning guitar, Music, musicians, Worship, worship guitar, Worship Leading, worship music
well here am i to help you. lol
1. The paul baloche DVD’s are fantastic for beginner guitar and strumming etc. There are some videos for free on youtube with people teaching how to play. The best to me though is grab a chord chart and memorize. For most beginners strumming takes more practice than chord shapes.
Any ultimate guitar chord book will have the chords you need . if not E/G# is regular Echord with extra G# played on the Large E string 4th fret. I usually play with pinky. and a D2 is a regular D chord just lift off on E string. You can also grab some of the worshiptogther chart books and look at the chord fingerings.
2. Acoustic guitar: if you’re guitar is not in 65deg.or so temp normally (meaning don’t leave in your trunk) you can buy a humidifier for it which helps the wood not dry out. I have never used on though. There are screws on the tuners which you can tighten if you want to keep them from slipping. other wise..wipe it down every once and a while and don’t stand on it.
Electric: same advice. periodically tighten all screw etc.
3. There are perfect guitars for small handed people. brands like breedlove (thats what i play and they ROCK), ibanez, etc etc. you have to feel them. short hands usually means small arms so don’t get a guitar with 24 frets. go with 22 frets. Shorter neck. At first it is hard to get the pinky doing anything…Mine doesn’t like me actually. Look on youtube for John Petrucci warm up excersizes. He has some great finger workouts to get your hands stretched out and strengthen your pinky.
feel free to email me if you need anything
I was in the same situation when I started playing guitar, and here’s what worked for me.
1. Visit the worshiptogether.com site and look in the store for their “How-To” set of songbooks. There are five or six volumes of well known songs, and each book comes with a CD of sample strum patterns. The songs have been somewhat simplified, either in chord change or key, and the book I have also include Cut Capo charts, which vastly simplify some songs (but not others).
2. Also check out the New Song Cafe DVDs and books. I picked up the first four volumes, and it really helped me when I could see someone on screen working through the chord changes with me.
3. As for care and maintenance, there are a huge number of opinions out there. I’ve always liked frets.com, a site made by an actual luthier. His instrument owner’s manual section will help you out: http://frets.com/FRETSPages/OwnerManual/manmain.html
4. As for left hand stuff, I feel the same when it comes to male hands. I always feel like I have a smaller reach than a lot of others. All I can tell you is practice every spare moment and get use to the reaches and build up those callouses and muscles.
Hope this helps.
“don’t stand on it”
That’s what I’ve been doing wrong!
E/G#?
That chord usually shows up as the V chord with vii in the bass in the key of A.
For songs in the key of A I almost always capo 2 and play them in the G using these chords:
I – G (320033)
IV – Cadd9 (x32033)
V – Dsus (xx0233)
vi – Em7 (022033)
Note with these chords your ring and pinky finger can “camp” on the B and E strings
I play E/G# as an Esus/G chord:
Capo 2 (fret numbers relative to capo)
(2×0233)
1 234 <-use these fingers to fret the chord.
btw – A/C# is another common slash chord. Again play in the key of G as a G/B
just lift your second finger (middle finger) off the fret board and that make B the lowest note. (or it makes C# the lowest note if you have the capo on 2):
G/B (x20033)
Hope this helps.
Klampert – Thanks for all the suggestions & tips. I know we have some Paul Baloche DVDs at the church so I’ll have to check them out! I already have a guitar – 20 frets, a good size, felt big at first, but now I’m feeling more at home with it. Great sound! (It’s an Alvarez RD20–great guitar for the price!) I’ll have to look at those finger exercises, esp. pinkie–mine is useless too unless I’m playing piano or flute or just holding it down it seems–it never wants to move where I tell it! Ha ha.
Jeff – Thanks for your suggestions as well. I’ll have to check out the site you mentioned as well.
Billy – WOW! Thanks for the chords & such. I can’t wait to try them out!
I can’t wait for my fingers to build up — I wanted to keep playing today but I had to quit for a while.
It’s great to read about your progress. You know we won’t let you give up now. The little finger just takes practice. There is still loads of chords I find near impossible to play with my reach, so I usually settle for a substitute.
My guitar varnish has cracked a little since moving over here to a warmer (more variable) climate. I was keeping it on a stand, but have since started to put it in it’s case every night instead.
Wiping the guitar (and strings) down is advised as you will lengthen the live of your strings and guitar. Sweat can do some damage.
I use chord charts/programs online usually.
Jeff:
You said: “don’t stand on it”
That’s what I’ve been doing wrong!
I know you didn’t mean that literally or close (at least I don’t think), but it made me think about that in a different way today–in trying to learn to play chords & not get any buzz (for all the possible reasons!) I found that if I didn’t lean over the guitar so much (which I have been doing to see what I was doing on the fretboard), my fingers tend to do better, so less buzz… not sure if it was something else factoring in too, but time will tell!
snowjunkie: I’d love to know the chords that are more difficult that do better with substitutes & what they are. I’m curious if they’re any I have more problems with, or if you have any differ fingering combinations to try than the usual ones (I’ve been trying some different fingers for the “usual” G, & also different ways to play G & C chords, for example, as Billy mentioned above:
I – G (320033)
IV – Cadd9 (x32033)
One of my guitar students had a Baby Taylor guitar. It’s very easy to play with small hands. My fingers are short too, but if you put your thumb in the middle of the neck for stretches, it helps.
You may want to check out a series of worship guitar class instructional DVD’s I’ve put together. It’s at http://www.worshipguitarclass.com.
There’s lots of free teaching videos up at the blog too, http://jeanwelles.com.
Blessings in HIM,
Jean
Jean: Thank you for your suggestions.
I already have an acoustic guitar, but a friend of mine bought one of the Baby Taylors for her daughter, so I’ve tried one before. I have an Alvarez myself.
Thanks for the link to your series & to your blog. I’ve got them bookmarked.
You’re welcome. For you pinky question you might like trying a left-hand exercise at my blog, http://jeanwelles.com/14/left-hand-exercise/
I used to have a horrible time getting my pinky to do much, but a shift in hand position really helped. I was trying to play pieces with trills and pull offs with the pinky finger. It was near impossible until a teacher showed me this hand position.
Hope it helps.. and best of luck with your playing.
God Bless,
Jean