To summarize I enjoyed this experience and felt I have learned a lot from it. If I were to improve on this site, I would have a dedicated tab that was full of video tutorials. I believe this would greatly improve my site and offer a better experience to viewers. A better way to have promoted my site would probably to reach out to other websites with a similar premise as mine and partner with them to help gain exposure. My best experience with this project was looking at the twitter I made and seeing the likes and followers I got from my site.

This experience will benefit me in the future because I will now have a better understanding of web design which will aid me in applying for jobs that require similar skills.

My most popular week would be week February 11-17. I had 9 views and 1 visitor. My most popular post of the semester would be my introduction/ getting started post. Both of them having 3 views. I think it is the most popular because it is the first one you see when going to my website. I was honestly surprised by how low it was. I thought I would have a few more visitors, but I guess I should have kept my expectations in check. When it comes to twitter I was able to get a follower and two likes. It may be small but I still felt proud that someone liked my work.

The key to to becoming a good guitar player is not through the number of techniques you know, but by how well you can play them. The only way you can become great at techniques is to practice. I will now share some good ways to not only practice, but to also help build a routine to get into.

Before you begin your practice session you should warm up. Simply stretch your fingers and get them loose so that they are more responsive and less stiff.

Then while practicing have fun with it. Playing the guitar is very challenging and a lot of the time you might be unsure of what you are doing is right or wrong. The key is to ask questions and look up help whenever you need it.

It took me awhile to figure out what my routine should be, but the key is consistency. Here is a look at what my usual routine is.

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Here is a fantastic resource that can help you build the foundation for what your routine should be like.

Pull Offs are the sequels to Hammer Ons. They are also one of the key ways to being able to play at a much faster rate. To be able to pull off your Pull Offs, make sure to get your Hammer Ons down.

To perform a Pull Off is actually really easy. To put it simply strum one of the strings while holding a note. While the note is ringing simply pull the string your finger is holding down. when you are pulling the string make sure to pull downwards and not up, this will help give a stronger sound and produce the note we are looking for. To help gain a better idea of this please look at the GIF down below.

Another good resource to help gain a understanding of Pull Offs is to check out Mahalo’s video on Pull Off.

Pull Offs are simple but require practice just like everything else. A good way to practice is to combine Pull Offs with Hammer Ons. Play a note, then Hammer On. Then immediately perform a Pull Off. By practicing this you will be able to take steps to performing legendary solos such as the famous Stairway to Heaven solo by Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Paige.

We will now look at an intermediate technique known as Hammer On. Hammer Ons are the first step to being able to playing faster and is pivotal in order to learn advanced solos like Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin or Free bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Just like the other lessons pull offs will take some time to learn, but are worth it in the end.

While Hammer Ons are a intermediate technique, they are actually not very difficult to pull off. To perform a Hammer On we will use the GIF above as a guide. Firstly use your index finger to hold down the seventh fret of the G string, then pluck the G string. While the G string is ringing, slam your index finger on the ninth fret of the G string. To make your note sound sharper when slamming your index finger on the ninth fret, focus more on speed then power. This will cause the string to play the G string’s ninth fret note.

Congratulations you have successfully completed your first Hammer On. Hammer Ons allow for faster note playing while reducing the amount of times the guitarist has to pick.

If you are still struggling with Hammer Ons, check out Mahalo’s video as it provides an easy to follow tutorial to go along with.

Our next lesson will be talking about guitar bends. Guitar bends are used in a lot of blues and rock songs, the goal is to pluck the string and push it up on the fret board. Guitar bends are very simple and let the guitarist begin to experiment with different sounds and explore their fret board.

Performing a bend is extremely easy and we shall go through the steps now. To learn we shall practice with the help of the GIF above. Take your index finger and place it on the string, then take your middle finger and place it one fret above on the same string. By placing two fingers on the string we are able to make the string bend not only sharper, but also able to push the string with less strain on your fingers. Next you are taking your pointer finger and pushing the surrounding string out of the way. This helps to make sure you don’t accidentally pluck the surrounding strings when you’re bending your strings.

Congratulations, you have successfully completed a bend. These are the basics to learning to bend strings. The only thing left to mention is which strings to bend away from your fingers, and which strings to pull to bend. The rule of thumb is the three strings closest to your palm you push, and the three furthest away you pull.

For a more in depth explanation on guitar bending tips and techniques, I highly recommend Justin Guitar’s video on bending. He provides good tips and is very beginner friendly.

In order to learn chords, you need to be able to read a chord diagram.

first, let’s know which strings are which, starting from the left it goes E, A, D, G, B, E. the far left E represents the top string of the guitar, or the lowest sounding one. While the right E represents the bottom string or the highest sounding pitch string.

Next, we are going to learn how to read where we place our fingers. If you look at a chord diagram you will notice that there are circles with numbers on them. Those numbers represent which finger goes where. The number 1 represents your pointer finger, and the number 4 represents your pinky.

You may also see on a chord diagram an open circle without a number on it. That means that you don’t place your finger on any of the strings, but you still strum it. Finally, if you see an X on a string, you do not strum that string.

On this chord, we would place our pointer finger on the B string, our middle finger on the D string, and strum all the chords from the A string to the E string.

If you want more clarification, check out this site that gives a great explanation for what we just went over.

Now that we know how to play notes on our guitar, it is time to start learning some basic chords.

In this tutorial, I am going to introduce you to two basic but extremely useful chords, A Minor 7 and C Major.

To play the A Minor 7 chord what you want to do is is take your index finger and press it on the first fret on the B string, then take your middle finger and place it on the second fret of the D string. Here is a picture illustrating this.

The filled in circles represent where your fingers are supposed to go, so the filled in circle with a one shows where you put your pointer finger. the open circles tell that you don’t place your finger there, but you still strum that string. Finally, the x tells that you don’t strum that string.

Here is a great resource on learning chords.

Now lets look at C Major.

C major is very similar to A Minor 7 only your going to take your ring finger and place on the third fret of the A string.

Justin Guitar is a great blog for newcomers and intermediate players.

One of the biggest reasons Justin Guitar is such a good blog to follow is his lessons. His lessons are broken down into categories based on the difficulty of the subject. However he doesn’t just handle lessons on how to strum correctly or which cords to play, he also does tutorials on Music Theory and Ear training. These lessons are crucial for beginners as it can help open a beginners mind and make them realize there is more to guitaring then just strumming chords.

Another reason to follow Justin Guitar is his song tutorials. In his blog, there are over 500 songs that have a video dedicated to them that gives a step by step instruction on how to play them. Plus these are good songs, not Mary Had a Little Lamb, but songs like Stairway to Heaven, Layla, and Don’t Fear the Reaper. Not only that but he also organizes the songs based on the difficulty which will help newcomers not pick a song they are not ready for.

Finally, another cool reason to check out Justin Guitar is the tools he offers. Firstly he offers a BPM calculator, this helps determine the beats per minute in a song and can help beginners figure out the rhythm to playing their favorite songs. Secondly, he has a countdown timer which can give beginners a guide on when to start. Finally, he also offers blank music paper so that those who want to write their own music are able to do so.

In short Justin Guitar is a great resource for guitarist and I highly recommend them. His twitter is @justinsandercoe

Before we can play chords we must know how to play notes, and before we can play notes we need to know how to play a note.

To play a note all you have to do is place your finger and push down on one of the strings and strum the corresponding string. Doesn’t sound too hard, but there were a few things that I didn’t realize when I was starting off.

Firstly you don’t need to press down with all your strength to play a note. If you do this and try to play for long periods of time you can experience pain and possible cramps. The best way to figure how much you need to press down is to first barely place your finger on the string and strum. Slowly apply more pressure until the note sounds clean, and voila you now know the amount of force you need to use.

Speaking of strumming lets learn how to strum. Take your pick then swipe it down the string, boom done. Now I’m going to save your future guitar playing self and teach you a good exercise to learn how to alternate strum, and hopefully not get copyright stricken in the process.

A good way to learn alternate strumming while also learning a few notes is to play the Twilight Zone theme. Here is a video showcasing the exercise.

With these skills in mind, all that is left is to practice.

Before you can start practicing guitar you need to first get, surprisingly, a guitar. There are many different ways of obtaining your first guitar but the best is probably going to a pawn shop. Pawn shops are great because you can potentially get a better guitar for a cheaper price. Just know that at a pawn shop you won’t get all the bells and whistles you get at a guitar store.

Now you need to make a choice, Acoustic or Electric. One is not better than the other but both have their strengths and weaknesses

Electric Guitar
PRO	CONS
HIgher sound variety Smaller  More Beginner friendly   Softer strings	Need an amp to properly play   Difficult to find a good tone   More expensive in the long run

Acoustic Guitar
Po	Cons
Less expensive in the long run  Easier transition to Electric    Smoother tone	Heavier strings Can be harder to pluck notes More fragile   Wider fretboard not as user-friendly

If you want a more in-depth comparison between Acoustic and Electric guitars I suggest you watch Darrell Braun’s vidhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UyaEZCsNXgeo

The main thing I can say about picking a guitar is to pick a guitar that inspires you to play. The reason for this is because if you were inspired by Joe Satriani but you sound like George Strait then you might become discouraged because you don’t sound like the players you idealize.