Picking the guitar

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I started things off by selecting 4 chords to pick. The chords used will be Am C Dm and G. These four chords are in the key of Am and C major. The chords in the key of Am are Am B dim C Dm Em F and G. So the progression I will use to illustrate a picking technique will be a i, bIII, iv and bVII progression in the key of Am.

Look at the chords to the progression below.

The trick behind picking is to just pick the notes in the chord and the other notes of the scale. The strings that make up the standard tuning of the guitar are E A D G B and E. The six strings are tuned in this sequence. This means that all of these notes are in the key of Am and C major. This means you can basically pick any of the open strings and be in the key of C major or Am. So, if you finger the Am chord in the open position, you can also pick the strings that are not fingered. This holds true for the other chords too.

Here is the Wav file to this progression. Am progression.

 

 

What I have done was plug in a real cheap mic into the back of my computer and recorded a simple progression. I used the wav recorder you can find on your computer, if you have windows. This wav recorder is usually located at Start, Programs, Accessories, Entertainment.

If you learn to pick this simple progression as illustrated, you will begin to come up with an endless number of progressions or melodies of your own. You can convert the progression to other chords and try a different picking technique. But it is recommended that you learn how to pick this progression.

Practice this Am progression too.
Look over the different minor progressions.

Good luck,

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