Free audio

Guitar for Adult Beginners

by Ollie Hart

How to use these recordingsEach track number matches the number printed next to the exercise in the book. Every track starts with a short click count-in, so you know when to come in. Listen once, then play along.

Chapter 1Before You Play a Note

  1. 1.1Tuning notes: E A D G B E
  2. 1.2Pluck each string
  3. 1.3Strum all six strings

Chapter 2Reading the Pictures

  1. 2.1Exercise 1: steady open strings
  2. 2.2Exercise 2: rolling across the strings

Chapter 3Your First Clean Notes

  1. 3.1First fretted notes
  2. 3.2Clean-note check
  3. 3.3The spider walk
  4. 3.4Morning Walk

Chapter 4Your First Two Chords

  1. 4.1E minor strums
  2. 4.2A minor strums
  3. 4.3Changing in time: E minor and A minor
  4. 4.4Rain on the Window

Chapter 5Changing Chords Without Stopping

  1. 5.1G major strums
  2. 5.2C major, then G to C
  3. 5.3D major, then the G, C, D grid
  4. 5.4Drunken Sailor
  5. 5.5Bonus song: Oh! Susanna

Chapter 6Strumming That Sounds Like Real Music

  1. 6.1Down and up
  2. 6.2The bounce pattern
  3. 6.3The campfire pattern
  4. 6.4Amazing Grace (strummed)
  5. 6.5Red River Valley

Chapter 7The Four-Chord Trick

  1. 7.1G, D, E minor, C
  2. 7.2Fifteen Minutes a Day
  3. 7.3Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Chapter 8Playing Melodies with Tab

  1. 8.1The G scale
  2. 8.2Long and short notes
  3. 8.3Ode to Joy
  4. 8.4Amazing Grace (melody)
  5. 8.5Auld Lang Syne

Chapter 9Simple Fingerpicking and the Blues

  1. 9.1The A minor picking pattern
  2. 9.2Picking through the chords
  3. 9.3Amazing Grace (fingerpicked)
  4. 9.4Seventh chords: A7, D7, E7
  5. 9.5Sore Fingers Blues

Chapter 10Where to Go Next

  1. 10.1The easy F chord, then C to F
  2. 10.2The capo: same shapes, higher sound
  3. 10.3House of the Rising Sun