General

Music 8

Guitar Packet
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 Guidelines for Guitar Use

1. Lay guitar cases flat on the floor at all times.

2. Place your guitar on top of the case when not in use.

3. Make sure enough room is around you to work without

disturbing other in the class.

4. Make sure all zippers on your guitar case are secured before
carrying the guitar anywhere.

5. Return your guitar to its proper spot when you are finished
for the day.

6. DO NOT adjust the tuning pegs on the guitar FOR ANY

REASON. If you have any problems contact your teacher.

7. Guitar picks are YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. I will not be providing

guitar picks. If you want one you have to get your own.

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 A HISTORY OF THE GUITAR
Andres Segovia and Eddie Van Halen: two famous artists in the world
of music.

What does the Spaniard Segovia have in common with the

Dutch-born Van Halen? The answer is that they are both masters of
what is probably the most popular instrument of all time: the guitar.
Lute
All over the world, in various sizes, shapes and forms, the
guitar is constantly heard. It is the trusted companion of the folk singer
in the backwoods of Appalachia and the trademark of the
FLAMENCO artist in Spain. It is the raucous and cheeky mainstay of
a heavy-metal band on a stage in Australia, and the gentle-voiced
instrument of a classical artist in London.

Most musical scholars are not sure about the prehistory of the
guitar. All sorts of variations of instruments that produced a sound by
Vihuela de mano
vibrating strings and a hollow resonating body were developed in many
parts of the world centuries ago.
What is known is that the most important plucked-string
instrument before the 1600s was the LUTE. It had a curved back and a
bent neck, as you can see in the illustration.
At about the same time, though a little earlier, several other
plucked-string instruments were developed in Spain, including the
VIHUELA DE MANO, which was tuned like a lute but had a flat
back and a straight neck. This evolved into the guitar. By the 1700s, the
lute and the vihuela de mano had almost disappeared, and the guitar
dominated the scene. It grew larger, and by the early 1800s the six-
string guitar as we know it had come into existence. In fact, during the
19th century, it grew a bit in size to what it is today.
Originally, the guitar was thought of primarily as a Spanish
instrument. In time, though, it spread throughout the world, and
became important not only in folk music but as a classical concert
instrument as well. Today, there are a number of great classical
guitarists who give concerts all over the world. The most famous of
these was Andres Segovia.
For many years, and still today: the guitar was the most
important instrument in folk music in many countries. One can’t
imagine country- and-western music in the USA without the resonant
Modern sounds of the guitar.
Acoustic Because of its roots, rock and roll, when it came on the scene in
Guitar the 1950s, depended upon the guitar for its harmonic background. The
images of the Beatles and Elvis Presley would have been incomplete
without the ever-present guitar.
Modern Electric In the early days of rock, the traditional acoustic guitar with an
Guitar amplifier was used. As the guitar went electric, using amplifiers and
electronic modifiers of all sorts, new performing techniques and devices
were developed and introduced. This process is still going on – just
look at the New Products section of any major guitar magazine.
The sound of an electric guitar is worlds apart from the sound of a
vihuela de mano! Indeed, the sound of an amplified acoustic guitar is a
thousand light years away from the sounds produced by an Eddie Van
Halen in the 80s.

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General Music NAME:
History of the Guitar Worksheet DATE:____________PERIOD:___

Directions: Answer all of the questions below. The answers to the questions can be found in the
article you just read: “History of the Guitar”.

1. List 2 famous artist in the world of guitar music.

2. The most important plucked stringed instrument before the 1600’s was the

3. Describe the design of a VIHUELA DE MANO.

4. By what year did the guitar dominate the music scene?

5. The 6 string guitar as we know it came into existence when?

6. The most famous classical guitarist is

7. Guitar was the most important instrument to what kind of music?

8. Which type of music depended on the guitar for its harmonic background?

9. Name two early rock ‘n’ roll artists/groups who used the guitar.

10. What kind of guitar was used in the early days of rock?

Andres Segovia
Eddie Van Halen

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 Types of Guitars

There are literally hundreds of different varieties of guitar, but for ease of understanding there are two
main types:

Acoustic and Electric

The type of guitar that you choose will depend on the style of music that you wish to play on your instrument. It
does not really matter if you decide to learn to play on the electric or acoustic, it is really up to you, but one
consideration to make is if you wish to play both styles of guitar, it is probably best to start with an acoustic
steel string guitar. Playing this type of guitar will strengthen your fingers as you press down on the strings to
make chord shapes. Pressing down strings on the electric guitar is easier and requires less finger strength, so if
you wish to play both types of guitar, start with the acoustic.

Acoustic Guitars
Nylon stringed classical acoustics:

If you plan to play the classical guitar you will find that most
classical guitar music is composed for the nylon stringed
acoustic guitar. Spanish guitar and flamenco is also most
commonly played on the nylon stringed guitar.

The main difference between this type of guitar and other acoustics, is the width of the neck.

The neck of the classical acoustic is wider than other members of the guitar family.

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 Steel Stringed Acoustics

Steel stringed acoustic guitars are played across the

widest variety of music imaginable. The sound
created from the steel strings is generally louder
than that of nylon strings, and because of this it is a
favorite guitar of those who just want to stand up at
any time to play and sing!

Electro-Acoustic Guitars
Electro-acoustic guitars are the halfway house
between the acoustic and the electric guitar. In
most cases the electro-acoustic guitar looks the
same as the steel stringed acoustic, the key
difference is that the electro-acoustic can be
plugged into an amplifier.

Elecrto-acoustic guitars are fitted with an

electronic device that captures the vibration of the
strings allowing the guitar's sound to be
amplified. This device is called a pickup. The pickup means that the guitarist has greater freedom to move
around than if a microphone was pointed at an acoustic only guitar. Electro-acoustic guitars are usually more
expensive than regular steel string guitars.

Electric guitars
Electric guitars differ from other guitars in two main
ways:

1. They are solid body guitars. The guitar's body is made

from solid wood.

2. They must be amplified electronically to hear their

sound. This is done using an amplifier usually connected to
the guitar with a guitar lead. A guitar lead is basically a
long wire with a jack plug on either end.

Electric guitars can be quite expensive guitars to own. The

guitar itself can be picked up at a reasonable price second
hand but there is so much more to buy. The basics are an amplifier and lead, but the list of equipment that you
could buy is almost endless.

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Parts of the Acoustic Guitar

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Strings of the Acoustic Guitar

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General Music 8 NAME:
Strings of the Guitar Worksheet DATE:
Period:

Directions: Label each of the guitar diagrams below. Be sure to put the following information
on each diagram:

1. String Numbers
2. String Names

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Guitar Word Search Level 5
BEAT This puzzle contains words that describe the parts of the guitar as
BODY well as other common words we use in our guitar lessons. The words
BRIDGE can be written forward, backward, or diagonally.
CHORD
FRETBOARD Try to find all 23 words on this board.
FRETMARKERS
FRETS C V U A F X U E K Y F L H X R Z P E I K
HEAD
MEASURE B Z A A T K O N Z R R T D A S V T L K S
NECK Y S H G D W V Q F A A N H O T A Z E R W
NOTE
NUT J E B U E R B P H V O L V U X E F T E H
PICK Q E S O P E A R P R V D O W R Y F W A B
PICKGUARD
M Y G I N V M O C S C Z H U R I N J C V
PICKUPS
REST L W N N H K O X B H J J S C O E U Y F J
SOUNDHOLE
P T I G R V E L T T I A T V T E F V G U
STRINGS
STRUM L Z R I L Y Q N U S E J E G T L U S T A
TABLATURE E Y T I K O D A O M E R R I E O W N G R
TONEKNOBS
TUNINGKEYS L X S R E K R A M T E R F C G H E A D O
VOLUMEKNOBS S A V D D Q H A O U A K F W D D D N A A
F S K W Z F K C E N X B N F I N A V Y A
Q W D R A U G K C I P V L O R U K L G D
C Z C Q V J S Q H N I I L A B O D Y B B
P U F W K Q A P O G C P C E T S O E H N
Z W C M E N W T R K K H A K T U C D J P
V X S Z E R E T D E U T G R B L R I S X
E O J N W V O A M Y P K U A P Y G E M N
Q X L W X Q W B R S S M H B I V W H B R

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NOTES ON THE FRETBOARD

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 How to Read Guitar Tablature
Guitar tablature is probably the easiest and most used method for guitar notation. On the
internet, you can find guitar notation for almost any song that you want to learn. Tablature is
easier to learn than traditional music notation because it relates directly to the fret board of
the guitar, indicating where your fingers should be placed. Although it is an easier method to
learn it still has its weak points, the main one being that you can’t easily indicate rhythm on
tablature. This means that when you learn a song you have to learn the strum from the song
itself.

The following diagram shows you how tablature relates to the guitar fret board:

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We use numbers to indicate the string and the fret position that you are supposed to play.
Each fret is numbered, starting at the nut of the guitar at O and moving upwards towards the
bridge of the guitar. The following diagrams demonstrate this principle.

The 3 on the above tablature score (Tab. diagram 1) indicates to you that you place a finger on
the third fret of the sixth string. It is the note G.

The 1 on the tablature score (Tab. diagram 2) above indicates to you that you place a finger on
the first fret of the third string. It is the note C.

The O on the above tablature score (Tab. diagram 3) indicates to you that the third string is to
be played open. This means that you don’t need to place a finger on it. It is the note G.

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 Chords and Tablature

Chords are indicated by a set of numbers that tell you which frets need to be played and which
don’t. The following diagram demonstrates how an open A major chord is constructed with
tablature.

The first and fifth strings are played open whilst the second, third and fourth strings are played
at the second fret. The sixth string is not played in the A Major Chord and this is indicated by
an X.

Often tablature is written beneath traditional music score or stave. The two together looks like
this:

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 Tablature Examples

Play that Funky Music – K.C. and the Sunshine Band

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Brain Stew-Green Day

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HOW TO READ A CHORD CHART

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 The Blues Progression
One of the most popular forms of the blues is the 12-bar blues progression. The term progression refers to a
series of chords. Twelve-bar means the progression is 12 measures long. The three chords used in the basic
12-bar progression are the I (1), IV(4), and V(5) chords. The I chord (sometimes called the tonic) has the same
letter name as the key in which you are playing. For example, the I chord in the key of E is E. The IV chord
(subdominant) in the key of E is A. The V chord (dominant) has the same letter name as the fifth step up the
major scale from the I chord. The V chord in the key of E E is B. The following chart shows the I, IV, and V
chords in the different keys. The more common keys are shown first.

I IV V
(Tonic ) (Subdominant) (Dominant)

E A B
A D E
D G A
G C D
C F G
F Bb C
Bb Eb F
Eb Ab Bb
Ab Db Eb
Db Gb Ab
B E F#
F# B C#
Gb Cb Db

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 Playing the 12 Bar Blues
The formula for building the basic 12-bar blues progression is: 4 measures of the I chord, two measures of the
IV chord, two measures of the I chord, one measure of the V chord, one measure of the IV chords, and two
measures of the I chord. It’s very common to replace the last measure of the progression with a V chord
instead of a I chord if the progression is going to be repeated. This last measure is sometimes called the
turnaround. The advantage of knowing the Roman numeral formula is that, by plugging in the correct I, IV, and
V chords, you can play the blues in any key.

The following exercise is the basic 12-bar blues progression. Notice that the number of measures that each
chord is played fits the blues formula.

I(____) I(____) I(____) I(____)

I(____) I(____) I(____)

IV(____) IV(____) I(____) I(____)

I(____) I(____)

V(____) V(____) I(____) I(____)

I(____) I(____)

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