We'll start day 1 with a simple warm up, which is the ideal thing to do for the first 2 minutes of each day this week. We'll then look at the 4 essential chords for beginners should master to set up for success!
Week 1 warmup
Day 1 chords
Day 1 and our first jam track uses the chords G major, D major, E minor and C major. The chord progression for our first jam tracks is in this order, and is therefore in the key of G major, but more on this in tomorrows video.
Day 1 strumming
The strumming pattern for todays jam track is the most common strumming pattern ever. Here's 3 things to know about this strumming to set you up to be able to play it effortlessly!
We don't play on beat 3, so it is written with a tie over beat 3
Play only the thicker strings on down strums and thinner strings on up strums, apart from beats 2 and 4 when all notes of the chord can be strummed
Lift off the chord straight after beat 4 to make it to the next chord by beat 1 - this gives plenty of time to change chord (and is how the pros make it look effortless!)
Day 1 visual jam track - The four chord jam
Jam along to the video below, which includes on screen chords. Once you can do this, try playing along to the audio track, which is just below the video at the top of the page!
Start by playing along at 75bpm with the video below.
The end goal for day 1 is being able to play along to the full jam track at 90bpm, which is covered in the video below.
Day 1 key points
Most common chords in the key of G are G major, D major, E minor, C major
Songs that use this progression are called 4 Chord Songs
Songs that use the same progression repeated throughout are faster to learn, meaning you can add more songs to your repertoire easier!
When to move on from day 1
The biggest mistake online learners make with my daily bootcamps is feeling like they shouldn't move on until each day or jam track is "mastered" - don't make this mistake!
Days 2 and 3 of this bootcamp use the same jam track, so you still have two more days where you can strum along to the day 1 audio jam track if desired. However, days 2 and 3 will teach and test your guitar skills from different angles - so there is no need to be able to play day 1 perfectly before moving on to day 2 - it simply isn't a requirement!
Don't hold yourself back. Commit to doing each day as best you can, but then please move on so you can see how learning different things can improve your overall playing far more than repeating the same thing again and again ever could.
Go easy on yourself, and I'll see you tomorrow for day 2 - you got this!
Next Up: Day 2 - How to play a riff over major chords
Well done! Let's jump into the next lesson of the course.
