34. Partt:So You Wanna Play Guitar ST, rs Because of the special right-hand strokes that you use in playing classical guitar (the free stroke and the rest stroke), you must hold your fingers almost perfectly perpendicular to the strings to execute the correct technique. A perpendicular approach enables your fingers to draw against the strings with maximum strength, See Chapter 13 for more information on the rest stroke and free stroke. Vou Don’t Have to Read Music to Understand Guitar Notation , Although you don’t need to read music to play the guitar, musicians have developed a few simple tricks through the years that aid in communicating such basic ideas as song structure, chord construction, chord progressions, and important rhythmic figures. Pick up on the shorthand devices for chord diagrams, rhythm slashes, and tablature (which we describe in the following sections), and you're sure to start coppin' licks faster than Roy Clark pickin’ after three cups of coffee. We promise that you don't need to read music to play the guitar. With the help of the chord diagrams, rhythm slashes, and tablature that we explain in this section, plus hearing what all this stuff sounds like through the magic of CD technology, you can pick up on everything that you need to understand and play the guitar. Beginning in Chapter 4, listen closely to the CD and follow the corresponding written examples to make sure that you understand how the ‘two relate. Getting by with a little help from a chord diagram Don’t worry — reading a chord diagram is not like reading music; it's far sim- pler. All you need to do is understand where to put your fingers to form a chord. A chord is defined as the simultaneous sounding of three or more notes. Figure 36 shows the anatomy of a chord chart, and the following list briefly explains what the different parts of the diagram mean: ¥ The grid of six vertical lines and five horizontal ones represents the guitar fretboard, as if you stood the guitar up on the floor or chair and looked straight at the upper part of the neck from the front. ¥ The vertical lines represent the guitar strings. The vertical line at the far left is the low 6th string, and the right-most vertical line is the high Ist string,jeveloping the Tools and Skills to Play 3.5 ___ Chapter 3: Ready, Set... Not ¥ ¥ The horizontal lines represent frets. The thick horizontal line at the top is the nut of the guitar, where the fretboard ends. So the first fret is actu: ally the second vertical line from the top. (Don't let the words here con- fuse you; just look at the guitar.) ¥ The dots that appear on vertical string lines between horizontal fret lines represent notes that you fret The numerals directly below each string line (just below the last fret line) indicate which left-hand finger you use to fret that note, On the left hand, 1 = index finger; 2 = middle finger; 3 = ring finger; and 4 = litte finger. You don't use the thumb to fret, except in certain unusual circumstances. 1 The X or O symbols directly above some string lines indicate strings that ‘you leave open (unfretted) or that you don't play. An X (not shown in Figure 3-6) above a string means that you don't pick or strike that string with your right hand. An O indicates an open string that you do play. Chord name dicates open string £ E 2 ° Oo indiaesteretnae — POETS ™ ‘Nut ee Bret —_— OI Tarr suing ras _ gamtoran Left-hand fingering E chord. (1=index; 2=middle; saat Ita chord starts on a fret other than the first fret (which you can see in Chapters 10 and 11), a numeral appears to the right of the diagram, next to the top fret line, to indicate in which fret you actually start. (In such cases, the top line is nor the nut.) In most cases, however, you deal primarily with chords that fall within only the first four frets of the guitar. Chords that fall within the first four frets typically use open strings, so they're referred to as open chords. ee % x