Learning to play songs in different keys by actually transposing and understanding the resulting chords and melodies can transform your guitar playing.
Make chord progressions more distinctive and get outside the box of strumming block chords.
Stay Loose and Avoid Injury by Developing a Guitar Warm-Up Routine
12 Ways to Challenge Yourself on Guitar
Editor's Picks
Adam Perlmutter is the editor of Acoustic Guitar magazine and has written hundreds of articles, reviews, and song introductions (as well as expertly engraving and transcribing the music for a comparable number of lessons and compositions.)
It’s impossible to choose favorites, but here are a few lessons he’s worked on recently and suggests you check out.
It can be intimidating to change all the notes that you’ve worked so hard to learn, but the new sounds and new ideas you'll discover make it worth the effort.
In this lesson, we’ll dive into some chordal innovations you can use to get a Django Reinhardt sound or to simply explore new ways of approaching chords.
Though commonly associated with classical guitar, tremolo technique can be used on steel-string acoustic or even electric guitar to give the impression of a sustained voice.
“Sidewalk Chalk” is a lovely waltz with a beautiful set of chord changes. It’s also quite approachable and, like so much of Levy’s work, is a joy to play.
“Big Sciota” is not necessarily easy to play, but if you stick with it, you'll learn a fun and well-known tune and develop some powerful chops in both hands.
About Acoustic Guitar lessons. Learning to play the guitar takes more than just figuring out what fingers go on which frets and which strings to pluck or pick. You need to absorb these mechanics, for sure, but you also need to know how different techniques fit together and how you can put them to use in service of making music with soul and spirit. Memorizing your favorite players’ licks and arrangements is an essential part of the process, too, but all that work doesn’t truly pay off until you’ve internalized the moves and made them your own. The players and teachers whose words and music are shared on this site understand these facets of learning and offer unique, in-depth lessons. Here, you’ll find riffs and exercises, full songs to play, technique tips, listening suggestions, and advice on how to practice as well as what to practice. We’ve been publishing high-quality guitar lessons since 1990, written and developed by some of the best guitar teachers around.
