Gr. 9/10 Guitar (MUS15/25S)

This combined grade 9 and 10 guitar class starts with, and builds on, the basics- knowing how to play the basic techniques will help build a solid foundation of guitar playing. Proper posture, technique, music reading, chords, etc., are all fundamental to being a good player. We start here so all students, even if you have never played before, can get a good beginning on your guitar journey.

Assignment
 hand in

Any assignments that you will need to hand in can be uploaded using Teams. Log in to Teams, and submit the assignment or recording in your classroom.

Want some more?

Looking for more challenges? See below in the Extras!

Ongoing guitar assignment

This is the new format for what we are going to be doing in guitar. Here is the ongoing assignment for you.
We will be using the guitar booklet to learn MELODY for your playing. I will focus on that for this booklet work- guitar chords will come later or in a different way.
I'm going to give you the option of which songs you will learn to play in the next while.

Assignment hand in

Any assignments that you will need to hand in can be uploaded using Teams. Log in to Teams, and submit the assignment or recording in your classroom.

Website Resource-  www.justinguitar.com

Hey guitar players! Here is a new online resource that we will be starting to use. The website is called Justin Guitar. The maker of this website is a very good guitarist from Great Britain, and he has a lot of lessons, songs, and other resources we can use. Go to www.justinguitar.com, and create your own account for free. This will give you access to the lessons and songs that are on the free part of his website. The lessons are ordered by level of difficulty, so you can start with lessons in the beginner level if you are newer to guitar, or go to the intermediate level or higher if you feel comfortable with that. 

I encourage you to go through the beginner lessons to get anything you may have not learned in the past! That way we will all learn together!

When you sign up, you also will have the ability to keep track of your progress with your DASHBOARD. This will list the things you have gone over, and you can keep track of your progress. You can even put into your dashboard goals and things you want to work on! It is a great resource for you! 

Scales Resource- www.fretastic.com

This is a new website/app that will help you to learn your scales! It is a great resource to visualize the scales, as well as be able to find how to play them on different parts of your fretboard.
You can choose the scale, which part of the fretboard to play it on, and be able to see the scale written out on the fretboard in several different ways. You can hear the scale played,  adjust the display of the scale to show the names of the notes or the degrees of the scale (1, 2, 3, etc.). You can also play around on the scale with a backing track, so you can learn to improvise on the scale! This site shows you how to play dozens of types of scales, starting on any note (not just major and minor)! It's a great resource for learning your fretboard! Try it out! 
www.fretastic.com ​
Sign up for a free account to be able to use it. It's free!

Chords and Strumming Exercise

Each week, you will start doing some chord strum practice to get more used to it. What you will get is a strum pattern and a chord progression, and your challenge is to get the strum pattern as even and steady as you can, using the chord progression.
You will be in the key of G for this first exercise.
Here is your first strumming exercise:
Strum pattern:   D        D  u       u  D    
                               1  &   2  &  3  &  4  &
Your chord progression is:
|G / / / | D / / / |C / / / | G / / / |
|G / / / | D / / / |G / / / | A / / / |
|D / / / | A / / / |D / / / | E / / / |
|E / / / | D / / / |A / / / | D / / / |
Advanced chord progression:
|G / / / | Em / / / |C / / / | G / / / |
|G / / / | Em / / / |D(sus) / / / | D / / / |
|G / / / | G7 / / / |C / / / | Cm / / / |
|G / / / | D7 / / / |G / / D | G / / / |

Listening Journal Assignment

Here is where you'll find  your instructions for the Listening Journal. Keep looking back here for more!
To hand it in, you will be submitting it on the Teams page. Log in to Teams, and submit the assignment or recording in your classroom.

Guitar scales

To play the guitar better, it is important to be able to move around the fretboard easily. The more comfortable you are with the fretboard, the better you can move around on it. 
We will start working on major scales. A scale is made up of 8 notes put in a patter. The pattern will stay the same, wherever you start, and so the major scale will sound the same regardless. If you use the pattern, it will ALWAYS sound like a major scale. Here is the pattern (W stands for whole tone, or two frets, and H stands for half tone, or one fret).
ASSIGNMENT:
Start learning your scales, using the order they are showing in here. As you learn a scale, submit them into the Teams page.
major_scales_copy.pdf
File Size: 69 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Major Scales Videos:
C Major Scale
G Major Scale
D Major Scale
A Major Scale
E Major Scale
B Major Scale
F# Major Scale
F# Major Scale (low octave)
F Major Scale
Bb Major Scale
Eb Major Scale
Ab Major Scale
Db/C# Major Scale

Building a Major Scale

1     2     3     4     5     6      7     8
   W    W   H    W   W   W    H
You start on the first note (1), and then you are moving up according to the pattern.
  • First you move up a Whole tone to the second note
  • Then move another Whole tone to the third note
  • Then a Half tone to the fourth note
  • Then a Whole tone to the fifth note
  • Then a Whole tone to the sixth note
  • Move up a third Whole tone to the seventh note
  • Move up a Half tone to the eighth note
When you get to the eighth note, you should be on the note that has the same name as the note you started.

Reading TAB

There is tab notation in this Major Scales sheet, and if you haven't read tab before, here is how to read it.
TAB is short for Tabulature, and it gives you the fingerings for the the strings of the guitar for the notes.
There are six lines in TAB (different from the five lines in reading notation), corresponding to the six strings on your guitar.
The highest line on the tab lines up with the highest line on your guitar, and the lines correspond to the strings as you go down- the lowest line is the lowest string.
The numbers on the TAB tell you which fret you are putting a finger on to make the note (eg. a 3 means you put your finger on the third fret on that particular string). Make sure you are putting your fingers on the right string! Otherwise it will not sound right.
*FOR THESE SCALES, use the numbers also to tell you which finger to use on that fret as well. So, if it says a 3 on the second string, then use your third finger on the the third fret of the second string to play that note (which is a D, or 23, by the way). 

Gr. 9 Guitar booklet

Seeing as how we won't be seeing each other at school for a while, I have uploaded the Gr. 9 guitar booklet. Feel free to download it. We will be working off of it for the next while, among other things.
gr._9_guitar_booklet_part_1.pdf
File Size: 1013 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
gr._9_guitar_booklet_part_2.pdf
File Size: 1042 kb
File Type: pdf
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Extras!

Here you will be able to find some songs you can look at and learn if you are bored and want an extra challenge! Keep looking back here if you dare!
lesson_46-_julio_sagreras.pdf
File Size: 74 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
andantino_in_c_major-_matteo_carcassi.pdf
File Size: 72 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
blackbird_-_guitar_iii_tab.pdf
File Size: 86 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Guitarists to inspire you...

Here are some guitarists that you can listen to for inspiration!
Alexandr Misko- fingerstyle picking- playing Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. Amazing!
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx4okVd3K14
Michael Fix-guitar performer and arranger- ​http://www.michaelfix.com/
Mike Dawes- guitar performer, guitar percussionist specialist- percussionspecialist-  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkkS9vuXcbxijUfoXft8x7w
Don Ross- amazing guitarist!
https://www.youtube.com/user/DonRossMusic
Andy McKee- guitar performer and composer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddn4MGaS3N4
Tobias Rauscher- guitar performer, guitar percussion specialist. https://www.youtube.com/user/xTsyx
Tommy Emmanuel- amazing fingers- fast player! https://www.youtube.com/user/TommyEmmanuelTV
Ewan Dobson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXqPYte8tvc​
Click the button to go to the St. B. website!