Guitar – Beginners

Course Summary

This captivating course of class-based guitar lessons will teach you chords, simple strumming techniques and finger picking. You will learn to play enchanting folk, pop, classical and rock songs. And you will learn how to read notes and guitar tablature. You do need to bring your own instrument.

During these guitar lessons you will learn how to:

• Identify the various parts of the guitar
• Tune a guitar properly
• Open strings
• Recognise and play basic chords
• Strum rhythms to suit a variety of songs
• Finger-pick patterns to suit different songs
• Read notes and guitar tablature
• Play a variety of songs individually and with other people, in a relaxed and friendly environment
• Listen to recordings and recognise how the guitar is used in various musical styles.

Suitable for beginners. No experience necessary. We will provide class notes for you to keep. 

What should I bring?

• Please bring your own guitar (nylon-string guitar is recommended for beginners – it is much kinder on the fingers).
• Also, bring a spare plectrum (pick) or two. And a pen and writing paper. 
• It is advisable to bring a tuner (can be done as a phone app for free). Spare strings are optional.

Your teacher

Jeff Harrison is an instrumental musician, vocalist, composer, teacher and performer with 30 years of experience across a broad range of fields and disciplines. These include film soundtracks for SBS TV, extensive performance history at a wide range of festivals from Port Fairy to Woodford), residencies at many Melbourne venues, and facilitating instrumental music classes and community music groups. He has studied Sitar and Raga in India on three separate study tours. He holds a Diploma in Music (Jazz and Popular) from MIT. Jeff began teaching instrumental music in the early 1990s at Fretted Instruments and Clements Music and joined the teaching staff at the CAE in 2005. In 2018 Jeff toured Japan and performed live in the city of Fukuoka.