Guitar Chord

Right now on Amazon: Master the Guitar in 7 Days  $.099

Seriously? Wow, why the heck has it taken others so long? And were talking Mastering the guitar, not just playing it. Heres a dose of reality, its not going to happen! Yes, you can learn a 2 chord song in 7 days. Will you have it mastered? Doubtful. Is it a song youd be proud to show your friends? Hey, you guys want to jam on Skip to my Lou? Google play guitar in 7 days and youll be shocked and amazed at how many courses there are. Heres the hot tip of the day, save your money. Beginning guitar, getting better at guitar, mastering the guitar is a long term investment of time and money. If it were possible in a short time, there would be a lot more great guitar players.

OK, how long does it take?

The guitar is a very versatile instrument. Ive had students who took lessons for years, and Ive had students who were happy with knowing enough chords to strum and sing some songs. Remember, its not how long youve played, its how many hours you put in. I can tell you that it wont be a week or even a month. The big secret is that like every other worthwhile skill it takes time, dedication and practice. Getting by the total beginner stage in about 6 months is a good goal. The most important consideration is how good to you want to be?

Are these courses any good at all?

Surprisingly, Im going to say yes. I just cant imagine advertising something in that way when Im sure they all know its not going to happen. Theres good material in a lot of the lessons, theres even good stuff available for free. The problem is in making outrageous claims. Playing and learning guitar without a teacher involves lots of self discipline, the ability to decide if youre doing things correctly, and being able to not want or need any feedback. You cant ask a DVD, a CD or a book a question. Without being able to actually watch a student its very difficult to help solve problems. So, do you want to save a few bucks and be a do it yourselfer? Or, are you willing to make the sacrifice and spend the time and money to get started the right way?

Todays guitar chord of the day is the famous first guitar chord from The Beatles A Hard Days Night from the film and album of the same name.

Heres is the actual guitar chord played by George Harrison for the A Hard Days Night intro:

Underneath this guitar chord, Paul McCartney played a D note on the bass, there was also a further piano chord in the mix. This is the reason that the naming of George Harrisons chord has been subject to some debate over the years. As weve mentioned in previous Guitar Chord a Day posts, there are many guitar chords that are synonyms - chords that have the same notes that can be named differently depending on their function.

If we assume that this chord is functioning as a G, we would name it G11 or G11/D taking into account the bass note. Weve looked at other 11th guitar inversions here.

The notes of G11 are: G, (B), D, F, A, C - though the 3rd (B) is almost always omitted.

If we assume the chord is functioning as a D we could name the chord Dm11.
The notes of Dm11 are: D, F, A, C, E G

As you can see the notes of Dm11 and G11 are very similar and this has led to some of the confusion of the chord name.

Although the above inversion is the chord that George Harrison actually played for the opening of A Hard Days Night, if youre playing this song without a bass player to play the D, it might work best if you play this inversion. Here weve included the open D string instead of the F on the 3rd fret.

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