‘I’ve learnt, enjoyed and now I want to share my Guitar Tutor for free’

Although I have played the guitar for many years it is only in the past 6 years or so that I have been fortunate enough to find two musicians, now friends, who have taught me how music is written and performed. One of these, Jerry Bird, lives in my home town of Dorchester, England and the other, Mark Fitzpatrick, in Port Charlotte, Florida.

Apart from the geography, which affects some music terminology, they each play different styles of music. These include popular, blues and jazz to Celtic and folk, these often in alternative tunings. Naturally they teach in different ways and over these years I have collected much hand-written material. I wanted to set this out in a logical manner starting with the basics and moving onto the more complex to help other guitarists as I have been helped,

I have tried to navigate a path which keeps to the essentials you need to know but is not simplistic.

Although most guitarists will be familiar with the written ‘Tab’ or tablature method of writing guitar scores I have deliberately avoided this. To really enjoy making music with your guitar it helps to have an understanding of how it is constructed and played.

You can dip into this book as you increase your musical knowledge; see how the chords or scales you are playing are built and much more. If you like the guitar and want to improve at your own pace this is for you.

Although Jerry and Mark have contributed greatly to this book any errors or omissions are mine.

David Poole

“I started learning the guitar when I was 8 because I thought it would be a fun and different instrument to play and I wanted to be able to sing and play around a campfire! I’d also seen my Grandpa playing and he always seems so happy in his guitar world.

I find it relaxing to play and I love that you can play on your own, sing along, or be part of a bigger group. I am still aiming to learn more songs and be able to entertain people as well as composing more songs of my own.

Now that I know many of the chords I can pick up a lot of pieces of music I like and start to play them, which is really rewarding.

Playing the guitar is a great way to have fun.

I am really proud that my Grandpa has written this book to help not just me, but to help others learn the guitar around the world too.”

Zara Williams (age 12)

The music theory which appears in this book is universal and may be applied to all instruments including the voice. In this book we have applied it to the guitar.

Here are some of the topics covered:

Fret board Diagram, Standard Tuning, Music Notation, Scales, Chords (from basic to complex including diminished, augmented, barre chords, inverting and voicing chords), Blues, Bass Runs, Strumming chords, Picking styles and harmonics, Cycle of Keys, Major key signatures and parallel chords, Modes, Chords to accompany the voice and chord melody arrangements, Intros and outros for fingerstyle guitar, Non-standard guitar tunings.

As well as explaining music theory the book also covers practical matters such as choosing the right guitar and strings, practice amplifiers and acoustic guitar parts.

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