Publisher: Berklee Press
Kim Perlak, Curator
Developed by the Berklee Guitar Department Faculty

Learn to play guitar! Explore the fretboard, master the essential skills for playing the instrument, learn scales, modes, and chord construction. How to hold the instrument and use a pick, improvisation and rhythm playing, strumming patterns, chord shapes, and how and when to read standard notation and use tablature.

This is the essential approach now taught at Berklee College of Music. It will provide a foundation for playing in all styles, including: rock, pop, R&B, jazz, classical, blues, fingerstyle.

You will learn to:
• Hold and play the guitar using healthy hand and body positions
• Read guitar notation, including traditional notation, chord charts, and tablature
• Play chords in a variety of ways, starting with simple triads and expanding them to seventh chords and beyond, as both barre chords and moveable forms that you will use all around the neck
• Perform common chord progressions and melodies – essential techniques for songwriters and those playing “by ear”
• Understand essential music theory concepts and how they help simplify your music learning process, setting the ground for more advanced explorations.

• Kim Perlak - Berklee Guitar Theory
• Berklee Essential Guitar Songbook
• Classical Technique for the Modern Guitarist