Hot Lessons

Top Guitar Players

Over the past few years we have profiled many great songwriters and guitar players. Here are the most popular guitarists and bands according to you:

1. George Harrison
2. Eric Clapton
3. AC/DC
4. Slash
5. Stevie Ray Vaughan
6. The Beatles
7. Pink Floyd
8. Neil Young
9. Bob Dylan
10. R.E.M.

What’s Next?

This is easily one of the most common questions we get: What order should I read the lessons in?

Trying to write guitar lessons for a wide audience is rather daunting. Especially since everyone learns and pick ups things at different paces. As impossible as it might seem, Guitar Noise tries to meet as many needs of players as possible.

To give you a full answer to this question we have written a blog post entitled: Where do I Begin?

Everyone who comes here will be playing guitar at a different level. There will be some areas that interest some more than others. After reading the above blog post, you may find it helpful that several of our lessons have been written in a series format. Here are some of the most popular series that will help you get started.

Strumming for Beginners

• Getting Past “Up and Down” – Part 1: “Sock Puppets”
• Keeping Time
• Strumming for Beginners

Fingerstyle or Finger Picking

• Basic Travis Finger Picking Tutorial – Part 1
• Basic Travis Finger Picking Tutorial – Part 2
• Dust In The Wind - Songs for Intermediates #26
• Picking Your Poison
• Improvisation for the Fingerstyle Guitarist
• Improvisation for the Fingerstyle Guitarist II

Turning Scales Into Solos

• Choosing Colors – Turning Scales into Solos – Part 1
• One Note At A Time – Turning Scales into Solos – Part 2
• The Major and the Minor – Turning Scales into Solos – Part 3
• Combining The Major Scale With The Minor Pentatonic – Turning Scales into Solos – Part 4
• Color Me Blue – Turning Scales into Solos – Part 5
• Targeting in on a Mode – Turning Scales into Solos – Part 6
• Sustaining Interest in a Target – Turning Scales into Solos – Part 7
• Taking Care of Choices – Turning Scales into Solos – Part 8
• Practice With Purpose – Turning Scales into Solos – Part 9

Walking Basslines

• Connecting The Dots – Part 1
• Connecting The Dots – Part 2
• Connecting The Dots – Part 3
• Connecting The Dots – Part 4

Ear Training

• Happy New Ear
• Unearthing The Structure
• Solving The Puzzle

Alternate Tunings

• Open Tuning Part I – Look, Ma, No Hands!
• Open Tuning Part II – Here There Be Monsters
• On The Tuning Awry
• Cover Story
• Alternate Writing Styles

Learning to Play Solos

• Leading Questions
• Tricks of the Trade
• Picture in Dorian Gray

Music Theory

• Theory Without Tears
• The Musical Genome Project
• The Power of Three
• Building Additions (and Suspensions)
• Multiple Personality Disorder
• A Before E (Except After C)
• Scales Within Scales
• Five To One – (or Home, home again…)
• You Say You Want a Resolution…

Chord Theory

• The Musical Genome Project
• The Power of Three
• Building Additions (and Suspensions)

Buying Equipment

• The Rites of Spring

Guitar Practice Tips

• A Question of Balance
• Recharging Your Batteries