Guitar Lessons With The National Guitar Academy

Looking for 100’s of FREE guitar lessons? Congratulations, your search is over. You’ve found the best guitar lessons on the internet!

In this free guitar lessons you will learn:

Over 60 essential guitar chords.
The no1 secret to becoming a lead guitar god.
15 must-know strumming tips which will enhance your musicality.
10 theory hacks that will accelerate your guitar progress.

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Before we get started, we thought it would be best if we showed you 10 of our BEST guitar lessons. Hold on tight, you’re in for a awesome ride.

Here they are:

The guitar world is split into four quarters, they are…

Guitar Chords.
Lead Guitar and Scales.
Rhythm, Strumming and Musicality.
Guitar Theory and Musical Keys.

We’re going to show you some of our BEST content on these essential corners of the guitar world. As this guitar lessons is FULL of super useful content, we’ve created a contents page to help you navigate this epic article.

It might be a good idea to bookmark this article and refer back to it as you progress in your guitar journey.

We’ve split this page up into beginner, intermediate and advanced. There is something for EVERY guitarist on this page.

Guitar Chords for Beginners.
Guitar Chords for Intermediate Guitarists.
Guitar Chords for Advanced Guitarists.
Lead Guitar and Scales For Beginners.
Lead Guitar and Scales For Intermediate Guitarists.
Lead Guitar and Scales For Advanced Guitarists.
Rhythm, Strumming and Musicality For Beginners.
Rhythm, Strumming and Musicality For Intermediate Guitarists.
Rhythm, Strumming and Musicality For Advanced Guitarists.
Guitar Theory and Musical Keys For Beginners.
Guitar Theory and Musical Keys For Intermediate Guitarists.
Guitar Theory and Musical Keys For Advanced Guitarists

Guitar Chords For Beginners

If you’re a beginner guitarist, you must start with the easiest chords possible. This is vital when beginning guitar as it helps you to develop your dexterity and technique.

The easiest chords for guitarists are:

3 String Guitar Chords.
Stepping-Stone Chords.
Open Chords.

If you’re completely new to guitar chords, try these guitar lessons first:

Guitar Lessons On 3 String Guitar Chords

3 string guitar chords are perfect for beginners as they use no more than 2 fingers! These chords are ideal for kids, or for people who suffer from arthritis and RSI.

Learn about these chords here:

Guitar Lessons On Stepping-Stone Chords

Stepping-stone chords are easier versions of more advanced guitar chords. Here’s a classic example of some stepping-stone chords:

(If you don't understand the above image please read our article "How To Read Guitar Chordboxes In 60 Seconds". It will make everything clear!)

Can you see how the stepping-stone versions use LESS fingers than the open voicings of these chords?

To learn more about stepping-stone chords, go here:

What Stepping-Stone Chords Should I Learn?

The main stepping-stone chords you should learn are. Click the links below to learn each chord:

Guitar Lessons On Open Chords

Once you’ve learned how to play stepping-stone chords, the next step in your guitar journey is to learn open chords.

To learn every open chord, click the links below:

Learn the 12 EASIEST beginner chords with our famous FREE guide

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Guitar Chords For Intermediate Guitarists

The main intermediate guitar chords are:

Power chords.
Barre chords.
Semi-barre chords.

Guitar Lessons On Power Chords

Power chords are perfect for styles of music such as rock, metal and punk. They have a tight, punchy sound which will make you sound huge.

Here’s a classic power chord shape:

To learn more about power chords, check out these guitar lessons:

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Learn how everything fits together quickly, easily and effectively. We share ninja tips (for instant fun!) but also timeless fundamentals that will deepen your understanding.

Guitar Lessons On Barre Chords

Barre chords can be the biggest road block in a beginner guitarists journey. However, don’t worry! We’ve got some epic guitar lessons which will cure your barre chord problems.

Here they are:

What Barre Chords Should I Learn?

The main barre chord shapes are:

E shape barre chord shape.
A shape barre chord shape.

Here’s the chord box for each of these shapes. For the purpose of this, we’ve kept both chords in the key of ‘G’.

G Barre Chord (E Shape)

G Barre Chord (A Shape)

Each of these barre chord shapes can be played in EVERY key. Learning barre chords is the secret to becoming an epic guitarist.

To learn every barre chord shape, check out these awesome guitar lessons:

For specific chords, go here:

Guitar Lessons On Advanced Chords

Once you’ve mastered barre chords and power chords, the next step is to learn:

CAGED Guitar Chords.
Major 7 Chords.
Minor 7 Chords.
Dominant 7 Chords.

These guitar chords will enhance your fret board knowledge and musicality.

CAGED Guitar Chords

CAGED guitar chords are barre chords which are based on regular open chords.

These are incredibly useful to know as they extend your knowledge of the fretboard and enhance your dexterity and technique.

To learn more about the CAGED guitar system, go here:

CAGED Guitar System: How To Master Chords

Major 7, Minor 7 Chords and Dominant 7 Chords

These chords are commonly found in jazz and blues music. Learning ‘7’ chords is a great way of adding sophistication to your regular chords.

To learn more about these chords, go here:

Jazz Guitar: A 5-Step Programme For Rapid Jazz Skill

To learn these chords in specific keys, go here:

Lead & Guitar Scales For Beginners

If you want to become an epic guitarist, you must learn guitar scales. Guitar scales form the foundation of ALL lead guitar playing.

The first guitar scales you should learn are:

Open String Scales.
The Minor Pentatonic Scale.
The Blues Scale.

To learn more about these scales, go here:

Learning guitar is good for you, it’s scientifically proven! Find out why in this article by Guitar World: 10 Scientifically Proven Reasons You Should Play Guitar

However, learning lead guitar isn’t all about playing scales. It’s also about:

Playing guitar solos.
Playing epic riffs.
Sounding like a rockstar!

To learn how to master these essential lead guitar techniques, go here:

Lead & Guitar Scales For Intermediate Guitarists

Once you’ve mastered pentatonics and the blues scale, the next step in your lead guitar quest is to learn:

Major Scales.
Minor Scales.
3 Note Per String Scales.
Boxes 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the minor and major pentatonic scales.
Guitar Arpeggios.

For guitar lessons on each of these scales, go here:

Download our lead guitar cheat-sheet to make things easier

It can be disorientating for guitarists to understand which scales work with which keys.

With this in mind, we created a cheat-sheet; a key and scale-finder that you can use again and again. Click here to download your copy.

Once you’ve mastered these scales, it’s essential to learn some electric guitar techniques. The best way to add character to your solos is to learn:

String Bending Technique.
Alternate Picking.
Hammer On’s And Pull Off’s.
Vibrato.
How Scales And Musical Keys Work Together.

For guitar lessons on these lead guitar techniques, go here:

Lead & Guitar Scales For Advanced Guitarists

To become an advanced lead guitarist, you must:

Have awesome guitar technique.
Be able to play all of the modes of the major scale.
Be able to play in a variety of different genres such as blues, country, rock and jazz.
Have excellent musicality and phrasing!

To gain these amazing guitar skills, check out some of our best guitar lessons here:

Rhythm, Strumming & Musicality For Beginners

Before you can even think about strumming a guitar, you must learn how to hold a guitar correctly. Having great posture will accelerate your guitar progress.

To learn about the fundamentals of guitar posture, go here:

Learning how to strum is the secret to enhancing your musicality. No-one ever picked up a guitar to learn chords, people learn guitar to make MUSIC.

Your first port of call when learning to strum, is to learn how to hold a guitar pick. Picks make everything on the guitar easier and they make you sound amazing! What’s not to like?!

To learn how to hold a guitar pick, go here:

How To Hold A Guitar Pick In 3 Easy Steps

Once you’ve learned how to hold a guitar pick, you are ready to learn to strum. To learn how, check out these awesome guitar lessons:

Learning to strum gives you the skills to learn guitar songs. Learning music is one of the quickest & easiest ways to learn the guitar.

Here are some of our best guitar lessons on how to play songs:

Rhythm, Strumming & Musicality For Intermediate Guitarists

One of the best ways to add embellishment to your strumming patterns is to learn some new strumming techniques.

These techniques are guaranteed to enhance your musicality and phrasing. You WILL become a better guitarist if you learn these techniques.

If you’re an intermediate guitarist, you must-know these techniques:

Palm muting.
Alternate picking.
Finger style Guitar.

Learning these techniques is guaranteed to enhance your musicality and phrasing. To learn these techniques, check out these free guitar lessons:

Rhythm, Strumming & Musicality For Advanced Guitarists

To enhance your rhythm & musicality you must learn different genres of music.

As a rhythm guitarist you should be able to play in a number of different styles including:

Blues.
Rock.
Spanish Guitar.
Country.
Jazz.
Classical.

Learning how to play in these genres, will enhance your rhythm & musicality and make you a better guitarist.

For epic guitar lessons on these genres, go here:

Guitar Theory And Musical Keys For Beginners

Learning guitar theory and musical keys can be overwhelming for any beginner guitarist. However, it doesn’t have to be!

There are loads of quick & easy theory tips which you can use to enhance your guitar playing.

Here are some of our best beginner guitar lessons on theory:

These guitar lessons are guaranteed to enhance your knowledge of the fretboard.

What most people don’t understand about musical keys, is that scales AND chords form the foundation of musical keys.

They are the building blocks of guitar theory. Here are some of our BEST guitar lessons on chords and scales:

Guitar Theory And Musical Keys For Intermediate Guitarists

Once you understand where the notes are on the fretboard, you must understand musical keys.

Most guitarists see theory as a road block in their playing, however learning guitar theory takes your playing to the next level.

If you want to become an intermediate guitarist, you MUST learn about theory and musical keys.

Here are some of our best guitar lessons on theory and musical keys:

Guitar Theory And Musical Keys For Advanced Guitarists

To become an advanced guitarist, you must understand what chords and scales work together.

The best way to do this, is to learn specific musical keys.

In the guitar world, there are 5 musical keys that you must know. Those keys are:

These are part of the CAGED guitar system. These guitar keys are essential to know if you want to become a intermediate guitarist.

To learn about these keys in more detail, go here:

ALL of these keys are based on the major scale. The major scale forms the foundation of ALL music.

Check out these awesome guitar lessons on the major scale.

Once you’ve mastered the major scale, try and learn some more advanced jazz scales. For jazz scale guitar lessons, go here:

What Type of Guitarist Are You?

Take our 60-second quiz & get your results: Take The Quiz

Want free guitar tips and video lessons delivered to your inbox?

Join over 80,000 other guitar learners and subscribe to our guitar-tips-by-email service. (It's free.)

We'll send you a series of lessons that will move you to the next level of your guitar journey.

Learn how everything fits together quickly, easily and effectively. We share ninja tips (for instant fun!) but also timeless fundamentals that will deepen your understanding.

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