Spanish Guitar Lessons: 4 Essential Lessons

The Spanish E Chord

Here’s the E chord moved up one fret:

To play the Spanish E chord, put your:

• 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the A string.
• 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the D string.
• 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the G string.

To get that Spanish sound, ring out all the notes of the chord clearly.

The A Chord

Here’s your basic A chord:

To learn how to play the A chord go here:3 Easy Ways To Play The A Chord On Guitar

The Spanish A Chord

To turn the A chord into a Spanish A chord, move it up one fret:

To play this chord, place your:

• 1st finger on the 3rd fret of the D string.
• 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the G string.
• 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the B string.
• Strum from the A string.

The D Chord

Here’s a basic D chord:

To learn more about how to play the D chord, go here: 3 Easy Ways to Play the D Chord on Guitar

The Spanish D Chord

Now, move the D chord up one fret.

To play this chord, place your :

• 1st finger on the 3rd fret of the D string.
• 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the high E string.
• 3rd finger on the 4th fret of the B string.

The Final Spanish Chord Trick

To put the icing on the cake, try moving each chord up to the 5th fret.

Once you’ve done this, come back down to create more tension and suspense.

Let’s take a look at this method in action.

The E Chord

Here’s the tab:

Can you see how each shape is moving progressively up the frets?

The A Chord

We can also do this trick with the A chord, here’s the tab:

The D Chord

Check out this neat trick applied to the D chord.

Spanish Guitar Lessons: Spanish Chord Progressions Every Guitarist Must Know

As well as changing our standard open chords, if you want to become a great Spanish guitarist you must know how to play Spanish chord progressions.

In this next of our Spanish guitar lessons we’re going to show you 2 classic chord progressions in the key of A minor.

Let’s learn them.

Here are the chords:

For this progression, allow four beats for each chord:

Here’s what it sounds like:

If you want to learn how to play Spanish guitar, ideally you’ll need a nylon string guitar.

Check out 15 of the best nylon string acoustics here: 15 of the best nylon-string acoustics | MusicRadar

Adapting Your Chords

To give these chords a Spanish tinge, we can adapt the voicings that we use.

Here’s some chord boxes of some classic Spanish chords:

The names of these chords look terrifying! Don’t worry too much about the names of these chords, just make sure that they sound great.

Here’s a tab:

Here’s what they all sound like:

Other Chord Progressions

Here’s another chord progression which is featured heavily in Spanish and flamenco music.

This progression doesn’t use open chords, so it’s slightly trickier.

However, with grit and determination you’ll be nailing this progression in no time!

Watch this video to learn how to play it:

 

To bring this Spanish chord progression to life, let’s learn a few finger picking patterns.

Finger Picking Pattern #1

In this first pattern, we’re going to use finger picking to add musicality and rhythm to this cool chord progression.

To play this finger picking pattern:

• Use your thumb on the D string.
• Your 1st finger on the G string.
• Your 2nd finger on the B string.

Here’s the tab for reference:

There are a few extra letters above the tab, here’s what they mean:

• P = Thumb
• i = First Finger
• m = Second finger

These are the fingers on your picking hand which you’ll use to play each chord.

The numbers below the tab relate to what fingers you use on your picking hand:

• 1 = First Finger
• 2 = Second Finger
• 3 = Third finger

It’s important to use the correct fingers in this pattern to play this pattern smoothly and correctly.

Finger Picking Pattern #2

To play this pattern, you must pluck each note individually.

Here’s the tab:

Play each note with ultimate precision. Practice this pattern slowly to gain ultimate finger picking power!

Spanish Guitar Lessons: Essential Spanish Scales

If you want to learn how to play Spanish guitar you must learn two scales:

• The Natural Minor Scale.
• The Harmonic Minor Scale.

For both of these scales, we’re going to learn them in the key of A. Let’s get started.

The A Natural Minor Scale

If you want to become a Spanish virtuoso, you must learn this scale.

Here’s the tab:

Practice this scale slowly, it can be tricky to get this one under the fingers.

Click play to hear what this scale sounds like:

A great way to enhance your guitar playing is to learn some Spanish licks.

Here are two which use the A natural minor scale.

Natural Minor Lick #1

This lick works perfectly over anything in the key of A minor or C major.

Here’s the tab:

Click play to listen to this lick:

Natural Minor Lick #2

This lick is tricker than the previous one.

To nail this descending lick, practice it slowly and securely.

Click play to listen to this lick:

Now we now how to play the A natural minor scale, let’s learn the harmonic minor scale.

The A Harmonic Minor Scale

If you want to spice up your guitar playing, learn this scale.

This sounds fantastic over anything in the key of A minor.

You may have heard this scale in Latin and Spanish music.

Here’s the tab:

A great way to enhance your musicality is to learn some guitar licks. Let’s learn some classic harmonic minor licks.

For this example, we’re going to learn each lick in the key of A minor.

Harmonic Minor Lick #1

The first lick is a bit of a finger twister, so practice it slowly.

It’s great for Spanish guitarists as it uses hammer-ons and pull-offs. This technique is used mainly in rock music, however it does appear in Spanish music.

To learn this essential lead guitar technique, go here: How To Play Lead Guitar

Harmonic Minor Lick #2

This lick is fast! It features a fast flurry of notes, so is perfect for flamenco and Spanish guitarists.

If you practice this lick slowly, you’ll sound like Carlos Santana in no time!

Here’s the tab:

How do I practice these licks?

A great way to intergrate guitar licks into your playing is to practice them over backing tracks.

All of these licks work perfectly over this backing track.

As a challenge try this:

• Play natural minor lick 1 over this backing track.
• Play natural minor lick 2 over this backing track.
• Practice the natural minor scale over this backing track.
• Play harmonic minor lick 1 over this backing track.
• Play harmonic minor lick 2 over this backing track.
• Practice the harmonic minor scale over this backing track!

Once you feel like you’ve successfully learnt each of these ideas, try using ALL of these ideas together.

If you can do this, you’ll sound like a Spanish great in no time!