When you first start playing guitar, your left hand goes through a workout. The strings leave your fingertips sore, your fingers search slowly and aimlessly for the right position, and some of the stretching may seem impossible. Luckily, it all gets better. With regular practice your hand starts to remember and adjust to the new motions. Improving your technique can also make everything easier to play. Peter Vogl has two new free lessons that will teach you about proper playing position. The first lesson will show you where to place your thumb on the back of the guitar neck. A neutral position in the back of the neck allows your fingers to stretch and bend more easily. The second lesson will address how close your left hand fingers should be to the frets and how much pressure to use. Combining these tips should help improve your speed and accuracy and avoid the dreaded buzzing and muted notes.

Thumb Position for Guitar

Finger Position for Guitar

Acoustic Guitar Magazine has put together a list of guitar buying tips called How to Shop for Your Next (or First) Guitar. They asked owners of five well known music stores (Dusty Strings, Elderly Instruments, Gruhn Guitars, Gryphon Stringed Instruments, and Rudy’s Music) for tips on making sure your guitar buying experience is a pleasant one. The shorthand list is below or you can click on the article link for the full text.

1. Determine Your Price Range
2. Get a Solid Top If You Can Afford It
3. Pick a Body Size
4. Tonewoods: Listen to the Guitar, Not the Rhetoric
5. To Buy Online, Find a Reputable Dealer
6. Develop a Keen Eye for Quality Control
7. Treat Online Auctions with Caution
8. Get a Playable Instrument and Start Playing
9. Shop for Value, Not a “Deal”
10. Only Buy Used from a Reputable Dealer
11. Brand Names Provide Better Resale Value
12. Don’t Try to Invent a New Instrument When Ordering Custom
13. Bring a Friend of Similar Ability
14. Get a Pickup If You’ve Got a Gig
15. Buy Local for Better Service
16. Find a Store with a Knowledgeable Sales Staff
17. Court Your Instrument
18. Get a Guitar That Sounds Good Now
19. Keep an Open Mind

Nic Lubber is apparently new to Youtube. He has five videos up and they’ve all been uploaded in the last three weeks. So I can’t give you much more information than these are some really good fingerpicking Christmas tunes. Watch and enjoy!. If you’re inspired check out our Christmas guitar song tabs.

Carol of the Bells (inspired by Trace Bundy’s version)

O Holy Night

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Jody Worrell has two new premium lessons on beginning to intermediate level country guitar solos.  Country soloing has come to be identified for it’s twangy sound.   One way to create that twang is to use double stops or playing two notes at the same time.  Using different scale intervals determines the sound of that double stop.  In Jody’s Easy Double Stop Country 1 we will use 6th intervals as the double stops in our riffs.  In the second lesson on this topic we will use thirds as the basis for our riffs. Both solos are taught in detail and then practiced over a backing track in the key of A.  Go to the lesson page for more details or check out the previews below to hear what the solos sound like.

Lesson 1 Demo:

Lesson 2 Demo:

We have a new free lesson on learning how to play a guitar chord progression. The chords used in this lesson are C#m, A, E, and B. The C#m and B barre chords can be tricky for a beginning guitarist to play. If you’re having trouble with them, check out our barre chords lesson for tips on how to create them quicker and play them cleaner. In this lesson, you will also learn a couple of chord substitutions that can be used to create a different sound. Peter will then cover a couple of different strum patterns you can use to play over this set of chords. Go to the lesson page to get the chord charts and strumming notation.

The ZT Lunchbox Amp is a compact and extremely portable guitar amp that still manages to produce a great sound. In the video review below, Guy Fenocchi will show you the control knobs, inputs, and outputs on the top and front panels of the amp. We’ll take a brief look at the handy carrying case and then show you the Lunchbox amp in action. We’ll demonstrate the amp using a microphone, direct out to a board, and using both of those techniques together. In the video, Guy is soloing over the backing track 6/8 Blues in D from the Let’s Jam! Jazz & Blues.

MP3: 6/8 Blues in D (right click or control click on the link and select “save”)

ZT Lunchbox Amp Top Panel

The sturdy handle is just another aspect increasing the portability of this amp. The Ambience Control simulates an open back cabinet sound. Which allows you to adjust the fullness of the sound. The Tone Control is very versatile and has a lot of range. The Volume and Gain knobs are a good way to affect the cleanness and power of the tone.

ZT Lunchbox Amp Back Panel

The versatility of the back panel is what really sold Guy on this amp. It works for the studio, home recordings, practice, headphones, etc. The detachable IEC power cable makes everything less bulky and easier to pack and transport. The voltage selector is a useful addition for anyone who is going back and forth between the US and Europe. The Speaker Out and Speaker On/Off switch make it easy to use the Lunchbox as a head for a cabinet. The headphone level and jack provides a variety of options. You can run it straight to a board, recording gear, or headphones. For the last few months on Guy’s video shoots for freeguitarvideos.com we’ve been running from the Lunchbox straight to the board. Guy also used the Lunchbox while recording the Let’s Jam! Jazz Standards tracks. The Auxiliary input can be used to plug in a iPod or similar device so that you can play along with pre-recorded music.

Finally, the carrying bag for the Lunchbox is easy to throw over your shoulder and take with you to practice, a gig, or on vacation. Watch the demo to hear the ZT Lunchbox as Guy puts it through the paces. You can also hear the amp in the jazz solo lesson below. In the video, Guy is using a Gibson 1959 ES-335 Dot Reissue Guitar, a ZT Lunchbox Amp, and a Hermida Reverb Pedal.

Our newest set of jam tracks is called Let’s Jam! Jazz Standards. These ten backing tracks will cover some of the most played jazz guitar tunes of all time. A beginning player can use this as an introduction to jazz and work on playing along with the chords. For the more experienced guitarist, this collection can be used to create and practice solos and riffs or as a warmup for a gig. Each track contains bass, drums, and usually either a keyboard or rhythm guitar so that there is room for you to take the spotlight. The included book contains the progressions, chord charts, suggested scales, and an example lick. Check out the product page for the full details and to listen to sample tracks. The included songs are:

All the Things You Are
Blue Bossa
Night and Day
Sugar
Take the ‘A’ Train
Green Dolphin Street
Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise
There Is No Greater Love
Stella by Starlight
Yesterdays

Voice Leading is a jazz term that can get as complicated as you want it to be. But the core idea is creating a melody within a chord progression. By using different voicings, you can rely on harmonic movement to supply the melody. In our new Voice Leading Within the 2-5-1 free lesson, Guy will show you two basic examples of this. You will learn how to play a 2-5-1 jazz guitar progression in the key of C and F. Guy will teach you how to play each of the chords in the progression and then discuss the music theory involved. You can view the lesson video below or head over to the lesson page for the chord charts. If you want to learn more about 2-5-1 chord voicings, check out our 2-5-1 Progression in Two Keys premium lesson.

Over the last couple of months we’ve released a series of guitar lessons by David Ellis that cover basic bluegrass lead playing. You can now buy those six lessons with one click as the Easy Flatpicking Songs Package and save $5.99 over the standard price. The lessons will teach you beginning to intermediate level breaks for Wildwood Flower, Old Joe Clark, John Hardy, Way Downtown, Cripple Creek, Shady Grove, 9lb Hammer, Salt Creek, and Red Haired Boy. These are twelve songs that are commonly played at bluegrass jams and would be known by most of your fellow pickers. Watch the demo below or check out the lesson page to get an idea for the difficulty level and style. If you are looking for something a little more advanced you should check out our Flapticking Guitar Songs book download which features some great tabs. In the more general songbook style we also have the Bluegrass Fakebook

We’ve just set up a new page for Freeguitarvideos.com on Google+. You’ll be able to keep up with new lessons, blog posts, and specials, like we currently do on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. And if you’re still feeling social after all of that, you can also check out our Youtube channel.