How We Should All Start Learning to Play Guitar

[@guyfromnj]

I think this is a genius way to teach. I've never seen it done this way. I wish I had started learning this way. I would of learned my notes on the fretboard and understood keys and intervals so much sooner. Teaching this way condenses everything in a way that makes sense and combines everything at once in a way that makes sense. For me there was always a disconnect between chords and scales. They were two different things. It took me years to figure out how things went together and how they connect and I'm still trying to figure it all out. Really well done Sean. I hope you go into this more in future lessons. Like how those triads sit inside chords and the scales that go with each for soloing over them.

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks so much Carmen! I'll definitely be referring back to it!

[@jdalend]

So, what's the next step after this lesson?? I'm like holy balls, this makes tons of sense!

[@chrishudson4940]

You guys need to sign up on patreon, throw sean a bone or a nut for his squirrel and you will have these lessons at your disposal, i am definitely not regretting it.

[@Neodymigo]

Maybe Too late for lots of watchers, but I can see this approach cutting 2 years off most players’ guitar journey. I even learned some diminished chords that previously seemed like too much to bother with. Turns out easy peasy....Thanks muchly...

[@edt.5118]

I don’t know how many triad lessons I’ve watched, but this one was an AHA moment. This lesson is directly applicable to the baritone ukulele, even the gCEA ukuleles.

[@j.a.s.1416]

Probably one of the best lessons I've seen of yours on KZbin. Makes a lot of sense to teach/learn that way.

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks so much!

[@robertnewell5057]

Wish someone had shown me this 50 years ago. Very nice. teaching chords, fingerboard, theory all at once and opening up every song to a beginner.

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks for watching!

[@Duane_Blake]

Sean, you are so right. The very first song I picked to learn as a beginner was Aerosmith's Dream On, which opens on the higher CM/FM shapes on strings 1-3. That choice got me straight away understanding the idea of movable chord shapes. Having said that, I am still working out the rest of the song 3 years later...! But it has been a fun and instructive way to learn even with the baby steps. Thanks for the reinforcing lesson!

[@sovannahong6472]

Your the best guitar instructor on KZbin bro. I consider myself an intermediate player and find myself learning more and more when I watch your videos. Keep it up brother.

[@craigbrowning9448]

When I got my first Guitar (as someone with a Keyboard background), I found a copy of the Fredrick Noad book in our Living Room Bookcase, learned Standard Tuning and located Middle C on the Lowest (Pitchwise, 6th) E String (8th Fret) and figured my way from there.

[@polpepper403]

Nice job Sean. Please do more vid like this one. Cheers from Poland.

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks so much!

[@GabzitoHD]

I don't feel like watching a guitar video *wait is that a red arrow* *IT'S TWO RED ARROWS*

[@seandaniel23]

It's a rarely seen KZbin power move.

[@marquessraj3424]

Must say that this is revolutionary & totally agree that there is more than one way to learn an instrument.The rigidity of some teachers can be boring,mundane & plain egocentric.Even the great Segovia was disliked by many for his rigid methods,while Django managed to kill it with just half a set of fingers. Thanks for giving a new perspective of the fretboard. Awesome lesson !Those who don't like this are jealous of your knowledge.

[@friendryan]

Wow Sean! I've been trying to learn on and off for 30 years. You describe it perfectly when you talk about the wall to learning. Just watching this video taught so much at once. To be able to do chord progressions with ease made the whole guitar neck available. Thanks so much! I've watched your other videos about 100 chords and you make learning fun. Keep up the awesome perspective.

[@rebuiltbyusn]

I paid for web lessons for TAC and thought I was learning a lot. Until now. This lesson is one I will use in my warm - ups from now on so to work multiple cords on the whole neck. What a great lesson for everyone. Thank you

[@justanotherguy9012]

This is honestly a great way to teach! I am teaching my cousin and younger brother some stuff to get started and I’m using this 100%! It also helps in writing riffs, transitioning between rhythm and lead guitar, and also sounds nice in the mix!

[@gapaltz]

You are saving beginners sooo much time here. They (and I) lol will need to pause and study this video over and over but I totally agree with your method and it's well worth learning, thanks for posting!

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks so much!

[@marcsirkin8398]

55 years old … been playing for 40 years. I figured out what you were teaching on my own through trial and error. I never learned to play lead because I never figured out the connection here. If I had been taught this way from the beginning I think I might have actually become a guitarist rather than someone who plays guitar. It’s tough to explain, but I kind of feel robbed. I just never had the right teacher. My son wanted to learn to play so I started him on basic chord shapes. We’re now going to start over with this method. You deserve twice as many subscribers.

[@justchico75]

I play at church with 2 other guitarists (I play acoustic and the other guys play both types). In order to "soften" a song to use as ambient sounds and to avoid playing the exact same shapes as the other acoustic player, I started playing around with just playing the bottom 3 strings. This is gonna take that to a whole 'nother level. Thanks for the vid! I'm definitely gonna check out more of your stuff.

[@aniketshival8088]

You are really the best at making things easier for students, your understanding and creativity makes unique and original ways of learning

[@AC-sb4ms]

So with so many guitar teachers on KZbin some had to sit in the back. I wrongfully put you there. After watching this amazing video, which is gold, I now need to apologize. This is how everyone should learn. Thank you for schooling us and sorry for sleeping on you.

[@MrTelemath]

Agree with you here, 20 years of guitar and I didn't really learn my triads all over the neck and start playing chord scales with them until last year. Has changed my relationship to the neck for the better in a big way. I learned it slightly differently, grouping 3 strings at a time, and learning to play a 1-4-5 in same position in all 3 places for each 3 string group (and then the minor 1-4-5). Lately been doing similar things with spread triads, lots of fun.

[@sovannahong6472]

As soon as I saw you do it and did it myself a light shined above me along with a harmonic ahhhhhhhhhhh.

[@seandaniel23]

So great to hear!

[@maxkelter3561]

Sean that's excellent. I like how you set that up teaching with the root note on each of the three highest strings. Bought two of your lessons already. Great.

[@hammster8255]

Thanks Sean. Again so insightful linking music theory to practice. You even restrained yourself from throwing in a favourite, the major 7 chord! Your channel is by far the best at displaying the benefits of learning & using some basic music theory & how it can help with playing the guitar.

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks so much! It was hard leaving the major 7 behind for this one ;)

[@graemethorne4540]

Thanks for such an informative video,I just got into learning triads after 20years of playing as im only a hobbyist player,I had learnt the d progression,and now you have shown me the others it all comes together.Thanks a Million.best tutorial I've seen for so long.

[@rickcypher4240]

Sean, I was not going to watch this video and I'm not a beginner, but wow, excellent advice for beginners, including the pick to deaden the low strings while you're a beginner. Very good job.

[@Ditch1221]

When I wanted to start learning lead stuff my teacher showed me the pentatonic shapes. It was ok and I got it but when I was shown how all these inversions lay out , that was my light bulb moment of the fret board. Your right there is no one wrong or right way, we all learn different but for me the inversions opened my eyes.

[@seandaniel23]

Keep rockin!

[@TSGEnt]

Nice job. For some reason, students will want to play all the strings all the time and just want to play a song during the first lesson. This is a great demo that you don't have to always play all the string and then can walk away playing their first song (even if it is scales). Also, learning all the permutations of each cord is so invaluable.

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks for watching!

[@dank4254]

Guitar teacher here. I actually do start my students on these chords and also teach the first open chords as top three strings only (which are aftually just these chords) but this has shown me how I can also introduce lead through these chords. Thanks

[@boxcarb.johnson733]

Hey Sean, great lesson, and you have such an awesome channel. I am completely blind, and Emma guitar player. I wish I would’ve known this when I started, great help, thank you so much, peace and blessings, and keep these great lessons coming, peace.

[@seandaniel23]

I appreciate you checking out the videos! I'll keep them coming!

[@conradfreeman]

I wish I had learned that way! Added bonus- learning that way is automatically transferable to a ukulele (but 5 notes higher)! Nice job!

[@chapmandw]

Wow... had never seen this or even thought about this. This is a great way to show movable chords to new students (or to some of us older knuckleheads).

[@StevenDiLeo]

I love the idea of teaching chords like this instead of starting with open chords for the exact reasons you listed. Nice video! :)

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks for watching!

[@donlee9071]

I know you know this. The 6th chord in CMaj is Amin. Good lesson. You're right about learning this early.

[@cannonskier]

🤘🏻thank you. Really great. I am a beginner stuck on open chords. I need to move up the fret board. Perfect timing.

[@ericathlan3518]

In less than fifteen minutes, you just taught me them there major and minor triads on the top 4 strings in a coherent easy to remember way. Great lesson as usual, love your no nonsense, simple yet powerful approach to music.

[@nikolaki]

I chose to teach my very young students to play C and G chords with one finger on the top 3 strings and then the D arrow shape with 3 fingers. After 6 weeks or so they were switching between the 3 simple shapes to the beat of a metronome. The way shown in the video is great because it does work across the whole neck and gets you thinking about inversions and chord melodies straight off the bat

[@jovaransguplar3019]

You make a great point. I am getting into teaching guitar and this is going help my students grasp things a little better. The cool thing is they'll be able to start playing songs much sooner

[@alecjordanseekola3068]

Hi Sean. You are the best guitar teacher on the entire net. Kudus to you my friend. Your easy explanations and teaching style leaves others way way behind.

[@slingerace]

I wasn't going to watch this vid, but then I saw the red arrows and realized I had no choice.

[@seandaniel23]

Science

[@louieangeldeleon]

Dead 😂

[@nicholasmoore7659]

It is the law

[@rupertradar7424]

I usually avoid these tricks but I couldn't help myself either.

[@maxonmendel5757]

Same

[@EricSwanson1]

Yes, yes, and yes. I taught guitar for many years and I first taught my students the notes on the fretboard. Once that was established, we dove into triads and how we could build simple chords using just three notes over three strings. My hat's off to you.

[@tilleyroadaffairproduction6752]

Thank you so much for this! I am watching this video on New Years 2021 morning in Tracadie, NB, Canada and am very excited to try learning guitar in a theoretical way for the first time in my long life! I never thought I would come across a teacher who could get through my ADD and make it make sense! I wish you a beautiful 2021 as we hopefully shed this pandemic state and get back to a happy world! Thank you!

[@Benjabola]

This was very helpful for me. I am hesitant to practice my guitar right now because of muscle pain. Watching this video helped me conceptualize this. I especially found helpful the advice of using a guitar pick to mute the strings. I had not heard that before.

[@KyleEngen1]

This is SO GOOD! I'm sure this is a better method to learn for a most people. This this this.

[@TropicalReflections]

Sean! Awesome timing brother. My guitar teacher is using this EXACT method with me. Coming back to the instrument after a 25 year hiatus, I strongly agree with the title of this video. This approach to learning the guitar is so much easier and it lays the foundation for a person to rapidly progress in his/her ability to make music. Which is THE GOAL! lol. Mind-blown! Let's hear it for Sean everybody!!! (and the crowd goes wild......)

[@therealunklefreaky]

Thanks! Open C has forever been the bane of my guitar playing.

[@MikeDGuitar]

Good lesson on the triads! This has helped me to see the major scale pattern on a single string with each chord sequence. This is a great way to look at soloing, too.

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@jbencinitas]

Great idea, moveable chords right away, couldn’t agree more

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks for watching!

[@richardfromcornwall5492]

Hell. I thought learning guitar through the songs you enjoy made so much sense (as it does) but using this method based on the first three strings makes so much sense going forward. Thanks Sean.

[@seandaniel23]

Happy to help!

[@benmercer4942]

Started to learn triads similar to these after looking a lot into Johnny Marr and how he plays, using these can link to many little licks and add a different impact to what you're playing. You can also use open D chord shapes as well just move them up the same you would bar chords

[@seandaniel23]

Johnny is definitely a great player that uses tighter voicings like this. good call.

[@millerviz]

A great approach! Easy to play, gets you moving up the neck and teaches chord scales and intervals to boot. Great idea.

[@gregorytoddsmith9744]

I've been playing for sooooo many years. Wish I had this approach years ago! Thank you!!

[@Anarcath]

I totally agree. When I started out a year ago I loved exploring the fretboard and finding all kinds of cords and their relationships with others. It was (and still is) like going on a treasure hunt. Music theory is so fucking mathematical therefore beautiful.

[@seandaniel23]

You know it!

[@gedport6771]

Totally agree, your students will be awsome players leaning this way, yep, you have cut out all the confusion, well done.

[@darrenaitcheson1675]

I totally get that. Took me years to start learning triads. Should have learned them way earlier.

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks for watching!

[@jon4702]

Dude, you are so far above my level. I never have any idea what your are talking about. That being said, I click on every one of your videos just to see what you say in your into.

[@kkdeveauxgue2784]

Yeah Sean I had discovered this chord from the C# chord and it fit the song but I omitted it because when I started recording the song it was too hard to form so the next time I shot the video I left it out,but I'm gonna try that chord in another song to see what happens🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@seandaniel23]

Best of luck!

[@TheGameIsUp1984]

Man oh man...I have such a long way to go with my learning...you are so helpful and inspiring...thanx yo!

[@jamescuevas7080]

Yes, Yes, Yes. I had a false start trying to learn guitar 20 years ago or so from books, etc. (having already played drums since I was a kid). I could not see the logic to the fretboard very well. I started again a few years ago, really focusing on how the fretboard works. Holy cow, if you were my teacher 20 years ago in an alternate universe, I'd have a couple extra decades under my belt!!!

[@WarDimensionOfficial]

The good thing is when I learn to play guitar (from Rocksmith), alot of (mostly Japanese) songs that I learn at the beginning actually using this shapes alot, and I like this shapes alot and start to actually learn it... And it's not only help me to understand chord a little better, but it's also help me to understand scales, intervals, inversion, and other stuff...

[@mikeygoda]

We almost never use that full C shape up the neck, because the fingering has to change anyway, when you need to barre across the 3 high stings. If I ever need to use that C shape derived from the open CAGED chords, I just play the top 3 strings only anyway, and use a "D cowboy chord" fingering knowing the Root is in the middle on the B string. Awesome lesson and tip!

[@jessicacabrales6820]

Oh man. I always knew about the chords shapes cuz I played a bunch of ska, and reggae music but you blew my mind with the soloing thing, Thanks Man.

[@nerlind]

I started to re-learn through your videos. Thank you.

[@KaninTuzi]

Agree, starting with movable chords is the way to go. Quickly get to playing most things and get diatonic understanding.

[@JefferyMatthews]

Sean is one of my favorite instructors!

[@jefftiebout1376]

What an excellent lesson. Even though I can play lots of open chords this adds a lot of different voicings that are really useful.

[@nicholasmoore7659]

I just tried teaching someone an open C. Forgot how much I struggled when I first started until I saw this guy fumble around trying to get that C.

[@seandaniel23]

Totally! We take it for granted all the time.

[@sebastionhawk5565]

i started back in 1980, and, THE most diffiult for me was the FM on the first 4 strings...the inverted F5 on the first fret was difficult for me to hold down as a beginner

[@KKMDStyle]

The C is difficult for me without muting strings

[@xtitaniumtv]

Yeah C was a bitch to learn when I first started playing. Although I must admit there's an almost orgasmic feeling of satisfaction once you realise you're able to move all three of your fingers simultaneously to form a C chord 🤤

[@Skoltrain]

Thank you for this! 2nd video of yours I've watched, and I learned a lot from both. I wish I had seen your unique approach a very long time ago. So glad I found your channel. Keep it up!

[@seandaniel23]

Welcome to the party!

[@ferra51]

You’ve been moving toward teaching the triads for a while now, & I have to say that I like the change. Might I recommend that you also name the inversions-root, 1st, & 2nd inversions & the really simple reason you call them that. Knowing this is what’s helped me to learn the notes on the fretboard very quickly, even though I wasn’t actually trying to learn the notes. It also allowed me to see arpeggios really quickly for common chord shapes, not to mention the benefit of seeing all the triads sitting in a single scale position. This approach completely opened up my playing, especially lead playing-now I just look for all the different triads I can play over the chords. It’s so much simpler to find a single note in a chord & know which degree it is & where the other intervals are after spending very little time practicing triads. I’ll stop rambling now, but my own experience with this approach suggests that it is the most effective way to get people playing musically in the shortest amount of time. Theory also opens up as you expand your chord-building chops by adding intervals, playing spread triads, or adding open strings in spread triad progressions. Great video, Sean. I’m interested to see where you take this from here.

[@rishabbalai721]

Can you please make a video on the use of PENTATONIC scales and other scales on accoustic guitar..... Please

[@lkwakernaak]

The thing I love most about this is that there are no redundant string. A regular chord contains three notes but it is often not so trivial to point out the first third and fifth in open chords. These triads just have three notes and they make the difference between major and minor chords completely intuitive.

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks for watching!

[@jasonterrell9405]

I didn't learn this--or hear anyone talk about it among my playing group--for years. A wonderful guitar lesson. Cheers!

[@snuffbox2006]

Clarification 4:45 is Aminor not Eminor, right? and 5:14 is 13th fret F, not 11th

[@littlefishbigmountain]

Yeah, you’re right. That’s an Am. He even said a step up from G, and A is the note a step up from G, not to mention he had already played an Em. But the way to really be sure is he is playing an A, C, and E, which is Am. I think he got confused by looking at the high e string to identify the chord. He was thinking of the wrong inversion And also, yeah, the F is on the 13th of the high e, not the 11th, but that was just a slip of the tongue because he actually played the 13th fret when he said that Nobody’s perfect ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@snuffbox2006]

@@littlefishbigmountain agreed, just a slip of the tongue, but just wanted to clarify in case someone else got confused. Very helpful video.

[@littlefishbigmountain]

Jeff Madynski I’m just sayin’. Good on you for pointing it out. You may just help some people some day

[@observer7418]

Hi Sean. Always good to see you. Photoshop some dots where your finger tips are sitting on the fretboard with chord name/notes in the upper corner. Beginners would totally find that useful.

[@Shirgho]

This is a very good method of learning the notes on the fretboard as well.

[@brentsmith9411]

I just haphazardly jumped into trying to learn guitar by thinking bar chords would be a good place to start. Needless to say it hasn't been going very well. Thank you for giving me a much better intro point!

[@seandaniel23]

Happy to help!

[@wademarlar9616]

I wish I could have learned this at a younger age but I still can lol learn three just a minute ago it’s grovy thanks man for teaching this I am hooked on it now

[@varunpatil1309]

C shape moved 2 frets ahead and muting high E string becomes a nice substitute D chord, technically a Dadd11(which I later realised after learning some theory). It is a good sounding chord to spice up simple progressions.

[@FreedomsGuard]

Where was this 44 years ago when I started to play? Sean, this should be the ONLY way new players begin. Great job!

[@johnmacmillan627]

Well done young fella. It took me years to realise how this all worked and you put it together so clearly!

Wow,..thank you very very much. Excellent stuff!

[@seandaniel23]

No problem!

[@jjkeys8213]

I have always played power chords cause I could never get down those chord transitions. Now I will play triad style. Sounds much gooder! Thanks Bub

[@flatfingertuning727]

I first taught myself to play using the top four strings tuned d-f-g#-b, which made it easy to play four-string triads in any inversion, without the frustration of trying to fret a lower string without the finger nudging an upper string. A four-string F major chord in that tuning would be 3-4-4-6; Bb major would be 3-5-6-6, Db major would be 3-3-5-6, F minor would be 3-3-4-6, Bb minor 3-5-5-6, and D minor 3-5-6-6. I later added a fifth string tuned an octave down from the fourth, and a sixth string tuned up a fourth from that to serve as a root note for what would on the top four strings be second-inversion chords. I've since come to understand Standard Tuning, and recognize that it's probably the best tuning for playing movable chords *if all strings have to be in order of pitch*, but placing the lowest string fifth rather than sixth really helps facilitate movable chords. When using Standard Tuning, I find it helpful to think of fingers as being responsible for certain zones of the fret board. When playing the little triangle pattern associated with a D major or second-string-rooted chord, I use the middle, ring, and pinkie fingers, leaving the index finger free to play the next lower fret on the first string (e.g. for minor chords). Having different fingers responsible for different notes makes chord changes much easier and more logical; if the books I'd seen about guitar had taught that approach I might never have developed my own approach.

[@rayross997]

All those masses of humanity who claim you are stupid have just been proven wrong. I always have known you are a genius Sean. This lesson proves me right. Please do a lesson & analysis of Aqualung by Jethro Tull.

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks so much Ray!

[@C.SchitzPopinov]

I really like this. So reassuring to the experimental, adventurous beginner.

[@abashedstorm]

Thanks. This is gonna help me teach my friend [whom I've started teaching guitar in the pandemic].

[@seandaniel23]

Best of luck!

[@abashedstorm]

@@seandaniel23 thanks ✌🏽

[@papillonikki]

Amazing, you should either write a book or have a designated playlist for all things GUITAR

[@myry1361]

With the help of your channel and one of your course on fretboard mastery I bought and currently am working throught l have had the confidence to go throught a figure out the E, B & A scales. My older brother gave me a guitar a couple of years ago for therapy for my PTSD. Love playing but it is slow. Thanks for your humor and your channel.

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks so much for reaching out and saying so!!! I’ll keep the vids coming!

[@darryl4323]

Wow! Phenomenal lesson! Thanks man! Re-learned and continued where I gave up on. This is THE best way to play and learn. Keep up the good the great work!

[@Jeff_H_the_Guitarist]

I’ve also felt that in all my guitar playing years I am 70% the lower toned strings end 30% the higher toned strings. This method would definitely raise the amount of time spent on the higher tone strings. Great job!

[@scotthorslin5482]

Great video! Very enlightening. Thx Sean

[@xtitaniumtv]

Really good video and definitely a great way to learn. I've been teaching my niece how to play and feel this will definitely help her a lot.

[@jonlarsen3090]

Excellent lesson Sean. And very simple.

[@storm14k]

Another damn good tip for folks looking to make usable progress.

[@tedparker2164]

Dang! A whole lot more in my arsenal! Just the sheer amount of chord forms I am building is getting huge, and are very welcome! I want to play so bad and impress my friends, etc. You have been very instrumental( no pun intended) in this quest. I have friends that play well and I now have them wondering how I got so far in so short a period! Thanks!

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks so much for saying so Ted!

[@tedparker2164]

@@seandaniel23 You Da Man, Man!

[@MrSKAGNASTY]

Watched about nine times .really interesting new way at looking at guitar for me . Cheers sean

[@tristanbriggs3383]

We should all be taught to play our open chords with our 2nd,3rd,and 4th fingers so later we can be really good at baring with our first finger and move all the shapes up with ease. This way we can get better at using the cage system and we won’t have to change a whole shape when changing from like an e to f chord.

[@seandaniel23]

Thanks for watching!

[@charleswelles4192]

Super Awesome Content! I'd love if you'd do a bunch of lessons building on this--things like progressions, chord melodies, songs, and combining rhythm and lead that continue to use three note chords but combine the different inversions and root on the top four strings. Also, you get points for saying "In all my years of teaching" and more points for using the word "ancillary" correctly.

[@takeo8810]

once again, sir, you just blew my mind!

[@littlefishbigmountain]

Awesome video! When I first started out, nobody told me any of this. I just noticed that some major and minor chords (for example, you mention F and Bm) were very painful. What helped me not give up on bar chords was to realize that they were playable ANYWHERE and that they hurt a lot less up the fretboard, so I started playing bars between the 5-12 frets and worked my way down lower as my callouses became thicker and my fingers and forearm got stronger That being said, I still think this is more useful because it teaches different voicings of the inversions, and it’s waaaayyy easier to start out trying to link three note chords rather than five or six note chords when it comes to lead improvisation and things

[@mcdowell356]

This is great . For us seniors with arthritis , barre chords can be a challenge .

[@seandaniel23]

Definitely is helpful for that!