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Short, practical articles on how to get from a chord sheet to actually playing the song. Written by guitarists; every guide links to songs in the catalogue you can practise with.
- Music theory for drums: simple, practical, usefulThe drum kit, how to read drum notation, note values, 4/4 and 6/8, counting, the backbeat, the basic rock beat, rudiments, fills and how to practise — short and plain.
- Learn guitar 1/5: Holding, tuning and your first three chords (Em, Am, D)First of a five-lesson beginner series: how to hold the guitar, tune it, read finger numbers and play the first three open chords. Ends with songs that use them.
- Learn guitar 2/5: Hundreds of songs with four chords (G, C, D, Em)Second lesson: G, C, D and Em — the four chords of pop and rock. Shapes, learning order, counting bars and songs that use only these four.
- Learn guitar 3/5: Strumming — the right hand's jobThird lesson: two basic strumming patterns, the always-swinging arm, the metronome tempo ladder and songs between 80 and 120 BPM to practise with.
- Learn guitar 4/5: Fast chord changes and the capoFourth lesson: the common-finger technique, the one-minute change drill and using a capo to play hard keys with open chords. Songs that become easy with a capo.
- Learn guitar 5/5: Your first barre chord (F and Bm)Last lesson: from the small F to the full F, Bm, index-finger position, the moving-shape idea and practice with songs that have a single barre chord.
- Easy guitar chords for beginners: the first 8 and how to practise themThe eight open chords every beginner needs, the order to learn them in, where the fingers go, and the change exercises for the first two weeks. Ends with songs that use only these chords.
- Faster chord changes: five exercises, two weeksYou can hold the chords but cannot change at song tempo. Common fingers, silent changes, the open-string bridge, loop practice and the metronome ladder — a plan you can measure.
- How to find the key of a song: by ear, from the chords, and with a tableWhat a key is, major versus minor, relative minor, how to read the key off a chord list, and a table of chords in every common key. Also how the "original key" on our pages is computed.
- How to play barre chords: getting F and Bm to ring cleanWhy barre chords are hard, how to angle the index finger, step-by-step technique for F and Bm, the causes of buzzing, and capo or short-shape workarounds while you learn.
- How to use a capo: which fret, and what happens to the chordsWhat a capo does, which fret to put it on, how chord names shift when you do — with a lookup table and worked examples. The shortest route out of barre chords.
- Strumming patterns: which one for which tempo, how to read them, how to practiseThe basic right-hand patterns (D DU UDU and relatives), 4/4 and 3/4, choosing by slow, medium or fast tempo, and turning the BPM on our song pages into a groove.
- Ukulele for beginners and guitarists: tuning, the first four chords, and how it differsUkulele tuning (GCEA), why guitar chords become different shapes on the uke, the first four chords (C, Am, F, G), and how to use a guitar chord page on ukulele.
- What is transposing: moving a song to your voice, and how it relates to the capoWhat transposing (changing key) means, counting semitones, finding the key that fits your voice, the difference between transposing and a capo, and when to use which.