A beginners list of web sites for guitar chords, lyrics with chords, etc.

This is an ongoing collection of a few links to interesting web site (and a few books) of guitar chords and song lyrics with chords. Some of this are more useful for beginners and some for more advanced players. The web site will be revised from time to time.

List of interesting guitar web sites: chords, music theory, etc.
Guitar maintenance - tuning, changing strings
Lists of song lyrics
Guitar and song lyrics books
Guitar cord books
Books on introductory and advanced fingering and picking exercises
Skeptical Guitarist (Bruce Emery) books
The Guitar Grimoire book series
Miscellaneous useful related sites
Introductory Piano/Keyboard books

1. List of interesting guitar web sites: chords, music theory, etc.

http://www.8notes.com/guitar_chord_chart/"

The following is the guitar chart with hundreds of chords [PDF] THE ULTIMATE GUITAR CHORD CHART II - by Phillip J Facoline http://www.harmony-central.com/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_7BC6FA747982E6CCEDC5B99B5BE58C27B9450900

This following is a useful short table of guitar chords by key (pick a key and you only play the chords or subset of them in the key). Most common are the 3 principal chords, then you can add some of the minors, and finally at times the alternate chords. http://www.mmissary.com/guitar~1.gif

Here is an interesting guitar web site with hundreds of songs with chord names AND chord fingering and great links to other guitar web sites http://theguitarguy.com/ (suggested by J.L.)
It has:

Many songs with chord names

Chords fingering using a 6 string fret numbering convention where it tells you the frets and strings, but you figure out which fingers to use
A nice set of links to good guitar web sites.
Some of the cool links include:
- http://www.musictheory.net/index.html which has a nice music theory course including really neat lessons.
  e.g. shows how 7th chords are formed on a piano in several steps and then plays it! (much more!)
  http://www.musictheory.net/lessons/html/id45_en_uk.html

2. Guitar maintenance - tuning, changing strings

Tuning your guitar

This is an interactive on-line (or downloadable) guitar tunner (Gieson) which will play either tones or single guitar strings for each of the 6 strings. http://www.gieson.com/Library/projects/utilities/tuner/
This is another interactive on-line guitar tunner (All-Guitar-Chords) which plays single guitar strings for each of the 6 strings by clicking on the tuning peg. http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/tuner.php

Changing Guitar strings

This is a short movie (Expert Village - Jared) Guitar Basics: Changing Guitar Strings http://youtube.com/watch?v=H2UBWIezsZ0
This is a short movie (Expert Village - Mike) How to Change Guitar Strings: How to Remove the Guitar Strings from the Bridge http://youtube.com/watch?v=cfZ2HlmVZE0
This is a short movie (Expert Village - Mike) How to Change Guitar Strings: How to Put the New Guitar Strings in the Bridge http://youtube.com/watch?v=2wvsCZDq4jg
This is a short movie (Expert Village) How to Change Guitar Strings: How to Stretch and Retune the Guitar Strings http://youtube.com/watch?v=k34TgNfGRFw
This is a short movie (Gieson) on how to put new strings on your guitar. http://www.gieson.com/Library/projects/video/restring/index.html

3. Lists of song lyrics

List of many song lyrics with guitar chords (The Guitar Guy) http://theguitarguy.com/songs.htm

List of song lyrics with guitar chords (Chordie) http://www.chordie.com/browsesong.php/a.php?filter=

NIEHS list of song lyrics and audio for childrens and other songs: http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/music.htm

4. Guitar and song lyrics books

A nice overall book for beginners and more experienced guitar players:

The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer (2006 edition).
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Handbook-Ralph-Denyer/dp/0679742751

A nice book of songs you can sing with lyrics and chord names:

Rise Up Singing: The Group Singing Songbook (Spiral-bound)
by Peter Blood
http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Up-Singing-Group-Songbook/dp/0962670472

5. Books of guitar cords

A book of over 2,000 chords layed out in a useful way:

The Everything Guitar Chords: Rock-Blues-Jazz-Country-Classical-Folk: Over 2,000 Chords for Every Style of Music by Mark Schonbrun

Another useful chord book with spiral binding:

Guitar Chords: All the Chords You'll Need...and More! by Paul Roland

6. Books on introductory and advanced fingering and picking exercises

These are useful going from basic introduction to more advanced exercises:

Complete Acoustic Guitar by Arlen Roth. (From Amazon - several versions of the book, comment is from earlier version) "This is a very useful book for beginning/intermediate acoustic guitar students. It stands well on its own or could be used with an instructor. Great explanations and examples that build up slowly from basic to more complex."
Guitar Aerobics: A 52-Week, One-lick-per-day Workout Program for Developing, Improving and Maintaining Guitar Technique by Troy Nelson. (From part one of several 5-star Amazon reviews) "The author spotlights 7 important techniques (alternate picking, arpeggios, sweep picking, string skipping, legato, string bending, and rhythm guitar) one for each day of the week, and builds on each every week. So every Monday is alternate picking day, and builds on the lesson of the Monday before. It's a great idea. The author says that an intermediate player can skip to around week 17 and an advanced player can probably go to week 36. I'd say I'm lower intermediate, after some 10 years of playing both steel-string acoustic and electric. I've worked my way through the first 10 weeks of lessons in 4 or 5 days. I find some of the skills like string bending, arpeggios, legato, and rhythm to be very easy, but I've never done sweep picking and found it to be a challenge. And the string skipping is something I've never done much concentrated work on, so it's great. I'm sure that when I get up to week 17 the other skills will get more challenging for me. ..."

7. Skeptical Guitarist (Bruce Emery) books

The Skeptical Guitarist at skepticalguitarist.com (Bruce Emery ) has a series of introductory to advanced books that cover a range of topics. The books are all spiral bound making them much easier to use. Some of the entries do not have much in the way of descriptions, but the reader reviews fill in that detail. Also, there are more descriptions on his Web site as well as the ability to order the books from his Web site at skepticalguitarist.com. Some that might be useful are:

Guitar From Scratch; A Cordial Introduction For the Budding Guitarist by Bruce Emery (2001).
Music Principles for the Skeptical Guitarist Vol. 1: The Big Picture by Bruce Emery (1997).
Music Principles for the Skeptical Guitarist, Volume 2 'The Fretboard' by Bruce Emery (1998).
Guitar from scratch: The sequel by Bruce Emery (2002).
Blues Guitar From Scratch by Bruce Emery (2006).
Jazz for the Skeptical Guitarist by Bruce Emery (2006).
Fingerstyle Guitar from Scratch - Picking Patterns for Vocal Accompaniment by Bruce Emery (2003).

8. The Guitar Grimoire book series

Adam Kadmon has a series of more advanced books called the Guitar Grimoire that cover a range of topics. Some that might be useful are:

GT15 - Guitar Grimoire: Progressions & Improvisation by Adam Kadmon. (From Amazon) "An exhaustive compendium of chord progressions. Literally filled with hundreds of exercises and thousands of diagrams accompanied by Kadmon's unique presentation, this book completely examines the craft and universe of progressions. Improvisation and compositional technique are explained and interwoven to create a virtual encyclopedia of melodic and chordal possibilities, styles, dimensions and potentials."
Carl Fischer Guitar Grimoire - The Fingerpicking Book by Adam Kadom. (From Amazon) "Starting with chord fingerpicking patterns and expanding to scale (major and minor) fingerpicking and ostinato bass variations, author Adam Kadmon uses thousands of charts, diagrams, and musical examples to guide and instruct you on how to master the technique and the instrument. All the examples are working and function operations that will lead to the immediate application and creation of progressions, songs, and compositions."
The Guitar Grimoire: A Compendium of Formulas for Guitar Scales and Modes by Adam Kadom. (From Amazon) "The most complete book on scales and modes ever written. An encyclopedia with over 6,000 diagrams, charts and graphs. Complete explanation of all 5,6,7, and 8 tone scales and modes. The essential volume for every guitarist's library. This book is a "where to" book, showing you exactly where to find any scale in any key on your fretboard. It is a professional reference tool to enhance your music library and playing that you will use for many years to come."
The Guitar Grimoire: A Compendium of Formulas for Guitar Scales and Modes by Adam Kadom. (From Amazon) "Every chord of every key and mode is presented with thousands of diagrams and charts. Includes polychords, chord substitutions, inversions and movable voicings. This indespensable volume belongs in every guitarist's library. This book is a "where to" book, showing you exactly where to find any chord in any key on your fretboard. It is a professional reference tool to enhance your music library and playing that you will use for many years to come."

9. Miscellaneous useful related sites

Tricks for How to Memorize a Song:
http://www.wikihow.com/index.php?title=Memorize-a-Song&printable=yes

Open source free audio recording and editing computer software: "Audacity"
http://http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

There are many instructional videos on YouTube and Google you might search.

A few on-line music stores:

10. Introductory Piano / Keyboard books

Figuring out chords is sometimes easier to visualize on a piano or keyboard. Therefore, a few useful books and web sites are listed.

How to Play Piano Despite Years of Lessons: What Music Is and How to Make It at Home by Ward Cannel and Fred Marx (1981). (From Amazon) "This method is a truly entertaining approach to learning how to play the piano. Written by Ward Cannel of the Piano Consortium, the method breaks down music theory into visual concepts which are fun and easy to grasp, so you can learn to play the music you want to play! Perfect for those piano lesson dropouts!"

Piano For Dummies by Blake Neely (2009). (From Amazon) "Instruct: to provide with knowledge, especially in a methodical way. That is, in fact, what Phillips and Chappel of Cherry Lane Music do in this logical, pedagogic introduction to keyboard instruments, music theory, and piano technique. The chapter on the famous? or is it infamous?? "Part of Tens" includes information about past and present masters of the instrument, ways of expanding your interest beyond the scope of the book, and tips on finding a teacher. Printed musical examples are plentiful, and an accompanying audio CD is included. This book intends to be fun and funny and succeeds in a vaudeville sort of way. Students are encouraged "to continue to seek knowledge a bout your instrument long after you tire of the jokes" and told that "piano teachers and method books shouldn't be forsaken forever." The do-it-yourself phenomenon has made the "Dummies" books very popular. This one is particularly appropriate for school media and public libraries."

How to Play from a Fake Book (Keyboard Edition) by Blake Neely. (From Amazon) "Ever wondered how to create better accompaniments for the melodies in your favorite fake books? This "teach yourself" book introduces you to chord building, various rhythmic styles, and much more, so that you play the songs you like just the way you want them. Keyboard players with a basic understanding of notation and sight-reading will be on their way to more fun with fake books. The relaxed tone of the text and selection of fun songs keep How to Play from a Fake Book entertaining throughout - perfect for amateur musicians, or as a supplement for keyboard teachers and their students."

Some useful piano Web sites with chords, sheet music, learning piano/keyboard

E-mail contact: plemkin@lemkingroup.com
Web-site: http://lemkingroup.com/
Revised: January 28, 2012