Intermediate Acoustic

This first section outlines what you’ll learn in the entire course and then dives into the first lesson, a very thorough introduction to the art of building strumming patterns. Plus tips on using straplocks and band communication from Brenton Brown and Tim Neufeld from Starfield.

This second section of the Intermediate Acoustic Guitar course starts with strumming patterns part 2, then goes on to give you a whole bunch of sample patterns you can use in many, many different songs. We then explore building strumming patterns if you have no drummer to work with, look at the very important area of right arm strumming technique and give you a whole bunch of tips including how to make a band sound tight and together by Stuart Townend and Aaron Keyes, choosing musicians by Tim Hughes and Stu G from Delirious? and even acoustic guitar selection from British worship leader Paul Oakley – a lot of content in 63 minutes!

This lesson includes:

• Using substitute chords in G 
• Alan Frow how do you choose songs for a worship set
• Cheat and substitute chords in G 
• More licks and tricks in G 
• Tre Sheppard on what to do if your congregation doesn't like contemporary worship
• Acoustic guitar buyers guide 
• 55 minutes, 845MB video download

Now we begin to get into the real meat of the Acoustic Guitar course as we take the chords further and look at cheats and substitutes in the key of C. Again we take it deeper with some licks and tricks that work well with ‘C’ shapes and finally have some great tips on song selection and set lists from Tim Hughes, Vicky Beeching and Noel Richards. If you’ve been the kind of worship leader or player that has always stuck mainly to some ‘G’ based shapes this lesson will massively expand your chord library. 35 minutes of detailed material.

Again continuing our chord shapes we look at the key of D and some great shapes that help you move from chord to chord just by moving one finger. Incredibly useable, especially for songs with quick chord changes. Plus again some tips, this time from Tim Neufeld, lead singer with Starfield.

Continuing with D we again look at some licks and tricks in the key alongside lots of  finger picking ideas that will expand your style library. We also explore using a baritone guitar in worship and have tips from Stuart Townend, Paul Oakley and Stu G (Delirious?) on leading worship, vocals and working with inexperienced band members. 

These lessons complete the cheat and substitute chords in the fundamental open keys for acoustic players. This time we look at chords in both the keys of E and A. 47 minutes. Great for players who want to explore working up the guitar neck. s

Moving on a stage further with chords this section digs into some more unusual chords to add style and delicacy to your chord vocabulary. So we explore shapes for ‘5’ chords and add9 chords for adding strength or beauty to the sounds, we look at playing open chords in B without using barre chords or a capo! And even look at playing in B with a detuned top E for all sorts of new sounds! There’s a section on using a high strung guitar in worship and more worship leading tips from Tim Hughes, David Ruis, Tre Shepherd and Noel Richards.

This next section brings together much of the chord learning by looking at using all 6 sets of chord shapes to play in awkward keys with a capo. Plus advice on choosing a capo, more set list advice and what key to sing in from Vicky Beeching and Daivd Ruis. If you’ve ever thought a capo was a crutch this section will show you how to use one to massively expand the library of voicings you play in. Its not a crutch it's an instrument to help you choose the sounds you want to match the feel of a song.

If you’ve ever struggled with barre chords this section helps you play them properly, well and without the pain! We explore a failsafe method of finding the right barre chord all the way up the neck, help you work them through simply then  push the envelope and even explore playing Matt Redman’s Facedown in D#min all using barre chords just to help solidify your learning and give you a thorough grounding in how to find any barre chord in any complicated key. The whole section is rounded up with some great worship leading advice from Brenton Brown. 

For those who want to develop their finger picking skills especially for when it comes time to play hymns and the dreaded Christmas carols on guitar we encourage you to work through this great lesson on the art of Travis picking. Travis picking is all about keeping your thumb moving with the bass notes to provide an interesting and rhythmic finger picking style. To get Travis picking under your belt requires some good practice so we break the basic style down into 9 daily exercises to build your muscle memory and get your fingers moving! A perfect and step by step introduction to this in depth guitar style.

For the final section of the course we look at applying the Travis picking style into chords and then sequences and then hymns. There’s a great modern hymn to work through (Before the Throne of God above) which you can play using the different cord shapes explored earlier in the course, plus some final thoughts and sing off – oh and a great little encouragement from Chris Tomlin.