Week 1 of 27
Goal: You hold the guitar comfortably, strike the strings and play your very first chord: Em.
Step by step
- Sit near the front edge of your chair. The guitar rests on your right leg, the neck points slightly up. Keep your shoulders loose! Or classical style on your left leg with a footstool – as your teacher shows you. More in Holding the guitar.
- Pluck only the thickest string, the low E string, with your thumb. Let it ring until it fades. Then pluck the thinnest one, the high e string.
- Now sweep across all six strings once: with your thumb, index fingernail or a pick – as your teacher shows you – from top to bottom, calm, even, not too hard.
- Your first chord, Em: middle finger on the A string, ring finger on the D string, both at the 2nd fret. All six strings may ring.
- How to read a chord chart: the vertical lines are the strings (low E on the left, high e on the right), the horizontal ones are the frets. A dot shows where a finger presses – the number says which one: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 little finger. “o” means play the open string, “x” means don’t play it.
- On the chord page, tap the microphone: the app listens and tells you whether all strings ring. More tips: First chords.
Time to make music: your piece
Count in (“one, two, three, four”), then strum Em four times, all open strings four times – round and round. In the rhythm tool choose “Only down”, chord Em, slow tempo: the metronome counts along.
Practise rhythm Pattern: Only down
Homework for next time
Five days, about ten minutes each:
- Every day: sit up straight, guitar on your right leg, shoulders loose.
- Days 1–2: pluck each string on its own, low to high, and let it ring.
- Days 3–4: put Em on, let go, put it on again – ten times.
- Day 5: your piece with the metronome – four times Em, four times open.
- Fun: play your piece for someone at home!
Done when …
- you sit comfortably and the guitar doesn’t slip
- all six strings ring when you play Em
- you get through your piece once without stopping
If you get stuck
- Do your fingertips hurt? That’s normal at the start. Practise a little every day rather than once for a long time – after a week or two the skin gets tougher.
- A string sounds muffled? Then a finger is touching it. Arch your fingers more, like little hammers.
For teachers: lesson plan
- ≈ 10 min Warm-up: everyone plucks the low E string at the same time and listens until it fades. Who can hear it the longest?
- ≈ 15 min Practice: put Em on and release it in turn – the teacher calls “on” and “off” in time, the group follows.
- ≈ 20 min Together: play the piece round and round with the metronome – half the group plays Em, the other half the open strings, then swap.
Differentiation: those who are confident play the piece with down-up or help a partner; those who need more time strum only on beat one of each bar.
For the board: openstring.de/gitarre/en/lesson/1/