Fretwork

Learn

Each step waits until it hears you play it. No skipping ahead, no pretending.

0/10 doneStart: Meet the strings

First steps

Where the notes are and how to press them.

  1. Meet the strings8 min

    Six strings, six names, and a microphone that will tell you the truth about each one.

    7 steps
  2. Your first fretted notes10 min

    The moment your left hand stops being decorative.

    4 steps
  3. The chromatic warm-up7 min

    Boring on purpose, and the fastest way to make four fingers independent.

    4 steps

Open chords

The shapes behind most songs you know.

  1. Em and Am: two fingers, two chords12 min

    Two shapes, one finger of difference, and suddenly you can play half the campfire repertoire.

    4 steps
  2. The G–C–D triangle14 min

    Three chords that have been paying musicians' rent for about a hundred years.

    5 steps
  3. Add D to your minor chords12 min

    Dm is the one that makes a song sound like it means it.

    4 steps
  4. Your first song shape: G–Em–C–D15 min

    Four chords in the order that has launched a thousand ballads. You already know all of them.

    3 steps

Rhythm

Power chords and colour, in time.

  1. Power chords12 min

    Two notes, no opinion about major or minor, and the entire history of loud guitar.

    6 steps
  2. Sus chords add sparkle10 min

    One finger lifted, one finger added, and a plain D chord starts sounding like a record.

    4 steps

Lead

Your first box for improvising.

  1. The minor pentatonic box15 min

    The five-note shape behind roughly every rock solo ever played. Learn it once, use it forever.

    5 steps