51 Left Hand Techniques for Guitar

Everything you need to start playing guitar with great technique.

This course is all about developing great left hand technique on the guitar. The video lectures take you from the basics of sitting and hand position to more advanced concepts and techniques.

The course uses simple, easy-to-follow directions and terms, so there is no complicated jargon that you need to worry about. It is assumed that you have basic guitar literacy, so if your an absolute beginner (you're holding a guitar for the first time), then the course isn't for you for right now.

The course is designed for anyone who wants to improve their technique, whether you've been playing for a short time or your more advanced and play pieces from the classical guitar repertoire. Although I had a classical guitar audience in mind, you can benefit from the lessons in this course no matter what style of music you play.

The course comes with 53 video lectures (51 lesson videos, plus an introduction and conclusion), as well as PDF files of the musical examples written in both standard musical notation and guitar tablature (no note-reading is required). There are PDF files in each lecture, starting at lecture 7, and in the Introduction lecture there are 3 larger documents with all of the musical examples for each of the 3 large sections all in one place. The lectures are organized into 3 large sections, there are 20 lessons in the Basics section, 15 lectures in the Intermediate section, and 16 lectures in the Advanced section. I recommend following the lectures in order, and then you can go back and re-visit as many lectures as many times as you'd like.

This course will answer questions like, where do you place fingers on the fret? How do you play more accurately? How should you position your left hand? How do you do a barre chord without straining your left hand? What is the meaning of life? (Ok, maybe not that last one).

All you'll need is a computer, tablet, or mobile device and your guitar, and you'll be good to go. Some people find it helpful to print out the musical examples and keep it nearby, so find what works best for you. You'll find this course is a good fit for you if already play guitar at least a little bit and you want to increase the accuracy, control, and coordination of your left hand and become a better guitar player.