Tom Poore © 2018. All rights reserved. Classical guitar lessons in Avon, Beachwood, Solon, South Euclid. Contact me at augustineregal@yahoo.com
Practice should be more than mindless finger wiggling. It’s also useful to become familiar with the basics of music. Every guitarist, at minimum, should know common chord progressions and scales in the keys we most often encounter. So here are worksheets for the major keys of C, G, D, A, E, and the minor keys of A, E, and D. You can use these as daily warmups for arpeggios and scales. Not only will they help your physical technique, but they’ll also familiarize you with the basic musical grammar of these eight common keys. Once you know them, learning other keys will be easier. A suggestion: In the scales, start slowly at first—one note per click at perhaps a metronome setting of 80. At this glacial speed, emphasize absolute accuracy and ease of execution with each hand. Then play two notes per click at 80, and then four notes per click at 80. (Advanced players can increase the metronome speed.)
The scale fingerings in these worksheets are merely suggestions. If you wish, alter them as you see fit. You can also vary the right hand arpeggio in the chord progressions, to better target whatever needs improvement. And once you’ve memorized the chord progressions, feel free to experiment with other voicings of the chords. The purpose of these worksheets is to improve your creativity, not stifle it.
