Introduction to guitar course on Coursera

Play the guitar!

Have you ever wanted to belong to the beautiful world of music, to be able to produce melodies, play beautiful tunes yourself? Now you can learn to do this at the online course Introduction to Guitar!

What will the course Introduction to Guitar teach?

The course will introduce you to playing the guitar, both acoustic and electric. It will provide you with essential information about the instrument and music, and will offer you the ways to practice your skills. The author of the course, a prominent musician and an associate professor in the Guitar department at Berklee College of Music, Thaddeus Hogarth, will present the material in separate stages, so that it will be easier for you to absorb the information. The course will give you the foundational knowledge necessary to pursue most intermediate guitar courses.

What will this guitar course include?

The course will consist of six lessons. At each lesson the instructor will explain to you the theory and offer a demonstration of what you are supposed to learn.

In the beginning of the course you will learn such things as:

  • names of parts of the interment
  • names of the strings
  • how to tune a guitar, including how to use a tuner
  • fingers style vs. using a pick
  • technique exercises
  • the difference between thick string and thin string

After this, you’ll learn the basics of harmony and move on to building chords. The teacher will explain to you why chords sound the way they do and what notes make up the chords.

With all that knowledge you will start playing some music. You will learn some essential effects for an electric guitar, such as an overdrive or wah-wah.

The course aims to give you lots of practical experience. For this reason you’ll be recording your playing and showing it to your peer students for assessment. The course will also provide you with the forum where all the students will be able to share their experience, ideas and practical advice.

What will the course Introduction to Guitar require?

This is a free course that requires no prior musical education. The students who already took the course advise you to spend about 1-2 hours on practice daily, dividing the time into 5-10 minutes intervals so that not to overstrain your fingers.

Will I need any special equipment?

As you are going to record yourself you will need a microphone, either built-in or external. You will also need some basic audio recording software, such as Audacity.

What will happen at the end of this music course?

There will be a quiz at the end of the course. The final grade will be based on your quiz results and the results of your peer review assessments.

This course is eligible for Verified Certificate which you can use for your career. The Verified Certificate costs $49.oo.

How do I enroll in the course Introduction to Guitar ?

To enroll in the course you need to go to the course page and register there.