Guitar Discovery for Kids

Beginner Guitar Course from Jim Deeming

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Congratulations on getting your first guitar! Now let's learn to play it. Jim Deeming gets us up and running with the beginner skills needed to start your journey! This course will cover everything you need to get started whether you're playing acoustic or electric guitar - these skills apply to both. So let's get started!

18 Lessons

Complete course with step-by-step lessons and practice examples.

Multi-Camera

Course filmed with 6 cameras for the perfect angles.

100% Appoval

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Tabs & Info

Download tabs, helpers, JamTracks and docs included with lessons.

Included

Access this course, along with all other courses with Membership.

Full Course Breakdown

Jim gets us going with step-by-step incremental skills. Each lesson comes with a full set of downloadable notation for offline practice, so you can practice no matter where you are!

Begin the Course
1

Intro & Tuning

Get an overview of all 18 lessons and learn to tune your guitar.

4:45 Runtime

0.5 Difficulty

2

G Chord and Basic Strums

Learn your first chord, the G major as well as a very basic strumming pattern.

8:44 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

3

The C and D chords

Learn the C major and D major chords and play them along with the G major.

7:46 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

4

Strumming Workshop

Learn to sound more musical with upstrokes and downstrokes.

6:18 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

5

Strumming Workshop 2

Spice up your playing with another strumming pattern.

3:21 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

6

The Boom-Chuck Strum

Learn the boom-chuck strumming pattern, popular in country and blues playing.

3:44 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

7

Learn a Song: Yankee Doodle

Practice your strumming and learn to play Yankee Doodle.

6:04 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

8

Learn a Song: Will the Circle Be Unbroken

Learn another new strumming pattern and practice with a brand new song.

4:34 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

9

Single Notes & Alternate Picking

Learn finger positions, single notes, and alternate picking.

5:35 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

10

Learn a Simple Melody

Practice your single string picking with a simple, new, fun melody.

3:31 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

11

G Minor Pentatonic Scale

Sounds scary, huh? It's not. What's a scale? You're about to find out.

4:33 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

12

Backing Track Jam

Apply your scale knowledge and jam along with a backing track.

13:41 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

13

Chords in the Key of A

Learn the A and E chords and how they work along with the D chord.

4:01 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

14

Strumming & Muting

Practice strumming in the key of A and learn all about muting.

4:01 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

15

7th Chords

Spice up your chord knowledge with some 7th chords.

3:24 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

16

Strumming with 7th Chords

Take the 7th chords you just learned and toss them into a chord progression.

1:53 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

17

12 Bar Blues

Learn the 12 barre blues, one of the most common blues progressions.

2:38 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

View this Lesson
18

Jammin' the Blues

Learn the A minor pentatonic scale and jam to some blues.

6:49 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

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Jim Deeming

25
  • Berthoud, CO
  • Playing since 1969
  • 160 lessons at JamPlay
Begin Course
Jim Deeming got his first guitar when he was only six years old. His Dad was taking fingerpicking lessons, and Jim wanted to be just like him. The Mel Bay books didn't last very long before he strapped on a thumb pick and added the Chet part to Red River Valley so it sounded better.

Most of Jim's early learning was by ear. With unlimited access to his Dad's collection of Chet Atkins albums, he spent countless hours decoding his favorite songs. They were never "right" until they sounded just like Chet. Around the age of 12, Jim heard Jerry Reed for the first time and just knew he had to be able to make that "Alabama Wild Man" sound. The styles of Chet & Jerry always have been a big influence on his playing.

More recently he has pursued arrangements by Tommy Emmanuel and Doyle Dykes, in addition to creating some of his own and writing originals.

Jim has performed in front of a variety of audiences, including concerts, competitions, weddings and the like, but playing at church has always been a mainstay. Whether playing in worship bands or guitar solos, gospel music is deep in his roots and is also the driving theme behind his debut CD release, titled "First Fruits".

Jim has been playing for about 38 years. He also has taught private lessons in the past but believes JamPlay.com is an exciting and better venue with many advantages over the traditional method of weekly 30 minute sessions.

Jim lives in Berthoud, Colorado with his wife, Linda, and their four children. Although he still has a "day job", he is actively performing and is already back in the studio working on the next CD. If you wonder how he finds time, look no further than the back seat of his truck where he keeps a "travel guitar" to take advantage of any practice or song-writing opportunities he can get.

The opening song you hear in Jim's introductory JamPlay video is called, "A Pick In My Pocket". It's an original tune, written in memory of Jim's father who told him early on he should always keep a pick in his pocket in case he ever met Chet Atkins and got the chance to play for him. That song is slated to be the title track for his next CD, which will feature several more originals plus some of his favorite covers of Chet and Jerry arrangements.
Reviews & Feedback 100/100 with 25 ratings
MASFAN1

Easy to understand

bobinspain

Jim's steady and patient approach is much appreciated, so well explained and demonstrated.