Patreon | Acoustic Guitar

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If you’re already a Champion-level patron of Acoustic Guitar, this is the place to explore the lessons and guides we make available exclusively to you. Thanks for your support!

We’ve been working with trusted teachers to bring expert instruction to guitarists all over the world since 1990. Here you’ll find some of the very best from the Acoustic Guitar archives alongside the video series we’re working on right now. (And, if you have an idea for a style or topic you’d love to see us cover, please message us on Patreon to let us know. We look forward to getting to know you.)

Not a patron yet? Make a contribution to support AcousticGuitar.com and get some special perks in return. Join us at the Champion level to get full access to these self-paced streaming lessons today! (If you’re not ready to commit right now, head back to the homepage to explore thousands of free guitar lessons and resources.)

Happy strumming!

Fundamentals & Technique

Whether you're still new to guitar or have been playing forever, you'll love the comprehensive approach in these guides.

Chords at Your Fingertips | Acoustic Guitar Plus

A dozen four-week workouts each designed to engage both your fingers and your mind.

Patreon Premium Content - The Way Music Works

The Way Music Works | Acoustic Guitar Plus

A step-by-step guide to using the fundamentals of music to unlock both the fretboard and your creativity.

DADGAD Guitar Essentials | Acoustic Guitar Plus

This is the perfect guide for getting to know DADGAD, whether you're just starting out in alternate tunings or have a bit of experience under your fingers.

Chord by Chord

What is Chord by Chord? Introducing Acoustic Guitar’s How-To Video Series

Welcome to Acoustic Guitar’s Chord by Chord, a series of 62 brief lessons designed to build your fretboard familiarity, chord flu... Read More...

8 ways to play g major on guitar chord by chord

Learn 8 Ways to Play G Major | Chord by Chord

In this installment of Acoustic Guitar's Chord by Chord series, you'll learn how to play a G chord in a different places on the fretboard.

Learn to Play D Major Chords Up and Down the Neck | Chord by Chord

Welcome to the third installment of Chord by Chord, a series designed to build your fretboard familiarity and understanding of harmony. Tod... Read More...

Blues

Master the basics, then explore slide, fingerstyle, and learn to play in the styles of your favorite guitarists.

Acoustic Blues Guitar Basics | Acoustic Guitar Plus

Orville Johnson teaches the techniques, progressions, and rhythmic patterns used by acoustic blues guitarists.

Play the Blues Like… | Acoustic Guitar Plus

Learn the styles of 12 all-time great pre- and postwar guitarists, from Elizabeth Cotten to Charley Patton to Alvin Youngblood Hart.

Roots & Blues Fingerstyle Guitar Explorations for Patreon

Roots and Blues Fingerstyle Guitar Explorations | Acoustic Guitar Plus

A comprehensive guitar method, songbook, and narrative anthology by Steve James, available to champions of this site or to purchase at store.AcousticGuitar.com.

12 Ways to Play Better Blues Guitar

12 Ways to Play Better Blues Guitar — Lesson 12: Improvising on the 12-bar Form

Learn how to use the form of the 12-bar blues as a roadmap for your improvising and give your blues solo a sense of logic and musical development.

david hamburger 12 Ways #11 - Developing Satisfying Solos.00_00_08_25.Still001

12 Ways to Play Better Blues Guitar — Lesson 11: Developing Satisfying Solos

Learn to create a solo that has a certain kind of connectedness and unity, because it’s based around some related ideas instead of just whatever lick you happen to come up with at the moment.

David Hamburger 12 Ways #10 – Creating Contrast.00_00_07_19.Still001

12 Ways to Play Better Blues Guitar — Lesson 10: Creating Contrast

Space can be good, but if you want to create a bigger sense of dimension, adding in chords as responses to single-note licks can give you a new depth and texture, while creating an additional level of call-and-response.

Folk

Here we focus on playing songs in the bluegrass and folk music traditions.

Acoustic Guitar Slide Basics | Acoustic Guitar Plus

Explore the haunting sounds of acoustic slide guitar with this easy-to-follow, step-by-step instruction series.

Fiddle Tunes and Folk Songs | Acoustic Guitar Plus

Learn to flatpick the melodies to ten traditional fiddle tunes and songs, with simple melodic variations and performance tips.

Scottish Songs for Guitar Available for Patrons

Scottish Songs for Guitar | Acoustic Guitar Plus

Learn to play 15 Scottish classics, with standard notation and tablature, complete lyrics, and background information.

Play Guitar Like the Great Singer-Songwriters

Video Lesson: Inside Paul Simon’s Atmospheric Acoustic Guitar Style

Paul Simon is a songwriter and guitarist who has made many iconic records—with Art Garfunkel and without—and has composed some of the most beloved songs of the 20th century. This lesson explores his musical styles and techniques.

Video Lesson: Bruce Cockburn Teaches His Sophisticated Guitar Style

In Bruce Cockburn’s hands, the guitar becomes a true band in a box, delivering powerful grooves, riffs, melodies, harmonized lines, and improvised solos in real time.

Lucinda Williams portrait by photographer Danny Clinch

Inside the Songwriting and Guitar Style of Lucinda Williams

Explore the music of Lucinda Williams by way of some of her best-known songs, with tab examples demonstrating her rhythm playing.

Bill Withers playing acoustic guitar and singing

Video Lesson: Inside the Soulful Acoustic Guitar Style of Bill Withers

An immersion in Bill Withers’ music brings powerful lessons for any guitar-playing songwriter, especially about the value of directness. This lesson goes inside some of Withers’ best songs—especially from his first few albums, when his own guitar was most prominent—to reveal the understated accompaniment style that carries them.

Video Lesson: Inside Joni Mitchell’s Inventive Guitar Style

Mitchell reinvented the guitar as a vehicle for accompaniment and songwriting. The evolution of her guitar style is inseparable from her journey as one of the defining singer-songwriters of her generation.