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guitar
crash course in
»in desperate need to know guitar in a short period of time? no fear, you're here. with this read and some practice, you'll be playing green day's time of your life in no time. great for picking up girls (or guys in my case, tho' i've been told repeatedly that it doesn't work that way).
I. looking down on the guitar fretboard
high string » 




low string » 

e|---|---|---|
B|---|---|---|
G|---|---|---|
D|---|---|---|
A|---|---|---|
E|---|---|---|
     ^   ^   ^

  high and low refer to pitch. 
  the bars indicated by ^ separate the frets.
  by pressing on a fret with your left hand,
  you change the pitch of the note.
II. chords and fingering
notation :

e|---|---|-5-|
B|---|---|-4-|
G|---|---|---|
D|---|---|---|
A|---|-2-|---|
E|---|---|-3-|

  the numbers indicate fingers on your left hand pressing the fret:
  1:thumb; 2:index finger; 3:middle; 4:ring; 5: pinky.
  try strumming - press the chords with your left hand and play
  all the strings at once with your right.

chords :

  G5              C9              D4              Em              C
e|---|---|-5-|  e|---|---|-5-|  e|---|---|-5-|  e|---|---|---|  e|---|---|---|
B|---|---|-4-|  B|---|---|-4-|  B|---|---|-4-|  B|---|---|---|  B|-2-|---|---|
G|---|---|---|  G|---|---|---|  G|---|-2-|---|  G|---|---|---|  G|---|---|---|
D|---|---|---|  D|---|-2-|---|  D|---|---|---|  D|---|-3-|---|  D|---|-3-|---| 
A|---|-2-|---|  A|---|---|-3-|  A|---|---|---|  A|---|-2-|---|  A|---|---|-4-|
E|---|---|-3-|  E|---|---|---|  E|---|---|---|  E|---|---|---|  E|---|---|---|
III. plucking and song notation
notation :

   G5              G5
e|---------------|---------------|
B|-----*3--------|-----*3--------|
G|--------2---2--|--------2---2--|
D|----1-----1----|----1-----1----|
A|---------------|---------------|
E|-*1------------|-*1------------|

explanation :
switch gears competely. the bars here don't separate frets but instead measures.
each measure is labedl with a chord - you're pressing that particular chord for that 
entire measure. the numbers are fingers for your right hand this time, plucking the 
strings while your left is holding the chord. again, 1:thumb; 2:index, etc. pluck in
the order that the you're reading from left to right. the * indicates a slight pause 
when you pluck that note.
IV. all together now

i. intro
   play 2X
   
ii. 2X again

   G5              G5              C9              D4
e|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|
B|-----*3--------|-----*3--------|-----*3--------|-----*3--------|
G|--------2---2--|--------2---2--|--------2---2--|----2---2---2--|
D|----1-----1----|----1-----1----|----1-----1----|-*1-------1----|
A|---------------|---------------|-*1------------|---------------|
E|-*1------------|-*1------------|---------------|---------------|


iii. 2X

   Em              D4              C              G5
e|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|
B|-----*3--------|-----*3--------|-----*3--------|-----*3--------|
G|--------2---2--|----2---2---2--|--------2---2--|--------2---2--|
D|----1-----1----|-*1-------1----|----1-----1----|----1-----1----|
A|---------------|---------------|-*1------------|---------------|
E|-*1------------|---------------|---------------|-*1------------|


iv. 2X

   Em              G5
e|---------------|---------------|
B|-----*3--------|-----*3--------|
G|--------2---2--|--------2---2--|
D|----1-----1----|----1-----1----|
A|---------------|---------------|
E|-*1------------|-*1------------|


v.

   Em              D4
e|---------------|---------------|            
B|-----*3--------|-----*3--------|      vi. repeat i-v. strumming instead!
G|--------2---2--|----2---2---2--|
D|----1-----1----|-*1-------1----|
A|---------------|---------------|
E|-*1------------|---------------|