Beginner to Kickass

Lessons Overview

Beginner to Kickass is 30 hours of complete beginner guitar lessons. That’s 84 lessons and 69 songs (with backing tracks), each one focused on a specific element of beginner guitar playing — so you’re never wondering what to practice next.

Here’s the full journey:

SECTION 1

Sound Kickass Fast

All the basics of plucking, strumming, fretting, and rhythm — built on good habits from day one — plus a stack of chords so you can learn a bunch of songs fast.

Module 1: Let’s Rock 🤘

FRETTING & PLUCKING BASICS On all the strings, with technique that won’t need fixing later.

RHYTHM FUNDAMENTALS The foundation everything else sits on.

YOUR FIRST CHORDS Two beginner-friendly chords to get your fingers in the game.

YOUR FIRST REAL SONG  You’ll play along with an actual song by the end of module one. Not a nursery rhyme. A song.

Module 2: Super Simple Chords 🎶

THE MUSICAL ALPHABET Seven letters. That’s the whole road map to playing music, learning songs, and understanding how riffs are made. Learning this early helps you dodge one of the most common beginner mistakes.

EIGHTH NOTES Double your playing speed, instantaneously.

UP STRUMS & STRUMMING PATTERNS Combine down and up strums into patterns that make songs come alive.

NEW CHORDS & FAST TRANSITIONS A couple of new chords — and the tricks to switch between them quickly.

BUFFER BEATS The simple drill that buys your fingers time while you’re learning to change chords.

Module 3: Gateway to Riffs 🏰

HOW TO READ TABS Tabs are the easiest way to read music — sort of like cheating. Once you can read tabs, you can find the songs you’re dying to learn online and teach yourself. For free. Forever.

SINGLE-NOTE PICKING All about picking individual notes cleanly.

ALTERNATE & ECONOMY PICKING Universal skills you’ll use in every song you ever play.

MUTING Up your precision game and make your riffs sound tight as heck.

SYNCOPATION A new way of using eighth notes that takes you to max eighth-note-ninja level.

Module 4: Powered-Up Chords 🧨

MOVEABLE POWER CHORDS Unlock a million riffs with one single shape. This is how Slash, Hetfield, and Angus Young fill arenas with three strings.

NAVIGATING THE NECK Learn step-by-step how to find any note, so you can eventually master the whole fretboard.

PALM MUTING Chug chug chug chug. You know the sound. Now you’ll make it.

TWO-BIRDS FRETTING Cleaner playing with one efficient technique.

SECTION 2

Rock Solid Foundation

Essential theory to understand music — just enough so it never gets in the way of learning your favorite songs — plus your first scale and full-sized, pro-level chords.

Module 5: Chord Crusher 💥

THE CORE FOUR CHORDS The four most commonly used chords ever. Thousands of songs run on these.

THE ERASE STRUMS METHOD A dead-simple way to learn any strumming pattern.

CHORD PROGRESSIONS How chords link up to form actual songs.

Module 6: Secrets of Sheet Music 🎼

NOTES AND RESTS ON THE STAFF Straightforward explanations, zero stuffiness.

READING RHYTHM Count and comprehend any rhythm you see on the page.

INTERVALS How the distances between notes are named — the key to understanding how music is put together.

THE BIG REVEAL That reading music isn’t scary. Promise.

Module 7: Superior Strumming 🏆

ESSENTIAL CHORD COLLECTION More of the must-know chords every picker needs.

GENRE-HOPPING STRUMMING PATTERNS Rad new patterns covering a wide range of styles, so you’re never a one-groove guitarist.

Module 8: Major Scale Master 🎹

THE MAJOR SCALE Your first scale — a huge deal. It’s how music is organized and the foundation of basically all the theory you’ll ever need. It’ll help you learn songs faster and understand them better.

TRIADS The building blocks of every chord you’ve played so far.

MAJOR PENTATONIC SCALE A versatile scale you’ll hear everywhere from country to classic rock.

HAMMER-ONS & PULL-OFFS Spice up the scale and make your playing sing.

IMPROVISING WITHOUT FEAR A simple, structured method for making things up on the spot. It’s gonna be amazing.

SECTION 3

Jam with the Band

Work towards feeling comfortable in real-life jams and gigs. Massively boost your rhythm playing with all kinds of grooves, and level up your lead playing with the essential techniques: pull-offs, slides, heavy-duty bending.

Module 9: Minor Scale Master 🥀

THE MINOR SCALE The dark counterpart to the major scale. This is where the feels live.

CHORD FAMILIES & SUS CHORDS Changing notes within a chord for expressive, fluid riffs.

BARRE CHORDS Full, formidable, pro-level chords.

DIATONIC CHORD THEORY Massive for learning chord progressions quickly — it makes sense of thousands of songs in one fell swoop.

NASHVILLE NUMBERS Pros reduce all the crazy complex theory to a simple number system. Now you can too.

Module 10: Guitarist’s Secret Weapon 💪

MINOR PENTATONIC SCALE The key to the kingdom. This scale is the foundation of the gnarliest licks and leads of all time.

HAMMER-ONS Foundational lead technique, straight into real riffs.

TRIPLETS How to feel them and use them.

IMPROVISING WITH MINOR PENTATONIC Can easily get you shredding at your first jam session.

Module 11: Blues and Beyond 🚀

BLUES FUNDAMENTALS Not just for blues — this stuff influences every other genre too.

SHUFFLE & SWING GROOVES A rock n roll staple. Essential for playing with soul and feeling.

12-BAR BLUES One of the most versatile progressions you’ll ever learn.

5 & 6 CHORDS The chords that give blues its swagger.

SLIDES Because they sound cool.

THE BLUES SCALE A spicy new scale for any style, from rock to country to metal. You won’t believe how much mojo you’ll get from it.

Module 12: Legit Leads 👌

FULL-STEP BENDS Heavy-duty string bending — your fingers will break a sweat in the lead guitar gym.

VIBRATO Bringing your notes to life.

HOW TO PLAY A MELODY By listening to the vocal and repeating important phrases. Real songwriting tools.

ROOT NOTE POWER For strong, intentional-sounding leads.

STARTING & ENDING A LICK So your solos sound deliberate, not accidental.

Module 13: Jam With The Band 🎸

CREATING RHYTHM PARTS Come up with your own parts using open chords and power chords, on the spot.

WRITING KILLER RIFFS Your own. From scratch.

FULLY IMPROVISED SOLOS Use everything you’ve learned to make up melodies and solos in real time — and hold your own at your first jam. (Or just impress your cat. That’s cool too.)

BONUS MODULES

MASTERCLASS MODULE 🏆 Next-level knowledge on a bunch of cool stuff, whenever you’re ready for it.

GEAR MODULE 🎧 All the basics you need to get your gear working and sounding good for the course.

FULL SONGS MODULE 🎤 A library of complete songs to play, start to finish, with backing tracks.