Local Artist Brook Hoover
Brook Hoover is a local rocker and founding member of Surf Zombies. He is a patient, caring, certified, experienced instructor with a passion for sharing music. Find him on Facebook and YouTube. You can purchase his awesome Guitar Chord book on eBay, a great compliment to this class.
The Chord Wheel
In this lesson Brook gives students a spin around his Chord Wheel. While it may make you dizzy it is intended to help new and experienced guitarists grow their skills and knowledge of music theory. His approach allows great flexibility for individual exploration while providing the building blocks to deepen understanding of music and composition. Grab a guitar and rock. If you need to borrow an instrument please contact us.
Getting Started
If you have ever taken a class with Brook you know that he asks his students to be rigorous in their study of the instrument. For him this includes developing your ear as well as your dexterity. Repetition is key to making this stuff stick and become second nature. Brook published a Guitar Chords book in 2019, available on eBay. It’s a great accompaniment to this lesson and will serve you for years to come! Grab your instrument and tune it up. A good tuner will do the job quickly. If you need to borrow a guitar for a few weeks please contact us to inquire about availibility and details.
Beginners
Pay attention to the sound quality you are getting as you strum a chord. Here is a strumming pattern sheet to give you some ideas. Look at the diagram of how to hold your pick. It is easier to train yourself from the beginning rather than unlearning and re-learning a good pick grip. If you are just starting out on guitar focus on E, A, D, G, and C chords. Here is a basic beginning chord chart. There are many online that you can print as you progress. Build up around the wheel, adding the next chord as you master the prior ones. Play around with this mix of basic chords for endless entertainment!
More Experienced Players
For those of you who are ready for the next level, look up a chart of those bar chords, and practice, practice, practice. Follow Brook's method here to train your ear to hear these chords and expand your sound!
Need a little one on one?
If you have any questions for Brook be sure to reach out via email. A lesson is never a bad thing, and really pays off if you have spent some time with this lesson as a base. What else have you got going on right now? It’s a perfect time to perfect your playing!!
Share your work and stay connected!
We are curious to hear how this class is going. Add a comment below. If you have trouble, or want to share a short video, email us at info@eiaaprogram.org.
We want to stay connected to our creative students when we get back to the new normal. While you are here, learn more about the Eastern Iowa Arts Academy. While we don't have much taking place in real space/time during the pandemic, we will get back to our regular live and in-person classes. When we do, we'd love to have you as a member!
