Jim discusses an important technique--palm muting. He explains how palm muting is used by flatpickers and fingerstyle players.
Taught by Jim Deeming in Basic Guitar with Jim seriesLength: 7:00Difficulty: 2.5 of 5
Fingerstyle master Jim Deeming teaches you the basics of guitar playing. With over 30 years of experience teaching and playing, Jim will definitely start you in the right direction. This is a great series for beginners and guitarists looking to refresh their knowledge.
Lesson 1
In this short lesson, Jim Deeming will introduce himself and talk about his upcoming lessons.
Length: 6:12 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 2
Jim gives his thoughts on purchasing your first guitar.
Length: 7:09 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 3
Jim discusses the importance of setting goals. He provides some tips that will help steer your practicing in the right direction.
Length: 11:00 Difficulty: 0.5 FREELesson 4
Jim Deeming walks you through the process of changing your strings. He gives some excellent tips on this important process.
Length: 41:09 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 5
Jim introduces proper playing technique. Then, he explains how to play your first chord.
Length: 52:24 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 6
Jim teaches you the 3 primary chords in G major. He also explains how chords relate to specific keys. A great lesson!
Length: 39:15 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 7
Jim discusses a plethora of right hand techniques that are essential to guitar playing.
Length: 35:19 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 8
This lesson provides additional information about chords and keys.
Length: 19:08 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 9
This lesson is all about playing. Jim will start you off playing a song. You will have the opportunity to play along with him.
Length: 20:10 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 10
Jim teaches you a few more commonly used chords. Then, he discusses a technique known as the alternating bass line.
Length: 40:54 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 11
Jim covers all possible fingering options pertaining to the basic open A chord shape.
Length: 17:42 Difficulty: 2.5 Members OnlyLesson 12
Jim talks about the future of his Phase 1 guitar series and where to go from here.
Length: 4:18 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 13
Jim delves into basic music theory. He starts from square one in this lesson.
Length: 29:00 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 14
Jim Deeming invites you to a veritable chord fiesta. He demonstrates common dominant and minor chord shapes.
Length: 43:00 Difficulty: 2.5 Members OnlyLesson 15
This lesson is all about movable chords. Learn the importance of barre chords and other movable shapes.
Length: 40:00 Difficulty: 2.5 Members OnlyLesson 16
Jim Deeming explains how to create a productive practice routine. Make sure you aren't wasting needless time!
Length: 30:00 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 17
Many guitarists use their pinky as an anchor. Jim explains the pros and cons of this technique.
Length: 9:00 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 18
Jim discusses an important technique--palm muting. He explains how palm muting is used by flatpickers and fingerstyle players.
Length: 7:00 Difficulty: 2.5 Members OnlyLesson 19
Jim Deeming covers the basics of reading guitar tablature. Knowledge of tablature will help with JamPlay lessons as well as learning your favorite songs.
Length: 21:12 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 20
Jim explains various tuning methods. He provides useful tips and tricks that will ensure that your guitar is sounding its best.
Length: 31:45 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 21
Jim is back with another "let's play" style lesson. He teaches the classic song "Red River Valley" and encourages you to play along.
Length: 52:38 Difficulty: 2.5 Members OnlyLesson 22
Jim Deeming introduces drop D tuning. Drop D is a popular alternate tuning used in many styles of music including rock, fingerstyle and blues.
Length: 25:25 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 23
Jim Deeming breaks down the song sections to the classic tune "Wayfaring Stranger".
Length: 29:20 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 24
Jim Deeming takes another, more focused look at drop D tuning.
Length: 6:27 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 25
Jim Deeming discusses how to use a metronome for practice, skill building, and speed building.
Length: 24:02 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
About Jim Deeming
View Full Biography
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.
Our acoustic guitar lessons are taught by qualified instructors with various backgrounds with the instrument.
Rich Nibbe takes a look at how you can apply the pentatonic scale in the style of John Mayer into your playing.
Free LessonSeries DetailsWelcome to the Phil Keaggy Master Course! In this series introduction, Phil shows and tells us what we can expect from this...
Free LessonSeries DetailsMitch teaches his interpretation of the classic "Cannonball Rag." This song provides beginning and intermediate guitarists...
Free LessonSeries DetailsLesson 40 takes a deeper look at slash chords. Mark discusses why they're called slash chords, and how they are formed.
Free LessonSeries DetailsIn this lesson, Freebo covers the basics of right hand technique. This lesson is essential for all up and coming bassists.
Free LessonSeries DetailsMarcelo teaches the eight basic right hand moves for the Rumba Flamenca strum pattern. He then shows you how to apply it...
Free LessonSeries DetailsAlan shares his background in teaching and sets the direction for his beginning bass series with simple ideas and musical...
Free LessonSeries DetailsErik expounds on the many possibilities of open tunings and the new harmonics that you can use in them. He explains what...
Free LessonSeries DetailsOur electric guitar lessons are taught by instructors with an incredible amount of teaching experience.
Get an in-depth look into the mind of virtuoso guitarist Andy James. Learn about Andy's early beginnings all the way up to...
Free LessonSeries DetailsBorn in 1986 and hailing from Brazil, Andre showed musical inclination at an early age. Influenced by native Brazilian Jazz...
Free LessonSeries DetailsLesson 6 is all about the major mode. As with the other lessons you'll be taking a look at the individual notes on the strings...
Free LessonSeries DetailsLita Ford, guitarist for The Runaways, presents a fantastic and in depth series on what it was like and what it took professionally...
Free LessonSeries DetailsEric Haugen discusses the goals of his "Six String Problem Solver" lesson series and what kind of material it covers.
Free LessonSeries DetailsBilly starts his artist series off with a lesson on something he gets asked the most to explain: right hand 3 finger technique.
Free LessonSeries DetailsLearn a handful of new blues techniques while learning to play Stevie Ray Vaughn's "The House Is Rockin'".
Free LessonSeries DetailsLesson 25 from Glen presents a detailed exercise that firmly builds up fret hand dexterity for both speed and accuracy.
Free LessonSeries DetailsLearn a variety of essential techniques commonly used in the metal genre, including palm muting, string slides, and chord...
Free LessonSeries DetailsSignup today to enjoy access to our entire database of video lessons, along with our exclusive set of learning tools and features.
Take a minute to compare JamPlay to other traditional and new methods of learning guitar. Our estimates for "In-Person" lessons below are based on a weekly face-to-face lesson for $40 per hour.
![]() |
||||
Price Per Lesson | < $0.01 | $4 - $5 | $30 - $50 | Free |
Money Back Guarantee | Sometimes | n/a | ||
Number of Instructors | 125 | 1 – 3 | 1 | Zillions |
Interaction with Instructors | Daily Webcam Sessions | Weekly | ||
Professional Instructors | Luck of the Draw | Luck of the Draw | ||
New Lessons | Daily | Weekly | Minutely | |
Structured Lessons | ||||
Learn Any Style | Sorta | |||
Track Progress | ||||
HD Video | - | Sometimes | ||
Multiple Camera Angles | Sometimes | - | Sometimes | |
Accurate Tabs | Maybe | Maybe | ||
Scale/Chord Libraries | ||||
Custom JamTracks | ||||
Interactive Games | ||||
Community | ||||
Learn in Sweatpants | Socially Unacceptable | |||
Gasoline Needed | $0.00 | $0.00 | ~$4 / gallon! | $0.00 |
Mike H.
"I feel like a 12 year old kid with a new guitar!"
I am 66 years young and I still got it! I would have never known this if it had not been for Jamplay! I feel like a 12 year old kid with a new guitar! Ha! I cannot express enough how great you're website is! It is for beginners and advanced pickers! I am an advanced picker and thought I had lost it but thanks to you all, I found it again! Even though I only play by ear, I have been a member a whopping whole two weeks now and have already got Brent's country shuffle and country blues down and of course with embellishments. Thank you all for your wonderful program!
Greg J.
"With Jamplay I can fit in a random session when I have time and I can go at my own pace"
I'm a fifty eight year old newbie who owns a guitar which has been sitting untouched in a corner for about seven years now. Last weekend I got inspired to pick it up and finally learn how to play after watching an amazing Spanish guitarist on TV. So, here I am. I'm starting at the beginning with Steve Eulberg and I couldn't be happier (except for the sore fingers :) Some day I'm going to play like Steve! I'm self employed with a hectic schedule. With Jamplay I can fit in a random session when I have time and I can go at my own pace, rewinding and replaying the videos until I get it. This is a very enjoyable diversion from my work yet I still feel like I'm accomplishing something worthwhile. Thanks a lot, Greg
Bill
"I believe this is the absolute best site for guitar students."
I am commenting here to tell you and everyone at JamPlay that I believe this is the absolute best site for guitar students. I truly enjoy learning to play the guitar on JamPlay.com. Yes, I said the words, ""enjoy learning."" It is by far the best deal for the money.
Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.Hi Jim, really enjoying the course so far. This lesson seems to be putting me at a fork in my guitar playing road. I have been playing finger-style for a few years now using my thumbnail for the bass notes & so felt comfortable playing with my palm maybe a half inch above the strings. After trying a thumb-pick (which felt alien to me) I reverted to my thumbnail and after a little practice I now feel comfortable palm muting while still using my thumbnail for the bass notes. The problem I'm seeing with this is that it doesn't leave me with a very good strumming option (especially on upstrokes) which I see you use occasionally with the thumb-pick. Just wondering whether you have any comments or advice that might help me decide whether I should bite the bullet & convert to a thumb-pick rather than persist with the thumbnail which might limit my playing down the track? Thanks
For the life of me, I could not figure out my issue with palm-muted upstrokes on three string power chords (e.g., the B major power chord). The G string would always sound high or inconsistent since my palm was coming up off the string a little. Jim's suggestion of leading with the palm on the upstroke is a stroke (no pun intended) of genius! I was finally able to match the sound of a palm-muted downstroke with the B-chord to the palm-muted upstroke of said chord. Thank you so much Jim!!!
I wish i did that, still after three years struggeling. Thought I got better, then I change my strings :D
This is very interesting because I started palm muting as part of my playing quite early on in my learning. The odd thing is that when I started doing it I didn't even know it was a recognised technique. I just did it inadvertently one time while strumming & thought it actually sounded quite good. Rightly or wrongly I use it when strumming the chords to Sam Cooke's Chain Gang song, at the beginning where he sings that kind of 'huh' sound. I thought that any experienced guitarist would cringe at me doing this & it was only much later that I discovered that this is in fact a recognised technique.
i also would do that "bossa nova" thing where u take the whole chord off for a split second and then place it back on. it just seemed like a logical technique to me.
yeah i did that too