Anyone Want To Learn Guitar of Music Theory
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Here's some advice for beginning guitar players, even if you've already been playing for a couple of years or so.
1. Get the best quality guitar you can afford when starting to learn. It's easier to sell a good guitar if you decide you don't want to continue later on. Some of the high price acoustic manufacturers now make an entry level version, like Martin, Taylor, Washburn, with a lifetime warranty.
1a. Holding the guitar. Your fretboard hand knuckles should be parallel to the length of the fretboard (as much as possible). Your 4th pinky finger is an important playing tool, not just bent backwards out of play. Thumb goes centered under the neck; that's how you'll find the strenght to push down on the strings with your other fingers. Prop your leg (fret side) up if you have to, with the neck higher in the air. In Spain (where the guitar originated), a small foot stool is used to prop the fret side leg up. Train don't strain. Hand muscles need time for stretching and developing strength, just like any other physical workout. You can injure your hands if you try too hard. Get a hand cramp, rest it fully before starting again. Use Lemon Pledge or equivalent to clean your guitar AND strings after playing (finger sweat and dirt does get on the strings to make them tarnish faster).
2. If you get an electric guitar to learn, don't turn the distortion up. I hear beginners doing this all the time in music shops. Why not do it? It destroys your beginning ear training. Need to hear the notes clearly when learning; reveals pick and fret hand mistakes, makes you play clean without mistakes. Then when you get better, you'll find you don't need near as much distortion to try and mimic your favorite rock icons. Won't miss as many notes either.
3. Get a tuning fork and learn to use it, not an electric tuner. Why? Using a tuning fork = ear training. After a while, you'll get to where you can tune your guitar to that same tuning fork note, without a tuning fork. THEN... you've got a solid note reference in your head to use for further ear training. It's all about sound afterall. Never play your guitar out-of-tune when learning; kiss your ear training goodbye if you do (this further cements need for a quality guitar that can be in good tune).
4. Before you get disgusted with learning to play guitar, give it a chance by doing a warmup finger exercise for a few weeks, every time when you first pick it up to play. Here's an easy one:
5th Fret - 6th Fret - 7th Fret - 8th Fret
1st finger-2nd finger-3rd finger-4th finger (pinky)
Wherever your 1st finger is planted on the fretboard, that's what guitar positon it is. So that's the 5th position (5th fret).
The idea is to pick each note clean (no mistakes), slowly, and leave fret finger down as long as possible to sound the note legato (long) while you get ready to plant the next finger. Play the notes across the fretboard in the position, one finger per fret across the fretboard. Fret finger should be placed just behind the fret to assure a clean note; not on or touching the fret, but just behind it. Then reverse the pattern playing single notes across the fretboard, low bass string through little E string then back up. Picking hand should be alternate picking only. No picking only downward or upward. Doing this slow means speed and ease later.
That warmup loosens the fingers up more so it makes forming chords much, much easier. It'll also help to learn scales later if you decide to stay with the guitar.
5. Get a songbook with songs you LIKE, that you KNOW, and that you can SING. I don't mean songs like Ol' McDonald or Mary Had A Little Lamb either. I learned using songbooks of Bob Dylan and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Had the records for those songbooks too. Those songbooks have the chord graphs above the lyrics and music, and most often, the time with the lyrics are accurate. Match those chord changes of the chord graphs with the lyric timing, and learn to sing and play rhythm at the same time. That's the fastest way to advance. Ideally, you wanted to learn guitar so you could play songs you like, right?
6. Rhythm secrets - another thing the alternate picking exercise does is to help you learn timing. It also translates later to strumming chords. Fast chord rhythm is done with the pick hand alternating across the strings, not the hand chopping the strings only up or only downward (though that is done on some songs as an effect, but not the majority of song rhythms). When you can get rhythms like Doobie Brother's Listen to The Music, or Long Train Running correct, then you'll know what I mean.
7. OK, you've got a computer (most likely if your reading this). Lot of simple 'free' music programs out there that you can type chords into, pick a music style, and play drums and bass, et al for you. Those are good 'timing' practice tools. Not essential, but just another way to learn timing. Otherwise, you'll need a metranome. Can buy one the size of a credit card that puts out a click tone, and change bpm (beat per minute). It's important that you do one or the other when learning. Here's a story why...
A mix/mastering engineer friend of mine for an Indie label in Nashville handed me some tracks of a solo guitarist/singer who they put a band behind and recorded some of his songs. The guy flat refused to play to a 'click' in the studio. That click is just a low-level metronome tone played in everyone's headset during recording; helps everyone stay in time. The guy's songs were great, but the band behind him sounded like they were playing musical chairs, simply because his timing was terrible. It was impossible for the band to follow his time, even though they tried. And it's mainly because the guy had played and sang so long by himself, and without anything to keep time, that he no longer noticed it. Lot of professionals that don't need a 'click' in the studio is because they had... learned good timing by years of playing with a steady metronome, etc.
Your in luck today, I feel like teaching.
8. Basic Music Theory:
A. Western music is based on the ancient Greek modes, and we call it Western Diatonic Harmony. Why's knowing this important? Because each one of those 7 Modes of the Major Scale has a different tonal sound, even though they're within the same Major Scale.
B. The Major Scale is based on the first Greek Mode, called Ionian. The key of C Major is: C-D-E--F-G-A-B--C. No sharps or flat notes in C Major. If you play on one of your E-strings open, that open note is E. Then the 1st fret if the note F, then on the 3rd fret it's G, etc. Space from one fret to the next is called a 'half-step'. Space between two frets (like 1st fret to 3rd fret) is called a 'whole-step'. If you'll notice, everywhere on the fretboard where the interval from E to F or B to C occurs, it's always a half-step, or one fret. That's a musical constant for all... instruments. It never changes. (Don't worry about the # or b notes in between on the fretboard just yet, called Accidentals).
C. Scale notes have Degree numbers assigned to them - the 8th (Octave) is a repeat note of the 1st note, but higher in pitch:
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8
C - D - E- F -G - A- B - C
The reason why we have sharp (#) and flat (B) keys, is because of how the note intervals fall between those notes of the Major Scale. What makes the Major Scale from the Ionian Mode sound is where... those E-F and B-C half-steps fall. So to spell the other keys, you've got to maintain that same Major Ionian interval relationship, with the half-steps between the E-F and B-C notes. With the Major Scale, that's always between the 3rd and 4th, and 7th and 8th degrees (like above).
Look at the key of G Major:
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8
G -A - B - C- D -E -F# - G
You want the half-steps only between the 3rd-4th and 7th-8th degrees of the scale (for Major Scale). But the E-F falls between 6-7th degrees in the key of G, so the F had to become an F# to keep that Major Diatonic relationship. And thusly, the key of G Major has one sharp, an F#. All the other keys also require flatting or sharping to keep that half-step relationship between the 3-4 and 7-8 degrees for Major harmony. This is for all musical instruments, not just guitar. That's usually where I start out students with Music Theory. Spell the 12 Major keys, putting the sharps and flats in where they're required. Doing that is what cements understanding of what's to follow, because all... music, even chords and arpeggios have their basis from the musical Scale.
D. Chords - Arpeggios:
There's only 3 main musical tools that make up the whole basis playing music, the Scale, Chords, and Arpeggios. Chords mean stacked notes, notes played at the same time. An Arpeggio is simply a chord where you pick single notes out of it, playing it like a scale one note after the other. So Chords are vertical harmony, whereas the Scale is horizontal harmony.
A Chord has a minimum of 3 notes, called a Triad, and they're stacked on top of each other played at the same time. Only 2 notes is an Interval, and it is not... a Chord. A Chord is spelled from the Scale by skipping every other note (for Major Harmony). The reason the Triad is the basis for all Chords is because there's only 4 different Triads in music: Major, Minor, Diminished, and Augmented:
Major Triad - C-E-G = C Major Chord
Minor Triad C-Eb-G = C Minor Chord
Diminished Triad C-Eb-Gb = G Dim Chord
Augmented Triad C-E-G# = G Aug
Notice how those Chord notes come from the Scale to spell them, starting with the 1 and then skipping every other note...
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8
C - D- E- F - G - A- B - C
C Major Chord = the 1 - 3 - 5 notes of the C Major Scale.
C Minor Chord = the 1 - b3rd - 5 notes of that same Scale.
C Dim Chord = the 1 - b3rd - b5th of that same Scale.
C Aug Chord = the 1 - 3 - #5 of that scale.
By understanding the Degree numbers for the notes in the Scale, you can easily learn how to spell ALL... chords. Learn what sharps or flats are in the other Major Scales, and the same degree formula for Chord spelling applies. A Major Chord, regardless of what Key, is always... the 1-3-5 notes of that Key's Scale. So in G Major its first Chord would be 1-G, 3-B, 5-D. The degrees 1-3-5, easy. The Minor chord difference is the 3rd is flatted (B), so its formula is a 1-b3rd-5 of the Key's Scale, always. Same applies for the Diminished and Augmented Chord Triads.
E. Chord Embellishment:
So how do you get bigger chords like C Major 7th, or C Dominant 7th (C7), or Cmin9, or C13, etc.? Simple, you keep adding more notes from the same Scale they come from, using the every-other-note principle. Embellishment also means extending the Scale into the next Octave higher in pitch (same note names, just at a higher pitch range). So all you're doing is taking one of the FOUR basic Triads, and stacking more notes on it:
1 - 3 - 5 - 7
C - E - G - B = CMaj7 or C Major 7th Chord
That's called 7th Harmony, because you've added the 7th note of the Scale.
1 - 3 - 5 - 7 - 9
C - E- G - B - D = CMaj9 or C Major 9th Chord
That's embellished, because now you're into the next Octave with that 9th note, which is D, also the same note as the 2. The only difference is, that 9th pitch is higher than the 2nd that's next to the 1.
F. Harmonized Major Scale:
All that means is spelling all the chords on the separate Degrees of the Scale, like this:
1st Degree C (add every other note up to the 7th) = C-E-G-B = a CMaj7th Chord
2nd Degree D = D-F-A-C = Dminor7th Chord
Wait! Why's that D chord different? Got to use ONLY the Scale notes you're spelling from, in this case C Major Scale. How many sharps or flats does C Major have in it? NONE. But when you spell the C Major Harmonized Chords, the first note STILL ... is coming from its OWN Scale. In this case the 2nd degree with the D note (in C Major) has to use only the C Major Scale notes. But... the intervals of the D Chord are named... from the D Major Scale. May have to read that a few times and look at the example to get it. If you spelled the Major keys already, should be easy to understand.
next...
3rd Degree E note = E-G-B-D = Eminor7th Chord (same situation, this chord spelled from using key of E Major)
4th Degree F note = F-A-C-E = FMajor7th
5th Degree G note = G-B-D-F = G Dominant 7 or G7
6th Degree A note = A-C-E-G = Amin7 or A Minor 7th
7th Degree B note = B-D-F-A = Bmin-5 or B Minor b5 or Half-Diminished chord
We see with adding the 7th note of the Scale onto the Triad, lot of variations start appearing. Things get interesting.
The G7 or G Dominant 7th Chord, has a flatted F. Remember in the Key of G Major, the F# note is natural to its Key? Yet here in C Major Harmony, got to use a natural F, not an F#. Thus, the F is not sharped on the 5th Degree Chord of C Major. And between the G7 chord's 3rd (B) and that flatted F, it produces a Tritone interval. Play a B note and a F# note together, and you'll quickly hear what I mean. The two notes rub against each other when sounding, and that's where the Dominant sound in the chord comes from. It's sound is like the chord needs to resolve somewhere else, to another type chord (most often the 1 chord).
With adding a b7th onto the Minor Triad, like C-Eb-G-Bb, it smooths out the Minor Triad sound quite a bit. It's still a Minor Chord though.
G. Common Note Chords
If you look closely at the 1 Degree chord notes, and the 3rd Degree, and 6th Degree chords, you'll notice they all have at least... two notes common with each other. Same goes for the 2 Degree chord and the 4 Degree chord. The for the Dominant sound, the 5 Degree chord and the 7th Degree chord have common tones in them.
This means there are ONLY 3 FAMILIES of Chords. By Family means they can be exchanged for each other, because each group has common tones in it giving a very near close to each sound. These are the 3 Family chord groups in the key of C Major:
The Major Chord Family = CMaj7, Emin7, Amin7
The Minor Chord Family = Dmin7, FMaj7
The Dominant Chord Family = G7, Bmin7b5
How's that useful?
Ex.: You're trying to learn a song off the radio, and hear the bass tone of what Chord is being played, but you can't quite get what kind of chord you're hearing. Well, there's only 3 Chord Families to try, either the Major, Minor, or Dominant groups of chords. So just pick one, and your ear ought to immediately hear the difference. For example, a Major chord sound happy, lively, but a Minor chord sounds sad, dark. And a Dominant chord sounds leading, like it wants to go somewhere, anywhere but staying on that Dominant sound.
You find what Family the chord is in first. Most often the bass is playing the root note of the chord in most modern music. Then you try the 7th version of the chord, like min7th or major7th, or dominant 7th. Then maybe an embellishment of the chord type, like min9th, dom13, maj11th, etc. Even with those embellished versions, you're still staying in the basic Chord Family. After a while, depending on what style(s) of music you listen to, you may start hearing altered notes in the chord too, like G7b5#9 or C11#9, etc.
Joe Walsh used a Dom7#5 chord in the song Funk 49 when he played with the James Gang. Jimi Hendrix used a lot of Dom9th and altered dominant chords as he originally wanted to play Jazz-Fusion. Those altered chords are Real Harmony per music theory. It's just that they originate from different Harmonized Scales, like the Harmonic Minor Scale and Melodic Minor Scales.
1. Get the best quality guitar you can afford when starting to learn. It's easier to sell a good guitar if you decide you don't want to continue later on. Some of the high price acoustic manufacturers now make an entry level version, like Martin, Taylor, Washburn, with a lifetime warranty.
1a. Holding the guitar. Your fretboard hand knuckles should be parallel to the length of the fretboard (as much as possible). Your 4th pinky finger is an important playing tool, not just bent backwards out of play. Thumb goes centered under the neck; that's how you'll find the strenght to push down on the strings with your other fingers. Prop your leg (fret side) up if you have to, with the neck higher in the air. In Spain (where the guitar originated), a small foot stool is used to prop the fret side leg up. Train don't strain. Hand muscles need time for stretching and developing strength, just like any other physical workout. You can injure your hands if you try too hard. Get a hand cramp, rest it fully before starting again. Use Lemon Pledge or equivalent to clean your guitar AND strings after playing (finger sweat and dirt does get on the strings to make them tarnish faster).
2. If you get an electric guitar to learn, don't turn the distortion up. I hear beginners doing this all the time in music shops. Why not do it? It destroys your beginning ear training. Need to hear the notes clearly when learning; reveals pick and fret hand mistakes, makes you play clean without mistakes. Then when you get better, you'll find you don't need near as much distortion to try and mimic your favorite rock icons. Won't miss as many notes either.
3. Get a tuning fork and learn to use it, not an electric tuner. Why? Using a tuning fork = ear training. After a while, you'll get to where you can tune your guitar to that same tuning fork note, without a tuning fork. THEN... you've got a solid note reference in your head to use for further ear training. It's all about sound afterall. Never play your guitar out-of-tune when learning; kiss your ear training goodbye if you do (this further cements need for a quality guitar that can be in good tune).
4. Before you get disgusted with learning to play guitar, give it a chance by doing a warmup finger exercise for a few weeks, every time when you first pick it up to play. Here's an easy one:
5th Fret - 6th Fret - 7th Fret - 8th Fret
1st finger-2nd finger-3rd finger-4th finger (pinky)
Wherever your 1st finger is planted on the fretboard, that's what guitar positon it is. So that's the 5th position (5th fret).
The idea is to pick each note clean (no mistakes), slowly, and leave fret finger down as long as possible to sound the note legato (long) while you get ready to plant the next finger. Play the notes across the fretboard in the position, one finger per fret across the fretboard. Fret finger should be placed just behind the fret to assure a clean note; not on or touching the fret, but just behind it. Then reverse the pattern playing single notes across the fretboard, low bass string through little E string then back up. Picking hand should be alternate picking only. No picking only downward or upward. Doing this slow means speed and ease later.
That warmup loosens the fingers up more so it makes forming chords much, much easier. It'll also help to learn scales later if you decide to stay with the guitar.
5. Get a songbook with songs you LIKE, that you KNOW, and that you can SING. I don't mean songs like Ol' McDonald or Mary Had A Little Lamb either. I learned using songbooks of Bob Dylan and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Had the records for those songbooks too. Those songbooks have the chord graphs above the lyrics and music, and most often, the time with the lyrics are accurate. Match those chord changes of the chord graphs with the lyric timing, and learn to sing and play rhythm at the same time. That's the fastest way to advance. Ideally, you wanted to learn guitar so you could play songs you like, right?
6. Rhythm secrets - another thing the alternate picking exercise does is to help you learn timing. It also translates later to strumming chords. Fast chord rhythm is done with the pick hand alternating across the strings, not the hand chopping the strings only up or only downward (though that is done on some songs as an effect, but not the majority of song rhythms). When you can get rhythms like Doobie Brother's Listen to The Music, or Long Train Running correct, then you'll know what I mean.
7. OK, you've got a computer (most likely if your reading this). Lot of simple 'free' music programs out there that you can type chords into, pick a music style, and play drums and bass, et al for you. Those are good 'timing' practice tools. Not essential, but just another way to learn timing. Otherwise, you'll need a metranome. Can buy one the size of a credit card that puts out a click tone, and change bpm (beat per minute). It's important that you do one or the other when learning. Here's a story why...
A mix/mastering engineer friend of mine for an Indie label in Nashville handed me some tracks of a solo guitarist/singer who they put a band behind and recorded some of his songs. The guy flat refused to play to a 'click' in the studio. That click is just a low-level metronome tone played in everyone's headset during recording; helps everyone stay in time. The guy's songs were great, but the band behind him sounded like they were playing musical chairs, simply because his timing was terrible. It was impossible for the band to follow his time, even though they tried. And it's mainly because the guy had played and sang so long by himself, and without anything to keep time, that he no longer noticed it. Lot of professionals that don't need a 'click' in the studio is because they had... learned good timing by years of playing with a steady metronome, etc.
Your in luck today, I feel like teaching.
8. Basic Music Theory:
A. Western music is based on the ancient Greek modes, and we call it Western Diatonic Harmony. Why's knowing this important? Because each one of those 7 Modes of the Major Scale has a different tonal sound, even though they're within the same Major Scale.
B. The Major Scale is based on the first Greek Mode, called Ionian. The key of C Major is: C-D-E--F-G-A-B--C. No sharps or flat notes in C Major. If you play on one of your E-strings open, that open note is E. Then the 1st fret if the note F, then on the 3rd fret it's G, etc. Space from one fret to the next is called a 'half-step'. Space between two frets (like 1st fret to 3rd fret) is called a 'whole-step'. If you'll notice, everywhere on the fretboard where the interval from E to F or B to C occurs, it's always a half-step, or one fret. That's a musical constant for all... instruments. It never changes. (Don't worry about the # or b notes in between on the fretboard just yet, called Accidentals).
C. Scale notes have Degree numbers assigned to them - the 8th (Octave) is a repeat note of the 1st note, but higher in pitch:
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8
C - D - E- F -G - A- B - C
The reason why we have sharp (#) and flat (B) keys, is because of how the note intervals fall between those notes of the Major Scale. What makes the Major Scale from the Ionian Mode sound is where... those E-F and B-C half-steps fall. So to spell the other keys, you've got to maintain that same Major Ionian interval relationship, with the half-steps between the E-F and B-C notes. With the Major Scale, that's always between the 3rd and 4th, and 7th and 8th degrees (like above).
Look at the key of G Major:
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8
G -A - B - C- D -E -F# - G
You want the half-steps only between the 3rd-4th and 7th-8th degrees of the scale (for Major Scale). But the E-F falls between 6-7th degrees in the key of G, so the F had to become an F# to keep that Major Diatonic relationship. And thusly, the key of G Major has one sharp, an F#. All the other keys also require flatting or sharping to keep that half-step relationship between the 3-4 and 7-8 degrees for Major harmony. This is for all musical instruments, not just guitar. That's usually where I start out students with Music Theory. Spell the 12 Major keys, putting the sharps and flats in where they're required. Doing that is what cements understanding of what's to follow, because all... music, even chords and arpeggios have their basis from the musical Scale.
D. Chords - Arpeggios:
There's only 3 main musical tools that make up the whole basis playing music, the Scale, Chords, and Arpeggios. Chords mean stacked notes, notes played at the same time. An Arpeggio is simply a chord where you pick single notes out of it, playing it like a scale one note after the other. So Chords are vertical harmony, whereas the Scale is horizontal harmony.
A Chord has a minimum of 3 notes, called a Triad, and they're stacked on top of each other played at the same time. Only 2 notes is an Interval, and it is not... a Chord. A Chord is spelled from the Scale by skipping every other note (for Major Harmony). The reason the Triad is the basis for all Chords is because there's only 4 different Triads in music: Major, Minor, Diminished, and Augmented:
Major Triad - C-E-G = C Major Chord
Minor Triad C-Eb-G = C Minor Chord
Diminished Triad C-Eb-Gb = G Dim Chord
Augmented Triad C-E-G# = G Aug
Notice how those Chord notes come from the Scale to spell them, starting with the 1 and then skipping every other note...
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8
C - D- E- F - G - A- B - C
C Major Chord = the 1 - 3 - 5 notes of the C Major Scale.
C Minor Chord = the 1 - b3rd - 5 notes of that same Scale.
C Dim Chord = the 1 - b3rd - b5th of that same Scale.
C Aug Chord = the 1 - 3 - #5 of that scale.
By understanding the Degree numbers for the notes in the Scale, you can easily learn how to spell ALL... chords. Learn what sharps or flats are in the other Major Scales, and the same degree formula for Chord spelling applies. A Major Chord, regardless of what Key, is always... the 1-3-5 notes of that Key's Scale. So in G Major its first Chord would be 1-G, 3-B, 5-D. The degrees 1-3-5, easy. The Minor chord difference is the 3rd is flatted (B), so its formula is a 1-b3rd-5 of the Key's Scale, always. Same applies for the Diminished and Augmented Chord Triads.
E. Chord Embellishment:
So how do you get bigger chords like C Major 7th, or C Dominant 7th (C7), or Cmin9, or C13, etc.? Simple, you keep adding more notes from the same Scale they come from, using the every-other-note principle. Embellishment also means extending the Scale into the next Octave higher in pitch (same note names, just at a higher pitch range). So all you're doing is taking one of the FOUR basic Triads, and stacking more notes on it:
1 - 3 - 5 - 7
C - E - G - B = CMaj7 or C Major 7th Chord
That's called 7th Harmony, because you've added the 7th note of the Scale.
1 - 3 - 5 - 7 - 9
C - E- G - B - D = CMaj9 or C Major 9th Chord
That's embellished, because now you're into the next Octave with that 9th note, which is D, also the same note as the 2. The only difference is, that 9th pitch is higher than the 2nd that's next to the 1.
F. Harmonized Major Scale:
All that means is spelling all the chords on the separate Degrees of the Scale, like this:
1st Degree C (add every other note up to the 7th) = C-E-G-B = a CMaj7th Chord
2nd Degree D = D-F-A-C = Dminor7th Chord
Wait! Why's that D chord different? Got to use ONLY the Scale notes you're spelling from, in this case C Major Scale. How many sharps or flats does C Major have in it? NONE. But when you spell the C Major Harmonized Chords, the first note STILL ... is coming from its OWN Scale. In this case the 2nd degree with the D note (in C Major) has to use only the C Major Scale notes. But... the intervals of the D Chord are named... from the D Major Scale. May have to read that a few times and look at the example to get it. If you spelled the Major keys already, should be easy to understand.
next...
3rd Degree E note = E-G-B-D = Eminor7th Chord (same situation, this chord spelled from using key of E Major)
4th Degree F note = F-A-C-E = FMajor7th
5th Degree G note = G-B-D-F = G Dominant 7 or G7
6th Degree A note = A-C-E-G = Amin7 or A Minor 7th
7th Degree B note = B-D-F-A = Bmin-5 or B Minor b5 or Half-Diminished chord
We see with adding the 7th note of the Scale onto the Triad, lot of variations start appearing. Things get interesting.
The G7 or G Dominant 7th Chord, has a flatted F. Remember in the Key of G Major, the F# note is natural to its Key? Yet here in C Major Harmony, got to use a natural F, not an F#. Thus, the F is not sharped on the 5th Degree Chord of C Major. And between the G7 chord's 3rd (B) and that flatted F, it produces a Tritone interval. Play a B note and a F# note together, and you'll quickly hear what I mean. The two notes rub against each other when sounding, and that's where the Dominant sound in the chord comes from. It's sound is like the chord needs to resolve somewhere else, to another type chord (most often the 1 chord).
With adding a b7th onto the Minor Triad, like C-Eb-G-Bb, it smooths out the Minor Triad sound quite a bit. It's still a Minor Chord though.
G. Common Note Chords
If you look closely at the 1 Degree chord notes, and the 3rd Degree, and 6th Degree chords, you'll notice they all have at least... two notes common with each other. Same goes for the 2 Degree chord and the 4 Degree chord. The for the Dominant sound, the 5 Degree chord and the 7th Degree chord have common tones in them.
This means there are ONLY 3 FAMILIES of Chords. By Family means they can be exchanged for each other, because each group has common tones in it giving a very near close to each sound. These are the 3 Family chord groups in the key of C Major:
The Major Chord Family = CMaj7, Emin7, Amin7
The Minor Chord Family = Dmin7, FMaj7
The Dominant Chord Family = G7, Bmin7b5
How's that useful?
Ex.: You're trying to learn a song off the radio, and hear the bass tone of what Chord is being played, but you can't quite get what kind of chord you're hearing. Well, there's only 3 Chord Families to try, either the Major, Minor, or Dominant groups of chords. So just pick one, and your ear ought to immediately hear the difference. For example, a Major chord sound happy, lively, but a Minor chord sounds sad, dark. And a Dominant chord sounds leading, like it wants to go somewhere, anywhere but staying on that Dominant sound.
You find what Family the chord is in first. Most often the bass is playing the root note of the chord in most modern music. Then you try the 7th version of the chord, like min7th or major7th, or dominant 7th. Then maybe an embellishment of the chord type, like min9th, dom13, maj11th, etc. Even with those embellished versions, you're still staying in the basic Chord Family. After a while, depending on what style(s) of music you listen to, you may start hearing altered notes in the chord too, like G7b5#9 or C11#9, etc.
Joe Walsh used a Dom7#5 chord in the song Funk 49 when he played with the James Gang. Jimi Hendrix used a lot of Dom9th and altered dominant chords as he originally wanted to play Jazz-Fusion. Those altered chords are Real Harmony per music theory. It's just that they originate from different Harmonized Scales, like the Harmonic Minor Scale and Melodic Minor Scales.
Me me! I do...I can already play the guitar but I'd love to learn more esp strumming techniques... 
Tuning fork...I use my piano to tune....is that okay?
Ohhhh...I'm gonna enjoy reading this...keep it coming Vet...
Bless ya!!!
Tuning fork...I use my piano to tune....is that okay?Ohhhh...I'm gonna enjoy reading this...keep it coming Vet...
Bless ya!!!
Very good thread Vet, thanks for the lessons, I have been a beginner for years now and been contemplating getting more serious with it. I have a classical acoustic that my son gave me for Christmas several years ago, you got me excited and motivated so I am going to get it tuned and start again.
WhiteKnuckle
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Plek or have a guitar shop set up your guitar. That's a good solution for people who can't afford a "good" guitar.
I've got some questions. I'll post them later, I need to figure away to word them.
I've got some questions. I'll post them later, I need to figure away to word them.
Glad to be of help. I condensed a lot in that post, but if you follow it closely, it should come together.
Using one note on the piano is just as good as a tuning fork (or from a pitch on computer). Concert E or A 440 is what most tuning fork pitches are. The idea is that a repeated pitch every day to tune up with is going to lock that pitch in the ear for future reference. Singing does that even more, once you know the note pitches of your own vocal range.
G. Scale Degrees Revisited:
To show the flavor of chords built off of each Degree of the Scale, because they form the 3 different Chord Families, someone decided to use Roman numerals instead of basic numbers. They look like this...
I - Cmaj7
ii - Dm7
iii - Em7
IV - Fmaj7
V - G7
vi - Am7
vii - Bm7b5
Notice the capital Roman numerals represent Major type chords in the Harmonized Scale, while non-capitals represent Minor type chords. This kind of labelling becomes useful for the next part, that of Chord Progessions.
H. Chord Progessions
Getting tired of playing someone else's songs all the time? Want to learn to how write songs with your 'own' chord progressions? You could... do trial and error, just play different chords one after another to find... something close to what you like. But why reinvent the wheel when there's an easier way?
Two Main Types of Chord Progessions in Western Music; they are:
ii - V - I
I - IV - V
Put into real chords that would be, ii - Dm7 / V - G7 / I - Cmaj7 and... I - Cmaj7 / IV - Fmaj7 / V - G7.
A V - I chord progression is probably the most heard progression in all of Western music, whether it be Classical, Rock, Pop, Blues, Jazz, Country, Hip-Hop, Bluegrass, etc. In other words, it's in all... music styles. The V is usually a dominant chord, like a G7, and that chord has a 'leading' sound, like it needs to resolve somewhere else. It naturally resolves to the I - Major chord, a Cmaj7 per these examples.
That V - I chord progression is almost always used for the Turnaround in a song. A 'Turnaround' is a popular name for the last couple of bars at the ending of a Verse, Chorus, Bridge, etc. You can play around with the other Chords in the Harmonized Scale for a while, but eventually, to get to the 2nd Verse, or lead into the Chorus, or Bridge, you're gonna need some tension to get there. That's what the Turnaround does, that Dominant Chord sound giving you that needed tension...
You might play - 1st Verse like this:
Cmaj7 - Em7 - Fmaj7 - Am7 - Dm7 - G7
2nd Verse -
Cmaj7 - Em7 - Fmaj7, etc.
That Dm7 - G7 progression is a ii - V. It serves as the Turnaround to get to the I Chord in the 2nd Verse. So you've got a ii - V - I progression there, and it sounds very natural to let the ear know you're starting another Verse of the song (or Chorus, etc.).
Remember our 3 Chord Families? how there's chords in the Harmonized Scale that have at least 2 common tones with each other that form three separate groups of Chords? You can sub those Chords for each other in their Family, if it fits your goal in writing.
I - Cmaj7 or Em7 or Am7 = all have 2 common tones with each other. Can sub them with each other.
ii - Dm7 or Fmaj7 = can sub them with each other
V - G7 or Bm7b5 = can sub with each other
Earlier ii - V - I progression was Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7.
But now, with our subs, Fma7 - Bm7b5 - Am7, now a IV - vii - vi but subbed for ii - V - I.
Just with that sub idea, you can come up with many, many different chord progressions for your song. And if you like a chord progression in a song someone else wrote, you can re-Arrange their song with subbing those different related Chords from the Harmonized Scale, and you've got a similar, but different song, one that's yours, only the idea borrowed. (Tons of Classical and modern composers have done that very thing with coming up with new songs.)
I. More Chord Substitution:
Say you've got a Chord progression like: I - IV - V. (Cmaj7 - Fmaj7 - G7).
You can EXTEND that progression by ADDING more Chords into it, dragging it out. The main thing to remember is, that the V - I Chord relationship sounds most natural to the ear. So regardless of how many chords you add, you need a Turnaround at some point to get to a new Verse, Chorus, Bridge, etc.
Here's our Basic Start Progression: I - ii - V.
Now extend it...
How about a I - vi - IV - iii - ii - V progression, then back to the I (Cmaj7)? (Cmaj7 - Am7 - Fmaj7 - Em7 - Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7)
Do you see how I extended that basic ii - V - I progression with adding other Chords from the same Harmonized Scale? But I made sure at the end of the progression, it followed our basic ii - V - I movement?
J. Tension And Resolve
By now, you should have noticed the V - I chord relationship is a Tension - Resolve relationship, easily by the sound of it. But what if a basic Vdom7 chord doesn't have enough tension you might want? You could try subbing it with the vii - Bm7b5 to get more tension, but it might not be enough. How about a G7#5 like Joe Walsh used in the song Funk 49?
ii7 - V7#5 - I7
Notice I put a 7 after each Roman numeral to let you know those are to be 7th type Chords. You should easily know that ii7 is a minor7th type chord, the V7#5 is dom7th chord with a sharped (raised) 5th, and the I7 chord is a maj7th chord.
Try different dom7th altered chords in place of that basic G7 chord. The idea of Altered comes from the fact that the G7#5 chord is a dom. chord with its 5th note raised or sharped. In the opposite direction, the G7b5 would with its 5th flatted. If you really... want a lot of tension, you can get into embellishing the dom7th chord more, like into a G13 or G7b5b9, or a G7#5#9, or G13#5#9, etc. Those are heavy... altered tensions that are especially suitible for Classical and Jazz harmony.
K. Chord Vocing
Chord Vocing and Chord Leading is about smoothly transitioning between different Chords. For example, you play a Cmajor chord on the guitar at the 3rd Position with its Root on the 5th string. Or you can play the same chord up on the 8th fret position with its Root on the 6th low E string. A common thing most beginning guitar players do once they've learn a few bar type chords, is move with long jumps up and down the neck between chord changes, when all along, the next chord is usually within one fret distance away from the previous chord.
The way the guitar is setup, all 12 Keys are within the space of only 3 Frets. That means you can play all those C Major chords built off the Harmonized Scale within only a 3 fret range on the guitar! Move up another 3 Frets, and the same thing happens again! Move up another 3 frets and it repeats again. The ONLY thing that changes, is the fingerings between those 3 tonal areas.
Find everyplace on the guitar between the open position (open strings) and the 12th Fret, for the note C. EVERY place that C note is, that's a place to play ALL C type chords, whether major, minor, or dominant type. It's also where the Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7, and Bm7b5 chords can also be found. Because of this layout with the guitar fretboard, it means a lot of work to master it. In order to be a jazz improviser on guitar, that's exactly what one must do, master all those different positions. Why?
Because of voice leading, smooth transitioning between chords in a song. A song like Louie-Louie doesn't matter. But a song like Secret Love, All The Things You Are, or Body And Soul, it does matter, simply because those Jazz standards have so many different chords in them.
All that translates into Lead Solo playing on the guitar also. If you're improvising a Lead Solo, and your at the 5th Position, and want to your take your solo up to a higher range smoothly and naturally, you don't want to have to make a large jump when playing through the chords.
So for guitar, a system was devised long ago based on Tonal Centers, that 3 Fret Range for all 12 Keys idea. And only 4 note type chord voicings are used.
For example, between the 1st and 12th Fret Positions:
on the bottom 4 little strings, there are 4 different chord voicings for a C chord = 4 Chords
on the middle 4 strings, there are 4 more vocings for that same C chord = 4 Chords
on the top 4 strings, there are 4 more voicings for that same C chord = 4 Chords
= TOTAL = 12 Chord Voicings for that C Chord.
Each one of those requires a different fingering on the frets, but they all... are the same C Chord. The difference is their notes in the chord are in different arrangements. The chord Root might be on a higher string with one type, or on a lower string with another type voicing. But they are all... the same 4 notes of that one Chord. And that translates to all other type Chords and the 12 Keys.
To learn that means being on the way to play Chord Melody style guitar, like Chet Atkins, Leo Kottkey, Pat Metheny, Barney Kessel, Julian Bream, Bucky Pizzarelli, Joe Pass, etc. That's about playing the middle chord voicings, while picking also the melody of the song on the little E and B strings, while adding the bass line on the top bass strings, all at the same time. (Tuck Andress is one of my favorite players doing just that). That is the original way the guitar was to be played per history in Spain, having the virtuoso ability of a pianist, but on the guitar. (I was starting to develop that style years ago, before I started having fret hand problems).
Here's an example of Tory Slusher from Nashville, a very talented gal.
http://soundcloud.com/thejivemonkeycartel/black-cherry-tribal-tech
Better yet, here's Pat Metheny doing Chord Melody on a Baritone acoustic guitar of one of Carly Simon's tunes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3BTNpHQzL0&feature=relmfu
The Nashville Number System:
This system is used by studio muscians in Nashville, and it was later picked up world-wide by professional muscians.
What its goal is, to be able to take a song's chords, and transpose them to any Key. A singer/songwriter would come into the studio, and then told to run through their song once, by theirself. One of the studio muscians would listen to the song, and then on a chalk board map out the chords for the song for the rest of the band. They used Roman numerals for the Chord types, just like with our Harmonized Chords in my above posts.
One difference was, they would not declare a Key, but only write the Roman numerals of the song's Chord Progression on the chalkboard, like this:
I - iii7 - IV - ii - V7 - I
What Key is that above Chord progession in? Not given is it? No, and that's the point. If you know the Harmonized Major Scale Chords, then you know the I means a 1st degree Major chord, iii7 means a 3rd degree minor7th chord, IV means a 4th degree Major chord, ii means a 2nd degree minor chord, a V7 means a 5th degree Dominant7th chord, and then back to the 1 Major chord.
If the studio producer felt the song's key was not right for the vocalist, they would suggest playing in a different Key. Since all the studio muscians knew the Harmonized Chords of the Scales in all Keys, one only had to name a certain Key to do the song in, and they simply refer to those Roman numerals on the chalkboard to play it.
So if someone said do the song in the Key of C Major, they looked at the chalkboard, and automatically knew it meant:
I - iii7 - IV - ii - V7 - I
Cmaj - Em7 - Fmaj - Dm - G7 - Cmaj
If someone said play it in the Key of A Major, they'd look at the board and play.:
Amaj - C#m7 - Dmaj - Bm - E7 - Amaj (all Harmonized Chords in the Key of A Major)
Same thing goes if you're playing in a live band situation, and you don't really know the song yet. The band leader only need tell you the Roman numeral map of the song's chords, and what Key they're going to play in it, and what style, and then you got it (hopefully).
So if I say "we're going to play a I - IV - V country blues in G", that means a basic 12 bar Blues progression of the chords G7 - C7 - D7. All there is to it.
Professional muscians are expected to be familiar with chord progression types for different styles of music, like a I7 - IV7 - V7 for a Blues, or a I - iii - vi -ii - V - I, etc. In Jazz there's a standard chord progression called 'The Changes' which involve multiple groups of chords. So the band leader only needs to say something like, "we're going to play 'the changes' in Bb", and the whole band's got it.
Using one note on the piano is just as good as a tuning fork (or from a pitch on computer). Concert E or A 440 is what most tuning fork pitches are. The idea is that a repeated pitch every day to tune up with is going to lock that pitch in the ear for future reference. Singing does that even more, once you know the note pitches of your own vocal range.
G. Scale Degrees Revisited:
To show the flavor of chords built off of each Degree of the Scale, because they form the 3 different Chord Families, someone decided to use Roman numerals instead of basic numbers. They look like this...
I - Cmaj7
ii - Dm7
iii - Em7
IV - Fmaj7
V - G7
vi - Am7
vii - Bm7b5
Notice the capital Roman numerals represent Major type chords in the Harmonized Scale, while non-capitals represent Minor type chords. This kind of labelling becomes useful for the next part, that of Chord Progessions.
H. Chord Progessions
Getting tired of playing someone else's songs all the time? Want to learn to how write songs with your 'own' chord progressions? You could... do trial and error, just play different chords one after another to find... something close to what you like. But why reinvent the wheel when there's an easier way?
Two Main Types of Chord Progessions in Western Music; they are:
ii - V - I
I - IV - V
Put into real chords that would be, ii - Dm7 / V - G7 / I - Cmaj7 and... I - Cmaj7 / IV - Fmaj7 / V - G7.
A V - I chord progression is probably the most heard progression in all of Western music, whether it be Classical, Rock, Pop, Blues, Jazz, Country, Hip-Hop, Bluegrass, etc. In other words, it's in all... music styles. The V is usually a dominant chord, like a G7, and that chord has a 'leading' sound, like it needs to resolve somewhere else. It naturally resolves to the I - Major chord, a Cmaj7 per these examples.
That V - I chord progression is almost always used for the Turnaround in a song. A 'Turnaround' is a popular name for the last couple of bars at the ending of a Verse, Chorus, Bridge, etc. You can play around with the other Chords in the Harmonized Scale for a while, but eventually, to get to the 2nd Verse, or lead into the Chorus, or Bridge, you're gonna need some tension to get there. That's what the Turnaround does, that Dominant Chord sound giving you that needed tension...
You might play - 1st Verse like this:
Cmaj7 - Em7 - Fmaj7 - Am7 - Dm7 - G7
2nd Verse -
Cmaj7 - Em7 - Fmaj7, etc.
That Dm7 - G7 progression is a ii - V. It serves as the Turnaround to get to the I Chord in the 2nd Verse. So you've got a ii - V - I progression there, and it sounds very natural to let the ear know you're starting another Verse of the song (or Chorus, etc.).
Remember our 3 Chord Families? how there's chords in the Harmonized Scale that have at least 2 common tones with each other that form three separate groups of Chords? You can sub those Chords for each other in their Family, if it fits your goal in writing.
I - Cmaj7 or Em7 or Am7 = all have 2 common tones with each other. Can sub them with each other.
ii - Dm7 or Fmaj7 = can sub them with each other
V - G7 or Bm7b5 = can sub with each other
Earlier ii - V - I progression was Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7.
But now, with our subs, Fma7 - Bm7b5 - Am7, now a IV - vii - vi but subbed for ii - V - I.
Just with that sub idea, you can come up with many, many different chord progressions for your song. And if you like a chord progression in a song someone else wrote, you can re-Arrange their song with subbing those different related Chords from the Harmonized Scale, and you've got a similar, but different song, one that's yours, only the idea borrowed. (Tons of Classical and modern composers have done that very thing with coming up with new songs.)
I. More Chord Substitution:
Say you've got a Chord progression like: I - IV - V. (Cmaj7 - Fmaj7 - G7).
You can EXTEND that progression by ADDING more Chords into it, dragging it out. The main thing to remember is, that the V - I Chord relationship sounds most natural to the ear. So regardless of how many chords you add, you need a Turnaround at some point to get to a new Verse, Chorus, Bridge, etc.
Here's our Basic Start Progression: I - ii - V.
Now extend it...
How about a I - vi - IV - iii - ii - V progression, then back to the I (Cmaj7)? (Cmaj7 - Am7 - Fmaj7 - Em7 - Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7)
Do you see how I extended that basic ii - V - I progression with adding other Chords from the same Harmonized Scale? But I made sure at the end of the progression, it followed our basic ii - V - I movement?
J. Tension And Resolve
By now, you should have noticed the V - I chord relationship is a Tension - Resolve relationship, easily by the sound of it. But what if a basic Vdom7 chord doesn't have enough tension you might want? You could try subbing it with the vii - Bm7b5 to get more tension, but it might not be enough. How about a G7#5 like Joe Walsh used in the song Funk 49?
ii7 - V7#5 - I7
Notice I put a 7 after each Roman numeral to let you know those are to be 7th type Chords. You should easily know that ii7 is a minor7th type chord, the V7#5 is dom7th chord with a sharped (raised) 5th, and the I7 chord is a maj7th chord.
Try different dom7th altered chords in place of that basic G7 chord. The idea of Altered comes from the fact that the G7#5 chord is a dom. chord with its 5th note raised or sharped. In the opposite direction, the G7b5 would with its 5th flatted. If you really... want a lot of tension, you can get into embellishing the dom7th chord more, like into a G13 or G7b5b9, or a G7#5#9, or G13#5#9, etc. Those are heavy... altered tensions that are especially suitible for Classical and Jazz harmony.
K. Chord Vocing
Chord Vocing and Chord Leading is about smoothly transitioning between different Chords. For example, you play a Cmajor chord on the guitar at the 3rd Position with its Root on the 5th string. Or you can play the same chord up on the 8th fret position with its Root on the 6th low E string. A common thing most beginning guitar players do once they've learn a few bar type chords, is move with long jumps up and down the neck between chord changes, when all along, the next chord is usually within one fret distance away from the previous chord.
The way the guitar is setup, all 12 Keys are within the space of only 3 Frets. That means you can play all those C Major chords built off the Harmonized Scale within only a 3 fret range on the guitar! Move up another 3 Frets, and the same thing happens again! Move up another 3 frets and it repeats again. The ONLY thing that changes, is the fingerings between those 3 tonal areas.
Find everyplace on the guitar between the open position (open strings) and the 12th Fret, for the note C. EVERY place that C note is, that's a place to play ALL C type chords, whether major, minor, or dominant type. It's also where the Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7, and Bm7b5 chords can also be found. Because of this layout with the guitar fretboard, it means a lot of work to master it. In order to be a jazz improviser on guitar, that's exactly what one must do, master all those different positions. Why?
Because of voice leading, smooth transitioning between chords in a song. A song like Louie-Louie doesn't matter. But a song like Secret Love, All The Things You Are, or Body And Soul, it does matter, simply because those Jazz standards have so many different chords in them.
All that translates into Lead Solo playing on the guitar also. If you're improvising a Lead Solo, and your at the 5th Position, and want to your take your solo up to a higher range smoothly and naturally, you don't want to have to make a large jump when playing through the chords.
So for guitar, a system was devised long ago based on Tonal Centers, that 3 Fret Range for all 12 Keys idea. And only 4 note type chord voicings are used.
For example, between the 1st and 12th Fret Positions:
on the bottom 4 little strings, there are 4 different chord voicings for a C chord = 4 Chords
on the middle 4 strings, there are 4 more vocings for that same C chord = 4 Chords
on the top 4 strings, there are 4 more voicings for that same C chord = 4 Chords
= TOTAL = 12 Chord Voicings for that C Chord.
Each one of those requires a different fingering on the frets, but they all... are the same C Chord. The difference is their notes in the chord are in different arrangements. The chord Root might be on a higher string with one type, or on a lower string with another type voicing. But they are all... the same 4 notes of that one Chord. And that translates to all other type Chords and the 12 Keys.
To learn that means being on the way to play Chord Melody style guitar, like Chet Atkins, Leo Kottkey, Pat Metheny, Barney Kessel, Julian Bream, Bucky Pizzarelli, Joe Pass, etc. That's about playing the middle chord voicings, while picking also the melody of the song on the little E and B strings, while adding the bass line on the top bass strings, all at the same time. (Tuck Andress is one of my favorite players doing just that). That is the original way the guitar was to be played per history in Spain, having the virtuoso ability of a pianist, but on the guitar. (I was starting to develop that style years ago, before I started having fret hand problems).
Here's an example of Tory Slusher from Nashville, a very talented gal.
http://soundcloud.com/thejivemonkeycartel/black-cherry-tribal-tech
Better yet, here's Pat Metheny doing Chord Melody on a Baritone acoustic guitar of one of Carly Simon's tunes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3BTNpHQzL0&feature=relmfu
The Nashville Number System:
This system is used by studio muscians in Nashville, and it was later picked up world-wide by professional muscians.
What its goal is, to be able to take a song's chords, and transpose them to any Key. A singer/songwriter would come into the studio, and then told to run through their song once, by theirself. One of the studio muscians would listen to the song, and then on a chalk board map out the chords for the song for the rest of the band. They used Roman numerals for the Chord types, just like with our Harmonized Chords in my above posts.
One difference was, they would not declare a Key, but only write the Roman numerals of the song's Chord Progression on the chalkboard, like this:
I - iii7 - IV - ii - V7 - I
What Key is that above Chord progession in? Not given is it? No, and that's the point. If you know the Harmonized Major Scale Chords, then you know the I means a 1st degree Major chord, iii7 means a 3rd degree minor7th chord, IV means a 4th degree Major chord, ii means a 2nd degree minor chord, a V7 means a 5th degree Dominant7th chord, and then back to the 1 Major chord.
If the studio producer felt the song's key was not right for the vocalist, they would suggest playing in a different Key. Since all the studio muscians knew the Harmonized Chords of the Scales in all Keys, one only had to name a certain Key to do the song in, and they simply refer to those Roman numerals on the chalkboard to play it.
So if someone said do the song in the Key of C Major, they looked at the chalkboard, and automatically knew it meant:
I - iii7 - IV - ii - V7 - I
Cmaj - Em7 - Fmaj - Dm - G7 - Cmaj
If someone said play it in the Key of A Major, they'd look at the board and play.:
Amaj - C#m7 - Dmaj - Bm - E7 - Amaj (all Harmonized Chords in the Key of A Major)
Same thing goes if you're playing in a live band situation, and you don't really know the song yet. The band leader only need tell you the Roman numeral map of the song's chords, and what Key they're going to play in it, and what style, and then you got it (hopefully).
So if I say "we're going to play a I - IV - V country blues in G", that means a basic 12 bar Blues progression of the chords G7 - C7 - D7. All there is to it.
Professional muscians are expected to be familiar with chord progression types for different styles of music, like a I7 - IV7 - V7 for a Blues, or a I - iii - vi -ii - V - I, etc. In Jazz there's a standard chord progression called 'The Changes' which involve multiple groups of chords. So the band leader only needs to say something like, "we're going to play 'the changes' in Bb", and the whole band's got it.
Paco de Lucia, still the guitar maestro... he don't even need a guitar pick...
http://youtu.be/mYYDdn1rRKs
http://youtu.be/mYYDdn1rRKs
Davy
Well-Known Member
I don't think I covered the idea of RHYTHM much. So here I go...
Starting to learn basic rhythm on the guitar, with your pick hand, simply glide the pick through the strings lightly, slanting the pick as needed so it doesn't hang on a string.
4/4 Time = 4 beats per bar (or measure). Begin with a down stroke of your pick hand through the strings, and count each stroke, using ONLY DOWN STROKES for now. So it should simply be stroke for each of the 4 beats, 1, 2, 3, 4. Tap your foot with it if that helps to keep time.
When that is comfortable, going slow, right after each down stroke, do an UP STROKE. The rhythm sound should sound like, 1-and-2-and-3-and-4. Each 'and' part should be the UP stroke. Keep a firm grip on your guitar pick but not too firm, just enough where it won't fall out of your fingers (and it will sometimes, so keep some extra picks on hand). You can actually not use a pick at all for doing rhythm. You can bend you rhythm hand fingers under so the surface area of your fingernails strike the strings. Sounds good for light emotional songs.
Most songs you'll probably play will be in that 4/4 time signature. On a music staff 4/4 is sometimes shown with a C in the left of the music staff. It simply means 4/4 too.
3/4 Time, or Waltz Time. This is 3 beats per bar. So instead of counting to 4, you only go to 3. It is a triplet time feel, like Da-da-da, Da-da-da, with stress on the first Da. For the guitar in a Big Band setting, the rhythm is most often done with just DOWN STROKES only. Then you will get that Django Reinhardt jive.
6/8 Time - same rhythm as 3/4 pretty much. The number spread for notes on a music staff will be different, but the beat count much like 3/4 time.
5/4 or Uneven Time - hardly ever done in Pop, Rock, Folk, Country, but does happen some in Jazz and Classical. For 5/4, you'd simply count 1, 2, 3 - 1, 2. (Like 'Take Five' by Dave Brubeck).
Basic Note Lengths:
The Whole Note lasts for the whole bar. So if the time is 4/4, the whole note is hit on beat one and held throughout the bar.
The Half Note lasts only 2 beats of a 4/4. It is struck on beat 1 and held through the 2nd beat. (Of course the Half Note can start on beat 2 or beat 3 instead).
The Quarter Note lasts only 1 beat in 4/4 time. So each beat in 4/4 is a quarter note. To COUNT it, say, "one and two and three and four".
The Eighth Note is half of a Quarter Note. To count it say, "1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a".
The Sixteenth Note is half of an Eighth Note. To count it say, "1 e and a, 2 e and a, 3 e and a, 4 e and a."
Starting to learn basic rhythm on the guitar, with your pick hand, simply glide the pick through the strings lightly, slanting the pick as needed so it doesn't hang on a string.
4/4 Time = 4 beats per bar (or measure). Begin with a down stroke of your pick hand through the strings, and count each stroke, using ONLY DOWN STROKES for now. So it should simply be stroke for each of the 4 beats, 1, 2, 3, 4. Tap your foot with it if that helps to keep time.
When that is comfortable, going slow, right after each down stroke, do an UP STROKE. The rhythm sound should sound like, 1-and-2-and-3-and-4. Each 'and' part should be the UP stroke. Keep a firm grip on your guitar pick but not too firm, just enough where it won't fall out of your fingers (and it will sometimes, so keep some extra picks on hand). You can actually not use a pick at all for doing rhythm. You can bend you rhythm hand fingers under so the surface area of your fingernails strike the strings. Sounds good for light emotional songs.
Most songs you'll probably play will be in that 4/4 time signature. On a music staff 4/4 is sometimes shown with a C in the left of the music staff. It simply means 4/4 too.
3/4 Time, or Waltz Time. This is 3 beats per bar. So instead of counting to 4, you only go to 3. It is a triplet time feel, like Da-da-da, Da-da-da, with stress on the first Da. For the guitar in a Big Band setting, the rhythm is most often done with just DOWN STROKES only. Then you will get that Django Reinhardt jive.
6/8 Time - same rhythm as 3/4 pretty much. The number spread for notes on a music staff will be different, but the beat count much like 3/4 time.
5/4 or Uneven Time - hardly ever done in Pop, Rock, Folk, Country, but does happen some in Jazz and Classical. For 5/4, you'd simply count 1, 2, 3 - 1, 2. (Like 'Take Five' by Dave Brubeck).
Basic Note Lengths:
The Whole Note lasts for the whole bar. So if the time is 4/4, the whole note is hit on beat one and held throughout the bar.
The Half Note lasts only 2 beats of a 4/4. It is struck on beat 1 and held through the 2nd beat. (Of course the Half Note can start on beat 2 or beat 3 instead).
The Quarter Note lasts only 1 beat in 4/4 time. So each beat in 4/4 is a quarter note. To COUNT it, say, "one and two and three and four".
The Eighth Note is half of a Quarter Note. To count it say, "1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a".
The Sixteenth Note is half of an Eighth Note. To count it say, "1 e and a, 2 e and a, 3 e and a, 4 e and a."
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