Breaking the Frustration
Posted on August 2, 2007
Filed Under Growing as a Guitarist |
(This response was given to a question regarding musical frustration. The person who sent the question is currently serving in the armed forces. - JDM)
Donald,
I have had a number of students who have come to me with the same type of musical frustration you are experiencing. Here are a couple of pointers that should help you get you out of the doldrums.
The short version: Make sure your rhythm is in good shape, learn which chords belong to which keys, download chord sheets of songs you like and start playing along with the CDs of the songs you downloaded. An even better recommendation is: find other guitarists who are a little more experienced than you, and learn everything you can from them. Playing with others is always a good learning experience.
The detailed version:
Rhythm - Here’s what to keep in mind in the area of rhythm: most music is built on a repeating cycle of four beats, commonly know as 4/4 time (pronounced as four-four time). When playing in 4/4 time the chords will change after an even number of beats - typically after two, four or eight beats. One strum pattern that works well is sometimes called the “Boom, Chucka”. The “Boom” occurs when you use the pick to strike the root note (the note that gives the chord its name – i.e. open 6th string for an E chord; 3rd fret of the 6th string for a G chord; 3rd fret of 5th string for a C chord; etc.) Chucka is the sound of a downward strum followed immediately by an upward strum. The Boom Chucka will serve you well when playing country music.
Keys - The next thing that may help you get more enjoyment out of your guitar playing is the concept of playing in a key. Playing in a key means that you only use the eight notes of a given scale in a particular song.
The notes of a scale are primarily used in two ways: chords and melody. Chords are three or more notes of the scale played at the same time. The melody is made of individual notes from the scale played one at a time.
There is a method for building scales into chords but going deep into that is beyond the scope of this e-mail (that’s what those high priced lessons are for!). Instead I will send as a separate e-mail, a page (Excel spreadsheet) from my book “Foundations for Great Guitar Playing.” This shows the results of using the standard method of chord building.
Reading across each row on the page will introduce you to the chords that make up the five “guitar-friendly” keys. Since the chords in each row are constructed from the notes of one scale they all work together pretty nicely. The skill to develop here is how to change smoothly from any chord of the key to any other chord of that key. Since you have been playing guitar for about 10 years, I’m sure you have a sense of how this works but many people, even after playing for a long time, don’t understand the big picture of how chords and keys are related. Runs, riffs and leads: The runs, riffs and leads that occur throughout a song are almost always made from the notes of the scale. Learn a couple of major scale patterns and a couple of pentatonic scale patterns and you will be well on your way to giving your music the appropriate musical decorations.
Chord Progressions - The next concept to internalize is Chord Progressions. Songs consist of chord progressions: patterns of chords that repeat during the course of a song. Typically the verse has one progression. The chorus has a different progression and the bridge (if there is one) has yet a different progression. If all of these sections of a song stay in the same key – which they often do – they will all come from the same row on the “Chords and Keys – Across the Neck” sheet.
Chord progressions can be referred to by the Roman numeral at the top of each column (upper case indicates a major chord, lower case indicates a minor chord). For example, a I, vi, IV, V (one, six, four, five) chord progression in the key of G consists of G, Em, C and D. In the key of C it would be C, Am, F and G. In the key of D it’s D, Bm, G and A.
As a practice exercise play a I, ii, IV, V in each of the keys. Next play a I, iii, IV, V progression. Then a I, vi, IV, V progression. In doing so you will hear some pretty familiar sounding chord progressions.
One more tip: when changing chords look for pivot points and reference strings. By that I mean, pay attention to what is happening with your fingers as you go from chord to chord. Often times there will be a finger or two that stays on the same note as you change (a pivot point). Or you may have a finger or fingers that slide up or down the same strings (reference strings). Doing so will help smooth out your chord changes.
I know I haven’t actually answered the source of your frustration – where to find good training materials. Most of the instructional videos I’m aware of are “artist driven.” They cover specific songs or styles rather than taking a broad based approach to understanding the guitar. There are many, DVDs out there but I haven’t viewed anything that I consider a comprehensive approach to explaining the guitar. As you may have guessed, I would like to produce such a DVD in the next year or two. My first step in that direction was writing the book/CD mentioned above.
Getting to the next step may take awhile. In the meantime you may want to check out www.acousticguitar.com. They have published a number of guitar instructional book/CD sets. The ones I have looked at seem to be well done.
Your observation regarding teachers is correct. Teachers have a tendency to get too theoretical and take the fun out of music. Music is to be played and enjoyed. Find people who are playing music for fun and you will learn something much more rewarding than music theory.
By the way, I don’t normally go into this much detail when answering e-mail to my website. Please consider this an expression of my appreciation for the service you are providing to our country. I trust that in some way these musical thoughts will bring additional enjoyment into your life and the lives of those around you.
Sincerely,
John
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