Guitar Chord

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Music has its own terms, just like doctor talk.

There are several musical terms that sound very complicated, but in fact are easy to understand. Todays post will address a couple of those, because you will probably hear or read about them at some point. This should clear up the confusion. So here are two of my favorites:

• MODULATION: Changing keys during the song, usually moving up or down by a half-step or a whole step. On the guitar a half-step is one fret and a whole step is two.
• ENHARMONIC OR ENHARMONIC EQUIVALENTS: Two notes, chords or scales have different names but sound the same. For example, F sharp and G flat. The reason we need enharmonic equivalents? It all has to work out on paper.

These are just a couple of examples. The other confusing thing in music is that we have terms in different languages that also mean the same thing. For a complete list check out The Virginia Tech Multimedia Dictionary where youll find the word or words, the proper pronunciation, and musical examples.

Continuing our series of major triads, todays Guitar Chord of the Day moves our G Major triad to the D, G and B strings of the guitar.



All 12 of the major triads can be modified in the following ways:

• Minor - lower the 3rd a semitone
• Augmented - raise the 5th a semitone
• Diminished - lower the 3rd and 5th a semitone

Tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day.

Whats keeping you from focusing on your practice?

Ive had students tell me they have the radio on in the background, they practice sitting on the bed with the music opened on the floor, on the couch with the music on the coffee table, geez Louise, how do you expect to get anywhere like that?  Lets look at some ways to improve your environment which in turn will improve your ability to focus.

The room itself.

For playing guitar you need: a quiet space, one free of tempting objects that will steal your attention. The practice room should have door you can close, a way to record yourself, a computer or mp3 player so you can listen to recordings of what youre learning, and most importantly a music stand.

Essential learning tools.

Ive said it many times, but it still falls on deaf ears......practice with a metronome or drum machine. Music is made up of 3 elements, melody, harmony and RHYTHM.  I know its hard, I know the metronome can be more annoying than fun, but its going to take your playing to the next level. There isnt much worse than playing music with someone who cant count.

An electronic tuner is the second tool. You can buy a good, chromatic tuner for under $30, and its money well spent. The last thing you want to do is get used to your guitar being out of tune. Thats probably the second worse thing if youre playing with others.

Something to write with. Write down your goals, write down what you need to work on, write down how and what youve practiced. Mark places that need work, circle notes you keep playing wrong.

Picks, replacement strings, and a capo. Do you have pick handy? I have guitar students that are proud of themselves for having one pick. Go crazy, buy yourself a dozen the next time youre at a music store, theyre cheap! Try different sizes, shapes and thicknesses. You just might be surprised at how different they can be. Do you have an extra set of strings? Guitar strings are also cheap. You can buy a set for $10-20, and its a good idea to have some handy. Strings can break for any number of reasons including operator error, being too old, playing too hard, or sometimes just because they have a weak spot. A capo, the little device that goes across the strings and replaces the nut, is used by lots of guitarists in lots of different kinds of music. Listen to Hotel California or Here Comes the Sun to hear a couple of examples of guitars with capos on them.

Other handy items.

A computer can be used to find songs, record and play back  your practice sessions, and to do research. You can find lessons, videos, and much more, just be sure to use the computer for its intended purpose, not just to play games! One of the most valuable items we use in the Studio is software that can slow songs down. I use Riffmaster Pro, (affiliate link), which is easy to use and understand. The best feature is that you can create, slow down and save a loop. This enables you to go back and practice or try to figure out a section of a song.

Hello,

Here I like to tell you about picking technics. In general there 2 kinds of picking tehcnic, namely single and alternate picking.

Single picking means we pick a string and then play about 2 or more notes per string. In simple way of explaining with a single pick on a string we play no matter how many notes played on that string.

And for alternate picking means we pick the string on every single note we play. Normally we pick in the motion of down and up stroke continously. For example the stroke will be down, up, down, up, down... and so on.

Anyway, I believe most guitarist being taught of using the technic of alternate picking. I suggest that to be a good guitarist we must learn both so we can get more technics and apply it to our playing to make it more versatile.

Thats it! Generally about picking.

See you guys around.

How to go about learning new material

Listen to the song. Get a copy of the new song and listen to it several times. Before you attempt to play your guitar on a song you have to listen and understand exactly how it goes. Many times a student will insist he or she knows how it goes, only to find a part they dont remember. Being able to hum or sing the song means you have the ability to know what its supposed to sound like.

 Dont practice mistakes. When youre just starting to learn a song on your guitar, go slowly enough that you cant make a mistake. Guitar playing is all about muscle memory and your fingers remember all of it, good and bad.

Do what works best for you. Everyone has a different way of learning. Some guitar teachers advocate learning one measure or even just a small phrase while others encourage you to play the whole song. The best thing to do is experiment and see what works for you.

Be patient and dont try to rush. A common beginning guitar player mistake is to try to play fast. Remember, if you cant play it slow, you cant play it fast.

Using these playing tips should help you improve at a faster rate, so experiment and give them a try.

Todays Guitar Chord of the Day is A minor add9. This guitar chord is simply to play: just two fingers needed, but is a great sound variation on a regular Am guitar chord.

Add 9 chords can also be written /9 (Ted Greene is a fan of writing add9 chords this way). So todays chord can also be written as Am/9.

Minor add9 chords can be played in place of most minor chords. It can replace chords ii, vi and iii in major keys (although using it instead of chord 3 introduces a non-scale note it still sounds good).

Minor add9 chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, b3, 5, 9
A minor add9 uses the notes: A, C, E, B
Our inversion uses the notes in this order: A, E, C, B, E

Weve featured an alternative inversion of this guitar chord here: C minor add9

Follow or subscribe to the RSS feed and tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day.

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Note: Picture was taken in 1995.

I would like to recomand you some great YouTube channels about guitar gear. They are made by very charismatic dudes, who know quite a lot about the stuff they are showing. Really enioyable things for guitar geeks.

Gearmanndude
Because of great stomp-boxes showcase.

Scott Grove
Because of extremely interesting and unique guitar collection.

Rob Chappers
Because of charisma and cool guitar licks and tips.

Greetings,
Jazzonman

Todays Guitar Chord of the Day is Gm7b5. We played an alternative inversion of a m7b5 chord a few days ago.
This inversion has its root note on the guitars B string (root notes are shown as black boxes rather than circles in the chord diagrams. Have a look at the introductory post for more info on how to read chord diagrams).

Minor7b5 chords use these scale degrees: 1, b3, b5, b7
Gm7b5 uses these notes: G, Bb, Db, F
Our inversion uses the notes in this order:     F, Bb, Db, G

As mentioned in the previous m7b5 post, m7b5 chords are four chords for the price of one:

Gm7b5 can also be considered as Eb9, Bb minor 6, A7#5b9. Heres why:

Gm7b5    = G, Bb, Db, F
Eb9         = Eb, G, Bb, Db, F
Bb minor 6 = Bb, Db, F, G
A7#5b9 = A, C# (Db), E# (F), G, Bb

Tomorrow starts the first of a series of themed weeks for Guitar Chord Of The Day.  
Well be looking at guitar chords and inversions made popular by specific artists, used in different genres or based on another common theme. Starting tomorrow weve a week of Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was famous for his soloing, use of effects and feedback but often his rhythm work is overlooked.

Tune in tomorrow for the start of a mini-series on the chords of Jimi Hendrix at Guitar Chord Of The Day.

The method to your teachers madness!

It happened again the other night, a student who "wants guidance" but doesnt recognize it when hes getting it. Heres what he needs to be looking for and listening to.

Why do we play songs at the lesson?

The best thing a music teacher can do for you is listen to you play, then play the song with you. This helps you learn to make music with other people, understand why timing is important, and it helps you get over nervousness/stage fright. Yes, I know, you play better at home. THATS WHY IM PLAYING TOO!

I cant make the song sound like the recording.

The recording has been made by professional musicians with thousands of dollars worth of equipment. In addition there is more than one guitar on the record and someone is singing or otherwise providing the melody. Youre supposed to be playing rhythm guitar which means keeping a steady beat. A common beginner mistake is to try to strum with the phrasing of the tune to the song instead of a straight rhythm part.

Beware the evils of internet overload.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record about this point, watching You Tube videos of a "guitar teacher" showing you how to strum, how to play chords or whatever, you have no idea whos teaching you. He or she may know exactly what theyre doing, or, they may not be a much better player than you are. Keep in mind that a good guitar player isnt necessarily a good teacher.

Take your time and learn it right.

The key to learning guitar is not multi-tasking. My emphasis is on teaching and learning each technique as a separate function. Dont worry about palm muting if you cant change chords in time. Dont worry about complex strumming patterns until you can play the song up to speed.

Summing it all up.

Learning to play guitar or any other instrument is a time art. Hurrying through so you can learn the next technique catches up to you in the long run. In the words of Ringo Starr: "You know it dont come easy."

Weve featured a few different minor chords in previous posts, todays chord is a C minor6. Minor6  chords are constructed by taking a normal minor triad (1, b3, 5) and adding a natural 6th. They are normally used as chord I in minor keys.
Play the root note on the E string with your middle finger, the D string with your first finger and barre across the top 3 guitar strings with your first finger.
Minor 6 chords can be played in the place of some minor chords and can replace chord i in minor keys. Minor 6 chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, b3, 5, 6

C minor6 uses the notes: C, Eb, G, A

Our inversion uses the notes in this order: C, A, Eb, G, C.

Tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day.

Hi, all, thanks for visiting.

I creat this blog as suggested from my closed frend @ band vocalist. He said to me that I should share my knowledge and experience in playing music especially electric guitar for years since the age of 13; now I am 33.

So, first of all i would like to say that there are a lot of things that I need to learn about blogging but thats a minor issue.

As I started to play guitar during my teenage time with my friend while sitting on a bench every body were taking turn to play the accoustic guitar. Thats a boring process of waiting coz imagine I had to wait my turn to play, furthuremore I was in 5th que. Each person plays about 20 minutes. AArgghh!! Thats so .... F**king boring Man.....

Since that incident I decided to have my own guitar. Just any guitar that i can afford, and I did got it some time later. I solved my taking turn problem, i had my own. not a good one, coz it was belonged to my elder brother not being taken care. even left in the rain once. its ugly. but i was proud to had it, though.

So u guys, u should begin to be a guitarist by having ur own guitar.

Have fun

Hi,

Today I like to explain a little bit about the major Scale relatively to the minor scale.

Dont you guys know that there are 2 scales thats the same? I mean one major scale that similar to one minor scale. It has guys. believe. For instants let me tell you that G major scale is similar to E minor scale. and also D major and B minor. F major and D minor, C major and A minor

But how this things happens?

As a principal there are 7 notes in natural major scale. For easy reference lets use the scale of C. THe notes contain in the scale of C are:

C D E F G A Aand B

and the scale of A minor is: A B C D E F and G. if you can see the 2 scales has the same note, so it is similar. The only different is the starting note C and A both for C scale and A minor scale respectively.

I give you some other scales that similar:
C# and B flat minor scale.
D and B minor scale.
D# and C minor scale
E and C# minor scale.
F and D minor scale.
F# and D# minor scale.
G and E minor scale.
G# and F minor scale.
A and F# minor scale.
B flat and G minor scale.
B and G# minor scale.

So for me it this thing help us to remember either the major or minor chords. Its similar.

Have fun.

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In a previous Guitar Chord a Day post we introduced the idea of playing guitar chords with harmonics.

Todays guitar chord is a simple B minor triad. Play this chord with harmonics by lightly resting your finger touching the strings over the 7th fret, once youve plucked them you can remove your left hand to let them ring.

Guitar harmonics have a beautiful chime like sound and are a simple way to add some tonal variation to common chords.

Subscribe to the RSS feed and tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day

Jimi Hendrix was so famous for using this chord in his riffs and songs that although its officially called a 7#9 chord, often guitarists just refer to it as The Hendrix Chord.
Heres the fingering for this guitar chord:

Hendrix tuned his guitar down a half step (tuning his guitar Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb, Eb rather than standard tuning of E, A, D, G, B, E). So his guitar sounds a semitone lower than a guitar in standard tuning (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Slash and a number of other blues rock guitarists tune down a half step in the same way).

This chord (played two frets higher in E) is the main chord of the Foxy Lady riff, used in Purple Haze, Stone Free and more.

7#9 chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, 3, 5, b7, #9

D7#9 uses the notes: D, F#, A, C, E# (F)

Our inversion uses the notes in this order: D, F#, C, E# (F)

Tune in tomorrow for another Hendrix Guitar Chord Of The Day.More Jimi tomorrow!

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Links:
Mike Sterns official site: mikestern.org
MySpace: myspace.com/mikesternjazz


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Todays guitar chord of the day is a standard root position fingering of E major7. This chord is the sustained ringing chord used in the famous Red Hot Chilli Peppers song Under the Bridge from the Blood Sugar Sex Magik album.

As mentioned in a previous post, major seventh chords can be written in a few different ways. E major 7, E maj7 and EΔ7 all mean the same thing. 

Major 7 can replace Major triads for chords I and IV in Major keys.

Major  chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, 3, 5, 7

E Major 7 uses the notes: E, G#, B, D#
Our inversion uses the notes in this order: E, B, D#, G#

This major 7 inversion can be created by taking this dominant 7th chord (from the series 12 dominant 7th guitar chords every guitarist should know) and lowering the 7th one fret.

Subscribe to the RSS feed and tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day

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Playing the natural harmonics on the guitar creates a beautiful chime like sound. Usually guitar harmonics are played as part of solos but we can also play a number of chords just from the natural harmonics of the guitar.

To play natural harmonics, rest your finger lightly above the fret. Todays guitar chord of the day is a D Major chord played only with harmonics. This can work well when substituted for an ordinary D Major chord at the end of song or in a break.

Rest your finger lightly above the 7th fret of the guitar and play the D, G and B strings with your right hand.

Harmonics only occur on certain locations on the fretboard, in this case the notes of the harmonics (A, F# and D) are the same for the harmonics at the 7th fret and the fretted notes but this is not always the case.

Playing some chords with harmonics can add an interesting twist to your rhythm playing. In some future posts well look at further guitar harmonic chords and chords that mix harmonics and ordinary fretted notes. Subscribe to the RSS feed and tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day

Are you sabotaging your chances for success?

"Im going to give it another month, and if things dont get better Im selling the guitar." This is another classic example of not making the time, but making plenty of excuses. What is going to change in the next month when thats the attitude youre carrying around with you?


How to make it work.

Dont try to convince yourself that you have no time. If you want to something badly enough you make time for it. Yes work, family life, political campaigns, vacations and everything else you mention does hinder your ability to make time. The problem is, you need to have an iron clad schedule that nothing can change. Start off with a few minutes a day, get into the habit of making it work, and pretty soon youll find that you feel awful when you miss a day of practice. I always use exercise as an analogy, its great when you commit yourself, but blow it off for a few sessions and pretty soon youre your old couch potato self.

Choose your environment.

A comfortable, padded chair with no arms, a sturdy music stand, a metronome and a kitchen timer are all you need to get started. Turn off the cell phone, close the door and issue a do not disturb mandate to the rest of the occupants in your home. Convince yourself that this is your private time and that phone calls, emails and text messages can certainly wait for you to finish practicing. Set the timer for whatever amount of practice you feel you can get in and dont let anything stop you.


Have a reason for practicing.

Practicing an instrument is not "running through each piece a few times." Pick a song, a technique, a trouble spot, or something else that needs work and get busy on that. Record you practice session and listen to it at the end so you can hear some progress. If you dont have a teacher, get one! It sounds self serving, but theres a lot more motivation if youre accountable to someone.

So dont give up easily, set aside a specific time to practice, make sure youre in a quiet place that makes it easy to practice, and work on something. Again, get yourself a teacher so you have to show that youve worked on playing on a weekly basis. The more you practice, the easier it becomes, the easier it becomes the more youll want to practice.

Hello guys....

Gosh!!! I didnt go for jamming for almost 2 month already, that because of the fasting month and the month of Eid. I have to respect it and also busy visiting friends and relative or they visiting me.

So, yesterday I spent the whole morning by playing my guitar in my room. I have 3 electric guitar now in my room... When i took one of it, the fender stratocaster-mexican 1996. i found that the strings are rusty. hmmm..... Well. Thats because i forget one thing! I didnt take care of it since my friend used it in a function last september.

May be on that moment his hands was sweating or wet when played my strat. A bit frustated coz i dint take care of it. So, I believe thats the lesson I learn and want to share with you guys. Take a good care of your AXE and FX. coz that the thing that u will be frustated enuff when they are not in good condition.

Not just for the string, but may be on the paint, the fret wires, the bridge, the pickups, the humidity, maybe the temperature.

Most guitarists agree that we need to wipe the strings and body with clean and dry towel. Then put it in the case. And the best case that protect your AXE is the hard case, or some people use the term Coffin case. It is quite expensive compare to the gigbag or soft case. But to tell u, it really protect your guitar.

But if u can only afford the softcase or gigbag, its okay. it protect ur axe anyway, from scratch and direct heat. But remember dont lean your guitar neck to the wall... it may make ur neck bowing.

And for your FX, try not to let it just like down after playing, its good to cover it. If it has some case put it in the case. Take off the battery if not being used or else the battery will be running out. some FX just need to plug off the cable to safe the battery. Put the FX away from possibility of something fall on it or people walk on it. Dont ever spill water on it or put it on the wet floor.

There are some other ways to take care of your axe. I will tell about it some other times later...

See you!!!!

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