Guitar Chord

Usually chords are constructed by taking every other note of a scale, constructing the chord in thirds. However this isnt the only way of constructing chords, they also be built up in 4ths (called quartal harmony) and 5ths (quintal harmony).

The notes of our chord are: C, G, D, A

Quartal and quintal chords have an open sound quite different to chord built in 3rds in the traditional way, they are often used in modal music - that is music based around a mode rather than harmonic chord progression. The chords are then taken through the scale, you could for example try taking this chord through the C major scale e.g. 
D, A, E, B
E, B, F, C
F, C, G, D etc

Although this chord is not constructed in a traditional way, we can also think of it as C69 (no 3rd).

Tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day.

Todays Guitar Chord of the Day is B Major 9. Major 9 chords are nice sounding extensions and alternatives to play in place of ordinary major 7 guitar chords. Major 9 chords can also be written Δ9, so B major 7, B maj9 and BΔ9 would all be played on the same way on the guitar.

This chord has the root note on the guitars A string as indicated by the box on the chord diagram.

Major 9 guitar chords can be replace major 7th chords, and can often be played in place of major chords. It can replace I and IV chords in major keys.
Major 9 chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9

The B Major 9 guitar chord uses the notes: B, D#, F#, A#, C#
Our B Major 9 chord uses the notes in this order: D#, B, C#, F#, A#, D#


Dont forget you can use Guitar Chord Of The Day as a chord dictionary by looking up different inversions and types of chords using the labels and tags. Learn a new guitar chord every day by subscribing to the RSS feed - tune up and tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day

Todays Guitar Chord of the Day is C major 7#11. The #11 adds a nice lydian flavour to the major guitar chord. Lydian mode is a favourite of guitarists Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. This guitar chord can replace chord IV in major keys and to add harmonic interest also replace chord I.


The #11 in the C major7#11 chord gives this guitar chord a nice sound based on the lydian mode. It can replace chord IV in major keys and if you want to add harmonic interest replace chord I.

Major 7#11 chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, 3, 5, 7, #11

C Major 9#11 uses the notes: C, E, G, B, F#

Our inversion uses the notes in this order: G, C, E, F#, B

Record a vamp using this #11 guitar chord and the major9#11 guitar chord and practice your Lydian guitar solos over the top.

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The Body.

The body of the guitar has some straight forward names. The top, the back and the sides. An acoustic guitar has a wooden bridge, a bridge saddle, the piece of bone or plastic that the strings rest on, and either bridge pins or a tailpiece. Bridge pins hold the strings in, the tailpiece is metal and the strings run through it and then over the bridge. The soundhole, as its name implies, is where the sound comes from. Most steel string guitars also have a pickguard. Its there to protect the top of the guitar from pick scratches from overly active strumming.

The Neck.

No, its not the handle! The neck is the long, skinny piece of wood that attaches to the body. There are usually either little dots, big dots or fancy inlays on it. These are not just decorative, theyre position markers and you use them to find your way around. On most guitars theyre at the 5th, 7th, 9th and 12th fret, and many guitars have others as well. The frets are the little metal bars that look like lines. You press the strings down between them to make notes.

The Peghead.

Thats the place at the top where the strings attach to the tuning pegs. A lot of guitars also have little plastic cover that houses the truss rod. The truss rod is a metal bar that runs the length of the fingerboard, inside of it, to keep the neck straight. Even though your new guitar will come with an allen wrench and a little instruction sheet, leave the adjustments to a professional. The tuning keys or tuning pegs, are the knobs or buttons that you use to tune the guitar. That little plastic piece that the strings pass through is called the nut.

Not all guitars will have all of the parts, but theyll have most of them.

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Answers to frequently asked theory questions

Q. What is a key?

A. Simply put, a key is writing a song using the notes of a particular scale. For example, if the song is in the key of G Major, the notes used are from the G Major scale. This means that certain chords will be present and there will be one sharp note, F#. The theory definition of a key is simply notes taken from a scale and made into a song.

Q. What is a chord progression?
A. A chord progression is a term used to describe chords that follow each other in a certain order. Sometimes youll hear someone refer to a 1, 4, 5 or something similar. This is the number system used to describe the chords in a scale. Each scale note has a chord that goes with it and the number tells you the chords place in the scale. For example, the C Major scale notes are: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, so a 1, 4, 5 in C would be the C, F and G chords. Thats not all thats involved, but its the basic idea.

Q. Whats the melody?
A. The melody is the tune that you sing. If you were to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, thats the melody. I was explaining to a banjo student how he had to pick a little harder to bring out the melody and he looked at me and said "what the hecks the melody?" I was sure I was making things as plain as can be!

Q. What does transpose mean?
A. Transpose means to change a song from one key to a different key. So using the example above, if the song was in the Key of G Major and you wanted to transpose to C Major, youd substitute the C scale notes for the G scale notes.

Those are some of the common theory questions I get when I teach. If you have any others youd like answered, leave a post in the comment section or send an email to: blguitars@sbcglobal.net. 

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Practicing what doesnt need practicing.

First of all, yes, reviewing old material is good. What many beginning guitar students do is practice what they already know, not what theyre supposed to be learning. I hear the "thats too hard" excuse many times in the course of a week. Usually it means, "its easier to play what I already know". The way to improve your guitar playing is to be trying new songs, picking techniques, working on rhythm and all the other things your teacher is showing you.

Getting distracted.

Where do you practice and how many times during practice is there an interruption? Cell phones, the internet, texting, television, way too many distractions. I even had a student tell me one time that he had the radio on in the background while he practiced!  Upon further questioning, he assured me that it was at a very low volume and not at all interfering with what he was doing. Wow.

Goals during practice.

Is it possible to have set goals and still have fun playing the guitar? Absolutely. There are times when you do need to be completely serious, but there are also times when you can let go. I encourage my guitar students to make a game out of practice. See if you can play the song or exercise a certain number of times without a mistake. See how slow or how fast you can play. Make up words to the songs, you get the idea.

Get out of the comfort zone.

Everyone needs to push once in a while to keep improving. Problem areas include never being able to memorize a song, going back and playing songs that are way too easy at this point, and never totally finishing a song. If there are still trouble spots, FIX THEM. Dont practice mistakes, and dont avoid the harder passages. Almost every song has at least one, so work it out.

The guitar chord of the day today is a 13th chord and it can be played in place of most 7th chords (also known as dominant chords, or dominant 7th chords).

This chord is moveable and has its root note on the B string (indicated by the black box in the chord diagram). This chord is fingered by playing the root note on the B string with your middle finger, your first finger on the A string, your 3rd finger on the D string and little finger on the G string.

13th chords can be played in place of most 7th chords. It can replace chord V in major keys.

Officially 13th chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, 3, 5, b7, 9, 11, 13 though in practice (especially on guitar as there more notes than strings!) some notes are left out. The most important notes are the 3rd, b7, 13th, 9th, root, 5th and lastly the 11th in roughly that order.

E13th uses the notes: E, G#, B, D, F#, A, C#

Our inversion uses the notes in this order: D, G#, C#, E

Tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day.

Todays guitar chord of the day is the famous first guitar chord from The Beatles A Hard Days Night from the film and album of the same name.

Heres is the actual guitar chord played by George Harrison for the A Hard Days Night intro:

Underneath this guitar chord, Paul McCartney played a D note on the bass, there was also a further piano chord in the mix. This is the reason that the naming of George Harrisons chord has been subject to some debate over the years. As weve mentioned in previous Guitar Chord a Day posts, there are many guitar chords that are synonyms - chords that have the same notes that can be named differently depending on their function.

If we assume that this chord is functioning as a G, we would name it G11 or G11/D taking into account the bass note. Weve looked at other 11th guitar inversions here.

The notes of G11 are: G, (B), D, F, A, C - though the 3rd (B) is almost always omitted.

If we assume the chord is functioning as a D we could name the chord Dm11.
The notes of Dm11 are: D, F, A, C, E G

As you can see the notes of Dm11 and G11 are very similar and this has led to some of the confusion of the chord name.

Although the above inversion is the chord that George Harrison actually played for the opening of A Hard Days Night, if youre playing this song without a bass player to play the D, it might work best if you play this inversion. Here weve included the open D string instead of the F on the 3rd fret.

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Making steady progress.

Everyone wants to make steady progress on the guitar, but be prepared for times when it doesnt seem to get any better. We all reach plateaus, and sometimes it can be very frustrating. A plateau is just a temporary setback, so try to accept it as that. When I was first learning guitar and later banjo, I remember sitting there wondering if I just ran out of talent or skill, and that was as good a player as I was capable of being. Over the years many students have told me "I think Im getting worse instead of better." Here are some ways to help you get off the plateau and back to making progress.

Work out the details.

Whether youre a beginning guitar player, an intermediate player, or even a guitar teacher, there are times when its easier to play what you know and not work on the hard parts! Im as guilty as anyone, with a list of songs that Ive never finished for whatever reason. Sometimes its a physical problem, sometimes its mental, and be honest with yourself, sometimes you just dont like the song well enough to finish it.

Physical problems.

Ive had students who will complain about not being able to execute a particular fingering, complaining that either their fingers arent long enough or that the pinky doesnt work. Before giving up, you can try using different fingerings or playing the passage on a different part of the fingerboard. The nice thing about the stringed instruments is that you can play the same note in different places. Maybe you can find the same notes higher up the neck where the frets are closer together. Most students dont take the time to strengthen the pinky, they just chalk it up as not being able to get it to work. Practice some stretching and strengthening exercises and you just might be surprised at the difference.

Mental problems, or, dont think.

Self-fulfilling prophecy time. Here comes that part I cant play. I always screw this part up. I can never get this part to sound right. Sound familiar? Almost any one of those problems can be solved by not over thinking the problem, thereby building self confidence. Guitar is a lot like sports. While talent is important to some extent, the ability to play the part perfectly has a lot more to do with how you perceive it. Get rid of those negative thoughts. If you think the part doesnt sound right, listen to recordings, get your teacher to help you make it sound right, then move along. I have students who can play passage perfectly, but they still come in convinced it "just doesnt sound right when I play it."

Will you be a better musician than you were last year?

Now is the perfect time to assess your skills, give some serious thought to what youd like to accomplish and decide how youre going to get there. Beginning guitar, like any other skill, needs goals that you can not only attain, but perhaps even pass. Be realistic but not over cautious. Ive had guitar students who are more than happy to be a little better when they could make much more progress.

What are you working on?

Pick a song, style or skill, and work on it. What is the one thing holding you back and how do you fix it? Consult with your guitar teacher and have him or her help you zero in on what you need to work on.

Finding a good teacher.

There are lots of good guitar teaching websites, but theres nothing like taking guitar lessons one on one, in person. Your teacher will get to know you, help you through trouble spots and keep you motivated. Most people need to have someone to give them feedback, encouragement, and wisdom. Your guitar teacher can catch a developing bad habit and show you something that may take you a lot longer with no one to demonstrate what it looks and sounds like.

Setting aside the time to practice.

The biggest obstacle adult guitar students face is finding the time to practice. Make it clear to other members of the household that youre not to be disturbed, get yourself an inexpensive kitchen timer, set it for 30 to 45 minutes and start practicing. The difference between success and failure when learning guitar is 20% talent and 80% desire. Do you really want to learn to play guitar? Set aside the practice time every day. I know youre busy, I know you have other obligations, but if you want to achieve your goals you need to put in the time.

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 What now, you may ask.

Beginning guitar students have lots of doubts in the beginning, and it can be very frustrating. Lets say your guitar teacher has given you a song you really like, youve practiced and practiced and its just not coming together. What do you do now? Have you reached a plateau, or are you not going to play any better?

Analysis, but not too much.

The first step is to record yourself and listen to what your playing sounds like. Is it as bad as you thought? Better? Worse? Be a critic, but dont beat yourself up over it. Listen with an open mind and be objective. Think about whether the whole song sounds bad or whether its certain spots that you continue to have trouble with. Play the recording for your teacher so you can get a second opinion.

Ask for your teachers honest opinion.

Any good guitar teacher will be honest about the good and points of your playing, so ask for his or her opinion. Maybe the song is too hard for you at this point in your development and you need to acquire more skills. I had a 10 year old student who wanted to learn Crazy Train after hed been playing for only a few months. He insisted hed "practice real hard", but the my bad news for him was that he just didnt have the technique down. Its hard to accept the fact that you cant play what you want to play, but like anything else, you need to be prepared to wait.

Trust your teacher or your gut instinct?

Ive had students who get advice from so many different sources it makes things worse instead of better. Keep in mind that not everyone teaches the same way, and not everyone learns the same way. I let my students give it a shot, but if after a few weeks the song isnt fun anymore and theyve hit the proverbial brick wall, its time to step back and learn the techniques youll need before you attempt the song again. Not ready to give up? More power to you, but again, dont be afraid to learn something thats a little easier to play.

1. The best guns are simple, effective, loud and powerful.

2. Kung-Fu and Karate sucks. It's better to just throw an enemy against a wall. A simple, strong punch also works well.

3. To solve a problem with a bad guy, you need to eliminate him (kill).

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Pickupology by Bill Lawrence
The Secrets of Electric Guitar Pickups by Helmuth E. W. Lemme
Some Words About Pickups by Sven Petersen


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Get a different view of what youre playing. While most beginning guitar students own a strap, not many seem to try it out. The different angles and views when you stand present a whole new challenge. Its hard to see the frets, your hands are in a different position and the whole experience can best be described as awkward. Not being able to see things the same way results in having to get used to standing up while practicing.

Watch your hands in the mirror. I know it sounds weird, but if you practice in front of a mirror youll be able to watch where you need to place your fingers. At first youll feel kind of funny looking at yourself playing the guitar that way, but it really will make the transition to standing easier.

Attaching the guitar strap. Lots of guitars have a strap button on the end, but no way to attach the other part of the strap. The solution? Some people drill a hole in their guitar and attach the strap to the heel of the neck. While that does work, you may not like the idea of drilling holes in your prized instrument. Some straps have a shoelace like string to attach the strap by running under the strings and simply tying a know in it. I use, sell and recommend a nifty device that has a quick release. You attach it to your strap and if you want to take the strap off you just push the two little buttons on the side. Very convenient, easy to use and theres no drilling required. Its from a company called Planet Waves, and it works great! Theyre under $10 and all of your strap attachment problems are solved.

How high or low should your guitar be? The best suggestion here is to experiment and see what you like. Youll see professional guitarists with the guitar at waist level or below while others have it up pretty high. Try to find a position that enables you to reach everything while still feeling comfortable.

For more hints and tips, or to register for guitar or banjo lessons, visit our website: www.blguitars.net

Click the link to become a fan of Bob Lucas Guitar Studios on Facebook.

The race to be an awesome guitarist

Are you trying too hard to play guitar in the shortest time possible? Have you read too much beginner guitar player hype about how you can learn the guitar in a weekend, 7 days, play every song with little or no practice? Let me pop the bubble for you. Anyone that tells you that is being totally dishonest. Ask any accomplished guitar player or guitar teacher and youll be told the same thing. Learn in a weekend? Sure, I can teach to play in a weekend as long as youre trying to play the first few notes of Smoke on the Water.

Its all about muscle memory, practice and passion

Believe me, when I first started playing guitar I was sure, (or at least hopeful), that if I practiced enough Id get good really quickly. I practiced guitar several hours a day, tried to play music with my best friend Rich, hung around other guitarists who were better than me, and studied out of lots of books. My conclusion? You cant speed the process up too much. Yes, you may be able to play a song in a relatively short amount of time, but your fingers and your brain have to be trained to remember all of it. If you put in the time youll get there, but you cant do it without a commitment to practice. Ask yourself how much you want to be able to play the guitar. Do you have a real passion for music or does it seem like this quaint idea.

Get help, get motivated and get involved

If you dont have a guitar teacher or mentor, get one! A good teacher can help you figure out what you want to play, what youre capable of playing at each stage, and be a guide for your musical journey. To get motivated you need to listen to lots of music, challenge yourself when you practice, and have your teacher give you feedback and pay attention to it. I love when I suggest something to a student and he or she replies "that might be a good idea." No, it IS a good idea. Ive devoted my entire adult like to teaching and I can guarantee you that what Im telling you works. Getting involved means supporting live music, participating in jam sessions, and finding out what the music scene is like in your area.

Remember: Its not how many years youve been playing, its how many hours youve put in.

Do you make these mistakes when using your electronic tuner?

Playing the string too rapidly. If you play the note and keep playing it very quickly, a lot of tuners have trouble picking up the note. By striking it once every one or two seconds it gives the tuner a steady signal.

Playing the string too slowly. After you pick a string, the note goes flat as the sound decays. If your tuner has a needle and it drops, youve let the note sound for too long. Same thing if your tuner has flashing lights.

Not getting close enough to the microphone. All tuners have a small built in microphone and it will pick up outside noises. If theres a tv or radio on,  if theres music in the background or even someone talking, it can give a false reading. I usually put the tuner close to the instrument to help block out noises.

Tuning to the wrong note. I know, the tuner tells you what note youre playing and it should be obvious. Be sure that the note youre tuning to matches the one the tuner says youre playing. Sometimes the sharp or flat symbol isnt very big and you can tune to the wrong note.

 Not tuning to concert pitch. In our tonal system we tune to A440, which means the note A vibrates at 440 vibrations per second. A lot of tuners can be adjusted up or down so you can match another instrument that may not be easily retuned. Some tuners also feature the ability to tune down 1/2 step or more, so make sure the settings are correct. While most tuners go back to the default setting if you turn them off then back on, some retain the last settings used.

Getting false readings from overtones. When you play a note, it creates a series of overtones. This means that other strings may vibrate sympathetically with that string. This causes the tuner to have difficulty picking out the correct note. The way to prevent that is to deaden all but the string youre trying to tune.

If youll follow these steps you should have no trouble getting and keeping your guitar in tune. One more thing, a sharp # reading means the notes too high, a flat b means the notes too low. When tuning keep in mind that the thicker the string, the less you have to turn the tuner to make it higher or lower.

The melodic minor scale usually being and use for the genre like jazz and funk. Its really cool if we can apply it and making very beautiful sound.

THe melodic minor also has seven notes if we compare it to the natural and harmonic minor. The different between the Natural and Melodic minor scale is the 6th and 7th note is raised by half tone. Lets take the G minor melodic scale for example.

1st note: G
2nd Note: A
3rd Note: Bflat
4th Note: C
5th Note: D
6th Note: E(In natural minor scale it is Dsharp)
7th note: Fsharp(In natural minor scale is F)

THis will make the tabulation like this:
E - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -
B - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
G - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
D - - - - - - - - - 2-4-5- -
A - - - - -3-5-6- - - - - -
E -3-5-6- - - - - - - - - -

"Guitar Speed Learning System"

Amazing speed learning techniques, full of pro secrets, cheats and insider tips to have you playing like a legend in days.

Its got heaps of hot tips & tricks. I highly recommend it!

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What makes a guitar student a beginner?

I was teaching the other day and a guitar student of mine, after having played for 6 months, told me he felt like he was still a beginner. My reply? You ARE still a beginner. One of the hardest things to accept about learning an instrument is that you cant speed the process up very much. Yes, you can practice more, take more lessons, do research on the internet and buy books, but your muscle memory has to catch up. So, what does indicate that youre a beginner? If your chords are still sloppy, you have trouble changing from one to the other, your fingers dont move very quickly and you can only play a couple songs all the way through, youre still in the beginning stage.


How do you make the jump?

First and foremost, take a deep breath, relax, and understand that everyone makes progress at a different rate. If youve never played guitar or any other instrument, havent had a musical background, your parents or siblings dont play, youll just have to go slow and learn at your own pace. With the wealth of information out there today, sometimes it does more harm than good. More and more lately I have students asking about theory and techniques that really arent going to be useful at this point. They want to learn songs that theyre not capable of playing, and that just makes it more frustrating. The ability to focus, go slow, and really learn a song, concept or technique is where the emphasis should be placed. Getting to the next level requires basic skills, at least an elementary understanding of the music youre trying to play and the ability to play it well.

Dont be tempted to multitask.


Having a clear goal in mind and concentrating on one thing at a time is the best way to make steady progress. Dont worry about trying to master chords, notes, scales, or intervals all at once. Your guitar teacher can help you decide what to learn first. How you start learning guitar depends on what kind of music you like, whether or not youre going to sing and how much of a musical background you have. So work with your teacher on finding what will help you get where you want to go with music.

Were very nearly at the end of our mini-series 12 Dominant 7th Guitar Chords every guitarist should know. This G7 inversion has its root on the A string of the guitar as indicated by the black box on the chord diagram.


The notes of G7 are G, B D and F, this inversion uses them in this order:

• D (the 5th)
• G (the root note)
• B (the 3rd)
• F (the b7th)

We have just one more inversion to go in our series of Dominant 7th guitar chords, tune in tomorrow for the very last inversion of this series at Guitar Chord of the Day.

Todays Guitar Chord of the Day continues our series looking at Frank Gambales Magic Chords.
Heres the fingering for this guitar chord:


As with yesterdays inversion, todays Chord of the Day can be considered in many different ways.

C, D, G
Csus2 (1, 2, 5)
D11(b7, 1, 11)
Ebmajor 13 (13, 7, 3)
F69 (5, 6, 9)
Gsus4 (4, 5, 1)
Abmaj7#11 (3, #11, 7)
Am11 (b3, 11, b7)
Bb69 (9, 3, 6)

We can use our one Magic Chord in place of 8 different chords all with the same fingering in the same position. The chord can function as:

C, D, F, Bb and G dominant 7th chords
C, Eb, F, Bb, Ab, G major7th chords
C, A, D, G, F minor 7th chords

Weve looked at using the Magic chord as major7 and minor7 chords, today well look at using the Magic Chord as a Dominant 7th chord.  For example, we could play this inversion in the following positions and it could function as a C7:

2nd position C13 (D, G, A, D)
5th position C11 (F, Bb, C, F)
7th position C9 (G, C, D, G)
9th position C69 (A, D, E, A)
12th position C11 (C, F, G, C)

Try playing through some songs you know and dropping in other Frank Gambale Magic Chords in place of major and minor inversions you might use and tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord of the Day. 

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Continuing our series of triads, todays Guitar Chord of the Day is the next inversion of our G Major triad.


This inversion is in root position: G, B, D
All 12 of the major triads can be modified in the following ways:

• Minor - lower the 3rd a semitone (G, Bb, D)
• Augmented - raise the 5th a semitone (G, B, D#)
• Diminished - lower the 3rd and 5th a semitone (G, Bb, Db)

Tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day

Todays Guitar Chord of the Day is B9. Dominant 9th guitar chords are simply extended 7th chords, so they work great as blues guitar chords. This chord has its root note on the guitars top E string.

Dominant 9th chords use these scale degrees: 1, 3, 5, b7, 9
B9 uses the notes: B, D#, F#, A, C#
Our inversion uses the notes in this order: A, C#, D#, B

Hook this 9th chord up with 13th chords, or other Dominant 7th chords to spice up you blues rhythm guitar playing.

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Links:
www.tomwaits.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Waits
www.tomwaits.com/photos/photo/3701974843/ (guitar gear photo)


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