Chord Grids and Neck Charts

Update

I didn't realize how popular this post would be.  As a result, I'd like to offer everyone a blank chord chart and neck chart for helping me get traffic to the site.  Have at it!



/End Update 



During our monthly jam session and workshop for the North Kansas City Ukesters (NUkesters), a question came up that caught me off guard.  Not because I didn't know the answer, but because I didn't think to explain it.

I showed a neck chart with the G min pentatonic scale on it and it met with blank stares.  Little did I know that neck charts, which are second nature to me now, were completely foreign to some of my students.  Luckily, a quick explanation and we were back on our way.

I felt a little bad about it during the lesson, because this fundamental slipped past.  As an instructor, I should have made sure that everyone was on the same page before moving forward.  Lesson learned!

With that experience, I thought it best to do a short lesson on two methods of showing information on a the neck of ukuleles and guitars: Chord Grids and Neck Charts.

Top 10 Things Every Guitarist Should Master

Ten things every guitarist should master

 1. Anatomy

This may not seem really important, but it is. You need to know how to do many things like communicate to guitar techs when there is a problem. Also, this goes further into buying the right strings, self maintenance, and even being able to finesse the right sound out of your instrument.  Also, knowing what guitar will produce what sound, what pickups sound better for one style over another, what bracing patterns in acoustic guitars do, etc. Don't neglect this area of playing guitar.

 2. Notation

Any method that is used to convey how to play a certain bit of music on your instrument is important to understand. There are many who will tell you to only learn tablature; that it is all you will need. But they are wrong. You need to understand all of the following:

- Tablature
 - Chord Blocks
- Neck Diagrams
- Music Notation

The last one is more important than many give it credit. Though it is true oat guitarists can have long, wealthy careers without learning this, you need to learn it. Music for every other instrument is written this way and you need to be able to communicate with them. Plus, in a studio setting, the player that can read music will be more valuable than one who doesn't.

3. Tuning

Again, it may seem simple, but you need to master this. Whether it is using a tuner or using your ear, tuning is very very very important!  The best musicians in the world have what is called perfect pitch and can tune any instrument completely by er.

4. The CAGED System

These are your basic go to chords for most styles and you must have them under your fingers. Know the shapes for major, seventh, major seventh, minor, and minor seventh at least. But, you should venture out into the sixth, augmented, and diminished chords as well. Along with the chord shapes is learning the scale shapes that the chords are built on.

5. The Major Scale

 Almost our entire music theory system is based off of the major scale. Most guitarists can't play one shape of the major scale much less build chords or licks from it. Mastering this scale and it's many shapes and modes will open a world of possibilities to you.

6. Chord Theory

Once you have the major scale figured up, the next thing is learning how chords are created. Knowing this and having a firm grasp of it on the fretboard will make playing music and creating your own arrangements much easier.

7. Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales

These have been the go to scales for soloists in many styles for years. Mastering these scales and their shapes will get you soloing. Also, many tunes use a pentatonic scale within the melody which will give you a leg up when learning that tune.

8.  Building Bass Lines

As a soloist, you will find yourself needing to play a duel role often when playing for yourself or comping for another soloist. Bass lines will help create a dynamic accompaniment. And, it will set you aside from other guitarists.

9. Sight Reading

 Being able to play chords, melody, and a basic accompaniment with little or no run throughs on the music.  This is another skill that will need to constantly be refined and practiced.

10. Listening

We often forget about this very necessary skill.  I'm not talking about listening just to your playing or your band mates, but to every bit of music you can. Developing an ear for a lot of styles and what other professionals have already done will go a long way towards your mastery of guitar.

Simple Blues Backing Track

As I promised (or will be promising) my friends at the Northland Ukesters meeting, here is the backing track for a simple 12 bar blues in G.

Blues in G

Hope this helps you learn some soloing in G!

~Danny

Playing in the Pits

Today, I received the score for "Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" to be performed with Gladstone Theater in the Park.  This is Gladstone's 25 year doing free musicals and my eighth one playing guitar (did two others on trombone).  Hopefully, it will be another good year.

When I first started doing this a few years ago ("Crazy for You"), I didn't know what I was getting into.  Musicals are a different type of performing and will challenge even the most seasoned guitarist.  Unfortunately, there was no how to guide for getting me ready, so I went it seemingly alone.  But, as I went through my routine for preparing for rehearsals, I realized I should really share for those attempting to get into this realm of guitar.

Before I get into the routine, I feel I should preface a little more.  It takes a lot of skill to play musicals.  I don't, however, want this to discourage you from attempting one should you get the opportunity.  You should just know that you are getting into some heavy stuff.  You'll need a couple of skills to really be successful at musicals.  I didn't have all of these when I started, but I've developed them over time:

• Ability to read notes.  Even if you can't sight read.  You should at least be able to read them off the page and transcribe them to tab so you can play them.
• A healthy collection of chords.  CAGED system is a basic must; make sure you can move them up and down the neck.  Also, it would be good to have some Freddy Green style chords (like drop 2 and drop 3 chords).
• Performance level instrument and amp.  This should be a no brainer, but it's worth pointing out.  You don't need to spend thousands to get this, but you do want something above an entry level setup.
• Ability to play well with others and follow direction.  If you are a metal rocker, you may not work out here...  The director sets the tempo and you are in an ensemble. You have to know your place and be able to blend well.  This is something that everyone struggles with even after years of playing.

That being said, here is what I do when I prepare for musicals.

First: Listen and Watch

If you happen to be playing a popular musical, odds are there is a video and a soundtrack out there.  Go find it and make sure you pay attention.  Remember that musicals use the music to tell the story so you want to understand what the song is about and what is going on.  It might even be worth it to take a few notes.

Second: The Music on the Page

When you get your music, make sure it is in a format where you can make notes on it as you go.  This may mean that you have to bend the copyright rules a little and copy the music if it is in a book.  It's actually okay to do this as long as you are only using it for the show that has already been properly consented by the musical's creators/management.  One you have this, put it in a binder that is easy to keep together, keep a pencil with you (mechanical is best; no sharpener needed), and keep copious notes on the pages as you go!

Third: Equipment

Go through you music and figure out everything equipment wise that you need.  What pedals (chorus, reverb, tremelo, wa-wa, etc) does it call for?  What instruments (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, ukulele, etc) does it call for?  Write all this down and see if you need to pick up some more gear.  If money is tight (and it always is), make a judgment call on what is necessary and what you can do without.

Often, I come to the first rehearsal with one guitar and an amp.  I add a few things as I go to round out the sound and flavor.  One show I ended up with four pedals, two amps, electric and acoustic guitars, a banjo, and a tenor ukulele.  It took me an hour just to set up!!!

Fourth: Finding the Hard Parts

One of the first things I do after I've gotten the music situated is finding what I need to work on.  This can be done without even having the guitar in your hand.  In fact, it should be.  Get a piece of paper and go line by line through the entire book.  Look for melody parts or hard rhythms that you will need to practice.  Right down the song, page number, and measure(s) of the part you found.  Now, when you practice (and practice you must!) use this as your outline.  Master every one of those parts as licks and you will eventually be able to play them easily when it comes in rehearsal.

Fifth: Practice

Seriously, practice.  Don't wait for rehearsal.  Practice on your own in a quite place where you aren't too distracted and go over the hard parts from above over and over and over and over.  Keep up at it.

Sixth: Rehearsal

Pay attention to the director!!! The director is your boss. What they say about tempo and style goes.  If they don't like what you are doing, then change it how they see fit.  I know it isn't very creative, but it's the way it is.

As you rehearse, keep notes on what you are having trouble on and make sure to practice when you are back home.  Pay close attention to how you sound in relation to everyone else.  Some of your parts may overlap others some may be solo.  Make sure you can hold your own where it's needed and blend!!!

Seven:  Keep it Fun

This is one of those sacrosanct  rules of guitar.  If it isn't fun, it isn't playing guitar.  There can be a lot of stress, but in the long run it will be worth it.

Chromatic Scale

The Chromatic Scale is a useful little start to the world of scales.  Simply put, a Chromatic Scale is a series of notes between octaves that include all possible notes, twelve in all.  We move one half (or semi) tone at a time from one note to the next through the octave.

Here is the example in C:

C - C# - D - D# - E - F - F# - G - G# - A - A# - B - C

As a general guideline, when we are ascending the scale, we use sharps.  (Notice I said guideline and not rule.) As we go down the scale, let's use flats instead of sharps:

C - B - Bb - A - Ab - G - Gb - F - E - Eb - D - Db - C

We can learn a couple of things about music by looking at the ascending and descending Chromatic Scales.  First, this lists out all of the available notes.  There is not H or beyond note.  Second, sharps and flats can describe the same tone.  For example, as we move ascending from C to D we have a C# between them.  Descending from D to C we have a Db.  Those two notes, C# and Db, are the same tones.

The rules for the Chromatic Scale are the same in every key.  Simply take the note you want to start one and move in half steps (or semitones) until you reach it's next octave.

~Danny

Music Lesson 3B: Time Values

This is a continuation of a lesson on staff music from a previous post.

Time Values

You likely already know that music has a beat.  Most of us have tapped our feat or clapped along to a song.  You have probably also already noticed that some beats are longer than others.  Well, we have a hand little system to work out how those beats should go.

We'll start with a whole note.  The whole note is just a circle on the staff that represents 4 beats.

Now, if we half that, it becomes a half note (see what we did there?).  Half notes are the little circles but with a bar going straight up or straight down.  They get 2 beats.

Now we get to the quarter note.  A quarter is half of half and gets 1 beat.  The symbol is the half note with the circle filled in (like a dot with a stick coming out of it).

Next, is the eighth note. All we do is add a flag to the quarter and it becomes an eighth.  If we have two or more of them next to each other, then we tie their flags together.  They get half of 1 beat.

Next, is the sixteenth note.  Add another flag, and they get one quarter of a beat.  We can keep adding flags and keep going, but this is the gist.
Here is a basic break down of rhythm notes:

We can modify any of these in a couple of important ways.  First is the "Dot".  A Dot looks like, well, a dot added to the right of the note.  It adds one half of the value of the note to its length.  So, a dotted half, like our example here, would be 2 beats, plus 1 beat, equals 3 total beats.

Secondly, we can use a Tie.  Ties combine notes together to make them longer or to show a more connected movement from one pitch to another (also know as a Slur).  Sometimes, Ties are used to connected the same note from one side of a Bar to the other (see below).  To get the time value, just add the values of each of the notes up.

Lastly, we have syncopation, also known as triplets.  Most triplets will be in values of three such as 3, 6, 9, etc.  Usually, you will only see triplets in 3s.  But, any odd number can be used in syncopation.  The basic format looks like this:

Lastly, there are specific symbols in rests that we use for each division of beat.  Rather than go through them all again, here is the tree for their values:

Come back for the next section of music notation which deals with key signatures, time signatures, and repeats.

Back from Break, More to Come

I'm back from a much needed break.  If you want, you can call it FMLA since my wife and I had our first child back in December.  Parenthood is rough, but worth it.

Since January, I've been getting some good teaching time in with some new students here in the North KC Metro area.  If you are interested in learning first hand from me, please let me know and we'll learn some cool stuff together.

~DB