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Guitar Course Prelims
27/11/13
12:46
Page 1
THEULTIMATE
Guitar C OUR SE Rod Fogg
ZERO TO HERO IN A LESSON A DAY
Guitar Course Prelims
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CONTENTS On the CD 4 Introduction 5
Section One: Getting Started 6 A division of Book Sales, Inc. 276 Fifth Avenue Suite 206 New York, New York 10001 RACE POINT PUBLISHING and the distinctive Race Point Publishing logo are trademarks of Quayside Publishing Group, Inc.
© 2014 by Outline Press Limited
This 2014 edition published by Race Point Publishing by arrangement with Outline Press Limited 2A Union Court, 20-22 Union Road, London SW4 6JP, England www.jawbonepress.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.
Getting in tune; sitting and standing; which hand goes where 6 Ex 1 The open strings; notation; tablature; barlines; pulse; time signatures; 4/4 time 7 Ex 2 Open-string picking; half notes, quarter notes, and eighth notes; upstrokes and downstrokes; tempo and beats per minute 8 Ex 3 Notes on top two strings; numbering fret hand fingers and left-hand technique; introducing sharps 10 Ex 4 Picking strings one and two; introducing dotted half notes; sharps last for the whole bar 12 Ex 5 Blues on the E and B-strings; ties; double stops; the 12-bar blues, three choruses on the backing track; Ex 6 Ex 7 Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex
8 9 10 11 12
Ex 13
downstrokes on downbeats, upstrokes on upbeats 14 String crossing, top three strings; “Let ring…” and “…sim” 16 Notes on the G-string; sharps and flats; whole steps and half steps 18 Note values and rests 19 Blues on the top three strings with rests 20 G chromatic scale 22 Octaves; playing two strings simultaneously 23 Melody for first position notes, top three strings; playing “in position” 24 ‘Shadow Walk’ and all the notes so far 26
Section Two: The Lower Strings 28 EDITOR John Morrish DESIGN Paul Cooper
ISBN-13: 978-1-937994-33-4 Digital edition: 978-1-62788-199-9 Softcover edition: 978-1-93799-433-4
Printed in China 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 www.racepointpub.com
Ex 14 The D, A, and E-strings; staccato signs; muting open strings 28 Ex 15 Notes on the D-string; working out notes beyond the fourth fret 30 Ex 16 Swamp-rock on the D, G, and B-strings; lead-in bars; repeat signs and first- and second-time bars; the tremolo effect 30 Ex 17 Double stops on D and G-strings; downbeats, upbeats, and syncopation 32 Ex 18 A-string notes 34 Ex 19 Surfing on the A-string; riffs, music in a key, playing in the second position 34 Ex 20 Notes on the E-string; double octaves 36 Ex 21 ‘E-string Boogie’; sharps and naturals; ties; alternate picking 36 Ex 22 ‘Rock’n’roll Rifferama’; key signatures 38
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Section Three: Two Essential Scales 40
Section Seven: Seventh Chords 92
Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex
Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
E minor pentatonic 40 E blues scale 41 Notes to the fifth fret and fifth-fret tuning 42 E blues scale solo; phrasing 44 Blues on the bass strings 46 E blues scale solo version two; motifs 47 ‘John Lee,’ E minor pentatonic Q & A; the metronome 48
56 57 58 59 60 61 62
Eight open-string seventh chords 92 Rhythm part to Exercise 2; Em, G, C, B7 94 ‘Groovin’ Sevenths’; counting 16th notes 96 Surf-style rhythm; using most of the chords 98 Four minor seventh chords and Am7-D7 groove 100 Major seventh chords: Gmaj7 and Cmaj7 102 A, Amaj7, D, Dmaj7 rock style 104
Section Eight: Arpeggios And Chords With Added Notes 106 Section Four: Blues Rhythm 50 Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex
30 31 32 33 34 35 36
Vamp on E5 and E6 50 E vamp with muting; E major key signature 52 Vamp on A with muting; A major key signature 53 Blues rhythm in E; the 12-bar sequence 54 Vamp on D with muting 56 12-bar vamp on A, straight feel 56 12-bar vamp on A, swing/shuffle feel 58
Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex
63 64 65 66 67 68
Sweep or alternate picking arpeggios 106 Arpeggios and pedal notes 108 Slash chord arpeggios; pull-offs and slides 110 Slash chords, rhythm part 112 Low arpeggios 114 Extended chords and added-note chord sequences; noting down chords 117
Section Nine: Bar Chords And Movable Chords 118
Section Five: The Theory Pages 60 1. Ex Ex Ex Ex 2. Ex Ex 3.
37 38 39 40 41 42
4. Ex 43
Major scales 60 C major scale 60 G major scale 61 Key signatures and major scales for sharp keys 62 Key signatures and major scales for flat keys 63 Intervals 64 Intervals in the major scale 64 Intervals outside the major scale 64 Chord building 1, triads 66 Major, minor, augmented, and diminished triads 66 Chord building 2, chords in a key 68 C major in triads 68
Section Six: Chords 70 Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex
44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53
E major chord; strumming 70 E and A majors moving; chord grids 71 A, D, and E; naming chords 72 A, D, and E strumming; accent symbol 74 C and G strumming; shifting between chords 76 ‘Minor Mishap’; Am, Dm, and Em 78 ‘Low Strum, High Strum’; G, Em, C, D, Dsus 80 ‘Low Strum, High Strum’ with bassline 82 All the major chords plus Dsus4 84 Adding a bassline and dynamics; crescendo and decrescendo marks 86 Ex 54 C and G with root and fifth bassline; finding root and fifth 88 Ex 55 C and G bassline with hammer-ons; using a capo 90
Ex Ex Ex Ex
69 70 71 72
Two-note and three-note five chords 118 Bar chords and added notes; dynamic signs 120 G blues with movable chords 122 ‘Jimmy or Jimi?’ rhythm track; learning the lower two strings 124
Section Ten: Back To Soloing 126 Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex Ex
73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85
G minor pentatonic, shape one, two octave 126 G blues scale, shape one, two octave 127 Solo on shape one with vibrato 128 G minor pentatonic, shapes two and three 130 G blues scale, shapes two and three 131 G blues solo, shapes one, two, and three; bends 132 G minor pentatonic, shapes four and five 134 G blues scale, shapes four and five 135 G blues scale solo, using all five shapes 136 Major pentatonic scale explained 136 G major pentatonic solo 138 ‘Jimmy or Jimi?’, rock guitar solo 140 Am-D7 groove with solo 142
Complete notes of the guitar 144 Spellings of common chords 144
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
ON THE CD CD01
Ex 1
The open strings and tuning notes.
CD39
Ex 38 G major scale.
CD02
Ex 2
Open-string picking.
CD40
Ex 41 Intervals in the C major scale.
CD03
Ex 2
Open-string picking, backing track. (Also backing track
CD41
Ex 42 Intervals outside the C major scale.
for Ex 6, and Ex 12: see Ex 57 for the notation and tab.)
CD42
Ex 43 C major in triads.
CD04
Ex 4
Picking strings one and two, E and B-strings, lead.
CD43
Ex 44 E major chord, strumming.
CD05
Ex 4
Picking strings one and two, backing track.
CD44
Ex 45 E and A majors, moving.
CD06
Ex 5
Blues on the E and B-strings.
CD45
Ex 47 A, D, and E, with accents.
CD07
Ex 5
E blues backing track, three choruses. (Also backing
CD46
Ex 48 C and G, strumming.
track for Exercises 9, 28, 29, 30 ; see Ex 33 for the
CD47
Ex 49 Am, Dm, Em: ‘Minor Mishap.’
notation and tab.)
CD48
Ex 50 ‘Low Strum, High Strum.’
CD08
Ex 6
String crossing, top three strings. (Backing track CD03.)
CD49
Ex 51 ‘Low Strum, High Strum,’ with bassline.
CD09
Ex 9
Blues tune on top three strings. (Backing track CD07.)
CD50
Ex 52 All the majors, plus Dsus4.
CD10
Ex 10 G chromatic scale.
CD51
Ex 53 Major chords with bassline and dynamics.
CD11
Ex 11 Octaves G – D – A.
CD52
Ex 54 C and G with root and fifth bassline.
CD12
Ex 12 Melody for first position notes, top three strings.
CD53
Ex 55 C and G with hammer-on bassline.
CD54
Ex 58 ‘Groovin’ Sevenths.’
(Backing track CD03.) CD13
Ex 13 ‘Shadow Walk’: all the notes so far.
CD55
Ex 60 Am7 D7 groove.
CD14
Ex 13 ‘Shadow Walk’: backing track.
CD56
Ex 61 Gmaj7, Cmaj7, Am7, D7.
CD15
Ex 14 The lowest three strings, D, A, and E,
CD57
Ex 62 A, Amaj7, D, Dmaj7, rock style.
CD16
Ex 14 The lowest three strings, backing track: also Ex 46.
CD58
Ex 63 Sweep or alternate picking arpeggios.
CD17
Ex 16 Swamp-rock on the D-string.
CD59
Ex 64 Arpeggios and pedal notes.
CD18
Ex 16 Swamp-rock on the D-string, backing track.
CD60
Ex 65 Slash chord arpeggios: pull-offs and slides.
CD19
Ex 17 Double stops on the G and D-strings
CD20
Ex 17 Double stops on the G and D-strings, backing track.
CD61
Ex 66 Slash chords, rhythm part
CD21
Ex 19 Surfing on the A-string.
CD62
Ex 68 Added-note chord sequences.
CD22
Ex 19 Surfing on the A-string, backing track.
CD63
Ex 69 Two-note and three-note 5 chords.
CD23
Ex 21 E-string boogie.
CD64
Ex 70 Bar chords and added notes.
CD24
Ex 21 E-string boogie, backing track.
CD65
Ex 71 G blues with movable chords: three choruses.
(Backing track CD61.)
CD25
Ex 22 ‘Rock’n’roll Rifferama’ on A.
CD26
Ex 23 E minor pentatonic.
CD66
Ex 72 ‘Jimmy or Jimi?’ rhythm track.
CD27
Ex 24 E blues scale, shape one.
CD67
Ex 73 G minor pentatonic, shape one.
CD28
Ex 26 E blues scale, solo. (Backing track CD07.)
CD68
Ex 74 Blues scale, shape one in G.
CD29
Ex 27 E blues scale, solo on bass strings.
CD69
Ex 75 Solo on shape one in G, including slides and vibrato.
CD70
Ex 76 G minor pentatonic, shapes two and three.
(Backing track CD07.)
(Backing track for Ex 75, Ex 78, Ex 81.)
CD30
Ex 28 E blues scale solo, version two. (Backing track CD07.)
CD71
Ex 77 G blues scale, shapes two and three.
CD31
Ex 29 ‘John Lee,’ E minor pentatonic, question and answer.
CD72
Ex 78 Solo with shapes one, two, and three:
CD32
Ex 30 Blues vamp on E.
CD33
Ex 31 Blues vamp on E, with muting.
CD73
Ex 79 G minor pentatonic, shapes four and five.
CD34
Ex 32 Blues vamp on A, with muting. (For Ex 33 see CD07.)
CD74
Ex 80 G blues scale, shapes four and five.
CD35
Ex 34 Blues vamp on D, with muting.
CD75
Ex 81 G blues solo, all five shapes. (Backing track CD65.)
CD36
Ex 35 Straight 12-bar in A, muted.
CD76
Ex 83 G major pentatonic solo. (Backing track CD48.)
CD37
Ex 36 Swing 12-bar in A, muted.
CD77
Ex 84 ‘Jimmy or Jimi?’ solo. (Backing track CD66.)
CD38
Ex 37 C major scale.
CD78
Ex 85 Am-D7 groove, with solo (Backing track CD55.)
4
introducing bends.
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INTRODUCTION The Ultimate Guitar Course gets you playing in your very first lesson and takes you on a step-by-step journey through to advanced soloing techniques. We begin at the very beginning, assuming no prior knowledge. The exercises progress smoothly so that both beginners and more experienced players can soon find their level and start to make satisfying progress. Each exercise builds on what has gone before, presenting new material in a sensible and systematic way and including all the necessary information for complete understanding. Also, the music is fun and sounds like the real thing—the sort of music a guitar player would actually want to play. Some guitar books begin with pages and pages of music theory before you get to play a note. That is not what happens here. Music theory is important, but in this book it is introduced step-by-step, where it is needed and where it is most useful. Explanations are detailed and thorough and, most of all, the course is extremely practical. Advice is included on left- and right-hand technique and there are also explanations of how to achieve the sounds you hear on the CD. With chord and scale diagrams, notation, tablature, and pictures, you will find the book visually stimulating and musically inspiring. Now let’s get playing! Rod Fogg London 2013
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
SECTION ONE
GETTING STARTED Getting in tune Before playing any music, the most important thing is to get your guitar in tune. Track 1 on the CD will give you notes you can tune to, but it is far easier to use a modern electronic tuner. Some you plug your electric guitar into, or you can use the sort that clips to the headstock of the instrument and picks up its vibrations. Or, if you have a smartphone, you can probably download a free guitar tuner app; I have one on my Android phone and I use it all the time. With the guitar plugged in, turn your tuner on and play each string, one at a time. Make adjustments at the tuning peg (follow the string back to the peg to make sure you are turning the right one) until the tuner indicates that the pitch is correct, usually with a needle pointing to the centre or with a display that changes color. Check that the tuner displays the letter name of the string you are tuning; if the guitar is new the strings may well be below their correct pitch and need several turns before they are in tune. If you begin to get erratic readings from your tuner, it may be that the battery needs changing.
On the left is a tuner with a jack for you to plug your guitar into. It also has a built-in microphone. The string is recognized automatically, and the guitar is in tune when the green light in the center is lit, or when the electronic needle points directly upwards. On the right is a clip-on tuner that senses the vibration of the guitar strings. The display changes color when the guitar is in tune. Follow the string you are picking back up the neck and across the nut (the block of bone or plastic that keeps the strings in position) to make sure you are turning the right tuning peg.
6
Sitting, standing, and which hand goes where Most performing on the electric guitar is done standing up, but to put in the hours necessary to achieve guitar-god status it will probably be best to practice sitting down. In either case it is best for your hands if you keep the guitar neck pointing upwards; somewhere around 45 degrees is best. Whatever you do, don’t let it drop below horizontal. You will need a guitar strap that can be adjusted to the correct length. Imagine that the weight of the guitar is being carried by the whole of your back, rather than just your shoulder. For most guitarists, the left hand holds down the strings on the fingerboard and the right hand plays the strings down near the bridge with a pick. Left-handed people often opt to do this the opposite way around, using a purpose-built or converted left-handed guitar. But there is no reason why any one hand should be better at fretting than picking, so if you are a left-handed beginner you might as well learn to play right-handed. The advantage is that when you go to your local guitar store you will find plenty of right-handed guitars, but very few left-handed instruments. Also, if you need to borrow a guitar at a friend’s house or a jam session, and you’ve learned to play left-handed, you’ll probably find all the guitars are right-handed.
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SECTION ONE GETTING STARTED
To avoid confusion, throughout this book we will refer to the hand holding down the strings as the “fret hand,” and the hand doing the strumming and picking as the “pick hand.” As you’ve probably gathered, the exercises are intended for electric guitar played with a pick, but most of them will convert quite readily to a steel-string acoustic or maybe even to a nylon-string guitar. If you don’t want to use a pick, you can try using the thumb and fingers of the picking hand to pluck the strings: this is known as “fingerstyle.” Some of the exercises, particularly in the later stages of the book, are intended to be played this way. Study the two pictures below and get used to holding the pick in this way, balanced lightly between thumb and index finger. Then listen to CD track 01 and take a look at Exercise 1. Below left: The pick is held against the thumb by the index finger and points directly at the strings. Below right: If you get it right, the thumb will be pointing along the strings and the index finger pointing at the guitar. Above left: A good strap is essential. One that doesn’t slide around is best. Above right: A strap can still be useful to keep the guitar up at the best angle even when sitting down to play.
Exercise 1: The open strings, staves, tablature, and pulse We write music on a stave. The top stave in Exercise 1 has five lines and is for standard musical notation, which is not unique to guitar, but can be read and played by other musicians such as violinists or pianists. The bottom stave has six lines and is for a system unique to fretted instruments, known as tablature or “tab.” Each line represents a string and numbers are used to indicate which frets to play. The lowest line is your lowest sounding string and the top line is your highest T H E O R Y sounding string. In this case the zeros represent the open strings: the sounds the guitar Musical sounds are produces without any help from the fret hand. So the object of the exercise is to play all the named after the first open strings starting with the lowest sounding and ending with the highest sounding. Just let seven letters of the the pick fall gently from one string to the next with a relaxed downward movement of your alphabet: A B C D E F G. picking hand. We call this a downstroke—not difficult, but we’ve got to start somewhere. There are more than If you take a closer look at the notation stave, you will see that notes can be written on the seven notes on the guitar, lines or in the spaces, and that we add extra lines, called ledger lines, to accommodate low so after G we begin again notes that do not fit on the stave. We have also added the names of the open strings of the on A. We will return to guitar: E A D G B E. Try playing along with the CD track. It begins with four clicks: count 1 – 2 this in more detail later. – 3 – 4 and then begin. You can hear the click carrying on in the background. Keep counting the clicks so that you play the next note at the right time. Each one of the notes last for four clicks and is known as a “whole note.” That makes each click a “quarter note.” We’ll see what they look like in the next exercise.
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
The music is divided up by vertical lines every four beats; these are known as bar lines. There are six bars in this piece of music and, as in most rock music, there are four beats to a bar. (Sometimes a bar is also called a “measure” but we’re sticking to bar in this book.) At the start of the piece there is this sign: 4/4. We call that a time signature. The top number tells us how many beats there are in the bar, and the bottom number tells us they are quarter notes; so that means four quarter notes to a bar in this exercise. The clicks in the background introduce the idea of “pulse,” the steady background beats that underlie virtually all music. EXERCISE 1 CD TRACK 01
& 44
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E
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CD 1
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Upstroke sign
Downstroke sign
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Single eighth note
Beamed eighth notes
8
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Exercise 2: Half notes, quarter notes, and eighth notes In Exercise 2 we are working on developing some faster movements with the pick. Listen to CD track 02 and check out the music on the page opposite. In the notation stave the first four bars introduce a new kind of note—the half note. Each one of these T H E O R Y lasts for two beats, so counting four beats to a bar At the start of the exercise you will see we would play on beats one and three. Can you q =85. This “tempo marker” sets the overall speed of the piece of music at 85 beats per figure out which note you have to play? The zeros minute or bpm. “Rock” gives you an idea of on the top line of the tab stave and the notes in the the style of the piece. top space of the notation stave tell you to play the open high E-string. Now let’s take a look at the next four bars. These also introduce another new kind of note, the quarter note. There are four of these in every bar, one on each beat. This time we are starting to move across the guitar, using the B-string and the G-string. All these notes should be played with the pick, using downstrokes. You can see the sign we use for a downstroke in between the staves in the first bar of the exercise.
PRO TIP Low and high: In music, terms like low and high always refer to the pitch of the music, so the “low” end of the guitar is near the nut on the first few frets, where the lowest notes are found. If you read “go up one fret” it means go one fret higher in pitch. This would mean moving your hand one fret nearer the bridge and therefore nearer the floor. You might have noticed that we have two E-strings. The high E-string is the highest sounding one, nearest the floor, and the low E-string is the lowest sounding one, nearest the ceiling. Just remember that low and high always refer to the pitch of the note.
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SECTION ONE GETTING STARTED
q=85 Rock
4˙ &4 ≥
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EXERCISE 2 CD TRACK 02 / BACKING TRACK 03
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Moving on to bars nine through 12, each bar contains two quarter notes followed by four of another new kind of note; these are known as eighth notes. When more than one appears together, they are grouped (“beamed”) by joining their tails together. There are two eighth notes to a beat (that would be eight to a bar), so we tend to count them by saying “and” in between each beat, like this: “One-and two-and three-and four-and” So the count for these four bars would go: “One
two
S O U N D S Both the rhythm and lead parts on this track were played using the middle pick-up on a Strat through a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp.
three-and four-and”
Once we start playing eighth notes we usually start using “alternate picking.” This is where every downstroke is followed by an upstroke. In bar nine you can see the signs for both downstrokes and upstrokes. Some guitarists call alternate picking “economy picking.”
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 3: Notes on the E-string and B-string In Exercise 3 we start using the fingers of the fret hand. There is no CD track with this exercise, because the idea is simply to get comfortable using the fret-hand fingers to hold down the notes on the E-string, and then the B-string, at the first four frets. On the guitar, the fret-hand fingers are numbered from 1 to 4, starting with the index finger as 1 and ending with the pinky as T H E O R Y number 4. Place your fingers, one at each fret, copying the picture The sharp sign (#) simply means “go one fret higher,” below. If you have particularly small hands, you could try using fingers so F-sharp is one fret higher than F, and C-sharp is 1, 2, and 4 on the first three frets, and not worry too much about the one fret higher than C. There is no sharp between B note at the fourth fret just now. This will avoid the stretch and help to and C or between E and F, as you will see if you look keep your hand parallel to the edge of the fingerboard, something all at a piano keyboard (p19). guitarists should aim for. Each finger should be as close to the fret as possible without being on top of it. If your fingers are close to the frets you won’t have to squeeze so tightly and you will be less likely to get fret buzz, where the string rattles against the fret instead of sounding cleanly. Aim to use the tips of your fingers. The thumb goes at the back of the neck, opposing the fingers in a relaxed position opposite the first finger or between the first and second fingers. Check out the picture above. Don’t get into the habit of hooking the thumb over the top edge of the neck, and don’t press any harder than you need to.
The fingers should be close to the frets.
Squeeze gently with your thumb on the back of the neck.
T E C H N I Q U E There is no need to lift your first finger off the first fret when you add your second finger at the second fret. In fact, it is generally recognized as good technique to keep your fingers down when playing successive notes on the same string, so you should end up with all four fingers down on the E-string before releasing them to place them one at a time on the B-string. With your pick hand you should be playing downstrokes, smoothly and in a steady rhythm.
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SECTION ONE GETTING STARTED
EXERCISE 3 NOTES ON THE E-STRING AND B-STRING
° &
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E open string
F first fret
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G third fret
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B open string
C first fret
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D-sharp fourth fret
3
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¢⁄ E B G D A E
F
F# G G# D#
C C# D
3
5
7
9
12
15
A fingerboard diagram showing the notes on the first four frets of the E-string and B-string.
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 4: Picking on strings one and two Exercise 4 is a straightforward study in coordinating the placing of the fret-hand fingers with downstrokes from the pick, this time with a backing track. Remember that when the music is moving slowly, and the quarter note is the fastest note, we tend to stick to using downstrokes. The fret hand plays the notes we learnt in Exercise 3, but keeping to the first three frets to avoid any problems with stretching at this early stage. In bars three, seven, and 15 we have the note F-sharp played twice. Notice that in the notation stave we only need to put a sharp sign in front of the first F. The sharp affects any notes of that pitch for the entire bar.
T H E O R Y Notice that there is no rhythmic information in the tab stave. It is possible to write rhythms on the tab stave, but when there is a notation stave (often referred to as “dots” by musicians) tab rhythms are normally omitted to avoid unnecessary duplication. So you can read your rhythms from the “dots” and read your notes from the tab—or better still read the whole thing just using the notation stave. A common approach for guitar players who cannot learn to read music, or do not want to, is to learn the music “by ear” from the CD track and then use the tablature to guide their fingers to the correct notes.
CD 04/05
There is one new rhythmic value: the dotted half note. Putting a dot after any note adds half its value. So if we put a dot after a half note, which is worth two beats, it will now be worth three beats. Most of the bars of this exercise use this note value—there is a quarter note on beat one followed by a dotted half note on beat two, which rings on through beats three and four. Check out the CD track and when you’re ready play along with the backing track.
S O U N D S The lead part on this track was played on a Fender Telecaster using the bridge pickup through a Roland Jazz Chorus amp. This amp has a built in chorus effect which is used to provide movement to the otherwise static long notes in the exercise.
With the new dotted half note we now have rhythm signs for four beats, three beats, two beats, one beat, and half a beat.
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SECTION ONE GETTING STARTED
EXERCISE 4 CD TRACK 04 / BACKING TRACK 05
q=80 Spooky rock
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#œ ˙ ™ 2
2
œ ˙™ 3
3
w 0
⁄
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 5: Blues on the E-string and B-string Exercise 5 uses the same set of notes as Exercise 4, but gets things moving a little more quickly with a faster tempo and lots of consecutive notes on each of the top two strings. Don’t be tempted to play all the notes with finger 1, or to use only fingers 1 and 2. It is best to stick to one finger per fret; so use your first finger at the first fret, second finger at the second fret and so on. Keep the fingers close to the guitar and make small movements. If the fingers feel stiff at first it is simply that they are not used to moving on their own. Work on it, and they’ll get better.
T H E O R Y There’s one new element in the notation stave—the curved line that joins together two notes of the same pitch in bars four, eight, and twelve. It’s called a tie, and makes the two notes into one long note. It is a way of writing a note longer than one bar or, as in this example, lengthening a note beyond the bar line.
CD 06/07
Remember, in bars five and six the fourth note is F-sharp, because the sharp sign in front of the second note affects every F in the bar. The exercise is 12 bars long, after which there is a double bar line; these are often used to mark out sections in a piece of music. Then there is one more bar to bring the music to a close, in which you have to play two notes at once. Just use a downstroke. Two notes played at once are sometimes called a “double stop”—a term we have borrowed from classical instruments like the violin. We also sometimes call them a “diad.”
T E C H N I Q U E In bars three and nine there are pick directions. Notes on the downbeats are played with downstrokes, notes on the upbeats—the “and” that falls between the four beats of the bar—are played with an upstroke. We’ve already met this basic principle for guitar picking and we will stick to it for most of the book.
This exercise uses a form known as a 12-bar blues; it’s blues in style, and it’s 12 bars long. The form is commonly found in blues, rhythm and blues, rock’n’roll, and classic rock. When guitarists jam together they often use a 12-bar blues, taking it in turns to solo or play rhythm. Each time through the 12-bar is known as a chorus. We’ll be learning some ways to play the rhythm track in Section Four. On the backing track (CD track 07), there are three choruses, so you can play the piece three times if you wish. We’ll come back to this track in the future and use it to practice blues and rock soloing.
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SECTION ONE GETTING STARTED
EXERCISE 5 CD TRACK 06 / BACKING TRACK 07
q= 110 Medium blues
œ œ 4 & 4 œ #œ 0
2
3
œ #œ œ œ
2
0
2
3
œ #œ œ œ œ w
2
≥
≥
≥
≥ ≤
0
2
3
2
œ #œ
œ
œ œ w
0
3
2
0
⁄ 5
&
œ #œ
œ
œ
œ #œ
œ
œ
0
3
2
0
3
2
2
2
2
0
⁄ &
œ œ œ #˙
œ œ œ #˙
œ #œ œ œ œ w
w w
0
0
0 0
CD 06/07
9
≥ ≥ ≤ ≥ 0
0
1
2
0
1
2
2
3
2
0
⁄
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 6: String crossing, top three strings
CD 08/03
Playing repeated notes on the same string, as in Exercises 4 and 5, is easier than moving backwards and forwards from one string to another. Exercise 6—string crossing—is intended to get you working on moving the pick back and forth between adjacent strings while also adding fretted notes with the fingers. We will be using the open G-string and the note A on its second fret, as well as the top two strings from Exercises 4 and 5. The backing track is CD track 03, the same as for Exercise 2. At the beginning you can see the instruction “Let ring…” It is easy to let the notes ring on when you are playing open strings, but once you begin to use your fingers to fret the notes it is important to get them on their tips so that you don’t accidentally touch a string that’s meant to be still sounding. You have to hold the string down through the whole bar as well. The sign …sim means “in the same way”—so carry on letting notes ring over each other for the whole piece. Aim for the same effect that you hear on the CD track.
Keep your fingers on their tips so you don’t touch the open strings when they’re meant to be ringing on.
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SECTION ONE GETTING STARTED
EXERCISE 6 CD TRACK 08 / BACKING TRACK 03
q=85 Rock
& 44 œ œ ˙ ≥ ≥ ≥
¿
let ring
0
0
⁄
œ œ ˙
œ œ ˙ ≥ ≥ ≥ ...sim
0
0
0
0
⁄
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ 0
0
0
0
0
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1
0
2
2
0
2
0
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
0
0
1
0
2
CD 08/03
9
0
0
œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
0
0
1
0
5
& œ œ œ œ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥
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⁄ 11
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ 1
0
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1
0
1
0
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2
0
2
0
2
0
2
w 3
⁄
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 7: Notes on the G-string Exercise 6 is about learning the names of the notes on the first four frets of the G-string. We have seen that that a sharp sign (#) means “go one fret higher.” In music we also have a flat sign (b), which means “go one fret lower.” So G-sharp is the same note as A-flat, and A-sharp is the same note as B-flat. In this exercise we’ve used both names side by side. When they appear during the course of a piece of music, sharps and flats are known as “accidentals.” We have seen that a sharp or flat last for the whole bar, so we also need a natural sign (§), which cancels a sharp or flat. One of these will crop up in a later exercise, but you can see some here, before the second-fret A and the fourth-fret B. If we take a look back at Exercise 3, the F-sharp on the second fret of the E-string could have been written as G-flat and the Csharp on the second fret of the B-string could have been called Dflat. When we start learning about keys and key signatures we will discover that there are certain times when it is correct to use a sharp and certain times when it is correct to use a flat. In the meantime get used to the idea that some notes have two names. One other thing to get used to is that almost every note on the guitar is available in more than one place. In this exercise we can see that the note B on the fourth fret of the G-string is the same note as the open second string we have been using in Exercises 4, 5, and 6. Keep the fret-hand fingers curved, close to the frets and on their tips.
EXERCISE 7 NOTES ON THE G STRING
° & w G open string
¢⁄
18
0
#w bw
nw
A G-sharp or A-flat second fret first fret 1
2
#w
bw
A-sharp or B-flat third fret 3
nw B fourth fret 4
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SECTION ONE GETTING STARTED
Sharps and flats and the keyboard For historical reasons we think of the musical alphabet as starting on the note C. The distance from C in this diagram of a keyboard to the next appearance of the note C is known as an octave. The black notes on a keyboard are the sharps and flats. As we mentioned before, there is no black note (sharp or flat) between B and C or E and F. The distance from C to C-sharp (or D-flat) is known as a half step and is the same as one fret on the guitar. The distance from C to D is known as a whole step and is two frets on the guitar.
C
C#
D#
F#
G#
A#
Db
Eb
Gb
Ab
Bb
D
E
F
G
A
B
C
T H E O R Y if we play all the white notes from C to C we get a C major scale; we will cover major scales later in the book. If we played all the notes, both white and black, we would produce a chromatic scale. There is a chromatic scale starting on G coming up in Exercise 10.
Exercise 8: Notes and rests Some of the funkiest rhythms and grooves work because of the silences that separate the notes. So when it comes to rhythm, a silence is as important as a note and in music we need a way to write a silence. In Exercise 8 we have all the note values we have come across so far, from eighth notes lasting half a beat to whole notes lasting four beats, with the sign for their equivalent rest written underneath. A rest is the technical name for a silence in music. On the guitar, it is important to play the rests—that means making sure you have released a fretted note or silenced an open string so that we hear a silence and not an unwanted note ringing on. More on this in the next exercise. EXERCISE 8 NOTES AND RESTS
&
Eighth note: half beat
œ J
Quarter note: one beat
œ
Half note: two beats
˙
Dotted half note: three beats
˙™
Whole note: four beats
w
Equivalent rests:
&
‰
Œ
Ó
Ó™
∑
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
CD 09/07
PRO TIP Try not to get caught up in looking at your hands. If you know the music, you can play looking at your fret hand. If not you’ll need to look at the music and play the guitar by feel. It’s best not to look at your pick hand—you’ll soon learn to find the strings accurately if you persevere. When you’re confident with a piece of music, practice without looking at either hand; this will let you make eye contact with your fellow band members or your audience on a gig.
Exercise 9: Blues in E, top three strings Exercise 9 is a blues-based tune using most of the notes we have learnt so far on the top three strings, so you will be working on fretting notes accurately with the fret hand while also picking the correct string with the pick. In most music, melody notes are played fluently and joined together. In this exercise many of the notes are separated by rests. Listen to the CD track to hear the strongly rhythmic effect of this style of playing. To silence a fretted note, release the pressure from the fret-hand finger so that the string is no longer making contact with the fret, but don’t take the finger off the string. That should silence the note T H E O R Y immediately. Silence open strings When the notes of a piece of by touching them lightly with the music are played smoothly or fret-hand fingers or with the pick. joined up we say it is Experiment to see which one “legato.” The opposite—cut works best for you. At the end of off or separated notes—is the exercise there is a chord— “staccato.” Many words we three notes played at once—with a use in music come from the downstroke of the pick. Italian language, although
S O U N D S This one was played with a Telecaster guitar on the bridge pickup. The warm, fuzzy guitar tone comes from a small tube-amp turned up loud—an effect sometimes known as overdrive.
perhaps more in classical music than in rock’n’roll. You often see the word legato in guitar books and magazines describing a particularly fluid style of guitar solo.
T E C H N I Q U E The pick directions may seem random but in fact they’re based on the idea that your hand is moving rhythmically back and forth in an eighth-note rhythm. As before, downstrokes are on downbeats and upstrokes are on upbeats.
EXERCISE 9 CD TRACK 09 / BACKING TRACK 07
q=110 Straight boogie
4 œ & 4 œ#œ ‰ œJ Œ ‰ #œJ #œ ‰ œJ ˙ ≥≤ ≤ ≤ ≥≤ ≤ ⁄
20
0
1
0
2
3
2
0
œ˙ œ œ#œ ‰ œJ Œ ‰ #Jœ #œ ‰ J 0
1
0
2
3
2
0
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SECTION ONE GETTING STARTED
EXERCISE 9 CD TRACK 09 / BACKING TRACK 07 continued
5
#œ œ#œ œ ˙ œ œ # œ ‰ J ‰ J Œ ‰ J & 1
2
0
2
3
2
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⁄ 9
& œ œ Œ Œ œ bœ œ œ Œ Ó ≥≤ ≥≤ ≥≤ 0
⁄
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1
0
2
3
j‰ j‰ œ w ‰ œ #œ J œ#œ 0
1
2
3
0
2
0
w #w w 0 0 1
CD 09/07
Exercise 10: G chromatic scale As a way of revising all the notes we have learned so far, and of introducing scales, we are going to learn a chromatic scale—that’s the name for a scale that has all the notes including all the sharps and flats. There are many different types of scale in music, some of which can be very useful to the guitar player as they are used for making up riffs and solos—we have some coming up later. Chromatic scales are useful as finger exercises and as a way of showing the logic of where notes are on the guitar. This one begins on the open G-string and goes up one octave to the G on the top string. Chromatic scales can start on any note, and it’s normal to play scales up an octave or two and back again. In the notation stave we go up in pitch using sharps, and down using flats, which helps to make clear that “black notes”—the sharps and flats—have two names. There’s no backing track for this exercise so practice it and bring it up to the speed of CD track 10. The small numbers beneath the notes on the notation stave are fingerings—they tell you which fret-hand finger to use. (You remember? 1=index finger, 4=pinky).
T E C H N I Q U E There is a technique that we use on guitar whenever we are playing scales or single-note lines. The idea is not to remove fingers from a string if the music is rising in pitch until it’s time to start playing a different string. This is how it works, starting with the first note of the scale. Play the open G-string and then hold down G-sharp with your first finger; leave that finger in place when you play the A with finger 2, and leave both fingers in place when you play A-sharp or B-flat with finger 3. Then release all three fingers at once as you play the open B-string. Keep them close to the guitar so you can continue up the B-string adding and holding the fingers one at a time and releasing all four as you play the E-string. When you reach the top note of the scale you should have three fingers on the E-string; release them one by one to descend again. This may seem complicated, but it’s not so hard, and in fact reduces your workload—instead of thinking about taking a finger off as you put another one down, you just leave the fingers that are already there in place. Then you think “release fingers” as you move onto the next string.
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
EXERCISE 10 CD TRACK 10
q=80
4 & 4 œ #œ ≥ ≤ 0
3
&
1
œ bœ 3
2
2
œ 1
œ
#œ
œ
œ #œ 1
2
˙
1
2
œ
≥
≤
≥
≤
≥
≤
≥
≤
≥
1
2
3
0
1
2
3
0
3
2
1
0
⁄
œ #œ ≥ ≤
œ #œ
0
3
œ bœ 0
≥
≤
≥
≤
3
2
1
0
œ bœ
4
3
œ
2
1
≥
≤
≥
≤
4
3
2
1
4
œ bœ ≥ ≤ 0
0
CD 10
⁄ E B G D A E
F C G# Ab
F# Gb C# Db
A
G D A# Bb
0
4
3
3
3
G# Ab D# Eb
œ bœ ≥ ≤ 2
1
˙ ≥
2
1
0
0
Here are the notes of the first four frets on the top three strings.
B
3
3
5
7
9
12
15
PRO TIP As you play all the notes from your open G-string to the third fret on the E-string see if you can say aloud the note names. Say them in full: G, G-sharp or A-flat, A, A-sharp or B-flat, and so on. This is a great way to memorize the guitar note names.
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SECTION ONE GETTING STARTED
Exercise 11: Octaves In Exercise 10 we played a one-octave scale, so this could be a good time to explore what an octave is. “The same letter name at a different pitch” is one way of putting it. If you play Exercise 11 you will hear the gap (or “interval” as it is known in music), between two occurrences of the notes G, D, and A. The first note is an open string and the second note is a fretted note, and the two notes are then played simultaneously. Notice how, when they are played together, the two notes seem to merge into one, even though they are clearly of different pitches. It is this similarity that allows them to have the same letter name.
q=80
4 &4 œ
EXERCISE 11 CD TRACK 11
œ 3
⁄
0
T H E O R Y Musical sounds are waveforms, and waveforms have frequency. Each time the music goes up an octave, the frequency of the note doubles. Frequency is measured in Hertz (or Hz), and is the number of complete cycles of the waveform per second. The frequency of your open A string is 110 Hz, the octave up (on the G-string) is 220 Hz. The octave above that note, which would be on the fifth fret of the top E-string, is 440 Hz. This is the note that an orchestra tunes to at the beginning of a concert and is known as “concert pitch.”
˙ ˙
œ
3 0
0
œ
˙ ˙
3
3 0
œ 0
œ
˙ ˙
2
2 0
CD 11
T E C H N I Q U E When using a pick it is not easy to play two notes simultaneously if they are not on adjacent strings. You could use a big downstroke and mute the string in the middle with a spare fret-hand finger. You could also put the pick down and use your thumb of your pick hand to pick the low note and your index finger to pick the high note. The method we use on the CD track is to use the pick on the low note and the middle finger of the pick hand on the high note. Using the pick and fingers at the same time is sometimes known as “hybrid picking” and is often used by country guitar players.
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 12: Rocking the first position notes; top three strings If you are playing notes with the first finger at the first fret, the second finger at the second fret, and so on, we would say you were playing in the first position. If your first finger was at the second fret, with the other fingers occupying the succeeding frets, we would say you were in the second position. On a typical modern guitar with 22 frets you can potentially have 19 positions. Guitar positions can be very useful for describing where on the guitar to play a piece or a sequence of notes.
T H E O R Y This exercise introduces the dotted quarter note, one and a half beats long. (The quarter note is one beat, and the dot adds half its value.) Looking at bar one, we would count: one two and three four, playing the dotted quarter note on “one” and the following eighth note on “and.”
CD 12/03
As a general rule it is best to play the guitar “in position” and to avoid sliding the hand around as much as possible. A common rookie error is to move the hand around so you can use fingers 1 and 2 when you should keep the hand still and use the weaker fingers, fingers 3 and 4. If you use them, they’ll get stronger. Exercise 12 is a legato solo tune for the top three strings in the first position. Together with Exercises 5, 6, 9, and 10 it works to build dexterity for the fret hand and coordination between the pick and fret-hand fingers. In bars four, eight, and 12 it will be tempting to use finger 1 at the second fret and finger 3 at the fourth fret (in other words, to use second position fingerings) but unless your hands are really small you should stay in the first position and use fingers 2 and 4 at the second and fourth frets. Gradually, your hand will get better at stretching.
T E C H N I Q U E Pick directions are given only where necessary in this exercise as you’ve probably got the idea of alternate picking by now.
With practice you can get used to opening out your hand and using one finger per fret.
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SECTION ONE GETTING STARTED
EXERCISE 12 CD TRACK 12 / BACKING TRACK 03
q=85 Rock
j ˙ œ ≤ ≥
4 & 4 œ™ ≥ 0
⁄
2
0
5
0
2
⁄
œ ˙ J
Ϫ
œ ˙ J
0
1
1
3
3
3
0
3
1
œ ™ #œJ #˙
0
0
0
0
0
3
2
4
#œ #œ #œ œ
œ œ œ ˙
œ œ œ ˙
& œ œ œ ˙ ≥ ≥ ≤ ≥ 0
Ϫ
2
1
4
2
2
CD 12/03
9
œ œ#œ œ #œ œ œ#œ œ w œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & 3
⁄
3
2
0
0
3
3
1
0
0 0
0
3
1
0
2
2
0
4
2
3
25
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 13: ‘Shadow Walk’ and all the notes so far
CD 13/14
Exercise 13 is the last exercise in Section One, so congratulations on coming this far. It’s a long one, featuring groups of legato eighth notes, quarter notes, and some quarter note rests. It includes every single note you can play in the first position on the top three strings. That means you will need to use all four fingers of your fret hand, making smooth, fluid movements and keeping the fingers close to the guitar. Pencil your own pick directions in if you need to, keeping to the idea of alternate picking. You could also write in fingerings for the fret hand if it would help. If you find the piece a challenge—which it’s meant to be—slow things down PRO TIP Always break a long a little and keep working on it. Remember you don’t have to finish an exercise piece down into shorter before moving onto the next one, but you should always keep returning to work sections for learning purposes. on anything you found difficult. During the course of this opening section we have learned holding the pick, As music very often uses fourthe numbers of the fret-hand fingers and the names of the open strings. We bar phrases it can be a good learned about tab, bars, bar lines, time signatures, and the names of all the notes idea to try learning a piece in the first position on the top three strings, including sharps and flats. We have covered the note values from eighth notes to whole notes and learnt the function four bars at a time. of dotted notes and ties. Most of all, we have learned to pick and finger notes accurately on the guitar and to coordinate the two hands. The next section builds on this and covers the notes on the lower three strings. S O U N D S We’re in surf guitar territory, inspired by the twangy guitar music of the early 1960s. This piece also mixes in some of the melodic style of The Shadows’ Hank Marvin (listen to their ‘Apache’ for this track’s inspiration). On the CD we used the bridge pickup on a Strat and added some reverb and a fluttering delay effect. Hank would have used a mechanical delay unit like a Meazzi Echomatic.
EXERCISE 13 CD TRACK 13 / BACKING TRACK 14
q=120 Shadows/surf style
& 44 Œ œ œ œ œ œ 0
2
⁄
1
0
Œ œœœœœ
2
0
0
2
2
0
5
& Œ œœœœœ ⁄
26
2
0
1
0
2
Œ œœœœœ 0
2
0
2
0
Œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ 2
0
1
0
2 2
Œ œœœœœ 2
0
1
0
2
3
2
3
œ œ œ œ 3
0
0
0
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SECTION ONE GETTING STARTED
EXERCISE 13 CD TRACK 13 / BACKING TRACK 14 continued
9
œ œ œ œ & 3
0
0
1
œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ #œ #œ œ œ œ
1
0
1
0
3
⁄ 13
œ œ œ œ & 3
0
0
2
1
0
2
2
œ œ œ œ œ #œ #œ œ œ #œ œ ˙
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1
3
2
1
1
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1
3
2
2
4
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4
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4
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2
21
& Œ œ œ œ œ œ ⁄
2
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1
0
2
Œ œœœœœ 0
2
0
2
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0
0
2
1
0
Œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ 0
2
0
2
0
CD 13/14
17
1
0
0
3
2
3
2
2
3
œ œ œ ˙ 1
1
0
2
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
SECTION TWO
THE LOWER STRINGS
CD 15/16
Exercise 14: The D, A, and E-strings Exercise 14 is about learning to recognize, name, and play the three lowest-sounding open strings on the guitar. Sometimes these strings are referred to as the bass strings, with the top three strings being called the treble strings. PRO TIP The best way We introduced all of the open strings back in Exercise 1, but to save you to play a staccato open having to flick back to remind yourself, string is to touch it with the first note in this piece is the open A (or fifth) string. In the second bar, you your fret-hand fingers have two notes on the open D (or just after it has been fourth) string and the third bar uses the played; but you should open E (or sixth) string. We have seen the quarter experiment with using note/dotted half note rhythm before, in your pick hand to damp Exercise 4, and the same rhythm is Laying the fingers flat across all six strings (top all the strings instead. maintained for seven bars. In bar nine picture) is one way to quickly mute the guitar or to a new rhythm is introduced and played play an open string staccato. for six bars. The outside of the pick hand can also be used to In Exercises 8 and 9 we introduced silence the strings between pick strokes. rests and mentioned that silences are as important as notes when playing a rhythm. We also introduced the terms “legato,” meaning joined up, and “staccato,” meaning separated. When playing staccato it is sometimes easier to read a rhythm if the note values are left long and a staccato sign, which is a dot placed above or below the note, is used instead of a short note and a rest. Check out the first two bars of Exercise 14 and you can see that the first note in each bar is to be played staccato. We then have the sign ...sim, which we first saw in Exercise 6, and which means “carry on in the same way.” So the first note of each bar should be staccato until the rhythm changes in bar eight. In bar nine the staccato first note returns and is again carried on until the rhythm changes in bar 15. A Marshall Guv’nor distortion pedal is used between guitar and amp to provide a powerful lead sound for Exercise 14.
T E C H N I Q U E When you come to the second bar and play the open D-string it is important that only the open D is sounding. If you don’t do anything to stop it the open A from bar one will ring on. So as well as playing the first D staccato you should mute the open A. Being able to mute strings is an important part of controlling the guitar—especially the electric guitar, which, when turned up loud, can interact with the amp to create feedback.
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SECTION TWO THE LOWER STRINGS
4 &4 ⁄
EXERCISE 14 CD TRACK 15 / BACKING TRACK 16
q=100 Rock
œ. ≥.
˙™ ≥
0
0
œ. ≥.
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0
0
...sim
œ
˙™
0
0
œ
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0
5
& œ ⁄
˙™
0
0
œ
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w 0
9
⁄
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S O U N D S The lead track was played using a Telecaster on the bridge pickup. A distortion pedal (an old Marshall Guv’nor) was placed between the guitar and the amp to provide some grit.
29
CD 15/16
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 15: Notes on the D-string In the rest of Part One, Section Two we will be learning all the notes on the lower three strings, starting in Exercise 15 with the D-string. Notice that we go straight from E at the second fret to F at the third fret: as we’ve seen before, there is no sharp between E and F. Play these notes one by one, starting with the open string, saying the letter names and using one finger per fret.
° & w
#w bw
D open string
¢⁄
D-sharp or E-flat first fret
0
1
w
w
E second fret
F third fret
2
3
#w bw F-sharp or G-flat fourth fret
4
T H E O R Y As we are learning notes in the first position the exercise only involves the first four frets. What about the fifth fret? You may be able to figure out that the note above F-sharp (or G-flat) is G. This G is the same note as your open G-string, and you could keep going up, fret by fret, to G-sharp, A, A-sharp, and so on up the D-string. Eventually, at the 12th fret, you will have gone up an octave and be back on D again.
Exercise 16: Swamp-rock for D, G, and B-strings Exercise 16 makes use of the notes on the D-string from Exercise 15 together with notes we already know from the G- and B-strings to create a PRO TIP This is a great place to swamp-rock lead guitar part. practice your alternate picking: Swamp-rock mixes Louisiana blues, Cajun, and zydeco with rhythm down strokes on downbeat and and blues, rock, and country. Bands like The Band and Creedence upstrokes on upbeats. Grab a pencil Clearwater Revival have been associated with the style, which features a powerful rhythm and blues backbeat. and write them in for yourself. You may be worried to see that there are only three eighth notes in the first bar. Not all music starts on the first beat of the bar. You have to count one, two, three beats and then play the last three eighth notes of the bar on “and four and.” On the CD there are seven clicks at the start of the track; four of which are the usual one bar count in, with three more giving you the missing beats from this incomplete bar. Exercise 16 also introduces repeat signs, which tell us to repeat the music between the two signs shown left. It also uses first- and second-time bars, which are common when there are repeats. Bar 13, with the number 1 written inside a bracket, is called the first time bar. After playing this bar we go back to the repeat sign at the beginning. Second time through, you’ve already played the first-time bar so you go straight to the second-time bar, which has the number 2 Start repeat End repeat written above it. This lets us have two different endings: the first leads to a repeat, T H E O R Y 2. 1. and the second leads to the end. Guitarists mostly call an incomplete bar at the start First time Second time of a piece of music an “upbeat” or “lead-in.” The bar bar technical name for it is an “anacrusis.”
™ ™
30
™ ™
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SECTION TWO THE LOWER STRINGS EXERCISE 16 CD TRACK17 / BACKING TRACK 18
q=90 Swamp-rock
4 & 4œj œ #œ ™™ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ ‰ j œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ
With slow tremolo effect throughout...
⁄
2
0
™ ™
1
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⁄
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& œ œ #œ œ ‰ œJ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 2
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2
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2
2
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2
11
& ˙ ⁄
2
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1
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1
2
1.
‰ jœ œ œ ˙ 0
0
‰ œ œ #œ J
‰ œ œ œ ˙ J 0
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œ
0
2
2
0
0
2
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1
2.
™™ ‰ œj œ #œ w 2
0
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2
S O U N D S We used a Stratocaster on the bridge pickup, a little overdrive from the amp, and a tremolo effect pedal. Tremolo is a rhythmic fluctuation in volume that was often built into classic valve amplifiers in the 1950s and ’60s. Controls are usually provided to alter speed and depth; it is most effective when the speed control is adjusted so that the fluctuation pulses in time with the music.
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CD 17/18
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 17: Double stops on the D and G-strings Exercise 17 introduces some new techniques and also sneaks in some of those notes above the fifth fret that we mentioned in Exercise 15. In bar one, you play two open strings with a downstroke, followed by two notes at the third fret. Most guitarists would do this by laying the tip joint of their first finger flat across those two strings, as in T H E O R Y the picture (right). All the double Check out the notes at the fifth stops in this piece are played fret: C on the G-string and G on using the first finger in that way. the D-string. On the sixth fret we The first three notes in bar have D-flat and A-flat, which one are on the downbeats. The could have been written as Cnext three notes, crossing into sharp and G-sharp. bar two, are on the upbeats. In Finger one tip joint flat on D and G-strings at the third fret. music we have a word to describe the placing of rhythmic accents where they wouldn’t normally occur: syncopation. Rock and pop music, like the jazz and blues they emerged from, tend to have a great deal of syncopation. This can make the music hard to read, but if you listen to the CD track, you will hear rhythms that are routine to anyone who is familiar with rock music. Check out ‘Smoke On The Water,’ by 60s/70s rock band Deep Purple, to hear the music that inspired this track.
CD 19/20
S O U N D S A modern high-gain amplifier such as a Mesa Boogie, Soldano, or Marshall can usually make this kind of intense overdrive simply by turning up the gain. Otherwise a distortion effect in front of the amp will help. We also used an EQ [Equalization] pedal (below) to remove the high frequencies and boost the middle range.
T E C H N I Q U E One of the most fun things about this exercise is that it contradicts almost everything we’ve done so far. Firstly, you can lay your finger down flat instead of on its tip; secondly, you can play the whole piece just by sliding your first finger around, whereas we usually aim to play “in position.” When it comes to the pick hand, you can also forget about alternate picking in this one: just use downstrokes. It may take some practice to hit only the two strings we need and to move the pick quickly enough for the eighth notes that start in bar nine.
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SECTION TWO THE LOWER STRINGS EXERCISE 17 CD TRACK 19 / BACKING TRACK 20
q=100 Deep Purple style
j œj ˙ j 4 & 4 œœ bœœ œœ ‰ œœ ‰ bœœ ‰ œ ˙ . . 0 0
⁄
3 3
0 0
0 0
3 3
bœ œœ bœœ œœ ‰b œJ ‰ œœ ™™ ˙˙ . .
5 5
0 0
j j j & œœ bœœ œœ ‰ œœ ‰ bœœ ‰ œœ ˙˙ . . ⁄
3 3
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3 3
5 5
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⁄
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3 3
0 0
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j j j & œœ œœ bœœ. œœ ‰ œœ ‰ bœœ ‰ œœ ˙˙ . ⁄
0 0
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3 3
0 0
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3 3
5 5
5 5
3 3
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6 6
5 5
3 3
0 0
bœ œœ œœ bœœ. œœ ‰b œJ ‰ œœ ™™ ˙˙ .
5 5
13
6 6
CD 19/20
j ‰ bœj ‰ œj ˙ b œ ‰ & œœ œœ œ œœ œœ œ œ ˙ . .
9
0 0
0 0
j j b œ œ œœ bœœ œœ ‰b œJ ‰ œ ‰ bœœ ˙˙ . .
5
0 0
3 3
0 0
0 0
3 3
0 0
6 6
5 5
j j b œ œ œœ œœ bœœ. œœ b œ œ ‰ bœœ ‰ œœ ˙˙ 0 0
0 0
3 3
0 0
6 6
5 5
3 3
0 0
.
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 18: Notes on the A-string Exercise 18 introduces the notes on the A-string up to the fourth fret. Say the letter names as you play the notes, using one finger on each fret.
° &
w
A open string
¢⁄
0
#w bw
w
w
# w bw
A-sharp or B-flat first fret
B second fret
C third fret
C-sharp or D-flat fourth fret
1
2
3
4
Exercise 19: Surfing on the A-string We’ve seen that surf rock is a twangy guitar-based music that goes back to the 1960s. Surf tunes, like the rock’n’roll styles they emerged from, often use riffs. A riff is a pattern of notes that is usually repeated and sometimes moved around, up, down and to other strings. Be T H E O R Y aware, though, that sometimes the word riff is used to mean “a musical idea” that is not The “home note” for this piece of necessarily repeated. Riffs are found in most kinds of rock music. music is the note A; it is the final In Exercise 19 the opening one-bar riff is played twice and then moved across to the note, and the note that gives the D-string. It then comes back to the A-string in bars five and six. The music heads off in music a satisfying ending. a different direction for bars seven and eight, before returning to the riff on the A-string Musicians would say the music in bar nine. Bar 12 has a chromatic three-note sequence bringing the music home to the was in the key of A. We will open A-string. explore the subject of keys later Notice that, as in Exercise 17, there is a lead-in bar, this time containing just one in the book. eighth note which is tied across the bar line to the first beat of the first bar. This means playing on “and” and holding the note across the first beat “one.” Normally the first beat is accented (played more strongly) but in this case the accent falls in front of the first beat. More syncopation! As the anacrusis is so short, the CD track begins with only the usual four beat count-in. S O U N D S Use a clean, bright tone from your bridge pickup, starting with an upstroke and following the pick pattern that is given in bar one. The CD track was recorded using a Strat through a Fender Deluxe Reverb.
34
T E C H N I Q U E If you have small hands and are finding it hard to open the fingers out over four frets, use your first finger at the second fret for most of the piece. We would call this playing in the second position, and your fingers would open out over frets two to five. Go back to the first position in bars seven and 12 when you need to use finger 1 at the first fret. When you move up and back, take your thumb with you on the back of the neck.
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SECTION TWO THE LOWER STRINGS EXERCISE 19 CD TRACK 21 / BACKING TRACK 22
q=100 1960s Surf-rock
1 4 &4 j œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≥ ≤ ≤
⁄
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& œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ #œ ˙ ⁄
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œ œ œ bœ ˙ 3
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w 0
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CD 21/22
‰ j & œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 20: Notes on the E-string Exercise 20 introduces the notes on the E or sixth string. We have now played all of the notes on the guitar in the first position. You know the drill—play them and say them.
° &
w
w
E open string
F first fret
¢⁄
0
1
#w bw F-sharp or G-flat second fret
2 0
w G third fret
3
#w bw G-sharp or A-flat fourth fret
4
T H E O R Y We have two E-strings, the first string and the sixth string. These strings are two octaves apart. Play both these open strings at once (or one quickly after another) and listen to the sound of a double octave. Notice that the notes on the frets on these two strings have the same letter names.
T E C H N I Q U E This is an exercise for you to do, looking at your fret hand: one by one, play the notes on the first four frets of your high E-string (your top string or first string). Then repeat the exercise on your low E-string (your bottom string or sixth string). Compare the hand position in the picture above with the one from Exercise 3, noticing that as you move across the guitar you must allow your wrist to come forward.
All four fingers on the low E-string first position
Exercise 21: ‘E-string Boogie’ Exercise 21 makes use of the notes we have just learned on the sixth string, together with those on the A-string from Exercises 18 and 19. You might notice that it is a riff-based solo, built on a two-bar riff which is repeated in bars three and four, moved across to the A-string (with a variation) in bars five and six, and taken back to the E-string in bars seven and eight. In the first bar, the third and fourth notes are G followed by Gsharp. As a sharp sign lasts for the whole bar the seventh note of the bar needs a natural sign to produce a G (we would call it G-natural). T H E O R Y We then have another sharp on the last note of the bar to make that In several bars there are ties in the middle of the bar. note a G-sharp. This may seem complicated, but it is the way written Using a tie in this way gives us a note two and a half music has evolved. It is unusual to have a natural note and its sharp beats long and helps with counting the rhythm, as it several times in the same bar as we have here. allows us to see the middle of the bar where the third beat begins. Give these tied notes their full value when you play the piece.
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SECTION TWO THE LOWER STRINGS
4 &4 ⁄
EXERCISE 21 CD TRACK 23 / BACKING TRACK 24
q=80 Slow boogie
œ˙ œ œ œ #œ œ œ nœ #œ œ œ #œ ≥≤ ≥ ≤ ≥≤ ≥ ≤ ≥≤ ≥≤ 0
0
3
4
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œ œ œ #œ œ œ nœ #œ œ œ #œ
2
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œ˙ 2
5
& ⁄
œ œ œ #œ œ œ nœ #œ œ #œ nœ #œ ˙ 0
0
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œ œ œ #œ œ œ nœ #œ œ œ #œ œ ˙
2
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& ⁄
œ œ #œ œ ˙
œ œ œ #œ ˙
œ œ bœ œ œ bœ
2
0
2
2
2
0
2
0
3
4
0
T E C H N I Q U E The steady eighth-note movement of this exercise is another opportunity to work on your alternate picking, which can be tricky on the thicker lower strings. Start each phrase with a downstroke and carry on using alternate downstrokes and upstrokes. Alternate picking is the most dependable and versatile way of playing single notes on the guitar, and an essential part of building speed and fluency.
2
1
0
0
4
CD 23/24
9
œ bœ œ œ ˙ 3
2
1
0
S O U N D S For this CD track we stayed with the Strat, but this time we switched to the neck pickup. Once again there is a touch of grit from an overdrive pedal.
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 22: ‘Rock’n’roll Rifferama’ Exercise 22 is the last exercise in Section Two and is a riff-based rock’n’roll 12-bar blues that uses all the bass strings and sometimes goes across as far as the G-string. It’s a long one, and being the last exercise in the section it might represent something of a challenge. Each time you go through a 12-bar it’s called a chorus, so here we have two choruses. The second chorus is built on a riff that grows out of the riff in the first bar. We simply added a few notes. There is no backing track, so when you are ready to join in, play along with CD track 25.
T H E O R Y At the beginning of each line of the notation there are three sharps, F-sharp, C-sharp and G-sharp, reading left to right. Any sharps or flats at the beginning of the stave make up what is known as a key signature. The function of a key signature is to tell you the sharps and flats that are in a given scale. In this case, the three sharps would make an A major scale. It’s like a code you have to learn; but there’s no need to worry too much about it just yet. Simply remember that every F, C, and G in this piece has to be played sharp—that’s F-sharp, C-sharp, and G-sharp—and that this puts you in the key of A major. The key signature makes no difference to the tab, which continues to show you the correct frets to play. EXERCISE 22 CD TRACK 25
q=110 Rock’n’roll
CD 25
### 4 & 4 ⁄
j œ œ œ œ™ 0
5
### & ⁄
Ϫ 0
2
4
j œ œ œ 4
j œ œ œ œ™
2
0
Ϫ 0
2
4
j œ œ œ 4
j œ œ œ œ™ 0
Ϫ
j œ œ œ
2 0
2
4
4
2
j œ œ œ œ™ 0
Ϫ 0
4
2
j œ œ œ 4
2
T E C H N I Q U E The easiest way to play this exercise is to use your third finger at the fourth fret and your first finger at the second fret; in other words, to play it in the second position.
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SECTION TWO THE LOWER STRINGS EXERCISE 22 CD TRACK 25
9
### & ⁄
j œ œ œ œ™
j œ™ œ œ œ 0
0
2
4
j œ œ œ œ™
2
4
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j œ™ œ œ œ
2
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13
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17
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21
4
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2
4
2
4
2
0
2
4
0
2
4
4
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0
‰ œj œ œ ‰ j œ ‰ j ‰ j œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ 0
4
2 4 2
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4
2 0
4
2 0
4
2
4
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0 0 0
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CD 25
### &
⁄
‰ j œ ‰ j œœœ ‰ j œ ‰ j œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
SECTION THREE
TWO ESSENTIAL SCALES Exercise 23: E minor pentatonic scale Exercise 23 introduces our first essential scale on the guitar. It’s called a minor pentatonic and starts and ends on the note E. We will explain what “minor” means in the next section, when we start working on chords. But “pentatonic” is straightforward: it means “five note.” Scales can be useful as a technical exercise, but the scales we use on guitar go way beyond that. We can use the notes of a scale to make up riffs or solos, as demonstrated in Exercises 26, 27, and 28. But first we are going to learn another scale. It is very similar to the minor pentatonic, simply adding one note in each octave. This scale is the blues scale.
T H E O R Y The minor pentatonic scale in E contains just five notes: E-G-A-B-D
EXERCISE 23 CD TRACK 26
CD 26
4 &4
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
⁄
0
3
0
2
0
0
2
0
2
3
0
Fingering: the circles tell you to play the open strings
E B G D A E
3
0
2 2 2 3
3
5
7
9
12
15
0
2
0
2
0
2
0
3
0
Scale degrees: the scale step each note represents
ER B5 G b3 D b7 A 4 ER
3 3
3
b3 b7 4
bb33
R 5
b3
3
5
7
9
12
15
T E C H N I Q U E With two notes per string, the minor pentatonic is straightforward to play with alternate picking. The blues scale occasionally has three notes per string, so you will have to pay close attention to your pick hand to keep the picking even. Beginners very often make the mistake of starting each new string with a downstroke. This should be avoided, unless the downstroke follows an upstroke.
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SECTION THREE TWO ESSENTIAL SCALES
Exercise 24: E blues scale The names “minor pentatonic” and “blues scale” are often used interchangeably, but theoretically there is a difference, with minor pentatonic referring to the simple five-note scale and the blues scale being the same five notes plus the sharpened version of the fourth note above the root: in this case A-sharp. This note is sometimes referred to as a “blue note,” but that description can also be applied to the G in this scale, which is the third note above the root. Both these notes clash with the underlying harmony of the blues and account for much of the distinctive flavor of blues and rock solos. EXERCISE 24 CD TRACK 27
4 &4 ⁄
œœœ œ œ Ó œbœ œ œ œ œ#œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ 0
3
0
1
0
2
2
0
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3
Fingering
3
ER B5 G b3 D b7 A 4 #4 ER
3 3
2 1
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3
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2
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Scale degrees
3
2
3
2 3
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5
7
9
12
15
b3 b7 4
#4
CD 27
E B G D A E
0
R 5
b3
3
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 25: Notes to the fifth fret and “fifth-fret tuning” Before we get into exercises that use the minor pentatonic and blues scales, Exercise 25 shows all the notes available in the first position (from the open strings up to the fourth fret), plus the notes at the fifth fret. The fifth fret is the point at which most of the notes of the guitar begin to overlap. For example, at the fifth fret on the low E-string we have the note A, which is the same pitch as the next open string (the fifth string). At the fifth fret on the A-string, we have the note D, the next open string, and so on. The odd one out is the G-string, which has the note B at the fourth fret.
E B G D A E
F
F# Gb
G
C
C# Db
D
G# Ab
A
D# Eb
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A# Bb
B
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F# Gb
G# Ab D# Eb
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A# Bb
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F# Gb
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C# Db
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G# Ab
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15
Fifth-fret tuning Up to now, you have used either the tuning notes on CD track 01 or an electronic tuner to get your guitar in tune. There is another way, which could be useful if you don’t have the CD with you or the battery in your tuner has run flat. Play the note on the fifth fret of the E-string (the note A) and tune the open A the same pitch. Then play the fifth fret on the A-string (the note D) and tune the open D to match. Continue in the same way using the fifth fret on the D-string to produce the pitch of the open G, the fourth fret on the G to produce the open B and finally the fifth fret on the B-string to produce the open E. This method is usually called “fifth-fret tuning.”
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SECTION THREE TWO ESSENTIAL SCALES
Open
° & & &
˙
˙
E
F
˙
˙
B
C
4
5
˙
#œ b œ
˙
Gb
G
G# Ab
A
#œ bœ
˙
#œ bœ
˙
D
D# Eb
E
#œ bœ F#
C#
Db
˙
˙
Ab
A
A# Bb
B
C
˙
#œ bœ
˙
#œ bœ
˙
Eb
˙
E
F
F# Gb
G
˙
#œ bœ
˙
˙
# œ bœ
˙
C
C# Db
D
˙
#œ bœ
˙
G
G# Ab
A
A
¢&
3
#œ bœ
D
&
2
˙
˙ G
&
1
˙ E
#œ bœ G#
D#
A#
˙ F
Bb
B
#œ bœ F#
Gb
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 26: E blues scale solo Exercise 25 demonstrates a simple approach to making up phrases, using the blues scale, to play over a blues backing track. We first came across this backing track in Exercise 5, and then again in Exercise 9. Those two exercises did not really make use of the blues scale; in Exercise 25, every note comes from the blues scale. There are three choruses on the backing track, so you can have three goes at trying to get Exercise 25 right. Or, you can play it once T E C H N I Q U E in the first chorus and then play over the last two choruses making up your own All the notes in this solo come from the phrases, maybe by stealing some of the ideas in this exercise. The 12-bar blues blues scale, so use the same fingers to is a great format for learning to improvise your own solos. play these notes as you did when you The most important thing to notice about Exercise 25 is the way it is structured. played the blues scale in Exercise 24. We begin with a two-bar phrase, which is repeated in bars three and four. In bars five and six there is a new “answering” phrase, which is then followed by a return to the opening phrase in bars seven and eight. Finally, bars nine and ten contain short phrases, with a longer answering phrase in bars 11 and 12. Beneath the tab stave you can see capital letters E, A, and B here and there. These are the major chords that are implied by the backing track: E major, A major, and B major. We haven’t studied chords yet, but when we have you will be able to come back to this exercise and understand what these symbols mean.
CD 28/07
T H E O R Y Phrasing is essential to improvisation. If you listen to some of your favorite guitar solos you will find that they are made up of phrases of varying lengths that seem to complement and build on each other. If you need some names to check out, start with vintage guys like Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) but also listen to contemporary players like Jack White (The White Stripes/Raconteurs) or John Mayer. In time, you will also start to recognize when a solo is using the blues scale.
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SECTION THREE TWO ESSENTIAL SCALES EXERCISE 26 CD TRACK 28 / BACKING TRACK 07
q=110 Straight blues
&
œ œœœ œœ #œ nœ œ œ œ Œ
œ œœœ œœ #œ nœ œ œ œ Œ
0
0
3
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0
3
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⁄
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& œ œœœœœ
œ œœœœœ
œ œœœ œœ #œ nœ œ œ œ Œ 0
2
⁄
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2
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9
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A
0
0 2
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2
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3
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CD 28/07
A
0
w w 0 0
E
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 27: Blues on the bass strings Exercise 27 might look different but it should sound familiar. It uses the same notes as Exercise 26, shifted down an octave. The arrangement of the notes across the strings is different on the bass strings, so there is a new technical challenge in coordinating and picking the right notes. The main purpose of the exercise is to get you exploring phrasing on the low end of the guitar, but you might notice that played over the backing track it can sound very murky sometimes. Generally speaking, you would be unlikely to want to play an entire solo using this kind of low-note phrasing, partly because the low E-string is down at the same pitch as much of the backing track. Just occasionally, though, a low riff might be exactly what the music requires. EXERCISE 27 CD TRACK 29 / BACKING TRACK 07
q=110 Steady blues
Œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ nœ œ œ œ
CD 29/07
⁄
2
0
2
2
0
2
1
0
œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ nœ œœœ 2
3
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Œ
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5
&
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œ œœœœœ
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Œ œ œœœ œœ #œ nœ œ œ œ 2
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A
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9
&
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ
⁄
2
B
46
0
2
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A
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Œ
w w 2 0
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SECTION THREE TWO ESSENTIAL SCALES
Exercise 28: E blues scale solo version two Exercise 28 shows a different way around the phrasing on a 12-bar blues. This time, bars one and two represent a question, with an answer in bars three and four. These four bars are then repeated in bars five to nine. In bars five and six the underlying chord has moved to A, whereas in bars one and two it was E; this adds interest to the repeated pattern. The last four bars follow similar phrasing to Exercise 26. EXERCISE 28 CD TRACK 30 / BACKING TRACK07
q=110 Steady blues
œ˙ & 44 ‰ œJ œ 0
0
3
œœœœœ Œ 3
0
‰ œœœ˙ J
0
3
0
bœ œ œ œ œ Œ
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3
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⁄
2
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2
E 5
œœœœœ Œ
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‰ œœœ˙ J
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bœ œ œ œ œ Œ
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⁄ A
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œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ bœ œ & ‰ œJ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ#œ œ ˙ œ 0
B
0
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E
9
⁄
CD 30/07
œœ˙ & ‰ œJ
3
0
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3 2
A
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E
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w w 0 0
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T H E O R Y This exercise also adds one other useful element in building a good solo: the use of a recognizable and repeatable short riff, which can then be developed to create phrases that work well together. Bars one, three, five, seven, and nine all contain the same rising three-note pattern. Technically this would be called a “motif,” and you could say that these phrases began with a recurring “motivic” idea.
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 29: ‘John Lee’: E minor pentatonic question and answer Exercise 28 is dedicated to blues legend John Lee Hooker. Check out his classic tracks, ‘Boom Boom’ or ‘Dimples,’ to hear the music that inspired this piece. We are using a “call and response” structure in which the high notes ask a question, and the low notes give the answer. All the notes come from the minor pentatonic scale. The trickiest part of this exercise will be dealing with the pick technique, which involves crossing the strings in bigger leaps then we have seen before. Take it slowly, playing the guitar by feel and aiming not to look at your pick hand.
Scales and the metronome: the metronome is your friend. We will be coming across more scales later in the book, and practicing scales is an important part of developing speed and fluency on the guitar. Most serious guitar players have at some point worked on scales with a metronome to keep their playing even and to develop their speed. There is an online metronome, and apps are available for smart phones, or you can buy a standalone electronic or mechanical metronome. They are calibrated in beats per minute and give a regular click for you to play along with. Aim to get started at around 80 bpm, playing eighth notes: that’s two notes to each click. In time you could progress to 100 or 120 bpm. Serious technique begins to appear when you can play four notes to a click at 100 bpm (these would be 16th notes). The world’s top guitarists can comfortably play 16th notes at 150 bpm. No, I’m not joking!
CD 31
Single note soloing is an important part of modern guitar technique, and blues and minor pentatonic scales are found all over rock music. In Section Three we have introduced these scales and shown how it is possible to create phrases that build into guitar solos. We will return to blues scales later in the book, and other scale shapes can be found on the wallchart; but in the meantime, keep returning to the backing track and making up your own solos.
T H E O R Y Notice that there is a rest on the first beat of the bar, and the music begins on the second beat. Each phrase then crosses the bar line ending on the first beat of the next bar. This creates a sense of “heading for the first beat,” and gives the music a strong forward motion. If you are practicing improvising your own blues over CD track 07, see if you can cross over bar lines in the same way instead of sitting your phrases squarely on top of each bar—your music will be rhythmically stronger for it.
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SECTION THREE TWO ESSENTIAL SCALES EXERCISE 29 CD TRACK 31
q=105 Blues
œ œ œ œ œ œ
& 44 Œ
0
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& œ
œœœœœœ œ
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œ 0
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2 0
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11
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CD 31
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
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& œ
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
SECTION FOUR
BLUES RHYTHM
CD 32
Exercise 30: Vamp on E5 and E6 In Section Four we are going to learn to play rhythm parts in the style that you can hear on CD track 07. This means introducing the chord diagrams that you can see here. We will be coming across more and more of these as the book progresses. The vertical lines represent the guitar strings; the thickest one is your low E-string and the thinnest is your high ET E C H N I Q U E string. The horizontal lines are the You can use the underside of finger 1 to frets, with a double line at the top, mute the D-string. You are trying to just which is the nut. An X above the hit two strings with the pick, but if you nut means you don’t play that mute the D string, it won’t matter if you string, an O means you play that sometimes catch it. string open. The black circles represent your fingers, with the number in the middle telling you which finger to use. Beneath the diagram are the letter names of the notes that you are playing, together with numbers that describe the structure of the chord. With E5 we have just the root note, E, and the note five letter-names up, B, so there is a 1 and a 5. (You can see why the chord is called E5.) In E6 we have the root note and the note 6 letter names up, C-sharp, so there is a 1 and a 6. In Exercise 39 these two chords are played as a blues vamp. Each chord is played twice in an eighth note rhythm. As you can see, you do the whole thing with downstrokes E6
E5 o
x
x
x
x
o
x
1 1
E B 1 5
50
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E C# 1 6
x
x
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SECTION FOUR BLUES RHYTHM EXERCISE 30 CD TRACK 32
#### 4 & 4
⁄
q=80
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ 2 0
2 0
E5
4 0
4 0
E6
2 0
2 0
4 0
E5
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ...sim
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
...sim
E6
3
#### & ⁄
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ œœ ˙ ˙
2 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
CD 32
T H E O R Y In theory a two-note chord is a diad, and a three-note chord is a triad. Some people argue that you need at least three notes to make a chord, so a diad is not really a chord at all. These chords are usually called “E five” and “E six,” though musicians sometimes say “E sixth.” I have never heard the term “E fifth” being used.
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 31: E vamp with muting Exercise 31 looks almost identical to Exercise 30, but with the addition of three important words:“palm muting throughout.” Listen to the chunky sound of CD track 33 and compare it to the open, ringing T H E O R Y sound of track 32. Palm muting is where you rest Exercises 30 and 31 are both in the key of E major. The key signature for E the heel of your pick hand on the lowest strings major has four sharps: F-sharp, C-sharp, G-sharp, and D-sharp. just in front of the bridge. You will need to experiment with the position of your hand; the sound has more “click” as you move away from the bridge and more “thud” as you move nearer the bridge. Get too close to the bridge and you will just get the normal guitar sound.
CD 33
Place the heel of the hand in the right place to get a chunky tone when palm muting.
EXERCISE 31 CD TRACK 33
#### 4 & 4
q=80
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ...sim
...Palm muting throughout
⁄
2 0
2 0
E5
4 0
4 0
E6
2 0
2 0
4 0
E5
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
...sim
E6
3
#### & ⁄
52
œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œœ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙
2 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
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SECTION FOUR BLUES RHYTHM
Exercise 32: Vamp on A with muting In Exercise 32 the chords from Exercises 30 and 31 have been moved across the guitar one string, so that we now have A5 and A6. Once again, we are palm muting, and it is quite common to notate palm muting with the initials P.M. and a dotted line showing how long the muting lasts, sometimes together with …sim. Later in the book some exercises might need you to mute just one or two notes in a riff. T H E O R Y As this is a vamp on A, the notation stave has the A major key signature of three sharps: F-sharp, Csharp, and G-sharp. Notice that the sharps always come in the same order. We will get to know key signatures more thoroughly in Section Five.
A5
T E C H N I Q U E Position the pick hand so it mutes both the Aand D-strings, and use the underside of finger one (fret hand) to silence the open Gstring in case you catch it with the pick.
x
o
A6
x
x
x
x
o
x
x
x
1 1
1
3
CD 34
A F# 1 6
A E 1 5
EXERCISE 32 CD TRACK 34
q=80
### 4 & 4
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ¿ P.M.
⁄ ### & ⁄
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥
...sim
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
œœ ≥
œœ ≥
œ œ ≥
œ œ ≥
œœ ≥
œœ ≥
œ œ ≥
œ œ ≥
œœ ≥
œœ ≥
œ œ ≥
œ œ ≥
˙˙ ≥
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 33: Blues rhythm in E Most of Exercise 33 will be familiar, as it is made up of the vamps on E and A from Exercises 31 and 32, and it is the backing track we’ve been using for blues scale soloing. Notice the palm muting throughout. In bars nine and 12 we have a new chord: B5. In these two bars we do not alternate the five chord with the six chord, partly because it sounds good just as it is, and partly because B6 is a big stretch and tricky at this stage. At the end of bar 12 there is a repeat sign, and above that the sign “Play x3,” which tells you to play the whole thing three times before moving on to the last bar. If you can get together with another guitar player, you can now play a 12-bar blues backing while they solo using the E blues scale (or play one of the solos from Exercises 26 to 28). Then switch around, taking your turn to solo while they play rhythm. The 12-bar blues is so famous that bars and music stores are named after it. It is, of course, 12 bars long, and follows a particular chord sequence. The 12-bar blues can be played in any key. It uses the chords built on the first, fourth, and fifth steps of that key. This one is in the key of E, and uses the chords E (chord one), A (chord four), and B (chord five). These chords are usually described using Roman numerals: I, IV, and V. To get those Roman numerals, we just count up letter names. In E major, for instance, it works like this: E I
F# II
G# III
A IV
B etc. V
We have used F-sharp and G-sharp here because those are the notes in the E major scale (check out the key signature). You will get a more detailed explanation of major scales in Section Five. Here is how the chords are laid out one chord per bar, using Roman numerals:
CD 07
I IV V
I IV IV
I I I
I I V
Here is how the chords are laid out using chord symbols: B5 x
x
1 1
x
x
E A B
E A A
E E E
E E B
As you can see, for the sake of this exercise we are treating the E5 and E6 chords as if they are broadly E major, and the A5 and A6 chords as if they are broadly A major.
3 T H E O R Y Underneath the tab stave you can see the names of the chords we are playing. Sometimes they are the actual chords you are playing (which they are here), and sometimes they reflect the underlying harmony. It all depends on what the writer thinks you most need to know.
B F# 1 5
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SECTION FOUR BLUES RHYTHM EXERCISE 33 CD TRACK 07
#### 4 & 4
q=110 Steady blues
œœ œœœœœœ œœ œœœœœœ œœ œœœœœœ œœ œœœœœœ œœ œœœœœœ œœ œœœœœœ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ Palm muting throughout...
⁄
2 0
2 0
4 0
E5
4 0
2 0
E6
2 0
4 0
E5
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
...sim
E6
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
4
#### & ⁄
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ 2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
A5
4 0
4 0
A6
2 0
2 0
A5
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
...sim
A6
#### & ⁄
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ 2 0
E5 10
#### & ⁄
2 0
4 0
4 0
E6
2 0
2 0
E5
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
4 0
4 0
2 0
2 0
...sim
E6
4 0
4 0
4 2
4 2
4 2
4 2
4 2
4 2
4 2
4 2
B5 Play x3
™™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œ œ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ w œœ œœœœœœ w ™ 2 2 4 4 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ™ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 4 4 2 2 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 A5
A6
A5
A6
0 0
0 0
0 0 0 0
E5
E6
E5
E6
0
B5
E5
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
D6
D5
Exercise 34: Vamp on D
x
The cool thing about the blues vamp is that you can pick it up and move across the strings again, this time on to the D and G-strings, giving you a vamp on D. Once again, you are palm muting T H E O R Y the whole exercise, and you will need to As this exercise is in D experiment with your pick hand to get the major, it has the D major muting just right. We have eased the tempo key signature, which has back a little so that you can really concentrate two sharps, F-sharp and on tidying up your downstrokes, just hitting two C-sharp. strings at a time, starting with the D-string and following through to the G-string.
x
o
x
x
x
x
o
x
x
1 1
1
3
D A 1 5
EXERCISE 34 CD TRACK 35
D B 1 6
q=80
## 4 & 4 œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥
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P.M. 2 0
CD 35
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˙˙ ≥ ¿
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Exercise 35: 12-bar vamp on A, straight feel In the key of A major, chord I is A major, chord IV is D major and chord V is E major. So now that we have a vamp on D (from Exercise 34), we can adapt it to play a 12-bar blues in the key of A. Welcome to Exercise 35! At the start of the exercise—after the tempo marking—you can see the words “straight 8s.” In fact, all of the eighth notes we have played so far in the book have been “straight,” meaning that they placed evenly throughout the bar. There is another kind, which is called a “swing 8” or “shuffle feel” and we will be taking a closer look at these in Exercise 36. Do you remember the format for a 12-bar blues from Exercise 33? Using Roman numerals, we had: In A major this would give the following layout of chords: I IV V
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I IV IV
I I I
I I V
A D E
A D D
A A A
A A E
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SECTION FOUR BLUES RHYTHM
The chord symbols written underneath the tab stave in this exercise show the underlying harmony, as above. Play it using the A5 and A6, D5 and D6, and E5 and E6 vamp shapes you have learned in the last few pages. In Exercise 35 we go through the 12-bar sequence once only, palm muting everything except the last note. EXERCISE 35 CD TRACK 36
q=80 Straight 8s
### 4 & 4
œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ...etc
Palm muting throughout...
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œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 2 0
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10
### & œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ w œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ w
Palm mute off
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CD 36
⁄
œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 36: 12 bar vamp in A, swing feel Swing and shuffle Up to now all of our eighth notes have been what we call “straight feel.” In other words, the time between all of the eighth notes has been completely even. Now we are going to learn to shuffle. In the “shuffle feel” the four main beats of the bar stay where they are, but the eighth notes which fall in between are played later than usual, so that they seem to lean towards the next downbeat. What’s really happening is that we are counting three eighth notes to each beat, and then playing only on the first and third eighth note. These three diagrams should make things clearer:
Straight feel
Clap Tap
1& 1
Triplets
Clap Tap
123 123 123 123 1 2 3 4
Shuffle feel
Clap Tap
3& 3
4& 4
CD 37
2& 2
13 1
13 2
13 3
13 4
Tap four beats in the bar with your foot while counting aloud and clapping on “one and two and three and four and” evenly.
Keeping the beat going with your foot, now count and clap “one two three, one two three, one two three, so that the “one” coincides with the downbeat you are tapping with your foot.
This time, keep the beat going with your foot but only clap on “one” and “three.”
When it comes to writing music with shuffle feel (also known as swing feel) it actually looks the same as straight feel. At the beginning of the piece, it will say “shuffle” or “swing” or will have a sign that looks like this:
Exercise 36 is the same music as Exercise 35, but this time with a shuffle feel. Have a listen to the CD track and you will probably realize that you’ve heard this rhythmic effect before, as it is very common in jazz and blues.
T H E O R Y Sometimes we play three notes in the time of two, such as three eighth notes in one quarter-note beat. These “three to a beat” eighth notes are called “triplets” and usually beamed together like this: Many modern editions leave out the small “3” because it’s usually easy to tell when the music is in triplets. Any type of note can be a triplet. You could have three quarter notes in the time of one half note. Or even three half notes in the time of a whole note.
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SECTION FOUR BLUES RHYTHM
iq=qK e
q=80
### 4 & 4
EXERCISE 36 CD TRACK 37
Play with “shuffle” or “swing” feel
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ...etc
Palm muting throughout...
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### & ⁄
œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 2 0
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œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 2 0
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CD 37
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
SECTION FIVE
THE THEORY PAGES Theory 1: Major scales In the last few exercises we have been dropping hints about major scales, and showing how we number notes and chords based on where they come in a major scale. The time has come for the detailed explanation.
Exercise 37: C major scale The major scale is the most important scale in music. Not only do we derive many other scales from the major, but it is also essential to the understanding of keys, chords, and intervals. In this exercise (opposite page, top) we have a one-octave C major scale, played in the first position and using open strings whenever possible. The C major scale uses all of the “white notes.” There are no sharps or flats, and this gives it a structure that is common to all major scales, which is a sequence of whole steps and half steps (tones and semitones) as follows:
CD 38
W C I
W H W D II
E F III IV
W G V
W H A B C VI VII
It is conventional to number the steps (or degrees) of a scale using Roman numerals. If we were to repeat this pattern of whole steps and half steps starting on any other note we would still hear a major scale, but we would be in a different key. Here, for example is G major:
W W H W G I
A II
B C III IV
W D V
W H E F# G VI VII
T H E O R Y A whole step (tone) is the equivalent to two frets; a half step (semitone) is the distance between one fret and the next. There is a half step between the notes B and C, and another between E and F. All other notes have a sharp or flat in between and so are a whole step apart.
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SECTION FIVE THE THEORY PAGES EXERCISE 37 CD TRACK 38
4 &4 œ œ œ œ ⁄
0
3
2
3
œ œ œ œ 0
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œ œ œ œ 0
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œ œ ˙ 2
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Exercise 38: G major scale Exercise 38 is a G major scale, in first position once again and using open strings where possible. To preserve the pattern of whole steps and half steps that make a major scale we need to add F-sharp. When we write a piece of music in the key of G major, we put the F-sharp at the beginning of the piece as a key signature and it saves us having to write a sharp sign in front of every F in the piece. That is why there is an F-sharp in the key signature at the start of this scale. EXERCISE 38 CD TRACK 39
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CD 39
#4 & 4œ œ œ œ
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 39: Major scales, sharp keys It is possible to start a major scale on every single letter name, including all of the sharp and flat notes. Each letter name or “key” would have its own signature of sharps or flats at the beginning of the stave. Exercise 39 shows the key signatures and notes for the common sharp keys. Tab is also provided so you can play these on the T H E O R Y guitar, along with the actual letter names involved. Each letter name In the key of F-sharp major we have the note E-sharp. occurs once in each major scale. From this chart you can see that Since “sharp” means “go one fret higher” E-sharp is the D major is D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D, A major is A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A, and same as F. We use E-sharp because each letter name so on. can only occur once in every scale and we already have Each time we move on to the next key we add one sharp to F-sharp as the keynote. those we have already, and the new sharp is always on the seventh step of the new scale. Sharps come in a set order; the first sharp is always F-sharp, followed by C-sharp, G-sharp, and so on. So if a piece of music has three sharps at the beginning, they will always be F-sharp, C-sharp and G-sharp. The key system is something that every musician should know from memory. It would be a good idea to keep returning to these pages to memorize the notes in each major scale.. EXERCISE 39
C major
G major
D major
A major
D E F# G A B C# D
A B C# D E F# G# A
# ### œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ## œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ & œ œœœ œ œœ œœœ œ œ œœ C D E F G A B C
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G A B C D E F# G
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E major
œ #### œ œ œ # œœœœ E F# G# A B C# D# E
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B major
0 2 3
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F# major
#### # œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œœ œœœœœ B C# D# E F# G# A# B
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SECTION FIVE THE THEORY PAGES
Exercise 40: Major scales, flat keys Starting again with C major, Exercise 40 shows the key signatures and notes for all the common flat keys; in other words, keys that use flats in their key signatures. F Major is F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F. The addition of B-flat maintains the pattern of whole steps and half steps that make a major scale. B-flat major has two flats and is Bb-C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb. With flat keys, the new flat is always on the fourth step of the new scale. Just like sharps, they always come in a set order. Here are two sentences to help you remember; the first letter of each word tells you the order of the sharps and flats. Order of sharps: Father Christmas Gave Dad An Electric Blanket. Order of flats: Blanket Exploded And Dad Got Cold Feet. In addition to numbering the steps of a major scale, we also have names for them. Since some of these names are used for describing chords, it is important to be aware of them: I Tonic
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
supertonic
mediant
subdominant
dominant
submediant
leading note
EXERCISE 40
C major
F major
Bb major
Eb major
œ œ bb bb œ œ œ œœœ œ œ œ œ b b œ œ œ œ œ œ & œœœœ œ œ œ œœ œ œœœœ C D E F G A B C
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Ab major
0 2 3
Bb C D Eb F G A Bb
Eb F G Ab Bb C D Eb
0 1
1 3
1 3
0 1 3
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0 1 3
1 3 4
Gb major
Db major
œœœ bb œ œœœ b b œ œ œ b b œ œ œ b œ b œ b œ b bb œœ bb œœœœœ & b œ
5
Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab
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Theory 2: Intervals Exercise 41: C major in intervals In Exercises 37 to 40 we introduced major scales, and we saw that it is normal to number the steps of the scale. There is a system in music that allows us to use numbers to describe the pitch distance between any two notes; this is known as the interval. An interval is made up of two elements. In the first, a number describes how far it is from one note to the next. If C is the lowest note of an interval, the gap to D would be called a second, to E a third, to F a fourth, and so on. It’s quite easy to work out the number part of an interval; treat the lowest note as “one” and then count up letter names until you arrive on the highest note. This illustration shows all of the intervals above C. Notice that you can carry on beyond the eighth note, or octave, to include ninths, tenths, and so on. The second element in an interval is a word that describes its character. These words are major, minor, perfect, augmented, and diminished. Exercise 41 shows the intervals that occur in a two-octave major scale and includes how big the intervals are in half steps; you can hear how these intervals sound on CD track 40. EXERCISE 41 CD TRACK 40
Simple intervals (intervals within one octave)
° &
˙
CD 40
Perfect unison 0 half steps
C-C
¢
3
˙˙
Major Major second third 2 half steps 4 half steps
C-D
0 3
Perfect Perfect Major Major Perfect fourth fifth sixth seventh octave 5 half steps 7 half steps 9 half steps 11 half steps 12 half steps
C-E
C-F
2 3
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Compound intervals (intervals exceeding one octave)
° ˙ & ˙ Major ninth
3
¢ 64
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Major tenth
Perfect 11th
Perfect 12th
Major 13th
Major 14th
Perfect double-octave
14 half steps 16 half steps 17 half steps
C-D
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SECTION FIVE THE THEORY PAGES
Exercise 42: Intervals outside the major scale CD 41 Exercise 42 shows the most important intervals that are not in the major scale. From Exercise 41 we can see that all of the intervals in a major scale are either major or perfect. Exercise 42 shows the intervals made with notes not in the major scale, which are all minor, augmented, or diminished. They say rules are made to be broken, but in the case of intervals, here are some rules that are never broken: • Fourths, fifths, and octaves can only be perfect, augmented, or diminished; they are never major or minor. • Seconds, thirds, sixths, and sevenths are usually major or minor, but occasionally can be augmented or diminished; they are never perfect. The reason intervals are useful is that they give us a way of describing how two notes actually sound when they are played together. A major third sounds different to a minor third; an augmented fourth sounds different to a perfect fourth. Every melody, riff, or chord is made up of a series of intervals, and each interval has its own distinctive sound. With practice you can begin to tell them apart by ear. A knowledge of intervals is also important for understanding chords and how they are constructed. EXERCISE 42 CD TRACK 41
° & b˙ ˙
#˙˙
b˙ ˙
b˙ ˙
b˙ ˙
Minor sixth
Minor seventh
Minor second
Minor third
Augmented fourth
Diminished fifth
1 halfstep
3 halfsteps
6 halfsteps
6 halfsteps
8 halfsteps
C-Db
C-Eb
C-F#
C-Gb
C-Ab
4 8
6 8
9 8
9 8
CD 41
¢
b˙˙
10 halfsteps
C-Bb
6
8
8
8
T H E O R Y Everything we say about one major scale can be applied to all the others, because all major scales have the same structure. For example, the third note in any major scale is always major, and the fifth note is always perfect. Historical note: the names of intervals go back to the ninth century when monks were formulating music theory in the Christian church. Fourths, fifths, and octaves were called “perfect” because of their neutral, uncolored quality, which was heard as the sound of heaven. Those earthly, emotional, happy/sad intervals like major and minor thirds were only worthy of being described in terms of their size: major third = big third (two whole steps); minor third = small third (one and a half steps).
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Theory 3: Chord building 1, triads We begin playing chords in the next section. Without wishing to get too far ahead of ourselves, and having covered major scales and intervals, this is a good time to start looking at what makes a chord.
Triads Technically, a chord is any group of notes played at the same time, and yes, that really does mean any notes. However, the chords that we use in the sort of music that you hear every day (excluding music that belongs to the avant-garde or contemporary classical tradition) follow a structure that has been established for several hundred years. The most basic chord is a triad, which consists of a root, a third, and a fifth.
There are only four kinds of triad: A major triad consists of a root, major third, and perfect fifth: C major = C E G Usually written: C A minor triad consists of a root, minor third, and perfect fifth: C minor = C Eb G Usually written: Cm A diminished triad consists of a root, minor third, and diminished fifth: C diminished = C Eb Gb Usually written: Cdim An augmented triad consists of a root, major third, and augmented fifth: C augmented = C E G# Usually written: Caug
One of the reasons major scales are so useful is that they help us to work out the letter names that are in any triad. D major consists of the root, third, and fifth notes from the D major scale: D, F-sharp, and A. To create D minor, flatten the third to produce a minor third: D, F, and A. To create D diminished, also flatten the fifth: D, F, and A-flat. To create D augmented, return to the major triad and sharpen the fifth: D, F-sharp, and A-sharp.
Triads are the most basic kind of chord, with major and minor triads being by far the most common. The four, five, and six-note chords coming up at the start of Section Six may not seem like three-note triads; but if you look closely at the notes being played you will see that there are only three different notes in each chord. Also check the numbers beneath the diagrams and you will see that each note is either a root (1), third (3), or fifth (5). Bookmark this page so you can keep returning to it and gradually start learning how to “spell” all the major and minor triads.
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Notes for the common major chords MAJOR CHORDS Chord
Root
Third
Fifth
C
C
E
G
Db
Db
F
Ab
D
D
F#
A
Eb
Eb
G
Bb
E
E
G#
B
F
F
A
C
F#
F#
A#
C#
Gb
Gb
Bb
Db
G
G
B
D
Ab
Ab
C
Eb
A
A
C#
E
Bb
Bb
D
F
B
B
D#
F#
Notes for the common minor chords MINOR CHORDS Chord
Root
Third
Fifth
Cm
C
Eb
G
C#m
C#
E
G#
Dm
D
F
A
D#m
D#
F#
A#
Ebm
Eb
Gb
Bb
Em
E
G
B
Fm
F
Ab
C
F#m
F#
A
C#
Gm
G
Bb
D
G#m
G#
B
D#
Abm
Ab
Cb
Eb
Am
A
C
E
Bbm
Bb
Db
F
Bm
B
D
F#
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Theory 4: Chord building 2, chords in a key Chords and keys are very closely related. Each major scale creates a unique sequence of chords, and since we now know about major scales, intervals, and triads, it is time to study chords in a key. We are going to begin with a C major scale, and let each note of the scale be the root note of a chord. Then, using the notes of that scale, we add the third and fifth above each root to create a series of triads.The result is a sequence of seven chords, all made from notes in the C major scale (opposite page).
Exercise 43: C major in triads Exercise 43 shows two possible fingerings for this sequence of chords; one that uses open strings whenever possible, and one that works its way up the neck keeping to the same three strings. We number the chords in the same way that we number the steps of the scale, using Roman numerals. Chords I, IV, and V are major chords and are normally capitalized. Chords ii, iii, and vi are normally lower-case, to indicate that they are minor. Chord vii is diminished and is also usually lower case. Since every major scale has the same structure of whole steps and half steps, this pattern of major, minor, and diminished chords is the same for every major key. If we take G major, for example, we would say the chords in G major are: G major, A minor, B minor, C major, D major, E minor, and F-sharp diminished.
CD 42
Chords in F major would be: F major, G minor, A minor, B-flat major, C major, D minor, and E diminished. If you know what notes are in the major keys (see Exercises 39 and 40) you should be able to work out the chords in every key. As we have seen, in addition to a number, each step of the scale also has a name, also shown in Exercise 43. So we could say the dominant chord in C major is G major, or the sub-dominant chord in C major is F major. You will sometimes hear musicians using these technical terms when describing chord sequences. We might say, for example, that a piece of music “starts on chord I (one) and then goes to chord V (five).” Or we could also say it “starts on the tonic and then goes to the dominant.” While these terms are not necessarily commonplace in the world of rock music, some familiarity with T H E O R Y them could make the difference between looking clued-up and Remember, a major chord has a root, major third, and looking ill-informed. perfect fifth. A minor chord has a root, minor third, and perfect fifth. A diminished chord has a root, minor third, and diminished fifth.
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SECTION FIVE THE THEORY PAGES EXERCISE 43 CD TRACK 42
& œœœ I
œœœ
œœ œ
œœœ
œœ œ
œœœ
œœœ
ii
iii
IV
V
vi
vii
0 0 2
1 2 3
3 4 5
0 1 2
1 3 4
0 2 3
2 3 5
C major Tonic
D minor Supertonic
E minor Mediant
œœ œ
œœœ
œœ œ
œœ œ
œœ œ
œœ œ
I
ii
iii
IV
V
vi
vii
0 2 3
2 3 5
4 5 7
5 7 8
7 9 10
9 10 12
10 12 14
C major Tonic
D minor Supertonic
⁄
& œœ œ ⁄
F major G major A minor B diminished Sub-dominant Dominant Sub-mediant Leading note
CD 42
E minor F major G major A minor B diminished Mediant Sub-dominant Dominant Sub-mediant Leading note
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
SECTION SIX
CHORDS
CD 43
E
Exercise 44: E major chord
T H E O R Y Check out the numbers and letter names at the bottom of the chord diagram. All the notes in this chord are E (the root), G-sharp (the third), or B (the fifth).
o
In Section Four we saw chord diagrams for two-note chords or diads. In this section we will look at chords with four, five, and six notes. Start by holding down the full six-string E major shape (pictured above) and playing a downstroke on each string in turn, listening closely to make sure that all six notes are sounding and that you’re not accidentally silencing the open B-string with the underside of your first finger. If you listen to CD track 43 you will hear the E major chord played once, then twice, then four times, and finally eight times in a bar. Grab your guitar, hold down the chord and play along. Use downstrokes until you get to bars seven and eight, where you should start using alternate downstrokes and upstrokes for the eighth notes. Pick directions are written in the music for you. Make sure you hit all six strings with every stroke. This style of guitar playing is known as “strumming.” T E C H N I Q U E It is important to use your fingers on EXERCISE 44 CD TRACK 43 their tips when playing chords.
q=120
4 w w & 4 #w w w w ≥ 0 0 1 2 2 0
⁄
o
1 2 3 1
E B E G# B E 1 5 1 3 5 1
w #w w w w w ≥
˙ #˙˙˙ ˙˙ ≥
˙˙ ˙˙ ˙˙ ≥
˙ #˙˙˙ ˙˙
˙˙ ˙˙ ˙˙
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
E
œ & #œœœ œœ ≥ ⁄ 70
0 0 1 2 2 0
œœ œœ œœ ≥
œœ œœ œœ ≥
œœ œœ œœ ≥
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
œ #œœœ œœ 0 0 1 2 2 0
œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
œœœœœœœœ #œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ≥≤ ≥≤ ≥≤ ≥≤ 0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
œœœœœœœœ #œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ 0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
o
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
w #w w w w w ≥ 0 0 1 2 2 0
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SECTION SIX CHORDS A
Exercise 45: E and A majors moving
x
Exercise 45 is all about shifting between two chord shapes. It’s one thing to be able to hold down a chord, but can you move to another one and arrive at the right time? E and A (left) are not too hard to hold down; the trick to moving between them is to keep your fingers close to the guitar and move each finger as smoothly and directly as possible to where it’s meant to be going. This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how often a beginner rips all three fingers way off the guitar and tries to slam them down on the next chord. Practice more slowly than the CD track if you have to, and go for accuracy rather than speed. We start with downstrokes, but after the first four bars we add an upstroke before each downstroke chord. The last bar has a quicker change—you’ll get it with some practice!
1
A E A C# E 1 5 1 3 5
q=95
4 w w & 4 #w w w w ≥
0 2 2 2 0
E
A
j œ ‰ #œœ œœ ≤ 0 2 2 2 0
A
#˙˙˙ ™™™™ ˙˙ ™ ≥ 0 2 2 2 0
w #w w w w w ≥
#˙˙˙ ™™™ ˙˙ ™™ ≥
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
E
A
j œ ‰ #œœœ œœ ≤ 0 0 1 2 2 0
E
S O U N D S For this track we used the bridge pickup on a Strat and cranked up the gain on the amp to the point where it was just on the edge of distortion. Most amps have a master volume that you turn down to control the overall output. Keep the treble control low so the sound is fat and warm rather than bright and crunchy. There are just guitar and drums on this track; this kind of strippeddown rock is inspired by bands like the White Stripes.
w #w w w w w ≥ 0 0 1 2 2 0
j œ #œœ œœ ≥ 0 2 2 2 0
A
j œ ‰ #œœ œœ œ ≤ 0 0 1 2 2 0
CD 44
⁄
0 0 1 2 2 0
#w w w w w ≥
0 0 1 2 2 0
˙™ & #˙˙˙ ™™™ ˙˙ ™™ ≥
o
1 2 3
EXERCISE 45 CD TRACK 44
⁄
o
E
œœœ œœj œœ #œœœ ≤ œ≤ 0 2 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
˙˙ ˙˙ ˙˙ ≥ 0 0 1 2 2 0
E
T H E O R Y Above the music stave in this exercise there are miniature chord diagrams or “chord grids” as they are sometimes called. Not all guitar music has these; sometimes you get the shapes at the beginning of the piece and sometimes you’re left to figure them out for yourself. In this book you’ll always know what shapes to use, but there won’t always be these mini-grids.
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 46: A, D, and E Exercise 46 is the rhythm track to Exercise 14 in Section Two, back when we were learning the names of the open strings. This exercise adds one more chord to your S O U N D S repertoire: D major. Begin by holding This track was recorded using down the D shape, with the fingers as a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp. close to the frets as possible, and We turned the bass, treble, make sure all the required notes are and volume controls up to get sounding. Getting the fingers close to a crunchy tone. The only the frets means fewer buzzes. It can added effect is reverb. also save the fret hand the effort of squeezing too tightly. D major is a four-note chord, so do not play the fifth and sixth strings. Each chord is held for one entire bar, and you are aiming to let the notes ring on rather than rushing to get to the next chord. Practice moving methodically back and forth between A and D, A and E, and D and E to get these chord shapes into your muscle memory.
D x
x
o
1
2
CD 46
3 1
D A D F# 1 5 1 3
72
T H E O R Y When we speak about a major chord we usually just say its letter name, so D major would be called just D. With minor chords we always use the full name: D minor. When writing minor chords, it’s normal to use the abbreviation “m”, as in Am for A minor or Dm for D minor.
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SECTION SIX CHORDS EXERCISE 46 CD TRACK 16
q=100 Rock
4 &4 ⁄ 5
#w w & w w
#w w w w w ≥
#w w w w
w #w w w w w
#w w w w w
0 2 2 2 0
2 3 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
A
D
E
A
w #w w w w w
#w w w w w
2 3 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
D
A
E
A
w # w & w w w
#w w w w
w #w w w w w
#w w w w w
0 2 2 2 0
2 3 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
A
D
E
A
#w w & w w
#w w w w w
w #w w w w w
#w w w w w
2 3 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
D
A
E
A
⁄ 9
⁄ 13
⁄
CD 16
#w w w w w
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 47: A, D, and E with strumming Now that we have learned the A major, D major, and E major chord shapes, it is time to add a strumming pattern for the pick hand. Strumming is usually made up of a mixture of downstrokes and upstrokes, playing a mixture of quarter and eighth notes, as you will find when you look at the music for Exercise 47. S O U N D S This exercise also introduces accents. In music, an accented note or chord is one The guitar tone is clean and bright: that is played louder than those surrounding it. In other words, it is a way of we were shooting for a 1960s pop emphasizing the rhythm at that point. This is the accent symbol: style. Use the bridge pickup on your guitar. On the amplifier, switch off any distortion and keep the gain low to avoid introducing too much grit Listen to CD track 45 to hear the accents on the E major chord in this exercise. Be into the tone. Bring up the treble careful not to mix up the accent sign with the upstroke sign: control for added sparkle.
>
v
In bars seven and eight, the accents fall on upstrokes, and in the final bar the accented chord requires a downstroke. Dig in a little harder with the pick to move the strings further and produce a louder sound on these accented strokes.
CD 45
T H E O R Y Did you notice the three sharps at the beginning of the stave? Even though the music begins on a D major chord, it ends on an A major chord and is in the key of A major. There is also a first-time bar with a repeat, and a second-time bar leading to a gradual build up on the dominant E chord before we arrive home, or “resolve,” on to the key chord (or “tonic”) A major.
D
A x
o
o
x
x
E
o
o
o
o
1 1 2 3
1
2
2 3
3 1
A E A C# E 1 5 1 3 5
74
1
1
D A D F# 1 5 1 3
E B E G# B E 1 5 1 3 5 1
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SECTION SIX CHORDS EXERCISE 47 CD TRACK 45
q=100 Pop/1960s
### 4 œœ œœ œœ & 4 œœ œœ œœ ≥ ≥ ≥ 2 3 2 0
⁄
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
œœ œ œ ≤
œœ œ œ ≥
œœ œ œ ≤
œœ œœ œ ≥
œœ œœ œ ≥
œœ œœ œ ≥
œœ œœ œ ≤
œœ œœ œ ≥
œœ œœ œ ≤
œœ œ œ ≥
œœ œ œ ≥
œœ œ œ ≥
œœ œ œ ≤
œœ œ œ ≥
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œœ œœ œ ≥
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œœ œœ œ ≥
œœ œœ œ ≤
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
D
A
5
2 3 2 0
⁄
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
D
œœœ œ œ ≥
œœœ œ œ ≥
œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœœ œœœœ ≥≤ ≥≤
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
⁄
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœœœœœœ ≥≥≥≥≥≥≥≥ 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
E
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
œœ œœ œ œ
> œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœœ œœœœ ≥≤ ≥≤ > 0 0 0 0
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ≥≤
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
œœ œœ œ œ
œœ œœ ™™ œœ œœ œœ œœ ≥≤ 0 0 1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
™ ™
E
9 2.
### &
> œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœœ œœœœ ≥≤ ≥≤ >
1.
0 0 1 2 2 0
A
A
CD 45
### œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ & œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ≥ ≥ ≥≤ ≥≤
D
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
1 2 2 0
1 2 2 0
1 2 2 0
1 2 2 0
1 2 2 0
1 2 2 0
1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
> w w w w w >≥ 0 2 2 2 0
A
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 48: C and G strumming Exercise 48 introduces some syncopated strumming, in which the accents fall on the weak beats, by using tied notes in the middle of the bar. You can copy this rhythmic pattern by listening to CD track 46, but it might also help if you count the rhythm, saying “one, two-and (three), and-four-and.” Strum with every count except when you say “three,” and be aware of the distinctive down downup, up down-up strumming pattern. As with picking single notes there is an underlying T H E O R Y principle: the downbeats are all downstrokes As this exercise is in C major there are no sharps or flats at the beginning of and the upbeats are all upstrokes. Your pick the piece. Once again though, we have a first-time bar with a repeat sign hand moves smoothly to and fro across the and then a second time bar to bring the music to a close. guitar but only strikes the strings when needed. We are also using two new major chords: C and G. This means you now have played the five basic major chords from the wallchart; they are probably the most important chords that most guitarists ever learn. We will be learning the three most important minor chords in the next exercise. C
x
G
o
o
o
o
o
1 2
2 3 1
4
3 1
CD 46
4
C E G C E 1 3 5 1 3
G B D G B G 1 3 5 1 3 1
T E C H N I Q U E C and G are very common keys for guitar music, so being able to shift between these two chord shapes is important. Use fingers 2, 3, and 4 for the G chord; it will be easier in the long run, as it places fingers 2 and 3 very close to their destination when moving to a C major chord. Practice moving the fingers by the shortest route and keep them close to the guitar. If you practice slowly (which you should), always imagine an underlying beat so that you are still playing in time.
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SECTION SIX CHORDS EXERCISE 48 CD TRACK 46
q=110
4 &4
⁄
œœ œœœ ≥
œœ œœ œœœ œœœ ≥≤
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ ≤ ≥≤
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
œœ œœœ ≥
œœ œœ œœœ œœœ ≥≤
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ ≤ ≥≤
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
œ & œœœ œœ ≥
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
œœœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ ≤ ≥≤
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
œ & œœœ œ ≥ ⁄
0 1 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ ≥≤
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
œœœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ ≤ ≥≤
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
G
œ œœ œœœ ≥
œ œœ œœœ ≤
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
œ œœ œœœ
œ œœ œœœ ≤
œ œœ œœœ ≥
œ œœ œœœ ≤
œ œœ œœœ ≥
œ œœ œœœ ≥
œ œœ œœœ ≤
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
œ œœ œœœ
œ œœ œœœ ≤
œ œœ œœœ ≥
œ œœ œœœ ≤
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
1.
G
8
3 0 0 0 2 3
œ œœ œœœ ≥
œœ œœœ ≥
œœ œœœ ≥
œœ œœœ ≤
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
œœ œœœ
œœ œœœ ≤
œœ œœœ ≥
œœ œœœ ≤
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
CD 46
⁄
3 0 0 0 2 3
œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ ≥≤
0 1 0 2 3
C
5
œ œœ œœœ ≥
C
œœ œœœ ≥
œœ œœœ ≤
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
œœ œœœ ≥
œœ œœœ ≤
œœ œœœ ≥
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
2.
œœ ™ œœ œœœ ™ œœœ ≥ ≤ 0 0 1 1 ™ 0 0 2 2 ™ 3 3
œœ œœœ ≥
œœ œœœ ≤
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
œœ œœœ
œœ œœœ ≤
œœ œœœ ≥
œœ œœœ ≤
w w w w w ≥
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
C
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 49: ‘Minor Mishap’
S O U N D S Use your bridge pickup for a clean and bright tone. If you have a delay pedal, experiment with a rhythmic delay effect like the one on the CD.
There’s something bright and solid about a major chord, whereas a minor chord is somehow dark and sad. Exercise 49, ‘Minor Mishap,’ introduces the three basic open-string minor chords: A minor, D minor, and E minor. We are in twangy surf-guitar territory here, and each chord is followed by a few of its notes played one at a time. A chord played one note at a time is known as an arpeggio; we will be looking at arpeggios in greater detail in Section Eight. Watch out for the sudden appearance of the E major chord in bar 13—not all the chords in this exercise are minor—and for the three-note A5 chord on which the piece ends. Also notice the wiggly line with an arrow before each chord. This tells you to make a slow downstroke, playing the notes one at a time as a “spread” chord. Note that bars five and 13 are different. There the arrow points in the other direction and tells you to drag an upstroke. These “spread” chords are also arpeggios, and come closer to the original meaning of the word, which is “harp-like.” T H E O R Y The wiggly line that tells you to arpeggiate a chord tells you in what order to play the notes. So an upward-pointing arrow means you start with the low notes and end with the high notes. A downward-pointing arrow means you start with a high notes and end with the low notes. Am
CD 47
x
Em
Dm
o
o
x
x
o
o
1
o
o
o
1
2 3
2
1 2 4
1
A E A C E 1 5 1 b3 5 Three vital minor chords. Top to bottom: Am, Dm, and Em.
78
1
1
D A D F 1 5 1 b3
E B E G B E 1 5 1 b3 5 1
T E C H N I Q U E Be careful to avoid the open E-string (sixth string) when you’re playing D minor or D major, as it does not belong. You can get away with the open A-string as it does belong in the chord, but chords tend to sound best with the root note (the note that gives the chord its name) in the bass. A chord played with the root note in the bass is known as a chord in “root position.” In this case, the lowest note you play should ideally be the D-string (fourth string).
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SECTION SIX CHORDS EXERCISE 49 CD TRACK 47
1
2
1 3 2 0
w w & w w w 0 1 2 2 0
2
2
1
œ œ œ 1
⁄
1
2
3
2
w #w w w w w 0 0 1 2 2 0
E
0
0
Œ œ œ œ
w w w w w
0
0 1 2 2 0
0
1
2
w w w w 1 3 2 0
Am
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏ ∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
& Œ
2
Dm
Œ #œ œ œ 1
0
0
w w w w w
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏ ∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
Am
12
0 0 0 2 2 0
CD 47
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
Œ œ œ œ œ œ
Œ œ œ œ
Em
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
7
⁄
3
Dm
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
Am
1
w w w w w w
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏ ∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
0
Œ œ œ œ
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏ ∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
⁄
w w w w
Œ œ œ œ
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
0 1 2 2 0
4 &4
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
w w w w w
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
q=110
0 1 2 2 0
Am
w w w ≥ 2 2 0
A5
79
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 50: ‘Low Strum, High Strum’
Dsus4 x
x
o
So far we have been strumming using all the notes in the chords we are playing. Very often, guitar players move the strumming around, sometimes hitting the bass strings, sometimes the high strings. ‘Low Strum, High Strum’ demonstrates this technique in the style of a slow rock ballad. It also gives us a chance to start mixing up some of the major and minor shapes we’ve learned. There are no chord grids in this exercise: you will need to have memorized the chord shapes. This exercise introduces one new T H E O R Y chord, a “suspended” chord, which is usually The end of bar eight has a row of xxx shortened to “sus.” It is basically a D major chord with notes; these are open strings muted with an altered top note. the fret hand. It’s not unusual sometimes The strumming is mostly in eighth notes in a slow to play the open strings between chord rock rhythm. Pick directions are included for the first changes. They can be muted or few bars, and sometimes the strum moves into 16th otherwise, but be careful not to overdo it. notes to fill out a beat or two. The bass and drums are mixed in the background on the CD track, so you can hear what the guitar is doing and copy it. For the most part the low notes of the chords are sounded at the start of the bar, with high notes filling in the rhythm in the rest of the bar. Follow the tab or notation and you should get the feel for it.
1 3 4 1
D A D G 1 5 1 4
EXERCISE 50 CD TRACK 48
CD 48
q=75 Rock ballad
œ œœ œ ≤
4 & 4 œœ œœ œœ œœ ≥ ≥ 0 0 2 3
⁄
œ œœ œ
3 0 0 0
0 0 2 3
œ œœ œ ≥
œ œœ œ ≤
œ œœ œ ≥
œ œœ œ ≤
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
G
œ œ & œœœ œœœ œœœ œœ œ ⁄
Em
80
œœ œœ
0 0 0 2
0 0 2 2 0
œœ œœ ≥
œœ œœ ≤
0 0 0 2
0 0 0 2
Em
4
0 0 2 2 0
œœj œœ ≤
œœ ™™™ œœ ™ œ™ ≥
0 0 0 2 2
0 0 0 2
œœ œœ
œœ œœ ≥
œœ œ ≥
0 0 2 3
0 0 2
œœ œœ
œœ œ œœ œœ œœœ œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œ
œœœ œ
0 0 0 2
0 0 0 2
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 2 2
C
œ œœ œ
3 0 0 0
œ œœ œ ≥
œ œœ œ ≤
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
G
œœ œœ
1 0 2
œ œœ œ ≤
0 1 0 2
2 2 0
Am
2 2
œœœ œ
œœœ œ
œœœ œ
œœœ œ
œœœ œ
œœœ œ
0 1 2 2
0 1 2 2
0 1 2 2
0 1 2 2
0 1 2 2
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SECTION SIX CHORDS EXERCISE 50 CD TRACK 48 continued
7
œ œœœ œ & œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œ 0 1 0 2 3
⁄
0 1 0 2
1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
#œœ ™™ œœ ™™
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
2 3 2 0
C
& œœœ œ œœ œ ⁄
2 2
œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
0 0 0 2
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0 2
0 0 0
0 0 0 2
0 0 2 3
D
3 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
X 0 X 0 X 0
0 0 2 3
œ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ œ œœ œœœ œ œ
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
2 2 0
œœ œœ
œœ œœ >
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
3 3 2 0
>
œœ œœ
Dsus4
œ œœ œ
œœ œœ œœ œœ
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
G
œ œœ œ
œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ
œ œœ œ
œœ œœ œœ œœ
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
œœœ œœ
œœœ œ
0 0 2 2 0
0 0 2 2
3 0 0 0
œœ œœ œ
œœ œœ œ
œœ œœ œ
œœ œœ œ
0 0 0 2 2
0 0 0 2 2
0 0 0 2 2
2 2
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ œœ
œœ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ
0 1 2 2
0 1 2 2
0 1 2 2
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2
0 1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2
0 1 2 2
Am
œœ œœ
œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ
Em
œœ œœ
C
⁄
0 0 2 3
œœj œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
0 1 0 2 3
2 3 2 0
3 3 2 0
œj œœ œ
0 1 0 2
1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0
0 1 0
C
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
#œœ ™™ œœ ™™
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ >
3 3 2 0
3 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
3 3 2 0
D
>
œœ œœ
Dsus4
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
w w w w w w
3 3 2 0
3 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
3 0 0 0 2 3
G
81
CD 48
œ™ & œœœ ™™™™ œ
#œœ ™™ & œœ ™™
3 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ ¿¿ œœ œ ™ œ œ œ ¿ œ œœ ™™ œ™
G
13
16
2 3 2 0
œœ œ œ
Dsus4
Em
⁄
œœ œ œ
D
10
0 0 2 2 0
œœ œœ œœ œœ
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 51: ‘Low Strum, High Strum’ with bassline Exercise 51 uses the same chord sequence as Exercise 50, but in addition to the low strum/high strum approach we begin each bar with just the root note of the chord. Played on its own in this way, the root note makes an effective bassline and mimics the T E C H N I Q U E effect of two instruments playing together. From bar nine, the chord sequence The bassline is mostly played firmly, while is repeated, and the bassline is now fleshed out with the addition of “passing the strumming on the upper notes is lighter. notes” between the root notes. These passing notes are also sometimes Dig in to produce more power as you head called “connecting notes.” It’s easy to see why. Follow the pick directions to the end of each eight-bar phrase. carefully, and balance the volume of your bassline with the volume of your strummed chords. EXERCISE 51 CD TRACK 49
#4 & 4
q=75 Rock ballad
œ œœ œœœ œ ≥ ≥ ≤
CD 49
& ⁄
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
œ ≥
œœ œ ≥
œœ œœ ≤
0 0 2
0 0 0 2
œœ œœ
œœ œœ ≤
œœ œœ ≥
0 0 0 2
0 0 0 2
œ œœ œœœ œ ≥ ≥ ≤ 0 0
3
0
3
Em
G
œœœ œ ≥ ≥ 0 0 2 0
Em
82
œ œœ œ ≥
G
4
#
œ œœ œ ≤
3 0 0 0
0 0
⁄
œ œœ œ
œœ œœ ≤
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ≤ ≥
œœ œœ ≥
œœ œ œ œœ ≤ ≥ ≥
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œœœ œ œ™ ≤ ≤ ≥ ≥ ≤
0 0 0 2
0 0 0 2
0 0 0 2
0 0 0
0 1 0 2
0 0 0 2
3
C
2 3
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
Am
3 0 0 0
œœœj œ 0 1 2 2
œ œœ œ
œ œœ œ ≤
œ œœ œ ≥
3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
œ œœ œ ≥ 3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œ œ 0 1 2
0 1 2
0 1 2
0 1 2
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SECTION SIX CHORDS EXERCISE 51 CD TRACK 49 continued
7
œœ ™™ œœ ™™ ≥
#
œ œœœ œ œ & œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ ≥ ⁄
3
0 1 0 2
2 3
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
10
&
œ
2 3 2 0
œ œœ œœœ 0 0 0 2
0 0 0 2
0 0 0 2
0
2
3 0 0 0
0 0
œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œ œ ≥ ≥ 3 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
3
2
0
C
3 0 0 0
œ œœ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ ≤ ≥ ≥ 3 0 0 0
œœ œœ ≤
œœ œœ ≥
œœ œœ ≤
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
3 3 2 0
3 3 2 0
Dsus4
œœ œœ
œœ œœ ≤
œœ œœ ≥
3 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2
2
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ
0 0 0 2
0 2
0 0 0 2
0
0 0 0 2
0
2
Em
œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœœ œœ œœ œ œ œ
0 1 2 2
2
0 1 2 2
0 1 2 0
2
Am
œœ ™™ œœ ™™ ≥
3
3
œœ ™™ œœ ™™
œœ œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œ
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
3
C
œœ
œœ ™™ œœ™™
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
3 2
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
3 3 2 0
3 3 2 0
D
Dsus4
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
w w w w w w
3 3 2 0
3 3 2 0
3 0 0 0 2 3
G
83
CD 49
0 1 0
3
D
2 3 2 0
G
0
0
œ œœ œœœ œ
G
3
œ œœœ & œ œ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ œ œ œ œ
⁄
3 3 2 0
3
13
& œ ≥
3 0 0 0
0 0
#
16
3 3 2 0
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ≤ ≥
Dsus4
0 0 0 2
Em
#
3 3 2 0
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ™™ œœœ œœœ ≤ ≥ ≤ œ≥ œ≥ œ≥ ≥ ≤ ≥
0
⁄
œœ œœ ≤
3
D
0 2
⁄
2 3 2 0
0
C
#
œœ œœ œœ œœ ≤ ≥
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 52: All the major chords plus Dsus4
D sus 4 chord
As your guitar playing improves, you can develop an appreciation of different styles of music and how different bands get their sound. Exercise 52 uses all the major chords we have learnt so far, plus the Dsus4 chord from Exercises 50 and 51, to explore some indie rock jangle. We begin by strumming the major chords (this piece uses all five openstring major shapes), keeping to the first beat of the bar and letting notes ring on. As the music builds, the strumming gets busier and looser, so we start with downstrokes and gradually find more and more upstrokes as the piece progresses. Play along with the CD and listen closely to ensure that your timing doesn’t drift out. It may seem obvious, but to play in a band with other musicians you need to learn to listen to each other, and that can be difficult when you’re trying to get your fingers around the chords and rhythms. Learn your part thoroughly and Dsus4 aim to keep your ears open while you’re playing. x x o The four-bar chord sequence is played four times altogether. In Section Eight we are going to add an arpeggio-based lead guitar part to this exercise.
1
CD 50
T H E O R Y We have used a sus4 chord in several of the recent exercises, so it’s time we explained what they are. “Sus” is short for “suspended.” There are two common types of suspended chord: the sus2 and the sus4. In these chords the major third is altered, either by raising it up a half-step so that it becomes the fourth, or lowering it a whole step so that it becomes the second. Suspended chords have a restless quality that suits many different kinds of music, but they are particularly popular with guitarists in jangly rock or indie bands. We will learn more sus chords in Section Eight.
3 4 1
D A D G 1 5 1 4
EXERCISE 52 CD TRACK 50
q=110 Indie rock
w w w w w w
#w w w w w
0 0 1 2 2 0
3 0 0 0 2 3
E
G
w & 44 #w w w w w ⁄
84
œœ ™™™ œœœ ™™
œœ œœ J
0 2 2 2 0
0 1 0 2 3
3 3 2 0
A
C
Dsus4
œœ œœ
œœ œœ 2 3 2 0
D
#œœ œ œ
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SECTION SIX CHORDS EXERCISE 52 CD TRACK 50 continued
w w w w w w
#w w w w w
0 0 1 2 2 0
3 0 0 0 2 3
0 2 2 2 0
0 1 0 2 3
E
G
A
C
w w & #w w w w ⁄
œœ ™™ & #œœ ™™ œ™ œ™ ≥ ⁄
œœ ™™ œœ ™™ œ™ œ™ ≤
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
œœ œœ œ œ ≥
œ™ œœ ™™ œœ ™™ œ™ ≥
0 0 1 2 2 0
3 0 0 0 2 3
E
œ œœ œœ œ
3 0 0 0 2 3
œ œœ œœ œ ≤ 3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
œœ œœ œœ
0 0 1 2 2 0
œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ
œ œœ œœœ ≥
⁄
A
0 2 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
3 0 0 0 2 3
œ œœ œœœ ≤
œ œœ œœœ ≥
3 0 0 0 2 3
2 3 2 0
Dsus4
œœ ™™ œœ ™™™ œ
œœ œœ J
0 2 2 2 0
0 1 0 2 3
3 3 2 0
œ œœ œœœ ≤
3 0 0 0 2 3
D
œœ œœ œ ≥
A
E
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
#œœ ™™ œœ ™™ ≥
œœ œœ
C
Dsus4
œ œœ œœœ
œ œœ œœœ ≤
3 0 0 0 2 3
3 0 0 0 2 3
œœ #œœ œœ œœ 3 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
D
CD 50
œœj œœ œœ
0 0 1 2 2 0
œ & #œœœ œ
0 2 2 2 0
œœ œœ J
3 3 2 0
œ œ ™ œj œ œ œœ #œœ ™™™ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ™ œœ œœ œœ œ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≤
G
œ™ & #œœœ ™™™ œœ ™™ ⁄
œj œœ œœ œ ≤
œœ œœ J ≥
œœ ™™ œœœ ™™™ ≥
œ œœ œœœ ≥ 3 0 0 0 2 3
G
œœœ œœ
œœœ œœ
œœœ œœ
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
œœœ œœ
œœœ œœ
œœœ œœ
œœ œœ œ
œœ œœœ
œœ œœ œ
œœ œœ
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
3 3 2 0
C
Dsus4
œœ œ œ
œœ œ œ 3 3 2 0
#œœ œœ
w #w w w w w
2 3 2 0
0 0 1 2 2 0
D
E
85
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 53: Adding a bassline and dynamics Exercise 53 takes the music used in Exercise 52 and adds a bassline. We explored a similar idea in Exercises 50 and 51. This one is a little faster, and the bassline is more complex, but it is still based on the idea of connecting notes as directly as possible. From bar nine onwards we abandon the bassline and instead take to strumming steady eighth notes, T E C H N I Q U E keeping mostly to the lower notes of the chord and Hold the pick firmly and dig in to move getting progressively louder. When the music gets the strings further and produce the bigger sound required for the louder we call it a crescendo, which is often shortened crescendo. to “cresc…” in the written music. A crescendo can also be shown using this sign, which musicians often call a hairpin:
In this exercise the crescendo takes place gradually over four bars. The opposite of a crescendo is a “decrescendo” or a “diminuendo.” Diminuendo is often shortened to “dim…” We reverse the hairpin sign if we wish to notate a decrease in volume level:
CD 51
You can see one at the start of bar 13. The whole business of how loud we are in music is known as “dynamics”, so we could say that this exercise has a wide dynamic range. Controlling your dynamics is an important part of your development as a musician, so don’t begin too loud or there won’t be room for you to get louder in the second half.
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SECTION SIX CHORDS EXERCISE 53 CD TRACK 51
q=110 Indie rock
4 &4
⁄
œ #œœœ œ œ œ œ ≥ ≥ ≥0 0
0 1 2 2 0
0
0
2
3
E
3 0 0 0 2 3
3
2
3
0 0 1 2 2 0
0
0
2
3
E
j #œœœ œœ 0 2 2 2 0
0
0
2
3 0 0 0 2 3
3
2
j œ #œœ œœ
3
3
3 3 2 0
0
0
2
œœ#œœ œœ œ œ ≥ ≤
œœ œœœ œ 0 1 0 2 3
3
A
2 3 2 0
Dsus4 D
œœ œœ œ œœ œ
0 2 2 2 0
0
G
0 1 0 2 3
C
œ œœ œœœ œ œ œ ™
œ œœ œœœ
œœ#œœ œ œœ œ ≥ ≤
œœ œœœ œ
œœ œœ œ œœ œ
A
œœ œœ œ #œ œ œ œ œ
œœ #œœ & œ œ œ œ 0
œ œœ œœœ œ œ œ ™ ≥≤
G
5
⁄
œ œœ œœœ
œœ œœ œœ œ # œ œ œ ≥ ≥
3 3 2 0
0
C
2 3 2 0
Dsus4 D
œœ#œœ œ œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ≥≤ ⁄
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
E
2 2 0
0 2 3
0 2 3
0 2 3
0 2 3
0 2 3
0 2 3
0 2 3
2 2 0
0 2 3
G
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
A
0 2 3
0 2 3
0 2 3
0 2 3
3 2 0
3 2 0
C
3 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
Dsus4 D
13
œœ#œœ w œ œ w & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ #w w œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ w ≥≤ w ⁄
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
E
G
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 3 3 3 3
A
C
2 3 2 0
Dsus4 D
0 0 1 2 2 0
E
87
CD 51
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 54: C and G with root and fifth bassline A simple bassline that will fit under any chord can be made from just the root and the fifth of the chord. This is very common in folk and country styles. The root is played on the first beat of the bar with the fifth on the third beat of the bar. Beats two and four are filled by strumming the higher notes of the chord. Exercise 54 demonstrates the technique using just C and G chords; you should try S O U N D S the same approach with the other chords that you know, working out where the root and fifth In search of some country are for each shape. twang we used the neck The second half of the exercise, from bar eight onwards, introduces short basslines that pickup on aTelecaster for connect the root notes of the chords. We are this track. in the key of C major, and all these notes T E C H N I Q U E come from the C major scale. If you like this When you play a C major chord, your third style, experiment with any songs you know, and see finger is on the root note, C. The best way to if you can fit in connecting basslines in the same play the fifth, G, on the lowest string, is just way. Pay attention to your dynamics in this exercise: to “hop” your third finger across, hopping the basslines are mostly played firmly, with the back again to C when you need it. chords on the top three strings coming through
CD 52
more softly. Can you work out which note of a chord is the root and which is the fifth? The root should be simple; it’s the name note of the chord. To find the fifth, count five letter names up the major scale, starting with the root as “one.” 1 C
2 D
3 E
4 F
5 G
1 G
2 A
3 B
4 C
5 D
Remember that below the chord diagrams in this book you will find numbers that you can also use to find the root (1) and the fifth (5).
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SECTION SIX CHORDS EXERCISE 54 CD TRACK 52
q=120 Country
⁄
œœ œ œ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≥
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œœ œœ œœœ œœ œ œ œ œ ≤
0 1 0
0 1 0
œœ œœ œœ
& 44 œ ≥
0 1 0
0 1 0
3
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
3
3
0 1 0
3
&
œ
3 0 0
0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
0
3 0 0
3
G
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œœ 3 0 0
⁄
3 0 0
3
C
5
3 0 0
3 0 0
0
3 0 0
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
3 0 0
3
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0
0
3 0 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
3
3
0 1 0 3
3
0
3
2
C
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ & œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ 0 1 0
⁄
0 1 0
3
2
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
3 0 0
3
2
0
3 0 0
0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0 0
3
2
G
13
œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ & œ œ œ œ œ 3 0 0 3
3 0 0
3
C
⁄
CD 52
9
3 0 0
0
3 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 0 3
œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ
3 0 0
0 1 0 0
2
3
0 1 0
2
0 1 0
0 1 0 3
˙˙ ˙˙˙ 0 1 0 2 3
C
89
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 55: C and G bassline with hammer-ons Exercise 55 continues with the idea of adding basslines to chords, but also adds a cool country-style “hammer-on” technique. In the first bar you can see that we begin the same as Exercise 54, but then play the D-string open and hammer the second finger down on the second fret to produce the hammer-on note E. In other words, the hammered-on note is produced with the fret-hand finger, not the pick. A hammer-on (the opposite is a pull-off) is also known as a slur, and slurs are notated in both staves with a curving line connecting the two notes. Country guitar players would call this style “flat-picking” to distinguish it from fingerpicking, where you use the thumb and fingers of the picking hand. The bassline is played entirely with downstrokes, and each bass note and hammer-on is followed by the top three notes of the chord played with a downstroke and upstroke. Hold down the C and G chord shapes throughout. This exercise requires very accurate picking. Play the bassline strongly and the chords lightly— and be prepared to work slowly at first. This style of playing goes back to the early days of country, with tracks by The Carter Family and others, and it is also the mainstay of bluegrass rhythm guitar. If this style is not your thing, learn it anyway and see if you can apply it to your own kind of music. You may come up with a whole new style of your own. In Section Six we have learned to play the most important five major chords and three minor chords, experimented with a range of different strumming patterns, and added basslines. You will find that with just these eight chords a great many songs will be within your grasp, particularly if you also have a capo.
CD 53
A capo clamps the guitar strings against the frets, effectively changing the pitch of the open strings. With a capo at the first fret, for example, any chords you play will sound a half step higher: a C major chord shape becomes a D-flat major chord, and G major becomes A-flat major. That makes it much easier to play in those difficult keys. If you want to be an acoustic strumming singersongwriter, getting a capo is the way to go.
With a capo at the first fret all the open string chords move up a half step, making it easier to play in difficult keys like D-flat and A-flat.
90
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SECTION SIX CHORDS EXERCISE 55 CD TRACK 53
q=140 Country
4 &4 œ ≥
œœ œ ≥
œœ œ œ œ œ œœ ≤ ≥ ≥
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œœ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ ≤
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
Let ring throughout...
⁄
0
3
0 1 0
2
0 1 0
2
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
3 0 0
3
3 0 0
3 0 0 0
3
3 0 0
2
3 0 0
3 0 0
2
3 0 0
3 0 0
3
G
C
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ & œœœœœœ œ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ⁄
0 1 0
0 1 0
3
0
2
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
2
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
3 0 0
3
3 0 0 0
3
3 0 0
2
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
3
G
0 1 0
3
C
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ & œœœœœœ œ œœ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ ⁄
0 1 0
0 1 0
3
0
2
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
2
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
3 0 0
3
3 0 0 0
3
C
3 0 0
3 0 0
2
C
3 0 0
3 0 0
3
G
0 1 0 3
3 0 0
2
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœœœœ œ œœ œœ & œ œ œœœ œ ⁄
3 0 0
0 1 0
0
2
0 1 0
0 1 0
2
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0 3
0 1 0
3 0 0 3
G
3 0 0 0
2
0
œœ œœ ˙˙ œ œ ˙˙ œ ˙ 0 1 0 3
0 1 0
0 1 0 2 3
C
91
CD 53
C
3 0 0
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
SECTION SEVEN
SEVENTH CHORDS Exercise 56: Eight open-string seventh chords We build chords in thirds; each time we go from root to third, or third to fifth, we are going up three notes. If we carry on adding notes to a chord in the same way, the next note would be the seventh. There are two kinds of seventh: major seventh and minor seventh. For example, C to B would be a major seventh, whereas C to B-flat would be a minor seventh. One way of recognizing which kind of seventh you have is to compare it to the octave. C to B, a major seventh, is one half-step or semitone away from being a full octave; C to B-flat, a minor seventh, is a whole step away from being a full octave. You can add a major or minor seventh to any triad, and end up with some great-sounding—and some weird-sounding—chords. Let’s look at what kind of chord you get when you add a minor seventh to a major triad. Here are eight new chord diagrams, most of which are based on the open-string major chords that we learned during the course of Section Six. Practice playing each one in turn, making sure that you can hear all the notes that should be sounding. E7
E7 o
o
o
o
o
1 2
A7
A7
o
x
o
o
o
x
o
1 2 3
2
3
1
4 1
E B D G# B E 1 5 b7 3 5 1
1
E B E G# D E 1 5 1 3 b7 5
3 1
A E G C# E 1 5 b7 3 5
1
A E A C# G 1 5 1 3 b7
T E C H N I Q U E Some of these chords are relatively easy, and some, particularly if they use all four fingers, are among the hardest chords to hold down that we have come across so far. One of the A7 chords also introduces a new technique, in which the first finger is laid flat across several strings as a “barre.” A full barre covers all six strings, so this example uses what is known as a “half-barre.” Chords made with a full barre are often called “bar chords”.
92
1
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SECTION SEVEN SEVENTH CHORDS
C7
D7
x
o
x
x
o
o
1
1 2
2 3 1
G7 o
x
o
1
1 3
4
C E Bb C E 1 3 b7 1 3
o
B7
2
2
3
4
3 1
1
D A C F# 1 5 b7 3
G B D G B F 1 3 5 1 3 b7
1
B D# A B F # 1 3 b7 1 5
Our E major chord has become E7. There are two versions of this chord because it is possible to add the note D to an E major chord in two ways. There are also two versions of A7, in which we add the note G to the A major chord. To make C7, we have added the note B-flat to C major. To make D7, we have added the note C to D major. To make G7, we have added the note F to G major. B7 is a new chord that we have not seen before, but it consists of the notes of B major (B, D-sharp, and F-sharp) with the added note A. Get used to calling these chords by name. For A7 we say “A seven”; E7 is “E seven”; and so on. These “major triad with minor seventh” chords are also known as “dominant sevenths,” because they are the type of seventh chord we get if we build a chord on the fifth step (or the dominant) of a major scale, using only the notes of that scale. We will return to chord-building soon, but first here is some music that uses these new chord shapes.
T H E O R Y Here is an example to explain why these chords are known as dominant sevenths. Take the key of C major. The fifth or dominant step of the C major scale is G. If we build a chord on G, using notes from the C major scale, we get G, B, D, and F. That’s root, third, fifth, and seventh. G, B, and D make a G major triad, and F is the minor seventh above the root. This combination of major triad with minor seventh only occurs on the dominant step of a major scale.
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 57: Rhythm part to Exercise 2
CD 03
Exercise 57 is the rhythm part for Exercise 2. You can hear it on CD track 03. There are three four-bar phrases, made up of the same chord sequence played three times. In the first eight bars, the chords are played on the first beat and held throughout the bar. The T E C H N I Q U E chords will be familiar to you Practice moving backwards and forwards from Section Six, except for the between C and B7 to help get the shift to B7 chord in bars four and eight, B7 faster. which comes from Exercise 56. B7 is a five-string chord, but you do not have to play all five strings. In this exercise, we keep to the middle four strings, avoiding the low E-string because it is not in the A B7 chord. Touching the low E-string with the tip of chord, and avoiding the F-sharp on the high E- the second finger prevents it from sounding if you should accidentally play it. string because we are looking for a dense, chunky sound. Avoiding the top E-string also leaves more room for the melody to sing out over the chord. B7 In bars nine to 12 we switch to steady, chugging eighth notes, just playing the lowest note of the x o chords. Notice that when the chord is C major we are again on the inner four strings of the guitar. This means the lowest note of the chord is the root note – remember that chords always sound strongest 1 with the root note at the bottom. The B7 chord is again played as a four-note chord and then we crash into all six strings for the E minor at the end. 2 3 4
1
B D# A B F # 1 3 b7 1 5
94
S O U N D S This track was played using the middle pickup on a Strat. There is also a slight chorus effect used, which creates some movement on the held chords.
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SECTION SEVEN SEVENTH CHORDS EXERCISE 57 CD TRACK 03
q=85 Rock
w w w w w w
w w w w w
w #w w w
0 0 0 2 2 0
3 0 0 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 2 1 2
Em
G
C
B7
w w w w w w
w w w w w
ww #w w
0 0 0 2 2 0
3 0 0 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 2 1 2
Em
G
C
B7
w w w w w w
4 &4 ⁄ 5
w & w w w w w ⁄
& œ œ œ œ œ œ ≥ ≥
œœ œ ≥
œœ œ ≥
œœ œ ≥
œœ œ ≥
œœ œ ≥
œœ œ ≥
⁄
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
E5 [Em] 11
& œœœ œ ⁄
1 0 2 3
C
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
0 0 2 3
0 0 2 3
0 0 2 3
0 0 2 3
0 0 2 3
0 0 2 3
0 0 2 3
0 0 2 3
CD 03
9
G
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ # œœ
œœœ œ
œœœ œ
œœœ œ
œœœ œ
œœœ œ
œœœ œ
œœœ œ
w w w w w w
1 0 2 3
1 0 2 3
1 0 2 3
1 0 2 3
1 0 2 3
1 0 2 3
1 0 2 3
0 2 1 2
0 2 1 2
0 2 1 2
0 2 1 2
0 2 1 2
0 2 1 2
0 2 1 2
0 0 0 2 2 0
0 2 1 2
B7
Em
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 58: ‘Groovin’ Sevenths’
T H E O R Y By now, you should be used to counting eighth notes: “one-and, two-and, threeand, four-and.” Counting 16th notes can be trickier: “one-e-and-a, two-e-and-a, three-e-and-a, four-e-and-a” is the best method. For example, on the second beat of bar two, play a downstroke as you say “two,” keep your hand moving as you say “e” and “and,” and then play an upstroke as you say “a.”
Seventh chords sound great in the blues and related styles. In fact, they sound better than major chords, and most blues guitarists would instinctively use sevenths in preference to the plain major S O U N D S chord. Exercise 58 takes a 1960s rhythm & This track was played using a blues two-chord groove (G7 and C7) and clean, bright tone and the adds a turnaround on A7 and D7. Play it twice middle pickup of a Strat. and then take the two-bar ending. There’s also a cool single-note riff linking the chords and kicking the piece off; great for practicing going from single notes to strumming. Some strums are in a bracket, which is a way of showing a de-accented chord or note—one which is strummed lighter than the others or perhaps not really meant to be there at all. Notice that in this exercise the notation stave uses “stem” notes and just gives you the strumming rhythm together with the single notes; the tab stave spells out which notes to play. You could easily see these different methods swapped around in other music books, depending on what the writer thought you most needed. G7 o
o
A7
C7 x
o
o
o
o
o
x
x
o
1
1
1
2
2
2 3 1
3
CD 54
x
D7
1
1
1
D A C F# 1 5 b7 3
A E G C# E 1 5 b7 3 5
Here are some examples of how to count different 16th note rhythms:
& 44 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 1 - e - & - a
4 &4 œ
1 (e)
4 &4 œ ‰
œ
&
1 (e &)
96
2 - e - & - a
œ
œ
a
2
œ
3 - e - & - a
œ
e
& (a)
Ϫ
œ
3 (e) (&) a
4 - e - & - a
Ϫ
œ
4
e (& a)
œ œ ≈ œ œ œ œ ≈ œ ≈ œ œ œ a
2
(e)
&
a
3
4
C E Bb C E 1 3 b7 1 3
G B D G B F 1 3 5 1 3 b7
2
3
3
e
(&)
a
(4)
e
&
a
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SECTION SEVEN SEVENTH CHORDS EXERCISE 58 CD TRACK 54
q=100 Rhythm and Blues
? ™?? ? ? ? & 44œ œ œ ™™ ? ™? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‰ œj œ œ œ œ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ™ 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 ™ 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ⁄ 3 3 G7
C7
G7
5
? ™ ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‰ j & ? ? ? ? ‰ œj œ œ œ œ œ œ 0 1 3 2 3
⁄
0 1 3 2 3
0 1 3 2 3
0 1 3 2 3
0
0
3
3
C7
&
œ
⁄
0
& ⁄
œ 3
G7
1 0 0 0 2
1 0 0 0 2
1 0 0 0 2
1 0 0 0 2
G7
0 1 3 2 3
0 1 3 2 3
?™ ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ‰ ≥ ≤ ≥ ≤
0 2 0 2 0
2 1 2 0
0 2 0 2 0
0 2 0 2 0
0 2 0 2 0
0 2 0 2 0
0 1 3 2 3
0 1 3 2 3
3
3
2
C7
0 2 0 2 0
A7
10
1 0 0 0 2
2 1 2 0
2 1 2 0
2 1 2 0
j œ œ œ 0
3
0
™™ ™ ™
D7
?™ ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? U
1 0 0 0 2
1 0 0 0 2 3
1 0 0 0 2
0 1 3 2 3
C7
0 1 3 2 3
0 1 3 2 3
0 1 3 2 3
1 0 0 0 2 3
1 0 0 0 2 3
1 0 0 0 2 3
G7
97
CD 54
8
1 0 0 0 2
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 59: Surf-style rhythm
T H E O R Y Notice the “get louder” or crescendo hairpin in bar 15
Exercise 59 mixes seventh chords with most of the other chords we have learned. It is the rhythm part to Exercise 13, CD track 13. The rhythm track, without the lead guitar part, can be heard on CD track 14. In this exercise we use all of the major open-string chords, most of the minor chords, and the E7 and B7 chords as well. There are several different kinds of strumming, from chords that are spread and held at the beginning, to accented downbeats in bar eight and a more filled-out strum in bars nine to 16. S O U N D S There’s a stereo echo effect on this track; the rhythm guitar is panned slightly to the left of the stereo image, and the echo effect is panned to the right, fattening the sound and adding a mysterious quality as the sound spreads across.
EXERCISE 59 CD TRACK 14
q=120 Shadows/surf style
w w w w w w ≥ With stereo echo effect throughout...
⁄
Am
3 0 0 0 2 3
G
w w w w w
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
w w w w w w
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
Am
0 1 2 2 0
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
0 1 2 2 0
G
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
w w & w w w
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
Am
5
0 1 2 2 0
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
3 0 0 0 2 3
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
⁄
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
CD 14
0 1 2 2 0
#w w w w ≥
w w w w w ≥
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
w w w w w ≥
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
4 &4
Am
2 3 2 0
D
œ œœ œœœ ≥ > 3 0 0 0 2 3
G
œ œœ œœœ ≥ > 3 0 0 0 2 3
œœ #œœ œœ >≥ 0 0 1 2 2 0
œœ œœ œœ >≥ 0 0 1 2 2 0
E
T E C H N I Q U E When playing B7, use the tip of finger 2 to mute the low E-string. We don’t want that note to sound, and muting it allows you to be more relaxed with the strumming and not worry about accidentally touching that string with the pick.
98
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SECTION SEVEN SEVENTH CHORDS EXERCISE 59 CD TRACK 14 continued
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœœ 0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
0 1 0 2 3
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ 1 3 2 0
1 3 2 0
1 3 2 0
w w w w w w ≥ 3 0 0 0 2 3
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
Am
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
w w w w w w 3 0 0 0 2 3
G
1 2 2 0
0 0 1 2
0 0 1 2 2
0 0 1 2 2
0 0 1 2 2
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
A
œœ œœ œœ œœ #œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ # œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœœœœœœ 1 3 2 0
1 3 2 0
1 3 2 0
0 2 1 2
0 2 1 2
0 2 1 2
0 2 1 2
2 0 2 1 2
2 0 2 1 2
2 0 2 1 2
2 0 2 1 2
1 0 2 0
1 0 2 0
1 0 2 0
1 0 2 0
1 0 2 0
1 0 2 0
1 0 2 0
1 0 2 0
E7
#w w w w ≥
w w w w w ≥ 0 1 2 2 0
G
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
w w w w w
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
⁄
1 3 2 0
B7
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
w w w w w ≥
Am
&
1 3 2 0
E
Dm
0 1 2 2 0
21
1 3 2 0
œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœ œ œ œ œœœœ
œœ œœœ œœ œ œœ
#œœœ œœ
Am
w #w w w w w 0 0 1 0 2 0
E7
CD 14
C
⁄
1 3 2 0
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
0 1 0 2 3
&
1 3 2 0
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
œ & œœœ œ
17
1 3 2 0
œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ #œœ œœ œœœœ œœœœ œ œ œ œ
Dm
13
⁄
œœ œœ œœ œœ
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
C
œœ œ œ
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
⁄
0 1 0 2 3
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
œœ œœ œœœ œœœ
œ & œœœ œ
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
9
2 3 2 0
D
œœœ œœ œœ #œœœ œ > > 0 0
œœœ œœ >
1 2 2 0
0 1 2 2 0
Am
E7
Am
Œ
0 1 2 2 0
99
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 60: Four minor seventh chords and Am7–D7 groove Exercises 56 to 59 were about dominant seventh chords, the kind of chord you get when you add a minor seventh to a major triad. Now we are going to look at the kind of chord you get if you add a minor seventh to a minor triad. We call that a minor seventh chord. Four examples are shown below. The normal abbreviation for a minor seventh chord is m7, although sometimes a minus sign is used, as in A-7. We would normally say “A minor seven” or “A minor seventh.” Minor seventh chords have a jazzy quality not found in the plain minor chord. Minor seventh chords occur naturally on steps two, three, and six of the major scale. That means that all of the minor chords that are created when you harmonize a major scale (see Exercise 43) become minor seventh chords when you extend them to the seventh. Exercise 60 introduces a chord sequence alternating between Am7 and D7 with connecting bass runs. In the key of G major, Am7 is chord two (ii7) and D7 is chord five (V7); ii-V progressions are very common in rock music with a jazzy tinge. This kind of chord sequence is also great for open grooves and free soloing in the style of Latin-influenced guitar players like Carlos Santana. (Check out the track ‘Oye Como Va.’) In Exercise 85 we will look at adding a lead guitar solo to this two-chord groove. Am7 x
o
Dm7
Bm7
o
o
x
o
o
x
x
o
o
o
o
2
3
3
4
1
1
2 1
CD 55
1
o
1 2
1 2
Em7
o
A E G C E 1 5 b7 b3 5
100
B D A B F# 1 b3 b7 1 5
D A C F 1 5 b 7 b3
E B D G B E 1 5 b7 b3 5 1
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SECTION SEVEN SEVENTH CHORDS EXERCISE 60 CD TRACK 55
q=90 Latin rock
⁄
œœ œœ ≥
œœ œœ ≤
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0
œœ œœ
Am7
œœ œœ œ ≥
™ ™
⁄
œœ œœ œœ œœ
0 1 0 2
0
0 1 0 2
œœ œœ
&
œ
⁄
0
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
œœ œœ
& ⁄
#
œ 0
Am7
œœ œœ œœ œœ
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
2 1 2 0
œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ œœ
2 1 2 0
2 1 2 0
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0
3
0
4
œœ œœ
0 1 0 2
Am7
œœj j œœ ‰ œ œ œ œ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
2 1 2 0
2 1 2 0
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
2
0
3
0
1 2 0
0
œœj œœ œœ œœ
œœj œ ‰ j œ ™™ œ œœ
2 1 2 0
2 1 2 0
2 1 2 0
0
œœ œœ
œœj œœ œœ œœ
œœj œœ ‰ j œ œ œ
2 1 2 0
2 1 2 0
2 1 2 0
0
Am7
œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœj œœ œœ œœ
œœj ‰ w w œœ j w w œ w œ œ
2 1 2 0
2 1 2 0
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
0 1 0 2
2 1 2 0
2 1 2 0
D7
0
3
0
Am7
3
3
D7
œœj ‰ j œœ œ œ œ œ 2
™ ™
2
3
œœj œœ œœ œœ 2 1 2 0
2
3
D7
œœj œœ œœ œœ 2 1 2 0
œœ œ ‰ j œ >œ œ œ >≥ ≤ ≥ ≤ 2
D7
œœj œ‰ j œ œ œ #œ œ
2 1 2 0
œœ œ >œ >≥
œœ œœ
Am7
D7
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
0 1 0 2
0
D7
Am7
17
2 1 2 0
2 1 2 0
œœ œœ œ
0 1 0 2
2 1 2 0
0
D7
0 1 0 2 0
3
3
Am7
101
CD 55
13
2 1 2 0
œœ œ Œ œ
œœj œœ œœ œœ
0 1 0 2
Am7
#
œœj œ œ ≤
D7
5 (9 - 12)
# ™ & ™
œœj œœ œœ œœ ≥ ≤
∏∏∏∏∏∏
œœ œœ œ ≥ ≥
∏∏∏∏∏∏
#4 & 4
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 61: Major seventh chords: Gmaj7, Cmaj7, Am7, D7 We are not through with minor seventh chords yet; T E C H N I Q U E but since we find ourselves at the jazzy end of the The Dmaj7 chord is, like the A7 in Exercise rock spectrum, now would be a good time to look at 56, a shape which uses a one-finger halfwhat happens when you add a major seventh interval barre across the top three strings. to a major triad. The answer is you get a major seventh chord: there are five examples below. The abbreviation is “maj7” or sometimes just “ma7.” Some editions, particularly in jazz, use a ∆ or “delta” symbol instead of maj: C∆7, for example. Look closely at the chord diagrams, so that you understand which note is the root, the third, the fifth, and the seventh for each shape. Compare these chords with the plain major chord on which they are based— in each case a doubled root note is lowered one fret to become the major seventh. Exercise 61 is in the key of G major, and switches back and forth between chord I7 and IV7, Gmaj7 and Cmaj7, before progressing onto Am7 and D7, which are chords ii7 and V7. Major seventh chords have a soft and dreamy quality and, as this exercise demonstrates, they work very well with minor seventh and dominant seventh chords. Cmaj7 x
o
Dmaj7 o
o
x
x
Emaj7
o
o
Amaj7
Gmaj7 o
o
x
o
o
o
x
o
o
1
1 2 2
1
3
2
1
3
3 1
1
1
1
CD 56
3 1
1
C E G B E 1 3 5 7 3
D A C# F# 1 5 3 7
E B D# G# B E 1 5 7 3 5 1
G 1
D G B F# 5 1 3 7
A E G# C# E 1 5 7 3 5
T H E O R Y This Gmaj7 chord shape uses the underside of the third finger to mute the A or fifth string. We are leaving out the note normally played on this string because the chord sounds better without doubling the third, B.
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SECTION SEVEN SEVENTH CHORDS EXERCISE 61 CD TRACK 56
q=90 Dreamy strum
œœ œœ œœ œœ œ ¿¿ œœ œ œ œ œœœ ¿ œ œ œ ≥ ≥≤ ≤ ≥≤
#4 & 4
2 0 0 0
⁄
3
2 0 0
2 0 0
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ œœœ œ œœ œ œ œ œœœ ¿ ≥≤ ≥≤ ≤ ≥≤ œ
2 X 0 X 0 X 0
3
0 0 0 2 3
3
Gmaj7
⁄
0 1 0
2 0
0 1 0
0 1 0 2 0
0 1 0
2 1 2 0
#
2 0 0 0 3
3
3
Gmaj7
2 0 0
2 0 0
2 0 0 0 3
2 0 0
2 0 0 0
0 0 0 2 3
2 0 0
2 0 0
3
2 0 0 0
2 0 0
3
Gmaj7
2 1 2
0
2 1 2
2 1 2
2 1 2 0
X X X
0 1 0 2 0
D7
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ & œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ ⁄
0 X 1 X 0 X 2 3
0 0 0
2 3
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 1 0
2 0
0 1 0
0 1 0
0 1 0 2 0
0 1 0
Am7
œœ œœ > >2 1 2 0
œœ œœ > >2
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ 2 1 2 0
1 2 0
w w w w w
0 0 0 2 3
2 0 0 0
2 0 0 0
3
3
Cmaj7
2 3
0 0 0
0 1 0 2 3
0 0 0
2 0 0 0
2 0 0 0
3
3
2 1 2 0
D7
w w w w w
0 0 0
0 0 0
Cmaj7
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œ œœ œ œ œ œœœ œ œœ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ 0 0 0
0 0 0 2 3
2 0 0
2 0 0
2 0 0 0 3
2 0 0
CD 56
Am7 9
2 3
0 0 0
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œ œœ œ œ œ œœœ œ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ ¿ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ
# œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ & œœ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ 0 1 0
0 0 0
Cmaj7
5
0 1 0 2 0
0 0 0
œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ œ œ œ œœœ œ œ œ
Gmaj7
103
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 62: A, Amaj7, D, Dmaj7 rock style We know that major and minor seventh chords sound dreamy and jazzy, but that’s not to say S O U N D S that you don’t come across them in rock Use the neck pickup on your guitar and turn up the music. Artists from David Bowie to the Red input gain on your amp so that the sound is just on the edge of breakup. A distortion pedal with not Hot Chili Peppers use them. In both ‘Life On too much gain will have the same effect. Mars’ and the chorus of ‘Universally Speaking,’ for example, a plain major chord is followed by its major seventh. In Exercise 62 we take this approach in the key of A major, following both A and D major chords with their major seventh. When you listen to the CD track, you will hear that the effect is anything but jazzy. In bar nine we move to Bm7 followed by E7; in A major, this is chord two followed by chord five (ii7–V7), the same chord sequence that we saw in Exercises 60 and 61, but in a new key. Bar 14 brings the exercise back home to Amaj7 via chord four (IV) followed by “four minor seven” (iv7): D and Dm7.
T H E O R Y ‘Universally Speaking,’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is an interesting piece of rock music; it not only uses a major seventh chord but also a minor seventh, a diminished seventh, and a seventh with a sharp fifth.
CD 57
Section Seven introduced the three most common seventh chords: dominant, major, and minor sevenths. Each of these chords has its own unique flavor. They can be used by songwriters to add color to the regular major and minor chords that are the mainstay of songwriting. Jazz and jazzinfluenced styles, such as soul or jazz-funk, tend to rely more on seventh chords than the plain major and minor. In the next section we will look at chords played one note at a time—arpeggios—and also at other ways of adding notes to major and minor chords.
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SECTION SEVEN SEVENTH CHORDS EXERCISE 62 CD TRACK 57
q=100 Rock strum
### 4 œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ & 4 œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œœœ 0 2 2 2 0
⁄
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 1 2 0
0 2 1 2 0
### œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ & œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œœœ 0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 1 2 0
0 2 1 2 0
2 0 2 0 2
2 0 2 0 2
2 0 2 0 2
2 0 2 0 2
Bm7
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
0 2 1 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 2 2 0
0 2 1 2 0
2 3 2 0
### œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ & œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ 0 0 1 0 2 0
0 0 1 0 2 0
0 0 1 0 2 0
0 0 1 0 2 0
0 0 1 0 2 0
0 2 1 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 2 2 0
2 2 2 0
œœ œ œ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœœ œœœœ
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0 2 1 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 2 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
2 3 2 0
œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ
0 0 1 0 2 0
0 0 1 0 2 0
0 0 1 0 2 0
0 0 1 0 2 0
œœ œœ œœ
2 2 2 0
2 2 2 0
2 2 2 0
œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ
2 2 2 0
2 2 2 0
2 2 2 0
Dmaj7
D
œœ œœ œœ
2 2 2 0
Dmaj7
œœ œ œ
0 2 1 2 0
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
2 2 2 0
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ
0 2 1 2 0
œœ œœ œœ
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œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
0 0 1 0 2 0
0 0 1 0 2 0
2 0 2 0 2
2 0 2 0 2
2 0 2 0 2
2 0 2 0 2
2 0 2 0 2
2 0 2 0 2
2 0 2 0 2
2 0 2 0 2
Bm7
œœœ œœ
œœœ œœ œœ œœœ
0 2 2 2 0
0 2 2 2 0
A
2 3 2 0
D
E7
12
E7
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœœ
0 2 1 2 0
Amaj7
0 2 1 2 0
0 2 1 2 0
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0 2 1 2 0
2 3 2 0
D
2 3 2 0
2 0
1 1 2 0
Dm7
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
w w w w w
w w w w w
1 1 2 0
0 2 1 2 0
0 2 1 2 0
1 1 2 0
Amaj7
105
CD 57
### œ œ œ œ œ & œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œ œ œ œ œ
⁄
œœ œœ
Amaj7
9
0 0 1 0 2 0
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0 2 1 2 0
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A
⁄
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Amaj7
5
⁄
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
0 2 2 2 0
A
0 2 2 2 0
œœ œœ œ
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
SECTION EIGHT
ARPEGGIOS AND CHORDS WITH ADDED NOTES We know that an arpeggio is a chord played one note at a time. Very often the lead guitar parts that we hear filling in the background on recordings use arpeggios, while another guitar plays strummed chords. We will look at this approach in Exercises 64 to 67. But first we are going to look at the flowing motion that can be created with a solo guitar part and simple rising and falling arpeggios.
CD 58
Exercise 63: Sweep or alternate picking arpeggios Exercise 63 uses a chiming, rich tone and arpeggios on open-string chords in an indie style. Some of the open-string chord shapes are modified slightly, as shown above; we don’t need the whole chord, so unnecessary notes are left out. These shapes are worth practicing even if they are unfamiliar at first; economy of T E C H N I Q U E movement—not doing unnecessary things—is an important Remember to let the notes ring on, and try using either principle of advanced guitar playing. alternate picking or sweep picking. We’ve already You may have noticed that this example is not in the usual 4/4, looked at alternate picking, but sweep picking is where the four-beat rhythm found in almost all rock music. Here we’re in you use consecutive downstrokes when your hand is 6/8 time, which involves counting six eighth-note beats in each bar, moving in a downwards direction, and consecutive but with accents on beats one and four, like this: upstrokes when your hand is moving in an upwards direction. I use a mixture of both alternate and sweep 1 2 3 4 5 6 picking on this tune; see which works for you. Try tapping in time with your foot while counting the beats and then add a handclap on one and four to get the feel of this example. Then make up your own arpeggios using other chord shapes you know. You could also try adding the occasional connecting bassline, like the ones you hear in the exercise. D x
x
Em
G
o
x
1
x
o
o
o
x
A o
o
x
o
2
2 3
o
o
1 2
4
3
1
x
1
1
1 4
D A D F# 1 5 1 3
106
G 1
G B G 1 3 1
E 1
E G B E 1 b3 5 1
A 1
A C# E 1 3 5
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SECTION EIGHT ARPEGGIOS AND CHORDS WITH ADDED NOTES EXERCISE 63 CD TRACK 58
e=200 Indie/REM style
1. œ œ #œ œ #œ œ 6 œ œ œ œ œ œ ™™ œ œ œ œ &8 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Let ring throughout...
⁄
2
0
2
3
3
2
3
2
2
0
3
2
0
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3
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0 3
3
2
0
0
0
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0
0
0
0
0
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0
2
0 2
2
2 0
3
2
A
0 0
0
0
0
2
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0
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2
2
2
Ϫ
2
0
0
Em
0
0
0
0
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& œ
™ ™
CD 58
œ
2
2
Em
⁄
0
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0
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⁄
0
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2.
&
3
0
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D
&
3
0
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2
0
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3
2
3
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2
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0
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#œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙™ 0
0
0
2
3
2
3
2
0
3
D
G
D
107
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 64: Arpeggios and pedal notes When you play an arpeggio over a chord sequence you don’t necessarily have to stick entirely to the notes of the original chords. You can add a note or two or introduce the idea of a pedal note, as in Exercise 64. A pedal is a musical term for a note which is held still while the chords around it change. It can be a high note, a low note, or somewhere in T E C H N I Q U E between. Open strings can work very well as pedal notes. In Exercise 64, the Playing an open string alongside the open E-string is working as a pedal note all the way through, and is joined at bar same note fretted gives you instant nine by an open B-string pedal as well. (Yes, you can have two at once.) jangle. It will be easier to let that open We could call the repeated pattern that takes over in bar nine a riff, though string ring on if your fret-hand fingers are in more formal music circles it might be known as an “ostinato.” For added on their tips. jangle, the open E is doubled by the E at the fifth fret on the B-string. Listen to the CD track—a pedal note creates tension, as if the chords are anchored but trying to get away. The rhythm part in this track comes from Exercise 53, CD track 51, and CD track 59 has just rhythm and lead guitars. With a bassline in the rhythm part and arpeggios in the lead part you have a very filled-out sound; try getting it together with another guitar player. Swap parts when you repeat.
CD 59
T H E O R Y The “pedal” term originated in organ music, where you have bass pedals that are played with the feet. As we have seen, nowadays the pedal note does not have to be in the bass.
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SECTION EIGHT ARPEGGIOS AND CHORDS WITH ADDED NOTES EXERCISE 64 CD TRACK 59
q=100 Indie rock
œœ 4 & 4 #œ œ˙
œœ œ œ˙
œ œ#œ œ ˙
œœ œœœœ œ œ
Let ring throughout... 0 1
⁄
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
2
E G (Chords from rhythm part)
5
& #œ
œœ œ˙ 0
⁄
1
œœ œ˙
0
E
2
œ œ #œ œ ˙
0
0
œ
2
2
D
œœ œœœœ œ 0
1
0
A
3
2
D“4
0
2
2
G
0
C
0
0
1
0
A
0
0
1
œ
0
2
0
3
2
C
2
D“4 D
œœœœœœœ œœœœœœœœ œœœœœœœœ œœœœœœœœ œ & 0 4
⁄
0
5
5
4
0
0
4
4
E
0
5
4
5
0
0
4
4
G
0
5
4
0
5
0
4
5
4
A
0 4
C
5
0 4
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13
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ww & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ w 0
⁄
4
E
5
0 4
5
0 4
0 4
G
5
0 4
5
0 4
0 4
A
5
0 4
5
0 4
0 4
C
5
0 4
5
0 4
D“4 D
0 5 4
E
109
CD 59
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 65: Slash chord arpeggios; pull-offs and slides Staying with the idea of adding notes to chords when they are played as arpeggios, the first two bars of Exercise 65 are based on a D major chord, but the notes E and B are also sounded. The curved line connecting the F sharp to the open E-string means it should be played with a pull-off. The second finger holds down F-sharp on the second fret of the top string and the note is played with an upstroke of the pick. Then the open E is sounded by pulling the fret-hand finger off the string, moving in a downward direction—no pick stroke is necessary. In bar two, all the B-naturals are played at the fourth fret. The straight line T E C H N I Q U E connecting the A on the second fret to the first B means that the A should be Notice that using the fourth-fret B instead played first and the finger should slide along the frets to the fourth fret. The first of the open string allows more notes to note of this slide is written in a smaller size as it is a “grace note,” a note that ring on and contributes to the jangly occupies no time of its own but is very quickly followed by the main note (in this arpeggio style of the piece. case, the fourth fret B). An interesting feature of this piece is the way that the melody stays the same, while the chords change underneath. Some of the notes of this melody are chord-notes; for example, D, F-sharp, and A are in the chord of D major. But the melody notes E and B are the ninth and sixth; these are outside the D major chord, but they are interesting notes to add to it. When the chord changes to B minor the B, D, and F-sharp now belong to the chord, and the “outside” notes are now E and A, which are the fourth and seventh. This means that, although the melody is repeated several times, its musical effect changes with each new chord.
CD 60/61
T H E O R Y In the chord symbols beneath the tab stave you can see, in bar three, D/C. This is known as a “slash chord,” and means D major with the note C in the bass.
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SECTION EIGHT ARPEGGIOS AND CHORDS WITH ADDED NOTES
EXERCISE 65 CD TRACK 60 / BACKING TRACK 61
q=120 Indie, medium
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 66: slash chords, rhythm part Exercise 66 is the rhythm part to Exercise 65, and introduces three S O U N D S new chords. The B minor chord is our first proper bar chord, Stay on the bridge pickup of requiring the first finger of the fret hand to be laid straight to form your guitar and lightly strum a barre across the second fret, stopping both the fifth string and nearer the bridge than usual the first string. Use the tip of the finger to mute the low E-string. for maximum jangle. Asus4 should need no explanation, as we have seen suspended fourth chords before. The open first string can be sounded in Asus4 and A major, but in this piece I chose to mute it to give the melody more space above the rhythm part. D/C is, as mentioned above “D with C bass.” This type of chord is usually known as a “slash” chord, and is used when we wish to specify a bass note other than the root for a chord. Slash chords are fairly common in modern rock music. Chord grids and strumming notation are given on the score, and the strumming is a very straightforward repeated pattern that we have come across before. Asus4
Bm x
x
1
1
3 4
o
x
x
1 2
2 1
D/C
o
1 4
1
3 1
2 4
CD 61
4
B F # B D F# 1 5 1 b3 5
A E A D 1 5 1 4
C b7
A D F# 5 1 3
T H E O R Y Compare the B minor shape to your open A minor shape from Section Six. Can you see the connection between them? The B minor is the A minor shape played two frets higher up the guitar, using a barre where before we had open strings.
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SECTION EIGHT ARPEGGIOS AND CHORDS WITH ADDED NOTES EXERCISE 66 CD TRACK 61
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 67: low arpeggios
S O U N D S The rhythm guitar is treated throughout this track with a gentle tremolo effect. Tremolo is a regular fluctuation in volume and works best when it pulses in time with the music.
All the arpeggios we have looked at so far have tended to be on the higher notes of the guitar. Arpeggios can also be very effective on the lower strings, as demonstrated in Exercise 67. Most of the chords in this exercise will be familiar, but the F major chord and D/F-sharp are new. If you finger the E minor chord in bar one using fingers three and four you can then slide them up one fret and they will be in the right place for the F major chord. This should make the change much easier. Bars nine to 12 are a contrasting section with a root note on the first beat followed by held chords on the second beat. This exercise formed the backing track to Exercise 4.
D/F#
F x
x
x
o
x
1 2
2
1
4
3 4 1
1 4
CD 05
4
F C F A 1 5 1 3
F# 3
D R
A D 5 3
T H E O R Y We have come across slash chords before: D/F# is a D major chord with an F-sharp, which is the major third, in the bass. Notice that it is quite normal to omit the F-sharp from the top string when playing this voicing.
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SECTION EIGHT ARPEGGIOS AND CHORDS WITH ADDED NOTES EXERCISE 67 CD TRACK 05
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 68: extended chords and added-note chord sequences These nine shapes are modified versions of the open-string chords that we learned in Section Six. The easiest way to memorize them is to compare them to the chords you know already and then get used to the added note and the extended shapes. In fact, these are just some of the possibilities, and you may be able to experiment with other open-string chords and come up with interesting and original sounds of your own. Exercise 68 uses these extended chords to create melodies in strummed chords. There are three separate examples, and each example is played twice. You will probably have no problem working out the strumming, but will need to be accurate with your fret-hand fingers to allow fretted notes and open-string notes to sound together. Listen carefully to your chords to make sure all the required notes are sounding. If you’ve heard bands like R.E.M., Coldplay, Radiohead, The Smiths, and suchlike you’ll have heard this type of playing. Back in the 1960s, The Who’s Pete Townshend also played rhythm parts that made use of extended chord shapes. This type of jangly guitar chord has become a key ingredient in the sounds of indie bands today. Cadd9
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o
o
o
x
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G6
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o
o
o
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1 2 3 1
4
4
3
1
3
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1
1
CD 62
1
2
2
4
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G B D G D E 1 3 5 1 5 6
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In Section Eight we have looked at arpeggios and adding notes to chords, whether as pedal notes, extended chords, or slash chords. In Section Nine we will go more deeply into the world of bar chords and some of the most useful chords of all: movable chords.
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SECTION EIGHT ARPEGGIOS AND CHORDS WITH ADDED NOTES EXERCISE 68 CD TRACK 62
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T H E O R Y As you add notes to chords, it can be tricky to come up with accurate names for your new shape. The best thing is to keep a pencil and paper handy and get used to drawing quick chord diagrams. Then think of a name that means something to you like “D with added G.” It is more important that the name means something to you than that it is technically accurate. You will find the chords I’ve shown here in various songs and chord books, and sometimes they’ll have different names, which goes to show that guitar players often disagree about the “correct” names for some complex chords. So don’t get hung up on names at this stage. Just enjoy these chiming, resonant sounds and see if you can come up with some chord sequences of your own that use them.
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Asus2
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
SECTION NINE
BAR CHORDS AND MOVABLE CHORDS We need to look at bar chords more closely because these versatile but difficult chords are among the most useful you will ever learn. Bar chords are movable because you can play the shape at any fret. First, we are going to look at “five” chords because they are easier to move around.
CD 63
Exercise 69: Two-note and three-note five chords We’ve seen “five” chords before, back in Section Four, where they mostly appeared built on an open-string root. Movable five chords come in two flavors: a two-string version and a three-string version. Familiarize yourself with the shapes below—mute the strings we don’t want to hear with the underside of your index finger. You can also use the tip of the finger both to hold down a string and to mute the next string over. Notice that the index finger is on the root note of the chord. Get used to sliding the shapes around and thinking of the name of the chord coming from the note that the index finger is holding down. When you can hold these chords down comfortably, listen to CD track 63 and play along with Exercise 69. You will find that the first eight bars use the two-note five chord and the last eight bars (it’s a four-bar repeat) use the three-note five chord. Listen closely to make sure you are muting the notes we don’t want to hear.
F5 can be played as a two-note or three-note chord at the eighth fret.
T H E O R Y The two-note five chord consists of just a root and fifth. The three-note version goes root-fifth-root. Neither of these chords contains a third, so five chords are neither major nor minor. Check out ‘Song 2’ by Blur for the inspiration behind this track. F5 on the lower three strings.
F5
Bb5 x
x
x
118
x
8
1
8
x
x
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x
x
8 1
1
x
F5 x
x
x
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1
x
x
1
3
3
3
3 4
3 4 1
Bb F R 5
F C R 5
C G R 5
F C F R 5 R
F C F R 5 R
x
x
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SECTION NINE BAR CHORDS AND MOVABLE CHORDS EXERCISE 69 CD TRACK 63
q=100 Grunge
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10 10 10 10 8 8 8 8
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11 11 9 9
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10 10 10 10 8 8 8 8
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119
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9
10 10 10 10 8 8 8 8
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 70: Bar chords and added notes It’s time to go deeper into the wonderful world of bar chords. We have seen the B minor shape before, and we are introducing an A major chord at the fifth fret and a G major chord at the third fret. One of the great things about bar chords is that they are movable; the A major and G major shapes are the same but played at different frets. You could play this shape at any fret and name the chord from the note you were holding down on the sixth string. The B T H E O R Y minor shape is movable, and this time the root note is on the fifth string. We also have Abrupt changes in the dynamic level an F-sharp minor chord at the second fret. This is also movable, with its root on the of music are written in italic script using letters (p) and (f), which stand sixth string. for piano and forte— literally soft Alongside these bar chords we have some added-note chords that can be played and strong. In between the extremes by releasing the barre and allowing the open strings to sound. Strum these shapes in of quiet and loud we have mezzo turn and listen closely to make sure all the notes are ringing clearly. Notice that the last piano (mp) and mezzo forte (mf). chord shown, F-sharp minor 11 (F#m11), uses your thumb over the neck on the sixth string. If you can’t get your thumb over, just leave that bass note out, damping the string with your thumb instead. Exercise 70 begins with held bar chords, which will give you some time to move those tricky shapes around. Then we go into a chugging downstroke rhythm with accents on beats two, three, and four—watch out for the repeat signs. At bar 13 there is a rise in dynamic level (i.e., it gets louder), and we begin using the added-note chords. This section is also repeated before we wind things down with more held chords, this time of the added-note variety. If you look at the notation stave from bar 13 onwards, you’ll see that when notes are stacked close together in chords, one is sometimes offset slightly. You still play all these notes at once. Note the dynamic signs in the piece. There A Bm Bmadd11 are eight in common use. Here they are in order, x x o going from extremely quiet to extremely loud:
CD 64
5 1
1
1
1
2
2 1
1
2 1
3 4
3 4
3 4
B F# B D E 1 5 1 b3 4
B F # B D F# 1 5 1 b3 5
Aadd9
A E A C# E A 1 5 1 3 5 1
F #m o
o
ff fff
In bar eight we have the sign p as the chord in that bar is played more softly than the others. Bar nine sees a return to mf, before a boost in the level at bar 13 with f. In bar 17 we return to mf, with the final two chords in bars 21 and 22 played p. Dynamic signs like these are not particularly common in rock music, but you should know what they mean in case you ever come across them.
G6
G o
ppp pp p mp mf f
F#m11
o
o
o
5 1
1
2 3 4
1
1 1
2
3 4
A E A C# B E 1 5 1 3 9 5
120
G D G B D G 1 5 1 3 5 1
1
1
T
1 1
2
3 4
3 4
3 4
G D G B B E 1 5 1 3 3 6
F# C# F# A C# F# 1 5 1 b3 5 1
F# C# F# A B E 1 5 1 b3 11 b7
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SECTION NINE BAR CHORDS AND MOVABLE CHORDS
q=100
2 2 2 4 4 2
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9
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œœ œœ œ >œ
œœ œœ œ œ
œœ œœ œ >œ
œœ œœ œ œ
œœ œœ œ >œ
œœ œœ œ œ
œœ œœ
œœ œœ
œœœ œœ >
œœœ œœ
œœœ œœ >
œœœ œœ
œœœ œœ >
œœœ œœ
5 5 6 7 7 5
5 5 6 7 7 5
5 5 6 7 7 5
5 5 6 7 7 5
5 5 6 7 7 5
5 5 6 7 7 5
3 4 4 2
3 4 4 2
2 3 4 4 2
2 3 4 4 2
2 3 4 4 2
2 3 4 4 2
2 3 4 4 2
2 3 4 4 2
>
A
w w w w w
>
>
Bm
œœ œœ œœ >
0 3 4 4 2
>
>
>
œœ œœ ™™ ™™ œœœœ œœœœ œœœœ œœœœ œœœœ œœœœ œœœœ œœœœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ >œ œ >œ œ >œ œ f > 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ™ ™ 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ™ ™ 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 > > > > > 2
œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œœœ œœ
œœœ œœ
œœœ œœ
œœœ œœ
œ œœ œœ œ
œœœ œœ œ
œ œœ œœ œ
œ œœ œœ œ
œ œœ œœ œ
œ œœ œœ œ
œœœ œœ œ
œ œœ œœ ™™ œ
0 3 4 4 2
0 3 4 4 2
0 3 4 4 2
0 3 4 4 2
0 0 4 5 5 3
0 0 4 5 5 3
0 0 4 5 5 3
0 0 4 5 5 3
0 0 4 5 5 3
0 0 4 5 5 3
0 0 4 5 5 3
0 0 4 5 5 3
...sim 0 0 6 7 7 5
0 0 6 7 7 5
0 0 6 7 7 5
0 0 6 7 7 5
0 0 6 7 7 5
0 0 6 7 7 5
0 0 6 7 7 5
0 0 6 7 7 5
A'9
F#m11
## œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 0 3 4 4 2
...sim
w w w w w w
™ ™
G6
121
CD 64
⁄
3 3 4 5 5 3
w w w w w
œœ œœ œœ
12 ## œ œ œœœ œœœ œœœ & œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ >œ œ >œ 4 5 5 3
w w w w w w
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
⁄
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
## 4 w w & 4 w w w w
EXERCISE 70 CD TRACK 64
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E EXERCISE 70 CD TRACK 64 continued
17
## w w & w w w w
w ww w w w
0 0 6 7 7 5
0 3 4 4 2
0 0 4 5 5 3
A'9
Bm'11
G6
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
mf
...sim
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
0 0 2 4 4 2
∏∏∏∏∏∏∏
⁄
w w w w w
w w w ww w
F#m11
U
Pause sign
U ww w w w w
p
0 0 2 4 4 2
U w w w w w 0 3 4 4 2
u
u
F#m11
Bm'11
There is one other new sign in this music. This is known as a “pause” or, to use its technical name, a “fermata.” This sign can be seen above the chords in bars 21 and 22, and it means that you should break with the regular pulse and play these chords freely, as appropriate.
Exercise 71: G blues with movable seventh chords G7
C7 x
1
3 1
CD 65
x
1 2
2
T E C H N I Q U E If you find this one a struggle at first, leave out the bass riff and concentrate on playing the chords, playing along if possible. Then work on the bassline separately, finally putting the two parts together when you can play each one on its own.
C E Bb C R 3 b7 R
G D F B D G R 5 b7 3 5 R C9
D7
x
x
2
x
3
1 3
4
3 1
3
3
1 2
3 3
C E Bb D G R 3 b7 9 5
122
Exercise 71 is a backing track for a shuffle blues in G, in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan. We begin with a slide up to the fifth fret on the A-string and a riff which is repeatedly used to connect the chords, all of which are movable. Compare the G7 bar chord in bar one with the G bar chord in bar four of Exercise 70; by leaving off finger 4 we have introduced the note F-natural into the chord, turning it into a seventh chord.
4
D F# C D R 3 b7 R
There is one unusual thing about the chord sequence: it’s a “quick change” blues, meaning that the music goes to chord IV (C7) in the second bar. This adds interest to the opening four bars, which would otherwise be four bars of G7. Bar five sees the introduction of a C9 chord. If we go root, third, fifth, seventh when building chords then the next note to add would be the ninth. Check out the chord diagram and you will see that the note D (nine notes up from C) has been added to the C7 chord. Play the music between the repeat signs three times. We have one ending for the first and second times, and a different ending for the third time, which will bring the music to a close on the final G7 chord.
T H E O R Y Tthe open string C7 shape makes a great movable chord if you mute the top and bottom strings. That’s how we can use the same shape for D7 and C7: it can be played at any fret. The root note is on both the A-string and the B-string.
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SECTION NINE BAR CHORDS AND MOVABLE CHORDS EXERCISE 71 CD TRACK 65
q=88 Shuffle blues iq=qK e
⁄
3
35
5
™ ™
3 3 4 3 5 3
3
3 3 4 3 5 3
3
35
5
3
G7
⁄
3 5
35
35
3
3 3 3 2 3
3
3 3 3 2 3
35
3 3 4 3 5 3
5 3
3 3 4 3 5 3
3 3 4 3 5 3
3 3 4 3 5 3
3 3 4 3 5 3
œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
G7
œœ œœ œ j nœ œ nœœœ œœœ œœ œfi œ œ œœ œœ
œœ œœ œ j nœ œ bœœ œœ œœ œfi œ œ œœ œœ
œœ œœ # œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ b & œœ nœœ œœ œœ œfij œnœ œ œ œœœ œœœ œ œœ œ 3 3 4 3 5 3
1 3 2 3
C7
5
3 3 4 3 5 3
1 3 2 3
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
œœ œœœ j nœ œ nœœœ œœœ œ œ œfi œ œ œœ œ
œœ œœ œœ #4 ™ j & 4 fij œ nœ œ ™ nœœœ œœœ œœœ fij œnœ œ bœœœ œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ
3 5
3 3 3 2 3
3
3 3 3 2 3
35
3 3 4 3 5 3
3 5 3
3 3 4 3 5 3
3 3 4 3 5 3
G7
9
# œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œ œ œ œ œ & œœ nœœ œœ œœ œ nœ œ œ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ bœœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 3 3 4 3 5 3
⁄
3 3 4 3 5 3
5
3
5
5
3 5 4 5
3 5 4 5
3 5 4 5
3 5 4 5
1 3 2 3
D7
1 3 2 3
1 3 2 3
1 3 2 3
1 3 2 3
1 3 2 3
C7
Play x3 12
# œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ & nœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœœœœœœ ⁄
3 3 4 3 5 3
G7
3 3 4 3 5 3
3 3 4 3 5 3
3 3 4 3 5 3
3 3 4 3 5 3
3 3 4 3 5 3
3 3 4 3 5 3
3 3 4 3 5 3
1.2.
œœœœœœœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ 3 5 4 5
D7
3 5 4 5
3 5 4 5
3 5 4 5
3. jœ w œ j j nœ œ ™™ œœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœ w œœ œfi œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ nw w w w
35
3 5
™ ™
3 5 4 5
3 5 4 5
3 5 4 5
3 5 4 5
3 5 4 5
3 5 4 5
3 5 4 5
3 5 4 5
3 3 4 3 5 3
G7
123
CD 65
C9
3 3 4 3 5 3
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 72: ‘Jimmy Or Jimi?’ rhythm track ‘Jimmy Or Jimi?’ begins with a new chord: E seven sharp nine (E7#9). This great crunchy-sounding chord is closely associated with Jimi Hendrix, who used it often, most notably in the rhythm part of ‘Purple Haze.’ It is a movable shape and you should try it at other frets too. The rest of the rhythm part to this piece uses just two major bar chord shapes. The A, C, and G major chord shapes should be familiar, but did you notice that they are based on the open E major chord? Compare these chords shapes to the open E shape that we learned in Section Six and you will see that the barre is simply taking the place of the open strings. The D major chord in this exercise is based on an open A major chord: again, the barre takes the place of the open strings. If you can, you should experiment with holding down the three notes in the middle of this chord using your third finger flattened across three strings. If you can do it, it makes the chord much easier to play. We also have fret-hand muting (notes that are written as xxx). Mastering this percussive effect is an important part of rhythm-guitar playing. Release the pressure from the fret-hand fingers but keep them in contact with the strings while you strum. The piece is essentially made from an eight-bar phrase that is repeated.
CD 66
T H E O R Y These movable bar chords are very useful. Each one can be played at any fret, and when you’ve mastered them you will be able to play any major chord in at least two positions. Referring back to Exercise 70, you also have two minor chord shapes that you can use to play any minor chord in two positions. To really make use of them you need to learn which note in each shape is the root: the chord takes its name from that note. Knowing the names of the notes on the lowest two strings is important here. Refer to the complete note guide at the back of the book and practice these shapes chromatically (fret-by-fret) saying aloud the name of each chord.
Most of the open-string chords we have learned can be turned into movable shapes if you use a barre in place of the open strings and adjust the positions of the other fingers. The wallchart has more examples of movable chords that demonstrate this. Also, remember that four notes are enough for a chord to have a full sound. You don’t always need a full six-string bar chord. E7#9
A
x
C
D
G
x
1
6
2
1
5 1
3
1
8 1
E G# D Fx 1 3 b7 #9
3 4
A E A C# E A 1 5 1 3 5 1
1
3 1
2
2 4
124
x
3 4
C G C E G C 1 5 1 3 5 1
5
1
1
2 3 4
G D G B D G 1 5 1 3 5 1
2 3 4
D A D F# A 1 5 1 3 5
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SECTION NINE BAR CHORDS AND MOVABLE CHORDS EXERCISE 72 CD TRACK 66
q=100 Rock
### 4 n>œœ>œœ>œœ œ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ ¿ nœœ ¿¿ nœœ & 4 œœ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ œœ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ nn œœ ¿¿ œœœ œ ¿œ œœœ nœ >> > 5 5 5 3 8 7 6 7
⁄
8 7 6 7
8 7 6 7
5 6 X 7 X 7 X 5
6 7 7 5
E7#9
⁄
X X X
5 6 X 7 X 7 X 5
5 5 6 7 7 5
œœ œœ ¿¿ nnœœœ ¿¿¿ nœœœœ œœ ¿ n œ œ nœ
5 5 6 7 7 5
5 5 6 7 7 5
9 10 10 8
⁄
6 7 7 5
5 5 6 7 7 5
5 5 6 X 7 X 7 X 5
A
14 ### œ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ ¿ & œœ ¿¿ œœ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ œ ¿ œ œœœ
⁄
6 7 7 5
A
5 5 6 X 7 X 7 X 5
5 5 6 7 7 5
5 5 6 X 7 X 7 X 5
œœ n nn œœ 9 10 10 8
3 3 4 5 5 3
3 3 4 5 5 3
¿¿ nœœœ ¿ œœ nœ
œœ œœ œœ ¿ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ œœ œœ œœ
X X X
G
œ nnnœœœ
¿¿ nœœœ ¿ œœ nœ
C
œœ ¿ ˙˙ ™™ œœ ¿¿ ˙˙ ™™™ œœ ˙˙ ™
G
C
9 10 10 8
œœ œœ œœ
C
3 3 4 5 5 3
X X X
3 3 4 5 5 3
G
5 5 6 X 7 X 7 X 5
5 5 6 7 7 5
5 5 6 X 7 X 7 X 5
7 9 X 7 10 X 7 10 X 5 8
X X X
C
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ >> >5 >5
5 5 6 7 7 5
5 6 7 7 5
5 6 7 7 5
3 3 X 4 X 5 X 5 3
œœ œœ
œœ ¿¿ œœœ ¿œ
6 7 7 5
5 5 6 X 7 X 7 X 5
3 3 4 5 5 3
3 3 X 4 X 5 X 5 3
˙˙ ™™ ˙˙ ™™™ ˙˙ ™ 5 5 6 7 7 5
A
7 X 7 X 7 X 5
œœ n>œœ >œœ >œœ œœ Œ œ œ œ œœœ œœ > >5 >>> 5 6 7 7 5
8 7 6 7
8 7 6 7
8 7 6 7
E7#9
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ œœ œœ œœ ¿ 5 5 6 7 7 5
5 5 6 X 7 X 7 X 5
A
œœ œœ œœ ¿ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ œœ œœ œœ
7 7 7 5
D
A
3 3 4 5 5 3
œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ œœœ¿ œœœ
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ >> >> 5 5 6 7 7 5
5 5 6 7 7 5
œœ n nn œœ
¿¿ œœœœ ¿¿ œ
9 10 10 8
7 X 7 X 7 X 5 X
C
D
œœ n>œœ >œœ >œœ œœ Œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ > > >>> 5 5 6 7 7 5
8 7 6 7
8 7 6 7
E7#9
8 7 6 7
œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ œœ œœ œœ ¿ œœœ 7 7 7 5
7 X 7 X 7 X 5
w w w w w w 5 5 6 7 7 5
A
125
CD 66
10 # ## œ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ ¿ & œœ ¿¿ œœ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ œ ¿ œ œœœ
X X X
6 7 7 5
œœ œœ œœ œ ¿ œ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ nnœœ ¿¿ œœ œœ œ œ ¿ n œ œ œœ
A
œœ œœ œœ
3 3 4 5 5 3
œ œœ ¿ œœœ œ ¿¿ œœ œ
3 3 X 4 X 5 X 5 3
G
œœ œœ œœ
X X X
3 3 4 5 5 3
3 4 5 5 3
X X X X
C
A
5 5 6 X 7 X 7 X 5
9 10 10 8
A
6 ### œ œœœ œœœ & œœ ¿¿ œœ œœ œ ¿œ œ
6 7 7 5
5 6 7 7 5
œœ œœ œœ ¿ œœ œœ œœ ¿¿ œœœ œœœ
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
SECTION TEN
BACK TO SOLOING In Section Three we learned minor pentatonic and blues scales starting on the low E-string and using open strings. To play in other keys, we need to learn scales that can be moved around in the same way as the bar chords in Section Nine. There are five movable minor pentatonic and blues scale shapes that together cover the entire neck of the guitar. Over the next few exercises we will learn these scales in the key of G, plus five major pentatonic scales that are useful for a different flavor of solo, and then we will move on to play in other keys.
CD 67
Exercise 73: G minor pentatonic, shape one, two-octave Exercise 73 is the G minor pentatonic scale, written out to cover the full two octaves that you can reach in the T H E O R Y third position on the guitar. Notice that, although the Use alternate picking and listen closely to make sure you play legato. scale begins on the root note, G, the highest note is a Bflat. In classical music, scales tend to be played from root note to root note; but in rock, blues, and related styles, because we are interested in using the scale for improvisation, we play all the notes we can reach in one position. Follow the fret-hand fingering that is given, making use of your pinky (finger four) at the sixth fret. EXERCISE 73 CD TRACK 67
4 &4 ⁄
œbœ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ b œ bœ œ œ 3
3
6
3
5
5
3
5
3
6
3
6
3
Fingering
E B G D A E
3
5
3
5
3
5
3
6
3
Scale degrees
1
4
1
4
1
3
1
3
1
3
E B G D A E
4
1
3
126
6
5
7
9
12
15
b3 b7
R 5
bb33 b7
R
4
5
4
b3
R
3
5
7
9
12
15
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SECTION TEN BACK TO SOLOING
Exercise 74: G blues scale, shape one, two-octave As we know, the blues scale is very like the minor pentatonic scale, but it has one extra note in each octave. In the key of G, the extra note is C-sharp or D-flat: that’s the same note by a different name. Just for convenience, we use C-sharp (C#) in the notation stave for the ascending scale and D-flat (Db) for the descending part of the scale. Sometimes this extra note is called a “blue note” as it adds an extra blues twist to the scale.
T E C H N I Q U E The picking is more difficult in this scale because some strings have two notes and some strings have three. Don’t be tempted to play each new string with a downstroke. Pay close attention to your pick hand at first and make sure you alternate-pick the whole scale.
nœ œ œ # œ œ bœ œ n œ œ œ bœ œ #œ
#4 & 4 ⁄
3
6
3
4
5
3
5
3
5
6
3
6
3
bœ œ œ 6
3
E B G D A E
œ bœ œ bœ 3
6
5
3
œnœ œbœ œ bœ œ 5
3
5
4
3
6
3
CD 68
Fingering
6
EXERCISE 74 CD TRACK 68
Scale degrees
1
4
1
4
1
3
1
3 2
1
E B G D A E
4
3
1
4
3
5
7
9
12
15
b3 b7
R 5
b3
4
b7
R
#4
4
#4
5
b3
R
3
5
7
9
12
15
127
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 75: Solo on shape one with vibrato Exercise 75 is a guitar solo using the minor pentatonic scale with CD track 65 as the backing track. It uses a call-and-response structure and shows how just a few riffs can be used to build a whole 12bar solo. The first riff begins with a slide up from the third fret to the fifth fret on the D-string. Use your third finger. When you arrive at the fifth fret, quickly release the note to produce a staccato. In bar two, you can see a wiggly line underneath the held note. This is the sign for vibrato, which is a regular, pulsating rise and fall in pitch. There are two basic methods to produce vibrato on the guitar. One involves holding the note tightly and then wobbling the finger from side to side, effectively stretching and releasing the string. The second method involves pulling the string across the fret, and this is the method used on the CD track: it creates a more intense vibrato. Pull the D-string down towards the G-string and then push it back to its natural position. With practice you’ll be able to do this quite quickly, creating the rhythmic variation in pitch we are looking for. The answering phrase in bar five uses a hammer-on from finger 1 to finger 3, third fret to fifth fret, and you then hop your third finger over one more string to play the G on the fourth string.
CD 69/65
T E C H N I Q U E Vibrato should be considered normal on the guitar, and most guitarists would tend to vibrato any note longer than an eighth note. For this reason vibrato is not always notated, either in the notation stave or in the tab, as it is assumed that you’ll do it automatically. There are some styles, such as punk or indie, where it is not so common, perhaps because in these stripped-down styles it can sound too “musicianly.”
128
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SECTION TEN BACK TO SOLOING EXERCISE 75 CD TRACK 69 / BACKING TRACK 65
q=88 Shuffle blues iq=qK e
#
Œ & ‰ nœj œ. bœ œ œ œ ˙ ™ ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ . ⁄
3
3
5
5
3
5
Œ ‰ nœj œ bœ œ œ œ ˙ ™ . ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ .
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
3
3
5
5
3
5
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
G7 5
3
# ‰ œ œ œ bœ œ œ Œ & œ ˙™ J ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ 3
5
⁄
3
3
5
5
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
# œ nœ œ ˙ œ bœ œ ˙ & ÍÍÍ ÍÍÍÍÍ
D7
3
5
5
3
5
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
G7
9
⁄
3
6
3
ÍÍÍÍÍ
5
C7
3
5
CD 69/65
C9
3
‰ nœj œ bœ œ œ œ ˙ ™ Œ . ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ .
Œ ‰ nœj œ bœ œ œ œ ˙ ™ . ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ .
ÍÍÍ
3
G7
5
3
5
3
5
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ D7
129
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 76: G minor pentatonic scales, shapes two and three The important thing about these two new minor pentatonic scale shapes (below) is that they don’t introduce new notes. They are made up of the same five notes as the scale that we saw in Exercise 73, but shifted up the guitar neck. There are two reasons why this may be useful. Firstly, the top note of the scale is different, so we have shifted the range of the scale up slightly. Secondly, the T E C H N I Q U E relationship between the notes, and how they Notice that in scale shape three you begin in eighth fit on the strings, has changed. If, for example position but have to jump down one fret to seventh you wanted to do a slide from a C to D it would position when you come to the G-string. Then it’s be best to use shape two because in shape back to eighth position for the B- and E-strings. one these two notes are on different strings. EXERCISE 76 SHAPE 2 CD TRACK 70
#4 & 4
bœ œ œ œ œ œ n œ œ œ bœ bœ œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ n œ œ œ bœ bœ
⁄
6
5
8
5
8
5
8
6
7
6
8
8
CD 70
Fingering
6
8
6
7
5
8
5
8
5
8
6
Scale degrees
E B G D A E
2
4
2
4
1
3
1
4 4
1
4
2
3
E B G D A E
5
7
9
12
b3
4
b7
R
4
5
b3
R
b7
5
b3
15
3
4
5
7
9
12
15
b œ œ œ œ œ œ nœ œ n œ œ œ œ bœ & œ œ nœ œ bœ œ œ nœ œ œ
EXERCISE 76 SHAPE 3 CD TRACK 70
#
⁄
8
10
8
E B G D A E
10
10
1 1
4
1
3
1
3
7
3
9
8
10
8
11
8
10
7
E B G D A E
4
1
5
10
11
3
1
3
130
8
7
8
12
15
10
8
10
4
8
b3
R
b7 b3
4
b7
R
4
5
10
5
5
3
8
7
5
9
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15
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SECTION TEN BACK TO SOLOING
Exercise 77: G blues scales, shapes two and three
T H E O R Y Notice that in both these scales shape two begins on the second note of the scale, B-flat, and shape three begins on the third note, C.
Exercise 77 shows the blues scale in G (from Exercise 74), moved up the neck to create shapes two and three. The notes are the same, only their location on the guitar has changed. Compare these two scales with the minor pentatonic scales in Exercise 76: can you spot where the extra note appears?
EXERCISE 77 SHAPE 2 CD TRACK 71
bœ œ bœ œ œ b œ œ # nœ nœ œbœ œbœ œ œ # œ b œ œ & œ nœ œbœ œ bœ b œ œ # œ œnœ ⁄
6
8
5
9
5
8
8
5
6
7
6
6
8
8
9
8
Fingering
8
6
7
6
5
8
5
8
5
9
8
6
Scale degrees 1
3
1 2
1
3 3
1
4
1
4 1
3
E B G D A E
4
3
5
4
7
9
12
8
9 10
E B G D A E
8 10
8 10 11
1
8
4 1
3
1
3
1
7
2
4
3
9
12
15
R
R
b3
5
b7 4
5
#4
#4
7
9
12
15
EXERCISE 77 SHAPE 3 CD TRACK 71
œ bœ œ bœ œnœ œbœ œbœ œnœ œ bœ ˙
9 10
9
8
11 8
10 7
E B G D A E
4
1
5
11
3
2
1
3
7 10
8
b7
b3
3
bœ œ #œ œ n œ œ œ # œ b œ & œ œ # œ œnœ
4
#4 5
4
15
#
b3
11 10 8
4
10 8
#4
5
b3
R
b7
5
3
5
10 9 8
7
b3
4
b7
R
4
#4 5
9
#4
12
15
131
CD 71
E B G D A E
⁄
6
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 78: G blues solo using shapes one to three, introducing bends Exercise 78 is a 12-bar guitar solo that makes use of all the minor pentatonic/blues scale shapes we have learned so far. In addition to staccato, slides, and vibrato it also makes use of one very important new technique: the bend. A bend is achieved by holding the string on the fret and then pushing it away from its normal resting point, with the aim of raising the pitch of the note by either a half step or a whole step. Slightly flat and slightly sharp bends can also be used expressively. On the notation stave, a bend is shown by an angled line: two can be seen in the very first bar. On the tab stave, an arrow pointing upwards from the note that is to be bent says “full” for a whole step bend and “1/2” for a half step bend. Here is a “walk-through” for the beginning of this challenging exercise.In bar one, play the note C on the fifth fret of the G-string using your third finger. Immediately push the string towards the D-string, causing it to rise in pitch to the note D, two frets higher. Without re-picking, return the string back to where it came from and play the remaining notes in the bar as normal. Bar two uses the same technique, but ends with a slide from the fifth fret to the seventh fret with added vibrato. In bar three, bend the fifth fret note again and hold the bend while you pick the third fret on the B string. Then re-pick the bent note and release it back down. Other bends in the exercise should be straightforward from there on, but notice that in bar five the note is bent, released, bent again, and released all from one pick stroke. Remember that the exercise only uses the three scale shapes we have learned and base your fingering on those shapes.
CD 72/65
T E C H N I Q U E Bending is much easier if you support the bend with other fingers. In the first bar you should be pushing with finger three at the fifth fret. Also place your first and second fingers at the third and fourth frets on the same string and push with all three fingers.
EXERCISE 78 CD TRACK 72 / BACKING TRACK 65
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full
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⁄
nœ
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3
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full
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5
full
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5
3
. œ œœ œ œ ‰ bœ œ œ J . 3 (hold and re-pick bend) .
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5 7
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3
5
7
5
3
5
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3
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full
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3 5
3
3 3 5
6
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132
full
6
full
full
6
7
6
8
ÍÍÍ
11
11
11
8 8
8
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SECTION TEN BACK TO SOLOING
# bœ œ œ ˙ ÍÍ &
b œfij
7
œ œ œ œ b œfij œ œ œ
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10
8
G7 10
&
# nœfij œ œ œnœfij œ œ œ œ œ œfij b œ œ 6
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10
8 8 11 8
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7
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11 11
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n œ b œ œfij œ œ œ œ
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EXERCISE 78 CD TRACK 72 / BACKING TRACK 65 continued
11 8
10
8 11
11
11
G7
full
11
8 10
D7
CD 72/65
Exercise 79: G minor pentatonic scales, shapes four and five Exercise 79 introduces the next two minor pentatonic shapes. Adding the final two scales completes the set and means that we now have the entire neck available in minor pentatonics. If you start with shape one in the third position, you can work your way up the neck starting the next shape on each successive note of the scale until you reach the 15th fret, where you will be an octave higher than where you started and can play shape one again. Try using all five shapes to solo over CD track 73; EXERCISE 79 SHAPE 4 CD TRACK 73 n œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ nœ œ n œ #4 œ œ œ bœ & 4 œ nœ œ bœ œ œ nœ œ
⁄
10
10
13
10
13
12
10
12
11
13
10
13
Fingering 1
11
12
4
1
3
1
3
1 1
9
E B G D A E
4 2
7
13
10
12
10
13
10
13
10
Scale degrees
E B G D A E 5
10
4 4
12
15
17
b7
5
b3 R
4
5
R 5
5
7
9
4
bb37
b3 b7
12
15
17
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
the more you do it the better you’ll get at making up your own phrases. As we will see in the coming exercises, you can move these five shapes around the guitar to play in other keys. If shape one can be played an octave higher than in Exercise 73, starting at the 15th fret, shape two can be played at the 18th fret—at which point most guitars will run out of frets. If you have a guitar with a 24-fret neck, you will also be able to fit in shape three an octave higher. The easiest way to memorize these scale shapes is to concentrate on the fingering diagram. Shape one goes 1 4, 1 3, 1 3, 1 3, 1 4, 1 4, starting on the lowest string, but you should also know the letter-names of the notes you are playing and pay attention to the diagrams that explain the scales in terms of root, minor third, perfect fourth and fifth, and minor seventh.
œ œ œ œ n œ œ œ bœ b œ œ nœ œ # n œ œ œ bœ œ œ & nœ œ bœ œ nœ
EXERCISE 79 SHAPE 5 CD TRACK 73
⁄
13
15
13
15
12
15
12
15
13
15
13
15
13
CD 73
Fingering
7
13
15
12
15
12
15
13
15
13
Scale degrees
E B G D A E 5
15
9
2
4
2
4
1
4
1
4 2
4
2
4
12
15
E B G D A E 17
5
7
9
b7
R
4
5
R
b3
5
b7 b3
4
b7
R
12
15
17
Exercise 80: G blues scales, shapes four and five Exercise 80 does for the blues scales what Exercise 79 does for the minor pentatonic scales: it completes the set so that we now have all five shapes and can play all over the neck in in the key of G. You can choose how you go about learning the five scale shapes. You could learn all the blues scales, recognizing that you can leave out the extra note and change a blues scale to a minor pentatonic. Alternatively, you could learn all the minor pentatonic shapes, and be aware that you can put the extra note in to turn them into blues scales. Make all five scales part of your daily practice routine. Start with shape one and play each shape in turn, working your way up the neck. Then practice making up your own phrases, finding ways to connect one scale to the next so that you are not stuck in one position.
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SECTION TEN BACK TO SOLOING EXERCISE 80 SHAPE 4 CD TRACK 74
G blues scale shape four
nœ œ bœ œ bœ œ œ # œ b œ œnœ œbœ œ #4 nœ œ œ œ # œ b œ bœ œnœ & 4 œnœ œ ˙™ ⁄
10 13
10 13
10 11 12
10
12
11 13
14
10 13 10
Fingering
11
12 10
1
3
4
3
1 1
E B G D A E
4
1
2
3
1
4
1
7
13
12 11 10
13
10
13 10
Scale degrees
E B G D A E 5
14
9
4
12
15
17
b7
5
b3 b7 4
4
#4
5
b3
R
b7
5
5
7
9
p
#4
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12
15
17
EXERCISE 80 SHAPE 5 CD TRACK 74
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13 15
13 15 16
E B G D A E
12 15
12
5
7
9
2
3
1
4
1
4 1
3
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3
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4
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14 15
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14 13
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17
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E B G D A E
3
1 1
15
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4
5
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9
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R
#4
5
R
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4
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13
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15
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135
CD 74
œ œ œ bœ œ n œ œ œ # œ b œ œnœ œ bœ n œ # œ œ bœ œ bœ œ & nœ œbœ œ#œ n˙ ™
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 81: G blues scale solo, using all five shapes In Exercise 81 (opposite) we use the full repertoire of bends, slides, slurs, and vibrato to create an expressive blues-style solo. We also use all five scale shapes, including using shape one at the 15th fret, an octave higher than where we begin. This exercise “quotes” the beginning of Exercise 75: it is a good phrase and makes a good starting point for a solo. Bar two reuses the technique seen in bar two of Exercise 78, holding a bend while picking another note and then re-picking the bend and releasing it down to its original pitch. Bar three introduces a new technique, which is a unison bend. The third fret on the top string (G) is played at the same time as the sixth fret on the B-string (F) and the B-string is then bent up a whole step, producing a unison G, both strings sounding together. Finally, in bar 11, we introduce the “rake.” Lay your index finger across three strings at the 15th fret, muting the G- and B-strings and fretting the top string. Play all three strings with a quick downward motion of the pick.
Exercise 82: The major pentatonic scale Exercise 82 is all about major pentatonic scales, but you will be relieved to know that you do not have to learn a new set of scale shapes. The major pentatonic scale shapes are on the wallchart, but they are in fact the same shapes as the minor pentatonic scales. This is how it works:
E minor pentatonic
& œ
E Root
œ
œ
œ
B Perfect 5th
D Minor 7th
E Root
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
A Major 2nd
B Major 3rd
D Perfect 5th
E Major 6th
G Root
œ G Minor 3rd
œ A Perfect 4th
G major pentatonic
& œ G Root
We learned the E minor pentatonic scale in Exercise 23, and found that the notes were: E, G, A, B, and D. The G major pentatonic scale is the same five notes, but starting on G: G, A, B, D, and E. So if you can play the minor pentatonic shapes from Exercises 73, 76, and 79 three frets lower down the guitar you will be playing E minor pentatonic. If you treat G as the root note, you will be playing G major pentatonic.
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SECTION TEN BACK TO SOLOING EXERCISE 81 CD TRACK 75 / BACKING TRACK 65
iq=q K e
q=88 Shuffle blues
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full
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3
3
5
full
3 6
5
6
3
G7 4
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(Hold and re-pick bend)
full
3
5
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3
3 3 5
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137
CD 75/65
7
11
11
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full
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 83: G major pentatonic solo The minor pentatonic scale is a very useful scale, and as we will see in Exercises 84 and 85, it is not just used in the blues or blues-related styles. Every now and then, however, you will come across a chord sequence in which the minor pentatonic scale will not work—or at least, will need some special handling. The chord sequence from Exercise 50, CD track 48, is an example of this. It is in the key of G, and you should certainly try to solo over it using a G blues scale; don’t be surprised, however, if you find it does not sound good. The E minor chords in this chord sequence will not work with a G minor pentatonic. A better approach is to use G major pentatonic over the G major chords, which is then the same scale as E minor pentatonic over the E minor chords. For bars five to seven, C major pentatonic will fit the C major chord, and it contains the same notes as A minor pentatonic to fit the A minor chord. The solo makes use of slurs and slides that should be familiar now. At the end of bar five, play D and G together, and then hammer on the G-string to produce the note E while the G is still sounding. At the beginning of bar nine, there is a harmony bend using the same two notes; the D and G are struck together, and the D is then bent up a whole step to E, in harmony with the still-sounding G. In fact, the E is slightly flat, but we felt it sounded authentic. There is a similar technique at the beginning of bar eight, using notes at the tenth fret, and more double stops combined with hammer ons can be found in the final few bars.
CD 76/48
T H E O R Y A G major pentatonic scale is the same notes as an E minor pentatonic scale. Try to work out a solo of your own using all the E minor pentatonic scale shapes (or possibly the E blues scale) over the E blues backing track, CD07.
EXERCISE 83 CD TRACK 76 / BACKING TRACK CD 48
q=75 Rock ballad
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5 7
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SECTION TEN BACK TO SOLOING EXERCISE 83 CD TRACK 76 / BACKING TRACK CD 48 continued
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139
CD 76/48
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 84: ‘Jimmy or Jimi?’, rock guitar solo
CD 76
If we play the minor pentatonic shapes from Exercises 73, 76, and 79, two frets higher up the guitar, we will be moving from the key of G to the key of A. Exercise 84, ‘Jimmy or Jimi?’ combines the first two minor pentatonic shapes and the soloing techniques we have learned (bends, slides, slurs, etc) to create an authentic rock guitar solo. Minor pentatonic and blues scales are used throughout rock music, not just in the blues. Here’s a walk-through of the opening bars to get you started. The piece begins with a slide “from nowhere” up to notes that belong to scale shape two. Start around the fifth or sixth fret, pick the note and slide your finger quickly up the string to the ninth fret, applying pressure along the string so that you hear it skid over the frets. Release the pressure when you get to the ninth fret to create the staccato (indicated by the dot over the note). In the next bar, the upward bend is very quick, but the release comes rhythmically on the second eighth note of the bar, and this short lick ends with some fast vibrato on the D-string. To keep the piece simple, all of the bends are “full” or whole step bends: always support the finger that is doing the bend by adding more fingers to the string whenever possible. Bar three uses the same quick upward bend and slower release to begin an answering phrase that ends in a bend that is held while being vibratoed. Not an easy technique, but one that’s well worth acquiring. Bar four repeats bar two (there is a question-and-answer structure to the whole solo) but ends with a rapid hammer-on run leading to a rising phrase with a vibratoed seventh-fret D. The end of bar nine quotes the opening notes again as the beginning of the second section. The first eight bars of rhythm are repeated as the solo stretches out to include higher notes from blues scale shape two. Notice that the material in the opening bars is used as a building block or “motif” and is often quoted and varied during the course of the piece. Bars three, seven, and 11 are almost identical, and bar 15 very similar. This helps to link the phrases of the solo together so that it makes sense as a piece of music.
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SECTION TEN BACK TO SOLOING EXERCISE 84 CD TRACK 77
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E7#9
9
10
ÍÍÍ
A
141
CD 76
œfij œ œ œ œfij œ œ ÍÍ œ 13 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ÍÍœ œfij œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ Œ Œ J & ÍÍÍ ÍÍ 8 10 8 10 ÍÍ ÍÍ 8 8 10 9 7 5 7 5 7 7 9 9 7 ⁄ 12
11
10
Guitar Course Section 10 NEW JM
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Exercise 85: Am7-D7 groove solo
S O U N D S In search of a more intense soloing tone, the guitar on this track was powered by humbucking pickups, and we used a distortion box in front of the amp.
As we have seen in Exercise 84, pentatonic scales can be very versatile. Exercise 85 stays in the key of A, and is a solo over the two-chord groove from Exercise 60, CD track 55. The two chords are Am7 and D7, and the A minor pentatonic scale is used throughout. The exercise begins with four bars of groove: it’s good to sit out sometimes and let the groove develop. The opening bars should give you no trouble at this stage, but bar eight is interesting because of the two quick hammerons, Carlos Santana style. Bar 17 features multiple bends and releases all from one pick-stroke. EXERCISE 85 CD TRACK 78 / BACKING TRACK CD 55
4 &4
q=90 Latin rock
4
j fij œ œ ˙ÍÍÍ j œ j œ œ Œ ‰ œ ≈œ ≈œ ≈R œ
4
full
⁄ CD 78/55
‰ œj ≈ œj ≈ œj ≈ œR œ œ
5
7
5
7
7
ÍÍÍ
7
7
5
7
Am7
D7
5
7
7
Am7
œ. œ œ œ jœ j fi j œ œœœ & œ œ œfij œ ˙ ‰ œj ≈ œ ≈ œ ≈ œR œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œJ œ™ ‰ J ÍÍÍ .
8
j œfi
full
5 7
⁄
5
5 7
ÍÍÍ
D7
™˙ œ œ œ œ & ÍÍÍ
D7
142
7
7
7
7
Am7
12
⁄
5
5
5
7
5 7
ÍÍÍ
7
full
7
5 7 5
D7
8
8
7
9
7
7 5 7
Am7
œ. œfij œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ™ œ œ œ œ œ J ≈R ‰J ÍÍ . ÍÍ 8 8 10 10 8 10 8 full
9
Am7
8 10
10
10
D7
full
10
8
8
Am7
9
8 10
8
9
Guitar Course Section 10 NEW JM
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SECTION TEN BACK TO SOLOING EXERCISE 85 CD TRACK 78 / BACKING TRACK CD 55 continued
œ œ œ œÍÍÍÍœ Œ &
16
œfij
8 10
8
⁄
15
7
D7
19
& ‰
‰
full
ÍÍÍÍ 9
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œÍÍ full
15
ÍÍ
full
15
15
13
14
Am7
œfij
œœœ full
15
œfij
full
15
.
œœœ œ œ
œfij
13
13
14 12 14
U
full
15 13
13
15
13
ÍÍÍ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ U w ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
10
15
15
13
10 14
12
14
D7
14
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ CD 78/55
⁄ Am7
full
D7
full
15
œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ‰ J ÍÍÍ œfij
Am7
Further study Many of the exercises in this book are intended to be used as backing tracks for you to be able to develop your own soloing ideas, including this one, CD track 55. Steal riffs from the demonstration solos, experiment with them and make them your own. Record your own backing tracks in other keys, and practice adding riffs and soloing over them. And practice your chords. Remember that most guitarists spend most of their time playing rhythm guitar, and it is probably more important to be able to play good rhythm than solos. I hope this book has helped you to make guitar part of your life, and wherever it may lead you, enjoy your music. Rod Fogg London 2013
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T H E U LT I M AT E G U I TA R C O U R S E
Complete notes of guitar by fret number Open
¡ ú & E
& ú B
1
2
ú
#Ï bÏ ú
F
ú C
F# Gb
3
G
#Ï bÏ ú C# Db
#Ï bÏ
5
#Ï b Ï ú G# Ab
A
#Ï bÏ ú D# Eb
E
ú
ú
6
7
8
#Ï bÏ ú
ú
A# Bb
B
F
F
F# Gb
G
G# Ab
A
A# Bb
A
A# Bb
B
C
#Ï bÏ
ú
ú
D
D# Eb
E
F
#Ï bÏ
ú
#Ï bÏ
ú
ú
G
G# Ab
A
A# Bb
B
C
# Ï bÏ ú
#Ï bÏ
ú
ú
E
F
C# Db
#Ï bÏ ú
ú
B
#Ï bÏ ú ú
C
#Ï bÏ ú
A
ú
B
#Ï bÏ ú
G# Ab
#Ï bÏ
ú
#Ï bÏ ú
17
#Ï bÏ ú
E
#Ï bÏ
A
16
D# Eb
ú
F
E
D
ú
E
ú
C# Db
#Ï bÏ
ú
ú
C
G# Ab
ú
¢&
ú
G
#Ï bÏ ú D# Eb
#Ï bÏ
F# Gb
# Ï bÏ ú
D
ú
F
ú
C# Db
ú
E
ú
C
#Ï bÏ
D# Eb
#Ï bÏ
B
#Ï b Ï ú
D
E
A# Bb
G
ú
D# Eb
A
F# Gb
#Ï b Ï
D
&
F
ú
#Ï bÏ ú G# Ab
E
#Ï bÏ
#Ï bÏ ú
ú
D# Eb
ú
ú
15
D
ú
ú
G
#Ï bÏ
#Ï bÏ
#Ï bÏ
F# Gb
ú
ú
14
B
& ú
F
13
A# Bb
#Ï bÏ ú C# Db
#Ï bÏ
12
A
G
A
C
C# Db
11
G# Ab
F# Gb
G# Ab
B
10
#Ï bÏ ú
#Ï bÏ ú
ú
& ú
A# Bb
9
C
#Ï bÏ
G
ú
D
4
A# Bb
F# Gb
C
C# Db
D
D# Eb
#Ï bÏ F# Gb
ú G
#Ï bÏ ú F# Gb
G
#Ï bÏ ú C# Db
#Ï bÏ ú G# Ab
Spellings of common chords TYPE OF CHORD
NAME OF CHORD
SYMBOL
SPELLING
Triads:
C major
C
CEG
C minor
Cm
C Eb G
C diminished
Cdim, C°
C Eb Gb
C augmented
Caug, C+
C E G#
Sixths
C sixth
C6
CEGA
C minor sixth
Cm6, C-6
C Eb G A
Sevenths
C major seven
Cmaj7, Cma7, C7
CEGB
C seven
C7
C E G Bb
C minor seven
Cm7, C-7
C Eb G Bb
C minor seven flat five or C half-diminished
Cm7b5, Cø
C Eb Gb Bb
Ninths
144
D
C diminished seven
C°7, Cdim7
C Eb Gb A (Bbb)
C major nine
Cmaj9, C9
CEGBD
C nine
C9
C E G Bb D
C minor nine
Cm9, C-9
C Eb G Bb D
C added ninth
Cadd9
CEGD
Elevenths
C eleven
C11
C (E G) Bb D F
Suspended Chords
C suspended fourth
Csus4
CFG
C suspended second
Csus2
CDG
A
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