| | | Hey Friend,
Yeah, Friday! I'm going to jump right into the lesson today.
LESSON
Alright, if you've been following along, by now you should have...
- selected a simple, three to four chord song to learn
- listened to the song
- hummed along with the chords being played
Notice that up until now I haven't said anything about touching your guitar. Today you're going to rectify that.
Pick up your trusty ax (ha, ha I almost said thirsty) and sit down in front of your playback device - whatever you're using to play the song you want to learn.
If you have the capability to loop the song through the intro and first verse sections, get that set up (I recommend Song Surgeon for this exercise).
Before you start playing the song back, you're going to do a little exercise.
Hum the song chords as you did yesterday. Get the tune in your head so you can focus on guitar rather than the audio you're listening to.
Now on your guitar, start trying to match up the notes of that little ditty.
Here's a tip. Start with one string and find each note along that string. Don't worry about following the tempo of the song or the rhythmic pattern. Just focus on the notes and matching them up on the string.
I suggest you hunt for the notes on either the sixth (E) or the fifth (A) string. The reason for this is you'll end up using these two strings as the root for most barre chords. Since you're most likely wanting to make more use of the entire fingerboard, it's important to learn where the notes are on these two strings. They really will become a solid base to work from as you expand your playing knowledge.
Here's a little encouragement. When you begin to move out of the comfort of the first three frets and into new fret blocks (sections of three to four frets) on the fingerboard, you are making the transition from being a beginner guitar player to an intermediate player!
Once you've determined what the notes sound like on your guitar, you can then start finding the notes on adjacent strings, but for this exercise, that won't be necessary.
Once you have mapped out where the notes are on one string, you can start to decipher which chords these notes represent. Because the chords have a primary pitch, that is usually going to be the chord you'll play.
Okay, I understand this might be a little confusing, so here's an example.
I selected "Change of Heart" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I began by humming the notes of the opening riff (because they also translate into the verses) and then I mapped them out on the sixth string. Here are the notes laid out.
Now that you've found them on a string, determine which notes these are. If you haven't memorized the notes on the sixth string, now is a good time to practice it. Remember, the fret markers are your friend. Here's a little crib note for you:
SIXTH STRING: FRET : 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 = E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# E : NOTES (Fret 0 is the open string)
In my case, I found the notes C, G and F. This tells me a lot of information, but I'll save that for later. Remember, ONE thing!
These notes give me solid clues to which chords I need to play in the song.
Try it out, take a shot at finding the notes. If you have trouble with the notes, it's probably because your ears aren't quite used to separating the different notes out from the rest of the audio.
Keep practicing this listening skill by listening to music throughout the day. While listening, try to isolate just one instrument (it could be the singer) and concentrate on just the notes that are being performed by that one instrument.
Practice, practice, practice!
I mentioned Song Surgeon as a wonderful tool to help you master these skills. Practice is about repetition and isolating areas that need improvement. Song surgeon allows you to zero in on problem areas and create specialized practice sessions to drill. Create a loop of the section. Take the looped area an slow the tempo down so you can hear each individual note. Then practice it until you can play it easily. Bump up the tempo and master it. Repeat until you're at full speed.
Here's a bonus tip. Increase the tempo of the looped section past the song's normal tempo to stretch and expand your ability. This is how you grow your skills.
Check out Song Surgeon here and try out a demo copy.
Tomorrow, we're gonna make chords from those notes. Don't stay up too late tonight!
Peace~
Dave |
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