Have you ever wondered if there's some 'secret trick' to
learning how to play guitar? Well, there IS a trick -- but
it's one that 'hides in plain sight.'
If you want to move beyond the basics and truly master your
instrument, there are two things you absolutely must do:
1. Memorize the fretboard.
2. Develop a solid understanding of the relationship
between scales, modes and chords.
The reason for memorizing the fretboard should be obvious.
Knowing where all the notes are will make you a faster,
more intuitive player. The reasons (there are many) behind
learning the relationship between scales, modes and chords
require a little more explanation.
The first thing to understand is that chords are
constructed from scales.
Let's say you want to know which notes make up the G-major
chord You'd first need to know is that Major chords are
built from the root, third and fifth tones of their
corresponding Major scale. Then, you'd need to know the G
Major scale, which is: G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G.
If you count up from G to the 3rd note you arrive at B. If
you count up from G to the 5th note you have D. Play these
notes simultaneously as GBD, and you have a G Major chord!
The second to understand is that scales (and,therefore,
chords) can begin on any note within the key
Here's where modes and chord inversions ('voicings') come
in. Let's say that you decide to play that G Major chord at
the 7th fret on the first three strings of the guitar. If
you strum the chord from the inside out, you will play DGB.
In other words, your 'root' is no longer the bottom/first
note of the chord. This is what's known as an inversion.
Now, let's say you are playing a song in G Major, and you
decide to play the scale starting from a root other than G.
For instance, you might begin playing the scale at D. Is
this a 'new' scale or just the same scale from a different
position? It's actually both!
A G Major scale played from any point while in the key of G
is considered "Ionian Mode". It will always sound 'Major'.
However, if you play the G Major scale pattern from D while
you're in a different key, you'll be in one of the
following, alternative modes: Aeolian, Dorian, Phrygian,
Mixolydian, or Locrian.
These modes will sound something other than 'Major'. The
Aeolian mode, for example, is actually considered the Minor
scale (Ionian = Major scale for all keys, and Aeolian =
Minor scale for all keys).
The other modes fall in between, creating interesting
harmonizations and are often used in Jazz music for soloing
over the more complex, dissonant-feeling chords such as the
Major and Minor 7ths and 9ths.
When you learn these relationships, you'll start to notice
something akin to an 'interlocking' pattern on your
fretboard. For example, when you know all of the inversions
for a given chord, then you'll also know that beginning a
scale on the root of that inversion can lead you into
whichever modal scale you want to play over the current key.
The more relationships you see and understand, the more
your fretboard opens up to you for creative soloing and
songwriting. The end result is learning and mastering your
guitar faster than you ever imagined!
----------------------------------------------------
Someday you'll be a guitar-god....but, first, you must
learn how 'mere mortals' play:
http://www.learnguitartips.com
No comments:
Post a Comment