The guitar is a very expressive instrument. Unlike the piano, it has an added advantage in that we can control the sound of a note in many ways after we play it. Some simple expressive techniques are commonplace in most guitarists’ playing style. The most common ones are known as hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides and bends. HAMMER-ONS As the name suggests, a hammer-on … Read More
When we say we are playing in a certain key, we are talking of the root note to which all other notes will relate. It is also the note that the piece of music will resolve to at the end (cadence), or any other place where a resolution is required. To help remember which notes are diatonic to a key, we … Read More
When we play more than one note simultaneously, we are creating a harmony. On the guitar, we can play anything from two to a maximum of six notes simultaneously (a different note on each string). If we play two notes of the same pitch but an octave apart, we create a stronger sound than just by playing a single note … Read More
Two notes being played simultaneously is referred to as an Interval. An interval can be considered consonant (strong sounding) or dissonant (strange sounding!). Broadly speaking, there are two types of intervals: simple intervals and compound intervals. A simple interval is an interval of less than an octave, while a compound interval is an interval greater than one octave. Lets look again at our major scale, in the key of … Read More
So far, I have only outlined diatonic intervals. These are not the only intervals that exist, there are also intervals between sharp and flat notes to consider. Here is the full list of both simple and compound intervals: Intervals from 0 up to 12 semitones are simple intervals. Intervals above 13 semiitones are compound intervals. After 12 semitones (the perfect 8th, or … Read More
5th chords are the simplest chords to play on a guitar, but sound very ‘strong’. They are commonly known as Power Chords. The 5th chord consists of only two notes, the root note and the 5th note of the scale. This interval, as discussed earlier, is a very consonant interval. So if we were in the key of A we would use the root note (A) and … Read More
Three notes being played simultaneously are referred to as a Triad. Triads are the building blocks of Chords. The most common triads in popular music are the major triad and the minor triad. THE MAJOR TRIAD Major triads are derived from the major scale, and are the basis of the major chord. As an example, let’s look at the A major scale: The A major (or … Read More
We can finger common major chord shapes based on our three-note triads by repeating some notes in the triad. Usually notes are repeated in chords to fill them out more. Here are some common major chord shapes: Listen: THE BARRE (OR BAR) CHORD You will notice that two of the chords above are made using a ‘barre’ (or bar) – … Read More
So what if we want to play the chord D# major? Or Gb major? How do we achieve this? What we do is we use the ‘open position’ chords on the previous page and move them up the neck. To do this, however, we need to turn the chords into barre chords. The barre then acts as a movable ‘nut’ to raise … Read More
Minor triads are derived from the minor scale, and are the basis of the minor chord. They differ from the major triad in that they have a MINOR THIRD instead of a major third, which basically means we flatten the third note (move it down one semitone or one fret). Let’s look at the natural minor scale, in the key of A: … Read More
