1 LESSON ONE Guitar Lesson One Tuning up The most difficult task that a beginning guitarist faces is tuning

the instrument. As it takes time to develop a sense of pitch, I recommend that you use an electronic tuner at first. If you don't have one, go get one. It is impossible to learn to play on an out of tune guitar. You can pick up an electronic tuner for as little as $1 . ! and it "ill pay for itself before the end of this first lesson. #ake sure that the sales person sho"s you ho" to use it, and pay attention to "hat they tell you. If the instructions don't make sense to you, $% &%T leaves the store until you understand '(A)T*Y ho" to use the tuner. If the sales person acts like they have something better to do than educate you on ho" to tune the guitar, leave a complaint "ith the management and go buy a tuner some"here else. +laying in tune is T,AT important.egin by tuning your guitar using your electronic tuner. As you "ork on this lesson, try tuning to the #I$I file by ear and then double checking for accuracy "ith your electronic tuner. This lesson is divided into four parts/ Theory Technique - Left hand Technique - Right hand Music Theory &otes are named after the first seven letters in the alphabet. In order, they are/ A-B-C-D-E-G

.et"een any t"o notes, e0cept . 1 ) and ' 1 2, "e also have a sharp and3or flat note. These are the symbols that are used to denote sharp and flat/ ! shar" ! f#at If "e list the notes, again, and include the sharps and flats, "e get/ A - A$%B& - B - C - C$%D& - D - D$%E& - E - $%G& - G - G$%A& - A

%ne important thing to notice is that (43(b is one note that has t"o names 5The term used to describe this is '&,A6#%&I)7. 2or e0ample, A4 is the e0act same note as .b. 8ometimes, one name "ill be used, and sometimes the other name "ill be used. 9e "ill cover this in much greater detail in a later lesson. 2or no", it's only important that you kno" the names of the notes. Another thing to notice is that after :43Ab 9e arrive at A again. This second A vibrates e0actly t"ice as fast as the first A, and therefore, the ear tends to hear it as another version of the same note. The second A is called the %)TA;' of the first A. If "e continue after the second A, "e get A43.b an %)TA;' higher than the first, . an %)TA;' higher, ) an %)TA;' higher etc., etc., until "e get to A again. This A is t"o %)TA;'8 higher than the first A. If "e keep going, the "hole pattern <ust repeats over and over until "e can't get any higher on the instrument. 5If you didn't run out of notes, you could keep right on going until the notes "ere so high that only a dog could hear them-7 The same is true if you travel in the opposite direction. The pattern repeats until you run out of notes, or the neighbors call the cops 5"hichever comes first7.

> ,ere's something to help you remember the sharps and flats. If you sharpen a pencil, you raise a point on it. Therefore, if you play A and then play the ne0t higher note, you "ould call the second note A4. If you flatten a pop can, you mash it do"n. *ike"ise, if you play . and then play the ne0t lo"er note, you "ould call the second note .b. 6emember that A4 and .b are the e0act same note or '&,A6#%&I). This may be a bit confusing but, you'el get used to it. All you have to remember is A through : of the alphabet and a 43b note in bet"een every t"o notes e0cept . 1 ) and ' 1 2 5there's no such note as .4 or )b, like"ise, '4 or 2b. There is an e0ception to this but, that's "ay do"n the road-7. &o", the strings of the guitar are tuned ' A $ : . ' from the lo"est sounding to the highest sounding. 9hat I have for you, is an e0ercise that uses the A1string to practice playing and naming the notes. $on't "orry about the standard music notation right no". =ust follo" the TA. until you get the idea. %nce you get the idea of the e0ercise, don't use the TA. either. You have to kno" this stuff by heart. The idea of this e0ercise is to start on the %+'& 5if you <ust play the string "ithout putting any finger do"n on it, its called %+'&7 A1string and play each note, in order, up and do"n the string, "hile naming the note out loud to yourself. $on't "orry about "hich left1hand fingers to use. =ust use "hatever seems comfortable. 9e'el start "orrying about "hich fingers to use later. 't #oo(s #i(e this /

I only took the e0ercise up to the 1>th fret but, you could keep going as high up the neck as possible before heading back do"n to the %+'& string. 5?p and do"n directions on guitar A*9AY8 refer to the pitch of the notes. If you go up the neck, you go from playing lo"er sounding notes to higher sounding notes. If you go do"n the neck, you go from playing higher sounding notes to lo"er sounding notes.7 %nce you can go up and do"n the A1string and name the notes 5$on't "orry about trying to remember e0actly "here each note is. That "ill come later. =ust get the pattern of ho" the notes are named so that you kno" it by heart.7, do the same thing on the other strings. If you start on the $1string 5or any other string7, the pattern is still the same. You're <ust starting in a different spot/ $ 1 $4 1 ' 1 2 1 24 1 : 1 :4 1 A 1 A4 1 . 1 ) 1 )4 1 $

F Guitar Lesson One - Left )and Technique 2or no", "e "ill "ork each hand separately. 9hen you're "orking on one hand, don't "orry about ho" the other is doing it's <ob. =ust concentrate on getting the hand you are "orking to do "hat it is supposed to. If you start right at the beginning and make yourself practice correct techni@ue, you "ill &%T run into any of the road blocks that a lot of guitarists encounter after they have played for a fe" years. #ost tend to learn the hard "ay. They opt for sloppy techni@ue instead of spending the time and effort to get it right from start. I've seen this time and time again. A player reaches a certain level only to have to start back at the beginning and re1 learn such things as hand position or picking. This is because improper techni@ue "ill limit your ability to play like a AmotherA. In the beginning a player is usually more interested in learning to "hip out a fe" cool songs, but "hen they try to step beyond that and really play, they find that they can't get the Ahigh performanceA that they need out of their hands. Techni@ue is based on efficiency and economy. )orrect positioning and use of the hands is essential in order to ma0imiBe your ability to get at the notes that you need to play. I can't stress this enough. Take the time to get it right. In the long run you'el save yourself a lot of back1tracking. *eft ,and/ There are t"o basic left hand positions/ C#assica# Base&a## &at The most versatile left1hand position is the classical position. This is the position "e "ill concentrate on. The baseball bat position is very useful but also very limiting. It "ill come into play later "hen "e deal directly "ith string bending, vibrato and certain chords. .ut, for no", the classical position "ill allo" you to develop the ability to use all of your fingers "ith e@ual control and agility. Try this test/ +lace your thumb in the center of the back of the neck, as per the illustration for classical position. &o", spread your remaining fingers out as "ide as you can 59ith a little practice and rela0ation, you "ill eventually be able to cover C frets easily, "ithout moving your hand-7. 9hile keeping your fingers spread, slo"ly move your thumb up and over the top of the neck until you have it hanging over the fingerboard, as in the baseball bat position. &otice "hat happens to the rest of your fingers. There's <ust no "ay to keep them spread out "ith the thumb hanging over the fingerboard. This fact limits your access to three or four frets at a time "ith little or no mobility if you flop your thumb over the top of the neck. Another "ay of thinking about position dra"s from driving a car. If you've ever taken a driver training course, the first thing they make you do is to put your hands on the "heel at 1D o'clock and > o'clock 51D1> position7. This is the best hand position for being able to control the vehicle. &o", nobody in their right mind "ould go cruising for chicks using that hand position. You'd look like a dork. Instead, you slump do"n in the seat, crank the stereo and hang your elbo" out the open "indo". &o", you look cool and the babes <ust can't resist. 6ightE 5#y apologies if you take me too seriously here7 .ut, "hat happens if you're so busy "atching for chicks that you find yourself about to get in a "reckE As a reaction, your hands "ill automatically go to 1D1>. %r, have you ever seen a stock car racer "hipping around the track at full speed "ithout having both hands on the "heelE

H 9hen it comes to playing guitar, especially the rock star variety, nobody "ants to look like a dork. 8o, a lot of players have the guitar hanging do"n at their knees and grab the neck in the manly, baseball bat fashion. .ut, "ith the possible e0ception of 8teve ;ai, most of the ne"er Ahigh performanceA players 5as opposed to the older Acruisin' for chicksA variety7 tend to "ear their guitars no lo"er than "aist level, and "hen they "ant to tear up the fretboard, sure enough, they pull their thumb back to the center of the neck and stretch their fingers out. In order to make full use of the classical position, a fe" points must be observed. &otice in the illustration 5opens in ne" "indo"7 that the knuckle "here the inde0 finger <oins the hand is &%T touching the bottom of the neck. #any people, "hen first trying this hand position, 9I** anchor this knuckle. ?ntil you develop the musculature of the "rist and hand, it "ill feel as though you lack any strength in the classical position. 6ealiBe that it takes very little actual finger pressure to push the strings to the fret. #ost of the tension that a beginner applies "ith the left hand is directed onto the fingerboard itself and has very little to do "ith actually fretting the note. To this end, bracing the hand against the neck at the first knuckle of the inde0 finger gives one a feeling of having better leverage "ith "hich to AstrangleA the guitar. This is unnecessary as, the muscles of the hand "ill develop in a very short amount of time 5usually "ithin the first t"o "eeks7. The thumb should be <ust a little higher than dead center on the back of the neck and directly in line "ith the middle finger. 5If you take your left hand and touch the tip of your middle finger to the tip of your thumb like those Indian Yoga people do "hen they meditate, you'el get the idea. %nly, don't bend the knuckle of the thumb. Geep it hypere0tended like "hen you push in a tack "ith your thumb.7 $on't allo" your thumb to point off to the side like you're hitchhiking as this "ill destroy the hands natural ability to apply pressure to the strings. 8itting or standing can make a difference in your ability to assume this hand position as "ell. 9hen standing, you may need to ad<ust the length of your strap. If your guitar is too lo", it forces you to have to bend your "rist "ay too much. I tend to "ear mine at stomach level, but then, nobody 5e0cept my "ife7 ever tells me ho" cool I look. I do receive regular compliments on my playing, ho"ever. If you are sitting do"n, the most common thing to do is to rest your guitar on your right leg. 9hen I first started playing, I found that, if I practiced this "ay, "hen I got together "ith my band, the guitar "ould be in a different position 5I "as no" standing7 and that I couldn't play all those things I "as practicing. I started practicing "ith my guitar sitting on my left leg and propped my left foot up on a book like those classical guitar players do. It made a dramatic difference. &ot only "as my guitar in the same relative position as "hen I played standing up, I found that I "as able to play things that seemed impossible before. 9he"- There's a lot to consider, but details make a difference. 9hat follo"s is an e0ercise for developing correct hand position and learning to use of all four fingers. 6ecall the e0ercise that I had you do in the section on theory. I had you play all the notes, in order, up and do"n a single string. 9e're going to do the same thing again only this time, "e're going to go across the strings instead of up and do"n one string/

2or the purposes of this e0ercise, the inde0 finger "ill play any note on the 1st fret, the middle finger "ill play any note on the >nd fret, the ring finger "ill play any note on the Frd fret and the pinkie "ill handle notes on the Hth fret. 9hen playing ascending notes on a string, It's very important to keep any previous fingers that have played on that string holding their notes do"n.

C or e*a+"#e, If I play the 2 note at the 1st fret on the '1string "ith my inde0 finger, I don't lift that finger off the string to play the 24 "ith my middle finger. #y inde0 finger is still holding do"n the 2 note at the 1st fret. If I then play the : note at the Frd fret "ith my ring finger, the inde0 A&$ the ring "ill still be holding their notes do"n. The same goes if I then play the ne0t note "ith the pinky. &o", all four fingers are holding do"n notes on the same string. This "ill most likely seem a"k"ard until you gain sufficient coordination of the fingers. Geep practicing. It "ill come. %nce you have completed all the fingers that are going to play on a given string, then and only then, do you 6'*'A8' the fingers to play on another string. &otice the "ord 6'*'A8' instead of lift. To 6'*'A8' the fingers is to simply rela0 the muscles that are being used to hold the notes. If instead, you lift the fingers, you are applying an opposite set of muscles to do a separate and distinct action. This may sound like Anit1pickingA but it is very important. *ifting the fingers instead of 6'*'A8I&: the fingers is one of the greatest causes of undue tension in the left hand. 9hat happens is that the lifting muscles kick in at the same time that the pressing muscles are trying to do their <ob. This causes isometric tension in the hand that "ill slo" you do"n, tire the hand, lead to sore knuckles 5personal e0perience7 and generally inhibit you from "hiBBing around on the fingerboard. A tell1tale sign of this isometric tension is if you find your pinkie sticking "ay out there like those people "ho drink their tea in those tiny little cups, or if you use your pinkie to fret a note and your inde0 finger goes sticking out. 6ela0, rela0, rela0- That's the key. If, on the other hand, you are descending on a given string, you don't have to "orry about keeping your fingers do"n 5that "ould be pretty hard to do any "ay7, but you still must endeavor to keep the hand rela0ed. ?se only the amount of tension you need to play the notes cleanly 5no buBBing or notes that "on't stay ringing as long as you desire7.

J Guitar Lesson One - Right )and Technique 2or no", "e "ill "ork each hand separately. 9hen you're "orking on one hand, don't "orry about ho" the other is doing it's <ob. =ust concentrate on getting the hand you are "orking to do "hat it is supposed to. If you start right at the beginning and make yourself practice correct techni@ue, you "ill &%T run into any of the road blocks that a lot of guitarists encounter after they have played for a fe" years. #ost tend to learn the hard "ay. They opt for sloppy techni@ue instead of spending the time and effort to get it right from start. I've seen this time and time again. A player reaches a certain level only to have to start back at the beginning and re1 learn such things as hand position or picking. This is because improper techni@ue "ill limit your ability to play like a AmotherA. In the beginning a player is usually more interested in learning to "hip out a fe" cool songs, but "hen they try to step beyond that and really play, they find that they can't get the Ahigh performanceA that they need out of their hands. Techni@ue is based on efficiency and economy. )orrect positioning and use of the hands is essential in order to ma0imiBe your ability to get at the notes that you need to play. I can't stress this enough. Take the time to get it right. In the long run you'el save yourself a lot of back1tracking. Right )and, As far as ho" to hold the pick is concerned, There's really no Aone "ayA to do it. ?nlike the left hand, most people <ust do "hat comes natural. I hold my pick like this 5opens in ne" "indo"75Yes, that's my hand stuffed into the scanner. It's a good thing "e have a flatbed and not one of those that look like the "ringer on those really old "ashing machines- %uch--7. I pick from the "rist "ith my palm lightly resting on the strings. The angle of my arm insures that I'm not resting my palm on the string that I'm playing. The most important thing about the picking hand is that it is as rela0ed as possible "ithout fear of dropping the pick 5 I still drop mine once in a "hile7. There are a lot of subtleties to the techni@ues that the right hand is re@uired to perform. 9e "ill address these as they become important. 2or no", <ust hold the pick in "hatever "ay feels comfortable, rela0 and concentrate on hitting the right string at the right time. ,ere's an e0ercise for your picking hand. It's good to practice this after your left hand gets "orn out from doing the other e0ercises. You're not going to use your left hand at all, <ust the right hand picking the open strings. The e0ercise goes like this/ +ick an open string 5perhaps the .1string, but any string "ill do7. +lay the #I$I file. ?sing only do"n strokes of the pick try to hit the string at the e0act same time as the click. Try this "ith only up strokes, as "ell. +ractice this until you can stay in near perfect sync "ith the click. %nce you get that do"n, then you're going to play t"o notes for every click 5think 1 I > I F I H I etc...7. These t"o notes must be evenly spaced. *ater on, "e'el "ork on uneven spacing of notes. +lay these notes using A*T'6&AT' +I)GI&:. That means that if you start "ith a do"n stroke on the first note, the second gets an up stroke then, do"n, up, do"n, up etc... #ost people find starting "ith a do"n stroke to be most natural, but you need to be able to start "ith an up stroke as "ell. +ractice both. 9hen you get t"o notes per click do"n, then try four 5think 1 e I a > e I a etc...7. Again, you "ant to practice this starting "ith a do"n stroke A&$ starting "ith an up stroke. 9hen you get to the point "here you can easily play one, t"o or four notes per click, then practice going from one group to another "ithout stopping/

K Guitar Lesson One - Music #usic This section of each lesson is entirely devoted to playing. ;ery little "ill be provided as to the A"hy's and "herefore'sA of "hat you "ill be doing. This "ill be covered in future theory lessons. At this point, I <ust "ant you to learn the material and try to sound AmusicalA "hen playing it. Anatomy of a chord diagram/

.elo" are K chords for you to learn. These K chords are often referred to as Athe co"boy chordsA. This is because they are easy to play "hile riding a horse 5hey...<ust foolin'7. These chords are called Aco"boyA chords because a billion songs have been "ritten using these fe" simple chords. #any of these tunes are they type of song that you see somebody strumming "hile sitting around a camp fire in those old Aco"boyA movies. .ut don't let that fool you. These are the Abread and butter chordsA that ';'6Y.%$Y uses. If you don't kno" these chords, you can't call yourself a guitar player. The chords,

The hardest part of playing chords is getting all of the notes in the chord to ring. The culprit is most often the finger that is trying to play a note on an ad<acent string. That other finger "ill sometimes

touch the string that "on't ring and be the cause of your problem. The trick is to use the tips of the fingers and to make sure that each finger is touching only the string that it is holding a note on. Also, check to see that you are not playing any of the strings that do not have a circle. +ractice each chord in the same manner as demonstrated in the #I$I files. +ick each string individually and then, strum the entire chord. %nce you can play each chord correctly, then it's time to practice changing from one chord to another. The idea here is to change to another chord "ithout stopping. +ick any t"o of the chords and practice changing from one to the other and then, back to the first. Try to play the chords in time "ith the metronome #I$I. 8trum once per click, four strums per chord. 2or no", <ust use do"n strums and concentrate on s"itching to the ne0t chord and staying in time "ith the metronome. %nce you can go from any chord to any other chord and stay in time, try stringing three or more chords together into ),%6$ +6%:6'88I%&8. )ere are -ust a fe. "ossi&i#ities, $#a< 1 )#a< 1 :#a< 1 $#a< :#a< 1 )#a< 1 $#a< 1 :#a< '#a< 1 $#a< 1 A#a< 1 )#a< A#a< 1 '#a< 1 :#a< 1 $#a< Amin 1 $min 1 'min 1 Amin Amin 1 $min 1 :#a< 1 )#a< 'min 1 Amin 1 $#a< 1 'min I'm sure you have noticed the #a< and min attached to each of the chord names. 9e "ill learn "hat this means in a later lesson. 2or no", all you need to keep in mind is that #a< chords sound bright and cheerful, "hile min chords sound dark and moody. These chord progressions may not sound like your rockin' out, but there's a lot you can do "ith a fe" basic chords. If you add some rhythmic variation and a lead lick or t"o, you'el be amaBed. You'el probably have the best luck if you practice these chords "ith a clean sound on your amp "ith a bit of reverb. %nce you get the chords do"n you can e0periment "ith some distortion, but these chords don't al"ays sound so good "ith a lot of distortion until you learn a fe" right and left hand techni@ues. 9hen it comes to playing %+'& +%8ITI%& chords, I "ill usually use the baseball bat hand position. This is so I can use my thumb over the top of the neck to keep the ' and A1strings from ringing on the chords that don't re@uire those strings. .est of luck-

1D LESSON T/O This lesson is divided into four parts: Theory Technique - Left hand Technique - Right hand Music Theory It's very important to kno" "hat notes you are playing at any given time. 9ith practice, you "ill eventually reach a point "here you can identify any note on any string at a glance. This may seem like a mammoth undertaking but, it is a lot easier than it may first appear. The notes on the fingerboard are laid out in a very logical and consistent manner "ith only one e0ception. This e0ception is the .1string. 9e "ill look at this inconsistency in greater detail in a moment. .ut first, let me sho" you something about the fingerboard. In lesson one, "e discussed ho" the notes are named and practiced playing up and do"n one string at a time "hile naming the notes. 9e also learned the term %)TA;'. If you put these t"o pieces of information together, you "ill find that if you start on a given pitch and play up the string until you reach the OCTA0E, you "ill be e0actly 1> frets higher than "here you started. This means that 1> frets above any note on any string is a note "ith the same name 5 It's important, at this point to make a distinction bet"een NOTE and 1'TC)2 NOTE refers strictly to the name of a given +IT),. If you play A, for e0ample, and then play A an %)TA;' higher or lo"er, you are playing the same &%T' L it has the same nameM 'ven though, AtechnicallyA, you are playing t"o different 1'TC)ES.7. The fact that the t"o notes have the same &A#' and that the ear can have trouble distinguishing the difference in +IT), makes these t"o notes interchangeable. To a certain e0tent, If you are re@uired to play a given note, it makes little difference "hich %)TA;' you play. &o", take a look at the fingerboard on your guitar. You "ill notice that the 1>th fret is clearly marked "ith t"o Afret dotsA 5 A2ret dotsA is slang for the position markers that are inlaid into the "ood of the fingerboard and along the edge of the neck at the Frd, !th, Jth, th, 1>th, 1!th, 1Jth, 1 th, and >1st fret.7 The 1>th is the only fret that is given the distinction of t"o dots 5%n guitars that have >H frets, the >Hth fret "ill also have t"o dots.7. The distinct marking of the 1>th fret provides us "ith an important visual reference point. This is the point at "hich the notes on the fingerboard begin to repeat. 6ecall that the open strings are tuned E3 A3 D3 G3 B3 E3 lo" to high. If you follo" the above statements, you should no" see that the notes at the 1>th fret are also E3 A3 D3 G3 B3 E2 This means that you don't have to learn separate information to apply above the 1>th fret. Anything you learn belo" the 1>th fret "ill simply repeat itself above. This is true for chords, scales, licks, patterns and anything else you could imagine. The above information can also make it easier to identify the notes belo" the 1>th fret. *et's say that you "ant to find 2 on the A1string. %ne method is to start "ith the open A and make your "ay up the fingerboard until you arrive at 2 5a distance of K frets-7. If instead, you "ere to start at the 1>th fret and "ork your "ay do"n the string, you "ill find the note much faster 5! frets7.

11 &o", let's say that you are playing the note at the 1Dth fret on the .1string and I ask you to tell me the name of the note you are playing. It should be obvious that the note you are playing is much closer to the 1>th fret than it is to the open string. Therefore, it is an easy task to start at the 1>th fret and "ork do"n the neck to the 1Dth fret and identify the note 5'1#AI* the ans"er to me7. ,ere are t"o more tools that "ill help you get the notes do"n/ The first should be painfully obvious. The highest and the lo"est string are both tuned to '. This means that the notes are laid out e0actly the same on both strings. At any given fret, you "ill find the same note on either of the t"o '1strings. The second is a po"erful tool for learning to see the notes across the fingerboard as opposed to up and do"n a single string. In the diagram belo", I have placed a s@uare on the ) note at the Kth fret of the *o" '1string 5It is common practice to refer to the t"o '1strings as *o" ' and ,igh '7. I have also placed a s@uare on the %)TA;' ) on the $1string/

2rom this diagram "e can see that the octave of ) at the Kth fret of the lo" ' is t"o strings over 5to"ards the floor7 and t"o frets up 5to"ards the 1>th fret7. 9atch "hat happens if "e start "ith ) at the Frd fret of the A1string/

Again, "e see the same pattern 1 t"o strings over, t"o frets up. &o" understand, "e could have used any note "e "anted to and this relationship "ould be the same. I <ust picked ) for the hell of it. &o" lets take a look at the .1string. The strings of the guitar are tuned in such a "ay that if you play the note at the !th fret of any string 5e0cept the :1string7 you "ill get the same note 5and +IT),7 as the ne0t %+'& string. 2or e0ample, if you play the note at the !th fret of the lo" '1string you are playing A "hich of course is the note of the open A1string. If you play the note at the !th fret of the A1string you get $. If you play the !th fret of the $1string you get :. .ut, if you play the !th fret of the :1string you get ) instead of .. To get the . note you have to play the Hth fret instead. Yet, if you play the !th fret of the .1string you $% get ', but because the .1string is AfunnyA it makes the '1string AfunnyA as "ell.

1> 9hat this means, for no", is that "henever the octave lands on the .1string or the '1string, It "ill be one fret higher 5 the .1string is tuned one fret lo"er than all the strings before it and, since the '1string is tuned off of the .1string, the '1string is one fret lo"er as "ell7. %bserve "hat happens if "e plot the octave of the ) at the 1Dth fret of the $1string as "ell as, the ) at the !th fret of the :1string/

This tuning discrepancy is necessary for playing chords. If you "ere to tune the . and '1strings up one fret so that they match the rest of the strings, all of the chords that you learned in the last lesson "ould be very hard to play. &o", all you have to remember is > strings over, t"o frets up e0cept "hen the octave falls on the .1string or the '1string "here you get > strings over and F frets up. Your assignment is to locate and memoriBe every ) note on the guitar belo" and above the 1>th fret. ?se the tools I have given you and don't be afraid to cue off of the fret dots. That's "hy they're on the neck in the first place-

1F Guitar Lesson T.o - Left hand Technique Left )and, ?nless I tell you other"ise, all left hand e0ercises use the classical hand position. #ost of the left hand e0ercises that I give you in the beginning "ill not sound much like music. They are designed strictly to develop the muscles and coordination of the hand so that you NcanN play music. This e0ercise focuses on using every combination of t"o fingers. It starts at the first fret of the lo" '1string using only the inde0 and middle finger playing across the strings like this/

&otice that "hen you get to the high '1string, you don't reverse the order of the notes. You still play 11> on the "ay back do"n. =ust like the e0ercise in lesson one, the inde0 finger plays any notes on the 1st fret, the middle finger handles the >nd fret, the ring finger takes care of the Frd fret and the pinky gets the Hth fret. 9ith this in mind, I'm simply going to describe the rest of the e0ercise. &e0t comes the middle finger and the ring finger. +lay >1F across the strings and back 5remember you're no" playing the >nd and Frd frets7. No. 4-5 Then 6-4 Then 7-5 ina#y 6-5

1H This constitutes one set. #ove up 1 fret so that your inde0 is on the >nd fret and repeat the "hole thing. Geep doing a set and then moving one fret higher until you reach the !th fret. %nce you have finished the set at the !th fret, you're going to turn everything upside do"n and back"ards like this/

6emember that your inde0 finger is at the !th fret so, you should be using your pinky and ring for the e0ample above 5H1F7. &o" play F1> Then >11 Then H1> Then F11 2inaly H11 &o" move do"n to the Hth fret and do it all again. Geep going until you get back to the 1st fret. 'ventually you "ill be able to take this e0ercise all the "ay up to the 1>th fret and back "ithout stopping. You could try adding an e0tra fret or t"o every fe" days but don't try to rush your progress. It's important to let the left hand develop at it's o"n pace or you may begin to suffer tedonitis 5personal e0perience7. There's no need to hurry.

1! Guitar Lesson T.o - Right )and Technique Right hand, The basis of good right hand picking techni@ue revolves around strict A*T'6&AT' +I)GI&:. This means that you pick either do"n1up do"n1up or up1do"n up1do"n no matter "hat note or string you are playing. 9hat this offers is consistency. %nce you have this consistency, other specialiBed meathods of picking can be very useful. .ut, "ithout this consistency you "ill have a hard time utiliBing more advanced techni@ue. Alternate picking on one string is a pretty easy thing to accomplish. Alternate picking "hile changing strings is another matter, altogether. #aintaining strict alternate picking "hile changing strings is the single most neglected practice on the guitar. #ost people tend to pretty much ignore the picking hand in favor of concentrating on "hat the left hand is doing. If you do that you are cutting off a good portion of "hat is possible "ith the guitar. This e0ercise focuses on changing strings "hile alternate picking. 2or the purpose of describing the e0ercise, I'm going to use the .1string and the '1string. 'ventually you "ill "ant to "ork your picking hand on all the strings. 9hat you "ill find is that as you reposition the hand to cover different combinations of strings you "ill be calling into play slightly different muscle groups. Therefore, it's important to "ork all positions. .egin by playing a do"n stroke on the .1string follo"ed by an up stroke on the '1string. This is one of four combinations that you must master. The other three are/ up stroke on the .1string follo"ed by a do"n stroke on the '1string do"n stroke on the '1string follo"ed by an up stroke on the .1string up stroke on the '1string follo"ed by a do"n stroke on the .1string as you practice these combinations, accent 5play a little harder7 the first stroke of each group. This is important so that the ear doesn't get confused as to "hich note is first.

1C Guitar Lesson T.o - Music Music In this lesson, "e are going to cover the single most important tool for playing rock guitar. It's called the 1O/ER C)ORD2 #ore rock and roll songs are centered around +%9'6 ),%6$8 than any other single ingredient of guitar playing. They look like this/

&otice that the ring finger is re@uired to play t"o strings at once. This is called a .A66' 5as in Abelly up to the barA7. You accomplish this by flattening the finger across both strings at the same time. If you try to keep the inde0 finger using only it's tip you "ill have a hard time playing this. 8o, <ust flatten out the inde0 finger too. It doesn't matter 5,'Y- this is rock and roll7. This chord is so cool that it can be moved around the fretboard at "ill, even to another set of strings 5=ust remember that if a note falls on the .1string or '1string, you have to move it up a fret. LIf a note falls on the .1 string and there's no one in the audience to hear it, does it still rockEM7. Another thing. If you can't get your ring finger to play both of it's notes, forget about the note on the $1string and <ust play the notes on the ' and A1strings. It doesn't get any more simple than this,ere's the riff for Iron #an by .lack 8abbath/

1J M ,ere's the riff for )ocaine by 'ric )lapton/

&otice the red 8 over the 3. This is a slide. 9hat you do is play the note at the Jth fret "ith your ring finger and then slide that finger up the string to the ninth fret. ,ere's "hat it sounds like/ #ess around "ith po"er chords, and see if you can come up "ith anything interesting. .est of luck- i<AcG

1K LESSON T)REE Guitar Lesson Three This lesson is divided into four parts Theory Technique - Left )and Technique - Right )and Music T)EOR8 Although it might seem strange, 5given the fact that the notes are named A through :7 music theory centers around the key of ). .elo" is the ),6%#ATI) 8)A*' starting "ith )/ C - C$%D& - D - D$%E& - E - $%G& - G - G$%A& - A - A$%B& - B - C

A 8)A*' is nothing more than a clever "ay to travel from octave to octave. The "ord ),6%#ATI) comes from chroma or color. Think of the chromatic scale 5because it contains every note7 as one that includes all the colors. 'very other scale 5there are hundreds of them7 is constructed by selecting only certain notes from the chromatic scale. The chromatic scale is the model used for the concept of 9,%*'18T'+8 and ,A*218T'+8 5sometimes refered to as 9,%*' T%&' and 8'#IT%&'7. A ,A*218T'+ is the distance bet"een any t"o notes along the chromatic scale. If you play any note of the chromatic scale and then play the ne0t higher note %6 the ne0t lo"er note, that is considered a ,A*218T'+. A 9,%*'18T'+ is e@ual to the distance of t"o ,A*218T'+8. Therefore, if you play any note of the chromatic scale and then play, not the ne0t note, but, the note after that, you are e0ecuting a 9,%*'18T'+. 5) to )4 is a half1step, ) to $ is a "hole1step etc...7 9hen applied to the guitar, half1step translates to the distance of one fret and "hole1step to the distance of t"o frets. It makes no difference "hat the names of the notes are. The only thing that matters, is ho" far apart those notes are. 5?nderstand that . and ) are one fret apart as are ' and 2. these t"o pair of notes are therefore a half1 step and not a "hole1step. This is a common misunderstanding that beginning students have "hen first learning this concept. They assume that because there is no sharp or flat bet"een those notes that they are a "hole1step apart.7 &o", before "e continue, another definition/ A note that is neither sharp nor flat is considered &AT?6A*. The symbol used to denote &AT?6A* looks like this/

&AT?6A* is understood rather than "ritten most of the time. In other "ords, unless you see a 4 or b attatched to a note, that note is assumed to be &AT?6A* and therefore, does not re@uire the use of it's symbol. 59hen dealing "ith standard music notation ho"ever, you "ill encounter the &AT?6A* 8I:& @uite fre@uently.7

1 If you start on ) and play only the &AT?6A* notes until you reach the octave, you "ill arrive at the notes of the ) #A=%6 8)A*'/ C-D-E- G -A- B - C

5This is a good time to dra" your attention to the "ord #A=%6. 2or reference sake music is divided into different catagories based on sound @uality. Those things that are labeled #A=%6 have a certain sound @uality to them. This "ill be covered in great detail as "e go along. 2or no", "hen you encounter such names as #A=%6, #I&%6, $%#I&A&T, $I#I&I8,'$ or A?:#'&T'$ don't "orry about "hat they mean. This kno"lege "ill come in time. All you need to understand at this point, is that these names refer to "hat I call 2A#I*I'8 %2 8%?&$.7 &o", if "e look at the "hole1steps and half1steps bet"een each note of the ) #A=%6 8)A*', "e find this pattern/ /-/-)-/-/-/-) This pattern of "hole1steps and half1steps is the single most important part of understanding music theory. Gno" it "ell. Your theory assignment for this lesson is to map out the notes of the ) ma<or scale up and do"n each of the individual strings. ,ere is "hat the high '1string looks like/

&otice the use of a 8@uare on the eighth fret. This is a common visual aid for indicating the 6%%T &%T' of a scale. 6%%T &%T' means the note that the scale is based upon. 6emember that "e built our scale starting on ). Therefore, the 6%%T &%T' of the scale is ) and the sound of the scale is #A=%6. 9hen first learning a scale, It's important to start A&$ stop on the 6%%T &%T'. This is so you learn to hear ho" all of the notes in the scale 6'8%*;' to the root. Try this e0periment. +lay the root note several times. &otice that it sounds right at home. 8lo"ly, play the note above the root 5$7 t"ice, the note belo" the root 5.7 t"ice and then play the root and let the note ring. &otice that the $ and . sound T'&8' or unsettled and the ) 6'8%*;'8 that T'&8I%&. +lay the scale, slo"ly, from the ) at the Kth fret up to the ) at the >Dth fret. 5.e sure not to hit any "rong notes or you "on't hear "hat I'm getting at7 &otice ho" all the notes you play seem to naturally lead to the ) at the >Dth fret.

>D 8lo"ly, play the scale back do"n to the ) at the Kth fret. Again the notes seem to lead to the ). +lay the scale up to the >Dth fret, again but, this time, pause on the . at the 1 th fret for a moment. Then play the ) at the >Dth fret. &otice ho" AunfinishedA the scale sounds "hen you pause on the . and ho" AcompleteA the scale sounds "hen you finally play the ). +lay the scale back do"n to the . at the Jth fret and pause for a moment. Then play the ). Again notice ho" AunfinishedA it sounds "hen you pause on the .. This is called T'&8I%&. &otice ho" AcompleteA it sounds "hen you finally play the ). This is called 6'8%*?TI%&. 2rom this e0periment, you should realiBe ho" important T'&8I%& and 6'8%*?TI%& are to creating music. &o", go ahead and figure out the ) ma<or scale on the remaining strings. $on't "orry about going across the strings 5like you're doing "ith your finger e0ercises7. =ust play up and do"n the strings one at a time. %nce you have a fair idea of "here the notes are on one string, play the #I$I file and practice going up and do"n the entire length of the fingerboard "hile listening to the sound that you are creating 5If you ever sang do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do in grade school, you're no" playing the same thing on your guitar7. Then, go on to the ne0t string. +laying up and do"n the scale is good practice but, it's not really making music. *et's make some music+ick a string and, play along "ith the file using the ) ma<or scale. $on't <ust play up and do"n the scale. Instead, try <umping around to different spots in the scale and see if you can come up "ith anything that sounds interesting. &o", it's inevitable that you are going to hit some "rong notes. $on't "orry about it. If you lose your place too badly <ust stop for a second and start over. Also, If you can hear that you are hitting "rong notes, it's a good indication that you are developing an ear for "hat the scale is AsupposedA to sound like. You're not going to sound like 'ddie ;an ,alen right a"ay but, as a teacher I once had used to say, AAll of the masters "ere born shitting in a diaper, <ust like you. The only thing that separates you from them is practice.A ,ave fun, be adventurous and play like you mean it-

>1 Guitar Lesson Three - Left hand Technique Left )and, The instrument of greatest e0pression and freedom is the human voice 5so they say7. 2rom the beginning, instrumentalists have sought to mimic the voice's ability to communicate. To this end, each instrument has a body of techni@ues called A6TI)?*ATI%&. A6TI)?*ATI%& is ho" you play 5voice7 a note, eg., loud, soft, plucked, smashed "ith a >A 0 HA, etc... %n the guitar, there are many "ays to A6TI)?*AT' the notes you are playing 5picking each one, for e0ample7. Three such techni@ues are SL'DE3 )AMMER3 and 19LL 5sounds a bit like carpentry. #aybe that's "here +aul :ilbert got the idea to use a pick mounted on a po"er drill. ,'Y- +ut do"n that chain sa"-7 SL'DE, 8liding from one note to another is probably the easiest left hand techni@ue in e0istence. It is also one of the most useful/ )hoose any note you like on any string. Then choose a second note on the same string. &o", instead of stopping the first note, moving to the second and then picking that note, keep the first note ringing and simply slide your left hand finger 5the one that's playing the note7 along the string to the second note. It doesn't matter if the second note is higher or lo"er. That's itIf you slide only one or t"o frets, it's called 8*?6 5think of a drunk trying to talk7. If you slide a "hole buncha' frets it's called :*I88A&$% 5think of "earing socks "hile "alking across freshly "a0ed linoleum7. ,A##'6/ )a++er 5sometimes called )AMMER ON7 is another techni@ue for creating a SL9R 5not picking the note7 effect. To e0ecute a hammer, play a note "ith your inde0 finger 5you could also use the ring or middle but, ya gotta start some"here7 and "hile the note is ringing, bring your ring, middle or pinky finger do"n on a higher note "ith enough force to cause the ne" note to sound. The second note "ill have to be one that is "ithin reach of the first. The e0ception to this is "hen you play an open string. In this case you are not re@uired to hold do"n the first note 5it's an open string7 "hich gives you the lu0ury of hammering a second note any"here along the lenght of the string. You can also use one or more fingers of your right hand 5called Afinger tappingA or Aright hand tappingA7 or the pick itself to )AMMER notes that are out of reach for the left hand. &o", once you have e0ecuted a hammer, you don't have to stop there. You can hammer a second or even a third note provided that you have any finger left to do so. 5If you thro" your right hand into the mi0, things can get really craBy-7

>> Technically, it's only possible to hammer a note that is higher than the one you're playing and on the same string. In reality, because of amplification, the electric guitar is sensitive enough to allo" you to hammer any note any"here at any time. 5provided, of course, that you can get your hands to cooperate7 You can even hammer entire chords- 58tanley =ordan made a "hole career out of playing "ith both hands on the fingerboard like he "as playing a piano.7 +?**/ The opposite of hammer is pull 5sometimes called +?** %227. The techni@ue for Apulling offA a pull off is not <ust lifting the finger, ho"ever. You have to pull the finger off the note slightly side"ays 5to"ards the floor7 so that the finger tip catches the string and sort of AplucksA it. Again, because of amplification, the amount of ApluckA that you have to do is minimal.

Try this e0periment/ +lay the ) at the Kth fret on the high '1string "ith your inde0 finger. &o", "ithout picking the string agian, hammer your ring finger onto the $ at the 1Dth fret. &o", pull off back to the ). Isn't this funE If you "ere to continue hammering and pulling these t"o notes you "ould be playing a T6I**. Your left hand e0ercise for this lesson is to incorporate )AMMERS3 19LLS and SL'DES as you play along "ith/ 2or the purpose of AlearningA, any note other than C3 D3 E3 3 G3 A3 or B is /RONG. 5no e0ceptions7 9hen it comes to AplayingA, the only 96%&: note is one that you didn't intend to play.

>F Guitar Lesson Three - Right hand Technique R'G)T )AND %nce a player learns to use a lot of hammers and pulls, They are in danger of developing ,'I&'G'& ,A&$. This is "here your right hand does little more than hold your beer. In order to avert this possible crisis, "e are going to e0plore one of the "ays 5besides <ust picking the notes7 that the right hand applies A6TI)?*ATI%&. M9T'NG, #uting has t"o functions/ To keep the strings that you're not playing from making any sound 5especially at high volume7 To slightly dampen the sound of the notes that you are playing 5essential if you're playing "ith tons o' distortion7 2unction 1 "ill be the sub<ect of future lessons. 2unction > is "hat "e're going to e0plore in this lesson. 1ALM M9TE is a techni@ue "hereby, you place the edge of your right palm 5the part you "ould do a AGarate chopA "ith7 lightly on the strings bet"een the .6I$:' 5see :uitar Anatomy7 and the BR'DGE 1'C:91 5the pickup nearest the bridge7 in order to make single notes more distinct and your po"er chords more AchunkyA. 8tart by resting your right hand on the bridge itself, and "hile keeping that hand anchored to the bridge, play a fe" po"er chords using the ' and A1strings. &o", try moving your right hand onto the strings a little "ays and play a fe" more chords. 9hat your after is to move the hand onto the strings <ust enough to dampen them a little "ithout causing them to go dead. You'll have to e0periment "ith ho" far onto the strings you place your hand. 'very guitar has a As"eet spotA for muting. 9hen you find that spot, you'll find that your po"er chords really come to life. 9ith practice, you'll learn to move your picking hand up and do"n along the bridge in order to cover "hatever group of strings you're playing po"er chords on. 9hen it comes to muting strings "hile your playing a lead solo, You'll need a lot of control "ith the right hand. 5)heck out Al $i #eola's 'legant :ypsy album if you "ant to hear a master of muting at "ork.7 .elo" is the beginning of =ust 9hat I &eeded by the cars. The tricky part is to go from the muted single notes to the un1muted chords and back again. =ust hold the po"er chord like you normally "ould "ith the left hand. 9ith the right hand, mute the A1string and be sure to only pick that string for the single notes. Then lift the picking hand off of the strings for the un1muted chords. L?se all do"n1strokes "ith the pick.M 5the left hand doesn't have to do anything different e0cept that "hen you play the muted notes, rela0 your ring finger so that the $ and :1strings "ill stop ringing7 Turn the gain do"n a bit on the lead channel of your amp until you get <ust enough distortion for some AcrunchA and try not to look too much like an 'KDs leftover as you play it/

>H

If its not obvious, all notes and chords that have the RED L'NE over them are muted and those "ithout are not muted. Also, If you don't have the sound of this one ingrained into your central nervous system already, here's an #+F of me playing it/ I'm <ust a Ane" "aveA kinda guy-

Guitar Lesson Three - Music

>! Music .elo", is a diagram of our old friend, the po"er chord/

&otice that I have gone to the trouble to put the notes that are being played at the bottom of the diagram. You kno" from the last lesson, that the ) on the $1string is merely the %)TA;' of the ) on the '1string and is, therefore, entirely optional. If "e leave the note off, "e get this/

&o", before you decide that things can't get much more simple, let me sho" you a concept kno"n as I&;'68I%&. I&;'68I%& simply means turning something upside do"n or playing it back"ards. 9hen you invert a chord it means that you no longer use the 6%%T 5in this case, )7 as the lo"est note in the chord. 8ince a po"er chord has only t"o different notes, they are very easy to invert/

The left hand techni@ue for playing this guy is to take a finger 5any one you like7 and flatten it across both strings. If you "ant to play another one, you can use a different finger or keep the same finger and <ust move to the ne" position.5&o" that's easy-7

>C An inverted po"er chord doesn't have @uite the same sound as a normal po"er chord. Therefore, they are used a little differently and are not al"ays interchangable. .elo" is the opening of 8moke %n The 9ater by $eep +urple, using regular po"er chords/

If you listen closely, you'll hear that it doesn't @uite sound the same 5I'm not talking about "hether or not Y%? sound like 6itchie .lackmore. I'm refering to the sound of the chords you are using.7 There are t"o things that he does to get the sound you hear 5besides playing a 8trat through a #arshall stack7. The first is, instead of picking the notes, use the middle and ring fingers of your right hand to ApluckA the notes like a classical guitar player "ould. 5another form of right hand A6TI)?*ATI%&7 The second involves playing I&;'6T'$ po"er chords on the $ and :1strings.

,ere is the correct "ay to play 8moke %n the 9ater/

>J

,ere's .alls To The 9all by Accept "hich uses I&;'6T'$ po"er chords on the A and $1strings "ith an ocassional note on the '1string to fill out the riff. 5This can be tricky for the right hand. practice it slo"ly until you get a AfeelA for it.7/

>K The red line "ith the 8 over it means to play the note at the 1>th fret of the A1string and immediately slide your hand do"n the string. Geep the string pressed do"n to the fingerboard, so that you get a nifty sort of airplane sound. 2inally, here's another 'JDs relic, Ted &ugent's )at 8cratch 2ever, currently being brought back from the grave by +antera/

As to the .'&$ and 6'*'A8' 5marked . and 67 in the first and last measures, <ust slap your ring finger across the : and .1strings at the Hth fret, pick the notes, then pull both strings to"ard the floor so the notes go up in pitch slightly and then immediately rela0 the hand enough to allo" the notes to return to their original pitch. You only pick once. Take your time "ith this lesson. There's a lot of stuff here that is really important. And remember, al"ays go for"ard, never go straight.

> LESSON O9R Guitar Lesson our This lesson is divided into six parts: Tuning Theory 1art ' Theory 1art '' Technique - Left hand Technique - Right hand Music Tuning The nature of the guitar is such that, it re@uires fre@uent tuning. To this end, "e "ill, in the ne0t fe" lessons, e0plore not only the process of tuning itself, but also, the historic and scientific basis for the pitches that are currently accepted as Ain tuneA. The easiest and probably the more reliable meathod of tuning for the beginner is to use an electronic tuner. These gadgets take a lot of the Aguess1"orkA out of tuning, but they are really only the first step to insuring a properly tuned instrument. The ne0t step is to learn to tune your guitar Aby earA. At first, the process of tuning by ear can seem like an impossible undertaking. .ut, "ith a bit of practice and a lot of attention paid to detail, tuning by ear "ill become an indespesable tool for Afine1tuningA your instrument. 2irst, let's look at a graphic representation of a sound "ave/

The distance from one +'AG to the ne0t is called a )Y)*'. The number of cycles per second determines the +IT), 5ho" high or lo"7 of the sound. The term used to denote cycles per second is ,'6TO or ,B. 56emember/ The educated guitarist Adoes it 'till it ,ertBA7 &o", if "e look at t"o sound "aves that are out of tune "ith each other, it "ould look like this/

The sections marked A are "here the t"o "aves are I& +,A8' "hereas, the section marked . is %?T %2 +,A8'. 9hen t"o "aves are in phase, they reinforce each other, "hich causes an increase in ;%*?#' 5ho" loud or soft7, and "hen they are out of phase, the t"o "aves try to cancel each other out, "hich causes a decrease in volume.

FD This alternating bet"een in and out of phase causes an audible pulsating effect called a .'AT. The farther out of tune the t"o "aves are, the faster the beat. O9T O T9NE &otice the pulsating effect that sounds like a A"ha1"ha1"haA as the t"o strings ring together. ST'LL O9T O T9NE &otice that the .'AT is @uite a bit slo"er. This is because the t"o strings are closer in pitch than in the previous e0ample. 'N T9NE &otice that the .'AT has completely disappeared. In order to achieve great success "ith tuning by ear, you must become very familiar "ith the .'AT. ,ere, there is simply no substitute for Ahands1onA e0perience. 8o, let's get started. Genera# Ti"s There are many different methods for tuning the guitar. 9e "ill cover the specifics of a fe" of the better methods in a moment, but first, let's look at some general guidlines that apply to any tuning method. 6eference pitch/ All methods of tuning, e0cept for the use of an electronic tuner, re@uire that you have a reference pitch to tune at least one string to. There are many "ays to get a reference pitch, such as/ 'lectronic tuner 1 ?se the tuner to tune one string, and then, tune the rest of the strings by ear. Another instrument 1 This could be a piano, keyboard, another guitar or any other instrument that playes pitches. You "ill, most probably, encounter this as you get out and play "ith other musicians. Your o"n instrument 1 You can assume that at least one of the strings on your guitar is in tune, and tune the rest of the strings from there. ;ery rarely 5unless you drop your guitar on the floor7 "ill all of the strings on your guitar be out of tune at once. If you play a fe" familiar chords, you can usually determine that most of the strings are in tune and one or t"o are out. %nce you determine "hich strings need to be tuned, you can tune them off of the strings that are in tune. Tuning fork or pitchpipes 1 Tuning forks provide an e0tremely accurate reference "hereas pitchpipes are practically "orthless. You get "hat you pay for. %ff the record 1 9hen it comes to trying to play along "ith a recording, you "ill have to isolate a reference pitch from the recording itself. %ften, it's easier to listen to the bass guitar to find a reference. #isc. 1 I've heard of all manner of references being used, including the dial tone on the telephone. %ne guy that I read about in a magaBine even tuned his guitar to the CD cycle hum caused by electricity. 5It has been determined by Athose on highA that the A above middle ) shall, henceforth, vibrate at none other than HHD ,B. CD ,B, therefore, yields a pitch that is, roughly, half"ay bet"een . and .b.7

F1 8lo"ly, 8lo"ly, 8lo"ly/ It's important to go slo"ly and really listen for the beat. *et the strings ring together, and "hen you hear the beat, slo"ly bring the out of tune string to pitch. If you go too fast, you'll invariably over1shoot your destination and have to start all over again. I can't stress this point enough. A lot of people "ill check the pitch of the t"o string, reach over and t"eak the tuner, then check the pitches again. This is like playing darts "hile "earing a blindfold. You have to allo" the t"o strings to ring together, and *I8T'& to the beat 9,I*' you 8*%9*Y turn the tuning machine. The "hole trick to tuning by ear is to hear the beat slo" do"n and finally stop. %ther"ise, you'll be trying to guess "hether you're in tune or not. Allo" the strings to ring together 9,I*' you tune/ This is an e0tension of the last point. In order to accomplish this feat, you'll need to get in the habit of using your picking hand to turn the tuners and not your fretboard hand. Al"ays tune ?+ to a pitch/ $ue to the mechanical nature of the tuning machine itself, if you tune do"n to a pitch, there "ill be a micro1amount of slack left bet"een the gears of the tuner. This slack "ill "ork itself out as you play, and you'll soon find yourself out of tune again. It can be difficult enough to keep your guitar in tune "ithout adding to the problem. Also, the ear has an easier time hearing a pitch that is slightly lo" than it does one that is slightly high. It's a good idea to intentionally tune the string lo" and then bring it ?+ to pitch. $idn't you ever "onder "hy it's called tuning upE CD cycle hum/ As I mentioned above, electricity hums a"ay at CD,B, "hich is bet"een . and .b. This means, that everything from lighting fi0tures to your computer screen and even your guitar amp is buBBing at this fre@uency "hile you are trying to tune. There's really nothing you can do but attempt to minimiBe the effects of this situation. 2or e0ample, if you have an electric fan running, you may have to shut it off, or if you're sitting in front of your computer, turn the monitor off "hile you tune etc... %ther stuff/ 'ven if you are carefull to follo" all of these guidelines, You may still find it impossible to get your guitar to play in tune. There are a fe" contributing factors/ $ead strings 1 8trings don't last forever. %ver time, they begin to lose their ability to vibrate true. If you can't get your guitar to tune up properly, and it's been a "hile since you changed your strings, It is most probably time to do so. 8tring guage 1 2or the most part, the heavier the string, the more accurately it "ill play. At the very least, I strongly recommend that you use no lighter than a .D1D through .DHC set on electric and a .D1> through .D!F set on acoustic. Any lighter and you "ill find it difficult to get the :1string to ring true. Intonation 1 The part of the .6I$:' that the strings rest on is called the 8A$$*'. #ost electric guitars have an individual saddle for each string 5acoustic guitars, generally do not7 that needs to be ad<usted to compensate for the amount of pressure you use to hold do"n the strings "hen you play. If these saddles are not properly ad<usted, you "ill find that, as you play higher up the neck, your guitar sounds increasingly out of tune. This ad<ustment is very simple to make and re@uires only that you have a scre"driver and an electronic tuner. 5If you don't have a tuner, any guitar shop "ill, generally, be glad to make the ad<ustment for a small fee.7 The process is as follo"s/

F> ?sing an electronic tuner, tune the string via the ,A6#%&I) at the 1>th fret. 5To play a harmonic, lightly touch the string directly over the fret. $on't push the string do"n, <ust touch it. If you are touching the string directly over the fret as you pick it, you'll get a bell1like chime called a ,A6#%&I).7 #ake sure to tune the harmonic as accurately as possible, or any ad<ustment you make "ill not be correct. %nce you have the harmonic in tune, play the fretted note at the 1>th fret, and compare it's pitch 5using the tuner7 to the pitch of the harmonic. If the fretted note and the harmonic are e0actly the same pitch, no ad<ustment needs to be made to that string. If the fretted note is higher than the harmonic, it means that the length of the string is too short, and the saddle needs to be moved to"ard the bridge end of the guitar to make the string longer. If, on the other hand, the fretted note is lo"er in pitch than the harmonic, it means that the string is too long, and the saddle needs to be moved closer to the neck to shorten the length. #ake only small ad<ustments to the saddle at first, then re1 tune the harmonic and check the fretted note to see if you need to make more ad<ustment. In time, you "ill develop a AfeelA for ho" far you need to move the saddle to make the proper ad<ustment. 2oll" the same process for each string. It's a good idea to make this ad<ustment "hen you first put on fresh strings, as ne" strings "ill be the most accurate for pitch. &o", if you can't move the saddles far enough, you "ill probably have to turn your guitar over to a competent repair person and let them see "hat they can do. Too much left hand pressure 1 ,o" hard you push the strings to the fingerboard, as "ell as, "hether you have a tendency to push or pull on the strings as you fret them, "ill have a huge impact on your ability to play in tune. I've seen guitars that have been played so hard that the strings have "orn notches in the frets and grooves in the fingerboard. It's very important, not only for intonation, but also for speed and fluidity, that you endeavor to keep the left hand loose and rela0ed. It actually takes very little pressure to hold the strings do"n, but re@uires proper left hand developement. This is accomplished by follo"ing the guidelines I have laid out in lesson one regarding left hand position and finger placement. Tuning Methods !th fret/ This is the most common Aby1earA meathod of tuning, due to the fact that it is the only method that utiliBes the ?&I8%& 5t"o notes of the e0act same pitch ringing together7. *et's assume that your lo" '1string is in tune. &o", play the A note at the !th fret of the '1string, and use that note to tune the A1string itself. The rest of the strings, e0cept "hen tuning the .1string, are e0actly the same. The !th fret of the A tunes the $, the !th fret of the $ tunes the :, The Hth fret of the : tunes the . and the !th fret of the . tunes the high '. Octa;e/ Tune the lo" '1string. &o" tune the ' at the Jth fret of the A1string to the open '1string. Then, tune the Jth fret of the $1string to the open A, the Jth fret of the : to the open $, The Kth fret of the . to the open :, and the Jth fret of the high ' to the open .. I use this one to double check my tuning. ,armonics 5good7/ Tune the high '. &o" tune the harmonic at the 1>th fret of the . to the Jth fret of the high ', the 1>th fret harmonic of the : to the Frd fret of the high ', the 1>th fret harmonic of the $ to the Frd fret of the ., the 1>th fret harmonic of the A to the >nd fret of the :, and the 1>th fret harmonic of the lo" ' to the >nd fret of the $. This is the meathod I use to tune an acoustic guitar. ,armonics 5bad7/ You "ill inevitably run into a lot of people "ho use this one, so I'm going to lay it out for you, even though, it "ill leave your guitar out of tune. In the ne0t lesson, I "ill provide you "ith a short discourse on harmonic overtones "hich "ill e0plain "hy this method is bad. 8o, "hy does everyone use this methodE In a "ord, it's easy. %f all the tuning methods that I have ever seen, this one makes it the easiest to hear the beat. I suppose you could say that guitar players tend to be very laBy, so many of them choose ease over accuracy.

FF ,ere goes/ Tune your lo" '. Then tune the harmonic at the Jth fret of the A to the harmonic at the !th fret of the '. Tune the Jth fret harmonic of the $ to the !th fret harmonic of the A, and the Jth fret harmonic of the : to the !th fret harmonic of the $. To tune the ., you have to use one of the other meathods like the !th fret or octave. %nce the . is in tune, tune the Jth fret harmonic of the high ' to the !th fret harmonic of the .. +o"er chords/ +o"er chords are second only to unisons and octaves for being the most Ain tuneA thing that you can play on the guitar. 8tart by tuning your lo" '. Then play some po"er chords using the ' and A1strings up and do"n the neck, and tune the A1string so that it sounds right. Thats all there is to this one. +lay po"er chords on all other pairs of strings, and <ust remember "hich string is in tune and "hich needs to be ad<usted. Also, remember that the .1string is tuned a fret lo"er than the other strings. 8o, "hen you play a po"er chord using the : and .1strings, the notes have to be F frets apart instead of >. %ne final point/ You don't have to start "ith one method and stick to that method only. I tend to Ami0 and matchA from all the above methods 5and a fe" more7 on any given pair of strings, in order to really AnailA accurate tuning.

Guitar Lesson our - Theory 1art '

FH 1ART ' 9ith this lesson, "e are going to begin an e0ploration into "ritten music. 9hile it is not essential to be able to read music in order to play music, the ability to do so "ill have great impact on your total musical understanding. The ability to read "ill also avail you of vast amounts of music that you may not have any other means to access, as "ell as, allo" you to put your o"n ideas Ado"n on paperA. There are t"o distinct forms of "ritten guitar music, 8TA&$A6$ &%TATI%& 5or <ust plain AmusicA for short...as in , A,ey, do I really have to learn to read musicEA7 and TA.*AT?6' &%TATI%& 5aka. tab7. .oth forms are very useful, and each has its strong points and its "eak points. Tabulature 2irst, let's take a look at TABLAT9RE/

I'm assuming that you already kno" the basics of reading tab. If not, go here. 5opens in ne" "indo"7 Tab's strong point is that it is easy to read. 'ach line represents a string on the guitar, and the numbers tell you e0actly "here to put your fingers. This makes tab a good choice for notating the position on the guitar neck "here the music should be played. Tab's "eak point is that the notation doesn't tell you anything about rhythm. There is no indication as to ho" long each note should be played before playing the ne0t note. &o", the e0ample above might sound like this/ Tab '0ample I stress might because, as I stated, tab notation does not define ho" long you should hold each note before playing the ne0t. In order to provide this information, many authors go to the trouble of providing te0t along "ith the tab that is supposed to make the rhythm more clear. The problem "ith providing such aid is that in order to interpret the hints, you must already have a firm grasp of note values, time signatures and measures. This kno"ledge adds up to about !DP of "hat is re@uired to read standard notation. 8o, it stands to reason that, in order to fully utiliBe tab, you need to understand ho" to read standard notation. 8tandard &otation 8tandard notation is a fairly comple0 "ay of A"ritingA music. =ust like playing guitar, it takes a lot of practice to learn to Aread musicA, but my goal is not to try and give you a Acomplete educationA. Instead, my aim is to teach you A<ust enough to get byA. The rest is up to you. =ust like tab, 8tandard notation has strong points and "eak points. The strongest point is that standard notation sho"s you e0actly "hat the music 8%?&$8 like 5tab sho"s you "here to play the notes only7. The "eakest point is probably a Atoss upA bet"een having to memoriBe a great many symbols and the fact that standard notation doesn't sho" you e0actly A"here to play the notesA 5that's "here tab comes in handy7.

F! *et's take a look. 2irst, I "ant you to imagine a series of lines and spaces that represent all the possible notes that could ever be played. It might look something like this/

&o", imagine that, instead of sho"ing all the lines at once, "e "ere to take only five at a time. This is called a 8TA22/

The first thing "e need, is something to let us kno" "hich five lines of the original diagram "e are looking at. 2or this purpose, "e have "hat is called the )*'2. ,ere is "hat the three most commonly used clefs look like/

Treble or : cleff Tenor or ) cleff

.ass or 2 cleff *et's insert the T6'.*' )*'2/

T6'.*' means high, so the treble clef is used to notate pitches in the high register. The treble clef is also called the : )*'2. This is because the line that the cleff curls around is used to denote the pitch :.

FC &o", let's take a look at the tenor and bass cleffs/

T'&%6 stands for middle, so the tenor clef is used to notate pitches in the middle range. The tenor clef is also called the ) )*'2. The cleff's pointer is on the line that is used to denote ). .A88 means lo", so the bass clef is used to notate pitches in the lo"est register. The bass clef is also kno"n as the 2 )*'2. The cleff's t"o dots are above and belo" the line used to denote the pitch 2. You "on't run into the tenor clef very often 5unless you "ant to read some cello music or trombone music7, so "e are going to concentrate on the treble and bass clefs. &o", once a clef is in place, "e can determine the rest of the pitches from there/

A staff "ith the bass cleff looks like this/

&otice, that in both cases, that the pitches go from lo" to high, in order, and start on the first or bottom line. &otice, also, that the spaces bet"een the lines are also used. The order of the pitches, from lo" to high, never changes, regardless of "hich cleff is used, but you "ill notice, that "hich particular pitches are on each line and space does change. Therefore, it is important that you commit the arrangements of the pitches, for each clef, to memory. &o", look, again, at the treble staff, and notice that the lines, from lo" to high, are ' : . $ 2. An easy "ay to remember this is to say, A 'very :ood .oy $oes 2ine.A If "e do the same for the bass staff, "e get : . $ 2 A, or A:riBBly .ears $o 2erocious Acts.

8o, "hat if "e need notes that are higher or lo"er than our staff allo"sE 9e use "hat is called *'$:'6 *I&'8. *edger lines can e0tend outside of our staff, as lo" or high as "e need them to/

6emember, both the lines and the spaces bet"een the lines are used, and the notes are al"ays in order 52 : A . etc... or ' $ ) . etc...7.

FJ Also, keep in mind, that, unlike TA., the lines of the staff do not represent the strings of the guitar. They represent pitches. It's up to you to find those pitches on your guitar. &o", if "e "ere to look at music some"hat geometrically, "e could say that it contains vertical movement, as "ell as, horiBontal movement. The vertical movement "ould be the pitches rising and falling. The horiBontal movement "ould be ho" those pitches are aranged over time, or 6,YT,#. In order to notate rhythm, "e need some frame of reference. 2or this, "e have "hat is called a #'A8?6'. If "e divide the length of our staff into t"o measures, it "ould look like this/

A measure is defined by a .A6 *I&'. .ecause of that, often times, musicians "ill refer to a measure as a bar, as in, Aplay me a 1>1bar bluesA. &o", think of a measure as a section of time. 9e can fill up our section of time any "ay "e see fit. 9e can even leave it empty if "e choose. ,o"ever "e decide to deal "ith our section of time, though, "e need a "ay to mark this passage of time. There are three tools that help us do this/ TI#' 8I:&AT?6' 1 The time signature is a fraction that you "ill find at the begining of a piece of music. 8ome of the more commonly used time signatures include/ H3H, >3H, F3H, C3K, 1>3K, >3> etc... The top number tells us ho" many .'AT8 "ill be in each measure. 5This is not the same .'AT as "e discussed in the tuning section. This beat has to do "ith ho" many times you tap your foot, ho" many clicks of the metronome, ho" many times the conductor hits you over the head "ith his little "hite stick etc...7 If the top number is H, for e0ample, it means that you must play everything "ithin a single measure in the space of four beats. The bottom number tells us "hich &%T' ;A*?' is e@uivalent to one "hole beat. This "ill make more sense in a moment. &%T' ;A*?'8 1 &otes on the staff are represented by a group of predefined symbols, as follo"s/ 9hole note

,alf note

Quarter note

'ighth note

8i0teenth note There are notes smaller than the si0teenth note pictured above. In fact, my notation soft"are "ill dra" notes as small as 131>K, but "e'll <ust deal "ith these five, for no".

FK T'#+% 1 To put it simply, this is ho" fast you tap your foot. &o", before "e attempt to apply these three tools to our staff, I "ant you to take a moment and imagine that you have <ust "on one of those contests, "here you get to run through a department store, as fast as you can, and "hatever you can grab is yours for free. ?sually, you have a set time limit to make your run through the store. *et's call that T'#+%. You also have to consider the siBe of your shopping cart 5TI#' 8I:&AT?6'7 and the siBe of the packages 5&%T' ;A*?'87, in order to determine ho" much looting you can get a"ay "ith. If you follo" this analogy, it stands to reason that, depending on the siBe of your shopping cart 5ho" many beats allo"ed in a measure vs. "hich note value is e@ual to one beat7 and the amount of time you are given 5more time R slo"er tempo, less time R faster tempo7, you could fit a lot of candy bars 5small note value7, or a fe" small appliances 5large note value7 in your cart, but a refrigerator might be a "aste of effort 5note value is too large7. %n the other hand, if you go for the candy bars, you might not be able to grab all those little suckers 5note value too small7 fast enough to "alk a"ay "ith more than enough to give you a belly ache, before your time is up 5tempo too fast7. %h "ell, maybe they'll let you keep the cart 5Ain't it impressive the "ay the ne" song that I "rote uses some bitchen time signaturesE7. %kay, let's see if "e can put this all together. 2irst, "e'll insert a time signature/

If "e use a different time signature, "e change the siBe of the measure/

If it's not obvious, the note values "ork like this/ A "hole note has the same time value as t"o half notes. 5$1 is "orth t"o !D cent pieces7 A half note has the same time value as t"o @uarter notes. 5!D cents "ill buy you t"o @uarters7 8o on and so forth... If "e have a measure "ith a time signature of H3H, "e can fill that measure "ith four @uarter notes 5in H3H, a @uarter note gets one beat, and there are four beats per measure7, one "hole note 5four @uarters R $17, or any combination that is e@ual to four beats, relative to the time signature.

All that is re@uired to understand time signatures and note values is simple math.

F Think of an apple pie 5"hole note7. If you "ere to cut it e0actly do"n the middle, you "ould have t"o pieces that are the same siBe that, together, are e@ual to the "hole pie 5half notes7. If you cut the t"o pieces in half, you "ould have four e@ual siBe pieces 5@uarter notes7. You could keep cutting the pie into smaller and smaller pieces, until the pieces "ere are too small to cut anymore. .ut, if your mother told you that you had better not eat any of that pie she <ust baked, you "ould have to have all the pieces together to convince her that the "hole pie "as still there 5you <ust hacked it into tiny pieces in the name of art7. It's the same "ith our measure. 9e have to put enough notes in it to fill up all the beats. It doesn't matter ho" big or small the pieces are. They <ust have to add up to a "hole pie. 8o, "hat do "e do "ith something like C3KE The formula is the same. 9e <ust have a different siBe of pie dish. C3K means that you have C beats in a measure and the 13K note is e@ual to one beat. 8o "e could fill up our measure "ith si0 13K notes, or three 13H notes, or one 13> note and t"o 13K notes etc... .ut, "atch out for the refrigerator- A "hole note is "orth eight 13K notes. That means that it is too big to fit in a measure that "ill only hold si0 13K notes, and nobody "ants to get stuck hanging on to a refrigerator. 8o "hat's the deal "ith all this note value and time signature stuff any"ayE The note values tell us ho" long to keep a note ringing, after "e play it, and the time signature defines "hat siBe of note values "e can use to fill up our measure. That sounds good Aon paperA, but "hat does it all mean in the Areal "orldAE .elo" is a measure in H3H time that is filled "ith @uarter notes/

=ust like TA., 8tandard notation is read from left to right. If you see notes arranged horiBontally, as in the e0ample above, they are played in succession. If, ho"ever, the notes are stacked vertically, you "ould play them simultaneously 5all notes that occure on the same part of the beat are played at the same time7. &o", each note must be played for it's full value 5"e'll deal "ith empty spaces later7, "hich means that you have to let each note ring until you play the ne0t. I "ant you to play the above e0ample. ,ere's ho"/ 8tart by tapping your foot at a nice comfortable T'#+%. %nce you have a tempo established, begin to count your foot taps out loud. )ount 1 > F H, 1 > F H, 1 > F H etc... 9hat you are doing is sectioning out your beat to match the top number of the time signature. .e sure to say the number at the same time as your foot is tapping, not before or after. &o", recall that the lines of a treble clef staff are 'very :ood .oy $oes 2ine, bottom to top. That makes the note I have put on our staff an A note. 2or no", use the A note at the second fret of your :1string 5 "e'll figure out ho" to determine "hich A that space represents later7.

9hile you tap your foot and count, play the A note one time each for 1 > F H. .e sure to let each note ring until you play the ne0t and that you play each note right in time "ith your foot tapping and counting.

HD 9hat you <ust played should sound like this. You may have played it at a different tempo, but the @uality and eveness of the notes is "hat are important. *et's try some different note values/

6emember that a half note is e@ual in time to t"o @uarter notes, so you have to hold each one out for t"o full counts. In other "ords, you play the first note "hen you count one and let it continue to ring all the "ay through until you play the ne0t note, on the third beat. This second note has to ring until you count through the forth beat, and ends "hen you get to one again. If "e "ere to put a "hole note on the staff, you "ould have only one note 5"hole note R four @uarter notes7 that you "ould play on the first beat and let it ring for all four counts. .efore "e take a look at ho" to play notes smaller than the @uarter, "e need to have a @uick note1anatomy lesson. .elo" is a diagram of the eighth note/

And here's our note value chart, again/

9hole note

,alf note

Quarter note

'ighth note

8i0teenth note

The "hole note is nothing more than the note head itself and is not filled in. 5some people refer to these as footballs7 The half note has an unfilled note head, like the "hole note, but it has a stem. The @uarter note looks <ust like the half note, e0cept the note head is filled in.

H1 &o", the distinguishing characteristic of notes that are smaller than a @uarter, is the flag. 'ach flag divides a note value in half. 8o, one flag gives us an eighth note, t"o flags gives us a si0teenth note, three flags "ould be a thirty1second note, four flags a si0ty1fourth note etc... *et's look at some eighth notes on our staff/

&o", in lesson one 5opens in ne" "indo"7, I had you practice your picking hand to a metronome. You started by playing one note on every beat. Those are @uarter notes. Then I had you s"itch to playing t"o notes, evenly1 spaced, for every beat. Those are eighth notes. I, then, had you play four evenly1spaced notes per beat. Those are si0teenth notes. 9hen several notes, smaller than a @uarter, are "ritten in succession, an interesting change takes place. Instead of having to dra" all of those flags, someone came up "ith a handy shortcut, the .'A#. The above e0ample "ould actually be "ritten like this/

%r

The first e0ample is beamed to match the beat, and is more correct. The second e0ample has never made any sense to me, but it is "idely used 5guess people "ho "rite music are laBy too7. The important thing to kno" is, beams are e0actly like flags. %ne beam is used for eighth notes, t"o for si0teenth notes, three for thirty1second notes etc... *et's look at an e0ample of eighths, si0teenths, and thirty1seconds/

,ere's the above e0ample, played t"ice, on the piano, "ith a metronome to keep the beat. '0ample

H> 8o, "hat about sharp and flat notesE ,o" do "e notate thoseE The lines and spaces of the staff do not account for sharps and flats. 2or that, "e have to re1introduce three symbols/ 8harp 2lat &atural You "ill find these three symbols used t"o different "ays. The first "ay is called the G'Y 8I:&AT?6' 5usally refered to as simply G'Y7. *et's take a look/

or3 .ith f#ats/

The key signature "orks like this. 9hichever line or space the symbol is on, that note "ill be sharped or flatted, every time you play it, for the entire piece of music.

*et's look at a more simple key signature/

HF

In the key signature, "e find a 4 sign on the top line of the staff. That line represents the pitch 2 5remember, 'very :ood .oy $oes 2ine7. 8o, the key signature is telling us that every 2 in this piece of music "ill be an 24. That goes for, not only, any notes on the same line, but, also, for any other 2 in any other octave. They "ill all be played 24. All four of the notes in the above diagram are 24. 5You have to count the lines and spaces from any note that you kno". 9e kno" that the first note is 2, so if "e count lines and spaces up to the second note, "e get 2 : A . ) $ ' 2. The third note is on the space bet"een the ' line and the : line. You shouldn't have any trouble figuring that one out- If "e count from the bottom line of the staff to the fourth note, "e get ' $ ) . A : 2.7 If "e "ere to add more ledger lines for higher 2's and lo"er 2's, they "ould be sharp also. If "e add more sharps to the key signature, then those notes "ould be sharp as "ell. It "orks the same if "e "ere to use flats. The second "ay that these symbols are used is as A))I$'&TA*8. Accidentals are used as a "ay to temporarily change the key signature. 8uppose "e "ere to play one measure of notes "ith a certain key signature/

The notes in order are : A . ) $ ' 24 :. 5#ake sure you understand this, because I "ill stop cueing you after this lesson.7 &o", let's say that, in the second measure, "e "ant to play 2 instead of 24. 9e "ould add a natural sign as an accidental/

The natural sign in the second measure cancels out the sharp sign in the key signature. 8o, in the second measure, "e "ould play A . A : 2 ' $ ).

A couple of points about accidentals are in order/

HH Accidentals only affect the line or space they are "ritten on. If "e "ere to play any other 2, higher or lo"er, "e "ould play 24. Accidentals only affect a measure from the note they are "ritten ne0t to until the end of that measure. In other "ords, if "e had any 2's in our second measure, but they "ere before the accidental, those notes "ould still be 24. %nly notes after the accidental are affected. If "e have any 2's in the third measure, they "ill also be 24. If "e "ant to alter the 24 in the third measure, "e have to put in another accidental. Accidentals can be applied to any note in any octave. In other "ords, "e could have put a 4 sign on the ) or a b sign on the A etc... The only reason that I used a natural on the 2, "as to sho" you ho" an accidental cancels out that line or space of the key signature. There is no insurance policy that I kno" of that covers the use of accidentals in standard notation. You "ill have to pay for the damage yourself. 5I suppose you could try *loyd's of *ondon. They seem to be "illing to insure <ust about anything.7 You no" have enough information to try a couple of e0ercises. .elo", is a short little melody using notes of the ) ma<or scale/

,ere's "hat it sounds like, but try to play it before you listen/ '0ercise %ne It's not the most e0citing melody that one could hope for, but that's not the point. You have to start simple. I had the lu0ury of learning to play the trumpet during grade school. At the time, you had to learn to read music from the very start. &o", the trumpet isn't as easy as the guitar to play, so nice and simple music "as "elcome. 9hat I'm getting at is this. There is no AfunA or Ae0citingA "ay to learn to read music. The fun starts once you can do it. &o", instead of giving you page upon page of boring e0ercises, I'm hoping that a combination of your o"n motivation and enough e0posure through these lessons "ill suffice. It's important that you investigate as much "ritten music as possible. Any music store "ill usually carry sheet music and piano books, and any grocery store usually carries a fe" guitar magaBines. You should be looking for the things that "e cover, like key signature, time signature, note values, pitches etc...

'0ercise >/

H!

.e sure and revie" the points on the use of accidentals. 52or e0ample, ho" "ould you play the !th note in measure FE7 &o", don't <ust follo" the TA. in these e0ercises. Take a good look at the standard notation and try to understand the points "e have covered. .y the "ay, here's "hat the second one sounds like/ '0ercise T"o

Guitar Lesson our - Theory

HC 1ART '' In lesson F "e learned that the ),6%#ATI) 8)A*' consists of every note/ C - C$%D& - D - D$%E& - E - $%G& - G - G$%A& - A - A$%B& - B - C

9e also learned this 9,%*'18T'+3,A*218T'+ pattern/ /-/-)-/-/-/-) .y applying this pattern to the chromatic scale, starting "ith ), "e arrived at the notes of the ) #A=%6 8)A*'/ C-D-E- G -A- B - C

8o, "hat if "e "ere to start on some other note than )E 8o long as "e follo" the same pattern of "hole1steps and half1steps, "e "ill get a #A=%6 8)A*' from that 6%%T &%T'. 2or e0ample, If "e start on :, the notes "e get are/ G -A- B - C - D- E - $ - G )ompare this to the notes of the ) ma<or scale. &ot only does the : ma<or scale have a different root note, It also has an 24. ,ere are some points about #A=%6 8)A*'8/ 9hatever note you start on "hen applying the "hole1step3half1step pattern is the 6%%T &%T' for that scale. 58tart on ), get a ) scale, start on A, get an A scale etc...7 This "hole1step3half1step pattern al"ays yields a #A=%6 8)A*'. Any other type of scale "ill have a different pattern. ) is the only ma<or scale that has no 4's or b's. Any other root note "ill yield different combinations of 4 and b notes. 9hen first learning a ne" scale, It's important to start A&$ stop on the root note and double check that you are follo"ing the correct pattern of "hole1steps and half1steps. %ther"ise, you'll find yourself slipping back into the ) ma<or scale and you "on't be able to hear the sound of the ne" scale. %nce you're absolutely certain that you are playing the right notes, 8tart making up little melodies that 6'8%*;' to the ne" root note. There's really no "ay that you're going to be able to remember every note in every scale "hile you're playing. You have to see the "hole1step3half1step pattern for the scale and follo" that.

&o", the ) ma<or scale has no sharps or flats, so the key signature for ) ma<or is blank/

HJ

The : ma<or scale has one sharp 5247, so the key signature for : ma<or looks like this/

&o t"o ma<or scales "ill have the e0act same sharps or flats. 8o, once you get familiar "ith "hich scale has "hich sharps or "hich flats, one glance at the key signature of a piece of music "ill tell you "hat scale the piece is based upon. Add to that the kno"ledge that you are gaining about ho" the scales lay across the fingerboard, and you "ill have a very good point of reference for learning to play any piece of standard notation that you come across. Your assignment for this lesson is to "rite out the notes of the ma<or scale in all t"elve keys 5starting on each note of the chromatic scale7. ,ere's ho" to do it/ 2irst, decide "hich note you "ant to start on. That "ill be your root note. Then, starting on that note, follo" the "hole1step3half1step pattern and "rite do"n the notes you get. Then choose a different root and repeat the process. There are t"elve possible notes to start on. You have to do all t"elve. $on't repeat a letter1name "ithin a scale. In other "ords, if you already played A and the ne0t note that you need is a half1step higher, think of the ne0t note as .b instead of A4. #a<or scale have either sharps or flats in them. They never have both at the same time. 5There are other scales that $% mi0 the t"o.7 8o, if you start off using sharps, stick "ith sharps. And, the same goes for flats.

.elo", is a chart to illustrate ho" to organiBe your scales/

HK C Ma-or Sca#e <no shar"s or f#ats= Sca#es .ith shar"s : ma<or/ : 1 A 1 . 1 ) 1 $ 1 ' 1 24 1 : $ ma<or/ A ma<or/ ' ma<or/ . ma<or/ N24 ma<or/ Sca#es .ith f#ats 2 ma<or/ 2 1 : 1 A 1 .b 1 ) 1 $ 1 ' 1 2 .b ma<or/ 'b ma<or/ Ab ma<or/ $b ma<or/ N:b ma<or/

N24 and :b are the same scale, and both share the same anomaly. I told you before, that there is no such note as '4 or )b, yet, in order to stick "ith the idea of not using the same letter1name t"ice in a scale, the 2 note in the 24 scale is called '4, and the . note in the :b scale is called )b. I've given you the first scale in each column. The rest are up to you. 9hat follo"s is the : ma<or scale up and do"n the :1string/

&o", go ahead and figure out the : ma<or scale up and do"n the rest of the strings. +ay close attention to "here those 24 notes are.

Guitar Lesson our - Left )and Technique

H Left )and, In order to make full use of the )*A88I)A* ,A&$ +%8ITI%& 5revie" lesson 1 opens in ne" "indo"7, it's important to understand 2I&:'6.%A6$ +%8ITI%&. 2ingerboard position is the fret "hich your hand is centered around. *et's take a look. 8uppose you "ere to play the follo"ing four notes at the fifth fret "ith the fingers indicated/

This is considered the !T, +%8ITI%&. ?nderstanding position pretty easy, so long as, you aren't re@uired to play any notes outside of a four fret span. It's simply a matter of "here your first finger is located. The only AruleA that applies to position playing is that each finger handles any note on any string on the same fret. In other "ords, the inde0 finger, in the above diagram, "ould be responsible, not only for the A at the !th fret of the lo" '1string, but for any note on the other ! strings that happened to be at the !th fret. The same goes for the other fingers. The >nd finger is responsible for the Cth fret, the Frd finger is responsible for the Jth fret, and the Hth finger handles the Kth fret. *ets say that you "anted to play the ) ma<or scale across the strings from the lo" ' to the high '. This is easily accomplished in Jth position 51st finger at the Jth fret7/

!D .ut, "hat happens if "e need to play a fe" notes that land outside of an easy four fret spreadE In those cases, the inde0 finger is re@uired to stretch one e0tra fret do"n, and the pinky is re@uired to stretch one e0tra fret up, like so/

.ecause of this finger stretching, position is best defined by the middle finger rather than the inde0 finger. Think of position as being named by the fret belo" your middle finger. 8o, the e0ample above is in the !th position, not the Hth. *et's look at ho" these finger stretches apply to the ) ma<or scale. 2irst, "e'll stretch the pinky by playing in the !th position/

And, no", "e'll stretch the inde0 finger in the >nd position/

!1 It's important that you 8T6'T), for the outside notes, to minimiBe any e0traneous hand movement. Imagine that the frets that the middle and ring fingers cover are invisible fences that "on't allo" those fingers to move past the fret "ire. You'll @uickly find that the classical hand position is essential for getting that e0tra reach "ith the inde0 and pinky fingers. If, ho"ever, you find the stretches, especially at the lo"er frets, to be too much, the idea is to stretch as far as possible before moving the hand. The "hole point of position playing is to achieve ma0imum efficiency "ith the fretting hand. This is the only "ay to increase speed and fluidity on the guitar. 9e "ill be covering the playing of scales across the strings in a later lesson, but if you "ant to go ahead and learn the patterns used above, that's fine. 9hat I "ant to focus on in this lesson, though, is applying the priciples of position to playing up and do"n a single string. .elo", is an e0ample of ho" "e might play the : ma<or scale on the high '1sting/

In order to play the scale this "ay, you have to shift positions smoothly. This re@uires a careful balance bet"een keeping the fingers in place and moving to"ard the ne0t position. In lesson one, I pointed out that "hen playing a string of ascending notes, it's important to keep the fingers do"n on the notes. The reason for this is to insure that you get a smooth transition from each note to the ne0t. The cru0 of the biscuit is the smoothness, not the holding do"n of the notes. As you gain more skill "ith your left hand, you "ill find it necessary, for speed and fluidity, to release the fingers that have already played a note so they can be moving to"ard a ne" note "hile another finger is playing it's note. *et's take a look at ho" to play the e0ample above/ +lay the : "ith your inde0 finger, and keep that note do"n as you play the A "ith your ring finger. Geep both of those notes do"n only long enough to to play the . "ith "ith your pinky. %nce the . note is ringing, release the inde0 and middle fingers and begin moving them to"ard the ne" position. the pinky acts as a pivot 5sort of like doing a pole vault7.

!> The hard part is making the transition from the pinky playing the . to the inde0 playing the ). You have to keep the pinky do"n as long as possible before you release it and allo" the hand to shift into position for the inde0 to play the ). %ther"ise, you'll get a dead spot each time you shift positions that "ill make your playing sound choppy. The ideal, "hen shifting positions, is to do it so smoothly that a person listening "ould never be able to tell that you made a position shift. This "ill re@uire that you practice slo"ly 5the most over1used "ord in these lessons7 and get it right. &o", "hen descending, don't try to place your fingers in advance. This "ill slo" you do"n and, again, make you sound choppy. 'ach finger should float above the string as close to the note as possible and only contact the string "hen re@uired to actually play the note. This is true any time you are playing a succession of descending notes, "hether on a single string or across the strings. ,ere is an e0ercise for helping you to develop your finger1stretching ability/

!F .oth e0ercises are variations on the same basic idea, e0cept that the first one re@ires you to stretch bet"een the ring and pinky, "hile the second re@uires a stretch bet"een the inde0 and middle fingers. &o", it doesn't matter ho" high or lo" on the neck you play these. It's not the notes that are important. It's the finger stretches and the position shifts. I strongly recomend that you start up high on the neck, "here the stretches "ill be easier and gradually, over the course of several "eeks3months, "ork your "ay lo"er do"n the neck, "here the stretches "ill be more difficult. ,ere are a couple of 8'Q?'&)'8 5short melody played off of each successive note in a scale7 for you to practice/

.e sure to look at the G'Y 8I:&AT?6' and TI#' 8I:&AT?6', as "ell as the &%T' ;A*?'8 and +IT),'8 in the standard notation. $on't <ust follo" the TA.. The TA. is only a reference to help you read the standard notation. Also, <ust because the e0amples are using the ) scale on the .1string, doesn't mean that they can't be played in the key of :, or on any other string. 8e@uences are patterns, and once you understand the pattern, you need to "ork them through every scale, on every string. &o", it's very important that you "ork into these stretches gradually. If you try too hard to make the stretches, you can in<ure the muscles and <oints of the hand and "rist. As you practice, be a"are of pain and burning in your hand. This is your body's "ay of telling you that you've had enough. %nce you reach your limit, it's a good time to let the left hand rest "hile you "ork on your right hand picking.

Guitar Lesson our - Right )and Technique

!H Right hand, 8o far, the right hand has been re@uired to A6TI)?*AT' "hole, half, @uarter, eighth, and si0teenth notes. These note groups yeild an even amount of notes for each beat. .ut, @uite often, you "ill "ant to play an odd amount of notes for the beat. In order to accomplish this, you must come to terms "ith the T?+*'T. A tuplet is any irregular grouping of notes to the beat, such as F, !, C, J, etc...

The most commonly used tuplet is the T6I+*'T. A triplet, as the name implies, is a group of three notes that are played in the space of t"o. *et's start "ith a measure of eighth notes/

'ighth notes yield t"o evenly1spaced notes per beat. 'ighth1note triplets, on the other hand, give us three evenly1spaced notes per beat/

&o", the bracket and number above each group tell us that "e have a tuplet. In this case, a triplet. The beam that connects the stems acts <ust the same as before. %ne beam R eighth notes, t"o beams R si0teenth notes etc... 5go back and revie" the theory section if this is not clear7 There are many different tuplets that "e "ill e0plore as "e continue along, but eighth note triplets are the most "idely used, so "e are going to stick "ith them for no".

,ere is an e0ercise on the open :1string for incorporating eighth note triplets/

!!

6emember that all notes must be evenly spaced across each beat. 8tart very slo". %nly "hen you can play it perfectly smooth should you gradually increase the tempo. ,ere's "hat the e0ercise should sound like/ Triplet e0ercise The trick to note groupings is that you have to AfeelA them as you play. You "on't have time to count and tap as your playing, so it's important to spend the time, no", getting these rhythms in your blood. You "on't regret it. ,ere's a se@uence using triplets/

Guitar Lesson our - Music

!C There are a lot of things that you can do to spice up your po"er chords. %ne of those "ays is to move the notes around. In this lesson, "e're going to e0plore one of the "ays that the pinky finger can be used to add AmovementA to an other"ise AstaticA sounding chord progression. +lay the follo"ing progression using a steady rhythm of do"nstrokes/

This time, use your pinky to move the note on the $1string up t"o frets/

Alternating back and forth bet"een the ring finger and the little finger creates a sort1of1lurching effect. If you thro" in a little rhythmic variance, the possibilities are endless.

!J ,ere's Takin' )are %f .usiness by .T%/

#ake sure you're looking at the note values for the rhythm and pitches. 5I don't e0pect you to master this aspect real soon, but you gotta be "orking at it.7 &o", "hen it comes to A"igglin' the pinkyA, the T6I+*'T is a handy device for adding rhythmic drive to a basic chord progression. In the 6ight ,and 5opens in ne" "indo"7 section of this lesson, "e discussed the fact that a triplet is used to play three notes in the space normally reserved for t"o. In the Theory +art I 5opens in ne" "indo"7 section of this lesson "e discussed the fact that t"o eighth notes are e@ual in time to one @uarter note. An interesting and usefull sound can be acheived "hen "e combine these t"o priciples.

!K *et's have a look/

The first measure is straight eighth notes 5count/ 11I, >1I etc...7, and the second measure is eighth1note triplets 5count/ 11trip1let, >1trip1let etc...7. The third and fourth measures are also eighth1note triplets, but "e combined the first t"o eighth notes of each group into @uarter notes. 9hen "e do this, "e get "hat is called 89I&: 5if you play it fast7 or 8,?22*' 5if you play it slo"7. The shuffle feel is the basis for the rhythm of countless blues and rock tunes. ,ere's 8he *oves #y Automobile by OO top/

! In the %+'& +%8ITI%&, you don't have to hold do"n the lo"est note of your po"er chord 5it's the open string7, so you can hold the high note of the chord "ith your inde0 and do the shuffle "ith your ring finger. This leaves your pinky free to do a common variation/

this variation can also be done in other positions on the neck, but the pinky really has to "ork at it. The easiest "ay to help the pinky, is to release the ring finger "hen the pinky has to make the three1fret reach. 5You may have to do that for the t"o1fret reach in the lo"er positions, any"ay.7 ,ere's A)3$) doing a variation on the variation in The =ack/

CD

*isten to it/ A)3$) 8he's got the <ackThat's @uite enough for this installment. There is a lot of information in this lesson, and a good portion of it you "ill probably have to revie" many times to make it clear. .oth the tuning section and the theory section are <ust the Atip of the icebergA, so it's essential that you understand the things covered there. 9e "ill be e0panding on those ideas and concepts in the lessons ahead. :ood luck- i<AcG /*%* /$

LESSON '0E Guitar Lesson i;e

C1 This lesson is divided into seven parts: Tuning Theory 1art ' Theory 1art '' Theory 1art ''' Left hand Technique Right hand Technique Music Tuning In order to gain a thorough understanding of tuning, it is necessary to learn a little scientific3historic background on the sub<ect. 2irst, "e'll e0plore a natural phonomenon kno"n as the ,A6#%&I) %;'6T%&' 8'6I'8. 9hile there is evidence to suggest that certain ancient cultures may have plotted the harmonic overtone series, the credit for it's descovery is given to 1 th century :erman physicist ,ermann ,elmholtB. ,elmholtB AdiscoveredA that "hat "e hear as a single pitch is actually a composite of many different pitches sounding together. *et's have a look at a vibrating string/

This is the 2?&$A#'&TA* or overall vibrating pattern of the string. &o", along this pattern of vibration are tiny dead spots called &%$'8, and if you touch one of these nodes "hile the string is vibrating, you "ill cause the vibrational pattern to change. %ne such node is located e0actly half1"ay along our vibrating string. Try this e0periment/ 9ith your amp set to a clean sound, pick your lo" '1string, and then $A#+'& 5stop it from vibrating7 the string by laying your hand across it. &o", play the string again, but, this time, lightly touch the string directly over the 1>th fret. You should find that instead of dampening the entire string, you have only dampened the fundamental and are left "ith a higher bell1 like note.

9hat you have done is to cause the string to vibrate like this/

C>

This is but one of an entire series of nodal points along our vibrating string. 5I have seen reference to at least FD nodal points, but finding verification has been difficult.7 9hat follo"s is the vibrational patterns of the first four nodal points, their location along the string and the resultant pitch relative to the fundamental of '/

2undamental 1 %pen string 1 '

1st ,armonic %vertone 1 1>th 2ret 1 ''

>nd ,armonic %vertone 1 Jth 2ret, 1 th 2ret 1 .'

Frd ,armonic %vertone 1 !th 2ret, >Hth 2ret 1 '''

CF

Hth ,armonic %vertone 1 Hth 2ret, th 2ret, 1Cth 2ret 1 :4'' 5slightly flat7 &ote/ the ' marks along1side some of the pitches above represent an octave. %ne ' means that the note is in the ne0t octave, "hile t"o ' ' means that the note is in the second higher octave. 9e could continue to plot further overtones by adding one more vibrating section for each successive nodal point. 2or e0ample, the !th node yields this vibrational pattern/

It's all mathematically proportional, and therefore refered to as ,A6#%&I). &o", all of these sectional vibrating patterns are refered to as %;'6T%&'8, because, as ,elmholtB discovered, they are all vibrating at the same time as the fundamental. The fundamental vibration and the overtone vibrations combine to form "hat "e percieve as sound. The fre@uency 5ho" fast or slo"7 of the fundamental vibration is responsible for "hat "e perceive as the +IT), 5ho" high or lo"7 of a sound. %vertone vibrations, on the other hand, are responsible for "hat is called TI#.6' 5pronounced tamber7. Timbre is not as easy to define as pitch. All of the nuances that help us distinguish the sound of, for e0ample, a hammer hitting an anvil versus a <et plane passing overhead fall into the category of timbre. 5ATTA)G and $')AY are t"o other features that help us to distinguish one sound from another, but they are not "ithin the scope of this particular discussion.7 Timbre is the direct result of the hierarchical structure 58'6I'87 of the harmonic overtones. In other "ords, "hich overtones are present S the relative strength or "eakness of the individual overtones that are present R the sound characteristics of the instrument used to produce the sound.

8o, "hat does all this have to do "ith tuningE 8imply put, the pitches that "e use today are out of tune "ith the harmonic overtones.

This has been brought about by the desire of composers to "rite music that utiliBes more than one key signature.

CH You see, originally the pitches used in music "ere defined by the overtone series. This is refered to as =?8T I&T%&ATI%&. 5There is a lot of debate that rages regarding this sub<ect. It's a lot like the A"hich came first, the chicken or the eggEA debate. This author 5opens in ne" "indo"7 makes "hat I feel to be very valid points regarding the unconscious influence of the overtone series on the developement of music. )heck it out.7 &o", the overtones are mathematically proportional to the fundamental. 9hat that means to you and me is that no t"o fundamentals produce the e0act same overtones. In other "ords, if an instrument "ere built to play in the key of ), and the overtones "ere used to generate the pitches for the rest of the scale, that instrument "ould not be capable of playing in tune in any key other than ). This is ho" instruments "ere built for centuries. 'ventually, the desire for #%$?*ATI%& 5changing key7 "ithin a piece of music became great enough that instrument builders began to e0periment "ith "hat is called T'#+'6'$ T?&I&:8. In order to have an understanding of temperment, one must first come to terms "ith the )I6)*' %2 2I2T,8. *et's say that "e are playing in the key of ), and "e "ant to modulate to another. The smoothest transition "ill be found if "e move to a ne" key that is very similar to the key "e are in. In other "ords, the fe"er notes that "e have to alter in our original scale to accommodate the ne" scale, the easier it "ill be to modulate to the ne" key. &o", take a look at the scale chart that you constructed in lesson H. You "ill notice that, in both the Ascales "ith sharpsA column and the Ascales "ith flatsA column, each scale has one more sharp or flat than the previous scale. Also, notice that "ithin the Ascales "ith sharpsA column that each successive scale is built off of the !th note of the preceding scale, and that "ithin the Ascales "ith flatsA column that each successive scale is built of the Hth tone of the preceding scale. 9hat this implies, is that the smoothest modulation from our original key of ) "ill be to the key of : or the key of 2, because "e "ould only have to change one note 52 to 24 or . to .b7 to accommodate the key change. *et's say that "e modulate to :. %nce there, "e might "ant to modulate to another ne" key. If "e choose the Hth tone of : for our modulation, that "ould take us back to the key of ) 5study your scale chart if this is not clear7. Therefore,the only option for modulating some"here ne", is to go to the !th tone 5$7. If "e "ere to continue modulating to the fifth tone of each scale, "e "ould eventually arrive back on our original key of ) 5I guess the "orld is round after all7. This successive modulation can be e0pressed in a circle/

If you travel clock"ise around the circle, each root is the !th tone of the preceding root's scale. If you go counter1clock"ise, each root is the Hth tone of the preceding root's scale.

C! &o", if you "ere to start on ) and tune each !th perfectly 5no beats7, by the time you got to the ne0t ), You "ould find that it is out of tune "ith the ) you started on. 8light variances in pitch are measured in )'&T8. %ne cent is e@ual to 131>DD of an octave. It so happens that our second ) "ill be >H cents sharp. That's nearly 13H of a half1step- 5I verified this for myself by attempting to tune a piano and making the mistake of tuning the !ths pure. I ended up "ith a piano e0tremely out of tune, and that's a lot of strings to have to re1tune-7 Also, take another look at the overtone chart. The pitches of the first four overtones define the #A=%6 ),%6$ 5<ust like the first ! chords I sho"ed you in lesson 17. 2rom earliest times, the ma<or chord has been one of the basic building blocks of music. In the case of the chart, that "ould be ' :4 . for an ' #a<or chord 5the 1st, Frd and !th notes of the ' ma<or scale7. &o", let's say that "e tune a pure 5matches the harmonic overtone7 . from our '. Then, "e tune a pure :b from the ., a pure $b from the :b, and a pure Ab 5same as :47 from the $b 5study the circle above7. 9ere going to end up "ith a :4 note that is >> cents sharp as compared to the Hth harmonic overtone of '. That's enough of a discrepancy to cause our ma<or chord to sound horribly out of tune- 5)heck out this page if you "ant to get into the mathematics of it all7 8o, in order to arrive at a compromise bet"een freedom of modulation and out of tune ma<or chords, many different T'#+'6#'&T8 5altering the pitches7 have been devised throughout the centuries. The one thing they all have in common, though, is the need to take up the original slack of >H cents and close the circle of !ths. 5This page has an easy to understand historical overvie" on the sub<ect7 The tuning that "e use today is called 'Q?A* T'#+'6#'&T. '@ual temperment is arrived at by tuning each !th in the circle > cents flat 5> cents 0 1> keys R >H cents7. This leaves us "ith a ma<or chord that is sharp by 1H cents 5"e can live "ith that7 on the Frd note of the scale, and > cents flat 5barely noticable7 on the !th note of the scale, but allo"s us to modulate into any key "ith e@ual ease. All the other notes of the scale are also slightly out of tune "ith the overtones. This presents a bit of a problem, especially "hen combined "ith the distortion channel 5lead channel, overdrive channel etc...7 found on most guitar amplifiers. This type of sound is generated by over1emphasising the harmonic overtones until a saturation level is reached. 9hat this all means, is that every time you play a note, you are also setting into motion a "hole sle" of overtones. If your trying to tune one note to another, your hearing, not only the fundamental that you are trying to tune, but also the harmonics involved "ith both notes. This is one of the reasons for most tuning methods using unisons 5e0act same note7 or octaves. These notes are the only ones that are supposed to be in tune "ithin e@ual temperment. ?nisons and octaves also share the same pitches "ithin the overtone series.

&o", recall that in the tuning section of lesson H, I detailed t"o tuning methods that use harmonics, one good and one bad. The method that I labeled as good uses unison and octave harmonics in con<unction "ith fretted and open1string notes. This "ill yeild very accurate tuning.

CC The meathod that I labeled AbadA, on the other hand, "ill leave your guitar out of tune. *et's take a closer look/ 9hen you play the harmonic at the !th fret of the lo" '1string, the resultant pitch is '''. The harmonic at the Jth fret of the A1string is also an '. 8o far so goodE &ot @uite. If you look at our circle of fifths, you'll see that ' is the !th of A. '@ual temperment dictates that the !th is tuned > cents flat, but you <ust tuned them pure. &o", the frets on your guitar are spaced to give accurate e@ual tempered pitches, so, in essence, you have forced the A1string to play > cents flat, "hich is back"ard from "hat you need. 5 A is supposed to be > cents flat from $ not '. 8tudy the circle if this is not clear.7 Geep in mind that > cents is not really enough to notice, but you're about to do the same thing, again, to the $1 string. You're going to be left "ith a $1string that is > cents flat compared to the A1string "hich "as already out of tune.y the time you get to the high '1string, you "ill find that it is noticably out of tune "hen compared to the lo" '. There are a fe" more things to consider about the effects of overtones on tuning/ '*')T6%&I) T?&'68 1 9hen using an electronic tuner, and trying to tune using an open string, you're asking the tuner to pick out the fundamental from "ithin a barrage of overtones. Is it any "onder that the dial goes craByE If instead, you tune by playing the harmonic at the 1>th fret into the tuner, you "ill provide the tuner "ith a more pure tone to read. 8"itching to the neck pickup on your guitar and3or rolling back on the tone knob "ill also help. $I8T%6TI%& 1 $istortion 5the sound of your amps lead channel7 accentuates everything, especially tuning errors. +%9'6 ),%6$8 1 +o"er chords are made up of a root note and a !th 5this is covered more fully in the theory part II section of this lesson7. They sound great "ith lots of distortion, but "e <ust learned that the !th is supposed to be out of tune, and that distortion is going to accentuate the problem. It is sometimes necessary to tune your po"er chords pure and AdealA "ith the out1of1tuneness of the rest of the notes. #A=%6 ),%6$8 1 #a<or chords use the Frd note of the scale, "hich, in e@ual temperment, is pretty far out of tune. They sound pretty bad if you <ust hang out on them 5one of the reasons that )ountry music can sound so AsourA7. Again, distortion makes the problem even "orse 5one of the reasons that po"er chords are so common in 6ock music7. $'A$ 8T6I&:8 1 9hen your strings begin to suffer from too much A"ear and tearA, they begin to vibrate inconsistently "hich produces odd harmonics. This makes it almost impossible to play in tune. ,A6#%&I) )%&;'6:'&)' 1 If the A&e"1AgersA are right, the ne0t time the planets line up "e're all doomed. In that event, I don't suppose it "ill matter "hether your guitar is in tune or not /17

Guitar Lesson i;e - Theory

CJ 1art ' %ne of the keys to interpreting standard notation is to understand ho" the notes on the staff translate to notes on your instrument. This re@uires, not only, a thorough understanding of clefs and key signatures, but also an understanding of )%&)'6T +IT), and T6A&8+%8'$ +IT),. )oncert pitch is the actual pitch of an instrument, "hereas, transposed pitch is the position "ithin the staff that notes for the instrument "ill be "ritten in order to facilitate ease of reading. .efore "e look at the concert pitch vs. the transposed pitch of the guitar, "e need to cover "hat is called #I$$*' ). The easiest "ay to visualiBe middle ) is by using the :6A&$ 8TA22 and the piano keyboard. The :rand 8taff is a bass clef staff and a treble clef staff grouped together "ith a .6A)' and the bar lines e0tended through both staves. It's primary function is for notating piano music, and it looks like this/

In lesson H, "e learned that the top line of the bass clef staff is A 5:riBBly .ears $o 2erocious Acts7, and the bottom line of the treble clef staff is ' 5'very :ood .oy $oes 2ine7. 9e also learned that *'$:'6 *I&'8 are used to notate above and belo" the staff, and that the notes on and bet"een these ledger lines are a se@uential continuation of the notes on the staff itself. &o", for the purpose of demonstration, let's move the t"o staves close enough together that only one ledger line "ill fit bet"een them and see ho" the notes line up/

You can see from the diagram that there are only three notes 5not counting sharps or flats7 bet"een the top line of the bass clef staff and the bottom line of the treble clef staff. The ) note bet"een the t"o staves is refered to as #I$$*' ) 5%bviously, It's smack1dab in the middle, bet"een the t"o staves.7

CK This concept of middle ) is very important, for it is the note that defines the pitch of the three clefs. If "e notate middle ) on three staves "ith each of the three clefs, "e get this/

All three of these notes are the e0act same pitch. It's <ust a matter of "here that pitch is found relative to the clef being used. 8o, "here is middle ) on the guitarE .efore "e can ans"er that @uestion, "e need to take another look at ho" the notes are arranged up, do"n and across the fingerboard/

'ach color represents one octave. Any repeated notes "ithin the same color are the same pitch. 2or e0ample, every blue ) is the same pitch, every red ) is the same pitch, and every green ) is the same pitch. 5Also, this diagram only covers 1J frets. You need to figure out the rest of the neck for yourself.7 %ne look at the diagram should tell you that, e0cept for the first fe" frets of the lo" '1string and the last fe" frets of the high '1string, all other pitches can be found at several locations. This can make the <ob of reading standard notation a little difficult, but it also gives you the freedom to play any musical idea in more than one location on the fingerboard. If you find yourself struggling to play a given passage, al"ays look for a different location that might make the part easier to play. This is actually a lu0ury that fe" other instruments share. &o", it is "ithin the red octave that "e find middle ). That puts roughly half of the available notes on the guitar belo" middle ) and half of the notes above middle ).

C If "e take another look at our three clefs, it is obvious that since the tenor clef has middle ) nearest the center of the staff, that clef "ould be the best choice for notating guitar music/

.ut somebody decided that it "ould be easier to read guitar music if it "ere "ritten in the treble clef, and saddled guitar players "ith the onus of having to understand T6A&8+%8'$ pitches. 9hen you transpose something, you move it up or do"n from it's original pitch. In the case of guitar music, you'll find that it's "ritten an octave higher than it actually sounds. *et's have a look at the pitches of the open strings, notated at concert pitch, using the tenor clef/

The same notes in the treble clef "ould be "ritten here/

Instead, the pitches for the open strings are "ritten one octave higher/

JD

It's as if middle ) is in the blue octave instead of the red. This is ho" you must think in order to read music that is "ritten specifically for the guitar. 8o, "hen reading music that is "ritten for the piano, middle ) is in the red octave, but "hen reading music that is "ritten for guitar, middle ) is in the blue octave. Geep in mind that I only used red, blue and green to sho" you the different octaves. If you go into your local music store and start talking about the AblueA octave, people are gonna think you are loco. It can become a <uggling act to keep both the concert pitch and the transposed pitch in mind "hen reading music. *uckily, most of the available music is "ritten for either piano or guitar. &o", once you have middle ) firmly established on your instrument, all the other notes on the staff can be determined from that pitch. 9hith consistent practice, you'll @uickly get the hang of it. To this end, beginning "ith this lesson, I "ill no longer provide TA. "ith any musical e0amples. The e0ception to this "ill be in the music part of each lesson.

Guitar Lesson i;e - Theory 1art ''

J1 A "ise person once said that notes are nothing more than a clever "ay to get from one silence to the ne0t. 9hat they "ere pointing out "as that "hat you don't play, often times, is more important than "hat you do play. In fact, it's the spaces that you leave bet"een the notes that help to define 6,YT,#. The spaces in music are called 6'8T8, and <ust like notes, they come in different shapes and siBes/ 9hole 6est

,alf 6est

Quarter 6est

'ighth 6est

8i0teenth 6est

You'll notice that, <ust like notes, rests smaller than a si0teenth are determined by adding more flags. In fact, everything about rests is <ust like notes, e0cept rests indicate silence instead of sound.

&o", before "e take a look at rests on the staff, I "ant to sho" you a little bit about ho" the drums help to keep the beat.

J> H3H is the most common time signature used, especially in rock and country music. H3H is so common, in fact, that it's usually <ust called )%##%& TI#' and notated on the staff like so/

8o, let's look at ho" the drummer "ill usually handle H3H time L&ote/ $rum notation is a little different than standard notation in that the lines and spaces of the staff represent the different parts of the drum set, and different noteheads are used for cymbals and tom1toms. Also, a drummer doesn't have to "orry about playing different pitches, so a percussion clef is usually used.M/

In H3H time, the bass drum "ill usually play the 1st and Frd beats of the measure, and the snare "ill play the >nd and Hth beats/

The high hat "ill usually play eighth notes/

This is the basic frame"ork "ithin "hich the drummer has a lot of freedom for variation. 2or e0ample, it's very common to thro" in an e0tra bass drum beat before or after the Frd beat of the measure and on the I of the Hth beat of the measure/

,ere's an interesting e0ample that really mi0es it up/

JF

The possibilities are endless, but this is enough to give you the basic idea. &o", the reason for this diversion into drum playing is that rests are easiest to understand "ithin the conte0t of "hat the rhythm section 5bass guitar and drums7 is playing. #ost people, "hen first learning to play an instrument, have a hard time thinking globally. They're too focused on their o"n instrument, and tend to think that they have to fill up all of the available time "ith their o"n playing. .esides, practicing silence is not as fun as filling up that silence "ith guitar notes.elo" is an e0ample of a part that a horn section might play/

That funny blue sign at the end of the second staff is called a 6'+'AT. 9e'll cover repeats in more detail in a later lesson, so, for no", <ust think of this repeat sign as telling you to go back to the beginning and play the "hole thing again.

JH &o", by itself, this horn part is not very e0citing. .ut, see "hat happens "hen "e add a drum

If "e add a bass line, "e can make the horns sound even more interesting/

J!

You can see from the above e0amples that the spaces that the horns are leaving make the "hole thing "ork. If the horns "ere filling up all the space, the music "ouldn't be half as interesting/ Again, instead of giving you countless 5no pun intended7 drills to "ork through, I've included t"o tunes in the music section of this lesson that feature rests in con<unction "ith the main riff of the song. ?nderstand, learning to read is a very valuable skill that "ill heighten your a"areness of rhythm to a fine degree. And, although the ability to read "arrants serious consideration, I don't think that beating it to death "ith endless drills and e0ercises is the "ay to foster much en<oyment out of the process of learning. Instead, the best approach is to delve into things "hen they seem interesting and pertinent to "hat you're trying to accomplish, and let things rest 5no pun intended7 for a "hile "hen they seem frustrating or over"helming. Asking a lot of @uestions can also help to get past roadblocks.

JC Guitar Lesson i;e - Theory 1art ''' The ma<or scale and it's underlying "hole1step3half1step pattern is the foundation for all music theory. This is because everything in music is organiBed by ho" it compares to the ma<or scale. In order to understand this comparison, you must become familiar "ith the concept of I&T'6;A*8. An interval is the space bet"een t"o things. In music, "e're dealing "ith ho" high or lo" a note is compared to the root note. In order to measure this distance, "e need some sort of standard. This standard is provided by the ma<or scale. If "e take our ma<or scale and simply number the notes from 1 to K it looks like this 5The 1 and the K are the root and the octave "hich, for our purposes, are the same thing. Therefore, I <ust label them both A6A for root7/

This numbering of the ma<or scale is our measuring tool. &o", <ust like "hen you learned the names of the notes, there are sharp and flat intervals as "ell/

JJ The most important thing to understand about intervals is that they are not dependent upon "hat actual note you are playing. The only concern, "hen it comes to intervals, is ho" many frets are bet"een the notes. The trick is that you have to be able to see the "hole1step3half1step pattern starting from any note on any string. *et me give you a practical e0ample. 8uppose I tell you to play 6 1 F 1 ! 1 J, in that order, on the .1string, using ' as your root note. The first step, of course, "ould be to locate the ' note on the .1string. 2or the sake of argument, let's use the ' at the !th fret 5you could also use ' at the 1Jth fret7. The ne0t thing you "ould do is visualiBe the "3h1step pattern from that note/

Then, it's a simple matter of playing the appropriate notes as dictated by the intervals/

JK 8o, "hat's the point in learning to see intervalsE All of the sounds that you hear in music are catagoriBed and sorted by the intervals that make up that particular sound. 2or e0ample, let's look at chords/ If you play one note at a time, you are playing #'*%$Y. If you play t"o notes at a time, you are playing ,A6#%&Y. If you play three or more notes together, you have e0panded harmony into the catagory kno"n as ),%6$8. )hords are constructed by using every other note of a scale, starting from the root. The most basic chord is called a T6IA$, because it contains three different intervals. There are four possible triads/ +a-or, R - 4 - > +inor, R - &4 - > di+inished, R - &4 - &> aug+ented, R - 4 - $>

Gno"ing the interval structure of these four chords provides you "ith the 2%6#?*A for constructing these chords from any root note. *et's use the key of ) and construct a ma<or chord. 2irst, "e have to find the 6 1 F 1 ! from )/

This tells us "hich notes "e need to include in our chord. In this case, "e need ) 1 ' 1 :.

J &o", technically, you need to play ) 1 ' 1 : at the same time to form a chord. In order to do that, you'll have to play each note on a seperate string. This is "here kno"ing the notes up and do"n the fingerboard comes in handy. 8o, no" "e need to look at all the )'s, ''s and :'s available/

It makes no difference "hich ), "hich ' or "hich : you choose. They all "ork. Any combination, so long as it's ) 1 ' 1 :, "ill be a ) ma<or chord 5)hords are named after the root. In this case, ). The formula dictates "hat kind of ) chord it is, ma<or, minor, diminished etc...7 &o", any chord dictionary "ill list several of the most common fingerings for all the different types of chords. 5If you feel the need to buy one of these, I "ould suggest looking for a copy of )hord )hemistry by Ted :reene. This book sho"s you a lot of the possibilities for every chord, not <ust the easy ones.7 .efore "e look at a couple fingerings for our ) ma<or chord, you need to understand that, in order to get a nice1 and1full sounding chord for rhythm strumming, many of the common chord shapes that are used include more than three notes. This is accomplished by doubling or even tripling one or more notes in the chord. I already sho"ed you this fingering in lesson 1/ ,ere's another common one at the Kth fret/

?se your inde0 finger to .A66' across the ), : and ) at the Kth fret, and the rest of your fingers for the other notes. &o", I "ant you to go ahead and, using the steps outlined above, figure out at least one fingering for ) minor, ) diminished and ) augmented.

KD

The guitar is an e0tremely visual instrument. This makes the instrument very easy to apply patterns and shapes to. &ot only that, but once you've commited a pattern or shape in one key to memory, you'll find that you don't have to learn a ne" pattern or shape to play the same thing in every other key. *et's take the ) barre chord at the Kth fret. If you see the shape of the chord as a fingerboard pattern based around a root note 5the s@uare7 like this/

Then all you have to do is move that shape up or do"n the fingerboard to "hatever root note you need. 2or e0ample, if "e "ant to make this shape an A ma<or chord, "e can <ust move the "hole thing do"n F frets, so that the s@uare lines up "ith the A at the !th fret of the '1string/

The shape automatically gives you the correct intervals. 9hat this means, is that you don't have to learn 1D1 shapes for each chord in each key. Instead, you'll only need a couple of different shapes for each type of chord, and the kno"ledge of "here to move those shapes up or do"n the neck to play them in all the different keys. It's really pretty simple. The only shapes that can't AeasilyA be moved are those that include open strings. You usually have to do a bit of note <uggling to move these. 8o, take the ma<or, minor, diminished and augmented shapes that you found above, and practice moving them up and do"n the neck to different root notes. Also, take the ! chords that I taught you in lesson 1 and verify for yourself that they are, indeed, ma<or chords by determining "hat the 6 1 F 1 ! should be from the root note of the chord and comparing that to the chord shape that I gave you.

K1 ,ere's an e0ercise that incorporates right hand finger tapping for learning the intervals of the four triads. +lay the "hole thing on the .1string, beginning at the first fret. 8tart by playing the first note of each triplet "ith your inde0 finger, hammer the second note "ith your pinky or ring finger, and then, use a finger on your right hand to hammer the third note. once you hit the third note, pull off to the first note of the ne0t triplet 5played "ith your inde0 finger7. 9hen you play the notes of a chord one at a time, like this, it's called an A6+'::I% 5 2rom arpe the Italian "ord for harp. Arpeggio means to play the notes in @uick succession like a harp7/

K> *et me dra" your attention to a fe" things about this e0ercise/ 2irst of all, the chord symbols are there to guide you. +ay attention to them. 8econd, the red arcing line over the notes in each measure is called a 8*?6. This means that you run the notes into each other to create a smooth sound 5like a drunk slurring his speach7. This is accomplished on the guitar by using hammers, pulls and slides 5no picking7. Third, in measures C, J and K, you'll notice the use of )b, 2b and )bb 5double flat7. This is something that you'll run into on occasion "hen it's important to outline certain chords and scales. In lesson H, you encountered this "hen you charted out the 24 scale and the :b scale. =ust remember that )b is the same as ., 2b is the same as ' and )bb is the same as .b. 2ourth, The augmented and diminished chords aren't used very often e0cept in )lassical music. It may take you a "hile to get used to the sound of these chords. 2ifth, go slo" and make sure you're playing each note cleanly and accurately. That's the only "ay you're going to get the sound of these chords to come out.

KF Guitar Lesson i;e - Technique Left hand In This lesson, "e're going to take a look at one of the hallmark techni@ues of guitar playing, the 8T6I&: .'&$. .ending the strings is a little hard to get the hang of "hen you first try it, but "ith a little practice, you'll soon be adding this highly e0pressive techni@ue into your playing on a regular basis. The theory behind bending strings is pretty simple. You simply push or pull the string side"ays 5either to"ard the floor or to"ard the ceiling7 as your playing it. The practical application of bending strings, on the other hand, can be rather difficult. 2irst, you need to get a feel for the best hand position. 2or this techni@ue, I highly recommend the baseball bat grip 5opens in ne" "indo"7 as sho"n in lesson 1. You'll need the strength and control that this hand position provides in order to bend "ith ease and accuracy. 8econd, "hile you "ill find ocassion to bend using your inde0 and3or middle finger 5some maniacs even use their pinky7, the ring finger is the best choice for most bends. Third, the inde0 and middle fingers need to help the ring finger push the string. *ook at the photo. You'll notice that the ring finger is the one actually playing the note, and the inde0 and middle are right behind helping to push or pull the string. 2ourth, bend "ith the "rist, not "ith the fingers. %nce you have your hand and fingers in position, hold them stiff and push or pull the string by pivoting the "rist and forearm. L ,old your left hand out in front of you in a loose fist, palm1do"n, like you're holding on to the handle bar of a bicycle. &o", leave your fingers in the same position, but turn the hand palm1up like you're curling a barbell. This is e0actly the motion that you make "hen bending a string.M .eginners usually try to push the string using only the fingers. This does not "ork. 2ifth, you must control the pitch of the string that you are bending. &e0t to playing your guitar out of tune, out1 of1control bending is the "orst thing you can do if you "ant anyone to en<oy listening to you play.

.ends are usually refered to by step 513> step, "hole1step, 1 13> steps, etc...7 or by frets 5one fret, t"o frets, three frets, etc...7. 9hat that means is that you are playing a note, and then, bending the string until that note sounds 13> step higher or 1 fret higher etc... 2or no", "ere going to concentrate on the 13> step bend. 8tart by playing the ' at the !th fret of the .1string. Then play 'b on the Hth fret and bend the note up to '. )heck your accuracy by playing the ' at the !th fret again.

KH ,ere's "hat this e0ercise should sound like/ %h cool, an e0ampleYou have to practice this until you can bend right to the note, but be"are- A little bending practice goes a long "ay. You may find that your finger tips start to resemble hamburger before too long. 8o, practice bends for a little "hile, and then, go on to something else for a "hile. .efore too long you'll get the hang of it. You can practice bending any"here on the fingerboard. You can also use any string. It's a good idea to get used to bending on every string, as each string has a uni@ue feel to it. If your bending on the lo" ', A or $1strings, you'll find it easiest to pull the string to"ard the floor. If your bending on the :, . or high ', you'll find it easiest to push the string to"ard the ceiling. The hand position is the same. It's <ust a matter of ho" you use your "rist and forearm motion.

&o", once you've bent a note, you can either stop there, or you can 6'*'A8' the note. 9hen you release a bend, you simply rela0 the pressure against the string so that the pitch falls back to "here it started. It sounds like this/ Another e0ample.

,ere's an e0ample of ho" you can apply bending and releasing to the ) ma<or scale/

There's not really any standard "ay to notate bends. I tend to favor the above notation 5. R bend 6 R release7, but you're liable to run into all manner of variation. *uckily, most guitar music books usually include a notation legend inside the front and3or back cover. ,ere's "hat the e0ample should sound like/ Yet another e0ample. .ends are probably T,' most e0pressive techni@ue that you can apply to your guitar playing, but, as I said before, you gotta get it right. You'll never regret the time spent to get your bending techni@ue hammered into shape. :et your 13> step bends do"n pat, and then "e'll "ork on "hole1step bends, as "ell as, a lot of details that "ill make your bends really come alive-

K! Guitar Lesson i;e - Technique Right hand In the tuning section of this lesson, "e e0plored the ,armonic %vertone 8eries 5usually <ust called harmonics7 and it's effect on tuning the guitar. In this section, "e're going to look at a couple of "ays to use these harmonics for making music. ,armonics can be used as special effects "ithin a peice of music to add interest, or as an integral part of the composition itself. There are t"o types of harmonics that can be put to good use/ NAT9RAL )ARMON'CS 1 Those that occur naturally on the open string. ART' 'C'AL )ARMON'CS 1 Those that occur at other locations, due to special right hand techni@ues. The playing of natural harmonics is a simple matter of touching the string at a node "ith the left hand "hile the right hand plays the string <ust as it "ould for any other note. The harmonics at the !th, Jth and 1>th frets are the most commonly used. You can search out other nodal points and use those as "ell, but you'll find that these three locations are, not only the most in tune, but, also, the clearest sounding harmonics. Geep in mind that each string has it's o"n set of harmonics at these locations. The harmonic at the 1>th fret is one octave higher than the open string 5in the case of the lo" '1string, that "ould be ''7, the harmonic at the Jth fret is an octave and a !th above the open string 5in the case of the lo" '1 string, that "ould be .'7, and the harmonic at the !th fret is t"o octaves above the open string 5in the the case of the lo" '1string, that "ould be '''7. There are several "ays to achieve artificial harmonics, and each one re@uires it's o"n special techni@ue. Therefore, "e "ill only e0plore a couple of the more common meathods in this lesson, and save the rest for a later time. +erhaps the most commonly used artificial harmonics are "hat are refered to as +I)G )ARMON'CS 5also called pick s@ueals or pinch harmonics7. This is a techni@ue used by practically every rock guitarist that I can think of, but .illy :ibbons of OO Top and Oak 9ilde formerly "ith O??y Os&ourne are t"o that have made this sound an essential part of their style. This techni@ue is hard to describe and even harder to illustrate, so I'm going to give you my best description and an audio e0ample and hope for the best. The first thing that you have to do is to Achoke upA on your pick until <ust the very tip is sticking out from bet"een your fingers. Then, you have to push the pick through the string in such a manner that the side of your thumb graBes the string immediately after the pick. It "ill feel almost as though you are hitting the string "ith the pick and the side of your thumb simultaneously. .e careful not to AdigA into the string too forcefully or you may break the string by applying too much tor@ue. &o", you may have to e0periment "ith ho" close to the bridge or neck you pick the string in order to get the note to As@uealA. In fact, by varying the position of your picking hand along the string, you can generate different harmonics from the same note.

KC *isten to this e0ample/ A... like a stuck pigA The first note is <ust a normal note. All the rest are harmonics generated from that same note by varying my pick1hand position along the string. A common practice is to combine pick harmonics "ith bending strings. This can add strong emphasis to the note you are bending. Another techni@ue used by 'ddie ;an ,alen is to strike the string over the fret itself "ith a right hand finger. This is a lot like normal finger tapping, e0cept your generating harmonics instead of regular notes. The techni@ue goes like this/ 2ret a note "ith your left hand 5don't play it, <ust hold it do"n7. &o", find the note 1> frets higher on the same string. 9hile holding do"n the original note 51> frets lo"er7, strike the string "ith your right hand finger, 1> frets higher, right on the fret itself. $on't try to hold the string do"n "ith your tapping finger like you "ould for normal finger tapping. =ust give the string a sharp smack "ith your finger tip, directly onto the fret "ire. This techni@ue can also be used ! or J frets above the original note. This one sounds like this/ 8mack itA very similar techni@ue is to go ahead and play the original note 5the one your holding do"n in the techni@ue above7, and "hile that note is ringing, lightly touch the string either !, J or 1> frets higher, directly over the fret "ire. This one sounds a lot like "hen a singer <umps up into their head voice or falsetto range. )heck it out/ Touch itThe last techni@ue that "e "ill look at in this section is used mostly by classical guitarists, although, 8teve #orse and 'ric =ohnson have used this one e0tensively/ 2irst, fret a note. Then, touch the string !, J or 1> frets higher "ith a right hand finger, and use a different right hand finger to pluck the string "hile you touch it. Another approach is to shift your pick so that you are holding it "ith your thumb and middle finger. This leaves your inde0 finger free to touch the string "hile you pick it. That's ho" 8teve #orse does it. ,ere is an e0ample of me playing a scale "ith the above techni@ue/ +luck it-

KJ Guitar Lesson i;e - Music In this lesson, "e're going to take a look some songs that include rests, bends and harmonics. =ohnny by Thin *iBBy is a great e0ample of ho" adding spaces bet"een the notes can result in a cool sounding riff/

Take a look at the last measure, and you'll find "hat's called a TI' connecting the Hth and !th notes of the measure. A tie looks <ust like the slur marking that "e sa" in the left hand section of this lesson. The difference bet"een the t"o is that a slur connects t"o or more notes that have different pitches, "hereas a tie connects t"o or more notes that are the e0act same pitch. A tie adds the notes together. In other "ords, if "e look at the e0ample above, you play the Hth note and then hold that note through the value of the !th note. In this case, you've, essentially, turned the t"o 13K notes into a 13H note. If t"o 13H notes "ere tied together, you "ould play it <ust like a 13> note, etc...

KK .ack In .lack by A)3$) is another great riff that makes use of rests. This one also has a one1fret bend on the :1string/

If it's not obvious, in the second measure, . stands for bend, 6 stands for release, and + stands for pull 58 stands for slide and , stands for hammer "hen they appear7. Also, that funny little note, "ith the slash through it's stem, in the second measure is called a :6A)' &%T'. :race notes are used to notate a bend, slide, hammer or pull that sets up a target note 5in this case, the target note is the .b7. The target note is played right on the beat, and the grace note is played <ust before the beat. You don't really hear the grace note. You only hear the movement from the grace note into the target note 5listen closely to the sound file7. ,ere, you're fretting the A at the second fret of the :1string, and immediately bending to the .b as you pick the string. Then, you release the string back to A and pull off to :. This all happens fairly fast, like you're <ust At"eeBingA the A note before the pull off.

K ,ey =oe by =imi ,endri0 has the same bend on the same string 5sort of a Aone siBe fits allA lick7. There's also the grace note slide into the first note of the song/

This one is easier than it may look. #ost of it is based around the ' chord that I sho"ed you in lesson 1. 8tart "ith your ring finger holding the $ note on the .1string. +ick the . and '1strings simultaneously as you @uickly slide the ring finger up to the ' note on the .1string. Then, shift the ring finger back to the Frd fret for the $ note and strike the . and '1strings together again. ?se your middle finger for the ., 6, and +, and your ring finger for the ,. As your ring finger is hammering the ' on the $1string, put your inde0 finger on the :4 at the 1st fret of the :1string and your middle finger on the . at the >nd fret of the A1string. You are no" fingering an ' ma<or chord. The last t"o beats of measure 1 and all of measure > are played "hile you hold your hand in the ' chord shape. You don't even have to hit e0actly the right strings, if you keep your hand in this shape. =ust hit the open ' as the TA. dictates, and the rest of the chord for the other parts 5I believe that's ho" =imi played it. ,e <ust happened to play only those strings "hen he recorded the version of the song that appeared on Are You '0perienced7. &o", in measure >, <ust slide the "hole ' chord up the fretboard, so that your middle and ring fingers are playing the re@uired notes at the !th fret 5your inde0 "ill be at the Hth fret on the :1string7. Then move the chord do"n 1 fret for the notes at the Hth fret and back to it's normal position for the rest of the measure. 2or measure F, barre your inde0 finger across the $, : and .1strings at the Jth fret, and use your middle finger to hammer the th fret of the $1string. The only thing moving is your middle finger. The inde0 is <ust holding do"n it's notes.

The ) chord in the last measure is <ust to sho" you "here the song goes after the lick at the Jth fret. 9e're going to be taking a closer look at the rest of this song in future lessons. &o", let's e0plore the use of harmonics. ,ere's the opening of .arracuda by ,eart/

1 This one's pretty straight for"ard, but, after hearing it on the radio the other day, I'm not convinced that my transcription is entirely accurate. This is <ust the "ay I have al"ays played it. It sounds good and is fun to play. ?se alternate picking to play the AgallopingA rhythm 5do"n1do"n1up, do"n1do"n1up, etc...7 The diamond noteheads and the corresponding diamonds enclosing the tabbed numbers in measures H, !, K and represent harmonics. +lay the harmonics at the frets indicated by the TA.. The Kva symbol over the notes in the same measures stands for %)TA;A "hich means to play the notes an octave higher than "ritten 5The TA. already takes this into account7. This symbol is used "henever the notes might be "ritten too far above the staff. Another great e0ample of the use of harmonics is 6ed .archetta by 6ush/

The hardest part of this one is getting the harmonics at the th fret to come out. You may have to e0periment to find the best position along the string. It's easiest to think of this one as being composed of t"o seperate licks, each one repeated C times. Also, notice the reverse repeat sign in measure F. 9hat this tells you is that this is "here you repeat the second lick from. 9hen you find a repeat sign in a piece of music, it's telling you to go back to "here the reverse sign is located and play that part again. If there is no reverse sign, then you go back to the beginning of the piece.

> In this case, you "ould play from the first measure until you arrive at the repeat sign in measure >. 8ince there's no reverse sign before that, you go back to the beginning and play the "hole thing again. &o", notice that above the first repeat sign, there are directions telling you to use this repeat sign C times. After you have repeated the section in @uestion C times, you ignore the first repeat sign and play until you reach the second repeat sign 5not the reverse one7. You, then, go back to "here the reverse sign is located and play from there. Again, you "ill find directions above the second repeat sign telling you to use that repeat C times. 9he"--

And, finally, a cool e0ample of tapping harmonics, 9omen In *ove by ;an ,alen/

This one is pretty difficult to play up to speed. You have to move both hands into position at the same time, and they're at different spots on the fingerboard2irst, notice the uni@ue notation. This is ho" artificial harmonics are notated. The standard notehead indicates the actual note you are playing, "hile the diamond notehead indicates the pitch of the harmonic being generated.

F In this case the harmonic is an octave higher 51> frets7. &o", instead of trying to play each note individually, try to see each measure as a chord and position the left hand accordingly. ,ere are the chord shapes for measures 1 and >/

Then, all you have to do is move those same shapes do"n > frets for measures F and H/

%nce you get the left hand doing it's <ob, you can concentrate on the right hand. 9ith your right inde0 or middle finger, tap the harmonic 1> frets above each of the notes in the chord shape. 2or the : note on the .1string, in the Frd measure, continue to hold the chord shape 5inde0 on the !th fret of the A1string, ring finger barred across the $, : and .1strings at the Jth fret7 and use the pinky on your left hand to fret the : note. .est of luck-

H LESSON S'@ Guitar Lesson Si* This lesson is divided into six parts: 'ntroduction Theory 1art ' Theory 1art '' Left )and Technique Right )and Technique Music 'ntroduction 8o far, "ithin these lessons, The ma<ority of our focus has been geared to"ard approaching the guitar's si0 strings individually. That focus is no" going to shift to "orking "ith t"o strings at a time. At this point, you "ill begin to see +atterns and shapes emerging from the fretboard. These patterns and shapes are very important to the organiBation of musical ideas on the guitar, and, once you begin to see them, the fingerboard "ill open up for you. This does not mean that you should stop practicing up and do"n each string individually. Instead, "hat you may have to do is structure your practice time to include e@ual amounts of "ork in both areas. 'ventually, you "ill find yourself able to seamlessly integrate both approaches. &o", once "e have e0plored the possibilities of t"o strings, "e "ill look at three strings and then "e "ill move on to +%8ITI%& playing. +osition playing is the direct opposite of playing up and do"n the strings. Instead of moving up and do"n the fingerboard, position playing re@uires you to play across the strings "ith little or no linear hand movement. .y the time "e have covered position playing, you "ill have gained a most thorough understanding of the guitar fingerboard and "ill be able to move @uite easily into any area of the fretboard that the music dictates. This approach to learning the guitar seems the most logical to me, but you should not hesitate to take advantage of A&Y resources that you happen across, even if they are not "ithin the bounds of "hat I am currently sho"ing you. There is a lifetime of information that can be learned about playing the guitar. #y goal is to give you the best tools that I kno" of to start you on your <ourney. 8o, ho" does a person decide "hether to play the notes on a single string or to use more than one stringE There are no rules for this. You have to decide for yourself. ?nless the music re@uires a techni@ue, such as a slide, "hich can only be accomplished by staying on the same string, I "ill generally opt for the easiest "ay of playing the notes. There are enough difficult things that you "ill encounter "ithout intentionally adding to their number.

! Guitar Lesson Si* - Theory 1art ' In lesson !, I gave you an arpeggio e0ecise for learning the four possible triads. In order to play the e0ercise, you had to utiliBe a right hand finger to tap the highest note of each triad. This approach may or may not be ideal, depending on the sound you "ant to achieve. The problem is that intervals larger than a Frd are difficult to play on a single string "ithout e0cessive hand movement. *et's look at the 6 F !, starting "ith ), on the .1string/

There are J frets bet"een the 6 and the !- That's an impossible stretch and a difficult <ump to make @uickly.

8o, "hat if "e "ere to move the ! over to the '1stringE 2irst, let's turn our intervals back into notes/

C &o", instead of having to get all the "ay up to the Kth fret for our : note, "e could play the : on the '1string at the Frd fret/

&o", let's turn the notes back into intervals/

J ?sing this idea of moving the highest note of the triad over to the '1string, go back through the arpeggio e0ercise from lesson !. This time, ho"ever, play the last note of each triplet on the '1string using your left hand, and pick each note 5 preferebly using alternate picking7 instead of using right hand finger tapping/

As you can see, "orking "ith t"o strings, as opposed to one string, is a very different animal.

K &o", before "e continue, let me say, once and for all, that intervals are not dependent upon the name of the note you are playing. In other "ords, you may be playing a :b, but that doesn't mean you are playing a b! interval 5unless your playing in the key of ) "hich has :b as the b! interval7. 2or e0ample, let's look at the key of '/ The notes of the ' ma<or scale are ' 1 24 1 :4 1 A 1 . 1 )4 1 $4 1 '. The ma<or scale 5ie. 93,1step pattern7 dictates the intervals 1 1 > 1 F 1 H 1 ! 1 C 1 J 1 K. Therefore, the intervals > 1 F 1 C 1 J in the key of ' are 24 1 :4 1 )4 1 $4. 8o, if you "anted to play, say, the bF, you "ould play :. The important thing to al"ays keep in mind is that intervals are determined by ho" far apart the notes are not by the name of the note. This is "here fingerboard patterns can be very useful. *et's look at the ' ma<or scale as a pattern on the fingerboard/

&o", let's get rid of everything e0cept the 6 1 F 1 !/

&otice that "e have the same distance bet"een the notes 5H frets from 6 to F, J frets from 6 to !7 as "hen "e "ere "orking "ith the key of ) on the .1string. In fact, no matter "hich note you use for 6, the distance bet"een the intervals "ill al"ays be e0actly the same.

&o", let's move the !th over to the :1string/

Again, "e get the same relationship as before. If you haven't noticed already, "hen you play the 6 and ! together, you get our old friend the po"er chord. This is important to understand, because it gives you some place familiar to "ork from. 8ince you've already spent a great deal of time playing 6 and !, the only thing you have to add to the formula is F. Also, don't forget that "henever you're moving from the :1string to the .1string, the notes and intervals "ill be one fret higher than on any other combination of strings. 56evie" lesson >.7 9hat follo"s is an arpeggio e0ercise using ma<or, minor and diminished triads. +lay the 6 and F of each triad on the A1string and the ! of each triad on the $1string. +ick each note using alternate picking/

1DD

It's also very useful to move the F over one string as "ell/

9hen you play the intervals in this manner, use either your middle or ring finger to play 6. #ost times, the middle finger is the best choice, but other times, the ring finger is most logical. &o", go back and play both arpeggio e0ercises, but this time, move the F of each triad over to the same string as the !.

1D1 Guitar Lesson Si* - Theory 1art '' 9hat else, besides chords, can "e do "ith intervalsE &o" that you have a basic understanding of the concept, I can introduce you to some ne" scale sounds. 8o far, "e have been concentrating on the ma<or scale, yet there is a lot of great music that is based on minor sounds as "ell. 8o, let's learn a minor scale. The most commonly used minor scale is constructed of the intervals 6 - 7 - &4 - 5 - > - &A - &B - C2 In the key of ), that "ould give us C - D - E& - G - A& - B& - C2

This scale is so common, that it is usually refered to as AtheA minor scale 5<ust like AtheA ma<or scale7. 'ach ne" scale that you learn should be approached in the same fashion as "hen you first learned the ma<or scale/ 8tart by "orking out the intervals up and do"n each string. %nce you're comfortable "ith "here the notes are, practice the scale along "ith the pedal tone #I$I, paying particular attention to the sound of the scale. This is very important. As you a@uire ne" scales, you need to become familiar "ith the AflavorA that distinguishes each one from the rest. It's helpful to assign some sort of ad<ective to the sound of the scale, eg., sad, happy, "ierd, spacey, scary, bluesy etc... This "ay, you "ill be able to dra" on a particular scale, because you "ant to create a certain AmoodA. This is also helpful in determining "hat scale is being used by another player. %nce you get comfortable "ith the sound of the scale, play the chord progression #I$I and begin improvising "ith the ne" scale.

1D> Guitar Lesson Si* - Technique Left )and In lesson H, "e e0plored the basis for 2I&:'6.%A6$ +%8ITI%&. In this lesson, "e're going to have a look at ho" this concept applies to t"o strings at once. .egin by revie"ing the aformentioned section of lesson H. &o", "hen it comes to the ma<or and minor scale, there are seven fingerboard patterns that are very useful. These seven patterns al"ays occur in the e0act same order. In the future, I "ill refer to each pattern by number, so it's important that you learn them in the order sho"n/

1.

>.

1DF

H.

!.

C.

J.

1DH A fe" observations/ These patterns overlap each other. 8tudy the diagrams until this point is perfectly clear. )an you see ho" pattern 41 is also found at the 1Fth fretE The order of these patterns "ill never change. The root note for the key of ) is provided for reference. The patterns are e0actly the same on any t"o ad<acent strings, e0cept for the usual A"arpA that happens on the : and .1strings. 5 You should kno" the ma<or scale "ell enough at this point to verify this for yourself.7 The patterns are the same for any key. They "ill <ust re1locate to a different starting spot. +atterns 1 and ! are the same shape. .e careful not to confuse the t"o. A thorough "orking kno"ledge of the rules for position playing is important for smooth e0ecution and increased speed. You have enough kno"ledge at this point to start "orking this stuff out for yourself. To do, 9ork these patterns out on every pair of strings for the key of ) ma<or. 9ork these patterns out for every other ma<or key on all pairs of strings. 9hen it comes to the minor scale, the same J patterns apply. In fact, you're going to be seeing a these same patterns cropping up a lot for various scale sounds. The difference bet"een the ma<or and the minor scale is that the minor scale starts "ith pattern C instead of pattern 1/

C.

1D!

J.

1.

Etc2222

&o", you "ould be "ise to spend a lot of time "orking the minor scale up and do"n the individual strings before taking off "ith these patterns. It's essential that you kno" the scale "ell enough that you recogniBe "hen you're making mistakes. As you add more scales to your arsenal, this "ill become even more critical, as "ill the ability to distinguish bet"een the different sounds of the various scales. :o ahead and figure out ho" the patterns lay out on all the other pairs of strings 5be careful on the : and .7 for the key of ) minor. Then, "ork the patterns out for every other minor key.

1DC ,ere's a fe" of e0ercises for "orking these J patterns. The first one uses ha++ers,

The second e*ercise uses "u##s,

1DJ And, the third e0ercise uses alternate picking/

1DK If you use your imagination, you should be able to come up "ith a doBen or more variations on the above material.

These seven patterns form the basis for moving around on the fingerboard. You need to kno" them absolutely "ell. ,o" "ellE 8uffice it to say, that you must kno" these patterns for"ard, back"ard, upside1do"n and inside1out+6A)TI)'-- /7 i<AcG

1D Guitar Lesson Si* - Technique Right )and .y no", you should be "ell a"are that I place great emphasis on alternate picking. 9hen it comes to developing timing, phrasing, accuracy, speed, fluidity, control, and practically every other attribute ascribed to the right hand, the mastery of alternate picking is a must. There are other methods of picking that "e "ill address in future lessons, but in order to properly take advantage of them, you "ill have to dra" on your mastery of alternate picking. Alternate picking on one string presents no special difficulties. This is not so "hen it comes to applying alternate picking as you cross from one string to the ne0t. ,ere you "ill have to be e0tra careful that you are making the correct pick stroke. .efore "e continue, t"o symbols/ R do"n1stroke R up1stroke

&o", let's say that you "ere to play the follo"ing/

The single most common mistake that players make is to play the Hth note "ith a do"n1stroke instead of an up1 stroke. This is a serious trap that "ill cause all manner of troubles do"n the road. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that you pay particular attention to "hich stroke you use "hen crossing strings. There are three rules for alternate picking/ If you <ust played a do"n1stroke, your ne0t #?8T be an up1stroke. If you <ust played an up1stroke, your ne0t #?8T be a do"n1stroke. &o e0ceptionsThe reason for the strictness of alternate picking is for the sake of consistency in the beginning and for the ability to articulate note groupings in the long run. The time you spend no" getting it right "ill pay big dividends do"n the road. .efore "e go any further, you need to revie" the right hand e0ercise that I gave you in lesson >.

11D 6egular practice of this e0ercise "ill help you to keep your pick1strokes in order as you cross the strings. ,ere is another e0ercise for "orking out your pick strokes on t"o strings/

2amiliariBe yourself "ith the fingering, pick1strokes and note values, using metronome and practice keeping time "ith the pattern. 9atch out for the third and fourth notes of measure t"o. The third note of the measure is played "ith a do"n1 stroke, then you cross to the A1string "ith an up1stroke. The tendency is to cross to the A1string and try to play a do"n1stroke. %ne thing that can help you to avoid this type of mistake is to over1e0agerate the movement of the right hand as you pick and try to get a feel for the consistency of the up1do"n movement. %nce you get a feel for the motion, try to make your pick1strokes as short as possible. This "ill help you to increase the speed and accuracy of your right hand.

&o", once you get the above e0ercise in perfect sync "ith the metronome, try changing the note values to this/

&otice the $%T after the half1note in measure t"o. This symbol means to add half of the given note's value to itself. In the case of a dotted half1note, you "ould play it as though it "ere a half1note and a @uarter1note added together. If the note "ere a dotted @uarter, you "ould play it as if it "ere a @uarter and an eighth added together etc... &o", as you attempt to play eighth1notes "ith the metronome be sure to space the notes evenly across the beat and be very careful to use the proper pick stroke for each.

111 After you get comfortable "ith eighth1notes try si0teenths/

You may not have the control "ith the right hand that you need to play si0teenth1notes "ith the metronome @uite yet. That's ok. =ust keep "orking at it, and you'll find that your speed "ill gradually increase.

If you are unsure about how to count and play these rhythms, review lesson 4.

11> Guitar Lesson Si* - Music The intro to )raBy Train by %BBy %sbourne is a great riff and a great e0ample of making music out of a t"o1 string fingerboard pattern/

&otice that all of the notes 5e0cept for the open '7 are right out of pattern C at the second fret on the ' and A1 strings. It sounds like this/ )raBy Train

The above fingering isn't necessarily the best "ay to play this riff, but I "ant you to see the pattern. %nce you see the pattern, you can substitute this fingering in the second measure/

The second fingering is easier to play and "ill sound more smooth, but it's more difficult to see the pattern. 8tudy both fingerings until you understand ho" the same notes can be played differently. Geep in mind that there are usually several "ays to play any given group of notes on the guitar, and one of the tricks is to find the easiest "ay. .ut, also, remember that the easiest "ay is not al"ays the best. You "ill most likely run into certain passages that seem to sound better "hen you play them "ith a more difficult fingering. 9hen faced "ith a situation like that, I al"ays opt for the fingering that sounds the best.

11F .reaking The *a" by =udas +riest is another classic guitar riff that demonstrates ho" a scale shape can be turned into cool sounding music/

T *et's close out this lesson "ith t"o songs that utiliBe intervals on t"o strings at once. ,ere is the opening of 2eel Your *ove by ;an ,alen/

11H Another good e0ample of a similar type of idea is The Ooo by 8corpions/

There are a couple of things in the notation of this last one that I "ant to dra" your attention to/ 2irst/ &otice the funny blue bracket attached to the repeat sign at the end of the second to last measure. This is called an '&$I&:. 'ndings are used in music notation "hen the composer repeats a section but changes <ust the end of the phrase. This is called ;A6IATI%& and adds interest to "hat "ould be the simple repeating of a section of music. To play the piece, above, you start at the beginning and play through to the repeat sign. Then, "ithout stopping, you go back to the start and play through until you get to the measure that is covered by the bracket. 8kip that measure and play the ne0t measure instead. 8econd/ &otice the red "hole note in the last measure. I colored the note red to dra" your attention to the fact that you are playing the same note 5:7 on t"o different strings. The guitar is one of only a fe" instruments that can do this. &either of these last t"o songs are as hard as they look. The trick is to try and AfeelA the rhythm. *isten to the e0amples and don't let the notation scare you. ?ntil ne0t time...

11! LESSON SE0EN Guitar Lesson Se;en This lesson is divided into five parts: Theory 1art ' Theory 1art '' Technique - Left )and Technique - Right )and Music Theory 1art ' The ma<or scale and the minor scale have a uni@ue relationship "ith each other. This is because the minor scale is actually built from the ma<or scale. 'ach ma<or scale has a minor scale inside of it. *et's take a look at the ma<or scale. If you have "orked through each of the preceding lessons, you kno" @uite a bit about the ma<or scale. You kno" that the note you start on is called the root note. You kno" that the rest of the notes follo" a pattern of "hole1steps and half1steps and that this scale produces the intervals 6 - 7 - 4 - 5 - > - A - B- C2 You also kno" that the ma<or scale can start on any note. &o" I'm going to add one more item to your kno"ledge of the ma<or scale/ the minor scale. The minor scale is arrived at by starting and stopping on the Cth note of the ma<or scale. 2or e0ample, if "e take the ) ma<or scale 5) $ ' 2 : A . )7 and start on the Cth note 5A7 instead of the original root 5)7, "e get the A minor scale 5A . ) $ ' 2 : A7. &otice that "e are using the e0act same notes as the ) ma<or scale, "e only changed "hich note "e start and stop on. This is very important. .y starting and stopping on A, your ear "ill begin to hear that note as the root note. 5It is important that you make sure that you are playing the correct notes. You may find yourself accidentally playing the notes of A ma<or 5A . )4 $ ' 24 :47, because that is "hat you are used to hearing. +ay close attention so that you are sure to play the correct notes.7 The minor scale may sound a bit odd to you at first. That's ok. It takes a little "hile to get used to a ne" scale sound. That is "hy I started you on the minor scale in the last lesson. You should be getting used to this ne" sound by no". This "ill make it a little easier for you to understand and "ork "ith the relationship bet"een the ma<or scale and the minor scale. The ) ma<or scale and the A minor scale are considered 6'*ATI;' to one another because they share the e0act same notes. You could say that the t"o scales are like brother and sister. In lesson H, I had you make a chart of all the possible ma<or scales. &o" I "ant you to figure out the relative minor scale for each of those ma<or scales. $ra" up a chart that looks like this/ C ma<or scale/ C D E G A B C 6elative minor/ ABCDE GA

G ma<or scale/ G A B C D E $ G 6elative minor/ E $ GAB C D E D ma<or scale/ D E $ G A B C$ D 6elative minor/ B C$ D E $ G A B etc...

11C &o", once you have your chart finished, you need to practice the ma<or scale and it's relative minor scale in each key. .ut don't try to practice them all at once. It's better if you take one scale per day and "ork that scale and it's relative minor scale up and do"n each string. The ne0t day, pick a different key. $o this every day until you have practiced in every key. %ver time you "ill begin to see the relationship bet"een the t"o scales in every key.

11J Guitar Lesson Se;en - Theory 1art '', %nce you are getting comfortable "ith the relationship bet"een the ma<or scale and the relative minor scale, you need to start "orking "ith the minor scale on its o"n. In order to do this, "e need to analyBe the minor scale and see "hat intervals it is made of. 8o far, "e kno" that the minor scale is built by starting and stopping on the Ath note of the ma<or scale. If "e start "ith the C ma<or scale <C D E G A B C=3 "e get A minor <A B C D E G A= as the relative minor scale. The ne0t step is to compare the A minor scale to the A ma<or scale to see ho" the intervals line up. This is an important step to understand. The minor scale must be compared to the ma<or scale that starts on the same root note in order to determine the interval structure of the minor scale. 9hen it comes to comparing intervals you have to match up the root notes. 6emember that the ma<or scale gives us the intervals/ 6 7 4 5 > A B C2 The A ma<or scale is spelled/ A B C$ D E $ G$ *et's compare the t"o scales and see "hat "e get/ A ma<or/ Intervals/ A minor/ Intervals/ A 6 A 6 B 7 B 7 C$ 4 C &4 D 5 D 5 E > E > $ A &A G$ B G &B A C A C

.y comparing the A minor scale to the A ma<or scale, "e can see that the minor scale has a flattened F, C and J. 6ecall that in lesson C, I told you that the most commonly used minor scale "as built from the intervals/ 6 7 &4 5 > &A &B C2 In this lesson, "e have arrived at the same minor scale from a different direction. &o", before "e continue, you need to understand that regardless of "hich key "e are in, the relative minor scale "ill have the same interval structure. In other "ords, if "e start "ith the G ma<or scale <G A B C D E $ G=3 the relative minor "ould start on E <E $ G A B C D E=2 If "e compare the E minor scale to the E ma<or scale <E $ G$ A B C$ D E=3 "e get the same interval structure as before/ 6 7 &4 5 > &A &B C2 :o through the relative minor chart that you created and compare each minor scale to the ma<or scale starting on the same root as the minor. It's not enough to take my "ord for it. You need to verify this stuff for yourself.

Guitar Lesson Se;en - Technique

11K Left )and, ,ere is a left hand e0ercise for developing finger independence and muscle control. 8tart by placing all four of your fingers on the .1string like this/

&o", "ithout lifting fingers >, F, and H, move your inde0 finger over to the :1string. Then move your middle finger over to the :1string, "ithout lifting 1, F, or H. &o" your inde0 and middle fingers are on the :1string, "hile your ring and pinky fingers are still on the .1string. 2inish up by moving the last t"o fingers, one at a time, over to the :1string. The trick is to move only one finger "ithout moving the other three. +iece of cake rightE &o", starting "ith the inde0, move each finger, one at a time, back over to the .1string. Then, do the "hole thing again, only this time, start "ith the pinky and reverse the order 1 53 43 73 62 You don't use the right hand at all for this e0ercise. You can keep that hand in your pocket or use it to flip through the tv channels "ith your remote. It doesn't matter. Also, the left hand doesn't have to actually play the notes either. 8ome of the notes can't be played any"ay. All you are doing is "orking the coordination of the fingers. ,o"ever, it is a good idea to insist that each finger actually presses the strings do"n as if you "ere actually playing the notes. This "ill help to develop strength in the left hand. $epending on your muscle control, this part of the e0ercise may be easy or difficult. If it is easy, move on to the ne0t phase of the e0ercise. If it is difficult, practice this for 1D minutes a day until it becomes easy, and then move on to phase t"o.

The ne0t part of this e0ercise is to move one finger at a time back and forth bet"een the t"o strings. 8tart the same as before "ith all four fingers on the .1string. =ust like before, move the inde0 over to the :1 string "ithout moving the other fingers. %nly this time, move the inde0 back over to the .1string. &o" do the same thing "ith each finger in turn. %ne finger moves back and forth "hile the other three remain planted on the .1string.

11 &o" place all four fingers on the :1string and do the same thing "ith each finger, only this time moving each finger over to the .1string and back. This teaches your fingers ho" to move to a string above or a string belo". 'asyE #ove on to phase three. ,ardE +ractice for 1D minutes every day until it is easy, then move on to the ne0t phase.

The ne0t part of this e0ercise is e0actly like the second part, e0cept that you "ill no" be re@uired to move t"o fingers at once in opposite directions. =ust like before, start "ith all four fingers on the .1string. #ove the inde0 over to the :1string. &o", as the inde0 is moving back over to the .1string, move the middle finger over to the :1string. These t"o fingers move at the same time "hile keeping the ring and pinky stationary. &o", move the middle back over to the .1string, and at the same time, move the ring over to the :1string. You get the idea. %nce you have "orked each finger from the .1string, place the fingers on the :1string and practice moving the fingers to the .1string and back. 'asyE ,ardE You kno" "hat to do.

+art four is the actual e0ercise I "ant you to practice, but you may have to "ork up to it "ith "hat I have sho"n you. The e0ercise is to move t"o fingers back and forth repeatedly bet"een t"o strings "hile the other t"o fingers remain in place. In other "ords, if you are "orking the inde0 and middle fingers, those t"o fingers move back and forth several times bet"een the t"o strings "hile the other t"o fingers remain in place. 9ork every possible combination/ 6-73 6-43 6-53 7-43 7-53 4-5 8pend a little e0tra time on any combination that feels a"k"ard. You guessed it. &o", move the fingers over to the :1string and practice every combination moving to the .1 string and back. The idea here is to "ork the fingers until they begin to loosen up, but once you start to feel it in the muscles of the hand and "rist, stop and let the hand rela0. Then "ork it some more. You heard me... ten minutes a day... every day.

1>D Guitar Lesson Se;en - Technique Right hand, %ne of the picking hand's responsibilities is to help define the rhythm of a piece of music. This is accomplished through the use of A))'&T8. Accents are accomplished by playing a note or group of notes 5chord7 louder or harder than the rest of the notes you are playing. This causes that particular note or chord to Astand outA from the rest. %ne of the "ays that accents are used is in con<unction "ith the note groupings that you have learned so far/ @uarter notes, eighth notes, eighth note triplets and si0teenth notes. 59e'll save thirty1second notes for later.7 9e're going to take a look at the most common "ay that each of these note groupings are accented. *et's start "ith @uarter notes. .egin by tapping your foot at a comfortable tempo, then once you have the tempo established, count out loud "ith each of your foot taps/ 1, >, F, H 1 1, >, F, H. This establishes each of your foot taps as a @uarter note. 6emember that H3H is the most common time signature, and in H3H time, the @uarter note gets one beat. 5:o back and revie" Theory +art I in lesson H.7 &o" that you have the tempo and time signature established, play an A po"er chord at the !th fret of the lo" '1 string for each @uarter note like this/

&o", play the same thing again, but this time, put an accent on the first note of each measure/

The U symbol "ritten <ust belo" the first note of each measure is the accent. This is the most common "ay that accents are "ritten in standard notation. To play the accent, simply play the first @uarter note of each measure a little harder than you play the rest of the notes. .oth notes of the po"er chord are accented. Accents apply to the beat rather than the specific note. All notes that land on an accented beat are treated "ith the accent. 9hat the accent does is break up a bunch of notes into sections. In this case the accent helps to define the start of each ne" measure. #ore importantly for no", "e are going to see ho" accents are used to help define note groupings smaller than the @uarter note.

1>1 *et's try eighth notes. +lay the A po"er chord again, but this time play t"o measures of 'ighth notes. 'ighth notes are played t"o notes to each beat. 5use all o"n strokes for this e0ercise. I'll let you kno" "hen to use upstrokes or alternate picking.7

&otice that the accents are used to define the first note of each group of eighth notes. This keeps the notes from sounding like one long string of chords and gives the music AdriveA. The same thing happens "hen "e play eighth note triplets and si0teenth notes. 5You may have to slo" the tempo do"n if you find it difficult to play si0teenth note using only do"n strokes. It takes time and practice to develop the "rist muscles to the point "here you can play this sort of thing at a faster tempo.7

In each case, the accent is used to define the note grouping. 9ithout accents, the music has no shape or character. It <ust sounds like one long string of notes.

1>>

*et's apply accents to the A ma<or and A minor scale. 2irst, play this A ma<or run using alternate picking/

It's up to you to figure out the notes and fingering. .e sure to pay attention to the key signature and keep you eye on the "hole1steps and half1steps. %nce you are comfortable "ith the run, add the appropriate accents/

&o" try the same run using the A minor scale 5notice that the Frd, Cth and Jth are lo"ered7.

+ractice these t"o runs until the accents feel perfectly natural.

1>F &o" let's try some si0teenth notes/ A +a-or

A +inor

These t"o runs re@uire you to move around @uite a bit more. +ractice them slo"ly and get those accents right. I've saved triplets for last, because they present a special challenge for the picking hand. 9hen using alternate picking, any note grouping that contains an odd number of notes 5F, !, J, 7 re@uires you to be able to play an accent "ith either a do"n stroke or an up stroke. This can be a"k"ard at first. The tendency is to "ant to play every accent "ith a do"n stroke. 9ork these t"o runs out slo"ly and keep that pick moving do"n, up do"n, up. A +a-or

A +inor

&otice ho" playing accents forces you to really pay attention to each note grouping. This is as it should be. #usic is much more than <ust playing a bunch of notes one after the other. #usic has structure and rhythm. It is up to you to convey this structure and rhythm "ith your instrument "hen you play. &o", ho" much accent you give to the first note of a note grouping is really a matter of personal taste. There are no hard and fast rules. 8ome players prefer to apply accents very clearly. %thers opt for a more subtle approach. 8till others never even bother "ith accents, and their playing reflects this. It begins to sound like spaghetti after a "hile. 2ind your o"n voice.

1>H Guitar Lesson Se;en - Music 8o far, "ithin the music section of each lesson, I have only sho"n you bits and pieces of various songs. In this lesson "e are going to learn the "hole thing. The song I have chosen for you is The =oker by the 8teve #iller .and. This song is very simple, but it <ust goes to sho" you that sometimes the simplest things can sound really cool. The =oker can be broken do"n into <ust t"o basic parts that are used throughout the song. ;erse/ The verse section consists of a funky sounding riff built from notes in the 2 ma<or scale.

This riff <ust repeats over and over until you get to the chorus. If you "ant to get fancy, you can add this on to the end every other time/

*isten to the file and try to play along until you get the feel for ho" the t"o parts "ork together.

1>! Chorus, In order to play the chorus section of this tune, You "ill need to make friends "ith the barre chord. .arre chords are an essential tool for guitar playing, but they tend to give beginners a lot of trouble. If you find it difficult to get all the notes to ring, you need to practice the chords daily until you get them happening. This can be frustrating, but there is no other "ay. 'very guitar player has to go through this torture. The chords,

The 2 chord is the toughest to play, because the inde0 finger has to barre across all si0 strings. This is compounded by the fact that the chord is played at the first fret, "hich is the most difficult position to play a barre. If you can't get this to "ork, try playing the chord at a higher fret and "ork your "ay do"n until you can play it at the first fret. The .b and ) chords are pretty easy. You <ust have to be careful not to play the lo" ' and high '1strings. #ost beginners tend to lay their ring finger across the high '1string as "ell as the $, : and .1strings. This is not a problem so long as "hen you strum the chord you stop the pick short of striking the high '1string. You also have to be careful to miss the lo" '1string "hen you strum. This takes some getting used to, but give it a little time and you "ill not have any problem. 2or the )susH chord, <ust hold your fingers the same "ay that you "ould to play the ) chord, but add your pinky on the Cth fret of the .1string. $on't play the high or lo" '1strings. &o", in order to sho" you ho" to play the chorus section, I need to introduce you to a uni@ue style of music notation. This style is called rhythm notation. It is used specifically for sho"ing guitar players the strumming rhythm of a chord progression. This style of notation looks pretty much the same as standard notation as far as note values and time signatures are concerned. The difference is that rhythm notation does not concern itself "ith pitches. Instead, you "ill find that the pitches are dictated by the chord symbols above the staff. The chorus section of The =oker looks like this/

1>C 'ach chord is played for four si0teenth notes. ?se a do"n1up strum pattern 5alternate strumming7, and concentrate on making the chord changes. +lay all four measures through and then go back to the first measure and play through again, but replace the Hth measure "ith this/

That makes nine measures in all for the chorus section. +ay close attention to the rhythm in measure nine. &otice that the Hth si0teenth note is tied to the !th. 6emember that a tie means that you only strum the first note of the pair and hold that out for the duration of the t"o notes. 8trum the last measure like this/ do"n, up, do"n, up 1 up, do"n, up, do"n, and hold the last strum for t"o full beats. =ust keep your hand moving do"n1up, but make the !th strum 5do"n stroke7 in the air instead of hitting the strings "ith the pick. &o", the 2, .b and ) chords are ma<or chords. It is common practice to leave off the ma<or. If someone tells you to play an 2 chord, it is understood to be ma<or unless they say minor, diminished or augmented. You'll get used to it /17 ,ere's an mpF of the chorus/ =oker part > 9ork "ith it until you can make the chord changes and strum the rhythm in time "ith the recording. If you "ant to try your hand at playing some lead licks over this chord progression, try "orking "ith the 2 ma<or scale, but avoid the Jth interval. That note sounds out of place in this song. If you don't already have the full recording of this song, I recommend that you get it, so you can play along "ith the entire song..

1>J LESSON E'G)T Guitar Lesson Eight This lesson is divided into five parts: Theory 1art ' Theory 1art '' Technique - Left )and Technique - Right )and Music Theory 1art ' %ne of the most important concepts in music is the key signature 5usually <ust referred to as key7. The key signature defines "hich root note and scale a piece of music is based upon. In order to understand ho" to read a key signature 5revie" *esson H7, "e need to combine t"o of the things that you have learned in previous lessons. In *esson H I had you put together a chart of every scale divided into scales "ith sharps and scales "ith flats. In *esson J I had you compliment your scale chart by adding the relative minor scales. These t"o charts "ill help you to learn to read key signatures. *et's look at a key signature/

&o", look at your scale chart and find the scale that contains H sharps. 8ince no t"o ma<or scales have the same number of sharps or flats, it's easy to determine "hich scale the key signature is indicating. %nce you have determined the ma<or scale that the key signature is indicating, you need to kno" that scales relative minor. This is because the ma<or scale and the relative minor scale share the same key signature. The key signature above is used to indicate the key of ' ma<or and the key of )4 minor. &o", since it is not very convenient to have to refer to your scale charts every time you look at a key signature, you need to commit all of this stuff to memory. The easiest "ay to do that is to be able to see the relationship bet"een all of the different scales on your guitar fingerboard. ,ere is a handy "ay to organiBe the different keys/ Geys "ith sharps/

1>K Geys "ith flats/

.y memoriBing the t"o fingerboard patterns, you can @uickly determine "hich ma<or scale the key signature is indicating/ :eys /ith Shar"s, Shar"s :ey D C 6 G 7 D 4 A 5 E > B A $ :eys /ith #ats, #ats :ey D C 6 7 B& 4 E& 5 A& > D& A G&

In order to determine the relative minor for each key, all you have to do is be able to see the Cth interval of the scale. The easiest "ay to do that is to count the scale tones back"ards from the root 5remember that root R K7/

The root of the relative minor sits F frets back from the root of the ma<or. 8o, once you have the ma<or scale, all you have to do is go three frets lo"er to determine the relative minor. That's pretty easy. There are a fe" other factors that can influence the key of a piece of music, but "e "ill save those for a later lesson. 2or no", you need to get comfortable reading key signatures. As I've stated before, rather than giving you a bunch of boring e0ercises to go through, I'm leaving it up to you to seek out e0amples of "ritten music so that you can practice and verify the things you have learned in these lessons. A good place to start reading key signatures is right here in these lessons. I have included standard notation "ithin every #usic section since lesson t"o. :o back through the lessons and look for those key signatures. You can also find many e0amples of "ritten music on the internet if you look around a bit.

1> Guitar Lesson Eight - Theory 1art '', I'm sure that you have noticed by no" that I place a lot of importance on learning scales. The reason for this is that scales are the foundation for all music. 'verything that you hear "hen listening to a piece of music is based on scales. Therefore, in order to have any sort of understanding of ho" music is constructed, you must have a firm understanding of scales. At this point "ithin the lessons, you need to have "orked "ith both the ma<or and minor scales enough that you can play both scales in all t"elve keys on any string and be comfortable "orking "ith both scales on any t"o ad<acent strings. The first step in creating music from a scale is melody. All the "ork you have done "ith scales so far has been geared to"ard e0ploring the melodic possibilities of scales. &o" "e are going to begin e0ploring ho" scales create harmony. ,armony is created "henever t"o or more notes are played together. )hords are an e0ample of comple0 harmony. 9e are going to look at simple harmony. )ar+oni?ing Sca#es, +laying more than one note at a time 5harmony7 re@uires that you be able to see a scale on t"o strings at once. 9e'll use the A ma<or scale on the lo" ' and A1strings for our e0ample/

&o", familiariBe yourself "ith the position of each interval on the A1string relative to the root at the !th fret of the '1string/

1FD 9ith proper hand position, you should find every interval e0cept the Jth and octave "ithin reach of the root at the !th fret on the '1string. 9hen playing harmony, each interval is given a designation. The >nd, Frd, Cth and Jth are called ma<or intervals, "hile the Hth and !th are called perfect intervals. This designation is important, because it is the basis of ho" chords are named. Also, if you play the A at the !th fret of the '1string and the open A1string together the interval is called unison. ?nison means that t"o notes of the same pitch are being played together. *et's take a look at "hat each interval looks like in standard notation/

,ey-- There's a key signature for you to read2amiliariBe yourself "ith the sound and location of each interval. You "ill find that certain intervals sound pleasing to the ear "hile others sound tense or dissonant. 2or the sake of being able to hear the Jth and octave intervals, these notes can be moved over to the Cth and Jth fret of the $1string.

&o", "e'll do the same thing "ith the A minor scale. 2irst, let's see ho" the scale lines up on both strings/

&o", familiariBe yourself "ith each of the intervals relative to the root note at the fifth fret of the '1string/

1F1

6ecall that the Frd, Cth and Jth in there natural position are called ma<or intervals. 9hen you flat a ma<or interval it becomes a minor interval. #inor intervals are usually denoted "ith a lo"er case AmA as opposed to a capital A#A. ,ere's the A minor scale intervals in standard notation/

Are you looking at the key signatureE $o you understand ho" that key signature indicates A minorE %ne of the cool things about the guitar is that e0cept for the .1string, the tuning of the strings is uniform. 9hat this means to you and me is that "e can move everything over to the A and $1strings "ithout having to learn ne" relationships bet"een all of our intervals/

&otice that all of the intervals are in the same position relative to the root on the A1string. This "ill be true for every pair of strings e0cept the : and .1strings. 6emember that the .1string is tuned V1step do"n from the rest of the strings. This means that all the intervals on the .1string "ill be one fret higher than you "ould normally e0pect. &o", figure out the ma<or and minor intervals on every pair of strings for all t"elve keys. %nce you get going "ith it, you'll find that it isn't hard to do at all.

1F> Guitar Lesson Eight - Technique Left )and, In *esson J, I started you on a left1hand e0ercise designed to help you develop finger control and independence. &o" I'm going to sho" you t"o advanced variations of that e0ercise that are sure to get your "rist muscles burning. N9ord of )autionN 1 9hile "orking any e0ercise, be careful not to push your hands and "rists past the point of starting to feel the muscles heat up. It is very easy to cause yourself undue damage if you don't listen to your body's "arning that it has had enough. A good "ay to approach e0ercises like this is to "ork one hand until you feel it begin to get tired and then "ork the other hand for a "hile. .y alternating "hich hand is "orking, you "ill ma0imiBe your practice time and avoid serious in<uries. .oth of these variations begin by placing all four fingers on the fingerboard like so/

The first variation starts by lifting only your inde0 finger and hammering it onto the Frd fret of the :1string "ith enough force to make that note sound. Then pull off to the open :1string. 6epeat this hammer and pull K times in succession. +lace the inde0 finger back on the .1string, and do the same thing "ith each finger in turn. 6emember that the three fingers that are not being used need to stay resting on the .1string. %nce you have the coordination happening "ith your fingers, the trick is to s"itch to the ne0t finger at the same time that the finger you "ere <ust using moves back over to the .1string. 9hen you get to the pinky, reverse the order and "ork each finger in turn until you get back to the inde0 finger.It should sound like this/ 8lo" 2ast The second variation is a little more complicated to e0plain, but I'll give it my best shot. .egin "ith all four fingers resting on the .1string. &e0t, simultaneously move the inde0 finger over to the high '1string and the middle finger over to the :1string. Then, reverse directions and move the inde0 finger to the :1 string "hile the middle finger moves to the high '1string. 8o, both fingers move in opposite directions "hile the other t"o fingers remain stationery. The idea is to "ork every finger combination simultaneously back and forth bet"een the :1string and the high '1string. <6-73 6-43 6-53 7-43 7-53 4-5= %nce you get pretty good at that, you can e0pand the e0ercise by "orking the fingers back and forth bet"een the high '1string and the $, A and lo" '1strings. Use your imagination.

1FF Guitar Lesson Eight - Technique Right )and, In *esson J, "e discussed the fact that triplets present a special challenge for the right hand. This challenge is even greater "hen the notes "ithin a triplets re@uire you to play the tuplet on more than one string. Play this example/

&ot only is the right hand re@uired to begin each note group "ith the correct stroke, but it is also re@uired to move bet"een the strings "ith both an upstroke and a do"nstroke. This is the true test for your picking hand. If you can play triplets "hile crossing strings "ithout getting your pick strokes out of order or accidentally picking the "rong string, you can rest assured that your techni@ue is very solid. ,ere is a triplet e0ercises for you to "ork through/

The TA. is provided to help you "ork out the fingering and hand positions, but don't forget to read the notes.

1FH Guitar Lesson Eight - Music .elo" is the first section of a violin e0ercise "ritten by =. 8. .ach that "ill teach you a lot about alternate picking, fingering and ho" a simple scale can be turned into music. 9hile you may find sections of this piece difficult to play at first, consistent practice "ill allo" you to overcome any difficult spots. 8ee belo" for a fe" things to "atch out for.

1F!

1FC

There are a fe" things that I "ant to dra" your attention to/ 1 1 +ay attention to the key signature. %ne flat indicates that the key is 2 ma<or or the relative $ minor. The fact that measure > begins "ith a $min triad 5$R6, 2RbF, AR! Lrevie" lesson !M7 indicates that the relative minor is being used. > 1 &otice that the time signature is F3H time. This may take a little getting used to. #ost music today is in H3H. 5revie" lesson H7 F 1 The first measure of this piece is called a pickup measure 5$on't ask me "hy.7 A pickup measure is used to add one or more notes before the actual beginning measure of a song. This measure is played like this/

H 1 In measures H, !, J, 11, 1H, 1C and >!, you "ill notice the use of a A.A5dot7 ne0t to certain notes. This is used to add half again as much value to a note. 2or e0ample, in measure H, the first note is a AdottedA eighth note. The dot is e@ual to half the amount of the note that it is used "ith, so a AdottedA eighth note is e@ual in length to an eighth note plus a si0teenth note. ! 1 The TA. is provided to help you find the notes, but don't <ust blindly follo" the TA.. You "ill never learn to read music by doing it that "ay. Also, you may find that some of the fingerings that I suggest seem a"k"ard to you. 2eel free to e0plore other possible fingerings. C 1 9hen it comes to playing something like this, you pretty much have to use "hatever finger is available at any given time, but try to think in terms of hand position "henever possible. 5revie" lesson H7 J 1 9ork on this piece a fe" measures at a time instead of trying to digest it all at once. K 1 .egin "ith an up1stroke on the pickup measure and then proceed "ith strict alternate picking.

&o", don't <ust Akinda1sortaA go through this piece. There is a lot to learn here. 9ork on this piece until you have it memoriBed and can play it through "ith no mistakes. That is the "ay to learn.

1FJ LESSON N'NE Guitar Lesson Nine This lesson is divided into five parts Theory 1art ' Theory 1art '' Technique - Left )and Technique - Right )and Music Theory, )hords and chord progressions are derived from various scales and the intervals contained "ithin those scales. In order to understand chords and chord progressions, you must understand ho" these scales can be broken do"n into various combinations of intervals. In *esson K, "e e0plored the relationship bet"een the root note and each of the other intervals contained "ithin both the ma<or scale and the minor scale as they lay out across any t"o ad<acent strings. *et's put a couple of these intervals to "ork and make some music. In *esson !, "e learned that the most basic chord is called a T6IA$ and that triads are built by combining the 6, F and !. These are the most important intervals to memoriBe. 9e "ill be "orking "ith the Frd in this lesson and the !th in the ne0t lesson. The rest of the intervals "ill be addressed in later lessons. Also in *esson !, "e discussed the fact that t"o or more notes played together creates ,A6#%&Y. 9hat "e're going to do is ,A6#%&IO' the ma<or and minor scales using Frds and !ths from the scale. 8tart "ith the ) ma<or scale on the A1string/

To add the Frd harmony, "e need to figure out "hich note from the scale is t"o notes above each of our scale tones. This note "ill give us a Frd to play along "ith our original notes. That may sound "eird 1 going up the scale t"o notes to get the Frd 1 but the note you start "ith is 1, the ne0t note is > and the ne0t note is the Frd. 8o, if "e start "ith the first note, ), and number that note 1, then $ "ould be > and ' "ould be F. 9e've done this enough times already that you should be saying, A,ey... haven't "e done this alreadyEA Yes, "e have. .ut this time, "e're going to give it a ne" t"ist.

1FK &o", let's do the same thing for the second note in the scale. $ is 1, ' is > and 2 is three. 8o 2 is going to be the Frd of $ "ithin the scale. I keep saying "ithin the scale or from the scale, because the Frds that "e get by using only notes from the ) ma<or scale "on't necessarily match up "ith the Frds that "e "ould normally get by follo"ing a different ma<or scale from each note. 9e'el take a good look at this in a moment, though. 2or no", <ust find the notes that are going to act as our harmony. If "e do the same thing that "e did "ith the ) and $ to each of the remaining notes of our scale, "e get/ : A . ) $ as the harmony notes for ' 2 : A ., respectively. &otice that each harmony note is found from "ithin the original ma<or scale. *et's add this all together on the staff/

6emember that harmony means to play t"o or more notes at the same time. This is sho"n on the staff by stacking the notes on top of each other "ith the note heads attached to the same stem. 9hen you see notes on the staff stacked like this, the notes in each stack are played together. &o", a moment ago I mentioned that the Frds derived in this manner don't necessarily match the Frds that you "ould get by using a ma<or scale from each note. This is "hat I mean by that. Take a look at the $ and 2 harmony on the second beat of the first measure. 9e kno" from the $ ma<or scale 5$ ' 24 : A . )47 that the ma<or Frd of $ is 24. Therefore, 2 5half1step lo"er7 "ould be the minor Frd of $. 9e can verify this by comparing this interval to the scale that "e kno" that has a minor Frd, the $ natural minor scale 5$ ' 2 : A .b )7. If you haven't "orked out the minor scale in every key, you better do that. You really $% need to kno" this stuff. 8o ) to ' is a ma<or Frd and $ to 2 is a minor Frd. 9hat about ' to :E There are three "ays that you can check and verify an interval. The first "ay is to use the ma<or scale starting from the same note as the lo"est note of the interval. If you "ant to find out "hat interval ' to : is, then you could compare that to the ' ma<or scale 5' 24 :4 A . )4 $47 and see ho" things line up. The second "ay is to compare to the minor scale starting from the same note as the lo"est note of the interval. In this case you "ould use the ' minor scale 5' 24 : A . ) $7. If you use the minor scale, you have to remember that the F, C and J are already flattened 5minor7 in that scale. revie" *esson K if you are not clear on this point. In my opinion, it is best to stick "ith using the ma<or scale to compare and verify intervals so that you avoid the confusion that can occur if you forget to account for the intervals that are already altered "ithin the minor scale.

1F A third "ay to compare and verify intervals is to see them on the guitar neck. This method "orks very "ell "hen combined "ith your kno"ledge of the ma<or and minor scales. In *esson K "e "ent to the trouble of dissecting the scale and learning to see each interval of the scale lying on an ad<acent string. The purpose of that e0ercise is to make you a"are of "hat the intervals look like on the guitar itself. *et's take a look at the ma<or and minor Frd/

#a<or Frd

#inor Frd

&o" let's look at ho" our harmoniBed scale lays out on the A and $1strings/

8een this "ay, it is immediately obvious "hich harmonies are ma<or 5)1', 21A, :1.7 and "hich are minor 5$1 2, '1:, A1), .1$7. *et's add this ne" information onto our staff/

1HD If you look closely, you should see that the ma<or and minor intervals form an easily recogniBable pattern/ 1st measure/ M4 >nd measure/ M4 +4 +4 +4 +4 M4 M4

If "e look at the "hole1steps and half1steps bet"een each harmony, "e "ill see that they are also the same in each measure/ 1st measure/ M4 / >nd measure/ M4 +4 / +4 +4 h +4 M4 M4

That leaves only the "hole1step bet"een the t"o measures, so let's put that in/ M4 / +4 / +4 h M4 / M4 / +4 / +4 h M4

&o", "e kno" from "orking "ith the ma<or scale in every key, that "hile each key has a different combination of notes, the intervals are e0actly the same, no matter "hich note you start on. That means that you can use this e0act same pattern of ma<or and minor Frds to harmoniBe the ma<or scale in any key. All you have to do is play the correct order of the harmonies and follo" the "hole1step3half1step pattern of the scale.

8o, the ma<or scale, no matter "hat key you play it in, "ill al"ays yield this e0act same pattern of ma<or and minor Frds, and the harmonies "ill al"ays follo" the same 93h1step pattern. This fact allo"s us to assign a number to each of the harmonies, so that "e can talk about them "ithout regard to "hich key signature is being used/ ' M4 / ii +4 / iii +4 h '0 M4 / 0 M4 / ;i +4 / ;ii +4 h ' M4

In this case, 6oman numerals are used instead of regular 5Arabic7 numbers. This is to distinguish bet"een intervals 5"hich are designated "ith Arabic numerals7 and harmonies built from each note of the scale 5"hich use 6oman numerals7. &otice that upper case numerals are used to designate ma<or and lo"er case numerals are used to designate minor.

1H1 These 6oman numerals are very important, because they are used to analyBe and identify the chords "ithin a chord progression. 9e'el talk some more about this in the ne0t lesson. 2or no", <ust learn to call each harmony by the correct number, and memoriBe the pattern of ma<or and minor, as "ell as "here each type sits along the 93h1step pattern.

&o", before I set you to "ork playing this harmoniBed scale in every key and on every pair of strings 5You kne" that "as coming, didn't youE7, let me point out one more thing. You kno" that the scale can be played up and do"n the entire length of the string. %nce you reach the octave, you can <ust keep going higher through the scale until you run out of frets. You also kno" that you can play any notes from the scale that are belo" your starting note. This is also true for the harmoniBed scale. &otice that both the starting harmony and the ending harmony are considered I. This is because they are the same harmony. They're <ust an octave apart. Any notes that are an octave apart 5higher or lo"er7 are considered the same thing. This is because notes that are an octave apart function the same "ithin a song. 8o, once you reach I an octave higher, you can keep going into the ne0t octave until you can't play any higher. The same thing is true for any scale tones that are belo" your root note. They can be harmoniBed too. You need to practice the harmoniBed scale all the "ay up and do"n the strings, not <ust from I to I. Also, "hen you are "orking "ith the : and .1strings, remember that the note on the .1string "ill be a fret higher than usual. This is al"ays true "hen it comes to the .1string.

This is "here I get to tell you "hat you should already kno" by no". You need to "ork this harmoniBed scale out in every key on every pair of strings and all the "ay up and do"n the neck. :o for it-

1H> Guitar Lesson Nine - Theory 1art '', &o" it's time to turn our attention to harmoniBing the minor scale. The cool 5confusingE7 thing about the minor scale is that it contains the e0act same notes as its relative ma<or scale starting from the Cth degree of that ma<or scale. 56evie" lesson J if this is not clear.7 This means that the minor scale uses the same harmony as its relative ma<or scale. You <ust have to start on vii and play the harmonies in order from there. +iece of cakeLet's look at our harmony chart again: ' M4 / ii +4 / iii +4 h '0 M4 / 0 M4 / ;i +4 / ;ii +4 h ' M4

&o", let's re1arrange it so that "e start "ith vi/ ;i +4 / ;ii +4 h ' M4 / ii +4 / iii +4 h '0 M4 / 0 M4 / ;i +4

8ome people insist that the harmony you start "ith must be called I, so they go to the trouble of re1numbering the "hole thing/ i +4 / ii +4 h ''' M4 / i; +4 / ; +4 h 0' M4 / 0'' M4 / i +4

I have never found re1numbering the harmoniBed minor scale to be of any practical value, so I don't bother. I've al"ays found it more convenient to think that the minor scale starts on vii. ?se "hatever numbering scheme makes the most sense to you. That's all there is to kno" about harmoniBing the minor scale. 9ork this out in every key on every pair of strings and up and do"n the entire fingerboard.

1HF Guitar Lesson Nine - Technique Left )and, 9ith all the practicing that you have been doing your hands should be getting strong enough to begin learning the "hole1step bend. .efore "e get started, go back and revie" the principles laid out in lesson !. The only difference bet"een the half1step bend and the "hole1step bend is that you are bending the string up the e@uivalent of t"o frets instead of one. This re@uires @uite a bit more strength and control to insure that your pitch is accurate. As I stated before, nothing "ill make you sound like an amateur as @uickly as an out1of1tune bend. :et it rightThe best "ay to practice bending in tune is to start by playing the note that you are bending the string up to so that the pitch is fresh in your mind. Then drop do"n either a half1step or a "hole1step, pick that note and slo"ly bend the string until you arrive at the pitch of the first note. Then check your accuracy by playing the actual note again. The biggest mistake you can make "hen learning ho" to bend a string is to bend too fast. You've got to "ork slo"ly and listen to the pitch of the note as you bend. That bend needs to go some"here. It's up to you to control "here it's going. 8tring .ending :uidelines There are really no rules involved in string bending, e0cept that you need to learn ho" to use them to help you communicate your musical ideas. 8o, "hat I'm going to do is give you some e0amples of the various "ays in "hich you can utiliBe string bends to add flavor to your playing and let you take things from there. The most common bend uses only notes from "ithin the scale. You start on a note "ithin the scale and you bend that note up to another note "ithin the scale. AMa-,

1HH A+in,

.ending from a note "ithin the scale to a note outside of the scale can have a nice effect if used in the right place. AMa-,

A+in,

.ending from a note outside of the scale to a note "ithin the scale can also "ork "ell in certain circumstances.

1H! AMa-,

A+in,

Gno"ing "hen and "here to bend the strings is really a matter of AfeelA. You have to do a lot of e0perimenting to develop your o"n style. 'very guitarist has their o"n approach. That's "hat makes them sound uni@ue.

1HC Guitar Lesson Nine - Technique Right )and, As I've said before, triplets are one of the most difficult things for the right hand to play "ell on the guitar, especially "hen the triplet falls across more than one string. The time you spend getting it right "ill pay big dividends do"n the road. 9ith this in mind, here's another triplet e0ercise utiliBing the ma<or and minor scales on the ', A and $1strings. +ay particular attention to these points/ I have included TA. "ith this e0ercise for the sole purpose of illustrating ho" the melody is played up and do"n a single string. The presence of TA. is not an e0cuse for you to neglect reading the music. +ay attention to ho" the key signature shifts as the scale being used shifts. This entire e0ercise consists of one string acting as a +'$A* T%&' "hile the melody is played on the ad<acent string. A pedal tone is a note that is sustained "hile other notes or chords are played over the top of and independent to the sustained tone. This techni@ue is derived from organ playing, "here the feet sustain notes via foot pedals "hile the hands play harmonic and melodic structures over the sustained note. The pedal tone effect is best achieved if you allo" the droning string to ring throughout "hile keeping the melody notes crisp, clean and short. The pedal tone shifts bet"een the ' and A1strings, so you "ill have to stop the pedal from ringing "hen it is time to s"itch strings. ?se the heel of your picking hand to dampen the pedal string "hile your fretting hand sustains the @uarter note that ends each phrase. The 6itard direction in the second to last measure means to gradually slo" do"n. You "ill run into this direction most often at the end of a piece of music, but you may also find the direction at the end of a phrase or section "ithin a piece of music. 9ork this up to speed slo"ly and cleanly.

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1HK Guitar Lesson Nine - Music ,ere is the second part of =. 8. .ach's )orrente. .e sure to revie" the general guidelines that I laid out in lesson K for playing this piece.

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)a;e at itE ijAcK

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