Almost everything in life that gives us pleasure: Drama, sports, sex, roller-coasters, you-name-it... all operate on our nervous system with the same basic mechanism.
1. Build tension.
2. Release that tension.
Music interacts with us the same way. Is your guitar in tune? Then allow me to demonstrate.
Turn your amp up nice and loud*, and play your low E string (that's the fattest one.) Let it ring out. It's a nice sound, but it's just a sound. It's not really "music" yet, is it?
* Don't turn the amp up so far that it hurts your ears or gets you evicted. Just about where a really loud singer or a soft trumpet player would be is probably about perfect. I want you to FEEL this note as well as hear it.
Okay, now on the next string up (the A string) I want you to play the note on the 7th fret. You are now playing another "E", except one octave higher.
Now play both notes at once, and let them ring out together.
They just sort of blend together perfectly, right? This is why they are both called "E." In Western music theory, they are considered the same note, just in different "registers."
When two or more notes blend together this perfectly, theorists call it a "consonant" interval. Octaves* are the most consonant sounds there are.
* Okay, technically a "unison" (two of the same note played in the SAME register) is more consonant than an octave, but that's not really an interval between two different pitches, so I'm not counting it in this case.
Okay, now I want you to play the open E again, but this time I want you to play the sixth fret on the A string (E-flat), and let both notes ring out together. Hold them good and long and a good and loud volume.
Kinda sounds awful, right? It grabs the ear and you feel that something is not quite right and a deep unconscious level. Okay okay, stop.
When notes clash with each other, this is what theorists call "dissonance." The interval you just played is called a Major 7th, and while it's not the most-dissonant sound, it's certainly right up there.
Okay, now we're really going to get somewhere. I want you to play that same ugly two-note chord you just played, and hold it for a couple seconds... then SLIDE your finger from the 6th fret of the A string to the 7th and hold there.
Ahhhh.... It's almost like exhaling after holding your breath, right? The way the dissonance "resolves" to consonance almost makes it feel like that note wanted to go up that one fret, didn't it?
Congratulations. You have now just played an extremely short work of music: A two-note chord, followed by another two-note chord. More importantly, you now grok the basic principle of music theory. That's all it is. That's all any of it is. Having completed this lesson, you could actually start writing songs & accompaniments NOW just by trial-and-error experimentation, using nothing more than your ear as your guide.
Of course, delving deeper into what three Millennia or so of civilization has already discovered about these notes & chords will save you the trouble of re-inventing the wheel, but there's no law that says you have to do things the easy way.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Crickets
So far, the kick-off of this blog resulted in two followers and zero comments. So there's a serious risk that I'm mostly just talking to myself here, but I'm going to soldier on anyway and maybe when people eventually discover it there will be enough content here that they will decide that it's worth their while to keep following it and maybe even make their presence known.
Starting in January, expect fairly regular updates. I'm going to talk about a ton of different topics related to guitars here, including technique, musical styles, approaches, gear, etc., and also occasionally hype various local/indie bands who strike me as noteworthy.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Starting Out
Whenever a brand-new guitarist gets started on the guitar, the first big question they ask is always the same:
"Why am I doing the chord shapes with my left hand and strumming with my right, when that seems to be just the opposite of what would be easiest."
The answer they usually get is not very satisfying.
The truth is, there's a very good reason for this. Yes, if you are right-handed, your right hand is a lot better at performing complex tasks of fine-dexterity than your left. But more importantly, your right hand is also much better at performing simple tasks unconsciously. This matters.
Quick. Rub your belly with one hand while patting your head with the other.
Now without switching hands, pat your belly while rubbing your head.
Takes concentration, right? That's because it's extremely difficult to do two different tasks at once unless you can do at least one of the tasks without thinking about it at all. This is also why most drummers keep time on the hi-hat cymbal with the right hand. It has to become an unconscious activity, or what some music instructors call "muscle memory" so that your awareness is free to focus on other tasks.
So there's method to the madness.
This doesn't change the fact that your first baby-steps on the guitar are really, really daunting. Odds are, if you are like most people, you haven't really used your left hand for ANYTHING until now, other than to hold things still while your right hand works on them. This is fortunately less-true for young people in the modern era. Between computer keyboards and two-handed game controllers, those of you under 30 probably used your left hand's fine-motor skills a lot more as children than people my age ever did. So you've got a leg up there... but still.
If you cracked open a "How To Play Guitar" book or had an instructor in a music shop give you a first lesson, you were probably shown all the basic "cowboy chords" way up by the headstock (G, C, E, A, D, and maybe B or F) and then you were told that you need to master playing all of those and changing between them quickly.
Fun, huh? It probably took you a minute or two to get your left hand into the right position for just one of those chords without touching strings that you didn't want touched, without only half-pressing some of the strings, with everything in the right place, and strumming something that mostly sounded like the chord is probably supposed to sound like. Now you have to learn several completely different "Vulcan Nerve Pinch" hand positions, do them all with your left hand, and hit them right away every time. GYAH!
This is the first barrier which often determines who sticks with the guitar and who just chucks the thing in the closet and goes back to playing Rock Band on the X-Box.
Any why the fuck is the guitar laid out so this most basic element of playing it (major chords) so fucking difficult anyway?
At this point, you have two choices as a beginning guitarist, both perfectly valid.
1. Gut it out. If you stick with it for a week or two, really working on it for about 20 minutes each day, I promise you that you'll start to get the hang of these beginner chords, and they will become useful tools that will be the basis of playing much more fun and interesting things in the future. These chords don't need to be the FIRST thing you learn. In fact, I tend to teach beginners on the electric guitar how to play basic "barre" chords first and then work backwards to the ones at the far end of the neck. But sooner or later you'll need to train that left hand to do what you want it to do, and mastering these chords is as good a way to do it as any.
2. Fuck it. You CAN play the guitar without putting yourself through this. You can play slide guitar on an open-G tuning, you can play metal "power chords" (made even easier in a special tuning called "drop-D"), or you can simplify everything into little 3-note chords which are easier to do. There are drawbacks to approaching the guitar by such unconventional means. You'll find that you don't quite speak the same "language" as most other guitarists, and will have to either find and instructor who knows how to work with what you're doing or else commit to figuring out a lot of things yourself. But it can be done. Self-taught guitarists like John Flansburg of They Might Be Giants went on to rich and rewarding careers as singer/songwriters without learning "the right way" at all. Don't let anybody tell you it's impossible.
In an upcoming lesson, let's talk a little bit about just what the fuck a major chord is and why it matters. Get ready for me to drop some theory on you. Meanwhile, whether you follow formal-instruction advice or not, keep messing around with your guitar.
"Why am I doing the chord shapes with my left hand and strumming with my right, when that seems to be just the opposite of what would be easiest."
The answer they usually get is not very satisfying.
The truth is, there's a very good reason for this. Yes, if you are right-handed, your right hand is a lot better at performing complex tasks of fine-dexterity than your left. But more importantly, your right hand is also much better at performing simple tasks unconsciously. This matters.
Quick. Rub your belly with one hand while patting your head with the other.
Now without switching hands, pat your belly while rubbing your head.
Takes concentration, right? That's because it's extremely difficult to do two different tasks at once unless you can do at least one of the tasks without thinking about it at all. This is also why most drummers keep time on the hi-hat cymbal with the right hand. It has to become an unconscious activity, or what some music instructors call "muscle memory" so that your awareness is free to focus on other tasks.
So there's method to the madness.
This doesn't change the fact that your first baby-steps on the guitar are really, really daunting. Odds are, if you are like most people, you haven't really used your left hand for ANYTHING until now, other than to hold things still while your right hand works on them. This is fortunately less-true for young people in the modern era. Between computer keyboards and two-handed game controllers, those of you under 30 probably used your left hand's fine-motor skills a lot more as children than people my age ever did. So you've got a leg up there... but still.
If you cracked open a "How To Play Guitar" book or had an instructor in a music shop give you a first lesson, you were probably shown all the basic "cowboy chords" way up by the headstock (G, C, E, A, D, and maybe B or F) and then you were told that you need to master playing all of those and changing between them quickly.
Fun, huh? It probably took you a minute or two to get your left hand into the right position for just one of those chords without touching strings that you didn't want touched, without only half-pressing some of the strings, with everything in the right place, and strumming something that mostly sounded like the chord is probably supposed to sound like. Now you have to learn several completely different "Vulcan Nerve Pinch" hand positions, do them all with your left hand, and hit them right away every time. GYAH!
This is the first barrier which often determines who sticks with the guitar and who just chucks the thing in the closet and goes back to playing Rock Band on the X-Box.
Any why the fuck is the guitar laid out so this most basic element of playing it (major chords) so fucking difficult anyway?
At this point, you have two choices as a beginning guitarist, both perfectly valid.
1. Gut it out. If you stick with it for a week or two, really working on it for about 20 minutes each day, I promise you that you'll start to get the hang of these beginner chords, and they will become useful tools that will be the basis of playing much more fun and interesting things in the future. These chords don't need to be the FIRST thing you learn. In fact, I tend to teach beginners on the electric guitar how to play basic "barre" chords first and then work backwards to the ones at the far end of the neck. But sooner or later you'll need to train that left hand to do what you want it to do, and mastering these chords is as good a way to do it as any.
2. Fuck it. You CAN play the guitar without putting yourself through this. You can play slide guitar on an open-G tuning, you can play metal "power chords" (made even easier in a special tuning called "drop-D"), or you can simplify everything into little 3-note chords which are easier to do. There are drawbacks to approaching the guitar by such unconventional means. You'll find that you don't quite speak the same "language" as most other guitarists, and will have to either find and instructor who knows how to work with what you're doing or else commit to figuring out a lot of things yourself. But it can be done. Self-taught guitarists like John Flansburg of They Might Be Giants went on to rich and rewarding careers as singer/songwriters without learning "the right way" at all. Don't let anybody tell you it's impossible.
In an upcoming lesson, let's talk a little bit about just what the fuck a major chord is and why it matters. Get ready for me to drop some theory on you. Meanwhile, whether you follow formal-instruction advice or not, keep messing around with your guitar.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Welcome
A few weeks ago, I promised a few friends of mine that I would teach them free beginning guitar lessons in a sort-of classroom setting. It seemed like a fabulous idea at the time, but the first time I scheduled a lesson, a massive problem became very obvious: There simply wasn't a single time when everybody who wanted in on it could make it.
Trying to schedule such sessions on even a semi-regular basis proved even more impossible.
So I had this new idea... Why don't I teach them how to get started on-line?
And then it occurred to me that I could just create a blog for not only instructing beginning guitar players, but also as a forum for me to sound off about all things music-related, especially when it comes to electric guitars and basses, which is a particular passion for me.
So I did, and this is it. Welcome. I hope you find the content here useful, and I ***really*** hope this inspires you to create your own music, by whatever means and in whatever setting brings you the most satisfaction. Please leave comments frequently, both as a guide to me of what is and is not helpful, and also so I don't think I'm just shouting into a vacuum.
Trying to schedule such sessions on even a semi-regular basis proved even more impossible.
So I had this new idea... Why don't I teach them how to get started on-line?
And then it occurred to me that I could just create a blog for not only instructing beginning guitar players, but also as a forum for me to sound off about all things music-related, especially when it comes to electric guitars and basses, which is a particular passion for me.
So I did, and this is it. Welcome. I hope you find the content here useful, and I ***really*** hope this inspires you to create your own music, by whatever means and in whatever setting brings you the most satisfaction. Please leave comments frequently, both as a guide to me of what is and is not helpful, and also so I don't think I'm just shouting into a vacuum.
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