(This was taken mostly from my book “Take Control: for

guitar”, available on Amazon)

 

Many rock songs consist of power chords built off of pentatonic

and blues scale roots. This is a style I first became aware of in

the early 70’s when I tried to figure out Black Sabbath songs.

All you do is pick a scale and play power chords built on those

notes. Since a power chord is just a perfect 5th interval and not

a complete chord, you don’t have to worry about those pesky

major and minor chords! Also songs in this style are mostly

played with lots of volume and distortion, so power chords are

plenty huge sounding. Generally the more “normal” the song

is, the more it sticks to pentatonic roots. The more “outside”

tunes add more extra blues notes. As you might guess with a

blues scale having so many options, the only way to keep the

key obvious is to keep hitting the root a lot. This explains why

so many heavy songs are based on E, you have to keep hitting

the root or the song turns into garbage. This means it’s easy to

tell what key the song is in (what note do they keep hitting?),

but a pain to figure out with all the options. Really heavy bands

do this trick with weird scales like diminished, whole tone,

synthetic modes, or whatever perverted  sequence they can

dream up (Slayer). As for soloing, use whatever scale or note

sequence the power chords are built on, based on the root

they keep hitting. If all else fails, the pentatonic scale is your

friend. There are only 12 notes and it has to be one of them!

The diagram below shows an E pentatonic minor/blues scale

written on the 6th string.  The extra blues tensions have an

asterisk beside them. Pick some frets, play them with power

chords and go crazy! Remember to keep hitting the root!

E PENTATONIC MINOR/BLUES SCALE

fret#         string 6 note      * blues tensions

0                     E

1

2                    F#                              *

3                     G

4                    G#                              *

5                     A

6                    A#                              *

7                    B

8                    C                                *

9                    C#                             *

10                   D

11

12                   E

 

 

 

 

In the last post I introduced the concept of harmonic

categories and used the key of C for an example. I also

used both chord and degree names to make it easier to

change keys. In order to understand this post you have to

have read the first post! Also if the idea of keys or

degree names is fuzzy to you, stop and read my book “Take

Control:for guitar” available on Amazon. Before we go

further I will list the 3 categories and their chords again,

for reference. ( Again this is the key of C).

Tonic-C major (I), E minor (iii), A minor (vi)

Subdominant- D minor (ii), F major (IV)

Dominant- G major (V), B diminished (viiº)

The terms tonic, subdominant, and dominant refer to the

harmonic function the chords perform in their respective

categories. Over the years, the way I’ve come to explain

this concept is with my “famous” field metaphor. Pay close

attention, it’s stuff like this that rakes in the big $.

 

(see the diagram below the explanation)

THE FIELD METAPHOR: Picture a key as being a big field, and

the fence closest to you is the Tonic fence. This area

contains the root chord (I-C) and the two related chords,

(iii-E minor and vi-A minor). These 3 chords are like home

base in the key, either the root chord C, or the 2 chords

closest in sound, E min. and A min. You can play all 3

of these chords and hear how similar they sound, there’s

not much movement between them sound-wise. That’s why you

can substitute these chords for one another, there’s not

that much difference in sound. Now on the far side of the key

“field”, visualize the opposite fence, that’s the Dominant

fence. This area contains the V chord (G or G7) and its’

related chord the B diminished (viiº). These 2 chords are

the most distant in sound from the Tonic chords. Play a

G to C or B dim. to C and hear the jump in sound, especially

compared with A min. to C (same category). Jumping from

Tonic to Dominant to Tonic is as much sonic distance as you

can cover in a key (and is called a cadence). These two

categories can completely define a key and the simplest

songs contain one chord from each category, generally

the I and the V, the most common members of their

categories. Songs like Jambalaya (C-G), only have 2 chords

because that’s all they need! The boundaries of the key are

set. Other I-V 2 chord songs are Tulsa Time and Achy Breaky

Heart (but those are in different keys). Finally, in the

middle of the key “field”, along with the daisies and cow

patties, are the Subdominant chords. These chords occupy the

middle ground in the key, further away harmonically from the

root than the Tonic chords, but not as far away as the dominant.

( see diagram below)

———————DOMINANT FENCE—————————-

(V -G and viiº-B dim.)

 

——————-MIDDLE OF THE FIELD———————-

(ii-D min. and IV-F maj.)

 

———————–TONIC FENCE———————————-

(I-C maj., iii-E min., and vi-A min.)

PRACTICAL USES: Like I said in the previous post, you can

substitute chords inside a category; if a song goes C-F-G, try

C-D min-G, or A min-F-G. This can add a lot of creativity. This

knowledge also helps me when I’m figuring out songs; a chord

will sound close, but not exactly correct. Often it turns out

to be another chord in the category. When I’m playing with

another guitarist or keyboard player, I can play different

chords against them inside the harmonic category (I can play

an A minor or E minor against their C major.) Whether I’m

composing, jamming, or figuring out songs, my knowledge of

harmonic categories gives me an edge.

Enough of the easy stuff, back to work! In this post, and maybe

the next, I’d like to talk about harmonic categories. This is a

concept I learned at Berklee, and it has helped me quite a bit

over the years. First I’d like to give a little background info on

keys.

A key consists of a 7 note scale and 7 chords built from that

scale. There are 12 keys, one starting from each note in the

chromatic scale, and each is different. (If you have no idea

what I’m talking about, either skip this post or get a copy of

my book, “Take Control: for guitar” available on Amazon).

I will be using the key of C in this post, to make it easier.

The key of C major consists of a C major scale ( notes; c, d,

e, f, g, a, b, etc.) and the chords built off of those notes;

C major, D minor, E minor, F major, G major, A minor, and

B diminished. For a musician, the practical meaning of this

is you can combine and play any sequence of chords from

this group and solo/sing the scale notes over it (again in any

sequence) and it will always work. Understanding how

chords and scales fit together in a key is helpful in jamming,

composing, and transcription. Enough about keys, now let’s

talk about harmonic categories.

In any key, the 7 chords contained will fall into 3 harmonic

categories; Tonic, Subdominant, and Dominant. The chords

in each of these categories sound similar to one another, and

occupy the same harmonic space (or function) in the key.

Before I explore this concept further, I will list the chords in

each of the 3 categories, both by chord name in the key of C,

and by scale degree* so you can use this concept for any key.

TONIC: contains the root chord, C major (I),  E minor (iii),

and A minor (vi).

SUBDOMINANT: contains the F major chord (IV), and D

minor (ii).

DOMINANT: contains the G major chord (V), and the B

diminished chord (viiº).

*I hate to sound like a recording, but if you don’t understand

scale degrees ( those Roman numbers), get a copy of my

book, “Take Control: for guitar” and learn it! It’s quite handy.

The first practical use for this information is chord

substitution. Jazz players do this all the time! If a song is in

the key of C and you’re playing a C chord, try an A minor

instead. Or try an E minor, any chord in the Tonic category

for the key of C. You may like some choices better than

others, but they will all substitute for one another. This

works the same for the other 2 categories. In the Dominant

category, try substituting a Bº for a G7. It may be the only

time you can actually use a diminished chord!

Before I explore other uses, I will have to explain the

concept of harmonic function, which I mentioned earlier.

I will do that in my next post, see you then.

 

 

 

 

 

(Some of this post is taken from my book, “No Fail Guitar”,
,
available on Amazon) I’m finishing what I started in the

last post and discussing picks and amps for beginners.

-PICKS: There are a lot of picks out there! All shapes and

sizes and prices; from free promotional picks to $10 stone

picks and all points in between. In my book, I got to the

point and just recommended you buy standard shape thin

picks to start, because they were cheap and easy on your

wrist. Now I would like to expand a bit more…

WHY DO I HAVE TO USE A PICK? You don’t! classical and

fingerstyle guitarists either don’t use picks at all, or in the

case of folk/blues finger pickers, use finger picks. Also

some legendary players like Wes Montgomery (jazz), or

Jeff Beck developed unique, expressive styles using just

their fingers and thumb. As a self taught player, I played

without a pick the first 6 years, even gigs when I was 16

or 17. However, I found that a pick enables you to pick

down and up which is faster and more efficient, you can

play harder and louder (and cut through the band), and

finally, it saves your fingers (I was breaking my finger

nails after a 4 hour gig). So if you want to play classical

or fingerstyle exclusively, or forge your own creative

path, feel free, I’m just sayin’.

TYPES OF PICKS: Jim Dunlop USA Nylon picks come in

a variety of thicknesses, from .38 MM to 1.0 MM. The

size is printed on the pick, along with a raised waffle type

surface that allows a better grip. .38 MM is paper thin

and I use it a lot with my beginner students, who generally

have low wrist strength. They can move up the thickness

scale gradually, until they find the best fit. Faster more

experienced players generally prefer a heavier, “jazz” style

pick because it gives more control. Also, jazz picks are

smaller which allows for a better grip. I use Jim Dunlop

Jazz II’s, which are 1 MM thick. Heavier picks take some

wrist strength, so I would hold off on these until I’d been

playing awhile. Other manufacturers make fine picks;

Fender, Clayton, Gravity among others. Jim Dunlop is

the easiest brand to find around here, so that’s what I

use. Also, if I change my last name to Dunlop, I will have

personalized picks!

AMPLIFIERS: At the beginning stage you want fairly

small and cheap, you won’t be playing on stage any time

soon! $100-120, maybe a little less, will get you a 5-10

watt* amp with a 6-10 inch speaker. While more is generally

better (more watts, bigger speaker) quality and actual sound

count the most. Try before you buy! Also I think speaker size

is more important than power. An amp with a 6 inch speaker

is going to sound dinky no matter what. Fender, Peavey and

Roland among others, all make good inexpensive amps. If

you bump up $50 or so, you can get a Marshall MG series

or Fender Champion with 20-30 watts and a 10-12 inch

speaker. You could play small gigs with  those!

*watts are how an amps’ power is rated, more watts equals

more power.

TESTING THE AMP: Turn on the amp with the volume

down and without any cables plugged in at first. Turn up

the volume half way and listen for any loud humming or

hissing (not good). Now turn the volume back down and

plug in your guitar. Turn the knobs. Do they feel solid and

well built, or cheap and cheesy? Ask the salesman how to

get distortion, that heavy rock crunch we all love if that’s

important to you. In fact, if you don’t understand anything

about your amp, ask. Write down the answers if you need

to. It’s much easier to pry information out of that pesky

salesman before he gets his hands on your dough! You

will also need 1 0r 2 cables, and a cover would be nice.

(Although I have used trash bags in a pinch.) See if they

will throw it in as a package deal. This post is the end of

my back to basics. Next, more weirdness!

(Part of this post is taken from my book, “No Fail Guitar”,

available on Amazon.)

I’m taking a break from the theory stuff and getting back

to basics. In this post I will talk about a truly exciting

subject, guitar strings! It baffles me why so many guitar

players ignore their strings. They’ll happily shell out

thousands of $ for a great guitar and then play on a pathetic

set of crusty old strings until one pops. Strings are half your

sound! Strings are cheap! Take care of your strings; keep

them clean and change them regularly, every month or two.

Your guitar will play better, stay in tune better, and sound

better. First let’s talk about taking care of and cleaning your

strings.

I clean my strings after every session. I just use a piece of an

old cotton T-shirt and wipe them down, I also wrap the cloth

around the string and wipe the crud off from underneath. I

don’t purchase any of the specialty cloths or cleaning

products (you might if you have an expensive, collectors’

gem). When I change my strings I also clean my fretboard

by wiping it down with a little bit of linseed oil (be sure to

wipe it off thoroughly, so your neck doesn’t become a grease

fest). Not only does keeping your strings clean make them

sound better, they last longer too, saving you money!

Although there are many options when you buy strings, my

advice is to stick with a few basics at first.

BUY LOCAL: Local music stores will give you advice and

even put your strings on, for a few extra dollars. Watch and

learn! If there are no music stores in your area, it will have

to be on-line purchase and internet videos.

GET A DECENT BRAND: GHS, Ernie Ball, D’Addario, Fender,

DR, and Gibson among others, all make a good set of strings

for 7 to 10 dollars. Many larger stores/outlets have their own

label made by one of the big string makers, which they sell

for less. Buy those!

GET THE RIGHT TYPE: Buy extra light gauge*, round wound

strings for both acoustic and electric. Get bronze alloy for

acoustic and nickel-steel for electric. While you may eventually

settle on different strings, the above specs will get you a cheap,

good sounding, easy to play set of strings.

(Nylon strings are used only on classical guitars. The neck is

wider, and the strings are harder to keep in tune and put on.

I don’t recommend these guitars for beginners, unless you

only want to play classical.) To sum up:

Acoustic Strings: extra light gauge, bronze alloy, round

wound. (Ask for 10’s) 8-15$

Electric Strings: extra light gauge, nickel-steel alloy, round

wound. (Ask for 9’s) 6-10$

I will talk about picks and amps for beginners in the next

post.

*Extra light gauge refers to the thickness of your strings.

The thinner they are the easier to play, but too thin and

they’ll break easy and buzz. The gauge of a string is

specified by a number; which is the strings’ diameter in

fractions of an inch. (.010 means 10 thousandths of an

inch in diameter.) String sets are named after the diameter

of the first string, you don’t have to know all the string

diameters! For acoustic guitar; extra light strings are

called 10’s (first string is .010). For electrics; extra light

strings are called 9’s (first string is .009).