(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).

As I explained in my last post, “Blues Key Shapes 1”, the
easiest way to find out what chords are in a key is by
looking at the pattern they follow on the fretboard. To
do this, you must understand type 1 and 2 chords, degree
names, blues harmony, etc. Reading the previous 3 posts
will help and all of this is explained in greater detail
(and pictures!) in my book, “Take Control: for guitar”.
In the last post, “Blues Key Shapes 1”, I explained the
basic idea behind blues harmony and showed its “chord
shape” in the key of E blues. In this post I will compare
the chord shape of E blues with the chord shape of G
blues which would start 3 frets higher on the neck.

KEY OF E BLUES:E,G,A,B,C,D ( all major chords, although
E,A, and B can be minor as well).

fret#     degree     type1 chord     degree     type2 chord

0                  I                  E major                  IV                A major

1

2                                                                         V                B major

3               bIII               G major                 bVI             C major

4

5                IV                A major                  bVII            D major

As I said in the previous post, the root chord for this

blues shape chord pattern is always a type 1 chord.

Since we’re in E blues the type 1 chord is an open E,

all the rest of the chords follow the plus 3 fret/2 fret

spacing (with the addition of the V chord B, which is

type 2 and 2 frets higher than the root chord). In the

example below, I will move the blues key chord shape

up 3 frets, to G blues. This will give us a different set

of chords.

KEY OF G BLUES:G,Bb,C,D,Eb,F.(all major chords,

although G,C,and D can be minor as well).

fret#     degree     type1 chord     degree     type2 chord

0

1

2

3                 I                G major                IV                C major

4

5                                                                   V                D major

6             bIII               Bb major              bVI            Eb major

7

8               IV               C major                bVII              F major

Notice the degree numbers follow the same sequence

and are the same distance apart. The only thing that

changes are the new chords you have to make to match

the degree names 3 frets higher. You can move this

pattern to any fret on the fretboard (starting on the

type 1 chord) and find the chords in any key! As with

the major key pattern, memorizing the blues degree

pattern shape is much easier than learning the chords

in all 12 keys. One thing I didn’t mention in previous

posts (because it seemed obvious to me), is that you

aren’t limited to playing the chords only on the frets

in the pattern! The degree patterns are only used to

find out what chords to play, you can play any version

of a G or D (or whatever) chord you know!

My last 2 posts explained the concept of “key shapes”, an
alternate way to find the chords in any key by following
the shape and sequence the chords formed on the fret-
board. Those 2 posts referred to major keys, the next 2
posts will refer to blues keys. Blues harmony is the basis
of most modern music; jazz, rock, modern country, R&B,
etc. so even if you don’t like blues music you still need to
understand the harmony! As with the previous 2 posts on
key shapes, the theory behind blues harmony is advanced.
MY book “Take Control: for guitar”, explains this in more
detail, but the short answer is blues harmony equals a
major plus a minor key added together. This major/minor
combo gives it both a distinct sound and a distinct shape.
Blues keys jump 3 frets from the root, then 2 frets while
major keys jump in 2 plus 2 fret intervals. Below I list the
chords in the key of E blues followed by the physical
shape in a table. Just follow the fret number on the left,
notice any degree name to the right and play the chord
listed in the type 1 (6th string root), or type 2 (5th string
root) columns.

KEY OF E BLUES: E,G,A,B,C,D (all major chords, although
E,A, and B can be minor as well).

fret#     degree     type1 chord     degree     type2 chord

0                  I                  E major                * IV                  A major

1

2                                                                        V                    B major

3                 bIII              G major                 bVI                C major

4

5                *IV                 A major                 bVII               D major

(* I have repeated the same IV/A major chord in 2 different

locations to emphasize the 3/2 fret spacing)

Notice the root chord of the key, E major, is a type I chord

open. The root chord for this pattern will always be a type

I chord. The next chords go up 3 frets to G major and 2 more

frets to A major on fret 5. This plus 3fret/2 fret motion is

repeated in the type 2 column with C major and D major and

is what I use to identify blues keys. The only chord outside

this 3/2 fret pattern is the V chord (B), which is 2 frets above

the root chord. This illustrates an important point, the I,IV,

and V chords are in the same location for both major and

blues keys! (Check the previous 2 posts if needed.) This

means that if your song only contains I,IV, and V chords,

your key could be either major or blues! In the final post

I will discuss how to solve this problem, as well as show 2

different blues keys to further illustrate the key shape.

 

 

As I explained in my last post, “Key Shapes 1”, the easiest
way to find out what chords are in a key is visually, by
the pattern they follow on the fret board. To do this, you
must understand both type 1 and 2 bar chords and chord
degree names. Both of these were explained in the previous
post and more completely in my theory book “Take Control:
for guitar”. If the previous explanation doesn’t make
sense, either get the book or stop reading! In the
post I demonstrated the chords in the key of G major,
along with the corresponding degree names below them.
(It is almost impossible to get the tabs lined up 100% in
WordPress! You will have to compare the fret numbers
on the tab to your knowledge of the of the fretboard,ie. an
A min chord type I is on the 5th fret, even if the cheesy
tab is a little off). For this post I will compare the chords
in G major to the chords in A major. I will also try
using a table instead of tab. Just follow the fret number
on the left, notice any degree name to the right, and
play the chord listed in the type 1(6th string root), or
type 2(5th string root) column.

Key of G Major
fret#     degree     type 1 chord     degree      type 2 chord
0

1

2               vii*               F# dim.

3                  I                  G major                 I V                 C major

4

5                  ii                  A minor                  V                  D major

 

In the example below I will take the same degree

pattern and move it 2 frets higher, to the I chord on

fret 5. Notice the degree numbers follow the same

sequence and are the same distance apart. The only

thing that changes are the new chords you have to

make to match the degree names 2 frets higher.

Since the I chord is on the 5th fret we are now in..

The key of A Major

fret#     degree     type 1 chord     degree     type 2 chord

0

1

2

3

4               vii*               G# dim.

5                  I                  A major                  IV                  D major

6

7                  ii                  B minor                  V                  E major

8

9                 iii                  C# minor                 vi                  F# minor

You can move this degree pattern to any fret on the neck

(starting on the type 1 chord) and find the chords in any key!

Memorizing this degree pattern is much easier than learning

the chords in all 12 keys. In the next post I will use this idea

to find the chords in a blues key.

 

Memorizing the chords for all 12 keys is a hassle! There
are 7 chords in each key (84 total), and trying to keep
all of these straight seems impossible. You can get around
this by finding the chords in your key visually, by
position. As I explained in my book, “Take Control: for
guitar”, scales follow a physical pattern and chords are
built from scale notes, so it seems logical that the
chords in a key will follow a similar pattern. I will use
my cheesy tab to explain this, but first I need to explain
2 things.
1.- Type1 and Type 2 bar chords: I am using the 2 main
types of moveable bar chords most people are familiar
with. A type 1 chord is named from the 6th string root
and matches an open E and Em chord shape. A type 2
chord is named from the 5th string root and matches
the open A and Am chord shape. (If none of this makes
sense to you, stop! This post is not for you!)
2.- Chord degree names; Pros refer to chords by Roman
numbers, which tell the chords’ place in the key or its
degree. The first chord in the key is called the I chord,
the 4th chord in the key is called the IV chord, etc.
Since a key contains 7 chords, you have 7 Roman
numbers/degrees. Why do this? It makes it easy to
change keys! If a song uses the I,IV,V chords in the key
of F, you can play the same I,IV,V chords in the key of
G. Once you know the chord degree pattern, you can
start it on any fret to find the chords for any key. You
have to know (or look up) your type 1 and type 2
chords for this trick to work.
-Upper case Roman numbers (I,IV,V) mean major chords
-lower case Roman numbers (ii,iii,vi) mean minor chords
-lower case plus * (vii*), means diminished chord

Got all that? Below I’m showing the 7 chords in the key
of G with the matching degree names below that. The 7
chords in the key of G are; G major, A minor, B minor,
C major, D major, E minor, F# diminished. I am only
using strings 5 and 6 of the tab to match my type 1 and
type 2 chords.

Chords in the key of G

5—————-C——–D—–Em
6———-F#d G——Am—-Bm
fret# 01 2    3     4     5    6   7  8 etc.

Scale degrees in the key of G

5—————IV——-V—–vi—
6———–vii*-I——–ii——iii—
fret #01  2   3    4   5   6    7  8 etc.
Notice the root chord of the key, G major, is the
type 1 chord on the 3rd fret. The root chord for this
pattern will always be a type 1 chord and the rest
of the chords will be 2 and 4 frets above the root
chord, except the diminished which is always 1 fret
below the root chord. Got all that? Probably not
quite! in the next post, I will show the above key
of G and compare it to the key of A, so you can
see the Roman number pattern in action.