Today (after the anatomy quiz) I introduce the circle of 4ths and we spell all of the major scales out on the board. Quiz soon.
Within the scale or key, the 1st, 3rd, and 5th scale degrees sounding together make a chord. It's important to realize what notes and what scale degrees are in the chords we play so that we can make alterations to the basic chord shapes later. You can't exactly "lower the third" of a chord that you know if you don't know where the third is.
Switching from chord to chord creates a chord progression- the basis of a song. These chord progressions are notated using roman numerals for example, the I, IV, V progression is very common in popular music.
We spell out a I, IV, V progression in various keys. in the key of A, the I, IV, V will be I=A, IV=D, V=B.
After all of this brain-melting theory, I demonstrate how to use an electronic tuner, and how to tune by ear. Most students get the gist of the electronic tuner right away, and I encourage their use. Tuning by ear takes some practice. Listen to this audio file for my lecture on tuning.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Unit 1:Anatomy
In our first class we name the parts of the guitar- body, neck, head, tuning pegs, nut, bridge, etc. There will be an anatomy quiz on day 2. You have to name the parts correctly if your going to play the instrument.
After we can name the parts, we look at posture, and the correct way to hold the instrument. We give our left hand fingers numbers (index=1, Middle=2, Ring=3, Pinky=4), and learn how to hold a pick. You'll have to name your finger numbers for the quiz too.
Next, we name the open strings (EADGBE) and come up with a neumonic device to remember them by (Eddy Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddy) This will also be on the quiz.
Once we know the names of the open strings, we can name all of the notes on each string.
Each string can be though of as it's own chromatic scale, so we write the chromatic scale out and apply it to each string. The description includes the function of the sharp and the flat, and our first two intervals- the half step (one fret. Notes that are next to each other on the fingerboard are a half-step apart.) and the whole step (two frets. Play a note, skip a fret, and play the next note. That's a whole step).
The dots on the fretboard are a whole step apart (my guitar has a dot on the first fret, but I've seen many that don't) until the 9th fret.
It's a bit much to memorize all of this at once, so I break it down to the Low E string and the A string, and relate the notes on each of those strings to the dots that appear on the neck. Students are responsible for naming the notes on the E and A strings up to the 7th fret.
Good luck!
Mr. Rabuse
After we can name the parts, we look at posture, and the correct way to hold the instrument. We give our left hand fingers numbers (index=1, Middle=2, Ring=3, Pinky=4), and learn how to hold a pick. You'll have to name your finger numbers for the quiz too.
Next, we name the open strings (EADGBE) and come up with a neumonic device to remember them by (Eddy Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddy) This will also be on the quiz.
Once we know the names of the open strings, we can name all of the notes on each string.
Each string can be though of as it's own chromatic scale, so we write the chromatic scale out and apply it to each string. The description includes the function of the sharp and the flat, and our first two intervals- the half step (one fret. Notes that are next to each other on the fingerboard are a half-step apart.) and the whole step (two frets. Play a note, skip a fret, and play the next note. That's a whole step).
The dots on the fretboard are a whole step apart (my guitar has a dot on the first fret, but I've seen many that don't) until the 9th fret.
It's a bit much to memorize all of this at once, so I break it down to the Low E string and the A string, and relate the notes on each of those strings to the dots that appear on the neck. Students are responsible for naming the notes on the E and A strings up to the 7th fret.
Good luck!
Mr. Rabuse
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