Hal Leonards Book 1

[Irishwabbit]

Hi, I have never taken formal lessons, considering it though, but am going through the Hal Leonards Book 1 and with the ability to download the exercises to my mp3 player I can hear immed just a line and pause it, I must be an auditory learner because note reading and such never took very well until now. Stupid question here. when you say this or that song is played in the key of D G whatever what exactly are you saying and how do you attain it, I have an electric guitar tuner and may know what it means in just diff terminology. Thanks, Im sure I will think up more questions. LOL! Irish

[Scotto]

I'm sure that one of the Music Theory guru's here will do a better job of explaining than I can but here's a simple explination. The Key a song is written in directly relates to what scale tones are used and what chords are used. It's not necessarily related to how you tune your guitar. If you have your guitar tuned to standard tuning (EADGBE) you can play in several keys. to play easily in some other keys you may need to us some other "non standard" tuning to make it easier to play.

As far as the Key goes, it's lettingyou now what notes are in the key. Also the corspondig chords. In C Major the notes are C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Standard Chords in C Major are: C major, D minor, E minor, F major, G major, A minor, and B diminished. The next Key would be the Key of G. the notes in G would be G-A-B-C-D-E-F#. The diference being the Fsharp. The standard chords in G major are: G major, A minor, B minor, C major, D major, E minor, F# diminished.

I hope I did an adequate job demonstrating that if you know the key you will know the chords in that key along with the scale notes in the key. Most chords in a song are taken from the chords available in the key that the song is written in. There are some exceptions but that's a general rule.

[Irishwabbit]

Ok thanks I will try to digest it, lol thanks, Anne

[Jeff M]

If you are learning from some source (internet, book, DVD, video) for all practicla purposes it doesn't matter at this stage what key the tune is in. You just need to put your fingers where they say they should go and pluck the string they say should be plucked. If trying to learn by ear it DOES matter quite a bit, and can get a bit confusing-
My suggestion is that you spend a few $$ and get a book/CD to get you started out right. If you want to learn fingerstyle I HIGHLY recommend the series by Mark Hanson, the first is called "The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking" , the second is "The Art of Solo Fingerstyle Playing" (I believe). The second book is basically the continuaton of hte first, both cost about $20. They are the best laid out books I have ever seen for getting you to actually learn how to play tunes very well. Very detailed as to what finger goes where for both the right and left hands, perfect pace from easy to hard exercises/songs, many great tunes you will continue to play long after you have "mastered" the guitar.
http://www.accentonmusic.com/book_detail.asp?qID=5

As for the theory side of things (what it means when a song is in the key of D vs C and, more importantly, what that means to the person trying to play the guitar) I suggest the "Skeptical Guitarist" series. Again, about $20 each, simply written, entertaining. Money well worth spent.
http://www.skepticalguitarist.com/

If you don't have somebody/something showing you the way you will find yourself getting VERY frustrated and wasting time.

BTW, unless stated otherwise on the music, all guitar music is played in "standard tuning", ie EADgbe (from the 6th string to the first). The tuner won't help you do anything other than get the guitar in tune. Playing a tune in the "Key of ----" does not mean you change the tuning of the guitar, it means that the notes/chords that are used to make up that song are all in the "Key of ----", and you got to find them on the guitar.