Thought exercise: learning music as conversation

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Fatfinger McGee

…I'm discovering, is that I can't sing in chords.

Hi Ff
I hear you. You could sing arpeggios, but that's not quite the same.

I 'think' chords in my head, and chord voicings, and inversions etc. I can think in different keys in my head…key of G versus Key of E or D etc.

In fact when I'm thinking about capoing to stager my chord voicings from the open key being played, I often think about which 'chord-voices' I want to use. Keys of C/Am, A/F#m, G/Em, E/C#m, D/Bm (Major and associated minor key) each have very unique sounding open-chord-voicings.

One of the exercises I used with students (when I taught) was having them listen to me with their eyes closed and tell me what chords I was playing. I'd play a progression in a key and it was surprising how readily they could identify chords in the first 5 frets right away. This ability really opens up the 'conversation' you were talking about.

They soon learned to recognize chords by the voicings, and they could then recognize the keys guitarists were playing on audio recordings.

Now with YouTube we can watch people and read their hands.

Hope this helps…

[Fatfinger McGee]

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

At 64, I am just a year and a half into my guitar experience....
I have started to do the same thing with guitar. I put on satellite radio, like the bluegrass station, and play along. This is how I will learn the fretboard from a musical perspective. Give it a try. It is funner than running scales (though I do that too). Enjoy the journey.
David

You too! Congrats on picking up guitar, I'm sure your previous training will speed up the journey a bunch. Have you tried electric? The longer sustain could be fun given your jazz background and natural horn player phrasing instincts. I'm sure you know this already, but Coltrane left a huge mark on electric guitar, from Montgomery to Hendrix to Frisell.

I do the same on playing along, though I use Youtube so I can control playback speed, bluegrass artists play way too fast for me.

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hope this helps…

Interesting food for thought, and something to aim for. I can tell you if it's major or minor, or a 7th, but it's all relative pitch. I can't tell you what the chord or key is, and for sure can't think in chords. I always assumed I'd need perfect pitch for that. Hmm...

[TBman]

Progressions and the pentatonic scale positions

I IV V

E A7 B7

https://www.freeguitarsource.com/Blu...ues_Scale.html

Record yourself with your phone. Strum a E chord four beats, A7 4 beats, E7 4 beats and repeat and experiment with leads played with the pentatonic positions.

[Fatfinger McGee]

Originally Posted by TBman

Progressions and the pentatonic scale positions

Record yourself with your phone. Strum a E chord four beats, A7 4 beats, E7 4 beats and repeat and experiment with leads played with the pentatonic positions.

Thanks. I am kinda trying to do that, in a way - I get bored pretty quick trying to play leads over blues loops (I get bored even quicker listening to other people play lead over blues loops), but I am spending a lot of time on Fretboard Confidential, David Hamburger is the best I've found so far at the approach and mindset I'm looking for.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Fatfinger McGee

…Interesting food for thought, and something to aim for. I can tell you if it's major or minor, or a 7th, but it's all relative pitch. I can't tell you what the chord or key is, and for sure can't think in chords. I always assumed I'd need perfect pitch for that. Hmm...

Hi Ff
Perfect pitch? Are you kidding?

Relative pitch is all you need. Kids who took my 6 week group class could recognize the sound of a D chord, a G chord, and an E chord with their eyes closed by the time we finished the class.

Recognizing the chord being played doesn't mean you can tell if the guitar is tuned perfectly to A=440. It means you can hear a chord progression and pick out the root chord. And once the root chord is identified, we can extrapolate the chords that are being used. And, of course, if it's video, it's even easier.

There are sometimes exceptions when writers/players substitute chords outside the norm, but just recognizing the Root chord/key goes a long way toward other growth opportunities.

If I'm dismantling a song to learn it, my guitar is right there with me.

Spend one night a week for 6 months playing at a Bluegrass Circle Jam for 2 hours, and you will know and anticipate every open chord coming up next in the keys of E, A, C, G, and D (and probably Em, & Am).

It probably wouldn't take more than a month actually.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Fatfinger McGee

Thanks. I am kinda trying to do that, in a way - I get bored pretty quick trying to play leads over blues loops (I get bored even quicker listening to other people play lead over blues loops), but I am spending a lot of time on Fretboard Confidential, David Hamburger is the best I've found so far at the approach and mindset I'm looking for.

Yes but playing over loops can move on to lead playing as a chord in the progression. Add some turnarounds and bass lines and it can be entertaining.

[Mr. Jelly]

Originally Posted by Fatfinger McGee

Thanks. I get bored pretty quick trying to play leads over blues loops (I get bored even quicker listening to other people play lead over blues loops)

The take away from this statement should point out it's the song and the staging of a lead that is of more importance than the actual lead. At least to my way of thinking.

[Fatfinger McGee]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

The take away from this statement should point out it's the song and the staging of a lead that is of more importance than the actual lead. At least to my way of thinking.

Agree 100%. This is where Fretboard Confidential works for me, it puts the leads and improvs over a standard blues progression, but connected to the groove and the song.

[mawmow]

It makes me remaind of a great French speaking artist up here that used to deliver a tale,
speaking, while the acaoustic bass player would play same notes.. ;-)