Ornamentation in G

Sorry about the long wait guys! I've been busy practicing myself, and just couldn't get around to it. It's here now though! Before we get started, I wanted to point out that Musician's Friend (an online retailer) is having a HUGE sale, so you should really order some strings or a capo or something. Just saying. Plus, please forgive the recordings. I forgot my EQ and to throw them through a noise gate. Anywho, on to the post:

So, going off the post where we played that riff in G, We'll be adding some simple ornamentation to this riff, which will go something like this: When playing a G chord, lift off and then put back down the finger that is fretting the second fret of the fifth (A) string. On a C, lift and replace the finger that is fretting the first fret of the second (B) string. When playing a D, add and then remove your pinky finger to the third fret of the first string.
It will sound something like this (when played G C D C):
Now, onto the strum pattern. It'll be played in 3/4 time, which is three beats per measure. We'll play one whole note followed by four half-notes, if you were wondering. This time, we'll play it C G D This is what it would sound like:
Now, for a while I'll continue adding descriptions to the strum patterns, but I find it best to pick up patterns by listening to them being played, and finding the easiest way for me to play them myself. In this way, you'll be able to play some of your favourite songs whenever you'd like, as long as you're given the chords. Much better than having to use sheet music or tablature all the time.

Well, that's all for this post. Have fun, and stick around! Next time we'll look at some more ornamentation for these notes, as well as learning some new chords and tricks. See you then!

Chord/Key Theory

Hello again. I know your time is valuable, so let's get right to it. Last time we learned some basic chords in the key of G, and we played a simple progression. But what really is a progression? Look at the basic chords in the key of G:

I ii iii IV V vi Vii
G Am Bm C D Em D7

Now, what're you looking at? We've got 7 basic chords in the key of G, with roman numerals. That's obvious. Those numerals are there to help you in your chord progressions. The lowercase letters are for minor chords, the uppercase for major chords. As a reference, this works for writing chord names as well. G major can be written as just G, and G minor can be written either Gm or g. It's really a style choice, but for reference most people use the Gm instead of g. This works for all other chord names as well. An important thing to note is that the V and the Vii are variations of each other, and the Vii is usually a -7 or a -dim chord. One more is when certain keys have a sharp in them, like E having a sharp vi chord. But we'll worry about those later.

Another important thing to note is that memorizing song keys isn't as hard as you'd think. The roman numeral map applies to all keys that you'd like to know, so the key of C would contain the chords:
C Dm Em F G Am G7. Cool, eh?

Now, on to common chord progressions. You'll see that one of them is I IV V IV, or (when in the key of G) G C D C. here are some more, but not all:
I V
I vi ii V
I IV
I IV V
I vi V

One last thing before I end this post prematurely (on account of it being so theory heavy), this system really helps you remember how to form chords as well. Just like on the piano, a major chord is formed using the I iii and V tones from the key for the chord you wish to play. A G, for example, would contain a G, B, and a D in it. A minor chord has a flat iii, just like on the piano. This helps when you want to play a lead containing only chord notes, or just when trying to form your own chords.

That's it for today guys. Try not to get overwhelmed by this theory stuff, and next post we will get to adding on to that G riff and a nice strum pattern. Have fun!

Playing in G

Ok guys! Here's your first lesson. Now, we'll get into chord theory and keys later, but right now I don't wanna bog you down. We're gonna start nice and easy, playing a standard riff in the key of G. I'll explain what that means soon, but for right now just learn these chords:


G major



C major



D major

Now when you play these chords, you want to push firmly on the strings, using enough force to have the note play nicely, not buzz. Try and use your fingers only to generate the power to push, but if you need to (such as when playing barre chords, which we'll get to later) use your wrist to help with leverage. Try not to though. Now, once you can play these chords, we need to practice playing them in a "chord progression". To put it simply, a chord progression is a series of chords that you play. For today, we'll play G C D C, a very common progression. We'll play at around 120 beats per minute, or bpm. To achieve this, tap your foot twice for every second that passes. To make this easy to understand, tap your foot on every bold section in the count One Mississippi. That, or you can use a metronome. I hope to have one on the page as a sidebar widget shortly. Now, with your foot tapping (or the metronome clicking), count the taps. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. On every one, play a chord. It would go like this: G 2 3 4, C 2 3 4, D 2 3 4, C 2 3 4. If you need to, slow down the tempo until you can play it, then keep pushing yourself faster and faster until you reach the target speed. This is key to playing later on, so make use of this learning technique now. When you have this mastered, try playing on the one and three of every count. Try playing on all four.

In our next lesson, we'll learn a basic strumming pattern, look closer at what a chord progression is, and build upon this basic progression in G. See you soon!