Archive for the 'guitar tips' Category

Minor Sixth Chords - Triads

Posted by tony hogan on Nov 28 2008 | Guitar Lessons, acoustic guitar, chord playing, guitar tips

Guitar Lesson Minor Sixth Chords

Minor Sixth Chords for Guitar

Here are some simple chords to learn for the guitar, they are Minor Sixth Chords.  They are all triads, three note chords  Minor Sixth Chords are made from the 1st, flat 3rd, 5th and and 6th notes of the major scale.  

Examplle a C Minor Sixth - C,  E Flat, G and A.  The general rule (not always) is drop the 5th and you’ll still get the basic sound of the chord. 
To download the printable version of Minor Sixth Chords -  Click on the link

Minor Sixth Chords for Guitar TAB and Guitar Notation 

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Minor Seventh Chords - Triads

Posted by tony hogan on Nov 24 2008 | Guitar Lessons, acoustic guitar, chord playing, guitar tips, jazz guitar

Minor Seventh Chords Triads
Here are some three note (triad) versions of minor seventh chords for guitar.  
You may find they are more suitable at times than using full chords.  
Many jazz players use these type of chords. 

To download a printable version in Adobe Acrobat click the link Minor Seventh Chords 

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Major Seventh Chord Triads for Guitar

Posted by tony hogan on Nov 19 2008 | Guitar Lessons, acoustic guitar, acoustic guitarists, chord playing, guitar tips, jazz guitar, learn guitar

Major Seventh Chord Triads for Guitar TAB and Notation 

In this article I have created a simple guitar Tab and music notation of Major Seventh Chords for guitar.  
Major Sevenths have a sweet sound about them,  many of the seventies tunes by acoustic bands were full of major seventh chords.  A clasic example from the sixties would be ‘Don’t let the sun catch you crying’.  Another would be Magnolia by JJ Cale.
I have done them as triads, threenote chords.  I like using triads, they have a lot of bounce in them and are very movable. 

To download the free guitar tab and notation click on the 
Major Seventh Chord Triads for Guitar TAB and Notation

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Seventh Chords for Guitar

Posted by tony hogan on Nov 12 2008 | Guitar Lessons, acoustic guitar, chord playing, guitar tips, learn guitar

Seventh Chords for Guitar  

 As you develop as a guitar player, you’ll find that you will play smoother, more automatically and another thing that will happen will be your ear will become more refined and you’ll seek out variations on the chords that you can already play. 

For about thirty years now I’ve played my seventh chords as Triads, Triads are three note chords.  We vdrop one note from the chord and play just what’s needed.  I’ve written a simple TAB and Music Notation for Guitar to show you some basic fingerings.  There are times when these triads will sound more suitable than your standard sevenths and at other times you may go for a bigger sounding chord.

Click the link to download the prinatble version of Seventh Chords for Guitar TAB and Notation

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Major Chord Triads - Improve Your Guitar Playing

Posted by tony hogan on Nov 07 2008 | Guitar Lessons, acoustic guitar, chord playing, guitar tips, learn guitar

Major Chord Triads 

Many guitar players just strum away with any old chord that has the correct name and don’t worry too much aboutthe subleties of the chord, whether there is a more suitable chord which might be more suitable.  The guitar Tab and notation that I have created is designed to introduce you to some simple triads (three note chords) .  

You’ll notice some of them have odd names, example A/C#.  All the chords I have included are simple majors but the reason they have odd names is because there is a different bass note.  In the case of the A /C# it means an A chord with a C sharp note in the bass.  I play a lot of triads instead of full chords, they are fantastic on  fingerstyle guitar tunes, they have a mobility about them and let’s face it, they don’t sound clumsy and they free up space for other instruments  to chime through.  Some times a big fat chord is best but other times it is best to use something that is more refined, this article is about those times.To download the guitar and tab notation click on the Major Chord Triads link

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Minor Chords for Guitar

Posted by tony hogan on Nov 04 2008 | Guitar Lessons, acoustic guitar, chord playing, guitar tips, learn guitar

Minor Chords for Guitar A lot of guitar players don’t think about chord voicings (the order of the notes in chords) and play very clumsy barre chords and other chords which have too many notes,  unneccessary notes that get in the way and clutter up the sound.  A minor chord only needs three notes, a 1st, a flat 3rd and a 5th.  It isn’t always necessary to play the root note as the lowest note on the chord.  An example would be, if a chord was called G minor, many players would be in a hurry to play the G as the lowest note.  The other notes of a G Minor are B flat and D.  When you are working with other instruments the Bass player or Keyboard player could play the G bass note, this would give you the opportunity and the space to be more inventive.  What I’ve done in this Acoustic or Electric Guitar TAB and Music Notation is to put together a dozen three note minor chords with fretboard fingerings that a lot of players don’t use.  I use these a lot with fingerstyle playing and these type of chords  create space for the other musicians and also they will open up new ways of playing songs by building chord sequences.You want to be a good guitar player?  Work on this stuff, when you rip it apart and play with what I’m showing you hear you could possibly see the potential of it.   Why play everything the same as other player? A lot of guitar players just see a chord symbol and strum out any old familiar chord that works.   That sort of playing has a use by date if you are interested in being a great player. To download the printable version click Minor Chords for Guitar PDF and Music Notation

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Beginning Guitar Tips - A Great Article

Posted by tony hogan on Oct 17 2008 | acoustic guitar, guitar tips, rock guitar

Beginning Guitar Tips is not only for Beginners, it’s worth  a read by players of all standards.

I was talking to a friend today about guitar lessons and during the conversation it occured to me that many guitar teachers, even those teaching professionally are leaving out pieces of puzzle. 
I thought I’d do a short article to help players who are just starting out. Often they will just teach students just how to play songs, and that’s great but there’s a lot of missing elements required to help the student develop outside the music teaching studio environment. I’ve listed a few things that I know are essential to laying a good foundation.
Learn how to to tune the guitar.  Being out of tune is a bad way to start, it will annoy you and it’s important to develop an an ear, if you can’t hear that you’re out of tune you’ll be in strife.  Get yourself a simple electronic tuner, this will save the problem.
Learn the notes on the fretboard.  This is something that even seasoned players often forget to do, some people have a great technique but they are often slowed down by not knowing the basics. Note identification on the fretboard will aid you in making sense of many of the great tutorials that are available.   
Learn to understand chords, not just where to put your fingers but listen to the sound of them once you can play them, chord families have a texture to them, example majors sound happy and solid, wheras minors are sad, seventh chords sound as if they are going somewhere, they imply movement.  Often, chords with complex sounding names are not that complex after all and are basic chords with a few extra notes to give them character, don’t be fooled by the names, underlying every chord is a basic sound.   Learn what notes make up a chord e.g. an Am9 (A minor 9th) consists of A C E G B notes. If you know your fretboard notes and the notes that make up chords, you’ll very quickly start to make sense of improvisation and how to work with other players.  
Work on some basic right and left hand exercises, be consistent, there is a need to have a good technique, not for the sake of looking good or being correct but more so for you not to be hindered by the physical limitations of not have the right muscles in the fingers developed. There’s a need to have good thought-to-finger response, by doing regular simple exercises it will alleventually become natural.  

Be organised, plan what you are going to work on. If you are too organised that can also be a but of a nuisance because everything can end up a bit mechanical.  Go for the middle ground, look at alloting time for woodshedding (workshopping) and times when you can explore the instrument.
Scales are useful but be careful, they will help you become a fluent player but don’t get caught in the trap of being a fast player that is more of a technician than musician, keep it musical always.

Keep an open mind, everyone you see can be your teacher, you can learn from other peoples mistakes as well as all the useful tips people can give you.
These are few of the things that are essential to start thinking about and researching if you are new to the guitar. 

It’s advisable to also check out my other Guitar Blog Site which includes many articles to help guitar players of all standards at acoustic guitarist

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How to Be a Good Guitar Player

Posted by tony hogan on Sep 11 2008 | Guitar Lessons, acoustic guitar, guitar tips

So you want to be a guitar player, a good one?

If you’re young and have reasonable intelligence, what I’m writing here will be of incredible use to you and in the long term will help you be not just a good guitar player but a great musician.  It’s a surprise to some people that a good guitar player doesn’t equal a good musician.

Guitar players annoy me more than anyone else.  As a guitar player who has played for thirty nine years I’m in a reasonable position to have an opinion that could easily be worth listening to.  I have played with hundreds of guitar players of every imaginable standard, this expereience has enabled me to come to very sensible conclusions about what works and what doesn’t, who is easy to work with and who is a waste of time being with, what is musical and what sounds like crap.

There is one very, very, very simple ingredient that will sort players out immediately and when this is understood you will be able to make a snap decision on whether a  musical venture is worth persuing.   What that thing is, is the ability to listen.  Here’s an example:

You arrive somewhere to work with a new band, you walk in, unpack and another player just starts playing and doesn’t even consider that there is another player in the room, even though they were the one that invited you in the first place. The player doesn’t look up, doesn’t communicate in any way, just keeps on going without even bothering to check whether they are too loud,  whether their part is so overpowering that it’s impossible for anyone else to fit in the room, let alone add something that is musically valuable.  This sort of scenario is what bothers me more than anything else (apart from playing out of time).   And to be honest, the above scenario is very common. 

Each new meeting with musicians is an opportunity to create something new,  there is no need to rehash what has already been done week after week, month after month.  If a musician does not take the time to understand the skills that each new player is bringing to a group, to listen to their approach and style, there is absolutely no chance of making what I call real music.   The ability to listen is what will help a musician to know when to play and when not to play. If you just play non stop and don’t create any space to breathe it will become very uncomfortable for the other players.

It’s very easy to become a very skilled guitar player, it’s a no-brainer really, learn the right stuff, practice for hours and you’ll have a technique to die for and show off to other players that aren’t as good and were a lot lazier than you.  But to become a great musician requires sensitivity, and by sensitivity I don’t mean learn to play softly or be timid;  I mean quite simple to have a decent set of ears and be able to calculate whether what you are doing is really too much for a song when there are other players of around.  For me, the more players there are, the more space and restraint is required, but that does not mean not to  let loose when required.  It just means to listen and allow different players or aspects of players come to the fore when necessarily.  It’s a bit like when you sit in a conversation with a group of people,  one person talks non stop, hogs the conversation, every one gets so tired of the one person talking and then at the end of the conversation the persion says “it was great talking with you”…. well the only one getting anything out of it is the person that likes the sound of their own voice,  everyone else doesn’t want to ever see that person again.

I remember years ago talking to one of the worlds great jazz guitarists and about another exceptional guitar player, he said “…he’s a great player but he plays everyhing he knows in the one song.”  That as a very true observation and after seeing the player play live and almost falling asleep, it was clear that the comment was very true. 

This article was prompted by an experience that I had recently, and no I won’t be going back.

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Guitar Tips for Beginners

Posted by tony hogan on Aug 21 2008 | guitar tips

Here is a list of 10 common sense Guitar Tips for Beginners:

  1. Keep your instrument clean, wipe the strings with a cloth
  2. Make sure you are always in tune - no excuse get yourself an electronic tuner
  3. Learn to tap your feet in time
  4. Learn to hum ONE note and then locate it on the guitar
  5. Learn the names of the notes on the fretboard
  6. Listen carefully to the TEXTURE of guitar chords; e.g. happy, sad, dissonant.  What feeling does it evoke?
  7. Don’t be fooled by the flashy stuff
  8. Find a nice private place to practice where you can comfortably make blunders
  9. Learn to play softly and get your sound right at a low volume
  10. If you alot a regular period of time to practice you’ll progress at an even pace

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