Learn Guitar Theory & Guidelines 903

Intro

Allow me to give you a short ride through essential guidelines & concepts that may enable you to make your guitar playing experience more fruitful and specially more fun!

Regardless of what music style your into, whether you're a beginning, intermediate or advanced player, or even if you have never touched the instrument, as long as you love the idea of playing guitar this general layout can clear the way for you to make guitar playing much easier while helping you avoid approaches that may not work in favor of a smooth learning process.

How long does it take to learn?

This may well be the question I've been asked the most by students: How long does it take to learn to play guitar?
To many people guitar playing may seem to be a very difficult thing to do. When looking at the big picture it's only logical to think about it that way; however, when you break it into pieces, and put your heart into practicing, eventually it will come easy and natural to you.

As you know, to learn something takes practice and direction, but it is the motivation inside you that will take you as far and as fast as you passionately desire. The more you practice the more & faster you'll learn to play. You may get direction from different sources, i.e. Academies, private lessons, related books & magazines, watching others play, asking guitar players, exchanging knowledge with other students and so forth.

Good teaching from an academy or private lessons may well speed up things for you and get you to where you're heading quicker than doing it on your own but in the end it is your will and peseverance that will get you there. Once you grab the guitar with true desire to play.. you're already learning.

The Proper Creative Balance

I do not consider myself to be very theoretical. In fact, I only rely on theory on a quite basic level. Practicing a lot while expressing yourself through the instrument will always be your best teacher, and learning guitar theory to a certain degree can be very rewarding and useful in widening your scope as you learn guitar playing.

You see, when it comes to creativity in guitar playing it's fair to think that the more attached to theory you are, the less original your work may become. On the other hand if you don't learn guitar theory at all because perhaps you're afraid theory might take away originality from your music or because you may be into creating totally unprecedented/experimental music unlike anything anyone has ever heard before, it is very likely that the road to becoming the guitar player you wish to be, will be a much longer and tougher one. So as for most things in life, balance is the keyword here.

I suggest you get to a balanced point between theory and your own way of doing things, where you're satisfied with results. Remember, in the end.. it is art, do as you wish. It's not that braking the "rules" (theoretical guidelines) to put some originality and personal taste into what you play will get you into trouble, but when you break'em, being aware of it may enlighten the course of defining your own style as you learn guitar.

Get set and go!

Many aspects and details are involved in guitar playing but you don't have to think about all of these things when you're actually playing the instrument. With time and practice it will all grow in your subconscious and come natural to you thus having enough confidence to be at ease and fully enjoy what you're playing.
Learn guitar theory and techniques on a basic level, put your heart into it, and your on your way!

Interval:
The range in terms of tone between two notes--one note marking the interval while the other note is considered the root. Since scales, chords, arpegios and melodies are made of intervals, learning these can be quite useful in finding the sounds you like in an easier and quicker way.
There are two types of intervals--Melodic Interval and Harmonic Interval.

Each tuned guitar string when played open should result in a specific note. 1st string = E, 2nd string = B, 3rd string = G, 4th string = D, 5th string = A, 6th string = E
# = sharp -- A note with a sharp next to it means the note is raised or augmented a half step.
b = flat -- A note with a flat next to it means the note is lowered or flated a half step.
When altering an individual note these symbols will appear before the note or it's symbol ex.: #G or #5 or bG or b5 whereas in chord notation, when altering the root of a chord, they will appear after the note. ex.: C# = C Sharp Major

Melodic Interval:
The result of two notes played one after the other. For example, let's say you play an F note on the guitar by pressing the 1st string on the first fret, and then you play an F# note by pressing the same string on the second fret. Considering this F note as the root (R) = root, the F# note represents the following interval:
Lowered 2nd -- While the name of this interval is: Lowered Second (or flat second) -- The symbol for this interval is: b2.
If you assigned the F# to be the root then the F note would be the following interval:
Major Seventh -- The symbol of a Major Seventh is: 7 Although in chord notation usually maj or + is placed next to the 7 to state that the major seventh interval is contained in the chord. Ex.: Cmaj7 = R, 3, 5, 7 = C, E, G, B

Harmonic Interval:
The result of two notes played simultaneously as in chords. For example by playing the C and E notes simultaneously we get a harmonic interval in this case called a major third interval, the C note being the root = R and the E note being the major third = 3

Scale:
A group of notes separated from each other usually by one or two semitones (b2nd (half step) or 2nd (whole step)).. I've chosen the chromatic scale to show you the intervals because it has all the notes that can be played on the guitar so you can learn all the intervals. The term "octave" is commonly used with two meanings; In this case one meaning will be: 'a note' with the same name as the root but in a higher range. And the other meaning will be: 'the group of notes' between the root and its higher octave; then the group of notes between such higher octave and its higher octave is called 'second octave'.

The Chromatic Scale
Consists of what we know as all the notes there are in music (however, it is known that there are oriental musical instruments containing non conventional scale subdivisions resulting in smaller intervals than a flat second (b2)). Nevertheless, these are the twelve notes of music: the notes of the chromatic scale. Each one represents a different interval depending on the amount of semitones between such note and its root. Let's view the first octave of the Chromatic Scale .:
(We'll call this one the C Chromatic Scale because it starts on the C note. In this first example (Ex.1) you'll see first the symbol then the corresponding name and note for each interval of this scale while in the second example (Ex. 2) you will only see the notes)

Ex.1:

R = root = C, b2 = flat second = C# or Db, 2 = second = D, #2 = raised second = D# --or-- b3 = flat third = Eb, 3 = major third = E, 4 = fourth = F, #4 = raised fourth = F# --or--b5 = flat fifth = Gb, 5 = fifth = G, #5 = raised fifth = G# --or-- b6 = flat sixth = Ab, 6 = sixth = A, b7 = flat seventh = Bb, 7 = major seventh = B, 8 = eighth = C

Ex. 2:

C, C# or Db, D, D# or Eb, E, F, F# or Gb, G, G# or Ab, A, A# or Bb, B

Enharmonic Equivalence
C# is a C raised a half step and Db is a D lowered a half step, so C# is equivalent to Db and vice versa, it is the same note with two different names. The same goes with the other raised and lowered notes in the scale. Now, how to know when to name a note, for example, D# or Eb? It will depend on the context of such note. If the note is in one of the following keys: G, D, A, E, or B the name involving the sharp will be the correct one; on the other hand if such note is in one of the following keys: F, Bb (A#), Eb (D#), Ab (G#), Db (C#), Gb (F#) then the name involving the flat will be the correct one. Why? Well, since homework is essential in the teaching / learning process, how about a little research!?.. the keyword is: 'Key Signature'

Using the same C chromatic scale, lets see the notes/intervals in the second octave. Again, in ex. 1 you'll see first the symbol then the corresponding name and note for each interval of this second octave, while in ex. 2 you will only see the notes.

Ex. 1:

b9 = flat ninth = Db or C#, 9 = ninth = D, raised ninth = #9 = D# or Eb, (the next note is called the same as in the first octave: 3 = third = E except when the scale or chord context includes a "minor third", then in such case the E from the second octave may be called b11 = flat eleventh = E, 11 = eleventh = F, #11 = raised eleventh = F# or Gb, (the next note is called the same as in the first octave: 5 = fifth = G, b13 = flat thirteenth = G# or Ab, 13 = thirteenth = A, (the next note is called the same as in the first octave: b7 = flat seventh = A# or Bb except when the scale or chord context includes a "major seventh", then in such case the A# from the second octave may be called: #13 = raised thirteenth = A# or Bb, (the next note is called the same as in the first octave: 7 = major seventh = B

Ex. 2:

C, C# or Db, D, D# or Eb, E, F, F# or Gb, G, G# or Ab, A, A# or Bb, B

What Are They?

When a note from the second octave is added to a chord containing only notes from the first octave, this chord then turns into an extended chord.

The intervals from the second octave when added to basic chords which contain only intervals from the first octave, result in cool sounding chords commonly used in many genres of popular music.

Here you have a basic chord and the notes contained in it:

C maj7 = C, E, G, B

If you've just been using basic chords in your guitar playing, try adding one note from the second octave to one you know well. For instance, take C maj7 and figure out the scale from which the notes of this chord derive, and add the ninth: (D) and you've got a whole new chord with a unique sound!

The 3 steps

a) Establish the scale notes

C Major Scale notes:
C, D, E, F, G, A, B

b) Determine the notes of your basic chord

C maj7 chord notes:
C, E, G, B = C maj7

c) Add the second octave note

C, E, G, B, D = C maj9

If you want to do the same thing with another chord, figure out the notes of the scale from which chord is derived and then add the note from the second octave of such scale.

Ex.

In the case of Em7 the notes would be taken from the E minor scale:

E Minor Scale notes
E, F#, G, A, B, C, D, E

E m7 chord notes
E, G, B, D = E m7

E, G, B, D, A = E 13

Later on we'll see more examples as we take a look at the process of building chords progressions.

Enjoy!

The first step is to have a guitar (I recommend an acoustic guitar if you're starting from scratch). 2nd: Contact me by e-mail (click and go to my lensmaster page; once you're there, click on the 'contact' button and boom!.. you've got it, you can then type or paste that message. Also, you can send me a DM if you fallow me on twitter; if not, you can send me a private message on facebook. At some point we'll have a conversation over the phone and talk about your interests in regards to guitar playing, your current level and my teaching method, rate, etc And 3rd: We'll set a schedule, and begin sessions (minimum recommended: one hour a week)

Learning guitar with a friendly, experienced, and patient guitar teacher coming over. How easier can it be?!

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Happy 2012!