2020-03-01 Total Guitar

HOW TO

24

TOTAL GUITAR FEBRUARY 2020

W

e getit – music

theorydivides

opinion.Some

guitaristsareinto

theoryandit helps

themdeveloptheirplaying.

Others,well,justcan’tbebothered

withit.That’sfairenough–

countlessrockiconscan’treada

noteofmusicortellyouaboutthe

insandoutsofharmony.Still,

we’darguethere’splentyofeasy

theorythat’llhelpeveryguitarist

improvetheirplaying...

Whichbringsusontothis

month’slessononmajorchords.

You’reboundtoknowplentyof

theseeasyshapes– they’rethe

firstthingsmostguitaristslearnto

play.Sohowdoesknowingthe

theoryhelpyou?

Well,let’sbreakit down.Once

youknowhowchordsarebuiltyou

canfigureoutnewshapes

anywhereonthefretboard.Andif

youcandothenyoucanalsoplay

arpeggiosacrossthefretboardtoo,

andinanykey.Finally,thereare

potentialimprovementstoyour

leadplayingtothinkabout–

arpeggiosareattheheartof

countlesssolosafterall.Followour

lessonandgettogripswithsome

theorybasics.

A - notes

E A C#

C-notes

X

E

C

C

A - intervals

X

G notes

X D

G G

B

THIS MONTH...

Improve your playing with some inside

knowledge on these essential chords

WHAT THE

THEORY

MADE

EASY

1

AY UP!

You know how to

play an open A chord,

right, but do you know

the notes? Well, from

the lowest string to the

highest they’re A, E, A,

C# and E. Three

different notes, then: A,

C# and E. It doesn’t

matter that there are

two ‘A’s and two ‘E’s –

that’s just the way the

guitar is. If you didn’t

fret those extra notes

you’d end up playing

open strings which

aren’t part of the chord.

3

LET’S C

ABOUT THAT!

Try the four-three idea

to work out the notes of

a C chord. Start on a

fifth-string C note then

go up four semitones.

Either stay on the fifth

string or cross to fourth

string – either way you

should arrive at an E

note. From there it’s

another three steps to

the next note – a G. Play

any C chord on the

guitar and you’ll find it’s

a mix of C, E and G

notes.

2

TIME FOR

THE

INTERVAL

Knowing the notes of

any chord is a good

start but it’s only really

useful if you can apply

the info to build more

chords – and that

means figuring out how

the gaps or ‘intervals’

between the notes

work. The gap between

A and C# is four

semitones; then C# to E

is a three-semitone

interval. This ‘four-three’

pattern is how you can

work out the notes for //

every// major chord.

4

G WHIZ!

To hammer our

point home, here we’re

doing the same thing

with a G chord. Start on

G then ascend four

semitones – you’ll arrive

at a B; three more steps

will take you to a D note.

Hey presto! G, B and D

are the notes of a G

chord. Check it against

any G chord – it’ll be a

mix of these three

notes. Most important

though is that you can

work out any major

chord this way.

Our short backing track is a

simple A-chord jam – so

either jam along on a simple

open A shape or try playing

the notes of the chord one

by one to hear how they

sound.

STAY

ON TRACK!

TRACKS 11-12

A E

E

A

C#

G E G B