Lesson 7 - Your First Songs

Ok, the moment of truth.  It’s been a really short time since you started (providing you practiced every day).  So here we go. 

Depending on your age, you might know “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” from Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton, Guns ‘N Roses, or Wyclef Jean.  The song is easy… if you count 1, 2, 3, 4 slightly faster than one number per second then you have about the right speed.  Counting “1, 2, 3, 4” puts you in 4/4 time.  That means a quarter note gets a beat and there are four beats per measure. 

What we are going to do is strum G Major when you say “1, 2,” then switch and strum D Major when you say “3, 4,” and then finally C Major when you count the next “1, 2, 3, 4”.  You repeat that over and over and there you go!  Bob Dylan’s version changes the C major to A minor every other cycle, but you can rock out to G’n’R’s version by sticking to the three chords.

Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” is 4 strums of each chord for C Major, G Major, D Major, G Major over and over.

There are hundreds if not thousands of songs that use a combination of these chords.  Some, like “What I Got” by Sublime only uses two! (G Major and D Major)

Here’s a small list to get you started, besides those listed above try these out:

Undone (the Sweater Song) – Weezer

Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash/Social Distortion

You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC

Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd

Leaving on a Jet Plane – John Denver

All Apologies – Nirvana

Can’t You See – Marshall Tucker Band

All Together Now – The Beatles

Bye Bye Love – The Everly Brothers

Great Balls of Fire – Jerry Lee Lewis

La Bamba – Richie Valens/Los Lobos

I Fought the Law – Bobby Fuller Band

Lay Down Sally – Eric Clapton

Lively Up Yourself – Bob Marley

Mellow Yellow – Donovan

Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon

Rock This Town – Stray Cats

Stir It Up – Bob Marley

Surfin’ USA – The Beach Boys

That should get you started.  If you want, continue on.  We will have a members section up here shortly to continue on with your lessons.  We will get into more chords, more chord theory, beginning out with some scales and learning how to solo and improvise.  We will also go through different types of music.  Even if there are some categories of music you aren’t particularly fond of, you will find that some of their techniques are really cool to use in different genres.  Listen, learn and experiment!

Lesson 6 - Forming Chords in a Major Key

When the difference between two notes of a chord are built with Whole Step + Whole Step we say the difference is Major.  When the distance is Whole Step + Half Step (or vice versa), we say the difference is Minor.  So more math, a major chord is built with Major 3^rd + Minor 3^rd.

If the chord is built on Minor 3^rd + Major 3^rd, it is a minor chord.  It is the 3^rd note of a scale that gives the note a major or minor quality. 

As a side zen note, major chords sound happier and minors sound sadder.

If you stack up three chord notes throughout the scale, you end up with something that looks like this:

You can run all the math if you like, but I’ll make this easy.  When we talk about the positions of the scale, we use roman numerals.  Capital letters are Major chords, lower case are minor chords, and chords with lower case and with a small “o” are diminished.  The chords built on a scale are said to be in that scale’s “KEY”.  So, here we are dealing with the Key of C.  The first chord is Major (I), the second is minor (ii), the third is minor (iii), the fourth is Major (IV), the fifth is Major (V), the sixth is minor (vi) and the seventh is minor diminished (vii o).  Diminished chords we will visit later.  They are far less common.

So in the key of C, the C, F and G chords are Major.  If we look at the key of G… G, C and D are major.  Remember those chords?  Those are the ones you have been learning!  So if we play those three chords in any combination, we will be playing in the key of G.

Lesson 5 - Making a Scale and Basic Chords

Ok, while you are practicing your chord changes, I want to fill your head with a little knowledge to help you so you can eventually start building your own chord progressions and making your own songs.

In your note practice, you see that you keep cycling from A to G#, then starting the alphabet over again.  Every A you play is the same note, some sound higher, some lower.  The distance from one letter to another is called an OCTAVE.  There are 12 different tones (A, A#, B, C, C#... etc.) in an octave.

Below are (in tablature and standard notation) examples for this lesson.

Ex. A is an octave from middle C to the C above middle C.  It includes the 12 tones and the C octave (for a total of 13 tones).  Each tone is a half step.  C to C# is a half step, C# to D is a half step, E to F is a half step also.  Remember there are no sharps between B and C, and E and F.

If you skip a half step (follow me with the pre-Algebra here) you get a whole step.  So C to D is a whole step, D to E is a whole step, E to F# is a whole step.

So here is where the magic begins.

To make a major scale (also called Ionian Mode), you have to use the following math:

Whole Step + Whole Step + Half Step + Whole Step + Whole Step + Whole Step + Half Step = major scale

In Ex A and B, each note is a half step, Each note and rest is a whole step.  So, the notes of the C major scale above are  C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and back to C.

Scales we will learn to play soon enough.  For now it is just important how the scales are created.  Because from these, we make chords.  The basic chord, and the ones we have been learning so far, are called “triads.”  They are based on three notes taken in “thirds”.  The first chord of a major scale is the first note, third note, and fifth note of the C Major scale (as seen in Ex C).

Lesson 4 - Changing Chords

Ok great!!! We now know three chords.  If you have been working hard, you can, with some effort, maybe be able to get your fingers on the fretboard and make the chords without hitting any dead notes, letting the notes sing out.  The more you practice these, the easier they will become to make without thinking.

Today we are going to start putting them together.  We are going to start by strumming the C Major chord four times, then quickly moving our fingers to form the G Major chord and strumming four times.  Going back and forth.  Then we are going to try doing the same thing from C Major to D Major and then finally from G Major to D Major.  It will look a little like this:

The key is to try to make the changes as quickly as possible.  Start slow and build faster and faster.  Right now, don’t worry about getting in time, worry about getting your fingers used to moving from one chord shape to the next. 

The only thing harder than first learning chords is learning how to shift from one to the other.  Watch the video lesson to see how I learned to do this.  But basically I hold one chord and visualize what the next chord looks like and see how I can move one finger at a time from the first to the second chord.  I promise, after a little time, you will not be thinking about this again.  It will just be something your fingers do instinctively.

This is more than enough to practice for now.  If and when you start to become frustrated, switch to the string by string note practice of the last lesson.  The next two lessons will be about theory of notes and chords and scales.  While you are learning about how we create chords and scales, keep practicing these chord changes.  As you get better, start working with the metronome.  Start with 4/4 at 60 bpm (beats per measure) and speed up as you can make the changes without missing a beat.