Chords and Scales

ok so i decided to start learning the chords and stuff.. so where should i start exactly step by step?
does that link help : http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Guitar/Print_Version

i would start with open chords, then 7th's 9ths, diminished, dom7ths, 7b5, 7#5,

you may be better off studying a key and learning as many chords associated to it as you can.

get a teacher

learn the notes on the fretboard, learn how to construct chords, and figure them out yourself.

I second that, basically learn triads. And then the notes on the fret board. It should be pretty easy from there. And at most take like... 5mins. :P

I agree with baudelaire, that is exactly how I learned

granted, I did learn the open chords first

everyone learns cowboy chords to start... some people never learn anything else, and force me to spit on them when they show me and my band mate their song that consists of Em, am and C, strummed open.

see, my band is really just me and my friend, both singing and guitaring. but we always have adverts out for rhythm guitarists to audition, and we always just rip on them, and tell them to sell their guitar when they come to audition. our plan is if we find a actual musician instead of a monkey with a guitar, we would tell him he could play keyboard for us.

we offered james hetfield, buckethead, kirk hammet, and robert fink a position, but none ever responded to our letter.

Hey Baud where do you live? I know of a lot of good guitarists that cant find a band.

get a teacher

dont have time

learn the notes on the fretboard, learn how to construct chords, and figure them out yourself.

i hv no idea how to do that


i think im just gonna take some lessons at youtube

This site could be an excellent teacher. Just learn the chords and scales at least.

a guy told me he'd teach me for free,but instead of C E B and stuff he'll teach me like Mi Fa Si ...

Haha, "Cowboy chords" xD... Well, I think when im done with those Em, Am, C... I start to palm mute A, D, E power chords...:D

hmm, Just curious...Does any of you have some "memory rules" or what method you do when memorizing notes in fretboard?

Cheers!

I learned it knowing that there is a sharp inbetween each note, except BC and EF. When you learn more, you will learn that it can sometimes be false. But... It is the easist way.

the Caged system will help you but in the end you still have to just memorize it. it also helps to look at the guitar in a different way like seeing it as six different instruments stacked on top of one another(helped me). after all music is mostly perspective for example A aeolian is c Ionian just starting at different points or melody is looking at music side to side where harmony is up and down

guitar is one instrument you can't treat a relative mode as the same, and harmony is 'side to side' as well as 'up and down'.

the guitar is one instrument you noticed and do you read dots or pretended too

i was merely stating a different way to look at things but sadly you mist it. i was reading through the posts and you sated you liked john Cale of all people i thought you of all would understand( unless he is as far as into contemporary as you go) remember learn from the rules bash your head against them but live by them and you will die.

and by no means did i mean this as negative but it seems to give that vibe when reading through and I'm to lazy to change it.

read dots? no, but i can read music.

it's not a different way of looking at things that has any positive effect.

john cale obeyed musical rules more then\ every rock musician out there, which is why he was better. you can't break rules you don't know without it sounding like shit most of the time; until you have a godlike knowledge of all theory, you have no excuse to be breaking the rules. you will make better, more original and creative music by studying and applying the rules then by breaking them until you know them well enough to break them. and there is only a handful of living people who know the rules well enough to break them.

i think youtube and this site will help ... but the cowboy stuff is a must?

if you EVER decide to right an acoustic song you'll be happy he learned them

Nightmare, although you think it's boring, don't let the nickname "Cowboy chords" scare ya off. They are the basics, the first step in creating other, more "fancy" chords. I wrote a lesson ( slightly formal) here,
http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/lesson.php?id=28

It shows you how to create the basic triads (Majors, minors, diminished...)

However, one of the most enticing ways to learn is to simply learn songs. Depending on your ability, you may be able to take away a lot just from playing songs. This is an art and you must follow your path or it'll never be your art.

Don't forget to enjoy this, if you're not really doing it for yourself why waste your time? You could be learning something else just as useful and enlightening. Good luck.

by cowboy chords, i didn't mean triads, i just meant open chords you see every country guitarist play... almost exclusively.

www.musictheory.net shows you how to read the notes on the fret board.

Chords derive from scales. Just so you know. So with each chord you learn, try understanding how they link with the scale. What notes are being used and what intervals.

chords mustbe strummed right?.. stupid question but i know nothing about chords... but what if u were fingerpicing?

Nope, doesn't have to be. That's where you get finger picking and "The Hybrid Technique"

You can pluck it note for note, play two notes and then pluck the rest. It's entirely up to you what you do with the chords.

Finger picking just implies using your fingers to define each note. You can play it in whatever order you want.

okay but wt if u were playing a tab and its chords written how whould u know which note should u play first in that chord, like for example an open E how would u know which string to strum first (i would know by hearing but just asking)

It wouldn't tell you. That's the trick with reading music. There's some room for the musician's creativity. Although sometimes you may find some extra writing about how to "strum." Just use your hands and noggin'.

Ah, well when it says the chord above what you're playing, it's basically telling you that's the best position to play it in. It doesn't mean you'll be playing all the notes in that chord.

Since you don't know all the positions yet, if you have the money, I'd really recommend getting some chords books.

Guitar Chords Book One Chord Every Page




Is my one, the only issue with it, is that it doesn't explain how they relate to the scale, it's up to you to find that out.

In the mean time, I found this site...

http://www.chordbook.com/guitarchords.php

Hopefully this will help. This will help you with the first positions, and then use this site to learn the rest of the positions for each chord. It'll help out a lot.

ya i dun think im gonna find that book ... that totally sux isnt there a way just to figure out the chords instead of learning them i got like more than 1000 words to memorize for my SAT exam so i dont think i can memorize all that chords.. the web u posted iv got the same thing on my phone except theres no sound

while yes you have to memorize all the formals (really ain't that hard if you view it in a certain way) you only have to memorizes a few positions the rest are just logical extensions. i wouldn't recommend buying a huge chord book for most chords don't sound to hot and the authors are paid on quantity not quality. the best book i have on just chord study to begin with is Ted Greene's "chord chemistry". now you don't need to know dots to get it (only a few chapters need it) but you need to learn your basic theory and melody he has one page on it in the beginning so unless you have a teacher your going to get lost.

By saturday? Woah, good luck man. Just memorise the important ones, you probably won't learn them all by saturday (don't stress yourself)

I'm getting sound on mine. You have your guitar with you though, right? So that should be fine, even if it isn't playing sound.

Yeah, the book RA just mentioned is pretty good. My friend has that one.

Best way to memorize the notes on a fretboard is to learn how to play the scale on each indiviudal string and say the name of the note as you play them. So if you were playig E major down the low E string, you will play E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, E. Then do E major down the A string: A, B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A.

Then work across the fret board, using the CAGED system.

Once you know all the ways to play the E major scale from the open fret to the 12th fret, you will be able to play every major scale and mode of this major scale there is just by shifting what you know here up and down the fret board.

can any 1 tel me wht r scales?????????????????

For a second there I though Baud came back.

why?

Seriously!? Here, this is straight from this site. It should withhold you from asking anymore stupid questions. Temporarily. lol. J/k.

http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_chords_glossary.php

And here, you can learn every scale EVA!!!

http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_scales.php