The Hockey Stick Guitar Chord Method

Are you interested in a fun and easy method for learning chord movement and interval concepts related to harmony and the guitar neck? Then look no further. This episode of the Guitar Blog Insider runs through an easy to understand method for doing chord movement analysis inside of a key. And, with this method, you can quickly (and easily), compose popular chord progressions in Major, Minor or Blues...

If you’ve been following my guitar lessons on YouTube for a while there’s no doubt that you’ve probably come across my guitar lesson on the “Frying Pan Shape” (to help with using Minor pentatonic scale on the neck).

I also did a Major Pentatonic scale follow-up video (related to that Frying Pan shape), called the, “Tooth-Brush Shape.”



Now, I have another one of these fun shape based lessons, called the “Hockey-Stick” shape. This time I’ll be teaching a way to understand chord movement and interval application using nothing more than the "shape" of a Hockey Stick.

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The Hockey Stick shape is another concept just like those other shape-based lessons. These concepts are fun to use and easy to recall because they're all based upon shapes - and so is the layout of the guitar fret-board.

Working with shape based ideas will help practicing guitar players gain a better understanding for the fingerboard in a fun and 'easy to remember' way.

In this lesson, I’m going to run down the latest in this 'shape based' approach... the hockey-stick concept. 

I'll discuss how it works, and I’ll help you gain a better understanding for how you can use it as a way to recognize intervals and understand chord movement. 

This information will be a huge benefit for not only your jamming but also for your songwriting too.



VISUALIZING THE HOCKEY STICK SHAPE ON GUITAR:
The first thing to understand is that this Hockey Stick shape is meant to help to us better understand intervals. So, the first layout I’m going to show you will apply the Hockey Stick “Shape” off of a; Root along with a key’s 4th and 5th scale degrees.

This means that if you’re (let’s say) on the 6th string “A” tone (at the 5th fret), the 4th scale degree is the “D” (at the 5th string’s 5th fret). The 5th scale degree is the “E” at the 5th string’s 7th fret and when you trace them out you get our first “Hockey Stick” shape.

LAYOUT #1).





EASY TO APPLY - RIGHT AWAY:
“Layout #1” of the Hockey Stick break down will help you better understand one of the most common chord movements in existence. 

This chord movement is called the, “I-IV-V.” When we apply it across the strings using this “Hockey Stick” shape method we can create chord progressions that may function within pretty much any style, within any tonality, and for any key signature.

The process of using this method across tonality is very simple. In the examples below we will apply "Layout #1," to function within various tonalities...



MAJOR KEY: Creating Major I-IV-V Progressions
If you want a major key progression – start from the tip of the “Blade” of the hockey stick and (play a major chord). Then move vertically up to the bend (known as the “Heel” in the stick), onto the next guitar string and play another major chord. Then, travel horizontally along the shaft of the hockey stick to the handle, and play one final major chord. That’s all there is to it.

The best part is, you can do this anywhere and everywhere on the guitar fingerboard to play songs. Lets run through a few keys on the neck to demonstrate this.





MINOR KEY: How to Create Minor I-IV-V Progressions: 
The next idea that I have for you with this “Hockey Stick Shape Method” takes the principle of everything that we just did, (used in the exact same way), but this time we’ll change the quality of each chord type from Major, over to Minor.

What this does is quickly establish a Minor Chord Progression. It works so easily, because in Minor keys, the exact same areas of the Hockey Stick are all Minor. So, all we need to do is simply take that exact same principle of our “Hockey Stick” Shape, and apply it to Minor chords. Except now, play Minor Chords upon each degree to create a Minor key chord progression… Here are a few examples…





BLUES: How to Create Blues I-IV-V Progressions
The other tonality that can easily be applied to this “Hockey Stick Shape” application has to do with creating Blues based harmony.

We’ve already noticed how the Major chords and the Minor chords can be placed upon each step of the “I-IV-V” to create Major or Minor tonality progressions, but the Blues tonality can also be created by using Dominant 7th chords to establish Blues based harmony.

So, once more, let’s take that exact same principle of our “Hockey Stick” Shape, and apply Dominant 7th chords upon each degree to our layout #1, and create a chord progression in the Blues Harmony. Here are a few examples…







The “Hockey Stick” - Reversed I-IV-V:
If we simply spin the Hockey Stick around, we’ll be able perceive our “I-IV-V” chord progression from an upper string down to a lower string. This places the keys fourth and fifth chord degrees down off of our lower bass strings.

With the hockey stick getting flipped around, this also means that things get flipped around with our Root chord as well because it is now situated on the string above, with those IV and V chords now located below - from off of the lower guitar strings.

Layout #2). 




Study the key of "D Major"  "II-V-I" progression shown below. It applies the principle of the reverse layout that was presented in, "Layout #2."






“Hockey Stick” Application for Jazz and Soul:
Our final application of the “Hockey Stick” Guitar Harmony Method takes us away from the “I-IV-V” chord progression we’ve been studying, and introduces another popular harmonic movement known as the, “II-V-I.”

The "II-V-I" Progression:
This harmonic movement is probably most commonly seen in Jazz, but it does find its way into many other styles as well.

To use the “Hockey Stick” method for any “II-V-I” chord progression, think of the Hockey Stick shape on the guitar neck in the same way we had just applied it in "layout #2."

In "Layout #3," (the II-V-I process), our key’s, “Root” chord will be established from off of the Hockey Sticks “Handle.” And, the key signatures II-Chord will be performed at the Hockey Sticks “Heel.” With finally, our keys “V-chord” played from the Hockey Sticks Blade over on the adjacent guitar string. See the example given below...

Layout #3).



When performing the "II-V-I" progression, start on the lower string, by playing off of the Hockey Stick's heel (location of the II-chord). Then, play the next chord (the V-chord), up across vertically to the sticks blade. Then, play back onto the lower guitar string again - into the Hockey Stick's handle for the I-chord resolution. Below are example progressions in Major and Minor that move the "I-IV-V" progression through its cycle within a key.

MAJOR "II-V-I" PROGRESSION:


MINOR "II-V-I" PROGRESSION:





VISIT THE WEB-SITE:
Well, I'd like to end the discussion by saying, thanks for joining me... If you want to learn more about what I do as an online guitar teacher, then head over to my website at creativeguitarstudio.com and sign up your FREE lifetime membership.

When you want more, you can always upgrade to either a Basic, or a Premium lesson package and start studying the guitar courses I've organized for the members of my website.

Also, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on all of this in the comment section... if you enjoyed this video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more  on YouTube.

Thanks again and we'll catch up next week, for another episode of the, "Guitar Blog Insider."

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