Develop this powerful ear training routine - so powerful that you can do it in only a few minutes each day to help you develop a better level of understanding for hearing the harmonies found within a keys scales and chords...

Daily Deal: Ibanez GRX70




This practice idea works around using the harmony for a key center along with listening for how we can start building a solid connection between the step-wise position of every chord found within the key signature.

WATCH THE VIDEO:



A guitarist needs to work on hearing how a melodic statement (based upon the chord of a key) relates over to other positions of the scales harmony. The exercise routine in this lesson starts by picking a key and establishing the harmony along the guitar strings.




ESTABLISH THE KEY:
The first exercise is going to operate around laying the groundwork for the key and the guitar string that we'll be working from. For our first exercise, we'll be working in the key of "C Major" and our guitar string will be the 5th string.

In getting started, we're going to perform all of the chords that are found within the key of "C Major" and we'll do this starting as, "Root, third, fifth," (three-note triads) built from the fifth string root... Follow along through the exercise below...

C MAJOR HARMONY: Root Position



Next, we're going to expand upon this study. We'll focus on the first inversion of each of those chords from the key of "C Major." This will place the chords 3rd tone in the bass and have us now working off of the 4th guitar string. Follow along through the chord inversions shown below...

C MAJOR HARMONY:1st Inversion



Now that we've established the key center and built all of the chords that harmonize into the key from their root and their third chord tones, we're now going to create a melodic statement that will flow across the key and match the harmony.



This process travels step-wise going through the key signature's chord positions using a Melodic Statement "Matched" to each degree of the harmony. Follow along through each melodic statement given below...





After learning the first statement, travel through the key performing the melodic line across every chord from the keys harmony.


The idea of this exercise is three-fold:

1). better understanding of chord harmony
2). develop a more detailed awareness of chord inversions along the neck
3). to use your ear (and your knowledge of intervals) combined with your awareness for the guitar fingerboard, to move a melodic passage across the neck while remaining diatonic to the key and to each chord along the neck.




CONCLUSION:
This study is a solid exercise! Just keep in mind that the exercise will become more complex as you increase the detail involved with your melodic statement ideas.

I hope this exercise will help you to better understand how the harmony of a key is tied to both the chords (from the key) and to a melody that can function diatonic to the key signature.

Once you establish your melodic statement, this style of exercise will force you to learn how to use your ear to pull the melodic statement from chord to chord within the key signature.

And, again if you find this difficult to do in the beginning, just stick to really simple melody lines. After you get better at hearing the relationship of each note moving diatonically in your melody, (and seeing how the intervals relate onto the neck), you can begin making your melodies more complex.

Thanks for joining me, If you'd like to "Figure Out What You Should Learn Next on Guitar," take a look at the courses over on my website at CreativeGuitarStudio.com.

My step-by-step; Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced courses will cover what you need to know, along with how to be able to move forward and become the best player that you can be.

I've worked on these courses since 1992 and I feel that all together they're the best guitar program you'll ever find. The courses will help you learn to identify what's required to get you up to the next level of guitar playing, in a very organized way, that makes sense.

So, I look forward to helping you further at CreativeGuitarStudio.com ...Until next time - take care and we'll catch up again on the next lesson. Bye for now!