Have you ever wondered why some guitars have acoustic, “F-Holes.” Do they actually serve any purpose? Are they only ornaments? Well, there's a study published by a group of acoustic scientists from MIT that set out to understand the business of the "F-Hole." In this post, we'll dive into that study and learn more...



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The Design History of the “F-Hole” 
The acoustic "F-Hole" design is certainly is a nod back to the Violin and to the Renaissance period. In Europe, the Renaissance period was a time based upon the rediscovery of; literature, engineering, and modern history.


Instrument “F-holes” date from the Renaissance period and while many people will say that their design is purely aesthetic, the “F-Hole” is actually much more than just ornamental. The placement and length of the "F-Hole," design (whether it was arrived at by accident or by conscious intent), has had a remarkable staying power for very good reason.



MIT Studies the F-Hole for Acoustics:
Back in 2015 a group of acoustic scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), announced a break-through study of sound hole acoustics that was later published by the Royal Society of Science  ...[If you don’t know about this organization, The Royal Society is the oldest scientific academy in existence with a Fellowship of many of the world's most eminent scientists].

The MIT researchers discovered that the acoustic F-hole design served as the perfect means of delivering the most powerful acoustic sound. They went to work and tested this and they noticed that the “F-hole” design had "twice the sonic power," of circular holes when it came to delivering sound from a hollow wooden RESONANCE chamber.



And, it was able to produce double the acoustics at amplifying the sound of instrument strings strung across the acoustic sound-board.



How the "F-Hole" Evolved:
The evolution of the “F Hole” was slow and most historians will agree that the design started with the Amati family of violin makers back in the 16th century.

 
Then, over the years, the evolution of the “F-Hole” design for instruments continued to evolve until we arrived at the design we find in use today.

The MIT scientists wrote something interesting in their report. They said that, just like in biology, they found that for instrument design: the “F-holes,” actually arose from "craftsmanship error.”


Makers inevitably created imperfect copies of other instruments. But, once violin makers like the famed Stradivari arrived at the “F-hole,” they found that they had a superior shape, and they definitely knew that it was also a better instrument with that design.



Now, whether or not those master craftsmen back 300 plus years ago truly understood the mathematical principles of the “F-hole, (like the acoustic engineers at MIT) well, no one can truly say that for certain.



The F-Hole Principle for Acoustic Projection:
Before we wrap up, I wanted to share one more thing that the acoustic engineer’s team at MIT found, and that was something they called the relationship between "the linear proportionality of conductance" and "sound-hole perimeter length."



I know that comes off as seeming like a lot of engineer technical talk, but what it means is actually quite simple. The more elongated the “F” sound hole design, the more sound can escape from the instrument. The researchers discovered that the more power-efficient elongated sound holes were applied by instrument builders between the 16th and the 18th centuries.


All further attempts made throughout the 19th century - to work toward creating an improved geometrical change to the “F-holes' design” - actually served to make things worse. And so, we still have that same 18th century, “F-Hole” design still in use to this very day!



VISIT THE WEB-SITE:
Thanks for joining me, If you'd like to Find Out What You Should Learn on Guitar - take a look at the courses over on my website at CreativeGuitarStudio.com.

My step-by-step; Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced guitar 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 video. Bye for now!

May 27, 2018:
GUITAR TECHNIQUE 005:
Mastering the Melodic Phrase
 
 NEW  This unique Creative Guitar Studio course  explores exercises for increasing dexterity and coordination between the hands. The goal of the course is to increase awareness, mobility and control.


Lesson five of Guitar Technique is focused on exposure to unique sound and the affect that can have on technical ability. The lesson is designed to help players recognize the different ways that a melodic phrase can interact with chord changes. Examples include the study of situations applied over; Natural Minor, Modal Interchange, Secondary Dominant and playing within the Shuffle feel.
 
Paying members of the Creative Guitar website can watch both video lessons and download the PDF handouts, and the MP3 play along tracks...

Join the member's area to download the PDF handout and start study of these exercises. Study all of the examples with full access to both video lessons...

Watch the Part One Video FREE on YouTube:

Are you sitting the same way consistently with your guitar posture? If not, you're probably having difficulty mastering even the most basic of guitar techniques.  Sitting in the same way is critical to mastering techniques on guitar... 

A lot of teachers will stress the importance of having a comfortable guitar sitting position, however very few teachers will stress how important it is to always sit in the same position with the same posture... 




Your body and your mind need to memorize how it "feels" to fret notes properly, strike each guitar string perfectly and learn where the tip of the pick is at (to be able to expertly track notes).

If - when practicing guitar - you are always moving around into an ever changing array of seating positions, (sitting in different ways, in different places, with a different hand and body position), your mind will never get the chance to properly form a concrete memory (and then later recall), the details of developing your technique.

However, by using a consistent daily sitting position will do wonders for your overall skill development. Finding a good and a comfortable guitar practice posture and then sitting the same way (each and every day that you sit down to study), will provide your mind (and your body), with the perfect mental recall ability to shave days (even weeks) off of the development of your technical skill.



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POOR and INCONSISTENT SITTING POSITION:
When it comes to poor skill development, one of the biggest problems that most guitar players have is sitting in too many different ways when they practice. If you have poor posture and especially if you have very inconsistent posture, (day after day sitting in different ways), your mind will not be able to recall what worked from one day to the next.

This can set back your skill development because each new sitting position requires the mind to start making new judgement calls about where the best alignment of the hand, the fingers, the tip of the pick, and the arm need to be in order to produce the best connection to the strings.

If you do not have a good, comfortable consistent posture day after day, your mind and body will take much longer to learn how everything must "be" with respect to perfect alignment. However, sitting in the exact same way, (a good and comfortable well balanced way), will help the brain recall perfect alignment and speed you toward perfect playing skills a whole lot quicker.




MUSCLE MEMORY:
Good playing technique is burned into the brain (and the hands) through repetition that forms accurate muscle memory. This means that, in order to develop this skill there needs to be a proper amount of time dedicated to forming the mental recall required for every successful action.

Accuracy is key, and accuracy is best formed by consistent accurate repetition. Once the mind can learn how to expertly travel through the most effective playing motions (playing motions that are producing the best results), the mind can then later easily recall those movements. Thus, producing high-level technique skills on guitar.



SITTING POSITION:
One of the best sitting positions for guitar players to practice in is the "Classical Guitar Sitting Position." I cover this and other sitting positions in my popular YouTube video, "Correct Guitar Posture." Watch that video below to start getting a better idea about what you can do to achieve the best possible sitting position on a daily basis.

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CONCLUSION:
In order to get the most out of your daily practice routine, be sure to sit in the same way using a balanced comfortable seating position, (Classical sitting posture is excellent).

Find a good comfortable chair of the right height (no arms), and sit exactly the same way to help train your hands and your mind how each movement should function and flow. I use a basic adjustable drafting stool when I practice and it works excellent.

The more practice time that your mind has, done within a consistent sitting posture, the faster you will be able to form a deep mental connection for precisely where the tip of the guitar pick is, (or for where each finger-tip is if you play without a pick).

This also translates over to the fretting hand as well. With a consistent daily posture /seating position your fretting hand learn exactly how to form chords, and flow through notes of the scales and arpeggios. This creates solid connections to the neck and an excellent feeling for how notes are being found by each finger tip of the fret-hand.



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 aPremium 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."

Do you want to improve your melody lines and make them better so they have more connection to the underlying chords? In this lesson I’ll explain the use and the theory behind Natural Tension Tones. A simple concept that you can use right away to enhance chords within a  progression. 



You can use Natural Tension Tones as a way to compose, to improvise or as an approach to create more interesting lead guitar parts... 



If you’re unsure of what “Natural Tension Tones” are, they take into regard the; 9th, 11th and 13th tones that exist as compound intervals in the second octave range of a scale. It might sound a little complicated, but after I explain it in this lesson, you’ll totally understand it.

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Let’s get things started by clarifying these intervals and then we’ll move onto applying them. Once we’re done, you should have enough ideas from the lesson that you could go onward from here and place these Natural Tension tones into your own music.

WHERE DO THESE TONES COME FROM?
Let’s begin by breaking down a full two octave scale and help you better understand exactly where the Natural Tension Tones are located. Here’s a two octave “F Major” scale…


As you can see, the Natural Tension Tones (9, 11, 13), are up in the scales second octave range and are located at the; 9th, 11th and 13th degrees. In the key of “F Major” they work out to be, the tones of; “G, Bb and D,” (up into that scales second octave).



CHORD /ARPEGGIO APPLICATION:
One really interesting way to apply Natural Tension tones is through the use of added extensions onto arpeggios that exist related to the root of the chord. And, the best part is that these extensions produce sound that always functions within the key.

Let’s study how all this works by taking an, “F Major 7,” arpeggio and then we’ll add on those Natural Tension tones around the arpeggio tones.

First, here’s our basic, “F Major 7” arpeggio…

Ex. 1). F Major 7 arpeggio (basic chord tones of 1, 3, 5, 7)



Ex. 2). F Major 7 (with the 9th [G] added)



Ex. 3). F Major 7 (with the 11th [Bb] added)



Ex. 4). F Major 7 (with the 13th [D] added)





DEVELOPING A CHORD PROGRESSION:
Now, that we’ve created arpeggios that apply the Natural Tension Tones, (and you understand that we can add on either a 9th, 11th or 13th to fulfill the idea of those Natural Tension Tones), the next step I’d like to work on with you will be using these ideas in a melodic line that targets specific notes on extended chords used within a progression.

This means that our focus on each extended chord will be the specific; 9th, 11th or 13th that reflects back to the Root of the chord applied within the progression. So, rather than talk about this, let’s run through an example…

Here’s our chord progression for this lesson… 
The progression below applies a 9th as an extended Major chord on measure two and an 11th extension to the minor chord found on the fourth measure. Learn the chords and develop the progression up to 120 b.p.m. using a metronome or drum machine.



DEVELOPING A MELODY:
Next, we’re going to add our melody line onto those chord changes. The idea that I’m shooting for is to cover the unique sound of those 9th and 11th chords with Natural Tension tones that directly relate to each of the Roots of those chords.

This means that on the, “F maj.9” I’ll be targeting into the note of “G.” Because “G” is the 9th off of that “F major” chords Root. And, on that “E minor 11th,” (in the fourth measure), I’ll be targeting into an “A” tone. Because the “A” is the 11th away from that, “E Minor 11th” chords Root.

Here’s the melody line I composed for you to learn that applies each of these ideas…



I'd suggest that you spend some time after reading through this lesson, and go through the studying of chord tones, work on theory for your arpeggios and most importantly, compose some music that starts using the ideas that I’ve organized here for you.

What you’ll discover is a whole new dimension opens up for you when it comes to applying notes that really lock down on the true color of every chord being playing during a progression.

When you’re composing, or when you’re improvising, the sound of your note selections are pretty much absolutely everything. And, this approach I've explained here, really helps bring in a lot of solid melodic effects of the scale that will all closely tie into each chord being used in a song.



VISIT THE WEB-SITE:
Thanks for joining me, If you'd like to Find 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 find.

My 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. 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!

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."