Ever wonder why sad /emotional pieces of music always have a similar sound and feel? In this post, I’m going to show you a secret trick to creating a series of chords that will produce a perfect sad emotional effect. You'll also learn how to incorporate the chord series into a practice routine to get your harmonies and your solos sounding both sad and emotional as well...
So, let me ask you a question, what song out there was it that sticks in your memory because it grabbed at your sad emotions and made you feel that you wanted to write music similar to that. We’ve all heard pieces of music that end up triggering feelings of sad emotions within us. And, for us guitar players, those experiences will often cause us to want to compose music in the same way. WATCH THE VIDEO:
WHAT SONG DID IT FOR YOU? For me personally, songs that come to mind that are like this are; Joe Satriani’s – “The Forgotten (Part 2).” Another nice one is; Gary Moore’s – “Still Got The Blues,” as well as, “Little Wing,” by Jimi Hendrix, (along with Stings version as well). When it comes down to creating this sad emotional sound in Minor Keys, there’s a really easy way that I like to use to help my own students apply this effect into any Minor key. In this post, I’m going to teach this idea to you, so that you can start coming up with your own "Sad Minor" music!
CREATING A SAD MINOR HARMONY: To create sad Minor Key emotional effects the process you can start working with is simple. It is based upon selecting a Minor chord as your primary starting chord, (or what is also called the “Tonic Chord” or the “Root Chord” for your progression). From there, off of that "Tonic" chord you’ll simply drop down a Whole-Step, into a major chord, and then another whole step into another major chord, plus, you’ll make one final half-step into your last major chord. EXAMPLE: For example, if you were in the key of “A Minor,” you’d drop down to a “G Major” and then down into an “F” Major, and finally into an “E” Major.
For practice of this concept, you’d simply repeat that progression, creating an emotionally charged sad musical idea…. Listen in the video at [03:58] to hear how this progression would sound, played with some nice slow arpeggiated drop picking across each chord.
SAD EMOTIONAL GUITAR SOLOING: If you’d like to start soloing using some sad emotional melody over that chord progression, keep in mind that our example is based out of “A” Natural Minor, so our scale will be from the root chord of “A Minor.” "A" NATURAL MINOR:
All of your solos will work nicely using nothing more than the, “A Natural Minor,” plus you could also use the “A Minor Pentatonic.” "A" MINOR PENTATONIC:
EXTRA SADNESS: Keep in mind that if you want to create some stronger sad emotion for that last “E Major” chord, you’ll do it justice by covering it using another scale called “Harmonic Minor.” You can use the root of the first chord of the progression for creating all of your Harmonic Minor ideas. In this case, we’d be using the notes of the, “A Harmonic Minor Scale.” "A" HARMONIC MINOR SCALE:
Here’s an example of creating a sad emotional solo over that progression using Natural and Harmonic Minor scales. SOLO EXAMPLE:
CONCLUSION: I hope that this lesson on learning how to create sad emotional guitar music was helpful. There are a number of other ways that this effect can be done, so... If you’d like to learn more about how to further develop your guitar playing - join my web-site as a free member and start taking a look at all of my “Guitar” Courses. They cover a ton of specific information on improving general and advanced playing skill. And, I’ve got a wide assortment of lesson plans that all come with very detailed videos along with PDF worksheets that you can download and print out to start covering all kinds of; exercises, Music Theory, rhythm training and technical drills. The lessons are all very well planned they’re easy to follow – and they work in a very organized way. To help you get better at playing guitar quickly and easily.
VISIT THE WEBSITE: If you’d like to learn more about topics like this one and many others, join my members site as a free member and start looking through my, “Guitar Courses.” I’ve spent over 25 years working with hundreds of guitar students creating thousands of detailed step-by-step guitar lessons for both my website members and my private students. The result is the most comprehensive guitar course that covers every aspect of beginner to advanced playing ideas to help you improve your playing. LIMITED TIME OFFER: If you join my site as a Premium member, you’ll receive a FREE copy of my popular Guitar Technique eBook. My Guitar Technique eBook is 28 pages of jam-packed exercises, drills and studies for mastering all of your technical skills at playing Guitar.
NEW Musicians rely on their ears for everything they do. This means that the ability to accurately listen to and quickly recognize musical, tone and pitch is vital. The EAR TRAINING course offered at Creative Guitar will help guitar players drastically improve their sense of note identification, recognition and recall...
Lesson 008 of Ear Training Lesson eight of "Ear Training" focuses on the sound and structure of developing Altered Dominant (#9, b9, #11, b13).
EAR TRAINING - DISCLAIMER: If you have no prior experience with basic music theory, basic rhythm, key signatures and how scales work on the guitar, it is strongly advised to first study the Creative Guitar - Introductory Guitar Program, as well as, the Intermediate Guitar Program.
If you are a guitarist that has no background in basic music theory, key signatures, treble-clef staff /note recognition, or foundational rhythmic duration, then it is advised that prior to working on this course, you study the "Introductory" and "Intermediate" guitar player programs prior to working on this course.
Those preliminary courses, (for beginners and Intermediate players), will lay the foundation for understanding how the nuts and bolts of ear training relate musically and how the principles relate to guitar (as well as other instruments).
The preliminary courses will also help guitar players better comprehend rhythm duration and key signatures.
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(1). Part one, of lesson eight Ear Training introduces the sound of the Dominant 7th (#9) chord. This altered dominant chord is created by adding an Augmented 2nd interval (#9) an octave above the tones of a Dominant 7 chord. The lesson contains exercises that involve pitch matching drills for this chord type.
(2). Part two, focuses on exercises that include the Diminished 2nd alteration added on top of the Domiant 7th chord. A Diminished 2nd interval (b9) is added an octave above the tones of the Dominant 7th chord type.
(3). Part three studies the sound of the Dominant 7 (#11) chord quality. Pitch matching exercises will focus on adding the Augmented 4th (#11) an octave above the tones of a Dominant 7th chord. The Dominant 7 (#11) is enharmonic to (the same chord type as), a Dominant 7 (b5) chord.
(4). Part four, practices the sound of the Dominant 7 (b13) chord quality. Pitch matching exercises will focus on adding a Diminished 6th (b13) an octave above the tones of a Dominant 7th chord. The Dominant 7 (b13) is enharmonic to a Dominant 7 (#5) chord.
NOTE: The use and application of calling any altered dominant by the name of "#11 or b13" as opposed to "b5 or #5" will depend upon the upper register tonal movement along with presentation of the chord type in the music chart by the notator /copyist creating the sheet-music score.
(5). Audio Track Training Exercises: Use the MP3 audio tracks (contained within the lesson download), to study the sound of each "Altered" chord.
These chord examples are provided on the table found on page 5 of your PDF handout. The chords are performed on both guitar and on digital piano. Sing and match pitch to each arpeggiated interval exactly as they are performed on the audio tracks.
If there was one exercise that you should be doing every single practice, and even on off days, then this would be it... In this post I’m going to show you the number one exercise that you should do every day that will help to improve your knowledge of the notes on the neck. Of course, after you master this you can stop. But, not until you nail down all the locations of all of your notes.
I want to get you into doing a fingerboard exercise that is going to change the way you understand the notes on your guitar fret-board for the rest of your life. If you do this every single day until you fully comprehend the system I’m about to show you, you’re going to understand your guitar notes on the neck better and the destinations you want to have for your chords and your melodies anywhere across the guitar neck will become rock solid…
PART ONE: For the first part of this exercise you’ll need to make sure that you know your open string names. If you don’t know them, you can use a few tricks in the form of sentences to commit the string names to your memory. The strings are numbered 1 - 6 from the thin string to the thickest.
If you go from string number one to string six, (in other words thin to thick), you could use the sentence, “Every Beautiful Guitar Deserves An Examination.” Or, another good one is; “Easter Bunnies Get Drunk At Easter.”
However you do it, some type of Acronym-based mnemonic, will probably be the fastest way to memorize all of the guitar strings.
PART TWO: Once your guitar strings are committed to memory, the next step is to grab a piece of guitar fret-board worksheet paper, (I give this stuff away for free on my website), and start working off of each open string and write the correct note name onto the blank frets, from the open string to the 12th fret, (just write them in using a pencil). You only need to go to the 12th fret because after that everything repeats.
In other words, the 1st fret notes are the same as the 13th fret. And, everything repeats from there on. Also keep in mind that notes on the guitar always follow a sequence of whole-steps between the majorities of tones, (BTW whole-steps are two frets).
Now, there is an exception, because in between the notes of, “E and F” as well as, “B and C.” Those areas of the fingerboard will only have a half-step (or one fret) between them.
After you’ve written down all of the notes on the fret-board worksheet paper, also go and play them all on your guitar as well. And, if you want to take things a step further, say the notes out loud on top of all that.
PART THREE: The next step will be to map a single tone on each string laterally.
This means that as you would travel along the neck and search out each location for the note that you’ve chosen, you’ll be thinking in relation to the horizontal span of the fret-board. For example, if I chose the note of “B,” then I’d work my way across each string and locate where each note of “B” is found on every guitar string, it really helps you better comprehend the note-positions across the neck.
PART FOUR: The final part of this daily exercise routine is going to be focused upon mapping out octaves.
Once again, you’d start by picking a note, and then once the note is selected, you’ll map out the octaves along the fingerboard to create a more vertical (or what we’d refer to as an, “in position,” study of notes along the fingerboard). Start at the lowest possible position on the neck, and then work your way up into new positions using new octave patterns of the selected note.
If I chose the note of “B” then you would begin from the lowest octave using the open 2nd string to the 5th string “B” at the third fret.
After that, continue from there across the rest of the guitar neck.
If you’d like to learn more about what I do as an online guitar teacher - visit my website and start looking through my Guitar courses. There are dozens of lesson plans all with very detailed videos along with PDF worksheets that you can download and print out to start learning more about the guitar. The lessons are all well planned they’re easy to follow – and they all work in a very organized way so that in the end, you’ll increase your knowledge of guitar, and you’ll be able to start incorporating higher end guitar skills for the music that you enjoy.
VISIT THE WEBSITE: If you’d like to learn more about topics like this one and many others, join my members site as a free member and start looking through my, “Guitar Courses.” I’ve spent over 25 years working with hundreds of guitar students creating thousands of detailed step-by-step guitar lessons for both my website members and my private students. The result is the most comprehensive guitar course that covers every aspect of beginner to advanced playing ideas to help you improve your playing. LIMITED TIME OFFER: If you join my site as a Premium member, you’ll receive a FREE copy of my popular Guitar Technique eBook. My Guitar Technique eBook is 28 pages of jam-packed exercises, drills and studies for mastering all of your technical skills at playing Guitar.
If you have weak areas in your musical skill-set, it not only will show up when you play for fun, but it will also have a detrimental effect when you play with others. In this post, I’m going to show you the 5 biggest red flags of musical weakness, and most importantly, what you can do to fix them...
Today we’re talking about Red Flags to watch out for when it comes to your musical ability.
In this video I’m going to try and help you learn to identify whether you have any of these red flags going on in your playing or maybe in your knowledge for harmony and theory. Because if you do, and you can fix them, you’re going to be able to move forward as a much better musician, as well as, (of course) a better guitarist... WATCH THE VIDEO:
1. The 1st red flag to look for has to with technical ability. When it comes to ability, it’s important to understand that you don’t need to get perfection levels so that they’re on parr of being “robotic” in how you alternate pick or how you strum. Fix this by instead, adopting the pursuit of good technique with a focus on cleaning up anything in your playing for where you know there’s an imbalance. Maybe you have a sloppy fretting-hand that needs work to clean up your scales or chord fretting or perhaps you have a pick hand that doesn’t track the strings all too well. Regardless what the glitches are, be on the look-out for any imbalance and then create a technical routine to address fixing it.
2. The next red flag area is your comprehension for rhythm, including; beat structure, time /feel and meter. One thing I’ll often notice with my private classes, is when I get a student who’s upset about their inability to play smooth rhythm guitar parts (so that the part maintains a solid groove within the structure of the beat), they simply have no clue about rhythm duration. Fix this by learning what all the parts of rhythm are (Meter, Beat, Tempo), and learn as much as possible about controlling the beat. Use clapping, singing and pick scratch drills to help build better skill. My "Rhythm Guitar" course covers all of this in great detail. I’ll notice that, once the student understands the names along with the feel associated to every musical beat duration (along with how time signatures and tempos operate), they go from having a lousy feel for time, to making incredible strides in their understanding and performance of rhythm parts.
3. The next red flag area is listening skills. If you have trouble hearing musical ideas, and /or if you are unsure of how high or how low a musical tone is being played in a song, you really need to work on your ear. The best way to fix this is by dedicating time to the study of Ear Training (which initially involves a lot of singing to be able to internalize the sound of notes). My Ear Training course is phenomenal for this type of training. When you practice singing through the various; scales, chords and arpeggios - what you’re really doing is internalizing each musical tone and you’re learning a lot about applying musical pitch through your own body. And, from that work of singing, your body will start being able to very quickly recognize sound at a whole new level of skill and ability.
4. The next red flag of musical weakness is not having the ability to be able to improvise on your instrument. This is a critical creative skill for musicians of all levels playing any instrument and it simply isn't stressed enough. Fix this area by forcing yourself to begin making up musical ideas. Arranging music through improvisation is one of the cornerstones of musicianship because improvisation, (even at its most simplistic level), is the first step toward being able to compose music. My "Guitar Soloing" course goes into great detail about how to build soloing skill through learning 20 different fully involved leads. When we begin working on improvising it becomes a tremendous help for improving every musicians ear training skills. Think of it another way, when you can improvise, you’re constantly tapping into the music that you are hearing in your head.
5. The final Red Flag area I want to end with has to do with gaining a clear understanding about general music theory. If you’re weak at understanding why Major is different from Minor. Or, if you don’t know why a suspended chord is called a suspended, or if you don’t know what an arpeggio is, or what a key signature is, or what chords that are diatonic do. It would be good to learn about this stuff. Fix this by starting out with learning all of the musical keys. Then, study the musical intervals. Learn chord construction next and afterwards learn how harmony operates. My Core Guitar Curriculum (Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced), courses cover these topics in great detail. Learning about all of this information not only helps make you a wiser musician, but you’ll compose music a lot faster and you’ll understand what you’re doing a lot better. Plus, after learning your basic theory skills, you could make some extra money teaching it to others!
CONCLUSION: Well, I hope that this lesson on considering all of these "red flags of musical weakness," was interesting for you. Even if it only gave you one new idea or practice principle to start working on it was well worth the read. If you’d like to learn more about how to further develop your guitar playing - join my web-site as a free member and start taking a look at all of my “Guitar” Courses. They cover a ton of specific information on improving general and advanced playing skill. I’ve got a wide assortment of lesson plans and all come with very detailed videos along with PDF worksheets that you can download and print out to start covering all types of; exercises, Music Theory, rhythm training and technical drills. The lessons are all well planned and easy to follow – and they work in a very organized way. To help you get better at playing guitar in record time.
VISIT THE WEBSITE: If you’d like to learn more about topics like this one and many others, join my members site as a free member and start looking through my, “Guitar Courses.” I’ve spent over 25 years working with hundreds of guitar students creating thousands of detailed step-by-step guitar lessons for both my website members and my private students. The result is the most comprehensive guitar course that covers every aspect of beginner to advanced playing ideas to help you improve your playing. LIMITED TIME OFFER: If you join my site as a Premium member, you’ll receive a FREE copy of my popular Guitar Technique eBook. My Guitar Technique eBook is 28 pages of jam-packed exercises, drills and studies for mastering all of your technical skills at playing Guitar.
