50% of Guitarists NEVER Learn This (DO IT NOW - I'M BEGGING YOU!)
If you are not sure how to transpose, then the lack of this knowledge will hold you back from playing better riffs and better guitar solos.
And, that's not the worst of it because not knowing how to do this will make you more susceptible to remaining stuck playing your lines in only certain areas of the guitar neck.
THE TWO TYPES OF TRANSPOSING:
Type 1). The "Cut and Paste" approach
Here, we change the position placement of what we're playing on the neck. This will keep the geometrical shape, but it will result in changes to the key signature. This approach would be considered as true method of transposing in music.
Type 2). The "Duplicate /Clone" approach
The other approach is the duplication, or "clone" approach. This transposing approach is more of a "guitar neck" oriented idea and it operates by keeping the exact same notes, (the unison tones) but create a "clone" of them by re-locating them to another fret-board region.
Ideally, you would want to be as fluent as possible in both of these techniques. Sadly, almost half of the players out there do not understand either of them at a high enough level.
WHAT IS TRANSPOSING?
Even if you’re not playing very many gigs right now, there’s something that you, (as a guitar player) should be able to do on your guitar, but sadly only around 50% of players actually know it. This idea is called transposing and it is super valuable!
If you know a scale pattern, (or any melodic pattern) and if you have committed that pattern to memory, the pattern layout should be worked through a procedure that is called being, “Transposed.”
The process of transposing means that we will make a change to the placement, or to the ordering of a part. Traditionally, to transpose a piece of Music, it means to Change the "key" of that piece.
For example, a piece of music in a major key can be transposed to another major key; or the same thing can happen in a minor key - it can be transposed to any other minor key.
Let’s explore this idea further, because it is without any doubt one of the most significant guitar playing concepts that we need to learn.
THE "CUT and PASTE" METHOD:
We’ll call our first transposing method, “Cut and Paste.” This method is essentially the musical method of, True Transposing.
The Cut and Paste method changes the position placement, as well as the musical key of a melodic idea. One bonus of this cut and paste method is that it keeps the original ideas shape, so it is very easy to execute on the fingerboard.
Example 1). The scale example below is a popular mid-region along the neck “A Minor” Pentatonic Scale shape.Learn how to play it on your instrument.
Example 2). If we transpose the shape from example one laterally along the neck dropping it down a whole-step it becomes the, “G Minor Pentatonic.”
Example 3). If we transpose the pattern laterally again - dropping it an additional whole-step down - it becomes the, “F Minor Pentatonic.”
Coming up next, I’m going to go over another form of transposing that involves note cloning. This idea is really beneficial for when you want to perform a guitar solo.
But, before we head to that, I want to tell you about a special promotional offer that's related to my new; Handouts Collection eBook.
I wanted to take a minute to let you know, that if you want to learn even more about scales and theory I have a great offer for you.
With any donation over $5, or any merchandise purchase from my Tee-Spring store, I’ll send you free copies of THREE of my most popular digital handouts.
One is called, “Harmonized Arpeggio Drills” (it’ll train you on developing your diatonic arpeggios).
Another one is my “Barre Chord” Handout which includes a page showing all the key signatures along with a chord progression that applies barre chords.
Plus, you’ll get my Notation Pack! It has 8 pages of important guitar worksheets for notating anything related to; music charts, guitar chord diagrams, and TAB.
As a BONUS, (from my "Over 40 and Still Can't Play a Scale" video), I'll also throw in a breakdown of all of the chords that are diatonic to the "F Major" scale.
As an EXTRA BONUS for my Phrygian Dominant video, I'll also throw in a breakdown featuring all of the chords that are diatonic to the Phrygian Dominant scale.
Just send me an email off of the contact page of CreativeGuitarStudio.com to let me know about either your donation or your Merchandise purchase and I’ll email you those digital handouts within 24 hrs.
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NOTE CLONES /DUPLICATION:
The next transposing method is more of a guitar based approach rather than what we’d consider a text-book musical approach and it’s what we’re going to call a “Note Duplication,” (or “Note Cloning”) idea.
What this method does is it keeps the notes the same, but re-locates them to another fret-board region.
Example 4). [remember our original idea]… It was that, “A Minor Pentatonic,” performed in the middle of the neck, it went like this.
Example 5). If we apply note cloning, the scale layout from example four can function in other areas of the neck as well. Here’s the same scale of, “A Minor Pentatonic,” but this time performed in the upper fingerboard register.
Example 6). If we apply another note clone, our scale layout can function in one more area of the neck. Here’s the same scale of, “A Minor Pentatonic,” but this time performed in the lower fingerboard register.
The "Note Cloning" method can be extremely helpful for playing a riff or a guitar solo, because it offers guitar players a few other options along the fret-board.
These other options mean that we will never feel compartmentalized into playing our phrases in only one "comfortable" region or neck location.
