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 011 of Guitar Technique is a detailed lesson plan on string bending that focuses on the most popular bend techniques used in nearly every type of guitar oriented style of music.
Our lesson on guitar string bending will study how any finger of the fretting-hand can be used to either push upward, or pull downward, on any guitar string to alter its regular pitch.
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...
PART ONE: (Free on YouTube) Covers the Basic 3rd-Finger Upward Bend Technique (bend distances include; one and a half step, Full, and 1/2).
PART TWO:Example two is all about using fingers other than the most popular third to produce string bends. The other topic covered here in exercise two involves downward bending, (pulling the string toward the floor). The downward bend direction lessens the stress upon the fingers nail-bed.
PART THREE:
Exercise three is an overview of one of string bending's most unique elements, the
"Pre-Bend /Release." This bend technique will first push a note up with
no sound, and then (while held-up bent), the string will be struck and
then released. The overall effect of this unique sound is often referred
to as the "crying bend."
PART FOUR:Exercise four studies how to apply bending with double tones (2-note chords). This technique is sometimes called "Chordal Bending." Although, doing true chordal bending, customarily requires the grip of an entire chord, we will be applying this concept with only two tones.
Smooth Jazz covers a wide selection of styles and artists. In this lesson, I’ll be teaching concepts that revolve around the guitars approach when it comes to playing Smooth Jazz melody lines...
WHAT IS SMOOTH JAZZ? Smooth Jazz is a music style that is composed around combining the colors of jazz harmony and
pop melody. However, the style of smooth jazz is also extremely diverse
because it tends to include the sounds of; Blues, Rock, and Funk mixed
with different jazz ideas. In the end Smooth Jazz is a
blend of several music styles that has one main theme holding it all together, and
that is the styles strong use of melody. George Benson, (virtuoso guitarist with unimpeachable straight-ahead jazz bona fides), once said, "Smooth Jazz is here to stay - because the songs tend to both focus and also cement a strong melody in very palatable way." All one has to do is listen to his hit "Breezin" for proof of this. There's no arguing that Smooth Jazz is certainly melodic, and it covers all kinds of different directions musically, making it not only an extremely palatable form of music but a very relaxing form as well. George Benson, Bob James, David Sanborn, Herb Alpert, and Chuck Mangione played what would now be labeled smooth jazz as far back as the’70s. And, yes, fans ate it up.
The Pure Tasty Melody of Smooth Jazz In this lesson, we’re going to examine how to apply some of the smooth jazz melody effects that happen when we work out melodic statements that get performed under chords following a jazz harmony. WATCH THE VIDEO:
First, lets begin by taking just one chord, and playing a typical smooth jazz statement over it. We’ll use the “Dmaj7” chord for our example… Example #1). Melodic Statement over “Dmaj7”
In that short "Dmaj7" example above, the melody line was all diatonic to the key of “D Major.” It made use of slightly syncopated sixteenth notes to establish a "pop-jazz" sounding melody idea over the underlying chord of, “D major 7th.” The emphasis here in our first example stresses a smooth easy flowing melody that has a unique sixteenth-note rhythmic feel to it. Notice how the line is only slightly syncopated. If we go too far with an "off-time" feel, we risk leaving the "pop" angle of the melody line behind and we start venturing a little too far towards traditional jazz. As long as we're careful, we can form a melody that carries an impression to it as if it was something from a pop song, (rather than from a jazz piece). Through strong resolutions and balanced phrasing, our lines can be easy to follow for the listener.
Think of your use of the rhythmic style more like something you’d hear in a Motown number or perhaps in a funk tune, rather than a traditional jazz piece. Let’s check out another example. This time we’re going to expand on the chord changes a little more. We’ll move away from the use of strict diatonic melody and diatonic harmony. We’ll still be (more or less) within the key of “D Major.” However, we’ll also be introducing a chord at the end of our part that ends up leaving the key. Have a listen to the next example so that you understand how it sounds. Example #2). Leaving the key
In our second example, the melody line is similar to the part performed back in example one. However, this time we have a number of grace-note slides that apply tones that exist from outside of the key. This is something important to remember when playing in the Smooth Jazz style because it works so well to bring in notes that can generate a jazzy effect. Plus, in this melody, there’s also a new chord appearing in the second measure, (Gmaj7). Of particular note, is how example two has a unique chord that appears right at the very end of the progression. This chord establishes a situation which has the melody leaving the key, (the new outside chord is an, “Am7”).
CONCLUSION: As you can tell, smooth jazz melody applies more variety than a pop song. Plus, with the addition of chords that leave the key smooth jazz harmony expands our melodic options and allows us the chance to add new notes with more of a "jazz feel." Playing outside of a key presents a jazz approach that corresponds into those new chords and sets a particular musical tone. If you enjoy the flowing melodic sound applied in the smooth jazz style, you’ll definitely want to also explore the melodies that are a part of; Pop music, and Motown, along with Soul music, and R and B, as well as, traditional jazz. Plus, definitely keep in mind that smooth-jazz is (above all else) a blended style. It mixes together a number of ideas that end up creating a sound that’s kind of like “half jazz” and “half pop music.” Very interesting stuff… Be sure to spend time listening to music by famous players in this style such as; guitarists - George Benson, Norman Brown, Chuck Loeb, Sheldon Ferguson and Larry Carlton. Plus, of course there’s many who I’m sure you’ll discover along the way...
VISIT THE WEB-SITE: I'd like to end the lesson 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... At any time you can always upgrade to either a Basic, or a Premium lesson package and start studying all of the professionally organized guitar courses that I've put together over the years for the members of my website. Also, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on all of this in the comment section below... if you enjoyed this video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more on YouTube. Be sure to hit the bell so you never miss a lesson. Thanks again and we'll catch up next week, for another episode of the, "Guitar Blog Insider."
Do you need help playing songs by ear? How well can you hear note movements and chord sounds? Are you able to just listen to a song and learn how to play it without the use of any sheet music or chord charts?
There is a secret to getting started with doing this type of song learning by ear, and it simply involves listening to low bass tones and learning four basic moveable chord shapes located on the lower guitar strings. The real trick with all of this is to start training yourself on how to map out the sounds of bass tones so that later on, you can test how chord qualities of major and minor interact with every root note. WATCH THE VIDEO:
IMPORTANT: Please realize, that developing this skill will take both time and patience, so it is a good idea to start doing this work with more manageable songs. That means, I wouldn’t begin trying to do this with say a Mozart – Concerto (or even anything remotely close to something that complicated). Start with easy tunes and as you get better - move your way up from there to more complicated songs.
Step 1). LOW STRING FOCUS The first thing that is important to understand is that you need to start by focusing on your lowest guitar strings. So that means your 6th, 5th and 4th strings are where we’ll be listening closely for a link to the bass-tone. For this lesson, we'll focus on the 6th and 5th strings. This is important because these low tones are the easiest for your ear to listen for and recognize. Low strings make up the root notes that our songs will use for about 95% of all chords that we play on guitar, with a majority of them being on either the; 6th or 5th strings. So, we’ll start there. If you do not already know the basic bar chords on the guitars, 5th and 6th strings, then get to know your 5th and 6th string major and minor shapes as soon as possible... They look like this… SIXTH STRING MAJOR AND MINOR:
FIFTH STRING MAJOR AND MINOR:
Step 2). TRACKING THE ROOTS When you start out at learning a new piece, listen closely to the songs chord changes (otherwise known as the songs Harmony).
Analyze everything from lowest bass register tones. Zero in on the bass guitar if possible. Get a clear idea of how the chord changes relate to each singular bass note off of the guitars 6th and 5th strings. At this stage of the game, don’t worry about whether you’re dealing with a major or a minor chord. Just focus entirely on locating each of those low bass notes. In order for you to really understand this, listen to a group of chord changes in my "Progression 1 example," below, and pay close attention to all of the lowest bass tones to understand exactly what I’m talking about. All it comes down to is hunting for bass-tones… listen closely…
Progression One:
If you patiently listen to the practice progression and closely study the sound of the lowest bass tones, you will eventually wind up hearing an A, move up into a D, then over to the bass tone of “E” and finally back to the A to resolve the progression. When you do this work with the study piece (progression one) you’ll discover that the “A” tone starts and finishes our progression. And, once you realize that, you’ve also just discovered that the “Root” of the keys progression, is obviously the tone of “A.”
Step 3). TEST EACH CHORD'S QUALITY The final part of our "learning by ear exercise" involves testing the sound of whether those low singular bass tones relate over to chord types that are major or minor quality. Almost 90% of all chords used in songs are of the basic major or minor variety. Sure, there are also dominant chords, and there’s diminished and augmented, but those chords don’t necessarily show up as much as the Major and Minor. Plus, once you learn about the use of basic major and minor chords, if there are any remaining odd sounds (that don’t make sense in a song that you’re learning), you can always practice and test those other chord types. Doing that work will lead you to finding out what the shapes are for Diminished, Augmented and many others. Grab a chord book, or a chord app so that you can start trying different chord patterns out on your guitar. That will help you with discovering how and where those other chord qualities can fit musically. Over time your ear will start to remember those sounds.
Step 4). MORE ADVANCED PROGRESSIONS Before we wrap things up, I’d like to, expand upon all of this with one more progression that will be a little more complex. Listen to chord progression two and test all of the skill building principles. - Listen for the bass-tone - Listen for both major and minor chord quality Here’s our new chord progression. I’ll give you a hint, it’s still based in the key of, “A Major.”
Here’s what it sounds like... Progression Two:
In progression two, you can hear right away that there is a much busier sense of chord movement. This means that you’ll need to take your time (and use trial and error) to discover where the root notes are located across the 6th and 5th strings. Once you’ve discovered those single-note bass-tones, keep playing the chord progression over and over, and while those tones move past, simply test those major and minor quality chord sounds until you ultimately nail down the correct types…
CONCLUSION: Once you start building your skill with this form of close-listening to chord progressions, (and once you start using this system to listen to all kinds of different songs - gaining experience), you’re going to begin noticing a new level of ability and control when it comes to learning by ear. This new-found control over your ears and your ability to listen closer to music will not only help you to hear music better, but these skills will also help you better determine the roots of chords and the (Major and Minor) chord qualities as well. As time goes on, you'll inevitably learn more complex chord types, plus your ear will become more advanced in it's ability to hear notes more easily. And, down the road, there won't be much you'll come across that you wouldn't be able to lift off by ear and ear alone.
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 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 As always, if you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more on YouTube, until next time, take care and we'll catch up again on the next video. Bye for now!
Do you like classic rock guitar riffs? Have you always wanted to learn the secrets behind the "3-chord rock riff?" Well, you're in luck! This lesson breaks down the basics behind jammin' on 3-chord rock concepts...
In this video – I’ll be teaching a rock riff progression (that I perform at the start of this video lesson). That riff is based upon ideas that are famously referred to as 3-chord rock. And, even if you’re an complete beginner to rock guitar I’m quite certain that you’re going to be able to learn how to play this riff… WATCH THE VIDEO:
SECTION ONE: In the first section of this key of “A” rock riff, I’m using the 5th, 4th and 3rd strings with a playing pattern that focuses on the 2nd , 5th and 7th frets.
SECTION TWO: In the second section of this rock riff, I’m taking the overall template of the riff into the; 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings while still playing the general pattern that continues to focus on the 2nd , 5th and 7th frets. However, the fingering shape of our chords has become staggered between frets on the neck, (due to the tuning difference found between the guitars 3rd and 2nd strings). The chord that we’re focusing on now has changed to, “D.” Here’s the breakdown…
SECTION THREE: In the final section of our rock riff, I’m taking the overall template of the riff into the lower strings using the; 6th, the 5th and the 4th strings. The layout and structure is heading back to the original pattern (that we had used with our first chord of “A”). This time, we’re covering the sound of the “E” chord and we’re still continuing to focus on the 2nd , 5th and 7th frets. The fingering shape of our chords is also the same as what we were using off of our original “A” chord as well. Here’s how it functions…
VISIT THE WEB-SITE FOR MORE... 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... Later on you can always upgrade to either a Basic, or a Premium lesson package and start studying all of the professionally organized guitar courses that I've created for the members of my website. Also, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on all of this in the comment section below... 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."
NEW The eleventh lesson of "Rhythm Guitar" covers Jazz Rhythm Guitar. Examples of the most common jazz rhythms are introduced. Syncopation, and off-beat accents are the focus. The lesson eleven material is organized around syncopated, (off-time) rhythm punches. The rhythms within this lesson will include the famous "Charleston" rhythm, and the "chained" dotted quarter-note feel. I've also set-up examples that utilize the single and double measure up-beat feel.
A bonus for BASIC and PREMIUM web-site members are the (9) MP3 play-along tracks that will help with learning each rhythm example.
Paid Web-site members (BASIC and PREMIUM), can watch the associated video lessons and download the detailed PDF handout, along with the MP3 clap /strum play-along tracks...
Join the member's areato download the PDF handout and MP3's. Study all of the examples with full access to both video lessons. Be sure to spend some additional time on learning the "Rhythm Jam Challenge" piece that I performed at the start of the lesson in the "Part One" video...
PART ONE (free on YouTube):Example one focuses on the down-beat and up-beat (stress and accent) of one dotted quarter-note alongside of an eighth-note (played on the up-beat of two).
This groove is a repeating feel that applies a collection of popular jazz harmony chord changes off of major, minor and dominant seventh chords. An altered dominant 7th (b9) chord is also added in the progressions final measure for greater tension. PART TWO:In example two, a series of dotted quarter-notes are the primary focus. The overall groove is a consistent syncopated feel that encompasses a recurring "beat and a half" of time.
PART THREE:
In example three, a two-bar groove applies a mix of similar syncopated accents.
In measure one of this two-bar phrase, the attacks fall on the up-beats of 1 and 3. However, on measure two, the feel slightly changes with the first attack still occurring on the up-beat of one, but the second attack falls upon the down-beat of three.
PART FOUR:In example four, the up-beat jazz groove is simplified into a single-measure statement and targets the accent attacks upon beats "2 and 4."
The example four groove places emphasis upon the up-beat of each and every second and fourth beat. It is advised to strum downward or use the technique described in the video lesson as "Comping."
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.
PART THREE:
