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i really lack the self control needed to not strum the pattern i hear or break
out playing lead licks i make up on the fly. however it feels so dam good
i think i can live with it.
john
Good Course!
Hi Tony,
I did the second quiz and I had a problem with it. I wanted to listen to the song again to try to get the chord progression but it wouldn’t let me. I did guess on some that I couldn’t hear twice but I sucked at the others …LOL
I retook the quiz but I couldn’t even listen to the songs, they wouldn’t play for some reason…….That made it extremely hard to take the quiz……..
I did get to listen to enough to start to understand this lesson, and i’m practicing on other songs I listen to on the radio.
One thing I did realize is that I don’t know how to play the F#min and it seems all #’chords. I will have to practice forming chords with the other lesson on that.
I’m having trouble with that one.
Hi Tony,
I’m finding that I’m loving your music choices, but have no idea who these folks are. Can you tell us what the music is that you are playing to in this lesson? I’m finding myself going over and over these lessons just to listen to the tunes. Awesome.
Rose,
Thanks for the thumbs up on the music choices 🙂 You and many other Fretboard Wizard members have been asking for a playlist and it is coming for certain 🙂 You will see it as a download in a future lesson/live hangout replay 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Adding a second to the music choices list. I think this come up before, yes?
Jack,
I will make sure to add a link to the playlist in the description of Thurdays (6/1) q&a replay 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Any trick to getting the songs in Lesson 2 quiz to play?? Sometimes yes sometimes no??
“So here’s the work flow,” and then the door of Guitar Wizardry was flung wide open. Tony this stuff is so incredibly helpful–and simple!
So glad you are finding this valuable and useable 🙂 Thank you for being here in the program!!!
Cheers,
Tony
Hey Tony,
I loved this lesson. For as long as I’ve been playing, I’ve never been a technically sound guitar player but my ear has always been not too bad. This lesson was great cause I attempt to try the quiz without the guitar which was fun.
Kinda off topic question from the lessons as this is more about the history and evolution of music. I noticed that many “old time” songs weather it be early rock and roll or blue basically use the same chord progressions (A D A D A E or G C G C G D) etc. When did song writing skew off and use chords that some wouldn’t of thought to put together. I listen to a lot of Elliott Smith and with some of songs I wouldn’t of thought of those progressions or those particular shaped versions.
Just curious as to your thoughts!
Thanks!
Frank
Frank,
Thanks for the kind words and the question 🙂 I am glad you are in on the course and digging it. I am not exactly sure when there was a shift in chord progressions, but I am positive that the 1,4, and 5 chords are the most popular components of a ton of songs 🙂 I am not sure of an event or a style of music that started to shake things up, but I would also love anyone’s thoughts if they have info on it 🙂 A great question indeed 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Hey guys,
I bought this chord wheel over the weekend (Hal Leonard’s chord wheel) and they had a little notebook on music theory that comes with it and it says that the 1-4-5 chord progression is “probably the 3 most common chords in all of music. For one thing, they’re the basis of the renowned ‘twelve-bar blues,’ which in turn is the foundation of much rock and jazz.” So I suppose it started with the blues and eventually bled into rock and jazz?
It also says that “frequent modulations and liberal use of 2m-5-1 cadences typify many standard jazz progressions, while rock/blues-based tunes tend to rely on more stationary progressions like 1-4-5 changes.”
I realize this doesn’t answer the question about when and how chord progressions changed over time, but I thought it was interesting. 🙂
For any visual learners out there, I found this chord wheel immensely helpful in helping me retain the chord progressions faster. Maybe it might help you too!
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/f4/40/3e/f4403e136cc85c1d544597e2430bbb74.jpg
Regards,
Zoe
Zoe,
Thank you so much for sharing!!! Great info and the circle of fifths graphic is a great resource 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Just listened to the lesson at work. Now I can’t wait to get home and try out the quiz!
Hi Tony,
So much seems to be falling into place musically. After your first two lessons, I found i can take a song from Utube, find the key and the chord progression. I went to a wedding last weekend and the father daughter song was “you are my Sunshine” sung by Jasmine Thompson. I was able to find the song , figure out the key and chord progression (fairly simple) and sing along. Very fun! Thank you!!
Nice work Scott!!!
Cheers,
Tony
That was a good exercise, did better than I thought.
Note to self. Don’t listen to the lesson while drinking your morning coffee go to work , yoga, etc and tackle the quiz at 9 PM.
Susan,
Thank you for sharing this tip lol 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Hi Tony:-) is there a Module 2 Challenge for this week?, only I can’t find it lol:-)
Emma,
Just posted it this morning 🙂 Head on over to the forum and you should see it… if it’s not there I have goofed and I will oh you all some push ups 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Hi Tony:-) thank you:-)
Hey Tony! Let’s get you a new truss rod cover for that Gibson son! I think I’ve got one in a drawer here somewhere!
I was thinking the same thing David.
David,
LOL I use that guitar for a lot of my outdoor gigs… I think the truss rod cover is somewhere in Montana… somewhere lol 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
So…where do we send you the new one?
LOL shoot me an email at info@tonypolecastro.com 🙂
I really enjoyed this lesson. I’m in China on business for the week, traveling without a guitar. I watched the lesson, because I’m enjoying this series so much. I’ll just have to wait to do the quiz until next week unless someone knows how to this without a guitar. Good stuff. Thanks, Tony and team.
Hey Jack, if you have an iPad you could strum along in garage band to figure out the chords
Course and insights have been great so far. I have to say though that site navigation seems a bit clunky–and, more importantly, the lines between Fretboard Wizard and TAC do not seem at all clear to me. Do I need to have a TAC membership in order to access the daily lessons?
Hi Mike, yes seems like that. At least the TAC membership will give you access to the daily practice plan lessons, which are great too. So I can strongly reccomend to get this membership 😉 cheers, ben
Mike,
Glad you are digging the course!!! The Fretboard Wizard course is separate from TAC so to access anything like the daily practice you would have to be a TAC member.
Cheers,
Tony
I have completed 9 out of 13 steps. Am I caught up? I don’t see any more steps available.
Mical,
All caught up for this week 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Tony,
Picking out chords by ear was another great lesson! Managed to do well on the quiz, too. The system says I’ve completed 10 out of 13 parts of the course. Is that right or do I need to hit some button somewhere to show I’ve completed Lesson 2 and Quiz 2?
Thanks,
Roy
Roy,
Nope you are all good to go, since the lessons are time released there are some that can’t be completed until they are unlocked 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Holy cow! I always thought I would never be able to deconstruct a song by ear. I’ve been practicing and I think I’m getting the hang of this. Thanks Tony!
Missed 1 by pushing NEXT accidentally before I put an answer, and too lazy to redo the entire quiz. I can live with it.
Outrageous fun. Took me a few times, but patience and allowing your ear to zero in is the key (pun intended)!
It took me an hour to complete the quiz but I actually got 100%. Never tried this method. Surprized myself that I had an ear for the right key. Is it OK to be proud of myself for once?
It did not help my score that my guitar was tuned a half step down! 🙂
Just catching up. Great lesson and quiz. I just squeaked through with an 80%. The ones I missed we due to mistaking the 5 chord for the 1, selecting A instead of D both times. And a “me too” on the playlist. I’m going to catchup with yesterday’s hangout now. Thanks!
Very very useful. I got 14 of 15, which (frankly) I was a bit shocked at. All those years of going to shows and listening to music was not wasted! :-)…..
I’m wondering, though, if there a chance of putting new songs in there after a few days. If we keep hearing the same songs, I suppose we’ll just remember what key they’re in, and then it might become less of an ear exercise and more of a memorization exercise.
Jim, just go to the lesson 1 or lesson two challenge, there every member can post a song and figure out its key/chords. And best of all, Tony will check the answers 😉 So thats a really great way of using and training these new skills. cheers, ben
Jim,
Glad you nailed the quiz!!! As the quizzes become more advanced you will hear some new songs 🙂 I will also note that you should check out the module challenges on the forum, as you will see some awesome songs and there is a ton of variety 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
I was shocked to get 14/15 on Quiz 1 on my first try. That’s encouraging 🙂
My Challange Progress is saying that I have only completed 8 out of 12 steps. I have done all of the quizzes- some more than once. What am I missing? Help
Also, where, exactly can I find extra finding the key exercises and the video of Tony’s Webinar for today? Tony said that a video of the live Web seminar would be available in Module 1. I do not have any idea where that would be – help. Please spell it out for me – I don’t know that I am navigating the site very well.
Thank you,
Gae
Gae, the link is under the lesson video now. I had trouble finding it too…
Gae,
Thanks for your questions, we still have four modules to go which is why you are only at 8 of 12. As for the replay of the live q&a it is right underneath the module 1 lesson. 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
80%, not bad for the first time. This was really Fun to do.
I finally completed first quiz had issues with playing song, used my iPhone no problem and my iPad no problem. Problem is I use my laptop as a primary and was obstinate about trying other hardware. I appreciate your follow up with the tech ‘s.
I feel good, about the outcome. I forward to much more!
David
Yeah! I want to keep doing those quizzes! That is fun and it works. The ones I missed are all the one’s that I didn’t take some more time to LISTEN some more before I chose answer.
90 the first time, 100 the second. Great quiz! A couple of those were close calls! 🙂 Looking forward to the live chat on Thursday! See y’all there…!
2nd a temp and I am picking the keys a lot better this really a great way of doing it going up the neck on the low E string.
Great training, Tony I still have problems with knowing if a key is M or m. how do you know if you only play on the low E string?
+1 on this question. I knew the key on the House of the Rising Sun simply because I knew the song….. really wanted to select key of A as my answer though.
Jeremy, I was with you on the A instead of Am… The only reason I went with Am was that the song just had an off-dissonance-minor sound to it so I figured it was probably a minor key. Not sure if that’s correct thinking or not LOL.
Gary,
There is one more step that I will reveal in Thursday’s live hangout in regard to assessing the tonality 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Such a great skill to learn. I thought it would be much harder to identify, and though I wasn’t always 100% sure, when i trusted my gut it was always right…. hopefully it’s a skill that I can develop to be more sure of myself when deciding the key. I am so happy to learn this! Thanks Tony!
Great to hear Matthew!!! I am pumped you are learning this and it is clicking!!! Keep up the great work!!!
Cheers,
Tony
Yippie! Finally got 100%! Next?
Michael,
We will do a Thursday live session with some additional teaching (it will be archived for those that can tune in), and then Monday the next module will be opened up 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Pretty pumped I scored 2 wrong but I hit the wrong button for a questions so really just 1 wrong. Happy with myself!
Susan,
Great work!!!
Cheers,
Tony
That was awesome No one ever showed me that secret. You are a genius Tony
Mike,
Thank you for your kind words, but I must say that everyone who had the patience when teaching me theory are the ones to thank 🙂 I have been known to be impatient at times lol 🙂 Glad you are digging this!!!
Cheers,
Tony
For those having issues getting your browser playing the song, if you click on the media control bar (black rectangle one on top of the answer options) and then click on your keyboard’s spacebar, it should start the music for you. Excellent exercise Tony.
Done! A great session!
Hi Tony,
I tried to open the “how to find chords by ear” and it just shows me the comment page?
What can I do?
Jim Fraser
Jim,
Thanks for asking that is the second module and it will open up on May 8th 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Hey Tony, I cannot navigate to the ‘How to Find cords by Ear’. The link takes me to the comments page but not the video and quiz. I have tried to do this on three computers all with the same result, Any suggestions?
Dean,
No worries at all, that is the next module which will open up on May 8th. 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Tony, that Morgane Stapleton version of You Are My Sunshine is amazing. Here within the past couple of months I have discovered that Dave Cobb is somehow involved in most all of the music I have been loving here recently.
Daniel,
Glad you dig that tune!!! It is one that kills me every time 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Hey Tony, there are some really great tracks here. Can we have the playlist?
I was thinking the very same thing!
Naomi,
Absolutely, I will post it on the lesson page 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
After figuring out how to make the songs play it was fun, aced it. Which I could recoginize keys by ear alone without a guitar. Who knows maybe someday.
Thanks Tony
David,
Nice work!!! Figuring out the key by ear alone would be a skill definitely worth developing 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Great stuff. Was not really sure how to determine the #m Key.. Can you provide some guidance?
Actually that should have read “Was not really sure how to determine any old minor key” instead of an attempt at hashtag minor key in my attempt not to reveal a possible quiz answer.
No worries at all 🙂 we will delve into this topic on Thurs. 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
This is a topic I will go over in our first live q&A, lots of questions about that topic 🙂 My quick answer is when finding the key, find the note first and then figure out the tonality (major or minor) A quick way to address this is is the song happy or sad? If happy it is more than likely major and if sad it is more often than not minor 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Fourth time through and I still missed 3 keys. I sure hope you can train an ear, maybe like I train my dog Zeus! I’ll ask him. 🙂
Fronz,
Between you and Zeus, you guys got this 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
That was fun , i did find some were tricky to distinguish between, but got most of them with a guitar in hand, would not like to attempt without one 🙂
Markov,
It definitely elevates the difficulty level when the guitar is not accessible 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Was able to complete the quiz using Chrome on my Mac. I actually found this fun to do. Having an instrument to find the key helps a lot. Envy those that can do it without any aids.
Francis,
I have tried to do this without and instrument… I can’t say my results were good at all 🙂 I am glad you dug the quiz and that Chrome worked out for you!!!
Cheers,
Tony
A few of those seemed really close between 2 choices.
David,
Hehe (insert evil laugh noise) We will talk about some common pitfalls of finding the key by ear in our live Q&A 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Since key of F and key of Dm using same set of notes, how to identify the song is in which key?
Kelvin,
Great question here and wonderful discovery. It will really depend on what the song resolves to; meaning if you end up on D when looking for the key it would be D minor, if you end up on F it would be F major… it all depends on what the song resolves to 🙂 I will expand on this in our Q&A session this Thursday 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
got it..ok
got it
Done. Eventually able to play and listen to the pieces and getting the chords right….. mostly though.