[drew.sudell]

Oh, and part of your question might be “where’s the course guide?” Took me a bit to find it, there’s a link to it “Download the quick reference PDF” in the description at the top of Fretboard Wizzard. Or you can use this link https://tonypolecastro.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/TAC-Fretboard-Wizard-INTERACTIVE-Guide.pdf

[drew.sudell]

I had to go back and look at the course guide to Fretboard Wizzard, but there’s a quick guide to the Nashville Number system on pages 13 and 14 of the guide. There’s also a more detailed version on wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_Number_System

At it’s core, it’s pretty simple. For any given key there are 7 chords in the scale. So you can talk about the chord progression independent of the key.

Let’s say you are in C. So the chords are C Major, D minor, E minor, F Major, G Major, A minor and B diminished. So those are the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 chords. Some times you’ll see that with roman numbers and with the Majors as upper case and the minors as lower case. Now if you have a song with a 1-4-5-1 progression, that will be C, F, G and back to C. OK. Now let’s say the singer prefers to sing in A. Well it’s still 1-4-5-1. But the key of A is A Bm C# D E F#m g#dim. So 1-4-5-1 is now A-D-E-A.

Learning to think about it, and to hear it as relative changes (going from the I to the V for example) makes learning songs and, picking up on new songs, and adjusting the key to get along with others easier.

At some level it’s an intentional effort to avoid using the absolute chord names and only talk about the relative chord

[drew.sudell]

There’s really not a single “the G chord” as there are various G chords. In this case the strums are just brushing the treble strings and hinting at the chord, which is ok because you just picked that nice deep G base note on the low E string. Now technically a chord is three notes and a G major is G B and D. As charted there’s no B in that. If you want a B, using a 3 finger G chord and leaving the b string open is certainly an option. Of course, you are free to catch the B on the A string on the strums. That would work fine on the down strum. Going too far into the base on an up-strum feels weird. Usually you only catch a few of the treble strings.

As for direction, there’s nothing on that chart to indicate direction. There’s a convention that usually for 8th notes, on the beat is down and the “and”s are up. But that’s not etched in stone. Sometimes when it’s important and not obvious you little Vs for the up strokes and little staple like marks for the down strokes.

[drew.sudell]

If it helps you could try a different voicing of the G chord. When I’m moving between C and G I like to do a 3 finger G: middle finger on the second fret of the A string, ring finger on the 3rd fret of the E string, and pinky on the 3rd fret of the high e string. So rather than rotating the orientation of the fingers and moving the ring finger between the b and low E, the movement is just to move the middle and ring up/down one string while lifting/placing the pinky or index.

[drew.sudell]

It is confusing at first, but they are multiple ways to play any chord.

A G major chord is just G B and D. So you could play that on 3 strings. But usually that’s not what happens. Different ways to play a chord are called voicings. One common way to play a G major chord is the four finger G 320033 (the 3rd fret on the E string, 2nd on the A string, open D string, open G string, 3rd fret on the B and high E ) which is G B D G D G, so GBD with a extra D an octave up, and two extra Gs. It makes it a bit fuller and richer. Another common way is the three finger G 320003 (same but leaving the B string open). That’s G B D G B G, so it’s still a G chord but has two Bs and only one D. The three finger version, played with the middle, ring and pinky fingers, is popular in songs that move G to C because it makes an easier transition.

Most of the time for Tony’s challenges I’ll use what he suggests. Some times I fall back to the version I use the most. Occasionally he’ll call out that you really want a particular fingering to make the movement easier. But feel free to use what you are most comfortable with.

As time goes on you’ll likely end up learning different voicings of many chords and choose them for reasons of sound, ease of transition, or leaving a convenient finger free to embellish the chord. But starting out, use whatever is most comfortable.

If you search for “ways to play g chord on guitar”, you’ll get a ton of answers with titles like “learn 8 ways to play a g major,” “5 ways to play a g chord,” and “12 different ways to play an open g chord”. Those will be there when you’re ready. Until then just have fun learning one of the common versions.

[drew.sudell]

There is a “download tab” link, whose icon is the word “tab” and a shot bit of tablature lines, just below the videos on the far right. On the “Practice Fretting with Blues Shuffle” (week 1, day 1 of 30 days to play) that will be a link to https://tonypolecastro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/The-Blues-Shuffle-30D2P.pdf I think the tab is what you’re looking for. That will give you the string and fret. What it won’t give you is which finger to use. Having that up while watching the video makes it easier to follow along too.

Don’t recall if there was a “how to read tab” in the 30 days to play. But if not, well I was going to say google it, but then I noticed this in my search results. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2lJjaDDD0k It’s Tony and I think it’s from 30 days to play.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  drew.sudell.

[drew.sudell]

While it’s easier to remember which strings to use or the relative positions, it’s useful to notice the notes being played. For a open G chord, the notes in ascending order are G B D G B G, so alternating between the 6 or E string and the 4 or D string is moving between a G and a D. For an open A chord, the notes are A E C A E, so alternating between the 5 or A string and the 4 or D string is moving between A and E. For an open D chord, the notes are D A D F#, so alternating between the 4 or D string and the 3 or G string is moving between D and A. You’ll also see people move between the 4 or D string and the 5 or A string. Again this is moving between a D and an A.

What do they all have in common? The movement is between the 1st and the perfect 5th. These are the notes in a scale that resonate together best. There’s a bit of physics, specifically harmonics, behind why, but it just sounds good. That’s also why the 1st and the 5th are in both the major and minor chords, and why a power chord is the 1st and the 5th.

[drew.sudell]

The canonical chord would be a diminished 7th, in this case Bdim. That consists of B-D-F. The G7 is a G Major with a 7th added, so G-B-D-F. So it’s basically a Bdim with a G in the base. In the chord progressions I’ve seen Tony substitute a dominant 7th for the diminished chord more than a few times. I suspect it’s “easier to play” and/or “something that comes up more often.” But if you’re looking at the Chord Matrix from Fretboard Wizard and not expecting a G variant between the Am and the C, you’re right.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by  drew.sudell.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by  drew.sudell.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by  drew.sudell. Reason: fix typos