N-lightMike
Forum Replies Created
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Designed? I don’t know about that @Dirk_R . Does it really matter?
General suggestion: do some kind of warm up.
Weekly Technique Challenge (Monday): picked to go along with the other lessons, not necessarily a specific technique for the week as is the case with some of the newer lessons. But always a choice for the week unless you have some warm up you are using that you prefer because you are working of improving a specific skill.
MG 😀
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Wow, @borch , I usually don’t get envious of what other’s have, but this one’s tough. What a cool thing to experience. I’m really happy for you and I know this will make you more confident and a better guitarist. Way to go.
MG 😀
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Hey @MarkI ;
The simple answer to your question, “please let me know why the “2” is on the “D” string and the “0” is on the “A” string” is “they are the correct notes”, or the notes that sound good.
And why do those notes sound good? Simple, they are chord tones. The open 5th string is an A note and the 2nd fret, 4th string is an E note, and they are the 1st and the 5th of the A major chord.
Same goes for the open 4th string and 2nd fret, 3rd string; it’s the root and 5th of the D chord; and the open 6th string and 2nd fret, 5th string are the root and 5th of the E chord.
As time goes by, you will learn more about these connections. You may look closer to understand, or you may choose to never understand. It doesn’t matter if you know what you are playing, as long as you learn what sounds good. It’s amazing how many famous guitar players didn’t know music theory or what they were playing. They didn’t care.
If you want an in depth, intellectual explanation, I can provide it. But it won’t make you a better guitar player and it won’t help you create original songs at this stage. But if you have that kind of mind, like me and many others, I’d be happy to explain more. Just ask.
MG 😀
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Hey @Powelly ;
I just found another way to help you understand the CAGED system.
I’m assuming you took the 30 days to play course? Look at 30 Days To Play Guitar Challenge, Week 1 – Learn The Basics Of Guitar With The Blues. In the introduction, Tony says you will learn 3 variations of a song, and you can play them all over the neck.
Notice that all 3, The Blues Shuffle, The Blues Baseline, and The Blues Boogie. use A, D and E “shapes”, or chords. At this point, he doesn’t want to cause confusion and he just calls them the A, D, and E “positions”. Notice that the Shuffle and the Boogie use the open A string, the open D string and the open E string as your bass note, and you can call that a root note even though you are playing notes and not a chord.
Notice that one of the notes you are playing in the Blues Shuffle is on the 2nd fret. Now, look at the open E chord, the open A chord, and the open D chord. The next string after the “root” string, is on the 2nd fret. Try it. Play an E chord, the 5th string is fretted on the 2nd fret. The A chord is rooted on the 5th, and the 4th string is fretted on the 2nd. Same for the D chord, the 4th string is your root note, and the 3rd string is fretted on the second.
The Blues Boogie throws in more notes, but you still play the open 5th string and the 2nd fret of the 4th string for the “A position”. The open 4th string and the 2nd fret of the 3rd string for the “D position”. And yep, the open 6th string and the 2nd fret of the 5th string for the “E position”.
Now, let’s look closer at the Blues Bassline, the second lesson in Week 1. Open the tab and look at it. You will see that the root note for the A position is the 5th fret of the 6th string. Now, look at an open E chord. Notice that the root is the open 6th string, and the 5th and 4th string are fretted at the 2nd fret. Now, look back at the tab for the Blues Bassline and see that it plays the 5th fret on the 6th string and the 7th fret on the 5th and 4th strings. You are picking out some of the notes of the “E shaped” A major chord, even though you aren’t playing or fretting the chord. You have simply slide the E shape up 5 frets.
Now, notice the root of the D position is the same 5th fret, on the 5th string, and it uses notes that are 2 frets higher on the 4th and 3rd strings just like the open A chord. And then the E position still uses the 5th string, just slide up 2 more frets.
So the Blues Bassline is picking out some of the notes of the E shaped A major chord, the A shaped D major chord and the A shaped E major chord.
That’s what CAGED means. You can use those 5 open chords to figure out how to play all over the fretboard. You won’t see the whole, big picture for a while. Don’t worry about it. Just learn what you can and have fun with what you can.
Remember, you can play cool sounding stuff without understanding what you’re playing or why it’s cool sounding. The notes and the music don’t care if you understand. Your audience doesn’t care if you understand if you are playing something they like.
MG 😀
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Great number, @AttyTJ . I’m just a little behind you. I signed up in June of the same year. And though my guitar journey helps keep me “young”, it is you and others that keep me grounded in my guitar journey. Thanks for that.
MG 😀
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Hello Marquita;
So the simple answer is 3rd line. The E2 that we play on the open E string is properly noted as below the 3rd line below the treble clef.
So, for guitar, the C on the 5th string, 3rd fret, is our “middle C”, which means it’s between the treble clef, or G clef (yeah, that’s actually a G and is centered on the 2nd staff line from the bottom, which is G) and the bass clef, or F clef (yeah, that’s supposed to be an F centered on the 2nd staff line from the top, which is an F).
So if we start on the center line, a C, then just go backwards, the B is below the line, the A (open 5th string) is on the 2nd line (which is the top line of the bass clef), G is below the 2nd line, F is on the 3rd line, E is below the 3rd line. (D would be on the 4th line, and C would be below the 4th line.)
So counting backwards, the notes on the bass clef lines would be A, F, D, B, G. Starting at the bottom of the treble clef, the notes on the lines is Every Good Boy Does Fine, and the notes of the bass clef starting from the bottom is Good Boys Do Fine Always.
Now, here is a link to a similar question.
I’ve also included a picture from that web page. It shows the treble and bass clefs for the piano. When you put the guitar notes on music notation, you move them up an octave. So the E2, which is our open 6th string, is properly shown 1 half step above the middle of the bass clef. On this picture, which is for piano, that note is called E3.
I hope this helps.
MG 😀
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Bummer, I lost my comment. Did you get to read that comment @1967kerbygmail-com ? I really don’t like this new platform, but the site is better over all for learning guitar. But it doesn’t support our forum very well.
MG 😀
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No, no, no, @Powelly it’s not too much for a beginner. In fact, it’s exactly what a beginner should be learning. I’m so sorry if I threw too much at you.
So, here’s the thing, don’t worry about “understanding” the CAGED system. Just learn the open chords and use them for songs. And of course, I’m talking about the C major chord, the A major chord, the G major chord, the E major chord, and the D major chord. As you learn them, remember where the lowest root note is. That’s the important part.
So, the root notes: The root note of the C major chord is on the 5th string, 3rd fret. The root of the A chord is the 5th string, open. The G root is 6th string, 3rd fret. The E is 6th string, open. The D is 4th string, open. For now, that’s all you need to remember.
As you progress, those root notes will be used in your playing. Those root notes will shape your strumming, flat picking and finger picking. Just the idea that those root notes can theoretically be moved will help you start seeing the fretboard in a different way.
You also want to learn the 5 shapes. As time goes on, you will see more and more connections between the chord shapes and the scale patterns and understand more and more what you can do with those shapes and connections.
Yes, go through the course again… and again… and again. Give the information time to sink in and reach your fingers. Don’t turn this into an intellectual thing cause it’s not. It’s all about the sound you make and how you make that sound on the guitar. It takes time. Be patient and have fun. Find ways to enjoy playing your guitar right now. And as long as you keep doing that, you are on the happy road of your guitar journey.
MG 😀
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Yeah, but Tony has never revealed just how many he has. And it’s probably like yours, over 20. I never had that many. I got up to about 14 I think, and started slimming down because I couldn’t play them all. I only have 9 now (one is more decoration than “real” guitar, though it does play), plus a guitarlele and an electric bass.
Anyway, I’ll be interested in hearing about your guitarsenal. I always like checking out other people’s guitarsenals.
MG 😀
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Hey @Rando ,
I’m replying to your reply rather than your original post because you shared so much more info. I love it. Especially the part about the guitars. By the way, you didn’t give us a number. How big is your guitarsenal and what does it contain? You don’t have to be embarrassed with us. Many of us, myself included, have done the same. 😉
I, too, am a lifetime member. You’ll find that many of the people who stay long term and are involved in the forum are lifetime members. That’s why we stay; we don’t face the annual renewal. So welcome to the “frugal guitar group”. Though we may not be all that frugal when it comes to our guitarsenal. 😂
And I also used a face to face instructor for a while, and though I think that’s awfully beneficial, it’s also awfully expensive. But that’s what makes TAC seem like such a deal. And TAC is so unlike other online instruction sites as you pointed out. I loved your description: “hot air”. That’s so true. But Tony really teaches us guitar, the foundational skills that allow us to take our guitar journey in any direction we want.
Thank you for sharing so much about your first year’s experience. I love hearing about the guitar journey of others. I gives me renewed motivation and joy in my own journey.
As far as your progress, you got it exactly correct. It is slow, but it is sure. With TAC, you don’t have to find the next thing to work on. Or follow some “course”. You simply challenge yourself with the daily lessons and the magic happens.
Thanks again, Randy.
MG 😀
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I don’t think they want to “advertise” the lifetime. There are people who sign up for annual with automatic renewal and then they just don’t pay attention as the years go by. I know someone who has gotten busy with his career and doesn’t really use TAC anymore, but has paid for 5 or 6 years. But he’s not done. He loves TAC and will come back to it when he has time. It’s way cheaper than a face to face as you discovered @Rando .
MG 😀
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You are very welcome, @sahardellamorady , please let us know how you are doing in your guitar journey and how the search for a new guitar goes. And especially let us know what guitar you end up getting.
MG 😀
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👍😊
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I have been told many times in my 3 plus years here at TAC to lighten up on myself. Really, Mark @the-old-coach , this stuff isn’t rocket science, but on the other hand, there are a bunch of confusing things that make no sense at first. Just be patient. You’re getting it. You’re putting in the effort. That’s what it takes. You are doing the deal.
MG 😀
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Meat head? That made me laugh, Mark @the-old-coach
No, I don’t think you are a meat head. But I do think of myself in those terms all too often, so I get it. (I am trying really hard to stop. If I wouldn’t think of you that way, why would I think of myself that way?)
MG 😀