[Bill_Brown]

Hi @jorgemac , hope you’re having a good Labor Day weekend! Sunday and Monday are supposed to be beautiful weather days here in the Western PA area – dry, sunny, hi temps around 80, and best of all – LOW HUMIDITY!!!!!!

Ultimate Guitar is where I go to find versions of chord progressions and lyrics for songs I want to learn. But it’s Youtube for me, to learn how to play and sing those songs. I’ve found that at “YT”, I can see original artist’s and “cover” artists versions, which allows me to choose a general demeanor in which I want to “perform” the song. Also, I can see tutorials from various music “podcasters” (for lack of a better term) that teach the songs at various levels of competency. To be honest, I don’t know very much about some of the other sites mentioned here in this thread, maybe I’m just stuck in the “old” 2020 era (LOL).

[Bill_Brown]

Hey @albert_d , I just wanted to give my two cents on your question. First, I’m going to start with the idea that all chords can have different “names” based on the “intended root” of the chord. WHAT??? Yes, that open C chord could be an Emb6 or an Em/C if we “intended” the root to be E instead of C – haha – go figure – right? And we could do this with each note in that open C chord. Yes, there are “rules” to naming chords but, like most things in music, rules can be broken. I have more info to give you, but “big brother” isn’t allowing me to post it here (so far). I have found a wonderful website (OOLIMO.COM/EN), you should check this one out and see what I’m talking about.

[Bill_Brown]

Hello @BarbaraM , great to hear your opinions as I have read almost all of your posts from the “Daily Challenges” since you have joined TAC. For this one, I would suggest that you do what you’re able to do and forgo the things that you’re physically unable to do. That being said, I hope you would try to understand the concepts being presented in FW, because IMHO they’ll help you down the road. My experience with FW has helped me with my guitar journey in a way that I never imagined. It piqued my curiosity with music theory enough that I went outside of TAC to learn more. It allowed me to understand more than I can fathom – I’m not a great guitar player (I stink), but I understand what I can do with it, and I’m having FUN trying!

[Bill_Brown]

Of course it is @ddwaugh1967gmail-com – whatever works for you and the situation, (BTW, welcome to TAC). There are numerous ways to play a G chord. You have multiple fingering configurations for the open G, you have triad forms over different string sets and all their inversions, and you have different barre chord shapes – all of which you can use to play a G chord. It’s really up to you which one you want to use!

[Bill_Brown]

Good to hear from you my good friend @oldprofessor ! I experienced the issue with shoulder pain when playing with dreadnought style guitars for extended periods. I’ve read about other TAC members with similar issues, and they played dreadnought style guitars too. One fellow TAC’er who was from Alaska (I can’t remember his name…Don??) and went as far as having rotator cuff surgery and he still continued playing a dreadnought – you probably know him from the VOM’s. Anyways, I should talk about my own experience with shoulder pain and not other people.

Whenever I play with a dreadnought style guitar for any extended period of time, I get shoulder pain. When I stumbled onto my “thinner bodied” Martin 000-15, the shoulder pain went away. I’m not saying “get a Martin 000 series guitar”, but I am saying that thinner bodied model guitars are worth looking into. IMHO, the thinner bodied guitars are much more comfortable to play when compared to the “dread”. And, it’s been my experience that I get no shoulder pain when I play my 000-15, but I do get shoulder ache when I play one of my dread style guitars.

Hope you’re doing well my friend, take care. Until the next time!

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @gotwoodncgmail-com

Without looking at the particular lesson you’re referring to, just know this: The interval of the 3rd is what makes a chord major or minor. In other words, the distance (or interval) from the root to the 3rd is what makes a major or minor chord. So if the chord has a major 3rd (3), it’s a major chord. Conversely, if the chord has a minor 3rd (b3 or flat 3), then it’s a minor chord. OK, how do we know the difference between a major and minor 3rd? The answer is the distance from the root. The distance (or interval) from a root to a major 3rd is 2 whole steps (or 4 frets), the distance to a minor 3rd from the root is 1 and 1/2 steps (or 3 frets) – a difference of 1/2 step (or 1 fret).

For example, let’s start with an A major chord with the notes A as the root, C# as the 3rd, and E as the 5th, that we derived from the chord matrix. Now when we fret the open A major chord (X02220), we’re playing the open A string (root), then fretting the D string 2nd fret (E note/5th), the G string 2nd fret (A note/also a root), and the B string 2nd fret (C# note/3rd) and playing the open hiE string (E note/also a 5th). When we fret the open A minor chord, everything is fretted the same EXCEPT the B string. We are now fretting the B string 1st fret (C note/b3rd or flat 3rd). So we have lowered the major 3rd down (in tone) by a 1/2 step (or 1 fret) and created a minor 3rd, making it an A minor chord (X02210).

You will find the same thing with the E major chord (and every chord). From the chord matrix, the notes are E=root, G#=3rd, and B=5th. The fretting will be 022100 where the G string 1st fret (G# note) is the major 3rd. If we lower the G# note by 1/2 step (or 1 fret) to a G note, we’ve created the E minor chord (022000). If you lower the 3rd of any major chord by a 1/2 step (or 1 fret), you’ll create a minor chord.

I hope this is helpful.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 2 weeks ago by  Bill_Brown.

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @rdools116gmail-com and welcome to TAC. Some common problems for people new to guitar are 1) they tend to keep their fretting hand wrist locked and 2) their thumb and palm stuck at the same location along the back of the neck – almost like a death grip (if you will) on the neck. The key is to RELAX your fretting hand wrist – allow it to move naturally (up and down and from side to side) so that the thumb and palm can move fluidly on the back of the neck. This fluidity is what creates the ability to arch your fingers over the strings and fret them without muting other strings along with changing chords quickly (once you have built the “muscle memory” of the chord shapes). Best of luck to you on your guitar journey!

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @gregeaganymail-com and welcome to TAC. I want to say that the 2 gentleman who’ve responded above have valid and helpful information and shouldn’t be ignored. But I’m going to come at this from a completely different direction, and that is chord shapes. They’re several different chord shapes that can be used at different locations along the fretboard for a G chord. Just like what we did on Monday’s and Tuesday’s lessons for “Hotel California” week, we played different chord shapes (triads) at different locations along the fretboard.

Our standard open G chord (in this format) will be depicted like this: 320003, where the numbers are fret numbers to be fretted (0 indicates an open string and an X will indicate a string not played), going from left to right, loE string at the left and hiE string at the right. So let’s look at some other forms of a G chord. I’ll start with using the mini F bar shape fretted between the 3rd and 5th frets, or XX5433. By using this shape at this location along the fretboard, you’re playing a G chord. I understand that a lot of beginners have trouble with this shape, but it can be simplified even further. We can play XXX433 or XX543X, both of which are G chord triads. Also we can use XXX003, or XX000X, or XXX787, or XX978X – yes, all of these are G chord shapes that can be used in place of the standard open G chord and don’t require stretching your fingers across all 6 strings.

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @JimQuiz , are you referring to the “Shape Connection” chart on page 17 of the FW materials manual?

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @jorgemac ,

The Allman Brothers Band covers “Stormy Monday”, originally by T-Bone Walker, on their Live At The Fillmore East album. This song was also covered by Bobby “Blue” Bland (circa 1960) as well. Over all, the Allman Brothers is my favorite rendition. Blind Willie McTell wrote and recorded “Statesboro Blues” and was also covered by Taj Mahal (1968). Elmore James wrote and recorded “Done Somebody Wrong”, all of which are covered by the Allman Brothers on that Live At The Fillmore East album.

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @JimQuiz , I’m looking at the diagram on page 16 for the “G” scale pattern, and you may have a point. But just to be clear, let’s look at that movable “G” (major scale) PATTERN with the root on the loE string. Let’s start with the root at the 5th fret loE string for an example. That means starting with the pinky on the 5th fret loE (as the 1) – then the index will go to the A string 2nd fret (for the 2) – then the ring finger will go to the A string 4th fret (for the 3) – and then the pinky will go to the A string 5th fret (for the 4) – then we go to the D string with the index on the 2nd fret (for the 5) – and then the ring finger on the D string 4th fret (for the 6) – then we go to the G string 1st fret with the index (for the 7 – a slight shift towards the head stock) – and then we finish the octave with the middle finger on the G string 2nd fret (back to the 1).

So yes, I just went through the A major scale for the example I gave, but I did it using a movable “G” SCALE PATTERN that Tony is teaching. So based on the conditions of this pattern (where the root is movable along the loE string), in the above example you are moving from the lowE string 5th fret (as the root), down towards the head stock, 3 frets to the A string to play the 2 note of the scale – which happens to be on the 2nd fret A string for this example. The diagram on page 16 shows 4 frets (from what I can make out), which would be incorrect based on that scale pattern, JMHO!

[Bill_Brown]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsjzV8sOdXU&list=RDXsjzV8sOdXU&start_radio=1

I thought you might like this!

[Bill_Brown]

@the-old-coach , great to hear from you my friend! Hope all is going well for you (and yours) out there on the Left Coast (LOL). I think it was the 2nd class that Mike taught – the summer you did a lot of traveling – when he introduced the approach of C(B) A G E D. I believe he laid it out that way because the word CAGED was easy to remember, but in actuality it’s BAGED that’s the order of strings. The number of frets to “SKIP” between strings (1 1 2 1 2) was a way to help complete the concept.

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @BarbaraM , thank you for your feedback. Allow me to explain that 1 1 2 1 2 are the number of frets to “SKIP”, or in other words, the number of frets “in-between” notes on the strings B A G E D B. In the example you posted, you’re not “skipping” the number of frets, you’re traveling that number of frets, that’s why you’re coming up short (by one fret) of the C note. If you want to count or travel the number of frets between notes, just add 1 to each number above, yielding 2 2 3 2 3. When this approach was presented to me, I was taught to “skip”. But the way you’re doing it (“traveling” or counting the number of frets between strings to the next note) works just as well, but the numbers then are 2 2 3 2 3.

Hope this explanation clears any confusion, have fun.

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @BrandonK , yes I would be happy to show you. But I do believe that you should pick up your guitar and go through the example I gave so you can get a “feel” for it and actually see the “patterns” on your own guitar.

The most important thing to memorize is B A G E D (very similar to the word CAGED). Once you have that down, then you need to keep in mind that these letters (BAGED) work like the musical alphabet. If we start on the A string (any fret), the next closest same note will be on the G string (moving forward toward the guitar body) or on the B string (moving backward toward the nut). Likewise, if we start on the E string, any fret, (either hiE or loE – it doesn’t matter which), the next nearest same note will be on the D string (moving forward) or on the G string (moving backward).

The second most important thing to remember is 1 1 2 1 2. This sequence of numbers are the number of frets to skip between the letters BAGED. So between the B & A strings, you skip 1 fret, whichever way you’re moving, from the A string to the B string or visa verse. If we want to move between the G & E strings, you skip 2 frets, whichever way you’re moving.

I find it easier (for me) to remember the letters (BAGED) and numbers (11212) separately. But by combining them (B1A1G2E1D2B), you get a better picture of how this approach works, with the string names and number of frets to skip between those strings.

I think with a little effort, you can do this on your own. But I can do a zoom call if you need to.