Donna asks…
Question about guitar chords?
I’m learning to play guitar, I already know how to read music, I just don’t understand how to play chords with the music. Like do you play the chord at the same time as you play a note in the music, or before playing the note? The book I have explains how to finger the chords, just not how to actually play them with the music so I’m a little confused. Thanks (:
ConnieManuel answers:
Generally, no – the notes are the melody, and guitar chords are usually used to accompany the melody. The term “rhythm guitar” should give you a clue – the guitar very often combines background accompaniment to the song as well as a rhythm part. There are very many strumming patterns, but they will often emphasize either the upbeat or downbeat of the song. For example, in 4/4 time, if you count “one, two, three, four”, you might strum on the numbers themselves. A more reggae-like example would be to strum on the upbeats – if counted like “one – and – two – and…” you would strum only on the “and” parts. Listen and play along with the radio – eventually you will develop a feel for it. Even if you are not a vocalist, it really helps to sing along while you play, especially when learning a song.
Good luck!
Lizzie asks…
How to play Fingerstyle Guitar – Making a whole melody.?
I’m a self-taught guitar player. I cannot read music yet I’m familiarized with scales, half-steps, wholesteps and I have all the fingering skills to play any chords. I find the right notes in a scale to play a whole song but how do I find other notes that would sound good along with those? What about base notes? I guess my real question is how to play a whole melody and how do you find those notes? By ear? Mention any books that could help me with this matter. Complete answers only please if I knew what to look for I’d look it up on google or such. Real help please. Thanks in advance.
Instant 10 points for best answer. Appreciatted.
ConnieManuel answers:
Finger style guitar playing can be very rewarding as it is expressive, adding more color to any music being played. It includes a defined rhythm as well as melody through picking of the string individually.
All done through practice of the patterns and timing you gather from a particular known selection or your own creation. This is as well applied in forms of classical guitar playing, as being historic in its nature.
Using the thumb as a bass foundation and the other (2, 3 or rarely 4th pinky) to knock out a steady melody. And, if you understand ‘cross-picking’ for now, you will exchange the fingernails to do the work as well as any patterns you can get down.
Many of us who have accomplished this have roots that go back to the ‘Travis’ method. Even of us who hadn’t realized it until years later (myself being one). Mr. Guitar, Chet Atkins emulated Mele Travis’ techniques while he was growing up listening to him on the radio.
And today, Tommy Emmanuel (fantastic virtuoso from Australia) had developed the same style and was dubbed a C.G.P. (Certified Guitar Picker) by Chet Atkins years ago for his ability and techniques in finger style picking. He as well listened to Chet, of his record recordings, when he was young. As well, Doyle Dykes (whom I’ve seen live on stage) who use to back up Chet Atkins when there were recordings done with RCA records. I think Jerry Reed was another player of this caliper.
And I found out that I played exactly like Peter Yarrow of the ‘Peter, Paul and Mary’ folk group. All because mainly just listening to their recordings. And going to see them play at concerts. Both listening and watching the masters going at it can be such a lesson in itself out from having to do any drills or charted techniques from any books, or middle of the road instructors.
Mele Travis took his style from being a banjo player, and many other had as well, to bring out that expression from any standard guitar they picked up from there. The rhythm and timing, once one can understand through that style of instrument, and you begin to see how it can all fit together.
So seek out the instruction books (many to choose from) and cds and DVDs that has mention of the players above and look for finger style titled instruction pieces to help get you started. The names will be either of endorsements, or reference to their historic playing abilities and techniques.
And, discover what a new way to expand your ability and pleasure in guitar playing.
Lisa asks…
How do you read chord patterns for guitar?
What i mean by this is a lot of music i see for guitars has a chord or 2 per line of lyrics. like
A
“Well you done done me and you bet i felt it,”
I know you don’t just play the chord once, so are you just supposed to strum to the tempo of the song or something? Also when i read tabs for this kind of stuff, there are all these signs on some of the tabs i don’t understand like sometimes there are x’s and y’s by each of the fret numbers
ConnieManuel answers:
You are correct, you strum to the time signature or rhythm of the music. Fort he second part of your question, I believe this will help you …
Tablature Symbols
The numbers don’t really describe the subtle techniques that a guitarist can execute, these are the tablature symbols that represent various techniques.
* h – hammer on
* p – pull off
* b – bend string up
* r – release bend
* / – slide up
* – slide down
* v – vibrato (sometimes written as ~)
* t – right hand tap
* s – legato slide
* S – shift slide
* – natural harmonic
* [n] – artificial harmonic
* n(n) – tapped harmonic
* tr – trill
* T – tap
* TP – trem. Picking
* PM – palm muting
* n/ – tremolo bar dip; n = amount to dip
* n – tremolo bar down
* n/ – tremolo bar up
* /n – tremolo bar inverted dip
* = – hold bend; also acts as connecting device for hammers/pulls
* – volume swell (louder/softer)
* x – on rhythm slash represents muted slash
* o – on rhythm slash represents single note slash
A Hammer On
A hammer on is executed by picking a note and then hammering done with the fretting hand on the second note. The second note isn’t actually picked but kind of echos the first one. Here is an example of how hammer ons are written in tab:
e———————-5h7—-
B——————5h7——–
G————–5h7————
D———-5h7—————-
A——5h7——————–
E–5h7————————
A Pull Off
A pull off is the opposite of a hammer on, so the first note is played again then the fretting hand pulls the finger off and lets the one fretted behind it play.
E———————-7p5—-
B——————7p5——–
G————–7p5————
D———-7p5—————-
A——7p5——————–
E–7p5————————
A Bend
A bend is represented by the symbol ‘b’, this is where the fretting hand actually bends the string to give a wobbly effect.
E—————————–
B—————————–
G–7b—-7b——————-
D————–7b—-7b——-
A—————————–
E—————————–
A Release Bend
A release bend is represented by the symbol ‘r’, this is just like a bend, but it tells you when to release the bend and go to the next note.
E—————————–
B—————————–
G–7r5—7r5——————
D————–7r5—7r5——
A—————————–
E—————————–
A Slide-Up
A slide up is represented by the symbol ‘/’. You would play the first note on 7 then slide the finger that is holding that note up to 9.
E—————————–
B—————————–
G–7/9—7/9——————
D————–7/9—7/9——
A—————————–
E—————————–
A Slide-Down
Opposite of a Slide Up, slide down is represented by the symbol ‘’. You would play the first note on 7 then slide the finger that is holding that note down to 5.
E—————————–
B—————————–
G–7/5—7/5——————
D————–7/5—7/5——
A—————————–
E—————————–
Vibrato
Vibrato is like a constant rhythmic bending of the string. You do a bend up and bend down quickly to create a moving sound. It is usually represented by ‘v’ or ‘~’.
E—————————–
B—————————–
G–7v————————-
D——————–7~~~—–
A—————————–
E—————————–
Tapping
Tapping is much like a hammer-on but you don’t strum any notes. Just tap the notes on the fret board with your fretting hand.
E—————————–
B—————————–
G–7t—7t—7t—————
D—————————–
A—————————–
E—————————–
Joseph asks…
Guitar Chords Question?
Hi, i am learning guitar from Hal Leonard Guitar method n in the songs they have given for practise they have placed a basic chord name above a particular note in the song and i wanted to know how many times to strum the chord until i reach the different chord in the song? i mean do i jus have to strum the chords so many times according the beats of the notes/melody of the song ?
cheers!
ConnieManuel answers:
Sometimes in instruction books, they’ll show slash marks to indicate the strumming pattern. If there is no other indication, you set up a strum that matches the time signature. It may help to think of your guitar as a drum that can play notes. Set up the rhythm pattern of the song while strumming the first chord. Just keep on strumming until the next chord comes along. The chords are written over the note or lyric where you make the change.
There’s no set amount of strums per chord. If you set up a steady rhythm, there will be equal strums PER MEASURE….but you might hold the same chord for several measures, or you might change chords in the middle of a measure.
Ken asks…
Guitar Chord pattern advice?
Well im learning guitar and have been going on ulitmate guitar tabs to learn some new songs, but i always see chords randomly on top of the words, i know how to play the chords but i dont understand what pattern yu should use because it is not very distinguished, please give me some tips! :)
ConnieManuel answers:
Depends on what you mean by “pattern”. If you are referring to the strumming pattern, then i suggest you listen to the song you are trying to learn, and just try to find the right timing and rhythm by ear. BUT, if you are looking for the chord variations (in other words, the different ways to play a particular chord), you can look it up on this website: http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/
*first you select the chord you want to play (C Major, for example).
*you find and select “C” and “Major” in the two gray boxes under “Normal Chords”,
*click on “Get” in the small box to the bottom right of the chord selection box after you highlight the chord you want,
*then select a variation to the left of that box under “Variations”.
Depending on the chord, you can find up to 10 different variations for one chord (listed as “1″, “2″, “3″, and so on).
Some transcribers (at www.ultimate-guitar.com) will provide you with a key at the bottom or top of the tab they submit, which will display the specific fingering for that specific song.
This one for example, has the chords at the bottom: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/b/beatles/a_day_in_the_life_ver3_crd.htm
whether or not they are correct depends on the the person who submits the tab. It’s usually hit or miss in this case, but just look up the tabs with the highest ratings, and make sure you try it yourself to see if it is in fact correct. Sometimes even the highest rated tabs are still incorrect, but usually you will find the corrections under the comments page for that particular tab. A proper tab will list the tuning (standard, drop d, half-step down, etc.), will list the chords over the words to which they correspond with the timing of the song, and sometimes they will even provide a timing signature (4/4, 4/2, etc.). However, listening by ear seems to be the easiest way to figure out notes and strumming patterns, even for a novice or beginning guitar player. Good luck, hope i answered your question or future questions you may have had.
Susan asks…
Reading guitar chords?
if u go to chordie.com you see chords above the words of the lyrics of a song. i just dont kno wat strumming pattern u would do. can someone plz tell me exactly wat to do when u read these chords for songs?
ConnieManuel answers:
When you see lyrics and chords, they rarely show strum patterns. It is assumed that you’ve heard the song and can figure out a rhythm pattern. The chords *should* be written over the precise word where the change occurs. Sometimes the text doesn’t line up correctly and you just have to use your ear.
Really I can’t stress this too strongly: train your ear and use it. All of the chords on the web are somebody’s interpretation, and some of them are just plain wrong. Like anything on the web, accuracy depends on the source. So use chordie.com as a starting point, then listen to the song you’re trying to learn and try to work it out from there. After a while, you’ll develop a good ear and won’t even need the web. Really!
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