Q. Most songs I find they have the guitar tabs or chords or whatever they are called. I only see them as chords for the piano, but obviously there's a way to read them as notes.
For example, can someone explain how to play the piano from these lyrics:
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/j/john_mark_mcmillan/how_he_loves_crd.htm
At least a line or two, if possible. I just want the gist of it.
Thanks!
A. Well, first I'll assume you know the notes on the piano.
Second, I'll assume you don't know how to build chords. (Otherwise you wouldn't ask this question)
That website is showing you the chords with lyrics, with little popups showing you a way to play that chord on the guitar.
If you know the notes on the guitar, you can move them over to piano, however it's just better to actually know how to build your own chords, because piano voicings are often different than guitar voicings.
Watch these videos I made on chord construction. They are intended for guitarists, but are applicable to any instrument:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEdcmkec5NE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKobaiYiQ88
Here is a chord construction chart:
http://a.1asphost.com/LukeSniper/ccc.html
How best to learn to read notes after years of playing?
Q. I play piano by ear and I have for years.
I am, however, getting sick of not being able to play full chords. The songs sound boring after awhile.
How should someone who knows there way around a piano learn to read notes?
Any book suggestions? I am looking into lessons, but I prefer to teach myself :)
A. Hi Stephanie--I know exactly how you feel! I played the guitar, bass, keys, and mandolin for YEARS without understanding how to read music (I learned basic notes in the first position of the guitar when I was seven years old, but that was over three decades ago!). I DO know how to read music for the drums, as I took jazz drumming lessons. However, there are no 'notes', just symbols.
Five years ago I became 100% disabled, so I took advantage of the bedridden state and taught myself how to read and write music. I also delved into advanced music theory: counterpoint' modes created from modes; all sorts of chord voicings).
I can actually play and write for the piano now, even though I was studying site reading and writing for the guitar, and theory for guitar purposes. Since my fretting hand has nerve damage, I often write out the melodies I have dancing in my head and practice them with my right hand on the keyboard.)
You will be AMAZED at how much knowledge of reading and writing music will kick start your love for the piano again. NO MORE BOREDOM.
This is how I did it:
1)I started studying and dissecting the scales.
2) I gained complete knowledge of intervals: this is the most important element in music theory. You HAVE to understand intervals because ALL scales are based on and derivative of the major scale and it's intervallic construction.
3) You must understand the intervals of the major scale. ALL other scales and modes derive from the major scale. All chords derive from scales.
4) Once you have an understanding of the major scale, LEARN THE ORDER OF THE NOTES IN THE TREBLE AND BASS CLEF STAFFS. Once you know the order of the notes (for example, the "lines" of the treble clef are--from the bottom up-- E-G-B-D-F. You can remember this by the mneumonic phrase: Every Good Boy Does Fine. The "spaces" in the treble clef contain the notes: F-A-C-E. You can remember this because the notes spell out the word FACE.)
The Bass Clef is similar to the treble clef' yet the notes are shifted DOWN one line. You will understand what I mean when you plot out the notes.
4a) You will, of course, need to understand all of the symbols related to reading music, for example: the rests, notes (whole, quarter, etc...), time signatures, key signatures' etc.*
4b) To learn the key signatures, it is easy if you use the circle of fifths. You can find the circle of 5ths and 4ths found in both theory books Iist at the end of this answer. This is a SIMPLE way, although it does take time and practice to remember the sharps and flats.
5) Once you learn the names of the notes on the staff and have learned the intervals and notes in the major scale (start with the C major scale, as there are no sharps or flats--the C major scale is represented on the piano as all of the white keys...starting on C...and then going up to the next octave: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-(C)), PLOT OUT THE "C" MAJOR SCALE ON THE TREBLE CLEF. You must learn how to write above and below the ledger lines in order to do this. I will recommend a great book to teach you this at the end of my answer. (Introduction to sight-reading...)
6) You will notice that you are learning all of this without even needing to play nor look at your piano. I have found that it is EASIER to learn how to read and write music if you do NOT have your instrument in front of you (because you have played for so long and already have knowledge of the notes on the piano). Although I HIGHLY recommend that you practice your intervals on the piano to learn how they sound, yo u do NOT have to have your piano around when learning to WRITE music out on the manuscript paper. That will come later. If you understand how to WRITE the scales and chords on the paper, then you will be better able to READ the music once you put the piano and manuscript paper together.
7) You want to learn how to create and understand how chords are made? Here's your answer: The basic Major and Minor chords are created by stacking thirds. For example, the MAJOR chord contains the intervals 1-3-5. If you would like to create a "C MAJOR" chord, plot out your major scale and take the 1st interval (C), the 3rd interval (E), and the 5th interval (G): there you have it. The C Major chord is made up of the notes C-E-G.
8) Did you notice that the major chord is made up of EVERY OTHER NOTE in the C major scale? When learning how to write out chords on manuscript paper, it's quite easy: if your ROOT note (the name of the chord) starts on a LINE on the clef, the you put a note on THAT line of the clef, and then put notes on the two lines above that note, skipping the spaces. (I'm taking something that will take a while to understand and compressing it into one answer here. It will take you a while to understand how to achieve each numbered point that I am giving you.)
10) You have to understand which intervals create each chord:
Major= 1-3-5
Minor= 1-b3-5
Dominant 7= 1-3-5-b7
minor 7 = 1-b3-5-b7
M
How do you play guitar chords?
Q. Im a novice guitar player and haven't found a good website for this yet; i know the basic guitar chords, but i'd like to know how to play these chords in lower positions on the neck.
thanks everybody who answers:)
A. If you want a simple graph that will show you where to put your fingers on the guitar, you can search for one online by typing "Guitar Chord Sheet" on your preferred search engine. It will give you names of chords, and finger positions.
But here is a short explanation of how it all works:
Guitar chords are simply a combination of certain notes played simultaneously.
In order to play a single note on a guitar you only need to hit any of the six strings. in order to change the note on any given string you can use a finger on your left hand (if you are right handed) and apply pressure to the string (against the neck of the guitar) so the string will be pressed against the metal fret immediately adjacent (on the right side) to the finger you are using to press. The string being pressed against the metal will tighten the string slightly, causing it to ring at a slightly higher frequency. This higher frequency is designed (by those calculating the distance between the frets) to be one half step higher then if you were to press on the neck one fret to the left (or down, or lower) .
In music one half step is a one note difference, when you include all of the twelve natural and sharp notes in your count. These notes are as follows: A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#. (These make up the black and white keys on a piano, between any key and it's higher pitch twin that you will find twelve keys away, which will appear the same in it's position in the shape that the black and white keys make).
On a guitar these twelve notes are distinguishable only by knowing the note that a string will make if it is played without any interference from your left hand. These default notes are set when you tune your guitar, they are (from low (fat) string to high (slim) string) E, A, D, G, B, E. Now you know that if you were to press the low or high E string on the first fret you would create a F note (effectively moving the E string up by one half step). and the same for the other strings (A string first fret is an A# etc.)
Now, in order to make a guitar chord you would need to place your fingers in the appropriate positions on the neck of the guitar (pressing each string at the note that you want) and play all the strings together. Assuming that you chose the right notes, the result will be the beautiful sound of your desired chord.
There are two ways to know where to put your fingers. One, is if you know the nature of the notes, and which combinations will give you a desired sound. This is relatively simple if you know two things, the names of the notes on the guitar, and the sequences of the various forms of chord construction. There are many different types of chord combinations. The basic ones that most of us deal with are: Major chords, Minor chords, and Sevenths.
Let's take a Minor chord for a moment and discuss the difference between an A-Minor chord and a G-Minor chord. The notes that make up an Am chord are: A, C, and E, and the notes that make up a Gm chord are: G, A#, and D. Now if you go back to where I listed all twelve notes and you count how many notes I didn't play, between the notes that I chose for my Am chord, you will find that there are two notes passed over (A#, and B which would be two half steps making one full step) and not played between the first two in the chord (A,and C) and you will also see that I skipped three notes (C#, D and D#) between the second two notes in the chord. Now if you were to count the spaces between the notes that I chose for the Gm chord you will see that I started at the G note but I skipped that same number of notes between those that I chose for that chord. So a chord is a set shape started at a chosen point. Any note you start at will be the name of your chord, and the number of notes that you skip between those that you choose to make your chord will determine the nature of the chord (Major or Minor etc.)
Take an A Major chord: A, C# and E; and a G Major chord: G, B and D; and you will find it set up the same way
The difference between a Major chord and a minor chord is the middle note (referred to as the third) which is moved up a half step in any Major chord.
Now, since we know how to play an Am chord on the guitar, and that the only difference between an Am and a A#m is where you start your shape, it simply follows that if you move all six notes of the Am chord one half step up on the neck you will make an A#m chord! Move it a full step up and you have a Bm chord.
These are called Bar Chords and are achieved by using your left index finger to move all six strings up a half step by placing it across all six strings on the first fret and using the rest of your fingers to make an Am shape, only now since it is all moved up a half stem it would be an A#m, A full step or the second fret would be a Bm the third fret would be a Cm the fourth a C#m and then to the Dm and so on.
The same applies to the A Maj
Powered by Yahoo! Answers