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
Piano/Keyboard Question! Experienced players advice please.?
Q. I am looking to buy a cheap keyboard. I already have a piano, but it is of poor quality. We got it for free a few years back and I am not too fond of it now that I am playing pieces with more complex chords. I would like to purchase a keyboard with weighted keys that is no more than $175. I know the price is going to be hard to find, but that's my budget.
How limited would I be with a 61-key? A 76-key? Does anyone know where I may be able to find cheap keyboards of good quality online?
I will not be playing on this keyboard alone, my piano is fine for most pieces, but some chords sound awful and I strongly dislike the feel of the keys. I cannot get a new piano, and I am going to college in a couple years, so a keyboard would be great to have anyway.
Thank you!
I have no idea how to work this site, so this is me attempting to respond to Max Name's answer.
By complex chords I meant a lot of jazz chords and some other chords. I am not too advanced, but my piano teacher likes to choose pieces with very odd chords because he finds them intriguing. They are, but the sound is bad on my piano :/
I don't usually go too far up into the higher octaves on my piano, but sometimes I go lower on the bass end. Do you know how far the bass end would extend to on a 76-key? I won't exclusively be using the keyboard, so I could most likely go without some keys. I am starting to lean more towards a 76-key.
Tony B,
Yes I have had the piano tuned. It didn't help much and it only held the tune for about 2 months. The guy said there is probably something broken in it.
The keys are very very tough to press down, they don't always make sound, and more.
I would never recommend a 1964 Whitney spinet. Just saying.
A. Hey! Totally depends on what you're playing. You mention complex chords and such, so I'm going to guess a pretty high level. I would definitely advise going for a 88 key keyboard as it has all the notes that a real piano does. You'll find songs where you'll have to go all the way up to the top and the bottom of the piano, and if those notes aren't on your keyboard, you'll find it very discouraging and it'll throw the whole song off.
It's hard to find an 88-key for under $175. I bought a Casio PX-130 88-key piano for about $250 on Amazon two years ago and it works beautifully. If you have any questions shoot me a message and I'll try my best to answer ;)
how to be a better piano player?
Q. Im an intermediate pianist (check youtube for apprenticepianist) but lately its been harder for me to learn new songs. I normally take quite long to learn a piece as my sight reading is terrible and I have to read the notes really slowly to learn just a part, I normally struggle more with the bass clef, but I still struggle with the treble sometimes e.g with ledger lines or chords. I wouldnt mind literally relearning the piano but I have no idea where to start.
A. If you are still struggling with reading music, then you really should not put any labels on yourself about ability, like *intermediate pianist* - just say your are learning piano. You need a very good teacher - degreed and certified - who can assess your strengths and needs, and then assign you work based accordingly. It might be that your reading skills are connected to a small deficit like dyslexia - do you also struggle with reading text, or numbers? Or were you just never correctly taught? If you are already feeling lost, then do NOT try to fix this alone - get the finest teacher you can find - and do no expect that you will have to sing up for tons and tons of lessons. I teach all ages and abilities, and often get "bucket list" students - seniors who never had the time or money before, or know that they were poorly taught - and NOW they want to do this right. My husband also has 2 students now who are very smart kids - but have subtle learning disabilities, and want to learn - correctly - and have a great deal of determination to do this. This does not mean that they need to be pressured, corralled, constricted, or prevented from playing what they like - it just means that they need someone to assist them in doing it correctly.
We are hardly unique - there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of fine teacher just like us - and betcha there are some near you. Ask the head of your local school music department, who they advise. Do not assume that the stoner at the local music store is going to be good, just because they look lenient - they just might be jaded or bored. A good teacher is worht every dollar - and poor teacher is a waste of every nickel.
In the meantime, there are zillions of theory programs online that will help you with reading. There are also zillions of TERRIBLE, short-cut, mistake-laden things on YouTube - and right now, you cannot tell the difference, so stay away from them. Make a few calls - you will be glad you did - and the human interaction is the BEST. Sight-reading is a learnable skill -I wrote my MM thesis on this topic, decades ago - and should not be scary, but just a part of your musical life, like scales. We all do this - we all learned at some time - so can you. Write back after you have made some progress - it is always great to hear from successful students.
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