Strumming And Arpeggios

When the plectrum is drawn quickly across the strings all the notes of a chord sound more or less simultaneously. This is strumming, in which you will not normally be able to distinguish one note from another, but are aware of the chord as a blended whole. If on the other hand, you draw the plectrum across the strings more slowly, so that there is a definite time lag between one note and the next, you will produce what is known as an arpeggio.

The strumming, rhythmic style is the one we shall use for our accompaniments at first. It is therefore important that you should learn to strum with a regular beat, in order to make your accompaniment as rhythmic as possible. Try fingering the G chord with your left hand and strumming, counting an even 1-2-3-4 as you do so.
After the chord symbols- such as the C, D7, G we have learned so far - diagonal lines this / are used to indicate how many times the chord should be repeated. Thus the 1-2-3-4 beats on the chord of G which you have just played are written in symbol notation | G/// | The vertical lines are Bar lines. In the example here you be playing a four to the bar rhythm. You will also find that a lot of pieces are written in three to the bar rhythm, or waltz time. Three to the bar looks like this | G// | and is counted 1-2-3, 1-2-3 and so on.

Now that you are reasonably familiar with the fingering of the three principal chords in G, try the following exercise over a few times to get used to changing from one chord to another.

Play four beats to the bar, strumming:
||: G / / / | C / / / | D7 / / / | G / / / :||

The double lines and dots at the beginning and end of this exercise ||::|| indicate that the section enclosed by them should be repeated. Remember this, as you will encounter them often in the future. In this instance you should repeat the exercise until you are sure that you can hit the chords correctly each time and maintain a constant rhythm. In all exercise it is better to start off quite slowly, at a tempo you can manage easily without fumbling the changes. If the first part of an exercise seems easy, many students have a tendency to begin as fast as they can - only to come a cropper when something more difficult turns up later on. This is bad because it produces chopping and changing of the original tempo which robs the exercise of any musical value whatsoever. Go slowly at first, concentrating on producing a good tone and a full song. Speed doesn't matter at this stage. That will come naturally with practice. Maintaining a steady tempo is much more important.

Now let's try our fist folk song, GOODNIGHT LADIES, which uses the chords of G. The starting note for this song is the open second string (B). In fact, if you like, you can pick out the melody of the first two bars completely, on open string, by playing in this order. 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 3rd. This gives you the notes equivalent to the phrase 'Goodnight Ladies'. Play it over a couple of times to get the idea before going on to the song.

STRUM FOUR TO THE BAR
BEAT FOUR TO THE BAR

This note
is open B.
|4/4 G / / / | G / / / | G / / / | D7 / / / |
Good-night, - la-dies,- Good-night,- la-dies,-

| G / / / | C / / / | G / D7 / | G / / / ||
Good-night,- la-dies,We're goin' to leave you now.-

You may have noticed that the chord of the song is G, the tonic chord. The tonic is sometimes referred to as the 'home' chord, because it is variably the one upon which a piece written in a particular key ends. Thus, a song played in the key of G will end on the chord of G, or one in the key of C, on the chord of C.

Guitar Chord Window C

The 5th and 6th strings are not sounded in this chord, as you will note from the X symbols side the nut position. The O symbol over the 1st and 3rd strings indicates that they should be played open. When you have mastered the C chord, try changing from this to D7, and then to G.

A NOTE ON TONE PRODUCTION
Concentrate from the outset on making as full a sound as possible each time you play a chord. By this I don't mean that you should bash the plectrum down on the strings with all the force you can master. This will only succeed in producing ugly rattles and buzzes. It is far more important at this stage - and at any other, for that matter- that you should obtain the best tone of which your instrument is capable, rather than striving for sheer volume.

You will have no doubt have noticed by now that the position at which you strike the strings makes a distinct difference to the nature of the tone produced. If you haven't already done so, experiment with this. Finger the G chord with your left-hand and strike the strings close to the bridge. The tone thus produced will be bright and tinny- almost banjo-like. Now, still holding the chord, move your right hand up past the sound-hole to where the neck joins the body of the instrument and draw the plectrum slowly across the strings at this position. The tone this time will be softer, but much rounder and more mellow.

As with so many things, the happy medium is the one to be recommended. That is, a playing position about half-way between these two extremes. This leaves the very sharp and very mellow tones in reserve for any special effects you may wish to produce.

Guitar Chord Window D7

Finger this chord, using left-hand fingers indicated in the window. Then play it slowly, one string after another, to make sure that each is sounding properly. If it isn't, look again at your left-hand fingers, to see if you are pressing the stings down with sufficient firmness, and in the correct position behind the frets. Also check in case any of your fingers are fouling adjacent strings and preventing them from vibrating.

When you fell happy about D7, try changing from D7 to G... and back again. It will be a struggle at first. You'll find it necessary to look down at the fingerboard and guide your left-hand fingers carefully into position. Don't worry_ we've all been through this stage , and the only way to get past it is to practice the change again and again until you are able to make it smoothly. Don't worry about speed, just take it slow and easy, and make sure that all the notes in each chord sound every time.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR THE LADIES
You're going to have cut those lovely long finger nails on your left-hand or right-hand. If you don't you'll never able to press the strings down in the correct manner. So get out your clippers and look upon it as a sacrifice made for your Art.
Generally, many players plays with their right hand. They said, right hand playing is universally right thing to do on guitars. Many artists like also plays guitar right hand. If you don't want to play it right hand, then you can simply choose left-handed playing.

Guitar Chord Window

Over the nut position on the diagram you will notice the two symbols X and O. There refers to the un-fingered strings in the chord shape. When X is placed over a string, this string should not be sounded. Therefore, in the example above section, the 5th and 6th strings are not played. The O symbol placed over a string means that, although it is not fingered, the string should be sounded. In this case you will see that the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings are played open in this way, producing the notes D,G and B, which are in fact the basic notes of the chord of G.

When fingering a string it should be pressed down just behind, NOT on the fret. This brings the string firmly into contact with the metal of the fret, thus shortening the length of the part which vibrates when struck and making its pitch higher than that of the open string. In this case the 1st (E) string is stopped at the third fret and becomes G. If you turn back to the Fingerboard Diagram at the beginning of this section you will to check this. Notice that each time you move your finger up a fret, the pitch of the string goes up a semitone.

Now, holding your plectrum between the first finger and thumb of the right hand, as described earlier, draw it cross the top four strings. Remember, just the top four - we are using the 5th and 6th string at this stage. You should not have any difficulty in producing a musical sound from the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings in this chord, because they are sounded open, but you may find that first gives you nothing more than an inelegant 'phut'. This does not indicate that there is anything wrong with your guitar, or with the method of fingering described above. The trouble lies in the fact that all this stage your fingers are not strong enough, nor your finger-ends hand enough, to press the strings down with sufficient firmness. Another possible fault is that the side of your left-hand finger may be making accidental contact with the un-fingered 2nd string and deadening it's sound.

Guitar Chord In Window System

The best way for a beginner to learn his chords is through a system of diagram known as 'Windows'. (The origin of this name will soon become obvious.) The window system is based on a pictorial representation of the guitar fingerboard as shown in figure.
The vertical lines represent the strings of the guitar, 6th, 5th, 4th and so on, reading from left to right. I have shown the top horizontal line as a double one, to indicate that it represents the nut, that is the point which divides the vibrating section of the strings from the part which goes on the tuning head. As you will see from the diagram of the guitar fingerboard on the opposite page, the frets are numbered downwards, 1st,2nd,3rd and so on. To show a chord in the window system it is merely necessary to add it's fingering to the basic diagram. Thus the first of our principal chords G is as shown below.

-CHORD WINDOW NO FINGERING

The circle on the 1st string shows the position at which the string should be pressed. The number inside the circle indicates that the third finger of the left hand should be used for this purpose, no other. It is important at this stage that you should use precisely the left-hand fingering indicated. To keep things as simple as possible I have given you only the four-string chord of G. Later on, when you learn the additional left-hand fingering that makes this chord into a six-string one, you may encounter unnecessary difficulty if you get into the habit of using the wrong fingers now.
-Chord Window G

Guitar Chords In 'G' (Chord Trick)

The guitar is an ideal accompanying instrument, and the easiest and most satisfying manner in which to begin learning to play is to take advantage of this fact. In this section I shall show you how to use your guitar to accompany a number of well-known folk songs, and you should be able to start making satisfying musical sounds within a very short time.

These sounds will be chords- which are defined in my dictionary as 'a simultaneous and harmonious union of sounds of different pitch'. In guitar terms this means simply three or more strings played at the same time. Chords are the basis of all guitar technique, and they are praticulary important in accompaniment playing because of the fullness of the sound they provide. So you must begin to learn chords and the chord symbol system, which is a very useful form of musical shorthand with many uses.

In every musical key there are three principal chords, which are known as the tonic, the dominant and the sub-dominant. In the key of G these three chords are G. D7 (pronounced D seventh) and C, and you will find them used in different permutatios and with additions throughout the accompaniment of any song written in this key. It follows logically that the more complicated the harmony of a song, the greater the number of additional chords requried, but most folk songs have a simple harmonic structure and in many cases they can be accompanied quite satisfactory by using nothing more than the three principal chords mentioned above.

Guitar Strings

A lot of players, not all of them beginners, take strings for granted. For them, the only reason for replacing a string is that is has broken. They go on indefinitely playing on strings that are discolored and rusty, their covering frayed and loose. And they wonder why they cannot produce a good tone!

Give your instrument a chance, Strings are literally its vocal chords, and the best guitar in the world won't sound good if it isn't stringed properly. In the course of begin played strings pick up dirt, grease and perspiration from the fingers of even the most fastidious player. I would not dream of picking up a guitar with dirty hands, but during he course of a three or four hours session, especially if the weather is warm or the room over-heated, everybody's hands perspire and some of that must end up on the strings.

I always wipe the strings of my guitar with a duster kept especially for that purpose after a playing session. Even so the underside of the plain strings picks up dirt and corrosion, and the covered strings absorb the same stuff in between the windings where it is impossible to wipe off. Imperceptibly at first, this deposit begins to dull the sound of the strings, getting gradually worse and worse as it accumulates. Added to this is the fact that after a time the action of the metal frets on the covered strings will cause them to fray. This will interfere with pitch and cause them to buzz.

They should never be allowed to deteriorate to that degree, and this one of the reasons why I say that you should not wait until a string breaks before replacing it. In fact, unless you're a very muscular player or just unlucky, you'll find that strings, particularly metal ones, break very seldom. Nylon strings have a habit of popping off during some quite moment with a sound like pistol shot and scaring the life out of you, because they are more sensitive to atmospheric changes.

A special note on 3rd strings. In the earlier post of this blog I recommended the use of a covered 3rd string on metal string guitars, because in those days uncovered 3rd string tended to play out of tune. Due to improvements in manufacture this condition no longer applies, and I have been quite happily using plain 3rds for some time on my metal stringed guitars as well as on my nylon stringed instruments.

These are just some of the bare bone facts about the guitar that you ought to know. You'll pick up a lot more as you go through this blog. But right now you must be anxious to start playing. So, if you've tuned your instrument, let's go to Title Types Of Guitars and get on with it!

The Guitar Playing Picking, Ideas And Technique

I would recommend that you begin by using a plectrum to strike the strings. This is the easiest way in which a reasonable sound can be produced, and then only practical method for a metal string instrument. Later on, in article fourteen, we will talk about the use of the right hand fingers for striking the strings, in Spanish guitar playing.

The picking should be held between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, as shown in the above picture. It is important that the forefinger should be crooked, not straight, so that the pick balances on its first joint, held in place by pressure of the thumb. Don't grasp the pick like grim death. Your grip should be firm, but relaxed. The pick should move up and down across the strings, maintaining as nearly as possible an angle of 90' in relation to them. It is as well to practice at first with DOWN strokes only. After this technique has been mastered, you can start practicing UP strokes.

Picks come in fantastic variety of shapes and sizes, and a great deal of personal taste enters into which type you should select. I find the two shapes shown below to be the most practical for me, the one in the left for solo playing and the one on the right for the rhythm accompaniment. Both are steel, which gives clearer, more brilliant tone than composition or plastic. A pick should have a certain flexibility, but not to be too flimsy, otherwise the tone it produces will be corresponding thin.

After a time you will naturally develop a preference for one particular shape, but I would suggest that you start out using the rhythm type illustrated above.

Guitar Illustration Of Classic Stance

At this point you may be saying: "This is all very well, but all the groups I've seen, playing standing up. 'You're quite right. But the reason they do this has more to do with presentation than with music. In the pop world of today a guitarist is expected to perform a dance routine and assorted acrobatics in addition to playing his instrument. Fair enough, but you will find later on that difficult technical passages are much easier to play when you're sitting down than they are in standing position. You'll hardly ever find a jazz guitarist playing standing up, and classical player never. The technique of guitar playing is difficult enough, without making it harder for yourself.

But you still want to play standing up, because that's what the big beat groups do? All right. But let's do it the best way, eh? First you need a sling for your guitar. These range from a simple piece of braided cord up to a magnificent bull choker arrangement or ornately tooled leather. You pays your money you takes your choice, but if you're going to be playing standing up all night, a sling with a decently padded shoulder piece will be the most comfortable. The best way of playing standing up is to adjust the sling so that the guitar is brought into a position as near as possible to that obtained in the sitting position. That is, the instrument should not dangle somewhere around your knees, but be held up on your chest. AND MOST IMPORTANT - the neck should be held well up, so that the head of the guitar is again in line with your shoulder.

Guitar Playing Position

In the classical guitar stance the player sits on a chair, with his left foot resting flat on a stool and his right on the ground. The waist of the guitar can then rest naturally on his horizontal thigh and is steadied in this position by the right forearm, which hangs naturally over the hips of the instrument.

The natural position of the left hand is found by bringing the hand up, with the palm facing away from you, until the thumb is in the middle of the back of the neck of the instrument and roughly parallel with it. The fingers are then arched round the neck so that they make contact with the strings at right angles. In this way, the pressures between the thumb and fingers balance each other .

This playing position has been developed over many years as both the most comfortable and the most efficient method of holding the guitar. I use it for both finger style and plectrum playing.

An alternative to the classic playing position, which does away with the need for a footstool, is to sit with the left leg crossed over the right, then rest the waist of the guitar on the left thigh, as before. This is the commonly suits you is a matter of physical proportion between yourself and your guitar. BUT is essential to remember that the instrument should not depend at all on your left hand for support. The left hand must be completely free to move up and down the fingerboard. To further ensure this freedom, take careful note of the angle of the neck, which should bring the head of the player to reach any position on the fingerboard without any physical contortion.

Guitar Electric Tuner

I've saved the best until last in the matter of Tunning, because I feel that as a beginner it is important that you develop your own ear. With the new Electric Tuners you can't hear it! This can be particularly useful for anyone who plays in a group, where there is sometimes quite a bit of noise going on and several people trying to tune up at the same time.

All you have to do with one of these tuners is to adjust your strings one by one, centering the meter needle up on the dial of the gadget each time, and when you have done all six the guitar will be in tune. (Unless of course, a string has slipped after tuning - but it's easy enough to check on that.)

There are a number of Electronic Tuners on the market priced from about $20 upwards- which might sound quite a bit of money for such a routine job, but I can assure you they are well worth every penny. Consider for example my present group, with Bass Guitar and two guitars. This involves 16 individual strings, each which must be in perfect tune if we are going to produce a pleasant sound. Under the old system we went along. But there were some nights and this happens to everybody when it just didn't come right and everybody ended up rather disgruntled. Now we all begin by using the same tuner and the old hassles are a thing of the past.