10 Things You Gotta Know About the Fingerboard -Page 2-

3.ADD ACCIDENTALS ON PURPOSE

The remaining five tones within any octave (an increment of 12 half-steps) are annotated using accidentals, or sharp and flat symbols. A sharp (#) raises a note by one half-step, while a flat (b) lowers it a half-step. Enharmonic notes occur when two different accidentals are used to indicate the same pitch, i.e., A#=Bb, C#=Db, D#=Eb, F#=Gb, and G#=Ab. The grid illustrated in Fig. 2 fills in the holes in Fig. 1 with all of the missing accidentals, completing the “big picture.” Think of it as your universe. Now, let’s start breaking down this giant cluster***k and find out what’s really going on here.

4.REPEAT YOURSELF

 

Fig. 3 diagrams the guitar’s five middle Cs on five different strings. (Fact: Standard guitar notation sounds an octave lower than written.) Notice how the notes on any pair of adjacent strings are equidistant (five frets apart) except between the second and third strings, where the distance is reduced by one fret. Once you realize that this relationship is always maintained regardless of what note you start with, you can find unisons on higher or lower strings by using the same formula, except in the extreme low and high registers where notes only appear once. (Lick of the Day: Pick any pitch that appears four times and play it sequentially on four adjacent strings. Repeat many times in either direction as quickly as possible.) Next, we add some octaves and…

5.ENTER THE MATRIX 

Any given note can be found in various octaves at six locations between open position and the 12th fret. Because the fretboard repeats itself one octave higher starting at the 13th fret, so do any notes and shapes you apply to it. In Fig. 4 we pinpoint on the matrix all Cs below the 12th fret, and connect them to form a six-point template that can be moved to any position on the fingerboard. Like a constellation, this “Big Dipper” maintains its shape as it floats around to different positions in the note matrix. As the “dipper” moves towards the nut, any points in the shape that vanish below open position reappear an octave higher below the 12th fret. Conversely, any points that rise above the 12th fret reappear starting at the 1st fret. Let’s get moving and…

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Why Guitar Players Need to Be Fit

Many years ago I bought a guitar exercise book written by Al Di Meola. The first two things he pointed out in the book was the importance of creating good habits and taking care of your health. I never forgot those two golden rules, although taking care of my health was something I had to learn the hard way. It took me a while to learn the major benefits of living a healthy life.
Body work outs, healthy foods, stress release, finger warm up exercises, taking care of your hearing, stretching, relaxation, etcetera are all part of the journey in becoming and staying a good guitar player. I know we don’t always have the time to work out and we all get into a slump once in a while. That’s okay. It’s part of life and it’s good to have a break now and then, but that’s no excuse to ignore that little voice in the back of your mind who knows what is best for you when you haven’t taken care of yourself the last couple of months or worse. So let’s pick it up where you left of. You know you’ll be a lot happier once you start working out. We are talking about your health here. It’s the most important thing!

Being fit will make you feel good about yourself. It gives you a more overall positive attitude. You will be more motivated to practice and more focused to achieve your musical goals. A good physical condition will also improve your performance on stage and in the studio when you’re recording.
So here are some tips to get you in good shape and stay motivated at all times:

Work out

Working out gives you more energy and a clear mindset. Something most of us need every now and then. Whether you experience a writers block, you can’t figure out why that solo isn’t working or when your practice session leads to nowhere, working out is a great moment to refresh your mind and get new inspiration. So let’s start today. Take a run outside, ride your bike, take a walk in the fresh air, do some push ups or stretching exercises. Working out outside is the best way to get you back in the saddle. If possible, run or ride to places where it’s quiet, where your mind can blow off some steam. Run to areas in your town where you don’t come everyday. It’s good for inspiration. Run where nature is. You’ll feel reborn.

Eat healthy, drink healthy

We all know why you should eat healthy. At least I hope so. Okay for those who have forgotten…
Healthy food is essential for gaining energy, preventing your body from getting sick and keeping you focused and inspired. Unhealthy food leads to laziness, unhappiness, obesity, etc. So this is a settled matter. We need to be in good shape to stay productive and positive.
As far as healthy drinks goes, drink water not soda. Drinking too much soda leads to blood pressure, concentration problems, anxiousness, sadness, tension, etc. Water on the other hand is essential for transporting the oxygen to your cells, flushing out toxins and protecting your joints ( a lot them in your fingers ) and organs. Like food water also gives you more energy and keeps you really focused.

Warming up exercises

To prevent your arms and hands from injuries you need to go through some warm up exercises before you really start playing. Releasing the tension in your finger muscles will make guitar playing run more smoothly and less stressful. You need a good blood flow and circulation to get your hands warmed up. It also wouldn’t be wise to run a few miles without stretching first. The same goes for guitar playing.
Warm up exercises are also great for speed development. So for you race cats out there this is the way to go. If you don’t have a lot of time, just take five minutes to go through some exercises. You’ll definitely feel the benefits. Check out some really good warmup exercises below. Have fun!

Protect your hearing

Besides your fingers, your ears are the most important tools you need in order to play guitar. Your hearing can go a long way but don’t underestimate the vulnerability of your ears. Long exposure to loud music can cause serious damage to your ears. Once you damaged your ears there is no way you can fix it, so don’t mess ‘m up. Whether you’re performing on stage or go to gigs, wear earplugs when you’re exposed to loud music. There are all kinds of earplugs that are designed for listening to music. If you perform on a regularly basis consider using an in-ear monitor system. In-ear monitoring is the replacement for traditional monitoring. All professional musicians use In-ear systems nowadays. It’s a great way to protect your hearing and having a consistent monitor performance.

Meditation

More and more research is discovering the benefits of meditation. While it’s not necessarily a must in becoming a great player, I do really recommend it. If you want to reduce stress, be more focused, motivated, productive and balanced, meditation will get you there. All these things will help you on the way towards your guitar goals. It also fuels inspiration, creativity and gives you a better insight on where you’re heading. It’s something you really need to experience over a period of time. It will change your life!
Health is not valued till sickness comes.- Dr. Thomas Fuller
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What is CAGED System?

Have you ever come across the term CAGED System. I know I have. I used to think it meant barre chords because to me, the shape of the barre chord kind of looks like a cage-like shape. However, I realise that that is not what the CAGED system is.


Recently, I have been taking some guitar lessons (particularly on theory) to further improve my guitar theory because I am really weak at it. So, here's my attempt to explain what the CAGED system is:

CAGED is not a noun or verb etc. In fact, CAGED represents the open chords, C, A, G, E and D. These are the chords that most beginners would have learned first because they are pretty easy to play. In a nutshell, the CAGED system is all about movable chord patterns. So, what this CAGED system is trying to say is that you can use the chord patterns of C, A, G, E and D, to play all major chords.

I know it sounds kind of confusing, but perhaps some diagrams will help. Let us take the C major chord as an example. The diagrams you will see will show you how to play the C major chord using the CAGED system:





All the chords shown above are different ways you can play a C major chord using the CAGED system. Notice the red squares? These are the basic C, A, G, E and D chords that you probably already know how to play. The only difference is that you have to play them on different frets, and barre an extra fret.

So the next question to ask is, "How do we know which frets to play these patterns on?" This is again where you will need to know your fretboard well.

• Diagram 1 - Ring finger is on the 3rd fret 5th string because it is a C note (C)
• Diagram 2 - Index finger barres the 3rd fret 5th string because it is a C note (A)
• Diagram 3 - Ring finger is on the 8th fret 6th string because it is a C note (G)
• Diagram 4 - Index finger is on the 8th fret 6th string because it is a C note (E)
• Diagram 5 - Index finger is on the 10th fret 4th string because it is a C note (D)

If it's still confusing, think of it as though you're using a capo. But this time, the capo is your index finger. 





I hope this post has helped. If it's still confusing, perhaps it's because my explanations are not clear. Do bear with me, I know my theory is not strong at all, therefore I'm trying my best to learn. I hope you all will take time to learn too =)

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CAGED Guitar System: How To Make The Most Of It

CAGED Guitar System

The CAGED Guitar System Explained

The CAGED guitar system can be very useful to help you find your way around the fretboard. The idea is based on the relationship between common major chord and major scale shapes. It is also a very useful method for visualising chord tones across the neck of the guitar. If you can easily find the notes on the fifth and sixth strings of the guitar then all it takes is a bit of practice with the CAGED system and you will be able to find any major chord tone very easily anywhere on the neck. There are two main things you need to learn. The first is the order of the chords always remains in the same sequence C A G E D starting from the C or if you were starting from the G then the order would be G E D C A because after the D chord it starts over again from the C. This makes more sense when you can see it in diagram form as shown below.

Study the picture above and note how the five chord patterns overlap with each other. Once you get used to visualising the CAGED chords across the neck like this you will find chord tones very easy. Don’t forget the order stays the same, G will always overlap with E etc. The next picture shows the same CAGED sequence starting from a different place to give you the idea.

The CAGED system also helps us with playing the major scales. As you have seen in the example above it’s quite easy to get used to the finding the chord tones anywhere on the neck as long as you can quickly find the root notes on the guitar strings. When you learn the major scale positions for the guitar it is a lot to have to remember. This gets even harder when you have to think about these positions in twelve different keys. By combining the major scales with the CAGED sequence of chords this task becomes much easier. By getting used to the relationship between the chords and the scales you will start to realise that remembering these scale positions and being able to find them in any key becomes a lot easier. Study the diagrams below and practice playing with these chord shapes and scales across the fretboard. It might seem a lot of work at first but you will get used to it quite quickly. The CAGED guitar system is a great method to help you find your way around the neck so keep at it and in a few months you should playing the guitar without thinking.

 source article : http://www.cagedguitarsystem.net/

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10 Tips for Healthy Guitar Practicing

I’m gonna give you some straight talk about practicing guitar and taking good care of your body and hands.
This is especially relevant today since so many people are self taught from videos and don’t have a real life teacher for feedback.

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CAGED Guitar System

The CAGED Guitar System Explained

The CAGED guitar system can be very useful to help you find your way around the fretboard. The idea is based on the relationship between common major chord and major scale shapes. It is also a very useful method for visualising chord tones across the neck of the guitar. If you can easily find the notes on the fifth and sixth strings of the guitar then all it takes is a bit of practice with the CAGED system and you will be able to find any major chord tone very easily anywhere on the neck. There are two main things you need to learn. The first is the order of the chords always remains in the same sequence C A G E D starting from the C or if you were starting from the G then the order would be G E D C A because after the D chord it starts over again from the C. This makes more sense when you can see it in diagram form as shown below.

Study the picture above and note how the five chord patterns overlap with each other. Once you get used to visualising the CAGED chords across the neck like this you will find chord tones very easy. Don’t forget the order stays the same, G will always overlap with E etc. The next picture shows the same CAGED sequence starting from a different place to give you the idea.

The CAGED system also helps us with playing the major scales. As you have seen in the example above it’s quite easy to get used to the finding the chord tones anywhere on the neck as long as you can quickly find the root notes on the guitar strings. When you learn the major scale positions for the guitar it is a lot to have to remember. This gets even harder when you have to think about these positions in twelve different keys. By combining the major scales with the CAGED sequence of chords this task becomes much easier. By getting used to the relationship between the chords and the scales you will start to realise that remembering these scale positions and being able to find them in any key becomes a lot easier. Study the diagrams below and practice playing with these chord shapes and scales across the fretboard. It might seem a lot of work at first but you will get used to it quite quickly. The CAGED guitar system is a great method to help you find your way around the neck so keep at it and in a few months you should playing the guitar without thinking.

Source Article : http://www.cagedguitarsystem.net

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Quickest Way to Learn the Notes on a Guitar Fretboard

Step by step process for learning the fretboard notes

First, we need to understand what notes are and how they are written.

In their most basic form, notes are the pitch of a sound. For example, play any string on your guitar at any fret and it will sound a note.

The three note types

There are three types of note - natural, flat and sharp.

For example, an A natural note would simply be written as A.

An A flat note would typically be written as A♭ or Ab.

An A sharp note would typically be written as A♯ or A#.

If we were to visualise the flat and sharp notes in relation to the natural note, we would see the natural in the middle with the flat on the left and sharp on the right...

A♭      A      A♯

So think of "flat" as one pitch/note "down" and sharp as one note "up" from a natural note.

On the fretboard, each fret represents a note, so the above relationship would appear as follows, with N being the natural note (on any string)...

 

 

The musical alphabet

Just like on piano, there are 12 notes in total on guitar, which make up what is known as the chromatic scale. This means for every 12 frets on the guitar, starting at any fret on any string, you are covering the entire range of notes. Starting on the note A...

A

A♯ B♭

B

C

C♯ D♭

D

D♯ E♭

E

F

F♯ G♭

G

G♯ A♭

The note after A♭/G♯ will be the note A - the sequence repeats every 12 notes. This 12 note sequence is known as the chromatic or 12 tone scale.

The pitches which have sharp and flat notes are known as enharmonic. A♯ and Bb are the same pitch (they are enharmonic), as are C♯ and D♭ etc. Which one we use depends on a few factors and you will learn what these are as you progress.

Now, you'll notice that some notes are not separated by sharps or flats - namely, B and C, E and F. This means that a B♯ would in fact be C. C♭ would be B. E♯ would in fact be F.

Contrary to common knowledge, there are instances where you would write the notes C and F as B♯ and E♯ respectively, but we'll come to all that later. All you need to know now is that the above is the natural sequence of notes to memorize when we apply it to the guitar fretboard.

On the guitar fretboard

Starting with the low E string, let's first learn the natural notes...

• The open E string gives us a low E note. The 12th fret E is the same note, but an octave higher in pitch.
• F note at the 1st fret
• G note at the 3rd fret
• A note at the 5th fret
• B note at the 7th fret
• C note at the 8th fret
• D note at the 10th fret

Remember, the note cycle repeats beyond the 12th fret octave, so the 13th fret will be the octave of (same note as) the 1st fret F. The 17th fret will be the octave of the 5th fret A. See if you can find these note octaves beyond the 12th fret.




All we need to do is fill in the gaps with the sharps/flats from the table earlier. Again, don't worry about whether to use a sharp or flat at this stage, just memorise the positions of these enharmonic notes...

• F sharp / G flat at the 2nd fret
• G sharp / A flat at the 4th fret
• A sharp / B flat at the 6th fret
• C sharp / D flat at the 9th fret
• D sharp / E flat at the 11th fret

Now the A string. Again, memorise the natural notes first, starting from the open A string...

• A note on the open string. The 12th fret A is an octave higher.
• B note at the 2nd fret
• C note at the 3rd fret
• D note at the 5th fret
• E note at the 7th fret
• F note at the 8th fret
• G note at the 10th fret

I think you get the idea now! Fill in the flat/sharp gaps.

• A sharp / B flat at the 1st fret
• C sharp / D flat at the 4th fret
• D sharp / E flat at the 6th fret
• F sharp / G flat at the 9th fret
• G sharp / A flat at the 11th fret

If you want, you can apply exactly the same method for memorising the notes on the other strings. Remember, the same sequence of notes exist on the high E string as on the low E, just in a higher octave pitch (the high E string notes are 2 octaves higher than the low E string notes).

So that just leaves the D, G and B strings.

The below diagram shows the completed fretboard with the fret numbers beneath (O is for open string).

Help with fretboard note memorisation

To test your knowledge, try the following exercise. Pick any note in your head and see if you can locate it on all 6 strings. At first, you'll be slow, but the more you test yourself like this, the quicker and more "automatic" your note identification will become.

Source article: http://www.fretjam.com

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