chords | Guitar Musings

Chord Progression Help

Larry — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 03:07:29 +0000

Sometimes when I’m writing or jamming, I get stuck in the same old I, IV, V progression. Not that it’s a bad thing but sometimes I want to mix it up a bit. I found a nice little reference guide at The Guitar Suite that gives you the chords for each degree in scale of the key. The nice thing is that the chart addresses major, natural, harmonic and melodic minor scales which are useful when you want to mess with the feel or color of a song. I recommend using the progressions to warm-up with by playing the scales using the chords.

I will turn to the charts from time to time, especially when I’m spinning my wheels and I find it useful. I hope it helps you as well.

Links:

Guitar Suite Chord Progression Primer

Chord Progression Books

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Guitar Tool Kit For The iPhone

Larry — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:32:38 +0000

I was on the Acoustic Guitar Magazine forum the other day, sharing my thoughts on the Guitar Tool Kit for the iPhone. One mentioned that this program was yet another reason to buy the new iPhone. I wouldn’t go that far but if you have an iPhone or iTouch, the Guitar Tool Kit is a handy program to have around.

Features and Thoughts:

Tuner: Has many different tuning modes from standard tuning to modal or open tuning. Initially, I tried the tuner on the 1st Gen iPhone and it didn’t work so well. The response was terrible and wouldn’t register the low E string and was rendered useless. I now own the 3G iPhone and the tuner is working much better. I’m thinking that the 3G has a better microphone. Any thoughts on this? As a test, I set my Korg tuner next to the iPhone to see how close they responded and the tool kit did very well. The tuner does not work on the iTouch because of the lack of a microphone. But you can use the “Tones” option which is a graphic representation of the six strings and you can run your finger over each string to act as a reference.
Metronome: My first impression of the metronome was annoyance. The tones for the beats sounded like a trash can and there was no way to change those tones to something more pleasant. After I installed the update, the option to to change the tone was there so now the metronome is usable and quite nice to have. The current version of the tool kit only offers 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 and “no time signature” as options for time signatures. I would like to see a way to customize the time signatures and even an option on where you want the accents within the measures.
Chord Chart: Very handy little program with lots and lots of chords for you to reference. What is nice is that you can move up and down the fretboard to get your desired chords in different positions. I would like to see is an option to illustrate where the root of the chord is located on the chart. Even better, the 3rd, 5th, 7th etc… location as well.

So would I recommend this program? Definitely! It’s not going to replace your current equipment but at only $9.99, it’s nice to have when you’re on the go and need something in a pinch.

Links:

Guitar Toolkit Homepage

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My Guitar Lesson: Back To Basics

Larry — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:39:15 +0000

If you have read Guitar Musings for the past couple of months, you might have noticed that I’ve been on a huge Tommy Emmanuel kick. When I listen to the “Live One” CD’s, I get inspired/motivated to keep plugging away and keep working hard at guitar and wanted to learn all about him and his playing. However, you can get too much of a good thing. What do I mean by this? I was so focused on T.E. songs, that my playing narrowed to a point where it has been a bit stagnant. I neglected my theory and exercises that helped me take my playing just a level higher. This isn’t the first time this has happened. I have had Bruce Cockburn, Eddie VH and Eric Johnson obsessions as well. What happened in the past, is that I would stop playing for anywhere from week to many months but not anymore.

So I’m taking step back and pulling out my chord progression book and scales book and remember to work on those more. I recall reading an interview with studio musicians where they talked about how they didn’t work on learning songs but theory and progressions when practicing. This was so they were always prepared for any piece of music that was brought to them to play for recording. This has helped me quite a bit and maybe, just maybe, this will get me a step closer to that elusive YouTube post.

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