Can Chords Be Replaced By Single Notes? |
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Can Chords Be Replaced By Single Notes? |
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Jan 13 2012, 02:15 AM |
The "deepest" note you're talking about is called the root note, and yes, you can say it's the most important note of the chord. But that in no way means you should play root notes instead of chords on the guitar. My advice is, start learning chords now, and it will help you a lot, not just theory-wise, but it will also train your musical ear. The sooner you start exploring chords and ways to play them properly, the sooner you'll become a better player. There are a lot of good chord lessons here so why don't you try?
I'd suggest you start with open chords and then build your way up. Instructor Ivan has started chord sessions here: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=42379 and I think it's a great way to start learning chords, because you can get constant feedback from the instructor! Instructor Bear Rose has a section dedicated to beginners and there is a good amount of chords lessons there: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/lessonser...ginners-Corner/ But you can also search the lessons yourself for chords and see what fits you the most. Good luck EDIT: And to answer this: QUOTE if each chord can be replaced by an ordinary note to achieve the same tune how is that done? Without going into much detail, I'll just say that you can't achieve the same chord tune by replacing it with just one note because a chord is consisted of minimum three notes. That means that you can't fully capture the "mood" of the chord with only one (root) note. For example, chords A major and A minor have the same root note (note A), but they have completely different moods and other theory relationships because of the other notes in the chord. Major chords sound cheerful and happy, while minor chords sound sad. I won't go into too much detail for now, maybe some of the other guys will have something to add. This post has been edited by Dinaga: Jan 13 2012, 03:01 AM |
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Jan 13 2012, 10:16 AM
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you could do so, but only a fool (like myself when i first started) wouldnt start with learning the basic chords (;
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Jan 13 2012, 12:05 PM |
Playing single notes is OK, but these are single notes, not chords. Chord means "3 notes ringing simultaneously", 3 stacked intervals from any scale.
You can take any note from the chord and play it, and take another note from another chord, and play that, and this is the basics of improvisation. But, you need to support some harmony, so usually you play these notes in the context (on top of chords being played). Well, you could follow root notes of the chords, but there are various types of chords, you can't tell if it's major minor or diminished, which are basic categories. I advise you to look up into chords, because they are very important, but in the same time, practice following them with the single notes - both ways are very beneficial for you as a musician. -------------------- - Ivan's Video Chat Lesson Notes HERE
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Jan 16 2012, 01:36 AM
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its not that I want to avoid chords, but I bought my guitar about a month ago,
and I have learnt about the A minor pentatonic scale, and done all this practising of the A minor pentatonic boxes, but havent yet learnt ANY music at all, nothing. I didnt buy the guitar to learn theory but to play music theory is just a means to an end I havent learnt about major scales yet. The problem is that it looks like I will learn more and more advanced theory and never get to actually play any music! there is a famous story about the guy who gets piano lessons. in lesson 1 the instructor teaches him how to set up the chair. lesson 2 he learns how to set up the music stand lesson 3 he learns how to set up the metronome lesson 4 he learns how to exercise his fingers before starting lesson 5 he learns how to turn the pages of the score etc he has lesson after lesson, but he NEVER actually plays the piano, at school there was a guy who was learning the piano, I told him I thought the piano looked impossible to learn, he said actually you can play music with just 3 notes. he showed me that you can play "mary had a little lamb" with just 3 notes. experimenting with my guitar I managed to determine the notes which are: EDCDEEEDDDEEE EDCDEEEDDEDC (not all with the same timing) thus just with C D E you can play music, which means you can play that with any box of the A minor pentatonic scale. Since beginning this and another thread I eventually remembered that I had a book of music that is used in many schools here. Looking through the book many of the songs dont involve chords, eg "morning has broken", Cat Stevens did this as a pop song eg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TWd3skb-Rw its possible his version uses chords as he seems to have modified the tune a bit. and when I googled on the tune, some people arent using the same notes as in this book! Unfortunately I am not compeletely sure how to convert classical notation into the ABCDEFG notation, if I can do that then I can convert the latter to the guitar by looking at a diagram of the notes of the guitar frets. the christmas carol "away in a manger" also doesnt involve chords, "O little town of Bethlehem" doesnt involve chords, "praise my soul" doesnt use chords (lyrics: praise my soul the king of heaven), "hark the herald angels sing" by Mendelssohn doesnt use chords, literally each song I look at doesnt use chords. I havent found any which use chords so far! (I am assuming that a chord in classical notation is multiple notes on the same vertical line?) Thus I think it is misinformation to say that you need to know chords to do anything. remember that some instruments such as flute cannot do chords (I think) as they are like a single string guitar, thus a lot of music wont involve chords! the problem now is how to convert the classical music notation to say ABCDEFG notation, the music in the book seems to be all religious songs as its meant for the songs sung at school assemblies, call me a modernist, but I think EVERY lesson should have a piece of actual music. learning theory without playing music is like making money but never spending any! perhaps this book is a special edition where they redid the chords, |
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Jan 16 2012, 07:20 AM |
OK let's stop "running around the porridge" as we Norwegians say in our language. Learn theory, it's as important if not more important than playing the guitar, because not only will it MASSIVELY help your guitar playing in itself; it will change how you hear and think about music entirely. The only limit you will have is in your hands, but in your head and using your ears you can imagine anything there is to imagine in the realm of music.
By the way, my main instrument is piano, and I can pretty much play most songs just by listening to the song and processing it in my head. Most of the time I don't even have to listen to the song over and over, because most music is predictable once you know music theory. It's a bit more difficult for guitar, but the principle is the same. If you learn music theory, you will not be limited to having to learn all the songs note by note. You will learn MORE, in SHORTER TIME and actually understand what you are playing which opens up for improvising and actually creating your own music, maybe even composing. That's what playing an instrument is about, not just learning five positions of a pentatonic scale, although that is of course an easy shortcut to playing "great" solos. The best approach to learning music theory is by constantly applying it to your playing. Make your fingers used to the various chords and more importantly, make your ear used to it. It's all about your ear. But application is key. Do yourself a favour and learn music theory. This post has been edited by Alexiaden93: Jan 16 2012, 07:27 AM -------------------- My YouTube Channel
Lost in all the 2000+ GMC lessons? Check my Lesson Plan Guitars Fender American Standard Stratocaster - Olympic White body, Maple fretboard, White Pearl pickguard, 21 frets, SSS Yamaha Pacifica Amplifier Marshall 15CDR, 45 watts Recording equipment/software Line 6 POD Studio GX Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 Reaper v3.04 Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 |
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Jan 16 2012, 08:25 AM |
Hi, I know what you mean.. all the preparation but no playing
As the guys said, some theory knowledge will only help you in the long run but for now it's not so necessary. You are correct that a lot of hymns and famous carols are played with single notes.. but they are also deliberately simplified. If you listen to the original versions there are usually multiple harmonies and chords. You don't have to change anything that you already do, just add to it I highly recommend looking at Bear Rose's series, Beginner's Corner, which will get you playing chords without filling your head with loads of theory. https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/instructor/Bear-Rose/ 99% of people who are still new on their guitar journey come to GMC, see those lessons and then are soon telling us how much progress they've made. Give one of them a go and tell us how you get on This post has been edited by Ben Higgins: Jan 16 2012, 08:25 AM |
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Jan 17 2012, 04:40 AM |
All this explanation is really unnecessary.
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Jan 17 2012, 04:56 AM |
Learning grammar before learning to communicate is indeed a bad way to learn language. You must always learn by using the language, or as I said, by application. However, despite language and grammar being a very good and valid analogy for music, you shouldn't over-analyse it, because nobody said music is exactly like language; it isn't.
It seems like you are advocating learning music solely by application, without going through the formalities, which you probably relate to "music theory". The truth is that music theory doesn't have to be learned just using text, as I said the ideal way of learning music theory is by combining your hands, ears and head to connect all the knowledge in a personal and systematic fashion. Learn music theory in one way or another, but in the end, whenever you understand something, it is in fact music theory. The reason why you want to learn the terminology is because it becomes both easier for you, and for others with whom you communicate to understand whatever theory you are speaking of. Music theory is all about thinking outside the box. The more you know about music theory, the more you are able to deviate from common clichés that you hear in common genres. Furthermore I'd like to challenge your rebuttal of Ben's and Cosmin's argument about grammar. You say you don't need grammar as long as you have a pragramatic approach to learning the language, but let me tell you this. You can never claim to have mastered a language, no matter which one, until you know the proper grammar. Sure you can communicate with random people on the street (sure you can play some pentatonics and impress some blonde girls with large breasts), but you will never be taken seriously on a higher, professional level. Trust me, you're only tricking yourself into taking a shortcut, and as Ben already said, you will have to go through music theory at some point, otherwise you will just be repeating yourself. You have now heard several professional musicians, and several students, and one person (me) who happens to be fluent in 4 languages, and I can tell you, you will never be respected by the "right" people if you don't know grammar (or in the case of this argument, music theory). Absolutely EVERYONE, including me, including all the people I mentioned, who have tried to convince you, have been in your situation. Should we take the shortcut? Is it really necessary to learn music theory? The answer is YES, and nobody who has studied music theory, whether it be at the beginning, middle or end of their musical journey, has ever regretted it. I'm not sure how many people besides me are interested in writing essays as responses to your question, so make the most out of what you get. But realise that none of the people who encourage you to study music theory have any personal benefits related to persuading/convincing you to do so. So far I can't see a single person who has agreed with your view, which is a very complex and thought out, but ultimately wrong one. I hope you will make the right decision, although as I previously mentioned I couldn't really care less, because your decision doesn't affect me. I just want you to be happy, just like everyone else who has taken the time to reply. -------------------- My YouTube Channel
Lost in all the 2000+ GMC lessons? Check my Lesson Plan Guitars Fender American Standard Stratocaster - Olympic White body, Maple fretboard, White Pearl pickguard, 21 frets, SSS Yamaha Pacifica Amplifier Marshall 15CDR, 45 watts Recording equipment/software Line 6 POD Studio GX Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 Reaper v3.04 Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 |
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Jan 17 2012, 09:31 AM |
Hi, I know what you mean.. all the preparation but no playing As the guys said, some theory knowledge will only help you in the long run but for now it's not so necessary. You are correct that a lot of hymns and famous carols are played with single notes.. but they are also deliberately simplified. If you listen to the original versions there are usually multiple harmonies and chords. You don't have to change anything that you already do, just add to it I highly recommend looking at Bear Rose's series, Beginner's Corner, which will get you playing chords without filling your head with loads of theory. https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/instructor/Bear-Rose/ 99% of people who are still new on their guitar journey come to GMC, see those lessons and then are soon telling us how much progress they've made. Give one of them a go and tell us how you get on Richard, not sure if you missed my post ? I said ignore the theory for now, it will come later but it's not necessary to be able to play and feel the music - the theory side will gradually be understood later. For now, I recommend to learn some chords and keep the music flowing |
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