Crazy Diamond - Easy Understandable Fretboard

SooN To Be FinisheD -- Fran

Introduction

Hi there GMCers,

This is my first lesson ever, so I will really enjoy your feedback on this lesson. Today I am going to show you a new technique that has really improve my improvising and my writing skills. The essence of this lesson is to make the guitar fretboard readable and make the music theory understandable for anyone, even those who thinks that music is complicated. I really hope that this lesson will open the eye of a lot of gmcer. I am not a great guitar player but I read alot and I think alot so I came up with this lesson and I hope that I will be able to contribute to this website knowledge.

I would also like to precise that in this lesson I am not doing any critics about the theory and I am not saying that music theory is not important. Mastering the theory is better than mastering my lesson. But of course my lesson is easier than that. And it is probably the easiest lesson you will read about music theory.

Understanding Music with a guitar fretboard

Are you that type of person who is stugling with all the music terms? You don’t know how to play a whole bunch of weird chords? Or are you that kind of curious person who understand all this but want to learn the easier theory lesson on earth? Well this lesson is made for you guys.

All the elements that I’m going to explain today are about the first guitar chords you ever learned. That’s right, I am going to show you how to master theory + your guitar fretboard by knowing 3 chords. These chords are: E, A & D….. Not some difficult chords but the open chords you all know.

The magic formula

First of all, music are made out of notes. These notes were not created by humans but discovered. The notes are: A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#. Each of these notes is separated by a semitone. The distance between the notes is called an interval. In this lesson we are going to focus on tone and semitone.

The major scale is what makes music sound like a melody and not a whole bunch of notes. The major scale is the language of music. To understand how a major scale works, you have to understand the magic formula……..

T, T, S-T, T, T, T, S-T.
T= Tone= 2 notes apart from all the music notes
S-T= 1 note apart from all the music notes.

This formula is really really really really really really really really important.

The intervals

Let’s use the scale of C major as an example. By using the magic formula and starting on the C note you get. C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.

The distance between the notes is called an interval. And all these interval have numeral numbers.
So in the C major scale, the notes are:
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Uusually these numbers are written in roman numerals (I haven’t written them that wy because it was harder to fit in the forum. So know if we are in a C major scale and someone tells you to play the 3rd (III), you know it’s a E. The 5th (V) is the G. How easy is that ?

The major scale will be our point of reference for all the lesson. Think of all the other scales like major scale but altered.