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"Don't Be So Dreary With All Of That Transposition Theory"

Jordan Warford here, Editorial Manager for Guitar Tips.

Thanks for taking the time to tune in to this week's edition of our Guitar Tips Newsletter. We hope that you get the most out of it.

In this edition:

Remember those days of torture in band class where you never truly understood how to transpose music into something that you liked the sound of? In this edition we're going to polish off the second article on the foundation of transposition.

I must reiterate that this is a foundation article, hardly scratching the surface on what you can really do with transposition. We're going to show you some awesome sites that do the work for you in addition to some theory tips for those of you who have a music background.

Here at Guitar Tips we want everyone to be able to get something out of our lessons, which is why it would be unfair to spend all of the time immersed in deep music theory. We will be taking the time to review some great software that is available to you and is easy enough for anyone to use, no matter what musical background you have.

Check out our feedback booth and see what's on your fellow subscriber's minds. Also, get a personal update on our new Guitar Forum. Check out the latest site we have to review and see what you think of it.

To top off this mountain of information, our regular installment of our Guitar Tips Feature Band is back and in action.

Let's get right to it!

You Don't Need A Music Degree.

What every guitarist should hear.

How many times have we doubted our abilities as guitarists and never tried a piece of music because we thought we couldn't play it? Then, one day you get that urge to see just how hard it really is only to find that that particular piece of music wasn't as challenging as we once thought.

The same concept applies to transposition. Sure, there's a lot to it and I'm not going to say that there isn't; however, every guitarist needs to know that transposition doesn't have to seem like an impossible feat to master.

If you want to transpose real music notes, and you read music for guitar, we'll guide you through some steps to get you on the right track. For the majority of guitarists who don't have a background in music theory, we're going to show you some alternatives that you probably never would have thought of.

It's one of those tools that's nice to have in your tool box when you are playing with a band or are looking to get a professional edge.

The computer is a guitarist's best friend.

Lets face it, we're surrounded by technology in an ever growing economy that seems to make our world smaller and smaller. That equates to an awesome learning experience for guitarists who prefer not to learn music theory.

There are plenty of websites available that do the hard work for you. This is great for preparing for a band practice or a jam session with friends but remember that unless you have wireless internet in your venue or practice area, the transposition websites that do all of this work won't be available to you.

If you have a laptop and like to do things on the run without the use of internet, there's plenty of software designed for that purpose as well. Let's start off with the websites that are quick and easy for basic key changes.

If you read our newsletter on composition and have just started writing your own material, or perhaps you have been writing music for a while, I have the one and only piece of software that you will need for your musical needs.

Before I even decided to write this article, I was continually on the search for a piece of software that would allow me to insert my music, whether it be tab or traditional notation, onto my staff and simply press a button and let it do the work for me (yes, even I get tired of music theory.) The problem was, I found plenty of programs that would allow me to transpose traditional notation but never tab... That is until I discovered Final Notepad 2005.

It's the little brother to the famous Final Print Music series that has become one of the most used pieces of musical notation software in the industry. However, here's the most killer part of the deal: It's 100% free!

What attracted me to this software initially was the ability to transpose long saxophone compositions into different keys with the click of a button. If you're a sax player, you know how frustrating and time consuming that is. Then when I discovered that this program was made with the guitarist in mind, I nearly flipped out with excitement.

You can input any piece of tablature you want using the numbers on your keyboard and get professional quality tabs. Then, with a click of a button you can transpose it to a different key and it will place your notation to where it needs to go! For example, it will take this example in C below:

...And transpose it to this composition in D!

No longer do you have to sweat it out by trial and error. Sure, the above example was a giveaway considering I was just playing with the end of a scale, but when using tab, transposing solos just became a lot more complicated.

Come to your practices prepared and ready to go. If your band wants you to do your best solo in another key, just put it through this baby and you're all set. Click here to download it and get more information.

The second site I recommend is called www.transposer.com. They charge a small fee for access to software that helps you to transpose and learn how to transpose. Quite simply put, follow the first few basic instructions and whalah, you have yourself a two second transposition chart. I think it's an amazing tool for anyone who plays with non c-based instruments such as a trumpet or sax.

You can even make one yourself. This is not a new concept. Some of my instructors used to do that all the time to teach us how to transpose. Cut out a few wheels and insert the various information that can be found throughout the net. It's worth the research!

So you're a theory nut eh?

Ok, hold on to your seatbelts... We're going all the way on the accelerator here! Yes, I know that was a lame excuse to try and get you all pumped up for transposition the traditional way but it's really not that hard, it's so easy in fact, that I actually get excited about teaching it.

There's some things you must already know but I'm not going to go through them all in this lesson. You should know your key signatures (circle of fifths), your basics notes and what accidentals are all about. This all leads up to knowing how to decide what key any song is in. This is essential to knowing how to transpose(more on this in a moment). This is just the background to help you out and only takes an hour or so to learn about and weeks of practice to know.

  1. The steps to transposition involving a change of a Major key using music theory are as follows:
  • Before anything happens and before you decide to do anything, remember to take a look at your key signature! You want to know what key you are in so you know exactly where you are going. This is no problem provided it's already given but if a song is written without a key signature shown, look at the number of accidentals and pick the appropriate key.
  • Secondly, you must know the key that your are transposing to. You would think this is the most obvious but you would be surprised at how many people have no idea what they are supposed to transpose to. If in a formal setting, just ask whoever is in charge and take it from there. Watch for the wording as well. In many cases they will ask you to transpose in the terms of intervals instead of yelling out the key (in any professional setting this is common place.)
  • Insure that you take the time to fill out the new staff with the appropriate information such as the new key signature and double bar ending.
  • Look at the interval size and remember it as you move each note up or down the right distance. Insure that you do this by letter name only, it's an important thing to remember. This just means that you use the letter names when moving things around. It insures that you don't mess this up and get confused with the interval size and make things easier. Remember your intervals and their equivalents and you'll be fine. You will soon see a pattern to follow and you are off to the races.
  • Now that you've done all the hard work (if you can call it that), you have one last stop before playing freedom. Insure that everything is where it should be and transfer any original accidentals to the new corresponding notes. You will need to pick an accidental that has the same effect for the new note. This is due to the new key signature which changes things around. It's not as hard as it sounds. Just pick the one that will match the same sound as the one before.

Transposing from a minor to a minor key should create no new problems, just ensure that both keys are indeed minor.

Practice does make perfect, as corny as that is to hear. It takes time and patience. Don't beat yourself up over it, just enjoy it and you'll see new changes everyday you try it out. Practicing your alphabet from A to G and going back and forth in your head also is a great thing to know and is what always helped me out.

There are many other forms of transposition that we'll save for another day... Or perhaps another site. For instance, there become new rules when dealing with an orchestral score, although it's along the same lines as what's shown above. The same can be said for switching from a major key to a minor, although it's not technically a transposition because it's a mode change. Anyhow, a lot left to learn but these tools should get you off the ground and on your way.

It's all you need right now for parts involving c-based instruments (like your guitar, the piano, the flute or other various instruments.)

Putting It All Together

So now that you have the tools, how about you see what they look like in action? Here is a before and after shot of a riff I've made especially for you. Notice what happens with accidentals. If you follow the steps listed above, you should get something looking like this:

Riff in the key of A:

Transpose UP to the key of G.

Riff in the key of G:

Guitar Tips Feature Band

Buck69

 

You've probably noticed by now that this editor has a thing for blues... Not just any blues but soulful blues. That's why I flipped out when Tommy sent me an email responding to my cry for new bands to be featured in our newsletters. Not only is Buck69 talented, well put together and ready for the big stage but they also have a tone that keeps you coming back for more.

The use of lead and rhythm guitar is done to a classic drum beat and vocals that rock the house. This band is there for the music and it's that transparency that makes them uniquely refreshing. If you like to dance, sing and shout, I have a feeling that Buck69 is for you. As I danced around my office when I was checking this band out, I could hardly imagine how much fun it would be to see them live.

Coming straight from Toledo, Ohio, here's what Tommy had to say about the history of the band:

"In 2002 after a 20 year hiatus to concentrate on wife, kids & career, Tom Clawson formerly of "T.C. Rogers & The Blue's Hamilton Band" 1970's Warren, OH. (Singer-Songwriter) along with his oldest son Alex formerly of "The Society" 1990's Toledo, OH (Singer-Songwriter-Guitar) Decided to start playing out as an acoustic duo. Playing originals and covers in and around the local Toledo area.

In June of 2004, persuaded by his son, the decision was made to go with a full band. We recorded our 1st demo in September 2004 in our drummer's garage, but have been pleased with the home recordings. Four of the five songs can be found on our web site.

Three of the songs are ranked in the top ten on the blues charts at www.numberonemusic.com. In July of 2005 the band was picked up by "Bitchin Entertainment" (a national booking agency) and added to their unsigned band section. We are currently in the studio laying down our 1st full length CD, which we hope to release in early 2006.

The title of the new CD is "When She Whispers Your Name" it will feature eight songs written by Tom and Alex and four songs by published writers. Lyrics to some of the new songs can be found on our web site in the blog section.

For the guitar players out there, I play a 1975 Gibson L6-S thru a 1975 Fender Quad Reverb amp with a Hot British Tone Bone Pedal. The lead guitar work you hear with that great tone is played by my son Alex. He plays a 2004 Paul Reed Smith Guitar thru a Randall amp with a Blues distortion pedal.

We are influenced by who, what, where, when and how our everyday lives start and end! Music is our way to express our inner feelings. To cement in history the people, places and things that affect our lives. Be it happy or sad, life or death. We write about what carries us down life's highway. Always in search of that one song! Because: "Great singers, writers and musicians will come and go, but a great song lives forever". TC

I highly recommend this band to anyone who enjoys rock or blues. Very impressive licks mixed in with a great drum beat that makes a groove you can't help but listen to. If you want to listen to their tracks for yourself, click here to see the sample they have hosted.

I have very high expectations for this group and have no doubts that they will continue to improve as they walk up the ladder to a major record deal and national attention. Best of luck from everyone here at Guitar Tips!

 

Site Review

Guitar Backing Tracks

Last week we reviewed one of our newest sites, the Guitar Forum. This week we're going to take a look at one of the more innovative sites we have developed called Backing Tracks. This site has been designed specifically for guitarists who like to practice to a beat and get the full band experience from the comforts of their own home.

Based on feedback from questionnaires and the shear volume of enquiries via email, we decided it was time to take the plunge and make a new site tailored to jamming. There is a virtually limitless array of possibilities when you get into the member's area.

It's simple yet effective. All you do is point and click. Create original backing tracks that are personally tailored to fit your needs. If you're a new guitarist and are intimidated with the thought of a full practice with a band, this would be the perfect route to take. Get the full experience of playing along with drums, bass, and keys.

Experienced musicians can have a tonne of fun messing around and composing original material, or perhaps fine tuning some of their own. I personally recommend a good set of speakers on your computer, or hook your computer up to your sound system.

I find that without that added subwoofer and upper range, the tracks seem tinny and fake. This isn't the case when plugged through a half decent sound system. Nonetheless, it's worth checking out and if you're not happy with it, we'll give you a refund within 30 days after the purchase. I don't think you'll be taking that option once you get a taste of this site.

My only warning is to those who aren't into creating their own licks or changing the existing ones they have. This site was really designed for the guitarists out there who prefer to use that creative idea in a different application or for those who need experience playing with a band.

Best of luck and let us know of your success stories when you put that track together that hits number one on the charts!

Click here to check it out

Feedback Booth

It's always a pleasure to hear back from our subscribers and we love to get emails with success stories, ideas and new tricks and tips. However, we usually get thousands of emails with everything from questions to technical issues, which can make it hard to get back to you in a few hours. In the last few weeks, a new option has popped up to help you get the resources you need at lightning fast speed.

The new installment of our Guitar Forum allows you to not only connect with us, but also your fellow subscribers. We don't pretend to know every solution or method known to man and it's always cool to get fresh ideas. This is why I encourage you to go to our site and become a member and get involved. It's free and a lot of fun!

We now have a thread that's designed specifically for GT Messenger problems. If you have any problems whatsoever with any of our newsletter software, please post the problem there instead of emailing us. The reason for this is because we want to build up a database of solutions and you can continually come back and find the solution instead of losing it by accidentally deleting an email.

Just go to www.guitarforum.com.au and see what it's all about. Things have been slow as of late and we want you to get plugged in so don't be shy! As a bit of an incentive to get some areas of the forum going, this is what I'm going to do:

I will be doing random searches of members and picking different posts to feature in our feedback booth. I will also be looking for your original compositions and recordings to possibly feature in a new section of our newsletter but we need some posts to work with before any of that can be made possible.

Now, onto some of the most recent feedback. I encourage you to continue to email us with your thoughts and your likes/dislikes. We can't improve on what you like and don't like if you don't tell us first!

Stephen Renaud from Canada writes to us with this:

"Hello from Canada! I am currently subscribed to your free newsletter, and am contemplating actually subscribing. The newsletter focusing on strumming did it for me. Strumming and rhythm are really what I am concerned with improving, as a fairly mediocre player who would just like to stop the twanging and generally sound a bit more polished when strumming and singing. My question is this: Will I be impressed with the quantity of material focusing on this subject (I'm already impressed with the general quality)? That is, is there much more info and guidance on rhythm playing than you've laid out in the free newsletter? If so, I'm in. Thanks for your time. Stephen Renaud, Canada"

This is one of our most popular questions and our answer is a very big yes! We have tonnes of great material developed by professional musicians on this inside of all our member's areas. The information is presented via video, image and sound, just like our in depth newsletters. The newsletter on rhythm is a perfect example of things that you can look forward to in our member's area.

If you are a more advanced player, please hold off and wait for our new Guitar Leads website.... It will rock your socks off! It's for advanced players and it will challenge you to soar to new heights. Stay tuned for more information in upcomming newsletters.

Jim has this suggestion that he thought he should share:

"Jordan, I got to start all over with this guitar practice, so much going on right now. At least I do appreciate the ability to log on when ever I can. The newsletter I receive does have the link address but isn't ever highlighted to make an easy connection. Is there a way to fix that for us here I would really appreciate it."

Great stuff and my apologies for my mistake. You will have a link to click on in your inbox next time around!

Babu Immanuel writes with these encouraging words:

"Thank you for sending me this newsletter. I am delighted for this opportunity to be able to learn more about guitar, the first instrument I ever got to touch when I was say 10 years old. Since then I have wondered about the various sounds that one can make out of these six strings. Please keep sending me all your knowledge so that I can learn a bit more. Thanks again Babu"

Rob had this response after receiving our once off email from tell a friend:

"Hello, Thanks for the once off e-mail. I frequently received tips from my friend who's really pushing me to play. So, please add me to your mailing list, what I've seen so far it's a terrific site. Keep up the good work. With friendly regards, Rob Spek, Curaçao, N.A. "

 

Conclusion

We've come to the end of this edition of our Guitar Tips Newsletter. If there's one thing that I believe guitarists in general need to realize is that the horizon of your playing potential is literally endless. Far too often we shoot ourselves down from achieving success because we feel that we can't do something.

Transposition, as mentioned many times over the last two articles, has long been linked with musical excellence and a lot of theory. Hopefully, the past two articles have broken down some of those barriers and revealed something that can make your life a lot easier. Sure, there's a lot more about transposition to learn but just getting the basics down is the first step.

We have been contemplating the involvement of music theory in our newsletters but we want to know if you would like that or not. Email us with your thoughts and suggestions as we think some new ideas through.

Join us next week as we dive into alternate tunings. This is the newsletter you've been waiting for. Not only does it have some really cool tricks, riffs and images, but it will also be packed with audio and video so you can join in. I promised you a new newsletter with plenty of video and you're going to get one with our next newsletter. You won't want to miss it!

Until next time, keep on rocking!

 


Written by GUITAR TIPS
If you've always wanted to learn to play the guitar but never had the chance, give me 17 minutes a day for 90 days and I'll show you how to play virtually any song you want! Visit http://101freeguitartips.com/guitartips

 

"Light The Ignition of Transposition..."

Jordan Warford here, Editorial Manager for Guitar Tips.

Every so often, we decide to dive into a new aspect of playing guitar that many are either afraid of, or just simply have no idea what it's all about. Today, we're going to tackle one of the more feared issues evolving around guitar... Transposition.

Join us as we teach you the most simplistic and easy ways to transpose your music.

In this edition:

With transposition in the spotlight this week, we're also going to show you some handy sites that will give you some very quick transpositions in addition to some software programs that can help you transpose larger scores of music.

That may seem like a lot of information because it is! To deal with all of that information and give you a great foundation, we will be looking at this over the next two issues. In this issue we'll take a look at the capo and what that is all about. In our next issue we'll look at the theory of it all, as well as special tunings you can try!

As always, we have a great feedback booth for you this week. See what all of the buzz is with your fellow subscribers. Speaking of buzz, we have another exciting thing happening around our offices this week. The launch of yet another site! Yes, that's right, we're offering yet another site and this one is totally free.

We have developed a site called www.guitarforum.com.au and it's designed for you to talk to your fellow subscribers and ask the questions you always wanted to ask. We'll tell you why we put it there and how you can get involved.

With all of that in mind, let's get right to it!

Getting That Riff In Your Favorite Key!

Where to get started.

How many times have we composed a riff that we absolutely love, or perhaps found a song that we really enjoy playing and wanted to put it into a new, original song and truly make it ours? Chances are that we've all wanted to at least try it out once or twice but always came across one roadblock... Keys.

As mentioned in our last article, the probability that two riffs will be in the same key is very low if you are writing a lot of songs or wish to link two well known songs together. This is where you need to transpose one of those riffs so you can connect them together and put them in that song.

Another scenario is that you just wrote an awesome riff that you envision going into one of your band's songs... The only problem is that it's in the wrong key! With transposing, you can still use that riff and play along with the rest of the band.

If you're a true band nerd, like myself, you have probably been around transposition since the days of Jr. High or Middle School. Now, if you're still like me, you didn't have two clicks on how to do it either. I was always amazed to see how my teacher would take a trumpet part and transpose it so I could play it on my sax and still be in the right key!

With guitar, this is invaluable. You can take a sax part and transpose it to your guitar. If you happen to have a sax player around, you can now play along with that sax and still be in the proper key.

One of the most unique things about playing guitar is that we have a number of tools available to us to use for easy transposition. Many other musicians envy us for this and call us cheaters in the game of music theory, however, if you can use it... Why not?

The tools that you can use.

One of the most common tools used to transpose music on the guitar is the capo. The capo is essentially a piece of rubber that is glued onto two pieces of metal with a spring placed in between. When clasped onto the neck of your guitar and placed behind a fret, it acts as a new nut (AKA the "zero" nut.) This new nut raises the pitch of your guitar, therefore changing the key.

Most guitarists use them so they can make really complicated chords into easy open chord shapes. This is where the whole joke about cheating comes in. Instead of actually practicing those really hard chords and getting your technique down, you can transpose that chord using the capo and turn it into an open chord shape such as an E Major or an A and still have the same chord.

While I don't recommend that you always do that because it's always good to know how to play a song if your capo breaks, it's great for live performances where you want to minimize the risk of messing up a complicated chord. If you're a lead guitarist, you can still use a capo but in all honesty, it's far easier to find the key that everyone else is playing in relative to the capo and just use the scale that suites the song best.

In most cases, it's actually quicker for a lead guitarist not to use a capo and just find a scale. Switching a capo around the neck of your guitar can cost valuable seconds between songs.

So enough talk, you want to know how this works, right? Ok, lets start by looking at the chart below:

 

...So lets put this chart into practice. Suppose you are playing a song in the key of A and the chords that you are playing are A, D, and F#. The problem is, you want to play along with the rest of your band and they are playing in the key of B. Simply look at your chart and find the A chord, which is in the first column. Then look to see what capo number B falls under. In this case, it's fret number 2, so you place your capo on number two.

Continue to play the same chord shapes as you were before. The difference this time is that A, D and F# have now turned into B, E, and G#. You have just transposed a chord progression!

If you're unsure of where to start so you can transpose those chords, follow these quick steps:

  1. Find what key you are currently in.
  2. Use that note (for example A) to locate your position on the chart.
  3. Then move over to the right and find the note of the key you are looking for (ex. B.)
  4. Take a look at what fret number that note falls under and place your capo there.

Now that we know how to use the capo to transpose, there are a few techniques to get the best tone while using a capo. Looking past its theoretical use... The capo is not unlike your pick. There are tips on taking care of it and which ones that you should get over another, because there are differences.

First off, it would probably help you if you knew what one of these things looked like. This is one of the more popular models made by Kyser.

Photo courtesy of http://www.yourdictionary.com/images/ahd/jpg/A4capo.jpg

Most capos are in the same price range and it comes down to personal preference. Be prepared to pay around $17 USD for something that should last you a lifetime. Kyser and Shubb are the leaders in this industry and have made a product that is absolutely superb. Jim Dunlop is also on the scene with some honorable mentions but this editor recommends one capo over all of the rest... The Shubb capo.

Shubb has a unique trait that isn't found on other capos... Tension adjustment. You see, when you place something that's spring powered onto your strings, you're bound to end up pulling them sharp... And playing out of tune isn't something that we enjoy.

Shubb capos have a little knob where you can slightly release a bit of that tension and your guitar will go back into tune. You can check out Shubb capos by clicking here.

When using a capo, you want to place it inline with the fret you are putting it behind and keep it roughly a mm away from the fret (see picture above for proper reference.) Do not, I repeat, do not place a capo directly in between two frets, it's always closest to the fret in which you wish you place the capo on.

Every now and then you should place a few drops of light oil on the pivot point of the capo to keep it functioning properly.

There's a lot of newer alternatives to capos that are now on the market. There are capos especially for 12 string guitars, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, or both. However, my new favorite gadgets include capos that can give you drop D tunings and capos that only cover half of the strings... These are called partial capos. You can use them alone or with another capo.

They can give you really exotic tunings in a jiffy, without the need of a tuner and a lot of patience. It's perfect for the guitarist who writes a lot of songs with weird tunings but only has one guitar to perform on. I personally use them for the enjoyment of the beautiful sounds you can get from them.

Putting It All Together

Now that we have the tools, how about you hear what it sounds like? Here are some quick compositions that anyone can do. Notice how the sounds differ from one another depending on where the capo is placed. It's a lot of fun and I encourage you to try new chords using the capo in different locations and see what you come up with... You might just surprise yourself!

* Relative to the capo on the 5th fret.

Here's how it sounds:

*Relative to capo on the 2nd fret.

Here's how it sounds:

...You may have noticed my improv near the end of both riffs. This is my way of showing you that you can do this too and it's not that hard! Be yourself and you're bound to make music that inspires.

Site Review

Have you ever been really ticked off at me because you sent along an email that was really important to you and it took me what seemed like an eternity to answer? Perhaps you have a question that's burning inside of you but you rather not just get the opinion of some trained professional here on staff, rather, you want to know how people like yourself do those tricks.

Well, if any of the above calls your name or if you like to talk shop... Or you want to learn how to talk the language of guitar, we have the site for you. In response to the recent flood of emails and questions, we have decided to create a brand new free website that allows you to talk about guitar and connect with people around the world.

You're in the hot seat, yes that's right, I said you! This time you get to be the person who gives the advice, helps solve problems and become a member of an online community that wants you to become a better musician. If you're a leader, we want you on this forum. If you have no clue what on earth you are doing even picking up the guitar in the first place, we want you chatting it up on this forum. If you have a problem, question, or curiosity... This is the place for you. Have I stressed these point enough, ladies and gentlemen?

There are tonnes of places for you to start conversations, get technical help with any of our sites, ask guitar related questions, learn about new things happening and to give your input. You'll find plenty of links to click on that will educate you well on all of our latest sites.

If you're afraid of things getting out of hand, have no fear. The Guitar Tips staff are there for your safety and support. You can find me in and around the newsletter forum and you'll see appearances of other staff that you may have dealt with in the past with the addition of James Etheridge, the head administrator for the forum. Heck, you might even catch Chris, the owner of these sites as he goes about his busy work day.

I sincerely encourage you to get involved. We made this site to make your life easier. It's 100% free and won't cost you a cent. You can check out everything without becoming a member, but we encourage you to sign up to the forum. This isn't a membership to our site, rather a membership to our forum which is still 100% free. What can I say? We like to make things as affordable as possible.

Over the coming weeks I will be reviewing our other sites and you can see if you would like to become a paid member and enjoy the numerous benefits you will receive. However, it's always one step at a time. See if you like what we have to offer, and I guarantee, you'll love this forum.

Some of you may be thinking, "Of course he loves it, he works for them!" I assure you, if I wasn't as impressed as I am, I would have stopped writing about four paragraphs ago. When you log on and go past our front page, you're probably going to be shocked and think, "Wow, there's hardly any members and barely any posts!" This is true, there isn't much inside all of those neat forums but that's left for you to change.

You can create threads within those forums and start any topic you could ever think of. Before you know it, thousands of people with be along side of you and knowledge will be oozing with knowledge and your sides splitting from all the laughs and fun you're having.

Check it out at: www.guitarforum.com.au

Feedback Booth

The last two weeks have been relatively quite as far as comments have been concerned. However, some of you still took the initiative to send along your thoughts and we really appreciate that. Here's what some of your fellow subscribers had to say:

This comes to us from Jim:

Hello Jordan, I really appreciate and understand all of the hard work you're putting into your newsletter. I do, however, have one tiny suggestion regarding scales: it would be very helpful, I'm sure, to include a note regarding the use of the scales in soloing: ie., Gmajor scale is perfect for soloing over the I chord in the key of "G", the V chord in the key of "C", and would work over an Em chord, etc. The reason I ask is that I was very pleased to see the Eb Melodic Minor scale in your newsletter, but am confused regarding its use when, where, and in what key. Thanks, and keep up the good work, Jim Justice

Remember my challenge to you in our last newsletter? It was all about composition and I talked all about doing a key change and asked you to try it. Well, one of our subscribers did just that. Here's what Justin did and see what he has to say:

Hey! In your most recent newsletter you said if anyone could change the key down, then to email you the recording. Well, I did. Although, I'm sick right now so I wasn't playing at my peak performance (as you can tell by the mistakes I have) but the idea is there. Also, my wah-pedal squeaks, and you can hear it squeaking. I also realize that the sound quality is pretty bad but hey, I was using a little amp with a 2 dollar microphone. Plus I was using Windows Sound Recorder. But the change is around 5:30-ish (the song is 7 minutes and 10 seconds) so that's really the only time you have to actually pay attention. Oh and my little solo at the end, I was just having fun. I don't even know if it's in the right key...

Here is his recording and what he came up with... Thanks for proving me wrong! I said I've never heard one pulled of nicely, which could have been a tiny little exaggeration. Nonetheless, this was done decently and deserves recognition. Listen for the distortion and that's where the key change takes place. Pretty funky stuff. If you have something that you would like featured, send it along!

JD writes to us with this:

Thank you very much for your newsletters, I really enjoy them.

Catherine writes with this very popular question:

Sorry about the articles I seem to have misplaced them could you send them again and as soon as I get them I will placed them up on my site. I have been so absent minded lately.

Great question! Many of your have asked the same thing. If you wish to get caught up on all of our most recent newsletters, take a trip to the top of this page and find the archive tab. Click on that tab and you'll find a list of the lessons. If you wish you to download all of the lessons to your pc, go to need content. If you don't have a site, that's fine. Just place our site url in there.

 

Conclusion

Well, we have come to the part of the newsletter where we rap things up yet again. I truly hope that you feel more confident in your abilities as a musician and no matter how daunting the task of transposition may seem to you at this point in time, I encourage you to continue to try! It will be well worth it to you in the long run.

To your credit, it isn't easy picking this stuff up if you don't know a little bit about music theory. Over the coming months, we're going to show you some of the inside tricks of music theory that any guitarist can use. Next week we'll approach the subject from a different angle and also give you a brand new challenge to work on.

On another guitar related note, my apologies for the lack of video and audio in the last two newsletters. Things have been a little hectic around here as of late but I assure you that you can look forward to more video and MP3's in the near future!

Until next time, keep on picking!

 


Written by GUITAR TIPS
If you've always wanted to learn to play the guitar but never had the chance, give me 17 minutes a day for 90 days and I'll show you how to play virtually any song you want! Visit http://101freeguitartips.com/guitartips

 

"Get More Inspiration With Composition"

Please be patient while video loads...

Jordan Warford here, Editorial Manager for Guitar Tips.

Thanks for tuning in this week as we dive into a new aspect of music that we haven't really touched on before! We will be covering the do's and do not's of writing music and how you can expand your musical creativity.

In this edition:

If you're sick and tired of listening to other peoples' music, we have the solution for you... write your own! We'll be taking some time to help you build the proper foundation when it comes to song writing by showing you some tricks of the trade. We also have some sweet scales for you to work on this week.

We have a great feedback booth this week, where we will be show casing some of the great comments you send us each week.

The internet is a great resource for guitarists and is what keeps us in business. Through your travels over the world wide web, you've probably come across a guy by the name of Andrew Koblick. We will give you the scoop on his site and what he has to offer you. You won't want to miss out on it!

To top off all of that, we have our regular gear review brought to you by Guitar Trader. They offer some awesome equipment that can certainly give you the leading edge with you playing.

Let's get right to it!

A Formula For Writing A Great Song

Where to get started.

When you started to play guitar, you naturally gravitated to playing the music of your favorite guitarist. We all thought we were really cool and sounded really good until we were thrown in the middle of our school cafeteria or workplace only to discover that every second, guitarists already knew what you were playing and where you were going with it next.

That gets old really fast. After all, your main goal in most cases is to connect with your audience and how could you possibly do that when everyone is playing the same thing? The truth is that many people will disconnect when they hear you play "Stairway To Heaven" the same way every other person has done it before you.

Then we need to ask the question, "If it sounds old when I play it, why am I still so moved by the song when Eric Clapton plays it?" The reason is because he wrote it. That song is a piece of him and no one could ever emulate that connection. Making his song something that you personalized will truly add to that piece of music.

There are steps to doing this, just as there are steps when writing a full song. The key problem that I've seen surface in musicians is the writer's block syndrome. I have fell into that trap many times and felt as if I was playing the same thing over and over again. Training your brain to think outside the box involves some new concepts that we'll be covering further on into the newsletter.

However, we need to start somewhere. For me, that starting point evolves around scales. Some writers prefer starting with chords and that's perfectly fine. Not unlike improvisation (which is a very big part of composition,) there is no set way to start writing a song.

The tips I'm about to give you are just a guideline and some rules are just meant to be broken. Let your creativity take you somewhere where you haven't been before and try something new. If you do something completely different than myself, that's great! This is the method I use and teach but by no means is it set in stone and the only way to write a "Correct" song.

As you will soon find out, I like to compose songs much like any construction worker would build a house: Starting from the ground up.

To start, let's take an everyday C Major scale:

...There are no sharps, no flats and is definitely a great starting point, no matter how boring it may look to you now.

After running through it a couple of times and getting familiar with the fingerings, we can start to analyze the things that are in this scale. You can look at them as your tools. You have an arpeggio that you can use, harmonics, a great location on the fretboard and a nice sound that can be mellow or in your face loud.

Let's take part of that scale and transform it into a lick. Perhaps you are looking for something a little more light... A nice start to a solo before you climax into the best part. Take a look at the high E string and your B and G string. All of the notes are centrally located, which means you can really speed them up or slow them down depending on what you want to do.

Using the techniques we learned from previous lessons, we can incorporate hammer on's and slides quite easily into something that's really close together. This is building the foundation to your piece of music. After some improv, I came up with this:

What we have is clearly derived from the C Major scale, but has an added twist with hammer on's and a sharp, staccato (short) attack on the notes. You may notice that the location of the notes, the techniques used and the repeat bars show that there is a pattern, or formula to this lick. It's the blueprint that will map out the rest of your music for you (yes I know that the blueprint normally comes before the foundation when building a house, so just work with me here!)

Maintaining the idea of the song throughout the entire piece is important. You don't want to sound disorganized but you do want to come off looking polished and professional.

All too often we will come up with a riff but that's about as far as it goes. For every riff you write, there are a hundred songs that could be written from it and that's no exaggeration! Take note of the style of that riff. For the one above, you can tell there's a balanced mix of speed and attack. It's fast yet it doesn't feel rushed. You can go with that and take a look at the rest of the notes you have in your tool box.

We could take the above riff and add this to it:

We kept the flavor that we were going for and simply used the area around that scale. We use a lot of the same notes, which is perfect. The key to creating a great arrangement is to keep it simple yet make it sound complicated. Changing the sounds of the same note by using different rhythmic techniques and volume intensities will leave you with something that is relatively easy to play yet creative and colorful. Take a look at this video to insure that you are using the proper fingers:

...The reason I bring up fingerings is because they lead you to the next part of the song, literally. For instance, the first riff we covered has all of the notes close by and our fingers hardly had to move. This allows our fingers to do the walking, while our brain can focus on rhythmic patterns and keeping the general idea of the song. This is another tool that we can utilize and believe me when I say every tool is essential when you're writing a song.

What to do with all of those riffs lying around...

Now the real fun starts. We know the basic concept of putting a song together. It needs a foundation, which includes the following:

  1. The key signature.
  2. The scale in the key that you have chosen (there are many choices with this.)
  3. The time signature.
  4. Analyzing the tools that you have available to you in that given key and space on the fretboard.
  5. An idea of the sound that you are going for.

It also needs a blueprint with the following attributes:

  1. A riff, as simple or as complicated as you like.
  2. The feel/sound that you are going for.
  3. The most popular techniques that you will be using. In other words, the techniques that the song is based on.

If we were building a house, the next step would be to get some walls up. This is where all of those riffs you have hanging around can come in handy. Pretend that those riffs are the walls. You already have your foundation and your blue print, so you know the direction you are headed in, you just need to find out how to nail them together.

The nails are transposition. I highly doubt all the riffs you have composed are in the same key, however, transposition isn't something that we can fit into this newsletter, so we're going to focus our next edition on this very topic. For now, try to use the riffs you have that are in the same key.

You can use riffs that are in different keys if you wish, but it gets a little more complicated with connecting them together. I will show you how to do a key change in a song in just a few moments but key changes in the middle of a riff will have to wait for another day.

Now would also be a good time to use riffs from your favorite guitarists and make it into your own masterpiece!

Creating a connection between the riffs to make them one could almost be looked at as the floor. A good connection between two riffs holds things down tight and is seamless. To place a connection between two different riffs (in the same key), look for connecting notes. If you can't read music or don't know which notes are what on your fretboard, look for places on your fretbaord where the two riffs overlap.

These connections, or transitions, are what will give you a professional appearance. They can be really slow, really fast or set at a normal tempo (speed.)

Now you see it coming together pretty quickly. What once was something that seemed kind of large now seems pretty easy when broken down. The only problem we have is the length of our song. We have the riff but now we need to top it off and put it all together. What we need now is a roof.

This roof comes in the form of a guideline, what musicians call "Musical form." This is the guideline that almost every musician uses, so I suggest you listen up. In a song, there are the following parts:

  • Introduction
  • Verse
  • Chorus
  • Bridge
  • Verse

The most normal and basic of musical forms follows the pattern of having an introduction, where you grab the audience's interest, which follows into a verse, which expresses a musical thought and then into the heart of the song which is the chorus. Then you will normally follow back to a new verse, which is different from your first verse.

The chorus will always be the same. The verses will always change and you can have as many of them as you want, so long as you follow the pattern of verse: chorus: verse: chorus, etc. Once again, we come back to a repeated pattern. This pattern actually makes it easier for us as guitarists when we're writing a lengthy instrumental.

Other things you can incorporate into your composition to make it snazzy are things like a bridge, which is introduced around 2/3 of the way through the song and eliminates the chance of your song getting boring. It should be as unique and as different as possible while trying to maintain the style without sounding out of key. Us musicians keep it simple, envision the bridge as a physical bridge that walks you from land (the chorus) to a small island (the verse.)

There's even something called a pre-chorus. The pre-chorus is designed to sound like the chorus but normally will do something different than any other part of a song. For example, this is used quite a bit in techno music to tease the dancer before building into the chorus. It's longer than the bridge and usually has a lot more going on, which is why it's under a different name.

Basically, I look at all of this information like this:

Suppose I have just finished putting a bunch of riffs together. I have a neat little lick that last around 10 seconds. It's flashy and impressive, something that grabs people's attention, so I'll use it as my introduction. I have yet another riff but this one is about 20-25 seconds.

It's not the most dazzling one I have but it's cool and great to listen to, I'll use that as a verse. If I have a pretty intense riff, that lasts roughly 30-35 seconds then I will use it as my chorus. I also have a little doodle that I enjoy and it's in the right key, so why not make it my bridge? I go and incorporate another verse from my library of licks in that key.

Now I want to blow my audience away! I decide to use an amazing riff that's in a different key. So how do I get to the point where I can do that key change? Simple, just do a pre-chorus and build up an intense anticipation. Use some accidentals (notes that aren't in the key you currently are in but sound good) and move on up to the key change in the Chorus.

Notice how I said up, not down? This is because you always want to build your song up, just like a house. Changing the key down just takes away and you tend to loose that intensity. I've yet to see a key change down for a chorus pulled off nicely. If you think you can, email me with your recording!

Some musicians think pre-choruses are for pop or R&B. I disagree for the above reason, they can be a great tool for changing the key of a song.

Lyrics:

Well my friends, we have come to the point where some of you may actually want to include lyrics. This unfortunately, is not my specialty... I actually think my neighbor's dog could do a better job than me! That applies to singing as well so don't expect any lessons on either of these subjects. So far, everything I have written about has pertained to instrumental music (music without lyrics.) You can use the same musical form as mentioned above, the problem is that writing lyrics are much different than writing music on a guitar.

I have done some research to find someone who could actually teach this to you for free and came up with a pretty cool site. Click here to check it out. I hope this helps you out and that I see your song on the top 10 billboard charts!

Putting It All Together

Now that we have a pretty good idea of how to string together a song, it's a good idea to get inspiration. When writing music in specific keys, we sometimes forget about all of the exotic scales out there that we can utilize to get a great solo. So instead of writing a song, I'm going to give you some scales that you can use to write your own songs.

Hope you have fun and get the musical juices flowing!

G diminished {whole-staff}

G#/Ab Locrian

Eb jazz melodic minor:

B pentatonic major:

F blues scale {with major third and flatted fifth}:

 

Gear Review

Have you ever seen a piece of gear that every musician around you seems to have but you're not quite sure why? Perhaps you've been admiring a top of the line guitar that you plan on working towards getting but aren't sure if it's something that fits your style of taste... let alone budget. In this segment we will take a look at those questions by reviewing some pretty popular gear and see if it's worth the 60 hours you worked for it.

Boss TU-2 Pedal Tuner

In previous editions we have taken a look at some of the products Boss offers (the GT6 pedal for example). You may also remember me telling you that I prefer individual stomp boxes and the TU-2 is one of the reasons why. I can't stress to you how incredible this tool is when placed with your arsenal of effect pedals. You may be thinking "Hey dude, it's just a tuner." In the world of playing performance guitar... there's no such thing as "Just a tuner."

The TU-2 is a top of the line tuner built from ridged metal that will last you a lifetime. Not only is it durable but it's extremely accurate. Let's say you needed to tune down to drop D of maybe even down a halfstep during a show that you're playing, you simply turn the tuner on, which cuts out any noise from tuning that may go to the speakers or amps and allows you to tune quickly and precicely the exact tuning you need. Let's put it this way: the TU-2 is battle tested and came out on top with many of your favourite guitarist's wish lists.

Click here if you would like to check it out.

Fender US Tele Spruce Top Chambered Ash RW Cherry Sunburst

In 1951, Leo Fender introduced the Broadcaster, which would eventually be renamed the Telecaster® guitar. It was the first solid-body electric Spanish-style guitar that would ever get the chance to see the production line and be shipped around the world. {Source: Fender.com}

If you're looking for a guitar that is stage ready and a perfect match for almost any style, I really suggest you put this guitar on your shopping list of things to do. This guitar is one of the most versitile guitars around and it can kick out rock, blues, country, funk and raggae with the best of them! It has amazing pickups, which have become knowns as the "Lipstick pickups."

These pickups are single coil. While they may not sound like a beefed up Les Paul, it doesn't need to. It has it's own character and handles both clean and distorted tones very well. I used to dislike this guitar because I felt that it had to much of a high end, meaning that it was a little too twangy for my tastes. However, with some adjustments and the right settings (not to mention amp) you can really push it out on this baby.

A few weeks ago, I saw yet another Tele® in action and I must say I was impressed by its response on stage and how much it added to the music. Is this guitar for everyone? No. That's a decision that you need to make for yourself but for anyone looking for a professional quality instrument, it's worth the $1000.

Normally I wouldn't review an instrument like this due to the