The Guitar Study Newsletter for 5/15/2002

By Darrin Koltow

Howdy, hello, hola, and greetings once again from MaximumMusician.com. This is Darrin Koltow, webmaster, guitar coach, fret aficionado, all around good guy, bringing you more music making, guitar-playing tips. First I want to thank you again for signing up for the Guitar Study newsletter at www.MaximumMusician.com. You can unsubscribe at any time using instructions at the end of this email.

And your hogging of all these cool tips just for yourself is really beginning to toast my tater tots. Tell a friend about the Guitar Study newsletter, or I'm going to turn your guitar into a rutabaga. Get your pals to sign up at www.MaximumMusician.com .

In this issue:

== Relax ==
== Those butt-ugly notes ==
== A bluesey way to learn barre chords ==
== Open string magic ==
== The impossible chord ==

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== Relax ==

I have to admit I'm far from an expert on this next topic. The topic is relaxation, and I don't do it very well. Some days, I get so tense after playing that I...well, we won't go into that. However, I'm starting to realize how important physical relaxation is to improving guitar skills.

First of all, I notice that when I'm not relaxed and rather all tensed up, my hands simply don't go to where I want them to go. You know what I'm talking about, I think. You know, you're working on that one phrase or scale or whatever, and you keep making the *same darn mistake!* Man, it's so frustrating, isn't it? So, what happens then? You get angry, which makes you more tense, which makes you think even less clearly. You end up making the same mistake another dozen times, after which you might be ready to throw the guitar against the wall.

It doesn't have to be like this, not if you learn some productive relaxation techniques. Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it: "productive relaxation." Again, I'm no expert on this, but I have found a couple of simple techniques that replace your tension with calm, so you can focus, and *enjoy* playing more.

First, breathe. Yeah, that's right, just *breathe.* Even before you feel yourself getting stressed, and definitely before you even pick up the guitar, suck in a big bucketful of air through your nose and into your gut, not your chest. Hold it for 3 seconds. Make sure you do hold it. Then, with a PAH! kind of sound, shoot it back out, until you clear out as much air as you can -- and then go a little further even, giving a little oomph! to get that last bit of air out. I'm serious about this. I don't do this often enough, yet when I do, I feel *so* much more relaxed.

Here are some other things you can do to de-stress and regain control of your playing, and the ability to enjoy it: do shoulder shrugs. Put the guitar down. Bring you shoulders all the way up, like you were trying to make them touch your ears. Hold that position for a good 3 seconds, collecting all the tension. Then, drop your shoulders, as though you were letting them fall right off your body. That's the shoulder shrug.

Do you see a pattern here in these relaxation exercises? I do, discovering it as I write this. It kind of goes against intuition a bit: to relax a body part, you first get it tensed up. Then, you let it go all the way, and then a wee bit more. It's like you're collecting all the little pieces of tension, as though they were pieces of broken glass, all at one time into a dust bin and then tossing them in the basket. See, if you don't focus on collecting the tension in one concentrated effort, you'll leave a bit of tension in you. And like a weed whose root you left in the ground, that wee bit will grow, multiply, and turn your whole body into one big charley horse.

There are other basic relaxation techniques you can use, but I want to refer you to the masters on this subject. I'm going to mention some authors who are experts on using this relaxing idea to enhance and enjoy playing.

First is Jamie Andreas. I hope that some of y'all have heard of Jamie already. She's a total pro, player and teacher. She wrote a book called, "The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar," which deals a lot with removing unnecessary stress from your practicing. Also, her site is filled with helpful de-stressing techniques. She goes into methods she calls the heavy arm, the light arm, heavy finger, light finger, bad finger, finger lickin' good...oops, I'm getting sidetracked. Seriously, check out her methods at www.guitarprinciples.com.

Here's another good book that emphasizes relaxation: Kenny Werner's Effortless Mastery. Aebersold publishes this. Aebersold is the guy who puts out those play-along CDs that you can learn to solo with.

Another book: The Inner Game of Music. This is a good head trip. You'll learn how to direct your attention to find the errors in your playing. To be honest, it's been a while since I've read this, so I forget exactly how this relates to relaxation. But, more important than that, you'll get tips on how to use your mind to practice more effectively.

One last book: Making Music for the Joy of It: Enhancing Creativity Skills and Musical Confidence, by Stephanie Judy. This one is *full* of practical tips and inspiring quotes and stories. I know, I know, I'm getting away from the relaxation topic again, but the point is, the resources will enhance your whole music making experience.

== Those butt-ugly notes ==

We've talked about some approaches you can take to put chords to a melody. We've also talked about why you want to put your own harmonies to a melody. (If you haven't seen these articles, go to www.MaximumMusician.com/NewsletterArc.htm to read them.) Let's look at another aspect of harmonizing a melody: *where* you harmonize a melody.

What the heck does this mean? Lots of things. First, let's assume you've taken your first steps to put chords to a melody, and maybe you've had some successes. At certain points in the song you're able to say, "Man! I really nailed that chord there! That sounds like a million dollars!" At other parts of the song, you might feel differently. "Wow. Scraping razor blades against a blackboard would sound better than *this.*"

So you try different chords to fix the rough spots. You might even go the extra mile and learn *new* chords to put to the melody. Still, razor blades and blackboards. "Well," you say, about to move on to another song or project, abandoning your attempt on this song, "at least I learned a couple of new chords."

Don't give up. Keep going. Here are some ideas on finding the right chords for those rough spots. First, pick out the absolute worst-sounding chord you can devise. I'm serious about this. Pick the wrong chord from the same key center you've been working in. Resolve to finish the tune's harmonies this way. Finish it with some chords that sound right, and some that are just butt-ugly awful sounding. Keep these chords in the tune. Play your arrangement every day for a week. Let it get under your skin and into your system.

After that week, go back to those chords you just know are wrong, and pick them apart, note by note. Find out exactly which notes -- or which intervals -- are the butt-ugly ones. Is it the 3rd and 5th of the major chord? Just the 4th of that suspended chord? Come on, find out which notes are the sourest. Once you've done this for a particular measure, "rewind" a couple of measures, and play the tune from that point. Slowly, sing the melody, and play the chords. When you get to the butt-ugly measure, don't play the full chord. Instead, play the notes you've identified as the worst. If they still sound sour to you, you know you've found the "problem." (Though remember that there are no problems in music, only sounds waiting for you to learn to use them in your playing.)

Once you have your sour notes, replace them with other notes. You can move one half-step away from the sour notes, or a greater distance. You can either identify new chords in the same key that contain this new set of notes, or keep the same basic chord you've been using. If you choose the latter, shift the sour notes a wee bit. For example, if the B in a G7 was giving you trouble, make it a C. Or, eliminate it completely; do a power chord: notes G and D only. Heck, replace the B with an E. Now you have E, F, G and D notes in your chord. Whew! Dig that E to F half step. No problem: Turn your G7 into an Fmaj13, add 9. Put the F on the bottom and the E on top.

I hope that, even if I might have lost you in this chord craziness, I've sparked some ideas for you to try in your harmonizing projects. I can't stress enough how rewarding it is to choose your own chords for a melody, rather than let habit and other factors dictate to you what *the* chords for a tune are.

== A bluesey way to learn barre chords ==

This next bit is for those of you who are just starting to learn barre chords. Or, maybe you haven't learned any, and are a bit fearful because they look complicated or even painful. Fear not! We're gonna make barre chord playing a pleasure. Dig this tab:

(Remember to set your font to Courier or Courier New before reading any tabs or diagrams. If you don't, your computer will explode. If that happened, you'd have more time to play guitar.)

|-5-----|-------|-------|-5-----|
|-5-----|-8-5---|-7-6-7-|-7-7---|
|-6-5-6-|-6---6-|-5-----|-5---7-|
|-5-----|-5-----|-7-----|-7-----|
|-7-----|-------|-5-----|-------|
|-5-----|-5-----|-------|-------|


|-5-----|-------|-------|-------|
|-5-----|-8-5---|-5-----|-5-----|
|-6-5-6-|-6---6-|-7-----|-7-7-4-|
|-5-----|-5-----|-6-5-6-|-6-----|
|-7-----|-------|-7-----|-7-----|
|-5-----|-5-----|-------|-------|

|-------|-5-----|---|
|-7-6-7-|-7-7---|-8-|
|-5-----|-5---7-|-6-|
|-7-----|-7-----|-5-|
|-5-----|-------|---|
|-------|-------|-5-|

Did you notice the E7 is in a form that gives your hand a break from the barre chords?

This ditty gives you a *reason* to play barre chords. Instead of getting frustrated at your first attempts at playing them, you'll say, "Zoiks! I heard a couple of killer notes in there! Gimme more!" Those killer notes are courtesy of the Blues.

It's easy to get frustrated when you first start learning barre chords, because of the finger strength they require. You're used to playing open position tunes, which are less physically demanding. When that frustration happens, you may think, "Oh, I wasn't cut out for playing guitar anyway," or, "What's the point of barre chords! I don't need them." Then, when someone shows you how to get some sweet sounds from barre chords, your whole attitude changes.

This is a critical ingredient of anything you practice: answering the question, how do you make music that you like from this new chord, scale, arpeggio, pattern, whatever? If you're having a tough time coming up with the answer, bring in the Blues. The Blues has a way of making the smallest musical bits go the furthest. You get maximum output of feeling from a minimum of input.

Variations: Take this little barre chord blues ditty, and make it your own. We covered two of the important barre chord shapes: one for the root on the 6th string, and one for the root on the 5th string. Our Blues used the dominant 7 forms, which are easily turned into major and minor forms. If you dig our Blues ditty for these forms, make your own Blues from another barre chord shape you want to learn. The possibilities are mind boggling!

== Open string magic ==

Dig this chord:
x-0-7-7-x-8

(Do you remember how to read my special chord diagrams? 1-2-3-4 would mean "fret 1 on high E string, fret 2 on B string, fret 3 on G string, and so on.)

Did you play this chord? What do you think? I hope you recognized this is a C chord. If you didn't, go into the corner and play Kumbaya a hundred times -- backwards.

This is a C major 13 chord. It's got your Recommended Daily Allowance of C, a D, an A and a B. Isn't it nifty how a chord doesn't have to have a major third in it to sound like a major chord? In other words, we're missing the E here.

However, the point I want to make with this chord doesn't have to do with the importance of the third. I wanted to show you an interesting use of open position strings. Maybe some of you are playing just open position chords right now: those first chords that every guitarist learns, those on frets zero to three. That's okay. Maybe some of you have totally mastered the open position chords and are doing barre chords and other movable shapes now. Cool. Wherever you may be in your skill development, I want you to see the power of the open string.

When you played the above C major 13 chord, what did you hear as the top note? Be honest, now. Tell me what you *heard* as the highest note, and not what you analyzed or saw the top note to be. If your ears are anything like mine, you heard the open string B as the top note. But guess what: it's not. The open string B is a lower pitch than the D note you're playing on the G string. That's pretty interesting, and opens up some possibilities for sweet sounds and effects.

Why did this occur? Why do we hear the top note as B, and how can we use this info? Let's tackle the why question first. I wouldn't lead you down the wrong path by saying I know exactly why we hear B as the top note instead of the D. But I can tell you this much: the B note is the loudest one in the bunch. Did you ever hear the expression, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease"? Well, the B note is our squeaky wheel here. It's the loudest note, because all open position strings are louder than any fretted notes, assuming you apply the same plucking or strumming force to each note.

So, what good does this knowledge do us? There are *lots* of ways this open position stuff can help us. Let's say you're in the mood for a challenge, and you decide to read some music that's arranged not for the guitar, but for a piano. Well, piano players can hit notes and combos of notes that we guitarists can't hit. But, we can create similar sounds. Let's say this music calls for a C major chord with a B as the top melody note, and you feel like throwing in a 9 and a 6 (notes D and A) because you dig how they sound. Normally, you might not be able to play all these notes together. Using the C major 13 chord we illustrated here, with our open B string, we can play this chord. Our ears won't hear the D as the top note, but the B.

This is just one example of how we can use open strings. Just because you may have "graduated" from playing open strings, you don't have to forsake them completely. Use whatcha know, amigo.

== The impossible chord ==

Dig this sound:

x-5-4-3-4 (C7#9)
1-1-2-3 (F major)

(Remember, reading left to right means going from the high E string to the low E string.)

Was that 7#9 chord totally new to you? It's not new to me now, but when I first played it, I thought, "No way. That's an impossible chord. That's an impossible *sound.* You can't have a chord with a major third and a minor third. That's like drinking your milk with your orange juice, or eating your corn flakes with Pepsi. It's just not done!"

Well, it is done. And the reason it can be done is not because of some theoretical concept, though theory has something to say about the 7#9, but because the 7#9 makes a distinctive sound that's useful in some musical situations. For example, instead of playing a I chord like an F major 7, you could play the C7#9 shown above. It's got an "impossible" combo of notes: if you think of the notes in a C7#9 as the notes of an F major chord, you get both a major 7 and a b7 interval. Wow.

The theoretical reason you can do 7#9 chords can be found in the melodic minor scale. Here are the notes in the Db melodic minor scale: Db, Eb, Fb, Gb, Ab, Bb, and C . That's a lot of flats in there. Make sure your spare tire is nearby. Why did I list the notes for the Db melodic minor scale? Because this is the scale that has the notes for the C7#9 chord: C, Eb, E, G, and Bb.

The melodic minor scale has all kinds of nifty sounds that the major scale doesn't have. We're not going to go deeply into it here. I just want to introduce it to you. I also want to tell you it's as easy to learn as the major scale, though only seems more difficult, because it's not as common to popular music. It's like driving a stick shift: it seems difficult at first only because you're used to driving an automatic. But once you have a few miles under your tires, you're zoomin', baby.

One other important thing I want to mention about the C7#9 chord illustrated previously. Look at where you're playing the notes E and Eb. Notice how the E is played lower than the Eb. In general, you want to play, or *voice* all your 7#9 chords this way: the minor third should be 11 half steps up from the major third. Why? Because the interval of 11 half steps, the major 7 interval, is a lot prettier sounding than the minor nine interval, which is what you would be playing if you play the Eb under the E. Try it and see:

x-4-x-x-7 (major 7)
x-5-x-x-6 (minor 9)

So, don't be afraid of the C7#9. It's got some teeth, but it won't bite you. It will add bite to your playing.

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It's time to get this issue of the Guitar Study Newsletter out to y'all. I hope that you find something in here to improve your playing and enjoy your playing more. I also hope you get a chuckle or two out of it.

Have a great week!