Official: Guitar beginners question and answer thread.

Here's something for someone just getting started.
You'll often see someone mention the 4th or the 5th. They are referring to a degree, or note, in a scale. Let's take the C major scale, since it has no sharps or flats:

C D E F G A B C

This is the "diatonic" major scale which western music is based on. It is the classic "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do" scale.

Musicians give each note a number as a way to communicate ideas without having to name each note.

1-C
2-D
3-E
4-F
5-G
6-A
7-B
1-C


So when you read "4th", that is referring to the fourth note of the scale. As seen above, the 4th of the C major scale is F.
You will also see these notated as roman numerals.

I-C
II-D
III-E
IV-F
V-G
VI-A
VII-B
I-C

Chord progressions may be written using these roman numerals. A "I, IV, V" progression will be the "C, F, an G" chords.

Chords

A major chord consists of the root note (I), the third (III), and the fifth (V) of a the corresponding major scale.

Hence, the C chord is made up of C, E, and G.
The C chord may be noted as C, C Maj, or CM.

A minor chord consists of the root note (I), the flat third (bIII), and the fifth (V).
To make any note flat, just move the pitch lower 1/2 step, which is the same as 1 fret.

Hence the C minor chord is made of C, Eb, and G.
C minor may be noted as Cm or Cmin.

Key of G Major
2/4 time (2 downbeats per measure)
Relatively slow
pp - pianissimo (very soft)
rit - ritardo (slow down)
The long > is a decrescendo over the last 4 measures, so it gets even quieter.
The bird's eye looking thing on the second from last measure is a fermata. That note is held a longer amount of time than normal, usually at the discretion of the conductor.

It is if you have someone there explaining and teaching/instructing

Sounds a bit Floydish, but I can't read music so I know I'm not playing it right.
What is that?

Oh, I see what's going on here now. Yeah Lanier, I wasn't talking about the whole page, Just the chart at the top as a reference for swapping keys and learning mathematical relationships between chords in any progression.

Whatever that little piece is there, I think it would be easier to play in Am instead of Em.

Matter of fact, It's pretty easy to play in Amin.

Play the progression like this, it's pretty nice.
Amin-Dmin-Gmaj-Cmaj-Fmaj-Bmin-E7-Dmin.
That's not exactly right, but it will be close for now and easy to play.

quote:

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auggie

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Good man





I’ll be back with questions tonight when I get home

Relative major and minor keys.
Looks like we've gone waayyy off the intended topic, though.

That's why I think it's better, if questions are just asked and answered, on a thread like this.