How Guitars Work After you can recognize the basic parts of the guitar, you may also want to understand how those parts work together to make sound in case you happen to choose the parts of a guitar category in Jeopardy!
We present this information just so that you know why your guitar sounds the way it does, instead of like a kazoo or an accordion. The important thing to remember is that a guitar makes the sound, but you make the music. Chapter 1: Guitar String vibration and string length Any instrument must have some part of it moving in a regular, repeated motion to produce musical sound a sustained tone, or pitch. In a guitar, this part is the vibrating string.
A string that you bring to a certain tension and then set in motion by a plucking action produces a predictable sound — for example, the note A. If you tune a string of your guitar to different tensions, you get different tones. The greater the tension of a string, the higher the pitch.
They do so by fretting — pacing back and forth and mumbling to themselves. In guitar-speak, fretting refers to pushing the string against the fretboard so that it vibrates only between the fingered fret metal wire and the bridge. This way, by moving the left hand up and down the neck toward the bridge and the nut, respectively , you can change pitches comfortably and easily. The fact that smaller instruments such as mandolins and violins are higher in pitch than are cellos and basses and guitars, for that matter is no accident.
Their pitch is higher because their strings are shorter. The string tension of all these instruments may be closely related, making them feel somewhat consistent in response to the hands and fingers, but the drastic difference in string lengths is what results in the wide differences of pitch among them. This principle holds true in animals, too. A Chihuahua has a higher-pitched bark than a St. Bernard because its strings — er, vocal cords — are much shorter.
Using both hands to make a sound The guitar normally requires two hands working together to create music. A preschooler can sound just like Horowitz if playing only middle C, because just one finger of one hand, pressing one key, makes the sound. The guitar is somewhat different. To play middle C on the guitar, you must take your left-hand index finger and fret the 2nd string that is, press it down 15 16 Part I: So You Wanna Play Guitar to the fingerboard at the first fret.
You must then strike or pluck that 2nd string with your right hand to actually produce the note middle C audibly. Music readers take note: The guitar sounds an octave lower than its written notes. For example, playing a written, third-space C on the guitar actually produces a middle C. Frets and half steps The smallest interval unit of musical distance in pitch of the musical scale is the half step.
On the piano, the alternating white and black keys represent this interval except for the places where you find two adjacent white keys with no black key in between. To proceed by half steps on a keyboard instrument, you move your finger up or down to the next available key, white or black. On the guitar, frets — the horizontal metal wires or bars that you see embedded in the fretboard, running perpendicular to the strings — represent these half steps.
To go up or down by half steps on a guitar means to move your left hand one fret at a time, higher or lower on the neck. Pickups Vibrating strings produce the different tones on a guitar.
But you must be able to hear those tones, or you face one of those if-a-tree-falls-in-a-forest questions. But an electric guitar makes virtually no acoustic sound at all. Well, a tiny bit, like a buzzing mosquito, but nowhere near enough to fill a stadium or anger your next-door neighbors. An electric instrument creates its tones entirely through electronic means. Instead, the vibrations disturb, or modulate, the magnetic field that the pickups — wire-wrapped magnets positioned underneath the strings — produce.
If you remember from eighth-grade science, wrapping wire around a magnet creates a small current in the wire.
If you then take any magnetic substance and disturb the magnetic field around that wire, you create fluctuations in the current itself. A taut steel string vibrating at the rate of times per second creates a current that fluctuates times per second. For more on tuning, see Chapter 2.
Guitars, therefore, make sound either by amplifying string vibrations acoustically by passing the sound waves through a hollow chamber , or electronically by amplifying and outputting a current through a speaker. How a guitar produces different sounds — and the ones that you want it to make — is up to you and how you control the pitches that those strings produce. Left-hand fretting is what changes these pitches. Your right-hand motions not only help produce the sound by setting the string in motion, but they also determine the rhythm the beat or pulse , tempo the speed of the music , and feel interpretation, style, spin, magic, mojo, je ne sais quoi, whatever of those pitches.
Put both hand motions together, and they spell music — make that guitar music. And the task is never fun. Unlike the piano, which a professional tunes and you never need to adjust until the next time the professional tuner comes to visit, the guitar is normally tuned by its owner — and it needs constant adjusting.
One of the great injustices of life is that, before you can even play music on the guitar, you must endure the painstaking process of getting your instrument in tune. Fortunately for guitarists, you have only six strings as opposed to the couple hundred of a piano. Also encouraging is the fact that you can use several different methods to get your guitar in tune, as this chapter describes. Before you can tune your guitar, you need to know how to refer to the two main players — strings and frets.
The 1st string is the skinniest, located closest to the floor when you hold the guitar in playing position. Working your way up, the 6th string is the fattest, closest to the ceiling.
Whenever you deal with guitar fingering, fret means the space in between the metal bars — where you can comfortably fit a left-hand finger. The first fret is the region between the nut the thin, grooved strip that separates the headstock from the neck and the first metal bar. The fifth fret, then, is the fifth square up from the nut — technically, the region between the fourth and fifth metal fret bars. Most guitars have a marker on the fifth fret, either a decorative design embedded in the fingerboard or a dot on the side of the neck, or both.
You can always check out the diagram on the Cheat Sheet at the front of the book while you get comfortable with these naming conventions. One more point of business to square away. As long as the strings are in tune in a certain relationship with each other, you can create sonorous and harmonious tones.
Those same tones may turn into sounds resembling those of a catfight if you try to play along with another instrument, however; but as long as you tune the strings relative to one another, the guitar is in tune with itself.
To tune a guitar using the relative method, choose one string as the starting point — say, the 6th string. Leave the pitch of that string as is; then tune all the other strings relative to that 6th string.
The fifth-fret method The fifth-fret method derives its name from the fact that you almost always play a string at the fifth fret and then compare the sound of that note to that of the next open string. Play the fifth fret of the 6th low E string the fattest one, closest to the ceiling and then play the open 5th A string the one next to it. Let both notes ring together.
Their pitches should match exactly. If the 5th string seems lower, or flat, turn its tuning key with your left hand to raise the pitch.
If the 5th string seems sharp, or higher sounding, use its tuning key to lower the pitch. Play the fifth fret of the 5th A string and then play the open 4th D string. Let both of these notes ring together.
If the 4th string seems flat or sharp relative to the fretted 5th string, use the tuning key of the 4th string to adjust its pitch accordingly. Play the fifth fret of the 4th D string and then play the open 3rd G string. Let both notes ring together again. If the 3rd string seems flat or sharp relative to the fretted 4th string, use the tuning key of the 3rd string to adjust the pitch accordingly. Play the fourth not the fifth!
Let both strings ring together. If the 2nd string seems flat or sharp, use its tuning key to adjust the pitch accordingly.
Play the fifth yes, back to the fifth for this one fret of the 2nd B string and then play the open 1st high E string. If the 1st string seems flat or sharp, use its tuning key to adjust the pitch accordingly. You may want to go back and repeat the process, because some strings may have slipped out of tune. Simply use your right hand! After you strike the two strings in succession the fretted string and the open string , take your right hand and reach over your left hand which remains stationary as you fret the string and turn the tuning peg of the appropriate string until both strings sound exactly the same.
If you want to bring your guitar into the world of other people, you need to know how to tune to a fixed source, such as a piano, pitch pipe, tuning fork, or electronic tuner. Using such a source ensures that everyone is playing by the same tuning rules. Besides, your guitar and strings are built for optimal tone production if you tune to standard pitch.
The following sections describe some typical ways to tune your guitar by using fixed references. These methods not only enable you to get in tune, but also to make nice with all the other instruments in the neighborhood. Chapter 2: Turn On, Tune In Taking a turn at the piano Because it holds its pitch so well needing only biannual or annual tunings, depending on the conditions , a piano is a great tool that you can use for tuning a guitar.
Assuming that you have an electronic keyboard or a well-tuned piano around, all you need to do is match the open strings of the guitar to the appropriate keys on the piano.
Figure shows a piano keyboard and the corresponding open guitar strings. Middle C E Figure A view of the piano keyboard, highlighting the keys that correspond to the open strings of the guitar. So you need a smaller and more practical device that supplies standardtuning reference pitches. Enter the pitch pipe. The pitch pipe evokes images of stern, matronly chorus leaders who purse their prunelike lips around a circular harmonica to deliver an anemic squeak that instantly marshals together the reluctant voices of the choir.
Yet pitch pipes serve their purpose. For guitarists, special pitch pipes exist consisting of pipes that play only the notes of the open strings of the guitar but sounding in a higher range and none of the in-between notes.
The advantage of a pitch pipe is that you can hold it firmly in your mouth while blowing, keeping your hands free for tuning. The disadvantage to a pitch pipe is that you sometimes take a while getting used to hearing a wind-produced pitch against a struck-string pitch.
But with practice, you can tune with a pitch pipe as easily as you can with a piano. And a pitch pipe fits much more easily into your shirt pocket than a piano does! Check out Chapter 16 for a picture of a pitch pipe. Sinking your teeth into the tuning fork After you get good enough at discerning pitches, you need only one singlepitched tuning reference to get your whole guitar in tune. The tuning fork offers only one pitch, and it usually comes in only one flavor: A the one above middle C, which vibrates at cycles per second, commonly known as A Using a tuning fork requires a little finesse.
You must strike the fork against something firm, such as a tabletop or kneecap, and then hold it close to your ear or place the stem or handle — and not the tines or fork prongs — against something that resonates.
This resonator can be the tabletop again or even the top of the guitar. You can even hold it between your teeth, which leaves your hands free! It really works, too! The task may not be easy, but if you do it enough, you eventually become an expert. Chapter 2: Turn On, Tune In Experiencing the electronic tuner The quickest and most accurate way to get in tune is to employ an electronic tuner. This handy device seems to possess witchcraftlike powers.
Some older, graph-type tuners feature a switch that selects which string you want to tune. Figure shows a typical electronic tuner. Figure An electronic tuner makes tuning a snap. Electronic tuners are usually powered by 9-volt batteries or two AAs that can last for a year with regular usage up to two or even three years with only occasional usage. For more on tuners, see Chapter For your tuning convenience, we play the open strings on Track 1 of the audio CD that comes with this book.
Unlike a cassette tape — or any analog tape system, for that matter — a CD always plays back the exact pitch that it records and never goes sharp or flat, not even a little bit.
Chapter 3 Ready, Set. They fit comfortably into the arms of most humans, and the way your two hands fall on the strings naturally is pretty much the position from which you should play. In this chapter, we tell you all about good posture techniques and how to hold your hands — just as if you were a young socialite at a finishing school. We jest because we care. But you really do need to remember that good posture and position, at the very least, prevent strain and fatigue and, at best, help develop good concentration habits and tone.
After we get you positioned correctly with the guitar, we go over some basic music-deciphering skills and show you how to play a chord. Hand Position and Posture You can either sit or stand while playing the guitar, and the position you choose makes virtually no difference whatsoever to your tone or technique. Most people prefer to practice while sitting but perform publicly while standing.
The one exception to the sit or stand option is the classical guitar, which you normally play in a sitting position. The orthodox practice is to play in a seated position only. Place your feet slightly apart. Balance the guitar by lightly resting your right forearm on the bass bout, as shown in Figure You should be able to take your left hand completely off the fretboard without the guitar dipping toward the floor. Figure Typical sitting position.
Classical guitar technique, on the other hand, requires you to hold the instrument on your left leg, not on your right. This position puts the center of the guitar closer to the center of your body, making the instrument easier to play, especially with the left hand, because you can better execute the difficult fingerings of the classical-guitar music in that position.
Chapter 13 shows the classical-guitar sitting position. This device enables your left foot to remain on the floor and instead pushes the guitar up in the air. Chapter 3: Ready, Set. Not Yet: Developing the Tools and Skills to Play Standing position To stand and play the guitar, you need a strap that is securely fastened to both strap pins on the guitar or otherwise tied to the guitar. Then you can stand in a normal way and check out how cool you look in the mirror with that guitar slung over your shoulders.
You may need to adjust the strap to get the guitar at a comfortable playing height. Your body makes a natural adjustment in going from a sitting to a standing position.
Just stay relaxed and, above all, look cool. Looking cool is just as important as knowing how to play. Figure shows a typical standing position. Figure Typical standing position. All your knuckles should be bent. Your hand should look about like that after you stick a guitar neck in there. The thumb glides along the back of the neck, straighter than if you were making a fist but not rigid. To fret a note, press the tip of your finger down on a string, keeping your knuckles bent.
Try to get the fingertip to come down vertically on the string rather than at an angle. This position exerts the greatest pressure on the string and also prevents the sides of the finger from touching adjacent strings — which may cause either buzzing or muting deadening the string, or preventing it from ringing.
This technique will give you the clearest sound and prevent buzzing. Building up the strength in your left hand takes time. You may see advertisements for hand-strengthening devices and believe that these products may expedite your left-hand endurance.
Because of the strength your left hand exerts while fretting, other parts of your body may tense up to compensate. At periodic intervals, make sure that you relax your left shoulder, which has a tendency to rise up as you work on your fretting.
You want to keep your upper arm and forearm parallel to the side of your body. Relax your elbow so that it stays at your side. Not Yet: Developing the Tools and Skills to Play The important thing to remember in maintaining a good left-hand position is that you need to keep it comfortable and natural.
If your hand starts to hurt or ache, stop playing and take a rest. As with any other activity that requires muscular development, resting enables your body to catch up. Electric endeavours Electric necks are both narrower from the 1st string to the 6th and shallower from the fingerboard to the back of the neck than acoustics.
Electric guitars are, therefore, easier to fret. The biggest difference, however, between fretting on an electric and on a nylon or steel-string acoustic is the action. On an electric guitar, fretting strings is like passing a hot knife through butter. The easier action of an electric enables you to use a more relaxed left-hand position than you normally would on an acoustic, with the palm of the left hand facing slightly outward. Figure shows a photo of the left hand resting on the fingerboard of an electric guitar, fretting a string.
Figure The electric guitar neck lies comfortably between the thumb and the first finger as the first finger frets a note. Classical conditions Because nylon-string guitars have a wide fingerboard and are the model of choice for classical music, their necks require a slightly more ahem formal left-hand approach.
Try to get the palm-side of your knuckles the ones that connect your fingers to your hand to stay close to and parallel to the side of the neck so that the fingers run perpendicular to the strings and all the fingers 31 32 Part I: So You Wanna Play Guitar are the same distance away from the neck. Figure shows the correct left-hand position for nylon-string guitars. Figure Correct left-hand position for a classical guitar. Right-hand position If you hold a guitar in your lap and drape your right arm over the upper bout, your right hand, held loosely outstretched, crosses the strings at about a degree angle.
This position is good for playing with a pick. For fingerstyle playing, you want to turn your right hand more perpendicular to the strings. For classical guitar, you want to keep the right hand as close to a degree angle as possible.
On acoustic, you can play either with a pick or with your fingers. On both electric and acoustic, you play most rhythm chord-based accompaniment and virtually all lead singlenote melodies by holding the pick, or plectrum the old-fashioned term , between the thumb and index finger. Figure shows the correct way to hold a pick — with just the tip sticking out, perpendicular to the thumb.
The more vigorous the strum, the more elbow you must put into the mix. For playing lead, you use only the more economical wrist motion. Picks come in various gauges. Thinner picks are easier to manage for the beginner. Fingerpicking means that you play the guitar by plucking the strings with the individual right-hand fingers. The thumb plays the bass, or low, strings, and the fingers play the treble, or high, strings. Maintaining a slight arch in the wrist so that the fingers come down more vertically on the strings also helps.
Chapter 12 contains more information on fingerpicking style, including figures showing proper hand position.
A perpendicular approach enables your fingers to draw against the strings with maximum strength. See Chapter 13 for more information on the rest stroke and free stroke. With the help of the chord diagrams, rhythm slashes, and tablature that we explain in this section, plus hearing what all this stuff sounds like through the magic of CD technology, you can pick up on everything that you need to understand and play the guitar.
Beginning in Chapter 4, listen closely to the CD and follow the corresponding written examples to make sure that you understand how the two relate. All you need to do is understand where to put your fingers to form a chord. A chord is defined as the simultaneous sounding of three or more notes. The vertical line at the far left is the low 6th string, and the right-most vertical line is the high 1st string.
The thick horizontal line at the top is the nut of the guitar, where the fretboard ends. So the first fret is actually the second vertical line from the top. An O indicates an open string that you do play. In such cases, the top line is not the nut. In most cases, however, you deal primarily with chords that fall within only the first four frets of the guitar. They use this shorthand because, although a particular musical concept itself is often simple enough, to notate that idea in standard written music form may prove unduly complicated and cumbersome.
The chord in your left hand determines what you play. Say, for example, that you see the diagram shown in Figure Figure One measure of an E chord.
Taking a look at tablature Tablature or just tab, for short is a notation system that graphically represents the frets and strings of the guitar. Whereas chord diagrams do so in a static way, tablature shows how you play music over a period of time.
For all the musical examples that appear in this book, you see a tablature staff or tab staff, for short beneath the standard notation staff.
Tab is guitar-specific — in fact, many call it simply guitar tab. It does, however, tell you what string to fret and where exactly on the fingerboard to fret that string. Not Yet: Developing the Tools and Skills to Play Figure shows you the tab staff and some sample notes and a chord. The top line of the tab staff represents the 1st string of the guitar — high E. The bottom line of the tab corresponds to the 6th string on the guitar, low E.
The other lines represent the other four stings in between — the second line from the bottom is the 5th string, and so on. A number appearing on any given line tells you to fret that string in that numbered fret. For example, if you see the numeral 2 on the second line from the top, you need to press down the 2nd string in the second fret above the nut actually, the space between the first and second metal frets.
A 0 on a line means that you play the open string. Figure Three examples of tab staff. You can play a chord the simultaneous sounding of three or more notes several ways on the guitar — by strumming dragging a pick or the back of your fingernails across the strings in a single, quick motion , plucking with the individual right-hand fingers , or even smacking the strings with your open hand or fist.
For the guitarist, that means learning some left-hand chord forms. Fingering a chord After you think that you understand somewhat the guitar notation that we describe in the preceding sections, your best bet is to just jump right in and play your first chord. After you get the hang of playing chords, you eventually find that you can move several fingers into position simultaneously. For now, however, just place your fingers one at a time on the frets and strings, as the following instructions indicate you can also refer to Figure : 37 38 Part I: So You Wanna Play Guitar 1.
Place your first index finger on the 3rd string, first fret actually between the nut and first fret wire but closer to the fret wire. Apply just enough pressure to keep your finger from moving off the string. Place your second middle finger on the 5th string skipping over the 4th string , second fret.
Again, apply just enough pressure to keep your fingers in place. You now have two fingers on the guitar, on the 3rd and 5th strings, with an as-yet unfretted string the 4th in between. Place your third ring finger on the 4th string, second fret. You may need to wriggle your ring finger a bit to get it to fit in there between the first and second fingers and below the fret wire. Figure shows a photo of how your E chord should look after all your fingers are positioned correctly.
Now that your fingers are in position, strike all six strings with your right hand to hear your first chord, E. Figure Notice how the fingers curve and the knuckles bend on an E chord. Avoiding buzzes One of the hardest things to do in playing chords is to avoid buzzing. A buzz can also result if a fretting finger accidentally comes in contact with an adjacent string, preventing that string from ringing freely.
This is the part where you start actually playing the guitar. Chapter 4 presents you with some tools that will be your first and longest-lasting friends: open position major and minor chords.
If you only work hard on one chapter in this book, let it be Chapter 4. Chapter 5 provides you with the basics of single-note melodies, so that you can inject some melody into your playing.
Finally, the part winds up with a bit of spice, when we add basic 7th chords to the mix. A family of chords is simply a group of related chords.
The concept is sort of like color-coordinating your clothing or assembling a group of foods to create a balanced meal. Chords in a family go together like peanut butter and chocolate except that chords in a family are less messy. Along the way, we help you expand your guitar-notation vocabulary as you start to develop your chord-playing and strumming skills. Think of a family of chords as a plant. Together, the root and shoots make up the family.
By the way, the technical term for a family is key. Chords that contain open strings are called open chords, or open-position chords. The basic chords in the A family are A, D, and E. Arch your fingers so that the fingertips fall perpendicular to the neck.
In short, pressing down the string hurts. You must develop nice, thick calluses on your fingertips before playing the guitar can ever feel completely comfortable. You may take weeks or even months to build up those protective layers of dead skin, depending on how much and how often you play. But after you finally earn your calluses, you never lose them completely, anyway.
You can develop your calluses by playing the basic chords in this chapter over and over again. As you progress, you also gain strength in your hands and fingers and become more comfortable in general while playing the guitar. As with any physical-conditioning routine, make sure that you stop and rest if you begin to feel tenderness or soreness in your fingers or hands.
Figure shows the fingering for the A, D, and E chords — the basic chords in the A family. Strike just the top five 5th through 1st strings in the A chord and the top four 4th through 1st strings in the D chord. Notice how the diagrams graphically convey the left-hand positions in the photos. You can define quality as the relationship between the different notes that make up the chord — or simply, what the chord sounds like. Besides the quality of being major, other chord qualities include minor, 7th, minor 7th, and major 7th.
Each type of chord, or chord quality, has a different kind of sound, and you can often distinguish the chord type just by hearing it. Listen, for example, to the sound of a major chord by strumming A, D, and E. For more information on 7th, minor 7th, and major 7th chords, check out Chapter 6.
A progression is simply a series of chords that you play one after the other. Figure presents a simple progression in the key of A and instructs you to strum each chord — in the order shown reading from left to right — four times.
Use all downstrokes dragging your pick across the strings toward the floor as you play. Listen to the example on the CD to hear the rhythm of this progression and try to play along with it. Figure A simple chord progression in the key of A using only chords in the A family. After strumming each chord four times, you come to a vertical line in the music that follows the four strum symbols. This line is a bar line. You can use these terms interchangeably; they both mean the same thing.
Measures make written music easier to grasp, because they break up the music into little, digestible chunks. See Appendix A for more information on bar lines and measures. Start out playing as slowly as necessary to help you keep the beat steady. You can always speed up as you become more confident and proficient in your chord fingering and switching. By playing a progression over and over, you start to develop left-hand strength and calluses on your fingertips.
Try it and try it. If you want to play a song right away, you can. The D family, therefore, shares two basic open chords with the A family D and A and introduces two new ones: Em and G. Minor describes the quality of a type of chord. You may characterize the sound of a minor chord as sad, mournful, scary, or even ominous.
You may notice that none of the strings in either chord diagram displays an X symbol, so you get to strike all the strings whenever you play a G or Em chord. If you feel like it, go ahead and celebrate by dragging your pick or right-hand fingers across the strings in a big keraaaang.
Figure The Em and G chords. Notice that all six strings are available for play in each chord. G Em 23 21 32 3 4 Try the following trick to quickly pick up how to play Em and to hear the difference between the major and minor chord qualities: Play E, which is a major chord, and then lift your index finger off the 3rd string.
By alternating the two chords, you can easily hear the difference in quality between a major and minor chord. Also, notice the alternative fingering for G instead of As your hand gains strength and becomes more flexible, you want to switch to the Chapter 4: The Easiest Way to Play: Basic Major and Minor Chords fingering instead of the initially easier fingering the version shown in Figure You can switch to other chords with greater ease and efficiency by using the fingering for G.
Strumming D-family chords In Figure , you play a simple chord progression using D-family chords. Notice the difference in the strum in this figure versus that of Figure In Figure , you strum each chord four times per measure. Each strum is one pulse, or beat.
Figure divides the second strum of each measure or the second beat into two strums — up and down — both of which together take up the time of one beat, meaning that you must play each strum in beat 2 twice as quickly as you do a regular strum. The additional symbol 2 with the strum symbol means that you strum down toward the floor, and 4 means that you strum up toward the ceiling. If you play your guitar while hanging in gravity boots, however, you must reverse these last two instructions.
The term sim. Figure This progression contains chords commonly found in the key of D. Em Count: 1 2 etc. Go for it! Fingering G-family chords In Figure , you see the fingerings for Am and C, the new chords that you need to play in the G family. Notice that the fingering of these two chords is similar: Each has finger 1 on the 2nd string, first fret, and finger 2 on the 4th string, second fret.
Only finger 3 must change — adding or removing it — in switching between these two chords. In moving between these chords, keep these first two fingers in place on the strings.
The notes that different chords share are known as common tones. Notice the X over the 6th string in each of these chords. We mean it! Am Figure The fingering for the Am and C chords. Play this progression over and over to accustom yourself to switching chords and to build up those left-hand calluses. It does get easier after a while. We promise! Listen to the CD to hear this sound. Figure A chord progression that you can play by using only G-family chords.
Some people say that C is the easiest key to play in. If not, check them out. So in this section, you need to pick up only two more chords: Dm and F. After you know these two additional chords, you have all the basic major and minor chords that we describe in this chapter down pat.
Notice that both the Dm and F chords have the second finger on the 3rd string, second fret. Hold this common tone down as you switch between these two chords. Figure The Dm and F chords. Notice the indication in the F-chord diagram that tells you to fret or barre two strings with one finger.
Dm F 3 Many people find the F chord the most difficult chord to play of all the basic major and minor chords. To play the F chord, for example, you use your first finger to press down both the 1st and 2nd strings at the first fret simultaneously.
You must exert extra finger pressure to play a barre. At first, you may find that, as you strum the chord hitting the top four strings only, as the Xs in the chord diagram indicate , you hear some buzzes or muffled strings. Experiment with various placements of your index finger. Try adjusting the angle of your finger or try rotating your finger slightly on its side.
Keep trying until you find a position for the first finger that enables all four strings to ring clearly as you strike them. Strumming C-family chords Figure shows a simple chord progression that you can play by using Cfamily chords. Play the progression over and over to get used to switching among the chords in this family and, of course, to help build up those nasty little calluses.
Count: 1 2 3 Look at Figure Notice the small curved line joining the second half of beat 2 to beat 3. Looking cool While the guitarists move through their aerobic exercises, dripping with sweat and smashing their guitars, you get to be cool. You can join in with their antics if you want.
But have you ever seen footage of The Who? John Entwistle was cool. And, if you ever get a chance to see U2, check out their bassist Adam Clayton. Great bassists are just too busy creating fabulous bass lines to join in the antics of their band mates.
A bassist has important responsibilities. Good thing you picked up this book. Dissecting the Anatomy of a Bass Guitar You can call it a bass guitar, an electric bass, an electric bass guitar, or just a bass. You hear all these labels when you discuss music and musical instruments — and you may encounter individuals who believe that only one of these labels is correct.
Figure shows you a picture of the bass guitar or whatever you prefer to call it with all of its main parts labeled. You can divide the bass into three sections: The neck, the body, and the innards. Bridge End pin Jack The neck The neck of the bass guitar falls under the dominion of the fretting hand usually the left hand.
The following list describes the function of each part. It holds the tuning machines for the strings. The other ends are anchored at the bridge on the body; see the next section for more info about the body of the bass. By turning the individual tuning heads, you can increase or decrease the tension of the strings which raises or lowers the pitch. It forms one end of the vibrating length of the string.
Frets are arranged in half steps the smallest unit of musical distance from one note to the next. The strings are connected to the tuning machines at one end and the bridge at the other. The vibration of the strings produces the sound of your bass. The fingerboard is attached to the front of the neck. The neck and the fingerboard are usually made up of two separate pieces of wood, but not always.
The body The body of the bass guitar falls under the dominion of the striking hand usually the right hand. You can have two magnets for each string, or one long magnet for all the strings.
The magnets form a magnetic field, and the vibration of the string disturbs or modulates that field. This modulation is then translated into an electric signal, which in turn is converted into sound by the amplifier and speaker. They are located toward the lower side of your bass when you have it strapped on.
The bridge holds one end of each string and is located at the end of the body. Modern pickups, such as piezo pickups or lightwave pickups, are sometimes installed inside the bridge.
These pickups read the vibration of the string at the bridge. The following list describes the innards of the bass guitar. The truss rod controls the curvature of the neck and fingerboard and keeps them stable. The truss rod is usually accessed through the top or bottom of the neck if you need to make adjustments. It may also be located under the control knobs on the front of your bass. These batteries are located in the same cavity as the electronics or in an adjacent cavity on the back of the body.
You also have to prepare your instrument by tuning it and by playing it correctly. When you play the bass guitar correctly, your fingers can move with ease from note to note. With the exercises in Chapter 4, you can warm up your hands on a daily basis just like an athlete warms up before a sporting event.
Mastering major and minor chord structures Two basic tonalities prevail in music: major and minor. Each tonality has a distinctive sound.
Major sounds somewhat happy or bright, whereas minor sounds sad or dark. Musicians use these sounds to express the mood of the song or themselves, for that matter.
Each fret on the neck equals one half step, the smallest musical interval distance between two notes. The sound of each string is exactly five half steps from the sound of the previous lower string. The bass is perfectly symmetrical, and all patterns remain intact no matter where you play them on the neck. Chapter 5 tells you all about these patterns. Tuning your bass Tuner and bass. Your bass needs to be in tune with the other instruments as well as with itself.
Chapter 2 explains several different methods for tuning your bass just right. Combining scales and chords Scales and chords form the backbone of music. This method gives you a certain degree of flexibility to express your individuality see Chapter 5 for details.
You can often spice up your bass lines by choosing from several corresponding scales. Scaling the Bass Range: Expanding into the Second Octave When you discover how to play two-octave scales see Chapter 2 for more about octaves , you take a big step toward elevating your playing to the next level.
You can cast off the limitations of the single octave and access the entire range of the instrument. With access to the whole neck, you can make your chords more interesting by inverting the notes of the chords switching the notes around , a technique that uses two octaves.
You also use both octaves to play cool grooves and riffs musical phrases used in creating solos. For the coolest and easiest solos, use notes from the blues and pentatonic scales. Whatever you play, the transition between the two octaves needs to be absolutely seamless and effortless.
Chords consist of notes taken from a scale and played in a traditional order: 1 called the root 3, and 5, meaning that the chord consists of the first, third, and fifth notes of the scale. Want to be a classical guitarist, but never had a lesson? No problem — this hands-on guide teaches you all the fundamental techniques you need to play scales, melodies, and full-length pieces in the classical style. Suitable for all ages and all types of acoustic guitars. No prior knowledge of how to read music or playing the guitar is required to teach yourself to learn to play guitar from this book.
Bass Instruction. If you want to work on your bass guitar chops, this is the book for you! These 75 exercises will help you build your endurance and flexibility, challenging you in fun, interesting and methodical ways. This book is an easy how-to that every bass player can appreciate.
Regardless of your preferred musical style, this hands-on guide provides tips and drills designed to help improve your playing ability. These exercises get you started with bass guitar fundamentals, like playing scales, chords, and arpeggios. Move on to sharpen your skills as you play grooves and melodies in different styles. Whether you're just getting started or an experienced bassist looking to stretch your playing skills, this is the book for you! Inside… Tips for correct hand and body posture Methods for getting comfortable with scales Hints for developing a complete practice session Ways to apply the exercises to making great music Workouts for stronger playing.
So leave center stage to the other musicians—you have more important work to do. You'll get expert advice on the basics, like deciding what kind of bass to buy and which accessories are necessary and which are just nice to have. Plus, you'll get step-by-step instructions for getting started, from how to hold and position your bass to reading notation and understanding chords, scales, and octaves to playing solos and fills. Access to audio tracks and instructional videos on Dummies.
Pick up your copy today. If you think this book seems familiar, you're probably right. The Dummies team updated the cover and design to give the book a fresh feel, but the content is the same as the previous release of Bass Guitar Exercises For Dummies The book you see here shouldn't be considered a new or updated product. But if you're in the mood to learn something new, check out some of our other books.
We're always writing about new topics! Author : LearnToPlayMusic. Suitable for all ages and all types of basses including electric bass and acoustic bass. No prior knowledge of how to read music or playing the bass guitar is required to teach yourself to learn to play bass guitar from this book. For over 30 years, our team of professional authors, composers and musicians have crafted bass lesson books that are a cut above the rest. We offer a huge selection of music instruction books that cover many different instruments and styles in print, eBook and app formats.
Brush up on guitar notation, wake up your fingers, and develop strength, speed, and dexterity. With more than exercises in various keys, drills to perfect your playing, tips to maximize your practice time, and performance pieces to test your expanding skills, you'll be strumming the strings like a pro in no time.
A review of the fundamentals How to release tension and improve breathing Technique building exercises Scales, scale sequences, arpeggios, arpeggio sequences, and chords Ways to improve your musicianship. With this book as your guide, you can become the bassist you want to be, whether it involves performing before screaming fans or just jamming with your friends. Discover how the bass is used in a variety of musical genres, gain knowledge and confidence from simple lessons, apply techniques the pros use, and polish your bass lines with online practice sessions.
Know what to look for when choosing your first bass guitar Set up your equipment Learn scales, modes, and arpeggios Combine harmony and rhythm into grooves Explore professional techniques Jam with online practice.
All this stuff is here in one book! I also like the fact that a lot of information is found in a few pages. Get this Bass lesson if you want to get playing fast. The author gives you a lot to get your feet wet! No prior knowledge of how to read music or playing the bass is required to teach yourself to learn to play bass from this book. Hear how each one is played by a teacher, then play along. Suitable for all ages and all types of basses. So leave center stage to the other musicians-you have more important work to do.
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