Fingerboard Harmony Primer for Classical Guitar

Christopher Berg

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This version was published on 2014-12-27

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©2014 Christopher Berg

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Also By Christopher BergThe Virtuoso Teacher

Mental Strategies to Improve Sight-Reading, Memorization, and Performance

Contents

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Triads on the Lower Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4On ② ③ ④: Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4On ③ ④ ⑤: Moveable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4On ③ ④ ⑤: Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6On ③ ④ ⑤: Moveable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6On ④ ⑤ ⑥: Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8On ④ ⑤ ⑥: Moveable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Complete Reference Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Reference Table for All Open Triad Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Reference Table for All Moveable Triad Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

About the AuthorChristopher Berg¹ received his training at the Peabody Conservatory ofMusic, inmaster classes withAndrés Segovia at the University of Southern California, and at the Schola Cantorum Basilensis inSwitzerland. He has performed recitals in Carnegie Recital Hall (nowWeill Hall) and Merkin Hall inNew York in addition to hundreds of recital and concerto appearances throughout the United Statesincluding the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago. His New York debut concert atCarnegie Recital Hall in 1981 was praised by The New York Times for its “special sensitivity.” Recenttours have included recitals at the New England Guitar Festival in Boston, the Radford UniversityInternational Guitar Festival in Virginia, theAppalachianGuitar Festival in Boone, NC, theClassicalMinds festival in Houston, and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

He is a professor of music at the University of South Carolina where he directs the classical guitarprogram. In 2008 was named a Carolina Distinguished Professor. In 2003 he was awarded theCantey Outstanding Faculty Award by the School of Music for performance, research, and teaching.Also in 2003, his former students created the Christopher Berg Endowment Fund² at USC in hishonor. This fund supports The Christopher Berg Guitar Award presented annually to an outstandingundergraduate guitar student at USC. During 1999-2000 he was honored by the University of SouthCarolina as a recipient of a Michael J. Mungo Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

He has been honored by the National Endowment for the Arts as a recipient of a Solo RecitalistFellowship and by the South Carolina Arts Commission as a recipient of two Solo Artist Fellowships.The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) called his playing “a stellar display of guitar virtuosity,”and The State (Columbia, SC) found his performance of Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez“electrifying… hugely enjoyable and freshly played.”

Christopher Berg has also performed extensively on Renaissance and Baroque lutes, and earlyguitars. His solo performances on these rarely heard instruments are known for their virtuosityand lyricism. In the words of The State newspaper, “Berg, as always, dazzled.” He has performedmany concerts of Renaissance music with soprano and lutenist Hazel Ketchum, his partner in theRossignol Duo.³ He performs Classical and Romantic song literature with soprano Susan Parker-Shimp, his partner in Eurydice’s Dream.⁴

The Pilgrim Forest,⁵ his recording of original compositions for solo guitar, is available on iTunes⁶ andCDBaby⁷ and has been praised by critics as “a journey through a new geography… nothing less than

¹https://christopherberg.com/²http://www.orpheusonfire.com/uscguitar/endowment/³https://christopherberg.com/performance/rossignol/⁴https://christopherberg.com/performance/dream/⁵https://www.christopherberg.com/store/recordings⁶http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-pilgrim-forest/id25256808⁷http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/cberg

About the Author 2

radiant and compelling,” (The State) and an “uncharted forest of music that is free-flowing, vibrant,expansive and modern — even postmodern” (The Free Times). The Pilgrim Forest was selected asone of the top ten classical releases for 2000 by William Starr of The State newspaper.

He is the author of Mastering Guitar Technique: Process and Essence⁸ and Giuliani Revisited.⁹ NeilSmith, in the October 2002 issue of Classical Guitar Magazine (Great Britain) wrote of MasteringGuitar Technique, “Mr. Berg’s analysis is among the most thorough and professional to come myway…. If you are having real problems playing clearly, efficiently and in a relaxed manner, this couldbe the book for you to read and open up your technical know-how.”

His recent article, “The Re-Imagination of Performance,” appeared in the January 2009 issue ofSoundboard (Volume 35, No. 1), the journal of Guitar Foundation of America. His article on teaching,“The Virtuoso Teacher,” appeared in the Winter/Spring 2000 issue of Soundboard (Volume 26,Nos. 3/4), as “The Re-Imagination of Guitar Pedagogy.” In June 2009 he presented a paper at theGuitar Foundation of America’s International Competition and Convention in Ithaca, NY on “ThePerformer as Co-Creator with the Composer.”

His most recent work, The Classical Guitar Companion,¹⁰ was published in 2013.

⁸http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Guitar-Technique-Process-Essence/dp/078662373X⁹http://www.amazon.com/Bays-Giuliani-Revisited-Classic-Guitar/dp/0786616539/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419690564&sr=1-

1&keywords=Giuliani+revisited¹⁰http://www.classicalguitarcompanion.com

IntroductionThe guitar fingerboard doesn’t reveal the logic of its organization very easily to those withouttraining. The explanations and practice suggestions given here can help you come to terms with thelayout of the guitar fingerboard, develop a clear sense of the relationship between key and positionon the fingerboard, and strengthen your understanding of harmonic function.

There has been no attempt to chronicle every possible chord. This is, after all, a primer.¹¹ Its goalis to enable serious students of the classical guitar to take their first steps towards understandingfingerboard harmony. Knowledge of these basic building blocks will facilitate reading most of thetraditional classical guitar literature and provide a foundation upon which one can build.

The guitar is not a perfect instrument and not all things are possible, especially an elegant taxonomyof its harmonic resources. For example, I don’t explore four-voice, second inversion chords at all astheir form is close to the root position chord: it is created simply by moving whichever finger hasthe bass of a root position chord to the next lowest string. First inversion, four-voice minor chordsare also not studied because they would lead to a doubled third were they to be created from thetriad shapes.

The main goal of this primer is to help students understand the construction of basic triads and fourvoice chords instead of rote memorization of abstract shapes that they cannot connect to what theysee on a printed page of music. But, once this foundation is in place, the study of dominant seventhchords, diminished seventh chords, and so on, becomes easily assimilated.

Finally, I refer to visualization and memorization throughout this booklet as something to be donebefore one starts practicing the triads, four-voice chords, and exercises within. I outline in greatdetail the reasons behind this and offer procedures for mental work in my “Mental Strategies toImprove, Sight-Reading, Memorization, and Performance,â€� available from both LeanPub¹² andGumroad¹³.

¹¹Primers are not used so much in education today, but they date back to the late 15th century. Broadly defined, they present the most basicelements of a subject. Although this primer assumes the ability to read music and understand the basics of functional harmony, it is a primer in theway it approaches the application of these things to the study of the guitar.

¹²https://leanpub.com/mentalstrategies¹³https://gumroad.com/l/zYxKv

Triads on the Lower Strings

On ② ③ ④: Open

On ③ ④ ⑤: Moveable

Work out triad cycles and scales in triads for this set of three adjacent strings.

Triads on the Lower Strings 5

Reference Table for Triad Shapes on ②③④

Use this table for quick reference:

Triads on the Lower Strings 6

On ③ ④ ⑤: Open

On ③ ④ ⑤: Moveable

Work out triad cycles and scales in triads for this set of three adjacent strings.

Triads on the Lower Strings 7

Reference Table for Triad Shapes on ③ ④ ⑤

Triads on the Lower Strings 8

On ④ ⑤ ⑥: Open

Note that these triad shapes, open and moveable, are the same as those on ③ ④ ⑤.

On ④ ⑤ ⑥: Moveable

Work out triad cycles and scales in triads for this set of three adjacent strings

Triads on the Lower Strings 9

Reference Table for Triad Shapes on ④ ⑤ ⑥

Complete Reference Tables

Reference Table for All Open Triad Shapes

Complete Reference Tables 11

Reference Table for All Moveable Triad Shapes