Learn the NeckPart Four ­ Position Six

by Ed Shaw

Fourth in a Series of discussions of the guitar fret board. Thisoriginal material was produced by Ed Shaw and has been placed intoCreative Commons Fair Use License status.

Fret Board Mastery through Analysisof Six Fretboard Positions

Guitar for Geeks

Position Six covers frets 12 through 16. (C Major Shown Above)

What do we first notice first about this position?

If we count the notes that can be gained by shifting thehand down to the 8th and 10th frets, string six and pick up the Cand D notes, there are almost three octaves of the C scalerepresented on this one position, the sixth. If we count the notesthat can be gained by sliding the hand up to the 20th fret to playthe high C, there are three full octaves in this powerful position.The fifth and sixth positions, played as a unit, produce afablulous range of tonality.

I am going to press a topic introduced earlier; namely, thatas mastery proceeds, the six four-fret positions will merge intothree eight-fret positions. That is a big picture item for readersto bear in mind.

Look at the railroad tracks on frets 7th, 10th, 12th, and15th. Hardly a sharp or flat among them.

The sixth gives the player the high range. At the same time,playing the sixth presents certain challenges. As we know, "nopain, no gain. " Mastery of the sixth cames at a cost and sacrifice,but the rewards are great in terms of audience satisfation.

The higher notes of the sixth position must be struck withgreat accuracy and finesse. Those notes are less forgiving than thenotes lower down the neck. Technically, it is a matter of what audioengineers call attack and decay. Attack is the amount of time ittakes for the ears and mind, let' s just say the central nervoussystem, to process the sound and assign it recognition. Decay isthe amount of time it takes for the sound to be lost to recognition.In common terms, the higher notes come on faster and leave quickerthan the lower notes. With lower notes, we are all familar withwhat is called sustain, are we not? Sustain and decay are related.Also, common sense tells us that thicker bass strings take longer toget their vibrations up to speed. That is the measure of "attack. "

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At the same time, notes past the 12th fret are a little more awkwardto reach, especially those notes on the 4th, 5th, and 6th strings,where the hand has to make an arching reach. Fortunately, forextended solo on those top strings, the same notes are found a littlelower on the neck. The same tone of the top 6th string E note may befound on the 5th string, five frets down. Can you see it on thatchart below, the one labeled "fifth and sixth combined?" The E stringon the 6th string is the same tone as the E string on the 5th string,7th fret.

Fifth and Sixth Positions Combined Sixth Position (12th ­ 16th)

While we are on that topic, make a note of that intervalbetween a note on the 6th string and the same note on the 5th string. Itis, "next string, five frets, two and one half steps. Playing melodies,that is an interval you might never use. Changing positions, though, itis an interval you might find very useful. Making position changes likethat can open up more possiblilities and give the fretting hand a littlebreathing room it didn' t have pinned down there at the bottom of therange.

Notice the interval between the B note and the C note, whichis a half step, and the interval between the E note and the F note,which is a half step. Let the red stars (C note) guide your eyes to seethose half step intervals. All scales follow the same pattern. Spendsome time picking out these intervals on the charts, the B - C and the E- F. Look at the four arrays of the E and F over B and C note packs.If you don' t know what I am talking about, look at the four note pack onthe 12th and 13th frets, first (E) and second (B) strings. That is thepattern I am referring to. See there are four of them on that chart.The can act as milestone markers, quite relevant to the challenge oflearning the neck.

Be on the alert for little repeating patterns like thatone. Again, visualizing the roots until they become automatic can be agreat help. The half step between the three and the four, the halfstep between the seven and the eight -- two other milestones. When Iwas learning the scales, I had an awful time remembering that theinterval between the three and the four was a half step. In the Key of Cmajor, that is the interval between the E note and the F note. I haveno idea why that took so long for me to sink in.

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Three Choices of F Major, SimplifiedA short essay on triads and inversions

5 ­ 1 ­ 3 at Third1 ­ 3 ­ 5 at Fifth 3 ­ 5 ­ 1 at Sixth

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The first thing to notice is that the 3 - 5 - 1 inversion seen atfrets 13th through 17th, the F Major chord, is a repeat of the same Fmajor pattern found on frets 1st through 5th. Many guitar players willrecognize that chord pattern as the familiar "F major Barre, " amoveable chord pattern in which finger one barres the first fret of thechord. I did not include it on this chart for no other reason than forthe sake of simplicity.

From the left, the first set of second inversion triads starts withour very familiar C note on the 8th fret. The 8th fret F Major, on theD string, is blackened because it is the root.

There is an A note at the 7th fret. The difference between the Fnote and the A note is the 1 - 3 interval. The The fifth degree C noteis on the D string, three frets up from the A note on the 10th fret.So, there is your 1 - 3 - 5 chord, a common bass line.

What we are seeing here are three positions of the F major chord,minus the one that is probably used the most, the second inversion atthe position one. What we are really seeing are four F Major chordoptions. Plainly, the chords ring higher (more treble) as we move up theneck up the neck, but also because they are inversions, there is acertain change in the tonality, or the sound of the chord. Eachregisters as an F note on the guitar tuner. Don' t ask me why they sounddifferent. I have no idea why, but they do.

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F Major Chord, First Inversion, Position One

Naturally, we want to assume the following question answersitself. I' ll ask it, anyway. The question is, now that we know fourfret patterns of the F major chord and its inversions, how do we usethat knowledge to play the same things as G Major chords?

The answer to that is to move the entire pattern up two frets,or one step. That is because the interval between the F note and the Gnote on the F major scale is one whole step. By the same token, the Emajor chord can be played by moving the entire pattern down one halfstep, or one fret. That even goes for the first position, where the Emajor scale is played as the familiar pattern, below. The B and the Estrings are played open.

The Ubiquitous E Major chord at the First Position(The Notes are E ­ Ab ­ B)

A Natural Minor at the Third and Fourth Positions

A Natural Minor at the Sixth

We find these Natural Minorand Pentatonic Minor scalesmuch easier to learn and playwhen we know the names of thenotes and where they arelocated on the neck. Themusical language can only fittogether when we know how torelate the note' s name, degreeor position on the scale,relative position to othernotes on the fret board, andthe harmonic context of thechords of the key.

For example, let' s say we were playing a melody in the keyof C major. We found ourselves at the end of a phrase, and rather thanstick to the way the song was written, we decided to improvise on adifferent melodic track. It would be a great help to know, first,whether or not there was a chord change coming up on the very measurewe were goiing into, and second, what the note already written in themusic was.

Let' s say, for example, the chord change to F Major wascomiing up at the spot we wanted our improv to start. In addtion, thefinal note of the phrase we were getting out of was a C note. Can yousee that our likely choices of notes to kick off the improvisationwould likely be F note, A note, oe C note? Those are the 1 - 3 - 5 ofthe F major scale. One reason I point this out is becauseimprovisation is not rocket science. It just seems that way,sometimes.

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I am by no means knowledgable or expert in minor scales, anddo not want to give the impression I think I am. I have my hands fullwith the 1 - 4 - 5 combinations and progressions of a handful of majorscales -- C, D, F, G. A. That' s about as far as I will probably takeit in this life time. Still, I have noticed a few things about minorkeys and chords and can definitely state that time spent on minor chordand scale work returns benefits exponentially.

We know the relative minor is designated by the scale' s 6thdegree. In C Major, that means A Minor. I have found that in manycases, an outright chord substitution of A Minor for C Major yields apleasant change and a pleasant sound. I have also found that progressingin walk downs from a D Minor chord to a G Major chord creates a pleasingsequence. I am just throwing these little ideas out in hopes that thereaders will follow through with competent teachers and self-study.

Left, A Natural Minor Scale at thethird and fourth positions. It is oftensaid that the notes of the A Minorscale are the same notes as the C Majorscale; the difference is the A Minorscale starts with A note and the CMajor scale starts with the C note.Otherwise, the notes, A, B, C, D, E,F, G, A are the same notes, in the sameorder.

A Natural Minor Scale

Let' s have a look at the notes on that scale. The red stars signifythe Root note, which is the A note. It is an eight note scale with aflatted third. Instead of starting out like the major scale with Root- Whole Step - Whole Step - Half Step - Whole Step - Whole Step - HalfStep, pattern, which would be the typical A Major scale step pattern,

[ A - B - C# - D - E, F# - G# - A ]The minor scale step pattern is Root - Whole Step - Half Step - WholeStep - Whole Step - Half Step - Whole Step. The result is:[ A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A ]Pretty amazing, don' t you think, that all the accidentals becomenaturals.

Another way of looking at it is to take the major scale, Amajor inthis case, and flat the three, six, and seven.

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A ­ B ­ C# ­ D ­ E ­ F# ­ G# ­ A

A ­ B ­ C ­ D ­ E ­ F ­ G ­ A

C ­ D ­ E ­ F ­ G ­ A ­ B ­ C

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Above: The A Natural Minor pattern at Position Six

Below: The A Natural Minor Notes at Position Six

Here is a little change up. It is the pattern with the notesinscribed. You won't see much of this because the experience ofhundreds of students and teachers is that a much preferable way isto show the pattern and allow the learner to tough out the letterdesignations on their own. That way, it sticks.

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Here are the sixth position C Major scales. It doesn' t look as ifthere is much to choose from on strings four, five, and six. Isay that because even at the 15th fret G note on the 6th string,the same tone can be played on the fifth string, 10th fret, witha lot more control.Many accoustic guitars don' t even have room for the hand to playabove the 12th fret. Nevertheless, as redundant as the sixthposition, bottom three strings, may sometimes appear to be, theasset that does get our attention is the great melodic potentialof the bottom three strings, frets 9 through 15. That is how weshould be thinking about those high notes above the 12th fret.Especially useful is the 15th fret on the first string. It is a Gnote. The G chord is the dominant, or fifth, chord of the Key ofC Major. That is the musical tension producing chord of the 1 - 4-5 progression. The high G note is very useful, especially whenplayed in the form of the first inversion, B - D - G with theroot on that 14th fret.By the same token, the C chord played as the 5 - 1 -3 secondinversion, with the root at the 13th fret, is also very useful,especially as a triad or even a four note chord.You would never want to be denied access to the sixth position.Plainly, the most commonly played G major triad is up there onthe 12th fret, the 5 - 1 - 3, where the D - G - B are barred.

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ReviewI am trying to think if there is anything more I can write

about the fifth and sixth positions before going on to the last part ofthis series, Learn the Neck, (Guitar for Geeks) Part Five, PositionsOne (Open) and Two, Frets three through six.

I hope I made it clear that the notes of the sixth positionthat should concern us are the notes on strings 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Notonly are the sixth positions on strings 4th, 5th, and 6th, somewhatredundant, they are also hard to reach.

In the high solos that people seem to like so much, the actionis in the bottom three strings, starting with the G note on the 12thfret, ending on the G note 15th fret. I could write an entire post onthat sequence of notes. My next project will involve rhythm mastery,though, so I will have to leave that analysis of that octave startingat the 12th fret G note and ending on the 14th fret G note for those tocome after me.

I think this wraps up the sixth position discussion. It hasoccurred to me my experience is that discussions like this one, Learnthe Neck, extensive as they may be, should be taken and read as justanother piece in the puzzle, a little motivation, no "end all" solution,but rather, would be better taken as with an attitude of casualreading. Musicians, download this series and leave it in thebathroom! No, I am serious. I have had it with material that pretendsto deliver spectacular results. Maybe they do. My experience inlearning the neck and learning to solo is that it is attained one littlefret at a time, one chord and one scale at a time, and that by far thebest results come when a small number of Keys are tackled at a time.That is why I amn concentrating on the C major scale. I have beenthere, done that.

Now it is time for me to give you your lead sheet and backing track. Forthis part, I have selected the classic hymn "Washed in the Blood, by theRev. E. A. Huffman. The hymn is in the public domain (PD. ) I havearranged it from the 1922 reprint of Worldwide Revival Songs, Federation(Arkansas 1921) My arrangement has been posted to Wiki Commons. Iassigned it Creative Commns, Fair Use. My backing track, also free to useunder Creative Common assignment, may be found atwww. youlisten. com/ed_shaw

https: //commons. wikimedia. org/wiki/File: (1) _Are_You_Washed_in_the_Blood_C_Major_(Lead_Sheet) _(1) . pnghttps: //commons. wikimedia. org/wiki/File: (2) _Are_You_Washed_in_the_Blood_C_Major_(Lead_Sheet) _(2) . pnghttps: //commons. wikimedia. org/wiki/File: Washed_lyrics_PNG. pnghttp: //yourlisten. com/ed_shaw/are-you-washed-in-the-blood-of-the-lamb

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Verse

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power,Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour,Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you walking daily by the Saviour' s sideAre you washed in the blood of the Lamb?Do you rest each moment in the Crucified?Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

When the Bridegroom cometh, will your robes be white?Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright?And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?There' s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,O, be washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Chorus

Are you washed, in the blood,In the sould cleansing blood of the Lamb?Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow?Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

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This ends Part Five of Learn The Neck (Guitar for Geeks) by EdShaw. As with Parts One, Two, and Three, this Part Five is assigned toCreative Commons, Fair use. All material is either original by myself orarranged or transcribed from material in the Public Domain, such as' ' Washed in the Blood"

Applying scale knowledge, the students must learn to play themelody of all enclosed songs in each position of the neck. It isrecommended to stay with the key of C major in learning the neck in thisway.

The final part of this series, Learn the Neck, Part Five --Positions One and Two, will be posted soon.

Best wishes and good luck. Hope this is of some help.

Sincerely,

Ed Shaw