the guitar theory workbook · 3 exercise 1-4: on the guitar! using your knowledge of the musical...

TheGuitarTheoryWorkbook

ByMattKrein

©2016MatthewD.Krein

AllRightsReserved.

Foreword

This book is a small project that spun out of control. It started as a few pages on how chords are built, intended only for my private students, and ended up as this book you hold in your hands. This is the book that I wish I could have had access to when I started playing guitar years ago-- a plain-english guide to all the things that guitar players do.

For some reason, the term “music theory” is like a bad word to guitar players. It gets talked about like an overbearing parent, like a set of archaic rules telling you what you can or can’t do that restricts true musicianship. In reality, music theory is nothing like that. Music theory is not a set of rules, but a language. Music theory is simply how we attempt to explain and communicate about music. Music theory isn’t prescriptive, it’s descriptive. It doesn’t say how things are supposed to be, it’s just a language to explain how things are. Learning this language allows you to better understand and communicate about music and to make informed decisions about what’s going to sound good before you even play it.

I have found that I learn by doing. In order for me to genuinely understand and utilize something I have to actively engage with it. This book is written with that style of learning in mind. Throughout this book there are lots of exercises to test yourself on the concepts presented, and it’s my belief that doing these exercises will help you retain and understand the material much better than you would otherwise. It is your decision, of course, but in order to get the full value of this book, you should keep a pencil and a guitar by your side whenever able.

This book draws from eight years of private guitar lessons from an excellent hometown teacher, four years of dedicated study in a university music program, over a dozen years of performing experience and over 10 years of my own experience as a teacher. The goal of this book is to give the average guitar player the tools to be able to go out and become more than average. I hope this book will teach you to look at the guitar in a new way, to be able to see the possibilities that lie within this fantastic instrument, and be able to adapt to any musical situation that you find yourself in. Enjoy!

Regards,

TABLEOFCONTENTS

CHAPTER1:THEBASICS......................................................................................................................................1

CHAPTER2:CHORDSANDTHEMAJORSCALE...........................................................................................19

CHAPTER3:MEMORIZINGMAJORSCALES..................................................................................................38

CHAPTER4:THEMINORSCALE......................................................................................................................46

CHAPTER5:KEYSANDCHORDPROGRESSIONS........................................................................................56

CHAPTER6:BASICHARMONYANDCHORDFUNCTIONS........................................................................70

CHAPTER7:SLASHCHORDS............................................................................................................................79

CHAPTER8:BARRECHORDS...........................................................................................................................82

CHAPTER9:ADVANCEDCHORDCONSTRUCTION....................................................................................86

CHAPTER10:THEPENTATONICSCALE.....................................................................................................104

CHAPTER11:THEBLUES................................................................................................................................111

CHAPTER12:ARPEGGIOS...............................................................................................................................118

CHAPTER13:CHORDSONEVERYSTRING(216CHORDS)...................................................................124

CHAPTER14:INTERVALS...............................................................................................................................129

CHAPTER15:HARMONIZINGINTERVALS.................................................................................................143

CHAPTER16:MODES........................................................................................................................................149

1

Chapter1:TheBasics

TheMusicalAlphabet

Themusicalalphabetissimplythelettersweusetonamethenotesinmusic.Themusicalalphabetisbasedon7letters-A,B,C,D,E,F,andG-repeatinginaninfiniteloop.

ThenotesA,B,C,D,E,F,andGarecallednaturalnotes.Thesearethewhitekeysonapianokeyboard.

Inbetweenthenaturalnotesarenotesthatcanbedescribedaseithersharp( )orflat()inrelationtothenaturalnotes.Thesearetheblackkeysonapianokeyboard.

Altogetherthereare12notes:

A A /B B C C /D D D /E E F F /G G G /A

NoticehowthenotebetweenAandBiswrittenasA /B.Thismeansthatthisnotecanbecalledeither“Asharp”or“Bflat.”Sharpmeanshigherandflatmeanslower,sothisnotecanbecalledeitherA orBbecauseitisbothhigherthanAandlowerthanB.BecauseA andBaretwonamesforthesamenote,theyarecalledenharmonicequivalents.ThesameappliesforC andD,F andG,andsoon.

Whydosomenoteshavetwonames?We'llexplorethislater.Fornow,testyourselfonnotenames.

Exercise1-1:Whataretheenharmonicequivalents(a.k.a.othernames)forthefollowingnotes?

A :_______ G:_______ D :_______ E:_______

G :_______ F :_______ B:_______ D:_______

Lookbackupatthelistof12notes.Noticethatthereisnosharp/flatnotebetweencertainpitches!TherearenonotesbetweenBandC,orbetweenEandF.Rememberthis!

Exercise1-2:Forreview,writeoutall12notesbyname.

_______,_______,_______,_______,_______,_______,_______,_______,_______,_______,_______,_______

2

HalfStepsandWholeSteps

Sofarwehavelearnedthatsharp( )meanstogohigherandflat()meanstogolower.Buthowfardowego?Weneedtohaveawaytomeasurethedistancebetweennotes.Inmusic,ourbasicmeasurementissteps.

The12notesareallevenlyseparatedbywhatisknownasahalfsteporsemitone.AtoA isahalfstep.A toBisahalfstep,andsoon.Onaguitar,ahalfstepisonefretawayonthesamestring.Onapiano,ahalfstepawayisanadjacentkey.

Sharp( )meanstoraiseanoteonehalfstepandflat()meanstoloweranoteonehalfstep.

Twohalfstepsequalonewholestep.Onaguitar,awholestepis2fretsaway.Onapiano,awholestepistwokeysaway.

Exercise1-3:Practicewithhalfstepsandwholesteps.

Completethechartbelowbyfindingthenotesaboveorbelowthestartingnote.

Hereareall12notesforreference.Thefirstrowhasbeenfilledoutforyou.


Start HalfStepAbove WholeStepAbove HalfStepBelow WholeStepBelow

A A /B B G /A G

C

E

G

Ofcourse,inordertomakeuseoftheinformationinthisbook,youmustbeabletoapplytheinformationtotheguitar!Throughoutthebooktherewillbeexercisesthatdepicttheguitarneck.Asyougoalong,itisimportanttomakesureandapplythisinformationontheactualguitarneck.Yourfirstgoalshouldbetolearnthenotesontheneckoftheguitar.Thefollowingexerciseswillhelpgetyoustarted!

3

Exercise1-4:OntheGuitar!

Usingyourknowledgeofthemusicalalphabet,fillintheblankbubbleswiththeappropriatenotenamesonthediagramtotheright.Thenotebubblesabovethefretboardsignifytheopenstringsaretunedto.

Usingyourknowledgeofenharmonicequivalents,fillintheblankbubbleswiththeappropriatenotenamesinthesetwodiagramsbelow.

Fillinthenoteswiththeirsharpnames.

Fillinthenoteswiththeirflatnames.

Itisimportanttoknowyourhalfstepsandwholestepsonthefretboard.Fillinthenamesofthenotesseparatedbyhalfstepsandwholesteps.

Fillinthenotesseparatedbyhalfsteps.

Fillinthenotesseparatedbywholesteps.

4

Chords

Achordisacollectionofnotesplayedatthesametime.Thetwomostbasicchordtypesaremajorchords(writtenwithacapitalletter-A,B,C)andminorchords(writtenwithaCapitalletterfollowedbyalowercase“m”-Am,Bm,Cm).Whetherachordismajororminorisadescriptionofitschordquality.

The1-3-5Formula

Thebasicformulaforbuildingamajororminorchordis1-3-5.Basicmajorandminorchordsareknownastriadsbecausetheyhavethreenotes.Tobuildachord,startwiththeletternameofthechordyouwanttobuild.Thenoteachordisbuiltoniscalledtheroot.Let'sstartwithG.

Listout5notelettersstartingwithG.Inthiscase,wehaveG,A,B,C,andD.(Rememberthatthemusicalalphabetrepeatsinaloop!)

Anytypeof"G"chordwillbebuiltoffofthe1st,3rd,and5thlettersinthatsequence.G,B,andD.

Let’stryanotherexampleandstartwithD.ListoutfivelettersstartingfromDandyougetD,E,F,GandA.The1-3-5fromDisD-F-A.Anytypeof"D"chord-major,minor,orother-willbebuiltoffofsomevariationoftheseletters.Thenotesmaybenatural,sharp,orflat,buttheywillbenamedusingD,F,andA.Forexample,inaDMajorchord,themiddlenotewillbewrittenasF ,andneverG,becauseanyDchordwillbespelledwiththelettersD,F,andA.

(Note:Ifstartingonasharporflatnote,ignorethesharporflatforthepurposesofthisformula.)

Exercise1-5:Listoutthe1-3-5"buildingblocks"forthefollowingchords:

A:________,________,________ C:________,________,________

E:________,________,________ F:________,________,________

Here’sahandytrick!Itmaysoundchildish,butyoucanuseyourfingerstohelpyoucount!Takeyourlefthand,palmfacinginward,andassignthenumbers1-5toeachfingerstartingwithyourthumb.Declareyourthumbtobetherootofwhateverchordyou’relearning,andyourmiddleandpinkyfingerswillbenotes3and5.ThisisaveryusefultrickthatIhaveusedforyearswithgreatsuccessforbothmystudentsandmyself.

5

BuildingChordsUsingIntervals

Halfstepsandwholestepsarenottheonlyunitofmeasurementinmusictheory.Ameasurementofdistancebetweennotesiscalledaninterval.Ahalfstepisthesmallestinterval,andcanbeusedasabuildingblockforlargerintervals.

Themostimportantintervalsforbuildingchordsarethirdsandfifths.Thenames"third"and"fifth"refertoanote'sdistancefromtherootinthemajorscale.Whenitcomestobuildingchords,theseintervalsarethedistancebetweenthestartingnote(theroot)andtheothernotesinthechord.

Amajorthirdisanintervalmadeupoftwowholesteps.CtoEisamajor3rd.

A A /B B C C /D D D /E E F F /G G G /A|major3rd|

Thisisoneexampleoftwonotesseparatedbyamajorthirdontheguitar.Thestartingnoteismarked“R”forroot.Themajorthirdisonthenextstring,onefretbelowtheroot.This

particularpatterncanbeusedstartingonanyfretonanystringexceptthe3rdstringtofinda

major3rdinterval.*

Whengoingfromthe3rdstringtothe2ndstringthemajorthirdwillbeonthesamefretbecause

thestringsaretunedamajor3rdapart.

Exercise1-6:Usingyourguitar,findthenoteamajor3rdabovethefollowingnotes.Remembertokeepthe1-3-5formulainmindwhenchoosingnotenames.

A: C: F : E:

G: D: B: F:

*Thispatterndoesn’tworkbetweentheGandBstringsbecausetherelationshipbetweenthosetwostringsisdifferentthentherest.Mostofthestringsaretunedanintervalofa4thfromeachother(notehowE&AorD&Garefourlettersapart).G-Bistheonlypairofstringstunedamajor3rdapart,sopatternsthatworkforotherstringpairswillnotworkbetweenstringsGandB.

6

Aminorthirdismadeupof1and1/2steps.


|minor3rd|

Aminorthirdcanalwaysbefound3fretsabovetherootnoteonanystringofthe

guitar.Hereisanexample:

Theendingnoteismarked“3”becauseitisonehalfstepflatinrelationtothemajor

3rd,whichisthestandard.

Exercise1-7:Namethenoteaminor3rdabovethefollowingnotes.Remembertokeepthe1-3-5formulainmindwhenchoosingnotenames.

A: C: C : E:

G: D: B: F:

Aperfectfifthis3and1/2steps,thesamedistanceasamajorthirdandminorthirdaddedtogether.

Aperfect5th(alsojustcalleda5th)canbefoundonthenextstring,twofretsupfromtherootnote.

A5thcanbefoundinthiswaystartingonany

string(exceptthe3rd)ontheguitar.

(Whengoingfromthe3rdstringtothe2ndstring,

the5thwillbeonefretup,ratherthantwo.)

Whenplayedtogether,thisshapeisalsoknownas

apowerchord,andisverypopularinrockmusic.

Exercise1-8:Namethenotea5thabovethegivennote.Remembertokeepthe1-3-5formulainmindwhenchoosingnotenames.

A: C: C : E:

G: D: B: F:

7

BuildingMajorChords

Amajorchordismadeupofamajorthird+minorthird.Thismeansthattobuildamajorchordyoustartonyourrootnote,thenaddthenoteamajorthirdabovethat,andthenthe

noteaminorthirdabovethat.

Let’sbuildanAMajorchordforpractice.

First,findthe1-3-5outline.Thiswillhelpyoudeterminewhichnotenamestouseifany

sharporflatnotesnamescomeintoplay.StartingfromtheletterA,wenumbertheletters.

A B C D E F G

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Letters1,3,and5areA,C,andE.NowweknowthechordwillbespelledusingA,C,andE.

Now,webuildamajor3rdandaminor3rd.

TherootisA.

AmajorthirdaboveAisC .C isthe3orthe“third"ofthechord.

AminorthirdaboveC isE.Eisthe5orthe"fifth"ofthechord.

ThismeansthatanAMajorchordiscomprisedofthenotesA,C ,andE

Nowlet’stryCMajor.First,findthe1-3-5outline.

C D E F G A B1 2 3 4 5 6 7

AnyCchordwillbespelledusingC,E,andG.

Usingthechartbelow,weseethatamajor3rdaboveCisE,andaminor3rdaboveEisG.


|major3rd|minor3rd|

ThismeansthataCMajorchordiscomprisedofthenotesC,E,andG.Sometimesnotenamesjustfitperfectlyinthe1-3-5withallnaturalnotes,andthisisanexampleofthat.

Note:Remembertodistinguishbetweenmajorthirdsandminorthirdsand“the”thirdofachord.Majorthirdsandminorthirdsareintervals."Thethird"isanoteinachord.

8

OutliningMajorChordsontheGuitar

Usingtheguitarisaperfectlyvalidwayoffindingthenotesthatmakeupachord.Infact,

doingsohelpsyoubetterlearnthenotesofthefretboard.

Startwiththeroot Addthemajor3rd Addaminor3rdfromthere

Voila!Aquickoutlineofthenotesinamajorchord!

Thispatterncanbeusedstartingonanystringexcept

the3rdstring“G.”

Exercise1-9:Usingyourguitarand/orthewritten-outnotesforreference,startbuildingmajorchords!Startbylistingoutthe1-3-5outline,thenaddsharpsandflatsasneeded.


BMajor:

DMajor:

EMajor:

FMajor:

________,________,________

________,________,________

________,________,________

________,________,________

GMajor:

F Major:

GMajor:

EMajor:

________,________,________

________,________,________

________,________,________

________,________,________

9

Exercise:1-10:Fillinthenamesoftheblanknotesofthesemajorchordoutlinesontheguitar.Remember,thesearejusttohelpyoulearnthenotesthatmakeuptriads.Thesepatternsthemselvesarenotplayablechordsastheyhave2notesonthesamestring.Thisexercisewillhelpyoufamiliarizeyourselfwithboththenotesonthefretboard,andthenotesoftheseparticulartriads.

BuildingMinorChords

Tomakeaminorchordinsteadofamajorchord,simplyreversethemajorchordformula.Whereasamajorchordisbuildingusingamajorthird+minorthird,aminorchordismadeupofaminorthird+majorthird.

Forexample,tobuildaCminorchordwestartwithour1-3-5outline=C-E-G.

OurstartingnotewillbeC.

AminorthirdupfromCisE.

A A /B B C C /D D D /E E F F /G G G /A|Minor3rd|

AmajorthirdupfromEisG.

A A /B B C C /D D D /E E F F /G G G /A |Major3rd|

Therefore,aCminorchordismadeupofnotesC,E,andG.

Youmayhavenoticedthatmajorchordsandminorchordsonlyhaveonenotedifference!The3rdofaminorchordwillalwaysbeahalfsteplowerthanthethirdofamajorchordbasedonthesameroot.Toturnanymajorchordintoaminorchord,simplylower,or"flat,"the"3"byonehalfstep!

10

OutliningMinorChordsontheGuitar

Startwiththeroot Addtheminor3rd Addamajor3rdfromthere/perfect5thfromtheroot

Exercise1-11:Startbuildingminorchords!Useyourguitarandthewrittenoutnotesforreference.


BMinor:

DMinor:

EMinor:

________,________,________

________,________,________

________,________,________

GMinor:

FMinor:

AMinor:

________,________,________

________,________,________

________,________,________

Exercise1-12:Fillintheblanknotesoftheseminorchordoutlinesontheguitar.Remembertousethe1-3-5outlinewhenchoosingnotenames.

11

IdentifyingMajorandMinorChords

Nowthatyouknowhowtobuildchordsyoucanalsoidentifychordsfromtheirnotes.Ifyoucomeacrossachordshapeyoudonotknowyoucanfigureoutwhatthatchordisbyidentifyingthenotes.Example:

WhatchordismadeupofthenotesC,E,andG?

C C /D D D /E E F F /G G |Major3rd|Minor3rd|Answer:CmajorbecauseCtoEisamajor3rdandEtoGisaminor3rd.WhatchordismadeupofthenotesD,F,andA?

D D /E E F F /G G G /A A|Minor3rd|Major3rd|Answer:DminorbecauseDtoFisaminor3rd,andFtoAisaminor3rd.

Exercise1-13:Identifythechordbasedonthegivennotes.

Notes Root Quality(MajororMinor)

GBD

ACE

DF A

CEG

BDF

EGB

FAC

12

Somecoolandquirkythings!

We’vealreadyestablishedthatwhenbuildingchords,thenotesnamesmustfollowthe1-3-5formula.AnyCchordwillbespelledusingthelettersC,E,andGwhetherthosenotesarenatural,sharp,orflat.Mostofthetimethisisverystraightforward,butonceinawhileyoumayseesomethingunusual.

Forinstance,weknowthatCMajoriscomprisedofthenotesC-E-G.

SowhataboutC Major?Well,C isahalfstepaboveC,soeverynotewouldsimplyberaisedbyonehalfstep,givingusC ,E ,andG .

Waitasecond,E ?WheredidE comefrom?Theveryfirstpageofthebooksaysthereisn’tanynoteinbetweenEandF.Thisisstilltrue.

ThereisstillnonoteinbetweenEandF.E isanotherexampleofanenharmonicequivalent.E isthesamepitchasF,butinthiscontextithastobecalledE toconformtotherule.Remember,sharpmeans“higherthan,”andFisonefrethigherthanE.

Bythislogic,youmayalsorunintoothernotesyouneverexpectedlikeC,F orB !

Butwait,there’smore!

Therearealsosuchthingsasdoublesharps(x)anddoubleflats().Theseoccurwhenasharpnotehastoberaisedevenhigher,asinaD majorchord(D -Fx-A )orifaflathastobeloweredasinaGminorchord(G-B-D.)

Don’tstressyourselfoutaboutthesethingsifit’salittleoverwhelming.Thesethingshardlyevercomeup,evenforprofessionals,butit’salwaysgoodtobeonthelookout.Intheend,justremembertosticktotheformulasandeverythingwillworkoutjustfine.

13

Chapter1Summary

Thereare7lettersinthemusicalalphabet,theyareA-B-C-D-E-F-G,repeatinginaninfiniteloop.

Notesnamedafterletterswithoutanyothermarksarecallednaturalnotes.

Notesinbetweenthenaturalnotescanbedescribedassharporflat.

Asharp( )meanshigherandaflat()meanslower.

Twonamesforthesamenote,likeC andD,areenharmonicequivalentsofeachother.

Ahalfstep,orsemitone,isthedistancebetweentwoadjacentnotes,oronefretontheguitar.

Awholestep,orwholetoneismadeoftwohalfsteps.

Atriadisachordmadeofthreenotes.Majorandminorchordsarebuiltoftriads.

Amajorchordiswrittenwithacapitalletterplusanynecessarysharpsofflats.Forexample:C,DorG .

Aminorchordiswrittenwithacapitalletter(plusanynecessarysharpsorflats)andasmallletter“m.”Forexample:Am,Cm,orF m.

Thestartingnoteofachordisknownastherootorrootnote.

Majorandminorchordsarebuiltusinga1-3-5formula.

Amajorthirdisanintervalmadeupof2wholesteps.

Aminorthirdisanintervalmadeupof1½wholesteps.

Aperfectfifthisanintervalmadeupof3½wholesteps-thecombineddistanceofaminorthirdandamajorthird.

Amajorchordismadebystackingamajorthird+minorthird.

Aminorchordismadebystackingaminorthird+majorthird.

14

Chapter1ReviewFilloutthechartbyspellingmajorandminorversionsofthelistedchords.

Major Minor

C

A D E

C F

B G

Identifythefollowingchords:

Notes Chord

D-F -A

B-D-F

C-E-G

F-A-C G-B-D

F -A-C

A-C -E

Thankyoufordownloadingthisfreepreviewofmybook!

Readyformore?OrderyourcopyofTheGuitarTheoryWorkbooktoday!

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/mattkrein

AbouttheAuthor

MattKreinisanOregonnativewhobeganstudyingguitarattheageoftwelve.Withinafewyearshewasperformingregularlyatlocalrestaurants,givinglessons,andwinningalocaltalentsearch.HewentontostudymusicperformanceattheUniversityofOregonSchoolofMusic,studyingStudioGuitarunderdepartmentheadDonLatarskiandClassicalGuitarunderDavidCase.AftercollegeMattcontinuedtoteachandperform,aswellastakeupseveralnewinstruments,buildguitars,andwritemusicofhisown.In2013hebegantowriteashorttreatiseonchordconstructionforastudent.Thatshortworkwouldeventuallygrowintoanextensivetheoryguideforthemodernguitarist.

MattisavailableforperformancesintheSouthernOregonareaaswellaslessonsinpersonandviaSkype.Mattcanbereachedatmattkreinmusic@gmail.comFollowMattatfacebook.com/mattkreinguitarHisWebsite:http://www.mattkreinmusic.com/HearandWatchreverbnation.com/mattkrein Soundcloud.com/matt-krein https://www.youtube.com/c/mattkrein

the guitar theory workbook · 3 exercise 1-4: on the guitar! using your knowledge of the musical...

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