Applied Harmony for Guitarists

1. Course Introduction: Welcome to the Humbucker Soup Applied Harmony for Guitarist Course. In this course, we're going to look at how harmony works and how we can use that information to create the appropriate phrasing that we need for an arrangement. In this course, we're going to look at harmony throughout its many forms and how to get to a point of proficiency on the threat board. My name is Ian Waters, and I'm a professional guitar player living in Los Angeles, California. And I make my living as a live and session player and as a teacher. I've been playing for over 20 years and I've played a lot of different styles and in that process have focused on how to learn how to make the proper arrangement for the sake of the needs of the song. In this course, we're going to start by looking at how basic harmony works. Building ads and triads, and recognizing the chords that those forms take. The next part will be how to use these chords in patterns that we already know known as the cage system and how to move that around the fret board with proficiency. The bulk of the course is going to be centered around how we take that information from the cage system and just take what we need for the need of the song. If we're playing the lead line, or if we're playing a rhythm guitar or an accompaniment, or there's already those things happening. We're going to look at how we can use the cage system to take the information we need to use for the appropriate part in the song. This is all based on the harmony that we've learned. And at the end of the project, at the end of the course, we'll have the ability to upload our own version of using a melody and creating an arrangement for it. That way the class can see what we've done and give us feedback. If you're ready to take your proficiency around the fret board to the next level, then the Humbucker Soup applied harmony for guitarist course is for. 2. Chapter 1 - Basic Harmony: As we begin the course, we're going to start to look at some basic theory that we're going to expound throughout this course. But the first thing we want to make sure we're comfortable with is the idea of the diatonic scale. That's just seven notes that make up a major scale in the key of C. That would be C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Before they repeat on, these seven notes comprise the entire scale. And each of these seven notes has a chord that we can build on it. The first chord would be major. Second chord would be D minor. Third would be minor. The fourth would be major, then major, then A minor, and then B diminished before we repeat at again, only to keep going, et cetera. Now, each of these triads has a seventh note that can be added on top of that. It's called the seventh. The first chord would be major seventh. B is the seventh note in the scale, and that's why it's seven. The next chord would be D minor seven. And it has a minor seventh in the scale. That's the seventh note in the scale. If you were to start at 1234567, et cetera. The same thing applies to minor which has a minor seventh. Has a seventh, so it's an F major seven has a seventh, and it's called the dominant. Because it's a major minor, it's got a major third, a minor seventh. This is an important chord that we're going to revisit several times. Then the next chord is an A minor seventh. Now this is an important chord as well because it's the relative minor of the scale. In the key of major, all of the notes are shared with the key of a minor. That's important in any key. Because a relative major and relative minor can be useful when trying to play different styles of playing to use, so that you can express an idea then to continue the idea. Minor diminished has a minor seventh. And then we repeat back to moving forward. In the next chapter, we're going to look at how these chords use intervals, which is the space between these notes to create these sounds. We're going to start to recognize the patterns that these intervals are taking shape on the freight board so we can look at how they're using to make chords. Let's move into the next chapter. 3. Chapter 2 - Fretboard Patterns: Now that we've taken a really thorough look at what the basic harmony behind these concepts are, let's move into recognizing some of the patterns that they're creating. Let's stick to the key of C for a second. That first chord is a major chord, and we're going to look at the intervals that comprise that chord. It's a 135 to start, and then a 1.3 and then you can add a five on the top. On the bottom. But effectively, we're looking at a way of playing on 135 and then repeating that it's a stack triad. What we want to learn from this is that 12345 that we're getting is a useful way to play a major chord. We're getting this major ad interval of 13. And that's going to be a common thing that we see on the guitar, whether it's here, here, or here, because of the spacing of the strings. Let's look at that 135 and it repeats. Well, this is useful because this is a place that we can play a major chord. Let's look at another voicing of a different chord. Let's look at a G major. That's a similar situation where we have a 13.5 This is another useful place, if we're not on the fifth string, we can play a major chord. This. Let's look at another chord, let's look at a major. This is a bit of a different voicing because we have a one of five and then a one, and then a three, and then a five. It's almost an inversion from what we were just playing. But it's useful because it's a way to play a 1.5 The same concept applies to an major that's a 151. What we're getting here are basically power chords with the third on the top. And this is really useful because maybe we're playing some sort of music that really only needs that five. Well, a lot of great rock and roll and ponkin metal music just uses this combination. And it's very helpful for these low east strings to be able to use these as long as we know where we want to go. We've got a 15 there, but let's continue to build the cord out. We have this third available, whether it's a major or minor, We have a 1513, and then we have another five. Another one. Again, this is just a useful way of playing this particular version of a series of intervals. Now let's take this example, and let's learn how to use it in all of the different ways that these positions are, giving us back to the key of C major, we know that we have a one, A minus two, minus 34567. And then we repeat, well, what if we're in a different key and we want to play similar chords? Let's start by looking at all of our open positions and recognizing what those intervals are and how we can use them. Let's go A B, which is actually just another version of A D, which is another version of, and then G. With each of these positions, we have an opportunity to play a major chord with those particular intervals. Now let's take the same thing, but let's make it minor. We have an A minor minor, which again, is the same shape. A minor, which we would use the same shape for, or we'd find some way of doing it like this, taking this major third down. Then we have a D minor, minor minor, which again is another way of playing. And then a minor, which we might play that or we might use the same shape. What this is giving us is several ways of voicing a chord. The reason it's important is because once we start to recognize what these intervals are, whether it's the fifth or most importantly the third, we can start to use them in different positions to play either in a different key or just a different arrangement for the same song. Let's take a chord progression. Let's use a 13.5 Let's do in. We're going to play the first chord, which is the third chord is, and we know that's a minor. And then the fifth chord is a D, which we know is a major, and it's a dominant. Let's think about how we would play that in these open positions. Well, it would probably sound like this. Well, there are also some rifts and some phrases that are available in this position. Some of which are because the minor is its relative minor, which we talked about in the previous chapter. Which means it shares all the same notes. That means that we have access to all of the pentatonic notes. And that's great because if we're playing a phrase, it might sound like this. Well, that's just a certain phrase that maybe sounds a certain way. But let's say we wanted to play it in a different place. We know that this is our one chord. Where else could we find a and use these other positions to play the one chord? Well, let's try a shape. If we know that that's a major, which is available to us, let's find where we can play this so it makes a chord. Well, if that's, that's and then we can take this shape and move it down to the tenth fret. What we're doing here is we're basically using our index finger to create a P that we can play this shape. Now the minor is here, but where else could we play that? Well, if we're already down here, why don't we play our B here and use that minor shape there. Now our D is here. Where can we find that? Well, since again, we're already here in this area, maybe we would use this. And we know from the G shape that this could be used here. So we have this G shape for our D, it might sound like this. Well, what's useful is that there are phrases that will come naturally from that. Let's imagine we were playing this and see what we might play. We might use that, we might use that, we use that. So it sounds like that. Well, those phrases would now be available to us here based on the way the guitar works. That simply comes from knowing that that scale and these phrases are here and now can be used here. The same concept applies no matter where we go. Again, to stick to the key of G, let's find another place to play a. Well, what chord shape would we look at? Let's try this. If that's A down here it becomes A because that's BCG. By simply memorizing where these are, we can start to apply the different shapes that we've learned to different places in the fretboard. And we could do the same thing, whatever our phrases that, that we would play in the key. Now we have in the key, it's just a matter of remembering where those are and what is in the key. By having a relatively firm grasp of where each node is, this requires route memorization of knowing that that's a, that's a C, et cetera. So that when we're playing we can, we have access to that and of course the intervals that come with it. As we start to understand how the Cage system, which is often the way this is referred to because of the acronym G, E, and D, which simply means the C shape, The shape, the shape, the D shape, and the E shape. How to apply those to different places. Once we get comfortable with that and we've started to look at how phrases are being lended. Well then we can start to think about how we would like to make arrangements in our next video, for the next chapter, we're going to look at how we can purposefully choose where we play and what notes we play based on what the song is needing. What kind of arrangement is appropriate for guitar? We'll see there. 4. Chapter 3 - Phrasing: In the last chapters, we've looked at what diatonic theory looks like and how those scale degrees start to create intervals. And how those intervals can be used as the building blocks of chords. We looked at how those intervals in the fretboard create patterns that are usually seen in these common cords that we know, also known as the open position. And how to use those chords in what's called the Cage system. As bar chords, we looked at how important it is to memorize where the notes are on the fret board so that we can apply these chords to different places for different purposes. We looked at a little bit of how these different positions lend themselves naturally to different phrases. In this chapter, we're going to look at when and why you would play in different places and what purpose you're trying to shoot for. What we mean by that is why would you play this chord here or not? Here? Should you play the whole chord? And that thing, this is what basically guitar players refer to as phrasing. Phrasing is the highest echelon of skill and technique because it's the choice of what to play. It's basically knowing everything that you could play and choosing the appropriate thing. Let's use the key of C. Let's think about, let's think about the style of the music. So let's say we were playing something that was country, right? Well, country has some characteristics that we can identify. It's usually a similar chord progression. It's like a 145, I remember 1465. Let's just do a 145m. That might be the rhythm guitar and let's say the singers playing well, what would the lead guitar player playing? Well, that's a good question that might have a lot of answers. But if the lead guitar player is playing during a reverse section, he might not want to be doing a solo. But he might want to be doing some he could do down here, but that might be too busy. Maybe he would play down here in say now, the advantage to doing this is that if our rhythm guitar player is playing down here, that 15 classic country sound, well this is a frequency spectrum that's being occupied by him. He is playing the low notes and he's also covering that territory, which is a pretty big territory that's a lot of that's creating, it's like a piano down here. You're playing percussively, you're really just playing this 1355, well it's the one over the four. What you're doing there is you're creating an appropriate accompaniment. You're getting this sense of ballast. These are smaller intervals, then you're creating a percussive sound. Now, like we mentioned in the last chapter, in this position you have access to different types of phrasing, maybe the rhythm guitar players just playing something like that. Well, you can do those too. But let's say you get to a turnaround or a moment where there's a fill necessary. You've got all the access to that minor atonic sound from the key of G, but in this a minor position. And once you start to get comfortable with these hammer, the point is that these phrases become available to you, but they're not the only places you could play them. They're just a very easy place to do that. You might even try to do something similar. What we're doing there is using the E major shape, that inversion of the 351 that we get down here, and we're playing it over here on the C in the key. Essentially what we're doing is we're just moving that what we're getting there is an interesting harmony, maybe this is what you're doing for certain section. And then it gets higher. And what we're doing there is we're looking at this shape being used very percussively, impactfully. And then this a major shape down here for the four, and then this dominant seven shape over here for the five. And it's a matter of choosing which of these notes we want to play, we're not doing, but maybe we would want to. But the point is, is that these three notes allow us the fluency to be expressive and appropriate for the song. Let's use another example where instead of country, we're playing a different style of music. Let's think of a genre. Let's try R and B. R and B often uses a four to three combination, down to a two to one. Let's use the key of C. Again, a common characteristic in R and B is the major seventh being often very impactful. A voicing that we can use for a major seventh, is this a major seventh, what we're hearing, there's the 15 and then the major seventh, and then 3.2 Using the G system, we'll simply move that over to our C to use our 4321 progression. That would sound like this. Okay, so that's a way to play it effects and tone, notwithstanding we can just keep this sound. But what we hear in a position, if we have, we have a lot of places that we can play. So let's move that over to our four corners. Now that's our three chord, and we're using a minor shape, but down here, and again we're laying the seventh, firing out. And we're using a lot of hammer ons for this style of music. We're going down to our two chord, which is a D minor with the seventh and then down to that, that one chord. Now we can play the one chord somewhere else if we want to do and why. Okay, so this idea of we have this phrase that's very naturally lending itself to these hammer ons, the sort Oslsund. Well, let's think of a reason we wouldn't play that. Maybe that's a nice turnaround. Maybe that's the lead lick of the song, but maybe the verse starts. And we want something a little more subtle. Maybe we want something big, we might sound like this. These are choices that we're going to have to make based on the arrangement. And it's only by understanding where these phrases can be accessed that we can make the choice. Maybe we'd like to play a little higher. That might be the ultra of the song. We have this S, maybe that's just a bridge, you know. The point is, is that once we know where this could be forged, we then have the choice of where we would play it and how we would play it. Maybe we want to just play two notes of that phrase. Maybe the bass is going, that's pretty busy. So what would the guitar do? Maybe with some reverb open and that's just a ed, you know. Another way of thinking about this is when we have a single line melody that could be the, the melody for the verse. Well, what chords we use would be appropriate. This is effectively a way of reverse engineering a melody for the arrangement and taking an arrangement and producing a melody. In the next chapter, we're going to look at how to do exactly that. We're going to think of how to arrange based on the melody. And we're going to look at examples of what we can use to create that melody with based on the key that we're in and how we would arrange it. Then we're going to have an opportunity to upload that for our own examples and submit that to the class. We'll see there. 5. Chapter 4 - Arranging: Now that we've had an opportunity to look at the diatonic scale and how to extrapolate from the chords and the ads and triads that are being formed. And looked at the shapes that those are being used for in different chords. And then of course, how to use the cage system to apply those to different places. We started to look at how we can start to create phrases. Basically how things might sound better in a certain position based on what the other instruments are playing or what the melody is doing. And in this chapter, we want to think about that concept of arranging for a melody. And we're going to look at an opportunity to submit our own ideas to the class. Let's look at what we're doing here, which is effectively thinking of a melody and thinking of a proper way to arrange it. Let's say the vocal melody is something like in the key of, let's say they're doing. That's a pretty simple, maybe it's a funk song. Well, what chords would we use over that? Let me just look to something that, so that was an off the cuff idea where basically I chose this melody at random and started to arrange for it. And as you could tell, because the melody is so simple, it gives me a lot of options for what kind of chord tech can play. But let's choose a little bit more of a decided melody. Let's try it in the key of C. Let's do something like that. So I'm going to do that again. Now what I'm doing here is simply taking this major scale in the C and using the relative minor, which is a minor. And that's where I've gotten my melody. And I just chose something that has a simple enough time. I looped it, and then I listened to what notes are being used. We've started with this, which is the major third of our root chord, and then it climbs to the C. Instead of staying on the root chord, I want to find something that has harmony with that. The four has a C, that's the 55, so that could be my next Or, or I could use the relative minor of which is the sixth is always the relative minor seventh can be my, the D minor 71357. So the first Or can be the two, which is the D minor seventh. And then I think I went to the four chord over the one. Let's listen again so that works. Let me do a little bit of a cleaner allusion. So we have options there. Instead of going back to the one court, we could go to the six court for various reasons, one of which is that being the relative minor or the minor third, which is a really strong note in any, it creates the mood of the T. Let's try that. We're going to use the same melody and I'm going to go from one to the two, to the four, to six, and there I went to the five. There effectively, I'm creating an arrangement around the melody based on what that melody is doing, and then I'm allowing myself to choose what sounds best for the melody. There are other things that we can take into consideration here, like which notes would be played by which instruments. But for the sake of guitar, this is an effective way to play this arrangement. For the project of the class, we'd like you to do something similar. If you have a loop pedal or maybe you want to sing the melody, come up with a melody that is in the diatonic scale, and then think of an arrangement that works with it. Then talk about why you've chosen the chords. For instance, in this particular case, we've chosen this one chord because it sounds traditional. Then we've gone to that two chord because it sounds sad. And then we went back to a major chord, the four, because it felt like a lift. And then back to the six chord gave us that strong minor third tonality. Which felt more complex than just sticking to the 145 in your project. Try uploading something where you come up with a melody and then you play an arrangement based on it. And tell us why you chose those chords. We're looking forward to hearing it. 6. Closing Thoughts: Now that we've completed the Humbucker Soup course, I'd like to leave you with a few closing thoughts. I'd like to think about the way we're playing is categorized in two different places. One is creative, meaning the things that we're doing as a creative entity, beings on the planet, and the other is the analytical. When I think of the creative, I think anytime we're coming up with that melody like we did in that exercise or some chords that sound cool. Or we're learning something that comes from the radio or something that we like to listen to, or we're playing in an improvitizational way. The creative is where we start to express ourselves. The other side, being the analytical, is where we try to understand how things work. And while both are important, ultimately it's the creative that is our purpose. Here. We're trying to be expressive. As guitarists and as musicians and as individuals, the creative is how we do that. The analytical are just the tools that we can use to help us get there quicker. Whether you're like Paul Mccartney or Dave Roll who don't know the names of the notes they're playing half the time. Or you've gone to a music conservatory and you're playing, these are just different ways of getting to the same place. Whether you're consciously learning the patterns that you picked up, like we did in the cave system, or you're trying to learn things and you start to recognize patterns subconsciously. The goal is always to just do the thing that we're here to do, which is to play. Thanks for practicing with us, and we'll see you next time.