Author Archives: acoustikgasy

Guitar Lesson Series – Part 2: Strings, Basic Notes Names

Welcome to Part 2 – I don’t know why it took me 10 minutes of footage to tell you that a guitar usually has 6 strings and in standard tuning, they are EADGBE. Anyway, if you don’t feel like watching the video, that’s cool but know that you’re missing out on my awesome soothing boring voice (don’t listen to it while operating heavy machinery). Nonetheless, the video does cover some other ..maybe the more important of all the notes to remember in some key frets (fret 3, fret 5, and fret 7).

Knowing the some key note names from the 5th and 6 strings on fret 3, 5 and 7 are very important because it will help you know the names notes on all the strings regardless of frets. This is of course begs the question, why do you have to know the names of any notes on the frets.

The short answer is:

  1. it allows you understand build chords and understand what notes go into a chord
  2. it’s cool…i think…(don’t be a snob about it though ;-))

The long answer is in the next post (Part 3)

Guitar Lesson Series – Part 1: Lesson Overview & Intro Guitar

In this lesson, you will learn the overall goals of this series. A lot of  times, when we learn guitar, we do so by remembering shapes of the basic chords (e.g. shape your fingers this way to play a C chord).

This is a great step as first step and allows you to play many popular songs, and for many of us, those open chords and a couple of barre chords (F and B) will be all we need to play our favorites songs. There are plenty of videos on YouTube that will offer these types of lessons.

My favorite genre of music to play is R&B, and therefore what I was trying to do with this series is to expand the basics a bit so that you understood what notes make up a chord (e.g. C major is composed of C, E and G notes), and therefore will give you the options play that same chord in a different share (to get a different voicing), or add an extension to it (e.g. C7, Cmaj7, etc..).

This means that if the song called you to play a Cmaj7, you would not be intimidated by the name and would be able to break it down and construct it (e.g. for those who are curious, C major 7 is: C, E, G, B ….B is the 7th note of the C major scale which makes the chord a Cmaj7). R&B, especially tend to use these types of chords (maj7, m7, maj9, min9) and it’s helpful to understand how they are built. Obviously, there’s still the part of about knowing where to place your fingers on the guitar fretboard, but the goal is to help you understand why you’re shaping your fingers that way.

This type of lesson is of course part of what’s called Music Theory, which can sound intimidating to beginner guitar players, but all it means is : it is teaching us how things work.

Compared to guitar players, piano players tend to be better with theory because there is a bit more emphasis on it in their lesson (not saying that guitar teacher don’t teach music theory) and stuff like scales tend to be easier to learn on the piano because the notes on the keyboard are linear as opposed to the guitar).

Anyway,  in addition to the lesson overview, the first video also provides you with basic things about guitar parts (top, fretboard, neck, etc…)..basic stuff that is good to know in case you need replace them for any reason (upgrade, repair, etc..).

All The Things (Joe)

Intro/Chorus
Bmaj7 Db/Eb | Db9sus4
Bb7-Ddim7   | Ebm9-Abm7
Db/Eb         Abm7   (Abm7-Abm11)  (2x)

transition to prechorus: Abm11-Bb7-(Abm7)
Prechorus
Abm7  Bbm7    Bm7             
Dbm7  Bm7     E9
Gbmaj7-Abm7'-Gbmaj7 |Fm7(-Gbmaj7)

Abm7  Bbm7    Bm7            
Dbm7  Bm7     E9
Fm7b5 Bb7

 

 

Faka Vady (Rak Roots)

Hiran'i Rak Roots rehetra: Rak Roots

Fampidirana
C  G  Am  F

Tonony 1
C                                G
 Efa zatra loatra miaraka aminao aho
     G                        Am
Tsy mety tsony raha vao ts'ianao 
     Am                               F           
Efa jamba loatra ny amin'ny fisianao aho 
 F                    C
Tena lafatra loatra anie 

 C                               G
Manembona raha vao tsy eo enao tiako oh 
   G                       Am
Ny anaranao foana no tantaraiko oh 
         Am                    F
Ka ho lazaiko anao fa za' tsy iala e, tsy iala e 
     F                       C
Tsy iala e , tsy iala aminao aho  
     
     Tetezana
                C               G
     Aminao za faly, Aminao za Love e
                   G                            Am
     Aminao tsy mijaly mba sanatria raha mbola iova e 
       Am                      F
     Amen fa ianao no anjarako e
         F
     Fitiavako anao anie ka mamy e 

     Fiverenana
      C               C               G
     Mamy e, mamy e, mamy e, mamy e, mamy e 
     G                          Am
      Ny fitiavako anao tsy ho lany e 
     Am                                F
      Raha mbola tsy ampy dia mbola ampiko oh 
     F            C
      Ianao tena tiako e 

Tonony 2
   C                            G
Fa ohatrany toy ny vao omaly anie 
       G                               Am
'Lay tsika mifampitantana eny an-dalambe 
                     Am               F
Tsika roa samy nankafy dia samy naka fafiny e 
F                    C
 Tena mbola tadidiko e 

       C                        G
Tiko enao , ka mba avelao za hiteny 
         G                        Am
Mamiko enao , averiko ombieny ombieny 
    F                                               C
Aminao malala ihany aho no mahasahy miteny oe tena tia 

     Tetezana
     Fiverenana (2x)

Tonony 3
  C                           G
Tsy nisalala rehefa naka anao e 
       G                                  Am
Vao nanomboka dia hitako enao oe azo atao e 
                  Am                           F
Ravakin’ny tokantranoko oh, Mendrika ny renin-janako oh 

C                                             G
 Miara miainga dia miara tafita miara miosona e 
             G                                  Am
Mino aho f'anao mihintsy le itako tanaty nofiko e  
                             Am                             F          
Miara tonga amin'ny tanjon’irina a tsika iezaka mafy, iara iady e 
                         C 
Amiko ianao lay oe Faka vady e

     Tetezana
     Fiverenana (2x)



 

Speechless (Michael Jackson)

[INTRO]
N.C.
Your love is magical, that's how I feel
N.C.
But I have not the words here to explain 
N.C.
Gone is the grace for expressions of passion 
N.C.
But there are worlds and worlds of ways to explain 
N.C.
To tell you how I feel 

[CHORUS 1]
         Bb          Gm
But I am speechless, speechless 
       Eb              F
That's how you make me feel 
                Bb       Gm
Though I'm with you I am far away 
    Eb             F
And nothing is for real 
         Gm                     F
When I'm with you I am lost for words
  Eb                 F
I don't know what to say 
          Gm              F
My head's spinning like a carousel
   Eb         F
So silently I pray

[VERSE 1]
Bb           Gm
Helpless and hopeless
       Eb         F
That's how I feel inside 
          Bb               Gm
Nothing's real, but all is possible
   Eb           F
If God is on my side 
         Gm                   F
When I'm with you I am in the light
      Eb          F
Where I cannot be found
        Gm                   F
It's as though I am standing in
    Eb                    F
The place called hallowed ground

[CHORUS 2]
C           Am
Speechless, speechless 
       F               G
That's how you make me feel 
           C             Am
Though I'm with you I am far away
    F              G
And nothing is for real
        Am              G
I'll go anywhere and do anything
F                  G
Just to touch your face
           Am              G
There's no mountain high I cannot climb 
    F               G
I'm humbled in your grace

[CHORUS 3]
D           Bm
Speechless, speechless 
       G               A
That's how you make me feel
           D             Bm
Though I'm with you I am lost for words
    G              A
And nothing is for real

[CHORUS 4]
E           C#m         
Speechless, speechless
       A               B
That's how you make me feel
           E             C#m
Though I'm with you I am far away
    A              B
And nothing is for real
E           C#m
Speechless, speechless
       A               B 
That's how you make me feel
           E             C#m
Though I'm with you I am lost for words
    A              B
And nothing is for real
E
Speechless

[OUTRO]
N.C.
Your love is magical, that's how I feel 
N.C.
But in your presence I am lost for words 
N.C.
Words like, "I love you."

Never (Boyz II Men) – Key of Bb (bpm = 55)

Intro
Ebmaj7  F || Bb(add11)  Gsus2-Gm
Ebmaj7  F || Bb-F/A-Gm  F
Ebmaj7  F || Gm

Verse
Cm7-Bb-F/A|| Bb-F/A-Gm (3x) 
Ebmaj7  Bb|| F

Chorus
Ebmaj7 F  || Bb(add11)  Gsus2-Gm 
Ebmaj7 F  || Bb-F/A-Gm  F 
Ebmaj7 F  || Bb(add11)  Gsus2-Gm
Ebmaj7 F  || Gm

Bridge (2x)
Ebmaj7  F || Gm..F/A-Bb
Ebmaj7  F || Gm

If Tomorrow Never Comes (Joose) – key of Gb

Intro
Bmaj7...F#-Bmaj7..C#-B/D#-D#m7  

C#..A#m7..|Bmaj7..G#m7..A#sus4..A#

Verse
Abm7  Db        B/Gb-Gb  Db-Gb
Db-B/Eb-Db/F    B-Db-Gb  (Db/Gb-Gb B/Gb-Gb)

Chorus
Abm7-Bbm7-B(add9)       B(add9)-Ebm7    B(add9) - Gb 
Db Db/Ab-B(add9)        Abm7  Bb7
Abm7-Bbm7-B(add9)       B(add9)-Db-Ebm7 B(add9) - Ebm7 
Abm7-B(add9)-Db         Db-B/Eb-Gb      B/Gb-Gb
           Gm7b5  G#m7
Sometimes late at night
C#                           B/F# F#  C#/F#-F#
 I lie awake and watch her slee__ping
       C#                B/D#           C#/F
She's lost in peaceful dreams so I turn out the lights
     B/F# C#/F        F#   C#/F#-B/F#...F#....
And lay there in the dark

                     Gm7b5  G#m7   
And the thought crosses my mind
If I never wake up in the morning
Would she ever doubt the way I feel
About her in my heart

If tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her
Did I try in every way to show her every day
That she's my only one
And if my time on earth were through
And she must face the world without me
Is the love I gave her in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes

'Cause I've lost loved ones in my life
Who never knew how much I loved them
Now I live with the regret
That my true feelings for them never were revealed
So I made a promise to myself
To say each day how much she means to me
And avoid that circumstance
Where there's no second chance to tell her how I feel

So tell that someone that you love
Just what you're thinking of
If tomorrow never comes