Apply the CAGED system: “D” shape
Mar 30, 2010 Blogroll, Charlotte Music, Guitar, Threshold Church, Uncategorized, Worship, Worship Leader
The CAGED system is a way of viewing and organizing the fretboard using a series of basic chord shapes. “C” “A” “G” “E” “D” chord shapes in first position can all be moved up the fretboard to get different chords. The name of the chord comes from the root note position of the chord shape.
What to do with this knowledge? Now each shape can yield 11 different chords, just by moving up the neck. This also includes Minor chords, Major 7 chords, Dominant 7 chords, minor 7 chords, Major 9 chords, Sus chords, and on and on…
Lead players benefit from this knowledge by gaining access to the higher strings in each shape. The next logical progression is creating parts and lines and even solos out of these shapes. Where to start?
The D shape is extremely versatile and can be used many ways and often isn’t discussed.
e–2— (F#) 3rd
b—3– (D) octave
g–2— (A) 5th
D-0—- (D) root
The D chord is “spelled” D, F#, A. On the guitar these notes aren’t “in order”. Only the “C” shape and the “G” shape have notes that would be considered “in order”. The fun thing with the D shape is that you can Suspend the 3rd both up and down (sus4 and sus2) very easily.
Dsus2 Dsus4
e-0—– e——3-
b—–3- b——3-
g—2— g—-2—
D-0—– D–0—–
Now we can move these shapes up the neck to get other chords and use this shape to create lead parts.
For Example: If we were to rearrange our fingers and barre the 2nd fret, we could use our pinky to get to the 5th fret on the high “e” string, thereby making a simple, but very open sounding D5 chord.
e——-5— (A) 5th
b—–3—– (D) octave
g—-2—– (A) 5th
D–0——- (D) root
This shape can then be manipulated very easily to create some interesting parts that are out of the way of the vocals, bass, and rhythm guitars. A simple way to do this is to lower the octave a half step.
e———5– (A)
b——2(3)— C# (D)
g——2—– (A)
This is especially effective over the “5″ (V) chord of any key. This then makes part of an “A” chord (A, C#) You can also hammer on the “D” octave to get some movement over other chords in a key as well. This particular position works best over a I IV vi V progression in any key. Just remember where your “root” is located. In this case on the “b” string.
For Example: This form in the Key of “G” would be here… Simply moving the “D” shape up to the 7th and 8th fret.
e———10– (D)
b—–(7)8—– (F#) G
g—–7——- (D)
There are also other ways to use this shape over different chord progressions…. Coming Soon…
My Guitar Rig
Jan 1, 2010 Uncategorized
This is what gets the job done for me. Different boards and Amps for different situations. The Amps sound great in stereo as well! The Amps are an Oldfield Marquis 36, and an Oldfield Honky Tonk D’luxe. www.oldfieldtubeamps.com
Tags: Charlotte Music, Guitar, Guitar Rig, Marquis 36, Oldfield
Guitar tone 104
Dec 16, 2009 Blogroll, Charlotte Music, Guitar, Guitar Gear, Music Industry, Threshold Church, Uncategorized, Worship, Worship Leader
Last night, I got together with a friend and guitar student. We hung out for awhile and got to playing… His main question was how to get from the “theoretical” side of music (scales, chords, etc) to the “creative” side. Great question.
We thought of a couple of analogies that I thought were helpful enough to share.
One of these was to think of your scales and technique and theory like tools. Like wrenches and sockets or hammers and nails. When you go to fix something or make something, you just know what tool will work. This comes from experience and being familiar with the tools you have available to you. The goal is to create. If a tool doesn’t work, you put it down and pick up another one.
Do you tell a child they are wrong for painting shapes and colors with their fingers when there are perfectly good brushes available? No. At least I hope not. Same thing with playing guitar. Who cares if you are thinking “Dorian minor” or “Pentatonic” did the phrase speak to you or convey the emotion you were trying to communicate?? Did is “feel” right?
This was a big thing for my friend. He knew both sides. The “feel” side and the “technical” side. But how to bridge the gap? Last night, we made some great progress, and by the end of our session, he was playing things by instinct and feel and CREATING the music he wanted to hear…. Pretty cool.
Anyways, cheerio! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas. and happy picking!
Dan
Guitar tone 103
Nov 12, 2009 Uncategorized
Pedals!
This is the fun part. The choices in pedal land are RIDICULOUS!!! There are more Overdrive pedals than ever, all with there own take. It is easy to get sucked into this world, and forget to play your guitar! I have been there, and I think of the hours I have spent researching, buying and selling, listening to clips, and I wonder how much better I would be if I had just practiced more or written more tunes… Anyways, personal rant over. This is also a really fun thing to do, so do what makes you happy.
There are some basic sounds for Live guitar playing that need to be covered in most band situations. Clean, Crunch, and Lead. The studio is a whole different world. I won’t go there unless some folks ask.
Let’s talk overdrives only for now.
lo-gain, vs. high-gain, etc. all those terms are used to describe more crunch or less crunch. Decide what you like, then dial it back about 30% and you will have a good live tone. I am convinced that the bass has just as much to do with a good Overdrive sound as a good pedal or amp. Anyways, here are some styles of Overdrive to check out:
Tubescreamer style: smooth sound, added midrange, sorta lo-gain. Great with Fender style amps. There are a thousand variations on this circuit for more bass, less midrange, less gain, less compression…. blah, blah, blah. Some good ones to check out: Lovepedal Eternity and it’s variations. These pedals smoke. I don’t own one, but I have played through a Kanji and a Kanji 9. Wow, possibly the best I have ever heard… I use a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet model. I like this pedal a lot. Set up correctly, it is an awesome pedal…
Rat style: More gain, like a distortion, just super nasty and super cool. there are a bunch of these too.
Amp style: This is a weird category, but these overdrive pedals just sound more like your amp. Think boosted amp and you are there. I have a Box of Rock by Zvex that I like and a Timmy overdrive. These both respond like a good amp, they change when you change the volume control on your guitar.
Ones I like: Fulltone FD2 Mosfet, Timmy, Zvex Box of Rock, Xotic RC booster, BB preamp and various clean boosts that push my amp just a bit more.
A sample setup would look like this: Guitar that you like that you can get a bunch of sounds out of, because you practice that way (Remember??) — OD pedal —- amp. The 2 stage ones like the FD2 allow a clean sound (no pedal) light crunch (pedal on) and either a boosted sound or a more crunchy sound. super simple…
Recovered!!
Nov 12, 2009 Uncategorized
My L6 was returned!! 1 week after it’s theft, to the same hallway it was stolen from. Weird, but cool. New dings! and an even cooler story. Thanks everyone for your extra eyes!
Keep practicing!
Tags: Charlotte, Gibson L6s, Guitar, stolen guitar
My Stolen Gibson Guitar L6s
Oct 20, 2009 Blogroll, Charlotte Music, Guitar, Guitar Gear, Music Industry, Threshold Church, Uncategorized, Worship, Worship Leader, sound design
OK everyone. My main electric guitar, and 1974 or ‘75 Gibson L6s was stolen on Friday night 10/16/09 at 1:50am (saturday morning) in downtown Charlotte from the back hallway of a club. Please, if you have any info regarding this guitar, contact me immediately.
There are several distinguishing things about this guitar. It is a string through body, Wine red in color, Has severe pick scratching above the neck pickup, the back of the neck is satin, and actually has a spot behind the 12 fret with no finish. The pickups are Gibson Burstbuckers, refret, bone nut. etc. This is an awesome players guitar and I have had it for a long time!! I really would like this guitar back in one piece. It was stolen in its original hardcase. I do have the serial number and have done all of the necessary police paperwork. Thanks!
pics:
Cool experience
Jun 3, 2009 Charlotte Music, Guitar, Guitar Gear, Threshold Church, Uncategorized
I wanted to spread the word on an awesome company that builds really cool gig bags.
I ordered a guitar bag, and I can’t wait for its arrival! Miko was really cool and made sure I will receive my bag before I fly to Costa Rica next week. This should be a great solution for me in my travels with my guitar.. plenty of pockets for a laptop and all things guitar. I may event make a small pedal board that would fit in the front pocket….
I love cool gear finds!! Thanks Flav for finding this company!
Dan’s Blog Test
May 20, 2009 Uncategorized
Just checking out the new blog! I like the new interface and I am looking forward to using this…