How To Play Major Barre Chords Based on E

1. Play an open E chord, but instead of using the normal 2-3-1 left-hand fingering, use fingers 3-4-2.

2. Lay your first finger down across all six strings on the other side of the nut (toward the tuning pegs).

7th Chords: What's Hidden In The Number 7

7up Signage. Photo Credits

In this section, we're going to continue our exploration to the basic(open position) 7th (seventh) chords. Just like the simple chords presented in my previous posts, seventh chords are also easy to play. 7th chords are made up four different notes instead of three, and that's what gives the 7th chords its distinct sound. The different 7th chords (dominant 7th, major 7th, and minor 7th) can make the blues sound “bluesy” and jazz sound “jazzy.”

Let's start with the Dominant 7th chords.

Guitar Secrets Revealed - How to become a guitar master

Eric Clapton performing in his concert. Photo Credits

Do you think Eric Clapton woke up an amazing guitarist? NO!
He practiced, and practiced, and practiced. Guitar masters probably practiced hours and hours every day. To become good at guitars, you must pay your dues.

It's very obvious to say that the more you practice the better you’ll get - but it’s the simple TRUTH. And the more time you spend practicing your guitar, the faster you'll get good at it.

Do The Guitar Grooves With The G Family Chords

Original members of the Rivermaya Band

The G family of chords is my favorite. As a young boy, I grew up listening to the nostalgic songs of Eraserheads, Riyermaya, and Siakol. These OPM bands used the G family of chords a lot in their compositions and I've spent a great deal of time learning to play these great songs on my guitar.

Original members of the Eraserheads Band

So far, we have already tackled two chord families, A and D. Some chords in these families also belong to the G family. The basic chords that make up the G family are G, Am, C, D, and Em. If you have been following along with my previous posts, for sure, you already how to play the chords G, D, and Em. That means you only need to learn two more chords, Am and C, to complete your repertoire.

What Makes A Music Piece Unique: Chord Qualities

Babies born with identical physical characteristics. Photo Credits

Can you imagine a world where people, instead of being born with unique characteristics, are born having the same physical appearance, personality and interests?

Herd of Zebras. Photo Credits

How about a world where all of the living things such as animals, plants, trees, and flowers are exactly the same? All trees, plants, and flowers have the same size, color, and shape and even the striping pattern on a zebra is the same for all the zebras in the world.

The Easiest Way To Play Basic Guitar Chords

I really like it when someone asks me to play my guitar while he or she sings. It feels great! And being able to provide an accompaniment to someone is no small feat. Sometimes, even though my voice doesn't sound that good, I try to sing my favorite songs and play my guitar at the same time. And what I found out is that, one of the best ways to pickup basic guitar chords is to play while someone sings.

A girl singing accompanied by a guitar. Photo Credits

The very first chords that I learned to play were the major chords D, A, and G.
Do you know any song that uses the chords?
Are you familiar with The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars?
Or Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles?
Both of these songs use the D-A-G chord pattern.
Actually, there are a lot of songs that use this chord pattern including the song by Alison Krauss, "When you say nothing at all",  and I bet most of you know this song.

Does it hurt the first time you did it: Playing your first chord

Chords are the basic building blocks of songs. A chord in music is any harmonic set of three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. Chords can be played in a guitar either by strumming or plucking. But you can’t just strike any group of notes; you must play a group of notes organized in some musically meaningful arrangement. For the guitarist, that means learning some left-hand chord forms.

After learning all the stuff about notations used in guitar world, which is very fundamental, you can now play your very first chord. There are a lot of easy chords to choose from but let's start with the E Major chord since it is used so frequently in guitar music. It is necessary for you to learn how to play it with ease and efficiency.

Playing the E Major Chord (E)

1. Place your first (index) finger on the first fret of the 3rd string (G# note).

Start playing the guitar quickly

In continuation to my previous post, I would also assume that YOU WANT TO START PLAYING THE GUITAR QUICKLY!

Thus, this blog would try to do so without a lot of messing around with technical explanations about reading notes, time signature, clefs, and etc.. Although these kind of things can really help you a lot in moving on to the next level after you have mastered the basics, these aren't really necessary to play basic music.

Moreover, feel free to skip some topics that you already know and jump right to the one that you are looking for.

My Guitar Mentor

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23736608@N08/3775976810

My guitar mentor was born from an ordinary Filipino family and was raised as a typical farmer. 

Together with his older brothers, they would wake up very early in the morning and perform their tasks while the sun is not yet out.

Back at their place, only the upper class citizens can affor to buy television sets.

All they have was a radio in which they would listen to news, dramas, and music.

And so, the common recreation of the kids his age during night time was to gather around a pyre and sing songs.

Of course, there's a guitarist among the group and it happened to be his older brother.

When they grew up a little older, his brothers became hearthrobs at their place because they were guitarists.

My mentor was very amazed with how his brothers would play the popular songs at that time. Perhaps, songs by The Beatles.

He wanted to learn how to play the guitar too and so he asked his brothers to teach him.

He became in love with the guitar, and he practiced everyday or whenever he gets a chance to.

Whenever there is a song he wanted learn, he would patiently wait for it to be played in the radio and he would listen very carefully.

He would play his guitar while listening to the song. He would then write down the chords which seemed to sound in tune.

He would usually do these many times in a day just to get the right rhythm and melody.

Few years after, because of his diligence, he became known as one of the best guitarist in their locality.

He was usually hired to play for amateur singing contests and he was still around 19 years old at that time.

He can play the songs at different starting keys, transposing the chords to match the singer's pitch.

For that, a lot of people admired his unquestionable talent.

He used to play by "Oido". Oido is a spanish word which means "ear".

He would listen to a song for a couple of times and he would immediately be able to play its rhythm.

Funny thing is that, when he was asked about the name of the unusual chord he used, most of the time he wouldn't be able to answer.

He didn't take any formal lessons about guitar and he didn't know how other chords, aside from the basic, were called.

That's the story of my very first mentor - my Father.

How I Learned To Play The Guitar

It was one dark evening and i was looking at the stars up in the sky.
They were very bright and colorful.
I was sitting in our old hammock at the porch and I can feel the cool breeze in the air.
As i was looking to other stars at a distance, i caught sight of a weird thing that was blinking and it was very close.
"Oh! It's firefly!"
But suddenly, without loosing my focus on the beautiful scene up above, i saw a falling star.
We used to say our wishes when we happen to see a falling star.
I immediately closed my eyes and clasped my hands and wished that I would be given the skills to play a guitar.
I happened to have a big crush on this girl and wanted to impress her ever since.
And when I opened my eyes, i saw the blinking bug transformed into a very beautiful fairy right in front of me.
She said "My dear Ivan, since you are a good boy, I hereby grant your wish..."
and lo and behold, after that moment, I started playing the guitar like a pro...

What a nice story, right? I was often asked how I learned to play the guitar and I think of that magical story every time. I just like to think about it that way. Some would buy it especially kids in our neighborhood. But, most of the time... well, you know...

The real story was...

It was still one of those dark evenings.
Back in our small town, we usually experience power outages in the evening for about one to two hours.
That is why it was indeed dark. It would usually occur two to three times in a week.
Most of the households used pressurized paraffin lamps or what is commonly known as kerosene lamps to provide lighting.
As there are only few sources of light, bugs would usually flock unto it.
There were a lot of fireflies in our area way back then and I was very amazed on why they were blinking.
I really can't remember what date is was. All i know is that I was 6 years old that time.
I was sitting in a small chair in our porch right beside my dad who is lying down in the hammock playing with his guitar.
I was the youngest in the family and I was often called "daddy's boy"
Out of curiosity, I would ask a lot of questions about what he was doing.
And while he was playing some of his pieces, i would strum the strings with my little fingers and make a different rhythm.
Or sometimes, i would turn the tuning keys and the guitar would go out of tune.
I would even break the skinniest string sometimes.
I remembered one time i got hit when the string was broken and it flew very close to my left eye.
Yes, I was a great disturbance to my father but he never made me feel that way.
Instead, he would pick me up and allow me to play with his guitar.

One night, he asked me a question. "Van, do you want learn how to play the guitar?"
Without any delay, I nodded my innocent head and said "YES" with a smile on my face.
I thought it was another play time with my dad.
He immediately placed the guitar on my lap and held my cute little fingers.
We picked the open strings together and played the melody of a local nursery rhyme entitled "Manoy Manoy".
After playing few lines of the song, he clapped and praised me for the beautiful performance.
I really didn't know if it was good or he was just trying to make me feel good. I guess, it was the latter.
But that was the starting point. I became interested with the guitar right after that.
And he always gave me time to play the same melody over and over again until i was able memorize it and do it on my own.
Just a year after, I was able to play my very first piece with real chords.
And the rest was written in history...

Girls like guitarists

Do you think so too?

To clear out my thoughts I interviewed some of my girl friends regarding the matter.

Question: Do girls really like guitarists?

Jelian - "For me, It's more of admiration rather than attraction. I admire guitarists because, as far as I know, playing guitar is not that easy and being able to play one is kinda cool."

Aleen - "I guess so. I'm just amazed with how those guys do all the tricks with their fingers. Of course, it was thru their hardwork and discipline but not all guys out there are willing to give it their time. I appreciate them for their efforts."

Jane - "Uhm, I think so... But generally, a guy who knows how to play any musical instrument is cute."

Ivy - "Not exactly. As a girl, i prefer a drummer rather than a guitarist."

Nica - "I'm not really into musicians. I like dancers better."

As you can see, girls have their own personalities and preferences. So, in short, the clear answer would be "It doesn't apply to all".

As for me, I think girls like guys that have some sort of skill whether it'd be in music, carpentry, painting, cooking or even dancing, as opposed to someone who is very lazy and doesn't know anything. Of course, it would help a lot if your have something up your sleeve that you can use to become romantic or surprise your girl. But again, it only helps because it is still the personality that matters. A guitarist is often described as someone who is talented, versatile, disciplined, and confident and those are just some of the traits a girl would usually look for in her checklist.

Bottom line, you can never please everyone but it is always cool to know something especially if you become good at it. It is still more about you and what you turn out to be in the process.