A couple weeks ago I wrote a blog post called “5 ways to improve your guitar playing”. I think it might be time to elaborate on three of these points.
To recap, points 1-3 were:
Don’t fret over finger positions 2.0
We want to show you how to ‘fish’, not feed you the fish. This is why we don’t show chord fingerings in any of our theory diagrams. Fingerings can change. Frequently you may only play a fragment of the chord which changes how you approach playing that chord. Everyone is different!
Our cheat sheets also don’t fret over finger positions (coincidence? I think not)! Don’t waste your time faffing over concepts that are so subjective. Widen your grasp on the theory, then the rest will follow naturally. Keys, Chords, Triads and Scales: The four ingredients that will really kickstart your journey.
Ignore the notes you don’t need 2.0
“Embrace keys, they free you from the tyranny of infinite possibilities.” - and whilst I must commend my own poetic writing, you might be wondering how do you embrace keys?
Decoder: Circle of Fifths is how.
At its core, The Decoder: Circle of Fifths shows you what you need to know. No fluff, not faff, simply the 7 notes that are in each of the 12 major keys.
Let’s take the easy key of C.
Suddenly you only see the relevant information for that key. This is you embracing the keys, and removing the tyranny (BTW)!
And you might be wondering why you even need to know this stuff?
Well, imagine this:
You are jamming with another musician, and suddenly they say “the verse is 1-4-5 in A”, you will know that it is A, D and E!
Only play the strings you need 2.0
I’ve said it once and I'll say it again: 1 - 3 - 5. That’s all you need. From these three intervals, all music is born. They are the foundation of music. In a world that tries to complicate, that tries to make you forget what matters, remember 1 - 3 - 5. Most guitar chords repeat notes. E.g. The notes played by an open G chord are G, B, D, G, B, G. The root-G is sounded three times, the 3rd-B twice and the 5th-D only once. Do you really need all those notes?
And how do you get a good grasp of the 1-3-5? CAGED.
But let’s get more granular for a second, let’s start with triads. Triads are three note chords. A major triad is formed from the root, 3rd and 5th intervals. These intervals must be present to form a fully defined chord.
When the root note is the lowest note in the triad, this is the root position. There are two inversions of the chord. The first inversion has the third as the lowest note and the second inversion has the 5th as the lowest note. Triads give guitarists access to 12 shapes for playing a major chord. These shapes can be played and modified easily.
This is really just the beginning of what CAGED offers. That’s why our Guitar Chord Compass is the cherry on top.
