Play that on yer banjo then!
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Play that on yer banjo then! -
Dog Music....
Don't listen to him Jonah....if you tried that on a Banjo it'd sound like a Norton Commando running a blower, not a wasp in a baked bean tin....Besides, that Violin hits a massive flat spot at 0:23...Originally posted by Brian Catt View Post
......Nah......this is what you need.....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6xr8OEcZzk
......or at a pinch, in the unlikely event that you don't have an ankle biter readily to hand.....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPKV0-bCY04
Brian.Comment
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No point in duplication of effort ...........
Why would I want to learn that on the banjo when my Hawkstone does such a good job of it already ............... when it runs?
JRComment
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Ankle biter indeed Brian, had to admire the throttle wrist action of the right hand and timely growls of the little Mut. But the imagination runs riot at what his left hand may have been doing to achieve such a profound coincidence! :Originally posted by Brian Thompson View PostDon't listen to him Jonah....if you tried that on a Banjo it'd sound like a Norton Commando running a blower, not a wasp in a baked bean tin....Besides, that Violin hits a massive flat spot at 0:23...
......Nah......this is what you need.....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6xr8OEcZzk
......or at a pinch, in the unlikely event that you don't have an ankle biter readily to hand.....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPKV0-bCY04
Brian.
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It's the dogs.....
Ha!
Well spotted Adrian....maybe he was adjusting the advance and retard......
Nice comeback by the way John, and Brian, when are we going to hear you play that on your triangle, by the way......
Brian (The other one...)Comment
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My triangle lived another life as a painted component hanger!Comment
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Ukulele for the guitarist - Lesson One - and a way off of that plateau for Colin
Thought I would share what is a recent revelation for Yours Truly in case it is interesting ............ doubt it, but you never know?
When I was playing guitar, long ago, I was put off the uke by the fact that the strings were tuned so differently to the guitar. My thoughts were that I would only muddle my tiny mind if I tried to tackle chords shapes on both.
Now that I have forgotten all my guitar chord shapes in favour of those more needed to play banjo, it has come as somewhat of a revelation to find that uke chord shapes, in what has become standard uke tuning (GDEA) are virtually the same as basic guitar shapes, (tuned to EADGBE) albeit they work in a different key at the same fret position as on the guitar. So, if you should happen to be a guitarist looking to add uke to your musical portfolio, it wouldn't be that hard to do.
Punchy has introduced me to a series of uke learning DVD's featuring Fred Sokolow. Mr S is a highly accomplished musician and inspiring teacher who also puts out lessons in this format for aspiring and seasoned guitar players, Colin. These might well be what you need to lift you off of that plateau? He covers several genre (whatever that means?) and instrument types, so you'd probably find something amongst his prodigious output to suit your preference.
Hope this helps someone out there?
JRLast edited by johnrunnacles; 11/11/2016, 10:29 PM.Comment
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Unlocking The Fretboard Using Intervals.
That's spot on John, and some great input there. I too hope that someone out there finds it useful, well done mate.
Regarding the relative tunings of Ukulele and Guitar, as you rightly say, there are many similarities that can help figure out chord shapes common to both instruments (in standard tuning.)
Here's another concept that you may find interesting John. I will try to keep it as basic as possible just to give an idea of what's what.
As many guitarists tend to 'play by ear', when I was teaching I developed an approach to 'unlocking' the fretboard using intervals and an aural approach, combined with theory. An interval (as you will know, but I'll try to explain in basic terms for the casual reader) is simply the distance between two notes.
If we play each note in turn, starting from any note, and continue to play each note in sequence, moving higher in pitch each time until we get to the next highest version of the note we started on, that is known as an octave. A good example is the first two notes of the melody of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow (i.e 'Some....where....') Between those two notes, the octave is divided up into 12 equal steps (or notes) called semi-tones. This is the same as one fret on a guitar. If we take the 'A' string on a guitar, the ocatve 'A' note will be found on the 12th fret of that string, giving us a total of 13 notes including the octave.
In music, we use the alphabet to 'name' the notes within an octave, which then repeats as we move higher into the second octave. Some of notes are given two 'names' (for reasons I won't go into here!), suffice to say that if we 'sharpen' a note (#) we raise it's pitch by one semi-tone higher and conversely, if we 'flatten' a note (b), we lower it's pitch by the same amount. If we do this for our 'A' string example, we get the following sequence (I've added fret numbers under the notes for clarity, with '0' being the 'open (i.e. unfretted) A string note);
A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab (A)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 (12)
Note that A# is one fret/semi-tone higher than A, and Bb is one fret lower than B. A# and Bb are the same note (in sound) but simply with two possible alternative 'names'. Also, we can see that this happens for all notes in the sequence, apart from B to C, and E to F. Finally, I've bracketed the A octave note to show it is repeated, as the musical alphabet goes from A to G then starts again.
Now...this is where the 'intervals' come in. Most people will be familiar with the sound of the 'Major' scale, the old 'Do Ra Mi Fa So La Ti Do' we all learned as kids. This is an 8 note scale (sequence of notes) that is the foundation of all scales and chords, with a chord simply being a combination of notes played together instead of seperately, as you would for a scale (in a fixed sequence from the starting note to the octave note.) Chords (harmony) and scales (melody) have important relationships, and if the music is to sound 'right' (i.e. in tune) then we must play (or sing!) the right notes in our melody in relation to the chords providing the harmony 'underneath'. Incidently, if we add rhythm then we have all of the elements that make up music....Melody, Harmony and Rhythm....there is nothing else!
Coming back to the Major scale, we can use a 'formula' (oh no...the 'f' word...!!) to describe it, and as it is the foundation scale we simply number it like this; R 2 3 4 5 6 7 (R) The 'R' (standing for 'Root') is the note we start from, in the previous example 'A' played on the 'open' A string of the guitar. The formula tells us which notes to play, or 'which rungs of the ladder to step on as we move up the fretboard' if you will. Notice that sometimes we 'miss' a fret as we go, and sometimes not.....The notes we 'land' on depend on which scale we want to play.
A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab (A)
R 2 3 4 5 6 7 (R)
If we 'name' the gaps, we now have a full 'set' of intervals to use for chord a scale formulas.
A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab (A)
R b2 2 b3 3 4 #4/b5 5 b6 6 b7 7 (R)
Here's a few examples, with their interval formulas in brackets.....
A Major = A C# E (R, 3, 5)
A minor = A C E (R, b3, 5)
A Major 7 = A C# E G# (R,3,5,7)
A minor 7 = A C E G (R,b3,5,b7)
A Major Scale = A B C# D E F# G# (A) (R,2,3,4,5,6,7,(R))
A minor Scale = A B C D E F G (A) (R,2,b3,4,5,b6,b7,(R))
Most tuition books will include a fretboard chart showing where all the notes are, but very few include one showing where the intervals are. The beauty of using intervals is that you only have to learn one set of numbers, instead of all the notes for all the keys. Also, the interval fretboard chart is 'moveable' and can be applied to any key to find any chord or scale shape. As long as the guitar is tuned to standard tuning, the interval layout on the fretboard will not change.
For example, in the attached chart below, all Root notes are 'C', so the fretboard is in the key of 'C' and shows all intervals relative to that key note. If I wanted to change key to say 'A' so all Root notes are now 'A', all I need to do is make the 5th fret (currently 'C') the 2nd fret instead, easily done by simply putting a blank sheet of paper over the diagram and covering up the chart from the 2nd fret downwards This now makes my original 2nd fret into the 'open' strings for the key of 'A', and my original 5th fret is now the 2nd fret. It sounds more complicated than it is written down, honest!
Of course John, this approach requires a sound 'vocabulary' of scale and chord interval formulas and dedicated study to apply it, but it got amazing results with my students once they had developed the underpinning music theory, and learning one 'set' of numbers to cover all 12 keys and apply the resulting 'shapes' to the fretboard is a lot easier than memorising all the notes....!! (That can come later...and did!!)
While I was waiting for my Ukulele(s) to arrive, I produced the charts attached, and simply by applying my knowledge of chord/scale formulas I generated all the 'shapes' for chords and scales I needed...without having to buy a chord book! As you say, due to the tuning being so similar it all looked very familiar anyway, but I still found it a very worthwhile excercise and really helped sussing out the 'new' fretboard layout. Have a look at the attached charts John and I'm sure you'll soon see a few familiar shapes jumping out at you!
Hope you find this interesting John, if nothing else as an insight into the teaching system I developed over many years. It worked too....!!
Brian.Attached FilesComment
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That Magic formula ..........
Thank you, Brian ........ I think?
Yes, I was (once!) well aware of most, if not all of that. I rapidly found I had to be when I needed to find moveable chord shapes in order to "mix" with real musicians on joining in with their properly-trained output all those years ago, without messing around with the likes of a capo . The 1-3-5-7 formula was a "God-send" at the time, I seem to recall!
I found that memorising and relating the pattern of the piano keyboard to the fret-board invaluable too in identifying where the (black) flats and sharps occurred in the chromatic scale, and their location and relative interval to the "white" notes, and when (and when not) to include a "black" note in the chord, according to that magic formula.
Even so, I did also find that I was counting a lot on my fingers at the time!
Thanks again, Brian, and thanks too for your time in giving of so much input.
Incidentally, I did differentiate "double-named" notes by regarding, for example A# as such when ascending the scale, but as Bb when descending the scale. That's if you're "into" playing scales, of course ................ which are hard to avoid now that I am starting to learn to play actual tunes!
Does that (or any of the above) make sense?
JRComment
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Nice one John, and I follow what you're saying exactly. Good point about the piano keyboard and the black notes being 'enharmonic' (note with two names that sounds the same) and the white keys being 'natural'. I used to tell my students it was a one string guitar...with a very long neck!!
Incidently, that's my theory as to why there are so few 'sight reading' rock guitarists....it's like playing six pianos at once (!), and of course, a note of a given pitch can only occur once on a keyboard....and anything up to five times on a fretboard, depending.....
The interval approach really did work well with the 'ear players', and was a great way into theory. We used to come up with tunes to help identify (aural recognition) intervals.....like the theme from 'Jaws' as an example of a b2 (duh duh = R to b2 etc), the first two notes of the melody of 'Greensleeves' as a b3, and so on. After a while the students were applying it to different car horns they heard as they walked into town....! If you know that a dominant 7th chord is R35b7, and you can 'hear' the intervals, then you know what it sounds like, how it's constructed and what notes you can use over it to solo/improvise. The faster you get at it, the more 'instant' the recall becomes, and that's how you learn to play melodically over chord changes.
My great joy and priviledge was getting to see and hear what they did with all the stuff we taught 'em, both individually and in their bands....and being royally entertained and inspired. It was good to be able to help fast track them in realising their creativity and expression. If only WE could have done something like that when we were younger eh John, instead of having to do it all the hard way.....!!
Brian.Last edited by Brian Thompson; 10/11/2016, 08:29 PM.Comment
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Colin......a bit of inspiration for you...Keep practicing!Comment
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More like total demoralisation! Blimey she's good!Originally posted by Brian Catt View PostColin SparrowComment
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Never mind her, Colin. Try following up on my reference, a couple of posts back ..........Last edited by johnrunnacles; 12/11/2016, 11:12 PM.Comment
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Colin, yes, she's good, but it maybe my ears, but I don't like that instrument's tone. I've watched her history video and several of her present numbers, but although she is a fantastic musician, I didn't feel happy with the end product!Comment
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Clapton and Santana, shredding.....!
Here you go then Brian....these classic Eric Clapton and Santana clips should ease your pain.....Originally posted by Brian Catt View Post
Brian.Comment
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