Help understanding chords.

**BullHorn** · #1 03-14-2007, 01:19 AM

I'm a noob regarding improvisation and theory. I know that when a guy plays a chord or another on a guitar, I play a root note.

How can I determine which chord it is and what I should play? Can someone post photos of each chord and telling me what I gotta do when I see it, or perhaps there is a different method of studying this? I never played guitar seriously and don't know chords.

Also, how can I determine in which key a song is played?

BassChuck · #2 03-14-2007, 04:41 AM

You'll probably get a lot of good responses to this... there are tons and tons of excellent material in print and on CD.

My personal favs can be found at www.jazzbooks.com. Just because it has 'jazz' in the title doesn't mean that Mr. Aebersold's material isn't good for everyone. He's all about ear training, and frankly... that's what will help you the most.

Jam with other musicians and don't be afraid to ask them about chords and what they are playing and anything else. You may run into some players who will use their talent to boost their egos, but IME most musicians are good people who are more than anxious to help other musicians.

**BullHorn** · #3 03-14-2007, 05:49 AM

Well, I do have a decent hearing. I can easily determine if a note is being played in the right time and on the right scale, I just don't know on which fret to press to get the proper note.

And I have no clue at all about how to figuring the key, except for trying all the keys before I find the right one? xD

Also, free material please, I can't afford anything in the meanwhile.

**WillPlay4Food** · #4 03-14-2007, 06:40 AM

If you're trying to keep up with a guitar player by watching his fingering, you'll want to keep an eye on his fretting index finger. I know with the guitarists I play with, unless they're playing an open E or open A chord, the index finger 90+% of the time is on the root note of the chord being played. This has helped me to figure out the chord root structures.

After that, you need to use those root notes to start figuring out the chord progression. Were the root notes D-G-A? Most likely you're playing a I-IV-V progression (very common in western pop/rock).

Next you'll need to figure out whether the guitarist is playing major or minor chords. I can't tell this by sight, but I can by ear. The note to focus on is the 3rd of a chord. Using the above example, if the D chord is made of the notes D-F#-A, then it's a major chord and you know to use major 3rds when arpeggiating a chord (playing the chord tones one note at a time). If the D chord is made of the notes D-F-A, then it's a minor chord and you know to use minor 3rds in your bass line.

In this example, the root scale would either be D Major or D minor, since the D chord is the I chord. This doesn't mean every note will fit in the scale of D, but that's a good place to start.

As far as free learning materials go, I'll repost the links I posted in your Improvising thread. These sites have tons of material covering theory, chord progressions, ear training and more. They are worth the time digging through to find the information you seek.

Here's a list of websites with lessons from beginning to advanced:

www.musictheory.net
www.studybass.com
www.teoria.com
www.good-ear.com
www.activebass.com
www.cyberfret.com
http://www.guitarnoise.com/bass.php
http://www.petethomas.co.uk/jazz-theory.html

New links (not new to the world, just newly posted by me in this thread):

http://www.adamnitti.com/lessons.shtml
www.instituteofbass.com

fearceol · #5 03-14-2007, 06:42 AM

I find the site below to be very good.

www.studybass.com

johnvice · #6 03-14-2007, 07:01 AM

Great question and greta answers so far !

Quote:

Originally Posted by BullHorn

I know that when a guy plays a chord or another on a guitar, I play a root note.

You can't go wrong playign the root of the chord. A chord, by it's nature has at least three notes. Try incorperating these notes into your playing. (i.e. for a C MAJ chord, the notes are C E G)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BullHorn

How can I determine which chord it is and what I should play?

Ask the guitar player.

As I'm typing this "Midnight Hour" by Wilson Picket just came on the radio! The bass player on that tune, Donald 'Duck' Dunn is the master of simple, effective bass lines. The sparse chords in each bar (during the intro and verse) are E / A / .

Dunn's bass line is E G# B A A C# E

He uses the notes that the chords are made from to create a bass line that supports the chord structure and 'locks in' with drums to really drive the song.

**WillPlay4Food** · #7 03-14-2007, 07:32 AM

Going along with the end of johnvice's post above, you don't need to play a million notes to do a song good. Last week at practice we broke out with some tune (can't remember what it was), but I basically played 5 notes throughout the song (F-G-A-C-D for a G-C-D 1-4-5 tune).

Those 5 notes 'drove the bus' so to speak. I could've gone flowery and walked over the chords, but then the song would've lost that driving feeling. It was all about the groove, and everyone loved it.

Listen to Radar Love by Golden Earring. Other than the intro, the bassline is only a handful of notes, but listen to how the bass drives the song. It gives the song motion and nails you with the rhythm. That's the job of bass, IMO.

**BullHorn** · #8 03-14-2007, 07:38 AM

As always, awesome replies.

I know the trick with watching at the index finger. But what about that chord where the first finger is on the 1st fret and the 3rd and 4th fingers are somewhere far on the 4th fret some strings below? And there are some other weird ones I forgot by now.

tZer · #9 03-14-2007, 07:44 AM

From a less theoretical perspective, and to elaborate on WillPlay4Food's last post, connect your improvisation with having "something to say" melodically. Along with knowing some good places to start pitch-wise (where your theory will pay off), know that you need to think in an evolutionary fashion where you develop a coherent phrase that does not simply sound as if your are throwing notes into the air.

Listen to any melodies that have been introduced and reference them in some way when developing your improv - take a rhythm pattern that is prominent and use it - don't be afraid to play long tones - connect ideas with nice passing phrases - an arpeggio here and there adds liveliness, etc... Bottom line, don't be afraid to take your time and let an idea develop.

Actually practice the main melody of a song - either the primary instrumental melodies or the vocal line - they will show you lots of great places to reference with improvising.

Soloing/improvising is not a solitary activity even if you are playing relatively alone at the time - you should demonstrate awareness of the rest of the song/group when bringing improv to the front.

**WillPlay4Food** · #10 03-14-2007, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BullHorn

As always, awesome replies.

I know the trick with watching at the index finger. But what about that chord where the first finger is on the 1st fret and the 3rd and 4th fingers are somewhere far on the 4th fret some strings below? And there are some other weird ones I forgot by now.

If the fingering is something like index on fret 1 of the D string (E), the ring on fret 3 of the A string (C#) and pinky on fret 4 of the E string (A) then that would be an A Major chord (A-C#-E) and the pinky would be on the root of the chord.

Still, you should focus on what you're hearing and work on your ear. You're not going to be able to watch your guitarist all the time so you'll need to be able to understand what's happening by using your ears (you are making music after all).

Whoever you're playing with should be able to at least give you the chord progression for the songs you're playing. This way you'll have a blueprint to start with. I'm sure they'll want to help you out as this would get you up to speed faster than trying to remember from practice to practice.

dlloyd · #11 03-14-2007, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BullHorn

How can I determine which chord it is

Ask your guitarist.

Deacon_Blues · #12 03-14-2007, 10:50 AM

My advice is to learn to play some guitar.

I'm very happy that I started on guitar. I had been playing guitar for about 4-5 years before starting playing bass (I just found myself playing bass lines on the guitar more and more, so finally I switched when I got a good opportunity to do so). I'm also happy that I had a jazz guitarist as a teacher for a couple of years back then, he showed me a lot of nice chords it has been really easy for me to know what notes to play over different chords.

Kevbroce · #13 03-14-2007, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dlloyd

Ask your guitarist.

I'm blown away by how many time's I've asked this and they couldn't answer it...

"Uhh, I think it's some sort of D chord"

Ok, which one?

"Uhh there's a D and an A and I kind well, move my fingers between this note and that one and sort of sometimes hit the 4th string uhh..."

What's helped me the most is learning to play some guitar myself, it's the main reason I bought an acoustic guitar.

Eddie95Z28 · #14 03-14-2007, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevbroce

I'm blown away by how many time's I've asked this and they couldn't answer it...

"Uhh, I think it's some sort of D chord"

Ok, which one?

"Uhh there's a D and an A and I kind well, move my fingers between this note and that one and sort of sometimes hit the 4th string uhh..."

What's helped me the most is learning to play some guitar myself, it's the main reason I bought an acoustic guitar.

If that isn't the truth... Sometimes when I ask "What was that you just played." Instead of getting a good answer I just get the same riff repeated. Still with the distortion on 11 and still at the same speed.

dubstyle5000 · #15 03-14-2007, 02:08 PM

The seperation between levels of knowledge in this forum is mind blowing. Nonetheless, this is all good advice/instruction IMO.

For me - when I was first learning how to play - the most important thing was to conceptualize the shape of the minor and major scale in first position. Once you have that down, you can really learn to play anything... and build upon those basic scale shapes. Sorry if that's confusing, but you'll know what I mean once you get passed the surface.

**BullHorn** · #16 03-14-2007, 03:56 PM

I pretty much understood what you mean, dubstyle5000, but I was hoping for an easier way. Or an easier method for remembering because I have bad memory.

BillMason · #17 03-14-2007, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fearceol

I find the site below to be very good.

www.studybass.com

What gives? I was on there earlier today and thought it was great - got home to try some stuff out, and it's offline or something - error 403.

**WillPlay4Food** · #18 03-14-2007, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BullHorn

I pretty much understood what you mean, dubstyle5000, but I was hoping for an easier way. Or an easier method for remembering because I have bad memory.

The only way I've been able to remember is to practice it until it finally drills through my thick skull into my brain. I haven't found a shortcut to practice yet.

DocBop · #19 03-14-2007, 10:43 PM

Where someone plays a chord you play a root if playing a bassline. If you are trying to improvise you want to avoid playing roots and playing on the one they are sign of a rookie.

Watching your guitar play is not a good habit to get into, you need to develop your ear. There are so many ways to voice a chord looking at your guitar player just confuse you. What if you play somewhere nad guitar player is other side of the stage, you're hosed. The only time most players will do something similar to this is when sub'ing and doing songs your have never played before. They you would want to watch the keyboard players left hand.

You need to work on your ear. Start practicing by just turning on the radio or your iPod on shuffle and play along with each song, but don't stop the song, try to figure it out in the time it take for the song to play. Find the key and from there start picking off the other chords. The more you do this the better your ear get and the faster you will be able to follow a song.

If you don't know enough theory about common chord movements, then start with Blues. Simple chord progression some will add more chords like Stormy Monday or Freddie Kings Same Old Blues. But learning to suddenly hear a Blues, find the key, and changes before first time through the form you on your way. Now you can do Rock tunes that will throw more changes.