Re: YAAATECAGED (Yet another attempt to explain CAGED)

Tony:
...But I didn't spot the caged and Cmaj/Am pent
connection. <g> Maybe I should think more about notes and less
about intervals.

DRA:
Thinking in intervals is an impediment, IMO. Using what I call
"input" notation, because it is almost exactly lilypond input
but resembles other ways of treating music as text, I could
write a C chord this way:

<c e g c' e'>

This chord is not a way of writing music. It is a good way of writing
instructions in how to write music, IOW good for input for a human
as well as for a computer...

I've always been just the reverse. I deal with intervals
rather than note names. Guitar and human voice, IMO, lend
themselves to interval relationships very well. As opposed
to keyboards or wind instruments, where any given interval
is a very different fingering.

example - Play an A note on the sixth string, 5th fret.
Now play a C note on the fifth string, 3rd fret. Nothing
earth shattering.

Ok now go play a D# on the sixth string 11th fret. Now
quickly play an F# note, anywhere you like...

If you knew that the F# was a m3 interval above the D#
then you wouldn't have to do anything more than play
a note that's on the "next string, 2 frets lower"
(the 5th string 9th fret). Repeat that anywhere you
like, starting on any note you like and the m3 interval
is always on the next string 2 frets lower (with the
exception of the 2nd string tuning anomaly).

That way, you don't have to deal with "What's the note name
of this fret, this string". You only have to deal with
"How do I play a m3 interval from where I'm at?".

Transposing suddenly becomes a ton easier if you're reading
standard notation. You see one dot and then a dot that's a m3 above
that. So you play that interval on your instrument. If you
need to transpose the thing up or down a half step, whole
step, several whole steps, any interval at all, it's still
the same fingering. You just start in a different place.
Just like dealing with a capo. If you put a capo on the 2nd
fret and then play what looks like E A and B7 chords, you
surely don't think of them as F# B and C#7 chords. You simply
think of them as E A and B7, just as if the capo was the nut.

If you're not reading notation but "playing by ear" then
it's even simpler. Likely everyone here has no problem at
all dealing with the concept of "Play a I IV V in the key of G".
Then it's a no brainer to "Play a I IV V in the key of Db"
(or any other key). Every time we do that, we're thinking
in intervals, not notes. You don't have to think of the
note names in any of the chords in those examples except
for that very first note, the root of the I chord. In the
Db chord, for example, you don't have to think of "What
notes spell out a Db chord". You simply find a Db on one of
the bass strings, and play the appropriate "shape" chord
above that. Then after that, you don't have to know what
notes make up the chords for the IV and V chord, you just
play the shapes at the proper intervals.

Human voice is even more intuitive to interval thinking.
We have no pitch reference for human voice. We can't
"push on this fret and it's a Bb" with voice. All we
can do is match some other heard pitch and then sing
intervals from that pitch.

Keyboards don't work as simply. A m3 interval may be
from a white key to a white key or from a black to black,
or black to white, or white to black. Wind instruments likewise,
especially brass instruments. In most cases, brass instruments
have only three keys. There is no intuitive sense of "Push this
key and you'll be up a half step". Woodwinds are a little
bit more intuitive but they are still like a piano.
You generally take more fingers off the holes to
move UP in pitch. But it's not the same amount of
holes for every m3. And at some point you "start over"
with an octave key.

Guitars, strings, voice has a bit more intuitive time
of dealing with intervals, I think.


Lump


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Relevant Pages

  • Beginner Song of the Week No 10 (repost)
    ... The other difference between this and the standard blues progression is that it starts on a seventh chord, which flips the song into the key of F at the start, where the Bb in the C7 chord forms an essential part of the melody -- a descent in semitones from the word window to the syllable to- and the syllable day. ... Play a C7 chord: ... Now take your index finger off the second string, which is playing the C, and play it open. ... If you’re playing a C7 chord correctly, you will be fingering the G string with your little finger on the third fret, giving you Bb, the last note in the sequence. ...
    (alt.guitar.beginner)
  • Re: The D chord and the D scale
    ... I am learning more from this post and those of "Moving about within a chord" than I am from my guitar teacher. ... the open D, and the B string, third fret. ... D is the first note of the scale, labelled 1, or, an octave higher, it's labelled 8, which is also the 1 of the next octave higher. ...
    (alt.guitar.beginner)
  • Beginner Song of the Week No 10
    ... blues progression is that it starts on a seventh chord, ... Play the chord, emphasising the C note (second string, first fret). ... string, third fret. ...
    (alt.guitar.beginner)
  • Re: HOW DO YOU WALK FROM ONE CHORD TO THE NEXT?
    ... my original post had to do with basically how do you go from one chord to ... Then the fifth string open. ... second fret. ... Play an Am chord, ...
    (alt.guitar.beginner)
  • Re: YAAATECAGED (Yet another attempt to explain CAGED)
    ... Now play a C note on the fifth string, 3rd fret. ... the root of the I chord. ...
    (alt.guitar.beginner)