GSRLessard14 wrote:Question: how valuable is it to know the names of the notes on the fret board? like so if someone says find a G and you're like BAM 3rd fret E string. is it like the basis for everything? or is it just a useful skill to learn if you have the time?
learn your notes. this is the most valuable thing to know about guitar. even more than barre chords or anything, even how to change the strings. absolutely. if i am in Em i can quickly find where my notes are (EF#GABCDE) and i can find those notes on the fretboard and play whatever i feel. it is like learning the alphabet. and theory is like how to spell words. you can't spell without knowing the alphabet
see you auntie wrote:After searching through the archives for random music theory applications, I came across this post by grock:
"knowing keys and chords in keys. when you can hear what chords are being played, or (just look at what they are playing) you can solo right then and there cuz you know the key."
Say you have this chord progression:
Am Bm Em F
This is supposedly in the key of G.
Now, when the time comes to add a solo, how do you go about choosing your notes? I know that you obviously have scales to choose from, thus arriving at my question...how do you determine which scales you can use? I realize you only use parts of scales (this is where phrasing comes in?)... but is there any "rule" that says when you have to jump back and forth between them?
If this is way too complex to explain to somebody who doesn't know anything about theory (other than where notes are on the fretboard), just tell me to sod off.
I bought two books off of Amazon.com...they are titled:
"Fretboard Logic SE" by Bill Edwards and
"Freboard Roadmaps" by Fred Sokolow.
It seems like they are explaining theory, but in two drastically different ways. Does anybody have either of these?
i don't own the books but i made the post, so it's my job to iron this out.
your progression is a bit advanced for a beginning theory analysis but i'll do it for you anyways.
as for your progression, it is really not in any specific key. let's look at the notes for the four triads you listed Am Bm Em F. Thats (ACE)(BDF#)(EGB)(FAC). so let's put the notes in order ABCDEFF#G. so this isn't a very friendly example because of the F#. it's only the fifth degree of a single chord and F is a root. let's ignore the F# (for now). so the scale is ABCDEFG. that's Am! the other big hint at knowing what key a progression is in (or a song for that matter) is the first chord is typically the key. now that's not always true but a good first guess.
so we are in Am. if you know the fretboard play around with those. if you don't, learn the fretboard. you can learn lead "boxes" but that is basically like learning to read based on how a word looks instead of the letters that make the word. i'm not going to include scales cuz you should be able to construct them once you know the fretboard (and the notes of the scale that i showed you above) so that should sound pretty nice.
Now let's talk about that F# and "jumping between scales". really you can play any note you want with this progression (but you want to know how to make a more educated guess, i'm sure). G was a good guess for an uneducated theorist. but Am is better. but you wanna know about that pesky F#. basically it's a leading tone. it's leading to something. that is the F# in this really wants to resolve to G, which is exactly what happens when you play that Em (EGB).
really you could also play this like it was in Em. if you ignore the F (but that's hard to do since it is the root of one of the chords) now all of your F's sound funny and want to resolve to E or F# (even G to an extent) basically while trying to confuse you in this last paragraph, i have pointed to the individuality involved here.
so jumping between. really you pick your scale and stick with it. only deviating to add accents or drama. but as above you could be playing in Am, move your tonic to C (same notes as Am but different focus), then start playing around in G(now we are thinking of the F# and ignoring the F) then Em (same reson i went from Am to C) then even F (treating the Bb as a leading tone to B or avoiding it alltogether) and so on. why would you switch? for flare or drama. maybe you are repaeting a line from a different part of the song. whatever. maybe you want to shift focus or rhthm from that first Am to the F chord.
but if you want some dissonance you can play any scale you want. obviously Abm sounds terrible but it's called color, maybe you want a lot of dissonance in the solo. maybe it's a really ugly part of the song. and that just takes time to know when to break the rules.
if you just want to accompany and be melodic, you need to stick to tones in the (predominant) scale. i say predominant only because like in the example it get's tricksy. on top of that be sure you are leading people somewhere. end phrases on the tonic or 5th and make the last lick obviously lead into the last chord.
there is some deep theory about why that progression works, involving a lot of fifth chord stuff and such. i'm not really sure about it. let's make it easy. for individual notes in an obvious key (say we are just playing straight G C D C which is obviously just I IV V IV in G ) if i want to accent the G (tonic) i can "lead" into it by playing a F#. everyone goes "arrrrghhh he's about to play an G (note)" and and that will resolve. likewise B (in the GBD chord) wants to go to C. But here is the trick. A C# wants badly to go back to C or D. it sounds like a missed note! so if you are playing a solo and the progression is about to go to a D you can accent this by playing that C# maybe even letting it ring out so everyone knows where you are going and leading into the chord. or for less accent, a C will do just fine. this is why all songs in G always end on G. try playing that progression up above. it sounds like the ending is missing if you just stop on that second C without the G to tell everyone the song is over.
so playing a solo, i will often play that last lead into the the final chord of the phrase with a note only a half step down from the root of that chord to accent the completeness of the song. so like if a phrase ended on Em, i might play a D# to be sure everyone knows my sol is over. this works in major too (but it's not as interesting cuz you are still in the scale)
SUMMARY
so a scale is 7 notes that are the best choice for a solo, but deviations can occur. Pick a scale with the most notes in common with your progression. then you can use any of those seven notes depending on what you want to do. but keep a clear focus on the Tonic of your scale by leading into it and such.
my prof. is really out there (just today she canceled an exam cuz she "felt like a space cadet") so my knowledge of music is anything but linear and logical. did this help any more that it confused?
i hope so 
