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stellarbot guitar method

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stellarbot guitar method

Introduction

What is Stellarbot The Stellarbot method is the most useful parts of a university level music theory program combined with years of piano and guitar performance, audio production, and teaching experience. What is the goal of Stellarbot The goal of Stellarbot is to give you an understanding of how music is put together, and teach you the tools and skills so you can learn to play your favorite music, and even create your own. What will you learn with Stellarbot You will learn music theory about chords, lots of different ways to play those chords on guitar, rhythm, strumming, and even how to play music by ear. By the time you are done, your understanding of music will help you play your favorite songs by ear, create own music on acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, piano, in whatever style you like to play. Who is Stellarbot for Stellarbot is targeted toward: music lovers who want to learn an instrument singers who want to learn to accompany themselves songwriters who want to put their lyrics to music guitar players who never learned music theory. those approximately age 13 and up.

Have fun. Practice Lots. Be Stellar.

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1.0 The Building Blocks of Music

note

A single pitch

interval

Two notes, named by the distance between them

chord

Three or more notes played together

chord progression

A string of chords played in succession to create music

scale

A series of notes moving up or down in specific steps or intervals

stellarbot guitar method

Some Additional Music Terms melody A series of notes sung or played in succession as the main lead line of a song Additional notes added above or below the melody to create a pleasant layered sound The family of notes and chords built on a scale with certain sharps or flats. e.g. the key of A minor Raises a note step. Also used to describe a note/pitch being slightly higher than target pitch Lowers a note step. Also used to describe a note/pitch being slightly lower than target pitch The basic unit of time within a song or rhythm. Also used to describe the rhythm or groove of an entire song. The speed of a song, measured in beats per minute (bpm) Used to visually group a song into rhythmic increments, most often in 4 beats at a time A pattern or movement of beats

harmony

key

sharp flat

beat

tempo

bar/measure

rhythm

The Musical Alphabet To explain how notes are named, it is easier to see on piano than on guitar, simply because the piano is color-coded in white and black keys, while the guitar only has frets that all look the same. And you get to learn some piano at the same time!

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As you can see on the white keys, the musical alphabet starts at A and ends at G-- there is no note called H, I, or J, and so on. The black keys have two names, one with a sharp, and one with a flat. For example, the black key between C and D may be called C# because it is step higher than C, or it may be called Db because it is step lower than D. How the black key gets named depends on what scale context we are using it in, much like how the word there can also be spelled their or theyre, depending on how its used in a sentence. Youll notice the black keys repeat in groups of twos and threes, which leaves us with 12 unique notes, 7 white and 5 black, that repeat over and over. Every time a note repeats itself, this is called an octave, because from C to the next C is 8 notes on the white keys. (oct = 8)

Recall that scales are built with steps, and the smallest steps we can make on a piano starting from C would be white key C, black key (C#), white key (D), etc. We call these half steps. Likewise if we started from C and then played white key D, white key E, we would call these whole steps. One very important thing to note is there are two places where the black key is missing between the two white keysB to C and E to F, which is what causes the black key groups to appear in twos and threes. This means that from B to C, and from E to F are half steps, and there is no note B#/Cb or E#/Fb. This is especially important to remember for guitar because we do not have color-coded keys, only frets that all look the same! Memorize those two exceptions!

stellarbot guitar method

1.1 The Guitar: Overview & Basics

*pictured: Takamine EG540DLX http://www.takamine.com

If you play an electric guitar, the only real difference between an acoustic and an electric is that an acoustic guitar is hollow and amplifies sound through the sound hole. An electric guitar is solid wood or semi-hollow, and amplifies sound using a little microphone called a pickup. Acoustics may also have electric components, and are referred to as acoustic-electric.

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The Fretboard

This is a view of the first 5 frets of the fretboard as if you were holding the guitar and looking down on the strings. For a simpler visual, the frets above are labeled only where the white keys would be. Most of them are two frets apart have one unlabeled fret between each labeled note these frets would be black keys on a piano, and named by a sharp or flat. Notice how E-F and B-C are only one fret apart! Each fret on a guitar represents one half step, just like moving consecutive notes on piano. Until you memorize all the frets, you can use the ones you know to help you find the ones you dont know!

In standard tuning, the guitar strings are tuned to the notes E-A-D-G-B-E from low to high, meaning those are the notes that sound when you play the string without any fingers. This is also called playing the string "open". Later you will learn how to tune the guitar, but for now just memorize those notes using a pneumonic sentence like Evan Always Does Good Before Eating.

Here is how the open guitar strings correspond to the piano.

stellarbot guitar method

Fretting Notes

When we play notes on guitar there are 3 different things you need to know which finger, which string, and which fret. Left hand fingers are going to be numbered 1-4 from index to pinky, and the thumb gets labeled T, because it gets used rarely.

The frets are numbered from the head 1st fret, 2nd fret, etc. and the open string is considered fret 0. The strings are numbered from highest to lowest sounding, so high E is #1 and low E is #6. More often we use the letter name, so then you just have to match the string name to the fret number like a game of Battleship. For example, B3, or B-string 3rd fret, would play the note D, because on the B-string: 0=B, 1=C, 2=C#, and 3=D, etc.

Finger placement is very important, and becomes even more important when playing chords with several fingers. Use the tip of the finger and place it just behind the fret. Placement on top of the fret will cause the note to sound muffled, and too far back on the fret will cause buzzing and tinky sounds.

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Holding a Pick Point your index finger toward you and rest the pick on it so the pointy end also points toward you. Next make a full thumb print across the pick like a T, and point your thumb down the strings. Your grip should be firm enough that you dont drop it (into the sound hole is the worst!), but relaxed enough that it can flex and glide over the strings. 1.2 Tuning the Guitar There are several ways to get the guitar in tune, but first I recommend using a reference pitch and your ear to get you in the ballpark. A reference pitch can be from a piano like the notes on the diagram on page 7, or from an electric tuner, or from a guitar tuner smartphone app.

Once youre close to your target pitch, you can use the visual meter to help you fine tune. Free apps typically dont have this feature, but paid ones do, and any electric tuner will.

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Relative Tuning In the absence of a tuner, you can tune the guitar to itself by picking one string and tuning all the others to it. This is done by finding an equivalent note on the adjacent string.

As you can see, 4 out of 5 string pairs have equivalent notes on the 5th fret of the lower string, and the G-B string pair is equivalent on the 4th fret of the G-string. Any string can be used as the target pitch, but for example, tuning the others to the low E string as the would go like this: 1. Fret the low E (6th) string at the 5th fret to play the note A. 2. While the note A is sounding, play A on the open A (5th) string. 3. Let your ear tell you if the 2nd note you played is higher (sharp) or lower (flat) than the first note. 4. Turn the tuner of the A string clockwise or counterclockwise until it matches the pitch of the A on the 5th fret of the E string. **Always turn the tuner while the note is playing, otherwise you wont be able to hear the pitch change. Also if you get lost, do NOT keep tightening the string higher and higherif it gets too tight it will break. 5. Repeat by tuning D string to A string, G to D, B to G, and E to B. When perfectly in tune, string pairs will sound almost like one string when played together. This will take some practice to get down, so dont be discouraged if you find it hard in the beginning. Exercise: Practice fretting different notes on different strings with different fingers. Here are a few simple melodies to play around with, and each can be played on any one string, so try different ones! ***Spoiler Alert: Your fingertips are going to be sore in the beginning as you practice, but keep at it, and in a few weeks your fingers will toughen up and youll be able to play for hours without any pain!

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You might recognize some of these familiar melodies below. For a little guidance, the fretboard dots mark the frets 3, 5, 7, 9, and 12, which is one octave higher than the open string 0. Single String Exercises (comma indicates a pause) 1. Hot Cross Buns 4 2 0, 4 2 0, 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 4 2 0 2. Mary Had a Little Lamb 4 2 0 2 4 4 4, 2 2 2, 4 7 7, 4 2 0 2 4 4 4, 2 2 4 2 0 3. Twinkle Twinkle 0 0 7 7 9 9 7, 5 5 4 4 2 2 0, 7 7 5 5 4 4 2, 7 7 5 5 4 4 2, 0 0 7 7 9 9 7, 5 5 4 4 2 2 0 4. Smoke on the Water 0 3 5, 0 3 6 5, 0 3 5, 3 0 5. I Am Iron Man 0 3 3 5 5, 8787873 3 5 5 6. Mission Impossible 2 2 5 7 2 2 0 1 2 2 5 7 2 2 0 1 2 7. Ninja Challenge!! Ode to Joy 4 4 5 7 7 5 4 2 0 0 2 4 4, 2 2, 4 4 5 7 7 5 4 2 0 0 2 4 2, 0 0 2 2 4 0 2 454 0 2 454 2 0 2 7 4 4 5 7 7 5 4 2 0 0 2 4 2, 0 0 Great job!!

1.3 The Major Scale The major scale is important because much of the music we play is built on it, so understanding it is very useful. It is an 8-note scale of whole steps and half steps arranged in a specific order to create the major scale sound, and looks like this: Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do

1 W

2 W

3 H

4 W

5 W

6 W

7 H

It is mostly whole steps, but the 3-4 step and the 7-8 step are half steps, which would be one fret apart, or consecutive frets, whereas whole steps would be two. It looks simple on paper, but its far more than just a set of numbers. Each note within the scale will have a unique personality and color within a melody, as will the chords that are built on each note. The first three songs you played on page 11, as well as Ode to Joy are examples of major scale melodies.

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To build a scale: 1. Start with a note 2. Use all alphabetical letters once (though the 8th will be the same as the 1st) 3. Follow the whole steps and half steps to fill in where the sharp and flat notes will be present Lets try with an example: 1. D 2. D E F G A B C D Notice how 4 of the steps are w w h w w w h not correct because E-F = half, and F-G = whole. Likewise B-C = half, and C-D = whole. To remedy this we need to raise F to F#, and C to C#. 3. D E F# G A B C# D We have now the correct steps, w w h w w w h and so the D Major scale has 2 sharps (#s) in itF# and C#.

F#, G, etc.. On guitar a D Major scale could be played this way on the open D string: 0 2 4 5 7 9 11 12 try it up and back down! Here is an example of where a major scale would end up with a flat in it: 1. F 2. F G A B C D E F w w h w w w h 3. F G A A# C D E F w w h w w w h F G A Bb C D E F w w h w w w h This satisfies the sequence of whole and half steps, but we have two As and no B in the scale. This is correct. F has one flat in its major scale at the 4th note Bb

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Hopefully that helps you understand why a note like 2nd fret on an E string could be called F# or Gb. It turns out all of the major scales built on the notes that make up the standard tuning on guitarEADGBE have sharps in their scales, therefore we will use sharps more often than flats when playing in major keys on guitar. Exercise: Try playing major scales on single strings starting from fret 0, and then picking random spots and starting the major scale from there. **Tip: Remember to start your steps after your first note. Do not say whole as you play your first note, but your 2nd, as the first whole step happens from the 1st to 2nd scale tone. *Memorize those scale steps, they will be very useful later on! wholewholehalfwholewholewholehalf Here are some of the major scales spelled out for you: C Major CDEFGABC (this is the first scale taught on piano because it is all white keys) G Major GABCDEF#G D Major DEF#GABC#D A Major ABC#DEF#G#A E Major EF#G#ABC#D#E B Major BC#D#EF#G#A#B F Major FGABbCDEF Can you find these on guitar? All but C and F could be started from open strings, and C and F could be played starting from 1st fret on B and E

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1.4 Intervals
As stated on page 3, an interval is the pitch distance between two notes. Knowing how to identify intervals is incredibly helpful in picking out bass lines in songs, and playing and singing by ear. Any two notes can form an interval, but we will start by using the root, or 1st note of the scale as our starting note. Play these intervals on any string using the open note as the root. Listen to how they sound like these familiar tunes.

Major Intervals Major 2nd play 0 2 sounds like Hap-py birth-day to you Major 3rd play 0 4 sounds like Oh when the saints, go marching in Perfect 4th play 0 5 sounds like A-maz-ing grace, how sweet.. Perfect 5th play 0 7 sounds like Twin-kle twinkle little star
*the 4th and 5th are called perfect because the major intervals have a minor counterpart, but the 4th and 5th do not.

Major 6th play 0 9 sounds like It came upon a midnight clear.. or the TV station jingle N-B-C Major 7th - play 0 11 sounds like the first note of Charlie Brown Christmas Christmas time is here or the intro of Nada Surfs Popular Octave play 0 12 sounds like Some-where over the rainbow Minor Intervals & the Tritone minor 2nd play 0 1 sounds like the first 2 notes of the Jaws theme minor 3rd play 0 3 sounds like I am Iron Man aug. 4th/dim. 5th play 0 6 sounds like The Simpsons
*augmented/diminished are music terms for raised/lowered. Also called the tritone, this interval obvious to hear because it is the most dissonant or disharmonious.

minor 6th play 0 8 sounds like first 2 notes of In My Life by The Beatles minor 7th play 0 10 sounds like the first 2 notes of the original Star Trek theme

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Memorize which intervals go with these familiar songs, or come up with your own associated melodies to help you know what interval youre hearing!

If memorizing 11 intervals seems overwhelming, start with the first 4. Ear training takes time, but it an incredibly useful skill, so practice playing, singing, and listening for intervals in your favorite songs.

1.5 Building Chords Heres where it gets fun! Just so you know where chords come from, we are going to take our scale tones, and stack notes on top of them using an every other pattern like this: Ill use C Major since it is all white keys. then to D

to E

to F

etc..

A basic chord is 3 notes in specific intervals, also called a triad. The 3 notes in the chord are named the root, the 3rd, and the 5th. The root is the lowest or bass note of the chord and also names the chord. The 3rd and 5th are named by their interval distance from the root. Tonality Tonality is the word used to describe the mood of the song, and anyone can tell that some songs sound happier, while others sound more sad, angry, or dark. This is due to the effect of the chords. The two main types of chords used most often in music are Major and minor chords. Major chords have a happy or uplifting sound, while minor chords have a darker, moodier sound. If you have a piano, or a piano app on your phone, and can play the above chords, youll hear that the

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C and F chords sound happier, and the D and E chords sound darker. And in fact C and F are Major chords, while D and E are minor chords. The reason for this dramatic difference is only one half step in the interval. If you look closely, youll see that the C and F chords have 3 notes between the root and the 3rd, while the D and E chords only have 2. So a Major 3rd interval is 2 full steps, while a minor 3rd is 1.5, and in fact the 3rd is what determines whether a chord is Major or minor. Naming Chords By convention, we save ourselves from having to write Major and minor after every chord by only writing the letter name of the root. So C Major is written simply as C. The lowercase m is used to denote minor chords, so C minor is written as Cm. The Key of a Song Tonality is used to describe the general mood of the song, but the key tells us what scale the song is built on. So just as we have the C Major scale, we have the key of C Major, which encompasses all of the chords built on the notes of that C Major scale. The key is the family of chords used to create the music of a particular song. Later we will build the minor scale and play in minor keys to darker, moodier effect.

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1.6 First Guitar Chords Reading a Guitar Chord Diagram A chord diagram is a vertical representation of 3 or 4 frets of a guitar to show placement of the left hand fingers, so the strings left to right are EADGBE. The name of the chord is listed above the diagram, and the X means do not play that string. The small o at the top of a string means the open string is included in the chord.

Recall that a basic chord is 3 notesa root, 3rd, and 5th, but many chords on guitar use more than 3 strings. This means some notes get doubled or tripled in certain chords. The C chord above, for example uses the combination R-3-5-R-3 (left to right), or C-E-G-C-E. This also means there are multiple variations of certain chords. To start, we will learn some chords in the key of G, as they are the easiest to learn in the beginning, and many songs can be played with them.

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Key of G G Major Scale: G - A - B - C - D - E - F# - G on the open G string: 0 2 4 5 7 9 11 12

or

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Tips for getting great-sounding chords: 1. Press hard! Remember, that metal string has to make solid contact with that metal fret to get a good clear sound. (I know it hurts!) 2. Place fingers at the front of the fret space- notice how each finger in the above photos are just behind the fret. This is where it takes the least amount of effort to get a good sound. 3. Get your fingers up on their tip toes- finger angle is also important. If theyre laying too low they can accidentally touch and mute other strings from sounding. Notice how tall each finger is standing in the above photos. 4. Use your thumb C, Am, and D are 5 and 4-string chords, so if you can reach, rest your thumb lightly on the 6th string (but not too hard!) to mute it. That way you dont have to worry as much about strumming precision with your right hand. Notice the thumb placement in the above photos. Exercise: practice getting good tone out of your chords. Every string is important and adds to the voice of the chord, so make sure youre taking the time to troubleshoot. Once you feel good about the sound youre getting, practice chord changes from one to another. Strum each chord 4 times in a nice slow rhythm, then try to get to your next chord without missing a beat. The sooner you become comfortable with chord changes, the sooner you can make great music! Here are some songs to try with your chords. Each bar will represent 4 beats (or strums), so two chords within the same measure would get 2 beats each. (G may not be the original key of the song, but the chord progression will still sound similar.)

For extra fun, record yourself playing the chord progression, and then see if you can pick out some of the simpler melodies on the open G string and play along to yourself! Also, dont worry about playing the rhythm exactly right. The point is to get comfortable changing chords in different orders. Well learn strumming next!

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Twinkle Twinkle [G ][C G [G C ][G D Amazing Grace [G ][C G [G ][C G

][C ][G

][D ][C ][D ][G

G G

][G ][C ] ]

C G

][G ][D

D G

] ]

][G ][Em D

Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd [D C ][G ] repeat Ring of Fire Johnny Cash (starting from the chorus) [D ][C G ][D ][C G ] [G ][C G ][D G ] Baby Justin Bieber (8 beats each chord) [G ][ ][Em ][ ][C ][ ][D ][ Viva La Vida Coldplay [C ][D ][G Good Life One Republic [G ][C ][Em ][Em ][D ] ] ]

I Got a Feeling Black Eyed Peas (8 beats each chord) [G ][ ][C ][ ][Em ][ ][C ][ ] You Are My Sunshine [G ][G ][C [C ][G ][G ][G ][G ] ]

Bittersweet Symphony The Verve [D Am ][C G ] repeat The Joker Steve Miller Band verse [G C ][D C ] repeat chorus [G C ][G C [G C

][D

] repeat

Ninja Challenge!! Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) Green Day verse [G ][C D ] repeat chorus [Em D ][C G ][Em D ][C G ] [Em G ][Em G ][Em D ][G ]

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1.7 Rhythm & Strumming

Most music we hear is broken up into chunks of 4 beats each. A visual representation of these chunks like you saw on the previous page is called bars or measures. [ ] Rhythm is how we will divide those beats up within the bar, and strumming is how we will achieve that rhythm on guitar. Here are some rhythm fundamentals: Whole note = 4 beats or 1 whole bar. Half note = 2 beats or one half of a bar. [4 [2 2 ] ] 1 ]

Quarter note = 1 beat or one quarter of a bar [1 1 1 -counted 1 2 3 4

*this is usually the beat you tap your foot to when listening to a song Eighth note = beat, or 1/8 of a bar -counted 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 [ ] & [you get the idea ]

Sixteenth note = beat, or 1/16 of a bar

-counted 1-e-&-a 2-e-&-a- 3-e-&-a 4-e-&-a (a= uh)

1/8 Note Divided Strum On guitar we will primarily divide our rhythm into 1/8, and 1/16 note patterns. Instead of using numbers inside the bar, we will use symbols to indicate down strum and up strum. / = down strum V = up strum

In an 1/8 note divided strum, the down strum happens on the 1, 2, 3, 4, and the up strum happens on the &. Like this: Ex. 1 D / 1 U V & D / 2 U V & D / 3 U V & D / 4 U V &

*Note: On up-strums do not strum all 6 strings, only up the first 2 or 3.

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A strumming pattern is what happens when we start removing or omitting beats in certain places like this: D / 1 U V & D / 2 U V & D / 3 U V & D / 4 U V &

Try this one while looping it over and over, and make sure you still strum the missing beats, just dont hit the strings!! This will help create a smooth motion and even rhythm. Ex. 2 D / 1 D / 2 U V & U V & D / 4 U V &

Notice the effect when we removed the & of 1, and downbeat 3, it sounds more interesting now! Because we have a lot of space between beats, 1/8 note divided patterns work best on medium to fast or uptempo songs ~130-180 bpm (beats per minute). Examples of songs that use an 1/8 note divided strum are Dont Panic by Coldplay, I Will Follow You into the Dark by Death Cab, and New Slang by The Shins.

1/16 Note Divided Strum The only difference here is now were going to be strumming twice as much for the same amount of rhythm. In a 1/16 note divided strum, the down strum happens on 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &, and the up strum happens on the e and a like this: Ex. 3 D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U / V / V / V / V / V / V / V / V 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a Now lets remove some beats to create a pattern: D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U / V / V / V / V / V / V / V / V 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a

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Ex. 4 D U D U D U D U DU D U D U D U / V / V / V / V / V / V / V / V 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a Because there are twice as many strums, 1/16 note divided strum patterns work best for slow to medium songs ~60-130 bpm. Additionally, there are many different patterns that can be created by choosing different beats to strum or omit. Examples of songs that use a 1/16 note divided pattern are Fake Plastic Trees and High and Dry by Radiohead, Barely Breathing by Duncan Sheik, and That Should Be Me by Justin Bieber. **As a general principle, if you are playing as a solo guitar, strumming strong downbeats helps create the sense that you are your own drummer. Likewise, if playing with a drummer, or other rhythmic instruments, it might sound good to emphasize certain upbeats to fill in gaps not being covered by other instruments. Exercise: Go back through and practice key of G chord changes and example songs experimenting with your new 1/8 note and 1/16 divided strumming patterns! Congratulations, you have reached the end of Stellarbot book 1! Hopefully you have gained a solid understanding of music and guitar fundamentals, scales, intervals, chords, and strumming. If so, you have laid a great musical foundation that will help you hit the ground running in book 2 and begin to create great music! Heres some of whats coming up in books 2 & 3! Chord variations in the key of G Modifications and extensions of basic chords like: Maj7, add2, sus4, and how to play them in different keys. Tons of great chord shapes in the keys of G, D, E, A, B, and C How to identify chords within a key by ear Transposing chord progressions from one key to another Using a capo to change the key of a song