Skill #5: Start Seeing Chords

[Six Skills 5/6]

I was lucky.

It was my first year as a guitarist. We went up to my grandparents’ cabin for the weekend. I brought my guitar and a Led Zeppelin TAB book so I could keep trying to play O’er The Hills & Far Away.

I wasn’t any good at it, but…

You know the moment.

The song kicks into high gear. Drums, bass, & electric guitar join the mix. Robert Plant goes from a folksy lilt to a full-throated wail.

And just before that, there’s this cool jangly part:

I remember it clearly.

I was looking at the TAB. There were these little D-shaped chords way up the neck… but they were labeled “G” and “A.” That’s when I had the dawning realization that—no matter where I slid this shape—it would always make a major chord.

And that chord will be named after the note under my ring finger.

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Melodies are chords too.

That saxophone riff in Careless Whisper?

90% of it is the notes of the chord he’s playing over:

SoundSlice here: https://www.soundslice.com/slices/sjflc/

The synth riff of Take On Me?

That’s right—it’s mostly the notes of the chord:

SoundSlice here: https://www.soundslice.com/slices/3Pflc/

The harmonized outro of Hotel California?

It’s the notes of the chords!

But wait, there’s more…

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Solos? Yep, also chords.

Listen to Guthrie Trapp riff on Hey Joe:

Two and a half minutes, no accompaniment, totally improvised.

And yet—in our mind’s ear—we can hear the chord changes the whole time.

How does he do that!?!

He just visualizes the chord shapes.

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It’s all chords.

Modes? Chords.

Singing harmony? Chords.

Complicated chords? Two simple chords smushed together.

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And yet…

When most of us look at the fretboard…

…we see a confusing jumble of coordinates. Nothing is related to or connected to anything else.

That’s just silly.

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Think of it like a crossword puzzle.

Or Sudoku.

Right now, you don’t have a ton of clues. The answers are far from obvious.

But as you fill it in more and more, it gets easier and easier.

But first you gotta start.

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See you next Wednesday, when we’ll tie all of this together.

Josh