Forum

If you can't see the Flash movie above, Download the Windows Media Video here.

String-set exploration

I've often advocated 'thinking string-sets' to break the complexity of the fretboard down into smaller, more digestible chunks. Since chords are really the masters of any piece of music, and at their simplest they consist of three notes, it makes good sense to start looking at the fretboard in this way. Knowing what you're doing is paramount, and it's much easier to analyze things when they're broken down into more compact forms.

In this lesson I've demonstrated that approach with an exploration of G on the treble string-set, and only two positions of G. It's amazing how much music lies dormant and ready to be twanged just in and around two positions for the same chord, and this little lesson is infinitely less than a drop in the bucket.

 

The little demo starts with a G triad which is the treble half of a barre G chord at the 3rd fret. From bottom to top, the chord reads 3-5-1, so it's a proper G chord, as it doesn't matter which order the 1-3-5 fall.
I then play the next triad up, which is like a D shape moved up 5 frets. This one, from bass to treble, reads 5-1-3. It's still a G chord, but a new inversion.
Next I start moving the outside notes of the triad down. The 3 on the top string moves down to a b3, the 5 moves down to a b5. You'll begin to hear a very commonly used figure by doing this.
I continue the downward movement, now the b3 has become a 2, the b5 has turned into a 4. Now the ear has definitely understood what's happening here. The harmony line is heading home.
And I arrive back home to the G triad on the 3 fret. We still haven't bothered with any of the bass strings. The important thing to do here is to keep track of the movement in between the two G triads. I then move back up to the higher inversion.
Next I experiment by holding the middle note of the triad down while moving the outside notes around as before. Here you can see the 5, the middle note, anchored while the 1 moves up to a 2 and the 3 to a 4.
Then the 2 moves up to a b3 and the 4 to a b5 while the middle note still remains anchored. I'm doing this mainly to show new combinations of notes that we can use to make melody.
I arrive back home at the 7th fret triad...
Then I do the same thing in reverse, holding the middle note (now a 1) while moving those outside notes down. Here is the b3 and b5 notes on their way down...
... and the next position down, which still has a 1 anchored on the middle string of the set, while the outside notes are now a 2 on the top and a 4 on the bottom.
And I arrive back home, back to a solid G triad.

Then I play a couple of lines around these combinations of notes. If you've ever wondered how it is these kinds of lines come about, this is the secret. To try and figure out which scales to use for each chord (the two configurations between the triads can be seen as an E diminished and a D7 at their simplest) would take way too much brain power. A visualization of the combinations is a much easier way to attack these changes, and you can hear that it works in an interesting way and sounds right. All I've done is create lines by taking each of these combinations of notes and turning them into lines. The timing and phrasing comes with practice, (and the examples in the movie are not awfully well performed) but once you can 'see' the chords as separate notes, you can begin to get your fingers around them and turn them into lines. I didn't tab them out because it would be far better for you to figure them out yourself and create some of your own. There are an infinite number of them. Take it slowly and steadily, remember where home is, and create your mental map. You can move the whole kit and caboodle up 2 frets and you'll be playing it in A... 5 frets? You'll be playing it in C.

Of course, this example is only one chord in two positions on one string-set, but the principle applies to all music and for the entire fretboard. The movie on this page shows a much more complex example

The trick to being able to see the whole fretboard, all string-sets and all chords is the subject of my book PlaneTalk. Believe it or not, there is a simple (with practice) way of tracking all this. The main thing to concentrate on is to be able to label everything you play as numbers, like I've done above. Only when you can label individual notes in the context of the key and chord you're working around will you be able to really create with confidence, only then will you be able to play what you've already heard in your head and know why it works... or doesn't

Happy twanging,

Kirk