It Is No Problem To Learn Guitar Songs When One Uses A Few Simple Tricks
Once one knows some chords, it is no problem to learn guitar songs. It is helpful to know about tuning, patterns of chords, and transposition. Also, some handy tools are chord charts, song books with guitar chord diagrams, a tuner, and a capo.
To get in tune with a song, it is best to use an electronic tuner. Pocket tuners can be purchased at music stores or electronics stores at a low price. One can also download a free tuner to the computer from the world wide web. Computer-based tuners require a working a microphone.
Standard guitar tuning works for most songs. Sometimes artists tune down all the strings by one or two notes. The relative tuning of the strings is just like standard tuning, but all the notes are lower. Guitars are tuned this way on recordings of AC/DC and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
You may find that you cannot get in tune with some songs. Old folk recordings or recordings that have been made from cassette tapes may be out of tune. You may have to try to tune by ear to these recordings. Also, many alternatives to standard guitar tuning are used in blues and rock songs. A common example is that many heavy metal artists tune the low E string down to a D. It is difficult to know what tuning is being used by just listening to a recording.
Think of the notes on a scale as numbers from 1 to 7. Each note has a chord. Most songs will use the 1, 4, and 5 chords. In A major, these are the A major, D major, and E major chords. A common pattern for a verse is 1-4-1-5. The 1 chord is usually the first and last chord in a song. The 5 chord is usually at the end of a verse or chorus. It is often played as a 7th chord, E7 in this case. The minor 6 chord, F# minor in the key of A major, will often be used at the start of a bridge.
Singing in the original key may cause problems if some notes are too low or too high for you. It is better to transpose to a different key than to try and sing in an uncomfortable key. Trying to sing out of your range may make your voice sound to tight or too quiet.
One way to do this is to play the same chord number pattern starting on a different chord; or one can use a capo instead. Here is how to find the same chord pattern. As an example, the 1-4-5 chords in A major become B major, E major, and F# major in the key of B major. You can find these chords by simply counting the notes of the scale to 1, 4, and 5.
Capos are an easy way to transpose. These are simply clamps that fit on the neck of the guitar to hold down all of the strings at the same fret. The allows one to transpose by effectively shortening the guitar, so you can play the same fingerings of the original key. If you have learned a song in E major. Put a capo on the second fret and play the same fingerings behind the capo. You are now playing in F# major without having to learn new chords. Keep experimenting with transposing songs until you find it easy to sing the notes.
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