Guitar Theory Made Simple

Guitar Theory Made Simple

Sunday, August 31, 2014

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You know what? She made learning to play more boring than watching paint dry. And as a six year old, if given the choice, I probably would have chosen the paint!

She tried teaching me music theory, but it was like cutting down a forest with a pocketknife. More on that story in just a minute…



But as I’ve helped other people learn the guitar, I’ve observed that there’s a general lack of understanding as to exactly why we play what we do.

More importantly, I’ve noticed this lack of understanding really slows down progress, and even worse – can make learning the guitar confusing and feel like a lot of hard work!

I-IV-V (that’s 1 – 4 – 5 in English) refers to the root note (I), or tonic, and the two notes in perfect relation to it (IV and V). Because it is a numbering system, it is universal, and applies to every single key.

Simply put – this lesson on I-IV-V will show you how the guitar fretboard is built on patterns of I-IV-V, and once you see the patterns, your guitar will come alive in a whole new way.

Have you ever been in an unfamiliar city, looked at a road map, and tried to figure out what was going on?

Now – have you ever had a friend visit your home town, and showed them where to go on a map? Chances are that map just intuitively made sense to you, because it described familiar landmarks, right?

Have you ever struggled to follow the music or tab, without really knowing why the notes are where they are – why you need to play them in that order? That’s because you’re playing in unfamiliar territory…

Understanding I-IV-V as it relates to your guitar will be the key that unlocks your guitar in your hands – unleashing your true potential as a player.

When I was a ager, I started taking guitar lessons. My guitar teacher approached music from a totally different angle than I’d ever seen before. Suddenly theory not only made sense, but it came alive in my hands!

Let me tell you something – one guitar player to another. I-IV-V such a basic concept to the guitar that it is something every single guitar player needs to know (Even the very tuning of the guitar is based on it).

It doesn’t matter if you want to be a rock star, or if your highest goal with the guitar is merely to strum a few chords around a campfire with some friends.

Ok, so I don’t know if the numbers are bang on or not – but from personal experience I would say they are. And it is 100% true that the Pro’s communicate using the number system.

Remember I started telling you about my episode with the piano lady? Well, I ended up quitting after three months. My parents weren’t sure… Read more…