The Key of G
This next key we're going to get into is the key of G. So, let's go ahead and if you have to tune up your guitar, it's probably a good idea to do that. You might want to check with our tuning video, which will provide you with the tones. We also have MP3's that are available for download, where you can download the tones. Even better yet, in our bonus section, we have a tuner, that's a software tuner [Download our Software Tuner Metronome] (shown on screen) that you can just open up on your screen and just go from there and tune. Works just like a regular tuner, uses a microphone in your computer and it works really well. So, give it a shot, try it out, tell us what you think. We always want to know your opinion. It's important to us.
Anyway, let's get started with the key of G. So, the key of G, the key of G consists of the same thing that C does. [W-W-H-W-W-W-H] (shown on screen) There's 2 whole steps and a half step, and then 3 whole steps and a half step and then you're back to where you started. And when I say whole step and half step, if you don't know what I'm talking about; please review our music theory section and that goes into great detail on what everything means, the symbols and all that stuff. But if you just want to jump in, you can stay with me and we'll go ahead and play these chords. But first let's talk about the key of G and let's get its notes out there.
So, G is number one, if we go a whole step to A, then we go whole step to B, and a half step to C, a whole step to D, a Whole step to E and then another whole step to F sharp. And as you can see, the last one there forced itself onto the black keys.
If you don't already, be sure to open up a PDF diagram of the keyboard next to these videos as you can see how music relates to the guitar and how guitar relates to piano and piano to guitar and all that stuff, so... really good idea.
So, let's go, Let's, first of all, let's review the first three chords that we're going to do, the only three in this, in this exercise. First chord is G. (playing) Ok, for your diagram, if you haven't got a diagram for this lesson, please go to our PDF download section and download it immediately. And then there's D7, which uses your index, you know the fingers here. And then there's C (playing) C's a touch one. If you can't do it, you know, usually between these two fingers is when it gets a little dicey, cause they can't stretch out. (hand gesture) You know, people just can't do that so check out our exercises section. We got strengthening exercises, as well as tapping exercises, all kinds of stuff to help you get stronger and better.
So, we've got G one more time, D7 (playing) and C (playing) those are our three chords. And make sure you're pressing the string firmly to the fret board. You want to come up on the tips of your fingers. The more it hurts, the better your going to get. That's kind of a joke, [Ha Ha] (shown on screen) but it's not super funny. But, you got to have a sense of humor if you're playing so... try and lighten up, if you're not. Are you pressing just behind, but your not touching the fret, you want to ask yourself, you know, you want to be right up against the edge of the next one.
So, when I say right up against, I'm talking about right (hand gesture) almost to the line. But you know what, I found in most cases, it really doesn't matter, so, that's kind of a formal approach. Doesn't have to be right up against the line. Sometimes you can't line them up straight up against the line or else you can't fit your fingers in there. So, sort of a slanted approach for the chords that have three in a row. Like see how it's slanted diagonally. You're going to have to do that anyway to be able to stack your fingers in there like that. And if your fingers are too big, if you have fat fingers. Some people have bigger hands and if you do have, you know, tree trunk fingers, then sometimes just doing an A like this (playing) or you know, the ones that go across; it's actually a great bonus, if you have big fingers like that, cause you can do all kinds of cool stuff that the rest of us have to separate and do. When it comes to details, it gets a little tricky for you guys, but for the most part, you're good.
So, let's go ahead and go over the, the progression we're doing here. Looks like we're going to do G then C then G then D7. We're going to do all those four times and then we're going to do G and C four times again each. Then we're going to do G twice, D7 twice and then we're going to end on G. Let's go ahead I'm going to go through this twice and I'm going to play it sort of mediocre speed. There are some files (hand gesture) for download over here on the right of this video in the description of this video they're at different beats per minute. They're audio files, MP3's. You can download them and play against them or play with them and that way you feel like your kind of playing with somebody instead of hacking it all by yourself.
Now, let's look at, there's some pathways between the chords. I did this before when we started in the last two, video 1 and video 2. But in this video, I wanted to wait until afterwards to see how, if you had developed any coordination by watching the preceding two videos, and if you had, Great! If you haven't, go back and watch them.
But you want to do this exercise every time you play, ok. So, just start on G (playing) ok. And then you want to, the first chord, right. The chord that the key is in. And then you want to look at jump points. You want to look at your fulcrums, the places you can rotate on. And when I say rotate on, you know, if this note back here (hand gesture) is in the next chord, then you want to keep it there. You know what I mean. So, (playing) here's G (playing) D7 is the next chord. Now remember, your index finger is your leading finger on your hand.
So, the first thing you want to do, [Index Leads] (shown on screen) is go to the first fret (hand gesture) right there, ok, and then put the rest of your fingers down (playing) ok, and then back to G (playing) back to D7 (playing) and just do it a couple times without playing anything. Look at where your fingers are going.
To do this, remember, do the silent change (hand gesture) [Try and change without playing anything first] (shown on screen) like this a few times. Look at where your fingers are going. Try and follow my lead, ok. And then start on G and go to C. So, this is going to go in the same place as we just did D7, right. It goes back here, like this. Well, for D7 all we got to do is swing our middle and our ring finger around (playing) and there's C. So, D7 (playing) C (playing) D7 (playing) and C (playing) So, let's do this back and forth for a little bit. Keeping this here (hand gesture) that's our fulcrum, our rotating point.
Very good. Do this with me. Ok, now let's try and play it. D7 (playing) then C (playing) and do that for awhile and go back and try and grab the progression and try it again. If you do that enough, you will notice that you're going to make progress. And you've been playing G for a little while. If you watch the two videos preceding this one, G is already in your vocabulary, so you shouldn't have too much trouble nailing this.
Anyway, let's get started with the key of G. So, the key of G, the key of G consists of the same thing that C does. [W-W-H-W-W-W-H] (shown on screen) There's 2 whole steps and a half step, and then 3 whole steps and a half step and then you're back to where you started. And when I say whole step and half step, if you don't know what I'm talking about; please review our music theory section and that goes into great detail on what everything means, the symbols and all that stuff. But if you just want to jump in, you can stay with me and we'll go ahead and play these chords. But first let's talk about the key of G and let's get its notes out there.
So, G is number one, if we go a whole step to A, then we go whole step to B, and a half step to C, a whole step to D, a Whole step to E and then another whole step to F sharp. And as you can see, the last one there forced itself onto the black keys.
If you don't already, be sure to open up a PDF diagram of the keyboard next to these videos as you can see how music relates to the guitar and how guitar relates to piano and piano to guitar and all that stuff, so... really good idea.
So, let's go, Let's, first of all, let's review the first three chords that we're going to do, the only three in this, in this exercise. First chord is G. (playing) Ok, for your diagram, if you haven't got a diagram for this lesson, please go to our PDF download section and download it immediately. And then there's D7, which uses your index, you know the fingers here. And then there's C (playing) C's a touch one. If you can't do it, you know, usually between these two fingers is when it gets a little dicey, cause they can't stretch out. (hand gesture) You know, people just can't do that so check out our exercises section. We got strengthening exercises, as well as tapping exercises, all kinds of stuff to help you get stronger and better.
So, we've got G one more time, D7 (playing) and C (playing) those are our three chords. And make sure you're pressing the string firmly to the fret board. You want to come up on the tips of your fingers. The more it hurts, the better your going to get. That's kind of a joke, [Ha Ha] (shown on screen) but it's not super funny. But, you got to have a sense of humor if you're playing so... try and lighten up, if you're not. Are you pressing just behind, but your not touching the fret, you want to ask yourself, you know, you want to be right up against the edge of the next one.
So, when I say right up against, I'm talking about right (hand gesture) almost to the line. But you know what, I found in most cases, it really doesn't matter, so, that's kind of a formal approach. Doesn't have to be right up against the line. Sometimes you can't line them up straight up against the line or else you can't fit your fingers in there. So, sort of a slanted approach for the chords that have three in a row. Like see how it's slanted diagonally. You're going to have to do that anyway to be able to stack your fingers in there like that. And if your fingers are too big, if you have fat fingers. Some people have bigger hands and if you do have, you know, tree trunk fingers, then sometimes just doing an A like this (playing) or you know, the ones that go across; it's actually a great bonus, if you have big fingers like that, cause you can do all kinds of cool stuff that the rest of us have to separate and do. When it comes to details, it gets a little tricky for you guys, but for the most part, you're good.
So, let's go ahead and go over the, the progression we're doing here. Looks like we're going to do G then C then G then D7. We're going to do all those four times and then we're going to do G and C four times again each. Then we're going to do G twice, D7 twice and then we're going to end on G. Let's go ahead I'm going to go through this twice and I'm going to play it sort of mediocre speed. There are some files (hand gesture) for download over here on the right of this video in the description of this video they're at different beats per minute. They're audio files, MP3's. You can download them and play against them or play with them and that way you feel like your kind of playing with somebody instead of hacking it all by yourself.
Now, let's look at, there's some pathways between the chords. I did this before when we started in the last two, video 1 and video 2. But in this video, I wanted to wait until afterwards to see how, if you had developed any coordination by watching the preceding two videos, and if you had, Great! If you haven't, go back and watch them.
But you want to do this exercise every time you play, ok. So, just start on G (playing) ok. And then you want to, the first chord, right. The chord that the key is in. And then you want to look at jump points. You want to look at your fulcrums, the places you can rotate on. And when I say rotate on, you know, if this note back here (hand gesture) is in the next chord, then you want to keep it there. You know what I mean. So, (playing) here's G (playing) D7 is the next chord. Now remember, your index finger is your leading finger on your hand.
So, the first thing you want to do, [Index Leads] (shown on screen) is go to the first fret (hand gesture) right there, ok, and then put the rest of your fingers down (playing) ok, and then back to G (playing) back to D7 (playing) and just do it a couple times without playing anything. Look at where your fingers are going.
To do this, remember, do the silent change (hand gesture) [Try and change without playing anything first] (shown on screen) like this a few times. Look at where your fingers are going. Try and follow my lead, ok. And then start on G and go to C. So, this is going to go in the same place as we just did D7, right. It goes back here, like this. Well, for D7 all we got to do is swing our middle and our ring finger around (playing) and there's C. So, D7 (playing) C (playing) D7 (playing) and C (playing) So, let's do this back and forth for a little bit. Keeping this here (hand gesture) that's our fulcrum, our rotating point.
Very good. Do this with me. Ok, now let's try and play it. D7 (playing) then C (playing) and do that for awhile and go back and try and grab the progression and try it again. If you do that enough, you will notice that you're going to make progress. And you've been playing G for a little while. If you watch the two videos preceding this one, G is already in your vocabulary, so you shouldn't have too much trouble nailing this.
