Tunning

[Jose Palomera]

new
Hello Jonathan, I have a couple of questions. 

1. Do you have a video about learning how to tune the guitar? if so where  can I find it? 

2. How do I train my ear to distinguish notes when listening to songs, besides listening, is there another method? 

3. I also need help in learning how to change notes/cords when using the backing tracks when practicing improvisation. That's really confusing to me, for example, a song on the key of G major C a7 a minor and so on 

Thank you so much, please let me know. 

 

Jose 

[Alan Desmond]

21 hours ago, Jose Palomera said:

new
Hello Jonathan, I have a couple of questions. 

1. Do you have a video about learning how to tune the guitar? if so where  can I find it? 

2. How do I train my ear to distinguish notes when listening to songs, besides listening, is there another method? 

3. I also need help in learning how to change notes/cords when using the backing tracks when practicing improvisation. That's really confusing to me, for example, a song on the key of G major C a7 a minor and so on 

Thank you so much, please let me know. 

 

Jose 

Hi Jose. Guitar Tuning, just google and you will find what standard frequency for each string, there are also free tune'rs software you can down load to ur phone.

2. Practice if you tune your guitar each time you use it (will happen naturally)

3) not sure what you mean. But if your playing in G best stay in the G family. If you look at my posts in forum you'll see I've posted a key & note chart a while ago. For each key what 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 are and their doe, re, mi ect notation.  So you'll stay in key and it should be fine.

But having said this last bit, not rules in music only guidance. Lot of songs have odd things and key changes.

 

[Alan Desmond]

Sorry didn't realize you wrote directly to Johnathan, this is just Alan here a fellow student, but hope my input helps.

[Kim Jon]

Jose,

This might help if it does great.  Not all but many songs can be broken down into 3 chords when you really simplify especially country music. If you can find the first chord of the verse when the singer starts to sing that is usually the Key chord for the song. Many times, the last chord played in the song will also be the key chord.  If you can find the chord played in either of those positions, you can figure out the other 2 chords that go with that key with a rule of thumb. Let's say by trial and error you find the chord at the beginning song and when you play it at the end of the song, and it sounds the same you most likely have the right chord for the Key to the song. 

After you find the chord look at your right-hand palm up. Let say you think the chord is G.  Count with the chord names in order from your little finger around to your thumb. Little finger is G, next finger is A, the next finger is B, the next finger is C, and your thumb is D.  Now drop your second finger and your middle finger as you move counterclockwise so that what you have left is your little finger (G) your pointer finger (C), and your thumb (D).  Those are the 3-chord progression that should be able to be used in playing the song They also call this the 1, 4, 5, chords when you play most blues songs.  The 5 chord is your resolving chord and makes the song sound like it wants to return to the root chord or key chord. I the above case the is G the 5 chord is D.  If you can hear a even tighter tenson being pulled in the musical sound when you play the 5th chord it might be using a 7th chord to push the player back to resolve progression. In the above the 5th chord is D so you might have to use a D7 to get it to resolve back to G.  You might already know all this I'm not sure, but I do find many guitar players that have not played for very long don't know this.  If you like to play blues this is staple knowledge to have.  I started to take lessons at 8 years old and I was not shown this till I was 15.  It took 7 years until someone showed me this.  It was like someone swapped out my little 2-cylinder engine for a V8 in how I played afterwards because it opened up and ton of things that I could pick out from the record. (the "RECORD" wow I am dating myself, aren't I? lol.) I hoped this helped.  One last thing I use to go into music store and look at all the music books or the sheet music for my favorite bands and songs, memorize what key the song was in and then go home and figure out the rest of the chords to use to play the song from the record.  I did it this way because I did not have any money to buy the music.  The one major take way from doing things that way is it will train your ear to recognize chord changes and feel your way through a song real early on when learning the guitar.  I can't tell you how many times when playing with a band other the years in front of people and getting lost because I was just not paying attention and always being able to feel the song at a moment's notice I would be right back on track and most of the time no one noticed. Iwa splaying with a friend in college we were getting paid to play for a couple of hours at a local bar. He started to sing Bad, Bad Leroy Brown and somewhere in the middle of the song he switched and started to You Don't Mess Around with Jim.  If it wasn't for the fact that I was into the feel of the song, we might have gotten tripped up in the song, but we were able to pull it off and make it sound like we did a 2-song medley of Jim Croce songs.

I know this may sound crazy, but it does work.  I had a friend years ago that was blind he told me one time close your eyes and learn a song. When you remove your sight, your ears work harder to compensate for it.  It has worked many times in the past for me.

As Always Enjoy

Kim

Enjoy

[Total Disorder]

I use a tuning pedal. This for me is the best way. For 30 + years of playing i dd it by ear . Now this way is much better. I use the boss Chromatic tuner / Waza Craft .

[Fred Soukup]

@Total DisorderThink I will give that a try

Fred 🎸

[Total Disorder]

Every time i turn on my amp (tube amp) and let it warm up ,i use the tuning pedal to start perfectly in tune every time. It's a great tool .Also other tuning options like down tuning and others.