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Learn Guitar Online – Easy As 1-2-3 the basics – harmony

By Mike Hayes | January 19, 2010

I remember when I started my first job working in a music store
(actually that was the only ‘real job’ I ever had); my work
consisted of approximately 60% teaching and 40% instrument sales.

As a sales assistant I was often amused and perplexed at the
number of customers who would come in to the music store and ask
for a ‘lead’ guitar or a ‘rhythm’ guitar; amused because to me a
guitar was just a guitar, you could play anything on it.

The problem was how to deal with the customer who had his/her
mind set on buying a ‘lead’ guitar, no matter how I tried to
explain things to them I couldn’t seem to get through to them; I
know a heap of them left the shop more confused than ever before
and most of them simply went to another store where they did sell
‘lead’ guitars!

Desperately searching for a solution to my dilemma, I stumbled
across a musical instrument catalogue that listed ‘lead’ and
‘rhythm’ guitars … hallelujah … I’m saved! It gets even
better these guitars were available in a variety of colors.

I couldn’t wait for the next guitar customer to come into the
store, when they asked for a ‘rhythm’ guitar, I smiled and opened
the catalogue and simply asked what color they would they like
the guitar in … problem solved!

Seriously, I was so thankful to stumble that catalogue … guitar
players have their own ‘guitar talk’ language which makes it hard
to explain even the most basic musical concepts; I mean have you
ever heard of someone asking for a ‘lead’ piano or a ‘rhythm’
piano … of course not it’s just a piano, it’s what you play on
the piano that functions as melody or harmony.

Pick up any guitar magazine and you will see what I mean
…guitar players regularly talk about lead guitar and rhythm
guitar but only a handful truly understand the musical function
of each player and how they blend together with the bass and
drums in a professional group.

I’ll try to shed a little light on this confusing area of guitar
playing …

Lead guitar players play melody (single notes).

Rhythm guitar players play harmony (chords).

The basic elements of music are rhythm, melody and harmony.

The sonic sandwich approach: It helps to think of music as a
sonic sandwich with the rhythm at the bottom, harmony in the
middle and melody on top!

Rhythm is the beat, it’s the dancing part.

Melody is the tune you whistle or hum, it’s the singing part.

Harmony is the musical glue that holds it all together.

I’ve written about rhythm and melody in previous articles today
I’ll focus on harmony.

What is harmony?

Technically speaking it’s the musically combination of two or
more notes.

Traditionally, chords are a combination of three or more notes,
although today’s rock music mostly utilizes power chords which
are two note versions of the traditional chord.

Power chords generally use the first and fifth note of the chord.

When a player is strumming chords on the guitar they are
providing a harmonic background for the melody. The rhythm
guitarist plays a very important role in the overall success of a
piece of music.

The professional rhythm guitarist must know:

* How to provide the rhythmic pulse to become one with the bass
and drums.

* How to decode the chord-symbol relationship to fit both with
the melody, or improvised lead, and the bass line.

* Which notes to leave out in order to give maximum freedom to an
inventive soloist.

* When and how to use extended chords to help a not-so-inventive
soloist.

* How to supply a limitless supply of introductions, turnarounds
and endings in any style or key at any time.

And we’ve only just started to scratch the surface of the world
of the professional rhythm guitarist, as you can see there’s more
to playing harmony than buying a rhythm guitar.

And now I’d like to invite you to get free access to my “How To Remember 1,000 Songs” eCourse. You can download the course for free at: http://www.guitarcoaching.com

You’ll learn about hit song templates, easy chords, simple scales, red hot rhythms, and successful practice strategies in text, audio and video.

From Mike Hayes – The Guitar Coaching Guy & the Express Guitar
System

Topics: Beginner Guitar Lesson, Guitar Chords, Guitar Tips | No Comments »

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