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How does playing two chord songs help you play guitar by ear?
Apart from the obvious application of playing basic camp songs
and simple tunes at children's birthday parties, why are you
spending your valuable practice time working on a whole bunch of
kiddie's tunes?
Up to this point we have concentrated on simple tunes that go way
back to your childhood, the reason for this is we want to
exercise our memory and try to go back to our earliest musical
experiences. As we have already discussed playing by ear is
really a case of playing from memory.
To give you some examples of how you can apply your new two chord
templates, let's investigate a two chord application in a
classical piece of music.
The following two chord template would work for the first eight
bars of Beethoven's ninth symphony - Ode To Joy (A section)
C
G
C G
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
C
G
C G C
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
I think most people would agree that Beethoven knew how to write
music, to have music that is still on the popular music list
after a couple of hundred years is an amazing feat!
One of the reasons for this music's enduring quality is the
structural design of the music. In the same way as quality
craftsmanship is admired in architecture and antique furniture,
so too quality craftsmanship in music has an enduring quality.
Here is the underlying mathematical code for this two chord song
template.
1
5
1 5
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
1
5
1 5 1
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
Try writing this progression out in different keys, hum the
melody along as you play the chords, notice hold logical this
progression is, make a mental note of how each flows naturally to
the next.
Of course when you listen to the full orchestral version of
Beethoven's nine symphony the music is appear to be very complex
with all sorts of orchestral textures. A certain amount of
concentrated listening is required to hear the underlying
simplicity, like everything however, you can learn to improve you
power of concentration with practice.
To give you an idea how this two chord concept can be
developed, here is how the complete version of Beethoven's 'Ode
To Joy' from his Symphony No.9 could look if we simplified the
score.
C
G
C G
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
C
G
C G C
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
G C
G C
G C C G
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
C
G
C G C
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
And now as a mathematical formula:
1
5
1 5
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
1
5
1 5 1
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
5 1 5
1 5
1 1 5
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
1
5
1 5 1
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
Notice how on line three the chord sequence is reversed for three
bars then it returns to the original sequence used on line one.
Did you notice how Beethoven uses the same chord progression on
line four as he did on line two?
Study this template, note the simplicity, try this progression in
other keys.
Although this piece of music appears to be quite complex, upon
further investigation the underlying shaping forces of music
become apparent. The key to learning to play guitar by ear is to
take your time and notice these musical building blocks.
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