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Play Guitar By Ear - Chord Qualities
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Because musicians who play guitar by ear often don't read printed
music they have to rely on a well developed memory for sound.
Apart from being able to (a) recognize musical form, (b) predict
they chord changes, (c) discern the chord qualities.
Trying to describe sound is a bit like trying to describe color,
just as no two people see color exactly the same way, on two
people hear music the same way.
It's interesting to watch when one a guitarist hands a guitar to
another guitarist how the second guitarist will make slight
adjustments to the intonation of the guitar to suit how they
'hear' music.
With that said here is a couple generalizations to get you
thinking of other ways to describe sound. The important thing is
to use some way of describing sound that has meaning to you.
We want to have a clear and simple description of what we are
hearing so that when we hear these sounds again we will be able
to recall the 'feel' of these sounds.
So rather than using technical or theoretical descriptions we
will use everyday words to describe the sound of each chord.
Chord qualities:
chord name symbol description
major
C
happy
minor
Cm
sad
dominant 7th
C7
restless
In the above examples the letter "C" has been used for the chord
symbol, any letter of the musical alphabet can be substituted for
the letter "C".
Written using the letter "G" as a substitute for "C". this chart
would look like this:
Chord qualities:
chord type chord symbol description
major
G
happy
minor
Gm
sad
dominant
7th
G7
restless
We could also re-write the desrciptions of each chord like this:
Chord qualities:
chord type chord symbol description
major
C
bright
minor
Cm
dull
dominant
7th
C7
roaming
or like this ...
Chord qualities:
chord type chord symbol description
major
C
positive
minor
Cm
negitive
dominant
7th
C7
connecting
See how different words were used to describe the same chords,
the important thing is to find words that will help to recall
these chord qualities.
As you discover better words to help you mentally file the sounds
remember to update your list, this is your own contribution to
your learning.
It is essential that you hear the different qualities of each
chord, pick a key and play the three chord types.
Start by playing ...
C, then Cm and finally C7
Take your time and listen to each chord carefully, strum the
chord once and let each chord ring for four beats.
As you play each chord try and think of word that will help to
describe the sound you are playing and hearing.This is the best
way to accelerate your ability to play guitar by ear.
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