Minor Chords
We are both very happy and excited to do this, and we are considering it a Christmas gift to us as a couple.
A major aspect of learning the guitar is to learn the FINGERINGS for various chords on the guitar. I am going to begin some serious attempts to toughen up my fingers during the next several weeks to be able to more comfortably form chords with my left hand on the fret board of the guitar. But, I also have two other plans for me during this time for waiting for our lessons:
1. I am going to brush up.... review and refresh... my understanding of the notes within the various chords by practicing them on the piano. I am rather rusty at this, and so the practice will do me good. As my primary instrument playing for the last several years has been using my horns (clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor sax, etc), these instruments only play a single note at a time, therefore do not really reinforce the knowledge and understanding of chords.
2. I am going to study the organization of the fret board of the guitar in terms of the actual notes that are produced in different positions for different strings. I think this will help me have a better grasp of the workings of the guitar that will help me learn in the way I think about music (as notes), rather than just a difficult bunch of randomly memorizing hand positions for a "chord sound".
One of the things I especially look forward to in both of the above.... AND in the guitar lessons is in producing musing in minor keys using minor chords. I have always greatly appreciated the sound of minor chords and hope to someday be able to successfully play an array of songs that I like, and I typically like them because at least in some portion of the song, there is a prominent part that is in a minor key.
This young fellow actually does a very nice job of discussing the use and practice of playing in a minor key if you are interested.
+ + +
- Ran 10 miles this morning on the track.
- Purchased a pair of tires for the front end of the vehicle one of my kids drives. This kid does not have the financial means to buy the tires at the moment, and my wife and I are concerned about this kid driving around when (very soon) the roads will be icy and snow-covered.
- My wife and I will be heading out to a pizza place this evening to have dinner with two of my siblings and their husbands. I have not seen either of these sisters of mine since the end of September, so we phoned each other up and set tonight as the time to get together. I do not eat pizza much anymore because of my efforts to maintain a normal BMI, but it will be fun to (carefully) splurge by eating one or two slices tonight. The place we are going to, I believe, also has a few IPAs available. That too is tempting.
+ + +
I am still at a loss on how to better enact my "pipe dream". I haven't written much about it, but my pipe desire and cravings have been more than "quite robust" lately. Perhaps it is just my fate to always feel this way, or perhaps it is the crispness of the Fall air... I do not really know. But, what I feel is that having an occasional pipe IS something I do very much desire. The beautiful bowlful I had at Iwan Reis lingers so very pleasantly in my mind. And, having a magical bowlful of pipe tobacco on a trip feels and seems safe enough to do. But, the damn conundrum is that my trips are awfully far too sporadic. Yet, the idea of developing some sort of "pattern" of indulgence near or even at home seems too fraught with risk. Risk.... of "falling off the wagon". So, I just feel stuck.
+ + +
I still have a lot of work to try to get done today, so I had better head off.
PipeTobacco
4 Comments:
I love pizza! I bought my younger daughter all-season tires a few years ago; they were expensive and even working, it would have been a stretch for her. Yay for guitar lessons! I played the violin and piano but never guitar. My hands are small and it was hard to manage some of the chords.
It is unique to have two people like you folk decide to learn the same thing, especially a music thing, at the same time. I will be interested to see how it goes.
Simplest way to figure out how to do a minor chord on guitar ( other than memorization) is to know that you make a minor from a major by flattening the 3rd ( lowering half a step, or = 1 fret). Thus, for example, an "A" chord major is (1,3,5) = A+C#+E ; the minor is then A+C+E.
Hope you enjoyed the pizza and the IPA! It's great that you and your wife are going to be learning the guitar together.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home