Really Understanding Chords - 005
Today, I talk about Chords and Arpeggios. We can all play them, but do we really know what they are and how they are built
Introduction
On todays episode I’m talking about chords. Not just about memorizing a bunch of shapes, which is what most players do.
But what are chords….
A lot of players never take the time to discover the inner workings of chords themselves and the way chords relate to each other.
This knowledge of the inner workings of chords is super valuable and it very much could be the thing you need to work on to get you back on track on the guitar.
I’ll go over:
- Where chords come from
- What are the importance of the different notes in chords.
- How chords are constructed differently on the guitar (than piano for instance).
- Different types of chords
- What are arpeggios (super simple)
Here is what is great about a podcast.
I had been calling this section Making the band. And one day this week I put that into google and found out that there was actually a tv show with this name. I didn’t watch this show. Supposedly it is about some pop boy band or something. Maybe I had heard about it and it was in my mind somewhere. So, no more, It’s now…
…creating the band
What is great about a podcast is I can change things fast and evolve the show over time.
So let’s get on to our main topic. Chords and arpeggios.
Chords and Arpeggios
Ive been working my way through my six part guide on opening up the fretboard.
The first two parts, show how knowing the notes on the fretboard and practicing technique exercises can give you an awesome start with opening up the guitar fretboard.
Now i’ve made it all the way to part 3 (what I feel is the most common roadblock to getting better at the guitar).
It is called “how to build chords and arpeggios”.
If you are able to, I highly recommend opening up my companion blog post of the same name:
How to build chords and arpeggios
It will give you some visual info that helps in this area of chords and arpeggios. Go ahead and open that up if you can.
The main topics I cover today are:
- Understanding chords
- My history with chords
- The relationship between chords and scales
- What are the notes in chords
- What are triads
- What are seventh chords
- What are arpeggios
So I hope you got a lot out of todays topic. What I touched on today is really just the basics of chord theory.
If you are interested in learning more about how chords arpeggios and chord progressions work sign up for my early adopter list at:
When you do this, I will let you know when my online lesson site goes live and let you know about all of the free information I put out on a weekly basis.
Playguitaracademy is based on all of the knowledge I’ve gained throughout the years teaching my small group classes. I will do daily, super focused, practice along with you. I’ve used these valuable ideas from my classes, podcasts, and videos and created what I feel is the easiest method for moving from beginner all the way through advanced guitar.
Creating the Band
Let’s get into creating the band. This is where I share with you each week every step it takes to start from scratch – from just an Idea in my head – all the way through the process to end up with a working band with album, videos website, promotional material and gigs.
Right now I’m collecting 10 ideas for songs for the album. So far, I’ve shown you six. Some are new Ideas, some are ones Ive had for a while. Today I have my idea for song 7. I found it while I was going through some old project files. There is not much to it. Just a riff and a drum beat. There’s something about the first riff I really like. So I looped the part I liked 4 times in this clip. The rest is kind of loose and I may tighten it up and keep it in the song. I’m excited to see how this song develops over time.
Here is idea number 7.
With 7 ideas now, I’m getting a better idea of the tone of this project. I like it. It sounds to me like of a mix of Joe bonamassa, john scofield and robin trower with funkier beats. I’m excited about the beginning ideas and only have 3 more basic ideas left before I turn each of the ideas into full songs.
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