Fretboard Freedom - A Comprehensive Set Of Music Theory Lessons

Lessons

• Lesson 1: Fretboard Freedom - I - The First Five Frets

  As guitarists we have a bit harder time than some instrumentalists such as piano players, due to the fact that our notes aren’t all lined up in a row. Not being able to visualize where notes are is a key factor that prohibits most players from elevating their playing to the next level. By learning note location you’ll be able to write songs, improvise and learn songs with ease and efficiency.

  The first five frets on the guitar contain so many notes and possibilities that one could spend years just learning this section of the fretboard. Fortunately, you don’t have to! With this in-depth lesson you’ll get access to the understanding of the musical alphabet and how it relates to the guitar via these first five frets. In addition, you’ll get awesome exercises that will simultaneously help boost your technique, theory understanding and knowledge of the fretboard.

  Chromatic exercises intended to get the player familiar with the musical alphabet as it pertains to this first position on the neck

  Discussions about reference notes and points of interest along the neck that make learning the surrounding notes much easier

  Scales in the keys of C, A, and E minor all within the first five frets, and incorporating both closed and open notes.

• Lesson 2: Fretboard Freedom - II - Learning The Fretboard

  Once you have a grasp on the complex relationship between the strings and the frets, you need to take that knowledge and transpose it across the fretboard. By learning the patterns of notes and the tuning differences between the strings you’ll begin to understand how to traverse the fretboard in a more confident and precise manner. This lesson is geared for the beginner who already has an understanding of reference notes on the first half of the neck, but who really wants to master the fretboard and have full control over the range of the instrument.

   Octaves and their uses and fingerings along the fretboard, including several examples

  Discussion of reference notes and the idea that the same note can be played across the fretboard on different strings

  Pentatonic examples that detail a commonly used scale both in one position and going from the lowest note to the highest note, encapsulating the entire neck and all its positions.

• Lesson 3: Fretboard Freedom - III - Learning Intervals

  Guitar, being laid out as it is, makes finding chords and notes on the fretboard pretty challenging. By learning the distance between notes and their common shapes across the guitar, you’ll gain the knowledge required to begin learning how to improvise within a scale, create chords and navigate the neck with ease.

  Concrete descriptions of all 12 intervals

  Examples of how to visualize them and use them in your playing

• Lesson 4: Fretboard Freedom - IV - The Circle Of Fifths

  Perhaps one of the most useful tools for any aspiring theory student is the Circle of Fifths. This clock-shaped theoretical tool details the ins and outs of various key signatures and how they relate of each other. A basic understanding of major and minor tonalities is required to fully comprehend this lesson, so brush up on your basic theory before taking this one on!

  Explanation of key signatures and how to memorize them and their “relatives”.

  Common uses for the circle of fifths, including bass lines and chord progressions

  The use of closely related keys as a way of “borrowing” chords temporarily.

• Lesson 5: Fretboard Freedom - V - Major & Minor Scales

  The next key step to understanding music theory is knowing that along with every chord comes a scale that corresponds. This lesson on major and what’s called “natural” minor scales will take any early guitar player and turn them into a scale playing machine! By using C major and A minor scales that pair directly with the chords in the previous lesson, you’ll get a breakdown of how you can take any chord and, if you know your key signatures, create a scale around it. This ability frees you up to improvise and play over virtually any simplistic chord change.

  Detailed explanation of the correlation of scales to chords.

  Numerous scale examples given in the keys of C major and A minor, many of which can be easily transposed.

  Description of the relation of major to minor keys and the notes that they share.

• Lesson 6: Fretboard Freedom - VI - Major & Minor Chords

  At this stage in your playing, you are most likely familiar with several major and minor chords that appear commonly in music. The next logical step is to understand how those chords function and what roles they play amongst other chords within a song. This lesson is a step-by-step guide to learning the construction of chords, the language and execution of major and minor triads.

  10 different fingerings for C major and A minor chords

  Detailed description of the method and terminology of chords and basic music theory

  Explanation of the formation of chords and how to construct your own major and minor triads

• Lesson 7: Fretboard Freedom - VII - Simple Triad Arpeggios

  Just as you learned the major and minor scales and chords, you should also have arpeggios in your bag of tricks. These ascending/descending patterns are amazing for navigating the neck and playing through simplistic chord changes. Make sure to practice them in context, with a chord playing in the background so you can internalize the sound of each one over its corresponding chord.

  Analysis on chord construction and how to form simple arpeggios

  Corresponding arpeggios, scales and chords that form the basis of any harmonic sequence

  Explanations of how to use arpeggios along with scales to create a free flowing melody or solo that perfectly outlines the chord shape

• Lesson 8: Fretboard Freedom - VIII - Easy Chords & How To Alter Them

  Just as the title implies, in this lesson you’ll learn how to take simple chord shapes such as A minor or D major and transform them using minimal effort into some awesome sounding, and very colorful variations. Don’t let your rhythm playing become dull and stagnant; learn how to change certain notes in a chord while keeping all the others in order to create a musical idea with your chord strumming.

  ·      Quick recap of simplistic major and minor chord shapes

  ·      Examples of alternate notes that can be added or substituted into these chord shapes to add more variety and musicality to your playing

  ·      Real-life playing example of how to use this technique within the context of a song.

• Lesson 9: Fretboard Freedom - IX - Diatonic Chords

  One important aspect to understanding theory is how to formulate chords and scales diatonically, or “within a key”. This means, for example, within the key of C major you have seven notes and upon each one of those notes you can build a chord using our standard 1-3-5 chord construction. All of these new chords will be diatonic to the key of C major, meaning they will all come from the simple C major scale (no sharps or flats). Learning to play and think diatonically is one of the most critical parts of understanding and applying theory to everyday playing.

  ·      Explanation of the term diatonic and how it applies to virtually all musical progressions.

  ·      Simplistic instructions on how to build diatonic chords from any major or minor scales

  ·      Examples of simple diatonic chords and how they relate back to the “parent key”

  ·      How to apply these principals to your songwriting or analysis of music

• Lesson 10: Fretboard Freedom - X - Analyzing Chord Progressions

  Once you have a solid understanding of all of these concepts, it’s time to put them to use. Whether you are trying to put chords to an already existing bass line, or are trying to understand and analyze an already written chord progression, there are several key steps you must take to get there. Being able to correctly identify bass notes as the root of the chords is essential to understanding good chord theory. In addition, being able to analyze a progression and find which scale or series of scales the chords come from will unlock the mystery behind why some chords work and others don’t.

  ·      Learning to listen to the bass line as a way of determining the chord that should be played

  ·      Understanding how the bass and chords for the overall harmonic structure of the song

  ·      Explanations on how to analyze a chord progression to understand which scales to play over it and how to effortlessly move within the key(s) of the song.

  ·      Analyses of famous chord progressions/songs that will help you understand and play them better and with more confidence