Lessons 7 Syllabus

D.4      Syllabus

For beginners who desire prescribed lesson-plans, use the following as a guide. Remember that you can go at your own pace, skip ahead, etc.  It’s all up to you.  Recommended:  The quickest way to play different things on the guitar is to put in at least one full hour for each practice/learning session, and practice at least three times a week.  More practice is better, so one hour three times a week is minimal.  Yet, even as little as that will allow you to make progress, as long as you don’t quit.

Lesson-Plan 1

For beginners, you must own a guitar or borrow one.  If you have never owned a guitar before and desire to buy one, visit the guitar stores and pawn shops in your area to see what they have, and to check price ranges.  And know that the guitar you need depends on the kind of music you want to play.  For simple sing-along songs around the house, at the local park, while camping, and so on, a low-priced acoustic steel-string guitar is best.  Or, if you’re into classical music, a nylon-string guitar is used, though they will usually have wider necks than the steel-string types.  For the electric guitar, there are hollow-body types used much in Jazz, or semi-hollow-body types used in all kinds of music, and the solid-body electrics ubiquitous in Rock.  But before you buy, first inquire of friends and relatives to find anyone who already plays the guitar, and ask them for pointers on how to buy one, or pay a local guitar teacher to help you.  When shopping around, you must hold each guitar you are interested in, to see how it feels to you, instead of just buying one online.  Some are larger than others, and some have thicker and/or wider necks than others.  But you can do online searches for advice, using search phrase “How To Choose A Guitar”.  Then go back to the stores and shops and ask to hold the guitars you like.  Do not feel pressured to buy just then.  Just say that you might be back.  Choose one that is comfortable in your hands, both sitting and standing using a strap.  Helpful Hint:  Always use a strap at all times, sitting or standing, regardless of the kind of guitar, as a precaution against accidentally dropping it.  If needed, get a salesman familiar with guitars to show you how to hold them, or hire a guitar teacher to go with you and to help you make a good choice.  In short, be sure you know how to hold the guitar properly.  And after you buy one, learn how to tune it, how to clean it, how to transport it (get a case), how to store it, how to restring it or replace a string, and what the parts of the guitar are called.  But there are many beginner’s instruction books available at music stores, and much free information online.  For example, visit the “GuitarTricks” website.  Online, go to www.Guitartricks.com/home.php.  Click on “Getting Started”.  Watch the introductory video, then scroll down and click on “Level 1 Guitar Fundamentals” and watch that video.  And then watch the next video, “Level 2 …”.  From there, stay on the site or visit similar sites found by internet searches using search phrases “Tuning the Guitar”, “Parts of the Guitar”, and so on.  Thus, Lesson-Plan 1 in this Syllabus is about choosing the kind of guitar you want, depending on what you intend to do with it, then obtaining it, becoming familiar with it; learning to tune it, and learning care and storage precautions.  Also, all guitars are musical instruments, not rugged hand-tools, so none should be handled badly.  Once you get one, keep it in good condition.

Lesson-Plan 2

For an absolute novice beginner, I recommend taking in-person beginning guitar lessons, at least a few, to get hands-on instruction about the fundamentals mentioned in Lesson-Plan 1.  In addition to that (even show this book to the teacher), or afterwards, in this book study part A.1 in Section A.  Commit that information to memory (you need not have it memorized before moving on; just return to it periodically until it is known).  That will give you most of what you need in music theory.  Yes, you can “play by ear”, but knowing a little theory helps to ward off confusion later on.   Even so, to start playing something now, begin by changing between the three Principal Chords in each fundamental Key.  Don’t worry about playing a song right away. That will come soon enough.  Hint:  If you take in-person guitar lessons as a raw beginner, the teacher may wish to show you some simple songs to get you started.  And many beginner lessons on the internet start with easy songs.  No problem.  Do what you feel is best for you.

Lesson-Plan 3

Learn about tablature as given in A.2, in addition to searching online under “Guitar Tablature”.  Using TAB can be a good way to get it right the first time, especially for complicated songs. Hint:  For tablature to be of the most benefit, have a recording of the song to be learned.  You can rely on memory, but in some cases there are certain details that do not get explained in the tablature, and you must figure out such nuances by ear anyway.  Also, a recorded arrangement may differ from that which is indicated by the written music and the corresponding tablature.  So, have a recording handy for each song to be learned.

Lesson-Plan 4

Understand and memorize the guitar fret-board, as explained in part B.  Make sure you know all the natural notes on the guitar all the way to the 12th fret.  This is very important.  You need not memorize them all before moving on here, but do not avoid doing this early in your learning efforts.  You will find, however, that there is a trick for determining all of the natural notes on a given string, once you memorize the letter-names of the open strings.  This trick is the fret-sequence called the “tetrachord”, in a Tonic Major Key, as explained in part A.1.  It goes like this:  “whole-step, whole-step, half-step”   in ascending order.  And, as

explained in the Foreword, and elsewhere, the distance from one fret to the next is called a “half-step”, so it takes skipping over a fret to make a “whole-step”.  Thus, the sequence  --  whole-step, whole-step, half-step  --  called a “tetrachord” (it is not a “chord” in the usual sense; it’s just a label meaning “three notes with certain intervals between them”), can be used to determine note names in ascending order, since there are only seven letter-names; A, B, C, D, E, F, G.  And these are always in alphabetical-order ascending.  Also, if we put a whole-step between a given tetrachord and another ascending, we get the Tonic Major scale; the “Do-Ra-Me” song, also called the “Ionian” scale.  The complete sequence goes like this:                          whole, whole, half, whole between, whole, whole, half.

Now, the guitar is laid out in the Key of C, which means all of its natural notes are in the Key of C Major, which means they correspond to two tetrachords with a whole-step in-between, which goes along with the letter-names in order, starting on C; i.e., C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C’, where C’  is the octave of C.  The word “octave” indicates the note with the same letter-name but which is twelve frets up the neck.  Consequently, if you know the open-string letter name for each string (1st is E, 2nd is B, 3rd is C, 4th is D, 5th is A, and 6th is E two octaves below the 1st string E), you can apply the two-tetrachord scheme to find the higher natural notes.  Notice that E and F are only a half-step apart, and also B and C.  All of the other natural notes are a whole-step apart, one to the next.  So, going alphabetically ascending, and remembering that there are only two pairs of notes with half-steps (E & F and B & C), finding the others is easy.

Lesson-Plan 5

Practice changing between the Principal Chords in part B.2.  Start with the first three, in the Key of A.  Do not worry about playing a song with them.  Just practice changing from one to the other.  Start with A and D, and practice going back and forth between them, strumming downwards once per chord.  Do this as long and as often as you can until you move between these two chords easily, rapidly, and accurately.  Then do the same for D and E.  Then do the same for E and A.  [Tedium of such practicing can be mitigated by practicing in front of the television, as long as it does not disturb family members.  Here, you’re working on muscle memory, and do not have to spend the whole time looking down at your fret-hand, after your fingers begin to get used to it.]  Once you can change between those three chords, in any order, make up your own chord progression using them, with up-and-down strum, counting four beats per chord.  For instance, go with: A, D, A, E, and repeat for an even number of therun-throughs.  After you can play a progression using the chords A, D, and E, go next to the Principal Chords in the Key of D, and apply the same learning technique; i.e., start with D and G, then do G and A, but notice that you can already do D and A.  Then make up another basic progression using D, G, and A, strumming, and counting four beats per chord.  Next, go to the Principal Chords in the Key of G.  These are G, C, and D.  But you can already do D and G.  So, practice changing between G and C, and then between C and D.  After that, make up a progression using those three chords, strumming, and counting four beats per chord.  You willthus have five chords you can play in any order, and which occur in three different Keys.  That is enough to play many songs.  After this, I recommend learning certain minor chords that go with those Keys, and which are called the “Relative Minor” chords; each corresponding to the first Principal Chord in a given Key.  This will require doing bar-chords.  In particular, B-Minor (Bm) and the F-Minor bar-chord from the Chord Compendium.  You must also know E-minor (Em), but that one is easy.  Here is how they all work together.  The relative minor to A-major is the F-sharp-Minor (F#m).  [The symbol # is called the “sharp” sign, and means to move up a half-step.]  This chord is obtained by playing the Fm, but moving it up a fret (i.e., play it at the 2nd fret instead of the 1st fret).  That gives you the Relative Minor chord that goes with the three Principal Chords in the Key of A-Major.  Practice changing between them all, and you will hear how they belong together.  Next, learn Bm.  This is the Relative Minor to D.  It goes well with the Principal Chords in the D-Major Key.  Then learn Em, which is very simple, and is the Relative Minor of G, so it goes with the Principal Chords in the Key of G-Major.  You will hence be able to play a large number of songs, especially Folk, Old-time, and Country.  There are many song-books that give lyrics, melody-lines, and chord-names for each song.  Now you are equipped to start using such song-books.  However, you are not done with this lesson-plan.  Next, you should use the same learning technique on all the other Principal Chords, though you will find that it gets easier as you proceed.  The next most-used Keys are C-Major and E-Major.  The Principal Chords in C-Major are C, F, and G, and the relative minor to C is Am.  The Principal Chords in E-Major are E, A, and B, with the relative minor to E being C#m (C-sharp-Minor), obtained by playing the Cm from the Chord Compendium but moving it up one fret.  Knowing these five sets of Principal Chords, with their Relative Minors, will enable you to play a large number of songs, and most people do not even go on to practice the remaining two sets of Principal Chords.  Yet, if you want to continue your guitar training, you will also practice the Principal Chords in the Keys of B-Major and F-Major, whose Relative Minors are A#m and Dm, respectively.  And yes, this takes lots of time, so be patient.  Practice at least 1 hour three times a week, or as often as you can, and after a while you’ll get good at it.

Lesson-Plan 6

Get familiar with the entire Chord Compendium, but there is no need here to practice going between two chords at a time.  These charts are for reference purposes, when you must look up an unfamiliar chord named in a song-book, or seek the name of a chord you have come up with on your own.  And remember, for any chord, the sharp version (as in A#) is played by moving the unsharped named chord up one fret, or the flatted version (as in A♭) by moving it down a fret (assuming you use the bar-chord forms of the chords you are dealing with).  The most common bar-chord forms are given in part B.4, and you should make sure to know bar-chord versions of all the Major and Minor chords you already know from the lower register.  It is useful to know the full-bar “Inversions” of all the chords you learned at or near the nut.  The A, C, D, and E chords are good examples.  The First Inversion of the A at the nut is the Major bar-chord (“maj” with 6th string root) barred at the 5th fret, while its Second Inversion is the C-form type barred at the 9th fret, with its root on the 5th string at the 12th fret.  Thus, its Third Inversion is simply its octave on the 12th fret, using the “A-form” there (“maj” with 5th string root).  Similarly, C, D, and E at the nut each have two Inversions between the nut-form and their barred octaves at the 12th fret.  What is more, you should take this opportunity to study of the Miscellaneous Chords, as well.

Lesson-Plan 7

Read about Chord Progressions in part B.5, and then employ what you learn there to create progressions of your own.  This is an easy way to come up with your own original song ideas.  For instance, start with a progression that sounds good, then create melodies and lyrics for it. Be aware, however, that you will not likely devise short or moderate-length progressions that have not been done before, but that is not the point.  The objective is to get used to creating your own music, becoming familiar with how chords go together in songs, how key-changes work, and how to alter chords from the norm to take different emotional pathways.  [So, in that respect, skip to the suspended, augmented, and diminished chords and experiment by using them as transitional chords.]   First, however, you should know how all of the chords within the Ionian Mode (Tonic Major Key) fit together.  That will give you insight into how ascending and descending progressions called “linear sequences” differ from non-linear sequences, in any given progression.  For an example of a linear sequence, take the Ionian Mode; meaning, you will be using the tetrachord scheme in the progression that goes from the root-chord to its octave, where the roots of the chords follow a Tonic Major scale.  The Key of E-Major is a good example, with the E at the nut as the first chord, but the other chords bar-chords.  These ascending are: E (nut), F#m (fr. 2), G#m (fr. 4), A (fr. 5),

B (fr. 7), C#m (fr. 9), D#dim (fr. 11), E’ (fr. 12). Notice how these roots all follow a Tonic Major scale as they go in ascending order.  The Key of A-Major is another good example.  Here, start with the A at the nut, and the other chords are bar-chords, but these have 5th string roots.  The progression is;  A (nut), Bm (fr. 2), C#m (fr. 4), D (fr. 5), E (fr. 7),

F#m (fr. 9), G#dim (fr. 11), A’ (fr. 12).  Once you get proficient with these two progressions, ascending and descending, you will see how the same sequences can be used with any Tonic Major bar-chord in the lower register, and also how to switch in the middle of the progression from a 6th-string to a 5th-string root, instead of keeping all of the roots on the same string.

Lesson-Plan 8

Introduce yourself to the scales shown in Section C.  Then practice the fundamental Tonic Major scales in one octave, referred to also as First-Major scales.  They correspond to the I chord in a Tonic Major Key.  The root of the scale is also the root of the chord itself, and its letter-name is for both chord and scale.  Practice each until you can play them quickly ascending and descending, picking each note without mistakes.  You should start slow to develop muscle memory, then build speed later.  Notice that the scales with 6th-string and 5th-string roots have identical patterns, but those with 4th-string and 3rd-string roots have different patterns, because of the offset of string tuning that occurs between the 2nd and 3rd strings.  That offset was determined in the ancient past, to provide easier chording than would occur if the offset was not there.  [Tuning of stringed instruments is based on what is called the “Cycle of Fifths”, where the lower octave of the fifth in a Major scale, starting from an open string, is the note for the next lower open string.  Bass-guitars, for instance, stick to the Cycle of Fifths all the way, even for 5-string and 6-string basses (i.e., the 6-string bass does not employ the 6-string guitar’s offset).]  Once the Tonic Major scale in one octave is learned, practice the two-octave scales shown on the same pages.  You will find that these take more practice, but that they will also advance your playing skills significantly, and are the most-used Major scale-patterns for guitar in all musical genres.  Take the time to practice them enough to get fast and accurate, picking each note without making mistakes.  Another reason to get proficient with the two-octave scales is that most vocal melodies in all types of music occur within a two-octave range.  The next goal in this Lesson-Plan is to get as good with the other scales shown on those pages, but which require even more time to practice.  However, as you can see, those patterns are highly symmetrical, which makes it easier to get faster sooner.  You want to get those patterns down very well, as they are based on the most versatile of all scales.

Lesson-Plan 9

After getting proficient with the scales in Lesson-Plan 8, you can achieve a much higher level of lead-guitar playing by practicing the extended Major scales in Section C; covering two and a half and three octaves.  You need not attempt the 24-fret scale just yet, but learn all of the other longer scales, ascending and descending, picking each note, starting slow, then building

speed as your fingers get used to it; realizing that you’re going to impress people (and other guitarists) only by executing such scales without mistakes (i.e., without sloppiness).  You will

find that extended 2-octave and the 3-octave scales are useful for ad-libbing, and writing your

own lead-solos.  However, things get complicated attempting the 3-octave scales.  For example, fret-finger placement ascending is easiest one way, but easier a different way descending on the same scale.  But you will have to decide for yourself. Notice too that two 3-octave scales are shown with the Versatile scales.  And an extra incentive for getting good at 3-octave runs is that they impress other guitarists, and convey to an audience

that you are an accomplished player. Next, practice little things in a large scale-pattern.  Examples include triplets and quadruplets done in descending or ascending fashion within a 2- or 3-octave scale.  [There is also the 4-octave scale in E-Major, Ionian Mode.  Ascending and descending finger placement are usually different, because it takes all four fret-fingers per string, plus sliding up or down on all but the 1st and 2nd strings.  Hint:  Slide up with the pinky but down with pointer on the 6th, 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings, but simply use all four fret-fingers linearly on the 2nd and 1st strings (making for one tetrachord each, with the lowest note on the 1st string two frets higher than that on the 2nd string). Comment:  When I devised that scale many years ago, I thought I was coming up with something no-one else had ever done.  Later, I found in an old Mel Bay lesson book from the 1950s a number of such scales spanning the fret-board, including one like that given in this book; proving that there is nothing new under the sun.  Anyway, the 4-octave scale in E-Major requires a full 24-fret guitar, unless you bend up to the highest two notes.  Yet, it is easy to adapt it to a 22-fret guitar by shifting the pattern down two frets, so the former lowest note  (the open 6th-string E) is omitted, which puts the scale in the Key of D-Major.  Once that is done, it is a simple matter to figure out the Dorian Minor version, and afterwards other modes.  The impressive thing about such a scale, obviously, is that getting fast with it allows one to “run the neck” like a violinist does, but on the guitar; a truly astounding kind of achievement.  And if you can do that, it will make you an advanced player  --  because you likely would not yet have reached that point without knowing other long scales (i.e., do more than one kind of long run).

Lesson-Plan 10

By now you will be well on your way to playing at an advanced level.  But you next have to get all the Minor scale-patterns down.  But don’t worry.  If you mastered all the Major scales so far, the Minor scales will be much easier to learn, and get good at even sooner than the Major scales, because the more you do on the guitar, the easier it gets to do more.  Cool how that works.  But this does not mean you need not practice just as hard, depending on how far you want to take your skills.  The Minor scales begin with the 1st Minor patterns, in the Dorian Mode, so they are called Dorian scales.  The 1st Minor chord you go to when playing chords ascending in the Tonic Major Key, in the Ionian Mode, is one whole-step from the Tonic Major chord.  This means both the 1st Minor chord and the scale that goes with it are in the Dorian Mode.  So, remember this, because it is important to communication between musicians.  If you cite the Mode for a Key, chord, or scale, everything else falls into place.  And it is also important to know how the Dorian scale fits with the Ionian scale.  For example, if I’m playing a Tonic Major scale, the First-Minor scale, played with its root two frets up from the root of that Major scale, will be the Dorian scale in the same Key.  In particular, suppose I am in the Key of G-Major and play the 2-octave Major scale with 6th-string root on G at 3rd fret.  Then the in-key Dorian scale with 6th-string root is on the A at the 5th fret.  Now you know how the Dorian and Ionian modes fit together.  Also, you should not practice the modes separately in one “cage” on the fret-board.  Rather, practice them in order in an Ionian Key.  Then, just as you used the chord progression ascending and descending in a given Key, to see how the chords in that Key fit together, the Mode scales follow the same sequence.  In particular, the Tonic Major Key goes like this;

Chord             Triad                 Degree                       Mode           

I                   1st Major              Tonic                       Ionian              

II                  1st Minor           Supertonic                Dorian             

III                 2nd Minor           Mediant                    Phrygian           

IV                2nd Major        Subdominant           Lydian

V                 3rd Major            Dominant                 Mixolydian

VI                3rd Minor           Submediant             Aeolian

VII          Minor-Diminished        Subtonic                   Locrian 

Then there’s the Tonic Major’s octave, which is the same as the Tonic Major 12 frets higher up the neck.  “Mode” refers to both chord and scale, though most guitarists think of the modes in terms of scales.  It is thus useful to memorize them in order; Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian, with the octave of the Ionian logically also Ionian, but does not have another mode name.  Here, to become truly advanced, practice all of the Ionian and Dorian scales given in this book to the point of excellence, because those are the very most important scales in all music.  And getting good at them makes it easy to get good on other scales, since the more you practice anything, the easier it gets to do new things.

Lesson-Plan 11

This is an extensive Lesson-Plan, because it involves practicing scales not covered so far.  You should do them in order, ascending.  Since you know the Ionian and Dorian scales, the next are the Phrygian scales.  If you stay in-key with the Ionian as the Key, the Dorian scales are played with their roots two frets up (one whole-step) from the Ionian root.  Thus, the root of the Phyrgian scale, in the same Key, will be two frets up from the Dorian root.  And after you have practiced the Phrygian scales, you should practice these first three modal scales in-key covering 2-octaves each, ascending and descending.  Meaning, do the Ionian first, once ascending then descending, then move up two frets to do the Dorian, once ascending then descending, then move up another two frets to do the Phyrgian, once ascending then once descending.  Next, practice the Lydian scales.  These are Major scales, but all differ from the Ionian in that their 4th is sharped, compared to the Ionian 4th.  Practice these until you are as proficient with them as the others, then practice them in-key together with the three scales you learned previously, and in the same fashion.  That is, start with the Ionian, go a whole-step up to the Dorian, then go another whole-step to the Phrygian, but go only a half-step to the Lydian from the Phrygian.  Notice that the roots have followed a tetrachord.  Thus, for the next mode, you will move up a whole-step, which is the in-between whole-step for the two tetrachords thatmake up the Tonic Major scale.  These are the Mixolydian scales, all at the beginning of the 2nd tetrachord.  Again, practice these thoroughly, then practice with the others that you learned so far; in order, the Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, then the Mixolydian.  That gets you all the scales of a Tonic Major Key with roots following the 1st  tetrachord, plus the whole-step between the 1st and 2nd tetrachords.  Hence, we started another tetrachord, whose first scale is just the two-octave Mixolydian scale.  Going now a whole-step up, we get to the Aeolian scales, which go with the Relative Minor chord (the VI) of the Tonic Major Key.  Note that this root is three frets down from the octave of the Tonic Major chord’s root.  Practice those scales, then add them in-key to all the others in ascending order, as you have been doing; Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, and Aeolian.  Finally, two more frets up are the Locrian scales, which go with the only Diminished chord in an Ionian Key.  And the same practice procedures apply, although a Locrian Key is not commonly used, these days.  Any other Mode can be used as a Key, but the Locrian Mode is not typically used as a Key because the Locrian chord (the VII) is always transitory; i.e., transitional; meaning, its chords and scales are played only briefly in musical passages, because they are considered dissonant, and are used to emotionally direct listeners towards the Tonic Major Mode.  This is why its root is called the “Leading-Tone”, and its scale is the “Leading-Tone” (or Subtonic) scale.  Thus, the fundamental modes in ascending order are the Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian.  Not only should you practice their scales, all in the same Key, but should memorize these names and all their meanings, and be able to associate each with their specific chords and scales.  A tall order, but worth it.  Of course, when ascending, continue from the Locrian scale to the octave of

the first Ionian scale you started with, but which is only a ½-step up from the Locrian scale.

Conversely, start with the octave of the lowest Ionian scale and follow the tetrachords in reverse order; i.e., descending.  But while accomplishing all this by practicing, as desired read also the history of the Modes (part C.8), and how to use them (part C.9). 

Lesson-Plan 12

Engage in additional study in music theory or guitar-playing, either online or in books, even library books.  Two types of sources for cheap but still valid music-related books are local

thrift stores (e.g., Goodwill, et.al.) and used-book stores.  Also, get advice on guitar-playing

in different ways (online, or with college courses, or else with advanced in-person lessons), corresponding to at least three different styles (see Section D).  Imagine what it will take for you to become a more advanced player than you already are (based on the information in Section D), then make plans for putting in the practice time.  And feel free to critique my background (D.3), and to scrutinize the accuracy of this book, or to have other musicians

do so.  And you can also obtain advanced instruction (if you can afford it) from any of the

private guitar institutes.  Then work towards reaching the skill-level you desire.  But always remember, it takes time, even decades, of dedicated practice to become a true virtuoso.

Extra Comments:

There are many people posting guitar-lessons online; available free or for fees.  You must decide for yourself whether or not you want to investigate those sources, but it is not really necessary to pay for personal instruction in guitar-playing.  You can teach yourself by ear, or learn from an instruction book (like this one), or get pointers from relatives, neighbors, or friends who play the guitar. I recommend that a beginner gets personal instruction to start, either free or paid, and/or gets into online lessons.  But after a few months to a year, a newbie should be able to continue the learning process on their own.  You will find, as mentioned (restated here for emphasis), that “book-learning” in music theory sufficient to last the rest of your life can be completed in short order (a few months).  But developing a playing skill-set will require a much greater time-span.  Expect to put in a few years just to be able to play many chords in a professional manner, along with playing the Ionian scale in two octaves, one each for 6th-string and 5th-string roots, and the Dorian scale in two octaves, also one each for 6th-string and 5th-string roots.  Next, be able to do the Hard Rock and Blues scales, along with enough licks and tricks to start playing solos. Continue to recognize, however, that reaching “virtuoso” level takes 20+ years of very dedicated practice (or longer time-frame for less enthusiastic efforts), regardless of style, and that there are no magical short-cuts to get you there any sooner, regardless of what some online or print sources might claim.  Yes, some of those sources are good for getting started, but advanced playing simply takes time, and also sticking to a routine with respect to putting in the needed practice.