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| chords: |
capo
techniques: |
open
tunings: |
right hand: |
theory: |
|
structure
voicings
positions
alterations
|
1-5,
6-2
2-5
2-4, 3-5
split drones |
D,
drop d
DADGAD
G, G2
C2, A2 |
strum/picking
travis picking
down picking
damping
|
transposition
progression
structure
arrangement |
a word about who, why, how, and what
i teach:
who: all ages. a motivated six-year
old can gain lots from guitar lessons, as can an adult who feels that
their musical years have already passed them by. most important here
is that you feel motivated to play. if you're motivated, you can't stop
playing, because you have to - it feeds you so much. making the
transition from "wanting to play" to "needing to play"
as quickly as possible is the key to progress.
why: i teach because i love teaching.
i teach because music can change lives: it changed mine.
how: if you can't teach something,
then you haven't learned it. a student needs to thoroughly understand
why something is the way it is. this is very true of fingerpicking,
capo techniques, and open tunings. most intermediate students can learn
the basics of open tuning in about 30 minutes, if they know why
it works. i adapt my teaching to fit what students are ready for. if
a student needs notes or tab written out, we do that. if they are ready
for ear training, then we work on ear training. any teacher should be
an excellet listener.
what: students typically dive first
into their own musical vocabulary to find songs they already know and
love. i teach adaptation rather than repetition. if you want to play
jimi hendrix note for note, then i'm not your guy. if you want to figure
out how to adapt peter gabriel for open tuning or how to develop a strumming
and picking style that will enable you to play hundreds of songs, then
call me. i can teach you why things work the way they do - so that you
can create and interpret by yourself.
workshops:
i teach three different
group workshops for up to 20 participants. if you're interested in any
of these, please contact me.
introduction to open tuning
open to guitarists of any level, no previous open tuning experience
required.
workshop participants learn:
· how to think functionally on the guitar
· how open tunings work and why they do
· how to retune a guitar in a variety of open tunings
· how to transpose songs and play them in open tuning
open tuning two
open to anyone with experience playing in open tunings or a strong grasp
of music theory.
workshop participants will:
· review basic functional thinking on the guitar
· explore why open tunings work idiomatically and create new
open tunings
· learn how to build and structure chords in open tunings
advanced capo techniques
read a review
of the partial capo workshop from hometown
music
read a review of the partial capo workshop
from the baltimore songwriter's
association | see
pictures
open to guitarists who are comfortable playing at least a few songs.
workshop participants learn:
· how to chose capo positions for idiomatic voicings and ensemble
playing
· how to use partial capos in standard tuning
· how to use several capos to create multiple drones
advanced capo techniques
two
this very cerebral workshop is open to guitarists who are comfortable
playing in several open tunings and have a strong working knowledge
of music theory.
workshop participants learn:
- how to structure partial capo use in standard and open tunings using
the circle of 5ths
· how to create open tunings which are friendly to partial capos
· how to use partial capos in cross keys in standard and open
tunings
· how to use multiple capos in open tunings
all workshops consist of an interactive
lecture followed by practice and one-on-one coaching, then each participant
will perform a song that uses the techniques they have learned. one
session is about two to three hours.
a one-page handout will be provided for
each workshop. participants should bring a guitar and standard six-string
capo, as well as pen and paper. audio recording is encouraged.
about the workshops:
most of us pick up a guitar and play it because we like how it feels.
that's great. tn fact, the truest music anyone can make is probably
made because someone loves doing it. where some of us falter is when
we need to advance past three-chord songs and we don't understand which
chords go together and why. music theory explains why, and it gives
a framework in which we can create.
when presented slowly and carefully, music
theory is not at all intimidating. open tunings and advanced capo techniques
become surprisingly approachable when understood in the light of theory.
idiomatic voicing, timbre, and chord function lead up to "structural
thinking," which helps workshop participants understand the guitar
in a whole new light. best of all, once a student knows why something
works, they can reproduce it themselves.
Who's
afraid of the big bad capo?
For whatever reason, some people shy away
from partial capos. Maybe they were scared off by a complicated fingering
diagram that made it look like they would have to re-learn the instrument.
Or maybe they once saw David Wilcox or Willy Porter put a partial capo
on top of an open tuning and felt unworthy to even attempt it.
But there's really nothing to be scared
of.
This article is a simple explanation of
partial capo technique. Read it with your guitar and a capo in hand.
If you have a Short-Cut capo as well, even better.
There are two reasons to use a capo:
To change the key:
Most players use a capo to make a song fit their voice better. If you're
playing a song in C, but it's a little low for you, you can put a capo
somewhere up the neck - to play the same chord voicing, but raise the
key. This is changing the key, but not the voicing.
To change the voicing:
Or, if you want to play a song in the key of B, it's a whole lot easier
to put the capo on the 4th fret and play a G chord than it is to always
return to that B barre chord. This is changing the voicing, but not
the key.
The simplest approach to partial capo work is through voicing changes.
Let's start there.
Structure:
If you put a capo on the second fret and voice a D major chord, you're
actually hearing E. In a D chord, you usually don't play the 6th string.
But if you take the capo off the 6th string and just clamp strings 1-5,
you can let the low string drone, giving a nice full sound.
If you take the capo up to the fourth
fret, you can play a C chord and still be in the key of E with the same
drone. On the fifth fret you can voice B or Bm, on the seventh fret
you can voice A or Am, and on the ninth fret you can play a G. Notice
that as you move the capo up, you go down with the chords.
Second fret - voice D or Dm
Fourth fret - voice C or Cm
Fifth fret - voice B or Bm
Seventh fret - voice A or Am
Ninth fret - voice G or Gm.
But we never changed key, even though we played different chords. Every
one of those voicings was in the key of E.
Color:
Now if you turn the capo over and just clamp strings 2-6, you leave
the high E string open, and you can play all the same voicings. This
affects the color of your chord.
The bass string is typically the anchor
of a chord. If you want to add color to a chord, it usually happens
in the middle or on top, but rarely at the bottom. For example, an A7
chord almost never uses the 7th (G) in the bass. It's often in the middle
(on the G string) or on top (the high E string, 3rd fret,) but it's
rarely on the low E string, third fret.
Structure is on the bottom, color is
on the top.
The Short-Cut Capo
A Short-Cut capo leaves the inside string
and two outside strings open. Put a Short-Cut Capo on the second fret
of your guitar, pointing down. This leaves the low E string open, and
the high E and B strings open, too. Remember, structure is on bottom,
color is on the top. Now when you play a D chord, you have the low E
string open, and you can lift your fingers and have the high two strings
open, too.
You can put the Short-Cut in all the same
places you put the other capo, facing both directions. Just remember
that when you leave the high two strings open, you're making a color
choice (this is easier) and if you leave the low two strings open, it's
a structure choice (which requires a bit more thought.)
There's a video
of this article on the Kyser website which is pretty easy to understand.
If you still have questions though, contact
me. Thanks!
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