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One of the great rewards for becoming a skillful guitar player is being able to sit down with a total stranger at a campfire, bus stop, wherever—and make music. I recently had an experience like this leading a singalong up at Diablo Lake, Washington. The other guitarist in our group, who I’d never met until that night, just sat down next to me as I took my guitar out, and when I gave him a chance to play a solo halfway through “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” he launched into a gorgeous cascade of notes, as if he were inspired by the Milky Way stretched over our heads.

While he played beautifully, I had a hard time following him when it was his turn to play a song. He never made eye contact, and it wasn’t until halfway through an instrumental verse that I realized he’d wanted me to play a solo. Playing with him reminded me that even some expert musicians don’t learn the basics of communicating with other players. So here are some tips for leading other musicians. We’ll call them…

Five Campfire Courtesies

1. Choose an appropriate song

If you want to play with other people, choose a song within their ability. 12-bar blues is a great common denominator. And there are hundreds of great folk and rock songs that just require three or four chords.

2. Prep ‘em

Most songs, even if they’re simple, have something funky about them—an extra beat at the end of the bridge, a really quiet second verse, etc., and most musicians appreciate a heads-up before you start.

Along those lines, unless they’re obviously competent soloists, it’s nice to ask people if they want to solo before you start the song. I can’t count the times I’ve mortified a non-improvisationally-inclined jamming buddy by ambushing them with a “Take it away, Jenny!”

3. Call out the solos

This technique is ubiquitous in bluegrass circles, but appears to be unknown by almost everyone else. Which isn’t surprising: If you were only raised on rock, you’d assume that band members only communicated by telepathy—they rarely talk to one another during a song. That’s because they at least have the structure of the improvised parts planned out beforehand (who will solo, and how long it’ll be). But to jam with people, you need to play more like bluegrass musicians, even if you’re sitting around a Duraflame log swilling 40’s and playing AC/DC covers. Listen to live bluegrass, and you’ll hear things like, “Let’s hear some of that gee-tar!” and “How about a little harmonica now?”

4. Give ‘em “The Look”

The Look is the universal signal for “I’m done with my solo” and “This song’s about to end”. You’d think it’d be easy to give people an unambiguous facial expression, but often people think they’re giving me The Look when in fact they look like they’re really getting into their solo, or they have gas. So how do you do it? Simple. Raise your eyebrows.

5. Kill it with a swing of your axe

This helps everyone to end the song at the same time, especially if the song ends with a ritard (a gradual slow-down). Right before the last chord, raise the headstock of your guitar, bringing it back down as you strum the final chord.

All this talk of campfire singalongs reminds me of what a great instrument the guitar is. It’s portable enough to strap on your back, and it provides beautiful accompaniment for the human voice. And this reminds me of my favorite Far Side cartoon. A group of cowboys is sitting around the campfire. One cowpoke turns to his buddy and says, “Hey Hank, why don’t you pull that thing out and play us a tune?” Sticking out of Hank’s impossibly-stretched-out back pocket is a grand piano.

In the last newsletter, I showed you how you can play a I – IV – V song in five different keys. Today I’d like to introduce you to the four other members of a chord family. At the end of this lesson, you should be ready to transpose a simple song into a different key.

But first, a song I wrote to the tune of “Theme From The Brady Bunch”:

Here’s a story
of a lovely ditty
whose chorus used three bright and cheerful chords.
They were named I, IV, and V,
and in their future,
they saw some Grammy awards.

*Unless your name is Paul Simon

As you’ve gathered, there are seven total chords in a given chord family. For run-of-the-mill popular songs (in a major key using non-jazzy chords), these are the seven chords:

I – ii – iii – IV – V – vi – vii°

And here’s how to decode the roman numerals:
Capitalized = Major
Lower-case = Minor
Lower-case with a ° = Diminished

Your life will be easier if you take a moment to memorize this pattern. I often think of music in terms of colors, so try this: The I, IV, and V chords are major. They’re the blond girls in the chord family—like Marcia, Jan, and Cindy in the Brady Bunch. The other chords are minor, represented by the dark-haired boys. I know, I know, hair color has no bearing on personality. Sheesh, I’m just trying to teach a little music theory here….

This leaves the vii° chord, the oddball of the family. Remember Cousin Oliver, the little kid who came in for the last season of The Brady Bunch to boost ratings? He was cute but didn’t quite fit. Likewise, the diminished chord, with its dissonant, jazzy sound, doesn’t fit in most straightforward rock and folk songs (not to diminish diminished chords—they’re common in blues and jazz, and many songwriters like Paul Simon use them beautifully).

So to review, say this aloud a few times: “One, major. Two and three, minor. Four and five, major. Six, minor. Seven, Oliver. I mean, diminished.”

Now that you’ve memorized that pattern, figure out the seven chords in the key of C chord family. To do this, just run up the C major scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, B), turning each note into a chord. You should get:

C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim.

Now let’s try the key of G. This is little tricky, because once you deviate from the key of C, you need to know what “sharps” or “flats” are in your scale. For instance, in the key of G, you have an F#, not an F. Knowing this, can you figure out the chord family for the key of G?

G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F#dim.

There’s a trick to memorizing the sharps and flats in all keys, and also an amazing little diagram called the Circle of Fifths that does it for you, but both of these are beyond the scope of this newsletter, so here’s a chart of the major scales in all keys (as a .pdf if you want to print, and here if you don’t). Read left to right.

Ready to try a practice activity?

Print out one of the following songs from my website. They’re all in the key of G. Next to each chord, write the roman numeral identifying the role that chord plays in the chord family. For example, you’re going to write “IV” next to all the C chords. Then choose a new key from the five most common guitar keys (C,A,G,E, or D), and transpose the song (change its key). Use that major scale chart to help you. For instance, if you wanted to change to the key of A, you’d write “D” next to all C chords, because D is the IV chord in the key of A. Now play the song in its new key to confirm you did it right.

“Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan
“Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison
“Island in the Sun” by Weezer
“Out on the Weekend” by Neil Young

Hungry for more? Try writing a song by picking a key (C and G are easiest) and using chords in that key’s family. It often sounds good to use primarily I, IV, and V chords, with an occasional minor chord thrown in to balance out the sweetness. There are no hard rules in songwriting of course—if you feel so compelled, start your masterpiece with a diminished chord. I’m sure Henri will be very impressed.

This newsletter is a follow-up to last week’s issue, when I tried to convince you all that learning about chord families was worth your time. Now that you’re all raring to go, let’s check out those I – IV – V chords in more detail.

But first, I need to ask all you jazz geniuses to take a deep breath and prepare yourselves for a few expedient simplifications and omissions.

In last week’s issue, I told you about the most common chord progression in popular music: I – IV – V (pronounced “One, four, five”). Today I’d like to teach you an easy way of figuring out I – IV – V chords for a given key. By the end of the lesson, you’ll be able to play “Twist and Shout” in five different keys without using a capo. C’mon and work it on out!

So let’s say you’re at a party and someone in the live band gets wind you play some guitar. The shove a Rickenbacker in your hand, and call out, “Twist and Shout in the key of C!”

Here’s what you do. First, you know that “Twist and Shout” is one of those I – IV – V songs because of my last newsletter. So you just need to find those chords for the key of C.

The I chord is easy–it’s the chord the key is named after: C. The IV chord and V chord can be found by reciting your musical ABC’s while counting on your fingers:

C = 1  < -- That’s your I chord
D = 2
E = 3
F = 4  <-- That’s your IV chord
G = 5  <-- That’s your V chord

So C - F - G are the I - IV - V chords for the key of C. Let’s say it turned out that C was too low for the singer at that party, and he wants to try the key of E now. Make sure to jump back to A after G.

E = 1  <-- That’s your I chord
F = 2
G = 3
A = 4  <-- That’s your IV chord
B = 5  <-- That’s your V chord

E - A - B. This simple technique works for the most common keys played on the guitar: The keys that spell the word CAGED. See if you can find the I - IV - V chords in each of those five keys. To see if you’re right, try playing the following strumming pattern. It should sound like Twist and Shout, no matter what key you’re playing in:

I       IV    V                   < -- That’s where you make the chord changes
D   D   D D   D   D D D D D D D   <-- D’s mean strum down
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +   <-- Those are the beats

Next week, I’ll show you how to find the other chords in a given chord family, which will open up whole new worlds of songwriting and key-changing bliss.

And now, it’s time for a Heartwood Headscratcher(TM)!

What do these four recordings have in common:

“Wild Thing” by The Troggs
“Twist and Shout” by The Beatles
“La Bamba” by Los Lobos
“Always With Me, Always With You” by Joe Satriani

A) Each has been banned by radio stations for having obscene lyrics.
B) They’re the four songs most likely to inspire people who shouldn’t be drinking or dancing to do both.
C) Joe who?
D) Each features the most common chord progression in popular music: I – IV – V.

ANSWERS:
A) Incorrect! You’re thinking of “Louie Louie,” which was banned after the F.B.I. concluded that Jack Ely’s almost completely unintelligible singing was lewd. The song proved to be an auditory Rorschach test—the actual lyrics are tamer than a guide dog.
B) Incorrect! No one listens to Joe Satriani anymore except guitar geeks like me and you.
C) Ok, maybe it’s just me.
D) Correct! Which leads us to this week’s tip…

If you’ve been playing guitar a while, you’ve probably noticed that certain chords seem to go together. For instance, if you’re playing a song in the key of G, chances are you’re going to encounter C, D, and Em too. That’s because those chords belong in the chord family of the key of G.

And there are three chords within any family that really stick together: The I, IV, and V chords. Think of them as inseparable siblings. Just to get you started hearing these chord relationships, play an A, D, and E chord, one after the other. Now play G, C, and D. Now try D, G, and A. Hear a similarity? You just played a I – IV – V progression in three different keys.

Knowing your chord families is really helpful. “But Rob,” I hear you saying, “I had a hard enough time remembering names at my own family reunion in St. Louis last summer. Why should I press my luck with someone else’s family?”

I hear you. I frequently have to count back when someone asks my age. But because popular songs are often comprised just of chords in a single chord family, knowing this stuff makes it much easier to figure out songs by ear, compose your own music, and change songs to other keys. And it’s really not that hard to learn the basics.

One more parallel between chord families and real families: both are often enjoyed most in small doses, so I’ll wait ‘til next week to give you a good overview of how the whole system works.

Bending is the art of stretching a string to raise the pitch. Bends create a moaning or wailing sound associated with the blues, but can bring expressiveness and style to pretty much any type of music. A few well-place bends can turn “Mary Had a Little Lamb” into “Mary Had a Little Lamborghini.”

Don’t know a bent string from a bent nail? Here’s how to get started:

1. Grab the neck of your guitar like a baseball bat, with your thumb draped over the top.

2. Line up your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fingers on the 2nd string, so that your 1st finger’s on the 6th fret, your 2nd finger’s on the 7th fret, and your 3rd finger’s on the 8th fret.

3. Pick the 2nd string.

4. Push the string up toward the ceiling with all three fingers, while sustaining pressure against the fretboard with your 3rd finger (so that the note continues to ring).

5. Disinfect and bandage wound.

And here are some general guidelines for bending:

1. Unless your name starts with Popeye and ends with The Sailor Man, you’re going to have trouble bending notes on an acoustic guitar if it has typical (medium-gauge) strings. You can certainly try 1/2-step bends on the first or second strings, but anything else is going to make you wish you ate more spinach.

2. Even on an electric guitar with lightish strings (first string gauge .08-.10), bending requires some serious force, so for most bends, line up your first, second, and third fingers on the same string. The third finger is the one fretting the note, but all three fingers push the string.

3. Scientists have proven that having a pained expression makes bends sound better. Which shouldn’t be a problem—unless you’ve got calluses of Kevlar, your fingertips will provide plenty of inspiration.

4. You’ll notice that other strings tend to get in the way when you bend a string up. Try not to let them slip under your fingertips, or over the back of the nail. In both cases, those strings will make noise when you release the bend. Instead, the strings should pile up against your fingertips.

5. Usually, you’re going to want to bend a note up to to a specific pitch—either a half-step (one note) or a whole-step (two notes) higher. This means you need to train your ear to recognize the proper pitch you’re bending to. To do this, first play the target note, and then try to reach the same pitch when bending. For example, if you’re bending a note on the 3rd string, 5th fret up a whole step, first listen to the note on the 3rd string, 7th fret.

If you’d like to learn more about bending, or see proper hand position, check out this good lesson on YouTube.

Enjoy the music,

Rob

As some of you may have noticed, I’m now writing a weekly newsletter. If you’re interested in subscribing, you can learn more here, or just scroll down on the main blog page and find the form in the right-hand column. I hope you’ll check it out. I’m really psyched about it.

When I think that the content of the newsletter might inspire some discussion, I’ll post it in my blog so that people can leave comments. Here’s the first issue—hair combed, backpack on, lunchbox in hand:

Dear Musicians,

I love power chords. They’re so easy to play, yet so useful, that some guitarists spend a lifetime playing little else (not that I would recommend this). If a jazz chord is a Shakespearian love sonnet, then a power chord is a big, wet kiss.

Here are more reasons to love power chords:

1. Beginners can play them using just one fingering. To change chords, just scoot up and down the neck. Stick to power chords with a root note (the lowest note) on the 6th string at first—they’re easier. And if you lower your 6th string to a D (called drop-D tuning), you can play power chords with one FINGER by barring the 6th, 5th, and 4th strings.

2. Power chords sound great with lots of distortion. “Normal” major and minor chords have three kinds of notes: A 1st, a 3rd, and a 5th (they’re called triads for this reason). These notes normally sound lovely together, but when you crank up distortion, the 3rd creates all this muddy dissonance. Power chords have no 3rd—they’re made of just 1sts and 5ths, which is why they’re notated with a 5 (as in A5 or G5).

3. Power chords are neither major nor minor. If the keyboard player is playing Am, you can play A5. Now she’s switching to an A major chord? Keep chugging on A5—you need to save energy for that 10-minute solo coming up…

4. Power chords aren’t just for long-tressed hessians. They were the first kind of harmony, after the octave, to be accepted by composers of Gregorian chants.

Don’t know a power chord from a Power Ranger? Here’s some tablature. The notes in parentheses are optional.

Here’s more information on power chords.