ColorMusic
Education • Art • Music
229 | Play ANY stringed instrument
how to be a multi-instrumentalist
August 09, 2023
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Musicians who can play multiple instruments are amazing, right? Even the name “multi-instrumentalist” sounds impressive. So it seems their supreme talent must be equally impressive.…

But the truth is, that’s not so.

Virtually all instruments in the western world are based on the same underlying patterns. And this is definitely the case with stringed instruments in particular.

This video explains in detail:

And the following diagrams go with the video, where you can see how to play these 8 popular instruments:

When you get down to it, all 8 fingerboard are just subsets or variations of the standard guitar:

At first glance, the guitar fretboard may look like a scrambled pattern of notes. But based on the instrument’s standard tuning, the strings create a very orderly matrix.

Specifically, each string forms a chromatic scale sequence … while every fret follows a circle-of-fifths arrangement.

And this intersection of horizontal strings (chromatic scales) and vertical frets (circles of fifths) results in an an interlaced framework of notes:

This matrix of harmonically related notes informs how to play scales, modes, chords, and progressions in all keys on the guitar (which I explain is more detail in other posts — and in the full music theory course playlist).

But here, the point is that the layout of notes on the guitar is totally logical — again, based on the instruments standard tuning.

But what’s really cool is that this same relationship between the chromatic scale and circle of fifths also informs how the notes on various other stringed instruments are laid out. Because each fingerboard sits at a similar 9or somethings the same) intersection of horizontal and vertical patterns....

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354a | Creep (video)

An explanation and PDF is in the following post (354b).

00:01:14
350 | Extended chords explained

Extended chords are easy to understand -- once you know about the Circle of Thirds.

Essentially, fancy extended chords are built by adding notes incrementally from a key's Circle of Thirds. By including ever more intervals of a third, you can play increasingly more complex harmonies.

Had I only known this in the beginning!

Without the Circle of Thirds, exotic chord names seem mysterious and complicated. WITH the Circle of Thirds, however, everything clicks into place.

🎥 This short video gives you the gist.

For more details on the construction of these chords, check out Lesson 17 in the course: https://mikegeorge.locals.com/post/6051473/296-lesson-17-pdf-video

And the PDF referenced is ChordBook 2 here: https://shop.mycolormusic.com/products/colormusic%E2%84%A2%EF%B8%8F-guitar-chordbook-modebook-bundle

00:00:57
345a | Theory Course LIVE - heads up

Hey! Join Sunday's stream for the first in the Theory Course LIVE series.

We'll be going through the course lessons page-by-page, playing the exercises, etc. -- with questions, answers, and sidebars along the way. It's a new and insightful look into music theory.

(The live stream link referenced in this video is actually in the NEXT post.)

00:00:58
363 | Daily Dose

Here's a snapshot of the C Mixolydian mode -- in both pitch space (circular format) and on the guitar fretboard -- which you can play in any octave.

Mixolydian's b7 note gives the pattern a distinctively cool sound, as you can hear when you play it.

The QUESTION is, what is the source scale of this particular mode?

(Hint: Mixolydian starts on the fifth scale degree of its underlying source pattern.)

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361 | Color notation (technical knowledge)

Hey, all -- question for you:
Do you have any thoughts on ways to colorize notation?

Folks regularly ask about software to use. And because we have engineers of various types in our community here, I'm hoping some of us may have ideas, or technical know-how.

I think creating an open source tool for community members is an excellent project! It will be very powerful for dissecting and composing songs. With a tool like this, our collective knowledge will rise exponentially.

See this post for context -- and please tag us if you're interested:
https://mikegeorge.locals.com/post/6059027/hey-all-mikegeorge-ive-been-really-loving-your-lessons-ive-worked-my-way-through-12-of-them?cid=8082688

356 | Harmonic Concept

POLL: If you could master one harmonic concept, which would it be?

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365 | Theory Course LIVE - Session 6

Join us for the sixth session of the theory course live. Today, where we're talking about the visible relationships between notes and intervals. These are fundamental concepts that every songwriter MUST know.

⏰ Time: THURSDAY, May 15 at 6:00 p.m. (UTC-6)

🔗 Link to join:

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364 | Cascading Fourths

Great chord progressions are informed by the circle of fifths / fourths. By simply playing chords of successive fourths in sequence, you can make excellent music.

Weezer's song, "Island in the Sun" is a nice example.

The song cycles through a simple pattern of:  Em - Am - D - G (or chords vi - ii - V - I in the key of G). Within the circle of thirds, you can see that these harmonies progress through states of stability (vi), change (ii), tension (V), and stability once more (I).

But when you look closer at that the root notes of these chords, it's clear that the pattern follows a sequence of successive fourths (Em - Am - D - G):  yellow, orange-yellow, orange, red-orange.

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362 | Theory Course LIVE - Session 5

This week, the Theory Course live stream is on *THURSDAY*.

Join us for the fifth session, where we're talking about notes and intervals -- the true essentials of music theory.

Time: THURSDAY, May 8 at 6:00 p.m. (UTC-6)

Link to join:

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