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I’d like to give you one more thing to think about while you’re spending a bit of time getting used to what 5ths feel like. And I’d like to come at it from a different angle than what some folks suggest. First, let me lay this on you–you can already play both some major and some minor chords, right? (And just to confirm something you’ve probably already figured out, if it’s for instance called a D-chord that’s actually a D-major chord, or if it just says G that’s a G-major chord, kinda saves time. Small point. Got it? Good. Onward.) Well, have you figured out that there’s only one tiny difference between a major chord and a minor one? Absolutely. And that difference is the middle note.
Remember that a major chord is made up of three notes, that they’re notes in a major scale (the scale that starts ‘doh, re, mi…’), and that they’re the 1st, the 3rd and the 5th notes of that major scale (’doh’, ‘mi’ and ’soh’ in doh-speak). So if we’re talking about a C-major chord, and since the first five notes in the C-scale are C, D, E, F, and G, you and I can figure that a C-chord is made up of a C-note, an E-note, and a G-note. And I guarantee you that every C-major chord you ever play has only those three notes, although it might have more than one of each just to keep things interesting.
 The thing I want to focus on for the moment is the 1st and 3rd notes of that scale, the C and E-notes (the C-note is the bass note in your C-chord, and the E-note is the 2nd fret on your middle D-string, that’s the third from the bass, check out the diagram to see what I mean). First of all let’s solid up the notion that the there’s a musical distance between those two notes. That distance is called ‘a third’. Actually a major-third, but ‘third’ will do. Much like you’ve been reminding yourself that a 5th has a sound, a 3rd has a sound too. It’s sweet and pretty, whereas I think the 5th sounds kind of square and hollow, like a frame that’s going to have some walls put on it to make it a house. The 3rd is very different from that, can you hear it?
I love all kinds of intervals (that’s what the distance between any two notes is called, ‘an interval’, now you know). All the different intervals have their own sound and feeling, kind of like all the different herbs and spices have their own taste when we’re cooking. Trust me, when you’re looking for pretty, reach for a third.
 Okay, that’s all been fun, but here’s the thought I want to leave you with. If you take that note you’re playing with your second finger and move it down one fret so you’re playing a note on the first fret instead, that E-note has now been changed to an E-flat note. And if you leave the other two notes the same and play all three of these three notes now you’re playing a different chord. That chord is a C-minor chord. Cool, eh?
So the only difference between a C-major chord and a C-minor chord is that one fret, one note. In official language you’d say that to make a C-major chord into a C-minor chord you lower the 3rd by one semi-tone. So while you’re walking your way through all of those 5ths, I want you to think about what we just figured out. You already know how to play G-major and F-major chords, for instance. If you do a bit of figuring you might be able to turn them into minor chords. See if you can make sense of that thought and I’ll follow it up later. In the meantime, spend a little longer on those 5ths and then we’ll get back to sketching out chords. Have fun.
I know you’ve heard me talk about this before, but it’s worth thinking about for a bit. You’ve probably noticed that when I’m playing guitar I often play only two or three notes, sketching out a chord rather than playing every inch of it. In part that’s because I figure it leaves more room for other players to add in the notes they hear, and that makes the playing more inclusive. I also tend to think it allows the listener to fill in the spaces with their own imagination. And what I know for sure is that anything that helps the listener to be engaged in the music is a good thing. I also think that’s the same mechanism that also makes a really good, original version of a well known song so captivating. But that thought’s for another day. For now let’s just stick with that sketched out chord.
So what does it take? Well, there are a couple of things you probably already know. Like if the chord has a letter attached to it that note is probably important, right? So if you’re playing by yourself and the chord is a G-something, you need to play a G-note. See, you knew that. Yeah, alright, it means you’re going to have to figure out where the notes are on the guitar. But trust me, you don’t need to know the location of each and every G-note on the guitar. Figure out which G-note is on the bottom of your G-chord and that’ll get you where you need to go for now. And that’s the other thing you probably already know–if you’re playing a fairly normal chord chances are the lowest-sounding note is ‘doh’, which is the letter-name of the chord. So you already know where to find a bass A-note, a C-note, a B-note, a G-note, an F-note, a D-note–they’re all the lowest note of a basic chord in DADGAD. If you want to figure out where other notes show up you can count them. It’ll help things along if you can remember that there is no note between a B-note and a C-note, and there’s nothing between an E-note and an F-note (yeah, one of the few things you kinda need to flat-out memorize), but aside from that there’s a sharp or a flat between every note. You tend to use sharps when you’re going up and flats when you’re going down. Going up it’s C, C-sharp, then D and going down it’s D, D-flat, then C. C-sharp and D-flat are two different names for the same note.
If it’s a straightforward chord the next most important note is 5-notes up from the bass note (the distance between those two notes is called a 5th, easy, eh?). Remember when we’re counting in music there is no zero, so 5-notes up from our G-note is going to be a D-note (that’d be G, A, B, C, D). So the two most important notes in a G-chord would be a G-note and a D-note (of course in doh-speak that’s ‘doh’ and ’soh’, but you knew that).
So do me a favour. Before we go ahead with the rest of this thought, spend a bit of time finding ‘doh’ and ’soh’ for a bunch of the chords we’ve already gone over.
For a C-chord that’s a C-note and a G-note
For an F-chord that’s an F-note and a C-note
You can probably figure out the rest from there. Oh, and one more thing to know–it doesn’t matter whether the chord is a major chord or a minor chord, ‘doh’ and ’soh’ are still the two most important notes. So in a B-minor-chord that would be a B-note and an F-sharp-note. Anyway, spend a bit of time finding ‘doh’ (also called the ‘root’ of the chord) and ’soh’ (called the fifth) in as many chords as you can figure. Once you’ve got that down I’ll show the rest of what you need to sketch a chord.
Have fun.
A friend sent me this link a little while back. The full story really is worth reading. So many musicians have stories about airlines and instruments. Some of them are legendary. Me? Yes, I’m afraid so. It was up north, Timmins if I remember correctly. We were going to perform for the local concert society, honoured guests. Nice folks, one of them was engaging me in conversation as we stood in the building and looked through the glass at the plane we’d just flown in, waiting for the bags and my guitar. As we talked I saw the plane’s rear door open and a suitcase come flying out, do two complete rotations in the air before landing on a baggage truck below. I must’ve stiffened, I will admit I lost track of the conversation. The nice person asked me what was wrong, I couldn’t say a word as I saw a second suitcase perform the same trick, two loops and down, bang-whack. They turned to see what I was looking at, just in time to see my guitar. Yes. Tossed. Twice end over end. Whack-thump. I must’ve made a noise, but I can’t tell you what it was. Like some bizarre accident, I saw everything and nothing at the same time. I remember they drove the baggage truck up to the other side of the window, loaded all the luggage onto the rollers and it all came through to where we were standing. Neither of us said a word as I took my case from the procession, put it carefully on the ground, took a deep breath, and opened it.
Nothing. Nope, not a scratch, nothing. Honest. I know what I saw. And had a witness. And I guarantee if you or I tried the same move from the same height the instrument would be ruined. I can only surmise that the invisible tosser was a fully trained professional and was working at the height of their powers, powers that you or I could only dream of. I stand in awe. Either that or apparently miracles do still happen. Which actually makes more sense somehow.
So many stories about airlines and instruments. Funny that I’ve never once heard of an airline that responded like a decent human being. Just for the record that would be something like, “Oh dear! Did that really happen? Okay, tell you what, you send us some kind of proof of what happened and an estimate for the repair. We’ll have somebody who knows about these things go over the details. And if it all makes sense we’ll send you a cheque to cover the repair. Really sorry that it happened, but thanks for letting us make it right.”
But apparently that would be bad for business.
It’s the small things that get in the way. That was my point, I suppose. Not that I needed to hammer it, just wanted to make sure I got the thought across. We were talking about playing guitar. Like many people before, he said, “I just don’t get to it.” I asked where the guitar lived. In the case, in the closet. Okay, let’s think about this for a second. Barely enough time in a day, having to convince oneself to find even a couple of minutes to spend with the instrument. I’d managed to get across the idea that if we wait for a big block of time we’ll never get there–a couple of minutes will have to do. No really. And hey, more often than not that two minutes turns into five or ten, maybe more. Bonus. And somehow all the other life stuff still gets done. But it simply wasn’t happening.
I could just hear the thinking–I’ve got a minute, maybe I’ll play my guitar, oh I’ll have to get it out of the closet, and then it probably won’t be in tune, no I guess I don’t have enough time after all. And all that thinking would be so fast, so automatic, so wordless, that there could be no internal discussion, no appeal. And the instrument would remain untouched, eventually discarded for something more sensible.
“Take it out of its case, put the case away in the closet. Leave the guitar on the couch, on the bed, propped in a corner, anywhere that you can get to it easily. That way when the urge strikes you can get to it immediately.” He told me he was quite certain it wouldn’t make any difference. “Humour me. You’re really disappointed about this, give it a try for a couple of weeks.”
By the next visit he was convinced. “I just pick it up now, several times a day, sometimes for a lot longer than I mean to.”
We did the math, he was playing his guitar for at least ten minutes every day, a few minutes at a time, most days closer to half an hour, sometimes more. Turned out at the moment he was getting more time in on his instrument than I was.
“Before it was something I only did when the timing was perfect. Now it’s just something I do.”
My point exactly.
 Still not a series, but this is worth seeing. What we’re looking at here is the moment when I have to make a choice. It really doesn’t help much that I’m more or less in front of the guitar player this time so I can see their fingers. You see I’m playing the bass. Which means I’m supposed to show up on the downbeat. We’re in mid-swing and I’ve never played this song before. We’ve come to that point in the song where it could be a C-chord coming up, or it could just as likely be an F-chord. Or it could be where they do that fancy chord they forgot to tell me about. And when this picture was taken is at the very moment where I have to make a decision or I’m not going to make it to the downbeat on time. Place your bets. Why do these people put up with me?
Well I did get out finally, and I did see something. Nice-ish garden, dotted with sculptures. Several trunks and cases, like the ones many people used when coming here. My folks too. Turned a corner and there was this. It too is stone. Apparently it too is art. Okay, so not just history. Apparently there are parts of my life that have turned to art as well.
Yeah, I’m really not sure how I feel about all of this.
 It came to my mind in one of those moments. Working out the parts for one of the songs in the musical, and I reminded myself that when the workshop is over I’ll have to take the changes and write up a proper finished guitar chart so someone else can play it. I mean, I know that. But it wasn’t until I’d acknowledged that thought, plus maybe a couple of seconds, that it occurred to me. Wait a minute, I play guitar in a tuning which isn’t so normal. I mean it’s not as unusual as it once was, but still… Apparently I have a decision to make. Either I’m going to have to rearrange everything for a more normally tuned guitar, or I’m going to chart it up in it’s native format and expect the guitar player to either play it that way or make do. Of course then I remember that the solo guitar version, or solo piano for that matter, isn’t the end goal. It’s to disassemble the guitar part back to the original parts that it’s representing, bass, keys, percussion, horns, and yes a guitar part which would likely at that point be charted and played in standard tuning. Oh okay. The solo piano part’s gonna be a grind because I’m not fluent in the language, but all the ensemble stuff is just a matter of transcribing what I already either play or hear. But can I tell you the funny part? All this is passing through my mind as I’m trying to read and sing a vocal line not improvise it the way I usually do when I sing the song myself because right now there’s four other people singing it, and trying to play the guitar part both as written and groovy enough that there’s something coming off of it that people can work with and I’m not just making dishwasher noises, and I’m trying to read five lines of vocal score which I’m noting where I need to make corrections while listening for how all the parts are working so that when someone says did I hit the right note back there I have something vaguely intelligent to offer.
And it’s at that particular point in the proceedings that I apparently choose to begin to have complex conversations with myself.
I mean really. What’s with that?
Am I getting this across? Somebody throw me another plate. Most days I can barely do long division without tragic consequences, but the second I’ve got six plates spinning apparently some part of me way back in the lizard-brain either thinks I need more of a challenge or is bored and needs to keep busy, or both. That. What’s with that? Geez. Shut up and sing wouldja.
I mean really.
 I really had no intention of turning this into a series, but I thought the picture might be a source of some further amusement. As you know, it’s a good thing I’m not relying completely on seeing people’s fingers when they want me to play along. The view from where I stand isn’t always the most revealing. And of course learning how to read the tempo when you can’t actually hear something is another trick. I know I’m not the best at it, but people mostly don’t mind me thumping along. They’re pretty encouraging actually. I try not to disappoint, but I must admit this moment made my eyes water a little bit. That the view is from behind is normal enough, but this is a little more special. The player is left-handed. I thought it was worth documenting. Why do these people put up with me?
 Another one of those chords I haven’t had a chance to show you yet. Can be interesting with all kinds of chords, including an F-chord. I’ll have to show you a few more of the minor chords, then we can start to string a few of them together. May as well start here. Only one small change from the D-major chord I showed you back when we began all this. But a whole different sound.
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The thing I want to focus on for the moment is the 1st and 3rd notes of that scale, the C and E-notes (the C-note is the bass note in your C-chord, and the E-note is the 2nd fret on your middle D-string, that’s the third from the bass, check out the diagram to see what I mean). First of all let’s solid up the notion that the there’s a musical distance between those two notes. That distance is called ‘a third’. Actually a major-third, but ‘third’ will do. Much like you’ve been reminding yourself that a 5th has a sound, a 3rd has a sound too. It’s sweet and pretty, whereas I think the 5th sounds kind of square and hollow, like a frame that’s going to have some walls put on it to make it a house. The 3rd is very different from that, can you hear it?
Okay, that’s all been fun, but here’s the thought I want to leave you with. If you take that note you’re playing with your second finger and move it down one fret so you’re playing a note on the first fret instead, that E-note has now been changed to an E-flat note. And if you leave the other two notes the same and play all three of these three notes now you’re playing a different chord. That chord is a C-minor chord. Cool, eh?
