Artwork by Jesse Wright
I learned how to play in order to sing the songs I heard in Greenwich Village in the late 1950's into the early 60's. They were a different kind of song than the Doo Wop songs I sang in Brooklyn with my friends. They were songs that made me think and even confirmed many of my own theories about Human Beings and what we were supposed to be.
So I wanted to learn fast. I wanted my friends in Brooklyn to hear these songs, I thought they might hear what I heard and felt them, And many of them did. Through the years many young people have asked if I teach the guitar, but being on the road since 1967 and still going, I didn't have the time. So this page is dedicated to all those young guys out there wishing to sing their songs in a couple of days.
In most of the songs we like, there are very few chords being played. So, you could and should only start with songs you love... that's the fastest way to learn to play you will ever find.
There are pictures to help you make the necessary sounds for you to start singing your favorite songs. Just follow the instructions and I'll be in the audiance seeing you on stage in the near future.
Tuning your guitar
There are many open tunings you could experiment with but
they require you to use your fingers as in normal tuning, this method is very
simple and does not require learning countless positions. My way of playing
requires very few fingering positions and very little time to learn them so you
could be playing the songs you love in a matter of hours.
How I tune
I tune my guitar in an open D tuning, which is in the structure of an E chord,
of a correctly tuned guitar. I tune down to the key of D....
D A D F# A D ...from top to bottom
Use a
tuner or a pitch pipe to help you tune if you do not know anything about musical notes&
or a piano will do. Once you have achieved this you are ready
to be the next singer / songwriter on your street. Your friends won't believe
it& . That's the way it happened to me. The main thing is that you
have fun doing it.
I have found many of the chords I play, by looking for
sounds I liked& you too should not stop at just learning what is on this
page. You will discover sounds I have not& i'm sure...
With the following few Chord configurations you will be able to sing thousands of songs... if you want to know that many :)
But for now,just learn how
to put you fingers... to get the
sounds
This is a Major chord on any fret on the neck
I am playing all strings
This is a Major 7th on all frets on the neck
I am playing the bottom string, one fret below my barred chord
This is a Major 9th anywhere on the neck
I am playing the bottom string 2 frets above my barred chord
Major 9th chord:
This chord is what I call a color chord& one you can use to add flavor to
the natural major chord. You can experiment as to where you might think they
bring the mood you need to color the melody you are singing. This chord
fingering will also produce a major 9th anywhere on the neck you play it. It
can also be used to play passing note changes between verses of a songs when
you are not singing.
Example: Try playing the major 9th and then
the major 7th barring the same chord, you
will hear the notes changing within the same major chord and it will become
clear as to what you might do with them within a song you like to sing. I
personally use these changes spontaneously when the feeling hits me, it keeps
songs fresh and you will never get tired of them. You will tend towards personal
moods of the day and your music will reflect the day spontaneously and will
always have a newness that an audience will also feel.
This is a Minor Chord on any fret on the neck
I am playing the third string one fret below my barred chord
This
i call a
mystery chord configuration.
I use it as a resolving chord. don't really know what it is. it's a tough one. It is
played By holding down the three top strings in a fret with your thumb and the
bottom three strings two frets below your thumb...with whatever finger works...
and then resolving the chord by playing the 5 top strings and just the bottom
one... two frets below the chord... you may need a big hand to play it or a
thin-neck guitar... good luck.
Open D thumb suspension series
Starting
at the octave of the open chord (12th fret) use your thumb to hold down
the top four strings& you have a D chord with the bottom strings
acting as the suspension.
This is the chord configuration I use to play "Here Comes the Sun",
taking my finger off and on while rhythmically strumming. This configuration
can be played on several frets creating a series of changing chord as you
descend the neck of the guitar while maintaining the D as the suspended sound.
The difference is that instead of fingering the bottom strings , you are using
your thumb and the top four strings. In all but two position you use four
strings.
I will let you know when we get to that page.
smile
getting bigger?
Open D thumb
suspension series
This is
the tenth fret .
Open D thumb
suspension series
This is the eigth fret This chord is actually a B minor,
I am holding down the top Three strings
Open D thumb
suspension series
This is the seventh
fret.
Open D thumb
suspension series
Also the fifth fret, not shown
here.
Open D thumb
suspension series
This is
the third fret
Open D thumb
suspension series
This is the second fret.
Open D thumb
suspension series
This is the first fret, here you play six
strings,leaving
the bottom one open, and finally strum the open chord,
touching no strings... Ahhhh that
wasn't so hard...
This ends the thumb suspension series
OPEN D as the suspension:
There are times when I do not use my thumb and these chords
are used because I can change colors while maintaining an open D chord as a
suspension. - 1st config.
Starting at the second fret, I am
holding down the bottom three strings, in the first fret I am holding down all
three strings. In the second fret I am holding down the bottom two strings
leaving the top three strings untouched creating a suspension of the D chord.
Strum all strings
Still holding down the three strings in the first fret You could then drop the finger holding the two strings to holding down just the bottom string in the second fret&As in picture above... nice sound.
Using the first configuration, slide
your fingers up the neck to frets 3 &4, (as a starting point) strum all
strings, thendrop the finger holding the
two strings to the bottom string only (strum). Then slide them down the neck to
frets 1&2 Strum all strings.
then drop the finger holding down the two strings
again to the bottom string only, Isn. t that a nice sound progression?
This fingering can be played on several additional frets on
the guitar neck as shown in the following pictures& ..I will tell you what
frets the photos are referring to since it will be hard to tell just looking at
the pictures below.
Open D as suspension
series
Try the 4th and 5th
frets
Open D as suspension
series
These are the 8th
and 9th frets
And there you have it... These are all of the
fingering I use to play all of my songs... the rest is rhythm and we've all got
that...
I will put up a song page so you can see how I play a
song I sing... soon...