FREE LESSON – KEYSTRINGS METHOD
KEYSTRINGS™ TO
THE RESCUE
This
is the short version of All About KeyStrings, adapted
for left handed guitar players.
KeyStrings is a whole new set of position markers for the
fingerboard. KeyStrings adapts the piano
key pattern of black and white notes to the guitar. Check out the simplified diagram, laid out right to left for left-handed
players:
The
big difference is that the guitar position markers are aligned with each string, so they mark notes directly. The group of two is adapted to the
fingerboard using semi-circle shaped position markers, and the group of three
is distinguished by a triangle, square, triangle shaped group of position
markers. The notes are laid out in the
opposite direction to a piano keyboard to be consistent with a left-handed
guitar. Key in on the
square-shaped position marker.
The musical alphabet starts with A, just above the square. The note D can be recognized as being in between
the group of two semi-circle shaped markers, or just above the marker shaped
like a D.
This
Key to KeyStrings™ diagram shows just part of one string. KeyStrings™
places position markers everywhere the black key notes are, throughout the
entire fingerboard.
If
you already know the piano key code for locating notes, then you will instantly
recognize all the notes on the fingerboard!
If you are just learning the notes, refer again to the picture above, and remember there are
just seven note names to learn: A
through G. Pick your favorite note, such
as G. G is always the fret-space immediately to the right of any square-shaped
position marker. Compare this to the years of practice to accomplish the same feat using
the old position markers.
With
about five minutes of memorization where the seven white key notes are, a
player will be able to locate every note throughout the fingerboard. Amazing and simple at the same time.
For now, you can try out
this system for yourself using ultra-removable labels. The labels may be ordered
on this website. But what you
really want is for your new guitar to come with these position markers embedded
in the fingerboard! This marking system
is not training wheels that you throw out later. You
will want this reference system permanently on your guitar, just like piano
players will never give up their black keys!
Look
for KeyStrings™ to become the new standard in position markers for guitars, and
all stringed instruments. It just makes
too much sense!
TRY IT OUT
If you have the labels, you
are ready to try KeyStrings™.
Check out the helpful hints for placing the KeyStrings™ labels on your
guitar fingerboard, and place the labels on your fingerboard.
Now that your guitar is
marked with KeyStrings™, let’s put this tool to work.
The method used here was
developed especially to take advantage of the power of KeyStrings. It is an abbreviated method designed to get
you playing quickly. You can use this
instruction even without KeyStrings on your guitar, because it includes many
generic patterns and chords. At the end
of the lesson, the value of KeyStrings should be very clear, but you can try it
and decide for yourself!
OVERVIEW. The power in this method is what KeyStrings
allows you to do with generic, movable single-note patterns and chords. The method uses just a few patterns and
chords, but ones which you can use in a great variety of playing
situations. KeyStrings unlocks the
mystery by showing exactly where the
notes are on the fingerboard. Then
you can place your generic pattern or bar chord right where you want it, right
in key. Do you want to play a blues
pattern in the key of Em? KeyStrings
tells you where. Want to play it in an
obscure key like Dbm?
KeyStrings makes it easy. The
method begins with some commonly used patterns and chords, and then finishes up
with the KeyStrings position markers which will show you right where to play
these scales and chords in any key.
OTHER
RESOURCES. I won’t take
the time here to cover the basic materials that you can get in many good
instruction books. I recommend you buy
one of these books for reference on guitar tuning, the parts of the guitar,
finger position, and chord references.
One I especially like is Ernie Ball Phase 1 How to Play Guitar
(Ernie Ball Publishing, 1992). An
electronic tuner is also a worthwhile investment. Concentrate on following good technique,
because good habits will make your playing much easier later on.
BACKGROUND. You will need to be familiar with a
fingerboard diagram, so let’s cover that first.
The
trick to remember is that the “top” of the diagram is actually the LOWER part
of the fingerboard when you are playing.
If you picture the diagram lying flat on a table, just remember that the
edge of the diagram that is “closest” to you is the part of the fingerboard
closest to you when playing—the low pitch E string. Talk about confusing to explain…it might seem
upside down for a while, but just try it out and you will get used to it.
Let’s
start with some single note playing patterns you can use to create different “soundscapes” on the guitar.
We’ll start with the ones most commonly used. These patterns show up in rock, blues, folk,
country, and Eastern styles of music.
The
beautiful thing about the guitar is that once you learn a pattern, you can use
it in any different key of music. The
patterns and chords are movable. The
catch is knowing where the “keys” are--that’s where KeyStrings™ will come in,
but more on that later.
START THE
KEYSTRINGS METHOD
For
left-handed players, refer to the picture of the right hand to learn your
finger numbers.
Finger
numbers.
Once
in position, each finger has its own territory, or fret-space, that it is
responsible for. (Note: this may be hard at first, especially for
your 3rd and 4th fingers, but they will get stronger the
more you play.) Match up your four
fingers with four fret-spaces wherever you want to play the pattern.
IMPORTANT: THE
TONIC FOR WHAT AILS YOU
In the KeyStrings method and
diagrams below, the notes with the black
circles are called the tonic notes of the pattern, or scale. The tonic is what the notes are “anchored”
on. The tonic is the foundation that the
pattern / soundscape / scale “house” is built on. If you were playing this pattern with other
musicians in a group, the tonic would also be the letter name of the chord, or
key, that the musicians are playing together.
While the group plays on the E minor (Em) chord, you play notes from the
Em blues scale, and it will sound good.
In the patterns given below,
start out playing the patterns on the left side of the page first, playing the
notes one at a time. Pick any fret-space you want to start on
when playing these patterns—for now it will all be relative. Up high on the fingerboard is easier because
your fingers won’t need to reach as far.
Play the notes of the
pattern by starting on the low pitch E string.
Press the indicated finger down on the fret-spaces marked with circles,
and pluck the string with the pick in your left hand to play each note. Work your way up the pattern from right to
left, and switching down to the next (higher pitch) string as you go. Then play the last (highest pitch) note again
and work back down to the start. For
example, the Major scale pattern starts out with Finger 2 on the E string going
to Finger 4, then Finger 1 picks up on the next string down (A string).
After you get tired of going
up and down, try picking any note and combinations of notes, one at a time,
playing whatever sounds good to you.
When you are comfortable with the patterns on the left side of the page,
try the full range patterns on the right.
These are the same scales but just continued through all the strings.
REFLECT ON
THIS…
Take
a moment to pat yourself on the back. By learning four different patterns, you
just learned at least (4x12=) 48 different scales. One for each note of the chromatic scale. Now all
you need to know is where in the world those 12 notes are on the fingerboard. This is where KeyStrings™ comes in.
Let’s
look at the Major scale pattern again.
To play a D Major scale, position your right hand fingers so that the
black circle (tonic) of the pattern is anchored on the note D on the
guitar. Where is D? Look along the low pitch E string for the
group of two (semi-circle) position markers.
D is the fret-space in between these two (see Key to KeyStrings diagram). Now play the pattern “anchored” on the tonic
D. Have a friend “chord along” with a D
chord, and you are making music! This
will work best with the pentatonic scale.
Or play the blues scale with your friend playing a minor chord
accompaniment. If your friend plays an
Am chord, you anchor your Am blues pattern on the note A. The note A is always the fret-space immediately to the left of any square-shaped
position marker.
SOME SHORT
CUTS
If
you play piano, you are ahead of the game because you can read notes and know
all the scales…so if you want, you can just go for it since you can instantly
recognize where the notes are. If you
don’t play piano, here are a few short cuts for fun.
1. C Major Scale. Anchor on C (first note in front of the group
of two position markers). Play only
unmarked fret-spaces. These are all the
white keys of the piano.
2. A minor Scale. Anchor on A and play the same notes as for C
Major (white keys only).
3. G Pentatonic Scale. Anchor on G and play any note that is ½ step
higher (one fret-space to the left) of any marked note.
4. E minor Blues. Same as G Pentatonic, anchor on E, and add
the note D to the scale.
5. F# Pentatonic Scale. Anchor on F# and play only marked notes (all
black keys). Only problem is, there are
not many songs written in that key!
You’ll do much better in the key of G.
That
should be enough single-note picking work for now. Let’s move on to some chords. I will concentrate on bar chords, because
that is where KeyStrings™ is especially helpful.
Going
back to the fingerboard diagrams, try the chord forms shown. Again, these
can be played any where you choose on the fingerboard. As before, the tonic note of the chord is
shown with a solid black circle. There
are two things for you to remember as you learn each chord. (1) The fingering/shape of the chord. (2) Remember the most convenient string that
has the tonic note.
E
string Tonic. E string Tonic.
This major chord, and the
minor chord below are the bread and butter of guitar bar chords, so work hard
to learn them.
G string Tonic.
A (or G) string
Tonic.
On
the harder versions of the Major and Minor chords above, try locking your 2-3-4
fingers in their relative position, and alternate between playing the Major
chord and the Minor chord. You will see
that the chords are very similar.
G string
Tonic. E
(or D) string Tonic.
I
like the symmetry of the above two chords, which makes them easy to remember.
E string
Tonic. E string Tonic.
The
above two minor 7 chords are two of my personal favorites. These same forms can also be used as a Major
6 chord, but the tonic would be on the G string instead of the E string.
D
string Tonic. E string Tonic.
Another
beautiful and simple chord, along with a favorite of many for the electric
guitar.
THE POWER OF
KEYSTRINGS
For any bar chord form that you
like, pay attention to which string has the black circle. The
black circle is the tonic note, which is the letter name of the chord. So when the music asks you to play an Ab minor7 chord, just grab the minor7 bar chord form. The tonic for this chord form is on the E
string, so line up the chord with Ab on the E
string. KeyStrings™ tells you that Ab is at the square-shaped position marker. It works that easily for obscure chords, and
it works like a breeze for your more common chords like C, D, E, G, A, and B.
Why is this section so
short? It’s because KeyStrings is so
very simple. Once you learn the KeyStrings note code, you are on your
way!
So have fun with KeyStrings™
and watch for a new generation of stringed instruments to come to your local
music store. Watch for the patent
pending position markers that unlock the mystery of the fingerboard!
HELPFUL HINTS FOR PLACING LABELS
***MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT SCALE/SIZE GUITAR FOR THE
LABELS***
1. Turn the label sheet sideways so “START HERE
WITH LABEL 1” is in the lower left corner.
2. Start with Label 1 for fret-space 1. Fret-space 1 is right next to the nut (end of
the fingerboard near the tuners).
3. Feed the label in between the strings and the
fingerboard, keeping the label close to the strings so the label doesn’t stick
before you want it to. Use the fingers
of your other hand above the strings, to keep the leading edge of the label
from curling up between the strings.
4. If the label sticks too soon, pull it back
towards you to get it to release, and then keep threading it through. You can use a flat piece of plastic, such as
a driver’s license, to stick to the leading edge and guide it through from the
opposite side…and to jockey the label into place.
5. Position the label so that there are no edges
hanging off the edge of the fingerboard, and so the label nestles between the
frets.
6. Once in place push the label down on the
fingerboard completely.
7. Continue the process until you have placed
all the labels you have room for on your guitar (you may not need all of the
labels).
8. Smooth down the edges of the labels all along
the fingerboard.
REMOVING THE LABELS
These labels have a very light adhesive and are not
meant to be re-applied once removed. If you do want to remove the labels, you can
use a flat plastic implement to dislodge and remove each label. A plastic driver’s license works pretty well. Don’t use anything hard or sharp which could
scratch your fingerboard.