Learning Basic Minor Chords

Learning Minor chords (often referd to as 'm' or 'min' chords) can add a little bit more feeling and meaning into your song. In this post, we'll learn the basic minor chords. Minor chords are easy to remember and don't change much from their original Major to the the Minor. The text to the left of each picture helps guide you on where to place your fingers and which strings to strum. If you get stuck or the chord doesn't sound right, re-revise the guide. Practice makes perfect!

Am Chord:

-Place your index finger on the second string of the first fret.
-Place your middle finger on the fourth string of the second fret.
-Place your ring finger on the third string of the second fret.
-Gently strum 5 of the strings missing the first lower pitched note.

Once that sound good try the next one...

Em Chord:

-Place your middle finger on the fourth string of the second fret.
-Place your Index finger on the fifth string of the second fret.
-Gently strum all the strings.

Hey, that was easy. Lets try a Dm...

Dm Chord:

-Place your Index finger on the first string of the first fret.
-Place you middle finger on the third of the second fret.
-Place your pinkie/baby finger on the first string of the third fret.
-Strum 4 of the strings missing the first low pitched ones.

Simple! And there you have the easiest Minor chords to learn.
Tips:

• Try to add minor chords into your chorus to give a bigger emotional effect.
• Use a small amount of minor chords in verse to give it a little sparkle.

Thanks for visiting. Keep checking back for new posts!

Guitar Chords

--This post is for 'Begginner Guitartists' Only--

If you are new to Guitar, you may find this post usefull. If you struggle to understand a word, check out the glossary.

Pressing On a String-
Make sure you press hard on the strings for the chord you are trying to play. When you have all your fingers positioned, pluck each string. Each string should have a nice ring to it. If a string doesn't have a nice ring to it, consider pressing harder and check that no other fingers are touching that string.

G Major Chord-
This chord is commenly used in 'Pop' songs. To play it:

-Place your pinkie finger on the first string of the third fret.
-Place your index finger on the fifth string of the second fret.
-Place your middle finger on the sixth string of the third fret.
-Make sure your fingers are placed tightly.
-Use the thumb of your strumming hand or an acoustic guitar to gently strum all the notes together.

If it does not sound right or if it sounds bad, re-revise the G Major Chord before proceeding.

C Maj Chord-
This chord is also most commonly used in pop songs. To play it:

-Place your index finger on the second string of the first fret.
-Place your middle finger on the fourth string of the second fret.
-Place your ring finger on the fifth string of the third fret.
-Again, use a guitar pick or your strumming thumb to play all the notes.

Keep practicing until it sounds clean. Then you should process onto the D Maj Chord.

D Maj Chord-
The D Maj Chord is one of the four most common chords for pop songs. To play it:

-Place your pinkie/baby finger on the second string of the third fret.
-Then place your middle finger on the first string of the second fret.
-Place your Index finger on the third string of the second fret.
NOTE: When you strum this chord, only play the first 5 strings (missing the deepest string.)

Done? OK, now for the A Chord.

A Maj Chord-
This chord can be played in many differnt ways. If you feel like taking on a challenge, you can bar this chord. If not then you can play it with three fingers. Two ways of playing it:

Easier Way to play A Maj:
-Place your ring finger on the second string of the second fret.
-Place your middle finger on the third string of the second fret.
-Place your Index finger on the fourth string of the second fret.
-Strum the same strings as the D Maj Chord (miss deeper note)

Harder Way to play A Maj:
-Bar your Index and Middle finger over the second, third and fourth string.
-Strum the same as the D Maj Chord.

Once succeeded, continue onto the E maj Chord -->

E Maj Chord-
Let's try an E Maj now.

It's nothing too hard, pretty simple stuff!

-Place your index finger on the third string of the first fret.
-Then place your ring finger on the fourth string of the second fret
-Now place your middle finger on the fifth string of the second fret.

Strum all the strings. Perfect! Let's move onto one of the most dreaded chords. The F Maj Chord!

F Maj Chord-
OK, now this is the chord people tend to hate most. The F. If you ever ask a professional how to play this chord, they would press down a whopping '6' strings! I will show you how to play the hard way, then i'll show you an alternate method if you struggle too much!

Hard Way to play F Maj Chord:

There are many finger techniques to tactically play all these strings together. If you are new to guitar, i don't reccommend trying it.




Easy alternate Method:
This is strongly reccomended.

With Barring:
-Bar first and second string with your index finger on the first fret.
-Place middle finger on the third string on the second fret.
-Place your ring finger on the fourth string of the third fret.
Strum all the strings.

Without Barring:
-Place your Indexfinger on the second string of the first fret.
-Place your middle finger on the first string of the first fret.
-Place your ring finger on the third string of the second fret.
-Finally place your pinkie/baby finger on the fourth string of the third fret.



So now you should have masterd each chord. Yuo have? Well Done!

Check out my next post wiothin the next 24 hours to learn some strumming techniques!

Mrdeano3000william@hotmail.co.uk

Structuring Songs

OK, so you have hauled in all of your ideas from your very own brain. What now? Now it is time to structure your sentences for the song. (when i say example, it means you should do the same with your work)

What you will need:
-Concentration
-To have completed the article: 'Where can i get my song ideas'
-Imagination
-Pen
-Paper

Following on from the last post, I asked you to create some sentences for your songs verse out of the unedited keywords you found. So you should have in front of you a piece of paper with lots of well structured sentences that have relation to the story you are trying to tell in your song. Yes? Great! So lets begin structuring verses and chorus'!

In this case I will use my example from the last post which was me in a forest. OK, so i had myself lying in a forest, surrounded by trees, wind blowing through my hair, leaves swooping across my cheek and birds tweeting in my notes. Here are some structured sentences i made into a verse:

Notice how i ordered the sentences into a short paragraph to create a verse that makes sense. This structure tells the listener that the writer was lying in the woods, far away from people. The he goes on the describe more of his surroundings and tells us what the birds are doing and that its windy with leaves blowing about.
Chorus:
You should now have two well put together verses, that make sense one after the other. It's time to add in your chorus. Usually in pop songs, choruses stay the same and repeat throughout the song. The chorus is the heart of your song and should be catchy, snappy and have a 'easy-to-remember' tune. A dull chorus impacts a dull finish to your work.

The chorus should be put together in the same way as the verses. The only difference is that you want to make sure that the chorus puts across the main message you want the listener to hear.

So if the message you want to get across in your song is that, for example: your going to 'miss' a loved one, you should include something along the lines of ''And i will really miss you when your gone'' or if your songs about hate you could do ''And you can never be forgiven!''. But bear in mind that these are only examples and you should use your own mind to make an even better creation!

A last note is that, choruses tend to be more appreciative in the way that they normally stand-out more, and change key to give dramatic effects. (Which will be explained in later posts!)

After your chorus has been assembled, add it after your second verse. Now lets not let those left-over structured sentences go to waste, construct another verse or two out of your leftover sentences and add them after your chorus.

Your structure should look along the lines of this:

Looking good so far? Yes? Perfect!

Carry on reading to find out how to end your master piece!







Ending the song:
You have finally made it to have written your very own song. Hang on though, you haven't finished just yet! You need to somehow bring your musical adventure to a close!

Depending on the style of your song and how YOU want it to be should determine the ending. For an example we will take two already written songs, one love and one thats a bit more aggressive in a style of rock.

Love - Can you feel the love tonight - Elton John:
The ending is soft, and finishes the song in a nice way. Usually songs like this repeat the last line of the chorus softly to gently add a finishing touch.

Aggresive - Beverly Hills - Weezer:
The ending in this type of song usually finishes off in a very powerfull line of lyric. The lyric is often the last of a chorus.

So depending on which mood your song is, choose a good way to end it gently or powerfully. Although this is highly reccomended, it's your song and you can take it anywhere you please.

So now you song should be complete with the following:

Verse 1 - Introduces
Verse 2 - Provides Information
Chorus - Gets across the main message
Verse 3 - Provides Even more emotion and Information
Final Chorus - Uses a finishing touch bases on the type on song.

If you have successfully accomplished this then your ready to start adding instruments. You can find further tutorials later on on adding instruments to your peice of work!

Any questions: Mrdeano3000william@hotmail.co.uk

--Fair comments and improvement suggestions are welcome--

Where can i get my song ideas?

When any person, whether being a singer, guitarist or pianist decides to write a song; it is common to have exhausted all of your ideas. So you might be sitting there pulling your hair out in frustration because your struggling over how to start or new ideas. If so read-on and try my new technique.

Requirements:
-Pen
-Paper
-A Bit Of Spare Time
-Thought
-Patience
-Imagination

Option 1:
The first step sounds simple and it is. Try this when your family is out or when nobody can distract you. All you need to do is sit in the garden, on a park bench or even lie on a Field and relax. (be sure to bring your paper and pencil) I usually sit in my garden. Take a deep breath and try to notice things more. Using a pencil, jot down keywords or even short phrases to do with what you feel about your surroundings.

For example, pretend I'm in a large forest on a very windy day. I could jot down keywords like woodland, breeze, chill, goosebumps, leaves, birds. I could jot down short phrases like 'the breeze is running through my hair' or 'goosebumps trickling up my spine'.

After you have run out of ideas from your surroundings, head back into your own personal space and look to see what you have written down. These random keywords and phrases are what you call 'raw material' which means that you can make something out of them. In this case you would be making songs out of them.

Try and transpose some of your raw material to make unique sentences for you song, don't worry about the order of the sentences you make, just assure they make sense.

The big 'DON'T!':
Do not use the same words in your sentences unless on purpose or unless you intend to use them in the chorus of your song.

To learn more about songwriting, check out the other posts. I intend to create tutorials on topics like, structuring songs, adding instruments to your creations, singing, mood setting and lots more! So don't forget to keep checking back!

If you have any questions feel free to contact 'mrdeano3000william@hotmail.co.uk' anytime.