Unlock the Neck (12 Keys)
Introduction!
In this lesson, we are adapting a Joe Satriani-inspired jam that will help you get confident playing with other musicians, help you to improve your timing, and apply your fretboard knowledge in a real-world setting. Many guitarists know where some of the notes are on the fretboard but struggle to use them as much as they’d like in practice. If that is you, this lesson will help.
Level 1
Let’s begin in a simple way. There are 8 bars of music here. Every two bars use two different chords from a specific key of music. The idea is that you play the ‘root notes’ for each chord while I strum them. Make sure you use the PDF and the prompts on the screen. Keep at it with this lesson and if you do so, you will get more confident jamming and playing music with others!
Level 2
For level 2, we develop the idea from Level 1, but here we are using more ‘flat’ keys and notes. A ‘flat’ is simply shown by a ‘b’ symbol and it means you take a note and lower it by one fret. E.g. on the low E string at fret 7 is the note of B, and on fret 6 is the note of Bb. Watch the video for more detail on this and how to get jamming in flat keys.
Level 3
Now, we move on and use more ‘sharp’ keys and notes. A ‘sharp’ (shown by the ‘#’ symbol) is the opposite of a flat, and it is when we raise the pitch of a note by one fret. E.g. if, on the low E string,
- Fret 3 = G
- Fret 4 = G#
An Important Summary
In this video, we recap the above and I give you some exciting ideas on how you can take what you’ve learnt and develop it further in a variety of ways!
I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Don’t forget to leave a comment below and share your thoughts on this lesson. Most of all, enjoy!