A guitar flash card game to write new chord progressions and overcome writer’s block

Posted on May 25, 2011May 25, 2011 by aaron@TMC

This simple game will give you a fresh way to come up with interesting chord progressions next time you’re faced with the dreaded writer’s block or want to try something different. It’s based on the word game ‘last letter’ where you say a word then the next person must come up with a word that starts with the last letter of the first word.

For example: Cat, Tiger, Rabbit, Turtle, Elephant, and so on. The difference with this game is that you will be using chords and the notes in the chords to pick the next chord.

Steps for the game:

Pick a chord
Pick the last note out of the chord (refer to the chord formula)
Pick a chord based on that note
Repeat until you have enough chords

An example using playing this game:

Let’s say the first chord we pick is Em. The chord Em uses the notes: E G B. The last note in that chord formula is B so we can pick any chord based on B now. So Lets pick B7. B7 uses the notes: B D# F# A. So the next chord will be based on A. Let’s pick Am7 which uses the notes: A C E G. For our final chord we will pick G Major.

So our chord progression will be:
Em B7 Am7 G

If you pick a chord and it ends with a note such as C# or G# and you don’t know any chords based on C# or G#, you can either pick the second last note of the chord or pick a different chord that ends in a note you’re more familiar with.

When you play through the chords you will find you either like how they sound or you don’t. Either way, try to come up with a way to make those chords work together. This is a great creative exercise to get you thinking of different ways to play chord progressions. Something as simple as this is a great way to work through any writer’s block and try something different. If you don’t like the sound of the progression and can’t get it to sound right, simply start again – it’s very simple to come up with a new progression.

How flash cards can help you

Using flash cards like the 50 Essential Chords Pack to help you find and pick out chords will help you in several ways.

First, the chord formula and the chord notes are displayed on every card (see picture to the right) so it’s very simple to pick out the last note in every chord. This will help you learn the notes faster.

Second, if you get stuck on one of the chords (eg: the last note is G# and you don’t know any G# chords), you can easily find several alternative chords that will end on a note you feel more comfortable with (eg: ending with G).

Third, by using the cards you aren’t limited to the chords you have in your head and can learn new chords you normally wouldn’t try.

All these small points make a big difference when taken together and will help you learn faster and come up with more chord options.

What this simple game does for you:

Helps you learn and memorize the notes in a chord
Gets you thinking ‘outside the box’ with chord progressions
Gives you a quick and fun way to come up with song ideas
Teaches you why certain chords will work together while others won’t.

Give the game a go and see how many unique sounding progressions you end up with. Once you get the hang of this game you can easily come up with similar games to try out. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any other similar games people can try out or any great sounding progressions you come up with using this game.

Quick Guitar Quiz – May 2011

Posted on May 19, 2011May 19, 2011 by aaron@TMC

Read a few lessons and think you understand everything? Unless you test yourself you won’t know for sure what you really understand and what you need to work on. This little quiz will give you a quick snapshot on how well you know a certain topic on guitar. The topic this month is figuring out chords that fit into keys. Once you fully understand how to do this, your playing ability and understanding will move to a whole new level.

Write out your answers as you go through the questions then compare them to the answers below. There’s no point cheating – you will only set yourself back.

Working out chords in a key

What basic chords (major, minor, diminished) are part of the Key of:

Take your time and write down your answers before you even think about checking them below. It’s okay if you need to pick up your guitar and work the answers out by checking if the chords work – it’s all about getting the answer in the end. Over time these answers will come to you in an instant.

Answers

C Major D minor E minor F Major G Major A minor B diminished C Major
E Major F# minor G# minor A Major B Major C# minor D# diminished C Major
A Major B minor C# minor D Major E Major F# minor G# diminished A Major
D Major E minor F# minor G Major A Major B minor C# diminished D Major
F# Major G# minor A# minor B Major C# Major D# minor F diminished F# Major
Bb Major C minor D minor Eb Major F Major G minor A diminished Bb Major

How did you go?

“That was easy!” Great! Many guitarists struggle to answer questions like these so if you got through them easy you should be happy with your understanding.

“I got most of the answers, it just took a while to work them out” Good work. You don’t need to be able to answer the questions instantly. If you understand the theory behind the questions then that’s great. Over time you will get faster at figuring out the answers until it becomes a piece of cake.

“I sort of knew what to do, but didn’t get many right” Don’t stress about it. With practice you will get the hang of it. Being able to answer questions like these is a skill like any other. It may be worth reading up on the theory again to make sure you understand what you need to do (see resources below).

“The questions may as well be written in Greek, I didn’t understand anything!” If you are only starting out guitar, questions like these may seem confusing and hard. But like anything else, you can learn the theory and learn to apply it. If you struggled with these questions, check out the lessons below as they contain all the explanations and exercises to help you out.

Resources (to help you get the right answers)

Check out these lessons to learn the theory behind these questions. After reading them, save this post in your bookmarks/favorites and come back to it in a couple weeks time to try out the quiz again.

Understanding guitar chord formulas and the major scale

Working out chords in a key

It’s worth mastering this skill so take your time reading through the lessons and come back to the quiz again to make sure you fully understand how to work out the chords.

Guest article at ultimate-guitar.com on learning tools

Posted on May 8, 2011May 8, 2011 by aaron@TMC

If you are planning on teaching yourself to play guitar then this article will give you an idea on five different tools that will help you learn faster and easier. This article has been posted on the ultimate-guitar.com website and can be read by clicking the link below.

5 Tools to Help You Become A Better Guitarist – click here

The article explains why tools are so important to your development and explains how the five tools will benefit you and what you can get out of them. Check out the article and feel free to ask in the comments here if you have any questions.