The aim of art is to project an inner vision into the world, to state in aesthetic creation the deepest psychic and personal experiences of a human being. It is to enable those experiences to be intelligible and generally recognized within the total framework of an ideal world.
- Bruce Lee
Daily Definition:
Idler Wheel
Also known as a 'Pinch roller', in a tape recorder transport, the rubber wheel that traps the tape between itself and the capstan, so that the capstan can move the tape forward.
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7th Chords: More Stacked 3rds
These chords are very common in jazz and pop music, and the only way to really learn them is to memorize the construction, and learn to finger them on the fretboard. No shortcuts, just take the time to memorize the sound and the fingering. You will be armed for bear.
Category: Green Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Charts
Published on: 02 Dec 2003
This lesson will show you how to construct 7th, 9th and 13th chords on your knowledge of the A-form bar chord. Again, you start with what you already know, then add to it one or two notes at a time to give color.
Category: Orange Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Charts
Published on: 18 Dec 2003
No need to be afraid of chords with big numbers. This lesson will show you how to construct 7th, 9th and 13th chords on your knowledge of the E-form bar chord. Extending chords is easier if you start with what you already know, then add to it one note at a time to give color. This lesson will get you on your way.
Category: Orange Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Charts
Published on: 03 Nov 2003
This lesson has all the base chords and a few of the most popular substitute chords you can use in the major harmonic scale. Please use this to check your answers to the previous lesson's exercise, and commit now to learn this stuff well.
Category: Blue Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Progressions
Published on: 10 Oct 2003
This lesson will show that within a harmonic scale, there are all kinds of possible chord change combinations, but from the perspective of forward motion when pairing chords together, there are really only 4 potential kinds of choices to understand and master.
Category: Blue Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Progressions
Published on: 08 Dec 2003
Inverted chords are just chords we already know, except they are upside-down. Chord inversions are important for intermediate guitar players to learn to add variety, substance, character, flexibility and feeling to their playing.
Category: Orange Belt: Chords
Subcategory:
Published on: 09 Oct 2003
Now that you have mastered open chord shapes and bar chord shapes, it's time to turn those chords upside down! This lesson will expose you to major and minor triad (three-note) inversions.
Category: Orange Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Charts
Published on: 10 Oct 2003
6th chords are a vital part of the competent and confident jazz and blues players' library. Learn these moveable chord shapes, and you'll be playing several voicings of this pleasing chord in any key. These chords are a cool departure from the bland and boring triads and power chords.
Category: Green Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chords
Published on: 22 Mar 2004
Now we come to the bar chords of the A-form. The A form is the perfect foil for the E-form. Here's why... Leaving the index finger in the same position and just moving the 2, 3, and 4 fingers onto the next higher strings, you are already playing a perfect 4th up the scale. Starting on in the A-form and hanging to the E-form leaving the index finger in the same position, you have gone down a perfect 4th, which is the musical equivalent of going up a perfect 5th.
Category: Orange Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Charts
Published on: 10 Oct 2003
Welcome to Bar-Chords. Fasten your seatbelt, because you are about to learn how to give wings to some easy open-chord shapes that you already know. This will both reinforce what you already know, and open new doors to comfortably play songs that were just out of reach with open chords alone.
Category: Orange Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Charts
Published on: 10 Oct 2003
Nashville Numbering System Adapted for Black Belt Guitar
To help you learn how to use the Harmonic scale the way the pros do, we have adapted a system developed by old-timer Neal Matthews, of Nashville fame. Neal's numbering system evolved in Nashville as a way of quickly communicating diatonic progressions that could be used by musicians in the studio who did not all read music, but they sure could play! Learning this system will be a serious time-saver for all guitar players who want to play solid music by ear without having to read music.
Category: Red Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Progressions
Published on: 10 Oct 2003
In this lesson you will add more open chords to your library. These chords are similar to those you have already learned, but the addition of the dominant 7th chord will add funk, and flair to your playing. At the end of this lesson, you'll have 21 of the most popular chords in music at your disposal!
Category: White Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Charts
Published on: 09 Oct 2003
More very common open chords to get to know. By now you are probably beginning to take notice that the chords have a lot in common with the ones you already know, but the sound is quite unique. It's this difference in the quality of the tiny changes that make them so interesting and useful. Pay particular attention to these differences. At the end of this lesson, you'll have 28 of the most popular chords in music in your arsenal!
Category: Yellow Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Charts
Published on: 09 Oct 2003
These are the first 7 chords that every beginning guitar student should master. Play these chords comfortably, and you'll be able to play almost any beginning-level song.
Category: White Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Charts
Published on: 09 Oct 2003
Congratulations! At the end of this lesson, you will have 35 of the most popular chords used in pop, country, rock, bluegrass and jazz. You will be armed with 35 chord forms that can be transposed up and down the neck to any key by using a capo. This is an amazing accomplishment, and you should be proud. Many professional artists play all their tunes using only the chords you have learned so far!
Category: Yellow Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Charts
Published on: 09 Oct 2003
In this lesson you will double the number of open chords you have already learned, by adding the natural complement to the major chord series. When you learn the major and minor chords together, you will be able to play the accompaniment to most popular songs ever written.
Category: White Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Charts
Published on: 09 Oct 2003
Most harmony in Western music is based on tertian harmony, or some combination of major and/or minor 3rd intervals stacked atop one another. Learn some useful guitar chord formulas based on stacked 3rds.
Category: Orange Belt: Chords
Subcategory: Chord Charts
Published on: 28 Oct 2003
