Okay, that was fun, now let's try some "playin' ..."
Let's get to it...Let's "ROCK" like we've never ROCKED
before! Like my wife say's to me, "I'm gonna Rock you
with a "Real ROCK!" Ohhhh she's a kidder, that one
............ "DUCK"
I'll break this exercise down a couple ways. First a "quick
music theory" overview. Not to be taken to serious because it
can get "Deep, confusing, in depth and intense" leaving me
in a quagmire of thoughts that I just don't need to be thinkin'
about ... after all ... We just want to PLAY!
Overview: Theory
1. A chord has letter names but for quick transposition can have
number names too. "Hey, that sounds fascinating and fun
too!" (C'mon chime in, it gets better.)
A nice example you say? Okay, comin' up ... (even if you don't have
a lot of theory background ... remember "I'm simple
minded" if I get it .... anyone can get it!)
A "chord", and a "C" chord in particular is made
up of three (3, III, three) notes ... AND they are notes C, E and G.
(Keep in mind you will be playing momentarily ... bare with my
story). "C" being the "Name" of our chord, we
can then call note "C" the "Root" ... The
"Root" being the 'anchor' tone, start of our tree of
notes, could even be a 'coffee tree' of notes ... hmmmm sounds good
.... someone say coffee ... "be right back."
Where was I, oh yes, can you see I'm typing faster now .... The
"Root" (the point to this fascinating story) can be called
"Number one" but lets express it in Roman Numerals
"so people think we're fancy, cool and quite
knowledgeable" (Simple minds think like this) .... thus ....
"C" = I "E" being the third tone away from
"I" gets to be "III" and "G" (c'mon,
take a guess ....... YES, it's FIVE or in 'simple mind tech talk'
V). We now have a "C" chord in numbers .... I, IIIl, V
.... "Why bother?" you ask ... (ah excellent question). So
we don't have to transpose all over when we talk in different chords
like say a I, III, V for a "D" chord is D, F# A or for a
"E" chord is E, G#, B...but what they ALL have in common
is the notes distances from their "Root" ..... That's
right ... I, III, V ahhhhhh no transposing of notes ... find your
"Root" build your chord. AND the beauty is that the
"Hand shape is always the same no matter what chord you
play." Simply put ... "your a genius in every chord"
without knowing anything about the chord. "Ah, you nod in
agreement ... "He is simple minded." Excellent!
 So, with this 'new' simple knowledge in mind, let me shape your
hand for the first chord. We will form two hand shapes, a major
chord and a minor chord. The first one is major and a "C"
major in fact.
(notice alert ... Where I am on the neck in the
picture ... The "double dots" are conveniently 'hidden'
behind my second and third" fingers. I was going to super
impose the dots on top of my fingers in "photo shop" but
it looked too painful.)
Okay, we are almost there ... I have a "spiffy" little
tune for us to play but I need to get this little bit of info out of
the way so the "Simple minds" theory (I live by) can fully
take hold.
A quick review (truth be known ... it's to remind me what I'm
talkin' about):
1. A chord is made up of 3 notes.
2. They have 'letter' names as well as 'number' names.
C........E......G in numbers
is:
c d
e f g a
b c (a "C" a major scale) or in
numbers:
I
III V
3. The order of notes can change (I, III, V or III, V,
I or V, I, III etc,.) yet the chord is still the same. If any of
this is confusing .... don't worry about it! Read it and it will
make total sense to you at a later date. Consider it "food for
thought" and you will still be able to play the exercises AND
spiffy tune.
The shape of things to come
So, in this shape, of the "C" chord ... note
"C" (or Root) is under your second finger. So from low to
high it's V, I, III and still a "C" chord. Here's the
beauty of it again, "If you move "That" shape
anywhere along the neck it's a 'new' major chord BUT 'same' shape.
Move it up a fret ... it's a "C#" chord, up another fret
it's a "D" chord ... Ah!, you now know every major chord
there is ... CONGRATULATIONS.
Ohhhhh kay! we are gettin' there, hang in there. tap that
"C" chord, let it ring out 'long and strong" ...
Next...we'll make a "minor chord" and learn a minor
shape..."after a quick coffee break" ....
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