Just let me quickly remind you that:
1. You can download for free an Mp3 of "Come a long Way" which features the highest slide guitar note ever recorded.
2. There are some sound clip / tablature lessons at my site which might interest you. Learn the wonders of Dropped-D tuning.
3. I now have an online secure shop where you can order PlaneTalk.
4. The Aussie Dollar is trading very low these days, and with Christmas looming, this is a great time to order.
All of this and more from my homepage:
http://lorange.kirk.net

I've written several articles about the 'chord of the moment', and for good reason -- it's all there really is when you're actually playing a tune. The song is a series of moments, you're always in one, and that moment's musical rules are dictated by the chord that was written into the tune by it's author.

Realising this fact -- (a brief byword here: I never know which spelling to use in these articles, US or the rest of the World. Words like realise and center, realize and centre... maybe I'll mix them up and use both.) -- where was I? Realising this fact, that there is always only one chord to contend with at any given moment, gave me hope, as a beginner. There seemed to be so many chords to learn, but it struck me that at least they came one at a time, and if I devoted all my attention to the chord of the moment, at each and every moment, all would be well. My quest has always been to simplify, to strip away as much detail as possible, see the bare bones of the music first, and build it from there, like the way one those internet pictures load up, resolving to finer detail as they go.

This how my mental picture loads (let's say I've been invited to sit in with a band and I've never heard the tune):

I first determine the key by asking the guy next to me 'What key are we in?' My fret board adjusts itself for that key, for example, B flat. I won't give it all away here, because I want to sell more books, but I apply a simple visualisation trick to have my fretboard laid out in B flat from nut to butt. I'm now holding a B flat guitar.

Next, my ear determines what kind of music we're playing and the details start getting filled in. If it's 'major' music, as in NOT blues, my mental image resolves one way. It includes the major seven note and the four note. It excludes the flat three. I can see where these notes are on the fret board, instantly, everywhere. It might take me a couple of seconds to name them as notes, but I can see where they are instantly. Of course, my 'home notes', the ones, threes and fives, are blinding me with their presence.

If it is the blues / rocknroll / jazz / funk the details resolve slightly differently: my home notes remain intact, they never move, but my seven is now the flat seven, the three is allowed to be flatted too. Not so much a minor as a major with a three that bends up from the minor.

Again, as with all notes in the context of the key, I can see them there. If I can see them and tell the difference between them and name them (as 1s,2s, 3s etc.), then all I've got to do (and this is the hard part), is play them, string them together into lead lines, combine them into chords and double stops (two notes played at once)...make music out of them.

I'll say again that melodies, lead lines, licks, riffs, whatever you want to call them, are little excursions away from and back to home. Home is comfortable and safe and friendly. It's the one three five of the chord of the moment. The notes that link home notes are, naturally, scale notes. Scale notes themselves, at least those that are a wholetone away from each other, can be linked by the in between notes. Never forget that the chromatic scale, all notes, underlies it all.

In order of importance, here is how I see it:

Know the key inside out, in other words, know instantly which chords you'll be likely to find. There are five guitar friendly keys, A,C, D, E and G. The others fit between. Always remember, they're all the same (even if it doesn't seem so at first).

Within the key: first zero in on the Major chords, the I, IV and V. The twelve-bar chords. See them, how they fit together, everywhere on the neck. Then turn your attention to the minors, in this order: the vi chord (relative minor) the ii and the iii. See them and how they fit into the grand scheme. Remember that they all come from one seven note scale.

Within the chords: Obviously, the I III and V, home notes, are paramount. All others are nearby, to use or not use.

I know I repeat myself in these articles. The more I do the more you must be starting to get my point: Know that 'chord of the moment' and know it well.

Here's the obligatory plug: If you're still wondering how to do all this tracking of the chord of the moment I keep talking about, consider ordering PlaneTalk. The slide rule that comes with it is worth a thousand of these columns. I've made it really easy to order, what with my online shop and all. Imagine that, the secret to playing the guitar all laid out in comic strip format...and the slide rule...all for $30 US!!

Until next time,

K i r k

http://www.lorange.kirk.net
PO Box 186 North Tamborine
Queensland 4272 Australia
Ph/Fax +61 7 5545 0138

PS - my lessons and tab are available from:
http://www.onthenet.com.au/~kirkclan/Slide_Lesson.htm