A band to play along with: you hear the chords and play over them.
Back to the start page12 bars · 4/4
Am7 also has G – the shape shows the basic form without it.
What you hear: A calm minor blues with a shuffle bounce. Every note of the minor pentatonic fits – a good place to start.
Default: 76 BPM
KeyA minor
Sound
Recordings of real instruments, played as if by hand – with small variations in timing and volume.
Take the rhythm of a track and put in your own chords – bar by bar.
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Understand: what happens in a track
Try it
Start the track and tap these notes of the A Minor pentatonic. Listen for when a note sounds calm and when it rubs.
What do you notice?
Which notes sound calm over the current chord – and does that change when the chord changes?
What it's called
Chord tone – a note that is part of the chord sounding right now. It sounds calm because it belongs to the sound.
Why
On the fretboard above, those are the blue dots. Every other note of the scale fits too, but adds some tension – it resolves when you move to a chord tone afterwards.
When the chord changes, so do its chord tones: what sounded calm over one chord can rub over the next.
A blue ring with a number is in the chord but not in the scale. In the shuffle blues that’s the third of the major chord against the minor pentatonic – this very rub is the sound of the blues. Many players bend the minor note up a little for that reason.
Quick check
The chord C (C, E, G) is playing. Which note sounds calmest over it?
Try it
Start the track and count the bars. The outlined bar moves along.
12 bars · 4/4
What do you notice?
After how many bars does everything start over?
What it's called
Chord progression – the series of chords a piece runs through again and again – bar by bar, in a circle.
Why
A blues has twelve bars, a pop song often just four. Once you know the round, you know what comes next and hear the change coming.
The row above always shows where you are: the bar outlined, the chord filled.
Try it
A minor
12 bars · 4/4
D minor
12 bars · 4/4
What do you notice?
Here is the same round in two keys. All the names are different – what stays the same?
What it's called
Degree – the number of a chord in its key, as a Roman numeral: I is home, IV and V are its closest neighbours. Upper case means major, lower case minor.
Why
A minor
12 bars · 4/4
Written in degrees, the progression is the same – in A minor as in D minor. Only the root you count from is different.
That’s why you can take a progression into any key: choose another key above, and the numbers stay put while the shapes move.
Quick check
In G major: which chord is the IV?
Try it
Start the track and switch them off one after another – and back on.
What do you notice?
Who keeps time, who shows the chords, who puts the depth underneath?
What it's called
Part – one voice of a backing track – here chords, bass and drums. All parts together are the backing track: an accompaniment to play along with.
Why
The drums keep time, the bass puts the root underneath, the chords show the harmony.
To practise your own timing, switch the drums off. To play the chords yourself, switch the chords off – then you are the band’s guitarist.