Remembering chord patterns

[ecca]

Whether you play rhythm or whether you play lead; knowing the chords of the tune always helps your fingers to get a hint of where to go next........

[MeBHank]

Forget the key of the tune.

I'm not joking. It's one part of my guitar playing I'm not sure I'll ever master, but the best musicians know their chordal theory inside out. If they know the root key of the song and the melody, they can hear what the next chord will be without needing to look at a chord sheet at all.

A good place to start is a twelve bar blues such as Shadoogie (which is a classic "one four five", pretty much). In the verse you can probably hear when the second chord is approaching. You know that the second chord in the verse of Shadoogie is A major; the fourth chord of the E major harmonic scale. If you talk about the chords as numbers, not as their lettered names, you can play any song in any key (without even using a capo).

I have to admit I'm preaching something I cannot practice. I've tried for years but just can't get my head around it. I live in hope that one day everything will just click into place.

J

[ecca]

Forget the key of the tune eh ?

There's where I've been going wrong all these years !

[RogerCook]

Knowing the diatonic chords in the key can help especially with tunes like Shadoogie where the progression is quite simple and as Justin says, intuitive to ears used to listening to pop and blues etc. A bit of theory here:

http://www.musictheory.net/lessons/43

It becomes more challenging with more complex progressions and tunes that don't resolve so predictably (Sweet Dreams comes to mind). Memory is a complex thing. It's been said by experts that perfecting something can take 10,000 repetitions! So I think practice is the key along with developing some specific strategies for remembering the progressions (eg visualizing fingerboard positions and shapes, listening for clues from other instruments, learning 4 bars at a time, etc).

Right then. I'm off to learn the chords to the Warlord now ... 10.000 reps

[dave robinson]

. . . . . . and even more practice !

[MeBHank]

It becomes more challenging with more complex progressions and tunes that don't resolve so predictably (Sweet Dreams comes to mind).

I was speaking about this with a great musician a few weeks ago. He was talking me through the chords of a very complex song. I asked him: "So if someone threw a tune like this at you on a gig, stating an unusual key, could you do it, just like that? Could you hear all these strange chords as you play it?" His answer was a firm and unequivocal "Yes".

I hate people like that.

[RogerCook]

I hate people like that.

I know! And when you shake them by the hand you realise they only have the standard number of fingers, same as you

What tune was it btw, Justin?

Roger

[MeBHank]

I hate people like that.

What tune was it btw, Justin?

Sorry Roger, I can't remember.

[RogerCook]

Sorry Roger, I can't remember.

Haha. That's where this thread started

[Moderne]

Bruce once said that The Warlord was one of the most difficult pieces to play from a rhythm guitar point of view, as there was a different chord on virtually every beat of the tune - and a key change!