Triad/Fretboard Combo exercise

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Nathan Hays

about 5 years ago

Tomo's approach has changed my relationship to the guitar! I had been chasing songs and tabs but never improving, noisy messy chords, feeling driven by tempo, stressful. Now I practice slowly and get in a zone and I can't put the guitar down. No noise! Very important to develop intimacy with the instrument. As I fall asleep I am imagining the triad shapes, inversions, scale degrees.

So in Tomo's lessons he suggests to try extensions of his exercises.
I want to know every note on the fretboard.
I want to see the triads around the root, the inversion, etc.. just by glancing.

Here is my combo exercise:
1) choose a random string/fret, say string 3 fret 7
2) name the note, in this case 'D'
3) choose three strings which include the chosen string, say strings 2-3-4 (or 1-2-3 or 3-4-5) this sets inversion.
4) choose major, minor, etc.. maybe choose Dm
5) play the triad in its proper inversion, in this case Dm second inversion.
6) repeat
I take notes if I stumble so I know what to practice - triad form, fretboard notes, etc.

Using a metronome:
Beat 1: combine the choosing of the root, the inversion (strings), and type (major, minor, etc..) in one glance.
Beat 2: place fingers.
Beat 3: strum the triad.
Beat 4: mute with exact rhythm - one beat long.

Very hard with a metronome! This is my proficiency exam.

This is helping me know the letter names of everything on the fretboard without progressions. I think progressions lead to memorization of the notes in a sequence, which will become a stumbling block in a different key than I am used to. It is also helping me to see the triads with the root note and the inversion, not just their shapes.

2 Likes

thehalfspace

about 5 years ago

Great idea! I'm new to this website and still learning Tomo's stuff, but to add on to this, the one thing that helped me with the triads was picking a scale (e.g, C major) and playing all the chords of C major scale (C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim) on each set of 3 strings. E.g, I start with 6th, 5th, 4th string and play all these chords, then go to 5th, 4th, 3rd strings and play the same chords, and so on. Then I do this for each inversion. Throw in a G augmented for that occasional jazzy feeling. I stole this exercise from Jody Fisher's book.

Nathan Hays

about 5 years ago

Yes! I am becoming fairly proficient at the C major chord progression in all inversions over all sets of 3 strings. And this is exactly where I ran into trouble. Just noodling, I played Eb first inversion at the 11th fret, then wanted to play iv which is Cm down 3 frets, but I stumbled because I had only C major in that position. I had to think of Dm to get the shape then transpose down to Cm. That happened very quickly, but knocked me out of the musical moment. So I determined I needed to know the shape with root/inversion without regard to letter note.

A similar thing happened in knowing the notes on the fretboard. I very soon became proficient at finding all the F's for example. But then I was noodling again, and at one point I wanted to play Fm somewhere around fret 7. But I stumbled because I had to first find C then go one string over to the F. Again, very fast to do this but not direct. If I had been working in the key of B my mind would have had to leave the key to find C then F, but then the feeling of B is muddled up.

Both of these cases led me to think I do not want to only know the shapes or letter names as part of a progression. Just like all the talk about being in a "pentatonic rut" or a "CAGED box", I think if I learn the roots and triads outside of progressions my knowledge is freer to use in any musical context. Then if I hear something in my mind I can just play it.

I really like Tomo's teaching because he wants us to go slow, be careful, not expect too fast, don't compare. This puts me in the musical zone, in an intimate relationship with the guitar and my hands. When I watch other youtube lessons I always bring them back to Tomo's approach because he is so kind.

George Mattingly Mod

about 5 years ago

Here is Tomo's comment:

"Thanks so much for subscribing to my Guitar Wisdom. Don't discourage yourself by trying to make everything 'perfect.' Do well on each item. No memorization! Learn everything slowly and deeply.

"It is good to learn triads with musical ideas. Work with a metronome on rhythm guitar."