Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

I've been working on triads and inversions for a while. What I HAVEN'T been working on is the single string and solfège. So that's going to be my focus this week. I think it's a mental thing where Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do just isn't natural or comfortable in my brain. I'm guessing that I won't be able to say that at the end of July.

Thanks to Tomo, Sammi, and George for putting this together. It's going to be a fun month!

I’ve been a member Since March 2023Triads blew my mind! I just want to say thank you, Tomo! I’m 60 years old and I’ve been playing for 10 years and six months! Picked up the guitar cold, and have been mostly self-taught. Triads ate the discovery of a lifetime for anybody that wants to learn the guitar for real! Thank you again, Tomo! 🙏🙏
With regard to the current July challenge, I watched the video and took notes and wanted to show how I laid my notes out in my guitar journal. Is there a way to add a photo or PDF? I hope it might be helpful to someone.

Day 1 in the bag. Slow, steady and intentional. I’m also trying do them without looking at my hands. Looking forward to how this develops and spills over into my practice. (I still do the November challenge to start my practice routine, it sets the tone..slow, mindful, relaxed). Thank you Mr. Fujita.

John

Thank you John!

Slow is better!
Go slower as you can!

Feeling those notes.
Thinking name of notes/intervals.... all the details.

Good job!

Tomo

Thank you Tomo, fundamentals are so important for a solid foundation to build on, I believe this is true of any craft! You have a great way of presenting your thoughts I find so helpful. Even after 6 plus decades, tours all around the planet I still find things to learn,Howard Robert’s told me back in ‘74 I would find this truth till the end. Learning your instrument of choice is life long and very much an inverted pyramid “the more you learn the more you will see there is to learn”!
You Tomo are a very gifted guide, I appreciate you, your sense of humility, your gift and passion for teaching others how to see their path. I wish to thank you and your team that help you present yourself. Perhaps one day I will be able to greet you in person and give you a small gift back. (A bow and then a hug)!

Day 1
Start with D , With one string approach & Sing , familiar key of D .
But fist day I just do “ Do Mi Sol ” Triad to 6 5 4 3 string , The content is not too much for me ( Do Mi Sol & D F# A), second day will try “ Mi So Do ” .

Having fun just repeating and thinking about moveable Do-Re-Mi. I've practiced so much with C, especially on the second string. But it's cool thinking about C, while doing Do-Re-Mi in D. You can easily find the F# and C# because you know there was a half-step between E-F and B-C in C, but now when you "shift" Do-Re-Mi up to D, you land somewhere different.

Day 1. Learned about triads for the first time. Used one finger to find Root, Major 3rd, and Perfect 5th. Discovered that playing “normal” open D cord was actually an inversion. Had no idea what that was until tonight. Excited to keep going deeper and slow.

I went straight away to the ET series, specifically ET04 "Dorian Scale", to learn the "one finger, one string" approach as suggested by Prof. Fujita in the day 1 video. From there, I admit, I went down a kind of rat hole. I wanted to learn more about the modes of music and be able to write down the notes of the Dorian Scale with D as the root (D Dorian), as well as with C as the root C Dorian). It turns out there is a neat trick. Some of you will think I need therapy for even mentioning this. But I'm a NERD (Engineer) and I can't help myself. It may be helpful to some of you who are also a bit nerdy. If you use the "Number of Half Steps" method to write the formula for each mode, where 1 = semitone, and 2 = tone, you get the following:
Ionian (Major): 2212221
Dorian: 2122212
Phrygian: 1222122
Lydian: 2221221
Mixolydian: 2212212
Aeolian (Natural Minor): 2122122
Locrian: 1221222

You only need to know the formula for the Ionian Scale: tone tone semitone tone tone tone semitone or 2212221, and the order in which the modes are generally written as they are above. Then, the trick is to take the formula for the Ionian mode (or any other mode) and do what is called in computer hardware design or machine language software design, "a shift left one with end-around carry" to get the formula for the following mode! Isn't that the coolest thing ever?
You shift all the numbers to the left one, and the one that falls off the left end goes around to the right end.
Then you can substitute the "Intervals from the Tonic (Root)" method of representing the intervals: like M2, b3, 4, 5, M6, b7, etc., and write the scale you want to write.
E.g. D Dorian = D E F G A B C D
C Dorian = C D Eb F G A Bb C
I know this level of thinking about it all is contrary to what we all should be doing, which, as professor Fujita says, is don't memorize or think too much, instead learn it as you do it, like driving someplace and not using a map or directions, but just with practice, start to know the way in your bones. I hope this doesn't throw anybody off that process, but that it does help someone a little.
From there, I began practicing the one-finger one-string intervals for D Major and D Dorian, C Major and C Dorian.
Tomorrow, I will continue that with Solfege singing and try to deeply hear the intervals. When I am satisfied with that, I will start working on the three high string triads.

Day 1 - Single string do-mi-so one finger alternating from 3rd finger-do, 2nd finger-mi, and 1st finger-so on the same string. Focus on Major to minor interval steps single string. - johno

July 1- since July challenge I thought today was the first day.
Focus for me is intervals from second inversion to root major third to fifth Minor third and back to the octave a fourth.
I practiced with both movable do and fixed do, This way when I play in this key I have recollection of notes in key.
Mission go slow
My thumb always wants to creep up on the back of the neck of my guitar. I am trying to be mindful of this and make corrections.
Thank you for challenge 😄

Hey everyone.
Thank you to TeamGW for this wonderful event!
I wrote down the note names and degrees in a notebook.
I'll say this in a low voice, but this is the first time I've written it so carefully.:)
I want to dig in slowly.
http://youtube.com/post/UgkxE5s2TMUnaUgtMLs_KtNoyRwFNFTpjIiM?si=FW-4Kag0d7UwWrGI

One question.
When checking note names, should I also consider the location on the fretboard? For example, "3rd string, 11fret = F#."
Thanks!

Hello! Week 1!!

I was already working on triads these days using the GW lessons so I feel a little bit advantaged, I used to practice Major and minor triads of C and F, playing them horizontally on every string set and vertically too, saying the degrees (1st, 3rd, 5th) and the name of the inversion.

This week I transpose! Key of D, I will also say the actual notes in order ( D, F#, A) and the Italian names (DO, MI, SOL)

I will also practice the triads on one string, 1st finger always!

Thanks Tomo!

Appreciate everyone’s notes this has been helpful to read! While going through day one practice focused attention to dynamics and picking softer. Holding the pick lightly as well. Thumb position. Hope to make some gains here this month while also understanding of triads deeper. Thank you!

Day 2

From Tomo: "very important use only 1st finger..."

For me, the cool thing about the "limitation" of 1 finger approach is that it takes muscle memory out of the equation and forces me to recognize the actual note.