Most of us have grown up listening to music characterized by the familiar time signatures of 4/4 or 3/4. 4/4 is the most common time signature in rock, blues, country, funk, and pop while 3/4 is often used for country & western ballads, not to mention waltzes, minuets & scherzi!

Both of these time signatures are considered ‘simple time signatures’. But what about ‘complex time signatures’?

When I was very young, I listened to a lot of pop, rock and folk. Almost all of it was written in 4/4 time. When I turned 14, I was introduced to the progressive rock bands King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and Gentle Giant. One of the first things I noticed was that I could not easily tap my foot to some of the tunes. When I tried to count them out, I realized that many of these songs were written in complex time signatures and some even used mixed meters, moving from 9/8 to 4/4 to 13/8 etc.

As my internal clock became familiarized with these new meters, I eventually became very comfortable with them and as I began to write songs, I found that I often gravitated towards 7/8.

To me, 7/8 is a wonderful time signature in that it is not necessarily locked to a solid down beat. As I tend to focus more on melodic phrasing than meter, I found that 7/8 was a wonderful pallet on which to compose and improvise because it allows me to play extend melodic phrases.

The following piece called Cogitation is a raw sketch for a song I have yet to finish. I hope you will enjoy it. I offer it as an example of the musical possibilities offered by 7/8 (Don’t mind the cheesy drums and very average mix..remember it’s a raw sketch!)

Cogitation (click to play)

One other thing I will mention about 7/8 is that its possibilities are greatly expanded by where you place the accents. Cogitation is counted with the accents emphasized as follows:

1  2  3  4  5  6 7

However, I also have written pieces with the following accents. (Try taping them out emphasizing the bolded number)

1  2  3  4 5  6  7

and

1  2  3 4  5  6 7

If you want a wonderful example of 7/8, have a listen to the long synth solo in the song The Cinema Show by Genesis from the album Selling England By The Pound. Here is a live version of that solo from YouTube though personally, I prefer the studio version.

Have fun with 7/8!!

P.S.

Here is a good article from Wikipedia on Time Signatures ..

© Gil Namur, 2009

The major difference with this blues is what we will be playing rhythmically. Once your left hand is comfortable with the riff, try strumming through it – Down Up, Down Up, Down Up, Down Up. Try slightly palm muting for the down strokes and open strums for the up strokes. This will produce a very rhythmic and choppy sound.

Once you can play the riff over the I chord (E), use the same right hand rhythm over the IV chord (A). The V chord (B) uses a power chord shape and the turnaround uses a basic dominant chord shape. The turnaround is when the progression is about to return to the I chord.

Remember to play these parts slowly at a comfortable speed to begin. Enjoy!

Click on the TAB for an MP3 audio example.

© Synaptic Systems Inc., 2009

Consistent focused listening to music and learning parts off of the record will help to develop feeling. Notation and tablature are excellent ways to learn songs in a precise way. However, try figuring parts out by ear. Using a combination of tab and your ear is a great exercise too.

This will not only develop your musical ear, it will also help to develop dynamics and phrasing in your playing. You will also become more familiar with the notes on the guitar neck as well.

One style of music which is all about feeling is the blues. A great blues guitar player can take only a few notes and be highly expressive and vocal with them.

The basic blues chord progression below allows space for improvisation. This is a basic 12 Bar Blues. Play this progression until you have it memorized. This is a great place to start as this progression is the base of tons of rock, country, jazz, and blues songs. Start out playing this rhythm part really slow. Once you have it, try speeding it up. Have fun!

Click on the TAB for an MP3 audio example.

© Synaptic Systems Inc., 2009

For your convenience, the chord shapes and fingerings are as follows:
Click here if you’re not sure how to read the chord blocks.

For the picking pattern, you will use your thumb (P), index (I), and middle (M) fingers on your picking hand. A capo on the third fret is also required to be in the same key as the original.

I recommend strumming through the chords first to ensure a clear sound. Then add the picking pattern. Once you’re ready, use the tablature example below. Pluck the strings with the corresponding fingers as labeled above the tab. Once you have the pattern, your picking hand should be playing;

Thumb (P), Index (I), Thumb (P), Middle (M) Thumb (P), Index (I), Thumb (P)

The first part of the song we will look at is the Intro/Verse. In this section we are using three chords. Practice these changes first and aim for smooth transitions.

The first chord change is C to G/B. Note only the second and fourth fingers are required to make the G/B. All G/B means is that the notes from a G major chord are used in the top of the chord while B is used in the bass.

The second change is a G/B to an Amin7. The Amin7 is just an A minor chord without the third finger. Only the first and second fingers are required. The final change in the Intro/Verse is simply switching back to the G/B.

Landslide
Fleetwood Mac – Stevie Nicks

-

Note that the last time through the Intro/Verse; the D/F# chord is introduced. This is the last chord before the Bridge. Changing Amin7 into D/F# is probably the most challenging change within the song. Use your first, second, and fourth fingers to fret the D/F#. Repetitive practice of this chord change is helpful in being able to play through the song in time.

The next major part of the song is the Bridge. Notice that the thumb on the picking hand is now starting the pattern on the low E string. The index and middle fingers continue to pick the same strings as before. This slight alteration in the picking pattern only applies to the G, G/F#, Emin, and D/F# chords.

Once you feel comfortable with both parts, the last step is to practice playing through the Intro/Verse and into the Bridge. In addition, play the Bridge and back into the Intro/Verse.

This generally covers “Landslide”, good luck and enjoy!

P.S. Sound clips for the tab and for the G/B, G/F#  &  D/F# will be up soon.

© Synaptic Systems Inc., 2009

I, on the other hand am a terrible sight-reader. When I was learning to play the guitar, I learned everything by ear. The internet was not even imagined at that point and tablature was just starting to show up in publications.

When I was 17, I was a huge Yes and Genesis fan. I loved their guitar players, Steve Howe & Steve Hackett. Both wrote and played some lovely solo acoustic pieces. My favorites were ‘Mood for A Day’ from the Yes album Fragile, ‘The Ancient’ from Yes’s Tales of Topographic Oceans, and ‘Horizons’ from the Genesis album Foxtrot.

It wasn’t easy, but I learned all three pieces, by ear. There are some great advantages to doing this:

1. It forces you to use your ears and try things in different places on the neck of your instrument. It’s a great exercise. Not only will it develop your ears but it will also teach you to trust them.
2. Each time you learn something by ear, your ears will improve at picking things out and subsequent pieces become much easier to learn.
3. Ultimately, it will help with your improvisation skills. Imagine being able to play ‘what you hear’ as you improvise instead of relying on a repertoire of licks.
4. It helps you to memorize the song. I found it easiest to memorize the song first so that I did not have to constantly hit play and rewind on a tape deck or worse, lift the needle from the record over and over and over. Memorizing the song will also cause you to pay more attention to the subtle nuances of the performance. I found that this gave me an even deeper appreciation of the musician.
5. Often, the tablature you will find is not accurate. Your ears know that so you have to work it out for yourself anyway. For example, I want to add Paul Simon’s ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’ to my repertoire but the tabs I have found are not close enough to what I want. What I want is to replicate those great piano inversions, on guitar. I will learn it by ear. Maybe I will tab what I learn for you one day

I am not suggesting that you stop using tablature or sheet music. If I felt that way, there would be no tablature at this site! What I am suggesting is that you pick a few songs you really like and learn them by ear.

A few years ago, I decided to re-visit and polish two of the songs I mentioned above. The Ancient, and Horizons. If you have come here looking for the tab for those songs, sorry, I am not tabbing them out, but, I did record them and have placed a link to each one below. These are not simple tunes so I hope they will inspire you to use your ears and learn some challenging pieces. If you do, you will realize a great sense of satisfaction and you will become far more confident in your musical abilities.

Horizons

The Ancient

If you are stuck, try a combination of tablature and using your ears. Do what you can to use as little of the tab as possible. As well, seek the help of other guitar players. A very good friend of mine (hi Mark!) helped me learn some pieces and I helped him as well. I recall those learning sessions with a great deal of  fondness!

If you know these songs, and have a good (accurate) source for the tabs, feel free to leave them in a reply to this article.

Good luck with your playing and the development of your ears!

Visit Steve Howe’s Web Site

Visit Steve Hackett’s Web Site

Photo Credits

Steve Hacket Live © Jean-Luc

Steve Howe Live – public domain photo from Wikipedia

© Gil Namur, 2009

Click here if you’re not sure how to read the scale blocks.

The basic idea is to find a pattern ..

and then make a mirror of it ..

Now, play them together. In this example, I am starting on the 4th finger of the first block.
Notice the fingering suggestions across the top of the tableture.

Click on the tableture for an MP3 audio example.

Now, lets extend this somewhat by mirroring all the notes between the the first set of notes we just played.

Click on the tableture for an MP3 audio example.

I am providing a 3rd audio example here. The first 2 were played slow and with a clean sound. If I play the previous example faster and with distortion, we end up with perhaps a great intro for a rock song or a nice fill for a solo.

Click here for example 3 ( faster with overdrive )

In my opinion, it is best to practice your scales and exercises with a clean sound as you will more easily hear the mistakes that distortion hides so nicely. Play it correctly with a clean sound, and your over-driven playing will sound way better.

Suggestions:

Mirrors can be a lot of fun to play with. Remember that this exercise can be played anywhere on the neck. If you find that this pattern is to big of a stretch for you, play it higher up the neck.

For  a GREAT s t r e t c h, move it down and play it on the 1st fret to the 5th fret.

Experiment. Invent your own mirrors. They can be on 2 strings, 3 strings, any number of strings really. Just let your imagination go and above all else, trust your ears. They’ll let you know when you have found something musically interesting.

When practicing any exercise, always start off slowly. Play precisely and cleanly remembering to double pick ( pick .. down, up, down, up, down etc.). Speed will come but you will see much better results if you work on precision first.

© Synaptic Systems Inc., 2000

If the scale was numbers, the pattern would be:

123 234 345 456 567 678 789 etc

Remember that these exercises can be played anywhere on the neck using any scale.

The examples below use the A Minor Pentatonic scale ( 3rd position ) and the G Major scale ( 1st position ).

When practicing any exercise, always start off slowly. Play precisely and cleanly remembering to double pick ( pick .. down, up, down, up, down etc.). Speed will come but you will see much better results if you work on precision first.

Click on the tableture for an MP3 audio example.

A Minor Pentatonic scale ( 3rd position ) example

G Major scale ( 1st position ) example

(If the tab image is not rendering nicely on your browser, right mouse click on it and choose the save image option. Save it to your desktop and open it there. It will display just fine and you can print it for reference.)

As further exercise, try the following pattern on these (or any) scales.

1234 2345 3456 4567 5678 etc.

© Synaptic Systems Inc., 2000

The chords for this progression can be found in the page of all the chords used at this site.

For the Bb13, play the A13 chord block shown on that page but play it on the 6th fret.

For the E9, play the D9 chord block shown on that page but play it on the 7th fret.

For the F9, play the D9 chord block shown on that page but play it on the 8th fret.

Click the progression to download the sound file you can solo over. It is 3.8MB.
It is 4 minutes and 23 seconds long. You wont be disappointed.

A longer version is available here that is 8 minutes and 43 seconds long. It is 6.1MB.

Click here for an Improvisation example: 815 KB – 1 minute 9 seconds

Here is an example of some improvising I did over this progression. I stayed within the A Minor Pentatonic scale but I did throw in some accidentals. For now, think of accidentals as notes that are in between the notes in the scale as represented below in the diagram with red dots. As an exercise, experiment with all the positions of this scale shown in the A Minor Pentatonic lesson and find accidentals that work for you.

Click here if you’re not sure how to read the scale blocks.

Let your ears guide you, be creative, play, play, play, and above all else, have fun!

© Synaptic Systems Inc., 2001

(Over the Am7)
A (Jazz) Melodic Minor .. Same pattern as the G (Jazz) Melodic Minor scale shown in lesson but played 2 frets higher.

(Over the Am7)
A (Dorian) Minor .. Same pattern as the G (Dorian) Minor scale shown in lesson but played 2 frets higher.

(Over both chords)
C Major .. Same patterns as the G Major scale shown in lesson but starting on the 8th fret.

Also, work in the harmonized G Major scale ( see that lesson ) over the Am7 chord and the same pattern moved up to the 7th fret becomes the C Major scale harmonized works great over the FMaj9 chord.

Click the progression to download the sound file you can solo over. It is 2.54MB. You wont be disappointed.

© Synaptic Systems Inc., 2001

These are highly recognizable sounds often heard in rock and country playing but used also in all forms of music.

The block below consists of chords moving up the fretboard. The first chord has a red line through it to highlight its pattern. The second is in blue, the third in red and so on. These are the chords that are the result of harmonizing the A Major scale 3rd and 5th notes. The theory behind scale harmonization is covered in theory lesson 7.

If you thought of each set of 2 notes as chords, their names (in keeping with the harmonized scale)  would be as follows.

DMaj7 Em7 F#m7 GMaj7 A7 Bm7 C#min7b5 DMaj7

( Please not that the C#min7b5 chord is also known as the C# half diminished chord )

In the MP3 example below, I have played the progression twice. The first time, I have plucked the 2 notes in each chord together. The second time each note is played individually.

Click on the diagram for an MP3 audio example.

Click here if you’re not sure how to read the scale blocks.

Here are some practice ideas. They are aimed at getting you more familiar with these shapes as well as getting your ear to hear some things you may have heard many other players doing in their playing. It is also a great technique exercise.

1) Pluck the chords in the following order. Think in groups of three.

(1 2 3)  (2 3 4)  (3 4 5)  (4 5 6)  (5 6 7)  (6 7

2) Pluck the chords in the exact opposite of example 1. Think in groups of three.

(8 7 6)  (7 6 5)  (6 5 4)  (5 4 3)  (4 3 2)  (3 2 1)

3) Play the exact same order as the 1st example but this time play the notes individually.

4) Play the exact same order as the 2nd example but this time play the notes individually.

Remember that this pattern can be played anywhere on the neck. In the case of this one, if you were to start the same shape (pattern) one fret higher (3rd fret) you would be harmonizing the Eb Major scale. One fret lower and you are harmonizing the Db Major scale.

Like all lessons on this site,  the more you work the patterns and the more you allow yourself to be creative with them, the more you will get from each one.

© Synaptic Systems Inc., 2001