VOLUME ONE. Getting Started with Guitar presents: guitar intuition. with. Lisa McCormick

Transcription

1 VOLUME ONE Getting Started with Guitar presents: guitar intuition with Lisa McCormick 2009 Lisa McCormick. All rights reserved. Guitar Intuition is a Lisa McCormick Music, LLC publication.

2 Welcome to Guitar Intuition, a unique ear-training program for guitar learners. Did you ever wonder why some people just seem to be able to figure things out on the guitar, without specific instructions or sheet music? It s because their musical intuition (or ear) is strong. But even if you are not one of those lucky naturals, musical intuition is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice, using a structured ear-training program. What is ear training? Ear-training is an educational listening process by which musicians can learn to identify chords, rhythms, sequences, and other foundational elements of music. Ear training is a central component of any professional track music study program. However, many guitar players learn to play on their own, or in less formal settings than a music school Lisa McCormick 2

3 Ear-training is frequently overlooked by self-taught or independent learners and yet it is vital to a well-rounded musical understanding of the instrument. When a musician says, I play be ear, this translates roughly to, I do pretty well figuring out the music without specific instructions or sheet music. I just seem to be able to make good guesses. In other words, this person s musical intuition is strong. Guitar players with a good ear for music seem to be able to guess at figuring out the right chords for a song, for example. What is musical intuition? Intuition is defined as: understanding without apparent effort. Imagine if you could just intuitively figure out how to play the songs you want to play without all the frustration of trying to decipher complicated sheet music or tablatures. How does the Guitar Intuition Program work? This Guitar Intuition program is designed to exercise the intuitive side of your musical brain, allowing you to develop a deeper gut-level understanding of music and your guitar Lisa McCormick 3

4 It is a Left Brain approach to learning, focused on developing a holistic and natural feel for the music. Specifically, Guitar Intuition addresses the following skills, as they relate to the guitar: Chord recognition, discernment between major chords and minor chords, and the ability to analyze sequences of chords. Chord recognition, discernment, and sequence-identification are the exact skills that guitar players with a good ear draw on when figuring out how to play songs on their own, without written music or instruction Why Guitar Intuition? Why not a full-fledged ear-training course? A good full-fledged ear-training course can be an excellent resource for music learners. However, the vast majority of these courses are quite extensive in nature, perhaps going far beyond the scope of your needs or interests. Complete ear-training courses are often costly and time-intensive, and not specifically aimed at the interests and needs of a beginning guitar player. Guitar Intuition gets right to the core of what you, a beginning or self-taught guitarist, need to know to become a better guitar player Lisa McCormick 4

5 Who created the Guitar Intuition program? Guitar Intuition was created by Lisa McCormick. Lisa is a professional guitar instructor with over 25 years experience teaching guitar. With a degree in Education, plus extensive special training in teaching adult learners, Lisa s signature teaching methods have earned her a loyal following of beginning-to-intermediate guitar students worldwide, thanks in part to her teaching via the Internet. Lisa McCormick is also a professional guitarist, songwriter, and recording artist in her own right. What s included in the Guitar Intuition program? Guitar Intuition Volume One contains five chapters of structured lessons and listening exercises. Each chapter opens with an explanation of the central concept, followed by a step-by-step lesson aimed at honing your listening abilities. Each lesson is followed by a brief recap and review of what was covered in the chapter. And each chapter concludes with an additional set of listening exercises, for extra practice Lisa McCormick 5

6 The Study Guide text contains thorough explanations of the lessons, answers to all chord-identification and sequenceidentification exercises, and a glossary of terms used in the program. How should I use this program? The Guitar Intuition Program may be listened to start-to-finish, or you may skip around from chapter to chapter, as you prefer. You may listen to the program at any time via your MP3 player, transforming your commute to work or your walk around the block into valuable guitar practice time. It is not necessary to master one chapter before moving on to the next. The very fact of listening and paying attention to the sounds you are hearing helps train your musical brain, even if you are not yet able to correctly solve all the exercises. While each chapter contains distinct information and exercises, some of these new skills may come more easily to you than others. However, each of these skills will improve with repeated listening and practice Lisa McCormick 6

7 How can I reinforce the skills I am learning with Guitar Intuition? When you have your guitar in your hands, review the chords and sequences you have been studying with Guitar Intuition. Play the chords and sequences on your own guitar, and listen for the qualities and characteristics that were pointed out to you in the program. Experiment with creating your own chord combinations, and notice how they sound. Experiment with figuring out the chords to a simple song or two, just by ear. Listen to some fairly simple guitar music, and see if you can begin to recognize the chords and the sequences being played. Will this program work for me? Guitar Intuition will help you learn to recognize the unique quality and characteristics of the most commonly played basic guitar chords. You will also learn to discern major chords from minor chords, and begin to learn to decipher a sequence of chords, by ear Lisa McCormick 7

8 Every person s learning process and pace is different. The speed at which you become comfortable and conversant with your new skills is an individual thing. Who is the program right for? Guitar Intuition Volume One is an entry-level program. It is designed for absolute beginners through advanced beginners, as well as more experienced self-taught players who may have missed the basic foundations of ear-training in their independent learning process on the guitar. Volume One covers learning to identify the most commonly played major and minor first position chords, namely: C, D, E, F, G, A, Dm, Em, and Am. Volume One also covers discerning the difference between major and minor chords, as well as unscrambling chord sequences containing a mix of two chords played in random order over four measures. If these skills are not yet under your belt, then Guitar Intuition Volume One is likely a good fit for you. If, however, you feel you are ready for more advanced concepts and skills than these, you may wish to wait for the more 2009 Lisa McCormick 8

9 advanced levels of Guitar Intuition, which are currently in development. Let s get started! Guitar Intuition is a downloadable audio course. Place it on your MP3 player or burn it to a CD, and you can begin your eartraining course right away Lisa McCormick 9