Act 1 - Scene 2

BD's class last Wednesday went on from 6:30PM to 9:00PM... S and her friend K learnt their first guitar chords, and a lot of theory too - keys, notes, important abbreviations, etc (details included below)... K forgot to inform wifey dear (N) about the extended class... and rightly got treated to tomato curry with super-duper-extra mirchi.... S has suggested to N to completely forgoe dinner, the next time K does this... K anyway needs a diet very badly... hehe :)

now getting back to the class... S had no idea that her pretty nails would come so badly in the way playing the chords... she had to be satisfied with following the theory and watching the rest of the guys in the class finger pluck and show off... hmmmphh!!!!

to top it all, BD had to mention that being a girl, S might take longer than the guys to learn, cause you need a lot of strength to press those totally harmless looking strings... and ofcourse a lil will to sustain the pain in your finger-tips....

hmmm... challenge??? ... so guess what... gone are S's pretty nails.... anyway it's a blessing in disguise... cause, now she won't have to waste time filing them, painting them (or feeling bad about not doing all this), and then feel bad when they become brittle and break for no rhyme or reason... anyway we have some Before and After shots to prove the brave decision taken by S... she's a warrior I tell you... :P

BEFORE

AFTER

OK, now coming back to some serious business... the lessons...

1. Add one more Exercise to Finger Plucking:
   Exercise 5 P/I/M/A/M/I


2. Some Important KEYS - SYMBOLS
So A Major Forexample, can be represented as AM or AMaj


3. Common ABBREVIATIONS


4. Important Concepts - KEYS/NOTES
Note: The Sharps and Flats fall in between the Full Keys/Notes.
Sharps (#) always move ahead (righwards ---->)
Flats (b) always move backwards (leftwards <--- )
5. En- HARMONIC EQUIVALENT- Essentially, where you see a tick mark - there exists a Sharp (#) or a Flat (b)
   A# is same as Bb, C# is same as Db, D# is same as Eb, F# is same as Gb, G# is same as Ab, and so on...
   - Where you see a cross mark, there exists no Note (Full, Sharp, or Flat)
   So, B#, Cb, E#, Fb do not exist. However, in some places, there might be references to B#, Cb, E#, Fb - Do not get confused, these could be intepreted as follows:
   - B# is same as C
   - Cb is same as B
   - E# is same as F
   - Fb is same as E
   
   
6. OPEN STRING TUNING
As you notice here, the 1st and 6th strings have both been tuned to E. However, 1st String is an Octave (o) i.e. a higher note; whereas the 6th String is a Root
(R) i.e. a lower note.



7. CHORDS - Three Basic Chords
   
8. BASIC CHORD PROGRESSIONS


9. STRUMMING PATTERNS

Act1 - Scene 1

The teacher (BD) begins with some guitar basics:

GUITAR PARTS






FINGERS - NAMING CONVENTION




FINGER PICKING - EXERCISES


S is as excited as a child about the first lesson - she's has practised the first 4 exercises pretty well - BD has promised some brownie points for finger plucking without looking at ROCK :)

The Chord Saga

ROCK

The Characters

• Rock - The protagonist, an Acoustic Guitar; dad's gift for the brother-in-law, now happily possessed by you-know-who... we shall call her S through the course of this story....
• A Teacher - An important character; is expected to remain very patient till the end of the narration
• A friend for company - Plays an important cameo; he chooses to break his guitar on the occassion of the very first class

The story begins with S's daily 30minute Practice sessions, with absolutely no care for the neighbors...The rest of the story shall be narrated in the form of lessons. Watch out for the forthcoming posts!!!