Learn the Neck

Part Five Frets One through Six

by Ed Shaw

Master the Fret Board by Position Analysis

Guitar for Geeks

Fifth in a five part series of discussions of the guitar fret board.
This original material was produced by Ed Shaw and has been placed into
Creative Commons Fair Use License status.
Originally published on Scribd. com

C Major Scales at Positions One and Two

We are finishing this five part discussion where most people begin -at the first, or open, position (the 1st to 3rd fret) and the second
(the 4th to the 7th fret. )
In actual practice, the 1st to the 7th fret may be thought of as a
single seven or eight fret position.
Usually, we think of the first, or open position, as the place to play
the chord strums. With melody work, the guitarist seldom finds
himself playing melody notes on the first three frets. For one thing,
the notes on the 4th, 5th, and 6th strings are the extreme low end of
the range. The C note on the 2nd string is handy, but why get
landlocked against the nut when the same C note is available on the G
string, 5th fret, with a lot more available assets in all directions?
For flexibility and room to expand, there is no better C note position
than the G string at the fifth fret.
There are at least three triad patterns in positions one and two that
are some of the most useful played. Once the guitarist starts to use
them, he will not be able to live without them. I refer to the first
inversion ( 3 - 5 - 1 ) patterns of the F maj or chord, the G maj or
chord, and the A maj or chord, the roots on frets 1st, 3rd, and 5th,
respectively.
The D chord, second inversion with the root on the 3rd fret is another
often used chord. We could say the same thing about the E maj or chord,
two frets up from the D maj or, but somehow that chord is never played
as much as the D maj or. The D note is the fifth degree of the G scale
and the second degree of the C scale, creating some fairly extensive
applications.
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By now, we are hoping to be able to recognize the C note positions

from fret 1st to 12th. Is it becoming clear that learning one scale well
can be preferred to learning several scales half way. Once we learn the C
notes, the B notes are nearly automatic, provided we use them and ingrain
them in our hands, eyes, and mind. Let' s look at them, from the left, or
bottom of the fret board.
Referring to the chart on the previous page, " C Maj or Scales at
Positions One and Two, " the one to the far left is on the 1st fret B
string. Almost everyone learns the C maj or chord, so this note should be
well known. In much modern teaching, often the note names are overlooked
in favor of finger positions. That is one of the inadequacies we are
addressing in this discussion.
On the chart below, on the third fret, find the C note on the A
string. That is the C note we go to when playing a bass line. There is an
F note below it and a G note above it. When we kick off the bass pattern
by playing the 1 - 3 - 5, or the C - E - G, the notes are all right
there. Same pattern goes when we drop down a string to play the F - A C, or go up a string to play the G - B - D. Please notice the same 1 - 4
- 5 arrangement is true for the G note, at the 5th fret, too. The 1 - 4
- 5 progression in the key of Gmaj or is G - C - D.
The G maj or chord
is G - B - D. It is the chord, arpegiated, that is the bass line. The 1
- 4 - 5 is the sequence of chords, played in any number of arrangements.

Three Useful Sequences

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We could go into a detailed discussion of those 1 - 4 - 5

patterns on strings four, five, and six, their application in bass
lines, walkups, walkdowns, and extremes of melodic sequences. We
naturally think of Duane Eddy' s famous twangy guitar chops and Luther
Perkins' backup rhythms for Johnny Cash' s earlier works. It is also
j ust a darn good idea for any six string player to know how and when to
come in with the bass line. After all, that is why those strings are
there. Within the scope of this discussion, it is best we leave those
topics for another day.
This leads us to what is probably the most famous note on a six
string guitar, the C note on the fifth fret. It is that big red dot
located right in the heart of the downtown real estate. From that note,
the music can go j ust about anywhere. Of course, there are limitations.
After all, the note is located in the second position. But when the
call is for a lead riff or a melody,
the notes between the fifth fret C note and the 13th fret C note cover
a lot of useful territory. Here it is:

The Melody Heartland

If a starting musician had a limited amount of time to put into

expressing him self or her self on the guitar, taking this chart and a
song book of simplified melodies in a popular maj or key, such as C
maj or, would be a very good choice for a start. Traditional music
instruction often starts with learning the notes in the first, or open,
position, frets open through three. That is all right, but I have
always felt the first few frets are too far apart to be comfortable,
although I recognize training the hand and fingers is a big part of it.
Look at the variety of possibilities. We expand down to fourth
string to allow options of the notes G - A - B - C.
Somehow, in
playing, it seems we are always finding that fifth fret G note, one way
or another. What we are actually looking at here are the second, third,
fourth, and fifth positions.
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It is easy to see I have cut off the lower tones. That does not
mean they will be ignored, by any means. The next C note to catch our
interest is that famous 8th fret C note. Its fame partially stems from
the fact that on the eighth fret, there is a C note not only on the top
string, but on the top string as well. This, we went into in our
discussion of the fifth position of this discussion, Part Two.
We know that the 8th fret C note and the 13th fret C note sound the
same tone. When we play the respective triads, though, we soon come to
recognize that the power in the assets of these two C note position lies
not in the tonal variations made possible by the notes themselves, but
by the possiblities presented by the uniqueness of their individual
locations. The 13th fret C note plays perfectly into the 5 - 1 - 3
triad, whereas the 8th fret C note triad is the 3 - 5 - 1. Only by
experience will the player learn to appreciate the uniqueness of each
pattern. That is the kind of music appreciation I like.
That leaves the 10th fret C note, at a pretty good time to change
the subj ect, since we had an extensive discussion of that region in Part
Four.

The Bass Section

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Killer Apps in the First and Second Positions

Once you get into the triads and play from the point of view that
chords are simply harmonic arrangements, little scales, really, there
are three of these triads that will be used all the time. That F
maj or chord, the 3- 5 -1 at the first position is a go-to chord in
the key of C maj or, more or less constantly. We will pick up the
discussion with a few words about tonic, dominant, and sub-dominant
chords in a key following a look at three very often used triads.

The F Major Triad

First Inversion
First Position
3 5 1
ACF

The G Major Triad

First Inversion
First Position
3 5 1
BDG

The A Major Triad

First Inversion
First Position
3 5 1
C# D A

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More Killer Apps

The C Major Triad
Common Chord
First Position
135
CEG

The D Major Triad

First Inversion
First Position
3 5 1
F# A D

As we are concluding this discussion, I am glad to have the

opportunity to go into a little more detail on the triads and
inversions. There are a few ways to approach the subj ect. When I
was learning them, I learned them one at a time, practicing
playing each fret position, which amounts to playing them in all
keys. At first, I had to locate backing tracks that featured each
key. That got to be a lot of leg work. Later, when Band in a Box
came out, my tasks were simplified, but by then I already know the
triads in all 12 maj or keys. But I was pretty much out of steam
for learning chord shapes, by that time. I suggest the student
consider the alternatives, consider the resources available to
himself, and chart a learning course based on those factors. You
can learn them one at a time or bring all three along together,
depending on what works best for you.
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A Couple of Handy Minor Triad Shapes, Frets 1 7

By now, this chart should not be unfamiliar. It is almost

impossible to comprehend, at first, but as time goes on, the patterns
become recognizeable. Let' s pull out a few useful minor triads and
show them at Positions One and Two.
We all should know that to turn a maj or chord into a minor chord,
flat the three. For example, the C maj or chord is C - E - G. The C
minor chord is C - Eb - G. The flatted third on the following charts
is indicated by a greyed out circle.

A Minor 3 5 1 Triad at Position Two

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A Minor 1 3 5 Triad at Position One

D Minor Triad 5 1 3 at Position One

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The C Major Scales on the Neck

A Word about Maj or Scale Patterns:

As the following two charts indicate, there are a limited
number of patterns that apply to the maj or scale, or any other
scale, for that matter. This is to say that when the student learns
a fret board pattern at one position or for one key, that same
pattern will apply in other keys and positions. Looking at the
chart below, pay special attention to see that the finger patterns
are the same for the three C maj or scale positions shown. Note that
this pattern applies to scales with roots on the fifth and sixth
strings. When the B string comes into play, though, pattern must
change to reflect the de-tuned B string.

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Here are C scale patterns with the B string in play. There' s that
familiar pattern again, starting with the fifth fret C note, a scale
which may be played either on the same string, up a fret, or down a
string, down a fret. Notice how the line on the B string has moved up
one fret. There are probably thousands of mathematical combinations
possible, figuring a scale pattern can shoot off in any number of
directions. That point of view cannot concern us at this stage. We
are better off concentrating on knowing how to press the root, the
third, the fifth, and the octave. Once we learn that, the second is
easy enough. The fourth is a half step from the third. The sixth is
a step up from the fifth. That leaves the seventh and the octave.
Since we already have learned the octave, the seventh is easy,
because it is a half step below the octave. Little by little, the
intervals sink in. We add intervals as we add our options. For
example, the basic octave interval is down two strings, up two frets,
or vice versa. It' s like a puzzle. We make a game of it.

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One reason so many young musician' s, even those with talent, who
seem to pick it up easily and effortlessly, do not reach full
potential with music is that they never get around to giving music
the serious academic attention it deserves. Students with lesser
native ability or talent sometimes excel for the simple reason that
they take the attitude that music is a subj ect, like any other
subj ect.
I will give an example.
The song on page 13, Sweet Hour of Prayer, was reprinted in F.
G. Kingsbury' s " Hymns of Praise" in 1922. " Hymns of Praise" was a
series published by Hope Publishing Company of Chicago. The hymn was
by W. W. Walford and William Bradbury. The age of the song and the
fact that I used the original score causes any of the work to be in
the Public Domain. The source print I used was in D Maj or, but I
transcribed it to C Maj or and, hopefully, did not change any notes.
The
to be in
line may
It could

first line, or stanza, is four bars long. The song happens

6/8 time, which is familiar to us as 3/4 time. So, the first
be said to have 4 X 3 = 12 beats. . That is a simplification.
be written like this:

Sweet (C) hour of prayer, sweet (F) hour of prayer, That (C) calls me
from a (G) world of care, And
(C) bids me at my (F) Father' s throne, Make (C) all my wants and (G7)
wishes (C) known.
In one form of a studio lead sheet, it is:
C F C G
C F C G7/C
Let' s analyze this piece of music like we knew what we were doing.

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Four bar stanza. Progression is 1 - 4 - 1 - 5 The first bar is the

lead in, one C note.
The second bar is the same scale pattern we looked at in this
lesson: 1 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 5. Change to key of F. Melody in F scale
is 3 - 5b - 5 - 3. That B note is not in the Key of C Maj or. It is
the flatted fifth of the F Maj or scale.
Bar three is C scale: 5 - 3 - 3 -1
Progress to G maj or scale: 5 6 - 5.
Notice how bars tend towards two quarter notes and two eight
notes? The eights have the flag. Adding up to three beats per
measure. I don' t know what happened to that bar four. Looks like I
left a dot off.
The practice track is at:
http: //yourlisten. com/ed_shaw/sweet-hour-of-prayer-c-maj -34-85-bpmpractice-track
There is a modification on the practice track. In the " play once"
intro and the last line of the chorus, change:
CC CC GG CC
to: CC C/Am D7/G7 CC
You can play it the original way and let the practice track run with
the Am and the D7/G7 change if you want. It sounds fine.
The lead sheet is on line:
https: //commons. wikimedia. org/wiki/File: Sweet_Hour_of_Prayer_by_Willi
am_Bradbury. png
Only the student can j udge the best way for you to practice, play
and learn. When I was starting, I would play the melody in one
position until I was comfortable with it or sick of it. Then change
to another position. The goal is to be able to change positions
frequently while playing the song, mix up chord strums, and improvise
melody.
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( 13 )

Conclusion
Thus ends our five part discussion of six positions on the guitar
fret board. Going in, the decision was made to avoid over simplifying
the material. I hope I didn' t go too far in the other direction;
namely, make it so complicated that no one would want to read it. If
I did, that has been my style in the past. This course with reference
charts is one that can remain handy for years. Since most people do
not have color printers, most will have to either download the . pdf
and take it them to Kinko' s or j ust download and keep on the PDA.
Either way, my caution is to not get overwhelmed by the charts and the
labored language. Anyone with the patience to master the guitar has
the patience to stay with this material.
The C Maj or lead sheets were adapted from public domain material
aquired by pdinfo. com. There is a wealth of simplifed C Maj or sheet
music on Amazon. If classic hymns do not appeal, there is plenty of
material across a broad spectrum of genres.
I urge all students to become familiar with music composition
software, such as Band in a Box. I have also found Crescendo by NCH
very useful for notation needs. Both have the useful feature of
allowing the user to hear what is being composed or notated.
I plan a series of five short video or audio demos to accompany
this series, " Learn the Neck -- Guitar for Geeks. "
Thanks for the attention.
Your friend,
Ed Shaw

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