Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Sixths are just one way of harmonising notes across our instrument.
They can be used in both a rhythm and lead context, picked or
strummed, and a fun way to explore the guitar neck.
Start by watching the introductory video below and then see further
down for all the good stuff...
Side note: You can of course take these forms beyond the 12th fret.
As you may already know, frets 12 and onwards correspond to the
octave of frets 1 to 11.
For example, a form played at the 14th fret will be the same as one
played at the 2nd fret, just higher in pitch. So as you come up with
sequences, see if you can repeat them beyond the 12th fret. A good
way to test your octave positioning skills!
String Muting
We might want to strum the interval for more rhythmic attack. To get a
clean voicing of this interval, you'll need to mute the strings around it
as best you can.
To mute the 2nd string, collapse back your index finger so it touches
the 2nd string...
To mute the 4th string in between, collapse back your middle finger so
it touches the 4th string...
This will take some time and practice, but it will allow you to strum the
interval cleanly wherever you are on the neck.
We'll be using similar muting techniques on the other strings and in
general you'll be using similar muting techniques with other areas of
playing, so it's good to spend time on it!
Now, each string pairing we're going to look at has two forms. We've
already established our first form on the 3rd and 5th strings.
Here's the other...
The same process applies for muting adjacent strings. In this form, our
ring and index finger are collapsed back, and the low E is muted either
by our thumb or ring finger tip.
We can also take this form across the neck, although like with the first
form, you'll find it sounds better at some frets than others, depending
on the chord or bass you're playing over.
Report this ad
Here I'm playing over an E bass note again, but we'll look at applying
these forms to other notes and chords later...
Now we have our two forms for this string pairing, we can try
combining them in a sequence.
This is where knowledge of scales can help, but it's not necessary.
For example, we could sequence the two shapes based on the E
major scale...
So those blue dots represent our first form for this string pairing...
Again, practice collapsing back fingers to touch and mute adjacent
strings.
Like before, let's try combining the two forms across this string pairing
and see what we come up with...
We now have two string pairings, giving us a number of positions to
harmonise in 6ths.
Report this ad
For example, here I'm playing the same movement around E major in
different positions...
And these 6th forms we've learned also work for targeting minor
chords. Take B minor as an example...
So all we're doing is extracting the 6th forms we've learned from
relative chord shapes, which you may have already learned through
the CAGED method (or learning barre chords), to get our bearings.
This doesn't mean we literally have to begin our 6th movements on
those chord positions. But having those reference points will give you
a center around which to build your movements.
Major Chords
A Major
C Major
D Major
E Major
G Major
Minor Chords
A minor
C minor
D minor
E minor
G minor