Vocalists Can Learn To Play Guitar - Even If They Ve Struggled In The Past Article

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Vocalists Can Learn To Play Guitar - Even If They ve Struggled In The Past

Many a singer would love to be able to accompany themselves on guitar. Many struggle with the complexity of the instrument, and give up in frustration. There is an easier approach, perfectly suited for vocalists. Singers with some understanding of musical theory will love this alternative.

Author: Frank Foxx

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Vocalists need accompaniment – it’s a fact. Acapella is fine – to a point. Accompanists are great, too – when you have one handy. For those times when a chord or note is needed, there’s no handier instrument to have around than guitar. After all, you can’t sling a piano over your shoulder on a strap. Guitar accompaniment for a singer need not be a daunting task, either. Too many singers would love to, but have given up the prospect of self accompaniment on guitar because the start-up phase – the critical one which builds self-confidence – was too difficult. In sets frustration, due to slow progress, and ultimately, defeat. The shiny new guitar sits on the stand or lies in the case, untouched.

Those who find success are those who may be more technically dexterous or adept. Those initial hand and finger positions are crucial to success on guitar. For singers more challenged in this area, or for those looking to expand their horizons, there is an alternative –as in, alternative tuning for that under-utilized guitar.

Long before I learned to warble, I yearned to play guitar, with little success. Strumming wasn’t the problem. Fingering was. There were simply too many to remember. Too many to master. Guitar seemed out of reach. To my surprise, I discovered, with a little research, that a guitar could be tuned different ways. I made the connection that perhaps it was the tuning of my guitar that was holding me back. A simpler tuning may just provide the breakthrough for an aspiring vocalist/guitarist.

After much experimentation, I found one tuning to be most useful. Open-D is a simple alteration of standard guitar tuning:

Standard guitar tuning (low to high strings) - E A D G B E

Open D guitar tuning (low to high strings) - D A D F# A D

Notice that two of the strings on your guitar stay the same (A and D). That’s your starting point for the switch. The rest become a matter of adjusting the other four strings lower, to become a D major chord. From there, let the strumming begin.

Notice that now the four highest strings represent at D-major triad (with an octave for a nice complete arpeggio). That chord can be transposed up the neck of your guitar with a single finger (index finger recommended but some people feel their middle finger is stronger). This is the backbone of open-D guitar playing. It’s also the major simplification. There are now, for major chords, no fingerings to memorize, no technique to learn, no acclimatizing fingers to various curves and stretches. Your training, at the outset, is getting one finger to press straight against as many or few guitar strings as is comfortable. It doesn’t get any easier than that, anywhere in the guitar world.

Now the versatility of open-D guitar tuning should start to become apparent. Changes to that basic major chord are just another finger away, on any string. You can create new chords through sheer experimentation, although I have written a fairly comprehensive Chord Book which goes along with my method book Guitar-eze – A Simpler Way to Approach to Playing the Guitar. Chords can be built off that one-finger starting point, limited only by your imagination. With the repeating strings (in open-D, you have three Ds and two As to work with) many different chord textures and sounds can be created with just a simple string shift of one finger. The big bonus is that you can see the changes you’re creating. Knowing that each fret on your guitar represents a semi-tone, you’ll now “see” how the shift of one finger on a particular fret creates that new chord . Augment, suspend, major sixth, etc., to your heart’s delight.

For composing, I find that open-D tuned guitar is even more useful than a piano (and a little more portable, for those sunny days out in a meadow or down by the seaside). Truly a versatile way to play guitar, and far simpler, especially at the outset. For vocalists, it might just be the guitar breakthrough they’ve been dreaming of. Get that guitar out the case, re-tune it to open-D and get strummin’.

About Author

Frank Foxx is a semi-professional guitar player and part-time guitar teacher who plays exclusively in the tuning of open-D. He has written a guitar method book, extolling the virtues of what he considers to be the most versatile and easiest of all guitar tunings, entitled Guitar-eze A Simpler Approach to Playing the Guitar. His website is http://www.easierguitar.com . He keeps a blog at http://open-d.blogspot.com dedicated to helping guitarists and aspiring guitarists see the light.

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Vocalists Can Learn To Play Guitar - Even If They ve Struggled In The Past