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Level  2 - GUITAR

What it looks like

Level 2 is all about building a strong foundation. From this foundation you'll be able to expand on it and learn to be creative within it and outside of it.  These are the fundamentals of how music works, how rhythm works. You'll be building on your experience to help you be confident in most any situation. 

This is about recognizing and organizing chord groups and progressions in your mind. This can only happen with time, focus, and experience.

We want to move passed constant "responding to" into confident "contributing to."

Where We're Headed

Level 2 is categorized by the 5 most common keys played on the guitar: 

 

Key of A

Key of C

Key of D

Key of E

& Key of G

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The Circle of Chords helps us see the different "keys" in an organized way.

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If you can build a foundation of playability and knowledge around these 5 keys, you'll be ready to apply that to other keys and move into level 3.

The 3 Elements for Complex Music
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The 3 Elements for Complex Music

By "complex," we mean it has all the parts. It's full. The necessary ingredients are there - we're cruising. We're not technically lacking anything once we have these 3 elements. We need Bass, Melody, and Rhythm at a minimum. You can add from there (chords, other bright melody, arpeggio or ear candy, harmony, dynamics, etc). One thing to consider is, you could say a violin solo could be complex and complete in itself. That is very true. Since we're having fun with ideas here, let's take a look at that. A violin melody/solo is also going to have movement and change. With that movement and change, there is rhythm, and that's what keeps our interest is its ability to move forward - forward motion. That's rhythm (which is one of the 3 important elements). Then you could say, well, where's the bass? I would say the fact that the bass is not present is what gives delicacy to the violin solo/melody. It sores unchained. In that case, that's the beauty of it. It's fragility, or even confidence in the lack of and anchor. Its "complexity" is its boldness to fly with the wind. Looking at it another way, you could say there's an "understood" sense of bass, with the mystery, your mind could fill in the absence of the bass. How is this helpful to have these 3 elements top of mind. Where's the practical aspect? What can I do with it? As a musician, we often want more out of our instrument, but are unsure of what to do about it. We ask why do I sound simple, boring, uninteresting, it's not "moving me," it sounds uninspired, I'm not offering anything of substance. When you take an approach of making sure you: 1. have a solid rhythm pattern that's somewhat predictable and groove-able, that you're 2. giving an aspect of bass, that stands apart from the chords or any melodic movement, and am I 3. giving something in the upper register that feels like melody or arpeggio, or something the listening ear can hold onto, as it moves along the rhythm train. When you go through that thought pattern, it'll open up new possibilities for you. You'll consider new things, and will learn to add them or reshape what you're doing into something more significant. Find more free resources at www.insideoutONLINE.com

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