Learning Guitar Understanding Minor and 7th Chords

Learning Guitar Understanding Minor and 7th Chords Megan L. What are minor and 7th chords anyway? TakeLessons teacher Brian T. breaks down the music theory behind building these chords Learning guitar chords is one of the early challenges of learning the guitar. Very often a new student will find themselves presented with a host of fingering patterns that make little sense. Why this set of frets and not that one? the student wonders Why, when I move my E major down a string does it become A minor? With just a bit of music theory and a willingness to work things out, we can answer these sorts of questions on our own. With a bit of effort, we can even free ourselves from dependence on chord books and other reference materials! Finding Notes on the Guitar To make sure were all on the same page, were going to start by discussing the notes used in the western musical tradition and where they are found on the guitar. Western music is made up of twelve notes, which are commonly labeled in one of two ways: Observe that A sharp labels the same note as B flat, C sharp likewise labels the same not as D flat, and so on. For our purposes, we can treat these alternate labels as interchangeable. Lets review how we find these notes on the guitar. Moving one space to the right on the chart above (this is called, confusingly for guitarists, a half step) is the same as moving one fret up the neck of the guitar. If we start with the 5th (A) string open, we have an A. Moving to the first fret yields an A sharp; the second fret is B; we find C on the third fret, and so on. With the charts above and your the open strings memorized (E-B-G-D-A-E), you can find any note on the guitar! A Brief Overview of Chord Construction Though there are twelve notes available, any given song will stick for the most part to a set of seven notes that form the key of the song. For simplicitys sake, well look at the key starting with A and containing no sharps or flats; this key is known as A minor. Now that weve established our key, were ready to make some chords! Each chord has a root note which gives the chord its name. We start by labelling the root 1, and count up from it until all the members of the key have a number (we may need to loop around). If were making an A chord in our chosen key of A minor, it looks like this: To form the chord, we play the notes labeled 1, 3, and 5; in the case of our A minor chord, these are A, C, and E. Thats all there is to making a basic chord! Now of course, your guitar has more than three strings, so youll usually need to double up a few notes. Just make sure that the deepest sounding note is the root, and youll be good to go. Lets look at building another chord in A minor. This time well form a C chord. This time our 1, 3, and 5, are C, E, and G respectively. What Makes a Chord Minor If youve been playing along (and I hope you have, as this is the best way of learning guitar chords) you may have noticed that the A and the C chords we constructed above sound markedly different. The A chord sounds somber, even sad, whereas the C chord is cheerful. This is because the A chord is a minor chord, while the C chord is Major. Lets look at why this is: The distance between two notes, in half steps, is called the interval between them. As we saw before, each chord consists of a 1, 3, and 5. The interval between 1 and 3 is called, quite reasonably, a 3rd. Not all thirds are the same size. A look at the chart of the key of A minor shows that there are three half steps from A to C. There are, however, four half steps from C to E, which is also a 3rd. The smaller three half step version of the 3rd is called a minor 3rd, while the larger four half step version is known as a major 3rd. A minor 3rd leads to a minor chord, and likewise a major 3rd yields a major chord. We can see this using the two chords we built earlier, A minor and C major: A minor 3rd yields a minor chord. Thats really all there is to it! Adding 7ths to Your Chords We need not limit ourselves to chords with only three notes! If we wish, we can add another just as we did before by skipping one note in the key. We end up with a chord containing 1,3,5, and 7; not surprisingly this is called a 7th chord. Much like 3rds, 7ths come in two varieties: major and minor. The most common combination is a major chord with a minor 7th. This is usually formed on the dominant (V) member of the key, and heralds the return of the tonic (I/i). Lets look at an example, again from the key of A minor: E major 7(V7): Other combinations are possible, however try them out! I find that the major 7th on a major chord yields a warm, sweet sound, while a minor chord with a minor 7th sounds a bit gloomy. The minor chord with a major 7th inspires in me a sense of foreboding. What does it inspire in you? Conclusion Hopefully this post has given you a bit of a better sense of what minor and 7th chords are, and how to construct them. Ultimately, the best way of learning guitar chords is with fingers on the fret board. Name a chord, figure out what notes make it up, and find it on your guitar preferably somewhere down the neck where things are a bit less familiar! Brian T. teaches Economics, Geometry, Grammar, and Math in San Francisco, CA. He has been playing guitar for 14 years. He received his BA in Mathematics and Economics at University of San Francisco, where he studied Classical Guitar and Music Theory for three years.  Learn more about Brian T. here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo by  Dusty J

Should I Go To New York University

Should I Go To New York University The tutors behind Varsity Tutors are not just here to teach theyre sharing their college experiences as well. Erica is a New York City tutor and 2009 graduate of New York University. She majored in History and now specializes in amultiple subjects including Literature tutoring, Arithmetic tutoring, ACT prep tutoring, and SAT prep tutoring. See what she had to say about her alma mater: VT: Describe the campus setting and transportation options.How urban or safe is the campus?Are there buses or do you need a car/bike? Erica: Going to NYU was most definitely a different experience than most other colleges in the best way! NYU doesnt really have a campus, but most of the buildings surround Washington Square Park. The only thing you need for transportation is an unlimited MetroCard. NYU does provide free shuttle buses from dorms, but if you want to explore the city you can easily take the subway. The campus is as urban as it gets, and it really is very safe just be smart and use common sense. VT: How available are the professors, academic advisers, and teaching assistants? Erica: Most of my professors were amazing. There are a few bad apples, but that is the story at every college. Professors were very accessible if you take the time to email them or visit office hours. Teaching assistants lead small discussion groups that are a required part of large lecture classes. VT: How would you describe the dorm life rooms, dining options, location, socialization opportunities with other students? Erica: I lived in a dorm my first three semesters. Freshman dorms are all very close to where classes are, which was very helpful in adjusting to NYC my first year. Upperclassman dorms are more scattered some are close, some are far, but all are in Manhattan at least. Get an unlimited weekly meal plan not all freshman dorms have kitchens, and youll need one if you dont want to be hungry all the time. Freshman dorms are pretty friendly places everyones in the same boat. VT: Which majors/programs are best represented and supported?What did you study and why? Did the university do a good job supporting your particular area of study? Erica: For undergrad, NYUs business, acting, education, art, film/television and social work programs are extremely well-known. For graduate, the law, medical, business, film, education and social work schools are top-tier. NYU is divided into different schools, and people usually refer to their school when talking about their major (for example, Hi, Im Erica, and Im in CAS [college of arts and sciences]). CAS is the more typical undergrad school, which has most of the typical college majors (English, sciences, social studies, etc.). I majored in history (you dont have to specialize in a time period at NYU) and minored in religious studies. I had planned on being a lawyer when I was in high school, so I figured Id major in something law-ish. After I changed my mind about law school, I figured Id get my degree in whatever I wanted I figured the most important thing was getting a Bachelors degree. VT: How easy or difficult was it for you to meet people and make friends as a freshman? Does Greek life play a significant role in the campus social life? Erica: The best way to meet other NYU-ers is by joining clubs. I met my best friends in the clubs I joined. Every September there is a club fair, and all of the clubs are very welcoming. You can also meet people in classes you take. It all depends on what you enjoy and what your social circle tends to look like. Its NYC, so you can definitely meet all types of people. There is Greek life, but they are not a huge presence at NYU. VT: How helpful is the Career Centerand other student support services?Do many reputable companies recruit on campus? Erica: I did find the Career Center helpful in certain ways. They offer lots of seminars on how to prepare for an interview, how to write a resume, etc. I didnt really use the Career Center (back then when it was called Wasserman, I think the name has stayed the same) in terms of recruitment, but my friends who were in the business school were there all the time and found their jobs through recruiters from campus. All kinds of businesses would recruit huge Fortune 500s as well as tiny boutique-y places. VT: How are the various study areas such aslibraries, student union, and dorm lounges? Are they over-crowded, easily available, spacious? Erica: I absolutely lived in the library (Bobst) during my time at NYU. I loved it I would find a random study carousel on a random floor and just sit and read/write for hours. That was also how I functioned I could never really get work done at my house. The student center (Kimmel) was also a wonderful, wonderful building. There is also a Starbucks right on 4th street. The Starbucks tended to be super crowded in the evenings, especially during finals. Also, the library was packed during finals as well. There are definitely places to study, both in NYU buildings and in coffee shops in the neighborhood. Some days I would feel like there was nowhere to just sit down and read, but most days I could find a spot. I believe NYU has been making more of an effort to increase study spaces on campus. VT: Describe the surrounding town. What kinds of outside establishments / things to do are there that make it fun, boring, or somewhere in between?To what extent do students go to the downtown area of the city versus staying near campus? Erica: NYUs surroundings are everything that makes up New York City. It is absolutely amazing, wonderful, overwhelming, enormous, and fantastic, all at the same time. The first month or so of freshman year, people tend to hang out at bars around the Village, but as time moves on people move more uptown and downtown. There can be a lot of pressure going to school in the city, but honestly some of the best times Ive had are hanging out in someones dorm, watching movies and talking. You can get whatever you want here. VT: How big or small is the student body? Were you generally pleased or displeased with the typical class sizes? Erica: NYU is very huge its one of the largest private schools in the country. If youre walking around the Village, youre mingling with NYU students. Some classes are large lectures, others are small seminars. The freshman writing class everyone has to take is no more than 15 people, while some of the other required classes are big lecture classes. Usually big lecture classes have smaller discussion sections led by a TA these I did really enjoy. Speaking as a History major, my seminar classes were always small. VT: Describe one memorable experience with a professor and/or class. Perhaps one you loved the most or one youregretthe most. Erica: My last semester at NYU, I was finished with my major and just needed the credit hours to graduate. I loved it I took a photography class, a class on Shakespeare, a French conversation class and a linguistics class. I just loved taking photography I did everything from load the film into a 1970s black and white film camera, develop the film myself using all of the chemicals, enlarging the negatives in a darkroom. My ideal house for myself most definitely has a darkroom in the basement. Check out Ericas tutoring profile. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Varsity Tutors.