Teach Yourself How To Play Guitar

An Inspiring Poem

paulw — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 09:40:55 +0000

Learning to play guitar is a life long pursuit that will bring you a lot of pleasure over the years. Its hard to remember that though if you are struggling with that barre chord again, or you fingers are hurting as you have overdone it. I found this poem the other day in the classic self help book Think And Grow Rich which I think may be inspiring if you are having a hard time. It might be useful to print a copy and refer to it often if you ever find yourself wanting to give up. PAUL

Have Fun!

If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don’t.

If you like to win, but you think you can’t,

It is almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,

For out in the world we find,

Success begins with a fellow’s will -

It’s all in the state of MIND.

If you think you’re outclassed, you are,

You’ve got to think high to rise,

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles, don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man

But soon or later the man who wins

Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!

Wonderful Land By The Shadows Guitar Tab

paulw — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:33:34 +0000

Here is the tablature for the classic instrumental tune Wonderful Land by The Shadows.
GRAB THE TAB

Here is a backing track to practice along with which I have slowed down to 70% of the original speed using Transcribe software.

Enjoy

Blank Guitar Tab Sheets

paulw — Mon, 30 May 2011 20:52:10 +0000

If you want to learn how to read guitar tab it might be a good idea to print out some blank tab sheets and practice with them. You can find a PDF for printing here (right click and save as)

If you prefer, you can right click the image below and save that to your PC for printing when required.

How To Play Guitar Tabs

paulw — Sun, 29 May 2011 18:41:07 +0000

How To Read And Play Guitar Tablature

Guitar tablature, or tab as it is more commonly known is a system of writing down music for the guitar that has been in exsistence for almost as long as standard music notation. It indicates the fret and string numbers rather than the actual notes.
It may suprise you to know that the first appearance of tab is recorded as being in around 1300 in Europe. It was then used for organ music.

These days guitar tablature is found all over the internet and the chances are no matter what song you want to learn, somebody somewhere, will have tabbed it out and uploaded it to the internet. The quality of these tablatures can at times leave a lot to be desired in regards to their accuracy; but they can be a great starting point if you want to work out a tune yourself or if you are struggling to play it by ear.

Guitar players are usually left behind when it comes to reading music by other players, especially pianists. Piano players learn to sight read right from the start of their learning, guitar players tend not to.Because learning to read music takes a lot of study and our hero guitarists dont stand on stage and read the dots whilst they are performing, its not considered cool. If you are looking to make a career for yourself in the music industry I would say that learning to read standard notation is essential, but if you want to play for pleasure and not get too bogged down in theory then tablature is the way to go.

Admittedly there are flaws with guitar tab, the biggest one being that there is not usually rhythm information. Newer versions of tab do include some of that critical info, but if used in conjunction with standard notation the problem is solved.
Online tabs tend to be basic if written in a code known as ASCii which you can see below

E------------------3-------------------------------------------------

B---------------3-----3----------------------------------------------

G------------4-----------4-------------------------------------------

D---------5-----------------5----------------------------------------

A------5-----------------------5-------------------------------------

E---3-----------------------------3----------------------------------

This is fairly basic, but there are commercial tab editors for guitarists, the main two being Guitar Pro which is paid for and Power Tab which is free. Both make writing professional looking tabs easier. Both are also excellent for helping you to learn tab as they play it aswell.

As you can see above, the tab staff consists of 6 horizontal lines. Each one represents a string on the guitar. The low E string, the thickest is at the bottom, which is handy as it has the lowest sound. The high E, the thinnest string is at the top.

There is no treble clef on guitar tab, this is the swirly shaped thing on the left which, you'll see at the start of standard notation. This defines the G note which is above the middle C in normal music notation. We dont need it with tablature, we know what the notes are.

Also in the above example you'll see numbers. These are the fret numbers that are to be played on each string. The first one the 3 on the low E string simply means play the 3rd fret of the low E string, followed by the 5th fret on the A or 5th string. A 0 or zero means play the string open.

Playing a chord in tablature is shown simply as the fret numbers stacked on top of each other. So to a C major chord would look like this

E----0------------------------------------------------------------

B----1------------------------------------------------------------

G----0------------------------------------------------------------

D----2------------------------------------------------------------

A----3------------------------------------------------------------

E-----------------------------------------------------------------

Note that the low E string is not played. This doesn't have to be shown with an X as is usual with chord boxes. If there is no number on the line, then the string isn't played. The name of the chord will often be printed on the top of the tab so you can identify it quickly. As the notes are shown on top of each other, the notes are played together as a strum. Sometimes there will be arrows alongside the notes showing the prefered direction of the strum. If the arrow points up its a down stroke and if it points down its an upstroke!

This might sound strange but if you think about it, as we are looking at the tab with the low E at the bottom, when we strum from that string to the top E, we are strumming down the strings towards the floor even though on the tab the arrow goes up. Try it a few times and you'll figure it. Sometimes the fact that it sounds so silly when written down can help us to remember it.

Going back to the first example, which you can see is actually a G major barre chord

E------------------3-------------------------------------------------

B---------------3-----3----------------------------------------------

G------------4-----------4-------------------------------------------

D---------5-----------------5----------------------------------------

A------5-----------------------5-------------------------------------

E---3-----------------------------3----------------------------------

The notes are not played at the same time, they are separated and played one at a time. This is known as an arpeggio. You may wonder how long we play each note for. Thats a great question and highlights the main flaw with guitar tab. Lack of rhythm information. Some times the rhythm and note timings are shown by adding tails to the notes as in standard notation, but really I find it best to get this either by listening to the tune and figuring it out from that, or by looking at the normal musical notation.

These are the basics of guitar tablature. There are lots of other symbols that you will need to know to play the guitar tab properly such as bends, slides, hammer ons, pull offs etc. Before looking at these though I would like to suggest that you use tablature as a guide rather than a definitive way of playing a tune. When tabbing out a song some people try to capture every single noise that comes from a guitar players instrument. I know this is the authentic way and seems the most logical thing to do, but sometimes the little nuances of a players style just cant be captured on paper without the tab becoming confusing. Best to use it as a framework and develop our own style as you go.

Sermon over, back to the tab. Slides can be shown as a / or \ depending on whether its sliding up or down. So if the notation says 6/8\6 it means slide from the 6th fret, to the 8th fret and then slide back to the 6th. If there is no number before the slide this means just slide to the following note from whichever fret feels best at the time.

Hammer ons and pull offs are notated by the letters H and P. So 6h8 would mean pick the note at the 6th fret and hammer on to the 8th. 8p6 would mean pick the 8th fret and pull of to the 6th. In Guitar Pro which I use to tab out songs and lessons, the hammers and pulls are notated as what looks like a standard notations tie between the two notes. Its easy enough to see which is the technique to use by looking at whether the notes are going up the neck or down. Its just a little difference that you may come across.

When it comes to bending notes there are a few ways to write it down. In Guitar Pro there is a bent arrow above the note with eith full or 1/2 or 1/4 written by the side to indicate the strenth of the bend. On tabs that you might come across online you could see 7b9, which means bend the 7th fret up a full tone to the 9th. The b might be in brackets. Sometimes you'll find that the tone that you are aiming for will be in brackets as in 7b(9). The more tabs you look at, the easier it will get to understand them. Occasionally you may see an r after a bend, such as 7b9r. This means release the bend back to the 7th fret after bending it to the ninth.

Muted strings can be shown by an x. As I stated earlier, the x doesnt mean dont play the string. It means play the string, but mute it so that it sounds as a click rather than a note. X's on adjacent strings mean that you play a muted strum or rake as its called over all the strings shown.

The letter t when shown in conjunction with h and p can means taps, using the right hand to tap a fret whilst the left plays hammer ons and pull offs. Very much like Eddie Van Halen. So for instance 2h5t12p5p2 would mean pick fret two, hammer on at fret 5, tap at fret 12, pull off to fret 5 and finish with a pull off to fret two. A mouthful to say or write, but not too difficult to play with practice.

This should get you started, but the best way to learn how to read guitar tab is find some beginners tabs and just practice. There are a selection of tabs with my video lessons and they could be a could place for you to start as you can play along with the videos. Have fun.

If you want to have a go at learning standard music notation, take a look at these books found on eBay.

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Hey Soul Sister Guitar Chords By Train

paulw — Mon, 23 May 2011 19:43:29 +0000

This is a great tune by a top band but thankfully its not too difficult to play.

The chords for the song Hey Soul Sister by Train are E major, B major, C#minor and A major. If you are a beginner guitarist, its understandable if you find the thought of the B and C#minor a little intimidating. They can involve a barre. Fear not though.

To mimic the sound of the ukulele which is used in the actual recording you will need to play with a capo at the 4th fret.
Then you can use the chord shapes of C major, G major, A minor and F major. If you are new to the guitar you should find these shapes easier to play.

The challenge may be the strumming pattern. I play it using a down, down, down up, down up, pattern.

Have listen through the song a few times and try and get the feel of it into your ears. Then follow the chart and lyrics below and see if you can get into the groove of it.
Good luck

CAPO AT FRET 4

C G Am F
Heeey, heeeey, heeeey!

-     C
Your lipstick stains
G                       Am               F
On the front lobe of my left side brains.
-                     C
I knew I wouldn't forget you,
-                  G               Am    F G
And so I went and let you blow my mind
-     C
Your sweet moonbeam,
G                          Am             F
The smell of you in every single dream I dream,
-                C
I knew when we collided,
-                      G
You're the one I have decided
-                Am    F G
Who's one of my kind

F
Hey soul sister,
G              C      G      F
Ain't that Mr. Mister on the radio, stereo,
-   G                  C         G
The way you move ain't fair you know
F
Hey soul sister,
- G             C      G      F           G
I don't want to miss a single thing you do...
- C
Tonight
- G       Am       F
Heeey, Heeeeey heeeey!

C
Just in time,
G                       Am                 F
I'm so glad you have a one track mind like me
-                  C
You gave my life direction,
-                 G                    Am    F G
A game show love connection, we can't deny
-   C
I'm so obsessed,
G                               Am                F
My heart is bound to beat right out my untrimmed chest
-            C                            G
I believe in you, "Like a Virgin," you're Madonna,
-                    Am                F     G
And I'm always gonna want to blow your mind

-    C
The way you can cut a rug,
G                               Am
Watching you's the only drug I need
- (Am cont'd)
You're so gangsta, I'm so thug,
-          F/A
You're the only one I'm dreaming of
-   C/G                          G
You see, I can be myself now finally,
-                               Am
In fact there's nothing I can't be
-          G                   F       G
I want the world to see you'll be with me

F
Hey soul sister,
G              C      G      F
Ain't that Mr. Mister on the radio, stereo,
-   G                  C         G
The way you move ain't fair you know
F
Hey soul sister,
- G             C      G      F               G
I don't want to miss a single thing you do tonight
F
Hey soul sister,
- G             C      G      F           G
I don't want to miss a single thing you do...

- C
Tonight
- G Am F G
Heeey, Heeeeey heeeey!
- C
Tonight
- G Am F G
Heeey, Heeeeey heeeey!
- C
Tonight

Learning The Guitar Fretboard Notes

paulw — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:23:05 +0000

One area of learning that budding guitar players consistently find difficult is finding their way around the guitar neck and identifying the positions of the notes. Although learning the guitar neck, a good place to start your studies is the piano keyboard. The advantage of learning this way is that there are black and white notes which are useful for orientation.

The musical alphabet uses the notes from A to G, the first 7 notes of the regular alphabet. On the piano keyboard, the note of C is always directly to the left of the group of 2 black notes, the white notes following this to the right are D, E, F, G, A and B. We can now see that the note F is always directly to the left of the group of 3 black notes.

This snippet of information is extremely useful when finding your way around the keyboard.

Guitarists have no such aids, and another problem is that notes of the same musical pitch can be played in different fret positions and on different strings.

If we look at the keyboard again we can see that the black keys fall between the white keys in all positions, apart from between the notes B and C, and the notes E and F.

If we can remember this little fact, then transferring the notes to the guitar neck, and finding our way around the neck will be very easy.

As we now know the names and positions of the all the notes on the white keys on the keyboard, we now need a name for the notes on the black keys. We name these in one of 2 ways. If we are playing each note on the keyboard from left to right we name the black keys / notes in between the 2 white notes as a SHARP, the symbol for this is #. If we are playing the notes on the keyboard from right to left we name the notes on the black keys in between the white keys as FLAT, the symbol for this is similar to a lower case b. The notes sound remains exactly the same.

These notes are called ENHARMONIC which simply means the same note with a different name.

To save any confusion from now on I will always refer to the enharmonic notes as sharps.

We can now see that the sequence of notes on the keyboard are C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B, C and so on.

Now it is time to transfer our new found knowledge to the guitar fretboard. To start with we need to commit the open string names to memory. My favourite way of doing this is to remember the sentence Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie.

The initial letters give us the names of the notes. E, A, D, G, B, E. Now if we relate each fret on the guitar neck to the notes on the keyboard we can work out which notes are where.

Let's try with the 6th string. As we have learnt this is the low E string. Remember that on the keyboard the notes E and F are next to each other, so this means the note of F is on the first fret of this 6th string.

On the keyboard we then had a black note between the F and G, so therefore the 2nd fret of the 6th string is F#, next on the 3rd fret we have the G note, followed by what is another black note on the keyboard, this means that G# is on the next fret which is the 4th. See if you can now work out the names of the notes as you work your way, fret by fret, up the guitar neck towards the 12th fret.

When you reach the 12th fret you will notice that you have reached another E. This is known as the OCTAVE. All the notes now repeat themselves as you continue up the neck. The 13th fret is the same note as the 1st fret; the 14th frets name is the same as the 2nd fret and so on.

Try this technique with each string in turn and you should soon be able to name the notes all over the neck. I would suggest making a special effort to remember the notes on the two lowest strings at the start. The E and A strings.

You can do this by learning the notes in pairs. I use another mnemonic technique to make this easier. If we take a look at the 3rd fret for example the notes on the 6th an 5th strings are G and C. What I now suggest you do, is think of a person whose name has the initials G and C and relate this to the number 3 for the 3rd fret. I came up with the old film actor Gary Cooper. To remember the number 3 I think of the shape that the figure makes, which reminds me of a snake. I then make an image in my mind of Gary Cooper swaggering down a dusty, deserted street in the old west. His hands are poised over his guns and he is staring straight ahead. From around the corner slithers a horrible looking, big fat sickly yellow coloured snake wearing a Stetson, with a 6 shooter in its mouth which is stopping it hissing. I know this may sound a bit bizarre, but the more ridiculous, big bold, and outrageous we make these mental images the easier they are to remember.

The 11 images I use to remember the numbers are

1. Pencil

2. Swan

3. Snake

4. Yacht

5. Hook

6. Elephants trunk

7. Boomerang

8. Fat Lady ( a hark back to my bingo playing days)

9. Balloon on a string

10. Laurel and Hardy

11. Two Chopsticks

You can use this technique to remember the notes even when you haven't got the guitar in your hands. It takes a long time for me to write down the technique and for you to read it. But the mental pictures are formed in fractions of a second. When you get to the 5th fret you need an association between the letters A and D, the 7th fret the notes are B and E. The 8th frets letters are C and F and the 10th frets are D and G. As you already know the notes then repeat from the 12th fret onwards.

I purposely skipped over the notes on the 1st fret as this involves using a sharp; the notes are F and A#. This is not a problem though, I just imagine the person that I visualised Fatty Arbuckle, with a tiny pencil sharpener trying to sharpen a big fat bright blue pencil.

Although this visualisation method may seem a bit strange, it does work. If you make your mental images as far away from normality as possible, you will soon find the notes on the guitar very difficult to forget.

You Dont Have To See The Whole Staircase, Just Take The First Step.

paulw — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 11:55:42 +0000

It was Martin Luther King who gave us this great quote, and it is oh so true. When setting out to learn the guitar, the amount that you will need to know and learn can often seem overwhelming. Take a step back though. You are embarking on a lifelong journey, take it slowly, be consistent and you cannot fail.

FIRST THINGS FIRST.
Get to know your instrument. Learn about the different parts of the guitar. Find out what each part is called, what it does. Learn the string names, listen to the sound each string makes. Which sounds highest? Which are the low ones? Play some fretted notes. Where are the highest now?
Just get to know your instrument. You are going to be spending a lot of time with it. Get to know it well.

LEARNING THE FRETBOARD.
Spend some time finding out where the notes are on the guitar neck. You can also do this when you are not physically holding the guitar too. Learn the string names, then move on to the notes on each fret. To start with concentrate on the two low bass strings. These will be most useful to you in the beginning. It wont take you long to find out where the notes are and commit them to memory. This knowledge will be helpful to you throughout your musical life.

ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE FRUSTRATED
Along with learning any new skill comes frustration. This is a natural and part and parcel of being human. Remember that. Dont beat yourself up about not being able to form that chord, or sound that note. These things take time to master. Also remind yourself that any player you like and admire went through exactly the same process as you are now. It takes time and effort to become competent. Feeling like you'll never do it, and the thoughts of giving up, and that its just not worth the effort that follow are perfectly natural. Just accept them, and carry on.

PRACTICE MENTALLY AS WELL AS PHYSICALLY
You can practice lots of the skills of guitar playing without the guitar in your hand! I know that may sound ridiculous but it isn't. Just think for a moment about all the mental processes we use when playing, without being aware of them. Our brain tells our fingers where to go, how to bend at exactly the right point. What the notes should sound like, as well as lots of other less obvious things that we rarely think about. A little awareness of this area of our brain and mind can really increase the speed at which we make progress.
Visualisation is really useful. The top performers in all areas of life use it constantly.
I think this area of playing is often overlooked in learning the guitar. Study of it will really help your skills develop.

Enjoy your journey to competence on the guitar and always remember, NEVER EVER GIVE UP!

The Four Stages Of Learning For New Guitar Players

paulw — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 21:29:01 +0000

When we first start to learn to play the guitar, or any new skill for that matter, we enter the new information about how to perform it into our brains by using the conscious mind. We have to be aware of the new info to be able to make sense of it.
If you really want to learn a new skill and get good at it, you need to get away from conscious thinking and be able to perform whatever skill it is, without really thinking about what your doing. In other words, let your subconscious take over.
If you break down and analyse an everyday skill that thousands of people have learned, like driving, you will see that it would be nigh on impossible to do it if we used our conscious minds. Just think about a simple manoeuvre like turning at a junction. If you didn't have the subconscious mind to take over it would be virtually impossible to do. You would have to think about the pressure you need to put on the brake to slow down. Think about putting your clutch in, think about changing gear, think about what is around you and so on and so on. A enormous amount of info to think about, plus you would also need to keep thinking about breathing and keeping your heart beating. The subconscious mind is breathtaking in its complexity and ability to multi task. If the conscious mind becomes involved, this is often where things go wrong.
The best results in any skill are achieved when the unconscious mind takes over and the conscious mind stays in the background.
The learning process can be broken down into four stages, and takes us from having no clue whatsoever to being accomplished at what ever we choose.

UNCONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE. At this stage we havent got the faintest idea about what we want to be good at. We dont even know what it is that we arent good at yet.

CONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE. When we are here, we know what it is we want to be able to do and be good at. We are also painfully aware that we aren't any good at it yet and we tend to look at others who can do it and think we are rubbish.
We are not, we just haven't learned yet.

CONSCIOUS COMPETENCE. At this level we have developed some skill but still have to concentrate to be able to perform it consistently well. If we lose concentration at any point we still make mistakes.

UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE. Now you find the skill or task simple. You can do it without thinking. You subconscious has taken over and there is very little conscious involvement. You now have a new talent, and have forgotten how difficult it was to reach this stage.

You may be asking how do you rise through the levels? Well, it is simple, lots of practice. I know its not ground breaking and you may have been looking for some earth shattering new technique to help you through quicker. Sorry there isn't one. Rather than waste your time looking for the next big thing to make it easier, just practice. Your subconscious mind thrives on repetition. The conscious mind acts as a guard to the mind. Once a new idea is accepted and allowed into the subconscious, it will be embraced and the new habit or skill will be formed quickly. This can be worrying too, as bad habits can be formed just as easily as good ones. Always try to make sure that your thoughts are positive, and try not to allow any negativity access to your subconscious.

Think Positive And Make Progress

paulw — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 13:23:39 +0000

If you have read any other of my articles, you'll notice that I am a big believer in the mental aspect of guitar playing and practice.
Mental techniques have played a massive part in lots of other areas of skill, but instruments, and guitar in particular has been overlooked.
Even a little awareness of how we use our brains when practicing guitar can make a big difference to our playing and also enhance the feeling that we get from using practise time constructively.
How many times have you sat down to practice and ended up going over the same old scales, or chord progressions? Only to put down your guitar and feel that you haven't improved even slightly, or even that you are wasting your time and that you'll never be able to manage that new chord or melody without finger surgery. Perhaps you've thought that you'd take up a more acheivable pastime like embroidery or something.
If we can change our thoughts about what we are doing, are aims and reactions, then our playing, practice and life in general will seem easier and will run more smoothly.
The next time you sit down with your guitar, make a conscious effort to really concentrate on your playing. What your fingers need to do, how your hands need to feel, how other parts of your body are feeling, what your fretting hand needs to do to move to the next change, how your strumming or picking hand needs to move. Every single thing that you can be aware of when playing, consciously become aware of.
I know this might sound a bit strange if you are someone that has never tried this kind of thing before. Believe me though, this does make a difference in the long run.
When you first start to notice these things, you may think that your playing is worse than before you started noticing.
It isn't, you are just more aware, and awareness is the first step on the road to improvement.

Anticipating Chord Changes For Fluency In Guitar Playing

paulw — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 11:26:00 +0000

Try using a little anticipation whilst learning how to play guitar. You may find that your ability to change chords quickly and cleanly improves rapidly.
I know you may think that you have enough on your plate, what with trying to remember where your fingers go, how many strings to hit, how hard to hit them, at what angle, and all the other things that you have to be conscious of.
Believe me, if you can add a little anticipation, you will move forward much more quickly.

Lets examine how to put the skill of anticipation into practice.
We'll use the chords E Major followed by G# minor. These are the first two chords in the song Whistle for the Choir by the Fratellis.

The first chord, the E Major is fretted as usual using fingers 2 and 3 on the 5th and 4th strings at fret 2.
The first finger frets the G# at the first fret of the G string. Play 4 strums of this chord.

The chord in the next bar is a G# minor. In actual fact the chord shown on the diagram is a G# minor with a D# bass note. Dont worry about that for the moment. I have shown the chord below as it easier to finger than the full barre chord.

E G#m

E||--0----0----0----0----|--4----4----4----4----|
B||--0----0----0----0----|--4----4----4----4----|
G||--1----1----1----1----|--4----4----4----4----|
D||--2----2----2----2----|--6----6----6----6----|
A||--2----2----2----2----|--6----6----6----6----|
E||--0----0----0----0----|----------------------|

This is fretted with fingers 3 and 4 on the A and D strings at the 6th fret, and your index finger barred across the 4th fret of stings 1 2 and 3.
I know this chord may still be a problem to some players, but I will suggest an alternative form later.
Now its time to anticipate.

As you strum the E Major chord, notice that your little finger is next to your third finger. Now imagine the 3rd and 4th finger moving together as one unit up the neck to land on the 6th fret of the 5th and 4th strings. Dont worry this can be done in a split second. It takes much longer to read, than it does to visualise. It isn't neccesary to think about this a lot, indeed you wont have time to think about it a lot. Just play nice even strums on the E Major and be very aware of where your fingers are going for the next chord.
As you then move into the position for the G# minor, your index finger can lie right across the top 3 strings on the 4th fret, where it will now naturally fall.
If you have a problem getting the full G# minor shape you can just use your index finger on the top 3 strings. Please be aware though that now this chord becomes a triad on the top 3 strings. If you play the 4th string open with it, it will sound strange as the D note isnt part of the chord.
Your focus and anticipation must now be on the 4th fret and getting your index finger, which in the E major is fretting the 1st fret G string, over to the top 3 strings at the 4th fret.
Purposely making use of anticipation and visualisation in chord changes is very useful, and will speed up your progress. It just calls for a bit more mental preparation than is usual.
You will only need to do this exercise until your fingers 'muscle memory' is strengthened.
Before you know it you will be changing from chord to chord with fluency and speed, without even thinking about it.