Unanswered Questions 5

I think it is time for another edition of Unanswered Questions. Here are some questions and, once again, are genuine things that I have been asked by students and friends, or things I have experienced in everyday life as a professional musician. Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question, and you should never be afraid to ask… as long as it is to the right person!

On to the questions - we have a mixture this week!

I did not realize that a 7th chord and a major 7th chord were different. Why is that?

When you start to extend chords beyond basic triads, we get into the realm of 7th chords. The new chords we have now would be:

• Major 7th

• Minor 7th

• Dominant 7th

• Half-diminished (m7b5).

The confusion here lies in that the dominant 7th chord (e.g. D7, C7 etc) is commonly shortened to 7th (e.g. D seventh or D seven). The difference is that major 7th is always referred to like that; a major 7 chord is never shortened. 

Something else that could help you identify either chord with your ears, is that the major 7th chord has a dreamy quality whereas the dominant 7th feels like a question mark - it always wants to pull you to the next chord. 

You may sometimes see chord charts written out with various symbols as a shorthand way of writing chords. For example, a major 7th chord might be indicated with a small triangle next to the upper right hand corner of the root note. You may also see a small dash next to a root note, this is a possible indication of a minor chord. Other possibilities include a small circle for diminished, and even a small circle with a slash in it for half-diminished (m7b5) chords. 

What does it mean when you see ‘a’ as a chord symbol?

This particular problem is one that I came across when I was teaching an adult student a few years ago. The student in question had written out some chords on a sheet, and when I played the chords along with the student, we got to the ‘a’ symbol and disaster ensued. I naturally played a major chord, but they played the minor version. Why is that?

The student in question was from Poland and, as it turns out, there were some interesting differences with how they were taught to write chords. If you are familiar with how we can use roman numerals in music, you will know that the uppercase indicates a major tonality, and lower case indicates minor one. In this situation, the lowercase ‘a’ the student had written meant Am - I am used to seeing the lower case ‘m’ with the capital A to indicate this. 

It goes to show that sometimes you may come across either a chart that has been written poorly, or the writing conventions might be different owing to where, or how, the person doing the writing was taught! Have you ever come across something like this?

A friend told me that I could not play metal on a Telecaster-type guitar. Do I need a new guitar?

I have only two words for you - Jim Root. Jim Root is a phenomenal metal guitar player, most famous for his work with Slipknot. He uses a mixture of a Fender Telecaster, Stratocaster and Jazzmaster - not traditionally known for their brutal sounds, but he makes it work with ease. 

I think the key here is to care less about what you think should work, and trust your ears more. I have a student who achieves a great sound with only a Telecaster and a Boss Katana amp - he put in many hours of work, trial and error and adjusting as a result of advice/critique from family and friends to get to that point. If you are struggling to achieve the sound you want, it could be the guitar, but it could just as easily be a combination of your technique and other equipment. 

A quick point about metal guitar tones is that often you do not really need as much gain/distortion as you think. Beyond a certain point you will lose clarity and there will be no definition in what you are playing. The trick is to find a good starting point, and then adjust with your guitar in the context of whatever situation you would be playing in - this could be different if you are playing live or recording in a studio. 

Do I need to practice this?

If you are asking this question, chances are that the answer is automatically yes. There are some finer points you could consider, such as if you are learning to play a certain style of music, or learning a new technique to play a particular song. I have been asked this question a lot - a worrying amount, in fact!

For example, if you are learning a famous, specific jazz solo, you probably do not need to spend a long time studying arpeggio shapes and harmonic theory. However, in order to truly understand everything that is going on, studying arpeggios and the various other elements would go a long way towards helping you achieve your goal. 

There are other things that you should practice that may not be clear to you initially. For example, reading chord charts, or learning songs, is a skill that needs to be developed. You should never work on one specific method for learning songs (check out my blog post on the subject here!), and the world is not a perfect place. I have been given a scrap piece of paper with a hastily drawn chord chart, using a Sharpie pen, before! Everything could be practiced and improved, but you should learn how to assign priority properly. 

Why do all the songs I write sound terrible? I have deleted them.

When you start writing your own music, most people fall into one of two categories. You either love everything that you have written, or you retrospectively hate it. Having a recorded library of your playing skills and your songwriting ability,and to some extent your recording ability, is a great way to keep track of how you have progressed as a musician.

Though speaking about liking your own music, I would recommend that you never delete what you have created. You simply never know when it could come in handy! I have countless ideas recorded in my studio, from tiny riffs, to the fledgling ideas of a song - they may never see the light of day, but they may also be a hit - there is no true way to ever truly find out!

Consider that Steve Vai starts off all of his songs by singing, humming or beatboxing into the voice notes app on his phone. Those ideas are the seed, and he can come back to grow it at a later date if he so wishes. Also, the members of Metallica once said that they have to record every rehearsal because James Hetfield simply can’t warm up or practice without stumbling across an amazing riff - all of their hits in recent years are likely to have originated in this way. 

Final Thoughts

There were some interesting topics to think about this week. I am sure that every guitar player, or any musician for that matter, has thought about one or more of these questions at some point. It is a good idea to find some inspiration, that one artist, song, album or live show that really resonates with you and helps push you through more difficult times - whether that is negative feelings about your own musical creations, questions about music in general or concerns about musical equipment. 

As normal, if you have any question you want me to answer, you can send them to the American Guitar Academy and they will filter through to me. Alternatively, you can ask another of the great teachers at TAGA, or ask your own teacher.

Keep rocking!