Quantitative and Qualitative Review Guitar Lesson

Chapter 1: (02:51) Lesson Introduction Review

- Warm-up the hands.
- Stretch the wrists.
- Play the major and minor open chords.
- Warm up your strumming muscles by relaxing the wrists and letting the pick flow over the strings.
- Play the E major chord in the "new" way and play the type 1 barre chords.
- Play the A major chord in the "new" way and play the type 2 barre chords.
- Practice the "slanting A" technique.
- Play all of the type 1 mini-barre chords.
- Play all of the type 2 mini-barre chords.
- Review and practice quantitative vs qualitative techniques.

Ready?

Let's take a moment to review last week's lesson. We talked briefly about quantitative and qualitative changes and how they can be used to add interest to your playing. We've talked a lot about technique over the last few weeks, and categorizing those techniques can be another manner in which to conceptualize them and apply them to your playing.

So let's talk some more about quantitative changes. Chapter 2: (01:33) Discussion Quantitative
As we discussed in last week's lesson, quantitative changes are usually a change in the number of strums in a particular rhythm while still maintaining the integrity of that rhythm. The goal of decreasing the amount of strums is to allow the rhythm guitar to breathe more and to give other guitar players (or other instrumentalists) space to work. Chapter 3: (04:57) Exercise 1 Exercise 1
Play the chords Em, D and C using the strum or "down down-up up down." Play Em and D once (one strum pattern each) and then play the C twice (two strum patterns each). Don't forget to snap the upward motion, making it a clean, crisp strum. Chapter 4: (02:33) Exercise 2 Exercise 2
Playing the same chords as above, play the rhythm on the Em chord, then (leaving the last off) on the D, then on the C, then the second time you play the strum pattern, leave off the last down strum again. Watch me do this in the video for more insight into this technique. What do you notice, if anything, about the quality of the rhythm? Do you think this is a more interesting way to play these three chords than just playing the same pattern over and over?

Phrase
The term "phrase" can be defined as "a short musical thought typically two to four measures long" (Websters Collegiate Dictionary,10th edition, 1993. p. 876). A measure is typically a segment of musical time which is measured by the number of beats. For now, I just want to focus on the term "phrase," since it becomes more and more important in this series and in particular, the last exercise. When you play only three chords (Em D and C) in Exercise 2, you probably noticed that you need to play the C chord twice as long. In the “time” that we are playing this exercise, if we didn't play the C twice as long or two strum patterns, we wouldn’t be completing the phrase. The phrase in this case, is four measures long. Hence, one of the chords needs to be strummed twice as long. I'll use this expression more and more as we continue, and I'll also explain it more thoroughly.

Qualitative
As we discussed in last week's lesson, qualitative changes are, for example, different chord voicings or positions on the neck, softer or lighter strumming, adding or subtracting notes to and from a chord (liquifying chords), etc. Qualitative changes are often changes in dynamics.

Exercise 3
Play the same three chords from Exercise 2, but this time, play them in these positions:

Em
E_7_
B_8_
G_9_
D_9_
A_X_
E_X_

Play this type 2 Em chord on the 7th fret.

D
E_10_
B_10_
G_11_
D_X_
A_X_
E_X_

Play this type 1 mini-barre D chord on the 10th fret.

C
E_3_
B_5_
G_5_
D_5_
A_3_
E_X_

Play this type 2 barre chord on the third fret.

Use the same strum from the previous exercises or and alternate between this strum and this one . Now you are making both quantitative as well as qualitative changes to your rhythm. Can you switch back and forth between the first set of chords and the second? Can you interchange the two sets of chords? Both of these options help intermingle the different tonal colors that the two sets of chords have to offer and make your playing more diverse and interesting. Chapter 5: (01:31) Exercises 4 and 5 Exercise 4
Pick three chords of your own that you feel might sound good together and play them with a strum of your choice. Now, see if you can "pull" a strum out like we did before and make a quantitative change to your rhythm. Don't forget to complete the phrase! What I mean to say is, an incomplete phrase will feel out of balance or, well, incomplete!

Exercise 5
Now, do the same exercise explained above, but this time, make a qualitative change to your rhythm. You can use different positions for the chords you are playing, or lighter and softer strums, or you can liquify the chords that you're playing. The sky is the limit here, so feel free to explore and try different techniques. Chapter 6: (04:09) Technique Techniques (continued) Combining chord changes with notes.
This is a technique that I want to share with you as I feel that many (hopefully all) of you are ready for something a little more challenging. Utilizing strums with note changes can be labeled a qualitative aspect as we are changing the quality of the rhythm but not altering the strum from its original form. The chords we will utilize are C, D, F and G - all open chords. Here is how this rhythm should be played:

Using downstrokes, play from the C to the D striking the C once and then play on the D chord. From this point, play a descending scalar idea that looks like this:

E_X_
B_X_
G_X_
D_X_
A_3_
E_X_

E_X_
B_X_
G_X_
D_X_
A_2_
E_X_

E_X_
B_X_
G_X_
D_X_
A_0_
E_X_

These three tabs should indicate to you that are playing a descending scale starting on the A-string on the third fret (a C note) and descending to the A-string second fret (a B note). Finally, the A-string is played open (an A). This is, in essence, the technique that we've covered in previous lessons known as "walking down." Once you have walked down from C to A, play the final two chords: F and G. Strumming both chords with one downstroke each. Watch me in the video for a demonstration.

Fingering
Once you get into more and more complex and difficult techniques on the guitar, it becomes imperative that you are flexible as to how you position your fingers on the fretboard and how you hold your hands in relation to the neck of the guitar.

For example, during the walk down in the previous exercise, your hand should be in the position of a C chord. This places your hand in the most advantageous position to walk down without wasting energy or movement. Economy of motion is an extremely important factor when learning more difficult techniques and chord changes as wasted motion will slow you down!

Hence, there are two important factors to consider when playing chords / notes:

1. Cognitive: There will always be a mental component to your playing (even when you are a master of the guitar), even on a subatomic level. Planning where your fingers are going next is important so that you can prepare your next step and keep your hand in the most advantageous position. In the example above, you know that you are going to play a descending scale starting at C, so planning to move your hand in the position of an open C chord is the best way to go about it. If you know that you are combining chords with an ascending G scale, then plan to have your hand in the position of the G chord and you will be more prepared to play that scale.

2. Physical: Make the necessary moves to accommodate your planning. Keep your hand and fingers in the position most advantageous for the change that you are about to make and then make that change. When learning the guitar, most people will inadvertently pull their fingers off of the fretboard. This is counterproductive and will slow you down. Watch your hands and where they need to be for the next change (cognitive), and then keep them in the vicinity for a more smooth and efficient transition to the next chord (physical).

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