Octaves and Alternating Currents Guitar Lesson

Chapter 1: (08:12) Finding Your Range So as you all know, we've been attending to the notion of discovering a melody amongst a series of chords, right? We've selected a few chords and noodled around with them, so to speak, in an attempt to find the ever-elusive melody line that we desire and covet. But perhaps we need to take a little closer look at the potential possibilities that lie within each chord as applied to the construction of a cool melody line. There are some tools that can be helpful if you know how to use them correctly and a few terms that you should be familiar with by now, but if you aren't... Chapter 2: (05:13) Octaves Octave

An octave, if you're not familiar with this term from 6th grade music class, is an interval between one tone or pitch or note and that with double, or half, of its frequency. In other words, it’s the same note only higher or lower and achieved by either going up eight notes (or 12 semi-tones or half steps) or down eight notes in a diatonic scale. In actuality, you can keep going up by eight or down by eight until the tones are inaudible to the human ear. The most important thing to understand about the octave is that it is the measure by which you take a given note and make it either higher or lower but still maintain the same note. I’m hoping that you are all fully familiar with the concepts of half and whole steps by now, but if you need a refresher, remember that there are whole steps (two frets) between every note except B-C and E-F, where the distance between is only one half step (one fret). Hence, the distance between a given C-note and its sister C-note an octave above, or below for that matter is eight whole steps or twelve half steps. Okay?

Now you may be asking "Mark, what in the blue blazes does the octave have to do with songwriting, consarn it?" Well, my friends, I'll tell you. Let's take a look at some chords that we’ll be using in today's lesson, shall we? E major, D major, B minor and A major:

E major
E_0_
B_0_
G_1_
D_2_
A_2_
E_0_

D major
E_2_
B_3_
G_2_
D_0_
A_x_
E_x_

B minor
E_2_
B_3_
G_4_
D_4_
A_2_
E_x_

A major
E_0_
B_2_
G_2_
D_2_
A_0_
E_x_

Re-familiarize yourselves with these chords if necessary and strum them using the strum "down down-up-down." Also, this might be a good time to review the last couple of lessons concerning the location of melody amongst a set of chords. Remember to pick individual notes within the chords themselves and/or hum notes that are intrinsic to the chords. Please go through the same process with the four chords listed above and see if you can find a melody or two.

Exercise 1
Beginning with the E major chord, hum or sing an E note - preferably the lowest E (the open E string, right?) if possible but if not, then find the next E note up or rather, the E an octave above the open E. Count twelve half steps beginning with the F note located on the first fret of the low E-string

E_x_
B_x_
G_x_
D_x_
A_x_
E_1_

and remember to count the open notes as well (e.g. open A, open D). Watch me in the video for more on this. You should have made your way to this note, which is the E note an octave above the lowest open E note.

E_x_
B_x_
G_x_
D_2_
A_x_
E_x_

Exercise 2
Hum or sing this E note and get comfortable with it until your voice feels smooth and slippery. For those of you looking for an effective vocal warm-up, please take a look at the review sections of my performance series as well. Now, using either the low E or this "new" E note, begin your new melody with this note and either sing/hum an ascending (moving upward, higher in pitch) or descending (moving downward, lower in pitch) depending on whether the particular E note that you are beginning your new melody with is comfortable for you. In other words, find the starting point that is most comfortable for your range and use that as your jumping off point. This is a great technique to find your natural range and begin your melody lines in a vocal region that is most suited for you. If you feel that this second E that we’ve located is still too low for your range, well, you know what to do!

Exercise 3
Now go through this same process with the other chords D, Bm and A. Have you found your comfort zone by finding the octaves of each particular note? Good, then we can continue! Use your new jumping off points to locate a new melody line with these four chords. You may want to sing just the four notes, one from each chord first and then add notes until you have a new melody. Chapter 3: (04:40) Alternating Currents Alternating Currents
Most songs have differing numbers of notes over each of the chords in their progressions. This helps to keep the melody diverse.. In addition, some of the notes may have differing durations and levels of intensity or volume. Keep this in mind as we go through the next series of exercises.

Exercise 4
Play all four of the chords (E, D, Bm, and A), and this time, compose a melody line with alternating numbers of notes over each successive chord. In other words, two notes over the E and Bm chords, three notes over the D and A chords. Watch me in the video for more on this as well.

Exercise 5
This time, hold the note that you are singing at the ends of the D and A chords. You may notice that this technique can be an especially effective way to transition into the next chord by smoothing the chord change over with vocals.

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