Sunday, January 23, 2005
I'm definitely not a steady blogger. But I have an excuse. I've been busy again--this time putting together a DVD that lays out SeeDEGA concepts in a great video lesson format...
I'm proud of this DVD. It isn't your average "look at me and do this" stock approach. Diagrams and step-by-step info are right there on the screen, together with the visual demonstrations.
There are also segments filmed in front of a live audience, where I answer question and show exactly how to use SeeDEGA memory tools to navigate the fret board. And there's a full demonstration of my "CAGGED" scale-form sequence, which I'm having a lot of fun in my own journey of learning guitar. An "extras" data folder on the DVD includes an e-book with a "SeeDEGA primer" section...
I'm proud of this DVD. It isn't your average "look at me and do this" stock approach. Diagrams and step-by-step info are right there on the screen, together with the visual demonstrations.
There are also segments filmed in front of a live audience, where I answer question and show exactly how to use SeeDEGA memory tools to navigate the fret board. And there's a full demonstration of my "CAGGED" scale-form sequence, which I'm having a lot of fun in my own journey of learning guitar. An "extras" data folder on the DVD includes an e-book with a "SeeDEGA primer" section...
Friday, October 15, 2004
I've spent a busy few months outlining a chord/scale form approach to improvising leads. Like others, I've spent my share of time pouring over books that list dozens of scale and mode patterns. The idea of memorizing it all and keeping it straight seemed pretty daunting...
I kept thinking, if a memory tool like SeeDEGA could quickly tell me how to find and play a complete set of key chords in any fret position area on the fret board, then maybe there's a quicker way to match scales with chords to get the lead sounds I'm looking for.
As it turns out, there are memory tools that can help. My new E-Book, Leading With SeeDEGA, details simple ways to leverage scale-forms to quickly match the right scale(s) over chord(s) to get various lead sounds--Spanish, pop, soulful blues, jazz/fusion, etc.
I'll be outlining these memory tools on the website soon, and the E-Book should be available for purchase in the next week or two.
I kept thinking, if a memory tool like SeeDEGA could quickly tell me how to find and play a complete set of key chords in any fret position area on the fret board, then maybe there's a quicker way to match scales with chords to get the lead sounds I'm looking for.
As it turns out, there are memory tools that can help. My new E-Book, Leading With SeeDEGA, details simple ways to leverage scale-forms to quickly match the right scale(s) over chord(s) to get various lead sounds--Spanish, pop, soulful blues, jazz/fusion, etc.
I'll be outlining these memory tools on the website soon, and the E-Book should be available for purchase in the next week or two.
Friday, March 26, 2004
SeeDEGA collected good reviews from several newspapers in our region this week, which we've posted on the website.
I also gave a talk/demonstration of SeeDEGA at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, NY. Several guitarists at the talk expressed the desire to learn something that could "kickstart" their playing. Only a few in the audience had heard about CAGED (3 out of 30). And none was aware just how far a "chord form" approach to the fret board could be taken using SeeDEGA concepts.
But by the end of the talk, everyone had learned that there are some excellent memory tools any guitarist can use get that needed "kickstart"...
I also gave a talk/demonstration of SeeDEGA at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, NY. Several guitarists at the talk expressed the desire to learn something that could "kickstart" their playing. Only a few in the audience had heard about CAGED (3 out of 30). And none was aware just how far a "chord form" approach to the fret board could be taken using SeeDEGA concepts.
But by the end of the talk, everyone had learned that there are some excellent memory tools any guitarist can use get that needed "kickstart"...
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
I took the effort to develop and write The SeeDEGA Method because I believe it contributes something new to guitar learning.
There are hundreds of CAGED sites on the web, and plenty of books on that subject.
But The SeeDEGA Method is the first work that identifies the SeeDEGA modulating sequence. It represents a truly comprehensive “chord form” approach to the fret board.
Some have claimed the SeeDEGA sequence is somehow “derived” from CAGED. The claim is nonsensical. SeeDEGA is not CAGED rearranged. It doesn’t locate the same chord tone along the neck, any more than CAGED identifies successive chords of a music key at a given fret position area. SeeDEGA, CAGED—and other useful sequences, for that matter—are all derived from conceptualizing the fret board systematically using chord forms. The way chord forms happen to exist in playable fingerings on a standard tuned guitar has nothing to do with one useful sequence being “derived” from another.
Others have claimed that somehow the SeeDEGA modulations are “obvious” and unoriginal. “I knew it all along!” Yeah, right. You just forgot to write the book or tell anyone else...
If the SeeDEGA modulations were common knowledge, they would have been outlined in many books and primers before now, in the same way as other “obvious” guitar information. But the fact is, the SeeDEGA modulating sequence hasn’t been identified in any prior work.
It’s certainly true that SeeDEGA will seem obvious and simple, once learned. As Galileo observed—“all truths are easy to understand once they are discovered, the point is to discover them…” The irony of the astronomer's statement is lost on those who confuse the simplicity of SeeDEGA with their own powers of originality...
There are hundreds of CAGED sites on the web, and plenty of books on that subject.
But The SeeDEGA Method is the first work that identifies the SeeDEGA modulating sequence. It represents a truly comprehensive “chord form” approach to the fret board.
Some have claimed the SeeDEGA sequence is somehow “derived” from CAGED. The claim is nonsensical. SeeDEGA is not CAGED rearranged. It doesn’t locate the same chord tone along the neck, any more than CAGED identifies successive chords of a music key at a given fret position area. SeeDEGA, CAGED—and other useful sequences, for that matter—are all derived from conceptualizing the fret board systematically using chord forms. The way chord forms happen to exist in playable fingerings on a standard tuned guitar has nothing to do with one useful sequence being “derived” from another.
Others have claimed that somehow the SeeDEGA modulations are “obvious” and unoriginal. “I knew it all along!” Yeah, right. You just forgot to write the book or tell anyone else...
If the SeeDEGA modulations were common knowledge, they would have been outlined in many books and primers before now, in the same way as other “obvious” guitar information. But the fact is, the SeeDEGA modulating sequence hasn’t been identified in any prior work.
It’s certainly true that SeeDEGA will seem obvious and simple, once learned. As Galileo observed—“all truths are easy to understand once they are discovered, the point is to discover them…” The irony of the astronomer's statement is lost on those who confuse the simplicity of SeeDEGA with their own powers of originality...
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Some people wonder how "thinking in chord forms" can be such an effective approach to understanding the fret board.
General music theory doesn't specify particular chord fingerings for guitar. But chord forms do. And in doing so, they convey information specific to the fret board.
A chord form approach is particularly useful for grasping the "big picture" of how the fret board works. It doesn't replace learning scale patterns, or how to construct chords from intervals. It integrates with and complements other guitar learning.
In March, I’ll be giving a talk at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, NY, about SeeDEGA's comprehensive chord form approach to the instrument…
General music theory doesn't specify particular chord fingerings for guitar. But chord forms do. And in doing so, they convey information specific to the fret board.
A chord form approach is particularly useful for grasping the "big picture" of how the fret board works. It doesn't replace learning scale patterns, or how to construct chords from intervals. It integrates with and complements other guitar learning.
In March, I’ll be giving a talk at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, NY, about SeeDEGA's comprehensive chord form approach to the instrument…
Monday, January 05, 2004
Younger players trying SeDEGA have given some of the most positive responses. They have the attitude of "I want to learn something I can use today!" It frustrates certain species of guitar teachers. But the fact is, plenty of impatient teens learn how to play guitar pretty darn well, pretty darn fast. Dylan, a teenager from from Highland, NY sent this note: "Thank you a lot for [your] guitar book. It helped me a lot. I use it all the time and I love playing now."
Friday, January 02, 2004
Well, it was fun re-arranging a few Christmas favorites using SeeDEGA. Being able to quickly find chords and voicings really helped in "jazzing up" my open position fingerstyle versions. I didn't throw out the old arrangements--I added to them with color chords and two and three-note runs that didn't require a lot of head scratching and poking around to work out...
