I've got a question for the guitarists here, especially those who have gone deep into learning the fretboard and theory. A bit of background... I've been playing guitar for over 25 years. I started young and learned almost entirely by ear. Since then, I've continued learning through online tutorials, tabs, chord charts, and just countless hours of playing. Like most guitarists, I feel like we're always learning and improving. The interesting thing is that my ears know where to go, but my brain doesn't always know why. If you play something, I can usually hear it, work it out, and find it on the guitar. I tend to feel my way around the fretboard rather than consciously thinking about note names or theory. It's always just been instinctive. Now I've reached a point where I really want to connect the dots. Learning all the notes on the fretboard and understanding how everything fits together feels surprisingly difficult. After playing by ear for so many years, my default is always to rely on what I hear and what my hands already know. Trying to think about note names almost feels like learning the instrument all over again. So here's my question... If you were starting to properly learn the fretboard after 25+ years of playing by ear, what would be your first steps? Would you focus on: - Learning every note on the fretboard? - Intervals? - The CAGED system? - Triads? - Scale degrees? - Something else entirely? I'm also aware that I'm pretty set in my ways after all these years, so it feels like quite a daunting challenge. But I know that adding this knowledge could open up a whole new level of freedom and understanding. I'd love to hear from anyone who's been through a similar journey or teaches guitar. What approach helped everything finally click for you?

The answer is basically - no. But we are going to cover it anyways. The last chord in the Key of G. F# Diminished. F# A C. Memorize it? Sure! But we almost never use it, you probably wont either. I’ll tell you how you can use it, and then!!!! I’ll suggest a cool alternative TO it that we can use and that is frequently used as an “outside” chord IN G! How to use it: This chord can be used as a V chord. the D to go straight to G. It resolves nicely. Sounds weird, but resolves nicely. This concludes our key of G! Now how to use something I consider more useful? Instead of the viio (Roman numeral for the last chord diminished). let’s kick that back a half step more and make it a major chord, the “Flat 7 chord in G”. the bVII - F major. It too works now with the rest of the chords in G In fact without it, Freebird doesnt exist! G D Em F C D - Intro to Freebird I V vi bVII IV V. When making a bVII in any key take the Letter of that Key, pop it back a letter before, and make it a major chord. so if my Key is G The alphabet letter just before G is F F major is my bVII and sounds great going to G! Hope this made sense! Would love your thoughts and feedback!

If been following the series, then you know that we have just gone through the five chord in the key of G. It is now Chord 6 in the key. We know it as a few things, and you may have run across these terms. “The 6 chord” “The relative minor” “The 6 minor, or 6m” if youre into the Nashville numbering system. “vi” They all stand for the same thing. In our Exploration of the key of G, its one chord. E minor or Em. It is made of the notes E G B. Thats all you need to do to memorize the Chord, and label it as the 6 chord in G. So in the key now: G Am Bm C D and now Em In Nashville its “1 2m 3m 4 5 6m in the key of G” In Roman Numbers its “I, ii, iii, IV, V and vi in G” You should have easily memorized all the notes that make up these chords and be drilling on them, if youve applied yourself to this series by now, right? If so, the key of G is yours for life, (just about!) Thats going to be a common key, if not the most common one you as a guitar player are likely to face. And at least in ONE key you'll hold a lot of knowledge, and be pretty strongly able to follow theory in that key! So why not be a beast in knowing it, right? Till next time, we are almost done!

hello everybody, if you have been following the series, hopefully you are now comfortable with understanding the first four chords in the key of G G Am Bm C In addition to this, I hope that you have committed the notes of that triad to memory. For those that have been taken some sort of course to learn the notes on the neck, this is a great practice, to drill on some of those notes and find them on your guitar neck! Today is the fifth chord in the Key of G, and honestly the most important chord in the key, besides G so there are two things you want to do: Know its name, and spelling, but know the power it has. the Chord is D Major, its the “five chord” in G Memorize the notes that make up D major: DF#A The power of the “five chord” is, if youre playing a song in the Key of G, and you want to come BACK to G… Play a D chord. It wants to resolve on G! It sounds resolved when you do a D to G. Till tomorrow!

Hope you got something out of the first day, and thank you for the feedback and responses! Today I want to talk briefly about the Key of G and compare it to the Key of C. Theres only one difference between the key of C which we all know is based around that major scale, a string of letters C to C. The difference between C major and G major, is ONE note. its F#. So if we compare the notes from C major to G major scales. C D E F G A B C G A B C D E F# G Same letters. but in G to G the F is F#. Thats it. The reason I bring up that F# in the key of G, is because we will be seeing it in today’s chord. Bm, the “three chord” in G So yesterday, we learned the “one chord” G major made of the notes “G B D”. Did you memorize it? Hope so! Its dead easy. If you did… its yours for life! And we learned that the “two chord” in the key was the A minor chord. “A C E”. Did you memorize the word ace? If so congratulations! Cool! So today in the key of G we have the “three chord”. B minor - Spelled B D F# So easy to memorize! Just one chord today! Thats it. So in the key of G we've got. G Am and Bm So if I wrote a song today and used the key of G, could I use one of these other chords like Am or Bm in any order I want with the G, and write a song? Yep! And those chords would fit together perfectly, over any melody I made up, that used all the notes (or any of the notes) from the G major scale! To summarize: One chord today! Bm - BDF#. Bm is the “three chord” in G! Always. See you tomorrow!