The Mastery Level: Transposing On The Spot
This takes the bar chord exercise we discussed last week, to the next level.
You can find last week’s blog here:
The Ultimate Bar Chord Exercise.
Following the guidelines discussed in last week’s blog, write a 4-bar random chord progression.
For example:
Bb | Dbm | F#m | Ab ||
Using the 4-bar chord progressions you wrote down: play the line, transposing the chords you’re reading to another key.
For example up a whole step (you play chords up 2 frets from the chords you’re reading):
You read:
Bb | Dbm | F#m | Ab ||
… but you play:
C | Ebm | G#m | Bb ||
Or you could transpose everything up a half step.
You see
Bb | Dbm | F#m | Ab ||
… but you play:
B | Dm | Gm | A ||
You could also transpose down a half or a whole step from what’s written.
Once you get really good at this, start transposing larger intervals up and down.
You could transpose up or down a minor 3rd, or a major 3rd, or a 4th, or a tritone (this one’s tough) or a 5th, etc.
Conclusion.
Being able to transpose on the spot, is a great skill to have.
Practice transposition with an interval up or down.
One of the many situations where this skill comes in handy is for example when you accompany vocalists who are uncomfortable singing a piece of music in the key it is written in.
It makes their life really easy if their guitarist can transpose any piece of music on the spot to any key of their liking.
Hit me up anytime at vreny@zotzinmusic.com if you have any questions, or if you would like to book a lesson.
These free lessons are cool, but you will never experience the progress, joy, and results that my students experience in lessons when you’re learning by yourself from blogs and videos.
That is why people take lessons: way better results and progress, much more complete information, exposed to way more creative ideas than you can get from a blog or YouTube video.
There is only so much that self-study can accomplish.
If you want to see amazing results and progress in your guitar playing, buy your first lesson here and get started ASAP.
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