You know what? She made learning to play more boring than watching paint dry. And as a six year old, if given the choice, I probably would have chosen the paint!
She tried teaching me music theory, but it was like cutting down a forest with a pocketknife. More on that story in just a minute…
But as I’ve helped other people learn the guitar, I’ve observed that there’s a general lack of understanding as to exactly why we play what we do.
More importantly, I’ve noticed this lack of understanding really slows down progress, and even worse – can make learning the guitar confusing and feel like a lot of hard work!
I-IV-V (that’s 1 – 4 – 5 in English) refers to the root note (I), or tonic, and the two notes in perfect relation to it (IV and V). Because it is a numbering system, it is universal, and applies to every single key.
Simply put – this lesson on I-IV-V will show you how the guitar fretboard is built on patterns of I-IV-V, and once you see the patterns, your guitar will come alive in a whole new way.
Have you ever been in an unfamiliar city, looked at a road map, and tried to figure out what was going on?
Now – have you ever had a friend visit your home town, and showed them where to go on a map? Chances are that map just intuitively made sense to you, because it described familiar landmarks, right?
Have you ever struggled to follow the music or tab, without really knowing why the notes are where they are – why you need to play them in that order? That’s because you’re playing in unfamiliar territory…
Understanding I-IV-V as it relates to your guitar will be the key that unlocks your guitar in your hands – unleashing your true potential as a player.
When I was a teenager, I started taking guitar lessons. My guitar teacher approached music from a totally different angle than I’d ever seen before. Suddenly theory not only made sense, but it came alive in my hands!
Let me tell you something – one guitar player to another. I-IV-V such a basic concept to the guitar that it is something every single guitar player needs to know (Even the very tuning of the guitar is based on it).
It doesn’t matter if you want to be a rock star, or if your highest goal with the guitar is merely to strum a few chords around a campfire with some friends.
Ok, so I don’t know if the numbers are bang on or not – but from personal experience I would say they are. And it is 100% true that the Pro’s communicate using the number system.
Remember I started telling you about my episode with the piano lady? Well, I ended up quitting after three months. My parents weren’t sure if I would ever like music again after that (good thing they were wrong!).
Learning guitar can and should be one of the most fulfilling parts of your life – mastering an art that allows you to express yourself is truly priceless.
But none of them (so far as I’ve seen – and I’ve seen most of them by now) presents I-IV-V from the same perspective that you’ll be seeing it here.
Unlocking I-IV-V is the perfect introductory theory lesson to get you started on the guitar, or to reveal the secrets of the fretboard that have thus far been hidden from you…
With the Unlocking I-IV-V lesson you can hit rewind and re-watch any part that you don’t pick up immediately. As they say, video is the most patient teacher in the world!
What I learned from the lesson was: chord numbers, relative minor chords, and tones and semi tones and their meanings and operations. I’ve been playing since before you were born, so you know I’m a dinosaur, lol. I taught myself and learned by watching other people, like those two guys in Liverpool. I never understood what I was doing , but wrote a lot of songs in the past and recently recorded a couple of cd’s.
Your DVD gave me some revelation about chord structure that I sat down and started fooling around with some chords. I also started helping out my buddy at his guitar school so this will come in handy big time. The added weekly tips, I think, will be extremely helpful. I think this old dog is gonna learn and understand some new tricks!
I’ve explained I-IV-V to quite a few guitar players, and for many, it is like putting the final piece in a huge jigsaw puzzle: finally you get to see the whole picture, and you get it. The final gear drops in place, and you’re off to the races.
Have you tried to learn music, but been intimidated by having to learn each key? Would you like a rule of thumb so you don’t have to memorize anything?. Discover why all keys follow the same patterns, just with different letter names.
I had a chance to review your lesson on the 1,4,5 theory and it was exactly what i was looking for. It was very informative and easy to follow. I honestly believe that this will take my guitar playing to the next level and then some… the more that I watched the more that it made sense. Very well done and I would have to say that I would not change a thing. Thanks for this lesson and I look forward to future lessons!
Honestly, I’ve met better guitar players than myself who didn’t understand the material I’ll be revealing to you. Any guesses as to what happened when they learned? Yup – their playing improved faster than… Read more…