This guy is hands down the greatest guitar teacher I've ever seen in my life, wish I could have met you when I was 8-9, but 33 is better than never I guess.
I've been playing guitar since 1974. This is the most important guitar lesson that is on You Tube. Everything on a guitar is easier if you play in patterns. EVERYTHING .
Holy shit balls uncle Ben you just showed me in 25 minutes everything i didn't know that my guitar teacher could of showed me years ago that would have helped back then to be a better guitarist your my new teacher from now on you kick ass!! Uncle Ben..
This is a much simpler way to look at it. Being a music geek, I've always looked at it as, in a major key, 1, 4 and 5 are major. 2, 3 and 6 are minor, and 7 is diminished. As for minor, 1, 4 and 5 are minor. 3, 6 and 7 are major, and 2 is diminished. More complicated than it needs to be. This is why uncle Ben is a great teacher.
ElDuderino502 That's how I thought of it. I used the same fretboard patterns too. Slightly different though processes but the same conclusion. Good if you need to work out a 2-5-1 etc.
Thinking of it in numbers is necessary when you're composing on paper.. especially if you know how they (typically) connect, though.. Ha the go to answer; learn both
If you really wanna get in depth 2 3 6 is literally 1 4 5. you just have a major and a minor 1 4 5 in the same scale and youre tritone is always a half step below for better cadence. Hence why harmonic minor exists. Dominant chords always function better as a 5 chord. You're probably never gonna play G7 in A minor. You would play E7 because E is the five and the fifth chord has dominant function. The science behind it is a semitone from the root is a better natural cadence than a whole tone. When you look at a dominant chord the 3rd is a semitone away from the root. Better cadence. Change a G to G7 and go to D now you created a chromatic line. It's really all simpole when it finally dawns on you.
Been playing guitar for 33 years now & considered myself an advanced player. With that said, this lesson is simply awesome! I've never heard of this method before and my mind was blown. I can't wait to implement this new mindset into my playing. Always remember that no matter how good you are, there's always a lesson to be learned. Thanks Ben!
ive playing for over 20 years but not that much. little practice. i wrecked a nice Squire strat recently that i had after giving my Yamaha (first and only guitar) to my friend's daughter. after a couple years i finally bought a nice MIM strat and mini Roland amp. time to actually learn and practice!!!!!
I have literally watched like 40 videos trying to understand this and failed miserably. But the way you just explained it makes so much sense! If you can't explain it simply, then you don't understand it. These words do very little to convey to you how grateful I am. Thanks so much!
I'm going to piggy-back on your comment since your first.. in hope this helps someone else. :) Fantastic lesson. I just wanted to make sure anyone new to this concept might look at this a little differently. I've always just placed my index finger on the root note of the low E string and gone up a whole step 2 times, first with my middle and then pinkie finger. Then.. do the same with the A string. Those 6 notes are the 6 chords you can play (I won't touch on the 7th since the video does a great job and anyone learning this won't be soloing in Locrian anytime soon). In this way you don't have to go backwards to find the minor keys you can play. You look straight down and see all the chords you can play without shifting your fingers or eyes... and you more easily learn the chords you can play as 1 through 6 (when you shift backwards, I feel like you lose that numbering and it can be a great benefit for modal soloing). So.. If a song is in G major. I put my first finger on the G note (3 fret, low E string), next finger on the 5th fret (A note), pinkie on the 7th (B note). Drop down a string (A) but don't move anywhere. Index on C, middle finger D, pinkie E. The pinkie finger on this string will always be your relative minor... or you can work backwards if the song is in a minor key.. and your index finger is now the 1 (major) chord. Your 1,4,5 progression is right there for the major chords (just like any blues song you've ever played) and your 2,3,6 minor chords are easy to see without moving your hand. The video here is superb at illustrating all of this in a different way. I just thought it's helpful to realize you can find the same notes/chords without moving your hand. If your goal is to start soloing in modes, you'll like this because it reinforces the number of each chord. Slide up to the third note.. bam.. start your Phrygian run. Jump to the 5 and knock out some Mixolydian. You're right there without giving it any extra thought. You get the idea. :)
The gold chocobo helps you get the Knights of The Round materia. That materia makes Ruby Weapon easier than your stepdad on Spring Break at Daytona Beach in '96
10 Years ago, I started slapping a small piece of plastic against 6 strings on a hunk of wood and called it "playing Guitar". Today, I learned how to guide my Dad back home after he got lost on a trip "buying smokes" 9 years later using the beautiful sounds this sick technique helped me make with my hunk of wood... I mean Guitar. Thanks Uncle Ben!!
A min is the relative minor of C Maj. Keeners would have noticed that the chords in the key of C Maj are the same chords in the key of A min. A min just starts on A instead of C. You can also just take the sixth of a major key (A in the case of C) and blammo, Bob's your uncle! Edit: For extra melodic interest, try inverting chords (say, make the third the bass note instead of the root) or using suspensions (say, sub out the third for the fourth) and holy crap, now you're jazzing it up with gasoline. Or if you want to sound like the dudes in Opeth or Mastodon, try harmonizing by using contrary motion or retrograde inversions to really sound like you know what you're doing. I mean, it worked for Bach!
In the key of C you also secretly learn C ionion (Major) D Dorian E Lydian F Phrygian? G Mixolydian A Aolian (Natural Minor) B Locrian I probably butchered the spellings, but you are learning the modes without knowing it!
YOU JUST BLEW MY EFFING MIND!!! I can't believe this has not been shown in any of the 100s of guitar lesson videos I've watched over the years. Great job! Also, now I understand how to find the relative minor keys. AWESOME! Thanks so much for posting this.
Unreal. Every guitar sold should come with your hand-drawn chart with colored markers and one paragraph that describes this. All my long life i’ve let a nebulous fear of music theory keep me from learning this critical skill. As a result i’ve never been able to sit and jam with people who say “it’s in the key of F#, dude!” i’ve literally said to them “that doesn’t really help me.” Even though i’ve known all the basic chords and a few fingerings for strong barre chords for three decades. makes me feel like i’ve failed myself, but then Ben Eller swooped in and fixed it for me in 25 minutes. mind blown. thank you. i hope you’re living an amazing life full of happiness. you deserve it.
+Anton Yelchin death +1000 This made it all so clear. After sitting through hours of "tutorials" this one actually explains it in an understandable way. Kudos to Ben. Solid work sir.
I stopped playing guitar more years ago than you are old, “Uncle Mike”. Had my reasons. But now in my later years I have started again and enjoy guitar very much, though I know I have really missed the boat as far as being an accomplished musician. This video is one of your best. Thanks, guy. We are worlds apart in genre but I still watch your videos because you are a great guitarist.
Best guitar teacher on RU-vid. I love how you make everything super easy to understand while being very entertaining. Even though I've been playing for years I come here and still learn new things in ways that nobody else teaches! Keep it up!!
I never took the time to learn what chords in what key because I'm too lazy and can't be bothered. But my laziness just can't keep up what what you just told me right there. Just to damn simple. Thank you uncle Ben. You're my favourite uncle.
I have been following alot of Guitar Teachers online, and Ben Eller is by far my favorite when it comes to theory.. He doesn't use any of that fancy musical jargon… and makes concepts simple stupid.. all hail uncle ben....
Although your step father is a bit abusive, he's a guitar genius by showing you this awesome trick! Haha. Seriously thanks for updating the video. The first one was great, this one is even better.
That is easier for guitarists to understand and apply, when theory is explained and immediately shown how to be used like this example.. Most schools and colleges dont do this. This is the way to teach this stuff.
I've learned a decent amount of theory over the years, but much of it I don't know by rote. And, my mental map is still the piano keyboard even though I primarily play geetar. Seeing these sorts of applications using the fretboard is extremely helpful. It's another way to think about it that helps turn on the lightbulbs in the old brain. However, the real gem for me in this one was the substitution of the Dom7 for the m7! I didn't know you could do that! As soon as I played it, I realized I'd heard it all my life. Thanks again, Uncle Ben, for another educational and highly entertaining lesson. You're a hell of a teacher.
Why have I only just found this out - this makes so much sense and has saved me so much time. Now if only I could invent a time machine and travel back to tell my old self this.
Why not try buying a guitar study book for novices, first, instead of wasting your valuable time listening to an unqualified, unlicensed "hack" like I'll Ben, here.
@@edwardblocker7021 Does that include Sir Edward Blocker, sounds like he's trying be the know it all. PS: If everyone else here is leaving positive comments and you are negative maybe the problem is not with him (I think you just don't like his channel name)
"This is Why You Suck at Guitar" is so fucking arrogant. The self appointed "I am the way, the truth and the life" guitar Jesus has a serious attitude problem
Uncle Ben, I wish I'd had this video ten years ago-thank you SO much! I have gotten lost in so many bs abstractions trying to understand this via articles etc, and here you have physicalized it beautifully. Deeply respect and am grateful for this video.
me too. I had 30 minutes in a small room (see closet) in the basement of a music store with a teacher that smoked the whole time. I think I got addicted to nicotine by taking guitar lessons. lol
Thanks man for putting this stuff out. You seem to understand the way a lot of us are teaching ourselves and your lessons definitely hit on what everyone is missing. Just being able to logically piece the guitar together is so much more useful for me, probably because I'm self taught. It seems like a lot of teachers favor a more hands on approach where they are their to fix your missteps. I'm sure this works if they are there the whole time. But you've given us a framework to correct ourselves and I think that makes all the difference when learning primarily alone. Subscribed
The existence of FFVII references throughout your videos are what made me decide to appoint you to guitar sensei. Hopefully you've already played the remake and are learning some songs from it! Thanks for all the help, this video taught me a ton!
Incredible! I have seen 4 of your videos and have learned more useful information from them then I learned from all the other lessons I had in my 50+ years of playing. That includes spending 3 weeks at a guitar camp i. the early 90’s! Thank you for helping us sucky guitar players!!!
Great explanation man! This is probably the simplest way anyone could possibly remember it without overheating the brain. lol I now need to learn a few different variations of each major and minor chord.
Have felt overwhelmed at the prospect of songwriting for some time. Now I have a serious shot in the arm to actually try it. Juicy stuff that I will put into practice right away. Thanks so much!!!
When it comes to the shape he does, what order are the notes in? From low E string (2 notes on it) and A string (4 notes on it) - not counting diminished. As if someone said “play 2-6-4 in A minor”
AlexVinchenzo Number system considers 1 the major root. 6 would be the Aeolian or what you might call the "relative minor" so still leaves 7 as Locrian/Diminished.
I'm both speechless and shouting for joy at the same time. Every single piece of information in this video landed with me. Ben's teaching style is literally the best I've ever personally experienced.
I've been taught this about 6 or 7 times by people who taught it to me in a way I'd never remember. Now Uncle Ben taught it to me in a way I'll never forget. I was watching at 2x speed until 15:26 then I needed to hit the brakes big time to about 0.5 speed from there for a bit, but then I got to the point at the end where I was like "you don't even need to go through the minor ones, its obviously built the same way under the major.".
@@baronvonsatan The CO5th shows you all the keys and the chords that go in them .so your asking me what to do with the knowledge of the chords in a key ??? Play something !!!
Thumbs up bro. They didn't give me enough thumbs to award you with. I mean this video has given me more useful info than any other by far. MANY THANKS. MUDDy
I show this to any of my buddies who play simple chords (I love how you called them cowboy chords btw) and need to learn how to make songs better. When you said "did I blow your mind? I know" always catches them right when their mind is blown and I always get a good chuckle. Great video man, real easy going way to show a fantastic fundamental
Wow great explanation and visuals. Being a visual learner who draws similar boards this clicked with me more than many guitar lesson discussions I've had over the years. Thank you, Ben!
Hey Ben. Without getting all sappy, I have to say that I did not put the time in when I was by younger to actually learn. Was much easier to crank the amp and jam a few songs. Now that I am “cough” older, I don’t have nearly as much time to dedicate to playing. However, your catalog of videos has got to be the most productive 30 minutes of my day. Ok now back to work on that Flux Capacitor….
Yeah, "natural talent." I suffer from the same thing. You either have it or you don't. Doesn't mean you can't improve with practice and repetition. I mean, I could practice hockey night and day for the next 5 years and I am 100% sure I will never be an NHL hockey player.
@@ChessCat1500 FYI... there is no "one" initial move in the game of chess that has ever been written by any grandmaster in any published chess book because, simply stated... one does not exist in the game of chess nor has there ever been one in any recorded game played in history. "UBER BULLSHIT!!!"
I'm gladly that I started to learn a little bit of english by myself, 'cause I never found out here in Brazil's videos, this kind of helpful tips about harmonies, I'm an enthusiast in guitar play and now I'm thinking that I can try to play around with some songs without ask everything on the internet. THANK U SO MUCH, KEEP DOING THIS WORK, PLS.
Mr "Big Ben" you are an absolute genius!!! I'm a bit scared that you might have been watching me because I suck at guitar for every reason/episode and then some... I've been a beginner for over 40 years because no one else could simply explain to me what basic chords go together in various keys. Thank You!!! Now I can spend the next 40 years and actually learn to play my instrument instead of playing with my instrument.
My method is practice a lot and explore all over the fretboard. Also make up your own chords and scales as long as they sound organized it will sound like music. It aint rocket science..its rock n roll!!
thanks, ben; that video does, indirectly, illustrate why i suck on guitar after many years. but it also proves your talent and natural ability to impart your wisdom. thanks!
Something i realized about this pattern is that the note underneath the root is it's 4th on it's major scale and the whole step up is it's 5th. Go another whole set up and you get it's sixth. If you know your barre chord shapes, you have your Root, 4th 5th and minor 6 pop chord progression mapped out so if you ever find yourself with a guitar at a campfire and you wanna strum some chords to some pop songs, you can improvise a basic chord progression, given you know what key the song is in. Very cool and very informative video, really helped me to connect some dots.
"You might end up accidentally playing some shit ass '3 Doors Down' song." So true. Hahaha. More importantly, super helpful lesson. Good stuff, Uncle Ben. And
FreD Hahahahaha have you ever seen MetallicA in concert? You can see Lars body still trembling and he's covered in sweat. Idk how my best bro can play all that MetallicA for that many song. It's all old stuff I play too. Fast as fyuck
michael lemay Maybe it's all the hot stage lighting and playing for 25,000 people. Then again maybe Lars sucks and your bro should be metallica's drummer.
You are the best, man. I've been "playing" for over ten years, and nobody has ever made it this simple. I've tried to learn theory, but even beginner videos are like Chinese to me.
The 7 chords in the key of A segment taught me why Time by Pink Floyd is played the way it is. I never knew there were guidelines for where 7 chords go. I suck at guitar less now, thanks Ben
You have done an outstanding job of putting the insanely complicated into a very simple easy to follow rule of thumb!!! This is god sent to all of us out here trying to put this together... I am in your debt!!!! Thank you 1000 times over!!!
God damn it. I spent 4 days doin' some fancy book learnin' on the circle of fifth to work this shit out when I could have been watching you tube! Also, great video! Probably your most useful.
And that was not the purpose of the video. Maybe he'll do another one on chord progressions, but this one was about how to find most chords that FIT IN A KEY. Chord progressions are more complicated in a way that they exist in so many forms and there is as much if not more than the total number of genre and subgenres that exist in the universe.
I'm an old guitarrist and never learned this stuff back in the day, we were just making noise in the garage with my mates 😂 You are an excellent teacher Mr 👏
1:01 - this is where I knew I was up for something good! And indeed... you delivered! No-nonsense, straight to the facts, easily understandable. Thanks Ben, I'll stick around!
I guess you haven't studied many reputable music books, lately. A good library's full of them... but, only for people who can read and then from there, take some inisheativ to want to study hard to become a better player.
I guess it's not very hard to impress the uneducated. It's a damn shame that that's the kind of lazy-ass world we live in, today. It's no wonder that a good education is now being wasted on the existing, intellectually and mentally challenged that dictates the educational makeup of our society, today.
I have been playing for years knowing only the 5 Minor Pentatonic scale positions . I have only recently begun to learn the chord number system to be able to learn the CAGED system . I am so glad I found your channel as you make it easy to understand without being painfully slow and overly repetitious . Thank you Ben . I am now a subscriber !
One thing I really like is that you don’t rag on people for their music tastes. I hate seeing guitar youtubers shit talking pop music, especially when they get mad at pop listeners for disliking metal. They both take talent in different aspects. Just let people enjoy their music preferences
Shannon (below) took the words out of my mouth. I've played for 38 years. I have a song in a movie, "Wedding Serenade" was in "Series 7 the contenders" and I knew Dimebag back in the day (played many same clubs). With that said, I always relied on my brother for theory and now with this video I can at least crawl music theory. I laughed when you said did this just blow your mind. Yep. I always enjoy your vids. Thank you!
One of the downsides of being self taught is that you often miss all but the most basic theory, and most books/videos arent the beat at explaining it. This video was a real eye-opener for a topic that everyone tries to explain like they're a rocket scientist. Mind fucking blown. Thanks for the entertaining and very informative video. Keep it up.
Also, for the love of fucking Hendrix, learn your modes! "Huh, why? What do they do?" 1. They keep you from widdly-diddling up and down Minor Pentatonic Avenue all day long going nowhere, and make you play those resolving half-steps that make melodies sound like the sound grown-up do. Grown-ups in records that live in mansions. And not with their mom. 2. Because now you get three minor scales and two extra major scales! Just for you, free of charge! 3. Because it's a way of weeding out solo-enthusiast chicks with too much VD. (Don't over-do it, tho. If you starting doing chromatic runs and going about playing Hungarian Minor or Blues Dorian the alternative crowd starts to flock, and that is a russian roulette of VD.)
+Gongasoso ".. make melodies sound like the sound grown-ups do. Grown-ups in records that live in mansions. And not with their mom." Best comment ever No idea what modes do or how my addled brain could possibly learn them, but what's VD?. A long time ago at school they told me it was Venereal Disease. I'm guessing they were wrong, or at least non-inclusive, as usual.
I am a guitar player and teacher. I use a similar technique. Usually, the teachers really don't have a clue how these chords work together. I appreciate your method.
