Guitar Serious Fun

Demystifying Sus Chords (And Why They Sound So Good)

Enjoy the chart below, with transcript… Have you ever seen the abbreviation “Sus” in a chart and thought, “What does that actually mean?”  Today we’re going to talk about…suspensions with music on the guitar. I encourage you to catch the video version of this article while it’s available. This way, you’ll see and hear everything demonstrated. You can find the video right here: If you’ve ever seen a suspenseful movie, or if you’ve ever had the unfortunate experience of having an account suspended, or your driver’s license suspended, you have experienced suspense.But what do all of these scenarios have in common? They are all temporary. A suspenseful movie can’t be suspenseful the entire time – it just wouldn’t work. A suspended account is usually restored to good standing when the balance is paid, and a suspended driver’s license can eventually be reinstated. So, I’m not talking about something being permanently taken away – I’m talking about something being temporarily suspended, and eventually – wait for it – resolved. So, let’s take a moment to discuss what suspensions can look and sound like on the guitar, and why they’re important. So, when we see the term “sus” in a chart, that’s short for a SUSpended chord.  First of all, the most common chord we’ll find suspensions for is going to be on the Dominant, the V chord in a Major key. And second of all, the most common type of suspension or “sus” chord we’re going to experience is the “sus4.” We could go in all sorts of additional directions, but for now, let’s keep things pretty simple. So, let’s say we’re in the key of G Major, a very guitar-friendly key. The Dominant or V chord in G is D.  But today, we’re not just going to play it as a D Major chord, we’re going to play it as a Dsus4 chord. Now, my background in music began with a classical degree, which included several years of collegiate music theory, so I’m going to offer you an additional level of musicality here. It involves a three-word process.  That process is: “Preparation,” “Suspension,” and “Resolution.”Because, if we think about it, it’s nice to be able to prepare ourselves for suspense, so we can anticipate it just a bit. The plot thickens in a movie. We get a warning notice that our account is about to be suspended. The cop car behind us fires up the lights on his roof to let us know we’re about to be pulled over, which could lead to a suspended license.So “Preparation” is the first step. The second step is the actual “Suspension.”  This is where things are in a temporary state of suspense that is typically not restful. The suspenseful scene happens in the movie, putting us on the edge of our seats. Our account is suspended, so we can’t have access to it. Our license is suspended so it’s temporarily taken away. So, with this suspension, there’s a bit of tension. There’s tension, but in this musical scenario, this is a good sort of tension. But as I mentioned, we aren’t going to stay in suspense indefinitely. Eventually, we get to the third step, “Resolution,” where the Suspension ends.  The suspense in the movie plot winds down, if only temporarily, as it comes to a resting point in the story. The account is restored. The license is reinstated. So, again, think through those three words as we continue - “Preparation,” “Suspension,” and “Resolution.”So here we are in the key of G Major. The I chord in G Major is…G Major, right? The IV chord is C Major, and the V chord is D Major.  Now, to bring this right to your fingers in an easy manner, I’ll actually use some “color” chords, so the chords will actually be easier to play, and they also won’t be pure Major chords, but they’ll still totally work for this exercise. The most important note in this suspension exercise is the high G note on the 3rd fret of the 1st string.  I want you to watch this note carefully, because it’s going to remain for three chords, but it will have a different identity in each. I’ll analyze the first chord as a G5 chord with no 3rd.  So, in the G chord, this high G is the root, right? But then, when we move to a C2 chord for the IV chord, we still keep that G up on the 3rd fret of the 1st string, and now it’s the 5th of that chord. It’s at this stage that we start to feel the “Preparation.” In other words, we’re ramping up to the Suspension. Next up is the V chord, D, but we’re going to keep the high G note on that 3rd string, thereby rendering this chord a Dsus4. Why is it a Dsus4? Because the high G is now the 4th degree of the D chord. Now, typically a D Major Chord won’t have a G in it, but rather an F#, right? But here, with this chord, the Vsus4 is providing the Suspension we’re after. Right now, it’s not a Major chord. So now we’ve been put in suspense. It’s not a restful chord. It’s a chord where we’re temporarily “on edge” just a bit. But what follows a Suspension, ideally? You know it – Resolution. All we need to do is take that high G note that we’ve had with us all along, and let it resolve down to the F#, thereby establishing the D Major chord, on its way back to…the G chord. See how the Vsus4 chord moves to a Major V chord, and finally back to the I chord?It’s actually quite pleasing to the ear. (Catch the video for the demonstration of this.) Is there more? Always. Can we create a Sus2 chord? Yep. Can we create suspensions with 7 chords? Yeah buddy.  Can we play suspensions as bar chords? Of course. Can we play a suspension without preparing or resolving it? We’re technically not playing them functionally as suspensions, but…sure. Can suspensions resolve to minor chords? Yes, but that tends to sound a little more “Foreign” in some cases (catch the video for my music reference.)As you can see, we can go much further. But it all starts here with this simple process of KNOWING what a suspension is, and then experimenting with the intentional approach of Preparing, Suspending and Resolving. Want to go deeper and transform your guitar journey? Check out what we offer at www.GuitarSuccess4U.com [https://www.guitarsuccess4u.com/]. Keep showing up, and I’ll see you next time. Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com [https://guitarseriousfun.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Do Guitar Chord Fingerings Matter?

Enjoy charts and tables below, with transcript… If you play an A Major chord like most people, you’re missing out. I’ll show you why, and what to do about it. I encourage you to catch the video version of this article while it’s available so you can watch me demonstrate these concepts. You can find the video right here: Chords exist in context. Am I right? We typically won’t play a song that consists of a single chord, because that would be…boring. So, if we want to play chords well in context, this begs the question – do guitar chord fingerings really matter? Let’s find out. I’m going to list three Major keys that are pretty common with guitar players: the keys of A, E and D Major. Which chord do all of these keys have in common? The A Major chord. In the key of A, the A chord is the Tonic, the I chord. In the key of E, the A chord is the Subdominant, the Major IV chord. And in the key of D, the A chord is the Dominant, the Major V chord. It’s a pretty widely-used chord. And yet… a lot of guitar players are really making more work for themselves with the fingering they use.  Now, when we fret a note, it’s best to press down as close to the fret as we can, for a clean articulation. Unfortunately, some of the guitar educational materials I’ve come across teach the A chord with fingers 1, 2, and 3 in a row. Even if we slightly adjust to fingers 2, 3, and 4, the situation is not improved by much, because there’s not quite enough room for our adjacent fingers to be well-situated on the second fret in these configurations. So, what do we do?  For almost 30 years, I have taken the approach I’m about to show you, and it is truly a game-changer. And it’s actually really simple. Check it out. I use fingers 2, 1 and then 3. A better way to get situated is to place 2 and 3 on the 2nd fret, like you’re voicing an open A7 chord and then drop in the 1st finger, wedging it right between those other two fingers. Again, not all three notes will be right up next to the fret, but this is still a vast improvement to what we had before. Remember, even if a finger is not right next to the fret, it can still sound clean; it just needs to press harder, the further it is away from the fret.  So now that you’ve been exposed to this new fingering for the open A Major chord, what can I do to validate its usefulness? That’s right – I’m going to place it in context. Remember how we talked about the keys of A, E and D? Let’s say I wanted to move from A to E and back, whether that’s in the key of A or the key of E. Both scenarios apply here. Watch what happens if I use the “old” way of fretting the A chord.  If I start with the less optimal fingering, I have to lift all three fingers to move to the E chord.  Then when I go back, I again have to lift all three fingers. Doable, but not ideal. (The accompanying video demonstrates this clearly.) What if I tried our new and improved fingering? The first finger stays on the 3rd string and provides an anchor point because although it slides down a single fret, it doesn’t have to be lifted from the string. Way better. (Watch the video for the economy of movement.) Ok, how about the transition from A to D and back? Even though I do have something of an anchor note on the 2nd string with my 3rd finger, the other two fingers have to re-locate entirely both ways.It works, but is there a better way? Yep. Our new way. Try it, and then watch with delight as only one finger needs to lift up to relocate as the other two fingers provide anchor points both directions. So, not only is it a cleaner articulation to play A Major this way, we have a much cleaner transition to and from a couple very closely-related chords.  So yes, I believe guitar chord fingerings do matter. This may be significant to you, or it may not. But if we’re going to play this chord a few thousand times in our lifetime, wouldn’t it be better to play it more effectively? And wouldn’t it be nice to gain even more visual independence from this chord in context? Hopefully this gave you a window into my approach to teaching the guitar, and how I like to zoom in for more precision and artistry, which enhances our musicianship and just helps us PLAY better. Side note: here at GuitarSerious Fun, I published an article/video called “Do Guitar Chord Voicings Matter?” [https://guitarseriousfun.substack.com/p/do-guitar-chord-voicings-really-matter] I encourage you to check that out as well. You can find us on social media with GuitarSuccess4U on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@guitarsuccess4u], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/guitarsuccess4u/] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/GuitarSuccess4U]. But if you want the real experience, join GuitarSuccess4U [https://www.guitarsuccess4u.com/join]. We have a 30-day money-back guarantee. See you there! Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com [https://guitarseriousfun.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

When You Fail Onstage

Have you ever made a mistake onstage while playing your guitar? What’s the best thing to do in the moment, and afterwards?  I encourage you to catch the video version of this article while it’s available. It takes our discussion to the next level. You can find the video right here: It’s happened to all of us. We’re playing our guitar in a worship or performance setting, and somehow, we play something differently from how we’ve rehearsed it. And by differently, I mean wrong. It’s clearly not what we planned to play. So, what do we do? I’ll offer several options for what we can do, and then I’ll let you decide which option is the best course of action. I can’t promise not to “lead the witness,” but I think it’s important to see what the options are. These are six options I can choose when I make a mistake. #1. Visibly express my disappointment. Body language is the most powerful form of communication. So, if I make a mistake and then I…shake my head, frown, smile awkwardly, roll my eyes, or simply look surprised, I’ve just nonverbally communicated to the people I’m serving that I’ve made a mistake. #2. Ignore the mistake and never speak of it. This is the extreme opposite. If I know I’ve made a mistake but I not only ignore it, I actually never take time to think through what happened, this doesn’t allow me to benefit from the experience.  And if I try to convince myself that I haven’t actually made a mistake, I just might be avoiding reality. #3. Visibly show no response, but internally combust. Some of us wear our emotions on our sleeves, but others keep them all inside. If I’m visibly displaying that I’m doing fine, but inwardly, I’m having a conniption because of a mistake I just made, it just might not be the healthiest choice for my emotional or mental state. #4. Keep thinking about the mistake even while playing the song. Once a mistake has happened, there can be a temptation to look back at the spot in the chart, or think back to the spot in the song, even as we’re trying to complete the song. But to use an analogy, if I drive over a bump in the road and I look back at that bump while I keep driving forward, I may encounter even bigger “bumps” ahead, if you know what I mean. #5. Move on, but beat myself up for weeks or months afterwards. If I make a mistake, but finish the service or the concert on a strong note, that can be good. But what if I focus on my mistake, hold it over my head, maybe even apologizing profusely when I talk to my collaborators, the congregation, or members of the audience afterwards? What if, for weeks or months at a time, I belabor the mistake and keep reminding myself of what happened, speaking self-critically the whole time? Profitable? I don’t think so. Lastly… #6. Recover gracefully…but evaluate objectively later. This last option, if you haven’t already decided for yourself, is my preferred approach, because it’s only by learning from our mistakes that we can truly grow. Some would say that mistakes are easier to learn from than successes. If we know something worked, but we don’t know exactly why, it can be more difficult to learn from the experience. However, if we make a mistake, we can examine it from a few different angles objectively, and decide how to better prepare for a similar experience in the future. This will help us avoid making (or at least reduce the possibility of making) the same mistake.  Having an intentional time set aside, sometimes with fellow team members on what might be called “Honest Monday,” can be a good opportunity. The key is not to be too hard on ourselves. If we skirt the edge of 100% negative self-talk, it can be pretty damaging. It can even make it hard for us to keep the joy of music alive. If we can separate ourselves from our musical offerings and be objective enough to say “That was a mistake, and here’s how I plan to avoid it in the future,” this simple approach can be tremendously effective. The more specific we can be about our recovery strategy, the better.  If it’s a chord transition, we can work those chords. If it’s a tuning issue, we can practice tuning every time we get ready to play (and this is a great habit for any guitarist.)  If it’s a tempo issue, we can practice with a steady drummer or percussionist who keeps us honest, or at least practice with a metronome. And the next level is to play the song (with the challenge spot) for an “audience.”  By the way, have you heard my definition of an audience?  Here it is.  An audience is: one or more people who are listening, giving their undivided (or even divided) attention, thereby compelling us to finish the song we’re playing.This puts us under a healthy amount of pressure, much more so than practicing on our own. If you’re having a hard time convincing someone to listen to you play, become your own audience. Put your smartphone on a tripod, spin it to “selfie” video mode, and hit “record.” The pressure will go up, and the added blessing is that you can go back and watch yourself play. Hopefully, these insights have given you some tangible strategies, as well as some behaviors to avoid, the next time you make a mistake with your guitar onstage.  Mistakes are inevitable. But every mistake can be an opportunity to learn and to grow. My hope is that you’ll take those opportunities. Keep showing up, and I’ll see you next time. Interested in going deeper? Please check out www.GuitarSuccess4U.com [https://www.guitarsuccess4u.com/]. Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com [https://guitarseriousfun.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

3 Essential Transposition Tips

Do you know how to transpose chord progressions on the guitar? If you don’t, please spend a few minutes with me. If you think you’ve got it figured out, you still might learn something new here. I encourage you to catch the video version of this article while it’s available. It goes much deeper than I can with my typed words, and you’ll be able to hear the chord progressions too. You can find the video right here: Here are three tips to make transposition smooth and effective. 1.       We need to know all the diatonic chords in our starting key.  Do you know all seven chords in C Major? Wait for it… 2.       We need to assign numbers to the chords. Now, my background began in classical music, so I trained with Roman numerals.  But just as effective is the Nashville Number System. As you’ll see from my chart below with chords in C and A Major, there are specific cases and indicators for degrees that the Roman numerals and Nashville Numbers can guide you along with. With Roman numerals, capital numbers are Major, and lower-case numbers are minor. With Nashville Numbers, we just use Arabic numerals, and we indicate the qualities of the chords with just a number to imply a Major chord, and a number followed by a lower case “m” to indicate a minor chord. Using numerals or numbers, we need to be able to identify each chord as a number, but then also to identify each number as a chord.  So, for example, in the key of C Major, what is the number for C? What about the number for F? Check the chart above to confirm your answer. Let’s go the other way. In the key of C Major, what is the name of the minor vi chord? How about the minor ii chord? Again, you can check your work. So, if I wanted to play the progression I V vi IV (or 1 5 6m 4) in C, what would the chords be? C G Am F. It’s a very popular progression.  Let’s do the reverse process. If I played the progression C Em F G, what would the chordal analysis be in terms of numbers? I iii IV V (or 1 3m 4 5). Another very useful progression. Lastly, 3.       We need to know the chords and numbers in our destination key. If we have a destination key we want to transpose to, it would be helpful for us to know those diatonic chords, and to be able to familiarize ourselves with them in the same fashion as numbers. For our purposes today, I’ve chosen the key of A Major (also reflected in the chart I’ve provided). Now let’s put this knowledge to practical use. Let’s go back to our first progression of chords in C with C G Am F and let’s transpose that progression to the key of A. If we know the corresponding numbers and chords in the key of A, we know that the chords for that progression would be…A E F#m D.  Transposition accomplished! Now let’s create a new progression in A with I IV ii V (or 1 4 2m 5). Those chords are A D Bm E. Based on how well we know the chords in C, we use numbers and transposition to crank out C F Dm G. Transposition accomplished again!  The accompanying video will add much more dimension and understanding to what you’re reading here. Now there are a couple subtle ways to check our work. If we know the distance from A to C, which is up a minor 3rd, we can take each chord in the key of A, and move “vertically” to its corresponding chord in the key of C. (The video has more.) Another method is to think “horizontally” from the tonic to the other chords within each key. The tonic is the home I chord, so this would be the A Major chord in the key of A, or the C Major chord in the key of C. (The video again has more.) As you can see, this process is going to help us a lot. It’s just a matter of some simple memory work and repetition. Want to go deeper? Please watch the video for a more advanced progression with some borrowed chords. Are you ready for some application to validate these tools? Let me ask some questions, all of which end in a positive answer.  Can we transpose from the key of A back to the key of C? Of course! Can we take a progression in a less guitar-friendly key that either requires lots of bar chords or a capo, and transpose it to a guitar-friendly key with fewer bar chords and more open chords? Yeah buddy!  Can we transpose from one minor key to another minor key? Yep! Can we transpose from the Dorian mode with one key center to a Dorian mode with another key center? You betcha! As you can see, there are all kinds of possibilities when we know how to transpose.  If you have a worship song and you want to transpose it, you can use this method. You can write out the transposition with numbers, or verbally call it out on the fly as you play with your band. There are digital tools that can do this for you, but if you want to grow in your ability to transpose, I encourage you to try some of this mentally and manually. I’ve transposed more charts than I can count. And if you can analyze and learn a song by number, and you’ve got a good grasp of several keys, you can quickly transpose that song into any of those keys. Transposition facilitates easier fingerings, preferred chord voicings, better vocal ranges, and more. See the relevance? Want to go deeper? Check out www.GuitarSuccess4U.com [http://www.GuitarSuccess4U.com]. Really serious about next steps? Check out our new free web masterclass at www.GuitarSuccess4U.com/formula [http://www.GuitarSuccess4U.com/formula].Thanks for checking out today’s episode of Guitar Serious Fun! Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com [https://guitarseriousfun.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

10 Strategies for Memorizing Your Songs

Pro tip: please watch the short video version of this post that I link to here [https://youtu.be/vxhaWewm7Jo?si=s0AOp0kd2g01g-MC]. You can also watch the video version embedded below (psst - did you know that GuitarSuccess4U has a YouTube Channel [https://www.youtube.com/@guitarsuccess4u]? Please subscribe! 😊) This video will give you a much clearer grasp of what I’m sharing here. Abbreviated transcript included below… Looking for an intentional process to help you memorize your songs on guitar? You just found it. Having led worship for almost 3 decades, many of my recent years have been spent leading from memory. This has really helped me have a better connection with the band, the techs and the congregation. And as a touring performer all over North America for about the same amount of time, all my performance songs have been memorized. But how do we get to the point where we can confidently play and sing a song from memory? Let’s take a few minutes to unpack 10 helpful strategies. 1. Stare at the chart. Assuming you have a visual representation of the chart for your song, print it up or have it ready on a tablet. Look closely. What do you notice?  Whether you’re looking at a lead sheet or a chord chart, there are little clues waiting to be discovered. Maybe there are specific rhyme schemes. Maybe each verse starts with a slightly different lyric. Maybe the chord progression is more involved for the verses, but gets simpler for the choruses. Maybe the harmonic rhythm is different between the verse and the chorus.  2. Mark up the chart. Using a pencil to make the chart our own makes a huge difference, because we can make notes that will remind us of tricky spots the next time we open up the chart. An extra measure of care is to use different colored highlighters to mark up verses, especially if you have a lead sheet that includes repeats, different endings, and sometimes the incidental D.S. al Coda markings.  If you’re working with a tablet, you can use an app and a stylus to make notes, and you can color-code them as well.  But make the chart your own. 3. Get your prep materials all in a row. If you’re the worship leader, a great way to serve your team is to supply them with the chart that speaks their language (lead sheet, chord chart, or even a Nashville number chart).  But then, a great way to help their ear along is to purchase the audio mp3, rip it into some recording software and then transpose it to the actual key you’ll be singing in, to make it match the printed charts as closely as possible.  The reality is that some members of your band will reference the recording as the main guide for their preparation, so be thorough in this regard. Again, if you’re preparing lead sheets, chord charts, and mp3s, it’s important that they are all congruent with each other.  Side note: there’s a specific CCLI license that’s available to churches who want to distribute audio recordings amongst worship team members in whatever form – CD, or mp3s uploaded to Planning Center, etc. It’s called the CCLI Church Rehearsal License.  Click here to be directed to a page that tells you more. https://us.ccli.com/what-we-provide/rehearsal-license [https://us.ccli.com/what-we-provide/rehearsal-license/] Now comes the intentional process that gives us momentum towards memorization. 4. Type up the lyrics. Although we might be able to find lyrics on the web that we could copy and paste, that’s not going to serve us as well as typing them up. Will it take longer? Yes. But will it reinforce the lyrics in our minds? Also, yes.  5. Save and print the lyric sheets. I print up the lyrics to songs with one song per side of a piece of paper. And then I keep them handy, folded up in my pocket, when I’m out and about. I can also keep them on my phone as screen shots or PDFs in a folder.  6. Listen actively to the recording. The more focused and undivided our attention for this, the better. Listen closely, with and without the chart nearby. Really consider the chord progression. Can you analyze it numerically? Do you know the progressions in Nashville numbers so that you could play part or all of the song in any guitar-friendly key? 7. Play along with the recording. With your guitar in hand, play along to the best of your ability as you feel the cadences, holds, chokes, and dynamics.  Let the guitarist on the recording guide you as you play. 8. Make a recording of yourself playing the song. There’s something about playing a song and knowing that the “red recording light” is on. This adds a healthy amount of pressure, but wait for it…you can now go back and listen to, or even watch yourself playing the song (if you’ve captured it on video) and get a clear picture of your accuracy, tempos, words, pitch, and you can also see what you look like as you play. 9. Test it out in front of a safe audience. Try playing the song for a loved one at home. This raises the pressure from just being in your practice space, to where someone else is actively listening on some level. They can give you their undivided attention, or listen while they’re cooking dinner, etc.  Lastly… 10. Bring the song to rehearsal - memorized.  Come to worship or band rehearsal ready to play it from memory (but have it nearby on a music stand, just in case.) See how much you can work without the chart.  Remember, “memorized” means acknowledging every measure and being consistent. Your band will be following their charts, so make sure you’re right on track with the charts you’ve given them. If you’ve never done something like this before, start with just one song and see how it goes. And give yourself enough ramp-up time to truly memorize it. But watch how much more freedom you’ll have as you interact with your team, the congregation, and ultimately the Lord. I hope today’s discussion was helpful. It’s very possible that it could lead to some serious fun on your guitar journey if you take time to apply what’s been offered here. Will you?  David Harsh is a nationally touring worship leader, songwriter and performing artist. He is passionate about equipping guitarists to discover their potential. Learn more and join now at www.GuitarSuccess4U.com [http://www.GuitarSuccess4U.com]. Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com [https://guitarseriousfun.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]