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Heuristic Musicians Guide to understanding musical composition and improvisation For guitar and keyboard Immediately Applied Music Theory

Where most guides and teachers offer you mere maps

We offer you an intimate understanding of the terrain

From muddling to Mozart? From bumbling to Bach? From zero to hero? In as long as it takes you * *But much faster than you otherwise would have gotten there! Copyright 2018 Markus Heinrich Rehbach and TROONATNOOR All Rights Reserved Page 2 of 339

Contents

Where most guides and teachers offer you mere maps ...... 1 We offer you an intimate understanding of the terrain...... 1 Contents ...... 2 Introduction ...... 9 The map is not the terrain ...... 14 Your personal musical evolution ...... 18 The best place to start learning guitar is with a piano keyboard ...... 25 What precisely the term ‘Interval’ refers to ...... 26 The Chromatic Scale ...... 30 Scales and Intervals ...... 35 Minor Scales and Modes ...... 36 Building EVERY possible chord and scale and mode from the Major Scale 37 Building Major, Minor, and Seventh Chords ...... 38 A C ‘shaped’ chord can be a D Major Chord (or any chord for that matter) 40 The power of C ( A G E D) ...... 42 Enter the Fourth (to find the Fifth) ...... 53 The Modes ...... 59 Ionian (Major Scale) ...... 62 Dorian ...... 63 Phrygian...... 64 Lydian ...... 65 Mixolydian ...... 66 Aeolian (Natural Minor Scale) ...... 67 Locrian...... 68 Jump in the ‘deep’ end to discover you can really swim ...... 69 Page 3 of 339

Blank fretboard diagrams ...... 71 Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do Vis a Vis the modes ...... 73 Harmony and ‘thirds’ ...... 75 The Stave, and the Bass, Treble, and rhythm Clefs...... 75 Sharps and Flats...... 81 Tuning your Guitar ...... 82 Relative tuning, and Harmonic tuning...... 82 Alternate Tunings ...... 83 Drop Tunings ...... 83 Open Chord Tunings ...... 84 Guitar technique: motor skills you need to master to take your guitar playing to the next levels ...... 86 Start forming ‘Generative habits’ ‘out of the gate’ ...... 86 Tip for budding song writers with zero musical background ...... 87 Begin ‘generative’ ‘creative’ use of scales from day one ...... 88 Literal hit and miss creativity ...... 88 ‘Staggering’ your scale runs ...... 89 Playing notes is only half the battle: the other half is muting all the open strings ...... 90 A ‘clean’ distorted sound?...... 94 Fretting hand muting ...... 101 Funk chops: The power of hitting muted strings but voicing only the note you are fretting ...... 107 Picking hand muting ...... 109 ‘Satriani’ style picking finger Vs picking hand string muting technique113 String muting Vis a Vis ‘palm muting’ ...... 113 Fret wrap? ...... 114 Building manual dexterity, co-ordination, finger strength, and finger flexibility ...... 116 Pick Gauges and technique...... 116 Alternate picking ...... 117 Page 4 of 339

Chromatic Scale ‘Spider fingers’ exercise with 1,2,3,4 fingering ...... 117 Chromatic Scale ‘Spider fingers’ exercise with 4,3,2,1 fingering ...... 119 Then introduce more complex, challenging fingering patterns ...... 120 Now add finger Walk-ups when ‘descending’ the chromatic Scale.... 121 Tremolo picking ...... 122 Pedal Sequences ...... 122 Double Stops ...... 122 Natural Harmonics...... 122 Pinch harmonics (artificial harmonics) ...... 123 Hammer Ons and Hammer Offs ...... 124 Trills ...... 124 Finger Tapping (and Pulling) ...... 124 Tap Harmonics ...... 125 Flat Fifth blues note ...... 125 Flat 9th (2nd) note to extend a Pentatonic ...... 125 Fretting finger Slides ...... 126 Pick Slides ...... 126 String Bends ...... 126 Plucking strings ...... 127 Raking...... 127 Smooth Precision bends ...... 127 That ‘Pink Floyd’ sound: adding ‘a hundred tiny inflections’ ...... 128 First finger b3 to 3 bends ...... 128 Smooth Precision Vibrato...... 128 Arpeggios: Playing the 1-3-5-7-b3 and b7 notes of scales ...... 129 Key to it all is understanding musical intervals ...... 131 Intervals ...... 131 Why we ‘scale’ an octave in 12 steps...... 133 Page 5 of 339

A 440 Hz Concert Pitch as an example to explain what an ‘Octave’ is133 ‘Scaling’ an octave with various ‘intervals’ between each ‘rung’ on ladder 134 The Chromatic Scale ...... 136 Why there are 12 semi-tones in an Octave...... 139 The Major Scale and its 8 stepped Celta-delt ...... 141 Why we conform to Church standards ...... 146 Taking any stringed instrument can provide a more intuitive, non-mathematical way to comprehend why we divide an octave into 12 notes, and even why fret distances get shorter from nut to bridge ...... 152 Just intonation and 12 tone equal temperament ...... 154 ‘Scaling’ the ‘rungs’ of the musical ladder between Octaves ...... 158 Changing Keys ...... 159 Compatible Keys and Chords ...... 165 My 4 Compatible keys calculator ...... 165 Calculating Compatible Chords for each Key ...... 165 Working out I-IV-V Major and Minor Chord progressions without memorizing or referring to charts ...... 166 Guess-timating the Key of a piece of music or song ...... 169 Songs with ‘Classical’ ‘resolution’ and ‘Perfect Cadence’ ...... 172 Key Signatures...... 173 The Circle of Fifths ...... 176 Understanding how to use Key Signatures to pick chords for composition and for ‘reverse engineering’ Keys from the chords in any song ...... 178 A sharp, flat, or boxy (Neutral) symbol before a note contradicts the Key signature...... 179 You might also find a moveable wheel like the one below useful ...... 182 Chords built off the Minor Scale ...... 183 Working backwards from chords to build scales (or just have an immediate basis for simple improvisation over any chord or chord sequence) ...... 183 Playing the Major Scale across the entire fretboard ...... 187 Page 6 of 339

Major Scale...... 195 Some ‘alternative’ ways to ‘scale’ an Octave using the Key of C as an example 196 Some mode patterns ...... 196 In these diagrams W = Whole / Full-Tone and h=half / Semi-Tone ... 197 The Mixolydian (blues) mode ...... 197 Diatonic?...... 201 The Natural Minor Scale Vis a Vis the Major Scale ...... 201 Why we have ‘Melodic’ and ‘Harmonic’ Minor scales ...... 202 The Pentatonic Scale ...... 204 The Pentatonic ‘canon’ for your first 3 octave improvisation and composing 206 Adding a ‘Blues’ note (literally and sonically) to your Pentatonic Scales207 Incorporating ‘Passing Notes’ into your Pentatonic performances ..... 208 Building Chords from Scales...... 209 Building Major and Minor Chords from the Major Scale ...... 209 Linear Keyboard chords Vs Non-Linear guitar chords ...... 211 Building embellished chords from the basic triad (3 note) chord ...... 211 ‘Suspended’ chords replace 3rd notes ...... 213 ‘Add’ chords add notes to the 1-3-5 notes ...... 214 Root-5th / Rock / Power Chords ...... 216 Root-Fifth chords can be played in both Major and Minor Keys...... 217 ‘Octaving Up’ by adding an Eighth...... 218 ‘Octaving down’: Inversions of Power Chords ...... 218 (Add) Ninth Power Chord ...... 219 ‘Drop tuned’ 2 and 3 note Power Chords ...... 220 Double Octaved 4 note Power Chords ...... 222 A ‘Minor’ Power Chord?...... 223 A selection of common Barre Chord shapes ...... 223 Some moveable Major 6th, 7th, 9th, and 13th Chords ...... 226 Page 7 of 339

Composing riffs and solo phrases...... 228 ‘Safe’ starting and ending points for any riff ...... 228 Finding Fretboard Freedom ...... 229 The natural progression ...... 229 First learn to solo and improvise over an entire progression with the one Scale / mode ...... 230 Ascending and descending between octaves on the guitar fretboard and on keyboard keys ...... 230 Merging Major Pentatonic and Minor Pentatonic scales together, for improvising and composing over Major Key and ‘Blues’ chord progressions in Blues, Rock, Jazz, and Country ...... 233 Passing notes ...... 233 Adding a 9th ...... 234 Using the ‘Dot’ inlays as reference points ...... 234 Fifths ...... 235 Octaves on the E and D strings, and the A and G strings...... 237 Finding the same note elsewhere on the fretboard (Octaves)...... 238 Octave triangles pointing towards the nut (G3 iii string) or bridge (D3 iv string) 239 Dee-three eF GAB Dee: Use of dot inlays for orientation ...... 239 The Triad and its ‘inversions’...... 240 Guitar Effects...... 243 Tone is in the fingers, and size matters, only not in the way you might think 243 Overdrive Vis a Vis Distortion ...... 244 Some famous ‘overdriven’ sounds to try...... 245 Country and western ...... 245 Guitar effects and ‘daisy chaining’ (sequence matters) ...... 246 Pick-up selection and technical details ...... 248 Guitar Set-up and maintenance tips...... 253 Keeping it clean ...... 253 Tuning...... 254 Page 8 of 339

Strings ...... 255 Re-stringing a guitar with new strings...... 256 Action and intonation ...... 257 Truss rods ...... 261 ‘Floating’ a typical Strat bridge...... 265 The Nut ...... 269 Frets ...... 270 Some music notation and basic musical terminology ...... 272 Some musical terms and symbols...... 272 Tempo ...... 272 Dynamics ...... 272 Articulation ...... 274 Measures / bars ...... 276 Note and rest duration ...... 276 Note transitions and durations ...... 278 Time Signatures ...... 279 The Stave and ledger lines...... 280 Reading and writing TAB ...... 281 RANDOM TO INCORPORATE ...... 284 Sound Foundations for your musical evolution, as producer, composer, recording and mixing engineer, musician, and performing artist ...... 300 Please read me then feed me [email protected] ...... 338 Page 9 of 339

Introduction Musicans, especially guitarists, love to talk about ‘tone’. The tone of their guitars. Their amps. Their effects. ‘Tone’ is the ‘Holy Grail’ of guitarists. The ‘Holy Grail’ of philosophy is ethics. Often referred to as ‘tone’. Ethical systems are intended to improve our ‘ethical tone’. Sometimes called ‘Moral Tone’. But real philosophers don’t use the world ‘moral’ as it has too many very unphilosophical connotations. The ‘ethical tone’ of a society is as palpable as its architecture, fashions, and rituals. You can enter a room of people and feel a certain ‘tone’ or ‘vibe’. You might use terms like ‘trashy’, or ‘classy’. We drink a ‘tonic’ for our health and vitality. We exercise to improve our muscle tone. We hope to be able to ‘a-tone’ for actions that have harmed others. Religions offer you special deals and offers of ‘a-tone-ment’ for ‘sins’ they invented. The oldest ‘scam’ in the book. In the book they wrote that defined certain natural and almost unavoidable actions as ‘sins’ requiring ‘atonement’ and thus ‘sin’ taxes / priestly dispensations and ‘intercessions’. What experiences anything is the ultimate puzzle, but todays science supports the age old impression that all the impressions that ‘black box’ interprets / encodes / experiences / feels as pain and pleasure, are produced by varying densities / frequencies / resonant frequencies of ‘electro-magnetic’ soup. The processes by which blood and chlorophyl function involve one ‘substance’ resonating in such a way that it converts another substance, via the ‘magic’ of empathic resonance, into itself. In the same way a very charismatic person of very high tone can ofter raise the tone levels of all those around themselves. Like the Gospels ‘Jesus’. Or Buddha. Or Mahavira. Or Jain. But watch out, the Cult leaders whose ambitions require war, chaos, and suffering, won’t just stand by and watch their power, based on greed, fear, and violence, evaporate! This is the truth behind the story of ‘alchemy’. The transmutation of matter into gold used as the cover to get rich Princes to ‘sponsor’ the quests of philosohers to ‘enlighten’ humanity. To achieve the transmutation of malicious, selfish human nature into a compassionate, empathetic, virtuous, spiritual, ethical, sentient being. Page 10 of 339

‘Ton’ (pronounced Tone) is even the ‘clay’ which the artisan and tradesperson alike construct their works of art, and household ‘vessels’. In the Sumerian clay tablet narratives describing the ‘creation’ of humans by the Annunaki (‘They who down from the heavens came’), which predates the Hebrew oral histories by thousands of years, and on which a distorted and edited version was handed down to us in ‘The Old Testament’, the technician Enki, from the planet (or portal) Nibiru, mixes his own ‘alien’ DNA with that of some ape-like humanoid mammals living at that time on the Gold mining colony we call ‘Earth’, in a Clay Vessel (test-tube), (the original ‘Holy Grail’ !) together with ‘ton’ (clay), to produce human beings. Intended to replace the disgruntled Nibiru miners in the Gold Mines in Southern Africa. The same mines recently discovered, and dated to hundreds of thousands of years ago, totally outside any ‘conventional’ Archeological time-span for human pre-history. The ‘Holy Grail’ itself is a ‘vessel’. It represents the nurturing womb. Represented by the inverted triangle. The ‘Weh’ in ‘YahWeh’ and the downward pointing triangle that forms half of the ‘Star of Remshan’ today associated with the Cult of Judah and the State of Israel. ‘Resonance Therapy’ appears to have been used by the ancients in specially tuned chambers, some of which have been discovered after tens of thousands ofyears, in a state of disrepair, but still offering some insights into how resonances might be used to heal and restore health and well-being. The Annunaki lived thousands of years. Perhaps by using resonances to break up aged / damaged DNA strands and then allow them to reconstitute to their pristine undamaged state. So their DNA would be regularly‘re-encoded’ back into its perfect state. Cancer would be ‘treated’ in the same way, the damaged, overreproducing cells replaced by healthy, original, perfect cells. Sadly our Culture insists on using resonance as a weapon. With ultra low frequency weapons to make you feel unwell, nervous, paranoid, depressed, hopeless, and even suicidal. And ultra ‘loud’ noise ‘canons’ to inflict such high intensity pain and mental anguish on peaceful demonstrators that they give up their consititutional rights to avoid further torture at the hands of their ‘governments’. Until the ‘tone’ of this entire planet is raised well above our historical and current levels, we could never be trusted by any other more evolved beings on other planets, or in other dimensions. Until our ‘tone’ is improved, until we achieve that true ‘Alchemy’ and find that ‘Holy Grail’, no sane sentient being would ever allow us ‘out of the cage’, to run rampant among the stars. This earth, so far, contains us, like a Page 11 of 339 prison planet. Or a ‘correctional facility’. Or a ‘school’. The ‘school of life’ as we know it. I hope you give my TROONATNOOR books and guides a chance to achieve that ‘alchemy’ and ‘transmutation’, for you as an individual, and for our entire planet. Perhaps we can gain freedom from this prison planet individually. Perhaps that is the only way. But the lower the ethical tone of those we are forced to associate with, live with, work with, and subsidise in various ways, the harder it is for us to raise our own tone levels. Which is why ‘seekers’ often shun society, and become hermits. One way or another freeing themselves form the bad influences of others, and worse, their animosity, malice, and violence. Ask Jesus how his ethical ambitions for us all worked out, thanks to the Cult of Judah. I am a Zen Humean Skeptic. So I ‘believe’ nothing, but am willing and able to ‘entertain’ any idea. If you can help me, I’d love to script and produce a program for web, radio, or television, titled ‘Entertaining Ideas’, with which to teach genuinely authentic generative critical thinking to everyone interested in freeing their minds from the ‘social reality’ they have been tricked into accepting as ‘objective reality’. I’d do it in the most ‘entertaining’ way, but the principle is to learn to be able to entertain any idea, while never needing the ‘comfort’ of dogma, and thus ‘fixed’ ideas. Idols. Dead gods of stone and wood. Rather than living, Zen Humean Skeptic Heuristics. I never claim to ‘know’ anything, but I act according to ‘rules of thumb’ a.k.a ‘Heuristics’ that appear to offer me the chance to achieve the outcomes I desire. Music for me is something practical. All my ‘guides’ are practical. My ‘Optimal Ethics Generator’ is practical. I am a practical person. Real ‘holistic’ philosphers always are. So this guide will be ‘Heuristic’. This means that I will only refer to ‘theory’ where it adds value. Lucky for you I am not a formally trained musician. I have not invested years of my life, and tens of thousands of dollars, in learning stuff which I then feel obliged to ‘teach’, in an attempt to justify, to myself, having wasted all that time, money, and effort in ‘learning’it. And I won’t start explaining things in clever ways that may lead to ‘a-ha’ moments for the ‘initated’, (and thus impress them with my cleverness and insights) but does not help the layman achieve their objectives. No chances of that happening as I am, for most intents and purposes, more or less a layman myself. Sure I’ve written two dozen songs, music and lyrics, and even programmed drums for some, but I am a lousy musician. Page 12 of 339

As I write this, remember, I am just starting the typically massive research phase of any of my projects. Searching far and wide for as many different approaches to teaching and learning what I want to really ‘understand’ myself, so well I can actually apply it successfully. I will then collate a massive range of materials, and see what I can ‘grok’ from them. Then once I have worked out what I wanted to understand, and what appears important and useful, I will then go about working out the best way to express that understanding in the form of a reference work I can use myself, and then later refer back to, when I get ‘lost’ again, or need to refresh my memory about something. I don’t publish anything before what I’ve written makes sense. I test my own directions by following them. And then observing myself as I ‘follow’ them. To see if there is anything I am doing, which is not actually described in the text. To see if there is anything missing in the descriptions. To see if there might be a simpler and more accessible way of expressing something. Of breaking something down into smaller steps, or sequencing modules in a more intuitive, organic way. A way that will speed up learning, and make the learning curve steeper, or more gradual, in ways that will add value for the person using my guides. Remember I work on a lot of very unrelated topics. And so I often leave my music for over a year. In the meantime I often forget how to do something with Reaper, or my basic music theory, or my vocal exercises. Which is why I wrote all my guides. For myself. The worst student. And if I can use them to ‘learn’ and then ‘re-learn’ stuff, and use as a reference that never leaves me ‘confused’, then I’m confident that most people will be able to use them. I get frustrated and irritated quite easily. I couldn’t imagine having to sit through another formal group class with teachers who haven’t written their own textbooks, but supposedly know their stuff well enough to teach it? So rest assured that if I start explaining something apparently ‘theoretical’ that it is really very practical. When I teach English, and evolved my own ‘Optimal English’ teaching methodology, I almost never used grammatical terms. We don’t learn to speak a language that way. So why teach it that way? Except that it gives some teachers a sense of ‘control’ and ‘expert knowledge’. But all that amounts to almost nothing in practice. Some teachers simply vomit out everything they’ve ever learned just to justify, to themselves, all the time, energy, frustration, and money they invested into learning it all. And as they learned a tonne of formal grammar rules simply to pass exams, they feel obliged to ‘share’ them all with their students. Sure, music is more mathematical than language. So there is more practical use for theory in music than in language teaching. Page 13 of 339

By learning the most valuable and useful elements of music theory, we can understand what we are doing, and use that understanding in practical ways. If it does not add value, I don’t bother with it. If it costs more in delaying our progress, and making it unnecessarily frustrating and confusing, than it will likely add in the relative long term, then I won’t bother with it. My objective is to improve my capacity to play the music I hear in my head with the closest ‘correspondence’. To be able to work out lead guitar lines, and chord progressions, to embellish basic the melodic structures implicit in any lyric, and to write melodies for lyrics with no obvious melodic structure. On both guitar and keyboard. Because today there are so many MIDI editing and writing and notation programs that it would be crazy not to learn t least enough practical music theory to take advantage of at least the guitar based MIDI editors. And when you add stuff like ‘Auto-Tune’ and ‘Re-Pitching’ notes, the benefits so far outweigh any costs that it is a real no brainer. Some of this guide might cover ‘advanced’ techniques, but only where they add at least as much value as they cost to acquire. This guide will only cost you a few dollars, and a few hours of your time, so even the most advanced guitarists are going to come away from it disproportionately the richer for the experience, compared to what it cost them in time, energy, and certainly money. It often takes an ignorant fool, the outsider, the newcomer, the beginner, to offer the insights and alternate points of view that the experts, that those who had ‘lived in’ something their whole lives, and ‘know’ everything about it, have all overlooked. Failed to notice. Sometimes it is just like picking up an instrument you’ve never played before. Even just another guitar. It can stimulate something new in you. In your playing. So having someone like me take a stab at explaining all this stuff might offer even the expert some new insights, or ways of looking at things. These may help them on their own musical journey, or offer them ways to approach teaching what they have already mastered, and tend to find so easy and intuitive and self-evident that they miss the ‘traps’ that lay in wait for their students, and often lead to frustration and lack of ‘convergence’ between what the teacher can do, and is trying to explain, and what the student can do, and understands from that explanation. I, as a beginner, am less likely to take anything for granted. To make any assumptions. To jump steps in an explanation. When you can do something, often you forget how you got that good. What steps you took to get there. So re-trace those steps with a student to whom music does not appear intuitive or self-evident, yet. Page 14 of 339

The map is not the terrain We all admire musicians who know the musical terrain so well they can literally get from any particular musical point to any other musical point with their eyes closed. They have something we all want. And this guide is my personal journey to discovering what that is, and how we can all have it. Because I want it for myself, first of all. And because I want to share what I learn with everyone. As I want other to share with me what they learn. And ‘For as you do unto others, so shall be done unto you’, in a world where people honor the most basic principle of prosperous society, namely, ‘reciprocity’, by ‘paying forward’ I am encouraging others to resonate empathically with my ethical behavior, based on my ethical philospophy. Most of us don’t have ‘sponsors’ able and willing to pay for music lessons with gifted teachers, or the luck of stumbling upon the 100 different published guides and tutorial series that just happen to ‘speak to us’ in a ‘language we can really grok’. But for a brief moment the internet is open and free to all, and thousands of youtubers and bloggers are sharing what they each know, and making it available to everyone else. We need to take advantage of this window of opportunity as it is about to shut down really hard and fast. For details about that see my TROONATNOOR books and videos. This guide is for beginners, intermediate, and advanced musicians, guitarists, Audio Engineers, and music Producers. For people who’ve been playing for years, but never seemed to gain that ‘fretboard freedom’ and ‘fluidity’, or ‘understanding’ that they’d hoped for. For absolute beginners who will thus save years of frustration. And for the most fabulously gifted musicians who found learning guitar and music so intuitive that they have no idea how to share their abilities their less naturally gifted students. Or simply to be able to put into words and lesson plans what it is they do naturally, intuitively, thanks to their musical talents and gifts. Through this guide they will be able to become conscious of what they subconsciously know, and thus able to share their gifts with their students. Anyone who can hum a tune can write and play that tune on a keybord or guitar, with patience. Anyone who can hum and ‘original’ tune can ‘create’ original music. And anyone who can ‘attend’ to what they are doing when they improvise, or deliberately structure planned improvisations, can ‘stumble’ upon musical phrases, then build them into original music, even without having first had the ideas in their heads. Being creative is about being ‘in the now’ and ‘attending’ in true Zen fashion to the ‘accidents’ your fingers produce, and then noting them down, and developing them. Page 15 of 339

You can start with the ideas in your head, and realise them on the keyboard or guitar. Or just ‘try and see’ what ‘sounds’ good. Reject all the ‘misses’, and accumulate a bank of ‘hits’. Iteratively move between observing ‘random’ hits, and discliplined, deliberate ‘experimentation’. If you play something that sounds good, immediately note down what you played in simple TAB. You may never ‘stumble’ across that lick, chop, chord sequence, or ‘accidental’ melodic line again. So much of creativity is ‘subconscious’ that you’d better begin with the Zen attending NOW! Be here, now. Turn off the internal dialogs. Stop thinking of past things, and imagining future ones. Take notes to refer to any time you find yourself with time to ‘review’ or ‘memorise’ key data. Don’t waste time in queues being irritated. Mentally rehearse exercises. Study your notes. Memorise interval patterns. Visualise them on an imaginary guitar fretboard. Play guitar in your mind. Relate something yo’ve learned to something else. Visualise chord shapes over the fretboard, using the interval patterns and fretboard note locations. Relate some bit of theory to some bit of practice. Or bits of theory to each other. I just came to understand that ‘Middle C’ was used by some people to refer to a note, C4, while others seem to use it to refer to an interval, namely that between C3 and C4. And that ended a lot of confusion, and let me make sense of a whole lot of other stuff, which now opens a lot of doors and windows for me, musically speaking. This book is written with song writers and producers in mind, so it makes sense to note that ‘High C’ refers to C6, while ‘Low C’ refers to C2, and that these are considered the ‘Alto’ and ‘Basso’ ranges for singers. I suspected there must be a reason why the guitar keyboard has been laid out as it has. And I suspect that understanding these reasons could free up my understanding and liberate my playing, granting me the ‘fretboard freedom’ all those guitarists in the music shops and in the videos appear to have. So I sat and pondered and read and studied until it became clear. Four fingers. So each string is separated by an interval of 5 semi-tones, allowing you to play across the neck, and proceed from the fourth fingered note on one string on the first fingered note of the adjacent string. The reason for the 4 semi-tone interval between the G3 and B3 strings is a technical adaptation to allow the Bass and Treble E to be 2 octaves apart, for musical reasons. So one of the first things to memorise is this pattern from E2 to A2, A2 to D3, D3 to G3, and B3 to E4, of ‘one string across equals 5 semi-tones up in pitch (or down Page 16 of 339 towards the bridge in physical terms), whereas from the G3 to B3 string one string across equals 4 semi-tones up in pitch. Now stop and think. If one string across is 5 frets higher in pitch. Then 2 strings is 10 frets higher in pitch. So if you go across 2 strings, and then down towards the bridge 2 frets more, the fret you land on is one octave higher in pitch. Keep thinking of such ‘reflexive’ ways of working out the notes on the guitar fretboard, and soon you will ‘remember’ them automatically. If you don’t know a particular note, work from any note you do recognise. All such ‘understandings’ ultimately add up to ‘fretboard freedom’ in ways that are not obvious at first, but which justify the introduction of theory and practice which leads to this comprehension even at the earliest stages of learning Guitar. Rather than just learning, as I did, loads of chords, and loads of mostly horizontal (across the fretboard) scales. I always seek to get to the foundation roots of things. The most basic assumptions and reasoning. It takes longer, but the results are superior. Creativity is all abaout hit and miss, try and see. Often guided by theory of what should be more likely to ‘work’. And also by subconscious muscle memory of actions and behaviors from a potentially similar context. It is all about pattern observation, recognition, reproduction, and then application. All science. All engineering. All reverse-engineering of nature. All philosophy. All learning. All ‘creativity’. All ‘prediction’. All manufacture. All construction. All technology. And all musical learning. Because each individual has slightly different ears, eyes, brains, fingers, hands, wrists, tastes, sensibilities, and focus, they will ‘see’ and ‘interpret’ and attempt to produce and reproduce patterns, subconsciously, and deliberately, in their own unique way. Sometimes you will get a Hendrix, or a Mozart. Most times you will get a ‘hack’. Possibly a very technically competent studio musician incapable of any original composition, but capable of realising, in technical detail, exactly what a composer has imagined, and tried to express, but was incapable of doing, due to limited technical competence. The musical world needs both. And everything in between. And kids who just enjoy bashing around their guitars and freeing their soul and mind from the MEST we have gotten into, if only for a few glorious moments. A lot of our musical learning tends to be subconscious. You are learning all the time. Both good habits and bad habits. This guide is about starting off with the best habits, and identifying and correcting bad habits before them happen, or as quickly as possible, before they become established. With a little discipline and focus you can also eliminate your worst, most ingrained, bad habits. Many of which you had no Page 17 of 339 idea you had. And no idea of how they had been harming you’re playing, limiting your potential, and stopping you from getting where you wanted to go. You will soon be learning things without realising it. You will also be disciplining yourself to memorise certain intervals and the patterns they form on the guitar fretboard. Music is all about interval patterns, phrasing, and accenting. By learning the theory underpinning why one thing sounds ‘musical’ and ‘tasty’, and another sounds like irritating ‘noise’, you will be well on your way to creating your own compositions, and/or embellishing your band mates’ compositions with lead guitar solos and Bass lines. I am a lousy guitarist and musician. But I can compose. I decided I was going to actually have to learn how to play guitar, and to understand music, if I was going to release the full potential of the songs I had already written. I turn 50 this year. It was about time to start. And lucky for me, I found I had access to a seemingly unlimited supply of learning materials online. Everything I could never have dreamed of when I got my first guitar at the age of 18, and a simple guitar guide. I’ve devoted my life to seeking and sharing the truth about The Realities of Our Natures and the Natures of Our Realities (TROONATNOOR). I wouldn’t be surprised to find many answers to questions raised by that quest in the realm of music. For after all, all our experience is merely the encoding of resonant energy-matter-consciousness into different ‘representations’. Music deals with much more than merely just the ‘audio’ representation system. It evokes feelings. States of mind. It can release us. It can free us. It can liberate us. It can energise us. It can allow us to ‘express’ the impressions we have experienced, to process them, and generate positive experiences, and spiritual growth, from them. So this guide is not just a luxury that I am allowing myself after working so hard and so long on the most unrewarding topics of religion, politics, and ethics. This project ties in well with all my previous work. It intends to offer a ‘role model’ for all teaching materials on every subject, by showing how, by really taking great care, we can make subjects that appear confusing and complex totally accessible to anyone. They need only be willing to take the time and effort to follow a well conceived, thoroughly field-tested, and ‘carried out’ plan of learning. Like all creative processes, this one was iterative. You go back and forth between what you think might work, and what you’ve ‘stumbled’ upon both randomly, and via disciplined ‘experimentation’. Page 18 of 339

The parts must continually rewrite the whole, which then rewrites the parts, and so on. Until the parts become so intergrated that they naturally form a cohesive and coherent, optimal, whole.

Your personal musical evolution It is the sentience, the mind, that ‘finds’ functions for the random products of evolution. The functions were not intended by evolution. The mind finds something ‘functional’, and adapts it to its own purposes. A computer program could generate thousands of possible variation of note sequences, with different durations, bends, slides, hammer-ons, hammer-offs, sweep picking, arpeggios, Triads, staccato notes, legato notes. But until it became ‘consciouses and ‘sentient’ it could only calculate the mathematical probability that something would ‘sound’ good to a human, by using various algorithms like statistically sampling the most beloved songs of all time, and applying ‘Golden Mean’ and I IV V VIm type ‘formulas’. The computer can’t ‘hear’ as such. It has a microphone for recording and inputting audio wave forms and converting / encoding them to digital formats, but it is like most humans who have a ‘brain’, but can’t ‘think’ as such. So a computer program is great at ‘Bingeing’ but terrible at ‘purging’. You can be brutally honest and reject anything that does not really sound good. Whether a lyric, a progression, a lick, a chop, a phrase, a melody, a drum track, a poorly performed vocal or guitar part, the timing, the phrasing, the Key changes, the pitching, and everything that decides whether a song or piece of music is ‘good’ or not. Most great songs were ‘stumbled upon’ by artists who proved dedicated, patient, and discliplined enough to combine ‘Hit and Miss’ with some theory and understanding of what is most likely, a-priori, before even picking up any instrument, to sound good. Some ‘One Hit Wonders’ stumbled upon a great lyric or melody, but then when the next ‘big hit’ didn’t materialize as easy as the first, they just complained that their ‘muse’ had left them. And went into Advertising or Marketing. Or worse. They weren’t committed enough to continue writing the next 1000 ‘misses’ required to stumble upon their next ‘hit’. They weren’t disciplined and generative enough to study a little theory, learn some new mechanical skills, and continue ‘Bingeing and Purging’. Page 19 of 339

We all wonder how our favorite songs and riffs, chord progressions, lead solos, melodies, and lyrics got written. Surely by pure inspiration? Some artists forget how much long and tedius ‘perspiration’ went into getting to the point where ‘inspiration’ suddenly hits. Mozart was studying and practicing and ‘bingeing and purging’ from such an early age, that by the time he was an ‘adult’, he appeared to have enjoyed the ‘intercession’ of the musical gods. It appeared that he had ‘come from nowhere’. That his talent was pure genius. A ‘gift of the gods’. When we look at a finished piece of music we are often surprised how simple it really is. It sounds complicated. And we imagine all sorts of things. But often the actual music is easy to learn and play, once you can ‘see’ what you need to play to reproduce it. Oh, and surely ‘all the great songs have already been written’? There are, after all, only 12 notes in all the music ever written. Surely we’ve used up all the potential combinations already? But mathematically we probably never will. Our sun will begin resonating at a different frequency and we’ll go extinct long before we exhaust the potential combinations of notes. Consider the math. 12 factorial is 12x11x10x9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2 = ? And remember it is not just notes that make music. It is duration of notes. The sequence of notes. Combinations of notes. All these things combined. The way the notes are voiced. So now you are looking at a guitar fretboard. At first you saw overwhelming chaos. Then you learned the patterns and how they repeat all over it. You brought order to that apparent chaos. But now you need ‘Ordered Chaos’ otherwise known as ‘evolution’ or ‘generative’ processes. The term ‘creativity’ is often used. But what we are doing is taking things that already exist, and adapting them in different ways. Combining and re-combining them in different ways. So that the new combinations, the new interactions, of the existing things, appear to be ‘new’ things. This is how evolution ‘generates’ the forms which sentient organisms or ecological systems ‘adapt’ to their needs and wants, to provide pleasure and relief. The pleasure of eating and surviving and building nests / homes, and reproducing and growing and all that we find ‘good’. The relief from hunger, fear, cold, predators, weather, pain, disease, illness, and all that we find ‘bad’. Your typical ‘Asian’ education system, focused on memorizing and reproducing existing knowledge, engineering, and so on, manages the ‘Order’ bit very well. But Page 20 of 339 fails to ‘teach’the‘ordered chaoses required for ‘generative’ thinking and behaviors / habits. If you are going to be savagely shamed for any ‘failure’, and if ‘losing face’ is worse than death for you, you are hardly likely to develop habits of ‘hit and miss’, ‘try and see’, ‘binge and purge’, are you? You may be great at ‘reverse-engineering’ other people’s ideas and technology, but you are unlikely to be very innovative or generate ‘new’ combinations / forms / interactions. You won’t be what we call ‘creative’. All the ‘greats’ in any ‘creative’ field took chances. Most of the time they suffered embarrassing failures. Most of their songs ‘sucked’. Their playing and singing was ‘crap’. But they perservered. Evolved from slimey fish into golden god-men and literal ‘idols’. They had talent of course. They had natural gifts. But so do millions of other people who never write a great song or guitar solo. What made the difference was that they either deliberately developed the habits of ‘creative’ people, or fell into them naturally, instinctively, and intuitively. They were simply ‘stubborn’ and refused to stop until they’d written the songs or music they just ‘felt’ they had within them. Despite all the embarrassing failures. The derision of their peers. The criticism of their teachers. Their lack of any apparent ‘progress’. Their lack of ‘anything to show for all that discipline, effort, sacrifice, and plain old long hours of practice and, more importantly, attempts at writing something. So now back to the ‘literal’ in all this. How do you go from playing scales to writing music? You simply stop playing your scales the way you learned them. You start jumping around from one note to the other. Play 3 notes in a totally different order than you have learned them. Stop playing them sequentially and in succession. Play the 1-4-7-9-2 notes of a Major Scale. Hey, that’s copyrighted, so don’t you dare steal it. I haven’t played it, but it might be the next big riff in the history of guitar. Change scales and play the same order on a Mixolydian Scale. Try another 20,000 different variations. Then when any ‘sound good’, note them down. This is where you start writing real music. Page 21 of 339

Use the theory you’ve gleaned from this guide to work out why it sounds good. What Key is it in? What chord progressions would sound good in this Key? Which Chords have the same ‘flavor’, as being built from the same Scale that these notes come from. You can reverse engineer the Scale from the notes, then construct the chords from the Scales. Because all musical phrases generate tension and resolution, your mind automatically ‘expects’ certain notes to follow from the riff you ‘stumbled’ upon via your habits of ‘constructive chaos’. The first time you hear a song, you tend to ‘fill it out’ in your mind even before you hear what the composer actually wrote. Hey, if what you ‘filled out’ turned out to be different, then write down what you wrote in your head. What you had done was actually generate something ‘new’ from something existing. That’s called ‘composing’. Of course ‘Classically Trained’ ‘Muscicians’ are like German Grammar teachers. They think you can ‘construct’ great music from rules and theory. Their students end up writing boring classical music that sounds O.K enough, but will never ‘move’ anyone in any real emotional way. You can’t force it. But you can ‘Binge and Purge’ with brutal honesty, until you ‘hit upon’ a tasty riff, chop, melody, lick, chord progression, syncopation, rhythm, or solo phrase, and then develop it using some theory, and some more ‘hit and miss’, ‘try and see’. It is great to have other musicians to ‘sound off’ and ‘resonate with’. You may play a few notes which the Bass player develops, then the rhythm guitarist ‘hears’ something in that and begins a groove, which inspires the vocalist to write down a few lines, while the drummer picks up on the beat that seems to be emerging. And soon you find yourselves playing something that has never been played before. It might turn out to be your next ‘hit’. But what is more important is that you’ve begun developing good habits. Generative habits. ‘Creative’ habits. And these habits are the most valuable habits for anyone who wants to work in any ‘creative’ field. To solve problems. To engineer solutions. To cure diseases. To become wiser. Smarter. More productive. More constructive. Better people. It is amazing how ‘different’ and ‘more musically pleasing’ a few notes you have played a million times, during scale practice, suddenly become when you put aside the ‘speed drills’ and start randomly picking out ‘new’ combinations of the same notes. Changing the duration of each. Sliding to a note on the same string rather than Page 22 of 339 moving across to the next string for it. Hammering it on rather than picking it. Then sliding back. Or doing all three like Hendrix decided to do at some point! Doing all this in a ‘disciplined’ and ‘knowing’ way, based on your learnt scales and a little theory, rather than purely randomly, and hoping for the best. You learn the scales one way to develop manual dexterity, muscle memory, and mechanical skills. But now stop it. Otherwise your ‘muscle memory’ will become more like a straight jacket of non-generative habits. You want to use the CAGED system, not become imprisoned in a cage of scales. If every time you ‘improvise’ you play the scale the same way, it is not ‘improvisation’. It is rote learning. You’ll get stuck in that rut. Literally. So break those habits now. Or to be more precise, start playing the Scales in different orders. It is still ‘order’. Just more generative order. Spicing up the order with a bit of ‘chaos’. Some ‘hit and miss’ to go along with the ‘tried and true’. Start using scales more ‘creatively’. Step from rung 2 to 5, skipping the usual rungs. Take some risks. Jump down the ladder, skipping over the rungs you’d normally take one step at a time. Climb and jump and slide up and down the ladder, faster and slower, taking successive rungs one time, then taking huge leaps other times. And always finish your ‘experiment’ of a ‘safe’ note, like the 1st, 3rd, or 5th note of the Scale you are in. Now you’ll reap the harvest you have sown, in learning that bit of theory, about what Scales are, how they are constructed, how chords are constructed, intervals, and basic ‘harmony’ theory. All your riffs will ‘resolve’ and ‘complete’ and ‘reach their purpose’ in a way that is pleasing to the human nervous system. Of course do the same with chords and chord progressions. Try some ‘random’ combinations. Or start with the ‘compatible chords’ charts showing the chords built off the Major Scale as root notes, or use the ‘Compatible Chords wheel’. So you are not stumbling about blindly in the dark, in total chaos. Ordered, constructive chaos is generative. It requires more courage. You will embarrass yourself a lot. You will ‘lose face’ often. If you do it in public. Most performers did all this in private. Only their band mates know how ‘lousy’ a musician they really are, because they heard all the ‘misses’. You only get to hear the hits. Thus you are left complaining that the devil never offered you anything for your soul. Page 23 of 339

Or why the musical gods won’t ‘intercede’ on your behalf. Or bemoaning how unfair life is, to give those musicians all the ‘talent’. But be warned. It can take over your life. Estrange you from your family and friends. Neil Diamond complained of this. He would be constantly thinking of new possible song ideas, 24/7, so much that he really was hardly ever ‘there’. He was always off in his head ‘bingeing and purging’ new song ideas. Even after his huge success. Everything that happened about him was only of interest as it related to a possible new song idea. A new melody. A new lyric. Oh, and don’t forget the old adage: Good song writers borrow ideas from other musicians. Great song writers steal them! Or at least ‘continue’ them. Evolve them. Carry them forward. Listen to a song. Then ‘continue’ it in your mind. Play around with it. Until it develops qualities not in the ‘original’ you were inspired by. Often the greatest songs were written in attempts to ‘sound like’ someone else. Only we are all different. So when we try to ‘imitate’ someone else, we often sound very different. Our listeners might never guess that we were in fact trying to ‘sound like’ someone we admired. They might never make the connection between that riff we played, and one they have heard thousands of times before. You see THAT is exactly how evolution works. Completely without design. Unless this process itself was ‘intended’ and ‘designed’. Mutation. Mistakes in the copying of DNA lead to mutations. Different DNA combinations that produce different forms, structures, and organisms. Most of them don’t benefit from these mutations. They had been better off without them. But when you’ve got billions of years to play with, when you can ‘Binge’ and produce Billions of these ‘mutations’, then one or two are bound to represent ‘progress’ for the organism that receives them. And these ‘benefits’ accumulate over billions of years, until lots and lots of ‘slight changes’ accumulate until you have a ‘new’ species. Or a ‘new’ way of ‘seeing’ or ‘hearing’, or climbing, or swimming, or flying, or breatheing, or even thinking. In the context of musicians seeking to ‘copy’ another musician, they tend to make ‘mistakes’ in their assumptions about what the other musician was doing. So the ‘copy’ is ‘faulty’. Just like any random mutation of Genes due to exposure to the various forms of ‘electro-magnetic radiation’ we call UV light, cosmic waves, or ‘nuclear radiation’. Page 24 of 339

Most of these faulty copies don’t represent anything positive, constructive, or generative. They represent ‘errors’. Failures. The organism suffers. The ‘mutation’ proves maladaptive. The musician’s version sounds crap. But sometimes the ‘accidental’ proves beneficial. A windfall. An improvement. Or at least an innovation. A novelty. Something new and pleasing. We get color vision. Or sonar. Or opposable thumbs. Or the ability to breathe on land, or in water. To fly. To make tools. Or just slightly improved vision, slightly improved hearing, and slightly improved pattern recognition. And these slight improvements accumulate over billions of years. So that they appear to have been ‘designed’ with the benefits they offer in mind, by some ‘creator’. And sometimes that kid trying to emulate a Hendrix song ends up writing a great Country and Western song. His ‘copy’ was really lousy. Nothing like Hendrix at all. A failure in that respect. But it proved the stimulus for a great new sound. A new song. Even a whole new genre or style of music. That is how everything ‘evolves’. Music included. Generatively. By hit and miss. Try and see. ‘Faulty’ reproduction. Erroneous copying. Binge and purge. And ultimately accumulation of ‘hits’ in the one organism, DNA, or musician / song. Page 25 of 339

Keyboard players have it easy, when learning all the notes of their instrument. Guitarists have to make a real effort. Most of us don’t. Some muddle through as they have a natural ‘ear’ and great subconscious note recognition and muscle memory. Or they stumble upon a few combinations of chords and licks and base almost all their songs upon these. This accounts for many ‘one hit wonders’, and great song writers who write only a few songs. Compare this to artists who continually re-invent themselves, because they really understand their instruments, and are capable of trying out a much wider range of its potential. Thus they can enjoy life time careers. They don’t get stuck in any ruts. They are free to explore, and invent new sounds. Or develop their original sound to its limits. The huge advantage of learning music on a keyboard is that all the notes are laid out before your eyes from your left to your right. There is only one instance of each discrete note. So there is only one position to remember for each note. There is only one C4, for example. Any time you want to play the C4 note, you have to ‘depress’ the same white key. Whereas on a guitar fretboard the same discrete note, C4, is repeated up to 4 times. You have 4 different possible positions to learn for the one note. This adds a level of complexity and confusion at first. But it also adds a lot of flexibility once you get the hand of it. You have more ways to play the same note, chord, and scale, on a guitar.But in order to get some things clear and straight in our heads, we will start with a keyboard, then translate what we have learned to the guitar fretboard. But consider also that whereas you can only play the scale of C Major in one position, with one and only one particular sequence of notes, on a piano, on a guitar there are many different ways to play the C Major scale, starting at different frets, and on different strings. So the learning curve for guitar is bound to be much steeper than for keyboards, at least in respect to these points. Page 26 of 339

Keyboard freedom of movement is almost automatic, once you have memorised the 2 black 2 black keys pattern, and identified C as the first white adjacent to the first of the 3 black keys. The real challenge to guitarists is to be able to find, without thinking about it, every alternative position for every note, scale, and chord, on the much more complex guitar fretboard. This is what this guide is about. The reason we are taking a very different approach to most other training guides for guitarists. I want to learn guitar in a way that will make the fretboard as intuitive to use as a keyboard is. And so I write this guide as a reference for myself, to clarify and organise my thoughts in a way that makes the most sense, and to which I can later refer to when I once more become ‘muddled’ or ‘lost’. Of course with the keyboard your choice of pitches for the C Major Scale are much greater, with the choice of anything from C1 to C7, whereas with the guitar you are limited by the number of frets, and standard tuning, to a range of C3 to C5.

What precisely the term ‘Interval’ refers to The term ‘Interval’ is also used so flippantly that it adds to the confusion. We need to be very precise from the s tart when using the term ‘interval’, to avoid obfuscation and unnecessary confusion from the very start, and later on. The term ‘interval’ refers to the distance between one note and the note before it, using their locations in the Major Scale as the reference. We measure musical intervals in ‘Semi-Tones’ and ‘Full-Tones’. A Full Tone is 2 Semi- Tones. Throughout this guide we will use the symbol ‘T’ to indicate an interval of a Full-Tone and the symbol ‘S’ to indicate an interval of a Semi-Tone. On a guitar the frets are each a Semi-Tone apart. So to play a Full-Tone interval on a guitar you need to skip one fret and reach over to, and play, the note on the next fret. For example in the diagram you would go from the C4 note at the iii5 position on the G string, to the 7th fret note, a D4 note at the iii 7 position on the G string, to cover a Full-Tone interval. The Middle C (C4) on a Guitar closet to the nut is the C4 on the B3 string at the ii2 position (at the 1st fret). The other Middle C (C4) is located on the D3 string, at the iv10 position (at the 10th fret) Unlike with a keyboard, the same notes often repeat many times, in different positions on the fretboard, in different Octaves. Which at first makes guitar more difficult to learn, but then makes it the incredibly versatile instrument it is. Page 27 of 339

On a piano a Full-Tone interval means skipping the adjacent key, and playing the next one. But be careful, the adjacent key might be a black key, and so it appears as if you are playing the ‘next’ ‘adjacent’ key, when in fact it is a Full-Tone interval away from the adjacent ‘white’ key. The yellow Key is good example. It is a C. The white note to your right of it is a Full-Tone interval distant from the C. It is a D note. Because of the Black Key ‘between’ them, which is the C# note. Each black or white key is a Semi- Tone higher or lower than its neighbor. Don’t forget the ‘black’ keys!

So we have covered the first interval on a guitar and keyboard. The interval between the first and the second ‘degree’ of the Major Scale. Second Degree is the more precise musical term for Second note. Page 28 of 339

The first degree / note is called the ‘root’ or ‘tonic’ of a Scale. It gives the scale, and any chord built from this note, its name. The Scale or Chord is always ‘synonymous’ with the root / tonic / first degree it is built from. So starting at C, we build the C Major Scale. The first degree / note is written as ‘1’. It is called the ‘Root’ or ‘Tonic’ or ‘First’. The second degree of the C Major Scale is a D note. The ‘interval’ between the first and second degree / note of a scale or chord is called its ‘Second’. It is written as ‘2’. It is called the ‘Second’. But now we come to the all important ‘interval’ in music. The interval between the second degree of a Scale and its ‘Third’ degree. Its ‘Third’. Remember it is the ‘interval’ between the 2nd and 3rd note that the term ‘3rd’ or ‘Third’ refers to. The term interval always refers to the interval between any degree / note of a Scale and the degree / note preceding / before it. An interval can be either a ‘Major’ Interval of a Full-Tone. Or a ‘Minor’ Interval of a Semi-Tone. So if the interval between the second and third degrees / notes of a Scale is a Full Tone (Major) interval, we call the Scale a ‘Major’ Scale. And if the interval between the second and third degrees / notes of a Scale is a Semi- Tone (Minor) interval, we call the Scale a ‘Minor’ Scale. The Major Scale is the benchmark and reference for all other Scales and Modes. All you need to do to convert any Major Scale or Major Chord you know into a Minor Scale or Minor Chord, is to ‘flatten’ its ‘Third’ degree / note, and its ‘Seventh’ degree/note. To reduce the ‘Third’ and ‘Seventh’ intervals to Semi-Tones (Minor) Intervals. As it is the 1-3-5-7 notes that produce harmony. So it is changing the intervals that determines the ‘Major’ or ‘Minor’ ‘sound’ of a Scale. So the interval pattern for a C Major scale is; C T D T E S F T G T A T B S (C). To convert any Major Scale or Chord to a Minor Scale or Chord, respectively, we simply ‘flatten’ the ‘Third’ and ‘Seventh’ intervals by a Semi-Tone, to give the interval pattern: C T D S Eb T F T G S Ab T Bb T (C). The root, Third, Fifth, and Seventh degrees / notes are highlighted here C D E F G A B C to show how harmony is built up by skipping notes / degrees, so you go 1-3-5-7 pattern so intrinsic to harmony and chord building, Page 29 of 339 and when playing arpeggios. These are the notes that will become your ‘safe havens’ when you start composing and improvising riffs, and ultimately full solos. C Major: C D E F G A B C . The 3rd, and 7th intervals are all Full-Tone (Major) intervals:

C Minor: C D E♭ F G A♭ B♭ C . The 3rd, and 7th intervals are now all Semi-Tone (Minor) intervals. They have been ‘flattened’. We have reduced these formerly ‘Major’ / ‘Full-Tone’ intervals by a Semi-Tone in pitch. So the 3rd and 7th notes in a Minor Scale are a Semi-Tone flatter / lower in pitch than their counterparts in their ‘parent’ Major Scale. To clarify, we have reduced the interval between the 3rd and 2nd notes / degrees, and between the 7th and 6th notes / degrees, by a Semi-Tone in pitch. Note that in Major and Minor Scales and Chords, the ‘Fifth’ is always a Full-Tone (Major) interval, and thus we refer to it as a ‘Perfect Fifth’. That is to say, the ‘fifth’ note / degree is a Full-Tone (Major) interval from the ‘fourth’ degree / note in both Major and Minor Scales. Because when you flatten the ‘Third’ and ‘Seventh’ of the C Major Scale, namely the C D E F G A B (C) you get C D Eb F G A Bb (C) This means there is now a Full-Tone between the 7th and what would be the 8th, the ‘Octave’, of a Minor Scale. Whereas a Major Scale ‘finishes’ with that typically very satisfying (to the human nervous system) Semi-Tone 8th Interval, the interval between the end of the Scale proper, and the start of the next Octave. To give Minor Scales this same ‘satisfying’ ‘happy end’, Harmonic Minor scales flatten the ‘8th’ note interval. So keep this in mind when building your own Minor Scales. You may want to ‘fudge’ them a little, to have the ‘happy end’ associated with Major Scales, by making your own Minor Scales Harmonic Minor Scales also. But this leaves a huge 3 Semi-Tone interval between the 6th and 7th notes of the Harmonic Minor Scale. For those times when you don’t want that distinctive interval, there is the Melodic Minor Scale which moves the 6th note one Semi-Tone to make the interval between the 6th and 7th note a more conventional Full Tone interval, while ensuring that ‘happy end’ all this fretboard fingering is all about. O.K, so sounds like a whole lot of theory, right? Well actually if you take all this in, and it isn’t that much really, as you’ll see when you go back over it, and start memorizing it, and ‘grokking’ it, then you won’t ever need to look at a scale chart, a chord chart, a fretboard diagram, or anything like that, ever again. You won’t be Page 30 of 339 stuck using a limited number of chord shapes you memorised, or ‘boxed in’ Scales. Or even any ‘clever’ systems or tricks. Of course we’ll take a look at all of the most useful ones, later on. But for now, we’re going to get our fingers dirty, so to speak, and actually ‘build’ stuff ourselves. Well O.K, it’s more like assembling ‘flat-pack’ furniture. We didn’t have to design it ourselves, cut the wood, add the frets, or any of that.

The Chromatic Scale

Note that the notes on each string of the guitar repeat from the 12 fret, one Octave higher than the starting note at the nut. So the notes on the 13th fret are the same as the notes on the first fret, just one Octave higher in pitch / double the frequency. And the notes on the 19th fret are the same as the notes on the 7th fret, just one Octave higher in pitch/double the frequency. The musical alphabet is made up of 7 ‘natural’ notes C D EF G A B. The sharp/flat notes between C and D, D and E, F and G, G and A, and A and B, give us a total of 12 notes in every Octave. As we go up in Octaves, the ‘pitches’ / frequencies of each of these notes doubles. As we go down in Octaves, the pitches / frequencises of each of these notes halves. C C#/Db D D#/ Eb E F F# /Gb G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B . The 13th note is the Octave of the starting note. In this case C. Thus the number 13 refers to your ‘higher self’. To ‘renewal’ and ‘resurrection’, a return to the start, 1, but at a higher level of consciousness. A true ‘rebirth’. [All true spirituality is demonised by the Cult of Judah. So the number 13 has become ‘bad luck’. In fact the Cult ofJudah had King Phillip literally act according to the Torah role models, in having thousands of the Cult of Judah’s only real competition, The Knights ‘Templar’, murdered on a Friday the 13th. The World Wrestling Federation styled ‘competition, Islam and Christianity were never true ‘adversaries’, as they are run by the same Cult of Judah masters. One ‘tell’ is that they literally banned ‘usury’, to give their Cult masters the monopoly on world finance. The Templars, on the other Page 31 of 339 hand, had learned the secrets of ‘fractional reserve banking’ from the ‘Jews’ in Jerusalem, and had become a genuine competitor, and true adversary. In the Torah the Cult leaders got their ‘groomed’ King to slaughter their opponents. This is typical of all Torah / Old Testament ‘stories’. They are intended to serve as role models for political strategy. With the final objective a ‘Jew’ World Order where you will have one choice ‘Serve the ‘Jews’ (Cult of Judah) or die’]. The Chromatic Scale is a ‘ladder’ (Scala in Italian) of ‘intervals’ that take you from any note / pitch to double its frequency, what in music we call its ‘Octave’. Octo is Latin for 8. And the Major Scale ‘scales’ the Octave in 8 steps. For example C3 to C4. Hence the symbol for ‘Octave’ is ‘8 v.a’. Most of the 12 steps / intervals of the Chromatic Scale are Whole / Full-Tone steps, for example from C to D, from D to E, from F to G, from G toA, and from A to B. I will use the symbol ‘T’ to indicate a Whole / Full-Tone interval / step. The steps between B and C and E and F are Half / Semi-Tone steps. I will use the symbol ‘S’ to indicate a Half/ Semi-Tone interval / step. On a keyboard, the Semi-Tone (S) intervals are all black keys, and the Full-Tone (T) intervals all white keys. Most of the keys, the larger ones closer to the player, are ‘white’. (Ivory). The intervals between the white keys are all full tones. C D E F G A B if you start at C, which is the handiest reference point. This forms the C Major Scale. The simplest way to compose music from scratch, with zero formal understanding of any musical theory whatsoever, is to limit yourself to playing these white keys between one C, and its octave. And as ‘Middle C’ lies almost directly in front of you, why not start there? You can’t go wrong. Every note you play will be ‘in Key’. Then to get clever you can form your first ‘triad’ or ‘Chord’ from the first note C3, the third note, E3, and the fifth note G3. In this case it is a major Chord as it follows the interval pattern Root, Full Tone, Third, Full Tone, Fifth. You are sounding the first, third, and fifth notes of the C major scale. Now you can immediately play an ‘arpeggio’, by playing the individual notes C3, E3, G3 in succession, back and forwards. The pattern of C1 white, C# black, D white, D#black, E white, F white, F# black, G white, G #black, Awhite, A#black, B white, (new Octave) C2 white…repeats over and over from, for example C1 to C2, C2 to C3, (Middle C) C3 to C4, C4 to C5, C5 to C6, depending on the range of your keyboard or Piano. Page 32 of 339

If you start at A, you get A B C D E F G You have a set of two black keys, then a set of 3 black keys. Note this. Use the set of 2 black keys as your reference point. For the white key before the first of this set of two black keys is C. So on a piano or other keyboard the C Major Scale is simply all the white keys between any C key, and its next highest octave. And because every Major Scale has a relative minor scale 3 semi-tones behind it, once you now C Major, you know A Minor. Another way of saying this is that the 6th note of any Major Scale is the Relative Minor Scale starting note. The notes are the same, all that is different is the note you start from. Here is a chart showing the Relative Minor Keys of Each Major Scale.

So going across from C we find the Sixth note of the C Major Scale is an A. Starting here, our A minor Scale goes A B C D E F G. You simply play all the white keys from A to A, and you will be playing the interval pattern for all Natural Minor scales. What gives the ‘Minor’ scale its sound is the Page 33 of 339

‘semi-tone’ a.k.a ‘Minor’ interval between the second and third notes. Play the white notes on a keyboard from A (Just play C Major A BC D EF G A and start from A (the white key before the last of the set of 3 black keys). You will see this pattern of intervals: A (root) 2 semi-tones B 1 semi-tone C 2 semi- tones D 2 semi-tones E 1 semi-tone F 2 semi-tones G 2 semi-tones A (Octave 8 v.a / 12 semi-tones higher in pitch. That’s Root-T-S-T-T-S-T-T(Octave of root). What you will want to do is work out all the different ways of reflexively understanding the note intervals and positions. For example I forgot the Am interval pattern, but I knew the C Major Interval pattern, and hence I knew the relative minor interval pattern for C Major which is A Minor, and then looked at the keys and noted the interval pattern. You can work out the note on the same fret of the first 4 strings by adding 5 semitones to your current fretted note, keeping in mind the Chromatic Scale with the BC and EF semi-tone intervals, and otherwise full tone / 2 semi-tone intervals. Then for the high E it is the same as the low E, just 2 octaves higher in pitch. And the note on the same fret as the not you are fretting on the G3 (iii) string on the B3 (ii) string is the same but 4 semi-tones higher. You can remember simple things like fifth fret ADGCEA, or simply ADGCE and recall that the High E and low E are always the same note. I couldn’t remember ADGCEA while walking, so I worked out vi5 to be A, using the Chromatic scale on the E2 (vi) string, then added 5 semi-tones, of the Chromatic scale, to that A to get D, then repeated that for D to get G, then repeated that to get C, then remembered the +4 semi-tone rule for G3 (iii) and B3 (ii), and actually calculated the +5 semi-tones for B3 and E4, before laughing at myself for forgetting this was absurd, as E2 (vi) and E4 (i) are always the same note. So I got ADGCEA again, without having been able to remember this simple set of notes on the fifth fret. These are just simple examples of reflexivity. Once you understand the Chromatic scale, and can remember a few simple patterns and intervals, like the C Major white keys, the A Minor relativity, or an interval pattern of Root T T S T T T S Octave for Major scales, or Root T S T T S T T Octave for Minor scales, or similar things, you can work out the rest. And this is when your subconscious starts noting all these patterns, and what you intend it to do with them, so it starts building new neural pathways and muscle memory to facilitate this. Page 34 of 339

Instead of just memorizing things, learn a whole bunch of stuff, and relate it all to other stuff, so that it is all reinforced and holistically related. Soon you will have many ways of getting from A to B, music-wise.You will always recognise something on the keyboard from memory, or muscle memory, and be able to relate it to something else, to work out what was not at first obvious, from something that did seem obvious. I promise you that getting your head around such ‘theoretical’ ideas is the most practical thing you can do. Then all you need to do is patiently practice your mechanical skills, like fretting, open chords, moveable chords, rock chords, barre chords, hammer ons and pull-offs, slides, fast and slow note bends, tremolos, machine gun fast picking, and other more muscle training and muscle memory type practice. Then we will start ‘experimental’ improvising based on pre-written random interval patterns within scales, and then work with ‘free form’, ‘on the fly’ improvisation, across the entire fretboard, in particular keys, using the ‘safe’ roots, and thirds, and fifths to ‘land’ on any time we ‘lose the plot’ and go a bit too chromatic.So back to this preliminary ‘theoretical’ comprehension part ofour program. The number after the letter, eg. C1 indicates its position on the keyboard. So C1 is the first C Key, starting from your left. 12 semitones, (8 white keys) to the right is C2. Move another 12 semitones (8 white keys) to the right, and you have C3. Repeat this until you get to C7. Notice the repeating pattern. So what looked confusing and complex at first, now resolves to reveal a hidden simplicity. What seemed like an overwhelming amount of information has now been ‘compressed’ into a very manageable voume of data. You have found the order in what at first appeared a chaotic, and large number, of things. That is the advantage of identifying patterns in nature. In human behavior. In stock market movements. In weather formations. This octave is called ‘Middle C’, as it is more or less in the middle of a piano keyboard. It spans the interval from C3 to C4. C4 is so named because it is the fourth C note, from your left, on a standard 88 key piano keyboard. When people speak of the note ‘Middle C’, they are referring to C4. When people speak of the interval ‘Middle C’, they are referring to the interval C3 to C4. This is the interval that is pretty much right in front of you, if you are sitting down at a piano, looking down at the keys. You can most easily reach the most useful range of notes from here, in terms of melody intended to be sung. Page 35 of 339

Now we will begin with the scale that is the easiest to use on a keyboard. The C Major Scale.

Scales and Intervals In Western music we have divided an octave into 12 steps. I give the reasons for this elsewhere in this guide. We ‘scale’ the interval from one note to its octave in 12 steps. Think of it like ascending (to a higher octave) or descending (to a lower octave) a musical ladder where each ‘rung’ or ‘step’ is a note. The Natural Major Scale ascends the Octave by the famous 8 steps sung as Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. The first ‘Do’ is the root note. The last ‘Do’ is the same note one octave higher in pitch. So there are 7 notes within the Major Scale. C, in Italian ‘Do’ gives us the start of the famous Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, which is literally the C Major Scale chanted by our Zombie Jesus Cannibal Vampire Cult singers. Most music theory takes the Major Scale as its reference point, just like Maria in The Sound of Music. [But if Doe is a female deer, why isn’t Reh a male deer? My family name is Reh-Bach, meaning ‘Deer-Brook’. D’oh!] The Middle C, the C note between the Treble Cleff and Bass Cleff, or to be precise the ‘C4’ note. Here is the ‘Grand Staff’ showing both the Treble and Bass Cleffs in relation to one another.

TT The notes go from G2 at the bottom left of the lowest ledger line on the Bass Clef, to F5 on the top right ledger line of the Treble Clef. On a guitar fretboard this would be from the G2 on the E2 string at the vi3 position, to the F5 on the E4 string, at the i13 position. To show the Open E2 string, you just add part of a ledger line below the G2 ledger line and draw the note with this ledger line going through it. You do the same, Page 36 of 339 adding ledger lines above the F5 ledger line, to show notes higher in pitch than F5 on the Treble Clef. You’ll notice there are no extra ledger lines for sharps and flats. This is because the reference / benchmark for all classical ‘Western’ music is the C Major Scale. None of the notes / pitches in the C Major Scale are sharp or flat. Do T Re T Mi S Fa T So T La T Ti S Do C D E F G A B C (Octave) Tone Tone Semi-Tone Tone Tone Tone Semi-Tone You simply add the symbol next to the note, or just to the right of the Treble or Bass Clef, at the start of the piece of music, or at the start of a new bar where the Key changes, if there is a Key change during the piece of music. This ‘Key Signature’ indicates which of the notes that follow are to be played sharp or flat.

Minor Scales and Modes If you really ‘grok’ the Major Scale, learn its intervals, and a few ‘tricks’, you can construct it, and any other Scale or Mode, anywhere on the keyboard, extending Octaves of any scale or mode, from the nut to the bridge, with ease. This is the ‘Optimal’ approach to learning music, guitar, and piano, from day one. The approach I only wish someone had offered me when I had approached music. And like most people, given it up as ‘inscrutable’. Like most of us do with mathematics. These subjects are taught woefully in most schools, and even my most tutors, and so they appear ‘hard’. When in fact they are really the simplest subjects. Unlike ‘history’ and ‘ethics’ which are full of snares, traps, mind-prisons, disingenuous specious sophistry, cunning stratagems devised by cults over thousands of years employed to keep you from ever discovering their conspiracies, let alone ‘the truth’ about TROONATNOOR. I am approaching ‘music’ as a real mystery, with potentially massive implications. The most massive of all. So I am never going to be content to ‘let it ride’when I don’t ‘grok’ something fully. Philosophy, like all spiritual evolution, is about the journey. The imagined destination is irrelevant other than as a goal which cybernetic, goal directed systems, require to be ‘motivated’ a.k.a ‘animated’. The actual destination awaiting us can in fact never be known, by our current minds. The actual geography, and locations, are irrelevant. All places, times, geography, historical moments, socio- political situations, and objectives can serve the same ends. Can be means to the realisation of the same goals. Goals unknowable to our limited minds, as they are Page 37 of 339 required to be, to learn the lessons set before us. The journey is the teacher. No matter where we think we are going. Or what we expect to find there. The true ‘University of Life’. ‘Karma’. All journeys are archetypal in nature. Despite all the differences in details. The Buddhist Monk in Rudyard Kipling’s novel ‘Kim’ discovers this. That any of the ‘ordinary’ irrigation canals can be the sacred river of enlightenment. For it is in the seeking of the Holy River that enlightenment comes, and not from ‘arriving’ anywhere in particular. Of course the movie version, by the Cult of Judah, has to deliberately change the ending, to avoid you, the viewer, ‘groking’ what true ‘religion’ is. I am still seeking the clearest, optimal way to comprehend what music, what ‘harmony’ is. This is my best approximation of the ‘Optimal’ so far. Please send feedback if you have any. But only after you’ve fully ‘grokked’ the approach offered here. Approach it with a Zen ‘open’ mind. If you can. Make no assumptions. Don’t seek to prove anything, a-priori. Give it a real chance. Then see if it works. If you think you can ‘bypass’ this little bit of theory, and save time, you will be like the adventurers with no knowledge of maps, who chose the shortest distance between two points, and decide to travel in a straight line between them. While the scouts who know the terrain intimately object, for they know that what looks like the shortest route on the map is often the hardest route, full of pitfalls and traps, which will end up taking much longer than the ‘Optimal’ route. In fact many travelers who have previously attempted the seemingly more attractive ‘short route’ gave up in frustration and anger, and never even reached their destination. They then claimed it was ‘too hard’, even ‘impossible’. They wonder at others who post wonderful photos from the same destination, describing the wonderful journey they’d just had, and all the insights and understandings they picked up along the way, which made their arrival, and stay, all the more satisfying and productive. It may seem to you that I am launching into too much theory, too soon. In fact I am providing the actual ‘bones’ for your to build the terrain from, in your head. And then apply to your keyboard or fretboard. Once you understand the following simple principles, you won’t ever need to look at or draw a chord chart of Scale diagram. But you will be able to build your own chords and scales, over many octaves, from the nut to the bridge, with ease.

Building EVERY possible chord and scale and mode from the Major Scale All that a ‘Minor’ scale is is a Major Scale with a flattened 3rd note. Page 38 of 339

But, you say, doesn’t every Major Scale have a Relative Minor starting at its 6th note, that contains exactly the same notes, simply starting from a different degree / note / position in the Major Scale? Don’t C Major and A Minor share the exact same notes? And none of the notes in the C Major Scale are sharp or flat? They are all ‘natural’ notes? So surely if we ‘flatten’ any of these ‘Natural’ notes, one of the notes of the A Minor Scale must be flat? That might sound confusing, but it introduces an enlightening series of observations that you should never seek to avoid learning as soon as possible. Everything that appears ‘confusing’ about music theory, and simply looking at Key Signatures, stems from the nature of the INTERVALS of the Chromatic Scale. And the fact that all music still uses the C Major Scale as its benchmark / reference, and not, as logic might desire, the A Chromatic Scale. I think this is just one more case wehre the Cult of Judah has obfuscated TROONATNOOR to our detriment. Always keep in mind the BC and EF intervals. I always write them as such, to remind myself that between the B and C notes of the Chromatic Scale, there is just a Semi- Tone ‘Interval’. That between the E and F notes, the same is true. Whereas all other ‘intervals’ between notes, from C to D, from D to E, from F to G, from G to A, are a Full-Tone (2 Semi-Tones).

Building Major, Minor, and Seventh Chords Building chords is as simple as combining the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the Major Scale to form simple 3 note Major chords. The term ‘triad’ is often used for the simplest, most common, 3 note chords. Just keep in mind that on a Piano keyboard these notes are played in a linear fashion, from left to right, lowest to highest pitch. And each note is usually played only once, giving your chords 3 notes. Whereas on a standard 6 string guitar the notes are often not at all ‘linear’. We often play them, from Bass E to Treble E, ‘out of sequence’. So whereas on the keyboard the keys are lined up neatly from our left to our right, from lowest pitch to highest pitch, on a guitar the pitches and notes can be played in several different ‘positions’. And they are commonly not in the same order as on a keyboard. For example on a piano you find the notes C3 E3 G3 laid out neatly from your left to your right, in a linear sequence, within the same octave.. So they are lined up neatly in order. Page 39 of 339

However when you play a C chord on a guitar, looking down on the instrument as you would in a normal playing position, the notes you see, in sequence, from Bass E to Treble E, will be E2, C3, E3, G3, C4, E4. And you will be only ‘fretting’ the C4, E3, and C3 notes in the ii1, iv2, and v3 positions. The nut will be effectively ‘fretting’ the other notes for you. Now you could effectively ‘move’ that nut by adding a Capo at any fret. Now the Capo becomes the nut. Or you can use your own first finger as a ‘Capo’ and ‘Barre’ any fret, effectively turning it into a new ‘nut’. Then the same shape can be used to play any Major Chord you like. How does this work? Sounds like magic? The following chart shows what happens to any Open Chord Shape when you move it to the fret number shown above the rows, whether you do this using a Capo, or whether your find moveable shapes, or use your first finger as a Capo, in form ‘Barre’ chords.

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A C ‘shaped’ chord can be a D Major Chord (or any chord for that matter) First get your head around the distinction between a C Chord, and a C shaped chord. To make this shape a ‘moveable’ ‘Barre’ chord, you simply move the chord one fret towards the bridge, and replace the nut with your first finger. Then use your other fingers to play the same shape you played in the open position. You can then slide this shape up and down the neck. Each fret you move will give you a different Chord, as the ‘root’ 1st note of each shape will be different, depending on its position. In this case we have a ‘C’ shaped moveable Barre chord. This can be confusing at first. Remember the shape your fingers made in the Open position. To from the Open C chord? That is a ‘shape’. It just happens to form a C Major Chord in the Open position. Because the ‘root’ note on the A string in the v3 position is the C3. Now if we replace the nut with our first finger to form the same ‘shape’, but at a fret closer towards the bridge, this C3 note is raised a Semi-Tone by the one fret movement towards the bridge. And now the same ‘shape’ forms a C# Major Chord. The ‘Root’ for this C shaped moveable Barre chord is on the A string. So moving this C shape another fret towards the bridge, it forms a D Major Chord. we often play the same note, at different octaves, more than once. This gives the guitar chords their distinctive quality. Or adding the 7th note to build Seventh Chords. To build minor chords, simply flatten the 3rd note for Minor chords, and the 7th note for Seventh chords. Triads and Seventh chords by taking the 1st, 3rd, 5th notes for simple 3 note Triad chords, and 7th notes for Seventh Chords. of Major Scale. The chord you build will have the same name as the 1st / root / tonic note of the Scale. To build Minor Chords from the Major Scale, simply by flattening the 3rd note in simple triads of 3 notes. For Chords with the Seventh note, we flatten the 7th as well. I explain this now because Scale and Chord construction is so simple, mathematically, and understanding intervals and ‘Major’ and ‘Minor’ differences, will make music theory and practice literally ‘transparent’. The veil will have been lifted. The apparent chaos reduced to constructive order. Page 41 of 339

Now you will ‘see’ why the piano keyboard is laid out as it is, with the White Keys forming a C Major Scale, and the black keys filling out the Major Scale to form the Chromatic Scale. Whereas the Guitar fretboard is laid out in the Chromatic Scale, and we have to form Full-Tone intervals / steps by skipping frets. This makes learning guitar harder. This makes ‘seeing at a glance’ the notes on a guitar fretboard more challenging. On a keyboard the pattern of C followed by a set of 2 black Keys, then G 3, followed by a set of 3 black keys, is easy to remember. Then forget. It becomes ‘second nature’ fast enough. We have to discover and ‘learn’ much more complex patterns before the patterns of a guitar fretboard become obvious, and equally easy to navigate, ‘at a glance’. However have faith, for such patterns do exist. It is just a matter of learning them, then applying them, until they become ‘unconscious’ patterns. Like you first learned to walk. It seemed impossible at first. Then you concentrated really hard and consciously emulated others. Soon you ‘groked’ the co-ordinations required. At first this was all conscious and deliberate. Your every move self-conscious. But you learned. So well that today you walk without giving it a second thought. All those complex muscle co-ordinations became second nature. They came automatically. Muscle memory took over. All the micro-coorinndations became automatic and unconscious. Like learning to dance. First you do it all consciously and very self- consciously. Sooner or later your body is moving all by itself, and ‘the dancer becomes the dance’. So don’t ‘fret’. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen. If you discipline yourself. Form new muscle memories. And associate these, consciously, with your ultimate goal of ‘fretboard freedom’. Visualise your objective of you picking up a guitar and just ‘groking’ it and ‘rocking’ it like your favorite guitar idol. Vividly. In every representation system e.g how it feels, how it looks, how it ‘tastes’ and ‘smells’. This will be telling your subconscious what you ‘intend’ by all your studying and practicing. Ultimately it is our subconscious that must take over, and re-write all those neural networds, install those muscle memories, and ‘join the dots’ between your actions, and your ambitions. Positive visualization alone won’t do it though. You need to put in the effort and discipline. Think of these as the ‘seeds’ that you ‘sow’ into your subconscious. The Subconscious is the gardener that will tend your seedlings, and then deliver a generous harvest of outcomes. In terms of motor skills development. Muscle memories (where your fingers have their own little brains that don’t require any conscious input from you). And intellectual comprehensions and ‘A-Ha’ moments Page 42 of 339 where you realise how to ‘complete’ that ‘riff’ or chord sequence you stumbled upon during some ‘constructive chaos’ called ‘jamming’ and ‘improvising’ and ‘composing’. Maybe that creaky gate ‘sounded’ a sequence of notes that were almost ‘musical’, and all you had to do was add the ‘finishinng touches’ to realise the musical potential you ‘groked’ when you heard it. The secret music intrinsic to everything. The resonances that make up TROONATNOOR.

The power of C ( A G E D) All Major Chords are built upon a ‘triad’ of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th note of the Major Scale they are named after. It is the 1st note that provides the ‘root’ or ‘tonic’ and thus name. So the first / root / tonic note of a C Scale is C. The C Major Chord is thus built from the 1st C 3rd E and 5th G notes of the C Major Scale. The Open C shape is the ‘First position’ and ‘shape’ with which we can play the C Major chord on the guitar fretboard. But when we replace the nut with our finger, maintaining the other note intervals, we can move the shape so produced along the fretboard towards the bridge. And each time we move a fret towards the Bridge, we are changing the root note, and thus the Key. In this way the Open ‘C’ shape, when played at the Open position, produces a C Major Chord. But when the moveable Barre shape is moved 5 frets, and hence 5 Semi-Tones towards the bridge, and played at the 5th fret, it produces an A Major Chord. This may take a little while to ‘sink in’, if you are not familiar with ‘Barre’ chords and other moveable shapes like ‘rock chords’. But soon your understanding of this principle, and the CAGED system, will form the foundations for your development as a guitarist. This first set of C A G E D illustrations show the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the Major Scale clearly marked with the red dots, and black numbers 1, 3, nd 5 respectively. The shapes are shown in their ‘Open’ position. They are named after the chords which these shapes produce when played in the Open position. The 5 different ‘shapes’ are played at 5 different positions, to produce the same Chord. In this case a ‘C’ Major Chord. The first ‘form’ is called the ‘C’ shape, as it is based on the Open C Chord shape. Page 43 of 339

The second ‘form’ is called the ‘A’ shape, as it is based on the Open A Chord shape. The third ‘form’ is called the ‘G’ shape, as it is based on the Open G Chord shape. The fourth ‘form’ is called the ‘E’ shape, as it is based on the Open E Chord shape. The fifth ‘form’ is called the ‘D’ shape, as it is based on the Open DChord shape

The first ‘form’ is called the ‘C’ shape, as it is based on the Open C Chord shape.

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The second ‘form’ is called the ‘A’ shape, as it is based on the Open A Chord shape.

The third ‘form’ is called the ‘G’ shape, as it is based on the Open G Chord shape. Page 45 of 339

The fourth ‘form’ is called the ‘E’ shape, as it is based on the Open E Chord shape.

The fifth ‘form’ is called the ‘D’ shape, as it is based on the Open DChord shape

Here we go into all this in a little more detail Page 46 of 339

So let’s locate all the C E and G notes on our guitar fretboard. The ‘root’ C notes in the ‘Open’ position are the v3 C3 and the ii2 C4. The E notes in the Open position are the Open Bass E (E2 vi) string, the Open Treble E (E4 i) string, and the iv2 E3. The G note is provided by the Open G (iii0 G3) string.

The nut effectively ‘barre-s’ ‘fret 0’ for us. This is what makes playing ‘Open’ Chords so easy. The Nut does the hard work of ‘barre-ing’ the chord for us. So we can finger the ‘C’ shape using our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fingers. Now lay your first finger across the nut as if it were a fret, and form the rest of the Open C notes with your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers. Because we have so many E notes, we don’t need to fret the E2 vi string. Many people don’t even play this string when strumming an Open C chord anyway. Eureka! You have just (re)discovered the first ‘moveable’ chord shape used in the extremely useful ‘C A G E D’ system. And probably your very first Root1 Barre Chord shape.

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The moveable shape looks like this, if you ever want to use it as an actual chord. It would be a Root 5 Barre Chord.So the chord the shape forms in the above diagram is a D Major.But in the ‘Open’ position it becomes a C Major, as the note on the A2 string in the viii position is C3.

So try it now. Play the open C shape with your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers, while barre- ing the fret (which the nut usually barre-s for you) with your 1st finger. Then move this shape up and down the fretboard, noting that the ‘root’ or ‘tonic’ note of this shape. Now pause and take a breath. Because in the CAGED system, this shape at the Open position defines an E Major Scale. WTF? You see you didn’t learn this shape to play it as a chord. You learned it to use it as a basis for learning, memorizing, locating, and playing, Scales. The ‘root’ of this chord when used as a moveable shape, (rather than an Open C chord), are on the iii (G3) string. The red dots provide ‘safe havens’ for ‘resolving’ to and ‘landing’ on, when you are improvising with Scales. They give you ‘reference’ or ‘orientation’ points to quickly locate the positions for playing the Major Scale in 5 different positions on the neck. Understanding this will give you ‘fretboard freedom’. The ability to play any particular Scale in at least 5 different positions between the nut and the bridge. Now if the above is not yet clear, the next ‘shape’ in the CAGED system will probably clarify it for you. So don’t panic. You will probably recognise a common chord shape on the 5th fret. Page 48 of 339

In the ‘Open’ position this shape is easy to play as the nut acts as a ‘barre’, effectively fretting the Open High E at the i0 position, and the Open A string at the v0 position, for you. You don’t play the Bass E vi0 note. You only need to fret the E3 on the D3 string at the iv2 position (I use my 2nd finger), the A3 on the G3 string at the iii2 position(I use my 1st finger), and the A3 on the B3 string at the ii2 position (I use my 3rd finger). And those of you familiar with Barre chords will recognise this as part of the Root 5 ‘A’ shaped Barre chord. Because it is a ‘Root 5’ Barre Chord, its ‘root’ is on the A2 v string. At the 3rd fret this makes it a C Major (Barre) Chord. To clarify: By now the CAGED system is beginning to make more sense. We began with a C Major Chord in the ‘first’ position, which uses a moveable Barre chord based on the Open C chord. In the context of the CAGED system we call this the ‘C’ shaped (first position) Barre Chord. We then moved down from the nut to the 3rd fret to a C Major Root 5 Barre chord using the Open ‘A’ shape’. In the context of the CAGED system we call this the ‘A’ shaped (second position) Barre Chord. So now we’ve (dis) covered the C and the A in the CAGED system. Page 49 of 339

That we can play a C Major Chord at these two different positions, using these two different shapes. And you will note that they share common notes. The ‘transition’ notes you would use to ascend while ‘scaling’ the fretboard from nut to Bridge, within the C Major Scale. They are also the ‘safest’ notes to play against a C Major progression, as they are the notes that form the C E G C Major Chord Triad. Now play an ‘Open’ G chord. The ‘G’ notes are on the Bass E3 string at the vi3 position, the Treble E3 string at the i3 position, and the Open G3 string at the iii0 position. The B note is provided by the B2 on the A string in the v2 position. The D note is provided by the Open D3 string in the iv0 position.

Again, in this open position, the nut conveniently ‘frets’ the D3, G3, and B3 strings for us. Now place your first finger across the nut as if you were barre-ing a fret for a Barre Chord. Then fret the remaining notes of the Open G Major Chord with your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers. You’ll quickly note that you only have to ‘Barre’ the D3, G3 and B3 strings. This is Root 6 Barre chord as its root is on the 6th (E2, vi) string. Can you see the ‘C’ on the Bass E string yet? At the 8th fret? What you have now is a moveable Barre chord shape. The ‘G’ shaped moveable Barre Chord. The ‘G’ in our C A G E D system. But as it is being played in this position, it forms a ‘C’ Major Chord.

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Note that few people learn these odd shaped ‘barre’ chords for playing chords. But tonnes of people have discovered the value of memorizing this shape as a basis for lead guitar ‘fretboard freedom’. For you already have 3 different ways playing the C Major Scale. And of quickly locating the ‘safe haven’ 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of that Scale. The next shape will be easy for those of you familiar with Barre Chords. It is the ‘E’ shaped, Root 6 Barre Chord. To form a Major C Chord using this shape, you play the Barre Chord at the 8th fret. This is also the root of the ‘G’ shaped Barre Chord, so it gives you the same C Major Chord, simply using a different ‘shape’. Note the notes ‘shared’ between the ‘G’ shape and the ‘E’ shape. All the shapes begin with the lowest pitched notes of the previous pattern. These are the notes the preceding and current pattern / shape have in common as ‘shared’ notes. These are the ‘transition’ notes to ‘ascend’ or ‘descend’ the Major Scale as you ‘scale’ the fretboard between nut and bridge. At the Open position the nut ‘frets’ the E2 note at the vi0 position, the E4 note at the i0 position, and the B3 note at the ii0 position, for you.

But do the same as for the other ‘shapes’, and place your first finger across the nut as if ‘barre-ing’ it, and form the ‘E’ shape using your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers. Now you have a moveable ‘E’ shaped Barre Chord. Go to the 8th fret in the diagram below and Page 51 of 339 you’ll quickly identify this ‘E’ shaped barre chord at the ‘fourth’ position in the CAGED system. Don’t get confused now. At the Open position, this shape sounds an ‘E’ Chord, so we call it the ‘E’ shape. But because you are playing it at the 8th fret, and it is a ‘Root 6’ Barre chord, its root is a ‘C’, and thus the chord is a C Major.

So we have covered the C, A, G, and E ‘shapes’ and ‘positions’. Remember that they are named after the Open Chord these shapes, at the nut, produce. But all these chords are C Major Chords, because they are built from the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the C Major Scale. And remember the pattern of shapes is ‘moveable’. By changing the root note, you change the Key. So by shifting the pattern one fret (1 Semi-Tone) towards the bridge, so the new ‘tonic’ / ‘root’ note shifts from E (as shown above) to F, all the exact same‘shapes’ produce F Major Chords and can be used as orientation points for the F Major Scale. And so on. And so on to our final shape and position for the C Major Chord. It is built on the Open D chord shape. Again, in the Open Position the nut ‘frets’ notes for you. In this case the D3 in the iv0 position.

This ‘shape’ completes our CAGED journey, and ironically, provides us ‘freedom’. Sort of how most ‘Jew’ World Order elites imagine they will ‘free’ us from making Page 52 of 339 decisions by making all our decisions for us. It’s called ‘tyranny’ and ‘dictatorship’ when you are not using ‘NewSpeak’ and ‘DoubleSpeak’ and ‘Torah-Speak’. The equivalent D4 note on the B3 string in the ii3 position is the last red note illustrated. It must have questioned some ‘Jew’ World Order directive, and met Mr Guillotine!

This (Open) ‘D’ shape is the ‘fifth’ form of C Major Moveable Barre Chord. So now you know at least five ways of playing the C Major Chord, and at least five positions to play the C Major Scale at. Having more options for producing the same Chords offers you more choices when arranging chord progressions. You can play the same chord now in at least 5 different positions between the nut and bridge. And using these shapes you can play the same notes of the C Major Scale in these five different ‘horizontal’ positions from nut to briddge. Then, like Hendrix and SRV, you can ‘sound’ various basic chord shapes between licks, with tasty ‘chops’, as you ascend and descend the fretboard. Playing ‘double stops’ from these 1st-3rd-5th notes, or hammering on and off entire triads, and sliding the double stop, or the entire triads, is a manouevre most people associate with Hendrix. Imagine this pattern is like a scroll wrapped around your fretboard from nut to 12th fret. It is the same on both sides. Imagine the neck / fretboard is so thin that as you move the pattern facing you up or down the neck, between nut and bridge, the other side moves in the opposite direction, feeding a continuous scroll of 12 fret patterns up through the nut, down the neck to the bridge, and through the bridge and back up the other side. So that the notes that ‘dissappear’ at the 12th fret re-appear at the nut. In this way your ‘next’ pattern will begin with the ‘D’ shape / 5th position. So it will be a ‘D- CAGE’ system, starting from the nut.. Then as you ‘wind’ the scroll further, and this ‘D’ shape moves towards the bridge, the ‘E’ shape / 4th position appears at the nut,as it disappears at the bridge. Now you have an ‘E-DCAG’ system.

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Enter the Fourth (to find the Fifth) The trick to ‘fretboard freedom’ is to identify the most useful ‘repeating patterns’ on the fretboard. This is the first one to take to heart (the center of all true wisdom, for the brain merely deals with ‘facts’ and ‘computation’). Using C Major as a reference again, the fourth of C Major is C D EF G A B(C). It is like the ‘friend’ of the person we want to chat up. Our target of interest is really the ‘Fifth’. The G. ‘Gee’ take a look at her /him! C D EF G A B(C). But when we come to building our own scales, we will want to know where the fourth it is at all times. As one of the easiest ‘reference’ or ‘orientation’ points for our ‘free climbing’ of the guitar neck. To use this pattern you don’t even have to know any notes. The ‘key’ will simply be determined by your relative ‘1’ note. On your guitar fretboard, for the E4, A2, D3, and B3 strings, the ‘Fourth’ of any note on those strings will be on the same fret of the string ‘below’ (physically, towards the floor, while actually ‘higher’ in pitch). So the ‘fourth’ of F Major is Bb. The ‘Fifth’ will always be 2 frets (a Full-Tone) ‘up’ the fretboard towards the bridge. In the case of F Major, this will be a C. I’ve drawn lines connecting all the notes to their respective ‘Fifths’. So now, for any note on these strings, you know the Root /Tonic / First, Fourth, and Fifth, for any Major Scale based on that starting / root note. That’s already 3 of the 7 notes. And the first and fifth of any basic chord triad. And we’ve only just begun! And remember that the First and Fifth of any Scale are the same for Minor and Major Scales. Page 54 of 339

So recalling the Major Scale ‘step-pattern’ of 1 T 2 T 3 S 4 T 5 T 6 T 7 S 8, starting from any of the notes on the E2, A2, D3, and B3 strings, our ‘Second’ will be 2 frets ‘up’ towards the bridge on the same string, our ‘Third’ will be ‘up’ one fret on the same string. Our ‘Fourth’ is on the same fret as our starting note, just ‘down’ one string. Our ‘Fifth’ will be 2 frets ‘up’ towards the bridge on this string. Our ‘Sixth’ can be Page 55 of 339 played either by sliding the same fretting finger ‘up’ two frets towards the bridge, or by going ‘across’ to the next string and ‘down’ one fret towards the nut. So how can you work this out quickly? Well when we use relative tuning we take advantage of how the guitar was designed to play the Chromatic Scale across the 6 strings playing four notes on each string, one fret apart, with the four fingers of your fretting hand. So you can, on the E2, A2, D3, and B3 strings,, go ‘up’ 5 frets towards the bridge, to find a note 5 Semi-Tones higher, or go across to the next string ‘down’ (physically not in terms of pitch), to find the same note. I’ve drawn a purple box around the two different positions you could chose to play the A note at. The lilac boxes show the positions you could play the E note at. The green circles indicate our 1-4-5 notes whose location ‘trick’ we used as a basis for all the other notes. The red numbers are the ‘degrees’ of the Major Scale. (Not the fingering).

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Our ‘Seventh’ will be ‘up’ one fret towards the bridge, on whichever string we are now on, depending on our previous choices. And to ‘finish’, with a ‘happy end’, we move 2 frets up the neck towards the bridge, to play the Eighth, the same note we started on, just one Octave higher. So we could ‘slide’ up or down between the 2nd and 3rd , and the 5th and 6th notes of our ‘D.I.Y’ Major Scale, during a riff, or using ‘finger tapping’ with our picking hand. This is to show you that by learning how to ‘build’ scales from scratch, you automatically free yourself to introduce a more fluid, creative approach to using Scales. You get ‘out of the box’, literally, from day one. You never learn ‘bad’ habits and muscle memory that come to haunt you later, limiting your freedom of movement around the fretboard. Practice ‘drawing’ your own scales on paper, on your computer, and ultimately ‘in your head’. That will automatically ‘train’ your subconscious to start doing this automatically, without conscious thought, in the background. That’s how your subconscious can be used in your favor. To assist your conscious ‘work’. And ultimately take over the ‘reckoning’ and ‘computations’ required for ‘fretboard freedom’. Much more generative as an approach than memorizing some ‘box’ patterns across the neck, or even across and up and down the neck. When you begin drawing your own scales, consider which notes are most ‘convenient’ to play. The above scale was ‘built’ at random. But looking at it now you’d see that the simplest, easiest fingering would be to start off with the second finger playing the C, playing the D with your fourth finger, then going ‘across’ to the next string to play the E with your first finger, the F with our second finger, the G with your fourth finger, then going ‘down’ another string and playing the A with your first finger, the B with your third finger, and ‘finishing’ with that satisfying Semi-Tone (Minor) interval to the Octave, the eighth note in this pattern. Converting this C Major Scale into a C Minor Scale is as easy as moving the 3rd and 7th notes ‘back’ towards the nut one fret (Semi-Tone), and thus ‘flattening’ them. I’ve drawn orange circles around these ‘Minor’ alternative notes, and showed how they have been ‘flattened’ by placing the ‘b’ before the number. Now our C Minor Scale clearly shows that its ‘Third’ and ‘Seventh’ notes / degrees have been ‘flattened’, and it is a C Minor Scale. Remember you replace the previous ‘blue circled’ 3rd and 7th notes with the new ‘orange circled’ ‘flattened’ 3rd ‘b3’ and flattend 7th, ‘b7’, notes. You don’t play all these notes. Or try and see if they sound good. Who knows, maybe we’ve just stumbled onto something HUGE! Page 57 of 339

You’ll probably see that different fingering would make sense for playing this C Minor Scale. You might play it first, third, fourth finger, then move your hand ‘down’ one fret towards the nut to repat the same fingering on the other strings. As our ‘Optimal’ method is all about learning things in a logical order, in an applied theoretical context that ‘makes sense’ and emerges ‘organically’ out of the theory we are applying, now is a great time to remind you that ‘sliding’ down to the flat third, then back ‘up’ to the natural third, is a typical ‘blues’ manouvre. Now you understand that you can find the exact same pitch repeated pretty close to the one ‘position’, you can play the same notes, but sometimes slide to their alternate positions, the purple and lilac boxed E and A, for example, and sometimes ‘hammer onto them’, and ‘hammer off to’ notes that you could have fretted in another position, but chose to add variety and interest to your riffs, than ‘take the simplest route’. Page 58 of 339

Even in this very simple Major Scale Pattern, you see several opportunities for ‘double stops. Also a simple Triad ‘Minor’ Chord with the b3 E, 5 G, and 8 C, giving you the bare bones of a C Eb G, C minor Chord. Or an Arpeggio of the 1-3-5-7 Major 7th Chord. By playing any note one or two frets higher in pitch, you have a reference or ‘target’ for your ‘Semi-Tone’ and ‘Full-Tone’ bends. And now that we’ve ‘built’ our first D.I.Y scale, let’s convert it into our first Chord. All we do is take any combination of 1-3-5 notes and play them as a chord. We can then extend these basic ‘chord triads’ further by adding the 7th, to build a 1-3-5-7 chord. To build a Minor Chord out of a Major Scale or Chord, all you need to do is ‘flatten’ the 3rd note in basic triads, and also flatten the 7th, if you are building 4 note chords. So in our case above you’d use the b3 and b7 notes instead of the 3 and 7 notes. Now you really ‘grok’ the difference between a ‘Major’ and ‘Minor’ interval. Scale, and Chord. By taking your time to get intimate with the terrain, you find the conventional ‘maps’ no longer necessary. And in fact quite limiting. And often misleading. The ‘applied theory’ has now been applied, and found practical. Useful. Helpful. Immediately applicable. And profitable. Now you can make up any Scale or Chord from at any position on the fretboard. You avoided getting ‘boxed in’ by the conventional scale and chord diagrams. But wait there’s more. Because you are going to hear about ‘Modes’. And they are so simple it is best to get them out of the way immediately. And begin using them. A car is a ‘mode’ of transport. As is a bus, or bicycle, or aeroplane. A ‘scale’ is a form of transport, getting you from any note to its Octave. Like a ladder with rungs various distances apart, that links any note to its Octave, 12 Semi-Tones higher in pitch. OR 12 Semi-Tones lower in pitch. The different musical ‘Scales’ are simply different ‘modes’ (means / methods/ ways) of ‘scaling’ from any note to its ‘Octave’.

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The Modes C Ionian: C T D T E S F T G T A T B S C T T S T T T S

C Dorian: C T D S E♭ T F T G T A S B♭ T C T S T T T S T

C Phrygian: C S D♭ T E♭ T F T G S A♭ T B♭ T C S T T T S T T

C Lydian: C T D T E T F♯ S G T A T B S C T T T S T T S

C Mixolydian: C T D T E S F T G T A S B♭ T C T T S T T S T

C Aeolian: C T D S E♭ T F T G S A♭ T B♭ T C T S T T S T T

C Locrian: C S D♭ T E♭ T F S G♭ T A♭ T B♭ T C S T T S T T T

I really wracked my brain trying to work out what different people were trying to say when ‘explaining’ what the ‘modes’ are. Take a quick look and you will see a pattern emerge. The main ‘Modes’ we use are the Ionian and the Aeloian. But we call them the ‘Major’ and the ‘Natural Minor’ Scales. You will see the familiar interval patterns. Ionian / Major 1 T 2 T 3 S 4 T 5 T 6 T 7 S 8 Aeolian / Minor 1 T 2 S 3 T 4 T 5 S 6 T 7 T 8 The modes names are all Greek in origin. As it was the Greeks who contributed the most music theory / philosophy to Western music. They worked out the mathematical basis of ‘harmony’ as we perceive it. All the various scales use the Ionian ‘mode’, the ‘Major’ Scale, as their referent. So it is the first mode. All a Scale is is a pattern of intervals which ‘skip’ some of the Chromatic Scale’s 12 notes. If y ou look to the right of the mode names you will see their interval pattern repeated. The same overall pattern of intervals is applied. Only each mode, taking the same C note as its starting point, ascends the scale starting at a different point in the interval pattern. Page 60 of 339

The difference between C Aeolian and C Ionian, the Minor and Major Scales, is that the same pattern of intervals the C Major starts at interval 1, C Aeolian begins at the 7th interval. Warning: be careful not to confuse the Relative Minor of C Major, A minor, with C Aeolian. They have the same interval pattern, but A minor begins at A, whereas C Aeolian begins at C. That said, you can now see where the ‘Minor’ interval pattern really came from. We simply start a uniform pattern of intervals at different points in the pattern. We call the Aeolian mode ‘Minor’ because of the ‘Minor’ (Semi-Tone) interval between its 2nd and 3rd ‘degrees’ / notes. This compares to the ‘Major’ (Full-Tone) interval between the 2nd and 3rd notes / ‘degrees’ of the Ionian / Major Scale. Clearly there must be some principle behind the 7 (8 including the Octave) note Scale Vis a Vis the 12 note Chromatic Scale. There are only 7 ‘natural’ notes. The others are flats/sharps.Sometimes called ‘accidentals’. Because we are applying the same interval pattern, but starting from a different note in the Chromatic Scale, we get different actual notes to the ‘parent’ Major Scale we began with. It is not just a question of taking C D EF G A B and starting on a different letter. While the sung notes ‘look’ the same, their actual note names will be different to the notes in the parent scale, except for the first ‘Ionian’ mode, which, because it is built off the first note of the parent major scale, will contain exactly the same notes. The best way to ‘grok’ modes is to actually play them. Start on one string. For example. I find the best way to remember any interval pattern for any Scale or Mode is to simply remember the position of the Semi-Tone intervals. I write, for example, ‘3rd and 8th S’, and remember ‘3&8’ once the meanings are understood in my mind. Then all I have to think about for each Scale or Patter are two numbers. As all the other intervals are Full-Tone / 2 fret intervals, I have memorised the entire interval pattern simply by recalling ‘Major 3-ate the Ionians’. I might visualize some sort of military cannibal type with 3 medals and a big belly (they just ‘ate’ a lot of Ionians). But find what works best for you. My next project ‘Mind Control’ will teach you lots of memorization strategies, and more importantly, how to escape the ‘mind prisons’ we are born into, and most die in, never having known any real freedom at all. Page 61 of 339

This little tip reminds us that all the Scales and modes are merely patterns of the Chromatic Scale, which has only 2 Semi-Tone (Minor) Intervals. So all scales with 8 notes can only have 2 ‘minor’ intervals within them. If one of these minor (Semi- Tone) intervals fall between the 2nd and 3rd notes, we are dealing with a Minor Scale and/or Minor Chord. Or a Mode that can comfortably be played with a Minor Chord Progression, and sound ‘in tune’. To clarify, this would give a Scale / Mode with a ‘2, 6’, such as the Aeolian mode / Natural Minor Scale. [Visualise a sick child whose friends are playing outside but they can’t join them, as they are too ‘sick’-th.]. Now we have the ‘Major 3,8’ and ‘Minor 2,Sick-th’ intervals memorised. Though remember it is probably better just to always deal with ‘Major Scale’ intervals, and just flatten the 3rd and 7th notes. This gives us the 2nd and sick-th ‘Minor’ (Semi-Tone) intervals. It may take a few moments of confusion to clarify in your mind that the notes sit between intervals. So when you memorise only intervals, remember to put notes either side of them in your mind. To clarify, NOTE-INTERVAL-NOTE-INTERVAL-NOTE-INTERVAL-NOTE-INTERVAL… And: FIRST-INTERVAL-SECOND-INTERVAL-THIRD-INTERVAL-FOURTH-INTERVAL… Written asr: 1ST t-INTERVAL-2ND INTERVAL-3RD-INTERVAL-4TH-INTERVAL… So ‘Major ate 2’ and ‘Minor 2-sick-th’ refer to the INTERVALS. While the terms ‘Third’ and ‘Seventh’ refer to the NOTES. So T T S T T T S means NOTE-T-NOTE-T-NOTE-S-NOTE-T… And ‘Major 3 ate’ refers to the INTERVALS which are Semi-Tone INTERVALS. All the other INTERVALS are Full-Tone INTERVALS. So if we have Semi-Tone INTERVALS at 3 and 8, these INTERVALS must sit between the 2nd and 3rd NOTES, and the 7th and 8th NOTES. 1st NOTE-T INTERVAL-2nd NOTE-T INTERVAL-3rd NOTE-S INTERVAL-4th NOTE… 1-T-2-T-3-S-4-T-5-T-6-T-7-S-8 The third INTERVAL is a Semi-Tone INTERVAL. The eigth INTERVAL is a Semi-Tone INTERVAL. The notes come before and after the interval. Page 62 of 339

So the INTERVAL between the 2nd and 3rd Degrees / notes of the Scale / Mode , is the second INTERVAL. Not to be confused with the term ‘2nd’, which refers to the NOTE before the second interval.

Ionian (Major Scale) Root-T T S T T T S- Octave [3rd and 8th S] (‘Major 3 ate the Ionians’) Played here on the G string, starting with the Open G at the iii0 position. G Ionian is the ‘royal’ Purple circled notes. It is the ‘Major’ Scale.

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Dorian Root-T S T T T S T- Octave [2nd and 7th S] (‘Dorian Gray never looked older than 27’) Played here on the G string, starting with the Open G at the iii0 position. G Dorian is the Orange circled notes.

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Phrygian Root-S T T T S T T- Octave Played here on the G string, starting with the Open G at the iii0 position. G Phrygian is the Green circled notes. (‘15 Phrygian caps’)

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Lydian Root-T T T S T T S- Octave Played here on the G string, starting with the Open G at the iii0 position. G Lydian is the Red circled notes. (‘Aunt Lydia is 48’)

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Mixolydian Root- T T S T T S T- Octave Played here on the G string, starting with the Open G at the iii0 position. G Mixolydian is the Blue circled notes. (‘A mix of 37 flavors’)

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Aeolian (Natural Minor Scale) Root-T S T T S T T - Octave [2nd and 6th S] (‘Minor too sick-th’) Played here on the G string, starting with the Open G at the iii0 position. G Aeolian is the Pink circled notes. It is the ‘Natural Minor’ Scale.

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Locrian Root- S T T S T T T- Octave Played here on the G string, starting with the Open G at the iii0 position. G Aeolian is the Pink circled notes. It is the ‘Natural Minor’ Scale. (‘One Four eyed Locrian’)

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Jump in the ‘deep’ end to discover you can really swim To make all this ‘theory’ immediately profitable, and to actually ‘grok’ it, start drawing up your own Scale runs across (‘down’ the strings and thus up in pitch, or ‘up’ the strings and thus down in pitch) and up (toward the bridge and thus up in pitch) and down (towards the nut and thus down in pitch) the neck. In the following example I simply used my ‘Minor too sick’th’ ‘trick’ to take a randon starting G note on the E 4 string, and ‘build’ a G Aeolian / Natural Minor Scale remembering that the second (too) and sick-th intervals were Semi-Tones. All the rest are going to be Full- Tones intervals. So having chosen my ‘G’ as my ‘first’ / ‘tonic’ / ‘root’ note, I just added my second NOTE which gave me my first INTERVAL which must be a Full-Tone, then placed my third NOTE this ‘distance’ from the second NOTE, which gave me my second INTERVAL, which is a Semi-Tone Interval (‘too’). And continued in this fashion. I added alternative patterns to move across the neck, using the blue circles, and also ‘up’ the fretboard, towards the bridge, using the red squares The 1’s mark the starting point of the Scale. Always keep in mind that you don’t have to play from the first note. You can include any notes that belong to the G Minor Scale in any order. Which is what ‘composing’ and ‘improvising’ is all about. That and adding slides, bends, double stops, arpeggios, custom chord triads, and so on to ‘embellish’ these notes and give them your unique ‘flavor’. So when making up your own ‘D.I.Y’ (Do It Yoursrelf) Scale runs, consider the next note position not just for convenience of keeping your hand in one position, but for allowing slides, and for freeing you up to roam around the fretboard at will. It is a satisfying feeling. It offers you true ‘fretboard freedom’, and lets you move to the most convenient positions between riffs and licks, for playing chords, for any upcoming key changes, for ‘fast’ soloing ‘up’ the neck, closer to the bridge, where your ‘compound neck radius’ deliberately flattens out the fretboard to facilitate faster licks and riffs, and soloing. Sure, take a look at how other people have constructed their Scale runs, to get some ideas, but do not simply memorise ‘boxes’ and ‘shapes’ and ‘patterns’. ‘Grok’ what you are doing. It’s all about Zen and the art of music’. This is the sort of thing I set out to do. To really ‘Grok’ guitar in a truly ‘Zen’ fashion, by realling ‘going to ground’ and ‘studying the terrain’, to ‘comprehend’ music at a deeper level. It was often very hard going, and I took a lot of ‘dead end’ routes, before finding ‘my’ way. The ‘Optiimal’ way. And of course this is all about the journey. Zen practitioners like ‘Jesus’ do not set anything in stone. As ‘dead’ laws. But keep everything fluid and ‘alive’. Our ideas are not dead idols of stone and wood, or fixed ‘laws and statutes’, but living principles. Alive. Flexible. Always growing and evolving. Seeking. We never assume we have ‘found’ ‘the truth’. History has no ‘end’. And there are no ‘final prophets’. Just seekers. Just guides. Page 70 of 339

Here are two of my ‘self-made’ G Aeolian / G Natural Minor Scale runs I just made from scratch, using my ‘Minor too sick-th’ memory trick and applied theory. Now you continue it up another octave, up the neck, towards the bridge. And see how easy it is to ‘master’ the neck. Keep this up and soon ‘fretboard freedom’ will be yours. All thanks to our ‘Optimal’ ‘Bridge to Total Fretboard Freedom’. Elron himself would surely approve!

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Blank fretboard diagrams

You should be able to click on these pictures and save them. Then open them in ‘Paintshop’, the software that Windows comes with. If you can’t do that, then open the PDF on your screen, then use your ‘Screen Recording’ software to ‘record’ the static screen. Then open the video you just made in VLC media player, and take a ‘screenshot’. You will then find this ‘screenshot’ as a JPG file in your ‘Pictures’ folder. Open it with ‘Paintshop’ and enlarge it. Then use Paintshop to ‘draw’ your own scale runs and chords. You can ‘write’ letters and numbers, and ‘draw’ colored circles, as I have done. ‘Do as I have done’. A few humans in history have actually been able to say that. Rather than the old ‘do as I say, and not as I do’. The ‘Bible’ is sadly full of the worst role models, except for a few prophets, like ‘Jesus’, who were all of course ‘198’ed’, and suffered agonizing deaths, after public ridicule, criminalization, ex- communication (rejection and abandonment by their own society, even closest friends, like the Judah-ite Judas, who was later ‘sainted’ by the ‘Jews’ after they ‘occupied’ Russia and Germany), and full spectrum demonisation campaigns, much like our modern day ‘Historical Correctionists’ and ‘Holocaust Propaganda Deniers’.

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Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do Vis a Vis the modes So let’s start with the Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do Major Scale as it is sung. As we are using the C Major Scale as our ‘parent’ scale, all the modes will be named after the note of this scale they are built on. So we get C Ionian, followed by D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Aeolian, and B Locrian. [Have to check if I have this right! Work in progress! Man at work!] Which we shall see later has musical implications for how we can use these ‘modes’ in our playing. Using the C Major Scale as our example. C ‘Ionian’ would be sung Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. It is the C Major Scale as we know it, C D EF G A B (C). But what if we went insane and started singing the Major Scale from the second note, instead of the first note? Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do Re? Well we’d be singing in the C ‘Dorian’ Mode.Tell your lawyer. Not mad. C Dorian! And what if we thought it made sense to always consider alternative ways of doing things? What if we suffered some form of ‘creativity’ (It’s an illness now, didn’t you know called ‘Oppositional defiance disorder’), and just wouldn’t submit to the ‘authority’ of the C Ionian dogma? So we sung Mi Fa So La Ti Do Re Mi? We’d be singing in C Phrygian. Totally legit! Here’s a list of the 7 Modes. All you do is start the same Scale on a different ‘degree’ / note than what you ‘normally’ would for the Scale you’ve chosen. C ‘Ionian’ is Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do (The Major Scale) C ‘Dorian’ is Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do Re C ‘Phrygian’ is Mi Fa So La Ti Do Re Mi C ‘Lydian’ is Fa So La Ti Do Re Mi Fa C ‘ Mixolydian’ is So La Ti Do Re Mi Fa So La C ‘Aeolian’ is La Ti Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti (The Minor Scale) C ‘Locrian’ is Ti Do Re Mi Fa So Lat Ti Do Ti Each mode ends up with its own unique ‘sound’ or ‘flavor’. Page 74 of 339

Tonnes of famous pop songs have been written using these modes. The Minor Scale was originally known as the 'Aeolian' mode, which in Greek refers to 'Air' or 'Wind'. Music theory grew up around the Ionian Mode, which most people call the Major Scale, due to the importance of the Zombie Jesus Cannibal Vampire Cult spawned by the Cult of Judah in ‘controlling’ the ‘music industry’ in Europe at the time music notation conventions and music theory was evolving there. So most musicians use the Major scale as their locus or reference. Thus must descriptions and explanations are reflexive of the Major Scale. Just make sure you understand that a ‘Minor’ Interval is a Semi-tone, whereas a ‘Major’ Interval is a Full-Tone (2 Semi-Tones). Just think ‘small Minor’, ‘large Major’. We still call children ‘minors’ in some contexts. However few people speak about a man ‘coming into his Majority’ any more. But it simply referred to no longer being a ‘minor’, and legally being an ‘adult’. Of course we still use the term ‘Major’ in the military, to refer to a reasonably high ranked officer. It is the interval between the 2nd and 3rd note of a Scale, which we call the ‘Third’, which is is key to deciding if a Scale is Major or Minor. If this interval is a Full-tone (‘Major Interval), we have a Major Scale. If it is a Semi-Tone (‘Minor Interval), we are dealing with a Minor Scale. Minor Scales, as we have seen, due to their ‘Aeolian’ Mode, also have a ‘Minor’ 7th Interval. A Semi-Tone interval between the 6th and 7th notes. If the interval between the 2nd and 3rd notes of a Scale is a ‘Major’ Interval of a Full- Tone, we call it a ‘Major Third’. We write it simply as 3. If the interval between the 2nd and 3rd notes of a Scale is a ‘Minor’ Interval of a Semi- Tone, we call it a ‘Minor Third’. We write it as b3 to indicate we have reduced the ‘base’ interval by a Semi-Tone. In other words ‘flattened’ it. So in our chart, we ‘flattened’ the 3rd, in this case an E note, from E to E flat, written as Eb. Often on chord charts you will see b3 or b7, to indicate we have reduced the 3rd from a Major Interval to the Minor Interval, by ‘flattening’ it. To do this we move a note ‘down’ towards the nut by one fret on the same string. On a keyboard we simply move to our left by one key, which may land us on a black key, a sharp / flat. Pay attention, as it is easy to forget they are up there, quietly hiding between the C and D, the D and E, the F and G, the G and A, and the A and B ‘white’ ‘natural’ keys.. Page 75 of 339

So a Minor Scale is just the Major Scale with flattened 3rd, and 7th notes. Taking the ‘base’ ‘benchmark’ ‘reference’ C Major of C D E F G A B (C) and converting it into a C Minor Scale of C D E♭ F G A B♭ (C) And remember that 3 Semi-Tones (or if you like 2 notes) behind any Major Scale root you can begin that Major Scale’s Relative Minor, using exactly the same notes. C3 D3 E3 F3 G3 A3 B3 C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4 B4 C4 Or if it makes more sense to you, start your Major Scale at its 6th note and use the exact same notes to build this Major Scale’s ‘Relative Minor’ Scale. Taking a C3 D3 E3 F3 G3 A3 B3 C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4 B4 C5 Major Scale and starting at the 6th note, we get the A Minor Scale of A B C D E F G.

Harmony and ‘thirds’ Because of the physics and psychology of ‘harmony’, the most important notes of any scale are the first note, and the third note, of the Major Scale. We build harmony by moving in THIRDS. What does this mean? Simply that we call the note we start from the first note. This is the ‘tonic’ or ‘Root’ that gives any Scale or Chord its name. So if C is our starting note, and we build harmony by moving in thirds, we move like this: C D E F G A B . We simply skip a note each time. So the C Major Triad which forms the basic C Major Chord, is made of the notes C, E, and G. The first, third, and fifth notes of the C Major Scale. We can add a fourth note, the B note, to extend the chord and provide a lusher, fuller, bigger sounding chord. But always moving in thirds. Simply skipping notes of the Major Scale. And to convert this to a Minor Key, simply ‘flatten’ the 3rd and 7th notes. In the example given, you get C D Eb F G A Bb

The Stave, and the Bass, Treble, and rhythm Clefs 'Clef' is french for 'key'. Early on in history the letter G was actually written on the staff line where G3 ‘sits’. The way this letter G was written became more elaborate over time, evolving into what we today call the treble (G) clef. One ledger line is added below, and two above, these default 5 lines, to cover from C3 to C5. The 'Bass clef' is actually an artistically evolved 'f'. [Similar to the ‘Fender’ trademark ‘f’]. The two dots lie either side of the line that goes through F2. The F2 staff line also Page 76 of 339 goes through the top of the ‘f’. The ‘f’ sits on the staff line for B1. Two additional ‘ledger lines’ below the default 5 lines are added to cover the notes from C1 to B2. And so if you draw these lines, you will see that the pitch of notes increases as you move from the Bottom Left Hand Side to the Top Right Hand Side. Then take a look at the Virtual MIDI keyboard. All the pitches are literally laid out from left to right on a keyboard. So it is really easy to understand music notation if you play a keyboard. Much easier than if you play guitar. Further ledger lines can be added to cover notes below C1 and above C5. You will note that MIDI keyboards have a very wide range of 128 notes, from two Octaves below C1, to several octaves above C5. Two parallel vertical lines at the start, indicate a Rhythm Clef. Each line and space, from top to bottom, of the staff, represents a type of drum. We start with a High Hat with foot at the space note below line 1. We then climb up to the Bass (Kick drum), low tom, snare, middle tom, high tom, ride, cymbal, High Hat with stick (space note above line 5), finishing with the Crash Cymbal on the ledger line above this.

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This convention of drawing only ‘natural’ notes is, like the way all music theory relates to the C Major Scale, a result of the history of music, and its close connection with the Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do of ‘The Firm’. (The Zombie Jesus Cannibal Vampire Cult a.k.a ‘The Catholic Church).

The ‘stave’ only has ‘positions’ for the ‘Natural’ notes C D E F G A B. To show a sharp or flat, you simply draw the symbols for sharp and flat next to the note, or at the same height as that note in the stave, in front of the Treble or Bass Cleff symbol. Thus we are able to fit in some many notes in such a short vertical space. The left hand usually plays the ‘Bass Cleff’ stave notes, and the right hand usually plays the ‘Treble Cleff’ stave notes. So by separating the Bass from the Treble notes, the presentation becomes even neater and tidier. You will normally have the Treble Cleff above the Bass Cleff, as usually you will play the melody, the more complex part of a musical score, with the right hand, and so this is the Clef that has priority, and takes ‘center stage’ in the score. The Treble Stave has one additional line below it, for the ‘C3’ note. Notes lower in pitch are then drawn on the Bass stave. The Treble stave has additional lines for higher notes, as does the Bass Stave. These additional lines are only used when necessary, and only drawn through the actual notes, rather than along the entire score]

The ledger lines only show the ‘Natural’ notes. These are the ‘white’ / ‘ivory’ keys on the Piano. The C Major Scale is simply the 7 white keys from the yellow note to the first white key (B) after the last of the set of 3 black notes. The Relative Minor of C, A Minor contains the same notes as C Major, only starting at the A note, before the last of the set of 3 black notes. As the following Master Clef has no sharps or flats after it, we know it is either C Major or A Minor.

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On a Piano this is simple to recognise at a glance. Take a close look at the above illustration to confirm this pattern; a set of two black keys, two white keys, a set of three black keys. The C notes are the white keys just before each set of 2 black keys. There are 7 white keys between each of these C notes. These 7 white keys form the C Major Scale from your left to your right. It is that simple on a keyboard. Remember your Chromatic Scales, and that there are Semi-Tones (One Key on a Piano or One fret on a guitar) between B and C and E and F. So as you would expect, any time you see two white keys side-by-side / adjacent to each other, with no black key between them, you must be looking at either BC keys, or EF keys. The BC keys appear before the set of 2 black keys. The EF keys appear before the set of 3 black keys. (Or between the sets of black keys if you like.Chose what works best for you). When playing keyboards, you number your fingers from thumb to pinky, 1, and 2,3,4,5. And you play CDE with fingers1,2,3 then you play F,G,A,B with fingers 1,2,3,4,5. Page 79 of 339

So you’d play C Major from C4 ascending up to C5 with your right hand, in this way. And then descending from any note back towards C4 with your right hand, you’d play from 5 (pinky) to 1 (thumb). And you’d play C Major from C4, descending down to C3, with your left hand, using the same fingering. And when ascending the scales up to C4 with your left hand, you’d play from 5 (pinky) to 1 (thumb). Of course sometimes you will be using your right hand below C4, and other times you will be using your left hand above C4. And occasionally even crossing over left and right hands. Page 80 of 339

The pattern repeats from left to right, from low to high, starting at the lowest note A1, from C1 to C8, across the keyboard. To play a flat note, play the black key to the (your) top left of it. To play a sharp note, play the black key to the (your) top right of it. The 88 Keys repeat the pattern. But there are only ledger lines for G2 to F5. This is just to save space. The 21 natural notes are the most commonly used pitches. So we have the 21 ledger lines. 5 for the Treble Cleff (usually played with the ‘right hand’) C4 to F5, and 5 for the Bass Cleff (usually played with the left hand), from C4 to E2. But in reality there many more virtual ledger lines, they are just not draw until they are needed, and then only a bit wider than the note, either under or through the note. If you have a series of notes above F5 or below G2, you draw a small series of extra ledger lines to place these notes on. [To think I actually made paper overlays with each note written over each key, to lay over my keyboard. D’oh!] The C4 interval is C3 to C4, and the Open C Chord on a guitar extends from the C4 note on the B3 string in the ii1 position, to the C3 note on the A2 string in the v3 position. So already you can see the importance of C, and the C Major Scale, in both the history of music, and the construction of keyboard and fretted instruments like the piano and guitar respectively. In musical notation 8 v.a is written next to a note to indicate it is one octave higher than its ledger line would otherwise indicate. Middle C has a frequency of 261.626 Hz on an instrument tuned to the 440Hz pitch standard. So C5 (High C) will be 523.251 Hz (twice the frequency of the starting note), and C3 will be 130.813 Hz (half the frequency of the starting note).C2 (Low C) will be half that frequency, namely 65.406 Hz.

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Sharps and Flats When you see the # Sharp symbol in front of a note, it means you need to raise the note’s pitch by a Semi-Tone. That is one fret towards the bridge on the same string of a guitar. On a keyboard that means playing the black key to your right of the white key for that note. When you see the b symbol in front of a note, it means you are to lower this note a Semi-Tone lower in pitch. That is one fret towards the nut on the same string of a guitar. On a keyboard that means playing the black key to your left of the white key for that note. When we write out the ‘degrees’ of a Scale, from the 1st note to the 7th note, we add a b before the 3rd and 7th note to indicate these notes have been ‘flattened’ by a Semi-Tone to change their intervals from Full-Tone (Major) intervals to Semi-Tone (Minor) intervals. Page 82 of 339

Relative tuning, and Harmonic tuning Reaper comes with a brilliant and precise tuner you can use to tune anything. To any note you chose. The standard tuning for a Guitar is E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, E4. E2 is often referred to as ‘Bass E’ or ‘Low E’, while E4, two octaves higher in pitch, is often called ‘Treble E’ or ‘High E’. The actual frequencies for a standardly tuned guitar, using the A4 = 440Hz reference, are as follows: 82Hz (E2), 110Hz (A2), 147Hz (D3), 196Hz (G3), 249.94Hz (B3), or 330Hz (E4). The most common way to tune a guitar without a tuner, called ‘relative’ tuning, is to ‘match’ the 5th fret of the E2 string with the open A2 (5th) string , then match the 5th fret of the A ( 5th ) with the open D2 (4th ) string, then match the 5th fret of the D3 (4th) string with the open G3 (3rd ) string, then match the 4th fret of the G3 (3rd) string with the open B3 (2nd ) string, then match the 5th fret of the B3 (2nd) string with the open E4 (1st) string. You either use a tuning fork, a literal ‘pitch’ fork, for one of the notes, then tune the others to it. I find that I can tell if the guitar is not in tune, but not precisely. Find the note that you can remember best, and use it for your reference. Memorise it. Rather than try to memorise every note and gain ‘perrfect pitch’. Unless you are some musical prodigy! You can also use the natural pure harmonic tones produced by plucking a string as you lightly touch that string at an appropriate fret. This is called ‘harmonic tuning’. For example, matching the 5th fret harmonic of the E2, A2, and D2 with the 7th fret harmonic on the A2, D2, and G2 strings respectively. Now relative tune the 4th fret on the B3 string to the open B3 string. Then match the 5th fret harmonic of the B3 string to the 7th fret harmonic of the E4 string. Page 83 of 339

Just to clarify. The 5th fret harmonic of the E2 string will sound the same as the 7th fret harmonic of the A2 string, when the strings are ‘in tune’. So you repeat this pattern for the first 3 strings. Then for the last 2 strings. Using ‘relative tuning’ to tune the B3 string.

Alternate Tunings Alternate tunings are used by many of the most famous guitarists from Stevie Ray Vaughn, to Van Halen, to Hendrix, and too many other famous musicans to mention. Not just Death Metal bands, but blues bands, rock bands, funk bands, punk bands, even folk music performers. Alternate tunings can be easier on your singer, by allowing you to play songs in Keys lower than standard tunings would otherwise allow. You would just play everything exactly the same, but it would be, for example, a Semi-Tone lower in pitch. Easier for the singer to ‘pitch’ to. And when that singer is you, such options are often very welcome. Alternate tunings can let guitarists use heavier gauge strings, to get that extra tone without reducing ‘playability’. Lower pitched tuning is like getting the playability without the compromise in loss of tone. Like playing with lighter gauge strings. But with all the tasty tone. Pity no-one explained this to me before I tried out 13 gauge strings, after hearing that Stevie Ray Vaughn played with them. Try playing them at standard tuning and you’ll see what I mean. A live performer will often have several guitars, all tuned to different tunings, for different songs.

Drop Tunings Any time you tune a string down to any note, for any reason, whether your tuner was bumped sharp, or air humidity ‘bent’ your neck a little, or the strings became slightly shorter due to temperature decreases, or you are deliberately seeking a ‘dropped’ tuning for one or all your strings, always over-reach so you go lower in pitch than your target note. This will ensure that you always finish any tuning or re-tuning by tightening the string and increasing string tension. This will ensure you leave the string winder gear under tension, and take up any slack in the gear or string. Page 84 of 339

Otherwise you may leave slack in the gear and the string, which will lead to the string going out of tune, either slowly, or abruptly, as the string ‘stretches’, taking up the ‘slack’ in the gear. And Eb tuning is where you tune every string down a Semi-Tone, so that instead of an E A D G B E you have an Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb. Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Kurt Cobain, and Eddie Van Halen are just a few of the legends who have used this tuning. This makes everything a bit easier on the singer. Looser strings also make bending easier. The sound is a bit ‘darker’. You can use the D#3 note at the v6 position on the A (A2) string as your reference. Then continue ‘relative tuning’ like this on the other strings.Most tuners also show when you are a semi-tone ‘flat’, so you can use your tuner. You hit a ‘flat’ button after you turn it on, now the 440 Hz middle position is actually a Semi-Tone lower than it normally would be. Now you can use the tuner as usual, but it tunes to Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb, Eb. Drop D tuning is where you tune the Bass E (E2) string down 2 Semi-Tones (2 frets) to D2. Fret the D3 note at the v5 position and voice it to provide your ‘reference’ note, then gradually wind back the tuner of the E2 string until it ‘matches’ this note. Great for Power Chords. Drop C tuning is where you take a Drop D tuning as your starting point, and then drop every string 2 Semi-Tones so you get a C2 G2 C3 F A3 D4 tuning. You could now easily use 13 gauge strings. This tuning became popular among ‘death metal’. Distortion and Power chords just ‘love’ this tuning. The strings with such low tension tend to go out of tune quicker than usual, so stay on top of that. Some bands even tune lower than this.they use a Baritone guitar with a longer neck to compensate for the lower tension and string ‘flap’.

Open Chord Tunings Open G tuning is a must for Keith Richards’s fans. You can’t help but find yourself playing typical Rollling Stones licks. The Open G tuning is D G D G B D, as the 1-3-5 notes of the G Major Scale are G A BC D EF. So we don’t need to change the existing Open D, G, and B strings. We only have to drop the E2 and E4 strings to D, and lower the A string to G. First Drop the E2 string to D2 using the Open D string as a reference. Next drop the A2 to a G2, using the Open G3 string as a reference. Then lower the E4 string to D4. Now the Open strings for a G chord. The nut forms a G chord. Page 85 of 339

It is a moveable shape like any other ‘barre’ chord with no Open Strings. So now when you bar any fret, you are forming a Major Chord, with the root on the v string (Which is now a G2, but used to be the A string). You simply more your first finger down frets towards the bridge to form different Major Chords. So the first fret position would form a G# Major Chord. The second fret position would form an A Major Chord. And so on ‘up’ the fretboard towards the bridge, and higher pitches. You can play the typical Power Chords on the new D2 string. You play them normally, only now your can play a full Tone lower in pitch. But now you can play ‘one finger power chords’ on the old A and D strings (Now G and D strings), by simply barre-ing the fourth and fifth strings with your first finger. Play the new ‘D Power Chord’ on the 7th fret, and you can include the new Open D string in the shape for extra tone. Now you can play the typical ‘Blues’ progression with the first finger forming the power chord core, and alternating with the , third, and fourth fingers on the 9th and 10th frets of the fourth string. All without any stretching. You can move from here to the 5th fret on the Sixth string and play the same progression using the power chords on the sixth and fifth, now D and G strings (originally E2 and D2 strings). Barre-ing the first 5 strings with your first finger, then hammering on what would normally be the two notes for the Minor 7 Barre chord shape. Page 86 of 339

Start forming ‘Generative habits’ ‘out of the gate’ It is ‘binge and purge’, and a ‘hit and miss’ approache with relatively very few ‘hits’ and very many ‘misses’, that will ultimately lead you to finding and developing your own unique playing style and ‘sound’. Copying the playing styles and riffs and chord progression and typical ‘trademark’ licks and chops of your favorite guitarists is fine for learning some new techniques. But if you don’t ‘beat your own path’ sooner or later, you will never find your own ‘voice’ and ever be more than a great ‘cover band’ guitarist. Which is fine if that is what you love doing? But my guides are all about releasing your potential, and generating something uniquely your own. Even though most musicians and singers start out wanting to emulate their favorite singer, luckily we are all unique, and even our attempts at reproducing other voices and playing styles will produce something unique. Have the courage and patience to ‘binge and purge’, to ‘try and see’, to ‘accumulate hits’ and ruthlessly abandon ‘misses’. Don’t try to force anything. Take your time. If like me you are a composer and song writer, you will agree that it is better to write one original chord progression or melody, than be able to reproduce a thousand already written and recorded songs note perfect. At the same time we’d all love to play as impressively as that guy we saw shredding his axe down at the guitar shop, or in that music video. To get to that level takes a lot of practice. Discliplined practice to develop the motor skills and muscle memory. Page 87 of 339

But to generate ‘new’ music, new songs and melodies and playing styles, that takes the courage and patience ‘binge and purge’, ‘hit and miss’, ‘try and see’, and being sure to take note of all the ‘hits’, in some simple TAB form, and basic recording.

Tip for budding song writers with zero musical background If you can hum a tune, you can play it on a keyboard, by taking a ‘hit and miss’, ‘try and see’ approach. Or you can try your luck at ‘stumbling’ upon a great melody for which you can later write some lyrics, by simply ‘experimenting’ with different note sequences, accents, and durations. Trust your ears. If it sounds crap, it doesn’t matter what the theory says, it is crap. Or just plain boring. Keyboard players have it so much easier compared to guitarists, when it comes to learning all the notes on their instrument. A keyboard is laid out, from left to right, from lowest pitch to highest pitch. The Chromatic scale is laid out also from left to right. The black keys separate the ‘Natural’ notes C D E F G A B, and the BC and EF white keys are adjacent to each other. So the Chromatic step pattern of Natural (white keys) and Sharps/flats (black keys) is quickly ‘discoverable to anyone. If someone like me actually explains it to you, it takes only a fe minutes to ‘memorise’ the entire keyboard, and be able to name each note, with a moments reflection. For example the C note is the white key before the first set of 2 black Keys. The A note is the white key before the last of the set of 3 black keys. I chose these two notes because the two most important / commonly used Keys are C Major and A Minor (It’s relative minor). These two Scales / Keys contain the same notes On a keyboard they are the white keys only. So if you start on either, and play left and right of it, playing only the white keys, you are guaranteed to remain in Key. A great way to write a melodic line / main melody / vocal melody, with zero other music theory. You can write it in C Major or A minor, and later ‘transpose’ it to any other key. Most of us never learned all the notes of the fretboard. I didn’t. I’m turning 50 and only now have turned my mind to it. I get easily frustrated, so I look to find the best way to approach the task. Comparing how others have approached it, then finding my own ‘optimal’ approach. This guide is my quest. I write my ‘Guides’ as reference books for myself. If I can use them, without getting muddled and confused and frustrated, then I think anyone can. Or at least these guides will be the best option, until someone improves upon them. Page 88 of 339

Begin ‘generative’ ‘creative’ use of scales from day one Once you have learned a scale, start playing ‘phrases’ within the scale. These are just combinations of notes that are not in sequence, from 1st to 7th note. Ascend and descend the scale in different ‘step patterns’ of your own devising. Listen to what you play. The reason I immediately introduce you to a simple form of TAB is so that, any time you ‘hit’ upon a combination of notes or chords that sounds good, you can quickly make a note of what you just played, so you can later reproduce this. You probably won’t be able to otherwise. Writing songs requires so little theory, once you understand the basics, and can write your own TAB, that you can later ‘read’ to reproduce the ‘hits’ you ‘generated’ by ‘trying and seeing’. You can be systematic, and write down random note sequences, on paper, then play them, and see which ‘sound’ good. Like an AI computer program would. And then simply behave like evolution. Binge and purge. Try out a whole lot of possible combinations, and simply discard the ones that don’t ‘work’. The way to write a hit song is to write 1000 crap songs. To paraphrase a lot of different song writers’ responses when asked ‘How do you write a hit song?’

Literal hit and miss creativity There is no ‘to’ or ‘for’ in evolution. Things are not produced to serve a function. They are randomly produced, and if they serve a function, this often leads to them being reproduced. See my TROONATNOOR books for details. When it comes to music, most of us began learning Scales in a sequential pattern from note 1 to note 7, then onto the Octaves. But listen to a singer, or to the melody of a piece of music, and you’ll notice they jump all over the place, from 1st to 4th to 9th to 2nd. They ‘miss’ many notes as they ascend and descend the pitches of the Key / Scale they are in. Literally. And only ‘hit’ some of the notes, as they go up and down in pitch, ‘scaling’ the Octave. Page 89 of 339

So once you’ve learned your scales, and can play them nice and fast and tidy and clean, hitting every note as you ascend and descend, to ‘scale’ the Octaves, introduce some ‘creative chaos’. You have learned to play the Scales in a ‘linear’ fashion. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 4th 6th 7th ascending and 7th 6th 5th 4th 3rd 2nd 1st descending. Now you need to unlearn that habit. How? Byiing simply ascending and descending the Scale notes in different orders. This requires ‘skipping’ some notes. Then going back to the notes skipped. So you play them in different orders. So you are no longer ‘stuck in the rut’ of playing the notes ‘sequentially’. You have ‘kicked the linear habit’. You’ve gone ‘non-linear’.

‘Staggering’ your scale runs For example any Major Scale starting at Bass E and ascending: 123 234 One Two, Three Two, Three Four 345456 Three Four Five, Four Five Six 567678 Five Six Seven, Six Seven Eight. Or starting at Treble E and descending: 876 765, 654 543, 432 321, Or what I just wrote: i5, 2 ii5 i2 ii5, 3 ----ii5,3 iii4 ii3 iii4, 2 -----iii4,2 iv4 iii2 iv4, 2---- iv4,2 iv2 v4,2 --- v4,2 vi5 v2 vi5,2 v0

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When you play a keyboard instrument like a Piano, all your need to worry about are the notes you are playing. The keys you are hitting. The other keys all sit still and quiet for you. Not so with stringed instruments like guitar and Bass. Anyone who has started learning Bass Guitar, especially after having learned the ‘basics’ of standard guitar, is confronted with the fact that fretting notes is only half the battle. The other half is muting all the strings you are not playing notes on. Because any time you fret an E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, or E4 note anywhere on your guitar, if the E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, or E4 strings are note muted, they will resonate ‘in sympathy’ with your fretted note. In fact anything which produces an 82Hz (E2), 110Hz (A2), 147Hz (D3), 196Hz (G3), 249.94Hz (B3), or 330Hz (E4) resonance, will make any open string on your guitar that is either not being fretted, or muted, start vibrating, producing unwanted ‘string noise’. And it will also set anything else in your surroundings with the same resonant frequencies to vibrating. Including other guitar strings on other guitars. Or the other neck of your double necked guitar. You play solos and riffs on one string at a time. Which means you need to find some way to mute all the other 5 strings. Every time. Page 91 of 339

Here is a chart for the standard tunings used, showing the frequencies of every note of the ‘evently tempered scale’. Remember that your standard guitar tuning begins from E2, and continues to E5 on the Treble E string at the 12th fret, and well beyond on a typical 22 fret electric guitar. The Left hand column is the ‘natural’ note, in Hz, Page 92 of 339 and the right hand column shows the sharps / flats between the A and B, C and D, D and E, and F and G notes. Muting strings can be as much a visual thing as much as an audio thing, when it comes to live performances. If you want to put on a great ‘guitar hero’ show, with large, wide, expansive gestures, even ‘windmilling’ you fretting arm like Townsend (careful it doesn’t offend someone by appearing to be a cryptic ‘Nazi’ salute!), you need to have great muting technique. Because chances are you will hit more than just your ‘target’ note and string, when you are moving about so much on stage, giving your greatest ‘live performance’, and impressing the crowd with your style and flair, punctuating each note, bend, slide, trill, and chop with your entire body, rather than just standing there and screwing up your face in concentration. And anyone who has plugged their guitar into a high gain amp channel or over-drive / distorition pedal or software effects plug-in, will suddenly notice a whole lot of ‘noise soup’, a.k.a ‘Open string noises’ they had previously been blissfully unaware of in their acoustic playing, or low gain electric playing. It is when I reached this point of ‘I just can’t seem to play with high gain settings’ that I pretty much gave up. But determined as I am, I decided to do some research, and try to make up for all the lessons I never had the benefit of, by downloading torrents and youtube videos, and watching instructional DVD’s and videos. And thank Odin I soon worked out where it had all gone wrong for me. And how to correct the problem. To remedy it. And by presenting my findings to you, by preventing you from ever having this problem in the first place. Like I aim to do with all my TROONATNAOOR guides, non-fiction, and novels.

The classically trained guitarist above is fretting notes with the very tip of their fingers. This is how we must fret in order to play ‘Open Chords’ ‘cleanly’. Page 93 of 339

Above is an illustration of how we fret notes when playing Open Chords. This is how classically trained guitarists will fret notes on a classical guitar. When playing Open Chords, you want the Open strings to sound, if they are part of the chord. When we learned out first ‘Open’ Chords, we had to make a huge deliberate effort, and pay close attention, to ensuring that our fretting finger did NOT touch the ‘Open’ string above or below it. For the nut effectively ‘frets’ the ‘Open’ string notes for us. This is what makes ‘Open’ Chords so easy. And gives them such ‘pure’ tones. For many of the root, 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale we are actively fretting, are being passively ‘doubled’ for us by the nut ‘fretting’ the same notes for us, passively. So from the very beginning, our challenge as guitartist seemed to be to ensure we did NOT touch the strings above and below the string we were fretting notes on. Like as kids we were ‘taught’ never to challenge authority, or ask questions, or ‘blow the whistle’ on any ‘authority figure’. So we eventually learned to play all those lovely Open Chords with our finger tips, and our fingers bent to ensure they did not make contact with any strings below the string we were fretting a note on. And we learned to ‘trust authority’ and ‘believe’ and ‘have faith in’ our ‘tell-lie-vision’ news reporters and presenters. To swallow all the propaganda thrown at us from ‘The Holocaust’ to ‘Man-made Global Climate Change Crisis’ to ‘911 was Arab Musliims’. But once we move on to more ‘advanced’ levels of guitar playing, and living, we need to learn new approaches to note fretting, and life. What served us as children, assuring us ‘good grades’ at school and ‘good jobs’ when we left, and when playing Open Chords, later does us a great dis-service, when playing riffs, and funky chops, especially when using high gain settings. Page 94 of 339

A ‘clean’ distorted sound? What? Clean? A clean distorted sound? String slop? String lift-off? Adjacent string noises when bending notes? Sympathetic vibrations? If you play mostly ‘clean’ with low gain settings, this might not ‘resonate’ with you. But turn up the gain settings of your amp sim or amplifier, and suddenly you start hearing a whole lot of unwanted ‘noises’ that turn your attempt to play a solo or riff into ‘noise soup’. And then when you go back to playing with low gain settings, or even on a steel string acoustic guitar, you will start ‘hearing’ things you’d never noticed before. Irritating, unwanted string noises. They were always there, but our minds pratcise ‘efficient’ filtering and selective attending, and thus selective perception of impressions. If our mind ‘noticed’ and ‘attended’ to every impression coming from within our body, and from external sources, we would be overwhelmed with data. It would be too much to process. So our mind ‘selects’ what it considers ‘important’, what they’ve been ‘trained’ and ‘conditioned’ to define as important, and screen out, filter out, the rest. Our senses are ‘a-tuned’ selectively to impressions associated with opportunities for pleasure and relief, and threats to our survival, and to the securing these pleasures and reliefs. And we can be easily tricked into ‘defining’ the ‘wrong’ things as worthy of our attention. As potential threats. As potential sources of pleasure and relief. As potential opportunities. That is what we call ‘education’ and ‘social conditioning’. Most of which is done via televion ‘programming’. Literally. We tend to ‘ignore’ and ‘overlook’ things we are not actively expecting, listening for, or actively looking for. It takes a little ‘sensitivity training’ to ‘hear’ noises that were always there. To notice patterns that were always repeating, but which we’d never ‘observed’ or ‘attended to’. Most of us could do with sensitivity training, to increase our EQ, and become more aware of the emotional states and feelings of others. A psychopath has zero interest in this, and tends to move to the top positions of power in this world as they have zero empathy or compassion. Others suffering or joy does not ‘resonate’ with them at all. Page 95 of 339

Empathy is where you see another sentient being suffer, and you suffer with them. Their suffering ‘resonates’ with you. You feel it. Just like an Open String ‘feels’ it when you play the same note as it anywhere on any other string. Empathy is actually feeling another beings suffering. Sympathy is merely caring about it. Psychopaths can’t empathise with anyone. So they don’t care about anyone except themselves. They make ‘great’ CEO’s, Generals, Politicians, Presidents, Cult Leaders, ‘enforcers’, ‘executives’, torturers, scientists, in the very worst sense that to ‘succeed’ in these positions you need to be willing to do very horrific things to other sentient beings, and not be affected emotionally. Of course surgeons need to learn to ‘disassociate’ to be able to operate on people, to help them. But that is an entirely different matter. That is like string muting. A constructive, productive, creative technique. Muting your feelings to help others is one thing. Muting your feelings, muting your actual hearing, and seeing, and knowing, otherwise known as ‘denial’, is another thing altogether. Sensitivity training these days is all about ‘sexual harassment’ and ‘omni-gender equality’. To avoid lawsuits mostly. Oh, and at all costs, be sensitive to not offending a ‘Jew’ by speaking about the Cult of Judah, and it’s ‘Jew’ World Order. Never ever notice, let alone comment on, the fact that ‘Jews’ hold almost all the most powerful positions in this world. And have been ‘pulling the strings’ ‘behind the scenes’ since at least President Wilson’s Presidency. What holds for our ‘blindness’ to unwanted string noises when playing guitar holds true for daily life. The biggest secrets are ‘hidden in plain sight’. Well that is a misnomer. Like ‘common sense’. For most things requiring real Zen attending to ‘see’. Nothing plain about that very rare practice. It is not until you start ‘attending’ in a Zen way, that you start ‘seeing’ what was always right in front of you. Like when you can’t find your keys, and they were right in front of you, exactly where they should have been, the whole time. Trance states are so common it will shock you when you ‘awake’ from them. We live in a trance state called ‘social reallity’. And a particular group have deliberately induced that trance state in all of us, thorugh social conditioning from birth onwards. Right through death, and into your next lives, if you don’t escape their thrall. Awake from their trance. And ensure you have not merely, like the dreamer dreaming they have awoken, but are still in the dream, merely escaped one layer of the trance, to ‘falsely awake’ in another, carefully prepared for you, to convince you that you’ve fullen awoken. Controlled opposition like Alex Jones, Edward Snowden, Julan Assange, Stefan Molyneux, and maybe even the good ‘Bro’ are all there to make you feel you’ve ‘awoken’. But like in those dreams where you dreamed you had woken up, and were fooled thereafter into thinking the dream was over, and this was ‘reality’, Alex Jones and his ‘Kosher’ Alternative Media presenters will give you that false confidence of the ‘false Page 96 of 339 awakening’, which makes you stop searching further, and deeper, and realising that yes, this too is just another level of the dream. And it is time to awaken from the dream. The nightmare called ‘The ‘Jew’ World Order. Hearing all the ‘unwanted / accidental string noise’ for the first time on an acoustic, or ‘clean’ amp channel, is like the first time someone or something ‘opens your eyes’ to what is going on in our world, and you take your first steps outside the ‘social reality’ the Cult of Judah has carefully constructed as a prison for your mind, and you, you start ‘noticing’ things you had always ridiculed as ‘conspiracy theory’ and even ‘madness’. And like that ‘A-ha’ ‘Eureka’ moment, when you suddenly discover why our high gain playing really sucked, and even better, have found the solution to this enigma, the moment you discover why your life is so shitty, and why this planet is such an abode of suffering and misery, you will have a true ‘epiphany’. So while this chapter will ‘liberate’ you from string noise, my other ‘banned’ (muted for fear they would ‘resonate’ with you) books will liberate you from the more dire problems called ‘life as we know it’. A very poor simulacrum of life as it could be. Even if your playing was flawless, absolutely perfect, and you only ever touched precisely the string you were fretting, you will have ‘sympathetic resonance’. Like when the windows shake and metal objects rattle when you turn your amp up. They are resonating sympathetically with your amp output, because it is producing frequencies which resonate with the materials. The same applies to your life. No matter how perfect and flawless your ethics, your conduct, your intentions, you are impacted by the resonances of others around you. By your society’s fundamental resonances, and the upper harmonics (propergents) these produce. Ask Jesus how his perfectly flawless ‘playing’ worked out for him. Apparently boiling in his own excrement, if you ask your Cult of Judah masters. The expression ‘the idea resonated with a lot of people’ means that they were sympathetic to it. They ‘agreed’ with it. Many people ‘agreed’ with Jesus’ teachings. Only they were ‘deadened’, and the resonances he projected thus neutralized, along with his ‘self’. What we need to do is what the Cult of Judah did with the resonances of Jesus, and their subsidiary cults, the Zombie Jesus Vampire Cannibal Cult, Marxists, and Musllims, like all ‘good religions’ have done since. ‘Mute’ them. Only in our case our intentions, and consequences, will be good. We will ensure that only the pure tones of the notes we play ring out loud and clear and pure. The result will be the ‘Holy Page 97 of 339

Grail’ of ‘superior tone’ and flawless riffs, groovalicious funky chops, and pure power chord progressions. Every material has its own resonant frequency at which it will begin to vibrate. Even if you just continually tap it with a hard object, standing waves and reflections will build up, and one of them will match the resonant frequency of the material. Car engines used to have special ‘dampening’ devices to stop the motor block or other metal machine parts from suddenly beginning to ‘resonate’, and then basically deforming in some critical manner, or even exploding. Those double necked guitars work on the same principle. You play an E2 note on one, and the E2 string on the other will begin to resonate and sound the same note. And even on the same guitar, you will soon learn that the same note repeats over many different positions, not to mention the two E strings two octaves apart. Plug your guitar into some high gain amp or amp simulation software, and play an E note on the A D G or B strings. Then mute it. What you will hear even after you’ve totally muted the fretted note you just played and the string, is the E2 Bass E string and Treble E strings symphatetically vibrating / resonating with the original note you played. The E note you played set both these E strings to resonating / vibrating, even though you didn’t even come close to touching them. Try the same with any scale. Any time you hit any note that any of the open strings you are not playing is tuned to, namely E, A , D , G, and B, the respective string matching that note is going to start vibrating as if you brushed against it, or tapped it, or touched it. Just listen to my guitar sketch for the basic melody to ‘Just the way you like it’. Here all the open strings being ‘activated’ and creating a whole bunch of frustrating, unwanted, unmusical, noise. On top of this totally unavoidable ‘noise’, you will get the noise your fingers make when you lift them off the string. Or when you bend a string, or more precisely when your bending finger makes contact with the string above it, and then ‘pulls away’, like a subtle horizontal hammer off. All this noise will produce ‘crypto notes’ which will in turn produce sympathetic resonance in the open strings tuned to the same frequencies as those ‘notes’, which will then produce sympathetic resonance in the string you just took your fingers off, and over and over. A real ‘noise salad’. Or is that ‘Danish pastry’. ‘Layer upon layer upon layer’. Page 98 of 339

And then for the ‘less precise’ mere mortal guitarists among us, every time your finger makes ‘accidental’ contact with a string it generates some vibrations in the strings your fingers made contact with. At low gain settings, or when playing ‘unplugged’, you don’t hear these noises. But the moment you increase your ‘gain’ settings, you begin hearing them. They were there all the time. Unavoidable even with the best technique. For instance when you bend a string towards another string, your fretting finger will ‘bump into’ adjacent strings. When moving your fingers over the fretboard, your fingers will ‘brush against’ strings. You need to ‘dampen’ and ‘mute’ all the open strings you are not actively fretting, unless you are actually picking an Open String note, such as when playing open chords, and hammering off to open string notes, or ‘raging against the machine’. (Hitting that E2 tuned down to Eb or even D). There is no getting around the fact that you are going to have to learn string muting, if you are going to play with high gain. Which means any music with a soaring, sustaining, stadium rock guitar solo. Or to play funk. Or Blues ‘chops’ like Stevie Ray Vaughn. Thus string muting is one of the most fundamental skills you need to develop to play any sort of ‘high gain’ riffs and solo’s from fun to blues to rock to metal. This is technique I thought I could avoid having to master, and which I did not envy Bass players having to learn. But it seems I won’t be able to avoid it now, if my playing is to improve. Very odd that no-one ever explained this to me. I just almost gave up on using high gain settings on my amp simulations and actual amp. Now I know what the problem is I can go about ‘rectifying’ it. Seems guitar and Bass just got a lot more demanding! I guess it is the equivalent of learning never to sing directly at, or into, a microphone. Only in all the videos the singer is ‘eating’ the microphone, and simply watching a guitarist doesn’t transmit this aspect of their technique at all, unless you already understand it, and then cannot miss noticing, in any close-ups, the player using the technique. This is like ‘Gestalt’ diagrams where at first you cannot see the ‘alternate’ way of looking at it, and then once you do, you can’t stop seeing this alternate image. Another analogy is when you finally comprehend the deceptions and tools employed by the Cult of Judah, and wonder why everyone else still seems to mistake the ‘social reality’ they have constructed for ‘reality’ per se. It is so obvious to you now, you can Page 99 of 339 easily forget how you were just as ‘blind’ as all the other sheeple, before your ‘awakening’. String muting is so fundamental, critical, and crucial, a skill for guitarists that it is something that people who got lessons were taught from the start. But most of us never had that luxury. No ‘sponsor’ to pay for lessons. And no access to a great guitar teacher. This is why I write all my TROONATNOOR ‘guides’. Firstly as references for myself. And secondly because sadly most people never get access to the information and training that could add so much value to their lives. It shoudn’t be a privilege of the few. It should be the right of anyone willing to devote the time and energy to learning. If you are lucky you are reading this as a beginner, and develop good habits from day one. If not, like me, it is ‘back to the fretboard’ for practice, practice, practice. But first know what it is you are trying to do, otherwise ‘practise makes perfect (ly terrible)’ and you’ll simply develop bad string muting habits to add to your other bad habits! If you play mostly clean, and mostly rhythm and some simple melody, as many song writers do, you probably won’t get around to the fussy business that lead guitarists and Bass guitarists have to learn from the very start. It wasn’t until I began to learn Bass guitar, that I was confronted with the need to mute strings. It seemed like a lot of work. It added a whole new dimension of skill and discipline to playing. I was surprised by how important it was to ‘mute’ all the strings you were not playing. Then I learned why every time I had tried to play anything at all complex with heavy gain settings in guitar amp simulators, I sounded horrible. I had never learned or practiced muting the strings I was not playing. In fact I tended to leave notes sustaining, and picking chord arpeggios, so it never occurred to me to mute much, except when playing some blues power chord progressions. It was only when I began researching for this book, to move beyond my very basic guitar skills, that I learned that the discipline required for learning Bass guitar (which I loathed having to learn and practice beyond just basic playing) was something I was going to have to apply equally to lead guitar, if I was going to make any progress at all. So now it will be back to the guitar practice, to put this into practice. I never had any guitar lessons. Apparently it is one of the very first skills are guitar teacher will teach their students. And yet I had never heard of it. I had just been Page 100 of 339 appalled at the mess of noise I made any time I used high gain settings with anything other than Power chords. With high gain settings, any time you brush a string with the side of a finger, accidentally tap a string while reaching for note, especially when crossing over strings, or just moving fingers between strings or frets, all these little ‘impacts’ are massively amplified and distorted. You end up with unwanted string noises that ruin everything you are trying to achieve. And even if you do none of these things, any open string tuned to any of the notes you deliberately fretted will resonate sympathetically with those notes, amplified over and over, until they produce ‘noise soup’. I did almost all my practice on the electric guitar without it being plugged in. So I never realised just how much ‘extraneous’ noise I was actually making. And I developed bad habits. And I never ‘heard’ any reason to learn string muting techniques. Then when I finally plugged into amps or amp simulators with high gain settings, I as appalled at how bad I sounded, but had no idea why. Below shows the way you need to learn to fret notes to play with high gain settings, and for ‘funk’ chops. And don’t forget that even your acoustic playing will benefit from string muting. You fret the note with the pad of your finger, rather than the tip, and you use the side of your first finger to mute all the strings below it. That is step one. To learn this new ‘habit’. Make a habit of leaving your thumb and first finger ‘laying’ across the strings of the guitar, muting them. This will have zero impact on any string your fret between your first finger and the bridge. And your finger will be in position to fret any notes on that fret when the time comes.

In the same way, make a habit of resting the palm of your picking hard across the strings, with the ‘heel’ of your hand resting just forward of the bridge, forming a ‘karate chop’ lightly across and touching the strings, with your hand and fingers angled down towards the ‘horn’ / floor at about 45 degrees, so the fleshy side of your hand makes light contact with the Bass E, A and D strings. But more on all that in a Page 101 of 339 moment. For now let’s focus on breaking down all these techniques into actions you can focus on, then practice. And then combine. And then practice until they become ‘automatic’ and ‘second nature’, so that you don’t have to deliberately do it any more, your fingers and hands just do it automatically. And you forget are even doing it. Until someone asks ‘hey, how do you play those licks so cleanly with high gain, when all I get is ‘noise soup’?’ So for now let’s focus on fretting hand muting. The photo below shows how relatively ‘flat’ you need to fret notes, compared to the traditional ‘classical’ guitar technique. I’ve marked the ‘string indentation’ correct fingering will leave on the pad of your finger, to give you a better idea of how to fret strings for high gain riffs and ‘funk’ guitar chops.

Fretting hand muting Practice positioning your fingers so that the tip of it just touches the bottom of the string ‘above’ it, thus effectively muting it. And the bottom side of your first finger is always muting all the strings below any note you are playing on any string with any finger. So even if you are not fretting a note with your first finger, say you are bending a note with your third finger, you place your first finger across the strings you are not playing, to mute them. Usually this will be the s trings ‘below’ the string you are fretting a note on, as well as the string ‘above’ it (using the tip of your first finger. Then you’d mute any strings ‘higher’ than this with the palm of your picking hand, near the bridge. Page 102 of 339

Now you can play the other frets on the this string without worrying about having to mute the next string up, as your first finger is already taking care of it. This is sometimes called ‘guarding’. Now if you’ve learned Bass, or intend, like many home studio composers, getting a cheap short scale Bass guitar to add some bass lines, you will soon learn how Bass players often hold down a string with several fingers between the fretted note and the nut, to take up the string tension. Guarding with the first finger is a similar principle. Holding it in place while you play notes closer to the bridge ‘guards’ the string ‘above’ the string your are fretting notes on, and will help when it comes to bending notes, and ‘hammering off’ to the note fretted with the first finger. And especially when playing ‘trills’ of very fast hammer ons and hammer offs, like Hendrix in Voodoo Chile. If you don’t ‘guard’ the next string up with your first finger, you can end up with a huge mess of extraneous noise produced by your finger movements, massively amplified and distorted by the high gain. When you play any other string you will have to worry about the strings above and below it. But fret not. There is a simple solution that will become automatic and second nature with time and practice. The series of photos that follows shows the first finger ‘soft capo’ string muting technique as we move from fretting notes on the Bass E (E2) string, to the A2 string, to the D3 string, to the G3 string, to the B3 string, to the Treble E (E4) string. Page 103 of 339

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The idea is to use the fleshy pads ofyour fingers to mute every string ‘below’ the string you are playing. While barely touching the string ‘above’ it with the tip of your fretting finger, to mute it. Simply ‘roll’ your fingers a little, moving your wrist and the heel of your fretting hand until you find a comfortable position for it. Soon you will find yourself playing all your licks with your fingers fretting down the string with more of the pad, rather than the tip, of the finger, automatically. And you will find you ‘naturally’ guard the string you are playing with your first finger. You will find you can bend and control the string very easily like this, even if you have long finger nails. And so now two riddles have been solved for me. Why my attempts at playing with high gain proved so miserable, and how those amazing female guitarists can play with such long finger nails!

So to recap, if you are fretting a note on the Bstring and above, you mute the strings ‘below’it with the fleshy pads of your first finger, as you mute the string directly above it with the tip of the same finger. Make a habit of leaving your thumb and first finger ‘laying’ across the strings of the guitar, muting them. This will have zero impact on any string your fret between your first finger and the bridge. And your finger will be in position to fret any notes on that fret when the time comes. Page 107 of 339

In the same way, make a habit of resting the palm of your picking hard across the strings, with the ‘heel’ of your hand resting lightly on the bridge, and your hand and fingers angled down towards the ‘horn’ / floor at about 45 degrees, so the fleshy side of your hand makes light contact with the Bass E, A and D strings. But more on that in a moment. For now let’s focus on fretting hand muting. Practise ‘spider’ exercises in which you play all four frets on each string, using one finger for each fret. This is often enough to ‘train’ your first finger to ‘guard’ the string above, and ‘mute’ the strings below. Then when you go to playing riffs, at first you may need to consciously ensure you are ‘guarding’ and ‘muting’ correctly. If you didn’t learn with high gain amplification, it may take a little time to learn new habits. You may find you may find you sometimes roll your first finger onto its side when bending and vibrato-ing. Find what works for you in different positions. Just like experimenting with how you hold your pick for different types of picking, such as speed picking, or Robert Cray ‘plucking’. And remember, listen to your playing. If you happen to play a riff ‘dirty’, and it sounds great, then play that riff again, without the muting and guarding, using it as a technique in itself. But deliberately. The difference now is that you can choose to play ‘clean’ or ‘dirty’ with high gain.

Funk chops: The power of hitting muted strings but voicing only the note you are fretting Anyone who has listened to or played any funk guitar will immediately recognise the sound this technique produces. If you hit all the strings on your guitar with a hard ‘strumming’ motion, while muting all strings except the one you are fretting, the muted sound of the other strings can add a fullness and richness and attack to the note you are actually sounding. You Page 108 of 339 really ‘hammer and pound’ the strings with an intensity and uniquely ‘funky’ flavor you won’t get from any type of conventional picking or plucking action. Red Hot Chilli Peppers use this ‘funk’ style to make their clean, uncompressed Stratocaster sound so full and appealing. Stevie Ray Vaughn uses this technique to make give his simple ‘Cold Shot’ and ‘Pride and Joy’ riffs something that raises them up into blues heaven. This is where the term ‘chops’ comes from. The motion is really like ‘chopping’ the strings, rather than strumming them. You chop ‘upwards’ and ‘downwards’ like typical alternate strumming. But remember that it is a much more of a short, sharp, shock. A more sudden and violent action than typical chord strumming. Now in the previous examples of string muting, we were dealing with series of individual notes such as during a guitar solo. So the notes on strings ‘above’ the string directly above our fretted string weren’t really a problem. However this ‘funk’ style of muting requires us to ‘chop’ up or down on all the strings, to get the full benefits of the technique. The ‘authentic’ ‘funk’ sound. So with this technique, we need to mute the all the strings ‘above’ the string we are fretting / voicing.

To do this, we use the same technique we’ve just learned for the the string ‘above’ and all the strings ‘below’ the fretted string. But we then add additional muting with the thumb and/or the second or third fingers, as seen in the diagram above. By lightly touching the Bass E string with the thumb, and doing the same for any other strings that are left unmuted by your first finger, with your second and/or third Page 109 of 339 finger, you can effectively mute them, leaving only the intended, fretted note ringing out loud and clear, and bathed in the luscious muted overtones of all the other muted strings. Practise until this becomes second nature, and you do it automatically, and couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. Of course use this technique deliberately, as a matter of choice. Sometimes it will give you the effect you are after, other times it won’t. Experiment and see what sounds best, in each particular musical context. And notes you fret will ring out in succession. Any notes not currently being fretted will be muted by this technique. The fretted notes will always be between the first finger and the bridge, so anything you do with your first finger will have no impact on any fretted notes. In fact Bass players often deliberately hold down those heavy, high tension Bass guitar strings at several frets. The fret closest to the bridge will be the only note that sounds / is voiced, so no harm is done, only using several fingers takes the load off the finger fretting the intended note, and makes bendns more controlled, smooth, precise, and effortless. Practise with simple Scales, staring with the simplest, the Pentatonic (5 tone) scale, being sure your are muting every string you are not deliberately fretting a note on. Just ‘chop’ away at the entire 6 strings, until all you hear is the fretted note, and the glorious ‘funk’ percussive sound with all those tasty overtones that come from hitting 5 other muted strings at the same time. Then play Power Chord progressions, like Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, and funky chord chops and progressions, while refining your string muting technique, and adding this new skill to your repertoire of ‘tricks’. It may not become a core part of your sound, or you may fall in love with ‘Funk’. The point is that now you have a new resource you can chose to use, or not. The decision not to do anything is one thing. Not doing it because yourcan’t, is another thing entirely. Extend your limits learning all the fundamental techniques, and then you will be free to pick and chose which to use, when.

Picking hand muting Effective string muting often requires the co-ordinated efforts of both hands. Especially if you intend playing a bit of Bass Guitar. Page 110 of 339

In the above diagram the guitarist is string muting with both hands. His fretting hand is using the techniques just described. His picking hand is adding more options and flexibility to his string muting. By resting your hand just forward of the bridge, as in the diagram, you can mute all the strings with the side of your hand. But take note. We are talking about the technique of string muting. It is not the same as the ‘palm muting’ you’d do for ‘Metallica’ Power Chords or ’12 bar blues’ Power Chord progressions. If you did rest your hand on the bridge itself, it would sort of form a part of the bridge, and the Open Strings would still vibrate sympathetically. Try now and see. Put your hand directly on the bridge. Play an E, A, D, G or B note. Now that string yur just played the note on. Now listen. You will hear the other open strings are resonating sympathetically with the note you just played. So remember, move your hand so the first contact the side of your hand makes with the Bass E string is just forward of the bridge, just a little towards the nut. As you play notes on the ‘lower’ strings (towards the floor), gradually move your picking hand towards the floor, so that you are now ‘covering’ and muting more strings ‘above’ the fretted note string. Your first finger will be ‘covering’ and muting the strings ‘below’ the fretted note string. So now every string, other than the one you are currently fretting a note on, is muted. As you move ‘up’ strings (towards the ceiling) you move your picking hand up, and mute more strings with your first finger, and fewer with your picking hand. At first you’ll need to pay attention and do it all deliberately. Like when you learned your first open chords, and chord changes. But just as now you can play such chords more or less unthinkingly, if you practice these string muting techniques, soon they will come just as ‘naturally’ and ‘easily’. Practise ascending and descending simple Pentatonic Scales first. Move your picking hand down as you ascend the scale to the E4 string, then back up as you descend it Page 111 of 339 back to the starting point on the E2 string.Then move onto more complex diatonic scales that move from across the fretboard from Bass E to Treble E, and back. Then move onto scale runs up and down the fretboard, between the nut and bridge. Then practice with licks and arpeggios. My one complaint with the Fender Stratocaster design is the position of the Volume pot so close to the bridge and strings. The way I play I keep pushing up against it with the bottom side of my pinky. Very irritating. Maybe I am playing it wrong? Anyway, I’ve replaced this pot on my Stratocaster with a ‘soft’ pot I improvised, like the new ‘soft-touch’ Fender pots. However I’d like to move the pot entirely. I bought a Squier Tele-Strat Custom where the pots are located away from the bridge and strings, and this solves this problem, only I don’t like the sound. So back to hoping Fender will re-route the electronics and position the Volume pot like it is positioned on the Tele-Strat Custom. Of course now you are muting the strings between the fretted note and the bridge. So any string you touch will be muted, including the one you are fretting. You’d use this picking hand muting to mute the strings ‘above’ the one you are fretting, while the first finger mutes the strings ‘below’ it. Having this extra muting technique available lets you chose to do whichever is easiest at the time, either using your thumb and tip of your fretting finger to mute the Bass E and A strings while fretting a note on the D string, or using your picking hand muting to mute both the Bass E and A strings. When you are fretting notes on the Treble E, G, and B strings, clearly the palm of your picking hand is the best option for muting the Bass E, A and D strings. With disciplined, conscious practice, you will develop muscle memory, and soon be muting with both left and right hand without thinking about it at all. Your hands and fingers will subconsciously ‘decide’ which combinations of muting to use for any particular situation. Most of the muting done with the ‘picking’ hand is achieved using the side of the palm opposite the thumb, up near your wrist. But the fleshy part beneath the thumb can also be used to mute strings when you are picking the B and Treble E strings. Page 112 of 339

Try playing notes on the G string, while palm muting the Bass E (E2) , A, and D strings with the playing hand, and muting the B and Treble E (E4) with the fleshy pads on your fretting hand. Then when you’ve mastered that, move onto the other strings. Work with individual strings first, then move between strings.

As you can see in the photo, by the time your have progressed to the Treble E string, and moved your hand down to mute the strings ‘above’ it, the inside of your wrist may be muting the Bass E string. Depending on how big your hands are. If you play an E note on the B string, you will soon see why mere ‘picking hand muting’ of strings on its own would never have done the job. For the Treble E Open string you couldn’t mute with your picking hand would sound out every time you played an E note on the B string, due to sympathetic / empathetic resonance. Which is why I began with fretting hand muting, then introduced picking hand muting to complement it. For it could never fully replace it. Page 113 of 339

Oh, and we use the term ‘picking hand muting’ and ‘fretting hand muting’ and not simply ‘right hand muting’ and ‘left hand muting’, as there are lots of nasty evil left handers who would murder me in my sleep for political incorrectness if I dared use such inflammatory and ‘offensive’ ‘hate speech’. Or perhaps I err, and it is some other form of ‘political incorrectness’ that gets you put in prison, tortured at ‘black sites’, shipped off to ‘Guantanamo Bay’, or simply ‘suicided’?

‘Satriani’ style picking finger Vs picking hand string muting technique

It is very hard if not impossible to play a wide range vibrato with the relatively flat fretting finger action required to mute the strings below your fretted string with your first finger. So for the times when you just have to move your first finger off the ‘lower’ strings, you can combine the conventional picking hand muting we have been considering with the picking finger string muting technique shown above, where the top of the finger is muting the Treble E (E4) string and the B3 string, while the heel of the hand is muting the the Bass E (E2) and A2 string, so that only the string being fretted is free to ‘sound’. Just remember that for any high gain riffing, funk chops, the only note that should be sounding is the one note (or in the case of Power Chords, 2 or 3 notes) you are playing at any given moment. All the other Open Strings should be muted, so that ‘the rest is silence’.

String muting Vis a Vis ‘palm muting’ I love the sound of ‘palm muting’ with Power Chords, the technique of resting the side of the picking hand on the bridge, and alternating between ‘palm muting’ and normal playing, to play that now classic ‘four bar blues’ type pattern of ‘Crossroads’, Page 114 of 339

‘Jet Airliner’ and Status Quo. Or those typical ‘Hetfield’ ‘Metallica’ power chord progressions. Now the thing to note here is that even when you are ‘palm muting’ power chords, you should be ‘string muting’ any of the open strings that do not form a part of the power chord, to avoid the same sort of’noise soup’ you get playing solo runs without string muting. Just try it with and without string muting, playing an E Power chord (Open E2 + B at the v2 position on the A2 string) based riff like Metallica’s ‘Holier than thou’, to hear the difference. The true ‘Hetfield’ Power Chord Progression Sound can only be achieved by string muting the open D3, G3, B3, and E4 strings. But remember that is not the same thing as ‘string muting’. For string muting the side of our hand makes contact with the Bass E string a little forward of the bridge, and not directly on the bridge.

Fret wrap? Firstly, try repeating that several times really fast. That must be how a dog or cat feels when trying to ‘talk’ to us? Now if you really are not interested in learning technique, or have some physical problem mastering it, you can buy, or make, what is called a ‘fret wrap’. It is simply a piece of fabric that sits anywhere between where you are fretting notes, and the nut, like a loose, fabric lined capo, which automatically dampens / mutes all the unfretted strings. As it is between your fretted note, and the nut, it doesn’t mute / dampen the note on the string you are fretting.

Of course like with most ‘technical’ ‘fixes’ and ‘solutions’ and ‘silver bullets’ and ‘short-cuts’ and ‘pills’, there are some ‘hidden costs’ to using a fret wrap. You won’t be able to play open strings. And you won’t be able to ‘hammer-off’ to open strings. Maybe try first with an old Velcro fastener and/or the elastic top of an old sock, to see if it works for you, before investing in a ‘shop bought’ or properly self-made fret wrap. Page 115 of 339

Or just stick a bit of foam under the strings, on the fretboard, just after the nut. I wonder when the new ‘fad’ will be ‘dampened’ guitar nuts made of some hard yet non-resonating material.

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There are great, simple finger exercises you can do to develop your actual playing skills. Your finger and picking control. Your ability to stretch to reach notes with ease. You ability to pick faster, and more consistently. The more seriously you take these exercises, the more disciplined you are, at the beginning, the faster you will develop as a guitarist. And moreover you will avoid ‘learning’ ‘bad habits’ which take just as long to ‘unlearn’ later on. These exercises are boring, but will get results if you practice them regularly, and with attention to detail. One of the most important details is string muting of any Open String you are not actively picking. So we shall go to that now, before even starting to develop bad habits. And to ensure that you have something to focus on, to really attend to, so you treat these simple exercises seriously, and get the most benefit from them.

Pick Gauges and technique A heavier pick (1.0-2mm) tends to give you greater control over when picking, than a medium or light pick. However experiment to see which pick guage suits your style of playing. And see if switching between pick gauges when strumming or picking notes improves your playing. A lighter guage pick often sounds superior with strumming chords, especially on an acoustic guitar. Most of pick should be hidden by your fingers, with only the tip of the pick visible, to give you maximum control for picking. But by letting the pick extend a bit further during strumming, it will flex more, and may give you a sound you prefer. Page 117 of 339

But as with all things musical, trust your ears, and find what works best for you. Different guitarists hold their pick very differently. Eddie Van Halen holds his guitar pick with his middle finger and thumb, rather than the typical index finger and thumb. It sure works for him. Angle the pick towards the ‘horn’ of your strat, or at an angle of about 45 degrees to the floor. This way the pick is not held flat against the string, but rather slides across the string at an angle. Again, try out different positions consciously, until you find the one that works for you. Everyone is different.

Alternate picking ‘Alternate’ picking means picking in both directions, and alternating between them. For example ‘down up down up’ and ‘up down up down’, rather than in just one direction, such as down down down. Alternate picking is key to building up picking speed, and thus a key fundamental technique. Especially if your objectives include developing more advanced ‘speed’ picking’ techniqes. For the following finger strength, agility, flexibility, and co-ordination building exercises, we will be using alternate picking.

Chromatic Scale ‘Spider fingers’ exercise with 1,2,3,4 fingering The numbers refer to the first, second, third, and fourth fingers of your fretting hand. This exercise is simple. But combined with the string muting techniques, something you really need to focus your mind on, to get right. Listen for any uwanted Open String noises. And also for ‘fret buzz’ or any other signs that you are not fretting your notes cleanly, with your finger just before, but not touching, the fret. You play 4 notes on each string, from E2 to E4, which is down (towards the floor) physically, but up (in pitch) musically. With alternate picking. With a regular, smooth, consistent timing and loudness. And with right and left hand string muting. The last will be the most challenging. But absolutely imperative. Unavoidable. A core guitarist’s skill. A technique that will serve you well in the future when your playing advances. A technique you will otherwise regret never having mastered. Page 118 of 339

When you get to the G4 note on the Treble E (E2 i) string, at the i4 position, slide your first finger up the fretboard towards the bridge one fret / Semi-Tone, and repeat the exercise from the Treble E (E4, i) string up to the Bass E (E2, vi) string. Then move your first finger up a fret towards the bridge and come back down the Chromatic Scale in the same fashion. Repeat this until your reach the 12 fret. Then start from the first fret again, and repeat. Practise this every session two to four times. As this is a new activity for your fingers, wrist, arm, shoulder, and body in general, you will probably experience some discomfort, even a burning sensation in your wrist or ‘carpal tunnel’ area. Any time this occurs, take a break. Relax your wrist and hand and fingers and arm. Shake out any tension. Then when you start up again, pay attention to any excess tension you are holding in your arm, wrist, hand, fingers, or anywhere else in your body. And deliberately relax any tense muscles as much as possible, while still being able to repeat the exercise. Stretch your fingers. Form a ‘scissors’ action with your fretting hand fingers, and slide them either side of your guitar neck, so that the neck, as you push your fingers in, forces your fingers gently apart, stretching out the distance between your fingers. Remember to focus on playing cleanly, with zero string noise, and evenly. Play as slowly as you need to to get everything down perfect, before worrying about how fast you are playing. Gradually speed up when you can do everything perfect at the slowest, most regular speed. Then increase speed. Use a metronome if you have one, once you have become proficient at this exercise. Start at half notes, move on to quarter notes, then eight notes, then sixteenth notes, if you are that ambitious. Remember you are actually playing a scale. The Chromatic Scale. And you are perfecting your string muting techniques. And adding that slide at the end of each run. Later you’ll use such slides to join Scale patterns and add interest and fluidity to your licks and riffs. And developing your timing and rhythm. You’ll be building up a treasure chest of great ‘muscle memories’ so that in a few months you’ll be string muting automatically, and will forget you are doing it. When someone asks you about it, you might even have trouble explaining what you are doing, because it is all coming so ‘natural’ and ‘instinctive’ and ‘automatic’ to your fingers and hands now. Later when you start playing other scales, you will often use occasional notes from this Chromatic scale as ‘passing notes’ to produce tension and interest in your Page 119 of 339 playing. You will be developing great muscle memory, and expert proficiency in string muting and precise, consistent alternate picking from day one. And personally I believe that the less you try to emulate other guitarists by ‘learning songs’, and the more you focus on getting your fundamentals in order, and comprehending applied music theory, the more likely you will achieve your creative potential as a song writer / music composer / guitarists, and release your unique individuality. Sure it is fun to learn the songs you love, and it probably will impress your friends. But you can easily get stuck in someone else’s ‘sound’ long before you’ve had a chance to find your own. Muscle memory is a blessing but it can be a curse. As always, remember that practice does not make perfect. Correct practice makes perfect. Undisciplined, unattentive, poorly conceptualized and realised practice can make your perfectly horrible, by making all the worst technique habitual. Be careful to form good habits. And not bad ones.

Chromatic Scale ‘Spider fingers’ exercise with 4,3,2,1 fingering Again the numbers refer to the first, second, third, and fourth fingers of your fretting hand. This time play the same pattern, starting on the Bass E (E2, vi) string as before, but this time starting with your fourth finger, and continuing back down towards the nut to your first finger, then starting with the A string with the fourth finger again, and repeating for every string. When you get to the i1 position on the Treble E you slide your whole hand up one fret towards the bridge and continue the pattern from the Treble E up to the Bass E, where you slide your fingers up towards the bridge one fret and continue the pattern back to the Treble E string. Ensure in all these exercises that you use alternate picking correctly. That is you play one note on the down stroke of your pick, and the next note on the upstroke of your pick. This exercise always reminds me of Metallica’s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’. Continue this pattern till your first finger is starting on the 12th fret, like last time. Once you’ve completed this exercise at the 12th fret, start again, once more, from the ‘top’, which is the ‘bottom’, where the nut is, in guitar-speak. Page 120 of 339

Repeat this exercise two to four times each session. Pair this up with the first exercise in each session until you can do both with ease, at the speed your desire.

Then introduce more complex, challenging fingering patterns

Then simply move onto more complex patterns such as 1,3,2,4 or 4,2,3,1, or 2,3,4,1 or 3,4,2,1. The following offers some suggested fingering patterns. Set 1 - 1,2,3,4 and 4,3,2,1,Set 2 - 2,3,4,1 and 3,2,1,4 ,Set 3 - 1,4,3,2 and 4,1,2,3, Set 4 - 2,1,4,3 and 3,4,1,2, Set 5 - 1,2,4,3 and 4,3,1,2, Set 6 - 2,1,3,4 and 3,4,2,1, Set 7 - 1,3,4,2 and 4,2,1,3, Set 8 - 2,3,1,4 and 3,2,4,1, Set 9 - 1,4,2,3 and 4,1,3,2 ,Set 10 - 2,4,1,3 and 3,1,2,4, Set 11 - 1,3,2,4 and 4,2,3,1,Set 12 - 2,4,1,3 and 3,1,4,2.

Start with the least difficult patterns, and when you’ve mastered them, try something more complicated. Again practice them in pairs. Repeat each exercise two to four times over the entire fretboard. Focus on keeping your fingers in position, just hovering over the frets they are to play. Ensure in all these exercises that you use alternate picking correctly. That is you play one note on the down stroke of your pick, and the next note on the upstroke of your pick. And of course pay attention to any unwanted string noises, and focus on your right and left hand string muting techniques. Keep your guitar handy, on a guitar stand, so that any time you get some spare time, or feel the urge, you can just grab it. Don’t lock it away somewhere in a case so that it takes time to get it out. You want to be able to take advantage of any spontaneous outbreak of enthusiasm you have, and have the guitar always handy, and in your consciousness, and you are more likely to grab it, and practice, more often. Keep a cheap guitar at work or to take with you in the car, so any time you are in the mood to practice, and have the opportunity, you are not prevented by lack of a guitar. You can get decent playable guitars new and second hand for around $100. You can use them to practice guitar maintenance and set-up on. Friends can use them when they visit, to share licks and chops with you. You won’t regret the ‘investment’. Page 121 of 339

Ideally you will do these exercises with enough ‘gain’ to be able to hear any Open String or other string noises, so you have the feedback necessary to eliminate them, and avoid developing bad habits that come from not being able to hear your ‘mistakes’. There are amp simulators you can load onto your smart phone or laptop, and guitar USB audio interfaces that you can plug directly into your smartphone or laptop. All very affordable now thanks to recent technological advances. If you haven’t been in the market for anything new for a while, I think you will be shocked at how affordable good playable instruments and other gear have become in the last few years. And please take a look at my ‘Sound Foundations’ Audio Engineering Reference Guide and companion book ‘Optimal Reaper’, which will get you into a fully loaded DAW with a very friendly user interface, for pretty much the cost of the book itself. If you then decide to ‘buy’ Reaper, you can get a full license for as little as 60 dollars. And check out my ‘Vocal Training Guide’ to help you with everything from ‘freeing’ your unique singing voice, to voice-overs, to correcting poor posture, to eliminating TMJ, and last and by no means least, reducing the severity and frequency of migraines and other headaches and neck pains.

Now add finger Walk-ups when ‘descending’ the chromatic Scale Do the same Chromatic exercises we’ve been describing, only now when you ‘ascend’ from the Treble E to the Bass E, leave your last free fingers in position while you fret the next note on the next string ‘up’ (physically, though down in pitch musically) when you move between strings from the Treble E (E4 i) string to the B string to the G string to the D string to the A string, to the Bass E (E2 vi) string. This exercise will train you to leave your fingers in position, rather than automatically moving them. It is a great habit to have. A great ‘muscle memory’ building exercise that will speed up your motor skills development, and finger control. Pay attention to what you thumb is doing during all these exercises. Make sure your thumb moves with your hand, rather than ‘trailing’ behind as you move ‘up’ the neck towards the bridge. Imagine it is fixed in place, and on rollers, like a sliding door. Ensure in all these exercises that you use alternate picking correctly. That is you play one note on the down stroke of your pick, and the next note on the upstroke of your pick. Page 122 of 339

Tremolo picking Tremolo picking refers to continuous fast alternate picking on the one string.

Pedal Sequences The most obvious example that comes to mind is the intro to ‘Sweet Child of Mine’. You take a any note as a ‘pedal note/point’, most commonly the Root / Tonic / 1st note of a Scale, then alternate between it and other notes of the Scale, so that every second note is the ‘static’ ‘pedal point’ or locus about which you play.

Double Stops When you bar two notes (on the same fret, with the one finger, or on different frets with two fingers) and play them together, you are playing a ‘double stop’. This is a favorite technique of blues guitarists, and a ‘signature’ technique of Jimi Hendrix, probably as much as his use of the Major 7th Chord (which most people call the ‘Hendrix chord’, in the same way people refer mistakenly to ‘Hegelian Dialectics’. Neither man invented these, they just used them so much that people automatically identify them with Hendrix and Hegel respectively. Chuck Berry’s ‘Johnny B Good’ licks can be heard in too many songs to name. The licks begin by sliding a double-stop on the Treble E and B strings one fret towards the bridge, hitting the double stop twice, then repeating twice more. Bending a double stop also sounds great. And remember that the double stopped notes do not have to be on the same fret. A ‘staggered’ double stop, where one note is a fret higher or lower than the other can be used in the same way. Check out your Scale charts to see where the best opportunities for double stops, double-stop slides, and staggered double-stops in the different Keys, to play against chord progressions in different Keys, or different chords. But never be afraid to use occasional ‘passing notes’ from the Chromatic Scale that don’t rightly belong to the Key you are playing in, but still sound good.

Natural Harmonics If you lightly and abruptly ‘tap’ an open string with your fretting finger, immediately after you pick the string, you get a ringing harmonic tone or ‘chime’. Page 123 of 339

The 12th fret is the most commonly used, and easiest to produce. The next most common and easy to produce natural harmonic is at the 7th fret. It is harder to produce the same tones at the 5th fret. You can also produce these ‘chimes’ over the pick-ups, in the same way. It takes a little practice, but you are basically muting the strings fundamental frequency, by touching it immediately after you have picked it. This leaves only the upper harmonics to ‘ring out’. You can hold your finger over multiple strings and produce a ‘Harmonic chord’, or a sequential, discrete ‘cascade’ of harmonics up or down in pitch, as you sweep up or down the Open Strings. Or play a series of ‘staggered’ strings. And why not grab the whammy bar and have some fun?

Pinch harmonics (artificial harmonics) Whereas the natural harmonics are limited to Open Strings, at only a few positions on the neck, due to mathematics and physics, pinch harmonics can be played on any fretted note, in any position. Pinch harmonics are artificial harmonics / overtones that produce a luscious squealing, singing, embellishment / articulation to any fretted note. Try different places on the string between the neck and bridge pick-ups to find the ‘sweet spot’ for pinched harmonics. It may vary between positions on the neck, just like all the ‘natural’ harmonics. Really hit the string (dig in) with your thumb at the same time as your pick makes contact with the string on its way down, on a down stroke. The idea is the same as for playing any other harmonics on the guitar, namely, stopping the string from vibrating at the fundamental frequency, then immediately releasing the string so all you hear is the upper harmonics, the full number multiples of the fundamental frequency. Usually the fundamental frequency is the dominant frequency, so you hear it, and the upper harmonics all blended together. This way all we hear are the upper harmonics. Here we are doing the same thing with the thumb, at about the same place you could play the ‘open string’ harmonic with your fretting finger, by lightly tapping the open Page 124 of 339 string as you picked it, over your pick-ups. Just test until you find open string harmonic in this position. However we are doing it with our picking hand thumb. So the co-ordination should be a little easier to achieve, compared to the usual open string harmonics. And of course in this case we are doing it on fretted notes, rather than open strings. A nice touch is to do a run with right hand muting, and finish it off with a singing pinched harmonic, which you can then add a vibrato on to sustain it into infinity, or dive down with that whammy bar, in real ‘Satriani’ style. Adding distortion / drive effects adds to the overtones. You can get them with a clean sound as well, but when you are just starting out, using the distortion, and the most powerful pick-up on your guitar, the ‘hottest’ pick-up, will make it easier, and motivate you more to continue developing your pinch harmonics until you can do them with any pick-up even playing clean. Test the different pick-ups to see which combinations or positions of the 5 way or 2 way pick-up selector give you the best results. Often the Bridge pick-up works best with pinch harmonics. But never assume anything. Try and see. Which in the case of music means listen.

Hammer Ons and Hammer Offs Hammer Ons are performed with the fretting hand. You can ‘hammer-on’ to note higher in pitch, closer to bridge, after a picked note, or an Open String note. You simply bring your finger down on the fretted note with enough force to sound that note. A ‘hammer-off’ is where you pull your finger off a fretted note in a way that you ‘sound’ that note. You slightly ‘grap’ at the string as you lift off.

Trills Listen to Voodoo Chile and you’ll hear what a fast succession of hammer ons and hammer offs sounds like. These are known as ‘trills’. Hendrix adds dynamics to his by playing them growing louder then softer then louder.

Finger Tapping (and Pulling) Watch Eddie Van Halen in ‘Hot for teacher’ and all will become clear. A ‘tap’ is a hammer on you perform with your picking hand. Tapping will allow you to play really Page 125 of 339 fast licks, as your fretting hand can be hammering on and off notes in position, while your picking hand adds notes further towards the bridge. You can ‘pull’ the tap in the same way as when you ‘hammer-off’ of note with your fretting hand. You slightly move the finger you just tapped down as you ‘pull’ it off, just enough to ‘sound’ the note being fretted between your ‘tap’ fret and the nut. You basically ‘pull off’ to either an open string, or the next fretted note towards the nut. It is as if you are ‘picking’ the string, only you do it from the position of having your picking finger pulling off the tapped note, on the fretboard, rather than where you’d normally pick, near the bridge. Some guitarists play predominantly with a pick, while using their third finger to add occasional ‘tapped’ notes. Some guitarists specialize in tapping with all the fingers of their picking hand. Finger Tapping allows talented guitarists to perform musical feats otherwise impossible using just one hand to fret notes. Basically you can play more notes in the same amount of time than would otherwise be possible. Tapping can bring the guitar closer to keyboard instruments in terms of polyphonic potential. Remember a keyboard player can play 10 different notes at the same time, or in succession, whereas the guitarist is limited to a maximum of 6 notes at the same time, and to tapping with 9 fingers, if they used the thumb on the picking hand to ‘slap’ some notes.

Tap Harmonics You can lightly touch a string that is already resonating, at the 12th, 7th, and 5th frets, to produce a ‘natural’ harmonic. You can also do this just over the pick-ups. Experiment to see where this works best on each string, on each guitar.

Flat Fifth blues note Adding a flattened Fifth to a Pentatonic Scale gives it a real ‘blues’ flavor. This ‘Flat Fifth’ is often referred to as a ‘Blues’ note.

Flat 9th (2nd) note to extend a Pentatonic

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Fretting finger Slides Try really slow slides, to a note, then back, or over reach your target note, then return to it, so you have long slides between notes, and through notes. Make it interesting. Slide double notes and even triple notes. Hammer on and slide then pull off. This can turn even a simple pentatonic scale into something musically appealing. Slide into a note rather than simply beginning on it. A very common ‘blues’ slide is between 5th and the flat 5th (b5) ‘blues note’.

Pick Slides Sliding the pick from the bridge towards the nut, is a typical ‘guitar hero’ ‘stadium rocker’ move. You can do this on individual strings, or on pairs of adjacent strings. You use the side of the pick. The thicker ‘wound’ strings offer a rougher surface, thus greater resistance to the pick, producing a more defined, loud, impressive ‘pick slide’.

String Bends A ‘minor third bend is a 3 Semi-Tone bend. Sound the reference note 3 frets towards the bridge from the fretted note you intend bending, so you have a ‘target note’ to bend up to. This keeps your bends ‘in tune’ and ‘precise’. Using all your fingers will give you the control required. Remember it is the fourth finger fretted note that is being bent in this example below. You have the other three fingers ‘behind’ it, between it and the nut, to provide the extra power that brings this extra level of control in your bends.

Experiment with slides from, then returning to, your 1, 3, 5, 7 ‘safe’ notes. Page 127 of 339

Plucking strings You can grab a string between your pick and the finger as if about to play a down stroke (not the thumb) and really ‘pluck’ it, for a great funk or blues flavor. Can hammer on and off the string fast after you’ve ‘slapped’ the note. As long as you are fretting a note, the string will be fine. But don’t do it with an open string as you may pull it out of the nute or break it, as there is not enough tension on it. Can also use your second finger and pluck the Treble E (E4) string with it. Very‘Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Robert Cray, and ZZ Top. Adds a great ‘percussive’ sound. This is one example of ‘Tone is in the fingers and not the guitar’.

Raking ‘Raking’ is where you strum down a few strings sequentially, from ‘top’ to ‘bottom’. Whereas an ‘Arpeggio’ plays notes in any sequence, ‘raking’ is limited to moving your pick in one direction. Think of Mark Knopfler’s ‘Sultan’s of Swing’. It is not a smooth strum, which aims to play the strings and note simultaneously. It is a sequence of discrete notes. Legato notes.

Smooth Precision bends To practice precise bending precise intervals, take a reference note one or two frets higher in pitch on the string you are going to bend, and play it (fret the note and pick the string, or hammer onto that note), this will be your reference point / target pitch/note for semi-tone bends (1 fret) and full-tone bends (2 frets). Hooking your thumb against the side of the guitar neck will give you added ‘leverage’ making it easier to bend, and thus giving you greater control of the bend. Especially with Bass Guitar, holding fretting notes between the actual note you are fretting and bending, and the nut (which therefore won’t be sounded, as only the fret closest to the bridge will be sounding), makes it easier to bend a string precisely and smoothly, as you effectively have 3 fingers doing the work, rather than just one. With Bass the other fingers let you hold down the thick Bass string with ease! Bending up from the 6th note to 7th note in a Major Key, (some call this a Major 7th bend), gives a great ‘bluesy’ vibe to a riff. As the 7th note is a Tone (2 Semi-Tones and thus 2 frets) higher, first sound that note as a reference / target note, then bend the 6th note until it matches this reference note / hits the target note. Page 128 of 339

That ‘Pink Floyd’ sound: adding ‘a hundred tiny inflections’ David Glimore’s ‘signature sound’ comes from adding slight ‘inflections’ to almost every note he plays. ‘Absolutely all the time a little bit on every note’ to add ‘a hundred tiny inflections to what you are doing all the time’, to more or less quote him verbatim. You will also see him using the whammy bar a lot, to constantly vary the pitch of notes.

First finger b3 to 3 bends Usually you’ll want to bend a string with several fingers, but a common ‘blues’ bend is to bend a note almost a Semi-Tone with the first finger, by pulling the string down, rather than up. Twisting your hand / wrist a little helps bend the string down in this way, just using your first finger. The b3 to 3 Pentatonic bend is a typical first finger bend. In an A minor Pentatonic Scale this flat third would be the C natural note being bent up (almost) to a C sharp, with your first finger, in the typical ‘Pentatonic Box’ pattern fingering.

Smooth Precision Vibrato Vibrato refers to subtly varying the pitch of a note up and down by moving the string up and down, like quick, short, little bends. Try rotating your forearm back and forth, thus making your finger move up and down, rather than pushing and pulling the string up as you do with a full tone bend. You may find you get more control by rotating your forearm than you would just moving your finger. All the greats from David Gilmore to Stevie Ray Vaughn have mastered vibrato. So you might consider working on your vibrato style. It is one of the most important skills for lead guitar soloing. This is where you see the guitarist really ‘shaking’ the guitar. A nice ‘guitar hero’ move. Adding a vibrato adds another level to your playing. The vibrato ads sustain to a note. Real ‘legato’. The sustain can let you add more expression to a single note, making Page 129 of 339 that note more ‘articulate’. You can use the extra sustain to add further bends to the one note than you’d otherwise manage. Use as many fingers as you have available. The fingers between the fretted note and the nut support the fretting finger. Using three fingers behind the fretting finger will certainly give you more power, and control, in your vibratos. The fingers between the fretted note and the nut take up some of the burden of the workload, letting you concentrate on fine tuning your vibrato, keeping it centered on the default string position, rather than accidentally running sharp. Bass players often take a lot of the load off their fretting finger by using this technique when fretting notes, to overcome the much heavier Bass guitar string tension. Aim to move up and down the same distance, unless you are deliberately adding vibrato to a bend. Some performers like Yngie Malmsteen vibrato very ‘wide’, moving the string very far from the default in both directions. As in all things musical, variety is key to keeping it interesting, and ‘articulate’. Robert Cray, one of my favorite Fender Stratomasters actually makes a sort of circular motion using his wrist. But you can also vibrato with just one finger. It is just harder to move the string, and even harder to move it in a really controlled fashion. Hooking your thumb over the guitar neck can help when you really want to ‘dig in’ to a vibrato or bend. Remember lighter guage strings will make vibrato and bends easier, and but you may lose some tone.

Arpeggios: Playing the 1-3-5-7-b3 and b7 notes of scales You can hold chord shapes and play the notes in different patterns, as typical argeggios. Take this a step further by playing the notes without holding the chord shapes. Play the 1-3-b3-5-b7 and 7 notes is quick succession as part of your guitar solo’s, instead of scale runs, to get used to the idea. Page 130 of 339

Then use these notes as ‘safe havens’ for more chromatic adventures, or when simply breaking up scales into phrases, playing the scales non-linearly (out of order) with all sorts of ‘articulation’. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. First we’d better learn what 1-3-b3-3-b-b7 means.

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Intervals The term ‘Interval’, when used in music, refers to whether a note in a scale is the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, or Seventh note (or ‘degree’) in a Scale.

If the Scale is Dia-Tonic, it goes from any note to its Octave, and thus it contains an Eigth note. (The ‘13th’ note in the Chromatic Scale). The ‘Ninth’ refers to the same note one note higher than the Octave. But often a ‘Ninth’ is played as the Second note / degree of the same Octave, rather than as a true Ninth. So the ‘Ninth’ of a C3 Major Scale would be a D4, or a D3 note, depending on the situation. All intervals are measured from the starting note of the Scale, referred to as the ‘root’, ‘tonic’ or ‘1st’ degree / note of the Scale. All Major Chords are built from the first, third, and fifth notes of the Major Scale it is based on and named after. And when it comes to memorizing the notes of the guitar fretboard, these are the first notes you will want to be able to find. These notes are the ‘safe havens’ for all improvisation and composing in Major Keys, or against Major Chord progressions. The interval between the second and third notes of a Major Scale is a Full- Tone (2 semi-tones or 2 guitar frets). A Full-Tone interval is known as a ‘Major’ interval. This is where the Scale gets its name ‘Major’, and its distinctive sound. You can build any Major Chord from scratch. Take any note. Let’s take C. Because C is the easiest scale to find on a keyboard (All the white keys from the first white key Page 132 of 339 before the first of the set of 2 black keys), and the easiest to play (just play C and the next 6 white keys), and the easiest to remember (It contains only the ‘natural’ notes of the Chromatic Scale, C D E F G A B). Thus we are building a C Major Chord. We take the first note of the C Major Scale C. Then the third note of the C Major Scale which is E. Then the fifth note of the C Major Scale which is G. On a piano we will ‘depress’ the C, E, and G keys simultaneously to ‘sound’ the C Major Chord. Don’t get confused by language like ‘Major 3rd’. The ‘Major’ simply tells us the note is the 3rd note of a Major scale, or that it is a ‘Full-Tone’ (Major) interval distant from the 2nd degree/ Note in the Scale or Chord it is in. A Dorian 5th would be the fifth note of a Dorian Scale. A Minor 7th would be the seventh note of a Minor Scale, or an indicator tha the 7th degree / note is a Semi-Tone (Minor) interval distance from the 6th degree / note of the Scale. And an E Major 3rd would be the third note of the E Major Scale. And so on. On a guitar we finger the notes C4, E3, and C3, and also ‘strum’ the ‘Open’ notes on the Treble E string (E4 TAB i0), the Open G string (G3 TAB iii0), and the Bass E string (E2 TAB vi0). Note that all these notes belong to the C Major Chord. The ‘triad’ of C, E, and G. To make this a C Majojr 7th Chord, we simply add the seventh note from the C Major Scale, which is a B note. So take your 4th, and fret the B3 note on the fourth fret of the G string (G3, TAB iii 4). This will replace the Open G string note of the C Major Chord with a B note. But as you will soon notice on a guitar, you tend to repeat one or more notes of the Triad in a guitar chord. And then later you will notice how Stevie Ray Vaughn, for example, never plays ‘barre’ chords for his ‘chops’, but instead makes up his own simple moveable chord shapes from the notes most convenient to his previous ‘licks’, and most convenient for his next ‘licks’. You can make ‘rock’ chords from just 2 notes of the triad, and get a great sound, with the least effort. We will cover all these moveable shapes, from these ‘rock’ chords which most guitarists know of, to more ‘creative’ moveable shapes that will free up your playing from the ‘limits’ of the ‘conventional’ chord shapes.

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Why we ‘scale’ an octave in 12 steps Most music terminology is Italian. ‘Scala’ is Italian and refers to ‘scaling’ and ‘ladders’. The different musical ‘Scales’ are simply different ‘modes’ (means / methods/ ways) of ‘scaling’ from any note to its ‘Octave’.

A 440 Hz Concert Pitch as an example to explain what an ‘Octave’ is We will use the example of a particular pitch, the A4 note, as an example for explaining what an Octave really is. The ‘concert pitch’ standard note used as a reference for all Western Music is the A4 note. This A4 note resonates at a frequency of 440Hz. So A5, the upper ‘Octave’ of A4, will be 880Hz, or two times 440Hz.

The Upper Octave ‘doubles’ the pitch / frequency of the starting note. The Lower Octave halves the pitch/ frequency of the starting note. So A6, the next higher Octave of A5, will be double 880Hz, which is 1760 Hz. To move down an octave we halve the frequency. So A3, the lower Octave of A4, will have a frequency of 220Hz. We have adopted a 440Hz standard ‘tuning’ as the basis for all Western instruments, so that every musician in an orchestra or band, and around the world, will tune their A4 to the same frequency of 440Hz. This will ensure that all the other notes, relatively tuned to this A4 note, will also be ‘in tune’ with each other. Thus the ‘fundamental’ frequency of all the notes produced by every instrument will be the same. The instruments will all have their own unique’ sound’ or ‘timbre’ due Page 134 of 339 to the physical differences in the instruments, and the way these produce their unqiue blends of upper partials / harmonics, but they will all sound ‘harmonious’ when playing the same piece of music. So the A4 note on your guitar will be tuned to the same frequency as the A4 note on a Cello, or Piano, or flute. They will all produce fundamental frequencies of 440Hz. This standard was adopted so that instrument makers could have an agreed, shared reference. Before this you can imagine the problems of having even a small group of musicians trying to play the same piece of music, from a score. They would all think they were playing the same C3 note, but they would all be playing different pitches, differen ‘frequencies’, and so they would sound horribly out of tune, especially to someone with a ‘trained’ or at least ‘good’ ear for music. And all the ‘upper harmonics’ / ‘partials’ of those ‘fundementals’ would further wreak havoc with any attempt at real ‘harmony’.

‘Scaling’ an octave with various ‘intervals’ between each ‘rung’ on ladder We call the first step of our ladder or ‘scala’, the starting note of our scale, the ‘root’, ‘tonic’ or ‘first degree’ of the Scale. This is the first note of any Scale, and also the lowest pitched note of any Chord. We write it as ‘1st’ or simply ‘1’. So ‘1’ will refer to the first note of a Scale, which is always the lowest pitched note of any chord, as all chords are built on top of the ‘1’/ ‘root’/ ‘tonic’ / first degree of their synonymous Scale. Simply meaning that we name all chords after the scale from which they were built. So a C Major Chord is named after the C Major Scale from whose notes the chord is built. The term ‘8 v.a’ refers to an Octave. The Major Scale of Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do ‘scales’ the Octave in 8 steps. However each step is not the same ‘distance’ from the previous ‘step’, or from the next ‘step’. Some ‘steps’ are a Full Tone apart, and others are half this distance, a Semi-Tone, apart. The ‘distances’ are measured in terms of ‘frequency’ or ‘pitch’. The units used are called Hertz, and written Hz. Page 135 of 339

However what we are interested in is the proportional differences in distances in Herz, rather than the absolute differences in frequency. In music, the proportional difference in pitches / frequencies between the notes of a scale is referred to in terms of ‘intervals’. The ‘Major’ Interval is a Full Tone. Written as T. The ‘Minor’ interval is a Semi-Tone. Written as S or S-T. In the Major Scale there is an interval of a Full Tone between Do and Re, between Re and Fa, then a Semi-Tone interval between Fa and So, then Full Tone intervals again between So and La, La and Ti, and then a Semi-Tone interval between Ti, and the Octave of our starting Do. This gives the interval pattern DoT Re T Mi S Fa T So T La T Ti S Do. Major and Minor Intervals and ‘The Third’ As the interval between the 2nd and 3rd notes, between Re and Mi, is a Tone (Full- Tone), this Scale is known as a ‘Major’ Scale. For it is the ‘3rd’ interval, the ‘distance’ between the 2nd and 3rd notes, that defines all Scales and Chords as either Major or Minor. We write a Major Third as ‘3rd’ or ‘3’. All this means is that the interval between the third note in a Scale or Chord is a Full Tone from the previous note in the Scale or Chord. We write a Minor Third as ‘Flat 3rd’ or ‘b3’. All this means is that the interval between the third note in a Scale or Chord is a Semi- Tone from the previous note in the Scale or Chord. So if someone wants to indicate that the 3rd has been ‘flattened’ from a Major to a Minor Interval, to produce the typical ‘Minor’ Scale or Chord or melodic ‘sound’, they will write a ‘b’ before the 3. Thus ‘b3’ indicates a Minor Scale or Chord, and ‘3’ indicates a Major Scale or Chord. All music theory uses the Major Scale of Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do as its reference point. However we need to understand the more fundamental Scale underlying all the Scales / Modes. This is the ‘Chromatic’ Scale. Page 136 of 339

The Chromatic Scale The musical alphabet only contains 12 notes. This is often referred to as the Chromatic Scale. This is the reference point for all other scales. It contains every note in the musical alphabet. The musical alphabet is made up of 12 letters C C# D D# E F F#G G#A #B. Most of these ‘steps’ are whole tone steps, for example from C to D, from D to E, from F to G, from G toA, and from A to B. However the steps between B and C and E and F are ‘semi-tones’ steps. The Chromatic scale, like all other scales, is a ‘ladder’ of ‘intervals’ that take you from any note to its octave, 8 v.a, or 12 semi-tones, higher in pitch. For example from C3 to C4, in 12 ‘steps’. On the guitar, this means there are 2 frets between most notes of the Chromatic scale, but only one fret between notes B and C, and notes E and F. The ‘Open’ strings of a guitar are, from the top looking down as you would typically be when playing, E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, E4. So starting at E2, you could play the E Chromatic Scale on one string: E2 open Move down ONE fret towards bridge F2 vi 1 Move down TWO frets toward bridge G2 vi 3 Move down TWO frets towards bridge A2 vi 5 Move down TWO frets towards bridge B2 vi 7 Move down ONE fret towards bridge C3 vi 8 Move down TWO frets towards bridge D3 vi 10 Move down TWO frets towards bridge Page 137 of 339

E3 vi 12 (one Octave higher in pitch than the starting E2 note) Now you can play every one of these notes in succession, and play a Chromatic Scale. Or you can ‘scale’ the ‘pitch ladder’ from any note to its Octave, and beyond, without playing each note. You can leave some out. And create a ‘step pattern’ with its own unique ‘flavor’. There are 12 notes in the Chromatic Scale. The first note is called the ‘root’ or ‘tonic’. That is the note the Scale is named after. There are only 12 notes in Western Music. All intervals are measured from the Root / Tonic / First note of the Scale. So a ‘Third’ refers to the third note of a Scale. Using C Major as an example, the ‘Third’ is the C D E F G A B (C), E note. The ‘Fifth’ of the C Major Chord is thus the C D EF G A B(C), G note. And so when we say a basic Chord Triad is built from the 1-3-5 degrees / notes of the Major Scale, we are referring to the first, third, and fifth notes of the Major Scale. In the case of a C Major Chord built from the 1-3-5 degrees of its synonymous Scale, these are the C, E, and G notes. The ‘Third’ can be a ‘Major’ or a ‘Minor’ Third, depending on how far this 3rd note is from the 2nd note. If it is a Full-Tone (Major) interval, we are dealing with a Major Scale. If this interval between the 2nd and 3rd note, our ‘third’, is only a Semi-Tone (Minor) interval, we are dealing with a Minor Scale. Remembering that a Full-Tone is equal to 2 Semi-Tones. And that each fret on a guitar or key on a Piano is a Semi-Tone distant from the preceding key / fret, and the next fret/key. Different scales are produced when you ‘skip’ some intervals of the Chromatic Scale. For example you might play only the first, then skip the next one, play the next, and so on. That is all a ‘Scale’ is. Literally a ‘Scala’ or ‘Ladder’ to get you from one pitch to another pitch, in a musically satisfying way. The two most important ‘scales’ in Western Music are the ‘Natural’ Major and the ‘Natural’ Minor. And they are easy to learn. Once you have learned the Major Scale interval pattern, you can build any Major or Minor Scale, or chord, you like. It will soon become child’s play. Page 138 of 339

You will know which notes will be ‘safe’ places to ‘land’ if you ‘lose your way’ soloing or looking for a melodic line, namely the first, third, or fifth notes of the scale, or any of the notes of the Chords you are soloing or otherwise improvising over. Right now it will sound confusing and scary, maybe even terrifying, but once you start practicing ‘thinking’ about all this musically, your playing will become that much more intuitive. Soon you will stop consciously thinking about it. Your subconscious, primed with all this information, and now understanding why you were stressing it out with all this ‘theory’, will put it into practice. It will all come into play, over time, until one day you forget what all the ‘terror’ and ‘confusion’ was about. You will simply find yourself ‘knowing’ what note you are playing, and where to go next. All without ever having ‘covered’ anyone else’s songs. You will be able to take any sound you have in your head, and reproduce it on the guitar. With patience and some ‘trial and error’, of course. Then you’ll be able to write up some formal improvisations, test them, and praticse the ones you like until you find your own unique ‘sound’ and ‘feel’. Then from there on you just keep experimenting, randomly, and noting what sounded good and what didn’t, and also more formally, writing up ‘interval’ patterns within scales and chords, and then playing them to see what they really sound like. Like an A.I music program would. Binge and purge. There are an infinite number of variations in pitch, timing, phrasing, and intervals. As long as you don’t get stuck emulating someone else, you will find something original. Sooner or later. If you keep trying. Employing this strategy. T S T T S T T This interval / step pattern generates what we call the ‘Major’ scale. T T S T T T S This interval / step pattern generates what we call the ‘Minor’ scale. Taking the First note, third note, and fifth note of any Major Scale gives you the Natural Major Chord for that starting note / scale. Taking the First note, third note, and fifth note of any Minor Scale gives you the Natural Minor Chord for that starting note / scale. Alternatively just take the 1-b3-5 notes of the Major Scale to produce your Minor Chords. Remember that all chords are named after (synonymous with) the starting note of the Scale you build them from. The ‘1’ note. The ‘1’ degree of the scale. And the difference between a Major Scale and Minor Scale, and Major Chord and Minor Chord, is the ‘Major’ (Full-Tone) or ‘Minor’ (Semi-Tone) interval between the 2nd and the 3rd note / degree of the Scale. Page 139 of 339

Why there are 12 semi-tones in an Octave High German was originally just one ‘dialect’ among many potential candidates for a language for the new federation of ‘German’ states. Back before Germany was occupied bythe Cult of Judah’s ‘Jew’ World Order. It was the dialect which Goethe wrote his masterpieces in. So it was adopted as the national ‘German’ language. Though travel around the South of Germany today and you might get a different impression! The same thing occurred in many other nations such as England and Korea. The language that the most celebrated and admired figures of literature wrote in was usually adopted as the ‘national’ language when the new nation states were formed from the existing ‘regional’ states. Or where a number of dialects from former ‘kingdoms’ were all used, but one became the ‘King’s English’. I explain this to describe how conventions evolve from competing potential options. There is usually some ‘centralising’ impetus at play. The ‘status’ of one convention tends to be higher than the others, and thus it becomes adopted as a ‘national’, and sometimes, ‘universal’ benchmark / standard / reference. So how did the Western musical community end up adopting the idea that it was best to ‘scale’ an Octave in a maximum of 12 steps? Was it imposed upon them? Or was there consensus? Was it the ideal optimal? Or was it a compromise between many competing alternatives, all of which had their own pros and cons, and any of which might have become the ‘norm’ and ‘standard’ and ‘benchmark’ and ‘reference’? How did we end up with the ‘Chromatic’ Scale? The 12 possible notes we can play between any note, and its Octave? The C C#/Db D D#/Eb EF F#/Gb G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B(C)? The notes formed by the frets of a guitar or other fretted instrument, where each fret is One Semi-Tone from the previous fret, and from the next fret? The sequence of notes formed by a piano keyboard by the white (‘Natural’ notes) and black (Sharp/Flat notes) keys? Well, you see, mathematicians, at least since the time of the ancient Sumerians, have had a love affair with the number 12. Why so? Well because it offers mathematicians so many potential divisors / factors for such a small number. For example you can divide 12 by 1, 2 3, 4, 6, and 12. Ten only has a lousy 4 factors, namely 1, 2, 5 and 10. Page 140 of 339

The next number with more potential factors (7), is the number 60. You can divide it by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10. And so the Sumerian Hexa-Decimal system was formed, based on the numbers 60 and 10. So those of you using the ‘Imperial system’ have 12 ounces in a pound, 12 inches to a foot, while analog clocks have 12 hour dials, and calendars have 12 months, hours have 60 minutes a circle has 360 degrees (60 x 60), and a year has…oops … well no system is perfect! Or? Actually there are 12 complete lunar cycles between the shortest and longest days of the year, the winter and summer solstices. Lunar calendars are the oldest form of Calendars, adopted long before we adopted our current ‘solar’ calendars based on the movements of the Sun, rather than those of the moon. This is why you often hear of ‘The Lunar New Year’, or the ‘Russian New Year’, or ‘The Asian New Year’. There are many different ways of time keeping that lead to different cultures assigning different dates to the ‘New ‘ Year. Of course the ‘New’ Year, the ‘re-birth’ of the Sun (Sun-God / Son of God) after his ‘death’ on the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice (in the Northern Hemisphere and thus Palestine and Europe), was adopted as the ‘birth’ date of Jesus, in line with his epithet ‘ The Son of God’. The Sumerians were brilliant Astrologers. Most of the world’s Priesthoods were based on ‘Astro-theology’. Abraham, the ‘father’ of the Cult of Judah, and ‘Islam’ and ‘Chrisitanity’, was a Sumerian Priest before deciding to set up his own cult, and was likely well versed in Astrology and ‘Astro-Theology’. The first Priests were the first Astronomers. The Sumerian Clay Tablets pre-dating all the ‘Cult of Judah’ religions we have today, namely Judah-ism, Christianity, Islam, and Marxism, state that the ‘Annunaki’ (They who down from the heavens came) lived here as gods. They were technologically advanced humanoids who travelled either through a ‘ ‘crossing point’ a.k.a ‘star gate’ a.k.a ‘wormhole’ a.k.a ‘resonant frequency manipulator’, or from a ‘wandering’ planet called ‘Nabiru’, on space ships, depending on how you want to interpret the term ‘Nabiru’. ‘Habiru’ means ‘wanderer’ or ‘nomad’, in Ancient Sumerian. This is the name given to the ‘wandering’ (Habiru) tribes of the region we know today as the ‘Hebrews’. The Cult of Judah enslaved these ‘Habiru’ (Wandering tribes / Hebrews) around 3000 years ago, and will soon have the rest of us enslaved too. See my ‘banned’ Trilogy with Prequel for details. But back to music. Most of the ‘Bible’ tales are less detailed copies of the much earlier Sumerian ‘creation’ and ‘flood’ myths adapted to serve the political strategy of the leaders of the Cult of Judah. The Sumerians also divided the heavens into the 12 signs of the zodiac, which the 13th astrological figure, the ‘sun’, ascended up to at sunrise. Depending on which of Page 141 of 339 these 12 astrological signs the sun ascends towards at sunrise, we get the 12 divisions of the year, and the 2600 year divisions of the Aeons. The Cult of Judah’s second spawn, the Catholic Church, adopted this Astrological convention when ascribing Jesus ‘Christ’, the Son of God, his 12 apostles, after they replaced the then current form of Horus, Mithra, the Sun God, with their new God- man cult figure whom they would use as their source of transferred authority for their own power to enslave and persuade and terrorise their hapless ‘subjects.’. You probably have not heard of ‘The 12 steps of Horus’, the twelves ‘hours’ the sun god takes to cross the sky, very day, if you live one or near the Equator. The convention was, however, adopted as a universal convention, so that there are today 12 ‘day’ hours, and 12 ‘night’ hours, even in Iceland or Norway, where the hours that ‘Horus’ the ‘Sun God’ actually appear vary wildly from 24 to zero. There are a whole bunch of possible, non-arbitrary, musically and mathematically meaningful ways you could divide an Octave. But ‘social reality’ and ‘cultural hegemony’ ultimately decide which is ‘inflicted’ upon us by those with the power to influence ‘convention’ and ‘public opinion’, and the ‘authority’ to ‘impose’ their own tastes and preferences upon us all. Often without our ‘best’ interests at heart, and rarely in the interests of ‘the public good’. I am still trying to ‘grok’ the exact reasons we ended up with a 12 step Chromatic Scale. You’d be amazed at how much literature and conjecture and really heated arguments that exist out in ‘the public domain’ on this topic. I want to ‘grok’ if there is a ‘deeper’ meaning to it all. And what the ‘technical’ justifications are. Just rest assured that there are other ways to divide an Octave. Some divide it into the smallest perceivable units of change in frequency that the average human ear can perceive. I know I have notes on this somewhere. Just got to find them. But in any case, understand that the current system is a compromise. Considered the ‘Optimal’ compromise possible, one which gives priority to what are considered the most ‘musically significant’ intervals, the ones we are most ‘atuned’ to, and which allow for the greatest perception of ‘harmony’, and least experience of disharmony, possible, of all the available alternatives.

The Major Scale and its 8 stepped Celta-delt Think of ‘scaling the heights’. Think of ladders to climb up and down an Octave in discrete intervals so that each increment is equal. So you ascend and descend the ladder smoothly, in both a physical, and a musical sense. Page 142 of 339

On a piano or other keyboard, the ‘Natural not’ ‘rungs’ of the ladder are spaced equally apart. These are the white keys. Between the B and C, and E and F, however, there are black keys for the ‘sharp/flat’ notes of the Chromatic scale. But due to historical events, including the power of the Church at the time that music theory was being formalized, and during which vocal chanting was the dominant form of musical expression promoted, and often even ‘allowed’, by the authorities, the most common way of ‘scaling’ an Octave, of ascending and descending in steps from one note to double or half its frequency, was to take 8 steps. The note C is used as the reference point for Octaves. The musical alphabet is really a Celtadelt, as it starts at C, and ends at B. C D EF G A BC (This C is One octave higher in pitch that the starting C). For example C3, D3, E3, F3, G3, A3, B3, C4. Visualise a keyboard in your mind, after looking at one, or a picture of one. The C note is the first white key before the set of 2 black Keys. All the white keys to the right of this white key make up the C Major Scale. All the notes in it are ‘Natural’ notes, there being no sharps or flats in the C Major Scale. The intervals are automatically accounted for by the black keys between some of these white keys. But you can ignore them for now. You only need to play the white keys from C to C to remain ‘in Key’, no matter how random your playing. Play the white keys to the left to go down in pitch. Play the white keys to the right to go up in pitch. Then learn the E and G notes, to have ‘safe havens’ anytime you ‘get lost’ while improvising. The E note is the We denote Octaves by placing a number after the note. This tells us how many Octaves from the lowest C0 note our note is C0 to C1, C1 to C2 (Low C). C2 to C3, C3 to C4 (Middle C), C4 to C5, C5 to C6 (High C), C6 to C7. Music, mythology, religion, mathematics, and magic are all inextricably linked. Music has the power to move us emotionally and change our moods. It can elevate our moods and move us to sympathetically resonate / dance with it. Plato wanted to ban flute music as he considered it too sexual, in the same way that modern rock music was criticised in the U.S, and Jazz music was criticized in Europe, in the 20th century. Given the ability to 'play piano on your guitar' using ReaTune, or to compose music completely using MIDI editors and virtual instruments, or at least to provide 'lush' accompaniments and orchestrations on a generic laptop using cheap or free software, it has become more important than ever to learn just enough theory to get the most out of the amazing opportunities that MIDI software presents, from adding Page 143 of 339 some violins to a pop song, or completely rearranging a vocal track, and 're-writing' a vocal melody in ReaTune, ReaVoice, or ReaPitch. In fact, with the little understsanding of music notation I have provided in other chapters, you could go ahead and use the Notation Editor in Reaper to write music directly to the staff. Hopefully I have inspired you to delve a little deeper. So let’s do that now. Let’s learn a littler more theory. Scale or ‘Scala’ is Latin for ‘ladder’. Octave or ‘Octava’ is Latin for ‘eight’.

The Catholic Church at some point in time decided to ‘climb’ the ‘ladder’, to scale the distance between one note, and double its frequency, in the now famous 8 steps, a-la ‘Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti, (and that brings us back to) Do’. And so the term ‘Octave’, or ‘8 v.a’, stuck. 7 sung notes. 7 days of the week. That magical number 7 that keeps repeating throughout mythology, including that of ‘The Bible’. No co-incidence that the early Catholic Church music is believed to have been derived from earlier Jewish chants. Or that these derived from yet earlier Egyptian chants. The basis, according to many scholars, of music as we know it. But as we found in another chapter, the ‘Ladder’ from one frequency, to double itself, is best climbed in 12 equal steps, all things considered. 12 tribes of Israel. 12 Apostles. 12 months of the year. 12 signs/constellations of the Zodiac. The 12 labors of Hercules. The 12 hours to an equatorial day (The 12 steps of Horus (the sun-god who travelled across the sky each day). Who’d a thunk it, eh? Any pattern of steps or intervals can be considered a scale or mode. A ‘ladder’ to ‘climb’ from one note to the note that is double its frequency. Originally Major scales were known as 'Ionian', in honor of the Greek tribe assumed to have been closesly connected with this scale which the Church chanters found so appealing. What makes it a ‘Major’ scale is the 2 semi-tone (major) interval between the second and third note in the scale. The frets on a guitar are placed one semi-tone apart. The guitar is set up according to the 12 semi-tone system. A keyboard is set up with white keys to cover the ‘natural’ notes that make up the C Major Scale and its Relative Minor, the A Minor Scale, and all the ‘Modes’, and black notes for Keys with sharps/flats. Page 144 of 339

So learning music theory is much easier and more intuitive on a keyboard, compared to a guitar. Anyone can immediately play a C Major scale by playing the 8 white notes beginning before the first of the set of two black notes. Or by starting on the A note, they can play the A minor scale, in the same way. Remember there are 7 notes ‘in’ the scale. But the idea of ‘scaling’ up the frequency means it takes 8 notes to reach the ‘top’. To ‘double’ the frequency of the starting note’. This is the source of the power of the number ‘13’. It represents a doubling of something. An ‘ascenscion’ to higher resonances. To higher ‘tone’. To a ‘higher level’. To be the same, and yet much more. The Major scale / Ionian mode ‘mode’ of ‘scaling’ from from C3 to C4, is ‘is to climb the ladder in the following ‘steps’. From C3 to D3 to E3 to F3 to G3 to A3 to B3 to C4. Major keys are constructed using the pattern of: Root Tone - Semi-tone - Tone Tone - Semi-tone – Tone – (Octave). They are often described as sounding more masculine, open, hard, extroverted, or even ‘pure’. The term ‘Major’ refers to the full Tone step between the second and third notes. Minor keys have a semi-tone interval between the second and third note, giving the pattern Root - Tone – Semi-tone - Tone - Tone - Tone – Tone – (Octave). This difference leads to a sound people describe as 'feminine', 'soft','serious', 'important', 'sad', 'introverted’, and ‘romantic’. So love songs are usually written in Minor keys. Each major scale has a relative minor scale, which begins on the 6th note of its relative Major scale. The sixth note of a C Major Scale is A. And so the relative minor of C Major is A minor. But if you think like me, in terms of Chromatic scales, and 12 intervals, and frets on a guitar, you can think of it this way. You go up 9 semi-tones from the major to get the relative minor. For example: C (maj) tone D tone E semi F tone G tone A (min) is 9 semi-tones. Alternatively you can descend any Major scale back 3 semi-tones to find its relative minor. In this case C- semi-tone -B - 2 semi-tones -A. Or if you like, you go up 3 semi-tones from the minor to get its relative major. For example A (min) tone B semi C (maj) which is 3 semi-tones. The minor scale was originally known as the 'Aeolian' mode, which in Greek refers to 'Air' or 'Wind'. Page 145 of 339

Keep in mind that each major key or chord has a so-called 'relative' minor key which contains exactly the same notes, but because the starting point, the key or chord root, is different, for example C Vs A, the interval between the second and third notes in the key, or chord, are different, that is, either a full tone (for major) or semi- tone (for minor). Go through the chromatic scale yourself starting from A, and then from C, using the same notes, and you will see how it affects the 'sound' of the scale. How, while the notes are the same, the interval between the notes is different. And so we get the following pairs of Major keys with their ‘Relative’ Minor keys. They are ‘related’ as they contain the same notes C Am, G Em, D Bm, A F#m, E C#m, B G#m, F# D#m, C# A#m, G# Fm, D# Cm, A# Gm ... (noting that A#m is also called Bflatm, depending on whether you are ascending or descending in pitch from the start of the song/piece of music. When ascending, moving from left to right, from bass to treble, along the keyboard, we name the 'black' keys on the piano sharps, and when we are coming down in pitch, from right to left on the keyboard, we name them flats. We name them after the note preceding them, so depending on which direction you came, the same note will be relatively flat compared to the prior note, or relatively sharp. The next most common scale in Western music, after the major and minor scales, is the ‘pentatonic’ scale, which can be major or minor. Each note in a pentatonic scale is, from the point of view of a major scale, (or for its minor equivalent, the minor scale) 5 notes apart. But from a guitarist’s point of view, they are 7 semi-tones apart. And then re- assigned back to the Octave of the note you began with. That means if you end up ‘climbing’ from C2 to C3, you take all the C3 D3 E3 F3 G3 A3 B3 notes and change their numbers back to 2’s. For example C major pentatonic is C [7 semi-tones] G [7 semi-tones] D [7 semi-tones] A [7 semi-tones] E, rearranged in ascending series to give C D E G A. The C minor pentatonic uses notes 5 notes apart on the minor scale, which are still 7 semi-tones apart, rearranged and all placed in the same key. To explain what I mean, calculate the notes of an open B chord on a guitar. The lowest B possible on a standard 6 string guitar is B2. So when constructing the chord, you have to make all your notes 2's, even though in theory some of them are ‘3’s. Notes belonging to the C3 D3 E3 F3 G3 A3 B3 ‘Octave’. You have to use instead the equivalent note, in the C2 D2 E2 F2 G2 A2 B2 ‘Octave’. Page 146 of 339

Scales with only five notes are common in western rock music, but also in traditional Asian music, some of which is not even based on our 12 note chromatic scale. Add to the pentatonic scale a sixth 'blue' note (in the case of minor pentatonic a diminished fifth, and in the case of a major pentatonic a minor third) and you have the 'blues' scale. And so the first 5 notes are all 7 semi-tones apart (but re-ordered and placed within the key of the tonic / root note i.e so they follow it / have the same number. For example C3 (D3 E3 F3 G3 A3 B3) or B2 (C2 D2 E2 F2 G2 A2) with the sixth note added to give it a bluesy flavor. It makes more sense to me to talk about scales in terms of their semi-tone pattern rather than how music theory traditionally refers to them. In other words, to take the Chromatic scale, the ’12 steps’, as the reference point. This is how I worked out my own ‘circle of 7ths’, which I feel, for guitarists, makes a lot more sense than a ‘circle of 5ths’. We will get to that in a moment.

Why we conform to Church standards Sometimes the shortest distance is not the quickest route to take Sure on a map it looks like the best option, but those who know the actual terrain intimately, will take what appears to be a much longer route, because it will allow them to reach their objective quicker and more easily. For this reason most musicial theory explanations being wiith the question of why there are 7 notes (8 if you include the Octave) in the Major Scale, rather than why the Octave has been divided into 12 notes. If you are a soloist, you can go your own way. Be an individual. Be a lone wolf. Fight the power. Do your own thing and everyone else be damned! But what if you want to ‘write’ your music for others to play? Or what if you wanted to form a band? At least play a duet with that cute girl from the next village? Surely you’d want your playing to be ‘harmonious’. And the best way to ensure that is harmoniouis is for you and that cute girl to agree to adopt the same pitch intervals on your instruments, if they are fretted, or fixed like a piano. This whay the same ‘note’ on each instrument would be the same frequency. Playing C3 on each instrument would produce the same fundamental frequency. So the instruments would sound ‘in tune’ with each other. Page 147 of 339

This is what gave the impulse for uniformity. The more music evolved in complexity, and the more instruments that were invented, the more there was a need to agree on the intervals that would be used by any instrument that was fretted or otherwise fixed like a piano. What was needed was a shared / agreed upon system of tuning. Or one that some powerful group could impose on everyone else. Hmm. Who has the most power? Well, God of course, or at least his supposed spokes-organization, the church. They were about the only 'gig' in town for most musicians at the time that the 'modern' instruments and music notation systems were evolving. Please refer to my ‘Vocal Training Guide’ for details on how to free your own unique, natural, unforced, singing voice, improve your posture, breathing, and even eliminate migraines and TMJ. Human vocal folds have no discrete ‘frets’. No fixed ‘intervals’. Though if you haven’t been doing my vocal training exercises, that ‘zipper’ is likely to get stuck often enough, and make it sound like you do have some sort of ‘frets’ on your vocal chords. The vocal folds can be 'zipped up' and 'zipped down' within the person's vocal range, to produce a theoretically infinite number of pitches, sliding up and down at will like a fretless bass, violin, or woodwind instrument. But one particularly powerful institution was the one ‘hiring’ the musicians to do their ‘gigs’, and ‘sponsoring’ the ‘up and coming talent’ with ‘house gigs’ and ‘playing for your supper’. This was ‘The Church’. And this sponsor and ‘gig’ giver’s tastes ran exclusively to vocal chanting, at least in the early years. The number one smash hit of the time was that catchy ‘Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do’ that ‘The Sound of Music’ surely has made us all familiar with. Along with Defamation and demonisation of Nazism and Hitler, which was the real motive for that musical! Long before D’oh (Homer Simpson), there was Do. A dear. A female dear, to be more precise! In order to write this catchy pop tune so that all the ‘cover bands’ could play it in their own local Churches, some form of standardization was needed. Otherwise you’d write some form of TAB you thought represented what you’d just sung, but the people ‘reading’ your TAB might interpret it totally differently. Ruining the whole song! God damn them all to hell! The popular Church chants using the tones 'Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti' , over time, became the ‘standard’ by which to measure all things musical. Page 148 of 339

This song lyric became the basis of the CDEFGAB, ‘C Major’ scale. This was adopted as the reference for all keyboard instruments. Now musicians and singers could perform together, as they had a ‘benchmark’. They knew what to expect, and what was expected. They could also record their amazing works of art for future generations to enjoy, in the form of a simple form of music ‘Notation’. It took a long time for everyone to resolve on some sort of standard, but sooner or later everyone adopted this convention as their own. Now anyone could write down the simple melody for their vocal chant and be confident that the people trying to reproduce it would not make a dogs breakfast of it. They could be confident that others would ‘do their song justice’. It was now possible for music to be ‘recorded’ and ‘reproduced’. Stored. Shared around the world. Long before radio and the ‘beast’, the ‘W6W6W6, soundcloud, CDbaby, BitChute, and Dtube.video made it possible, thanks to ‘Optimal Reaper’, for musicians to share their ideas with others. Before this the only way for music to be ‘transmitted’ from one person to another was literally by performing it, and having the person present, reproducing it. That person would then have to travel to the next place where the ‘kids’ were hungry for the next pop sensation! I will probably repeat this simple strategy over and over, because it really ‘opens up’ the keyboard for anyone. C major is CDEFGAB(C). The 7 white keys from, and including, C. C is the white key before the set of two black keys. Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti (Do) The ‘intervals’ are conveniently laid out on a keyboard so you don’t have to think of them at all. You can just ignore the ‘black’ keys for now. Whew. Just play from C and be in the Key of C all the way, or start from A and play to the next or previous A, and remain in the key of A Minor, all the way. Without paying any attention to those black keys at all. Now you can write your first melody. Then by selecting and dragging the MIDI notes, you can transpose the melody into any key you like. See ‘Optimal Reaper’ for details. So why have those black keys at all then? Well, the thing is, Scales ascend and descend octaves by intervals. And some of these intervals are sharps / flats. And that is what the black keys are. The sharps / flats between C and D, D and E, F and G, G and A, and A and B. Page 149 of 339

Now is it a coincidence that the C Major Scale is so easy to play? You one of them tin foil hat ‘co-inncidence theorists?’ The ones who think that things just happen by chance, and just happen to make one particular group of people on this planet increasingly wealthy and powerful? Or did perhaps the people working with the first ‘Piano’ type keyboard instruments work alongside the people ‘formalising’ the then nascent ‘music theory’? There are 5 black keys between any 2 consequtive C notes on keyboard. Take a look at a keyboard or photo of one to convince yourself I am not trying to trick you! Now note that there are in fact two discrete ‘sets’ of black keys. One set of 2 black keys. And one set of 3 black keys. The keyboard merely repeats the C to C Octave pattern over and over. This pattern repeats. I have a 91st percentile Performance IQ, and I’m embarrassed to say this pattern did not ‘speak to me’ for some time. I didn’t notice. I had so little interaction with keyboards I’d not had the chance to stumble upon this obviously repeating pattern. Depending on the range of your keyboard, how many keys it has, will determine the range of pitches it can produce, from left to right, from lowest to highest, and how many times the pattern will repeat to achieve this range of pitches. If your keyboard has a range from C1 to C7 it means this pattern will repeat 6 times. Many of us use compact MIDI keyboards. In this case you hit an ‘Octave’ button to raise or lower the pitch of the keys, instead of moving further left or right to reach the lower and higher notes. Hit the ‘octaver’ button to change the current C4 into a C5 or C3, for example. It is that easy to C and A on a keyboard, at a glance. The first white before the set of 2 black keys, and the white key before the last of the set of 3 black keys. Take a look at a keyboard now to see I’m not trying to trick you! And that I’m not deluded. You know most people who ‘see what is really there’ are defined as ‘mentally ill’ in our society, where the ‘social reality’ is being constructed with a very definite purpose in mind, to trick you into not seeing what is there, to facilitate the establishment of a ‘Jew’ World Order. When it comes to fretted instruments like guitrars, it takes a bit more effort to find, and memorise, all the possible positions of any particular pitch of C. Page 150 of 339

But one set of 5 C’s can be quickly found once you’ve found any C on either the Bass E vi string, Treble E I string, G3 iii string, or D3 iv string. You’ll find this trick under the heading ‘Octaves triangles’. Gee Three Nuts and Two Dee Bridge will soon mean something to you! A minor is the ‘relative’ minor of C Major. Its notes are the same as C Major, only starting at A. A is the white key just before the last of the set of 3 black keys. On a Keyboard it is the 7 white keys from, and including, A. ABCEFG (A). As both these keys have no sharps or flats (no black keys), they are the simplest keys to write and play in. Just basically play the 7white keys either side of the first white key before the set of 2 black keys. . Either way you will remain in a key without having to think too much. That is half the struggle to composing music. Later you can ‘transpose’ any MIDI notes to any key, in a moment. See ‘Optimal Reaper’ for details. Now let’s continue on our journey. There are, and have been, many different systems which divide the octave into as few as 5, and as many as 50 intervals. In fact the first instruments had no fixed pitches. They were either unfretted stringed instruments, percussive instruments like drums, or woodwind instruments like flutes. As new instruments with fixed pitches like fretted guitars and pianos evolved, it became necessary to agree on which intervals the octave would be divided into. In other words how many frets for the first guitar prototypes, and how many individual, fixed ‘notes’ for the first piano prototypes. Once you have a fret, or fixed a length of piano wire to a key, that key or fret's note is fixed. You cannot play 'between' guitar frets or piano keys'. Push a string or key down at any point and it will 'touch' only one fret, or hammer only one particular string. Of course you can bend a guitar note, but that is just confusing the point here. So how did they arrive at the conclusion that everyone in the world should suddenly divide an octave on all stringed instruments into 12 intervals? Well, when two notes are played together, or in succession, they will sound pleasingly ‘harmonious’, if their waves converge every few cycles. For this to occur, the two waveform’s frequencies need to be whole multiples of each other. Sounding the same note twice sounds harmonious. That’s call a ‘unison’. A frequency proportion of 1:1. They ‘match up’ every cycle. Page 151 of 339

The frequencies of two notes an octave apart match up once every two cycles. That’s an ‘Octave’. A frequency proportion of 2:1. A 600Hz waveform and a 200 Hz waveform will coincide, and be in phase, every complete third cycle, or about 200 times every second. The human ear is capable of perceiving 5 percent change in pitch. The current system divides an octave into 1200 'cents', allotting each of the 12 intervals 100c each. So in theory we could have 20 times more intervals than we do today. That possible with today’s Virtual Software Instruments (VSTi’s). But imagine an actual physical instrument with that many keys or frets. Try to build one. Then try playing more than one octave on it. And consider how many of the ‘intervals’ would actually ‘sound good’. That brings us to which number of intervals would maximize the number of harmonious intervals. Which would give us the highest number of harmonious combinations of notes. Turns out to be 60. The Babylonians used a mathematical system based on the number 60, for such ‘magical’ and ‘mathematical’ reasons as this. Hence ‘The Name of The Number of The Beast’, which is 600, 60, and 6, is written in the Babylonian cuneiform as WWW. Yes folks, the World Wide Web. But dividing an Octave into 60 intervals proved impractical. Imagine what an instrument with 60 frets or hammered strings connected to keys, would look like. What would it be like to play? So they looked for a more practical number of intervals to divide the octave into. So which just happens to be the first number lower than 60, with the most harmonious intervals. The most factors? Yep, you guessed it, 12. The number 12 is divisible by more whole numbers than any other number less than 60. It is divisible by 1,2,3,4, and 6. The 12 tone equal-tempered scale had the smallest number of intervals that contained all 7 of the harmonious (consonant or ‘good sounding’) intervals within an acceptable ‘degree of error’, while containing the greatest proportion of consonant (harmonious) intervals to dissonant (bad sounding) intervals. If you take a length of string, and set it to vibrating, then halve that length of string, it will vibrate at twice the frequency it originally did. This is the basis of the Octave. If Page 152 of 339 you then halve the length of the string again, it will vibrate at a perfect fifth, one octave higher than the original. Can you guess how many times it is possible to divide a guitar string by half, and still be able to ‘finger’ it? This is my own theory. But test it for yourself. Grab a piece of string, about the length of a guitar string, and see. As it happens, a fifth is the smallest non-octave interval, with a frequency ratio of 3:2. The fifths on a 12 note equal tempered scale have a ratio of almost 1:5:1. 1.498:1 to be precise You can test the logic in this way, if you have a mind to. Start stacking pure fifths. The first result reasonably close to stacked octaves (2:1) is 12 fifths. This is a ratio of 531441:4096 as opposed to 128:1 for 7 octaves. So if you are looking for a tonality built from stacked octaves and almost perfect fifths, a 12 tone division is the most practical. From this point on all sorts of instruments could be tuned to the same system, and played together, in harmony. And so we end up with the ‘modern’ 12 semi-tone Octave. The 12 steps of Horus as notes.

Taking any stringed instrument can provide a more intuitive, non-mathematical way to comprehend why we divide an octave into 12 notes, and even why fret distances get shorter from nut to bridge The simplest way to get a range of notes is to take a string of a particular thickness and string tension, and simply vary its length. In this way you vary its total mass. And the frequency it will vibrate at when struck or plucked. Frequency refers to how often something happens, or repeats. In the case of soundwaves it is how often a sound wave completes a full cycle. We measure one complete cycle from any Odb amplitude to the next 0db amplitude. How often this occurs per second gives us the frequency of any sound wave in Hertz, namely ‘cycles per second’. Page 153 of 339

In the case of stringed instruments like pianos or guitars, it is how often per second the string vibrates / completes a loop between its two fixed ends. If you use strings of a single thickness, you end up with some very long strings. So it is more practical to increase the thickness of some strings, rather than increase their length, to change their total mass, and therefore the frequency they will vibrate at when struck or plucked. So a piano has one string per note. It has strings of both different length and different thickness. Simply to keep the size of the piano down to a more convenient size. A guitar has different thickness strings for the same reason. Pure convenience. A piano or harp have many more strings than would be convenient to put on a guitar. So instead of having 6 times 24 strings (144) strings, we have 24 frets on each string. But this does not mean we have 144 different notes. Because of the different string thicknesses we end up repeating the same notes up to five times across the different fret-string positions of the guitar fretboard. The guitar is limited to the range of around E2 to about G5, depending on the tunings used. The standard tuning starts as E2. And some guitars have shorter or longer necks with fewer or more frets. Between the 12th fret and the nut are 12 semi-tone steps, each producing the notes (nut / open position E2), fret one F2, F2#, G2, G2#, A2, A2#, B2, C3, C3#, D3, D3#, fret 12 E3. The frets are positioned at semi-tone intervals down the neck. This allows us to shorten the string length in intervals. Instead of having 24 separate strings, like the separate strings on a piano, the guitar has 24 frets. Your finger is used to shorten the string. The frets mean you don't have to be so precise with your fingering. You press down on the string so the string touches a fret, ideally at one point on the fret. What you are doing is temporarily creating a new string length, and hence a new note. The 12th fret on any guitar is positioned half-way between the nut and the bridge. The nut and bridge form the two ends of the string, and the distance between them defines the strings effective vibrating length, like two children holding a skipping rope. The 12th fret is positioned half-way between the nut and bridge. So when you fret a string at the 12th fret you halve the effective vibrating length of the string. It is like hitting a string half the length of the open string. Page 154 of 339

Halving the length, all other things remaining equal, will double its vibrational frequency, and hence its perceived pitch. And so you will produce the same note, one octave higher than when picking the open string. You go from E2 to E3, A3 to A4, D3 to D4, G3 to G4, B3 to B4, or E3 to E4. At first we tend to expect that the distance between each fret should be the same, because we think in terms of halving a length, and then dividing it into 12 equal intervals. But consider this. When we add the first fret, we divide the distance between it and the octave into 12 equal steps. So we place the first fret at 1/12th of the distance. Times moves on. All is flux. You can never step in the same river twice. We are now in a new world. We have changed the world by adding that fret. So the first interval will be 1/12th the distance from the nut to the 12th fret. The second interval will be 1/11th of 11/12ths. The third interval will be 1/10th of 10/11ths. Looking at an octave in terms of mathematics may be more intuitive for some people. To get from C3 to C4 requires a doubling of the pitch. Ideally we would divide an Octave into 12 intervals, for reasons given in a separate chapter in this guide. We need to go from the tonic, to its Octave, in 12 steps. 1.06, multiplied by itself 12 times, gives 2.

Just intonation and 12 tone equal temperament 12 tone equal temperament divides the octave into 12 exactly equal intervals, even though the notes thus obtained do not always exactly correspond to the proportions we perceive as 'harmonic'. The rules of pure harmony would make at least some of the intervals slightly unequal. It is mathematically impossible for ALL the 12 notes to match the true ratio they belong to. As explained in another chapter of this guide, humans can perceive intervals of 5 cents, it means that they would arrive at a different position for E and G, the third and fifth notes of the major scale, than we actually do, using the adopted conventions of using only 12 intervals. ‘Just intonation’ refers to this ideal Page 155 of 339 correspondence existing between the frequencies of any two notes and the ratios they belong to. Based on what would be possible, using 5 cent intervals, and starting at C (which the musical alphabet does) the perfect ratio would be 1:1 or a 'unison', with a frequency of 261.626, 0 intervals about C. Remember that harmony is all about proportion. Take any note, and you will find that the interval that people will perceive as being in harmony with this note is the interval 3:2 greater than it. This is the perfect fifth with its frequency ratio of 3:2. To put this in a concrete context, consider one string vibrating 3 times, while the other vibrates twice, in the same period of time. To be more concrete, a G note vibrates 3 times in the time it takes for a C note to vibrate twice. Consider the C Major Scale of C D EF G A B(C). G is the fifth note. The ‘perfect fifth’. The conventional system therefore focusses on getting this, considered the most important, interval correct, and sacrifices other intervals, which are less important to our perception of harmony. Next would come the 'Major Third' with its ratio of 5:4 which is E, the 'third' note of the C 'Major' scale, which has a frequency of 327.031, and would be 76 intervals, if each were 5 cents. However under the compromise we adopted, it is actually 80 units above C. The next mathematically harmonious proportion is the ratio of 3:2, which means the fifth note in the major scale G, which has a frequency of 392.4375. Using our 5 cent intervals, this would be 240 intervals above C, which is half a unit off what our conventional system 'tempers' it to. Finally we would reach the next octave with a ratio of 2:1, the 'eighth' note of the C major scale, C, which has a frequency of 523.252, and would be 240 units above C, which it is. However other intervals are up to 10 units off, or in conventional terms, almost half an interval sharp or flat, under the current tempered system, than they 'should' be. In the Nordic legend of the world-snake, which does cause earthquakes and tidal waves, it could be killed, averting those disasters. But the consequences, we are warned, would be even worse. Page 156 of 339

In the same way, we could adjust the intervals to make the major third correct, but then the perfect fifth from A to E would be wrong. So basically we stick with our compromise, to avoid worse consequences. Someone is bound to be unhappy with any compromise. But once you accept what you have, at least you avoid the chronic conflict of having to constantly renegotiate the system. Mostly the discrepancies between what is mathematically and sonically harmonious, and what the ‘tempered’ scale produces, are not that disturbing to most listeners, most of the time. Simple because so few of us enjoy ‘perfect pitch’. As they say, there is no such thing as perfection. There is no benefit that is not tempered with some cost. No joy that is untampered with sorrow. Having perfect pitch, it appears, is a double edged sword. So under the system we have adopted, known as 'even temperament', each note, as you ascend from C3 to its octave C4, is actually around 1.06 times the previous note, which itself is 1.06 times the preceding note, and so on. So as you go from nut to 24th fret, each pitch is about 1.06 times higher than the previous fretted (or open note where the nut is the fret) note. 1.06 times itself 12 times, or 1.06 to the power of 12, gives you the number 2. In other words you double the frequency over 12 steps. You go from a tonic to its Octave, over 12 intervals. 12 steps. 12 frets. Length and frequency are inversely proportional. As one goes up, the other goes down. If pitch is to increase, then the proportional length must decrease. In other words, as you go from C3 to C4, each interval must be shorter, to retain the same proportion of it to the rest of the remaining length of string, which is becoming shorter and shorter with each added fret. To get the same change in pitch on a shorter string, you need only move a shorter distance, than you would need to move on a longer string. Harmony, in architecture, music, or a human body, is all a question of proportion, rather than any absolute. It is the proportion of the nose to the face that decides if it will be considered beautiful, rather than the absolute size of either the face or the nose. There is a famous 'golden mean' or proportion which almost guarantees a building, face, or piece of music will be experienced by a human as 'beautiful'. The ratios remain the same, while the remaining length (once part of it has been 'fretted off' by the fret and reduced in length) gets shorter, hence the next proportional ratio will produce a shorter distance than the preceding fret distance. Page 157 of 339

Seen mathematically, each semitone is, 2 to the power of 1/12, times greater than the previous. Therefore the intervals will not be numerically equal. And so, geometrically, the distances between frets should not be the same Ultimately we end up with each fret interval being about 5% smaller than the last fret interval, to make it all work. Or in other words, each successive fret interval will be about 0.95 the size of the previous fret interval. The first fret is located about 5.6% of the scale length from the nut. The second fret is located about 5.6% of the residual portion of the scale length after the first fret interval is taken off. As the remaining length gets shorter, 5.6% of this gets shorter in absolute terms. So first fret interval distance is 5.6% of entire length of string from nut to bridge. The 24th fret is 5.6% of distance from 23rd fret to the bridge. Clearly while the proportion remains constant, the absolute interval is going to be much shorter. A standard 6 string guitar, has a standard tuning of E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, and E4. The strings, when plucked or picked, have fundamental frequencies of 82 Hz, 110 Hz, 147 Hz, 196 Hz, 247 Hz, and 330 Hz respectively. But you could produce the same tones on a wind instrument. So what distinguishes one instrument from another is the pattern of overtones that develop after this fundamental is sounded. The way the upper harmonics (octaves) intermingle. In fact the same principle applies to the different frets on the same guitar. Even the age of a string, before or after being ‘strung’, will affect these subtle sonic characteristics. Even how hard you strike or pluck each fretted note will have an impact on the sound. Hence the old saying ‘tone is in the guitarists fingers’. So while we talk about the harmonic ‘vibration’ or ‘swing’ of a guitar string, the actual soundwaves produced by the entire interaction, is much more complex. The way the guitar is built. The materials it is made from. The way it is played, Even air humidity and temperature, all play their role in producing the final ‘tones’ we hear. The top plate of an acoustic guitar will tend to empathetically resonate more with higher frequencies than the back plate, which tends to empathetically resonate more with lower frequencies. The string vibration is transferred directly via the saddle and bridge to the guitar. The sound waves produced in the body are ‘tuned’ and amplified by the shape and materials which produce complex phase re-enforcement of different frequency bandwidths which are then ‘channeled’ out the sound-hole to the listener. The volume of air in the guitar, and the shape, size, and location of the sound-hole are all variables that can be ‘tuned’. Page 158 of 339

[8 v.a as you see that from C3 to C4, inclusive, we have 8 ‘Natural’ notes] We can‘scale’ an Octave, from one note, to double its frequency, in a maximum of 12 frets. Thus the ‘Penta-tonic’ scale gets from C3 to C4 in five steps.

‘Scaling’ the ‘rungs’ of the musical ladder between Octaves While people often refer to the ‘Modes’ as different ways of playing the Major Scale, all scales are merely different ‘modes’ of ascending and descending, of ‘scaling’ up and down, an Octave, the 12 notes of the Chromatic Scale. Visualise a ladder (scala) whose rungs are made up of the notes of the Chromatic Scale. Some of the rungs are spaced twice the distance apart as the others. Visualise the rungs being named with the following letters and numbers and symbols. From the bottom rung to the top rung. C3 C#3 D3 D#3 E3 F3 F#3 G3 G#3 A3 A#3 B3 C4. Visualise rungs B and C, and E and F as one unit apart. Whereas all the other rungs of this ladder are 2 units apart. There is an interval of 1 unit between the rungs B and C, and E and F, and an interval of 2 units between all the other rungs. This is the ‘step-pattern’ or ‘interval pattern’ of the Chromatic Scale. Technically all other ‘Scales’ are ‘modes’ of this Chromatic Scale. But for historical reasons the Major Scale is used as the reference for all music theory. We speak of the ‘intervals’ between these 12 notes which make up the rungs of our ladder. Our ladder has a particular ‘step pattern’ known as the ‘Chromatic Scale’. In Catholic Church vocal chanting, the Octave was originally divided with only 8 intervals between the Octaves. This way of ‘scaling’ an Octave has become known as ‘The Major Scale’, because the interval between the 2nd and 3rd degrees / notes of the Scale is a ‘Major’ Interval of a Full-Tone (2 Semi-Tones). Page 159 of 339

However not all the intervals of this ‘mode’ of getting from one note to its Octave, were equal. Simply as the basis of all Western music theory became a pleasant sounding, but technically arbitrary, as far as I can so far ‘grok’, vocal chant of Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. Thus the ‘rungs’ of this ladder for example, from C3 to C4, are the notes: C3 C#3 D3 D#3 E3 F3 F#3 G3 G#3 A3 A#3 B3 C4. The ‘Major Scale’ represents a uniqe ‘mode’ of scaling the Octaves. Like bicylcles and aeroplanes are both ‘modes’ of transport. Or writing or speaking are both ‘modes’ of communication. The Major Scale of Do Re Mi Fa So Lat Ti Do (8v.a) is the first ‘Mode’. The ‘Dorian’ is the Second Mode. And so on. All the modes use the same notes and interval pattern as their ‘Parent’ Major Scale. But because each of the modes begins its ‘scaling’ of the octave from a different note of the Major Scale, their ‘interval patterns’ are all different and so they sound different. The Ionian (starts on 1st note), Dorian (starts on 2nd note), Phrygian (starts on the 3rd note), Lydian (starts on the 4th note), Mixolydian (starts on the the 5th note), Aeolian (starts on the 6th note), and Locrian (starts on the 7th/last note) of the Major Scale. So note that starting the G Major Scale at A instead of G, gives you’re the A Dorian Scale. Etc. As the ‘Ionian Mode’ begins on the first note of its ‘parent’ Major Scale, it is the Major Scale. It is called the ‘Ionian mode’ only when we are talking about ‘modes’. The Ionian mode (Major Scale in this context) is the reference point for all the modes. It has the interval pattern you should have memorised by now: T T S T T T S To clarify: 1st note (Root /starting note) Tone 2nd note Tone 3rd note Semi-Tone 4th note Tone 5th note Tone 6th note Tone 7th note (Semi-Tone to Octave)

Changing Keys

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Say you’ve written a great melody or chord progression. And then you or someone else rights words for it. But the singer isn’t comfortable singing at the same pitch. In the Key your chord progression or melody was originally written in. Sometimes a singer has much more flexibility in some keys than others, even though they can sing in almost any key. The qualities of their voice may favor a particular range of keys. Or they may not really be a naturally gifted singer, and are only capable of singing in their normal speaking voice register. Barry White is not going to sing ‘Sweet Child of Mine’ like Axel Rose! Now you can place a Capo on your guitar, and play the exact same notes or chords higher in pitch, further ‘up’ the neck towards the bridge. Or you can learn the ‘Barre’ chords, and other ‘moveable’ shapes, and simply find the equivalent chord you want to play further ‘up’ the neck, towards the bridge, and thus higher in pitch. If you need to lower the pitch, you can de-tune your Open Strings by a Semi-Tone without any real ‘damage’, or even go further. Then you can play the exact same notes or Chords in the same positions, just one Semi-Tone lower in pitch. When you are more advanced, you will be aware of all the possible ‘positions’ at which to play the various Octaves on your guitar. You will be able to ‘build’ the chords you want from the notes available, at all the possible positions. You will know where to find the same ‘root notes’ for your solos in different Keys, in the multiple positions available to guitarists. On a Keyboard it is much simpler, as you have only one option of how to play any Scale or Chord in any particular Key. And to change the Octave all you need to do is move to your left on the keyboard to go down in pitch, or to your right on the keyboard, to go up in pitch. You can just play exactly the same thing you wrote, just at a different ‘position’ on the Keyboard. Starting on a different key. Literally.

There are only 12 notes in the musical universe. But the same note can be played in many different octaves. At different ‘pitches’ or ‘frequencies’. At different whole number multiples or divisions of the starting note’s fundamental frequency.. The musical ‘Celtadelt’ starts at C and ends at B? WTF? Have we fallen into some sort of ‘Torah’ world? Where non-existent planes are flown into buildings but don’t appear on radar, or in video footage, and somehow produce controlled demolitions requiring months of preparation, almost impossible to obtain nano-thermite shaped charges (Unless you are a Bush or CIA – MOSSAD), and very hard to come by expertise? A world where ‘lone gunmen’ who were officially certified dead the night Page 161 of 339 before, king dozens of children whose parents’ official employment description is ‘crisis actor’? And whom all have ‘twins’? Or where Space Shuttle crews happen to be selected exclusively from twin sets? So that the ‘twins’ of the ‘victims’ of the ‘Challenger tragedy’ can replace their siblings, who apparently died on television, in their chosen careers, without a hitch, or even ‘orientation training’ being required? Well it the musical ‘Alpha-Bet’ (as in A-lpha, B-et-a) is A B C D E F G. But as the musical alphabet in Italian is sung from the C note, as Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti, and that brings us back to, ‘Do’. We get a ‘C-elta Delt-a of C D E F G A B C D EF G A B(C 8v.a) For example Middle C goes from C4 to C5 in this way: C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4 B4 C5, to give us Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do within one octave, from C to C. This can make it a little confusing at first, when you write the Octave of, for example, from A4 to A5. For it will be A4, B4, C5, D5, E5, F5, G5, A5.

[Start using this way of writing notes. And writing your own TAB. It will help you find the same notes on your guitar on a keyboard, and vice versa. It will clear up / prevent confusion. It will help your ‘orientate’ most simply on any keyboard. It will let you transcribe your guitar chords and melodies to Keyboard. You will be able to communicate more precisely with other musicans. Stop thinking ‘Bass E’ / ‘Low E’/ ‘High E’ / ‘Treble E’ and starting thinking E2 and E4. Do this with all your notes. It will pay off in many ways]. So, the musical ‘alphabet’ (but as it is not a b c but c d e etc, it is a Celtadet) starts at C and finishes at B. The next octave of C. The musical alphabet in Italian is Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti, which brings us back to ‘Do’. I mention this as the reference note for all Western Music is the A4 note, with its frequency / pitch of 440 Hz. This is known as ‘Concert Pitch’. This is the note and pitch / frequency to which all the other notes, and the octaves of the same notes, are calibrated. All the other notes are tuned relative to this A 4, 440 Hz note. The closest A4 note to the nut of your guitar is the A4 at the i5 position on the Treble E (E4, i) string. It repeats several times in different positions as you move ‘up’ your fretboard towards the bridge. The Octave from A4 to A5 is A4, B4, C5, D5, E5, F5, G5, A5. The Octave A4 to A5 covers a bandwidth of 440-880Hz. This 440 Hz interval is divided into 12 Chromatic steps starting at 440Hz, and ending at 880Hz. Page 162 of 339

The various scales skip some of these steps when they ‘ascend’ or ‘descend’ the Octave. Sometimes they even descend by different steps than they ascend. Middle C, C4, is 261.626 Hz, rounded off to 261.63 Hz.

This chart shows the ‘natural’ notes on your left, and the ‘sharp/flat’ notes on your right. The closest C4 note to the nut of your guitar is the C4 at the ii2 position on the B (B3, ii) string. It repeats several times in different positions as you move ‘up’ your fretboard towards the bridge. The actual frequencies for the Open Strings of a standardly tuned guitar, using the A4 = 440Hz reference, are as follows: 82Hz (E2), 110Hz (A2), 147Hz (D3), 196Hz (G3), 249.94Hz (B3), or 330Hz (E4). You will notice that these notes are not not all in the same octave. They in fact range over two full Octaves from E2 to E4.

If you are working with a vocalist, then the Key that the vocalist is comfortable singing in, or simply capable of singing it, will determine the Key the rest of the band will need to perform a song in. As it will if you are the singer. Page 163 of 339

And even the same singer, on different days, may find different keys more comfortable to sing in. The human vocal folds are an instrument sensitive to many factors which can make it either impossible, or merely less musical, to try to sing a song in the same key every performance. It is pointless trying to force a singer to sing pitches out of their range. They will simply ruin the song. So you need to understand at least enough theory to transpose your song into different keys. In the case of moveable chords, you simply move to different positions on the fretboard, ‘down’ towards the nut for lower pitched Keys, and ‘up’ towards the bridge for higher pitched Keys. The same goes for your melodic lines, riffs, and solos. On a Piano or other keyboard you simply move to your right to play higher pitched Keys, and to your left, to play lower pitched keys. Just play the note the singer wants to start off in on your keyboard, and see in which Octave it is in. Then transpose this to the guitar. Or play the various Octaves of C on your guitar, till you get close to their sung note, then narrow it down to the specific note they are singing. Then you’ll have a good idea of how to ‘pitch’ the song for them. If you sing while playing, or are developing that skill, find the key that is easiest to sing in by simply talking through your song, while playing. If you can’t comfortably match the key you are playing in, either move your position up or down the neck until you find one you can play your song in, while comfortably ‘talking’ through your song. Now if it is higher than the Open position Chords, you can use a Capo to effectively add a nut to your guitar frets higher ‘up’ the fretboard (towards the bridge’. But it is common for many male singers to wish they could move the nut ‘down’ towards the tuners, so that their open chords played at a lower pitch. Now you can’t do this with a Capo. But you can get away with tuning all your Open strings down a Semi-Tone. Then you can play the same open chords in the same positions, but in a slightly lower, often more comfortable, key. This is common for male singers, whose ‘speaking voice’ and thus ‘speech level singing’ might be just a little ‘deeper’ in pitch than the Open Position Chord Shapes allow. Page 164 of 339

For details of the highly effective and thus popular Speech level singing method, see my ‘Your Vocal Training Guide’. Ifyou grab a copy of my ‘Optimal Reaper’ Guide to the Reaper DAW, and download a free ‘unlimited’ trial version of Reaper (which you can officially ‘own’ for as little as 60 dollars), you can quickly learn how to re-pitch, that is, change the key, or any MIDI or even analog recording you have made with relative ease. MIDI data can be transposed to any key with a click and drag to select the notes or entire song you want to change the key of, and a drag to reposition the entire selection up or down in pitch, into the various keys, with ease. Analog data, such as a vocal track, can be transposed within a limited range while still sounding ‘natural’, using ReaTune, which comes with the Reaper DAW. For more advanced and ‘extreme’ transposition of vocals, try software like AutoTune. I detail the pros and cons of the available software in my ‘Sound Foundations’ Your Audio Engineering Reference Guide. When you look at musical theory and charts and Key signatures it can appear overwhelming. All those sharps and flats that come up. All that strange terminology.But all you are doing is moving the exact same intervals up or down the Chromatic Scale, while maintaining their proportional frequencies / pitches. When you do it in a MIDI Editor, like the one Reaper comes with, it all makes perfect sense. All that makes it a bit confusing are the different distances between the E and F, and B and C notes, compared to the other notes in the Chromatic Scale. Just always keep in mind EF, BC as being separated by Semi-Tone intervals (One fret on a guitar or one key of either color on a keyboard), while the other notes A to B, C to D, D to E, F to G, and G to A (Octave) are all separated by intervals of a Full Tone (2 Semi-Tones, 2 frets, 2 piano keys of either color). So when you move a Scale up or down a Semi-Tone in pitch, the same intervals that gave you the C D E F G A B (C) C Major Scale, with no sharps or flats, suddeny fall on notes between these ‘natural’ notes, which are thus sharps/flats. Page 165 of 339

My 4 Compatible keys calculator The four compatible keys for any Major key are the Major, its relative minor (3 Semi-Tones down, or if you like, theMinor Triad (chord) built from the 6th note of the Major Scale 9 semi-tones up from the Major ), and the two minor keys 7 semitones above and below this relative minor. You can also work backwards from a minor to its partners either side, and its ‘Relative Major’.

Calculating Compatible Chords for each Key As usual, we will work with the Key of C Major as it has no sharps or flats, and so all we need deal with are the letters C D E F G A B. It keeps all our examples as simple as possible. But what holds true for C Major holds true for all Major Scales.

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Note that as each Major Key has a ‘Relative Minor’ made up of the same notes, just starting at the Sixth Note of its ‘Relative Major’ scale, you can work out the pattern for Minor Scales. [With the relative Major Scale note in brackets]: (VI) I A Minor (VII) II B Diminished (I) III C Major (II) IV D Minor (III)V E Minor (IV) VI F Major (V) VII G Major. These three Minor chords would normally be your first choice of chords for a chord progression in the Key of A Minor. The other chords built from the notes of the Minor Scale will be less harmonious, but still useable.

Working out I-IV-V Major and Minor Chord progressions without memorizing or referring to charts If we take a moment to consider the first diagram with the ‘Triads’, this pattern can be recreated in your head, without the need to memorise anything like a good Sheeple in some institution for higher social conditioning and programming.

We build our basic chord shapes and patterns using the 1st /Root note) + the 3rd +the 5th note, of a scale. If the Scale is in a Major Key, like C Major, then the interval between the 2nd and 3rd notes is a Full (Major) Tone, and we call the 3rd a ‘Major 3rd’. If the Scale is in a Minor Key, like A Minor, then the interval between the 2nd and 3rd notes will be a Semi (Minor) Tone, and we call the 3rd a ‘Minor 3rd’. The fifth note in either a Major or a Minor Scale is always the same (Perfect) interval / distance from the 1st / Root note, and so we call the 5th a ‘Perfect 5th’. So by taking the 1-3-5 notes from the C Major Scale shown above, we get our ‘Root’ Chord Triad (3 notes) of C Major with the notes C, E, and G. [We count out our 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th from the note in the Scale we are taking as our chord root / 1st note]. Page 167 of 339

It is a C Major Chord, because the interval between the 2nd note D and the 3rd note E, is a Full-Tone a.k.a ‘Major’ interval. The same interval occurs with F and G, the IV and V note of the Major Scale. So the I, IV, and V chords built from the notes of any Major Scale will always be Major Chords. And these will be the most ‘harmonious’ chords to chose from when playing in the Key of C Major. But look what happens when we build a Triad using the 2nd note of the C Major Scale (or any other Major Scale) as the Root / 1st note. The 2nd note of the C Major Scale is a D. Building our Triad from this note gives us D E F G A B C. So our D Chord will contain the notes D, F and A. But as the interval between the 2nd and 3rd notes of the D Major Scale are one Semi (Minor) Tone apart, our chord is thus a D Minor Chord. If we continue building chords from every note of the C Major Scale, or any other Major Scale, or its Relative Minor Scale, and thus any other Minor Scale, we will see the following pattern, as shown in the diagrams. We will find that the I -IV-V chords built from a Major Scale are always Major Chords. We will find that the I – IV –V chords built from any Minor Scale are all Minor Chords. So the chord triads built from the 1st, 4th, and 5th notes of any Major or Minor Scale will always be your best bet for chord progression composing and improvising. Our ears will confirm what music theory tells us that these chords are going to sound great played in the Key they were built from. They should be our ‘go to’ chords when composing and improvising. The next most harmonious sounding chords for any Major Key will be the Minor Chords we built from it. The II-III-VI chords. The next most harmonious sounding chords for any Minor Key will be the Major Chords we built from the notes of the Minor Scale. The II-III-VI chords. We can do the same chord building exercises we did for the I (1st / Root) note for the other notes to confirm this. Just build a Chord Triad of 1st -3rd -5th , where the note of the Scale you are on, for example the III note, is used as the 1st note of your Triad Chord,. So let’s built the III root chord for the C Major Scale. We get [I C II D III E IV F V G VI A VII B], E as our III chord’s root / 1st note. Then counting out 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th from the E in the C Major Scale we get [E F G A B C D], G for the 3rd note of our triad chord. And again counting from the E in the C Page 168 of 339

Major Chord [E F G A B C D], we find our 5th note is a B. This gives us a Chord Triad E G B. The ‘3rd’ (interval between F and G) in this case is a Semi-Tone, which we call a ‘Minor’ Interval, and thus the Chord we have built is an E Minor (Em) chord. In the same way, the chords built using the VII note of a Major Scale (or II note of its Relative Minor Scale), are always going to be ‘Diminished Flat 5th’ Notes. In the Key of C Major, for example, when we build a chord triad using the VII note B, we get the chord notes B C D E F G A. This gives us a B Minor flat Fifth Chord Bm b5. We could use it if we like’, but it probably wouldn’t be our first choice of chords to play in the Key of C Major. Once we know what Chords are most ‘musical’ in any Key, we can use that knowledge to identify C A G E D forms over the length of the guitar fretboard, to use as a basis for improvising riffs, phrases, and solo’s. We can also predict what other chords might sound good in any chord progression. We can anticipate what chords are likely to follow in any progression, when improvising against the rhythm guitarist or keyboard player. We can also use the chords we have identified to help us identify other chords we can’t quite yet ‘make out’ ‘by ear’. In a moment we will learn how we can even ‘guesstimate’ Key Signatures of a song based on all the chords we have identified, or ‘suspect’(based on the theory we just learned) are being played. But here’s a sneak peak and ‘at a glance’ chart for identifying which chords work best in which Keys. The Major Key is indicated on your far left of the table. Its relative Minor Key is highlighted in pink. Page 169 of 339

Guess-timating the Key of a piece of music or song To ensure what you improvise or compose ‘harmonises’ with a singer, or a song, or a piece of music, or other musicians improvisations, you will want to be playing in the same ‘Key’. When you build chords off the notes of the Major Scale, you get the following pattern of Chords.

These chord intervals are useful for working out what Key a song is in based on a few chords from the song. For example, if a song has an F Major and a G Major chord, and a D Minor, it is probably in the Key of C. Page 170 of 339

If it has a C Major and a D Major, and an A Minor, it is probably in the Key of G. Using the pattern we get: G Major A Minor B Minor C Major D Major E Minor F Dimished. You just drop the chords you can identify into this chart, and then fill in the blank notes, until you work out the 1st / root / tonic note in the sequence. You can work backwards from your identified chords, or forwards, adding a Semi- Tone to the last note to get back to the root / tonic / 1st note of the 7 note Major Scale. Or use this chart below. First identify as many chords as you can in the song or piece of music, and write them down. Note that the chart is for Major Seventh Chords, common to Blues guitar progressions. We will use this as an example for ‘guesstimating’ Keys from chords. But then we will deal with the more common Major and Minor Chords.

So we’ve been listening to, and watching, our rhythm guitarist playing a chord progression, and have identified the following chords. G Major Seventh, B Minor Seventh, E Minor Seventh, and D Major Seventh. So we look for each of these chords in the above chart, and mark each one we find. Page 171 of 339

You will find that the same Chord is often found in multiple Keys. The trick is to continue by locating all the chords, until you find the row with the most ‘matches’. But keep in mind that Key changes within a song are common. Some songs have as many as 5 Key Changes. If you can identify the Key of a song, you can then use the chart to give you more ideas of what additional chords might fit, or what Key Changes might work, or what Scales you should be using for lead lines and melodies. It is a great song writing tool. Say you started a song with an A Minor Chord. If you were a classical music composer you might write the song in A Minor. But you have other options. For example the ‘Relative Major’ of A Minor, C Major.

But don’t stop there. Find the columns where the A Minor Chord appear, then look to your left to identify the Major Scales they belong to. Page 172 of 339

Let’s take a look at our Chart.We see that A Minor occurs in C, G, and F Major, and thus (moving to the sixth note of each of these) their Relative Minor Keys of A Minor, E Minor, and D Minor. So we could chose any of these Keys for our song beginning with A Minor. And we might chose to change keys within the song to any of these alternatives which also contain the A Minor, and whatever other chords we chose to use.

Songs with ‘Classical’ ‘resolution’ and ‘Perfect Cadence’ Songs often start and finish on the chord built off the root of the Scale of the key the song is in. So a song in C Major will often start and finish with the C Major Chord. If the song you are working on starts and finishes with a C Major Chord, your first guesstimate might be that you are working with a song in the Key of C Major. Most music, and songs, don’t ‘feel’ right unless this ‘Perfect Cadence’ is achieved. In a song where the last chord is not the ‘Root Chord’ of the Key, the listener is often left ‘hanging’. They were lead to anticipate a certain ‘resolution’ of the ‘tension’ built up throughout the song, but they don’t get it. It can be very dissatisfying. This situation of ‘Imperfect Cadence’ is usually avoided by composers of Western Classical Music, and Western Pop Music, Rock, and Blues, where harmony is considered a fundamental aesthetic principle. Page 173 of 339

[It is for this reason that two additional versions of the Natural Minor Scale were developed. The Harmonic Minor Scale and the Melodic Minor Scale. To avoid the ‘unsatisfying’ Full-Tone interval at the end of the Natural Minor Scale by reducing it to a Semi-Tone, as in the more ‘pleasing’ last interval of the Major Scale. (The interval between the 7th and 8th notes)]. From the charts above you will see that the Major Scales all share a pattern known as I-IV-V, where the first, fourth, and fifth chords built off the notes of the Major Scale are all Major Chords. These are the chords you will most likely come across in Major Key chord progressions. These are the chords that tend to sound the most harmonious in any Major Key. Keep this in mind when composing and improvising chord progressions, and also when improvising or composing lead solos. To recap, in the Key of C, the most likely chords used will be C Dm Em F G Am, as these are the chords built off the notes of the C Major Scale. The I- IV -V Chords are always Major Chords. The ii, iii, and vi are always Minor chords. The vii chord is always a Diminished Chord.

Key Signatures

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Here are two examples of keys with sharps. Remember the stave only offers ledger lines for the 7 notes of the C Major Scale. But because other Keys contain sharps and flats, we need a way to indicate if a note is sharp or flat. Rather than draw a sharp or flat symbol next to every note, the convention is to indicate which notes in the following piece of music are to be played sharp or flat each time they appear in the score. A Key change will be indicated by a new Key Signature. Any individual notes that are to be played ‘natural’, even though the Key Signature indicates they are to be played sharp or flat, are given a boxy ‘neutral’ symbol. Any individual notes that are to be played sharp or flat, even though the Key Signature indicates otherwise, are given their own sharp or flat symbol. So if you wanted a note to be played flat, even though the Key Signature shows not sharps or flats, and is thus in the Key of either C Major or A Minor, you would draw the note with a ‘b’ flat symbol after it. To recognise what Key a piece of music is at a glance, use the following formula. The sharp furthest to your right is the ‘last’ sharp.

And of course if you read music notation, and know what sharps and flats are in each key, now you can tell, at a glance, what Key a piece of music is in. For Scales with flats, we use the following formula, where ‘Penultimate’ refers to the ‘lowest pitched’ flat in the Key signature. Page 175 of 339

. The one problem with this system is that each Major Scale has a Relative Minor Scale 3 notes lower in pitch. C Major and A Minor is the simplest example, with no sharps or flats in either. But let’s use G major and its Relative Minor E Minor as an example.

What we’d do is look at the first and last Bass note or Chord, and if this is an E, the key is most likely E Minor. If it is a G, it is most likely G Major. But be sure to pay attention for any Key changes within the song or piece of music.

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These two formulas can come in handy when you are using MIDI software, and want to ‘transpose’ something you’ve written into a different Key. It can also help when using ReaTune or other ‘Auto-tune’ software.

The Circle of Fifths

Think of this circle as a clock. We discussed earlier in this guide how it is no accident that there are 12 notes in the Chromatic Scale, and thus 12 Keys. Instead of progressing in ‘hours’, this clock progresses in successive Fifths. The outside of the dial showing the Major Keys, and the inside of the dial showing each Major Key’s Relative Minor Key. These ‘related’ keys share the same notes, they Page 177 of 339 simply start from a different note. C Major is C D EF G A B (C) and A Minor is A BC D EF G (A). Starting at C, the next position will be the Fifth note of the C Major Scale [C D EF G A B] which is G. This is at the 1 O’Clock position. The Relative Minor of G Major. G, is E Minor, Em. Then from G we go to the Fifth note of the G major Scale, [G A BC D E F], which is D. At the 2 O’Clock position. The Relative Minor of D Major, D, is B Minor, Bm. From D we go to D EF G A BC. At the 3 O’Clock position. And so on. Once you understand that, and the following, you will be able to tell, at a glance, what likely Key a piece of music is in, based on the number of sharps you see in the Key Signature. Starting at the 12 O’Clock position with C / Am, we see there are no shaprs or flats. Then the number of sharps goes up in the same way as the numbers on an analog clock. So at the 1’O’Clock G /Am position we have 1 sharp, and by 6 O’Clock we have F# / Ebm with 6 sharps. Then we start counting flats, with the 7 O’Clock Db / Bbm position having 5 flats, which reduces one flat at a time, until we reach the 11 O’Clock F/Dm position having 1 flat note. As you go right, or clockwise, you add one sharp or deduct one flat as you move from key to key. As you move left, or counter clockwise, you deduct one sharp or add one flat. Once you’ve memorised this ‘circle of fifths’ and the pattern, you can mentally work out the most likely Key a song or piece of music is based on the number of sharps and flats in its Key Signature. In other words you’ll be able to read Key Signatures at a glance, or based on the number of sharps or flats in a tune, work out its most likely key. Especially if you’ve identified the chords within it, and used the ‘reverse engineering’ we discussed earlier in this guide. But the Circle of Fifths offers even more information. To your right of any Key is the Dominant Chord of that Key, and to the left its sub- dominant chord. In the circle of fifths the three primary chords are located next to one another. The Key in the center is the tonic / root / 1st note of the triad. On its left the sub- dominant chord. On its right the dominant chord.

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Also note that there is only one note difference between any key and its neighbouring key a fifth away. C major with no sharps or flats. Moveing clockwise a fifth to its neighbor G major, we add one sharp. The F note is raised a half step to an F#. This is the only difference between the two keys, that the F is ‘sharpened’ a Semi-Tone. Going counterclockwise we flatten the B note, going from the Key of C to the Key of F involves merely flattening one note, the B.

Understanding how to use Key Signatures to pick chords for composition and for ‘reverse engineering’ Keys from the chords in any song

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If you are playing a MIDI instrument, the ‘Piano Roll’ will be marked with all the notes, and you can see if any of the notes played are sharps or flats. See ‘Optimal Reaper’ for details. For major keys remember: C Major and A Minor contain no sharps or flats. Then move around the wheel of fifths, adding one sharp to each key, till you have all 6 sharps accounted for, then start with 5 flats at the 7 O’Clock position, and remove one flat for each Key as your continue around to the 11 O’Clock position, and have removed all the 5 flats, and end up at C / Am again, at the 12 O’Clock position, with no flats or sharps. So if you are looking at some MIDI or sheet music with no sharps or flats anywhere in the score, it is a safe bet you are looking at a C major or its relative minor, A minor. Further, we can work backwards from the chords used to guesstimate the likely Key of the music / song. For example, if we find an A minor chord, made up of the notes A, C, and E, then the A, the lowest pitched note of this chord, tells us the key is probably A minor. If we had instead found a C chord, made up of the notes C, E, and G, we would have reason to suspect we are dealing with the key of C major, as the lowest (in pitch and thus on the staff / ledgers lines) note is probably a C.

A sharp, flat, or boxy (Neutral) symbol before a note contradicts the Key signature. So a sharp or flat symbol before a note with a Key Signature indicating a Key of C Major or A Minor, indicates that despite the Signature, in contradiction of it, you are to play this particular note, any time it appears until the end of the current bar (unless it is again contradicted by a ‘neutral’ or ‘flat’ or ‘sharp’ symbol before it), as a sharp or flat. The ‘boxy’ (‘Neutral) symbol indicates that the note should be played ‘natural’, even though the Key Signature indicates it would otherwise be a sharp or a flat. So if the Key signature says the F’s in the piece are to be played ‘sharp’, but some are to be played as ‘naturals’, this ‘Neutral’ symbol will be put before the individual notes to be played ‘natural’, in contradiction of the Key Signature. The ‘accidental’ symbol affects all the same pitches in that bar, unless the same pitch / note has a different ‘accidental’ written before it. Page 180 of 339

At the end of the current Bar, the notes revert back to their Key Signature, or the new Key, if there is a Key Change within the song. Now we don’t need to know a lot of this unless we intend learning to read and /or write sheet music. But some understsanding of theory helps us simply comprehend the fundamentals of music, and why our guitar fretboards and keyboards are laid out how they are. Key Signatures are there to save repeating the sharp and flat symbols for every note drawn. So it saves space and time. But they could have added more ledger lines to follow the Chromatic Scale. It is like the QWERTY keyboard. It makes sense only if you know the background. Mechanical typewriters jammed when you typed common letter sequences too fast, so they arranged the keys to avoid such jamming, placing these commonly occuring letters with at least one other key between them. With digital keyboards we could design a much faster keyboard, but that boat has sailed. We are stuck with a convention that once made sense, but today does not. The decision to base the ledger lines on only ‘Natural’ notes evolved from the original dominant use of music notation for Church Chants using the C Major Scale Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti (and that brings us back to Do [one Octave higher]). There are no sharps or flats in this C Major Scale. So they developed music notation, originally, with no sharps or flats, and thus no ledger lines to accomomodate them. Later when Keys with sharps and flats were used, the idea of a ‘Key Signature’ emerged, and become a new convention tacked onto an old one. All of music theory is reflexive of these conventions, and of the C Major Scale. Some of my own ‘tips’ are unusual because I formed them reflexive of the Chromatic Scale, having had nothing at all to do, ever, with the existing, conventional, music theory that evolved from the Church Chanters Conventions.

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You might also find a moveable wheel like the one below useful

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Chords built off the Minor Scale

Working backwards from chords to build scales (or just have an immediate basis for simple improvisation over any chord or chord sequence) The best foundation for any ‘lead’ guitarist or song writer is to learn the most common ‘Open’ chords, Bar Chords, and ‘moveable’ C A G E D shapes. It is the best way to automatically learn the ‘safest’ notes to play in any key, namely the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the ‘triad’ that make up the most common chords. Learn all the shapes for each fret position. In the following example we will learn, and use, the chord shapes at the 5th fret position. They are the Rt6 Major Bar chord, the Rt5 Minor Bar Chord, the ‘C’shaped moveable chord from the CAGED system, and the G chord at the 5th fret position. If a chord progression sounds right, and all the chords are ‘in key’, it is usually because the chords all come from the one Scale. Page 184 of 339

Chords are built from 2 or more notes of a Scale. The most typically used chords are built from 3 notes of the scale they are named after, the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes. So a C Major Chord is built from the 1st C 3rd E and 5th G notes of the Major Scale. One reason for ‘lead’ g uitarists to learn as many notes as possible, is that once you’ve identified the chords the rhythm guitarist is using, you can superimpose these on one another, in easily playable positions. For example. Say the chord progression is (Open) Am, F, Dm, G Now the Rt 6 (E shaped) Bar Chord at the fifth fret is an A Minor Chord. So you already know these 6 notes of the A Minor Scale which are used to build the A Minor Chord. You can easily play phrases using these 6 notes, and they are guaranteed to harmonise with the chord progression.

Now if an Am chord sounds good with an F chord, you can be sure that the same notes you were playing to the Am Chord will sound great played over the F chord as well. But you can go one better by finding an F Major Chord shape on the 5th fret. If you remember the CAGED system, the ‘first position’ (C) shape can be used to produce an F chord at the 5th fret.

We can now overlay the Am chord and this F chord over each other, giving us 2 more notes to ‘play’ with. Page 185 of 339

Then add a D Minor Chord in the 5th fret position

And a G Chord in the 5th fret position

And we get the following:

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Now compare the notes we worked out from just four chords, with the complete A Minor scale shown below, starting on the E2 vi string at the 5th fret position.

The more chords you know in the key of A Minor, the faster you will be able to ‘visualise’ what notes are ‘safe bets’ to play over the chord progression. Now we will want to get back to cataloging all the chord shapes we can find at each fret position at which note bends, runs, phrases, licks, and all that fun ‘lead guitar’ stuff are easiest. The string tension is greater the closer we play to the nut, making bends and such hardest in these positions. The closer we move towards the bridge, the easier all the clever tricks of the lead guitarist are to play. Lucky we have at least 22 frets on most electric guitars, so we can start learning all the chord shapes from the 3rd to the 15th frets, to pretty much cover all the fretboard terrain we need to cover every Key. Though we’d be clever to start with the most commonly used keys first, using the Open chords as a guide. Am. C. Em. A. F. D. You get the idea I think.

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The above diagram shows the Major Scale intervals, and what we mean when we say ‘one fret’= ‘one Semi-Tone’ and ‘two frets’ = one Tone (One Full-Tone made up of Two Semi-Tones). You can play any Scale on any individual string, ascending from the 1st / Root note to its Octave 12 frets ‘higher’ up the fretboard, moving from the nut towards the bridge. If we played this on the frets shown, on the E2 vi string, we would be playing an E Major Scale, as the note at the third fret of the Bass E string is an E. However in the next diagram we’ll see how it is much more convenient to play the scale not just up and down the fretboard, but also across it. The guitar fretboard was laid out so that you can play four notes on on string, then move to the next string to play the next note, while remaining in the same fret position. This applies to E2 to A2, A2 to D3, D3 to G3, but not to G3 to B3 (the B3 is 4 frets higher in pitch, not the usual 5), then again from B3 to E4. So the simplest way to play one octave of a Major Scale is as follows. The numbers refer to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th notes of the Major scale.. The next note is one Octave (8v.a) higher in pitch than the starting (first) note. Remember all scales are named after this first (Root or Tonic) note. Page 188 of 339

Any chords built from a particular scale are are named after this first ‘Tonic’ / ‘Root’ note. The pattern shown is moveable. The Scale it produces will depend on what note it begins on. The above illustration begins at vi3 therefor it shows a G ‘Natural’ Major Scale starting at G2 in the vi3 position on the Bass E / E2 string. We have two frets / 2 semi-tones/ one full tone between the first and second note of the Major Scale. As there is a full tone between G and A on the Chromatic Scale, our next note will be an A. 2 refers to the second note of the G Major Scale which is A. 3 refers to the third note of the G Major Scale which is B. 4 refers to the fourth note of the G Major Scale which is B 5 would be the ‘Perfect’ fifth note of the Major Scale. And so on. The most important are the root 1, the ‘Perfect Third’ 3, and the ‘Perfect Fifth’ 5. The next illustration shows how we can play 3 Octaves of the G Major Scale across the fretboard from the Bass E to the Treble E, with very little change in our hand position. Page 189 of 339

The next illustration shows the Major Scale pattern for the entire fretboard. The first starting ‘Root’ / ‘Tonic’ note determines which Scale it is. In the actual illustration it is an F Major Scale, as the first note is the F2 note on the Bass Treble at the first fret position.

This apparent chaos can be broken down into 5 more manageable patterns, allowing you to work your way from the nut to the 12th fret, then beyond (The pattern repeats from the 12th Fret, where it starts again from the first pattern). In the following diagrams we have the position in the Major Scale illustrated on the top fretboard, and the corresponding suggested fingering to be used on the Page 190 of 339 fretboard below it.

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The Major scale appears to have become the ‘measure of all things’ when it comes to music theory.Music theory became ‘reflexive’ of the Major Scale, and all its patterns and descriptions and theory are related to it, rather than the Chromatic Scale, and not necessarily to the benefit of new learners understanding of the math behind music. I explain elsewhere in this guide how that came about. And also why there are 12 notes in a Scale, and why the frets become closer together, as you move from the nut towards the bridge. My own system for finding compatible Keys relates to the Chromatic Scale, as this seems simple and more intuitive to myself, who never learned any music theory at all, and thus never took the ‘traditional’ approach, relating everything to the Major Scale. I guess it is like when a Mac user claims Apple interfaces are more ‘intutitive’, to someone who learned all their computing on a Windows operating system. It seems to me that Windows is more logical and intuitive. But if you learned first on a Mac, the Mac way probably seems more natural to you. And as most musicians learned the ‘traditional’ way, with the Major scale as the ‘measure of all things’ musical, I think they just assume it is the best way. Our religious and political beleifs tend to be ‘inherited’ and that is why most people will avoid ‘discussing’ politics and religion, if Page 192 of 339 they want to avoid pointless arguments about ‘whose color stupid is the better stupid’. Oops, sorry, can’t help myself. Please forgive me! You can write up all interval patterns and chord descriptions from the common denominator, the ‘Chromatic Scale’, and maybe find it makes a lot more sense? We’ll see. But for now, the ‘Traditional’ way! It is called a ‘Major’ scale because the interval between the first and second note of the scale is a full tone, which is also known as a ‘Major’ interval. The interval (step-pattern) a Major scale uses to get from any note, to its octave 12 semitones higher (8v.a) is as follows: First note (root or starting note) – 2 semitones – Second note – 2 semi-tones – Third note – one semi-tone – Fourth note – two semi-tones – Fifth note – two semi-tones – Sixth note – two semi-tones –Seventh note – two semitones – Octave of the starting note 12 sem-itones higher in pitch (8v.a). You will note that there is an interval of 2 semi-tones between A and B, C and D, D and E, and F and G, but an interval of only 1 semi-tone between B and C and E and F. Remembering that a full tone is two semi-tones, you can remember / write the Major Scale formula / pattern most conveniently as T T S T T T (S to Octave). To clarify, this means first /tonic/root note T second note T third note S fourth note T fifth note T sixth note T seventh note S-T Octave of starting note 8v.a /12 semitones higher in pitch. Remember that what makes this a ‘Major’ key is the full Tone (two semi-tone’) interval between the second and third note. Once you have memorised the piano keyboard pattern, and related it to the Treble Clef and Bass Clef, with ‘Middle C’ the note ‘between’ them, we’ll translate this understanding to your guitar fretboard. This process is going to come in handy for you song writers, when translating something you have played on a guitar, to a keyboard, or when writing and editing MIDI notation you generated either directly by step programming, or which was generated by your MIDI guitar notation software. A guitar fretboard, looking down at it from a typical playing position, starts at E2 (the open E2 String or ‘Bass’ E string), and extends to at least E5 on a classical nylon string guitar (the 12th fret of the E4 / ‘High’ E string) and D6 on a typical electric guitar with 22 frets. So D6 is the highest note on most electric guitars. Simply fret the E4 string at the 22nd fret to produce this note. Some guitars have more or less frets, and thus a slightely reduced range. Page 193 of 339

But let’s back up a second, and look at the open strings. The ‘Bass’ E is E2. In all notation I use, I will refer the E2 string as ‘vi’. The next string, looking down at your guitar from the typical playing position, is the open A2 string, which I refer to as ‘v’. The next string is the D3 string, or ‘iv’. The next is the G3 string, or ‘iii’. The next is the B3 string, or ‘ii’, and the thinnest string is the E4 string or ‘i’. I introduce my notation system so you will have a way to quickly write down melodies and chord shapes you ‘stumble’ across while experimenting. For example, I would write the Open C chord arpeggio as ii1, iv2, v3. These notes are C4, E3, and C3. Hold down these notes and you have your first ‘triad’ or ‘chord’. As it follows an interval pattern of Root, third, and fifth, it is a Major Chord. But wait, it appears to only have the notes C and E in it? Where is the ‘G’ (Fifth) note of the Major scale? Well if you fret these notes, and strum or pick the remaining open notes as well, you will see that Open C on the guitar is made up off the notes E2, C3, E3, G3, C4 and E4. You are fretting the C4, E3, and C3, but also playing the ‘open’ E2, G3 and E4. So in fact you are playing two octaves of C E G. The first(C) and third (E) and fifth (G) notes of the C Major Scale. Later when we get to the CAGED system, this ‘chord shape’ will be played as a moveable ‘barre’ chord, and refered to as ‘shape 1’ or ‘C shape’, giving us the ‘C’ in CAGED. What is a Barre chord? Well take a look at your guitar. Note that the ‘nut’ effectively ‘frets’ the open strings. You don’t have to fret these notes, the ‘nut’ does it for you. This is what makes ‘open’ chords that much easier to play than the more advanced ‘Barre’ chords. For ‘Barre’ chords, you have to ‘fret’ the strings yourself. You ‘bar’ (barre) the fret with your first finger. This can be really hard at first, but with practice you develop the muscle memory and mechanical skills to do it with relative ease, if you chose to. But you don’t even have to go to the trouble of mastering this mechanical skill at all. If you really learn guitar the way I am going to teach myself, and you, you will have other options of producing ‘moveable’ chord shapes, such as ‘rock chords’ and ‘crypto-barre chords’ and Stevie Ray Vaughn styled ‘moveable’ shapes. (Natural) Major Chord Every (Natural) Major Chord contains the First, Third, and Fifth note of the Major scale. Page 194 of 339

The first note determines the ‘root’ or ‘name’ of the chord. Thus a C Major Chord is named after the C Major scale its notes come from. Now as a C Major scale contains the notes C D EF G A B (C) the notes that make up the C Major chord will be C (1st note) E (3rd note) and G (5th note). For mental practice, work from the Chromatic Scale. Remember the 2 semi-tone intervals in the Chromatic scale between all the notes except between B&C and E&F so we get C C# D D# E E # F F# G G# A A# B C. then remember the Natural Major Scale intervals: Root-T-T-S-T-T-T-(S). So starting at C, the Major Scale will be C 2 semi-tone D 2 semi-tone E semi-tone F 2 semi-tone G. [So a 2 semi-tone interval refers to how many frets between one note and the next e.g from fret 1 to fret 3 is an interval of 2 semi-tones] Starting at the nut, find the C, E, and G notes within 4 frets of the nut, thus easily fretted with four fingers. As the open strings are E A D G B E we already have 2 ‘E’ notes at the vi0 (E2) and i0 (E4) open position. We have a ‘G3’ note at the iii0 open position. And then we find C4 at the ii1 position, C3 at the v3 position, and E3 at the iv2 position. Now if we wanted to, we could ‘invert’ this chord and play the G2 note at the vi3 position instead of the E2 at the vi 0 (open) position.

All a scale is, is an interval pattern. The two main intervals in music are the full tone or full ‘step’, and the half-tone, called a ‘semi-tone’ or ‘half-step’. Each fret on a guitar is an interval of one semi-tone from the previous or next fret. So a full tone on a guitar fretboard is 2 frets. Now the open standard tuning ofa guitar is E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4 for a good reason. Most guitarists (apart from at least one famous exception, Django Rheinhardt), have four fingers and a thumb on each hand. A piano is laid out from left to right. The interval between each white key is one full tone. The interval between any black key and its adjacent white key is one semi-tone. So the black keys are the keyboard equivalent, in terms of musical intervals, of guitar frets. Page 195 of 339

Major Scale So play this Major scale step pattern, starting at the open E2 / Bass E string of your guitar to hear how the E Major scale sounds. Remember that the ‘nut’ ‘frets’ the open string for you. So the first interval from open E to the first note of the Major Scale, which is separated by an interval of 2 semi-tones (1 full tone), is from Open E to vi 2 ( the 2nd fret of E2 / the Bass E string). So the step pattern is as follows: Open E2 (2 semi-tones/ frets) vi2 F2# (2 semi-tones/frets) vi4 G2# (1 semi-tone/fret) vi5 A2 (2 semi-tones / frets) vi7 B2 (2 semi-tones / frets) vi 9 C3# (2 semit-tones / frets) vi 11 D3# (1 semi-tone / fret) vi 12 E3 one Octave higher in pitch. E2 Tone F2# Tone G2# Semi-Tone A3 Tone B3 Tone C3# Tone D3# Semi-Tone E3 (E one Octave / 8 v.A higher in pitch) Using C3 as our example, the 12 notes are C3, C3# D3 D3# E3 F3 F3# G3 G3# A4 A4# B4 C4 If we write the musical alphabet starting at E2, as it begins on a standardly tuned guitar, it is easier to see that there is a full tone between all the notes except between E and F, and B and C. So starting at vi0, on the open E2 / Bass E string we have the Major Scale, playing down the string from nut to bridge, of E2 (two semi-tones) F2 (two semi-tones) G2 (semi-tone) G# It repeats these twelve notes at different ‘pitches’. Each ‘pitch’ is a multiple of the previous note. So by ‘scaling’ the musical ladder from C3 to C4, we have effectively doubled the pitch of the starting C3 note. In this way the keyboard is laid out conveniently from Bass to treble, from your left to right, from lower pitches to higher pitches. A guitar’s frets are each one semitone apart, so it makes sense to always use the unit ‘semi-tone’ when the guitar is the instrument being used. [Technical note: using the standard A440 Hz tuning, Middle C has a frequency of around 261.63 Hz. This may be useful data to you when working with ‘resonance therapy’]. Page 196 of 339

Some ‘alternative’ ways to ‘scale’ an Octave using the Key of C as an example C Major: C D E F G A B C

C Natural Minor: C D E♭ F G A♭ B♭ C

C Harmonic Minor: C D E♭ F G A♭ B C

C Melodic Minor Ascending: C D E♭ F G A B C

C Melodic Minor Descending: C B♭ A♭ G F E♭ D C The Modes C Ionian: C D E F G A B C C Dorian: C D E♭ F G A B♭ C

C Phrygian: C D♭ E♭ F G A♭ B♭ C

C Lydian: C D E F♯ G A B C

C Mixolydian: C D E F G A B♭ C

C Aeolian: C D E♭ F G A♭ B♭ C

C Locrian: C D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C

Some mode patterns You will find that you can improvise in the Aoelian and Dorian Modes over almost any Minor Key progression or melody, as both these modes are defined by their Minor 3rds. This is a way of using a Major Scale to improvise against a Minor Key Chord Progression. Page 197 of 339

In these diagrams W = Whole / Full-Tone and h=half / Semi-Tone

The Mixolydian (blues) mode

Here is a B flat Mixolydian Scale. All the notes shown are in the same Key. Blues guitarists will love this pattern with its wide range of pitches and full tone and semi- tone intervals, perfect for slides, bends, hammer-ons, hammer-offs, and double stops. Page 198 of 339

The following fretboard diagrams show the Mixolydian Mode with its 1-3-5-b7 notes highlighted. Together these notes for the Major Dominant Seventh Chord. The ‘tonic’ / ‘root’ / 1st note of the scale, and thus the Dom7 chord, are highlighted in red. You can play easy arpeggios of the Major Dominant 7th Chord with these notes, and use them as starting and ending points for riffs, phrases, and licks, so whatever you play, it will all come good in the end. Here are just the 1-3-5-b7 notes highlighted.

The Major Dominant 7th Chord is a classic starting (I) chord for blues progressions. So learning its triad + (flat) 7th (blues note) is a great way to free up your blues playing. The Dominant 7th Chord is made up of the 1st-3rd-5th-and flat 7th (7b) of a Major Scale. These should be our ‘destination’ or ‘landing’ notes for our licks and phrases. Consider them ‘safe zones’ or ‘safe havens’ you can return to after your ‘adventures’ in improvisation and ‘hit and miss’ composition. These are the 1, 3, 5, and b7 notes marked out in the above Mixolyidan Scale pattern. The Root 6 Maj (E shape) with 7b note is the typical ‘Major Dominant 7th’ moveable Barre shape, with the Barre joining the two root notes on the E strings, and the 4th finger playing the b7 note. In a moment we will extend it to cover more pitches. The Mixolydian Scale is considered a Natural Dominant Scale as it contains the intervals that make up a dominant 7th chord or arpeggio. Here is an example of a Dominant 7th Arpeggio of the 1-3-5-b7 notes of the Major Dominant 7th Chord, and thus Mixolydian Scale. Page 199 of 339

The other notes are often referred to as ‘color’ tones.The Major 2nd, 4th, and 6th. These are used to create the ‘tension’ that the 1-3-5-b7 notes can ‘resolve’. The 1-3- 5-b7 notes are the ‘sweet’ spots to aim for. The destinations that give your riffs and phrases and licks a melodic ‘center’ and ‘purpose’. They are the notes listeners will ‘anticipate’ after the ‘color’notes, and when they occur they ‘satisfy’ the hearer.

It is also common practice among Blues guitarists to add a flat 3rd note, a ‘Minor Third’ as seen in the next diagram. ‘Resolving’ from this added flat 3rd to the ‘Major Third’ / ‘Natural Third’ adds some tension and resolution, and a typical ‘blues’ flavor to the Scale, and you licks and riffs and phrases. The interval is often played by bending the Minor Third (flat 3rd) up to the Major Third (natural 3rd). Alternatively you can Hammer on and off from the b3 to the 3, or slide between them. Try all three in succession for a ‘tasty’ blues phrase.

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Here is the extension. Play with the first part first to become familiar with it. Then play with this part. And then join them to produce a large pattern for ‘seamless’ blues licks and chops. Remember the Major Dominant 7th chord is a common first (I) Chord in Blues Chord progressions. The Key depends merely on the 1st / starting note you chose to begin the pattern on.

And here is the same extension highlighting the 1-3-5-b7 notes that make up the Major Dominant 7th Chord, the ‘safe’ notes to start and finish phrases, licks, and riffs on, and to compose chord arpeggios from.

Here is the full extended Mixolydian Scale again. Shift the entire pattern up or down the fretboard to change Keys, keeping in mind that the first ‘1’ note determines the Key. And the 1-3-5-b7 notes that make up the Major Dominant 7th Chord are your ‘sweet’ spots.

Jazz Melodic Minor C Ascending Melodic Minor: C D E♭ F G A B C Page 201 of 339

C Dorian ♭2: C D♭ E♭ F G A B♭ C

C Lydian Augmented: C D E F♯ G♯ A B C

C Lydian Dominant: C D E F♯ G A B♭ C

C Mixolydian ♭6: C D E F G A♭ B♭ C

C Locrian ♮2: C D E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C

C Altered: C D♭ E♭ F♭ G♭ A♭ B♭ C

Diatonic? When someone refers to a Scale as ‘Dia-tonic’ it simply means they are ascending 8 v.a, from any note to its next Octave. So the Scale has 8 notes. The notes from the starting / root / tonic /1st note to the next Octave, the 8th note of the Dia-tonic Scale. Thus it contains two (Dia) tonics (root notes). So whereas C Major includes only the 7 notes C D EF G A B, C Major Diatonic has 8 notes which include next Octave, C D EF G A BC. Always be sure to use the numbers, such as C3 and C4 when writing TAB or describing notes as it will make things that much easier in the long run. So whereas the C Major Scale includes C3 D3 E3F3 G3 A3 B3, the Major C Diatonic Scale continues to the Octave of C3, which is C4. C3 D3 E3F3 G3 A3 B3 C4.

The Natural Minor Scale Vis a Vis the Major Scale

Here is a Natural Minor scale played over 2 octaves across the fretboard. Page 202 of 339

And here is the Natural Minor Scale played up and down the fretboard over several octaves. The main difference, musically, between a Major Scale and a Natural Minor Scale, is the ‘Minor’ 3rd Interval. In the above charts this is indicated by the b3. The b indicates we have reduced the Major Full-Tone Interval between the 2nd and 3rd notes (degrees) of the scale to a Semi-Tone.In other words we have ‘flattened’ it. The second difference is that whereas in the Major the 7th note (degree) is a Full- Tone from the 6th note (degree), in the minor this ‘7th’ interval is only a Semi-Tone. So again we use the ‘b’ (for flat) symbol, b7 to indicate this ‘Minor’ Interval.. And the third difference is the b 6, as the interval between the 5th and 6th of a Minor Scale is only a Semi-Tone, compared to the Major Scale 6th of a Full-Tone. So again we have a ‘Minor’ Interval, this time between the 6th and 5th note. So to recap, when we go from a Major Scale to a Minor Scale, we ‘flatten’ the 3rd, 6th, and 7th notes. This is why when it comes to building Minor

Why we have ‘Melodic’ and ‘Harmonic’ Minor scales The 7th note of the Natural Minor Scale is a Full Tone from the 8th note, which doesn’t give the same feeling of ‘resolution’ and ‘purpose’ to the Minor that you get when Page 203 of 339 you reach the 7th note of the Major Scale, and play that next Semi-Tone which brings you to its 8th note. To solve this ‘problem’ often referred to as ‘a lack of any leading tone in the Minor Scale’, variations on the ‘Natural’ Minor Scale were introduced. These re the ‘Melodic’ and ‘Harmonic’ Minor Scales. The Harmonic Minor moves the 7th note so the interval between the 7th and 8th note is now, like in the Major Scale, only one Semi-Tone. Now the very strong tension and resolution from the 7th to the 8th note makes the root note, the 8th note, as clear as in the Major Scale. Note this leaves a huge 3 Semi-Tone interval between the 6th and 7th notes of the Harmonic Minor Scale. For those times when you don’t want that distinctive interval, there is the Melodic Minor Scale which moves the 6th note one Semi-Tone to make the interval between the 6th and 7th note a more conventional Full Tone interval. As the last Semi-Tone interval of these 3 scales, the Major, Melodic Minor, and Harmonic Minor, is only relevant (in terms of generating that clear ‘tension’ and ‘resolution’), many classical musicians will play the Natural Minor Scale when descending the scale, and only use the Harmonic and Melodic Minor Scales when ascending the Minor Scale. Jazz, and other ‘modern’ musicians will just play the Melodic and Harmonic Minor Scales the same way when ascending and descending. Note that when constructing chords we ‘stack’ 1-3-5 notes to form a triad. Or we stack the 1-3-5-7 to form a Major or Minor 7th Chord. But when using the Harmonic Minor Scale, this 1-3-5-7 pattern produces a ‘Minor Major Seventh Chord’. This sounds more like a ‘dis-chord’ than the usual ‘harmonious’ sounding ‘chords’ we are after. Also Chord V becomes a Major chord. Page 204 of 339

The Pentatonic Scale

One of the most popular scales for all styles of modern music is the Pentatonic (Five- tone) Scale. It is simply the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th notes of the Major / Minor Scale. Above we see the Major Pentatonic within the Major Scale. The black notes are the notes of the Major Scale we don’t play, when we play the Pentatonic Scale.

The Scale at the top left is a Major Scale (Dia-tonic meaning ‘2’ –tonics). The red dots are the roots of the Major Scale. The White dots are the roots of the relative Minor Scale. So by having 2 ‘tonics’, the Scale covers two octaves. For example from A3 to A5. A BC D EF G A BC D EF G A The Scale at the top right is a Major / Relative Minor Penta-tonic (5 notes). A BC E G A BC E G A. The red dots show the roots for the Major Pentatonic Scale and the white dots are the roots for the Minor Pentatonic Scale. Remember that the Relative Minor of any Major Scale starts 3 Semi-Tones before the root of the Major Scale. It contains the same notes, just starting 3 Semi-Tones Page 205 of 339 lower in pitch on the Chromatic Scale, and thus 3 frets ‘down’ the neck towards the nut, or 3 keys to your left on a Keyboard. I’ve put them side by side so can see the relationship between the Diatonic Major Scale and the Pentatonic Scale. As the Major and its relative Minor share the same notes, we can play the same pattern for a Major or Minor Key Progression. The only difference will on which note we start and finish the scale pattern. This will be the red (root/ 1st note / tonic) notes for Major, and the white (root / tonic / 1st ) notes for Minor. This Pentatonic Scale is probably the most widely used scale for vocal and instrumental music in Western Pop, Rock, Blues, and Country and Western music. If you’ve already learned the Major Scale across all positions, all you need to do is leave 2 notes out. If you begin here, all you need to do is later learn the extra two notes, to move from Pentatonic to Major / Relative Minor Scales. The example that follows of the Pentatonic across the entire fretboard is in the Key of C Major (red dots are all C notes) and its Relative Minor A Minor (white dots are all A notes). When playing these patterns over a Minor Key progression, you simply emphasise the white A root notes, by starting and ending your licks on them, or ‘resolving’ to them after playing other notes from this pattern. Think of the white notes as your ‘safe havens’ and ‘landing strips’. When playing over a Major Chord Progression, you will want to emphasisethe red C root notes. Start and finish your riffs on them. ‘Resolve’ to them after playing other combinations of the notes in this pattern. They will be your ‘safe havens’.

The pattern is moveable. So whatever note the white or red note is determines the Major and Relative Minor Key of this pattern. In the example it is C Major / A Minor, as the white notes are all A notes, and the red notes are all C notes. If you take a moment to look at the open position, you will see the open C and A Minor chords from part of the C Major / A Minor Pentatonic Scale. Page 206 of 339

The Pentatonic ‘canon’ for your first 3 octave improvisation and composing

On the left, the pattern of 2 notes, 3 notes, over 3 and 4 frets, can be visualized as a canon, with one big wheel at the front (the tonic / root / 1st), a smaller wheel at the back, and 3 notes mirroring the ‘wheels’ and extending out to another note 2 frets towards the bridge, forming the ‘muzzle’ of the canon. On the right is a conventional Pentatonic Scale Pattern, for reference. The five notes of each octave in the ‘canon’ pattern emerge when we join up 3 octaves of this ‘canon’ pattern. The example given is A Minor Pentatonic, but by changing the root note and maintaining the pattern, you can transpose it into any other Key.

I’ve put the conventional Pentatonic Scale Pattern beneath the ‘three canons’ pattern as a reference. It is easy to remember, and use. It offers lots of opportunities for building improvised chords, double stops, and slides. You have 3 octaves to work with. Page 207 of 339

It is even a good way to remember, visually, the Octave pattern of 2 strings ‘down’, 2 frets toward the bridge, and then 2 steps ‘down’ and 3 frets to the bridge, described elsewhere in this guide.

Adding a ‘Blues’ note (literally and sonically) to your Pentatonic Scales

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Incorporating ‘Passing Notes’ into your Pentatonic performances As with all Scales, we often add ‘passing notes’ from the Chromatic Scale. Here is a Minor Pentatonic with b3, b5, and b7 notes added to the conventional five notes of 1-3- 5-6, giving us 1-b3-3-b5-5-b7

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Building Major and Minor Chords from the Major Scale The standard reference for all musical theory is the Major Scale, Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. We build Major Chords from the 1-3-5 degrees / notes of the Major Scale. When building Minor Chords from the Major Scale, we simply flatten the 3rd note. So the Minor Chord is built from the 1-b3-5 degrees / notes of the Major Scale, indicating that the ‘Major’ Full-Tone Interval between the 2nd and 3rd notes / degrees of the Scale has been reduced to a Semi-Tone Interval. Here are a few Open Position Major and Minor Chords. The ‘m’ indicates ‘Minor’

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We then ‘add’ notes to, or ‘suspend’ notes from, these basic triads, to produce Suspended 2nd and 4th chords, add chords and major 7th chords, and dominant 7th chords, to produce richer, lusher, ‘bigger’ sounding chords. The Major 7th Chord is built from the 1-3-5-7 degrees / notes of the Major Scale. It has a sweet, dreamy , jazzy sound. Here are some Open Position Major 7th chords.

The Dominant Seventh Chord is built from the 1-3-5-b7 degrees / notes of the Major Scale. So a D7 (D Dominant 7th) chord would be D F# A C. (When we flatten the C# we get a C). It has a more twangy and bluesy sound, thanks to the flattened 7th. Here are some Open Position Dominant 7th chords.

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A Minor 7th Chord is built from the 1-b3-5-b7 degrees / notes of the Major Scale So a D Major Seventh Chord of D F# A C# converts to a D Minor Seventh Chord of D F A C. This is because the result of ‘b’ flattening a sharp note is a natural note. We are simply removing a Semi-Tone from the interval between the notes.

A Minor Major 7th chord is built from the 1-b3-5-7 degrees / notes of the Major Scale. The 7th degree/note is still a Full-Tone [a.k.a ‘Major’ interval] from the 6th degree/ note). A Diminished Chord is built from the 1-b3-b5-bb7 degrees / notes of the Major Scale. The bb thus represents a reduction in pitch of two Semi-Tones (a Full-Tone). And so a Ddim Chord would be D F Ab Bb compared to the D Major Seventh of D F# A C#. To recap using the C Major Scale we get: Maj 7 1 - 3 - 5 - 7 which gives C E G B Min 7 1 – b3- 5- b7 which gives C Eb G Bb Dom 7 1- 3 - 5 – b7 which gives C E G Bb Dim 7 1 – b3 –b5 – bb7 which gives C Eb Gb A (Bbb)

Linear Keyboard chords Vs Non-Linear guitar chords On a piano or other keyboard, you play the notes / intervals in a linear fashion, from your left to your right, 1 – 3 – 5 – 7. In other words in order from lowest to highest pitches. However on a guitar keyboard, the notes may be arranged 1 – 5 – 7 – 3 – 5 – 7, with some notes fretted, some on open strings, and some notes repeated while others are played only once. All that matters is that the required notes are present. The order does not matter as you ‘sound’ all the notes more or less simultaneously.

Building embellished chords from the basic triad (3 note) chord Chords are an example of ‘polyphony’. Basically playing 2 or more notes simultaneously (at the same time), in the case of strings being hammered (piano) or Page 212 of 339 plucked (harpsichord and guitar), or almost simultaneously, as in the case of a guitar being strummed. The basic chord structure is that of the first, 3rd, and fifth notes of the Major Scale. Called a ‘triad’ as it contains 3 notes. These notes sound ‘harmonious’ when played together. Usually the notes taken to build chords are selected because they sound ‘harmonious’ when played together. Or played against particular scales or in particular ‘modes’ of the Major Scale. But there are also chords that sound ‘dissonant’, for example those used used by Jazz pianists to produce particular musical effects. Guitar offers the opportunity to play up to 6 notes simultaneously, at the same time. Of course on a keyboard you can play chords with up to 10 notes. You build any chord by building notes on top of the root / first / 1 note of its synonymous Major Scale. So you build all your D chords from the D Major Scale. The first / root note of any D chord will always be a D note. You then take further notes from the same scale, and ‘stack’ or ‘layer’ them on top of each other, and this root note., So to build a D Major Chord you’d start with the D Major Scale. D E F# G A B C#. The 1 / first / root / tonic note for your chord is D. D E F# G A B C#. The next note in the basic triad (3 note) chord is always the 3rd note of the root scale, which in this case will be D E F# G A B C#. So now our 1-3 notes are D and F#. [ To build Minor Chords: keeping the Major Scale as our reference, if we want to build a Minor chord, this 3rd not must be flattened, so we get 1-b3 as the first two notes of any Minor Chord built from its Major Scale namesake. Or if you already now your Minor Scales, just take the 3rd note of the synonymous Minor Scale as your Minor Chord’s second note.] The next note in any Triad (3 note) chord is always the fifth note from the synonymous Scale. (The Scale with the same name as the chord). D E F# G A B C#. So our 5 note is A. This gives us the basic triad chord 1-3-5 of D F# A. This is the D Major Chord. [The D Minor chord will be 1-b3-5 and thus D F A.] Page 213 of 339

On a keyboard you usually play just one instance of each of these notes, hitting the 3 appropriate keys at the same time with the most convenient combination of thumb, first, second, third, and fourth fingers. However on a guitar we tend to double up on notes. This gives the guitar its unique ‘timbre’ and distinct tonal qualities. Even though the fundamental notes produced by a piano and a guitar are the same, their overtones and upper harmonic distributions are different enough that anyone can tell whether the same E2 note is being played on a piano or on a guitar. That said, you can build your own chord shapes from any combination of 1-3-5 or 1- b3-5 notes anywhere on the guitar fretboard. This means you can turn any scale into a number of different chord shapes, using only 3 notes, quick enough to insert ‘chops’ in between riffs, like Stevie Ray Vaughn, or your typical ‘Cool Jazz’ guitarist. You can quickly grab a 1-3 or 1b-3, or 1-5 or 3-5 ‘double stop’ to embellish a riff, and be certain it will sound great, and ‘in key’ with the scale you are using, or the chord progression you are improvising against. So now we have the basic building blocks for all other chords. The 1-3-5 of the Major Scale for Major Chords, and the 1-b3-5 of the Major Scale for Minor Chords. (Or 1-3-5 of the Minor Scale if you like).

‘Suspended’ chords replace 3rd notes The Suspended Chords replace the 3rd note of the chord with the second or fourth notes. Now as the Suspended Chords have no 3rd note, they are no longer either Major or Minor. So part from adding to your ‘tonal’ palette, these chords can be used in both Keys. They will always be ‘in harmony’, whether the chord progression or melody is in a Minor or a Major Key. For it is the Full-Tone (Major) Interval between the 2nd and 3rd notes that defines a Major Scale and Major Chord, and the ‘Semi-Tone’ (Minor) interval between the 2nd and 3rd notes of a Minor Scale and Minor Chord that makes it a Minor Scale or Chord. The Suspended Second Chord is built from the 1-2-5 notes of the Major Scale. It is often written as Sus 2. For example D Sus 2. The Suspended Fourth Chord is built from the 1-4-5 notes of the Major Scale. It is often written as Sus 4. For example D Sus 4. Page 214 of 339

The ‘Open’ D Suspended Second Chord (D Sus 2) thus replaces the 3rd note of the D Major Scale with the 2nd note, so we get D E F# G A B C#. D E A. [The Drug (Monopoly) Enforcement Agency that protects the C.I.A from competition in its illegal drug business which helps fund the ‘shadow governments’ ‘black ops’ like ‘911’ and ‘Sandy Hook’ and ‘The Port Arthur Massacre, in service of the Cult ofJudah’s ‘Jew’ World Order ambitions]. To play an Open D Sus 2 Chord, take an Open D chord [iii2 (first finger) + ii3 (second f inger) + i4 (third finger)] and simply remove your second finger from the E4 string. Now you have your remaining two fingers fretting the D4 and A3 notes on the D and A strings at the ii3 (D4) and the iii2 (A3) positions, and the nut to ‘fretting’ the E4 string in the i0 position. The D Suspended Fourth Chord (D Sus 4) is built from the 1-4-5 notes of the D Major Scale. So a D Sus4 chord contains the notes get D E F# G A B C#. D G A.

‘Add’ chords add notes to the 1-3-5 notes The Add2 chord adds the 2nd note from the Major Scale to the basic 1-3-5 triad giving 1-2-3-5. So for D Add2 you get D E F# G A B C#. D E F# A. The Add4 chord adds the 4th note from the Major Scale to the basic 1-3-5 triad to give 1-3-4-5. So for D Add4 you get D E F# G A B C#. Just keep in mind that guitar chords often repeat fretted notes on Open Strings (where the nut effectively frets E2, A3, D3, G3, B3, and E4 notes for you). So often when you play an ‘add’ chord on the guitar, you physically replace an existing note on one string with a higher pitched note on the same string closer to the bridge. So it seems like you have really ‘replaced’ a note. But as that same note was duplicated on an open string, or on another string if playing a ‘moveable’ ‘Barre’ shape chord, you are still playing it, and thus the higher pitched note you replaced the lower pitched note with, on the same string, is really an addition to that chord. The Open C chord and Open C add3 chords offer a good example of this. We play the Open C with first finger fretting the C4 note at the ii1 position on the B string, the second finger fretting the E3 string on the D string at the iv2 position, and the third finger fretting another C note, this time the C3 note, on the A string, at the v3 position. Thus we fret C4, E3, and C3 notes. While leaving the nut to ‘fret’ the G3 and E4 and the E2 notes for us. To make a C add 2 chord, we add the second note from the C Major Scale C D EF G A B. So we get C D E G. So where do we play the added D note? We physically replace Page 215 of 339 the C4 on the B string at the ii1 position which our first fringer is fretting, with the D4 on the same string, two frets towards the bridge, which we fret with our fourth finger. We had two C notes, the C4 and the C3. We sacrificed the C4 on the B string as this string offered the most convenient position to play a D note at. We have physically taken away one of the C notes, but have added, to the chord, a note it did not have before. The new D note. So it is an ‘added’ chord. In a similar way, in our personal evolution, to ‘add’ wisdom and insights, and thus become more enlightened, we have to ‘move forward’ from previous ‘lower tone’ beliefs and habits. We may feel that we are ‘losing’ something. But in reality we are ‘adding’ something, and raising our overall ‘tone’. We begin resonating at higher frequencies, perhaps literally. And thus manifesting different resonances in the world around us. In other people. In the institutions we are participants of. In the groups we are members of. ‘Manifestation’ is not about ‘manifesting’ luxury sports cars and gorgeous sexual partners in our garages, and beds. It is about manifesting higher spiritual evolution in our lives. Both our current ‘manifestations’, and all our future ‘manifestations’ These examples are in the open position, and the hollow circle shows the fingering for the original chord, which you can keep in place to alternate between the Suspended and Add Chords, and their parent triads.

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Root-5th / Rock / Power Chords All the Root-Fifth Power Chords with Roots on the Bass E, A, and D strings look like this. You only play the two strings. It is a moveable shape. The pattern for the Bass E (E2 vi string) and A (A3 v string) and D (D3 string) is to take any root (1st’ note on the Bass E, A, or D string, then play that fret PLUS 2 frets towards the bridge on the next string down, (looking down on your guitar from the usual playing position). the A, D, or G string respectively. Play these two notes with your 1st and 3rd finger. To add the 8th / Octave of the 1st, simply place your 4th finger next to your 2nd finger on the next string down, on the same fret.This is the ‘basic’ Root-Fifth’ power chord pattern.

Play this shape of power chord with your 1st and 3rd fingers. The Root of this shape is on the lower pitched string, in this case the Bass E string. It is an F Power Chord. The F2 is played at the vi1 position, and its Fifth, a C3, is played at the v3 position. Just move it ‘down’ and ‘across’ the fretboard, so your Root is on the E, A or D strings, to play the chord 5 Semi-Tones higher in pitch without moving fret position. Play it up and down the neck by sliding between positions, for a typical punk, rock, and metal sound. Use Right Hand Dampening by resting the heel of your right hand against the strings. Add some ‘percussive strumming’ by removing the pressure on the fretted notes. A typical ‘Rock-Blues’ groove is to add and remove the 4th finger one fret higher in pitch / toward the bridge, on the higher pitched of the two notes on the A, D, and G strings respectively, to form a Root-Sixth Power Chord. Take it one fret further and you’ve got your Root-Seventh power Chord. Page 217 of 339

Alternative between the Fifth, Seventh, and the Sixth. So an A5 Power Chord is played with the 1st finger at the vi5 position, playing the A2 note, and your 3rd finger at the v7 position playing an E3 note. You can then add your 4th finger to the same string one or two frets towards the bridge to play a Root Fifth, Root Sixth, Root 7th progression.

Root-Fifth chords can be played in both Major and Minor Keys Most Chords are built from a 1-3-5 pattern. They contain the ‘Root’ / First note, the Third note, and the Fifth note, of the scale they are based on. The Chord is named after the Scale it is built from. As the Root-Fifth Power Chord is built from just the First and Fifth notes of a Scale, the typical ‘Triad’ of 1-3-5 is reduced to 1-5. This has positive implications we shall see in a moment. Power Chords are often called ‘Root-‘Fifth’Chords. You’d write an A Root Fifth as simply ‘A5’. One interesting quality of Power Chords is that they are neither Major nor Minor. It is this ‘Major’ (Full-Tone) or ‘Minor’ (Semi-Tone) interval between the 2nd and 3rd notes of a Scale or Chord that gives a Scale and Chords built from them their ‘Major’ or ‘Minor’ designation. But as Root-Fifth Power Chords ‘skip’ the Third, the only interval present is a ‘Perfect’ Fifth. Our example shows the A Major and A Minor Scale Intervals, and the A5 chord notes (1st and 5th) built from them.

The Major and Minor Scales share the same 1st and 5th notes. The interval between the 1st and 5th notes in a Major Scale, and a Minor Scale, are the same. This is why the 5th is called a ‘Perfect’ Fifth. Because this interval is always the same in both the Major and the Minor Scales. Page 218 of 339

Whereas the interval between the second and third notes, what we call the ‘Third’ can be a ‘Minor’ interval of a Semi-Tone, or a ‘Major’ interval of a Full-tone. In the A Major and A Minor example above, see that A Major goes from B to C# (A Full-Tone interval of 2 frets) whereas A Minor goes from B to C (A Semi-Tone interval of 1 fret).

‘Octaving Up’ by adding an Eighth You can ‘Octave Up’ by adding your 4th finger at the iv5 position playing an A3. This is technically an 8th note, the 1st note one Octave higher in pitch, and thus twice the frequency. So now you are playing a Root-Fifth-Eighth power chord. You can play as many A and E notes within the one chord as you like, and it remains a ‘Power Chord’ a.k.a Root-‘5th’ Chord.

‘Octaving down’: Inversions of Power Chords

We can play an A# Power Chord with the ‘Fifth’ on the Bass E string at the vi1 position, instead of on the D string at the iv3 position. This Power Chord was made famouse by Deep Purple’s classic ‘Smoke on the Water’. This is called an ‘inversion’, as we play the lower Octave of the Fifth, in place of the original Fifth. In our case we play a n F2 instead of the original F3. Thus we ‘Octave down’ in such chord ‘inversions’. Like turning the chord upside down in relation to the frebboard. The notes are side by side, so we can play them both with our 1st finger, or any other finger, or the 2nd and 3rd finger, depending on what is convenient to what fingering we were coming from, and going to. But what if you want to sound like James Hetfield and Metallica? Page 219 of 339

To get that that real ‘Hetfield’ / ‘Metallica’ crunch you play the original Root-Fifth, and simply add this extra Fifth-an-octave-lower, to give you a three note Power chord. The addition of this lower pitched Fifth gives the power chord a real boost. In the case of the A# Power chord above, the ‘Fifth’ is the F3 note at the iv3 position. By adding the same note an Octave lower, we get a 3 note Power Chord of F2+A#2+F3. The shape is moveable like the other Power Chord shapes. The chord produced is determined by the ‘Root’ / First note on the E, A or D string. (Don’t confuse this with the ‘inverted’ Fifth on the E, A or D string!). Remember that you can play this shape just on the A and E strings as a 2 note ‘Inversion’. But adding the lower Octaved Fifth gives it that ‘oompf’.

(Add) Ninth Power Chord

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Here we have added a ‘Ninth’ to the standard Root-Fifth Power Chord. So it looks like we’ve put two Power Chords together, a conventional F Root-Fifth Power Chord and a conventional C Root-Fifth Power Chord. What we’ve done is add the ‘Ninth’ note from the Root / First note. In this example this is a G3 note played at the iv5 position.

‘Drop tuned’ 2 and 3 note Power Chords ‘Drop Tuning’ is where you de-tune your Bass E string a Full Tone in pitch (2 Semi- Tones) so that where it was originally tuned to E2, it is now tuned to D2. If you have a tuner, use it. If you don’t, then simply play the D3 on the A string at the v5 position, and keep the note sounding as you adjust the tuning of the Bass E down in pitch to become your new Bass D string. Now you have two D strings, rather than 2 E strings.

So now our tuning is D2 A2 D3 G3 B3 A4. You can now play Root-Fifth Power chords by barring the vi+v (now D2+A2) strings with your first finger. And you can hammer onto, and off of, higher pitched Power Chords of the same shape with your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers. Drop-Tuned Add Ninth Power Chord Page 221 of 339

We can now play the ‘Add Ninth’ Power Chord with just two fingers, and without the stretch

But wait, there’s more!

Here is the 3 note variant of the ‘Drop-tuned’ Power Chord

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And here is the FOUR note version of the ‘Drop-tuned’ Power Chord

And the FIVE note version of the ‘Drop-tune’ Power Chord

Double Octaved 4 note Power Chords Now we’ve added the lower Octave of the Fifth note, why note add the higher Octave of the First note, and see how that sounds? In our A# power chord, the root / First note is an A#2. The next convenient A#3 an octave higher is the A#3 on the G string at the iii3 position. As shown in the diagram below. Page 223 of 339

A ‘Minor’ Power Chord? Another alternative is to play the vi and v (2 frets closer to the nut) notes as a moveable Power Chord on the vi+v or iv+v strings. This is actually a 1st + (Minor) 3rd Power Chord (the 5th is ‘implied’ but not played).

A selection of common Barre Chord shapes

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Some moveable Major 6th, 7th, 9th, and 13th Chords

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‘Safe’ starting and ending points for any riff The root chord of any scale is the triad made of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of it…so if it is a major scale, the chord is a major chord … if it is a minor scale, it is a minor chord, and so on … So the C Major Scale ‘root’ Chord will be the C Major chord, and you can improvise over this chord using any C Major scale, such as C natural Major, C Major Pentatonic, etc… No matter where you area on the fretboard, the root note for the Key you are in will be easy to find, with practice and constant mental visualisations and calculations as you walk, wait in a queue, clean the house etc… once you have located the root note, you can work out any scale pattern you like, that follows a Major scale step pattern / interval pattern…using the interval patterns for that Key…again, you can visualize random possibilities during the day, in your head, as practice…vividly imagined things are just as ‘real’ to your brain as anything you actually see…and even do…you can develop muscle memory for scales etc simply by vividly imagining playing them…!!! Remember you can go up and down strings, slide between notes, and go across, and up and down…don’t get stuck just going across in the same way every time….you need to develop a repertoire of different ‘routes’ from root to octave to second octave and higher…your subsconsious will ‘pick up’ on what you are intending to do…and you’ll develop ‘muscle memory’ for loads of possible ‘routes’ or ‘ladders’ a.k.a ‘ways of ‘scale-ing’ the octaves from e.g C1 to C2 to C3 to C4 to C5, and back…just like the pros…whose ‘fretboard freedom’ we all so admire and envy… It is literally possible to find the ‘root’ of any scale / chord on any of the 6 strings…you can start with any finger…to ‘set yourself up’ for coming notes, you can slide the first note down to the second, and back up when your ‘return’ back ‘down’ the scale… Page 229 of 339

The natural progression Most guitarists begin learning their Minor Pentatonic Scales, then merging these with the Major Pentatonic Scales, then moving onto the Major and Minor Scales, and then into the different ‘modes’ of the Major Scale. Some learn the Major Scale first, then the Natural Minor Scale, then reduce these to the pentatonic scales, and then move onto the various modes of the Major Scale. Whatever approach you take, make sure you learn your Scales across the fretboard from the E2 to the E4 strings, and then from the nut to the bridge. If you’ve been teaching you intervals and thus not just mechanically memorizing patterns, you will automatically and naturally start consciously or unconsciously learning every note on the neck. Or at least enough reference notes to quickly be able to locate and play any particular note you need. You will start with the root notes on the two E strings, which are the same notes, just 2 Octaves apart in pitch. Then learn the notes on the A string. Then learn how to quickly find the octaves of each of these notes, using the ‘triangle’ shapes and other ‘tricks’ we discuss in this guide. Once you ‘grok’ the Chromatic Scale, and its intervals, and relate them to the frets of your guitar, and keys of a keyboard, you can ‘work out’ lots of things ‘on the fly’. Soon they will become second nature. Unconscious. Muscle memory. You won’t need to consciously locate or calculate or apply the ‘tricks’. Your subconscious will do all this for you. Then when you’ve ‘grokked’ the Scale intervals, and ‘grokked’ how chords are built, and the importance of the 1-3-5 triad and its ‘suspended’ and ‘augmented’ variations, you will have a treasure trove of resources to draw on when improvising and composing. You will know where your ‘safe’ havens are. How to play Arpeggios. Page 230 of 339

How to form your own chords. How to integrate all the theory into practice. To reap the musical harvest of the seeds we have been sowing.

First learn to solo and improvise over an entire progression with the one Scale / mode The first step is to be able to improvise or solo with one Scale, in key with the song. You can use the Major Scale degree / note chord construction charts to identify the Key of any song or chord progression. Apart from using the Major and Minor Scales, you will find that you can improvise in the Aoelian and Dorian Modes over most Minor Key progressions or melodies, as both these modes are defined by their Minor 3rds, the Semi-Tone interval between their 2nd and 3rd degrees / notes. Next you can become more creative, by soloing over individual Chords in the progression or song, using the scale synonymous with the chord, as your basis. And targeting the specific notes of the chord in your phrasing, the 1-3-5 or 1-b3-5, notes of the Chord / Scale for basic Major and Minor Chords, and then the actual notes of any Suspended or Add chords, or Major Seventh Chords, and so on. Study the appropriate chapters in this guide for details. Sounds scary at first, but it is really a piece of cake, if you give yourself the time and patiently work through this guide, step by step.

Ascending and descending between octaves on the guitar fretboard and on keyboard keys We ‘scale’ or ‘ascend’ an octave from lower pitched notes to higher pitched notes… and then ‘descend’ back from higher pitched notes to lower pitched notes … e.g C1 to C2 to C3 to C4 then back to C2 via C3… Learn the actual Open notes in the most useful way, namely as E2 A2 D3 G3 G3 B3 E4. Then learn the notes on the fretboard in the same way. Or draw up a diagram. This way you will always know not only the note name, but the actual pitch. You will then be able to ‘translate’ notes on a keyboard to notes on your guitar, to write simple TAB of melodic lines and chords, and play them on a keyboard, and/or write them into MIDI software. Page 231 of 339

Note that ‘writing your own guitar guide’ is the best way to reinforce what you are learning, as you go, and forcing you to ensure you are understanding what you are doing in a meaningful, and musical, way. Drawing scales in your head on imaginary fretboards, from the basic interval patterns you’ve memorised, and working back and forth between these when you forget one, but can visualize the other, is the way to go. Such ‘iterattions’ between visualization and building from theory will really leave you ‘comprehending’ what is going on. Soon things start becoming crystal clear. And you find yourself with ever increasing ‘fretboard freedom’. Consider this my ‘Bridge to Total Fretboard Freedom’. That should be ‘Clear’ to fans of Elron! One example of a ‘visualisation’ ‘reference point’ or ‘landmark’ you can superimpose on a fretboard, is the triangle formed when playing Major scale patterns starting on the vi string with the ‘4th’. As the E2 and E4 string notes repeat, 2 octaves apart, you have the ‘base’ of your triangle, showing two roots of a Major scale or chord. Now look to the G3 ( iii) string 3 frets towards the nut for the ‘point’ of the triangle. This will be the second octave of the same root. So now you can immediately find the 3 roots of 3 octaves of any Major scale, ‘at a glance’, as long as you manage to remember the notes on either the E2 (Bass E) string or E4 (treble E) string. Just remember EF G A BC D E with the semi-tone interval being one fret (between B and C, E and F), and full tone / 2 semi-tone interval being 2 frets (between F and G, G and A, A and B, D and E). This is just one ‘trick’ to memorise and practice, and calculate, in your head, and imagine, in your head, while walking, cleaning, about to fall asleep, while waiting in lines etc. To remember this I visualize a squewed rectangle, 2 corners of which are the E2 vi and E4 I strings on the same fret, and remember the different fret distances, and strings, by thinking ‘2 Dee Bridge’ (2 D towards bridge) and ‘Gee Free Nuts’ (G three towards nut). Then when ‘improvising’ and trying out ‘random’ new combinations (known as being creative / composing from scratch) or writing solo lines over existing chord progressions and melodies, stay in charge by always returning to one of these ‘root’ notes any time you feel you’ve ‘lost your way’, and after adding notes from the chromatic scale not in the Key / Scale/ Chord to build up ‘tension’ i.e ‘dissonance’ and ‘that sounds wrong’, to provide the ‘relief’ of ‘landing on a root note of that Key / Chord (or a third or fifth…and if using 6th and 7th chords, a th or 7th note of that Scale) Page 232 of 339

Play ‘lead up notes’ then ‘resolve’ to the ‘root’…i.e different approaches to same destination… Thirds are also useful ‘safe’ resolution points … these ‘thirds’ (the third note in a Major Scale) are located on the A2 (v) and B3 (ii) strings. They are 2 frets and 3 strings apart…with the higher pitched note being on the B3 string, and its octave one octave lower in pitch being on the A2 (v) string. Starting at the higher pitched 3rd, move 2 frets towards the bridge, and 3 strings towards the Bass E string. OR starting at the lower note, move 3 strings toward the Treble E string, then 2 frets towards the nut. Memorise and practice visualizing all these octaves and thirds relationships as triangles, and lines, to speed up your fretboard learning, and journey towards ‘fretboard freedom’. And the last but not least note in the Chord triad, always a ‘safe bet’ to return to after ‘losing your way’ or needing a break, the ‘fifth’ note of the Major Scale. Using a simple 3 octave , horizontal major scale pattern, you will find the 5th on the ii B3 string. Its relative 5th an octave lower, in the same scale, will be located two strings towards the Bass E string (i.e the iv D3 string), 3 frets towards the nut. Or starting from the lower pitched of these two, starting at the iv D3 string, simply move 3 frets towards the bridge, then 2 strings towards the Treble E string (namely the ii B3 string). Once you’ve practiced this on a fretboard, or a fretboard diagram, or in your ‘minds eye’, you will soon just be making ‘lines’ and ‘triangles’ of a general heuristic shape, either consciously or unconsciously…so that it gets easier and easier to find notes, scale / chord roots, 3rds, and 5ths…until it becomes ‘natural’ and ‘automatic’ and you no longer have to think about it, and you even forget how you ‘learned’ all this…and you become a ‘terrible’ teacher…it all seems so ‘intuitive’ to you you have no idea how to explain it…you’d have to reverse engineer, and ‘re-invent’ all the formulas and shapes we explain here…so I make notes as I teach myself anything, about what I found confusing at the time…to refresh my mind later, so I ddon’t ‘miss steps’ when trying to explain things…assuming things I, when I had just begun, didn’t understand, and which the other new learners will probably also not understand… Once you can find the root, 3rd, and 5th notes of any Scale, in the above ways, you can easily form your own chord shapes. You can chose which notes are necessary, and which are not, and double up on some notes, and leave others single, and thus make your own ‘moveable’ chord shapes, like SRV...this can let you sound chords during quick ‘chops’ between licks, without needing to form tricky chord shapes, often requiring ‘barre’ chords if you play them the ‘conventional’ way…but by including the root, 3rd, and fifth notes of any scale, your ‘chord’ ‘triad’ will have enough of the Page 233 of 339

‘chords’ flavor to sound great, without all the effort, and break in your riffing that forming / fretting the conventional chord shape, with all 5 or 6 notes usually included, might result in. E.g you can form a ‘C Major’ chord by playing these ‘moveable’shapes: iv5 (5th) + iii5 (rootC) + v7 (3rd) + vi8 (rootC) [bar the iv+iii] 3 fingers iv5 (5th) + iii5 (rootC) + ii5 (3rd) + v7 (3rd) [bar the v+iv+iii] 3 fingers iv5 (5th) + iii5 (rootC) + ii5 (3rd) + i8 ( root C) [bar the v+iv+iii] 2 fingers Note how the first and last use either ‘side’ of the triangle we used earlier to locate octaves. Now you have another quite simple ‘2 finger’ moveable shape. Remember the name of the chord is determined by the ‘root’ note. In this ‘moveable shape’ or ‘C shape’, the root will be on the E4 (Treble E) string, or the iii (G3) string. If this note is an F, then the chord is an F Major chord. If this note is a B, you are playing a B Major Chord. Soon you will be able to locate the easiest to play ‘chord shape’ most convenient to the riff you are playing, to the position your fingers are currently in, and most convenient or logical vis a vis the next riff or chord you intend playing after this chord. You are now opening up the fretboards secrets!

Merging Major Pentatonic and Minor Pentatonic scales together, for improvising and composing over Major Key and ‘Blues’ chord progressions in Blues, Rock, Jazz, and Country The Major and Minor Pentatonic scales can be often used interchangeably when improvising or solo’ing over Major Key and Blues progressions. It is common, especially in Blues, to simply combing the notes of the Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales and treat them as one scale.

Passing notes There is no need to limit yourself to the7 notes of the Major Scale, or 5 notes of the Pentatonic, or 6 notes of the Blues Pentatonic. You can play other notes of the Page 234 of 339

Chromatic scale ‘in passing’, as part of your runs, as long as you don’t stay on the note long enough for it to ‘stick’ in the listeners ear, and ‘land’ on a ‘safe haven’ note from your Key. The trick is keep the ‘passing note’ short and unobtrusively. You might quickly hammer on them as part of a run. The ear barely registers them. The usual ‘dissonance’ you’d hear and feel if you voiced the note and sustained it won’t occur as long as you keep the note short. Keep them short enough and you’ll add some spice to your playing, and use more of the Chromatic Scale, without ever sounding ‘dissonant’ or ‘out of key’. The idea as always is to keep things interesting and varied. Using passing notes is like using slides, bends, vibrato, hammer ons, hammer offs, pinched harmonics, plucking, and right hand deadening.

Adding a 9th Adding the 9th (2nd) to a Minor Pentatonic or Blues Scale is a common way to add some additionaly flourishes to these scales.

Using the ‘Dot’ inlays as reference points Most guitars have pattern of dot inlays or some other form of ‘inlay’ at these frets. The pattern of dots on frets 3 to 12 repeats on frets 15 to 21. fret O NUT D3 dot G3 Fret 3 fretboard marker F3 dot A3# Fret 5 fretboard marker G3 dot C4 (middle C) Fret 7 fretboard marker A3 dot D4 Fret 9 fretboard marker B3 dot E4 Fret 12 fretboard marker D4 dot G4 [Pattern repeats one octave (8.v.a) higher in pitch] Fret 15 fretboard marker F4 dot A4 Fret 17 fretboard marker G4 dot C5 Fret 19 fretboard marker A4 dot D5 Fret 21 fretboard marker B4 dot E5 Page 235 of 339

We can use these as quick reference points. After learning the notes of the open strings, then the Chromatic scale on the E2 or E4 string (they are the same, just 2 octaves apart in pitch), perhaps this should be our next priorty. For these dots are the most obvious ‘points of reference’ on the guitar fretboard. We should memorise what frets they are on. Then the two notes either side of the ‘dot inlay’, from Bass to Treble, or, looking down as we would when playing, from our top to our bottom. Then we have a quick reference point for fret numbers, and 6 reference points / notes for the DMajor Scale.

Fifths The Major Fifth of any root located on the E2, A2, D3, and B3 strings is located one string ‘down’ (physically, but up in pitch) and 2 frets ‘up’ towards the bridge. For reference, the ‘Fourth’ is located on the same fret as the root, on the string ‘below’ it. Page 236 of 339

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Octaves on the E and D strings, and the A and G strings

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Finding the same note elsewhere on the fretboard (Octaves)

These patterns are moveable. All you do is change one of the notes, and maintain the pattern, to find all the same locations for any particular note on the guitar fretboard. The above example is the F note. They are all F notes, only the pitch / Octave varies from F2 to F5. On the Bass E, E2, vi string and A2, v string: go 2 strings up in pitch (down towards floor) and 2 frets up in pitch (towards the bridge) [to get to the second octave from here go 2 strings to floor, and 3 frets to bridge (or to go from one note on the Bass E to its second octave, remember your double Octave note is 5 frets towards the bridge on B string], [with each octave separated by one string]. [And so to find the octave lower in pitch, starting on the B string move 3 frets to nut and 2 strings to ceiling, and starting on the D string, move 2 frets to nut and 2 frets to ceiling]. On Bass E, E2, vi string: go 3 frets strings up in pitch (down towards floor) and 3 frets down in pitch (towards nut) On the Bass E, E2, vi string: go 3 strings higher (down towards floor), and 3 frets lower (towards nut) in pitch. [E2 Up 3 strings down, down 3 frets to nut] On A2, v string: go 3 strings higher (down towards floor) and 2 frets lower (towards nut) in pitch. . [A2 3 strings down, 2 frets to nut] On E4, Treble E, i string: go 2 strings lower (up) and 3 frets lower (towards nut) in pitch. [E4 2 strings up, down 3 frets to nut] On D3, iv string: go 2 strings lower (up towards ceiling) and 3 frets higher (up towards bridge) in pitch. Page 239 of 339

Octave triangles pointing towards the nut (G3 iii string) or bridge (D3 iv string)

Any note of the G3, iii string, can form the tip of a triangle pointing towards the nut, whose base is two identical notes 2 octaves apart, on the E2 and E4 i.e Bass E and Treble E, strings, 3 frets lower in pitch (towards nut). [E2 and E4 + 3 frets to nut on G3]. See green triangle Any note on the D3, iv string can form the tip of a triangle pointing towards the bridge, whose base is 2 identical notes 2 octaves apart on the E2 and E4 i.e Bass E and Treble E strings, 2 frets lower in pitch ( towards the nut). [E2 and E4 + 2 frets to bridge on D3]. See yellow triangle. Or you can look at the same relationship using the ‘base’ of the triangle as your reference: The same note on the Bass E (vi string) and on the Treble E ( i string) 2 octaves apart, say B2 and B4 can form the base for a triangle pointing to the nut, or to the bridge, with the point on the G string 3 frets towards the nut B3, or on the D iv string, 2 frets towards the bridge B3. N.B the other Middle C is the C4 in the ii2 position (Root of the Open C chord, and first fretted note of Open C chord, with C3 being the last fretted note of the Open C chord). The triangle shapes are moveable up and down the fretboard. Note that every note shown here is the same F note, just with different pitches, over different octaves.

Dee-three eF GAB Dee: Use of dot inlays for orientation I still suspect the dot inlays at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 12th frets, repeating on the 15th, 17th, and 19th frets, were put at these precise frets for some reason. I’m not Page 240 of 339 much of a ‘coincidence theorist’. The 12th ‘Octave’ fret is clear enough. But why the others? Do the dot inlays hold secret hidden in plain sight, and obvious to everyone by myself? If you know, please let me know at [email protected] and I will reward you with an (E-book or PDF) copy any of my TROONATNOOR books of your choice. So far my best use of them is Dee eF GAB Dee which has a sort of memorable quality to me. It reminds me the iv string is Open D3, I’m a ‘Gabby’ person (chatty / loquacious/ blabber mouth). It has a rhythm (H Y T H is the way to remember that spelling i.e visually, and never phonetically!). Let me know if you have a better ‘EselBruecke’ to use with the Dot Inlays. Or any other way you use them as reference points for guitar fretboard orienteering!

The Triad and its ‘inversions’ The Major and Minor Triads are the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the Major Scale for Major Chords, and the Minor Scale, for Minor Chords. The three possible inversions are called the ‘Root’ Position, 1st inversion, and 2nd inversion.

Chord inversions...play same notes in different order e.g play third on vi rather than root...e.g A Rt6 Maj at fifth becomes A/C# Major at 9th fret barre 9th, mute v and iv and +ii10 or just play like open D chord at 9th fret, and add vi9, mute v and iv...i.e open D playing the bass note not usually played, but which is of course the same note as the i9...simply move 4 frets towards bridge from Rt6 shape to inverted 'D' shape...

N.B trick to playing movable chord shapes without 'Barre' is to learn the different chord structures e.g Maj is 1st , 3rd , 5th, and as have 6 strings, only need to strum 3 of them to get the chord sound... MHR so look at every 'Barre' chord shape, and work out which 3 strings minimum to sounding the chord...then find the alternative ways to sound the chord i.e different 3 notes at same position...especially will allow to play augmented chords etc with long stretches, as won't need to 'barre' root fret, just fret one note of it...and 'mute' any unplayed strings etc... Page 241 of 339

To memorise entire guitar fretboard notes ... first find all the A notes...then rearrange the A natural scale of A BC D EF G in your head as EF G A BC D .. so can easily find G FE and BC D as the notes before and after A on the fretboard ... i.e 'back' tone, tone, semi-tone and forwards tone, semi-tone, tone ... until soon can quickly name any note on the fretboard, in relation to the A notes... i.e look for A ... E is back 5 frets (semi-tones), F is back 4 frets, G is back 2 frets, and B is forward 2 frets, C is forward 3 frets, D is forward 5 frets...the 'sharps and flats' simply fall between A and B, C and D, F and G, G and A...

A 0 reference fret B +2 frets C +3 frets D +5 frets E -5 frets F -4 frets G -2 frets

With a keyboard the natural notes i.e no sharps or flats, are simply the white keys..and C is the white key before the pair of black keys.... easier with piano to use 'C4' as reference point...and count in white keys only...so simply C D EF G A BC

Play 'barre' chords more like SRV i.e moveable shapes: Just fret i, ii, and vi notes of 'barre' chord with tip and bony side of first finger, rather than actually baring all the strings...as the other strings will be fretted by 'open' chord shapes anyway...saves all that terrible tension / strain on wrist / hand from playing 'traditional' 'barre chords i.e fretting all 5 (A shape) or 6 (E shape) strings with first finger...

Start learning Bass scales along fretboard using 'slides' between notes to speed up...start with Major scale from nut to bridge...and memorise notes using above trick as do these...or as alternative way to learn the natural scale i.e Major Scale C D EF G A BC ... then learn chord intervals for arpeggios and improvising over chords...this is Page 242 of 339 what should have learned when started... not just kept playing scales across E to E string i.e laterally...and not bothering to learn notes...etc... practise improvisation not scales i.e start with simple nursery rhyme, work out how to reproduce notes on guitar..then improvise around this simple melody...work around this as practise...at controlled tempo...try fast, see what doesn't work, what need to work on...take these and slow them down, till can play faster...rather than just doing scale runs, which don't lead to fluidity around neck... try all the tricks and blues boxes and CAGED shapes and 'extra' notes to scales...bits of chromatic to set up tension, then resolve to the key tonic, or third, or fifth i.e chords...change time signatures...etc... play with backing tracks...but be specific about what working on i.e disciplined...structured...have objectives...e.g to play mary had a little lamb like hendrix or hetfield...

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Tone is in the fingers, and size matters, only not in the way you might think

Most of the tone and sound of a great guitarist comes from how they play, rather than the actual instrument they play. So we say that most of the tone is 'in their fingers' and not in the guitar or amp or effects. A great guitarist sounds pretty much the same on most decent equipment. They 'commit' themselves to what they play. They attack the strings with gusto. They play with feeling. The following may surprise a lot of people. The biggest studio guitar sounds usually come from using a smaller amp, recorded at relatively low levels. This is how to get that ‘larger than life’ sound you hear on your favorite recordings. Eric Clapton recorded 'Layla' on a small Fender champ (6watts into an 8 inch speaker) and a Princeton reverb (12 watts into a 10 inch speaker). Jimmy Paige recorded electric guitar for the earlier Led Zeppelin albums on a tiny 'Silvertone' amp.

The huge 'larger than life' sound comes from recording at volumes lower than the recording will normally be listened to. This means that when you listen to it at a normal level, it sounds louder, and thus better. In the studio and even live, recording engineer's will often disconnect all but one speaker in a 'stack'. They will then mic the remaining active speaker. Jimi Hendrix actually needed to line up rows of amplifiers on stage. Not that he used all of them at the same time. No. They were there so that each time his current tube blew, he could move onto a new amp. Bands may do a ‘Spinal tap' and line up row upon row of 'stacks' to impress the audience, but they are only props. They are not plugged in.

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Overdrive Vis a Vis Distortion In the ‘olden days’ guitarists noticed that if you turned up an amplifier to ‘11’, their guitar input signal started ‘distorting’ in way they liked. They enjoyed greater ‘sustain’ and that tasty ‘driven’ sound. They were literally ‘over-driving’ their amps ‘too hard’. Ultimately this destroyed their tubes, but it was a good life while it lasted. So Hendrix would appear on stage with a whole bunch of Amps. He was only playing from one. The others were waiting, ready, for when he destroyed the one he was playing, with too much ‘love’. When you are playing in a sound-proof studio, or in an open arena, you can turn your amps up to ‘11’, and blast away. But what if you are practicing at home, especially in an apartment? You could take an amp with a low output, and ‘krank’ it right up. In fact many of the ‘biggest’ guitar sounds in recording history were made using little amps kranked right up. See my ‘Sound Foundations’ Audio Engineering Guide for details. Over time engineers found ways to make it possible to push the ‘gain’ on the amp, while ‘soaking’ up the output. So you could drive your huge amp as hard as you liked, and send the maximum voltage to the tubes to get them to ‘speak in holy tones’, but the output to the speaker or cabinet would be ‘soaked up’ before reaching the speaker. You could thus enjoy your ‘distorted’ ‘over-driven’ sound at relatively low volumes. To allow guitarists to use the same amp for home practice, small gigs, and large gigs, while getting the same ‘overdriven’ sound, some amp manufacturers began to offer amps that let the user select, using a power grid selector, the power output between 25 and 100 Watt outputs, so they could play at home with the 25 Watts and drive it hard, something they could never do with the 100 Watts unless they were in a large venue. Mesa Boogie are one manufacturer that offers this option on some of their Amps. Later engineers found they could make circuits from tubes and/or transistors that could ‘emulate’ the same sound as an overdriven amp, and place these circuits in ‘foot pedals’. More recently software designers found they could ‘model’ the output of an overdriven amp with algorithms that aimed to replicate the transformations that the amplifier effected on the incoming guitar signal. They could take any particularly ‘iconic’ amplifier, and ‘model’ what it did to an inputted guitar signal. Page 245 of 339

Then they started ‘modelling’ all the variations introduced by different microphones, microphone positions, and room acoustics. Many guitarists, especially live, will use ‘hardware’ such as ‘rack mounted effects units with DSP effects’ and ‘foot pedals’, because they are easier to use, and more reliable, than computer software that can easily ‘crash’ during a performance. Guitarists will often use a foot pedal in addition to the ‘drive’ settings on their amp, to get exactly the mix of sustain, distortion, tone, and control of their sound that they are after.

Some famous ‘overdriven’ sounds to try To get that typical AC/DC 'rock' sound for your rhythmguitar, use the bridge pick-up, and experiment with gain settings below 5. Change to the neck pick-up for the lead guitar solos and melodies. To get that typical ‘James Hetfield 'Metallica' sound on your Power Chord Progessions, ‘scoop’ out the middle frequencies by turning the ‘Mids’ pot down to about 2 on your amp. Or do the same with whatever form of EQ you have available. Approach that typical Stevie Ray Vaugn blues overdrive sound by moving your pick- up selector switch on your strat to ‘neck’ position, to engage your single-coil neck pickup. Then experiment with ‘gain’ settings around ‘2’.

Country and western To get a ‘country’ or ‘country and western’ sound, use ‘clean’ settings. Then add some compression, to keep the volume of each note played more consistent. Adding a little ‘slap-back’ delay or echo will complete your ‘country’ sound. Single Coil pick-up and pick-up combinations are more common than humbuckers, in country and western music. They offer a ‘thinner’ and ‘brighter’ sound than typical humbucking pick-ups. If you have a humbucker with a ‘coil-tap’ switch, try it out. It changes the wiring pattern of the ‘humbucker’ so that you are only using one of the two coils / pick-ups of the Humbucker. For details on pick-up designs, see my ‘Sound Foundations’ Audio Engineering Guide. There you will also find details on using Compression effectively and creatively. And if you ever intend using software for recording or effects, make sure you get a copy of my ‘Optimal Reaper’ and try out ‘Reaper’. It is my choice of DAW for many reasons. And I’ve designed a configuration for it that offers a more user-friendly user interface and faster ‘learning curve’ for song writers and musicians. Page 246 of 339

Guitar effects and ‘daisy chaining’ (sequence matters)

Serial routing means placing effects in a series. This means that one effect feeds the next effect, and their effects are thus combined. This combined effect is then fed into the next effect in the series. And so on. The order in which you use effects can have a big impact on the final sound. Most guitarists will order their effects pedals, from left to right, first to last, as follows. Compressor, equalizer, and distortion pedal, flanger, chorus, delay, and finally spring reverb. By placing the reverb at the end you can smooth out and fuse all these elements into a whole. Spring and plate reverbs are often preferred by guitarists due to their instant attack times. They don’t change the perceived location of the sound source as they have none of the pre-delay that most reverbs have. It is this pre-delay that the brain uses to calculate space, location, and distance. Plate reverbs are metal plates with transducers placed on them to send and receive signals. Spring reverbs literally use springs. Of course the digital equivalents use modelling to simulate their analog originals. Most guitarists will put the effects before the Amp simulation, as they would normally place their effects pedals before their amps, in the signal chain. In other words they would plug their effects into their amps, and not plug their amps into their effects. Using a Splitter pedal lets you divide the sound by frequency ranges, and then process each part of the frequency spectrum with a different effect. You can also use parallel routing configurations. In this case, you make several copies or send / route the track to several Busses. This gives you more flexibility. You can then process each track independently with different effect, volume, and pan settings. At the end you can then blend the tracks back into one stereo track. Remember never to limit your creativity. Think outside the square. Brainstorm. Try and see. Experiment with guitar effects on other instruments like drums and vocals. You may find a new sound no-one has heard before. Try to get your mix sounding well-balanced and polished before adding reverb. Avoid the temptation to abuse reverb to hide other problems in your mix. Err on the side of adding too little reverb rather than too much. For a do-it-yourself tuned reverb chamber, try this tip. Tune an acoustic guitar with an open tuning, in the key of the song you are recording. Place the guitar on a stand Page 247 of 339 near your amp, and point a mic at its sound-hole. The strings will vibrate sympathetically, and the resonance of the guitar will give you a cool effect. Time-domain effects subject a signal to a very short delay, then recombine them with the original signal in various ways. Time domain effects include chorusing, phasing and flanging, all subtly different varieties of the same thing. If you put a delay so short you can barely perceive it, before a distortion effect, it can really ‘fatten’ up your sound. The distortion will blend the ‘delayed’ signal with the original, so it will sound like one big fat juicy glorious tone. No ‘fat shaming’ here folks! Sometimes bigger is better! 4ms, 8ms, 11ms are good guitar delay times that you feel more than hear. Experiment with delay times up to 28ms on power guitar. Pan the delayed signal so it sounds like a second, different, guitar. Chorus is a short modulated delay. The delay time is modulated by a low frequency sine or triangle waveform. The chorus program in a modern effects unit might use three delays, all individually modulated at different rates. An effect known as comb filtering occurs which reinforces some frequencies while canceling others out almost completely. The term 'flanging' comes from the fact that engineers used to place a little pressure on the flange of the supply reel of the delay (tape) recorder to get this sound. These days, we would more likely think of the effect as being ‘phasing’ because of the phase cancellations that occur, and save the term ‘flanging’ for when positive feedback is added to make the effect stronger. Just like chorusing, phasing and flanging processes have been digitally modelled for use in DAW's and guitar multi- effects units. ‘Modulation’ is the term we use for changing the characteristics of a sound over time.

Tremolo is a periodic variation in the amplitude (SPL / dB level) of the sound.

Vibrato is a periodic variation in the frequency of the sound.

Wah effects are produced by a periodic variation in the harmonic content of the sound. In all effects that used modulation, the source of the modulating voltage will be the low-frequency oscillator (LFO) covering from around 1 Hz to 20 Hz. The most useful waveform for the LFO is the sine wave. Page 248 of 339

Two guitars playing one part will sound more powerful than one, as slight deviations in the timing of each will add to the ambiance. If trying to 'fake' this, use delays of at least 10ms to avoid comb-filtering, and add a slow (under 1Hz) LFO to modulate the signal, adding pitch variations, and reducing comb-filtering, phasing, and flutter- echoes. To make one guitar track sound like two different guitars, duplicate the guitar track, and cut one at 1k, while boosting the other at 1k. Pan each differently. Distortion can add harmonically rich tones, which boost the subjective loudness of the track, without actually boosting gain, and risking clipping. Distortion can also give a recording the subjective quality of ‘warmth’ by adding sonically tasty, acoustically appealing, even-order harmonics to a signal. Remember that low frequencies tend to produce harsher distortion than mid and high frequencies, where the distortion is smoother, so you may want to copy the guitar track, and filter out the low end before feeding it to the distortion effect. Then you can blend the 'wet' and 'dry' signals together to get the perfect balance of warmth and tone. Rectifiers (diodes) are used to control the flow of current. The sound of amps using such a ‘Rectifier’ drive is distinct. It is a favorite of many blues, rock, and metal guitarists. Most modelling amps have a 'rectifier' setting. Remember to experiment to find the best balance of guitar volume output and amp. Don’t just turn your guitar volume up to 11. Often you will get a better tone by reducing the volume pot on your guitar, and increasing the gain on the amp.

Pick-up selection and technical details Guitar pick-ups are coils of wire wrapped around a magnetized iron rod. Guitar strings contain iron. Guitar pick-ups convert the mechanical energy of vibrating guitar strings into electrical energy. The alternating current produced when you set an iron containing metal string to moving back and forth within the magnetic field of the pick-up, corresponds to the strings’ back and forth movement across the magnetic field of the pick-ups. This is one reason to check a guitar before you buy it. If possible, find one where the strings pass directly over the middle of the pole pieces of each pick-up. Even where this is perfect, when you ‘bend’ a string, you will be moving it away from the pole piece, and this will reduce the output and thus volume of that note. Of Page 249 of 339 course with lots of effects, distortion, and most importantly compression, these slight differences will usually not irritate or disturb anyone. But if you play perfectly clean, they might. This is one reason some pick-up manufacturers offer ‘rail’ pickups. With a ‘horizontal’ ‘rail’ along the entire length of the pick-up. This way the distance between the magnetic field and the string is constant. Like me, you probably never noticed whether your strings and pick-up pole pieces were perfectly aligned or not. And like me, you will be surprised that even the high- end ‘premium’ guitars often ‘suffer’ from this problem. My Strat suffers from this problem. But I only noticed after getting a Custom Tele with a humbucker bridge. The string to pole alignment on the humbucker was slightly off to the side of the E4 string, but it caught my attention. The neck pole piece to string alignment was perfect. So I wondered if this might be a problem, and went online doing some ‘research’. At least the mis-alignment on the new Custom Tele was on the humbucker. Thanks to the greater output of such pick-ups, the ‘problem’ of a slight drop in output isn’t that big a deal. But then I went to look at my Strat, to find the string to pole alignment much worse on that, more ‘expensive’ guitar. I mean all over the place. Surprised me. And not in a good way. I hadn’t noticed.

Apparently this sort of thing is quite common. And not such a big deal. But that said, if you can get one that is ‘perfect’, then do so. It makes a small difference, sonically. And can prove a real ‘optical’ irritation once you notice it. So as usual, if you can go into a shop, and try out a few guitars, do so. Now you have one more thing to look for. Sorry if I just made you aware of an ‘imperfection’ in your beloved axe! And if like me, it is your single tone Strat pick-ups that are the offenders, the problem is slightly worse, due to the lower output. The reason it makes more of a difference on a typical Strat single coil pick-up is that though the magnetic field of a pole piece magnet extends far beyond its surface size, we are still going to get less output the further the string is vibrating from the magnetic field of the pick-up. Remember that the way a pick-up works, is that the frequency of the vibration of the string, how fast it moves back and forth, corresponds to the A/C current that is Page 250 of 339 produced in the magnet. It is this A/C current that produces the ‘Output’ of the pick- up, and thus the guitar, which we then amplify. If you add a lot of compression, small changes, even pretty big differences, in output, will be irrelevant. But if you play completely clean, without effects, even slight changes in output from string to string can be noticeable, especially during bends where you pull the string even further from the pole pieces, and thus away from, out of, the magnetic field. You can increase string windings and the power of the magnets to increase output, but there will be a trade-off in terms of frequency-response, and sustain. Too many wire turns can reduce high frequency output. Too strong a magnet can reduce sustain by slowing down the strings vibration. External sources (other than the strings) can also induce voltage in the pick-up's coils, such as lighting and electrical wiring. Single-coil pick-ups will tend to pick up interference from all sorts of electrical equipment, including the transformers in guitar amps. So get the guitarist to move a short distance from their amp to see if this helps. To avoid such ‘pick-up’ noise’ or ‘hum’, you can wire two pick-ups out of phase to each other, and place them side by side. Now, as in balanced cables, any noise induced in one pick-up will be induced in the other pick-up as well. The trick is that the noise in one pick up will be 180 degrees out of phase with the noise in the other pickup, so that when this noise is summed together at the pick- up’s output, it will automatically cancel itself out. Then by reversing the polarity of one of the pick-ups magnetized rods, and placing the audio signal out of phase, when all the signals are summed, the two out of phase signals independent of the alternating string current cancel each other out, and correct the phase of the audio signal, bringing it back in phase with the other pick- ups magnetized rod, and thus giving the original power output back. Thus we have a ‘hum-bucker’ pick-up that ‘bucks’ the ‘hum’, like a horse throwing off its rider. If the pick-ups are wired in parallel, the pick-ups’ output will be the same as for a single coil. However if the pick-ups are wired in series, the output it will be double that of a single coil pick-up. Series wiring allows us to reduce the number of coils, without reducing the pick-ups’ output. By doing so we can reduce the inductance, the resistance to the strings back Page 251 of 339 and forth movement, and thus widen the frequency response of the pick-ups, and increase the guitar’s sustain. You can afford to halve the number of coils, and still keep the same voltage output of a single coil, by using 'humbuckers' wired in series. So now you see the advantage of humbucker pick-ups. As the two pick-ups are reversed in polarity, there is almost no degradation of string sustain. Any externally induced noise will be self-canceled at the output. 'Humbuckers' give you better high frequency response, high output, great sustain, and noise-cancellation.

Pick-up ‘height’, the distance between your strings and the pick-up poles of each pick- up are another factor effecting your guitar’s overall output and tone. Placing the pick-up too far from the strings can lead to a thin tone with low output (volume). Placing the pickup closer to the strings can increase the output, making it ‘hotter’, but this can also produce a brittle, nasty, muddy, distorted, sound. So seek out the ‘golden mean’. The optimal compromise, between tone and output (volume). Use the screws on either side of the pick-up to raise or lower the pick-up, to bring it closer or further from the strings. And if you are really a perfectionist, you can consider raising and lower the individual pole pieces.

Coil taps allow you to choose a circuit with the full number of windings, giving you double the power but reduced high-frequency response, or half the windings, giving you the lower, typical single coil output, but with better high-frequency response. Acoustic guitar pick-ups can easily be re-wound, and used on any instrument whose tone is produced by moving steel, from cymbals to piano strings. Blues guitarists often use the neck pick-up but pick close to the bridge, for a bright but full tone.

Fretboard Squeak Page 252 of 339

If you are having trouble with fretboard 'squeak', try this trick. Place some cardboard between the strings and fretboard, and lightly rub a fine grade of steel wool over the strings.

Faulty wiring of amps and pick-ups Wiring pick-ups, amps and speakers up wrong will produce no output, and blow the amps. Batteries wired wrongly will produce no output, will overhead, and crack, leaking acid. Two power sources are wired in series when the positive of one is connected to the negative of the other, and the remaining positive and negative terminals go to the output. Two power sources are wired in parallel when the positive poles of one is connected to the positive pole of the other battery, and the negative pole of one is connected to the negative pole of the other battery. The wiring then continues to the output. You can blow up headphone amps, guitar amps, and so on, by wiring them incorrectly, or simply overloading them by connecting active amps in parallel when it should be in series.

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Keeping it clean When you play, the oils and salt in the sweat of your fingers ends up on the guitar fretboard, strings, and body. This sweat is acidic, and will corrode the strings if left to accumulate. Just like when you fail to brush your teeth. So you will want to take a clean soft cloth and wipe the strings after a session, to keep them clean. This way they will last longer, and maintain more of their original tone. Try a microfiber cloth. Then after wiping your guitar strings dry, and free of any build-up from the current session, you will probably automatically take that same cloth to wipe down the guitar body. But ‘check yourself before you wreck your’ – guitar’s finish and paintwork. For the same residue, the oil and sweat, that you just removed from the strings, can literally ‘etch’ hairline scratches in the paintwork of your guitar, as you push that residue, including small particles of dust, into the finish, and then literally drag it back and forth across the finish, and the particles between the guitar finish and your cloth will have an abrasive action, something like sandpaper. So first take a microfiber ‘duster’ to remove any dust from the finish. They are highly electro-static, and will remove lots of dust particles. They will stick to the microfiber duster. Then ‘earth’ the duster by hold the fibers in your hand. Then shake the dust particles that electrostatically attached themselves to the fibers free of the fibers. And repeat. These fibers are very light, soft, and thin, and won’t apply any pressure to your guitar’s finish. Then to remove smudges and the grime that tends to build up on the fretboard, take a slightly damp, clean, microfiber cloth, and apply a little ‘elbow grease’ i.e pressure, to remove the grime. This grime shows up quickest on Maple necks with low gloss finishes, leaving them ‘gray’ looking. Page 254 of 339

But it shows up on all guitar fretboards, Maple or Rosewood, sooner or later, as a whitish layer, especially around the frets. Cleaning the back of your neck to free it from the grime that tends to accumulate there, should be your next priority after wiping the strings dry and free of residue. A clean neck is smooth and offers little resistance. A dirty neck ‘grabs’ and ‘catches’ at the skin of your palm. And lastly, keeping your bridge and saddle pieces clean and dry will prevent them rusting. In the same way that sweat and oil from your hands ends up on your strings, fretboard, and the back of your guitar neck, picking hand string muting and palm muting tend to leave residue on the saddle pieces.

But remember, you do not want to ever actually get your guitar wet or even damp. Wood and water do not mix. And you should avoid using any cleaning agents on it that were not specifically designed for use on your guitar, and on your guitar’s particular finish / lacquer. Check your guitars handbook or website for recommended cleaning products for your guitar.

Tuning Always tune guitar strings from flat to target pitch. Whether they are new strings you are just re-stringing your guitar with, or existing strings that are out of tune. Remember that small changes in temperature and air humidity can move your neck enough to increase string tension so that one or more of your strings ends up sharp, even if you haven’t touched it. If for this, or any other reason, you find a string is sharp, do not simply de-tune back to the target pitch. Tune if way flat of the target pitch first. This will give the gear and string a chance to adjust, before you ‘take up the slack’ in the string and gear, by increasing the string tension, tightening the string, so that it moves from flat to the target pitch, and is once more ‘in tune’. If you tune from sharp to target pitch, without first over-reaching to a flat tuning, you tend to end up with slack in the gear or the string. This will then ‘work itself out’ while you are playing, sending your tuning flat. If you find a string is sharp, de-tune it down so it is definitely flat, well below your target pitch. This way you can then tune it correctly, from flat to correct pitch. The act of tightening the string takes all the slack out of the string and gears. Page 255 of 339

If you touch your tuners, and they move freely, with no tension, it is because there is slack in the gear that connects them to the tuning posts. You can’t see the gear, because it is in a sealed box.

Strings To visualize what your strings are doing when you ‘strike’ them, imagine two kids with a skipping rope. The nut and the bridge are the two kids. The string moves in an ellipse between these two fixed points. So the harder you ‘pick’ or ‘pluck’ the string, and the lower the string tension, the more likely it is that the string will make contact with one or more frets during its elliptical movement. Because the ellipse, the ‘arc’ of the string, will be ‘wider’. We need to use this visualization to get over the misconception of strings ‘vibrating’ back and forth. In fact they travel ‘around and around’ in elliptical arcs. So before you blame your guitar, check your own picking or plucking style. Are you picking harder than necessary? A common fault among guitarists is to ‘dig too deep’. To hit the string way too high up on the pick, and thus make a lot more contact, and apply much more force, than is ideal. This is a common reason for ‘fret buzz’ that no luthier can fix. Before recording a guitar take, make sure the guitar has new strings and that they are in tune. And if you want to eliminate or reduce buzz, especially in a Strat style guitar, consider using 11 gauge strings. They have a slightly higher tension compared to lighter gauges. The lighter gauges tend to ‘flap around’ more, and introduce more fret buzz than the heavier gauges. Note that after putting heavier gauge strings on a guitar, say, changing from 9’s to 11’s, you will probably want to check, and adjust, the truss rod. And then check and adjust the intonation. And then check and adjust the tremolo. And any time you do any of these things, you will want to go back and check what impact any changes you made to any of them, affected all the others. But don’t worry, soon you will know how to do all of these things. Constantly revisit the tuning, to check that the strings are in tune as the session progresses. Page 256 of 339

Re-stringing a guitar with new strings

Before you put on your new strings, take an ordinary black graphite lead pencil, and ‘draw’ black lines inside the nut grooves, then wipe off any excess graphite. The result will be a smoother, frictionless travel of strings when bending and tuning the strings, or using your whammy bar. Remember that by adding higher gauge (thicker) strings, you can improve the tone of the guitar, while thinner strings make faster runs easier. If you have several guitars, put different gauge strings on each of them. Then you can play different parts on different guitars, using light gauge strings for fast runs and licks, and the heavier gauges for less demanding parts. You can really 'rip into' heavier gauges. Stevie Ray Vaughn used .13 gauge strings on some of his guitars. He must have had really powerful fingers? Or was the secret that he de-tuned those guitars to lower pitches, so he could get the tone of the .13 guage strings with mere guitar-hero, though still mortal, fingers. Some of his guitars were tuned to Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb, Eb. Some were tuned still lower? If you have to compromise, try gauge .10 strings. I prefer .11 guage strings on a Stratocaster, as I seem to get better tone, and lower action, without fret buzz. The higher tension keeps the strings from flapping around too much! A high/Nashville 6 string guitar sound uses only the higher strings of a set of 12 string guitar strings. This gives a great guitar sound that will sit nicely in almost any mix. In this guitar set up a special tuning is used. The E and B strings are tuned to normal pitch. The rest of the strings are tuned up one octave from their normal pitch. Sometimes tuning only the third and fourth strings up one octave higher than normal pitch works better.

Strings will stay in tune longer if you limit yourself to 2 to 3 windings around the tuning peg. This produces the ideal amount of tension. Make sure the string winds down towards the wood, so that the string ends up as close to the wood as possible. This gives the string the greatest angle from the nut to the tuning peg. This helps tension the string correctly. Of course make sure the strings are held by any ‘string trees’ on the head-stock. Guitars with Fender style head-stocks, on which the strings are distributed in a series, in one straight line, tend to stay in tune longer than guitars with Gibson style Page 257 of 339 head-stocks. This is because the strings are allowed to proceed on a straighter line from the nut to the string winder. On Gibson style head-stocks, the tuners are placed 3 to each side. New strings will need a chance to stretch, so expect them to need constant retuning until they have had a chance to settle in. In their packaging they were under zero tension. Placed on the guitar, they are under fairly massive tension. So they will tend to ‘stretch out’ until their reach their full length. Each time they stretch out, they ‘flatten’ your tuning. Just as if you wound back the tuners, relaxing the string tension, for a deliberate Eb tuning, or D tuning. You can speed up the natural process of string ‘stretching’ by deliberately stretching new strings, one string at a time. First place all the new strings on your guitar and tune them. Then take each string in succession, fret it at the first or second fret, and with your picking hand, pull the string away from the body, about 3cm, while keeping the string fretted with your other hand, to stop them potentially coming out of their nut grooves. Don’t pull hard enough to break them. Just hard enough to stretch them a little. Move up and down the fretboard, pulling the string out to stretch it. Pull the string in and out within the 3cm range for a few moments. AT different positions up and down the neck. The string will stretch, and go flat. Re-tune it. Repeat this process about four or five times, or until the string remains in tune after you ‘stretch’ it in the way described. You will notice that each time your repeat the process, the string will have gone less out of tune than the previous time.

Experiment with different pick thicknesses. Try thicker and thinner picks, and listen for differences in attack and tone. You may be surprised. You can get a brighter tone on steel string acoustics with thinner picks. Thick picks require a bit more skill, but give you more control. Remember that if a guitar sounds good, if it has great resonance and tone when not plugged it, then it will also sound good when it is plugged in. And vice versa.

Action and intonation

‘Action’ refers to the distance between the top of the frets, and the string. Page 258 of 339

Lower action may be more comfortable, faster, and easier to play, but you may find that if you start playing more aggressively, really ‘ripping into the riffs and chops’, that you get excessive fret buzz. And you may find that ‘bends’ become harder. Also, you TONE can really suffer if your actions is set low. So raise the action a little, sacrificing some playability, for superior tone. After all, TONE is what you are after. So it’s great to know that often you can improve the TONE of your guitar, and make it sound that much better, at no extra cost, other than the cost of perhaps slightly reduced ‘shreddability’. Generally, if you are into ‘shredding’ and metal, you are more likely to end up with a flatter, wider, Gibson type guitar, with incredibly low action. Whereas if you are more into blues, you are likely to have a Strat styled guitar with a ‘rounder’ fretboard profile, and much higher action.

Modern ‘compound radius’ necks offer you the best of both worlds. A rounder fretboard near the nut, and a flatter fretboard near the bridge. So check out the more recent model Strats with a compound neck radius. You don’t have to fork out for an expensive model to get this feature these days. Even some of the cheaper ‘Non-U.S’ models come with this tasty improvement over the more ‘traditional’ Strats. So before you buy your next guitar, check the radius specificiations of the options within your price range. I bought an Indonesian ‘custom’’ tele-strat’ with a more traditionally ‘curved’ neck radius near the nut, for that authentic telecaster/stratocaster’, while flattening out to a more ‘shreddable’ flatter neck radius near the bridge, where most ‘lead solos’ are usually played. Whatever action you end up with, you will soon get used to it. I have heard people describe their own guitars as having ‘great action’. So I was shocked when I actually played them and found them to have the heaviest, hardest, most uncomfortable action I had ever experienced. So it will always be a matter of taste on the one hand, and a question of compromise between playing style, TONE, and playability, on the other. For most people TONE is god. But others will sacrifice it for easier, faster action. ‘Neck relief’ means that the action is going to be higher nearer to the bridge than it is at the nut. Page 259 of 339

If you have one of the Fender Strats with ‘micro-tilt’, you can actually adjust this tilt of neck relative to the body. And remember that Strat style guitars tend to have a fretboard which is relatively more curved than your typically ‘flatter’ ‘shred’ axe.

This curvature of the fretboard means that if you set your action too low, bends are more likely to ‘fret out’ and ‘choke’. Therefore Strat style guitars tend to require higher action than other guitar types. So keep this in mind when selecting a guitar for purchase, and when dealing with your ‘expectations’ for the guitar you have. Check the entire fretboard for buzzing. Carefully ‘pick’ or ‘pluck’ each note at each fret.

Even the most expensive guitars often have 'flat' spots where notes sound flat, and bends 'choke'. Guitarists will often joke that they play 'around' these problem areas. It is part of knowing their instrument. ‘Action’, in the context of guitars, refers to how far (high) the strings are from the fretboard. Higher action strings are harder to play, but you get better tone. You also get less ‘fret buzz’. If your action is set too low, your bends will choke on some frets, and lots of the frets will produce fret buzz. It will also become hard to ‘bend’ strings. To ‘get under’ the string to push it with your fingers. Remember that the string ‘height’ or ‘action’ will be limited by fret buzz. The frets that are ‘highest’ will limit how low you can set your action. So you may consider re- shaping some frets at some point. Or just ‘living with’ the eccentricities of your guitar. If you play a Strat, you are probably going to have to live with some degree of fret buzz on at least some frets. Usually using thicker (11) gauge strings will eliminate a lot of this fret buzz. Check the intonation by first tuning the open string, then playing the 12th fret harmonic. They should ‘match’. Check with your tuner. If they don’t, then you need to adjust the intonation until the tuner, or your ears, indicate that the open string note and the harmonic at the 12th fret are the same. You can change the action and intonation by adjusting the bridge / saddle pieces, as follows. Page 260 of 339

Gibson styled guitars with a fixed saddle will usually have a one piece bridge, which you can raise or lower. In this way you can make major adjustments to the action and slight changes to the intonation.

Fender styled guitars will usually have a floating bridge with individual saddle pieces for each string. You adjust the height of each string individually, to raise or lower the action of each individual string. Take care that all the screws are tightened ‘snugly’ so that they do not vibrate. This can sound like fret buzz, and leave you scratching your head in frustration searching for the source. Some guitarists call this ‘Saddle buzz’. Also, if the tremolo block is floating too high, the angle between the string and the saddle pieces means that the string is no longer sitting on the flat top of the saddle piece, but rather more down the backside of it. This too can produce sound like fret buzz, as the string vibrates against the backside of the saddle piece. Once you’ve set the height of the saddle, you will want to adjust the distance of the saddle from the nut. To adjust the ‘intonation’. To do this you move each individual saddle piece closer or further away from the nut, by turning the screw that holds each saddle piece to the bridge clockwise or counter- clockwise. When you do this you are effectively changing the length of the string slightly. This is how you adjust the intonation. Fender style bridges thus give you greater control of action and intonation for each individual string. A typical 2 stage ‘staggered’ ‘intonation’ pattern occurs with 6 string guitars. It is due to the increasing thickness of the strings from E4 to E2. What we get is a ‘cascade’ effect in from E4 to G3, then a repeat from D3 to E2. Consider that the effective length of a string is measured from the top-middle of the saddle to the nut. Making a string thicker effectively lifts the center of the string, and thus makes the saddle effectively ‘higher’, and thus the distance from saddle center to nut shorter. So we have to compensate for this, if we want to keep each string, effectively, the same length from the top of the saddle to the nut. To do this we have to move the saddle back by a distance corresponding to the thickness of the preceding string. So the saddle pieces starting with E4, are staggered in 2 stages. From E4 to B3, we lengthen the distance of the base of the saddle by the thickness of the E4 string. Page 261 of 339

From B3 to G3 we lengthen the distance of the base of the saddle by the thickness of the B3 string. So that covers the first stage. The E4, B3, and G3 strings. Then we start the same process again, for the B3, A2, and E2 strings.

Truss rods One quick way to test a neck for correct curvature is to hold down the first fret with the left hand, and then with thumb of the right hand, hold down the string just after the last fret, so that the string just touches the last fret. You can now look to see how close the string is to the 12th fret. Or simply take the index finger of the right hand and tap the string, to feel how much much ‘play’ there is between the string and the 12th fret. There should be about 0.5 to 1 mm between the string and the fret. If the string is touching the fret, then the neck is too straight. If you can move the string more than 1mm or so before touching the fret, then the neck needs straightening.

Using this method on each string, and checking to see if there is variation between the strings, can quickly reveal one of the worst problems you can have with a guitar neck. A ‘twisted’ neck. For example if there is 3mm of distance on the E4 string, and the E2 string is almost touching the fret, then your neck may be twisted. This is one of those great quick tests you can do before buying a guitar.

IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE: LOOSEN FIRST

Always loosen a truss rod first, at least a quarter turn, before attempting to tighten it.

Remember ‘Lefty loosey’, ‘Righty Tighty’. [That’s about all the army taught me. Oh, and how to breathe in, begin breathing out, hold your breath half-way, then squeeze the trigger gently and consistently all the way in, to ensure the best target shooting score in my unit. ‘Follow through’ is key]. Page 262 of 339

Looking down the neck from the nut to the bridge, carefully ease the truss rod loose at least a quarter turn, by turning it LEFT. Using the ‘top’, ’12 O’clock’, as your reference point. So you turn it down to the Left, from the top. This is the opposite direction that an analog 12 hour clock hand travels in. Hence it is referred to as ‘counter clockwise’. This will allow the tension produced by the strings to pull the headstock in towards the body, and introduce more of a concave ‘bow’ in the neck. The bow will reach its ‘zenith’ near the middle of the neck. Again I repeat. ALWAYS LOOSEN A TRUSS ROD FIRST BEFORE EVEN THINKING ABOUT TIGTHENING IT. This is to stop you ever trying to force a truss rod that has already been tightened to its maximum, and thus breaking it. In most cases this will not be worth trying to repair, and you will be forced to get a completely new neck. In fact luthier’s will always completely remove the truss rod end and smear it with Vaseline, before replacing it. To ensure that it moves freely. Now guitarists will argue that a guitar neck, with no strings attached, should be perfectly flat. Perfectly straight. Pure. Innocent. In a state of ‘grace’. Now when the tension of the strings is added, the neck will bow in, as there is less wood and therefore resistance on the fretboard side of the neck than the ‘back’ of the neck. The neck will lose its ‘orthodoxy’ and become a ‘heretic’.

And so all you will need is one truss rod to compensate for the force of the string tension, and thus return the neck to its perfect, pristine, pure, original ‘orthodoxy’. And so the neck is cleansed of its ‘original sin’, the ‘necessity’ of strings, and returned to a state of ‘grace’. A truss rod is a long piece of metal inside the neck. But always remember that what you are sticking your hex key into is an extension of it. The hex screw on the end of the truss rod. Not the actual truss rod itself. This is why there are limits to what you can do for the first fret, by way of adjusting the truss rod. The truss rod really begins after the first fret. So if you have a problem with a neck bowed above the second fret, you won’t be able to solve it merely by adjusting the truss rod. This sort of problem is more common where the headstock has been glued to the neck in a ‘scarf joint’. Most electric guitars have a single truss rod. This is fine if we assume that the unstrung guitar neck was straight and flat. Page 263 of 339

The strings are fixed at either end of the guitar by the tuners, and the bridge. When you tighten the strings to tune the guitar, they will try to pull both ends in towards the middle of the neck. The neck is fixed at one end to the guitar body. The other end is free. So the strings will try to pull that free end towards the bridge. This produces a natural ‘bow’ shape. Think of a flexible bar of steel that is fixed at one end, like the neck itself. If you push down on this rod, from the free end, down towards the fixed end, it will bow out. The force of your pushing has to go somewhere. It follows the line of least resistance. On a guitar neck, that is the side of the guitar neck with the least wood. The fretboard. Now imagine you put a screw on the end you are pushing from. Tightening that screw pushes down on the truss rod, making it bow out. Loosening that screw relaxes this pressure, allowing the rod to straighten up. Note that because the neck and truss rod are fixed at the body end of the neck, then you loosen the screw you will be relaxing the tension on the truss rod, allow the natural tension of the strings to pull the headstock, which is ‘free’, down towards the body, where the neck is ‘fixed’, bowing the neck inwards. Imagine a scale balance. You put a weight on the left side, equivalent to the force produced by the 6 strings on your guitar, when they are correctly tuned. Now we tie a strong cable hanging down from the other side of the scales. The cable length is just enough that, when we pull it down and fix it to the base of the scales, it pulls up the heavy weight, and the scales are balanced. The single truss rod can only add a concave bow. It cannot add a convex bow. It can only move the neck bow in one direction. This is usually all that is needed, as the natural tendency of necks is to bow in one direction. Now imagine that the force applied by the strings was not enough to even balance the scales. That the scales were, by nature ‘unfairly’ weighted to the right. So now, rather than need to pull down the right hand side of the scales, we need to pull down the left hand side. To add even more weight to the scales than the force of the string tension is producing. Page 264 of 339

So we added another strong cable, but this time on the left hand side. On the same side as the string tension. To help the string tension pull down the left side of the scales. To counteract the natural ‘right-heavy’ nature of the scales.

So now, not only can we compensate for the force of the guitar strings, where necessary, we can also force the guitar neck to move in the same direction as the strings are naturally pulling the neck. We can compensate for a guitar neck that is convex by nature. Due to poor design and manufacture. Or due to excess humidity. Wood that was not cured long enough. Or even getting the neck wet.

So some guitars have two truss rods. They call this a ‘bi-flex’ truss rod. There is one truss rod for adding a concave bow, and one for producing a convex bow. And so it allows more room for ‘correcting’ a neck that is too concave or convex. You can set up a neck as ‘flat’ as you want it. To gain access to the hexagonal screw at the end of the truss rod that you use to adjust the truss rod, you may first need to remove a little cover on the head-stock to gain access to the truss rod. You then insert a hex key into this to straighten or 'bow' the neck slightly, to make it more concave or convex. First de-tune (loosen) the strings so that the strings can be taken out of their grooves in the nut. Use the hex key your guitar came with, or find one that fits correctly. Using a hex key that is too small, or worse, a screwdriver, can damage the hex key. Be careful to find a tight fit. Otherwise you may end up ‘stripping’ the hex nut. If you do this, you won’t be able to adjust it ever again. You will need to see a luthier who will probably have to replace the entire neck. It just (usually) isn’t worth the time and cost of trying to replace a truss rod. Tune the guitar and check the intonation and action again. Repeat any part of the process to correct the action or intonation as needed. [Note that if a guitar back loses moisture faster than the guitar top, the guitar neck can be put under pressure by the movement of the back relative to the top, and bow. This risk is increased when a guitar is exposed to excesses of high and low humidity (moisture), and exacerbated by poor choice of woods, and poor guitar design. You will find videos on the internet where luthiers will take you through a set of steps involving the use of heat and moisture to deal with this problem, if you are willing to take the risks involved in this procedure]. Page 265 of 339

‘Floating’ a typical Strat bridge You can go further than simply adjusting the truss rod, saddle piece height and intonation (distance of pole piece from the nut), the string gauge (and tension), and tuning of your Strat. You can take off the back plate and add or remove springs. Or change the angle of the springs. You can even chose to completely ‘block’ off the movement of the bridge, by placing coins wrapped in paper between the tremolo block, and the guitar body. All of these actions will put the tremolo block under more or less tension. They will either pull the bridge tightly down against the guitar body, or ‘float’ it further away from the guitar body. The Fender spec is to have the bridge plate parallel to the guitar body. This ‘floats’ the tremolo, so you can both pull up on the ‘whammy bar’, and also push down on it. A ‘Vintage Tremolo’ system is screwed to the body by 6 screws. The new ‘American Standard’ tremolo system has just two screws holding the bridge in position. Tightening these screws down will ‘pull’ the other side of the bridge up and away from the guitar body. Loosening these screws will allow the nut side of the bridge to rise up, and thus ‘drop’ the other side of the bridge. Think of it as a ‘see saw’ effect. A lever. The fulcrum about which the entire bridge moves are the screws. If you are using feeler gauges, slide a piece of paper under the bridge place before inserting the feeler gauge, to prevent any possible damage to the guitar finish.

With the bridge plate ‘parallel’ to the body, there will be a 3.2 mm (1/8th inch) gap between the guitar body and the plate, the ‘Tremolo Block’. If have less than that, pull the tremolo back till it pushes the Tremolo block down, flush with the guitar body, before loosening all six screw equally, by quarter turns. A bit at a time. To ‘free’ them all up. But you are not aiming to ‘screw them out’. Just to add a bit of ‘slack’. Now tighten the two outer screws, the ones at either end of the plate, till they are just ‘snug’. Page 266 of 339

Now loosen (‘back off’) the four other ‘center’ screws slightly. And then tighten them up again, just until you begin to feel a little tension. Retune the guitar. Back off the four center screws a few turns, until the Tremolo block moves up and away from the body. Repeat the procedure. It is common to find, after completing this process, that one side of the tremolo block is sitting slightly further away (higher) from the body. It is usually the ‘Bass’ side, due to the greater string tension produced by the thicker gauge, higher mass, or higher tension, E2,A2, and D3 strings. To ‘correct’ this, simply turn the guitar over, and remove the tremolo spring from the ‘claw’ of the Bass side, and if necessary the tremolo block, and replace it at an angle. Use the hole in the tremolo block furthest from the center, and the claw closest to its center, to get the greatest increase in distance, and thus spring tension. Because you have to stretch it a little to extend it to reach the claw, at this angle, you are adding just that little bit more tension to the spring. It will pull the Tremolo block just that little bit harder, and closer, to the fixed claw. Thus it will lower the tremolo block just enough to compensate for the greater string tension produced by the thicker, higher tension strings. If this does not do the trick, then take a long screwdriver of the correct size and shape for the screw, and carefully screw in the claw on the bass side, thus tightening the claw, and pulling the spring with it. This will have even more impact than changing the spring angle. The modern ‘American Standard’ tremolo system has just the two outside screws. By tightening these screws just a little, by quarter turns, you can raise the ‘heel’ of the tremolo block away from the guitar body. To lower the ‘heel’ of the tremolo block closer to the body, simply loosen these screws, by quarter turns.

While some people like to have the tremolo ‘heel’ flush with the body, to give the maximum range of ‘dive bombing’, Fender recommend a 3.2mm (1/8th inch) gap that leaves the tremolo block more or less parallel to the guitar body. Remember to re-tune the guitar each time you adjust anything. You want to make your measurement on a perfectly tuned guitar, so the string tension is how it will be when you are playing it. Page 267 of 339

For this reason do not ‘sit’ the guitar neck on anything. Keep the neck totally free of any tension different to how it will be when you are playing. In fact the ideal position from which to make any adjustments and measurements is with the guitar in the position you normally play it in. So if you are laying the guitar down on a work bench or table, do not use a neck ‘brace’. Because it means the weight of the guitar is put on the point where the neck is resting in the brace. This adds tension to the neck that is not normally there when you are playing it. And thus it will throw out all your measurements and adjustments. Before doing anything to the ‘claw’ or ‘springs’, tune the guitar. Then turn it over. Remove the screws from the backing plate to access the tremolo block proper, the ‘claw’, and the springs. In the case of ‘claw’ and ‘spring’ adjustments, the guitar will be laying down on the table. So keep a soft cloth under it to protect the finish.

Now we will want to keep the tremolo block in the position it is now in, with the guitar in tune. So experiment with a few coins to see which will ‘block’ the gap between the tremolo block and the guitar body, and prevent it ‘de-tuning’ the strings. Put some masking tape around them and place them in the gap so they fit snugly. Now when you release the spring tension, the tremolo block will remain in the position it is now in. You can make adjustments to the springs or claw, then re- tune the guitar, all while keeping the tremolo block in the position you need it to be in to ensure that the ‘heel’ of the bridge remains level with the body, about 3.2 mm (1/8th inch)off the body. The easiest and safest way to remove a spring is to place a the fingers of your left hand over the spring, and then taking a flathead screwdriver in your right hand, and inserting the head of the screwdriver into the ‘loop’ of the spring, between the loop and the ‘claw’, and then gently levering the spring off the claw. If you are strong enough, you can simply pull the spring towards the headstock and off the ‘claw’. But be careful to control the release, as the spring will be under quite a bit of tension. Most luthiers suggest the use of 3 springs. One in the center, directly from the tremolo block to the middle claw. So it forms a straight line. The other two should be put in only after you have re-tuned the guitar, and set the action. These two should be angled in from the tremolo block, towards the ‘claw’, to give them a little more tension, and to ‘balance’ the tremolo block nicely. But if you need to, you can keep the Bass side angled, and make the Treble side straight, to give a bit more tension to the Bass side. Page 268 of 339

Once you have replaced the springs as described, remove the coins so the bridge is once more ‘floating’. The tension will now be different. The guitar will be out of tune. Depending on whether the guitar is sharp or flat, on the Bass or Treble side, tighten or loosen the screws holding the ‘claw’ in place, on either side, until both sides are in tune. Remember that we used the coins to keep the guitar ‘in tune’ while we were working on it. Assuming we didn’t bump the tuners, the only ‘variable’ that we changed was the spring tension. And so using the ‘claw’ screws as ‘tuners’ ensures we get the correct balance of spring tension on the right and left sides.

Once we’ve got it back in tune, if the bridge ‘heel’ is sitting flush to the body, or closer than 1/8th inch (3.2mm), we will need to screw the ‘claw’ in a little closer to the body, towards the headstock, to increase the spring tension, and thus pull the tremolo block towards the headstock. This will raise the Bridge ‘heel’ up off the body, and once more ‘floating’ the bridge, so you can use the ‘whammy bar’ to raise and lower the pitch, by stretching and shortening the strings, by increasing and decreasing the tension on them. Think of a ‘whammy bar’ as bending all six strings the same distance at once. Which brings us to the issue of floating bridges versus ‘fixed’ ‘hard-tail’ bridges. A ‘fixed’ bridge is screwed directly into the guitar body. So when you bend individual notes, the bridge always remains in the same position. When you bend individual notes, with the typical ‘floating’ bridge, the bridge will move with you. To get the same pitch change, you will need to bend the string further, to make up for this. And anytime you add tension to the string by fretting a note or chord, the bridge has a tendency to move as well, putting you slightly out of key.

For some reason very few Strat models come with a ‘fixed’ ‘hard-tail’ bridge. But don’t despair, if you have a Strat with a typical ‘floating’ bridge. Remember how you taped some coins together with masking tape, and snugly put them between the tremolo block and the guitar body? Well you can leave them there, if you like, and ensure that the tremolo cannot move in that direction. And ‘hey presto’, you have temporarily, non-destructively, ‘blocked’ your tremolo from de-tuning the strings. This can add a longer ‘sustain’, similar to the sustain you get from a ‘hard-tail’ bridge. And eliminate any ‘bending’ or ‘tuning’ problems associated with a ‘floating’ bridge’. And you can still use the whammy bar in one direction, to ‘tighten’ the strings. Page 269 of 339

Note that with a genuine ‘hard-tail’ you do lose the full ‘dive-bombing’ and ‘tremolo’ effects, but you can still push down on the strings between the nut and tuners, to add some interesting effects of a similar nature. Note that a less extreme alternative is to use 4 or 5 springs, to increase the spring tension, and thus make bending easier, and allow the guitar to remain in key when fretting notes and chords. Some guitarists swear that using more springs also adds more ‘body’ to the tone. However many players complain that using more springs makes the start of the whammy less ‘smooth’, due to the increased initial ‘breakaway’ force required to start the action.

The Nut Your guitar nut is the ‘capotasto’, or “principle fret”. It effectively ‘frets’ the Open Strings for you. When you play ‘barre’ chords, your first finger becomes a nut that you can move ‘up’ the fretboard towards the bridge, increasing the pitch of every string by a Semi-Tone per each fret. Moving the first finger ‘Barre’ ‘down’ towards the nut, decreases the pitch of all the ‘Barre-d’ strings a Semi-Tone for each fret. A ‘Capo’ can do the job of ‘Barre-ing’ all the strings for you. It is basically a moveable ‘nut’, Make sure that the strings fit nicely into their grooves in the nut. The string needs to be able to slide smoothly in the groove as the player bends strings, or uses the 'whammy bar'. To check if a nut has been cut too deeply, or has worn down, push down on the third fret of any string that buzzes. There should be slight gap between the string and the first fret. A gap around the thickness of a piece of paper folded three times Alternatively the nut may have been cut too high, which can lead to open chords sounding ‘out of tune’. If the nut is cut too high, you have to stretch the string ever so little, just to ‘fret’ one or more notes of the chord. It will be more obvious is just one note is out. If you have intonation problems even after following all the instructions in this guide, you may need to get a little work done on your guitar by a luthier. They may suggest re-cutting, re-fitting, or entirely replacing, the nut. Page 270 of 339

While you might expect more of this sort of problem on old nuts that have become worn down and damaged, even a new nut on a new guitar may have been fitted badly, or made of cheap plastic. Many guitarists, right out of the box and off the rack, will replace a cheap plastic nut with a synthetic bone nut. The nut density, placement, and correct ‘filing’, can make a big difference to your guitar’s final sound. For many guitarists this is one of the first ‘modifications’ they consider making to a guitar. To see whether your guitar would be improved by such work, hold down the third fret, and measure the distance between the string and the top of the first fret. It shouldn’t be more than the thickness of a credit card. Check each string, and take note of any variations in height. If the gap is too big, you may want to have a luthier file down the nut. It is one of the more precise and tricky bits of work. This is assuming the problem is not the first fret itself that is the problem. It may be too low.

Frets

It is not uncommon to find a guitar has ‘sharp fret edges’. Not just because of poor quality control on really cheap guitars. Even more expensive guitars can have sharp fret edges.Especially if the wood used was not ‘cured’ long enough before being used to make the neck and/or fretboard. If a guitar is built or finished in a climate with high air humidity, and then shipped off to a climate with low air humidity, the difference in moisture can lead to the neck shrinking slightly, thus exposing more of the fret edges. But don’t despair. This frustrating situation can be remedied quite quickly and easily by taking a normal nail emery board used for manicures and pedicures. Tape off the fretboard and side of the neck leaving just the frets exposed. The tape is to prevent any marking of the fretboard or neck when you ‘file back’ the fret ends. You simply take the emery board and round off the sharp edges by ‘filing’ in one direction, down towards the fretboard. Take your time. Check after each ‘pass’ to Page 271 of 339 ensure you only ‘file down’ as much as you need to. Round off the edges. Start almost level with the fretboard, then move the emery board in a smooth, round, arc, like you were following the outlines of a circle.Or rounding off the edge of a desk.

While most fret buzz is due to low gauge strings, low action, or neck bows, things you can usually remedy very quickly and easily, another possible reason for fret buzz is frets that one or more frets have worn down, and become ‘flat’, or pitted, leaving one or more frets relatively lower than one or more other frets at the points where your fret the string. The result is that the string makes contact with the fret at more than one point. With new, round, frets, the string only makes contact with any particular fret at one point on that fret. The ‘top’ of the ‘mound’. In this case you may want to have individual frets replaced. You may end up considering having individual frets replaced, re-shaped, or simply filed lower. If you do come to the point where you are considering getting a guitar re-fretted, consider adding stainless steel frets. They are ‘harder’ and will thus wear better. Another problem with frets can occur due to slight changes in the shape of the neck or fretboard wood. You may be able to reshape a few frets to compensate. Many guitars have ‘sweet spots’ and places where bends ‘catch’. Many guitarists will simply work around the ‘problem zones’. If you can’t, or the problems are extreme, you are probably better off replacing the entire neck, than trying to use heat and moisture to ‘reshape’ a twisted, warped, or otherwise distorted neck. But ask your local Luthier what they think. They will know best what is possible, and what is worth the cost of the attempt. Page 272 of 339

Learning a few musical terms and notation will remind you to use all the techniques available to the musician to turn a series of notes into music. So even if you have zero interest in ever learning to read sheet music, or use a MIDI notation editor, take a quick look at this chapter, to remind yourself of what turns notes into music.

Some musical terms and symbols Most musical terms are in Italian. This is how we got Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do and not C D E F G A B C.

Tempo Speeding up and slowing down can make your music more interesting and appealing, and be used for dramatic effect. Tempo is expressed in beats per minute (bpm). Adagio refers to 66-76 bpm. Moderato 108-120 bpm and Allegro 120-168 bpm.

Dynamics One way to make your music interesting is to include a range of dynamics, rather than play everything like a metronome. Again, use changes to dramatic effect. To indicate a series of notes is gradually getting louder, we draw a stretched out > extending from the start to the end of the affected notes. To indicate a series of notes is gradually getting softer, we draw a stretched out < sign extending from the start to the end of this passage.. To indicate a note is to be emphasized, we place an accent, a > sign above the individual note stem. Page 273 of 339

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A ‘Glissando’ would be familiar to guitarists as a ‘slide’. On a piano it means dragging your fingers across the keys between the start and end note. Page 274 of 339

An ‘accent’ is often drawn as a > or a ^ symbol above a note, to indicate the performer is to give that note more emphasis. This might mean picking that note harder, or even ‘plucking’ it, to emphatise it, make it louder and more pronounced that the notes before and after it. The ‘dotted note’ is a note with a dot placed beside it. The dot extends any note by half its normal duration. The dotted quarter note depicted has a duration of a ‘quarter and a half’ note.

Articulation A dot placed above a note indicates it is meant to be played abruptly or ‘Staccato’. Legato = long and sustained, and this is indicated with a horizontal line above a note, or below it, depending on its pitch. The difference between playing a series of notes, and playing music, is the articulation you give them. This is the equivalent of the ‘phrasing’ of a vocal part or lyric. Phrasing can turn prosaic text into poetry. You can take a sentence, and break it down into syllables, and stress different parts of a word more or less, extending the duration of some syllables and shorting the duration of others. Apart from changing the pitch you sing a lyric at, compared to the pitch you’d simply read it out at, the other main difference between speaking and singing is simply the duration you give different syllables. Some you hold ‘legato’, others you sing abruptly ‘Staccato’. If you want to become a musician, rather than just be able to play scales cleanly and quickly, pay attention to your dynamics and articulation. You can give 100 guitarists the same series of notes , and some of them will produce satisfying music from them, while the others will sound drab, dreary, boring, as if they are just playing scales. The difference is in the ‘articulation’ they give the notes. Playing some notes quickly succession, then pausing, then playing some notes , slow, and some abruptly staccato, with some smoothly sustained and legato, with long slides, short slides, holding some notes and cutting others short, and adding vibrato to some notes, hammering on some, and hammering off others. This is ‘phrasing’ in a musical sense. The equivalent of what vocalists and composers do when offered lyrics from a song writer with no music, sometimes not even any suggestions. Page 275 of 339

You can take any line of text and break it down into syllables, with stress put on different parts of words, running some syllables quickly together, and extending the duration of other syllables. This is turning text into lyric. Lyric which can be sung. Lyric which people will want to listen to over and over. So do the same with your chords, riffs, lead solos, and melodies. Experiment with different articulations of the same material, until you ‘stumble upon’ a combination that sounds great. Note that with Auto-tune software like ReaTune, which comes included with Reaper, you can literally take any speech or music and totally change the pitch of parts or wholes of words, chords, notes, phrases, licks, melodies, in voice or any instrument. So it might be worth getting a copy of my ‘Optimal Reaper’, and my ‘Optimal Reaper’ configuration files. You can download and try Reaper for free. And if you decide to buy, it will cost most of you around 60 dollars for a full license. You can then ‘correct’ and‘re-articulate’ anything from a vocal to a guitar solo. You may not need to totally ‘correct’ a Britney Spears vocal track, but you certainly will save time ‘correcting’ a few notes from an otherwise perfect vocal or guitar take, long after the session musicians have gone ‘off the clock’, or just gone home. On the bus home from your recording session, on your cheap laptop. I use ReaTune as a tool for experimenting with phrasings and harmonies. Even if I don’t use the result directly, it lets me experiment with phrasings I can then sing myself, or give to more gifted singers as a guide to what I want from them. And for pop music, the options are limitless. Remember your goal is to be individual. Unique. To get your own ‘sound’. And playing with ReaTune is one way to move towards that goal. Oh, and it is a great guitar tuner, vocal coach. You can literall see which notes you are singing out of tune, flat, or sharp, and correct them yourself. And if you just can’t manage those notes yet, you can use the software to ‘correct’ the pitches of individual notes, manually, or simply tell ReaTune what Key you were trying to sing in, and ReaTune will auto correct the entire vocal track, moving sung pitches that don’t match the Key you’ve entered to the next closest pitch within that Key. Remember this guide represents the ‘prequel’ to my ‘Sound Foundations’ Trilogy of ‘Sound Foundations Audio Engineering Reference Guide’ and ‘Sound Foundations Optimal Reaper’ and ‘Your Vocal Training Guide’. Page 276 of 339

Measures / bars Vertical lines call ‘bar lines’ break up a song into ‘measures’, also called ‘bars’. These measures / bars form sections. A double bar line defines the end of a piece of music. A % sign after a vertical bar line / measure = repeat the preceding bar / measure. If this is followed by a number, for example ‘3’, it means repeat the preceding bar / measure ‘3’ times. If there are two dots in space 2 and 3 of the staff, after a section end /double vertical line, then you are to go back to either the two dots in the same position at the start of an earlier section /double vertical line, or if there are none, then to return to the very beginning and repeat the entire piece from the beginning. If there is a repeat from the start, the second time you repeat, play only up to the point indicated by brackets with the number 1 and 2. In this case there are two endings. One for the first run through, and one for the second/repeat run through. So the first time you play ending 1, and the second time you skip ending 1, and instead play ending 2, as indicated by the bracketing. You may even be asked to go back to a symbol and repeat from that symbol. A 'coda' is the closing section of a piece of music. Da Capa al coda = go back to the start. But when you get to the Celtic cross coda symbol, you jump to the closing section and finish with it.

Note and rest duration We have only 12 notes. The 12 notes of the Chromatic Scale. C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B (C an Octave higher). Which in itself gives Factor 12 possible variations. That’s 12 x 11 x 10 x 9 x 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 = our sun will resonate at a different frequency and the Earth’s surface will become uninhabitable long before we run out of musical options. But music is much more than notes. We are free to vary the duration of notes. To play them ‘staccato’, short and abrupt, or ‘legato’, long and sustained. Oh, and ‘rests’. Remember folks, it is actually the silence between the notes that makes for music. Otherwise you’d end up with nothing more than ‘white’ noise. Which is surely politically incorrect? Are you implying white people aren’t musical? Page 277 of 339

Here is how ‘duration’ is indicated in music notation. Assuming a time signature of 4/4, so that there are 4 quarter notes per bar ( (4 x ¼ = 4/4): A hollow circle with no ‘stem’ is a full note of 4 beats duration A ‘filled-in circle’ with a 'stem' is a quarter note of 1 beat. A filled circle with no ‘stem’ is a half note of 2 beats duration. A hollow circle with a 'stem' is a half note of two beats. A ‘filled in’ note symbol with a stem and one ‘leaf’ is a note of a 1/8th of a bar duration. The same symbol with two leaves indicates a note with a duration of 1/16th of a bar. These symbols thus indicate ‘relative’ duration. The absolute time you will be holding each note will depend upon the tempo. If you want to indicate ‘The rest is silence’, at least for a Bar of music, you draw a short thick bar beneath the second highest ledger line. If you want silence for half the bar, draw a short thick bar above the third highest ledger line. See the other ‘rest’ duration symbols below.

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As you can see, you can fit 2 half notes in a bar, or 4 quarter notes, or 8 1/8th notes, or 16 1/16th notes.

Note transitions and durations Two notes of the same pitch can be 'tied' together by a curved line to indicate the note is to be held / sustained for the duration of the tied notes. Two notes of different pitch are 'slurred' by the same curved line, to indicate that the first note is to be held during a hammer on or off of the second note, making the transition as smooth as possible, or in the case of a piano, holding down the first note as long as possible before releasing it to play another note. In the case of a bowed instrument like a violin, it would indicate the performer was to bow the note successively back and forth until changing to the next note. This would be accompanied by the terms Sempre = forever, or Molto = very much. Stems are vertical lines that extend up from the note head’s Top Right Hand Corner (for notes at or above the third line of the stave), or extend down from the note Page 279 of 339 head’s Bottom Right Hand Corner of the note 'head' (for notes at or below the third line of the stave). [How the stem is drawn at the third line will be determined by how the note preceeding it was drawn]. Just consider third line as a middle line, and that you want to keep your stems neatly within the staff, so lower note stems will go up, and higher note stems will go down.

Time Signatures A piece of music’s Time Signature, or Meter is written as two numbers written at the start of a measure / bar, between lines two and four, and centered on line three. The top number is how many beats per bar / measure there will be, for example, 4, 3, or 2. This helps the performer work out how long each full, half, quarter, eighth, or sixteenth note will be in seconds, based on the given tempo in beats per minute. For example, given a tempo of 120 bpm, and a time signature / meter of 4/4, a whole note will be 4 beats (2 seconds) long. [120/60=2]. A half note will be 1s long. A quarter note will be 0.5s long. If you are using 4/4 time there are 4 beats to each bar/measure. Each beat is of quarter note duration. Most rock and pop music is written in 4/4 time, with ‘four beats to the bar’. In 3/4 time, there are 3 beats per bar / measure, and they are all of quarter note duration. 3/4 time where the first beat is accented is known as a ‘Walz’. Other less common time signatures include 6/8 time, where there are 6 beats per bar, and they are all of 1/8th note duration. As Hamlet notes, 'the rest is silence'. There are ‘rests’ (silences) of a full, a half, a quarter note, and so on. So a whole note rest will be 4 beats long. It is drawn as a filled rectangle hanging from the fourth staff line. A half rest is 2 beats long. It is drawn as the same shape but sitting on the third staff line. A quarter note rest is 1 beat long. It is drawn like a Z that is falling forwards on a c that is falling forwards, but vertical, sitting between space one and space four. [Remember that the whole hangs from the fourth, and the half sits on the third] Page 280 of 339

The Stave and ledger lines The earliest known forms of music notation emerged in Ancient Egypt. The ‘Jews’ chanting evolved from what they had learned in Egypt. Around the 9th Century the Western Church developed the Neumic notation for singers already familiar with the melody and words. By 1100 pitches were fixed by four lines that showed a rise or fall in pitch. Initially colors were used to indicate Key signatures. For example a red line indicated the key of C. Later the the notes F, G, and C were placed at the start of a piece of music to indicate the register / pitch of the piece. A letter G or F (or C) was added to indicate bass or treble. This practice lead to the stylised treble clef and Bass clef we use today. Around 1260, Franco of Cologne formalised the mensural notation system that included the use of the fifth staff line that had emerged around the year 1200. This system evolved over the next 400 years into the sort of notation we would recognise today. What were once filled squares and diamond shapes evolved into the rounded notes we use today. Today we have the five horizontal paralell lines, and four spaces between them, making up the 'staff'. The lines are numbered 1 to 5 from bottom to top, and the spaces are numbered from bottom to top. There is a ‘staff’ for ‘Bass’ notes, and a ‘staff’ for the more moderate and higher pitches. For keyboard instruments, these conventionally refer to the ‘left’ and the ‘right’ hand. These 5 default lines of these two ‘staves’ cover the most common note pitches. However to accommodate lower or higher pitches, ‘ledger lines’, only long enough to accommodate the note, are added above or below these 5 lines. If the ‘head’ of the note is under, above, or between the lines, it is called a ‘space’ note. If a line runs through it, it is a ‘line’ note. The vertical position of the 'head' on the ‘stave’ determines the pitch of the note. Notes ascend in pitch from your left to your right, and from bottom to top. Page 281 of 339

Read and write TAB from left to right, just like with music notation. TAB is just a simpler version of music notation for guitar. There are 6 lines, with each line representing a string, from bottom to top, E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, and E4. The numbers written over each line, with the line running through them like strings passing beneath your fingers, tell you which note to fret on that string. If the notes are stacked on top of each other in a vertical line, then you are to play them all at the same time, as a chord. If they are staggered across from left to right, play them in succession, as an arpeggion. There are symbols to indicate string bends, hammer ons, and all the other guitar techniques we have covered in this guide.

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the major seventh chord, (root, 3rd, 5th, 7th), is built off the major chord, (root, 3rd, 5th) – just add the 7th to the major. The dominant 7th chord is also built of the major by adding a b7 to the major making the formula root, 3rd, 5th, b7th. The ninth chord is then built off the 7th, (root, 3rd, 5th, b7th, 9th), – just add the 9th to the 7th. Page 285 of 339

Remember the rules of soling in minor key for playing over all the chords– you can always use Aeolian mode unless the IV chord is major or the II chord is minor, then use Dorian mode. The most likely chords to show up in a given key are the chords made from combinations of the notes in that keys’ major scale. On string vi i.e E2 Bass E, or v A3 string, any note to it's octave, on the guitar fretboard, is simply 2 strings down (looking down from above as you do when Page 286 of 339 playing), and 2 frets towards bridge...i.e jump one string, and move 'up' towards bridge 2 frets, to find the octave of any note...e.g C3 to C4

Then second octave e.g C4 to C5 is two strings down, 3 frets to bridge...(or if starting from C3 that is 4 frets down and 5 frets to Bridge...

If you start on C and skip every other note in the scale for a total of 3, you have built a C major chord. The major chord follows the formula root, 3rd, 5th. So a C major chord is constructed from the three notes C, E, and G, the root of the scale, the third note of the scale, and the fifth note of the scale The process of stacking 3 notes up in the major scale continues until you have a total of 7 chords, one for each note of the scale. Each major key will have a total of seven chords, as illustrated below. C D E F G AB C - E,G,B =Em (E minor chord) C D E F G A B C - F,A,C =F (F major chord) C D E F G AB C D - G,B,D =G (G major chord) C D E F G A B C D E - A,C,E =Am (A minor chord) C D E F G A B C D E F - B,D,F = Bo (B diminished chord Because major scales are always built from stacking thirds, the pattern is always the same for every major key. The chords built on the first, fourth, and fifth degrees of the scale are major type chords (I, IV, and V). The chords built on the second, third, and sixth degrees of the scale are minor type chords (ii, iii, and vi). The chord built on the seventh degree of the scale is a diminished chord. So whichever key you are building chords from the pattern will always be the same. Major....Minor....Minor....Major....Major....Minor....Diminished -

tremolo picking is continuous fast alternate picking on the one string...fast picking about focussing on goal of keeping pick in contact with string at all times...so pick rests on bottom of string on down strum, and on top of sting after up strum...doesn't travel...hold pick almost perpendicular to string at all time...barely move it just enough to pick string...don't 'pick thru' string...keep pick on string at all times...don't move fingers, move from wrist...and move pick shortest distance i.e perpendicular to string, not 'scraping' across string...so pay attention to hand position...experiment Page 287 of 339 with hand position / angle of pick ... be patient...take time...find what works best for you...eliminate excess tension, but refine as go along, don't expect total relaxed wrist / arm...push it a bit...keep string close to string as possible, experiment hand position that gives best results...then be willing to break with conditioning ... e.g if taught to play 'gently' 'politely' need to get over it, and push it a bit...take risks...experiment...until get result want...really fast alternative picking...tremolo picking....pick differently when playing fast than when playing slow...i.e much more 'travel' relaxed pick, roll wrist, thumb and finger movement...but fast requires elimination of all extraneous / unnecessary movement of any part of body ... take a few days until get feel of it, and observe what hand doing so can reproduce next day...first short bursts, then build up till can sustain really fast picking for longer time...do few minutes a day, every day...build muscle memory...3-4 minutes each session...increase duration of each fast picking bit...don't worry what told 'should' i.e preconceived ideas...experiment see what works...find what works, ignore what doesn't..... fretboard freedom across the neck not gained by playing scales sequentially vi to i...need to practise entire fretboard patterns...learn reference points, then 'sphere' around these to form all possible scale patterns...practise what you want to do...not scales...you want to be able to roam over fretboard, so learn all the possible ways to get from C3 to C5 ... take C Major scale over 12 frets / entire fretboard, then 'draw' your own scales C3 to C4 to C5...i.e 'improvise' own scale patterns from nut to bridge...then draw...then play...or do 'on the fly' once have learned reference points and intervals / step patterns of Major, then minor etc scales... learn the first, third and fifth of each, at every position, so can always 'resolve' to these, and then can add random chromatic notes, etc, to intervals, to produce 'tension', which you can always 'land' and 'resolve' on a root, third or fifth i.e 'triad' i.e 'chord'... simplest moveable shape that starts at very first fret e.g vi1 is this shape, a Major scale pattern that can then let you learn every note at every position ... vi 1 3 5 v 1 3 5 iv 2 3 5 iii 2 3 5 ii 3 5 6 i 3 5 6 i.e starting with F major start vi1 ... so use to learn all notes...i.e as play sing/say note e.g F ..... then backwards, as watching, so learn every note...in every key...F G A A# C D E F ... i.e step/interval pattern... C major has no sharps or flats, so start with it as reference... i.e starting at 8th fret ... almost all western music based on major scale, and all modes just variations of it, and minor is still 'relative' to it...

Page 288 of 339 build up 'licks' speed by playing arpeggios of chords e.g Maj7 chords i.e i1 ii2 iii3 iv4 moveable shape...play each note discretely i.e remove finger as soon as sound note and place pressure on next note, release and hold and release and hold i.e play the chord arpeggio as if they were discrete notes of a lead solo...play it i to iv and iv to i, use different picking e.g alternate picking to make fastest i.e sound note on down stroke, then next on up stroke...gives you lots of muscle memory for 'licks' that will work as all literally arpeggios of chords...and moveaable shapes so once have one down, have 12 keys covered...can play in any key... then play and move 2nd finger from ii to i2 to play the octave as the fifth note in the arpeggio, then move it back to ii...keep it all smooth, and only move 2nd finger, not others...build up speed...then when can do this fast, smooth, regular, with least movement of fingers...move 3rd finger to iv3 after iv4 then return back to ii2...i.e getting used to moving 3rd and 2nd fingers independently of other fingers i.e they remain in place, lightly touching string, like Bass guitar muting, while other fingers move, one at a time, independently... very hard and frustrating at first, but will lead to the muscle memory of lead guitarist...focus on each finger acting independently i.e at first really have to concentrate on not moving finger not actually fretting note with...start at slow regular pace...

look for TRRS headphone input adaptor for android smart phones...has 3 black dividers i.e 4 'rings' ... lets you plug microphone into the headphone input via this adaptor...has headphone output and microphone input...then buy mono 3.5mm to XLR adaptor...and TRRS headphone adaptor...then can use XLR mic with smart phone...use the camera for excellent quality, and get perfect audio as well...which so important ... most irritating thing about a cheap guitar is 'sharp fret edges'...can file down using normal finger nail emery board...tape off guitar fret and neck to prevent damaging finish...roll in one direction, forwards looking down on guitar... pickup height...usually bass string poles further from string than treble, as greater output the closer to string, and thicker string moves more, and greater output, so different heights to compensate..also bridge usually highest pickup, as least vibration of string, mid a bit lower / further from strings, and neck pickup usually furthest from Page 289 of 339 strings / lowest, as strings move in greatest arc here, so come closer to string each 'vibration' / 'loop' of string...n.b pole pieces ideally directly under string, but commonly not...

Intonation...compare open string Vs 12th fret fretted note and if fretted note flat, move saddle piece towards nut...until fretted note and harmonic read exactly same on tuner... maintenance / optimalisation tip...take normal lead pencil and rub tip in grooves of nut, then wipe, leaving just a hint of lead graphite so strings don't grab/stick in nut when tuning or when using whammy bar

CAGED system..based on open C A G E D chords ... call C 'first form'...A 'second form' ... G 'third form'...E 'fourth form'....D 'fifth form'.... reproduce first form as a moveable shape which is a barre over i1 + ii1 + iii1 + ii2 +iv3 +v4(root C) and mute or don't play vi...so this is your 'first form' moveable chord based on the open C... see snapshot... then construct moveble '2nd form' from open A shape...which is your typical Rt5 Major shape barre chord then construct a moveable '3rd form' i.e barre i to vi two frets towards nut with first finger, and fret other two notes with other fingers i.e form open G with fingers wouldn't normally use i.e form 'nut' with first finger as barre...real bummer of a shape...so can just form 'partial' bar with choice of notes...remember won't be playing the chord, just using it as a reference... then '4th form' is Rt6 Major Barre chord...i.e moveable E shape...

Then '5th form' is Barre with open D shape i.e form 'D' with fingers don't usually use, and barre with first finger to replace 'open' strings i.e first finger becomes nut or capo... Page 290 of 339

Point is to learn each chord / key at each of the 5 positions / shapes / forms, so then have 'reference' points for each scale, so way of learning entire neck...repeat from 12th fret...

With my Optimal Reaper Wah, use the guitar volume knob to reduce volume for chords i.e too much output making wah go too far, sound tinny...so after play notes, going into chords, reduce volume to compensate for, and keep that warm full sound got with notes...or try adjusting 'Strength' so wah won't travel so far? try and see...or see if 'negative' direction makes sound better for chords...? and try it on vocals and drums :D

Root + 3rd + Fifth form a 'Triad' of 3 notes, which form the Major Chord which in chromatic guitar fret basis, in 'semitones', is Root i.e chord tonic + 4frets note + 7 frets which played across neck can calculate...as E to A is equivalent of moving 5 frets on same string towards bridge....E F F# G G# A start thinking in these terms so once have memorised a few reference point notes e.g using the dot inlays as references, can quickly first reckon in head mathematically, until becomes second nature... start by mentally recognising that; Open C has root C notes at v3 and ii1 and thirds at iv3 and i0 and fifths at vi3 and iii0 Open A has root A notes at v0 and iii2 and a third at ii2 and fifths at vi0 and iv2 and i0 Open G has root G notes at vi3 and i3 and thirds at v2 and ii0 and a fifth at iv0 Open E has root E notes at vi0 and iv2 and i0 and a third at iii1 and fifths at v2 and ii0 Open D has root D notes at iv0 and ii3 and a third at i2 and fifths at v0 and iv2 then if you look at the C E G notes of the C major chord, and locate each on the guitar neck, you will see that you can move from nut to Bridge playing Barre versions of the Page 291 of 339

C major Chord using the 5 different moveable chord shapes for C major, which are the C A G E and D shaped Barre chords for the C major chord...repeating the C shape at the 12th fret...so the 12 frets from nut to 12th are covered with the 5 moveable shapes C A G E D, even though we don't usually use all 5 of these shapes to actually play those chords...but as reference point very useful... note that the snapshots include extra duplicate notes not usually played e.g the C with the vi fifth note, and the D with the vi third note can move this pattern towards bridge to change key ...using ii string as reference e.g open ii is key of B, ii1 is C ii2 is C# etc...pattern of root third fifth will remain same ... just need to learn the different notes of each chord...but in any case, once know positions of C E G can easily quickly work out notes before, between, and after these...N.B v3 is C at first dot inlay on 3rd fret, and dot inlay on 15th fret...and iii5 is C on second dot inlay on 5th fret, and 17th fret. thus learning the CEG chord notes and 5 shapes / forms reflexively, will teach us where the CEG notes are, and how to remember them in the 5 different 'positions' they occur in from nut to 12th fret, then 12th fret to bridge, so we'll have a reference for all the other notes...and shapes i.e different roots (but same relative position as the C)...

The ultimate goal is to see the entire neck as one big connected scale.

Simplest chord is the simplest version of Open G, simply fret G4 at position i3, along with the 3 open strings ‘above’ it i.e i1 + ii0 + iii0 + iv 0 i.e G4+B3 +G3+D3 … while we usually add v1 (A2#) and v3 (G2)… Power chords F vi+v3+iv3 moves across one fret to Bb v1+iv3+iii3 ...these are moveable shapes, the root is the lowest note e.g vi or v string... When relative tuning turn vi5 to v0 , holding down vi5 note as adjust tuner … then iii4 to ii0… i.e tune vi5 which A to Open A… Lowest note is ‘root’ note of any chord … Simplest moveable shape is the ‘rock’ chord that requires only two note…a e.g G5th chord…the 1st (root) and the fifth, of the Major Scale. Page 292 of 339

So with G Major we get the first finger on the G2 at the vi3 position + the D3 at the v5 position…[can can add add another G an octave higher, by + G3 at the iv5 position]. It is a moveable shape. The root is the lowest note as usual, which in this case is on the vi string. So whatever note this is, e.g G, gives us a G Major5th chord. We can move it across one fret, and now the root will be the note on the A2 v string, 5 semi- tones higher in pitch than the original G Major5th chord we started with i.e the C Major 5th, to which we can add a second C, the C4 at the iii5 position. We can take the same shape on the D3 string. We just move across one string string with the root now on the iv (D) string, giving an FMajor5th chord, but this time to double the root note F3 with its octave F4, we need to play the F4 at the iii6 position. This makes it easy to cover a wide range of Keys, moving up and down, and across, the neck. So we can go from G to C to F, simply by moving the shape across the fretboard, and then play A, D, or G an octave higher, by moving down two frets towards the bridge. To get the typical rock 12 bar blues pattern, play G Major 5th then G Major 6th, by adding and removing your 4th finger from E3 at the v7 position, or A3 to the CMajor5th rock chord at the iv7 position. Tidy up ! [??We can, instead of adding the extra G at the higher octave, add the 7th note from the Major scale, and get a very rocky / bluesy sounding GMajor 7th, A Major 7th, C Major 7th etc. With G, the 7th note is an F i.e G (root) tone A tone B semi-tone C tone D tone E , tone F# (semi-tone to the G one octave higher)which you play with your ‘4th’. A bit of a stretch at first. But playing the E, the 6th, is also common, giving you a GMajor 6th] Write down patterns based on 1st 3rd 5th as 'landing' and 'anchoring' points, then rest of scale in non-linear sequence, with 'rolls' of first finger so play one note with pad of finger, then roll finger so now tip freting adjacent string on same fret...rather than just play scales linear...so practise how you want to play...'free'...practise loads of variation e.g 12345678 is linear...so play 1335872...etc...write down, play, till can play it fast, then vary phrasing...slide between notes, hammer on and off, hammer on and slide up or down neck and pull off to new note...hammer on 'triads' i.e 'chord' shapes like Hendrix...move the shapes...play as chord arpeggios 1 3 5 7 etc...

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'Gain' control simulates amp 'driven' hard i.e maximum volume, but at lower volume...so like increasing volume, without playing louder...

ACDC 'rock' sound for rhythm bridge p/u, gain below 5 then move to neck p/u for solo / lead / melody... or distort by increasing volume on amp if no 'gain' control...'old school' drive sound...sustain without feedback...can mute chord and it stops...no squealing from amp...

James Hetfield 'metallica' chord progressoin sounds 'smile' 'scoop' out mids ie down to 2 on amp...

SRV blues overdrive sound neck pickup with gain around 2...single coil p/u...

On string vi i.e E2 Bass E, or v A3 string, any note to it's octave, on the guitar fretboard, is simply 2 strings down (looking down from above as you do when playing), and 2 frets towards bridge...i.e jump one string, and move 'up' towards bridge 2 frets, to find the octave of any note...e.g C3 to C4

Then second octave e.g C4 to C5 is two strings down, 3 frets to bridge...(or if starting from C3 that is 4 frets down and 5 frets to Bridge...

tremolo picking is continuous fast alternate picking on the one string...fast picking about focussing on goal of keeping pick in contact with string at all times...so pick rests on bottom of string on down strum, and on top of sting after up strum...doesn't travel...hold pick almost perpendicular to string at all time...barely move it just enough to pick string...don't 'pick thru' string...keep pick on string at all times...don't move fingers, move from wrist...and move pick shortest distance i.e perpendicular to string, not 'scraping' across string...so pay attention to hand position...experiment with hand position / angle of pick ... be patient...take time...find what works best for you...eliminate excess tension, but refine as go along, don't expect total relaxed wrist / arm...push it a bit...keep string close to string as possible, experiment hand position that gives best results...then be willing to break with conditioning ... e.g if taught to Page 294 of 339 play 'gently' 'politely' need to get over it, and push it a bit...take risks...experiment...until get result want...really fast alternative picking...tremolo picking....pick differently when playing fast than when playing slow...i.e much more 'travel' relaxed pick, roll wrist, thumb and finger movement...but fast requires elimination of all extraneous / unnecessary movement of any part of body ... take a few days until get feel of it, and observe what hand doing so can reproduce next day...first short bursts, then build up till can sustain really fast picking for longer time...do few minutes a day, every day...build muscle memory...3-4 minutes each session...increase duration of each fast picking bit...don't worry what told 'should' i.e preconceived ideas...experiment see what works...find what works, ignore what doesn't..... fretboard freedom across the neck not gained by playing scales sequentially vi to i...need to practise entire fretboard patterns...learn reference points, then 'sphere' around these to form all possible scale patterns...practise what you want to do...not scales...you want to be able to roam over fretboard, so learn all the possible ways to get from C3 to C5 ... take C Major scale over 12 frets / entire fretboard, then 'draw' your own scales C3 to C4 to C5...i.e 'improvise' own scale patterns from nut to bridge...then draw...then play...or do 'on the fly' once have learned reference points and intervals / step patterns of Major, then minor etc scales... learn the first, third and fifth of each, at every position, so can always 'resolve' to these, and then can add random chromatic notes, etc, to intervals, to produce 'tension', which you can always 'land' and 'resolve' on a root, third or fifth i.e 'triad' i.e 'chord'... simplest moveable shape that starts at very first fret e.g vi1 is this shape, a Major scale pattern that can then let you learn every note at every position ... vi 1 3 5 v 1 3 5 iv 2 3 5 iii 2 3 5 ii 3 5 6 i 3 5 6 i.e starting with F major start vi1 ... so use to learn all notes...i.e as play sing/say note e.g F ..... then backwards, as watching, so learn every note...in every key...F G A A# C D E F ... i.e step/interval pattern... C major has no sharps or flats, so start with it as reference... i.e starting at 8th fret ... almost all western music based on major scale, and all modes just variations of it, and minor is still 'relative' to it... build up 'licks' speed by playing arpeggios of chords e.g Maj7 chords i.e i1 ii2 iii3 iv4 moveable shape...play each note discretely i.e remove finger as soon as sound note and place pressure on next note, release and hold and release and hold i.e play the chord arpeggio as if they were discrete notes of a lead solo...play it i to iv and iv to i, Page 295 of 339 use different picking e.g alternate picking to make fastest i.e sound note on down stroke, then next on up stroke...gives you lots of muscle memory for 'licks' that will work as all literally arpeggios of chords...and moveaable shapes so once have one down, have 12 keys covered...can play in any key... then play and move 2nd finger from ii to i2 to play the octave as the fifth note in the arpeggio, then move it back to ii...keep it all smooth, and only move 2nd finger, not others...build up speed...then when can do this fast, smooth, regular, with least movement of fingers...move 3rd finger to iv3 after iv4 then return back to ii2...i.e getting used to moving 3rd and 2nd fingers independently of other fingers i.e they remain in place, lightly touching string, like Bass guitar muting, while other fingers move, one at a time, independently... very hard and frustrating at first, but will lead to the muscle memory of lead guitarist...focus on each finger acting independently i.e at first really have to concentrate on not moving finger not actually fretting note with...start at slow regular pace...

look for TRRS headphone input adaptor for android smart phones...has 3 black dividers i.e 4 'rings' ... lets you plug microphone into the headphone input via this adaptor...has headphone output and microphone input...then buy mono 3.5mm to XLR adaptor...and TRRS headphone adaptor...then can use XLR mic with smart phone...use the camera for excellent quality, and get perfect audio as well...which so important ... most irritating thing about a cheap guitar is 'sharp fret edges'...can file down using normal finger nail emery board...tape off guitar fret and neck to prevent damaging finish...roll in one direction, forwards looking down on guitar... pickup height...usually bass string poles further from string than treble, as greater output the closer to string, and thicker string moves more, and greater output, so different heights to compensate..also bridge usually highest pickup, as least vibration of string, mid a bit lower / further from strings, and neck pickup usually furthest from strings / lowest, as strings move in greatest arc here, so come closer to string each 'vibration' / 'loop' of string...n.b pole pieces ideally directly under string, but commonly not...

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Intonation...compare open string Vs 12th fret fretted note and if fretted note flat, move saddle piece towards nut...until fretted note and harmonic read exactly same on tuner... maintenance / optimalisation tip...take normal lead pencil and rub tip in grooves of nut, then wipe, leaving just a hint of lead graphite so strings don't grab/stick in nut when tuning or when using whammy bar

CAGED system..based on open C A G E D chords ... call C 'first form'...A 'second form' ... G 'third form'...E 'fourth form'....D 'fifth form'.... reproduce first form as a moveable shape which is a barre over i1 + ii1 + iii1 + ii2 +iv3 +v4(root C) and mute or don't play vi...so this is your 'first form' moveable chord based on the open C... see snapshot... then construct moveble '2nd form' from open A shape...which is your typical Rt5 Major shape barre chord then construct a moveable '3rd form' i.e barre i to vi two frets towards nut with first finger, and fret other two notes with other fingers i.e form open G with fingers wouldn't normally use i.e form 'nut' with first finger as barre...real bummer of a shape...so can just form 'partial' bar with choice of notes...remember won't be playing the chord, just using it as a reference... then '4th form' is Rt6 Major Barre chord...i.e moveable E shape...

Then '5th form' is Barre with open D shape i.e form 'D' with fingers don't usually use, and barre with first finger to replace 'open' strings i.e first finger becomes nut or capo...

Point is to learn each chord / key at each of the 5 positions / shapes / forms, so then have 'reference' points for each scale, so way of learning entire neck...repeat from 12th fret... Page 297 of 339

With my Optimal Reaper Wah, use the guitar volume knob to reduce volume for chords i.e too much output making wah go too far, sound tinny...so after play notes, going into chords, reduce volume to compensate for, and keep that warm full sound got with notes...or try adjusting 'Strength' so wah won't travel so far? try and see...or see if 'negative' direction makes sound better for chords...? and try it on vocals and drums :D

'Major 3rd' refers to the third note in a major scale... Root T 2nd note T 3rd note ST fourth note T fifth note T 6th note T 7th note ST Octave.... n.b 13th note is octave...e.g C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B B# C

Root + 3rd + Fifth form a 'Triad' of 3 notes, which form the Major Chord which in chromatic guitar fret basis, in 'semitones', is Root i.e chord tonic + 4frets note + 7 frets which played across neck can calculate...as E to A is equivalent of moving 5 frets on same string towards bridge....E F F# G G# A start thinking in these terms so once have memorised a few reference point notes e.g using the dot inlays as references, can quickly first reckon in head mathematically, until becomes second nature... start by mentally recognising that; Open C has root C notes at v3 and ii1 and thirds at iv3 and i0 and fifths at vi3 and iii0 Page 298 of 339

Open A has root A notes at v0 and iii2 and a third at ii2 and fifths at vi0 and iv2 and i0 Open G has root G notes at vi3 and i3 and thirds at v2 and ii0 and a fifth at iv0 Open E has root E notes at vi0 and iv2 and i0 and a third at iii1 and fifths at v2 and ii0 Open D has root D notes at iv0 and ii3 and a third at i2 and fifths at v0 and iv2 then if you look at the C E G notes of the C major chord, and locate each on the guitar neck, you will see that you can move from nut to Bridge playing Barre versions of the C major Chord using the 5 different moveable chord shapes for C major, which are the C A G E and D shaped Barre chords for the C major chord...repeating the C shape at the 12th fret...so the 12 frets from nut to 12th are covered with the 5 moveable shapes C A G E D, even though we don't usually use all 5 of these shapes to actually play those chords...but as reference point very useful... note that the snapshots include extra duplicate notes not usually played e.g the C with the vi fifth note, and the D with the vi third note can move this pattern towards bridge to change key ...using ii string as reference e.g open ii is key of B, ii1 is C ii2 is C# etc...pattern of root third fifth will remain same ... just need to learn the different notes of each chord...but in any case, once know positions of C E G can easily quickly work out notes before, between, and after these...N.B v3 is C at first dot inlay on 3rd fret, and dot inlay on 15th fret...and iii5 is C on second dot inlay on 5th fret, and 17th fret. thus learning the CEG chord notes and 5 shapes / forms reflexively, will teach us where the CEG notes are, and how to remember them in the 5 different 'positions' they occur in from nut to 12th fret, then 12th fret to bridge, so we'll have a reference for all the other notes...and shapes i.e different roots (but same relative position as the C)...

Chord inversions...play same notes in different order e.g play third on vi rather than root...e.g A Rt6 Maj at fifth becomes A/C# Major at 9th fret barre 9th, mute v and iv and +ii10 or just play like open D chord at 9th fret, and add vi9, mute v and iv...i.e open D playing the bass note not usually played, but which is of course the same note as the i9...simply move 4 frets towards bridge from Rt6 shape to inverted 'D' shape...

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N.B trick to playing movable chord shapes without 'Barre' is to learn the different chord structures e.g Maj is 1st , 3rd , 5th, and as have 6 strings, only need to strum 3 of them to get the chord sound... MHR so look at every 'Barre' chord shape, and work out which 3 strings minimum to sounding the chord...then find the alternative ways to sound the chord i.e different 3 notes at same position...especially will allow to play augmented chords etc with long stretches, as won't need to 'barre' root fret, just fret one note of it...and 'mute' any unplayed strings etc...

To memorise entire guitar fretboard notes ... first find all the A notes...then rearrange the A natural scale of A BC D EF G in your head as EF G A BC D .. so can easily find G FE and BC D as the notes before and after A on the fretboard ... i.e 'back' tone, tone, semi-tone and forwards tone, semi-tone, tone ... until soon can quickly name any note on the fretboard, in relation to the A notes... i.e look for A ... E is back 5 frets (semi-tones), F is back 4 frets, G is back 2 frets, and B is forward 2 frets, C is forward 3 frets, D is forward 5 frets...the 'sharps and flats' simply fall between A and B, C and D, F and G, G and A...

A 0 reference fret B +2 frets C +3 frets D +5 frets E -5 frets F -4 frets G -2 frets

With a keyboard the natural notes i.e no sharps or flats, are simply the white keys..and C is the white key before the pair of black keys.... easier with piano to use 'C4' as reference point...and count in white keys only...so simply C D EF G A BC

Play 'barre' chords more like SRV i.e moveable shapes: Just fret i, ii, and vi notes of 'barre' chord with tip and bony side of first finger, rather than actually baring all the strings...as the other strings will be fretted by 'open' chord shapes anyway...saves all Page 300 of 339 that terrible tension / strain on wrist / hand from playing 'traditional' 'barre chords i.e fretting all 5 (A shape) or 6 (E shape) strings with first finger...

Start learning Bass scales along fretboard using 'slides' between notes to speed up...start with Major scale from nut to bridge...and memorise notes using above trick as do these...or as alternative way to learn the natural scale i.e Major Scale C D EF G A BC ... then learn chord intervals for arpeggios and improvising over chords...this is what should have learned when started... not just kept playing scales across E to E string i.e laterally...and not bothering to learn notes...etc... practise improvisation not scales i.e start with simple nursery rhyme, work out how to reproduce notes on guitar..then improvise around this simple melody...work around this as practise...at controlled tempo...try fast, see what doesn't work, what need to work on...take these and slow them down, till can play faster...rather than just doing scale runs, which don't lead to fluidity around neck... try all the tricks and blues boxes and CAGED shapes and 'extra' notes to scales...bits of chromatic to set up tension, then resolve to the key tonic, or third, or fifth i.e chords...change time signatures...etc... play with backing tracks...but be specific about what working on i.e disciplined...structured...have objectives...e.g to play mary had a little lamb like hendrix or hetfield...

Sound Foundations for your musical evolution, as producer, composer, recording and mixing engineer, musician, and performing artist My four part ‘Sound Foundations’ series includes this ‘Your Holistic Guide to Guitar and keyboards’, ‘Sound Foundations: Audio Engineering Reference Guide’, the ‘Optimal Reaper’ guide and configuration for the Reaper DAW, and ‘Your Vocal Training Guide’.

‘Sound Foundations ‘Optimal Reaper’ ‘Sound Foundations’ covers all the generic concepts, and practices, tips and tricks, theory and facts, that you would hope to come to understand by paying thousands of dollars for a diploma in Audio Engineering. Page 301 of 339

In fact it goes much further than most courses, offering what you’d learn in a series of ‘master class’ sessions on Sound recording and mixing. There are too many things to mention here. You should take a quick look at the index to ‘Sound Foundations’, to get an idea. Even if you plan to invest thousands in a formal course in Audio Engineering, you should read ‘Sound Foundations’ from cover to cover. You will probably decide you don’t need that course after all. And by the end of ‘Sound Foundations’ you will know how to invest that money in the optimal home recording and mixing set-up for you. For a few dollars, I am offering you more than you would get for a few thousand dollars. And now that I can offer you ‘Optimal Reaper’, I am confident that you will not require any further formal training. My goal was to make it possible for anyone who is passionate about learning how to record and mix music, to do so. Anyone, anywhere in the world, can now afford to acquire the theoretical understanding and practical skills required to produce commercial quality recordings. ‘Sound Foundations’ and ‘Optimal Reaper’, together with a 60 dollar student ‘Reaper’ license, a cheap generic laptop with windows, a few cheap mic’s, a cheap audio interface, and a cheap guitar, and samples downloaded from the internet, is now in a position to fulfill their musical potential. This is the age where anyone who is passionate about learning anything, can. I believe the days of expensive formal education are coming to an end. This is the age where sometime determined to produce quality learning materials, can do so from their living room. And then make them available to those hungry to learn at a very low price. So please, if you can, help me get my books translated into as many languages as possible. We can share the royalties of the non-English language ‘guides’. My aim is to improve the lives of all sentient beings. If I had been motivated by personal profit of the conventional time, I never would have invested so much time and energy into these ‘guides’. I hope my ‘guides’ help facilitate your realization of your talents, ambitions, and dreams. I hope that you might consider reading my other books. I hope that you will consider adopting a vegan lifestyle. Page 302 of 339

Happy Next Lives. Oh, and if you didn’t pay for this guide, please consider putting a few dollars in my paypal account. It is [email protected] You can also email me at that address. I would be interested in hearing from people interested in setting up an Audio Engineering school, a Charter High School, or a summer music (and film) camp. Optimal Reaper The ‘Optimal Reaper’ DAW guide is all about getting the most out of ‘Reaper’, in the shortest time. An Optimal approach to learning and teaching how to 'Reap' the harvest of your musical potential with the TROONATNOOR Digital Audio Workstation of choice, 'Reaper'. We make 'Reaper' as 'plug and play' as possible. The 'Optimal Reaper' configuration is as pretty and functional as we could make it. This book is a companion guide for 'Sound Foundations', specifically targetted at people who have not yet decided which DAW to use, or those who have joined the Reaper community, but wish to take full advantage of the massive flexibility and power of Reaper, in the quickest time possible. Jump in the deep end and swim with the pros. Find ways to do what you want to do, in a hurry, and then when you have the time, gain that 'deeper' understanding that is the 'halo' on the heads of the pros, when supplicant musicians and mixers approach them for their 'intercession'.

Your Vocal Training Guide This book will help you find your own unique voice, free it, and then make the most of it. In the process you will cure your TMJ, improve your posture and sex appeal, and reduce the severity and frequency of migraines.

. It is based on a 'Speech level' singing method, along with elements of 'The Alexander Method', and various self-help exercises designed by chiropractors for the treatment of TMJ, and migraine. This book is for anyone who wants to improve their posture, confidence, sex appeal, and of course their singing voice. it will improve their range, intonation, and clarity. It will put them on the path to discovering the full potential of their own unique voice. This book will be welcome by anyone who suffers from poor posture, migraines, or TMJ. All the exercises here worked for me. I was amazed at the Page 303 of 339 positive difference the exercises have made to my life, and my singing. I am glad to be able to present them to you.

TROONATNOOR The Realities Of Our Natures And The Natures Of Our Realities

Critical acclaim for the TROONATNOOR series?

The New York Time's Best Seller list is full of books. Dan Brown and Michael Crichton write 'exciting and insightful' books. New York Critics are rarely 'speechless'. If Oprah ever says 'it's the best book I had ever read', the author will be really happy. BBC's Stephen Sackur might say it was 'compulsive reading', because, well, that's the sort of thing he says. Professor Stephen Hawkins is really 'brilliant'. Tom Cruise probably thinks his own films are 'Fantastic'. My best friend's wife said he 'literally couldn't put it down'. You see he'd spilled some super glue on the covers and, well...

City of the Sun When the paths of the beautiful French heiress, the 'Mistress of Carcassonne' and the neurotic genius and Hollywood movie writer-producer Xob S'ardnap, cross, they soon find themselves deep in a mystery. And in love. But what of Akhenaton, and the Priests at On? What of their vision of a utopian society? What of the many thousand year conspiracy of 'The Knights of Aton'? Soon all will be revealed In the final days of the reign of Amenhotep IV Moses leaves with a treasure, leading the Egyptian Generals on a mad dash to recover it. Little do they realise this was a mere diversion. For the true treasure was just then being secreted out of 'The City of The Sun'. What is the difference between madness and genius? Why do so many geniuses end up isolated, lonely, even locked up in mental asylums? Who is Kim Page 304 of 339

Jestem, the man who is 'legally no-one'? Who is Xob S'arodnap? What role could they possibly have to play in a mystery that spans thousands of years. In a secret order beginning with The Priests at On, and continuing with the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, self-named Akhenaton, who married his sister Nefertiti, and built his 'City of the Sun' at On, only to find himself the victim of the Priesthood he had disenfranchised of wealth and power, dying by his own hand as his wonderful city was being destroyed around him. But not before he had ensured the safety of the greatest treasure ever known to humanity. And not before leaving behind a set of clues to a puzzle that only an enlightened one, with a heart of purest gold, would ever be able to solve. A mystery that spans the continents, involving leading historical figures from The Knights Templar, to the 'Man of Steel' himself, Stalin. Who will win the mad race to realise their New World Orders, the Zionists, or the Knights of Aton? What possible role could the beautiful young heiress Clarissa Sophia, the 'Mistress of Carcassonne' play in all of this? And what of agent ZZ and Sophie, with their Hollywood A-team? What role will they play in the machinations of A-group, who feel pushed to realise the plans of The Priests At On, either now or never? Thousands of years of work could amount to nothing, if Xob S'ardonap is not willing to take the heavy burden upon himself. Each one of us owes the world a life. He is ready to give his. But to take the responsibility for billions of lives? What does it take to accept that responsibility, now that he has the response-ability.

Nine Eleven (Five minutes to Midnight?) This book explains what 911 really means. What happened. Who did what when. And why. It then places 911 in the context of the New World Order, Zionism, Central Banking, and the 'shadow government' that has been playing us all for fools for so long. This is probably your best chance at understanding what is going on. This is probably your last chance to change the course of events. Please make sure you read this as soon as you can, and get your friends to read it too. You could spend months searching for this information, and then years trying to 'join the dots'. It has taken me decades to get to the stage where I can present the truth to anyone who is intellectually able, but more importantly, emotionally willing, to accept the truth. The whole truth may yet elude us, but I have presented enough of it to justify a compelling and urgent call to be put out to anyone who still believes in the idea of personal freedom, democracy, and justice. I have included compressed versions of the Old and New Testaments, 'Mein Kampf', and 'The Protocols of The Elders of Zion' so that you can place the current events in perspective. Once you understand how the U.S petro-dollar and Central Banking function, and how they Page 305 of 339 tricked us all on 911, me included, you will be outraged at how the mass media have duped us all.

Welcome to the New World Order I am a man standing on a speeding train. You are standing on the platform. If I reach out my hand to you, at least one of us is going to get hurt. This book, and my '911:five minutes to midnight' are my attempt to 'bring you up to speed'. Until you have read this book, your mind will be closed to the very important message many people are trying to share with you at this critical moment. This is a work in progress. It will one day become a collector’s item. I am publishing it now, as I may not get a chance to finish it. For by writing this book I have made myself a vulnerable target of the most powerful conspiracy ever realised on this earth. Soon it will be too late for books like this to do any good. So please ensure as many people get to read it as possible. It is the companion book to my recent '911:five minutes to midnight'. By sharing what I understand with you, I face long jail terms in Germany, if not worse from MOSSAD-C.I.A. You have been trained by the Zionist Propaganda Machine known as 'Hollywood', and 'The News', and all your favorite mass media television stations and print media, from birth onwards, to have an emotional, knee- jerk reaction of immediate rejection of what I am about to explain to you. You have been conditioned and primed to reject what I am trying to make understandable to you. I appreciate that it will be difficult for you to even consider the information I am presenting here. I do not expect to win any friends or benefit personally in any way. I expect I will be ruined and face fates worse than death for writing and publishing this book. Even though the German Constitution protects my right to write and publish this book, the courts in Germany are clearly controlled by the Zionists, and I will be charged, prosecuted, and imprisoned despite the supposed protections of the German, like the Canadian, constitutions. I have officially renounced my German citizenship because of this. But like you, I do not have any legal rights any more. The Zionist has today realised the Talmudic principle that only Jews have legal rights, and you and I are merely 'cattle', non-human, and thus have no legal rights. In the U.S this law is known as 'The Patriot Act' and all the laws and decrees that followed this. Since 2012 Propaganda is legal in the U.S. And Since Helmut Kohl's government, any criticism of Zionism has become criminal. My book will reveal to you a clear pattern that you may decide you don't want to recognise, but which will be compelling, and incontrovertible by the Zionists. That is why they hide behind the corrupted legal systems of the U.S, Canada, Germany, and France. Welcome to the New World Order Page 306 of 339

Markus Heinrich Rehbach

Description I am a man standing on a speeding train. You are standing on the platform. If I reach out my hand to you, at least one of us is going to get hurt. This book, and my '911:five minutes to midnight' are my attempt to 'bring you up to speed'. Until you have read this book, your mind will be closed to the very important message many people are trying to share with you at this critical moment. This is a work in progress. This book will reveal to you a clear pattern that you may decide you don't want to recognise, but which will be compelling, and incontrovertible by the Zionists. That is why they hide behind the corrupted legal systems of the U.S, Canada, Germany, and France.

Occupied Welcome to the New World Order Your beliefs have been imprinted on you since birth. Repeatedly strengthened by repetition by significant others, and re-imprinted using the most vivid, compelling, impression-forming television, movies, books, newspapers, and internet productions. Imagine the other ducklings trying to warn their fellow, new-hatched friend that the thing it had mistakenly taken for its ‘mother’, is in fact a snake. A predator.

I have detailed, using arguments from the finest philosophers, like David Hume, right up to the most ‘modern’ NLP, how ‘vivid impressions are often mistaken for ‘reality’. How we form our ‘beliefs’ based on faulty assumptions, mostly fed to us from birth.

Prophet: Ghost in the machine Science fiction fantasy adventure. Every now and then someone is plucked from obscurity into greatness. You can never predict who it will be. It might be you. You may even be surprised to find that your worst enemy becomes your best friend. You may find your little world suddenly expanding, opening up a galaxy of adventure and mystery. Page 307 of 339

It has often been said that 'the last shall be the first', and that only the truly humble are fit to rule. O.P is feeling pretty down at heel, the terrified and crushed victim of Renshaw, the school bully, living in a council flat, having his hair cut by his uncle, and wearing supermarket clothes, and even worse, supermarket shoes. Things do not look at all promising for O.P. But then his 'Uncle' Roy reveals a secret, and they begin a frantic race to escape the clutches of a conspiracy that aims to bring the galaxy back to the dark ages before 'Optimalisation'. This book is Science Fiction's challenge to Harry Potter. It seeks the highest ideals of great science fiction fantasy.

Veil of Ignorance Just as the world's population is about to reach 7 Billion, its seemingly unstoppable momentum is halted. 'Year Zero'. 'The Crisis'. While the Pope is being outed as a 'dead-beat dad', and Vatican officials are caught by the world's media arguing with robots, a very close knit group of people are in a pitched race to the finish line with the Zionist New World Order conspirators. Who will win? While Jules and Luc, with their Vegan Co-op, seek to positively transform the world, by eliminating all forms of violence, and liberating human consciousness and sexuality from the chains of two millennia of perverse 'noble' lies a.k.a 'religion', Vatican officials are caught on television cameras arguing with robots. This after the Pope has already been cited in a class action lawsuit as a 'dead-beat dad', in an action demanding the Vatican pay child-maintenance for over 20 million children. But the concept of 'child maintenance' is about to be turned upon its head. For just as the world's population is about to reach 7 Billion, its seemingly unstoppable momentum is halted. 'Year Zero'. 'The Crisis'. Suddenly every living creature known to man has ceased reproducing. The last baby born becomes an international star. Decades later the appearance of a kitten becomes a world media mystery. Who would have thought? But who is behind all this? Have the New World Order Zionist's been beaten to the finish line? But the thing is, most of those actively involved in the conspiracy have no idea. Maybe you are part of it. Only when the veil of ignorance has been lifted will you know for sure. And then we will be left asking the question. What comes next?

Songs, Poems, and Music of the Philosopher- Prophet of the Eden Protocols Page 308 of 339

A collection of my original songs, poems, and music for voice, guitar, and piano. I wanted to be, a writer of books, a writer of songs, a writer of wrongs. I wanted to be. What happened? You tell me. A collection of my original songs, poems, and music for voice, guitar, and piano. I have been writing and working on these songs for years. I have made basic recordings, sketches, which you can listen to at my Troonatnoor Soundcloud. I would love to find people willing to collaborate with me as musicians and/or producers, to realise the full potential of these songs and music.

User Guides: Experience Engine Type HUMAN Don't you think that life should have come with a user guide? Well Clarissa Sophia von der Golz thinks so. This is her idea of the basic 'user guide' for the 'experience engine' 'type: HUMAN'. She would love to know what you would add. This is just a start. So put all six of your thinking caps on, put your heart in the right place, and let’s begin.

Sex Life Clarissa is a teenager born to wealth and privilege. With an IQ of 143, she has benefited from tutoring from some of the world's most brilliant minds. She has experienced a freedom few teenagers ever get to enjoy. She has decided to publish a fairly loosely structured set of insights in the form of this book. She has had sexual experiences most people would envy, and a few less than desirable ones We, the editors, have not interfered. The style is her own. The views her own. The experiences distinctly her own. Clarissa hopes this book will be read by teenagers, however she fears it will only be made available to adult readers due to what she views as censorship and slavery. So we, the publisher, will have to leave it up to you, the reader, to decide if you will allow your under-18 dependents to read it. We must warn the reader that it is sexually explicit. It details Clarissa's sexual adventures. Some of these she pursued actively. Some of these she found herself having without being quite sure how she had ended up in them. But this is not just a book for 'perves', as she herself would call many readers, with the greatest affection and approbation. It is also a book for thinkers. In fact it is for people who tend to think about life, and sex, and not just blunder their way through both.

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The Mall Romance, erotic encounters, and fascinating and humorous discussions, can all take place without plan or warning. Isn’t that, after all, our secret hope, each time we set off to visit The Mall? Our trip to the mall might even raise our ethics just a little, and leave us with the distinct promise, that, perhaps after all, not all hope is false, and that maybe not all our efforts are in vain. Ancient Athens' Marketplace', the 'Agora' was where Plato’s Socrates 'threshed out the grains of truth from the chaff', 'playing 'mid-wife' to wisdom'. Today's 'Agora' is ‘The mall'. Like in ancient Athens, this is where people go to shop, to meet people, and just hang around, socialise, and talk, as interlocutors discussing the trivial, along with the more important issues of life. As in ancient times, romance, erotic encounters, and fascinating and humorous discussions, can all take place without plan or warning. Isn’t that, after all, our secret hope, each time we set off to visit The Mall? What we experience at the Mall might even raise our ethics just a little, and leave us with the distinct promise, that, perhaps after all, not all hope is false, and that maybe not all our efforts are in vain.

Lucid Dreaming: The Mystery of the Dreamer and the Dream Lucid dreaming is the state in which you can control what happens to you in your dreams. You can become a 'dream-producer', and produce any manner of experiences. Anything you can imagine, you can lucid dream. Imagine the possibilities! But lucid dreaming also raises many questions which Carlos Castaneda, among many others, put in a productive context. This book is a guide to becoming a competent, reliable lucid dreamer. It considers what opportunities lucid dreaming can offer the practitioner, from the more mystical, to the practical, to the sensual. It contains a range of exercises which, when followed, will open all these possibilities of lucid dreaming up to you . For some the results will be immediate. Others will require months of preparation.

Tales Of Romance Terror And Treachery Sung Seng Nim A Tale Of Two Faces Marx Herbach And Page 310 of 339

The Swan From Moscow With Loathe An English Teacher's Experiences In Korea, Poland, And Moscow Autobiographical details of my experiences as an English teacher in South Korea, Poland, and Moscow. Cautionary tales for prospective English teachers. These really are tales of romance, terror, and treachery. They provide insights into a very exploitative industry. Before paying for a T.E.S.O.L certificate read this book, to get a taste of the 'career' you are considering. Cautionary tales for prospective English teachers. I don't try to rubbish anyone. I let the facts speak for themselves. Maybe you will judge me harshly too? Who knows? But it is better to be prepared, than caught off guard. You might get lucky. But if you, like the many people who responded to my web pages citing their own terrible treatment at the hands of overseas English schools, do get into trouble, you will be ready to deal with it. You won't leave yourself exposed and vulnerable to the worst. As a taxi driver I learned the hard way to ask for fares up front. So if you gain nothing else from this book, at least you will gain that. If schools will not agree to basic requests on your part, and insist that you 'trust them', then I recommend that you do NOT trust them. Read on to see what sort of pitfalls await the naive travelling teacher. This book is also a book about real life romance. Real life human relationships. Real life per se. It is honest. It is authentic. It is often embarrassing. I dedicate it to my real life 'Swan', 'Lilith', and to my source of sunshine in Moscow 'Sunny', and all the good people who were so nice to me. Things could have gone much worse than they did, if not for the kindness of strangers. O.K, so no noble savages to be found. But still some light in a dark world. A spark that, given enough air to breathe, and a little enlightenment, might actually issue forth a flame if we are courageous and patient enough. A flame to light the darkness. To bring light to the world. The light of truth, justice, and beauty.

Religion A holistic interrogation of religion detailing the evolution of religious beliefs and practices from pre-historic times to the present day, from the position of holistic philosophy. This book is intended to form part of the foundation for a true informed consent, based on a holistic understanding of The Realities Of Our Natures And The Natures Of Our Realities. The author's aim is to work toward the elimination of all forms of Page 311 of 339 violence and injustice, and towards truly holistically informed consent. This book is intended to form a basis for a compulsory High-School course on comparative religion.

Optimal English The 'Phrasal-Syntax' approach to teaching and learning English as a Second Language is informed by an understanding of how the 'English' language has evolved over the last two thousand years. This book first offers a brief description of the evolution of the 'English' language. It then offers ideas that can be put into practice in the classroom. Included are fun activities for classes of all ages. The author has spent decades teaching English as a Second Language in Australia, England, Poland, Germany, South Korea, and Russia. You can read about my experiences in my other TROONATNOOR books. This book provides a great brief overview of the evolution of the language which we today call English. It also provides a great short course in linguistics to show how languages have evolved in general. The aim of the author is not the monetization of his insights, but the promotion of a vision where the entire world shares one language in common, and the optimal system for learning and teaching it, both to adults and children.

An Education in Victimisation Essential reading for anyone who is, or is thinking of becoming, a teacher, this book details my personal experiences of workplace victimisation with the New South Wales Department of Education. It then goes on to place my personal experiences in the context of international research into mobbing. It should inform attempts to gain legal justice for victims of mobbing. First mobbing must be identified as a form of violence. This book also raised fundamental questions about the abuse of psychiatry by governments. 'HealthQuesting' was even more common than I had envisaged at the time of my own victimisation. As far as I know none of its victims has yet to be given justice, let alone compensation. This book is a warning to anyone who trusts the Government. Anyone who believes that the Government will be held accountable by the legal justice system. Finally this book is a call for the socialisation of the legal profession. As long as only the rich can afford legal justice, we cannot speak of a 'justice system'.

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Convergences Convergences between my own ideas as expressed in TROONATNOOR volume one, and the thoughts and arguments of the greatest minds who ever dared express their ideas. This book reveals the many convergences between my own ideas and those of the most brilliant thinkers of the last few thousand years, including the most recent cognitive and neuro-scientists. My works are always holistic. This book will teach you a lot of things you will want to know. It will help you avoid the common mistakes even the greatest minds make in daily life. My books are the result of decades of reading and thinking and living and experimenting. Save yourself a lot of trouble and learn from other's mistakes. Start the race from where the other's finished, rather than at the very beginning.

The Reality Of Our Natures And The Natures Of Our Realities Introducing The Holistic Philosopher, The Philosopher-Prophet of The Eden Protocols and the new ethics technology, 'The Optimal Ethics Generator' This book offers everything you can expect from Philosophy. It answers many questions you already have, and many that you might never have thought of asking. Yes, it is about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. This book interrogates The Realities Of Our Nature, And The Nature Of Our Realities TROONATNOOR, providing the basis for a truly holistically informed consent. In the process we de-construct a lot of 'junk' philosophy.

A Taste of TROONATNOOR A selection of items relating to my TROONATNOOR series of fiction and non-fiction. They will introduce you to The Holistic Philosopher, The Philosopher-Prophet of The Eden Protocols, and a new ethics technology 'The Optimal Ethics Generator', which will one day be introduced in the form of 'The Veil of Ignorance'. Avoiding the Protein Plague (and the Fructose Epidemic) Page 313 of 339

This books is all about the perils of high protein diets, fructose, meat, eggs, and milk. This book will probably surprise you as much as I was surprised when researching it. The good news is that it is much simpler to gain the optimal nutrition than we have been mislead to believe. No more worries about 'am I getting enough protein'. This book explains the modern Western epidemics of cancer, osteoporosis, kidney disease, obesity, arthritis, depression, anxiety, hyper-tension, heart disease (heart attacks and strokes), and senescence, in the context of the recent massive overdoses of protein, especially from animal sources, that have become the new norm. In evolutionary terms such high protein diets are new. We simply have not evolved in a high protein diet environment. This fact appears to be mirrored in cancer rates that are today many thousands of times higher than they were just a few generations ago. This book is about remaining physically and mentally vital into our eighties and beyond. We will clear up the many myths. These have been both deliberately propagated both by professional 'deceivers' known in the mass media, and accidentally, by otherwise well intentioned nutritionists. We will see just how easy it is to ensure you and your loved ones are guaranteed an optimal nutrition. It is so much easier, cheaper, and simpler than I ever imagined. This book includes guides on how to make amazingly cheap and tasty soy milks and tofus at home for a fraction of the typical supermarket prices. Remember that we all share the health costs incurred by the Western diet. Will you or your loved ones be the next patients refused treatment by your health insurance fund because all the resources of that fund have to be rationed? Simply because they have been depleted on illnesses and diseases that could have been prevented and avoided, with a little effort, self-discipline, education, and good will? Sound Foundations Recording, Mixing, Mastering Audio Engineering Reference Guide 2017 Troonatnoor Edition Your complete guide to recording, mixing, and mastering. An Audio Engineering reference covering everything you need to know about home studio design, speakers, microphones, microphone positioning, how to optimally set up any laptop for use as a Digital Audio Workstation, all manner of microphone techniques for pre-EQ, stereo mic'ing, MIDI recording and editing, and mastering. Includes a guide to recording Page 314 of 339 industry contracts. No matter how experienced or new you are to the field, this guide is guaranteed to offer you something. Learn how to use whatever microphones you do have to approximate the sound you really want. Learn how to mic up a complete drum kit using one, two, or twenty microphones. Learn how to manage singers, and get the best performance. Learn how to set up a drum kit or guitar to get 'that' sound you have heard on your favorite recordings. Learn how to use compressors creatively and effectively, not just to manage dynamics, but to get 'that' sound you are after. Learn the facts about the loudness wars, and mixing for radio. Learn what matters and what doesn't. Learn how to interpret technical specifications for all manner of studio gear with a grain of salt. In this way you will learn what you need to know. You will learn how best to invest your home recording budget. This guide is based on the 'sound' principles of TROONATNOOR. Planned Abundance Eden Protocols

Escaping the traditional ‘Sissyfussian’ farming dilemma with a proven ‘no-till’, generative approach to soil management and gardening. Your holistic guide to a minimum work, maximum benefit, lifestyle that you will be able to, and more importantly, will want to, sustain. A lifestyle without waste. A lifestyle based upon a continual re-cycling of throughputs which makes external inputs (imports) unnecessary. Plan, design and build optimal dwellings, greenhouses, heating systems, gardens, dams, ponds, swales, to become as self-supporting, from local resources, as you choose. Remember that in Eden we were gardeners (not farmers).

(Convergences) Things You Will Want To Know You are in a game-show. You have chosen one of three doors. Behind one door is a huge cash prize. The host opens one of the doors. No prize there. You are left with two unopened doors. The one you have chosen. And another. The good-natured host offers you a chance to change your choice. Should you? If you read the guides to problem solving, logic and probability in this book, you will know what to do! Page 315 of 339

Why did many of the world’s most successful politicians and business-people study Philosophy? Why do they insist that their own children study philosophy? Perhaps they learned something valuable from it? Perhaps they are onto something. Maybe you should take a closer look yourself? What are 'accessing cues'? How can people use these, along with 'mirroring and leading', to manipulate you? What simple tricks can waiters use to guarantee bigger tips? How can you employ these skills to your advantage? Everyone will tell you how important it is, in business and in life in general, to be a good communicator. So what are the principles of successful communication? Taking the 'heuristic route' to getting your message across and being persuasive can give you the competitive edge. What is 'Spin Doctoring'? How can I avoid being conned by it? How can I learn to 'Spin'? How can I tell a 'specious' argument from a 'compelling' one? How do 'intellectual card-tricks' work? How can I avoid being tricked? How effective are lie detectors? How reliable are witness testimonies? And the dangers of 'suggestion'? Are some people more suggestible than others? You only have to pay monkeys peanuts. So why do you pay your stock-broker and financial advisor big money? What could I possibly mean? And anyway, if you're gonna make a monkey out of me, then make me a Benopal, and not a chimp. Why? Read and find out! How do clever advertising experts manipulate us? Did they learn these tricks from an 18th Century Philosopher? Did a lot of other successful people read David Hume? Maybe you should too? He's a bit hard to read in the original. So lucky you have this book! Are mathematicians really smarter than the rest of us? Do they really have a right to act so superior to you! Wouldn't you just love to pull the rug out from under their feet? Read this book to see how. Oh, and if you're physicists get too uppity, maybe you will enjoy reminding them that all their ideas are built upon extremely shaky assumptions, like that of 'cause and effect'.

What does that term I.Q actually mean? And what is the real reason public school teachers against I.Q testing of their students? How can you improve your performance in I.Q tests? How good an indicator of success in life is I.Q anyway? What about E.Q? Is it maybe a better indicator? Read on and all will be revealed. What could they mean, these old philosophers, when they tell you that reality as we know it exists only inside our heads? Would you be surprised to hear the same arguments from today's most advanced scientists? I'm talking cognitive scientists and neuro-scientists too, not social scientists! Page 316 of 339

Is it possible to change how people think and even feel about a product, a social group, an activity, or even you? What surprising things did researchers reveal in their studies on the subject? Read and find out. You will be both informed and entertained! Want to learn how to interpret your dreams, or enjoy the pleasures of 'lucent' dreaming? Imagine living out your wildest fantasies as the director of your own dreams. It is possible. Learn the secrets of the masters here! Do you really understand evolution? Or are you really a 'crypto-creationist' without even realising it? Oops. How embarrassing! Do most television documentary presenters understand what they are talking about when it comes to evolution? When I say there is no to or for in evolution, what do I mean? Oh, and then you'll be able to single out those sneaky little 'crypto-creationists' posing as scientists. They are everywhere, the cunning, deceitful, pesky little critters! Learn how to avoid the 'thought-traps' of teleology and functionalism. Once you get stuck in one of these it is impossible to think clearly. You'll rot intellectually and pollute your entire noetic structure. And they are just so treacherous. Stop paying attention for one moment and you can easily find yourself stuck in one! The hit and miss, binge and purge nature of creativity. Why people who make no mistakes make nothing! How do you unleash your full creative potential? Can you learn to think? Sure. Get with the program! Get out your thinking hats and unleash your true intellectual and creative potential today! What is 'The fallacy of sunken costs?' How can you avoid it in your daily life? How can you employ it to your advantage? What about 'self-fulfilling prophecies'? What is a 'straw-man' argument? How can you avoid those traps? Thanatos, Eros, Ego, Id,Super-ego, Super-man, Apollonian, Dionysian, Neuroses, Oedipus Complex, Transference. What's all that about? What your dreams really mean? What unconscious desires are revealed in your phobias and nightmares? What is all that Freud and sex stuff really about? What is psycho-therapy? And 'free association'? Learn how to Psycho-analyse yourself if you dare! What about re-birthing, Scientology, and the like and their promises of quick, easy, painless wellness?

Want to improve your memory? Want to avoid being the victim of false memories? What are the dangers and opportunities posed by post-retrospective revisionism? And screen memories, what are they? Can hypnosis improve your memory? And what is self-hypnosis? Is hypnosis anything more than voluntary role-playing? How can you get people to feel goodwill towards you. How do you get people to like you? Even LOVE you. And what are the secrets to a successful relationship? All this comes natural to successful people. The rest of us have to 'learn'. And class begins... NOW! Page 317 of 339

Oh, and you'll want to make a good first impression on your new classmates, won't you? Why is that so important? Does 'premature cognitive commitment' sound any alarms? How dangerous can that be? And how can you make it work for you? How can you 'prime' people to gain a good impression of you? You only have a few minutes. So get it right, or not, at your own peril! Learn the secrets here. Although when I say 'I reckon' I may sound very working class, but am I in fact using the most precise terminology available to describe how our minds really work? Are our brains really nothing more than computers? I reckon you should read on before commenting. You may be surprised! If the Philosophers can't convince you, the neuro-scientists certainly might! What is the basis of Catholic – Jewish Guilt, and that generalised anxiety that plagues most of us? Why do we punish ourselves, fear success, and sabotage our own success? What was the real 'original sin' that is responsible for such feelings and behaviors? How has religion opportunistically exploited this element of the human condition? Is religion really a mass neuroses? Who are the real beneficiaries of religion? Who is the real 'messiah'? Where does our true salvation lay? Why did the Biblical Jesus really have to die? What debt was he re-paying? What's the connection with 'The Oedipus Complex'? Are we born 'blank slates'? How do nature and nurture impact on us? How much do parenting styles really impact on a child? How important are the first 5 years of life? What 'lessons' do we learn then which can have such a devastating impact on our lives, and which are so hard to unlearn? Are there really 'happy genes'? What factors produce crime? Do deterrents really work? What does? And what impact do violent films, television and video games have on violence in our society. Is it on the rise? Does gun ownership increase or decrease crime rates? Have governments always been so down on 'illegal' drugs? Is the current political approach to illegal drugs justified? Is it efficacious? Which drugs do produce the greatest social costs and suffering? You will probably be surprised by the answers! What is all this confusion about 'altruism'? Can you rely on strangers helping you in a public place? What factors will determine their response to your calls for help? Why do people often want to help but still don't? Why did George Orwell want to kill fascists, but couldn't bring himself to kill one that was running away trying to pull up his trousers? Many of us lament the Princess Diana tragedy, but what other similar cases have been documented? And how reliable are people's own judgments about how generous and kind they are, and have actually been? You have probably heard about Ghandi? Would it surprise you to learn that he got his most important ideas from an American! Yes, that land of gun-ownership for all that just can't keep its armies out of other people's countries, actually gave us Thoreau and his 'Civil Disobedience'. Ah, yes, 'Studies show...', 'Research suggests...' Surveys indicate...' 'Statistics prove...'. But what aren't they telling you? What are the questions they didn't ask? Do figures speak for themselves? Or for the people who paid to have them 'constructed'? Just how easy is it to Page 318 of 339 get a study, survey, or research project to come to the conclusion you want? And just how influential are lobby groups in today’s politics? Why should political campaign financing be regulated? What is 'escalating commitment'? How can it be used to get people to do extreme things? Learn how, here and now! And just how far will people go when an authority figure is telling them what to do? Famous studies shocked the public when they were released. Curious? Does your doctor really understand how those drugs he prescribes actually work? And do they actually work? Is that whole industry at all scientific? And even when they work, what of their side effects? Are Psychiatrists still looking for that 'wandering Uterus', in the guise of that famous 'chemical imbalance', some innate physical defect within the sufferer, while the real culprits of mental illness, and in fact illness in general, are social and situational? Is the average Psychiatrist little more than a 'hired gun DSMIII slinger'? Can you trust them? Whose interests do they really care about? Are you medical records really confidential, or can they in fact be used against you in court? You have a right to know. In this case anticipation and prevention are the cure! You should be aware how the psychiatry can be so easily abused by those in power. It always has been. Don't you become its next victim? By the same token, find out what it can do for you! Masks, personae, denial, repression, 'mitlaufen' (going along to get along). These all adaptive measures, but are they limiting you from reaching your full potential. Do they hinder us from reaching our collective potentials as a society? What benefits do they provide us? What are their costs? How do they harm us? What are the dangers of 'cognitive dissonance' and 'double binds' for our mental health? Is the mal-adjusted and mal-adapted person in fact healthier, even if perhaps less successful in the conventional sense? Would you like to learn how to win friends and influence people from the original masters of this art? Hundreds of years before the 'self-help' book fad, Hume told how! How do natural born sales-people overcome objections, and go from 'loser to closer'? Can you learn the behaviors and attitudes that come naturally to them? Let’s just say 'School's in'. The meaning of life, the universe, and everything? Take your pick from a wide selection of life affirming, comforting and satisfying offers from the greatest minds of history. Alternatively take the death affirming route. The choice will be yours! Either way, you will find a genius and their compelling arguments on your side. Primary reality. Secondary Reality. Virtual reality. Nuomenal realities? (When Kant couldn't live in reality!). Is anything real? Denial. Repression. Sublimation. Numbing. Selective perception. Conditioning. Priming. What reality are you living in? Is there maybe a better one? Page 319 of 339

What is the value of public opinion? How can you 'construct' a public opinion favorable to you? 'The figures speak for themselves, and never lie? Really? How can you get them to say what you want? What are the pitfalls you must be wary of when dealing with statistics? Free will? Freedom to chose what your want or merely to have what you want? What is the difference between freedom to act on your will free will per se? Is any punishment unjust? What does that say about the Biblical 'God'? What did the Prophet Mohamed have to say about determinism? Deo Culpa? Ever worry that you might wake up during an operation, feel everything, but be unable to communicate this fact with the surgeons? It happens tens of thousands of times each year. Ever go to hospital for something, and come home with an inexplicable scar? Is it possible that tens of thousands of people have the wrong part operated on, or get operations they weren't supposed to get. You'd better believe it. The facts, and how to make sure you are not the next 'victim'. Do you assume your doctor will wash their hands before operating on you? What about commercial pilots who are too clever to need to follow procedures and check-lists? Professional self-regulation? Have you been caught in Plato's 'Noble Lie'? Was he the original 'Big Brother' advising leaders how to fool and enslave their subjects, or a mischievous subversive 'whistle- blower'. You know the Catholic Church was modeled on his 'Republic'? Maybe you should learn a little about this 'Republic'? And what of the good, wise, and noble Catholic Saint's teachings that it is better to rape than to masturbate? Official Catholic Church doctrine still today? What is the secret of happiness? What 'Utopia's have been offered as the ideal social systems over the ages? What was Russian Soviet Socialism really like? And Israeli Kibbutzim? And anyway, Scientifically seen, what is happiness? What are feelings, emotions, and thoughts really? What are pleasure and pain? And what about the notion of an enduring 'personality'? Are there really personality types? Can you predict a person's behavior based on them? And how can you use them to get the most out of your employees and sub-ordinates? Even your children? Irregular reward schedules? Why comprehending that concept is key to child behavior management, and motivation in general. And while we're on the subject, what are the principles of motivation? What are the secrets of motivating others to do what you want them to? Some people know these. Can you afford not to? Does 'habituation' doom us to dis-satisfaction? Is our insatiability a curse or a boon? Does failure and suffering make us better people? Does power promote the worst in us? Do we act from principles or with our eye on the personal consequences? Page 320 of 339

Why did one of the world’s most successful, rich, and powerful men of all time once say 'If I were not Alexander, I should chose to be Diogenes'? Who was this Diogenes, the original 'Cynic'? Why was a statue of a dog erected in his honor? What are the connections between slavery and religion, with its karma and hell, and taboos on suicide, homosexuality, oral sex, anal sex, masturbation, and suicide? Why are we really even today denied the right to euthanasia? Why won't governments recognise same sex marriage? What could the real reasons possibly be? Why should anyone care what consenting adults get up to in the privacy of their own homes? Why are these acts still criminal offenses in many countries? Offenses which are still today being punished with death by stoning! Are we ALL bi-sexual by nature? Why is the state against same-sex marriage? Do our revulsions against many acts really hide our innermost secret desires to do them? Is Homophobia, like racism and religious bigotry, just another opportunity to feel superior to someone and to vent our self-loathing? How and why were races constructed? How much difference does it take to set a group of people apart as 'other', and thus define them as 'legitimate' targets of violence, rape, murder, and theft? Who was this Epicurus, and why did he want to save us from religion? Why is Freud the true 'Christ'? Did we need saving? Isn't 'transmigration of souls' automatic anyway? Why are we conscious at all? Blame it on herd mentality? Nietzsche can tell us. Semiotics. What's that? And anyway, what is consciousness? Who and/or what has it? Can it be created or destroyed? What would the implications of random new-incarnation be for your personal ethics? Are all our meanings and experiences really just post-modernist narratives? What does that mean? And what about our anthropocentric bias? Do we wrongly deny non-human things properties they actually possess? Are we 'noble savages' or is it truer to say that 'man is wolf to man'? Who rapes who and why? What is mobbing and workplace victimisation? There is no 'typical victim'. So how can you protect yourself and those you care about from it? There are steps you can take. What are 'ethics'? What are 'morals'? What is the 'Social contract'? Did you sign it? Is 'Society' in your best interests? What is meant by the term 'Beneficiary classes? What is 'informed consent'? What if people don't want to be informed, but still insist on participating in decision making? How rational are we really? Do we merely act on our emotions, and then rationalise them after the fact? Do we first hate and/or harm and then seek justifications for our feelings and our actions? How can you make that work in your favor? What is the difference between reason-ing and reasons-ing? What are the most common 'attribution errors' we all make? Want to learn how to stop making them? Then you're in the right place! Page 321 of 339

You just got tricked into paying 30 or 40 dollars for this book by some clever marketing. So now you're emotionally invested in it. You're gonna convince yourself it's a great book! No- one want to feel like an idiot! And in fact the worse the book actually is, the more you will unconsciously exaggerate how good it was. They call this 'Post Retrospective Revisionism'. Get people to pay more, and most of 'em are bound to convince themselves, unconsciously, that it was worth more. We are not rational animals at all. We are 'Retrospectively Post- Rational-ising animals! You really need to understand this if you're going to be successful and happy. This book is all about empowering you to make up your own mind. Giving you the tools to avoid being fooled by others. Of course these same tools will also give you a great advantage in this competitive, opportunistic world of ours. Deception and manipulation is widespread. Learn how to avoid becoming a victim. At the same time, this volume of around 190,000 words provides a fairly exhaustive description of the most compelling philosophical, sociological, and psychological arguments and the most fascinating philosophers, sociologists, and psychologists who ever dared record their thoughts. What surprised me most was how old most of the ideas we consider 'new' really are. We tend to credit more modern thinkers with arguments that in fact had been presented to the world hundreds, even thousands, of years ago. You will gain fascinating and valuable insights into human nature, and the nature of reality. You will learn about yourself. You will learn about society. You will be empowered to think for yourself. You will gain an independence of spirit and mind.

This volume will be a fascinating introduction to the world of critical thought. The reader will be entertained and informed by the original authors. In addition they will benefit from having these texts placed in a wide, informed, holistic context. It is this context that allows the original texts to provide their greatest insights. This is the first work on philosophy that has truly been able to provide this holistic context. I shall now leave you with the greatest minds of history, their hits and their misses. We have a lot to learn from both! Some of the cognitive-scientists, neuro-scientists, philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, and thinkers whose ideas you shall now have the benefit of include: Averroes, Freud, De Bono, Hume, Marx, Pinker, Spinoza, Nietzsche, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Leucippus, Isaac Newton, Democritus, Aristarches of Samos, Copernicus, Galileo, Zeno, Stoppard, Bergson, Marx, Luther, Mother Page 322 of 339

Theresa, Marcus Aurelius, Epicurus, Diogenes of Sinope, Pyrrho of Elis, Sextus Empiricus, Montaigne, Gandy, Orwell, Hegel, Plato, Mao, Eckles, Schopenhauer, Descartes, Hubbard, John Stuart Mill, Saint Simon, August Comte, Bacon, Heisenberg, Herder, Weber, Locke, Wittgenstein, Rousseau, Aquinas, Leibniz, Kant, Breuer, Kant, Hobbes, Ockham, Berkeley, Aristotle, Locke, Boyle, Galileo, Newton, Whitehead, Leibniz, Einstein, Charcot, Pappenheim, Boernes, and Fliess. We shall begin with those Ancient Greeks. You will be surprised at how modern they in fact are! Ask a quantum physicist or Neuro-Scientist, if you have one handy. If you can find one who knows anything about philosophy!

TROONATNOOR The Realities Of Our Nature And The Nature Of Our Realities

This book offers everything you can expect from Philosophy. It answers many questions you already have, and many that you might never have thought of asking. Yes, it is about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. This book interrogates The Realities Of Our Nature, And The Nature Of Our Realities TROONATNOOR, providing the basis for a truly holistically informed consent. In the process we de-construct a lot of 'junk' philosophy. Introduction, The holistic philosopher, About my logo, Climb above the confusion and noise, 'Muddles', I simply listened longer and harder to the same 'voice', Building immunity, Integrity and dis -integration, Interrogating the hegemonic social reality, The unreliability of 'goodwill', Escaping history and human nature, Constructing tradition and transferred authority, The problem of most cost-benefit analyses is that costs can often be displaced onto others, How much inequality would people chose if given genuine holistically informed consent?, In the long run, we are likely to be the victims, rather than the beneficiaries, of injustice, Suspending judgment, Dogma and propaganda, Our implicit anthropocentrism, Impiety and noble lies, What is sacred?, Dis-integration, dis-stress, and dis-ease, Other people's problems, Spinning vices as virtues, Beware of Plato's and More's, Denying others what you deny yourself, Grant power to laws, positions, and institutions, rather than people, Habituation would suggest sharing, Page 323 of 339 rather than private ownership, as the optimal, Laws getting people to act as if they were rational, The sub-conscious as a convenient fiction?, Freedom of speech, The value of reading 'junk', The illusion of the noble savage ends in contempt for humanity for the idealistic revolutionary, Illusions of goodwill and noble savages last until they are tested, Now for some Zen, Changing levels of composition, Towards a life (and death ) affirming philosophy, The necessity of recognizing life as an end in itself, The value of keeping an open mind Vs 'final prophets' and 'the end of history', The meaning of life as a Story engine, The meaning of life and other things that happen, The meaning of death, Reason(s)ing and defensiveness, Meaning, power, and politics, First you must identify your own vested interests, Balancing the many realities, Superstition, Religion, and Ritual, as forerunners of Science, Onus Probandi, Only a decision making process can validly be defined as good or bad, Making and implementing decisions, Paradigm shifts and Gateway events, If you let people deny reality, they will, but they will comply with laws based on reality, Towards more creativity and eliminating the fear of being wrong, If you try to get it right in spite of the system, you merely re-produce it, Latencies and algorithms reducing the whole to the sum of its parts, Apparent order, chaos, and 'global warming', There is no escape from ourselves, or from reality, Energy, like meaning, is reflexive, The reflexivity of Meaning and the evolving complexity of language, Articulating interests, Can a not-theist blaspheme?, Whistle-blowers sent out into the social desert as Scapegoats, The Archetypal hero in Greek Tragedy, Don't Kant: Informed consent and Kant's categorical imperative, The philosopher in the context of the Greek tragedy, (Old Chinese Curse)I curse you to live the life of a social innovator, A matter of life and death, The philosophy of 'being a loner', Anti-Euthanasia laws a continuance of slavery laws, in the interests of the beneficiary classes, Personal problems as friends and welcome distractions, Must give us pause, Can Vs Should, The 'reductio ad absurdum', Overcoming Keynes: in the long run we are all alive , every one, and everything, True values, Ethics technology: my optimal ethics generator, Inequality, Rawls 'veil of ignorance' and my own 'Optimal ethics generator', Engineering fundamentals, The intrinsic cost of reproducing things as they are, Hegemonic sustaining (aspirational) myths of Upward mobility, Whether we are currently experiencing the best of all possible worlds, Promoting and discouraging social change, Luxury and poverty, or justice for all, Endorsement and securing of social resources, Virtual karma, The Caste System and the Feudal system, Class and caste as 'concentration ' camps, The appeal of synthetic identities such as race, ethnicity, religion, and nationality, Mitlaufen, propaganda, collective ignorance, and group dynamics, The missionary's motivations and rewards, Off-the-record 'whistle-blowing', Decision making, Naive Orwell's animals were victims, You can't fight the laws of motivation, Determinants of happiness and sadness, Altruism, Hume's moral sentiment, Social 'gravity' and institutions, Mendacity and the economy of lies, One-step enlightenment, Blank-slates, karma, and meritocracy: blaming the victims, Evolution, functionalist teleology, and intelligent design, The transferred authority of prophets and religious dogma, Change yourself and change the world, Contemplation and mind experiments, Prophets and Visionaries, The costs of pursuing truth, Only those who give justice deserve to receive justice, Responsible reproduction and positive selection of the not-yet-conceived, There is no place for self-deceit or denial in the philosopher's life, Optimalisation, Moral behavior vs moral intention, Personal Page 324 of 339

Empowerment, The power of Narrow Convention to stifle transformation, To know the world as best we can, Personal and Social Transformation, Noetic evolution, Relativity and denial of the possibility of objective evaluations of arguments, Defensiveness, Deception and denial, Articulating interdependencies and interrogation Revelations of transparency, The opportunity costs of (blissful?) ignorance, The negotiation of reality, Philosopher, interrogate thyself, Challenges in the pursuit of intellectual rigor, Naturalization and Normalization in language, The problematic nature of language, The meaning of Meaning, The loop emerges, Meaning is holistic, The level of abstraction and the fallacy of composition, SOPHISTRY The nature of our vulnerability to specious sophistry, Advertising should be allowed to inform, but not to abuse, Accessing cues, Selection effect, Dogs can be trained to detect cancer, but they are not psychic, The ability to miss things, Paradigms, selectivity bias, and denial, Constructing prophecy and expert authority from insider knowledge, Selectivity bias, priming, spin doctoring, and specious sophistry, Some more original spin, Spinning 'Ab-originality' into special rights, There is reason to be skeptical of claims of supernatural phenomena, Cold reading, Statistics, Unemployment statistics deliberately misleading?, Bias, Gross Domestic Product: Bias of selectivity, 'Biting the hand that feeds', Selling our children's future, Probability versus likelihood, The news, Public opinion as sentiment constructed for, and consumed by, the public, Public opinion is no compelling argument for anything except how constructed public opinion is, The poetic teleology of public opinion, Push Polling COMPELLING ARGUMENTS Interrogations, Intellectual rigor: Principles of critical reasoning and compelling arguments, Logic, Internal consistency or integrity, Internal Coherency, Falsifiability and the Scientific Method, Transparency, Clarity, Absence of Dogma, Absence of Teleology, Promoting the evolution of our legal culture and our wider culture, Wisdom, meaning, and specious sophistry, Many conflicts as mere artifacts of how we define things, The distribution of power determines who the distribution of costs and benefits, The steps involved in resolving conflicts, Is it ever appropriate to sacrifice the good of the few for 'the many'?, Traditional conflict resolution, The majority (is usually wrong) rule versus the rule of reason, The rule of 'public opinion' merely the rule of the beneficiary classes, Pay for comment; towards greater transparency in our media, Rejecting non-compelling assumptions, Relativism, The transforming nature of eliminating invalid assumptions, The golden mean and optimalisation, Anthropomorphism and anthropocentrism: appropriating exclusive ownership of properties, Popular language mis-usage regarding, and the true nature of, creation, Capitalism and the justification of the extraction of surplus value, Social Democracy: what should be for sale?, Articulating and Revealing the nature of Order, Order and Stability and fallacies of composition, Order as constantly reproduced epiphenomena, Humean Uniformities, The ideology of cause and effect EUTHANASIA Euthanasia (from Greek: eu = 'good'; thanatos = 'death'), Universal access to euthanasia the first 'Protocol ', So what if you get what you need, if you don't get what you want, The Affirmation reflex, Putting a positive spin on suffering, My Prisoner analogy, Well Jeez, gosh, thanks god, Intellectual support for the 'right to die', Euthanasia threatens the wealth and privileges of the beneficiary classes, Depression, suicide, and euthanasia vis a vis the beneficiary classes, The most reliable indicators of who will commit suicide, Hippocratic or hypocritical?, Page 325 of 339

Maslow's needs hierarchy, Expectations Theory, heaven and hell, and motivation to not suicide, Legislation and national political movements, Euthanasia tourism in Switzerland, Some case studies highlighting inconsistencies in people's reason(s)ing against Euthanasia, Changing c ultural attitudes to suicide, Hanging as the next best alternative to Euthanasia, The terrifying precedent, or return to old practices, of community orders, Some suicide statistics, The nature of Rationality and Intention, The perversity of 'heroic interventions' to extending the lives of chronically ill, My situation, and yours ?, And still we persist in feeling special, What motivation to sacrifice simple pleasures? EUGENICS False optimism re- produces misery, The responsible and optimal management of reproduction: eugenics, Genetic and social engineerings horrific public relations problems, The ethical foundations of social and genetic engineering, Ensuring every one has a life worth living, Denial, Diversity lobbyists, Reproductive response-ability, Motivations for reproduction, Hypocrisy regarding eugenics, Characteristics most of us would chose if we could, Beauty is anything but superficial, We could become gene robots?, Eugenics, Why Eugenics is the prerequisite to optimalizing our life experiences, Eugenics in its wider holistic context, The family as an economic and political unit operating in the interests of capital, Parenting and reproductive responsibility, The problematic notion of reproduction as the meaning of life, The morality or otherwise of reproduction, You want to play with fire? Good, but don't ask me to put them out or pay for the damage, The fallacious argument for maintaining population growth, China's 'one-child policy' MY PROTOCOLS The rights of children and the not-yet-conceived, The Protocols including 'The Contract' between parents, state, and the not-yet-conceived, Whose interests are you are considering in your reproductive plans?, Some further elements of my Protocols, Let us find synergies together, to build a world defined by synergy!, Towards universal solidarity, Jealousy, envy, and Schadenfreude, Jealousy as a product of inequality and perceived injustice, The Eden Protocols, Life as an experience engine, What is it that experiences? What does it mean, 'to feel', Towards lives that justify themselves, Inconsistencies and hypocrisies on the part of parents, One cut can make such a vas(t) deferens, An ethical solution to the population dilemma in the third world 'GOING VEGAN' Articulating the rights of those who cannot, Animal rights Vs animal welfare, Ugly science, Animal vivisection, Veganism, Vegetarianism, and religion, Defining animals as consumer items or as living beings demanding our respect, Veganism and Vegetarianism, Veganism, Vegetarianism, and our environment, Al Gore's Hypocrisy, The absurdity of Geo-engineering, given the simple alternatives of adopting a vegan lifestyle, 6 degrees between us and a new ice-age, The life of a cow and the case against dairy products, Health risks associated with the consumption of animal products, The food chain should give us pause, Health and nutrition benefits of a vegan diet, Common misconceptions about protein, Vegans are un natural?, Numbing and denial, Fates worse than death and the true monsters, Nutrition and wellbeing, Free Radicals: oxidation and anti-oxidants, Naturopathy and nutrition GROUP DYNAMICS Page 326 of 339

Why the majority are usually wrong Individual psychology and group dynamics-more reasons why the majority is usually wrong, Group membership usually produces a lowering of the ethical 'tone' of individuals, Cultures of insecurity and hate, Crucifixions, Witch-hunts, and mobbing, More negative group dynamics, Contemporaneousness:the image in the mirror as artifact, It is a fallacy of composition to define a reflection, or the institution, as things in their own right, The problem is, there are no problems, Human resource managers and other social engineers take note, Changing organizational ethos to get the best of both worlds, Professionals always resist the regulation of their professions EVOLUTION 200,000 years, The evolution of the 'beneficiary classes', We may be the new tool, rather than the end, of evolution, Synergy, The true nature of 'function' as an epiphenomenal synergistic relationship, and virtual ' morality', Nothing can adapt: Species are not things, Evolution has no intentions, moral or otherwise, Function follows form, We project preferences upon evolution, ascribing it intentions, The ingredients of evolution, Evolutionary hit and miss, binge and purge, brainstorming, Gateway events, Cumulative evolution, Binge and Purge as the principle of evolution, Without competition, no negative selection, just increasing populations of brainstormed outcomes, Benefiting from 4 Billion years of experimentation, Gene manipulation of plants and animals, Contrary to popular belief, genetic engineering (GE) of plants leads to an increase in the use of chemicals, Live fast and die young Vs stay hungry, The precautionary tales of the Cane Toad and Killer snail, Modern agricultural practices threaten diversity, Motivating bing and purge, hit and miss creativity, Convergence and synergy as intuitive and passive products of evolutionary processes, DNA's potential for brainstorming, Sex, We are mutants, Conspicuous consumption and status goods, We have binged on religion, now it is time for a purge, Junk food tastes good, because it was good for you, Proof of 'intelligence', or mere convergence of instinct and adaptive functionality?, Cultural negative selection, Extinction: a growing trend, or just a temporary fad?, The emergence of holistic enlightened reason as a dominant determinant, Convergences regarding the nature of awareness, 'Morality' as intention, Virtual reality as an approximation of a truly moral universe, Holistically enlightened self-interest as the approximations of 'moral' intention, Accumulation, Popular language mis-usage, and the notions of Function, purpose and meaning, The concept of beginnings and an end, The big bang theory, Reflexivity and arbitrary definitions of evolution and science DETERMINISM Free as the wind? Free as a bird? Free will?, Action algorithm, Interactive-determinism and the illusion of free will, A positive consequence of recognizing the determinism of our holistic inheritances, Determinism and co-experiencing being you, Personal revelations regarding determinism and the illusion of free will, Taking real risks for nominal rewards highlights the absence of free will, Even our dreams are determined, We are all flotsam and jetsam on a sea of emotion, The enlightening Page 327 of 339 value of thwarted desire, Desire is not necessarily evil, All behavior is determined by desire, Motivation, success, failure, and payoffs, Dio Culpa, More genetic injustice, You can help a flower bloom, but a weed will never become a rose, Holistic justice and the myths of free-will and meritocracy, The marriage of Capitalism with Social Democracy, The legal justice system in the context of determinism, Deterrents of limited value, Biological determinism in psychopathology, Deterrents as ineffectual, and punishment as un just, Involuntary euthanasia more humane than life-time incarceration?, Determinism in the context of justice, Determinism as our ego's arch enemy, Accountability and Response-ability, The nature of interactive determinism is revealed in analyses of meaning and experience, Genetic and cultural definitions, What free will would be, The heaven of Sulphuric vents, Interactive- determinism, Our response to the determinism of other natural laws, Fertility, natural sex- selection, and post-partum depression, Determinism and response-ability, People believe in astrology and free will?, Puppet-Markus and Eckhart Tolle POWER Politics as the negotiation of meaning: power as the power to define, Definitions as the basis of all interactions, Escaping the loop: hegemonic power and challenging it DRUGS The phenomena of smoking, Tobacco product placements targeting teenage girls, A history domestic drug use, The U.S and U.K leading the war against drugs? The opium wars, De-criminalizing drug abuse: Moving the focus to harm minimization, Hegemonic definitions in relation to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, You killed your best friend, how do you feel?, Pandering to the 'war on drugs' LOVE and SEX Love and Sexuality, Authenticity, whole-i-ness, self-acceptance, and security, Constructed fundamental insecurity, and Paul's Cult of Christianity, Getting in touch with our true selves, Returning the innocence to sexuality, The fall, Authentic lust is 'good', Optimalizing sexuality: empowerment, education, contraception, and harm minimization, Consensual sex and statutory rape, All love is conditional, Paying attention, We love others mostly as means to our own ends, The implicit 'noble' lies, The danger of fiction being taken for reality, Opportunism and the 'fairer' sex, The original Dope, Relationship life-cycles and changing balances of power and willingness to pay, Fascination and disbelief, Monogamy and diversification, Sealed bid 'romantic' auctions, Bringing transparency to marriage vows, Marriage contracts void as entered into under coercion, Any agreement between humans is only as strong as the intention to honor it, Feminists can complain that all women are prostitutes, but when a man makes the same observation?, Disingenuous women: methinks she doth dissemble, Females force men to lie, then imagine they are morally superior, Optimalize rather than compromise, Constructing mystical Love, Would people enter into relationships with their eyes wide open?, Fathers are parents too, In reality we don't love a person, we love what they can do for us, including how they can make us feel, Love, sex, and power, Hegemonic definitions of love as superior to lust, A bit of realism wouldn't hurt, Why can't he keep it in his pants until he gets home?, Sexuality and beauty as real sources of value Page 328 of 339 for positive life experience, Everything can, nothing must, Evolutionary psychology/biology/sociology: Physical attraction and the evolution of the beneficiary classes, The often situational nature of attraction, The Eden of the Benobal, and the all too human Chimpanzee, Sexual mores as culture specific: alternative sexual cultures, The institutions of romantic love and the family, Monogamy as optimal for everyone?, Unrequited love as the most romantic of all, Increasing the abundance of intimacy and affection, 'Moral' love hierarchy, Non-moral love as transactional-instrumental relationships, Innocent sensuality, Friendship, The sexual predator and child-free woman, Pornography, Transparency in emotional-sensual transactions, Freedom from Hegemonic definitions of sexuality, Defining marginal outcomes as essential defining properties, The infatuation of romantic love, Homosexuality as the ideal, Sexual dissidence, Stop using sex as a weapon, Beware of medical 'facts', The potential influence of the media in terms of rape, For those who would justify rape, What the complaint 'he was only using me for sex' really reveals, Islamic sex workers, Most criticism is merely jealousy, Only poor men complain that women are whores, and only ugly women complain that men are 'superficial', The double edged sword of glorifying women, The costs of sexual repression VIOLENCE Violence is any act which harms another, or is intended to, A principled approach to individual responsibility, Definitional bias in Language, The violence of language, The violence of defining inequality as a necessity, Hegemonic violence and its 'expressions', Judging acts Vs actors, and articulating hegemonic violence, We can no longer afford poverty, The violence of unemployment, Female genital mutilation, Charities promoting sexism, and violence, Retrospective revisionism, Adding insult to injury, Recognizing and eliminating all forms of violence, What goes in must come out: all violence that is experienced must be expressed in some form, Psychosomatic illness: what goes in must come out, Self-harm as expression, and Electroshock therapy, Post-traumatic stress disorder and sensitivity, Dissidence, Defining dissidence as mental illness, Chinese 're-education' camps and dissidence, Social reality and schizophrenia: conflicting realities, power, and victimization, Mobbing, Real estate cons, and mobbing of whistle-blowers: the Jenman case, Why secret police, McCarthyism, Witch-hunts, and all other forms of mobbing exist, Mobbing and cutting down the 'tall poppies', Insecurity, tall poppies, and a loss of sympathy, a loss of hope for, the masses, Mobbing and tobacco in the Australian Army Reserve, How to deal with being a victim of injustice, A note to my victimizers, Dealing with smug complacency, Anger is an energy, Revenge just as valid a desire as any other, and often at least as instrumental as it is affective, Transparency Vs denial and 'spin ', 'Those who walk away from Omelas ' (Ursula Leguin ), Abortion: State subsidized, doctor assisted murder?, A woman's right to decide?, Abortion, cooking lobster, and the nature of pain and suffering, Inconsistent definitions of 'person' at the start and the end of our lives, Only an individual can suffer, The dangerous 'logic' of sacrificing the interests of the individual for some 'greater good', Slavery, Remember the Alamo (forget it was about fighting for slavery), The mass enslavement, rape, and genocide, perpetrated by the Jews as part of the Canaanite holocaust, 'Books can't change the world. But, when the world begins to change, it looks for such books', Moses and Page 329 of 339

Hitler as twins, Genocide since the Old Testament, Poker machines, unearned money, and taking advantage of the most vulnerable, Television gambling, The great men of history as ruthless psychopaths, Che Guevara is fine if you are his 'mate', The victim is no better than the perpetrator, Kissinger, Nixon, fascism, and the Nobel Peace Prize, Third strike rule means violent offenders being given early release CONSCIOUSNESS Intelligences-Awarenesses, I am?, The human ego and its fear of death, Towards a definition for Life and Awareness, Defining life, I am, as I am aware, but I am not necessarily what I believe I am, Quantum Physics: and reality as a construction of the brain, A holographic brain and a holistic universe, Secondary realities, The Hegemony of conventional language formulations in the popular language culture SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN POWER Creative problem solving and critical thinking, Some of the typical errors in most people's thinking processes, and how to avoid them, Thanks for the memories. Tips to improving your memory A guide to Meditation techniques to boost your creativity, And when you want to forget? Psychogenic fugue EDWARD DE BONO 'TEACHING THINKING' Brainstorming, Lateral thinking, The best students succeed despite the system. The skills the system fail to teach, Side-stepping emotional defensiveness, and the denial of the very idea that we need to learn how to think, The cleverer a person is, the harder it can be to teach them thinking skills, Perceptions influence feelings which determine our judgments and actions, The benefits of teaching thinking as a skill, First slow, then faster. Maybe we cannot improve our car's performance, but we can improve our driving skills, Edward De Bono's 'Six thinking hats', Finding the solution in the problem, De Bono's Bottle and knife activities EDUCATION Educational Evolution, The 'blank slate' was an anti-thesis, now it is time for a synthesis, The 'blank slate' as a marketing device for the education industry, A quick note on physical instruction principles, Learning to define challenges as opportunities ( for success ) or threats (merely opportunities for failure), Teaching justice, Preventing and dealing with child sexual abuse, Child behavior management LOVE AND SURVIVAL Page 330 of 339

Acceptance, approval, and security, Insecurity and the need for status, The ego and insecurity, Self-criticism, The protestant work ethic and capitalism, Depression and suicide, Power, Nietzsche, and joy Suffering as the core of the Christian life, Weakness, insecurity, and solidarity, Pain and empathy Security, intimacy, authenticity and narcissism, Pseudo -intimacy without real vulnerability: television, internet, and casual relationships, Giving people constructive and positive feedback TERRORISM AND WAR The fear industry, Manufacturing threats and pandering to insecurity, Selling war, You have a right to protest, but not a right to exercise that right, Guy Fawkes and 911, More evidence that the U.S knew about the plans for 911, Bush managed to 'fail' to capture Bin Laden on many occasions, Terrorism is a complex but transparent phenomena, Terrorism, The middle East: Israel and Palestine, The lesson of Magpies The lesson of Freud's totem clan, Terrorism raises the whole issue of who has the power to define, U.S and Israeli war crimes in 1967, Such betrayal didn't set any precedents, Definitions and new protocols regarding War, War is merely state sanctioned, and religious dogma legitimated, theft, rape, and murder, War merely a 'hostile-takeover', The U.S's History of undermining democratically elected governments while masquerading as the torch-bearer of democracy, The U.S as perpetrator of terrorism, U.S Industrial espionage and spying, U.S war crimes during WWII, More U.S propaganda, A few of the costs of war, U.S loans to the U.K made it 'too big to fail' in WWII?, The internationalization of debt represents a loss of sovereignty, but a dis-incentive for war, New wars, new weapons, The real meaning of Jihad, 'I have found the enemy, and it is us', Another case against the death penalty ECONOMICS AND FINANCE Money, mystification, real value, and principles, Gold, gold mining, and real value, Are boom and bust cycles ultimately positive or negative?, Are Forex traders and other 'speculators' parasites, or do they actually produce real value?, Finance today so de-coupled from any connection to genuine value production, Mystification by the investor housing lobby, The true costs of oil, The new imperialism and its unobtrusive means, Cultural cringe, U.S cultural imperialism, and raw power, More U.S and British Imperialism, Imperialism and trade concessions: The British East India Company and the Bush Administration, Big business loves Fascism, Socializing losses and privatizing profits: if it was not true, it would be funny, The wealthy gain the bulk of welfare and the workers pay, Labor is the only source of value, Encouraging investment and innovation through dividends and share values, The irony of unemployment in the face of unmet needs and wants, Power to define: passing responsibility Page 331 of 339 for unemployment onto the victims, Media control of discourses in the interests of hegemonic capital The Government has their cake and eat it too, The disingenuous specious sophistry of Howard's Industrial Relations Policies, The opportunity costs of competitive markets, Exporting environmental problems Truth in pricing, The casualization of labor as deliberate exploitation, Pay and conditions depend more on the systems of relations, than on 'free-market' economic principles, The costs of wage justice, The excesses of professional sport and entertainment, Recessions represent a transfer of wealth from the poorest to the most wealthy, Market manipulation, Limiting speculation - focusing on investment, innovation, and real value, Sub-prime loans: privatizing profits and socializing losses, If true competition existed under capitalism, The U.S as the world's money 'laundry', Coincidental convergence and post retrospective revisionism, Insider information, The nightly television stock market update: constructing expert knowledge, Towards a transparent, just, and efficient taxation system, Compulsory superannuation: a tax on the poor, Over-servicing of some patients to spread average costs and make medical care more affordable, Kibbutzim-a better way?, Wagner, the Nibelungen, the Rings, and opportunism THE OTHER FORMS OF MASTURBATION Put your money where your 'faith' supposedly is, Sorry Oprah, but you make me sick, Moral masturbation Sentimental masturbation, Faith, or emotional masturbation? ON BEING A PHILOSOPHER Yes it is true, I am negative, I am against so many things, like violence, slavery, waste, suffering..., The problem is not finding the truth, it is knowing when you have it, The prices of being a philosopher Sartre's absurdity and the responsibility attached to freedom of expression, Borderline Narcissist?, Why rich people give gurus luxury cars, Who would 'bite the hand that feeds them'?, Trust as a deliberate action, rather than a feeling, Cezanne, I have probably been too generous regarding people's motivations Humans as opportunistic political animals, The unbearable frustration of being, Buddhism's 'end of days' What emotion is motivating your 'argument', Would you pay to visit me in a zoo? Would a philosopher make a good exhibit?, The Authentic artist, We are motivated by emotions, not reason, therefore make your message personal and appeal to the emotions, These ideas must be presented in popular media forms, Notes on a possible German translation of this book Page 332 of 339

JUST SHUT-UP AND DRIVE? Princess Di and the laws of physics and denial, Our natural 'clocks', Private cars: boon or doom?, Deadly denial, Defensive driving anyone?, Anticipation gives the impression of superior reflexes, Circle clap, Rushing to stop, breaking with petrol, and fighting gravity, 2000 r.p.m, when not rolling, Changing lanes Eliminating 'blind spots', Self-interest in perception of danger OPTIMAL HOUSING DESIGN Too few houses are built how they ought to be built. How ought they be built?, Prefabricated housing WATER AND CLIMATE Water, water, everywhere, but not allowed to drink, Water and Climate, Climate change and epidemiology Salt-water desalination, Water and hydro-electricity, Overfishing, Water water everywhere? Soon there really may not be a drop to drink, Wetlands: the earths natural water filters, Deforestation, Thank the rain-forest for Ibuprofen, and 50% of our most popular pharmaceuticals, Global warming raising sea temperatures and levels, Changing wind, weather, and rain patterns, and methane gas release, Water wars, The power of coal and oil RANDOM No, I didn't go insane in the end and start spouting jibberish, though that would probably have helped generate interest in my works. No. Sorry. These are just bits that don't really fit in the other sections.

RELIGION Ever taken a good look at all the Gods of all the religions of the whole world, throughout all time? From Egypt, to South America, to Africa and Europe? Noticed how similar they all are? Humble births, usually to virgins. Oracles and prophecies predicting they would either be great worldly leaders of great spiritual leaders. Dieing young and being resurrected in Spring, around the time of the Vernal Equinox? Oh, and then their followers 'eating' them, in a ritual of sympathetic and homeopathic magic a.k.a ' holy communion' a.k.a 'transubstantiation'! What's all that about then? Talk about recycling! Nothing new under the Sun for religion! Oh, the names and locations change, but the characters and plots remain the same. Ever noticed how the birthdays and death-days of all the prophets and Gods, and all the 'religious' holidays celebrating the supposed 'historical' events of 'chosen peoples', just happen to fall around Easter, and Christmas? Why? What do the terms 'Vernal Equinox' and 'Winter Solstice' say to you? Page 333 of 339

What is the connection between Plato's Socrates and Paul's Jesus? Archetypal heroes of Greek tragedies? Who was the wise old man that rode out of history on the back of a blue water-buffalo? What did he have to do with Plato, The Catholic Church and the 'Dark Ages', 'The Killing Fields' and Pol Pot, and Chairman Mao's 'purges' of intellectuals? Why is he the age-old enemy of 'freedom'? What is 'transferred authority'? What are 'noble lies’? What do all 'revealed' religions share in common? Is it the ambition to enslave you? What about Buddha, the Tibetan 'Book of the dead', Vedanta, Hinduism, Hermeticism, Daoism, Kabballah, or Scientology? Can these really 'free' you? Why did Epicurus, Hobbes, and Hume want to save us from religion? Why is Freud the true Christ? What is the real 'original sin' that Priests have eternally turned to their own profit? How original were the Jews really? What does psycho-analysis have to say about religion? A mass neuroses? What does the Koran really say? Is it anything more than an Arabic 'Old Testament'? What are the 'Satanic verses', and why have people been murdered for merely writing about them? Having a daughter the most loathsome, wicked, shameful thing? Mohamed as female emancipator? Angels telling people to cut off the hands of thieves? If you are a prophet, and your angel's 'revelation' proves inconvenient, can you count on the Angel's revision in your favor? Kill your enemies in their sleep? Kill everyone who won't put on the yoke of Islamism? What are 'Papal Bulls', 'Fatwahs', and 'Fair Game Policies’? Why does the Catholic Church, Islam, and Scientology want to kill anyone who tries to inform the public about their 'Religion'? Could it be they have something to hide? What is the real driving force behind 'revealed' religion? Who benefits and who pays? Will people really believe anything you tell them, if you claim it was 'revealed' to you by angels? Ask a Christian, a Muslim, or a Mormon! What does modern neuro-science have to say about such 'revelations'? What is the connection between slavery, and laws against euthanasia, homosexuality, same sex marriage, and even anal sex between consenting heterosexual couples? And the taboos on masturbation and suicide? Once you read this, so many things will suddenly become clear to you, and fall into place. You will wonder that you'd never noticed before. But you have been too busy. And you have been living in Plato's 'Republic' without even realising it. It was never openly declared. But was Plato a whistle-blowing subversive or the original big brother? What does 'The Philosopher Prophet of The Eden Protocols' have to offer that all the past prophets don't? Page 334 of 339

Why is it fair to say that Hitler and Moses-Joshua were twins? At the very least I hope Fraser, Freud, Hobbes, Hume, and many others, have all 'woken us from our dogmatic slumbers', so that we can see religion for what it is. After this we are unlikely to hypocritically and arbitrarily discriminate for or against any particular religion. The real question is whether we still need such 'noble lies'. Perhaps we are ready to appeal to scientific arguments and reason, rather than to superstitions which employ a limited range of archetypes. Just to refresh our memory, these archetypes are a golden age, a fall, enlightened prophets and poets who describe the golden age, and how we can return to it, and in the case of the Indo-European-Western Asian versions, the archetypes of a virgin birth of a dying and then resurrected god-man, or scapegoat who carries off our 'sins', and ensures our 'salvation'. In the Chinese versions there is a Daoist or Confucianist golden age, and later prophets to recall it, and suggest a way back. In the Hindu-Buddhist versions, there are wise teachers who remind us that the source of life and dis-satisfaction is desire, and the only way to escape this 'vale of tears' is to extinguish desire, to return to our godhead. Remember that all religious teachings are 'Myth of er' type dogmas of the old 'outer-mystery' school, offered dis-ingenuously as arguments, but rather offered as motivators, carrots and sticks, for us to improve our ethics. Once you comprehend the nature of religion, and TROONATNOOR, you will understand this. And then you will be free from religion, and freed to optimalise your experience of life. You will no longer be slave to anything but your own desires. And then, if you wish, you may even free yourself from those!

'The Golden Bough'. James George Fraser Universal archetypes, virgin birth, death and resurrection of a god-man, transubstantiation', 'holy communion, Sacred prostitution, Jesus' virgin birth, death, and resurrection at the vernal equinox as example of a universal archetype, The theologies of the Egyptian Osiris, the Semitic Tammuz, the Greek Adonis, and the Phrygian Attis, sympathetic and homeopathic magic, rites of the death and resurrection of Attis in Spring, at the Vernal Equinox, born again to eternal life, 'transubstantiation', 'holy communion', Sacred whores, Temple prostitutes, and royal incest, Animism, The universality of human sacrifice and its later replacement with circumcision as a proxy token sacrifice, The Scapegoat as a universal archetype: with Jesus as the most recent exemplar, The scapegoat as a collective exorcism, The Prophets as 'mad', Ancient Greek Philosophy vis a vis religion. Plato and Buddha. Socrates and Jesus as heroes in a Greek Tragedy. The Catholic Church as Plato's 'Republic’, The traditions surrounding Buddha, Plato and Socrates, Noble lies (unobtrusive controls) plus coercion, equals control, The tale (myth) of Er as Plato reproduces it in 'Republic', The Neo-Platonists, Legitimating inequality, Aristotle's vice, Becoming, The first a-theists, The stoics' acquiescence, No proof, only Faith, In the name of god, Pan-theism, Ancient Germanic theology. Page 335 of 339

Hobbes 'Leviathan' Freud 'On the origins of religion' and 'Civilisation and its discontents' Archetypal humble virgin births and great destinies, Incestuous longings, renunciations of sex, killing and eating the god-man, Oedipal murders as the basis of all neuroses including religion, The totem meal (last supper) and sympathetic and homeopathic magic of transubstantiation, Akhenaton and the roots of mono-theism: living in Ma'at, The biblical account of Moses and the Exodus as fiction, Circumcision not a Jewish innovation, The Levites exploit Moses as the source of transferred Religion exploiting Oedipal guilt and spinning it as 'original sin' authority for their own religion, Curing the neuroses we call 'religion', The Jews historical murder of Moses, together with the universal Oedipal guilt, combining to produce a typically. Why religion is hell-bent on destroying Psycho-Analysis and Scientology Jewish sense of guilt, Paul's return to the Aten'ic principles of 'living in Ma'at', Paul's 'revelations' on the road to Damascus, Paul's 'narrative' of salvation, The Gospel writers adapt pre- existing archetypes to embellish Paul's narrative, and complete his reintroduction of the Aten'ic ideals in the life and person of Jesus, Moses' 'chosen people', 'historical destiny', and Canaanite holocaust in the context of Nazism and Bolshevism, The exodus, Religion as a form of infantilism, delusional wish fulfillment, and mass neurosis, The Oedipal complex, Shared guilt for the murder of the tyrannical clan 'father', Paul giving this guilt a new context, Freud on the bases of civilization, 'Noble' lies as the alchemists main tool, Religion as a form of delusional neurosis with compulsion, Oedipal guilt exploited by religion as the true 'original sin', The true salvation making redemption redundant, Original Spin, God the (tyrannical) father, Investing our tyrants with the qualities we demand in our tyrant, Catharsis and living vicariously, Projecting our own hostility onto the 'evil' dead, Prohibitions against graven images and idols in the context. Investing gods with the powers of magic we once thought we possessed, to satisfy our emotional desire for security of magic, Putting our faith in science, after the gods failed us, From a belief in the power of thoughts to an acceptance of determinism, The Dao. Lao Tzu and 'The Dao Te Ching' The Lun Yi 'Analects of Confucius' portray the humble origins of Confucius. This fits the archetype of the 'great man', the 'teacher' or 'Savior' born to humble circumstances., In 1638 thirty thousand 'Christian' Japanese were massacred near Nagasaki by their Buddhist contemporaries., Skepticism is the way of the Dao, In all things moderation, Prevention is better than a cure, In favor of a strong middle class and welfare state?, The truly powerful are never seen to be wielding power, 'laissez faire', Passages in Dao Te Ching reminiscent of the Bible and Jesus, Dao-ism, A note on ancient Chinese fertility rites. Page 336 of 339

The Koran The 'Koran' ('criterion') is revered by Muslims as the word of god as revealed to Mohamed through the Angel Gabriel, more than 1300 years ago. One of Mohamed's wives supposedly kept his diary of 'revelations' in a chest. These twenty years of 'divine revelations' or 'Suras' were then edited into the current 'authorized' version under the Caliph Uthman, 20 years after the prophet's death. Some gems of wisdom, Mohamed's response to his critics, His achievements, Secular states succeeded where religion failed, Why bad things happen to 'good' people, and good things happen to 'bad' people, Original spin: Mohamed still ends up 'blaming the victim', even after accepting the absence of free will, The 'returns' on your investment of faith and Zakah, And for those who, in compliance with god's will, disbelieve?, God created by us, in our own image as despotic two year old tyrants, The moral dilemma of punishment in a deterministic universe, Contradictions and 'satanic' verses, Mohamed as female emancipator? The war of the sexes, The birth of a daughter is unquestionably an evil, humiliating, ill event, The source of laws regarding women wearing veils, Slavery and prostitution, The angel says amputate the hands of thieves, The Angel Gabriel's revelations on divorce and other legal proceedings, Animal rights?, Dietary restrictions, Suicide, The wasteful are brothers of the devils'...Forgiveness, Moderation, Religious intolerance, mistrust, exclusion, and Jihad, Moses and Yahweh, The 'Satanic Verses' and a recent 'Fatwah', The Arabic 'Golden Age', TROONATNOOR on Religion Vested interests in promoting religious affiliation, A brief (TROONATNOOR) history of religion, 'Noble' Lies, The myth of Er, Karma, Eve, Original Sin, and Pandora, Creations, Floods, Paradises, Heavens, Hells, and Purgatories, Hierarchies, castes, classes, and slavery, The 'Christian' church's 'Reign of Terror', How religion's 'protection racket' works in practice, Indulgences, Moral hazard, and Karma, Genital mutilation and child- abuse in the Catholic Church and Hare Krishnas, Blaming and victimizing the victims, Is there any religious dogma that does not sub-ordinate women?. Religious dogma, The subjective experience of the prophets, Neuro-Theology: subjective religious experiences appear to have a biological- electromagnetic source, The prophet motive, Employing dogma as a pedagogic device, God, and dogma, are redundant, Potentially positive motivations for promoting Karma, reincarnation, reward and punishment in an afterlife, and suicide sanctions, 'Reincarnation' of the Dalai Lama as the solution to the problem of Feudal succession in Tibet, Buddhism, Buddhism and Jainism, Puppet- Markus and Eckhart Tolle. Similarities and differences between the Dharmic Buddhist and Jain philosophies, and Hindu philosophy, When doubt has opened the door to the truth, the teaching can be put aside. Similarities and differences between the Dharmic Page 337 of 339

Buddhist and Jain philosophies, and Hindu philosophy, Before Xenu, Hinduism and Buddha explain how we got into our current predicament, Meditation, Buddhism's impact on Western religion, The father, son, and the holy ghost. What is so mysterious about the trinity anyway?, The real meaning of Christmas and Easter, Santa Claus, witches, and magic-mushrooms, The patriarchal church's demonization of the feminine divinity, 'Mrs God', Catholic corruption, Luther, and Hitler, Replacing religious ceremonies with secular ones, Manila and Africa, further victims of the Pope, The first Greek pharaoh and the second Egyptian monotheism, Zoroastrianism, The Bhavagad' Gita, Hare Krishna, Hinduism, Krishna consciousness, Yoga, and vegetarianism, All the world religions were made by all too human humans, and none are worthy of being reproduced, The Torah, the Bible, and Judeao-Christianity, How could the enemies of god's chosen people manage to defeat and enslave them?, The ironic forerunner to Nazi Racial purity laws, The biblical call for slaves to obey their masters, Judaism is inclusive and universal after all? Or is it? Interrogating the New Testaments, Christianity as a mere recycling of earlier 'god-men' myths, earlier 'pagan' religions, and Buddhism, Spinning the 'Testimonium Flavium', Moses and Joshua, and Hitler and his 'criminal Nazi Dictatorship', The mass enslavement, rape, and genocide, perpetrated by the Jews as part of the Canaanite holocaust. Mor(m)ons The Jehovah's witnesses Exclusivity of the sacred 'Secret' knowledge, and power, In the competitive market, patents and copyrights ensure exclusivity and power for their owners, Octaves, Dio Culpa (vs Mea culpa).

Kabballah, Hermeticism, and Aleister Crowley Kabbalah, Torah, and String theory The Tibetan 'Book of the dead' Scientology: Religion for an optimistic industrial age

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Please read me then feed me [email protected] Please respect how much work went into these books by making a PayPal contribution to the author's PayPal account [email protected] after you have already read the book, and can decide on its worth to you. Let the 'Golden Rule' be your guide. Of course if you cannot afford to pay anything, then I take joy in being able to offer you something at no cost to you. This might instill the goodwill in YOU to consider becoming vegan. If you normally pay for books, please pay what you think the book was worth to you, relative to what a similar book might have cost you. Of course I would love to work with anyone interested in making films of my novels, or documentaries of my investigative journalistic books, or 'how to' videos of my 'guides'. I would love to find people to volunteer to translate any of my books into another language. If I make any money as a result of YOUR efforts, I will re-direct a fair share your way. The same goes for anyone who manages to find me a publisher, book deal, film deal, or any other sort of 'monetary' rewards. I have paid a HUGE price to be able to present these books to you. I could never hope to recoup those losses. So please reciprocate in some way. If people do not reciprocate the entire social world breaks down into what we basically have today. A world where might is right and power pays itself. You can reciprocate by doing something good for another sentient being. Whether human or other animal. And please consider what you would change about this world if you were certain that you would be randomly, over and over again, new-born into this world as ANY sentient being, human or other animal, in it. These books DO require a little work. So please overlook any imperfections, like you would in your own children. For these books are literally my children. If anyone is every willing to publish any of these titles more professionally, I would of course work on them to make them as perfect as possible. That said, I have (literally) put a HELL of a lot of sweat, sacrifice, effort, migraine-cluster headache-sinus infection-nausea-back-shoulder pain, sleepless nights, frustration, irritation, mental anguish, (it was literally a traumatic experience), and of course masses of goodwill and love, into these books. I have lived decades in economic, social, and romantic-sexual poverty, in order to be free to devote my time and effort to them. I wrote them to Page 339 of 339 serve a purpose, and I feel they have come as close as possible to achieving that purpose as I could have hoped for them. Remember that the final 'edit' is always done by you, the reader. I hope you enter into this final edit with goodwill and love.

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