I am a rock and blues player, transposition for me is usually just a case of changing the position up or down the finger board that I play my chords, and this is without a doubt the simplest form of transposition there is. Indeed, if you are playing any form of music that is predominantly played using barre chords or power chords, then transposition is this simple, but what about other musical styles that use open chords and suchlike? How do we begin to transpose these pieces?

If you are completely down with music theory, can name every note in every scale forwards and backwards, and no every note position on your fret board then you can probably already transpose things pretty simply. For those of us who lack this entire knowledge, the best thing to do is get hold of a chord chart. Most guitar tuition books will contain one, and many are available on-line. If you need to transpose a piece of music, simply look up the original chord on the row that pertains to the key the song is originally in, then look up the correct chord to play in the column that pertains to the key you wish to transpose the song into.

OK so now we have covered the basics of transposition, by simply using a chord chart, but what are the other problems associated with transposing song or piece of music? The major problem faced by the guitar player when attempting to play a transposed piece, is the fact that it is highly likely that their ear will have already become trained or accustomed to hearing the song in its original key, making it difficult to play. This problem is compounded if it happens to be a track that you have played many times before in the original key, you may find that your hands tend to want to move to the more familiar, original chord fingerings. I used to have this problem all the time, so I found a way to combat it, which I am going to tell you about. I discovered that a lot of compute sound cards have the ability to transpose the sound that they are generating on the fly, so now I sample the entire track and have my computer transpose it in real time, as I jam along with it. The helps to re-train my ear and make me more comfortable playing the piece in its new key.

Let’s jump into a little basic music theory of what a chord actually is. Traditionalists tell us that a chord must be made up of a triad, which will include the root note, its 3rd and its 5th, how the 3rd and 5th are fingered gives as the chord type, major, minor, 7th or whatever. Tradition also tells us that the root note should also be the bass note of the chord, pretty straightforward stuff here. The problem is, if we play every chord with its root note as the bass note, things get pretty boring very quickly. So instead, we can substitute the bass not for another note. So in the D/F# example, we would add in the F# note on one of the bass strings.

Why do we use slash chords though? What is the major reason for using them? Well put simply, they allow us to introduce a bass run that is sitting behind the actual chord progression, adding a further layer and greater complexity to the music. If you want a fantastic example of this kind of rhythm, then pick up just about any recording by a band named TOOL, they have perfected this kind of chord progression driven bass run, their music often exhibits and almost hypnotic sound, all due to the effective use of slash chords.

Another fine use of slash chords is to create chord inversions; an inversion will use the chord tone as the bass note but will add in the extra note to introduce some continuity between chords changes. Whilst this technique does not give the driving rhythm effect most common to slash chords, it does make for very melodic and harmonious chord progressions, as chords flow into each other, with at least one note from the previous chord present in the new chord shape.

The good news is that we do not need to learn a full range of slash chords in the same way we do other chords, this is because there are a limited number of slash chords that seem to be effective, although any chord can be extrapolated into a slash chord should you wish. The main slash chords you will encounter are:

C/B C/E C/G D/F# D/C# D/A E/G# G/B G/F# G/D

Spend some time learning how to play this limited number of slash cords proficiently and you will be well armed to approach almost every popular chord progression with the ability to play it properly.

Interestingly enough, in musical terms, the power chord is not actually a chord, as the chord shape only consist of a dyad (pair of notes) instead of a triad (three notes). A power chord is made up of the root note and its 5th. Quite often these two notes will be fingered several times in one chord shape, although the simplest form of power chord can be played on two strings.

In recent years the term power chord has been adopted by other types of musician to indicate any chord which contains only two notes, repeated within the chord shape, although primarily the name power chord pertains to simple, distorted chords played by rock musicians.

So why are power chords so attractive? Why do people (myself included) love to crank up their amplifier and bash out a thundering rhythm using nothing but power chords? I think the answer to this has to be that they are simple to play, and leave the guitar player free to express rhythmic ideas through additional techniques such as left hand dampening, right hand dampening and effects units.

In modern guitar tablature, you will often see a chord named as a 5 chord, whenever you see something like G5 in a piece of tab, don’t be scared, this is just the way a power chord has come to be interpreted as a notation formula, it represents the fact that the chord is constructed from the root G and it’s 5th.

Predominantly power chords are played on the bass strings, the E, A and D strings. More often than not the chord will be made using a partial barre, as this allows the musician to play several power chords in the same fret board position without actually moving the barre at all. Certain simple chord progression, especially those found in the more simple forms of rock music such as punk, will require very little physical movement of the left hand up and down the fret board, allowing the rhythm guitar player to thrash out extremely fast and driving rhythms with the minimum of effort.

There are whole generations of musicians who did nothing more than teach themselves how to play power chords in their own bedrooms, before moving on to learn more complex chords and more intricate musical styles. Learning to play power chords is fun, simple and offers an immense amount of gratification for a minimum of effort. If you are the kind of new guitar player who wants to be able to play something recognisable within days of picking up a guitar for the first time, then spend a few hours learning to play power chords and jamming along with your favourite rock songs.

Do you remember the first time you tried to tune a guitar? If you are anything like me you made a complete mess of it, much to the amusement of your tutor. These days I just pick up a guitar and tune it, I don’t need any reference tone, I don’t need to compare strings or use a tuning technique, I just tune each open string entirely by ear, and you can too, you just need to train your ear.

I am going to try and teach you two techniques that I used to use to train my own ear, neither of these will give you perfect pitch over night, but both will help to train your ear slowly.

The first technique will teach you to hold the pitch of a note without losing it; this is such a simple method of ear training. First pick up your guitar, choose a note and play it. Put your guitar down and go about your usual daily life. Try to keep the note in your mind for a long as possible, every now and then try to hum it, do this for a short period at first, maybe a minute or so, and gradually build up the duration. Finally go back to your guitar, hum the note and then play it on your instrument, the two should be identical. Eventually you will be able to hum a note out of thin air and then play the same not on the guitar perfectly.

The second technique is all about note recognition; this is best done with a friend. Basically, your friend plays a note for you and you try to name it. This is a very cool way to train your ear, as the actual process of attributing a spoken name to a played tone helps to not only train your ear, but enable you to actually quantify the notes you are hearing by name. Many people are proficient at listening to a piece of music and then picking up a guitar and playing it, few are able to name the notes and chords that are going to be played in advance.

Training your ear and developing perfect pitch can be a time consuming and long winded endeavour, some people pick it up more naturally than others, don’t be put off if you feel you are not making progress, stick with it an eventually you will also be able to tune your guitar with no external aid or device.

If you are struggling to get your left hand working faster, allowing you to play faster, more complex rhythms, then read on, I am going to give you a few tips.

When I first started playing guitar I had the craziest teacher, and one of the strangest things he ever told me to do was to practice playing rhythm guitar whilst wearing a pair of tight fitting leather gloves. Of course, I now realise he had me do this to build finger strength, it is extremely difficult to play a clean chord when you are wearing gloves, the strength required to actually fret the notes of the chord is very high. Although I would not tell a student to try playing wearing gloves, it did work, my finger strength increased dramatically over a very short period of time.

The real problem with building finger strength is that if you do not approach it as a training regime, you are likely to cause actual damage to your hands. You should never over stress muscles and tendons repeatedly over an extended period, ask any player who has suffered from tendinitis just how much it hurts.

The best way to build finger strength is not by playing the guitar, but by using a specialist exercise device, kind of like a set of weights for your fingers. The device fits in your hand and has a set of four finger rests; each is individually sprung and can be depressed individually. These are available in most good music shops and are idea to keep in your pocket to be used at any time. I used to spend two hours a day using one of these gadgets, on the train to and from work.

Once you have a regime in place to begin building finger strength you need to start looking at the way you actually play rhythm, some people have a very natural almost flowing style; others tend to fight the fret board, making more work for themselves. Consider the fact that you only need to lift your fingers from the fret board by a couple of millimetres to make a chord change, don’t waste time lifting your fingers too high or removing them from the neck entirely, simply stop fretting the current chord by lifting your finger tips enough to stop the note sounding and then move to the new chord shape, practice this technique alongside your strength building exercises and you will find your chord changes become faster, smoother and cleaner in a very short period of time.

I am going to try and explain right now, a very simple technique for making sure your barre chords are crisp and well formed after a chord change, I guarantee you that once you master this technique you will b playing perfect barre chords every time. OK here we go.

The real secret to fingering a crisp barre chord is to use the actual barre as a pivot or lever to allow you to fret the non-barre section of the chord with great power and accuracy. With non-barre chords, it generally does not matter in which order you place your fingers upon the fret board upon a chord change, with a barre chord things are different, always fret the barre first. When you place the finger forming the barre onto the fret board, place it slightly behind the fret you wish to barre and make sure that you have it placed at an angle of about 45 degrees, with the rest of your fingers hovering a centimetre or so above the fret board. Once the barre is in place, roll your hand, using the barre as the pivot, if you do this correctly you will snap your remaining fingers down into position with speed and force, and as the barre pivots it will grip more tightly to the fret board, ensuring that the barre is strong, meaning no strings are dampened when they should not be.

This actually sounds far more complicated than it actually is, I could demonstrate this technique to you in ten seconds, and unfortunately trying to explain it in words is significantly more difficult than actually playing.

Now let us consider chord changes and the best way to move your barre chord. Barre chords lend themselves very well to fast chord changes, although people new to guitar playing may not believe this, mainly due to the fact that learning to play barre chords is tricky until your fingers have the strength and flexibility needed. Once your fret board hand is up to the task, you will find that making fast chord changes becomes very easy. Narre chords often have a very similar shape, you simply need to lift your fret board fingers, slightly raise the barre, slide to the new fret board position, preparing the new fingering as you do, and snap the chord back onto the fret board using the technique I have outlined above.

Barre chords are arguably the most effective weapon in a rhythm guitar player’s arsenal. Spending the time required to learn how to play them perfectly is time well spent, you will find that once you have barre chords under your belt, you will be able to play an incredible amount of rhythms using no other type of chord.

Diminished Chords

OK, technically a diminished chord is made up of a triad which is made up of a minor 3rd note and a diminished 5th note (above the root). By a diminished 5th, we mean that we flatten the normal major 5th by a semitone when fingering the chord. This creates an unstable, with no tonal centre. Diminished chord are used in several major musical styles, including jazz and gospel, and have a distinctive, almost scary sound to them.

Augmented Chords

An augmented chord is like the flip side of a diminished chord, where the chord contains a triad which includes a major 3rd (as opposed to the minor third in a diminished chord), and the 5th is augmented. By augmented we mean that the note is sharpened by a semitone. Once again, this form of chord is considered unstable, with no tonal centre. Augmented chords have a kind of trippy sound to them, they were used very frequently in a lot of music that was written back in the 60s, and they also crop up regularly in classic compositions.

Suspended Chords

Suspended chords are a little trickier to explain, they are a true exotic chord in every way, and they lend themselves well to flowing rhythms that use suspended chords to move from chord to chord whilst keeping certain notes in common between chords. In musical terms, a suspended chord replaces or accompanies the 3rd with a major second or a perfect 4th. Anybody who has ever listened to folk music will undoubtedly have heard the rhythmic effect of suspended chords.

So there we have it, a quick and dirty explanation of three of the more common forms of exotic chords, every guitar player should try to learn how to play these forms of chords, they can be the perfect tool to spice up that tired and boring chord progression, and introduce a much more complex melody. If you don’t believe me, then consider this… Some of the most innovative players of our time, such as Jimi Hendrix and Joe Satriani have exploited these exotic chords to brew a musical style all of their own.

Now we need to get a little technical so to speak, there are three basic roots to almost every chord progression (although there are many which break these rules). Almost every popular chord progression will be based upon either chromatic progression or diatonic progression. Almost every new player should be familiar with the idea of a chromatic scale, and all chord progressions which use chromatic progression will consist of chords which can be found upon the chromatic scale in the key that the song is played in. Diatonic progression is exactly the same, except it uses the diatonic mode of scale. Additionally, some of the most completing progressions work to what we call a "circle of 5ths" rule, meaning the progression will tend to consists of chords which are a direct 5th from either to root or 3rd of the scale.

I briefly mentioned that diatonic progression was based upon a "modal" scale. Although the basics of chord progression would not usually include a discussion of modal music, I feel it is important to introduce the subject here, many guitar players do not discover the power and flexibility that learning to play modally gives them. If you are seriously considering song writing, and I guess you are as you are reading about the basics of developing a chord progression, the I really do advise you to stop right here, take some time out and go and learn all about modal playing, then come back to your song writing once you have the concept firmly under your belt.

One last concept I would like to introduce whilst discussing the basics of chord progression is the idea of chord substitution. This is a great way of breathing new life into a tried and tested progression. What we would do in this situation is take an existing progression, and discern which other chords would fit musically within it, we can do this by identifying the key the piece is written in and working out any currently un-played chords that fit upon the scale. We would then substitute one or more of these chords in places which make most musical sense, this is also a great way of building up your powers of improvisation, as the progression becomes less of s solid set of chords and more of a scale based playground in which to lay down your rhythm.