Unison Note Finder
Added 2022-07-05 22:36:50 +0000 UTCNew here? Wondering where to start? Click here for my Patreon start page, or here for my recommended lesson plan.
Hi Everyone,
This is a little one-off lesson I've been thinking about doing for a long time. Stringed instruments are weird, and guitar is no exception. One weird thing about stringed instruments is that many duplicate or "unison" notes can be found all over the fingerboard. In other words, you can play the exact same chord or scale or riff in multiple places. These tones are not different octaves, they are the same frequency.
I've attached two PDFs, one is a detailed, high color, printer-unfriendly recap of this lesson with a few examples. The other PDF is unison-finder scratch paper with subtle colors that are (hopefully) more printer friendly for those of you who want to print.
Here are a few questions for the community to ponder and discuss in the comments below or in the community forum: If your fingers are already comfortable, would there be any musical reason to play the same phrase or chord on different strings? Have you found that you prefer voicings on any particular set of strings, like strings 2, 3, & 4 or 4, 5, & 6? Is there a specific situation where you've used this unison note finder method to make something easier or better sounding?
Check out the Lesson Archive for more Guitar Theory Lessons
Other helpful links:
Scott's Recommended Lesson Plan
Searchable Lesson Archive
How to Join the Community Forum
Scott's Jam Tracks
SPJ Live YouTube Channel
Scott's Main YouTube Channel
Comments
Thanks Holly!
Scott Paul Johnson
2022-07-08 15:09:17 +0000 UTCHey Ethan - I fixed the PDF for this lesson. I've been planning to do an overhaul of my entire Music Theory for Guitar series, so I'll consider adding Unison to the lesson as well. As for lessons regarding each of the 7 chords in a key within the CAGED System, my CAGED Soloing series goes through that kind of thing. If your goal is to only solo, feel free to move through CAGED Basics, Basics II, and NEW Caged Soloing, then head back through the original CAGED Soloing series while you're waiting for me to complete NEW CAGED Soloing.
Scott Paul Johnson
2022-07-08 15:09:09 +0000 UTCGiven your answer to Q4, it may be helpful to include Unison in Music Theory for Guitar, Lesson 3, Intervals, because the PDF shows, in a complete manner, how the strings are fretted to the perfect 4th or major 3rd. I have a fifth and sixth question outstanding above, however now I have a Seventh. I've been following the lesson plan, I'm about to finish CAGED Basics I. My goal is only to solo (over your jam tracks), not to write music, not to write chord progressions. Do I complete the lesson plan as written then go to CAGED Basics II and New Soloing, or do I depart from the lesson plan, adjoin the new sections, then revert back to and continue on the lesson plan?
Ethan B
2022-07-07 17:52:32 +0000 UTCExcellent! I'm super visual. Seeing the notes light up all over as you play fires off new connections and understandings in my brain. I can see the exact same information a million times on a piece of paper and kinda sorta get it, but watching you play and the notes lighting in real time is the bomb! Camera Guitar is looking so good! I'm looking forward to your invention making you rich and famous. Your humble students will be able to say we knew you when... ;) Great lesson, thank you, Scott. I hope Cali is treating you well.
Holly Croydon
2022-07-07 17:44:01 +0000 UTCThanks for catching that! I'll update it today. I am not introducing 7th chords in CAGED Basics II, so I won't be talking about that at all in that series, but I do have a series called Rubiks Cube that covers every 7th chord in every caged position
Scott Paul Johnson
2022-07-06 18:44:19 +0000 UTCEthan! Thanks for the birthday wishes, but a little late. I was born in May! As for tagging, I've given up on Patreon's system - I just put everything in my Lesson Archive on my website - it's more search friendly. One-off lessons like this usually end up in either Guitar Theory or Music Theory. This one is going in Guitar Theory. Any time you have a thicker string, it will have more low-end resonance, so even though the frequencies are the same, the timbre of the string is different - just imagine a man singing bass and a woman singing soprano - there are a few note they can both sing in unison, but the notes will have a different character. On guitar, this is actually where you can really hone in different flavors if you need chords to blend in more, play them on thicker strings, if you need them to be brighter, play them on thinner strings. I grouped the notes in those colors for two reasons: 1) I was trying to base the colors off where the next string started, so if you look at the low E having it's own color scheme, then the A string, then the D string - once the next string got involved at the 5th fret (or fourth for the B string) I switched. Once I got to the high E string, I was trying to make the very highest notes on the fingerboard look simple and defined, so I tried to make color switches based on how they would look up there.
Scott Paul Johnson
2022-07-06 18:35:45 +0000 UTCThanks! I can't tell you about the software! For now it's a secret!
Scott Paul Johnson
2022-07-06 18:35:08 +0000 UTCFifth, the PDF says "To the left," from the reader's perspective it's to the right, unless you're thinking about how the guitar is held. Sixth, Do you have PDFs which show each of the respective 7 chord triads within each respective CAGED shapes? If not, as you revisit each of the CAGED shapes in Basic II, please take into consideration including such a graphic with each shape. Thanks always,
Ethan B
2022-07-06 16:47:53 +0000 UTCHello Scott. First, happy birthday month, July 1987, if I recall correctly from the hundreds of hours of live streams I've watched. Second, can you tag one off lessons such as Unison and Ear Training so they are easily searchable? As time passes, I find it difficult to remember which live streams have which one-off lessons. Third, regarding Unison, when taking into consideration adjustments due to fret location, string tension, and string gauge, is the guitar designed such that an identical note will have an identical sound throughout the fret board? I'm trying to understand the interaction between these respective variables. Fourth, why did you choose to group by color the notes you've chosen to group by color? What's the underlying logic? I'd grouped A,B,C and D,E,F together (separated by whole steps) because their a constant finger pattern and I could use the fret markers to find these note sets.
Ethan B
2022-07-06 16:17:09 +0000 UTCawesome video. What is the software you are using to have the notes show up ?? seems awesome.
Magela Crosignani
2022-07-06 12:54:23 +0000 UTC
