[MUSIC]
This week we're going to talk about songs.
Songs might be described as melody over harmony coming together.
Oftentimes the melody is made up of parts of scales.
We've learned a few scales for this course so far.
A harmony that's under the melody is usually made up of
some kind of chordal progression, with chords played for
a certain length of time at certain points.
We're going to take a look at a song called JP Lullaby.
Now this song, for the most part,
uses notes that are made up from the major scale.
It also uses some chords that we've learned.
It uses some first position chords,
of the open position chords that we've done along with a couple of bar chords.
Now at this level, it's very hard for us to play the melody and
the chords at the same time.
So what I've done is I've recorded the chords into my little pedal
which is called a looper, and I've recorded them at the correct time.
Each quarter held for the right amount of beats.
And then I'm going to play the melody over that recorded track so
you can hear what the whole song sounds like together.
Here we go, JP lullaby.
One, two, three, four.
[MUSIC]
That was JP Lullaby, a very simple melody using
some of the open position chords that we've already learned.
Now, let's just take a look at this chart.
Now, we can see here that on this chart, the chart has the chords and the melody.
Often, when you look at charts, you're going to see both.
Now, there's a couple different ways that you can play it after you progress.
Hopefully, you'll be able to play both the melody and
the chord at the same time on the same guitar.
In the meantime, you can get a looper like the one I have, or you can have
a friend play the chords while you play the melody then you can switch.
You can play the chords and they can play the melody.
In this case, we have a chord that has both codes and melody on it.
One of the first things we're going to look at here is the time signature and
we can see, that this is written in four, four.
Most important thing for you to remember is a number on the top which is four and
that means that there're four beats in every measure or bar.
The melody in this tune, as we can see, is made up of notes from the C major scale.
All, with the exception of when we get to measure seven, we have an A flat.
That's the only note that has an accidental.
Now for the most part, all of the notes of the melody of this song are either
a quarter note or a whole note.
Quarter notes we hold for one beat.
For example the first measure, one, two, three, four.
And then we get to the F, we have four beats, because the F is a whole note.
So it would be like one, two, three,
four, one, two, three, four.
Now, that rhythmic figure is repeated over next two measures.
You have four quarter notes, followed by a whole note, and it sounds like this.
One, two, three, four,
one, two, three, four.
The next measure, we have four quarter notes again.
One, two, three, four.
And then we have two quarter notes followed by a half note.
Half note we hold for two beats.
One, two, three, four.
The next measure is all quarter notes followed by a measure of a whole note.
One, two, three, four,
one, two, three, four.
Next measure, we start with a half note which is held for
two beats followed by two quarter notes each held for a beat.
One, two, three, four, one,
two, three, four.
Now the measure with the E major chord,
four quarter notes one, two, three, four and
a whole note on the C one, two, three, four.
Next measure quarter notes again one, two,
three, four, half note two, three, four.
Then quarter notes one, two, three, four,
then a whole note C at the end held for four beats.
One, two, three, four.
Now just about all of the chords in this song are open position chords with
the exception of an F minor and an F major.
We have a C that's held for four beats.
One, two, three, four.
Then D minor for four beats.
One, two, three, four.
Then an F minor bar chord in first position one,
two, three, four.
Then a C major chord, open position chord,
for four beats one, two, three, four.
Then we have an A minor cord for four beats.
One, two, three, four.
Followed by a D major chord for four beats.
One two, three, four.
Now we have the first position F minor chord we'll use a bar chord for
this and that is held for four beats.
So it's one, two, three,
four, one, two, three, four.
Then we're back at C for four beats.
One, two, three, four.
Now we're at G for four beats.
One, two, three, four.
And then we to C for four beats.
One, two, three, four.
And we're at E major for four beats.
One, two, three, four.
Now we're at F major for four beats.
One, two, three, four.
Next chord is an F minor in four beats.
One, two, three, four.
Next measure has two chords.
It has a C major followed by an A major, each held for two beats.
One, two, three, four.
Moving right along, we're back at a D minor for two beats and
a G for two beats, followed by a C for four beats.
One, two, three, four,
one, two, three, four.
So those are the chords for the song, JP Lullaby.
Now, if you want to play it the same way I played it, with a single or
a couple of downstrokes for each measure.
Two, three four one, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
One, two three, four.
You can certainly play it the same way that I did.
But you should also try experimenting with some of the finger style techniques that
we've covered.
So that's our song, JP Lullaby.
Now, it uses a melody that's based on the major scale with the exception of one note
that has an accidental, the A flat.
And it uses a lot of the open position chords that we've learned along with
a couple of the bar chords.