Giro #1, Key of G (Popcorn Changes)

[Rayzcane]

First of all, if you don't have a free downloadble copy of "Touch-Style Bassics", then GET IT NOW at:

www.megatar.com

This is a wonderful resource for anyone who wants to learn the touch style method on ANY instrument!!! Unfortunately, unless you are interested in the "Van Halen" style of tapping, there is virtually nothing available for tappers who are forced to start out with regular old guitars (like me).

Secondly, if you want to use this book for guitar, you may wish to change your tuning to parallel 4ths. From the largest bass string to the smallest treble string it is: E - A - D - G - C - F

Notice that only the two smallest strings are altered. The "B" string is tuned 1/2 step (one fret) up to "C" and the high "E" string is tuned 1/2 step (one fret) up to "F". Guitar tapmaster, Stanley Jordon uses this identical tuning. If you are concerned about breaking strings by tuning up, then you always have the option of lowering all the strings by one or two or even three frets. This has the advantage of making it easier to push down or "tap" the strings. And, if you are used to playing many open strings in the keys of E and A, then this is a Godsend. If you tune down 3 frets, you can play Key of G licks, arpeggios, scales, etc., but they will "sound" in the Key of E. If you play Key of C patterns, they will "sound" in the Key of A!!! AND, if you are tuning down, you can use a fatter guage of strings, which will produce a fatter "tone".

Thirdly, I have no desire to infringe on any copyrights, nor do I wish to **** anyone off, especially Mr. Traktor Topaz whom I respect and admire greatly...... So, if this ruffles any feathers whatsoever, please let me know and I will delete this post immediately.

On the other hand, if this type of post is acceptable and welcomed by the standard guitar tapping "community", I will offer my time and effort (for free) and present additional resources, such as this one. Perhaps it will develop into a series.

Attached is a .jpg file (86k) that I created in CorelDraw for my own use to help me use and understand the materials in the Touch-Style Bassics, Book 1, from the nice folks at Megatar. It is from the Megatar Newsletter, June 2001. It is the first in a series of 4 "Giros" adapted for Standard Guitar in Parallel 4ths Tuning. It is also available for free download from the Megatar site.

The main thing to notice here is that the "patterns" are 100% identical for the left hand and the right hand! This is a miracle! This is impossible using standard guitar tuning. Take a look at the G Major 7th Chord. Notice that the pattern using the 6th root is identical to the pattern using the 3rd string root. To take this important concept one step further, if you started with a root on the 5th string or the 4th string, the pattern is still identical!!! Do you get what I am saying here???? If you learn one single pattern, you can play it EVERYWHERE, all over the fretboard.

For the record, I am a "tapping virgin". This is basically "day one" for me. If I spent one-tenth as much time actually practicing as I do playing with diagrams, arrangements, and tabs, then I would likely be an expert. :-)

Ray Langley

[rjgoos]

For two-handed tapping to expand, the most urgent need is for instructions on how to get started with a 6-string guitar. People get the notion that you need to spend thousands of dollars to get started.

Regarding the adaptation of Mr. Topaz' instructional materials for use with more conventional instruments, I'm with you on this, also. About a year ago, I picked up a used Jay Turser 7-string on eBay, and set it up for tapping. Traktor's instructional materials are easily adapted for use with this instrument. I'm glad that you are doing the same with a six-string.


Jay

[traktor]

Originally posted by Rayzcane
... <snip> ... I have no desire to infringe on any copyrights, nor do I wish to **** anyone off, especially Mr. Traktor Topaz whom I respect and admire greatly...... So, if this ruffles any feathers whatsoever, please let me know and I will delete this post immediately. ... <snip> ... While copyrights are all very well and good, the truth in the good old US copyright law is that nobody can copyright an idea.

From some of the stupidity going on at the patent office -- one guy, just to show how stupid it was, actually successfully obtained a patent for combing long strands of your hair over a bald spot on the top of your head -- from some of these 'method' patents, you might think an idea can be patented. Well perhaps an idea can be patented, in some cases.

But in no case can an idea be copyrighted. And therefore, any teacher, any enthusiast, any musician, is humbly offered the ideas given in our Easy Touch-Style Method. (We do ask that you do not make copies of nor give away copies of the actual book, which is copyrighted; other folks can get their own easily enough.)

Sounds like we have an enthusiast here. Good deal.

Nice graph, too. And we appreciate the credit.

[Rayzcane]

Hey RJ!

Thanks for the encouragement! I have lived in the forum archives for the past couple of days. You are a frequent, and always helpful, contribitor... My hat is off to you. Did you know that as of today, you have made exactly 100 more posts than Traktor?

I agree that instructional materials for touch-style guitarists are sadly lacking. At least in my own mind, there seems to be quite a distinction between touch-style and what is commonly referred to as "two-hand tapping". I recenty ordered 2 books/CDs online, on the subject of "guitar tapping". The recorded samples pretty much sounded like NOISE to these antique ears of mine........ I was very dissapointed.

Now, don't get me wrong..... I totally realize that there are many young players who eat this stuff for breakfast. I even thought about maybe writing reviews but like the adage says, "If you can't say something nice"..... etc. <chuckle>

On an off-topic note, where are you located in ND? Three years ago (this month) when I was diagnosed with cancer, I chose to live out one of my lifelong dreams to catch a 30 pound Channel Catfish in the Red River, north of Fargo, ND. My goal was realized. :-) If you are anywhere near Le Moure, ND use Del Monte canned corn to catch HUGE, hard fighting carp all day long. Then slice up one of those big carps into 1" x 2" fillets for bait!!! Then all night long, you will catch as many HUGE catfish as you like, until your arms give out from the fight(s).

I have never before shared these fishing tips and secret fishing hole to anyone! Keep up the good work, my new friend.

Ray Langley

[Rayzcane]

Traktor,

Thank your for your kindness and generousity!

Ray Langley

[rjgoos]

Ray wrote:

>Did you know that as of today, you have made exactly 100 more posts than Traktor?<

I guess I've got more time on my hands (and winters are longer where I live).

>I agree that instructional materials for touch-style guitarists are sadly lacking. At least in my own mind, there seems to be quite a distinction between touch-style and what is commonly referred to as "two-hand tapping". I recenty ordered 2 books/CDs online, on the subject of "guitar tapping". The recorded samples pretty much sounded like NOISE to these antique ears of mine........ I was very dissapointed.<


We need better terminology, that's for sure. Regarding lead-guitar-rock-tapping, there are instructional materials out there. It is noise to my antique ears also, but there are many skilled practitioners. Regarding simultaneous melody-and-accompanyment two-handed tapping (what you and I are interested in), as far as I know the only book published on it (for 6-string guitar) was by Jimmie Webster, which was quite limited in what it taught. HP Crazy is developing educational materials for online instruction.

Perhaps when Henri returns from Taskent (or was that Ulan Bator?), he can work on "Easy Touch Style Beginnings" for the six-string guitar.


>I chose to live out one of my lifelong dreams to catch a 30 pound Channel Catfish in the Red River, north of Fargo, ND. <


I do live in Fargo, and we do have big catfish. The Red is not an easy river to fish, with lots of snags, at least in town. During the drought of 1988, the river got so low that we were able to see how messy the bottom is....there even appeared a complete GTO, stolen in 1969.


>Keep up the good work, my new friend.

No Ray, you keep up the good work. Great charts and graphics!


Jay

[Rayzcane]

Originally posted by rjgoos


I do live in Fargo, and we do have big catfish. The Red is not an easy river to fish, with lots of snags, at least in town. During the drought of 1988, the river got so low that we were able to see how messy the bottom is....there even appeared a complete GTO, stolen in 1969.

>Keep up the good work, my new friend.

No Ray, you keep up the good work. Great charts and graphics!

Jay

Hi Jay,

Was Jimmy Hoffa in that GTO? I'm glad you like the charts, etc.

I would like to restress the importance of these "Giro" changes. Some call them the "ice cream" changes. I read on a site tonight that the I - IV - II - V along with the I - IV - V and the II - V - I groups of changes emcompass about 99% of all popular music. I don't know if that is true or not, but I do know that the Touch-Style Bassics books include all three of these progressions, in all keys, as the "Master Exercises". Almost all standard 12 bar blues, and almost all country tunes, and most rock songs use the I - IV - V progression. It is hard to find a jazz standard without the II - V - I progression. Thousands of songs from the 30's to the present use the I - IV - II - V. Some of these include I Got Rhythm, Heart and Soul, Goodnight My Love, Earth Angel, etc.

Ray Langley

[Rayzcane]

Some of you may be wondering who in the dickins is this "new guy" who just popped on the scene. Why is he posting long threads on a variety of topics. Why is he so excited about this thing called "Giros"?

In the wonderful world of tapping/touch-style guitar, I am absolutely nobody!!! I mean that sincerely. I have never even touched a touch-style instrument. I am a frustrated wannabe like many others who peruse this forum. At this juncture, I am nothing more than an avid enthusiast. Also, like many of you out there, I expect to be more of a touch-style player in the very near future.

Why Giros? Well, I had never even heard the word until I read about it in an old Mobius Megatar Newsletter article from way back in June, 2001. As it turns out, the "giro" is a term for one of the most popular chord progressions of all time. In Roman numerals, it is the I - VI - II - V progression. To elucidate further, it is the I - vi7 - ii7 - V7 progression. In regular old English, in the key of G it is: G - Em7 - Am7 - D7. In the key of C, this progression is: C - Am7 - Dm7 - G7.

I just "discovered" a great 8 minute audio lesson on how to learn and play this progression in several different ways. You can get it here, along with printed materials too:

http://www.megatar.com/documents/newsletter/Jun01-V2-I1/jun01-v2-i1.html#lesson

Click on either:

Gyrating with Giros Lesson in Real Audio

or:

Gyrating with Giros Lesson in MP3

Here are a couple of tunes that immediately come to mind,
"Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone..." and the Everly Brothers, "Whenever I want you, All I Have to do is Dream...."

Ray Langley

[GaryOpenhill]

Originally posted by Rayzcane


Why Giros? Well, I had never even heard the word until I read about it in an old Mobius Megatar Newsletter article from way back in June, 2001.



Hi Ray,
all your posts are a lot of fun to read. your enthusiasm rubs off on me too. Also great work on the good looking graphs.
Now, about the mobius megatar newsletters, how can we convince traktor into sending out more of those?

Btw, about those audio lessons....now don't you agree that Traktor is the Don LaFontaine of the tapping world? He could probably make millions doing movie trailers, voice overs and commercials! :)

[Rayzcane]

Thanks Gary! I'm doing those graphs for me, but I thought it would nice to share this stuff since there doesn't seem to be much info about it. And, by actually putting them on paper, it helps my own learning process.

I agree 100% that more newsletters would be wonderful. Adding the .mp3 for the Giros lesson was a very nice touch!!!

My most favorite instrumental of all time is Santo and Johnny's "Sleepwalk". It uses the Giro progression. I was 13 years old in 1956. During that era, many tunes used the same progression in slightly different ways.

To tell you the truth, it took me while to get into Touch-Style Bassics because I did not give a hoot about learning Major Seventh arpeggios. If it had started out with the Giro progression, it would have maintained my interest more. I am not a "jazz player", so I seldom used maj 7th chords. Although, I do understand their importance now.

Also, I would liked to have seen more on some Root - Fifth thumping country bass, along with some walking from one chord to another. Also, I think that adding some blues boogie woogie patterns would generate some immediate interest. I guess we are all looking for something different in a course. But, I do realize now that the study of jazz ideas and progressions can work in any form of Western music. "It's All Good". <chuckle>

Ray Langley

[traktor]

Originally posted by Rayzcane
... <snip> ... Giros? Well, I had never even heard the word until I read about it in an old Mobius Megatar Newsletter article from way back in June, 2001. As it turns out, the "giro" is a term for one of the most popular chord progressions of all time. In Roman numerals, it is the I - VI - II - V progression. ..<snip> ... Actually, the term came from Werner Pohlert (as in the author of 'Basic Harmony'). I failed to properly credit him for this material in our newsletter. (In his book it refers to 'Giros' being a common musical approach in Europe, and I assumed it was a widely-known thing to everyone in the world but me. But come to find out, I should have properly credited Pohlert for this material in our newsletter article.)

What I find most interesting about the Giros is how easily you can substitute the IV for the II, or substitute the VIIb5 for the V, and how you can substitute the III or VI for the I-chord, and the float-tension-release of the sequence still works the same.

If nothing else, what we learn here is that, in a way, the common jazz sequence II-V-I and the common IV-V-I found in folk and blues, are very much related 'under the hood,' and not altogether different.

[traktor]

Originally posted by GaryOpenhill
...<snip>... Now, about the mobius megatar newsletters, how can we convince traktor into sending out more of those? Simple. Somebody who can operate MicroSoft Publisher volunteer to be the information-gatherer and editor! (Our own editor has been shanghaii'd into the production line, and it's kept him busy.)

Another good route would be to find a volunteer who is very, very knowledgeable about linux servers, content management systems, and stylesheets, and html. We need some repairs and upgrades on the Tappistry.Org system so as to be again able to load up articles here.

[traktor]

Originally posted by Rayzcane
...<snip>... To tell you the truth, it took me while to get into Touch-Style Bassics because I did not give a hoot about learning Major Seventh arpeggios. If it had started out with the Giro progression, it would have maintained my interest more. I am not a "jazz player", so I seldom used maj 7th chords. ...<snip> ... The Major 7th form was just an easy doorway into all of the chords, because once learned, you can -- (a) drop the 7 to get the 'dominant 7' chord, then (b) drop the 3 to get the 'minor 7' chord, then (c) drop the 5 to get the 'minor 7 flat 5' chord, and then (d) drop the root to get the next lower Major 7 chord.

That is --
CMaj7 to C7 to Cm7 to Cm7b5 then ...
BMaj7 to B7 to Bm7 to Bm7b5 then ...
BbMaj7 to Bb7 to Bbm7 to Bbm7b5 ... and so on.

And, from a music theory viewpoint, when you start with 'jazz' harmony and progressions, then you can clearly see the true diatonic scale quickly. That is, if you play a II-V-I, and just examine the notes you played, you see the correct notes for the diatonic major scale.

For example --
Play Dm7 then G7 then CMaj7, and examine the notes you just played. Some will have been repeated, but the notes you played inside these three chords are A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, which are the scale notes of the diatonic major scale in the key of C.

If you enter a presentation of music theory at one of these other junctures such as country or blues progressions, then the chord alterations occuring commonly in these forms make such clear patterns less easy to see. And in studying music theory, it seems that any clarity we can get is a helpful thing!

[Rayzcane]

Originally posted by traktor
Simple. Somebody who can operate MicroSoft Publisher volunteer to be the information-gatherer and editor! (Our own editor has been shanghaii'd into the production line, and it's kept him busy.)


My dear old departed daddy spent 30 years in the United States Air Force. He taught me: "Son, don't ever volunteer for anything".

But, I might be interested in this project, especially after I have a little experience actually playing a touch-style instrument. How often would a newsletter be published? Quarterly? I know that you have a tried and true format/layout that you would probably like to continue with. Who would determine the subject matter?

No matter who produces the newsletter, I vote for more .mp3 audio samples. Video Lessons along with the newsletter, would have students like me turning cartwheels. Of course, we may need an ambulance standing by if I am going to actually do the cartwheels!!

Ray Langley

[Rayzcane]

Originally posted by traktor
The Major 7th form was just an easy doorway into all of the chords, because once learned, you can -- (a) drop the 7 to get the 'dominant 7' chord, then (b) drop the 3 to get the 'minor 7' chord, then (c) drop the 5 to get the 'minor 7 flat 5' chord, and then (d) drop the root to get the next lower Major 7 chord.

<snip>

If you enter a presentation of music theory at one of these other junctures such as country or blues progressions, then the chord alterations occuring commonly in these forms make such clear patterns less easy to see. And in studying music theory, it seems that any clarity we can get is a helpful thing!

Yep, I totally agree with you.... especially after I learned a bit more about music. I recently made a commitment to myself to learn more about music and to become a "real musician", whatever that is.......

One of the several careers that I have pursued in my life was as a professional sleight-of-hand magician/entertainer at trade shows, primarially in the electronics and computer industries. As you know, at trade shows, many companies are hawking VERY similar products. My job was to draw a crowd, then fade away into the background so that the sales experts could take over and demo their product. I was a "grabber". My only point is: "Who are we trying to grab?"

That is a very tough question to answer. I read recently on the internet that only about 2% of recorded music is jazz!!! On the other hand, 14 year old rockers don't have the funds for a specialty tapping instrument. Country and Blues guitarists do a lot of "comping" while biding their time for a short solo. A bass player who could double as a rhythm guitarist would be in great demand. I am no demographics or marketing expert. These are mostly random thoughts. The touch-style system encompasses bass, rhythm, AND lead playing. And, in some cases, all of the above the same time.

How do we appeal to the widest possible audience? These days everyone makes a "good instrument". It's kinda like ice cream... It all tastes good on a hot day. But, we all have our favorite flavor. There is always the trade-off between price and quality. When both appear in the same package, a winner is born. In a way, instruments are like relationships.... sometimes we settle for what we can get. :-) Other times, we are not willing to "settle".

Ray Langley

[Rayzcane]

Originally posted by traktor
Simple. Somebody who can operate MicroSoft Publisher volunteer to be the information-gatherer and editor! (Our own editor has been shanghaii'd into the production line, and it's kept him busy.)


Ok.... I will give it a shot. Do you need a license to operate MP or is it kinda "learn as you go"??

You have some older stuff that I liked a lot. Can we dress that up in some new clothes, or do you have something entirely different in mind?

That thing you did with the 4 Giros really piqued my interest.

What now?

Ray Langley