Leaderboard

Rookie, first timer, and still semi beginner... who can play chords and rhythm. On a pastoral sabbatical this summer and couldnt think of a better way to spend it than with guitarists... looking forward to absorbing and all the hand cramps. Just registered today.

Only 20 days away! 🙂

Hey gang, I recently had a question about playing guitar on hymns from a hymnbook. It's something I have to do quite a bit. Here's the deal... Hymns are surprisingly tricky for a guitar player. Most hymns are written by keyboard players for keyboard players so they are commonly written on a piano staff with treble and bass clef. For a guitar player, trying to keep up with reading two different clefs, all of those notes and no chord changes can make even a pro sweat a bit. Add a choir and a piano player an no rehearsal and you have the makings of a Sunday morning heart attack! When in Doubt - Just Play the Melody As a guitar player, here are your options, you can read and play the single-note melody (usually the top line) pretty easily. I can usually do this with one time through rehearsing - especially if I'm already familiar with the song. If You Have Time - Grab a Pencil, Figure Out the Chords and Strum Along If I want to try to play chords and strum, things can get a bit trickier. To try to analyze the chords takes a bit more time - generally more than I can read at sight. So, I'll take 5 minutes and go through the song, analyze the chords and jot down the chords above the melody line. If you can, take a minute and try to figure out the chords. Look at the bass line - often that will outline what the chords are doing. Then try to analyze the chord tones above the bass to assimilate them into a familiar chord that works in the key. (Don't get too perplexed if the melody note doesn't match the underlying chord tones exactly. Melodies don't have to follow the chord tones exactly.) Think of it as a puzzle! Usually the chord has 4 notes - i.e. four part harmony. Here are the clues... Example 1: Bass note is G. Notes above it are D, and B, and melody note is a G. This is pretty easy. This would be a G major chord... G. Example 2: Bass note is a C. Notes above it are F, and A, and melody note is an A. This is an F chord with a C in the bass... F/C. If you want to play the C in the bass then great, other wise just play a standard F chord and it will work. Example 3: The key of the song is A. Bass note is a D#. Notes above it are F#, and B, and melody note is an A. (First let's determine what the chord is and then we'll figure out why it's there.) Your chord tones are D#-F#-B-A. In this order they don't make a lot of sense. But if I switch them into a different order - B-D#-F#-A, they turn into a B7. But the D# is in the bass so it would be a B7/D#. Now, why do you think a B7/D# would be in a song in A? The answer?... I would bet that it is functioning as a secondary dominant ( a V of V) and that the next chord is some sort of an E chord (the V chord in A). Yep, hymns are tricky. Simplify the Chord Changes Another way hymns are tricky is that they are often written with constant chord movement, so if I strictly write out the chords I'll end up with chords changing every beat. (Keyboard players like their movement!) But often, with a bit of thought, all of this movement can be greatly simplified to where they can be played on guitar much easier. Example: The analyzed chords may be... || G - G - Am - G/B | C - C/E - C/G - C || But don't worry about all of this bass line movement - especially if it is just between chord tones. This progression can be simplified to just a measure of G and a measure of C. Just Do the Best You Can and Smile Here's my general rule. If I have time to write it out then I'll do that. If I don't, and I don't know the song, then I'll just play the single-note upper line melody. If I do know the song, then I'll glance at the bass line and strum the chords that make sense to my ear go along with the song. Occasionally I'll miss a few but generally I'll be pretty close. Hope this helps.