Music charts
Almost nothing a musician has to learn early on is difficult. It is invisible, which is a different problem: which notes the key signature carries, where the same shape sits three frets up, how long a dotted quaver actually lasts. A sheet on the wall answers that without the instrument leaving your hands, and that is the whole difference between looking something up and losing the thread.
Three kinds of sheet sit under this tag. Theory that does not change — the circle of fifths, note values, intervals. The geography of an instrument — the notes along the fretboard, the layout of the keyboard, first chords for guitar and ukulele, the pentatonic box, scale fingering, and the alternate tunings from drop D to open C. And two working references for anyone who records rather than only plays: which instruments occupy which part of the spectrum, and where things usually sit across the stereo field.
They are made for a practice room, the wall above a piano, or the space beside a desk in a small studio. A3 is the sensible default; A4 only if it hangs within reach of the stool.
EQUAL TEMPERAMENT
how many cents each interval misses the pure one by, and why exactly that much
AMP MIC POSITIONS
where to place a mic in front of a guitar cab and how each spot sounds — after the Shure chart
ARPEGGIOS ON TWO STRINGS
major and minor in one position · the bare triad, no octave
ARPEGGIOS ON THREE STRINGS
major and minor in one position · a whole octave on three strings
ARPEGGIOS ON FOUR STRINGS
major and minor in one position · exactly an octave, one note per string
ARPEGGIOS ON FIVE STRINGS
major and minor in one position · an octave and a fifth from the root
ARPEGGIOS ON SIX STRINGS
major and minor in one position · two octaves from the root
ACOUSTIC BODY SHAPES
what each one was made for · from the front room to the stage, at true scale
FIRST CHORDS
15 chords every beginner starts with · standard tuning E A D G B e
NOTES ON THE FRETBOARD
standard tuning E A D G B e · first twelve frets
THE PENTATONIC
three positions · the root is marked
STRING MATERIALS
what they are drawn from, how one wrap differs from another and what of that is audible