 Guitar and Excel, C major, A minor scale fret number seven, focusing on the C note. Get ready and some coffee. You know, I recently had some critics say that they could make a better musical Excel worksheet than ours. But I'm really skeptical about what people say these days, you know, a bunch of liars out there. I mean, honestly, it's like the time that guy claimed that he could make the world's best pancake. It's like, that's not a pancake. This is a pancake. I mean, honestly, his work is an offense to the baking craft. He just made a cake that looks like the bottom of a frying pan for crying out loud. How lazy is that? That'd be like saying, you're a master painter who's going to make like the Mona Lisa, and then you just paint the bottom of her foot. You know, nobody's going to think the foot painting is better than the real one, unless you have some kind of strange foot thing or so. I mean, honestly, this is not modern art class. This is for real. This is for real. Be serious for crying out loud. You know, the only person in the world who can actually sell that piece of art for cash is Hunter Biden. As long as the big guy gets his 10% that is, I mean, it's ridiculous, whatever. Let's just play some guitar. Here we are in Excel. If you don't have access to this workbook, that's okay because we basically built this from a blank worksheet, but did so in prior presentation. So if you want to build this from a blank worksheet, you could begin back there. However, you don't necessarily need access to this workbook if looking at this from a music theory standpoint, because we'll simply use it as a tool to map out the fretboard. Give us the notes, the chords, the scale that we're focused in on. If you do have access to this workbook, though, there's a bunch of tabs down below, including the O.G. Orange tab representing the original worksheet we put together in a prior section mapping out the entire fretboard, giving us our entire musical alphabet, both in letter format and number format, and combining them both together, providing an adjustable key that can change the scale of the worksheets on the right-hand side. The worksheets providing the notes in the scale, the chords constructed from those notes in the scale, interval, information, and more. We've been looking at the C major scale and its related modes, focusing first on the open positions, which we did by constructing the chords. That's going to be what all the yellow tabs were. We started, of course, with the one chord, the C major chord, open positions defined as frets one through three. We then went to the F chord, the G chord, the D minor, the E minor, the A minor, the B diminished. Then we jumped up to the middle of the guitar. I would call it fret five, or position one on the pentatonic in major shape, or you could call it a G-shaped position, and we thought about how we can use this part of the guitar from a scale standpoint first rather than a chords standpoint. And then we thought about how we can tie that into what we learned in open position using the C, the F, the G, the D, the E, and the A. Now what we're going to do, and then we went to the next position up, the next position up in terms of our scale positions would be what I would call position two or an E-shaped type of position. We discussed its fingering in detail, as well as its intervals. And now we want to go through and say, OK, how can we tie this information? I'm going to go to, this is our newest and latest worksheet, which I've already kind of adjusted here, so you don't have to watch me adjust it. But this is our latest worksheet now, where we're going to be thinking about focusing in on each of these chords or more particular, possibly on each of the notes within them, and say, how can I get this position out here and starting in fret seven to target what I want to target, such as, in this case, the one chord, the C chord? And there's a couple different ways that we might approach that. So first thing I just want to point out is that we can do everything from every single position here. So we should be able to design of the guitar is such that if I wanted to play all the notes are here within a four to five fingering space. So I should be able to do everything I need to do, basically, in one of these fingering hand positions. However, the voicing will be different for them. And therefore, that's what's great about the guitars, that these different positions, although they give you the same notes and you could do everything from four to five fret position, they give you different voicings of those things that you can do. So that means that when we're looking at each of these positions, this new position, for example, I could then say, how can I play everything that I want to play that's within a C, if I'm targeting the C chord within this position? And then I could also say, well, how can I connect these two positions? This was the fret five position we looked at last time and this position so that I can then go back and forth and utilize those two positions while targeting a C. And then possibly, how can I go back from my open positions where I play, say, a C in open position and then utilize that to move up all the way up here and be comfortable to be going up and back from this position that starts on the seventh fret and back to the open position. So those are some things that we want to address here. Now remember, we started with a pentatonic shape. So the pentatonic shape is the green, and then that only has two notes per string. And then we added to it the major shape, which was the added blue notes. Or here are all the blue notes, right? So this would be a major shape, which has the pentatonic inside of it. And now what we have done is simply mapped on top of that the one three five, the one being green, the three being red, and the five being yellow on top of that. So now we see the green are the pentatonic. And then these one three fives are on top or fit inside of the pentatonic. And the pentatonic, because I'm looking at the first chord, fits exactly, I mean, the chord fits exactly inside the pentatonic because we're on the first chord. Some of these other chords, the two, the three, may not fit exactly within the pentatonic. The one and the six will. And then the pentatonic is fitting exactly inside of the major. So you could think about this whole colored thing, the major being the bottom stuff. And then we put on top of it the green notes, which fit exactly on top of the major. And then on top of that, we put these three colors, which fit right on top of both the pentatonic and the major. OK. So then this position right here, remember this, we call this a G shape. This is what we did last time, which has some substantial overlap. It's a G shape because you can see, although you're playing a C chord, you can see that G, so I put the wrong one here, inside of it. So that's why some people will target that as a G shape. Remember that shape will be unique to the pentatonic shapes so that you can define the pentatonic and then add the major shape on top of it, if that's what you want to call it. I would call it also just position one in fret number five. And then position number two is going to be here. We call that basically a E shape. It's a C chord, but an E shape. And the reason is because if I map these out, maybe I should make these ones yellow on this side so I can make them different. I'm going to say these are, if I map this out, it's going to be here, here, and then here, and then here, and here, and here. So that's basically, if I took this shape and had that in open position over here, if I played that, where did I go here, right there, and then all the open strings would be playing out, that would be your E shape. And so if I move that up here, then that's why we can call this, we have our classic bar chord. We'd be barring down here, holding down these strings. That's our classic bar chord type shape. So a lot of people will name this shape, not just the three notes within it, but the whole pentatonic and major shape by that shape, calling it an E type of shape. So the next thing, so then the question is, well, how can I target the C within this shape? Well, the first thing we can do is we can basically say, I'm going to stay within this shape. So here's our position one. You can see we have that substantial overlap between these two strings, our second position here, the E shape position starting on the B. But we talked about last time that if you're playing in this position and you're targeting a C, then you probably want to start it on a C. So in a few presentations prior to this, we basically look at this from the perspective of if I'm targeting a C, you want to start at the C most likely, and you can see it as a scale and then target the C. And then you can chunk this down and keep on targeting that C. That's one way that you can explore this shape. Another common way to explore it is to look at the chords within it, which can give you a set fingering. So if I, for example, take this whole shape, you can see the easiest way for me to pivot off of this shape is on this C, right? Because that's the easiest finger to do stuff with. You can do stuff with any fingers that you want down here. But for most people, the easiest finger to pivot off of is this one. So that means it's going to be easiest up here to kind of noodle around with these strings up top. So what's available to me? Well, you've got this B behind it. I've got the C. I've got the D. I've got the A. I'm in the E, the F, and the G. And then I can go back to this position. I can also say that if that position is difficult to ring out all the way through, I can use the power chord to cheat, right? It's a little... I can also use the power chord as a setup point until I get my fingers in position. So then around here, I can play this as my bass note. And then always go back to the power chord and then back to the C. So it just did some double stuff. Notice that these two, when you have that position, that's going to give you dissonance to lead back into here. So you could play with that a little bit. If you just switch these fingers from that to that, that gives you the relief, right? This gives you the tension and then this gives you basically the relief. So you can kind of anytime you see that within your shape that's gonna lead you into here. So that's one way we can kind of do it. We can pivot off of this shape and see it not so much maybe as the chord, but I mean as the scale, but looking at the shape within side it and then reaching what notes are around that shape. Now I could also say, let's augment this shape a little bit. So it looks like this. So I'm gonna take this finger off and I'm gonna put it down here. And that gives me a whole different pivot point that's basically down at the bottom. This looks like this might look familiar as an F shape. Here's our F shape. But remember the F shape is just an E. If the E was like that and barred off, we move it up so we have an F and then we put that finger down there. You might recognize it this way as two, but I'm putting the five on top of it. That's all we're doing up top. And that's a really comfortable position. And now it's easy to pivot here on this finger. So now I've got my pivoting finger down here. That makes it easy to play the lower strings. Now it's a little bit awkward because it makes it easy to play these strings. But I also have available to me that B back here, which is gonna throw off your finger in because you're gonna wanna end this position here so that you can get back into your shape. So the easiest thing to do here is to play these four and then go back to your shape. And you can also remember that your C is down here. But if I'm playing this shape, and then I'm just going back to my shape up top, double stop. I could try to get that B. And notice I'm just walking back into my shape. So I'm just going, and then that's in my shape. I'm just kind of walking up into my shape. And then we can do the same thing here. I can say, okay, if I was in the middle here, I can note that in this shape, here's my C, that's my root, even though I'm playing the fifth on top of it to kind of fill it out, but there's my root right there. So I know in here within this shape, I have these two strings in that middle position, the A, B, C, D, E, F, right? So, and I notice I have this here again, tension playing the B and the F that, and then switching it to the C and the E. And that gives you a little bit of that tension going in. We'll talk more about that later so you can feel that's like the diminished note. And so then I can also notice other patterns over here. Like I see that I have this shape, which is kind of like an A shape. So you can notice other patterns will get into other chord shapes that are within here later, but that's another way you can look at it. Now the other shape that's in here is like if I play it this way, we noticed it from a scale position that this was a very comfortable shape to start with in here because you've got the root and the third and now your fingers are set up to reach this way. And you can always go back to that bass note. Now this shape kind of fits into the G. This was our G shape. If I play it, if I look at it this way, it was, if I'm reaching over from, this is in the overlap, there was my C, there's my E, and there's my G. So this is one way that we can move. Now I'm thinking of moving from this shape, where I had this is my G type of shape, which would look like that, which sometimes you don't play all the way through because it's kind of a reach to do. By the way, some people play it with a bar like this. It might be easier. And if you get these two to ring out, that would be great, but you don't have to, you just need these three to ring out. You might be able to even solidify the bar with this other finger. And then when you're moving up to this shape, so that's a G because you got this, this, this, if I played these two and that, you could see the G shape, and then to here, but I'm just playing the low part of that G shape. So if I'm leading this G shape in here, that I can lead it into this G shape, or I can lead it into this part of the G shape, or into this E shape, right? But this little bit right here is a comfortable position. You're just moving up that shape from the first position, and now you're basically in the middle zone, but you're moving towards, and leaning towards the upper position now. And that's a comfortable position because now you have a nice finger in that you can reach a lot of strings and always go back to that bass note. You can always go back here, and then use that C as like your home bass pivoting between these two shapes. That's the pivot point between the two shapes, right? And then I'm looking on this side over here, I'm targeting in particular this shape, right? This is the tail end of this position that has the root note. And remember, that's an actual A type of position, and then I'm leading into the upper end side, that C, and then moving into my new position, going back and forth between these two shapes by using that C as my pivot point, bringing me up in here. And then there's my shape down here. And then now I'm targeting this shape back here, I'm trying to move back and forth from this shape. So that, and then of course, we can target the bottom end of that as well. So we have the C down here. So if you played, this would be like the G shape, you can think of the bottom half, a lot of people would think of it as an A shape, right? This is the A shape, but if you played it this way, that would be the full A, but if you grabbed these three right here, it's an A shape, it's a C chord, and then you grabbed the G, I'm sorry, the other C down here, you have the bottom part of that C shape, because that A structure's in the middle, and then you could use that as your pivoting point down here. And that leads me back into this shape. And that's my D basically up top. Quick recap on the shapes here. Now, if I go back all the way back to the C, you'll recall that the C shape looks like this in open position. So if we're in open position over here, we're fingering these strings, and then we have these open strings here, and then this one. So that's gonna be my C shape, which is a C chord, and then when I move this up, when I move this up, you can see the next one is an A. Now, the A we haven't really been focusing in on that shape yet, because that's gonna be the shape behind position one, but we've been playing it because it's right in there, these three strings right here, or these three notes. But usually we have to pull back and play this note to get the full A shape. And we've been thinking of, and a lot of people just play these just these three, that's fine, but it could, that's in between the A shape and the G. That's why it could go this way, or you can bring it up to this way. And then that leads in from the G shape to the E shape that is where we are at at this point in time. Hold on, that sounded funny. So if then you're trying to work your way all the way from a C up to basically this C up here, you could, hmm, I keep doing that. You could jump there, you could just jump there, although, and that's totally fine to do sometimes, right? Because you might be saying, I'm just gonna go from here and then I'm gonna jump up and do something up here. But you'd probably wanna have some kind of reason why you're doing that, because again, all the notes that you wanna play are down here as well. So if you just wanna play in a different register, you can jump up here, and start doing something up here. Or you can try to find a line that you can basically follow in between the shapes to kind of bring you up here. Those would be basically the two types of approaches. So if I'm up, if I'm down here and I'm trying to just noodle around and then jump up, you know, one way we could do that, we could be over here. And then. And then. You could just jump back and forth between those two and I'm just, as I jump up here, I'm trying to target this C. And that's one way that you can basically just find a different register. And that's fun to do to get your ear set on this C and then jump up here. The thing that you wanna do when you jump up here is just keep targeting that C. Start and stop your lines. On the C, if that's what you want to be targeting when you move up top. Now you could, of course, target something other than the C and then go back to your C to end it. Like I could be saying, okay, I'm gonna target the E, which is the third. So now I'm gonna target something that's in my chord, but it's not the root. So I'm gonna say, all right, I have a third. Here's my third and here's another third. So I'm gonna look at this first third first. And if I have, say, lay down the bass in open position because I'm familiar with that C. And see if I can just jump up here and put a line that starts and ends on that third. So I can kind of leave you hanging. I can look at this third over here and say, okay, that note is the same as this note. So that's gonna be a third right there. And then I can do similar types of things. See if I can play around the fifth, the G. And that's gonna be the other note within. So that's part of my power chord. So there's one right there. And I know that I have a G right there. So I'm gonna say. And then I have a fifth down here. Of course, we can do that with notes that are outside these three as well as long as they're within this shape and start to see what that would sound like as well. It's gonna give us a little bit more distance. Now, the next thing you can do is try to give a combination of that. You could play if your note within here, you're the chord within the second position here, like this possibly. And then lead in. Or you might try to see if you can come up with a line that's gonna go from here into your position one, possibly with something with this A shape right here that's gonna basically lead you in to this shape right here, which possibly will be starting with this D like we talked with this C up top, like we talked about before. These being the pivot points between these two shapes. So if you're starting, you're trying to create a line to see how you can basically maneuver in from here into here. So one way you might do that is to use the good ol' pointer finger, right? And see if I can slide into this shape somehow, right? And then possibly slide into this shape. Right, so if you're in that way, it's gonna make it give you some purpose as you're moving back and forth through the fretboard to see where you're, to target something in each of the shapes, right? So if I'm, instead of just jumping up, I'm gonna say I'm gonna look at my finger that's has that C and that's gonna bring me up to say right here. And then I'm gonna noodle into this second position and possibly target, you know, this C shape. And then once I'm in here, I'm gonna take another line that's gonna target this C up top to transition to this, to my next shape. So now I'm on this C right here. And once I'm here, then I could, why did this turn red? Then I could pivot from here to my C shape like this or playing it more like this. So I could start to come up with lines and say, okay. And then I can kind of follow that back. If I'm following it back, I'm gonna say my pivot point might be that C up top. Right, so if I'm playing it this way, then I might pivot into playing it basically this way. See, that's a nice little pivot because that's part of my G shape right here as then I lead back in. And here's my C down here and then I can lead that back to here. So you can come up with little lines to go back and forth. You might try to say, if I'm starting on a C over here, maybe I target like the third in between when I get to this shape and then I go back and I target the C when I get back to the shape number three. So I might be in here. So I'm kind of targeting that third right there. And then as I go into the new shape, I'm gonna try to work my way up to the C. And so now I'm kind of in my new shape on that C and I could play that C shape to close it out here. So now I'm on that E again and now I'm closing it back out over here. So I'm just trying to find lines and you can follow, I could follow this note up here as well, any note that you want to try to say, okay, I just try to be a little bit mindful on your starting and ending points. It's like, where am I trying to end up? I'm starting here. I'm gonna noodle around in this shape until I get to here, until I get to this bar shape, right? And I'm just gonna try to find a little path maybe. Now I'm in my first position one for. Now I'm basically in the second position, position two, the E shape. Now I'm playing the full E shape. There's kind of my little E shape, very comfortable E shape, which gives me that finger down here, which is easy to slide on. Here's my A shape. There's my C shape, A C. This is an A shape C. So I'm just following this finger. Following this finger. So you can come up with lines and say, and just, you don't need to be too rigid. The rules, seems to me, the best point is somewhere in between. You don't want to have no rules where you're just like, I don't know. You don't know what, you just don't know what you're doing, but you don't want to get too rigid on the rules. You want to give you at least a starting point and an end point, like, right? Like I'm just gonna move through this shape. I'm gonna follow this finger and I know I'm just gonna try to get to, basically, like this. I want to get to this shape. And so I'm just gonna noodle around and that's my starting and ending point, right? So here's the C. The bookends are the C to C. Here's the C. So, you know, I don't even know what I'm doing, but I'm just trying to get from here to here and start and end and give myself leeway to just noodle around and start and end with the bookends of it's going from a C to a C, which should at least give you the baseline that you're in a C. So you can start to get a little more creative with the lines and then you can practice making more restrictive rules and less restrictive rules as you're trying to flow up and down. But you need to have some kind of targets to be able to do that. Other, if you don't, what you're gonna end up doing is just playing these shapes up and down without any context. And that's not fun. That's not gonna give you as much satisfaction. I'm looking for some satisfaction here if you target some notes a little bit more precisely or anyways, I'm stopping.