Fork In The Road Music » Chords

Instrumental Reflections Live #1 Haunting Melody

Russell Martin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:50:07 +0000

Basically this is how it works. I found a web cam I had bought a few years ago. Then I set up my keyboard, ran it into a small mixer and then into my computer. I then signed up for a ustream account and set up a show called “At the Piano.” From there I just sit down, invite some friends and just play.

Today I asked my friends to give me several notes in a random order. I took the notes in the order given and gave myself the challenge of creating a melody and chords based on the give notes.

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Lessons Learned from My Dogs- #1 Let It Go

Russell Martin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:18:56 +0000

I have 4 dogs and a cat. Each one has their own personality and quirks and I love them all. The amazing thing is that for the most part they all get along, even the cat. What has suprised me though is how, by watching them interact, I have learned some really great lessons.

I thought I would take a chance to break from my usual posts about chords, or music, or worship, to share some of these insights with you from time to time.

This evening we were sitting in the living room watching tv. As usual Jaeda our Cocker Spaniel was on the back of the couch, Ultra had claimed the love seat and Honey, the Lab/Greyhound was laying in the middle of the floor chewing on a nylabone. That’s when Mia, the fourth dog, walked right up to Honey, put her mouth on the nylabone and took it away. Mia walked away about five feet, laid down and began to chew on her recently stolen treasure.

I know if that had happened to me I would have done one of two things. Either gone over and taken it right back, or gone and complained to a higher authority about how something had been taken from me and it wasn’t fair.

So what was Honey’s response? Honey looked at Mia, then got up, walked over to the “toy” box and picked out another chew toy. She did not growl, she did not whine, she just moved on. She could have held on and fought but she just let it go.

What did I learn? Sometimes it’s best to just let it go. I recall this verse from 2 Timothy.

“Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 2 Timothy 2:23″

As I look through my day I can see countless times where I get into a discussion or argument that really doesn’t matter in the end, when the best thing for me to do would be to get up, go find something else, and just let it go. Earlier in the verse 4 it says:

“No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.”

Before getting involved in one of these discussions, or arguments I really need to ask, “Does getting involved with this have anything to do with what God is wanting me to do? Does it please Him?” This question even cuts out those things that may not be harmful, but just are not relevant to me or my ministry or my calling.

So my question to you. How much of your day is spent in discussions, arguments or quarrels when it would really be best to just walk away and let it go?

Why is this important to do?

Iphone Apps for Musicians: Part 2

Russell Martin — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:42:53 +0000

Last week I sent you my first three favorite iPhone apps that I use in my music ministry. Here are three more.

You Version Bible- This bible app works well and offers a ton of bible translations. Most versions however are online so the app needs a connection of some sort either through the phone network or over wifi. They just began offering a few bible translations as downloads.

Pianist- Pianist provides a basic piano keyboard to play your favorite tunes. It allows you the ability to record your compositions and includes a metronome. I have used this more though for figuring out what key a song is that I hear on a CD or for simple things like that.

Piano chords-Ever forget a piano chord? This app makes it easy to play any piano chord. Just choose the root note from the keyboard and then one of 50 different types of chords and the chord is played and shown visually on the keyboard.

Youth Worship: Making Your Job Easier

Russell Martin — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:01:48 +0000

This used to be the way I did things when I was leading the youth worship team.

1. Find a song that the youth wanted to do.

2. Type up the lyrics

3. Use my awesome ear training skills to figure out the chords

4. Transpose the key if needed for the vocals to sing

5. Rehearse with the band

6. Create a powerpoint slide from the lyrics

6. Repeat

I guess I have done it that way for the longest time because there was really no other way to do it. There were some song books that went along with some CDs but they usually contained the full piano sheet, not really easy to use for a guitar player. So I continued listening to songs, chording them out, and my computer began to become filled with pages of these creations. That was until now…

Now there are many resources that come out with everything provided for you. There are many out there from different companies. I started out using SPIN or Student Praise Interactive Network. They provide CD’s with split tracks along with lyric sheets, chord sheets, piano parts and powerpoint or media shout ready lyrics.

Recently I have started using Vertical Music Worship Tools. These provide pretty much the same thing like split tracks, lead sheets, guitar parts etc. They also include a DVD that contains videos of each instrument playing their part. This is great for demonstrating how to play a certain song on a specific instrument. This Vertical Music resource creates its arrangements from a specific artists CD. The most recent one I received were arrangements from Lincoln Brewster’s “Today is the Day” CD.

As I said before there are tons of resources like this that are now becoming available. The ones I mentioned are just the two that I have been most familiar with. I suggest these because while it is great to be able to sit and chord out song after song, is it really the best use of my time? There are still many opportunities for me to hone my ear training, music transcribing skills like when I am writing songs, or when those songs come along that I don’t have a resource for. By using these resources though I can drastically cut my arranging time down.

Oh.. I don’t have powerpoint lyrics or split tracks but I do have the lead sheets for several of my songs available for you to download. Check out all my free resources on my resource page or by clicking on free stuff

Online Lesson- Basic Chord Theory and Nashville Numbering Part 3

Russell Martin — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:40:10 +0000

This is the final post of an online lesson in Basic Chord Theory and the Nashville Numbering system. This lesson deals with how to put together scales and chords. It is built on lesson one which talked about intervals and whole and half steps and lesson two which dealt with scales and chords.

Part III -Using Nashville Numbering to Transpose

Using the Nashville Numbering system makes it easy to play any song in any key. It works simply using the following steps.

1.Write down the tones (letters or chords) in the original key.
2.Assign the corresponding numbers
3. Write down the tones in the second key
4. Find and replace

Lets say you want to transpose the chord chart for the chorus of “Hey I Love Jesus” to the key of C.

G C D C       G C D C
Hey       I love Jesus
G C D C       Em     D
He        loves me

1. Write down the tones. Since it is in the key of G we would write down:

Letters:    G     A     B     C    D     E      F#

2. Write down the numbers

Letters:    G     A     B     C    D     E      F#
Numbers : 1 2 3 4 5 6    7

3. Add the second key:

Letters:    G     A     B     C    D     E      F#
Numbers : 1 2    3    4 5    6 7
New Key:   C     D    E      F    G     A     B

4. Find and replace

C F G F       C F G F
Hey       I love Jesus
C F G F       Am     G
He        loves me

You are replacing the 7 letters (A-G) only. Any notations like minor (m) or (7) remain to the next key. So notice that on the word “Me” Em becomes Am.

Ex. 6.

Transpose the following chord progressions using the Nashville Numbering system from the original key of G to the key given in the example.

Original Numbers New Key
1. G    C   D    C         1 ___ ___ ___          A ___ ___ ___

2. G    Em D   C     1 ___ ___ ___          D ___ ___ ___

3. G Am   C Em       1 ___ ___ ___    C ___ ___ ___

Using the Nashville Numbers to transpose is very helpful in some situations. For example, if you are playing guitar and need to use a capo to move a song to a more playable key. It is also helpful for quick transpositions if you have music in one key, but it is uncomfortable for a singer, you can quickly move the song to a more acceptable range.

Starting off using the system-

So if you can use the Nashville Numbering system to transpose one key to another, why not just start of notating your music with the system. Look again at “Hey I Love Jesus” in the last section. Instead of writing out the original chords, you could just start off with the numbers. It would look something like this

1 4 5 4       1 4 5 4
Hey       I love Jesus
1 4 5 4       2m     1
He        loves me

Written like this you could now play this in any key that you were comfortable with.

Ex. 7. Transpose the song to the following keys:

Key of C

Hey       I love Jesus

He        loves me

Key of D

Hey       I love Jesus

He        loves me

Key of E

Hey       I love Jesus

He        loves me

I hope this has been helpful to you. I could go into much more depth about the system but just wanted to give you a basic understanding of how this works. It should be noted too that there is not a “standard” for the Nashville Numbering notations and there are some variations. The key is to find what works for you, and your group and stick to it.

Please feel free to use this with your praise team or for personal study. If you want the answers I can get those to you. If you missed it, view lesson one here, view lesson two here

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Online Lesson- Basic Chord Theory and Nashville Numbering Part 2

Russell Martin — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:07:43 +0000

These are lessons 2 and 3 of an online lesson on Basic Chord Theory and the Nashville Numbering system. This lesson deals with how to put together scales and chords. It is built on lesson one which talked about intervals and whole and half steps.

Part II – Scales

A scale is made up of a combination of intervals sequentially ascending or descending. For our purpose we will be looking at Major scales. Each scale will include one of every letter (A-G) of the musical alphabet.

Major Scales- Major scales pattern of steps is W W H W W W H
To figure out the scale start on any given note. Lets take C for an example. Then just move up the required step to get the next note. Then proceed from there till the end.

C (W) D (W) E (H) F (W) G (W) A (W) B (H) C

Ex. 3. Try creating a scale in the following Keys. The first letter and some of the others have been filled in to help you.

_D_ (W)____ (W)____(H)____(W)____(W)____(W)____(H)____

_G_ (W)____ (W)____(H)____(W)____(W)____(W)____(H)____

_A_ (W)____ (W)____(H)____(W)____(W)____(W)____(H)____

_E_ (W)____ (W)____(H)____(W)____(W)____(W)____(H)____

Part III- Chords

A chord is two or more tones played simultaneously. For the purposes of this lesson we will be dealing with major, minor and diminished tritones. Tri meaning three and tones meaning tones or notes. So a tritone would be three notes played at the same time.

Remember about whole steps and half steps? Well chords use that same concept as intervals. After chords are just combinations of intervals. A major chord consists of two intervals. The first interval is two whole steps, the second is a whole step and a half step. So to make a C Major chord you start with the root note. (The root note or tonic is the note the chord starts on)
and count up from there. Here is an example

Starting note is C two whole steps takes you to E and a half step and whole step take you to G

Note: Two whole steps are called a Major 3rd, A whole step and half step are called a Minor 3rd

Simplified it looks like this; C (W)(W) E (H)(W) G or C (major third) E (minor third) G

You can also find it by writing out the scale you are using and choose every other note:

C D E F G A    B C

Ex 3. Try writing out the following major chords in the key of G (Hint use the G scale above)

G major = G B __   D__

C major = C     ____   ____

D major = D     ____ ____

A minor chord consists of the opposite intervals. The first interval is a half step and whole step, the second interval is two whole steps, or a Minor third and then a Major third.

Use the same C scale but start a chord on D

D (H)(W) F (W)(W) A

Ex 4. Try writing out the following minor chords in the key of G (Hint use the G scale above)

A minor = A C __   E__

B minor = B     ____   ____

E minor = B     ____ ____

Please feel free to use this with your praise team or for personal study. If you want the answers I can get those to you. If you missed it, view lesson one here.

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Online Lesson- Basic Chord Theory and Nashville Numbering Part 1

Russell Martin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:12:22 +0000

Imagine this- You are in rehearsal and you have your chord sheet for “Lord Let Your Love” sitting in front of you. You are ready to rehearse when your group realizes that the key it is written in is too high and it needs to be changed. At this point you have two options. Scratch the song, or spend 5 minutes telling everyone what the new chords are, having them write them down, scratching out the old chords etc.

What if there were a third option? If your band understands basic chord theory and the Nashville Numbering system there can be. You can equip your band with the ability to play any song in any key.

This is what we are doing with our youth worship team. I have written a lesson complete with examples and exercises that explains what I am talking about. I will break it into sections and post it over the next few days.

Part I- Intervals
In this lesson you will get an understanding of basic chord theory, the Nashville Numbering system and practical applications for using the system to enable you to expand your ability to play songs in any key. Let’s get started.

What is an interval- An interval is the amount of space between any two given notes. We will be dealing mostly with half steps and whole steps. Look at the chart below

C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C

That is what is called a chromatic scale. A chromatic scale is what you get when you play every white and black note on a piano in sequence. You play a chromatic scale on guitar by playing every fret on a given string up the neck.

Half Steps and Whole Steps

A half step is the interval between one given note and the note immediately next two it.
A whole step is the interval you get when you skip one note in between.
We use an (H) to denote Half step and a (W) to denote whole step

Ex. 1. Write whether each interval is a whole step (W) or half step (H)

1. C-C# _(H)_

2. D-E _____

3. A-A# _____

4. F-G _____

5. E-F _____

Ex. 2. I’ll give you the first note and the interval. You fill in the correct second note.

1. C (H) _C#_

2. D (W) _____

3. C# (H) ____

4. A (W) ____

5. E (W) ____

Please feel free to use this with your praise team or for personal study. If you want the answers I can get those to you.

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Working With Youth Worship Bands: Back to Basics

Russell Martin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 07:23:00 +0000

This is part one in a series of posts entitled “Back to Basics”.

Maybe this is familiar. You are listening to the radio or latest worship CD and hear a great new song. You go home, type out the chords or find them online, grab the CD and head to rehearsal. You then play the CD over a few times, have your band play along with the chords and you are ready to go. Sound familiar?

I think that too often I have put the emphasis on learning songs instead of learning basics. Learning the songs is great, in fact that is what the group is there for. We learn the songs so we can lead our congregation in worship. But a youth band should be more than that. We have a chance when working with youth not just to teach songs, but to teach them how to play their instruments, learn some theory, and give them the tools they need to play as part of a group and to be a strong musician.

This is hard to do though for a few reasons.

#1 No one really likes learning basics like scales or patterns

#2 Often there is little time to devote to basics in rehearsal

#3 It’s just more fun to work on songs.

So why are basics important?

#1 Basics create the ground work of skills that can be applied to any song, not just one situation.

#2 Basics teach that the learning process is as important as the end result

#3 Basics help a group gel as they work together.

Over the next few weeks we are going to begin this process with our youth worship team. I will post up what we are trying and how it worked. If you have suggestions on how to help youth learn basic worship and music skills used in worship please send them to me and I will post them here.

Here is an example:

1. Pick a chord pattern used in a song you will be doing. For example G C Em D

2. Teach the pattern and chords to the instrumentalists

3. Have them play the pattern over and over.

4. Have them come up with 2 different ways of playing the pattern. One should be louder and fuller, the other softer and more open.

5. Pick a cue for each way, and have them play the patterns with you cuing them on which one to play.

You have now helped them to learn to watch you, or whoever is leading for cues. This lesson can be applied to any song. What exercises do you use with your youth or adult worship team to work on basics?

Resources: Where to Find Music

Russell Martin — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:47:00 +0000

There are plenty of free sites out there that offer you chord sheets for your favorite worship songs. Finding them is as easy as searching for the name of the song, and tabs. The result will be a variety of sites, with a variety of results. There are also some sites that cost a little but give you a lot. Two sites that I have landed on recently that I am tending to use more and more for my worship song resources.

Praise Charts- www.praisecharts.com – Praise charts is a collection of Worship songs from many of the top worship publishers on the scene today. Artists like Lincoln Brewster, Hillsongs, Tommy Walker, Mercy Me, Passion and David Crowder. Options for most songs include Orchestration, Piano, Rythm, and sometimes Finale files and chord charts. The songs are based on a credit system. You sign up and pay for 25-50 credits and use them over a one year period.

Recommendation- If your group is small and just plays mostly by tabs then this might not be the resource for you. However if you either have or are planning on any brass, winds or chorus then these arrangements are great and have it all done for you.

Song Select- www.songselect.com – Song select is a service of CCLI and provides a collection of arrangements for most of the worship songs covered by CCLI. Songs like “Mighty to Save”, “How Great is Our God”, “Blessed Be Your Name” and tons of others used in worship services everywhere. Song Select provides lyrics which are downloadable and formatted for Media Shout, Power Point etc, an audio clip, Chord Sheets, Lead Sheets and Hymn Sheets (4 part harmony arrangements). Most of the arrangements are good. I don’t particuarly care for the Hymn harmonies but I can be picky. The service over all is a set fee and you can download as much as you like. The thing I really like is that all the songs are transposable and you can print them in any key.

I listed these two paid sites because they offer consistent results and cover a multitude of songs. I know there are a ton of free websites that offer chords and tabs along with lyrics. What sites do you use when you or your worship team is looking for chord sheets?

Video Lesson: 4 Easy Chords

Russell Martin — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Last year I began a Tuesday night guitar class for some kids in my youth group who wanted to learn to play. Due to sheer time constraints, I had to discontinue my class. Some of the kids kept practicing while others lost the motivation they got from our weekly sessions. I recently began entertaining the idea of using video recording technology to create short guitar lessons for kids in my youth group. So, I tried it. This format will hopefully be good for those kids like me who hate reading tablature and books. This is approximately a 5-minute video that shows a 4-chord pattern in the key of E that can be played with the same finger pattern in several different positions on the neck of the guitar. This makes it an easy pattern to learn for a young guitar player. It is a perfect pattern for songs in E that use the E, A, B, and C#m chords. I use these chords in playing “Hungry”, “In the Secret”, “Better is One Day”, “Open the Eyes of My Heart”, “Let Everything that Has Breath”, and “Alle”, just to name a few. I hope this will be the first of several short lesson videos your young guitar players can play, pause, and rewind until they get it right. Here is the link:

In true Fork in the Road fashion, what online resources do you use in teaching the students in your youth band?