Hi I decided to go with the app to enhance my practice. I am working on my 5 songs to pass 1st grade LOL. I really wanted to work on the song Teach your Children as this is such an inspiring song. The problem I have on the app is the chords are different from everywhere else I look. The chords for this song I believe should be D, A, G and BM. In the APP there is no band or vocals and the chords show G, C, D and EM? Can someone help me understand the different chords and can band and vocals be added?
The culprit is probably the BM chord. The app is designed for beginners and BM is not a beginner chord in Justin’s method so the app might be transposing the chords so that they are playable with the chords in the beginner courses.
The relationship between the 4 chords you expect and the 4 chords in the app are the same. Without getting into theory, the chords you found play the song in the key of D and the app is playing it in the key of G. Nothing you need worry about now. The result is that the song will sound the same just in a higher and lower pitch.
This is usually done to suit the vocal range of the singer. But in this case I am sure Alexis is correct. Selecting the key of G enables you to play the song with the open chords you have learned.
If there is no band and vocal then maybe it is an issue with availability or what the publisher permits.
Some of the App songs are very basic - just MIDI files with piano for the vocal melody, and this song is one of them.
There are other apps that allow you to slow down and transpose the original songs. Examples for iOS are Chord.ai, Chordify, and Anytune. But they are significantly more complicated to use than the Justin Song App.
Hey Sue! You should stick with the main chord progression of Teach Your Children, which is D G D A. Most of the song is just that. Now to get good, there is the finesse stuff like leading in bass notes and cross pick accuracy. Before you go down that rabbit hole, just work on timing and the basic tune which again is those chords your already know: D G D A. In the song there is a D G D A + D A D phrase; so that is just what you are practicing plus chords D A D. The wrinkle is the second chorus, which includes that Bm chord. The second chorus is D G D + Bm G A. Ok, work it and maybe watch this guy: How to play "Teach your Children" by Crosby Stills and Nash (acoustic guitar) - YouTube You show me yours; then I learn too -R
The original version is in the key of D, with the chord sequence of D,A,G,Bm, being the I, V, IV & vi chords of that key.
Now as @alexisduprey has said, Justin doesn’t teach the Bm until later, as it requires an A shaped Barre.
So to make the song playable using the already taught chords, the song is transposed to the key of G. Now the I, V, IV & vi chords in that key, are G,C,D,Em, which can all be played as open chords.
Now as the original song is in the key of D, if you wanted to play along with the original recording, you can use the open chords by using a capo at the 7th fret. This in effect transposes the G,C,D,&Em chords back to D,A,G&Bm.
Only issue is the fretboard can get a bit crowded up there, which can cause a few issues with fretting chords cleanly, but if you have a capo, it’s worth trying.
Side note - minor chords are signified with a lower case m. A capital M typically signifies a Major chord aka the basic chord, but convention is to only right the chord letter for major chords.
and the chords show G, C, D and EM? Can someone help me understand the different chords and can band and vocals be added?