Hi @WonderMonkey, those five are the most common keys for pop/rock/blues/country etc. You start to get in to the more esoteric keys if you start getting into jazz or classical, but well over 90% of pop are in those five that you are focusing on. You teacher likely asked you to start with these as you get the ‘biggest bang for your buck’ learning them.
Try using the filters on the JG song site. I quickly did it and there are 34 songs there with just those 4 chords. Not all will be in that particular progression, but it might give you a start. You could also Google “songs in the key of G” and you might get a useful list.
Agreed, and it’s also not overwhelming. He actually just wanted me to know the chord pattern for Major keys, which are Major, Minor, Minor, Major, Major, Minor, and Diminished, but I misunderstood and zoomed way into next month. Since I was there, he suggested I do the optional work of A, C, D, E and G. I’ll do that after my normal work and will apply all of them to the chord I, vi, IV, V sequence so I can hammer that home.
Thanks for the point on the song filters, I will do that also.
Today, I graduated from Grade 2 to Grade 3. I feel that I didn’t rush the process and explored each module appropriately. I have not looked at Beginner Grade 3 yet, but I will in about 5 minutes, and I’m excited to see what it holds.
Though I have taken part of it before, I am restarting Justin’s Practical Music Theory course. It looks like it has been updated since I did part of it previously.
Working on my E and A shape barre chords, variations and moving them around. Moving towards being able to play all the chords in the CAGED keys. Since I’ve been practicing the E shape already in the form of the FU chord, that is already progressing. That A shape, however… that’s going to need some work. Justin has some lessons on the barre chords in various grades, so I found E and A and will work through them. In two weeks, if I demonstrate progress and understanding, I’m sure we will add things, but I know that it will take quite some time to play these two barres in time and with confidence.
For a few days, so as to introduce too many things at once, I’m only going to use 6th-string barre chords for my major and minors. I’ll do my technique practice and then play many songs. I was telling my instructor that I found a special thrill in taking a song in a key and transposing it to another, even if it sounded terrible (out of key). Just the ability to look at my chords in a key chart that I made gave me a boost of “I’m doing something!”. Now, being able to play any note (major and minor for now) on the 6th string quickly using barre chords will also be awesome. It is something I’ve NEVER learned to do, and if I had not engaged with my Justing Approved Instructor, I would NOT have gotten here this fast and with confidence.
Also, how I’m doing things is that my instructor and I will cover things in our lesson, and then I find videos from Justin on the topic and reinforce what was taught. My instructor and I have 55 minutes in a lesson, but I can watch many videos, if needed, on the topic. The combination of the two is exactly what I hoped it would be.
I’ve been having an elbow issue. This stems from some pain I was feeling in December of 2023, and no doubt irritated by how many hours I sit and use a mouse, as well as the stress the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu puts on the forearm/elbow. I feel it when I’m strumming, though the guitar isn’t the issue; it’s just the pain from other things that are felt while flailing about. So … my instructor and I chatted this morning (7 am my time), and rather than take time away from playing guitar (and my new piano!) I am going to start picking, specifically fingerpicking. So, on the fly, he helped diagnose things, started an introductory lesson on fingerpicking, and spoke about where we were heading.
Fingerpicking is something I have played around with in the past, but only like a video lesson here and there.