[dedvendies]

Hi there I'm a new guy round here, looked around this seems to be the best forum, really knowledgeable and helpful members.

So I've been playing guitar for about a year, self taught. I know all the basic chords, major minor 7th etc and I know power chords and have learnt a load of rock songs rhythm and solos purely through memorising what they play. But now I want to go deeper, i want to understand what's going on underneath all these songs and be able to improvise...

The first thing I've heard is that if something's in a certain key then this means certain scales can be played over them. My first question is how do you know what the key is? Do you look at all the chords they're playing and go, oh that's such n such key?
I work best with examples, if I said Asphault Risin' by FuManchu, what key is this in and how does that determine what scales they play over the top?
I use Fu Manchu as an example as to my ear most songs sound musically very similar, not that they don't rock just that I feel I'm glimpsing their secret but not quite seeing it.

Hope this all makes sense, keep up the great forum guys!!

[Kirk Lorange]

Hi, dedvendies.

The Music Building
The Key, the scale and the Related Chords
... those are two good lessons.

If you go to The Anatomy of a C Major Guitar Chord - The CAGED system and have a look through the lessons there, you'll get another look at it all. Start at the bottom of the page.

[knight46]

When I first found this site I looked at all of the intro material and was absolutely overwhelmed. Now as I look at the lessons and then back at this material it is starting to make more and more sense. Thanks Kirk, for taking the mystery out of music.

[Kirk Lorange]

My pleasure, knight46. It always irks me to see books and sites that try and make it more complicated than it is. Once you can stand back and see the bigger picture, it all fits together quite logically; logic is the opposite of mystery.