The Triangle Method: Breaking Down Song Learning for Guitar Beginners

So what we're going to do is we're going to take just the generic idea of a song okay , and understand what are the essential components that we need to be able to play a song . Well , we need chords , we need strumming and we need understanding

and memorizing to the best of our ability the song's structure . So if we took something really simple like Knock it On Heaven's Door by Bob Dylan , okay , now , this song would require us to play G D A , minor G D C . Now , at first you know , listen , you're not going to know that , you're just listening to the song and whatever .

So what you're doing is , in the first stages , you're just listening and trying to kind of get used to what's going on here .

So the song starts , there's strumming going on , there's these oohs happening , and then it goes into the verse , okay , and then it goes into the chorus and then it goes into a verse and again , you don't have to overanalyze it , but you're just generically kind of listening to the song , getting an overarching bird's eye view of what you're hearing with this song .

Okay , so nothing's really standing out as being weird . It's just the same thing , kind of over and over and over . So this might be a good song to learn how to play . And , of course , asking for advice is always a good thing . If you have a guitar player handy that you could ask hey , I'm learning these chords .

What would be a good song to learn how to play ? So we're listening to the song , we're kind of getting used to this . Now we zoom in a little bit and start thinking okay , so are there any changes happening here ? We know where there's a verse , we know there's a chorus , that sort of thing .

Let's start looking at the tools that we need to be able to play this song and if there's anything different that's happening . So we start listening to it and we recognize , okay , so what it actually is is G D A , minor , g D , c , over and over and over . So in the intro it's G D , a , minor , g D , c .

In the verse , in the chorus , it never changes . There's no interlude or something which often happens in a song . There might be an interlude or a weird bridge or something that happens where the chords change or the key changes or something like that . In this song it doesn't . It's a perfect song to learn how to play if you have the tools .

Okay , so structurally , we're understanding now . Okay . So , instead of

having to stare at a chart and all that sort of thing , if we just get used to thinking G D , a minor , g D , c , more specifically , g D , a minor , a minor , g D , c , c . So I'm thinking of it as a group of four , four measures , whatever you want to think of . Again , not getting too caught up in that , just real .

Simply , there's eight things happening here G D , a minor , minor , g D , c , c . So if I break it into two , it's two groups of four , very easy for me to memorize . The other thing I'm identifying is oh , it's G D and then A minor and then G D , again C . So the only thing that's really changing is the A , minor and the C .

So , structurally , again , I'm simplifying in my brain what this looks like . So now we get to the tools . Well , obviously , the chord tools would be G D , a minor and C . Those are the chords that we need to be able to play . So that's down here of this triangle .

That's down here , and then we've got strumming , trying to figure out what we're going to do for a strum . So let's focus on the chords first . So if I don't know these chords , this is probably not the right song for me right now .

This might be a perfect song once I've developed chords a little bit more , but because there are four chords , maybe what I need to do is find a song that only uses one or two chords to begin with to try and develop those , learning how to play four chords .

Maybe what I need to do is find a song that only uses one or two chords to begin with to try and develop those , learning how to play those chords right , getting comfortable with making the shapes of G , for instance , and D , and then doing what I call bouncing , where you practice making the shape over and over and over , so your hands get used to making

these . Through muscle memory , you get more accurate , you get quicker right . All those kinds of things start happening . So you practice bouncing right , bouncing the G chord over and over and over , bouncing the D chord over and over and over and all the things I always talk about .

Things like focused practicing , like if you're kind of practicing but you're watching TV , you're not really practicing , like it's . The best thing you could do is set aside some real quality time to really focus and really think about what you're trying to accomplish , whether it's 15 minutes of practice or two hours of practice . Have a plan of attack .

Don't just do a little of this and a little of this and a little of this . It's okay sometimes , but if you do that all the time , it's really hard to make any progress . So you look and you think okay , I really need to learn how to play the G chord . Why ?

Because I'm going to play this stupid chord for the rest of my life , right , whether I like it or not , it's not going anywhere . It's a super common chord that guitar players play . So I need to learn . What does it look like in my head ? What does it look like on the fretboard ? Do I have any question in my mind ?

Do I have to keep looking at a chart going ? Oh , where do my fingers go ? Okay , that's where I need to start . Right , I shouldn't have to do that anymore . Gee , I should see it in my brain . I got to study it in my head . I got to think about it . Then I got to look at my guitar and think about Think about what it looks like .

Where do my fingers go ? They go right there . I'm making a four finger cheat right now , but that's where they go . Now I can start practicing repetition

, developing accuracy , developing speed to be able to make that chord . So I'm not going , because if I have to do this , I'm not ready to play along with any song . I need to learn to play that chord as one motion with my hands . If I'm sitting here and I want G , I think about what it looks like . Think about what it looks like on my guitar .

I can see it right there . So as soon as my hand starts to raise , it makes the shape I want . I don't wait till I get to the guitar and then try and build it , because it's going to be too late . The song is going to be one or two measures ahead of me .

So I need to be able to lift , create the shape I want , and that's what I want to practice is bouncing , making that shape over and over and over , not as how you know how fast can I possibly do this ? It's not that it's relaxing and practicing over and over and over . Develop that chord .

So when you want it , your hand automatically makes it and sets it down . If you want to develop D , you do the same thing . That's the basic idea of practicing the chords , which are part of the tools that we need . So now , if I go back to the song G , d , a , minor and C , those are what I need . Do I know those chords ?

Let's say my answer is yes , I really do know those chords . Now I know what order they go in G , d , a , minor , g D , c . And again , you might play your C this way , or C , again , that's fine , whatever , g , d , a , minor , g D , c . So now I start bouncing and practicing the fundamentals , the rudimentary elements of this song .

Can I move from G , d , a , minor , g D C ? Can I do that If my D is getting stuck or my A minor is getting stuck , or whatever it might be ? That's what I need to try and focus on . See , the problem is is , what happens is people , instead of breaking down these three components , they just try and play .

They're trying to look at the chart and trying to figure out how the chords go . And then they're trying to strum and it doesn't work , and then they go . I hate this . It sucks . I'm not good at this . I can't do this . Well , that's not true at all . But you've got to break down the components . What does the song want from you ?

Do you understand what the song is actually doing for you ? Right , g , d , a , minor , g , d , c , g , knock , knock , d . Don Heavens A minor . 2 , 3 , 4 , 2 , 3 , 4 , g , knock , knock , d , C . Right , so I'm getting all that in my head . I don't need my guitar for that . I need to think about it . I need to listen , I need to analyze .

Then I need to think about it . I need to listen , I need to analyze . Then I go to my guitar and I start working on the tools . Can I do this ? So now , as I'm listening to the song and I've been working on my chords , now I don't even need this hand . I can just start thinking G , knock , knock , d , two , three , four , a .

Am I able to move my hand ? G , knock , knock , d on heaven's doorstep . Can I do that ? If I can't , I need to go back and start working on where the problem is . The beautiful thing about what we're doing right now is , oftentimes the problems that you're having will bubble to the surface because you can identify do I know what I'm trying to do ?

Am I capable of doing what is expected of me ? Do I know these things or am I trying to do something that's way outside my abilities at this point in my playing Right ? So , again , it's okay , if you try and do things , you can do whatever you want .

I'm just saying if you don't have a logical path from point A to point B , it's really hard to get from point A to point B if you're all over the place .

So that's why we start with something like two chords or three chords or four chords that are commonly used together , so we can learn how to play not one song but two or three or five or 10 or 20 songs that use these chords , because we're developing the ability of memorizing right , thinking about how the song goes , and then we're developing the ability of

being able to move these chords back and forth . Well , we're not learning these chords for knocking on heaven's door . We're learning these chords for every other song that would ever use these chords . That's the beauty of learning these and getting good with this . So notice how I started with thinking about the song , the tools that I need .

I come down here , I practice those tools . I haven't even started using this drum yet , I'm just seeing . Can I move these chords in time with the song ? As I'm listening to the song , it starts one , two , three , four , g , mama , take this badge from me , right ? So can I actually make those changes ? I can't use it anymore , right ?

Am I making a connection between these two parts of the triangle ? Yeah , okay , so it's working . Or , oh , I gotta work on D a little bit more . Okay , go back and work on D some more . Do some bouncing , real concentration

, all that kind of stuff . So now let's bring in the guitar pick . Now , from a chord standpoint of practice , the guitar pick is great because we can make sure all the notes are actually working . Are we getting the sounds that we want ? Right , D bottom , four strings .

You know , again , once we get to strumming , we'll talk a little bit about that , because nothing is absolutely perfect . Yes , the D wants four strings , but when we actually start strumming , sometimes we hit five , sometimes we hit three . Welcome to the real world of being a human being . That's what happens .

Okay , so that's what I need to do is work on are the notes working , you know ? Am I getting a bunch of this and do I need to work on that some more ? Yeah , that D is kind of struggling . I'm having a problem with that string . Okay , well , that's fine , keep working on it . You got the rest of your life to learn how to do this , you know .

Keep trying to develop it , but in the meantime , don't get caught in absolute perfection , like because the D chord is fast enough but it's not quite as clean as you want it to be . Doesn't mean you shouldn't be trying to play this song . You should still be trying to play it . Just think about it as being dirty or muddy .

Right , it's not completely clean yet , it's not exactly what you want , but you don't want to wait until the D is absolutely perfect before you start trying to play . Get in there and start trying to get messy , it's okay . And in the meantime , keep working on it , keep trying to develop it , but in the meantime , try and play the music right .

Try and start playing along . Get used to how this thing works , because a lot of times , a lot of the problems that you've got with some of these chords and the perfection element of trying to make it as good as you can , which we want to do .

Some of those things will work themselves out as you just keep playing , and once you start playing songs , it's more motivating and it feels good and you'll just start playing more and as a result of that , oftentimes these things will work themselves out , these kinks that you have will work themselves out , and if it's not , you keep working on it .

It's okay , it's nothing wrong with that . You just this is an isolated thing that you need to work on . So we're working on the notes . Are they all working ? All that kind of stuff , okay , so again , two parts of our triangle here . Now let's get to the third part , which is this . It's what I call scratching , which is what strumming really is .

Instead of always thinking about playing as a strumming pattern down , down , down , up , down , that kind of thing you learn how to just think about strumming as a rhythm instrument , like a maraca . You're just gonna move the maraca back and forth to the speed of the song , to the tempo of the song .

So if Knockin' on Heaven's Door was G , ooh , d , a minor , g , u , d , a , minor G U . So what I'm doing now is , I'm thinking about the song , I'm thinking

about the chords , but I'm focusing on the rhythm , and what I'm doing is what I call organic strumming or ocean strumming . I call it ocean strumming just because the waves of the ocean are very unpredictable , so you can't predict exactly where you know the wave's going to be bigger or smaller or louder or that sort of thing .

And the beauty of thinking about it that way is , once you get the maraca moving , you're the one that's in control of hitting softer or louder or hitting the strings . More or less the maraca just keeps going . Like right now I'm strumming , I'm just not hitting the strings .

So at any time I can just come in and hit those strings and move away , Move in , move away . It's not down , down , down , up , down , or one , two , e and like you , don't think about it that way , learn to think about it musically , learn to feel it . So as soon as you start hearing the song , you're like okay , that's where the beat is .

So here I go . Because I guarantee , if you were sitting with Bob Dylan and you said , hey , bob , how did you strum ? Knockin' at Heaven's Door , he's not going to look at you and go well , you know , I did down , down , down , up , down , up , down , down , down , up , up , up , down , down .

Like he's not going to say that to you , he's going to look at you like you're crazy and then he's going to say I have no idea , like I just play and that's the truth . Right , it's just moving . Now , if you hear that there's something specific , like a specific strumming pattern which some songs do , that's okay , you can play something more specific .

I'm just saying , if you always start with a strumming pattern and you think about it as a strumming pattern , everything begins to sound the same , very mathematical , and that's not how you want to approach playing guitar and , plus , the way I'm doing it .

It doesn't require me to think about all these things Because , ultimately , what I'm trying to do with this triangle is automate these . I want to automate them so I can sit back and let these things happen and kind of oversee everything , make sure nothing goes wrong . Right , I'm not falling off the stage or breaking a string or whatever might happen .

Right , cable comes out of my guitar , all of those kinds of things . That's the reality of playing . Okay , but I don't have to go so deep with my brain , with the resources that I have in my brain at the moment to think about well , how does the G chord go ? Where do my fingers go ?

Well , if that's what I'm thinking about , there's no way I can think about this . And there's no way I can think about the song , because I've used all my resources . I don't even know what the G chord is . I don't even really know how it goes . You see , if I automate these three pieces , the whole thing becomes easier .

People will say well , how do you play and sing at the same time ? Well , that's exactly how you play and sing at the same time . This triangle becomes a square and the other corner is now you're singing . But you've got to automate all these things .

You can't just expect that it's all going to come together because you bought a really nice guitar or you practice . It all depends on what you're practicing and how you're practicing . That makes all the difference , you see . So the more you automate each piece , the easier this whole thing becomes . I know how the song goes . I've thought about it .

I can hear the changes right . My teacher showed me , or I learned on a chart or whatever , how Knockin' on Heaven's Door goes , and I can see the chords in my mind as the song's playing . I can see them . I can see them on my guitar . Now I've actually practiced moving my hands and I can move them fast enough .

I've been learning to strum along or scratch along to the song , and this is the big thing again , that people get wrong because they

just assume that the strum is supposed to happen because we learn the chords . That's not true . They're two very different things . Chords , to me , are very black and white . You either know them or you don't , because you've either spent enough time with them , but there's nothing creative happening there . Your G isn't any more creative than anybody else's G .

It's a G chord . That's what it is . You either can do it or you can't . But strumming is very different , because strumming , as soon as your guitar pick hits those strings , you're doing something that people can hear . If I'm not strumming , you're doing something that people can hear . If I'm not strumming , you're not hearing anything .

But as soon as I start strumming , it's either going to sound like . It's either going to sound like that or it's going to sound like whatever you want . But there's more music in the second one than there is in the first one . So , learning to break these three pieces down and practice each one independently . Don't just expect that it's all going to work .

I usually tell people , too , that these two hands really aren't friends with each other . They're doing something completely different . The both sides of your brain are focusing on something completely different . This is very analytical , black and white . This is not so . If you have to sit and concentrate on all these things , this is where this is going to fail .

Okay , so that's what I want you to think about is , whenever you go into a song , think about these three different components and developing them independently . When you practice on a daily basis , part of your practice routine should be working on chords , bouncing , you know , cleaning up all these sorts of things .

Don't try and do 50 chords if you can't do one . That's just overwhelming . And learn chords in a logical order . Learn them in a key . If you're learning G , c would be a great chord . To learn D would be another great chord to learn . Why ? Because songs use those three chords together .

In a family , we call it key all the time and again , you can always ask for help if you're not sure . That's exactly why you want to talk to somebody about that . But learning chords in a logical order where they're used together makes sense because you can play way more songs in the long run .

Okay , and then learning how to scratch , not with chords , not with all this other stuff . You could turn on the radio , you could turn on a playlist , you could

put on one of your favorite CDs , whatever and just start learning to scratch along , find a groove and play . Now you want to identify what's harder or easier to try and strum along with . I mean , if you're trying to play along with a Slayer song on an acoustic guitar and you don't know how to do anything yet , that might not be the best place to start .

I'm a Slayer fan as well , but that's probably not the best place to start . Start with something that makes sense with what you're trying to learn how to do and then build into it right . So find songs that are kind of mid-tempo , that you can actually hear a guitar strumming , and you can .

You know there's a drum there that you can hear there's a beat , and you can start trying to figure out , kind of where this exists . And then from there you can go in all kinds of crazy places with your guitar playing , and I encourage you to do so . But start by learning how to break down this , this triangle , all right .