R L Resuming demonstrations — Righty Guitar ONLY           Chord construction We interrupted the initial Cipher System demonstration examples (plotting Cipher-formula with the Five Degree Calculation Lines and counting-grids) to explore the Pattern of Unisons and Octaves - the landmarks and boundaries around which all other fretboard patterns are constructed. In those first examples, the musical materials illustrated were limited to small areas of fretboard, encompassing only three strings, the first three points of any Five Degree Calculation Line, and spanning no more than one octave. Having previewed the big-picture of how the fretboard works, via the Pattern of Unisons and Octaves, we are free now to explore and use the entire fretboard at will. Chords, and everything about them, consume ninety percent of the space  in any music theory textbook. It follows that the Cipher and  this web site too are largely about chords (or will be in the end). We'll conclude the Cipher System demonstration examples now by enlarging the demonstration area to include all six strings at once, the complete six-point Five Degree Calculation Line, and two octaves of pitch. The musical materials I've chosen to illustrate will not only put the Cipher System through its paces, but they'll also expose you to what real-life chord construction on the fretboard is all about. That is, contrary to the textbook ideals and compared to keyboard construction — with its two handed chording, greater range, no Unisons, etc. Textbook chord-theory is one thing, but fretboard mechanics (applying that knowledge to the fretboard) is something else entirely. Even if you already knew all there was to know about music theory (chord construction and connection), note reading assumed, and you simply wanted to apply that knowledge to the guitar fretboard, you'd still be faced with a formidable challenge. Compared to the keyboard, a superior chording instrument, the fretboard imposes many restrictions and limitations. Adapting and designing chord voicings for the fretboard is always a compromise between what we'd like to do and what we can do. The best way to illustrate that for you is to play a game of reinvent the wheel. That is, pretend that the guitar and it's turning has just recently been developed, and we, who already know music theory (and the formula of chords), are the first try to adapt, design, or invent chord voicings for it. The Cipher System happens to be the best tool you could hope for if you're really had to do that. i.e. start over. Its no-nonsense counting grids leave no room for doubt or misunderstanding. What you see is what you get. We'll begin with the simplest of chord forms, the three-toned triad, in root position. Specifically, the Major triad. Given that we have six strings to fill, but a triad only requires three of them to be expressed completely, we'll double all three chord tones. That is, double the root, double the third, and double fifth, if we can. We'll attempt to create a playable and movable voicing/shape constructed in that stock root-position formula order [R, 3, 5, R, 3, 5], something that would be very simple to do (and play) on the piano. The first thing we have to do, then, is determine the Cipher number-values of the six tones we hope to include in this extended Major-triad voicing. That will require a small amount of arithmetic (i.e. addition). We already have the number-values of the first three tones. That is, the Cipher formula (half-step formula) for any Major triad it is [ 0°-4°-7° ]. To double any chord tone means: to add a tone of the same letter-name but a different octave (higher or lower) to the original chord*. In this example, all of our doubled tones will be one octave higher in pitch than the original tones. In the Cipher System, to increase the pitch of any tone by one octave means to increase its number-value by twelve (i.e. twelve degrees or twelve half-steps). So all we have to do is add 12 to the number values of each of the three original triad tones. See Figure 1. *Note: triad voicings having more than three tones (i.e. those that include one or more doubled tones) are still called triads because they (still) only contain three distinctly different (letter-named) tones. That is, the octaves (or doubled tones) are redundant. They bring nothing new to the chord, as far as formula definitions and requirements are concerned. This principle applies to all chords of any size. i.e. doubled tones don't count. They neither influence nor change the naming of the chord.     Figure 1       To provide us with ample room to plot tones and experiment, we'll select an area of the fretboard near its mid-point. We'll construct an A Major triad from the tone on string-one fret-five. That tone A will be zero degrees (the root of the chord), and the zero-point (or alignment-point) of a complete Five Degree Calculation Line and subsequent counting grid. Figure 2 shows the results of the first trial attempt at constructing a stock order root position triad, extended by doubling all tones. This voicing/fingering is clearly not very usable. Even though it could (?) be played (with a short index finger barre of tones 7°, 12°, and 16°, while being careful not to muffle the sixth string, letting it sound open for the doubled fifth [19°]), it is still not movable. The voicing cannot be slid up and down the neck to serve any/all other root tones. It's a one-time-only voicing, if that. But we won't give up yet.       Figure 2       There are other ways we might voice this chord that would still satisfy our overall requirements. All we really need, at this point, are a few strumable chords that use up all six strings (for maximum volume and richness), can be chorded easily, contain nothing but tones belonging to this triad (A, C sharp, D), and hopefully will be movable. We aren't concerned here with the intricacies of voice-leading, were every tone of the chord must be precisely selected and positioned to achieve some ideal desired flow of part-lines (internal melodies) connecting the previous chord to the present chord and prepared well to transition to the next. The only strict requirement we'll impose upon these voicings is that they be in root position. That is, that the lowest pitch tone of the chord is the root of the chord (A). The order of tones beyond the root is (for the present) unimportant. When the chord is strummed, it will sound good. The tones will blend/harmonize acceptably no matter how the tones are arranged internally. So we have more freedom to experiment than we may have thought. One common technique used to re-voice guitar chords, for any reason, is to omit or drop one or more of its tones. The remaining tones are then (usually) rearranged to fill up the gap on the freed/unused string, and if there's room (and need) for it, the dropped tone can be reintroduced/repositioned elsewhere. i.e. at a nearby alternate unison or octave site. In the case of an extended triad, having redundant doubled tones, there are no critical considerations to take into account when choosing which tone to drop. All three essential chord tones will be present at least once within the chord. (The only tone we agreed not to touch is the root A on string-one. So we're free here, to both rearrange the natural/stock-order of tones beyond the root, and we're also free to drop a doubled/redundant chord tone at any point in the voicing (excluding the lowest root), for any reason, whenever we need or want to. So our re-voicing options, using this technique alone, are indeed numerous. So let's return now and see how we might re-voice and salvage that initial six-string A Major triad. Figure 3 shows two alternate re-voicings of our chord, employing the technique of dropping a tone. The changes are occurring on strings five and six. Voicing 1 = our first voicing: with all tones doubled and following strict formula order. Voicing 2 = new alternate: drop the doubled fifth (19°) on string six. Replace it with another octave of the root A on string six = 24°. Voicing 3 = new alternate: drop both the original doubled third and fifth (16° and 19°). Replace them with a different (unison) doubled fifth (on string five) and (again) the next higher octave of the root. i.e. 24° on strings-six fret-five.       Figure 3       Compared to our first voicing, these two new chords are an improvement. They would be somewhat easier to play and (assuming that you could play them) they would also be movable - there are no open-string tones. Most of you will recognize the shapes of these two voicings as the common G Major chords played within the first three frets (see Figure 4). So these voicings do have an important use. i.e. we did need to find (invent) them, our experiments have bore fruit, and our time has not been wasted. But the issue of playability and ease-of-use remains. We haven't exhausted all of our options yet, however, so let's continue and try again.     Figure 4       Until now, our re-voiced chords have retained much of the shape of the original voicing. The first four tones (strings one through four) have remained unchanged. Any dropped tones occurred late in the voicings, affecting only strings five and six, so the commonalities among those chords was easy to see and follow. This time, we'll drop a tone (deviate from the stock formal-order) much earlier in the voicing. Consequently, the overall shape-change of the next chord (Figure 5), compared to our initial voicing, will be dramatic. But a common lineage still exists between it and the previous chords. They all share the same root A on string-one fret-five and some other tones as well. For this next re-voicing then (Figure 5) we'll drop the first third (4°), originally the second tone of the chord, and then continue with triad tones following the normal stock order. The order of tones in this next voicing, then, will be [R, 5, R, 3, 5, R], totaling six tones. Note; there is (still) another third later in the voicing, so the requirement that it be present somewhere in the chord is fulfilled. To illustrate their relative locations and shared tones, Figure 6 combines both shapes (previous and new) into one drawing. So at last, we've found an example of the kind of voicing we had hoped to find - a six string A Major triad voicing that is easy to play and movable (see fingering diagram Figure 7). We have just reinvented the common workhorse Major triad barre-chord (one of two common shapes). Furthermore, this voicing/shape is well suited to modification. From this one shape, we can derive voicings for many other common chords, and they too will be movable and easy to play. Figure 8 shows some of those shape-related chords. The chords in Figure 8 are typical of the kind of voicings that guitarists must (of necessity) use day to day. Notice that none of these voicings reflect the stock chord construction formal-order of chord tones (Figure 9). In all cases the tones above the root are mixed up and out of normal prescribed sequence.     Figure 5             Figure 6             Figure 7             Figure 8       The table in Figure 9 compares the stock chord-formulas for these chords with the real-life voicings (order of tones) that the guitar, as a rule, presents us with. Understand, there's nothing innately bad or wrong with these voicings, nor are they the only possible voicings available to us. My intention here was simply to illustrate my earlier statement; "Even if you ready knew all there was to know about textbook music theory and chord construction, applying that knowledge to the fretboard is another story". And we've only just begun. The larger the chord is, the more compromises and design decisions there'll be to make, and the more compromised our voicings will be. A real thirteenth-chord, for example, should contain seven different tones. But the guitar only has six strings! We will, of course, drop as many non-essential chord tones as we have to (for any chord, larger or small), to create a usable and acceptable voicing. i.e. We'll make do. But strictly speaking, true 13th chords (among many others) are in fact impossible to construct properly on the guitar. So while schooled and good-eared guitarists can and do craft wonderful music on/for their instruments, all of us, knowingly or not, are doing so within the bounds and limitations imposed by the instrument. More often than not, we must settle for the best (less than ideal) solutions that the guitar permits.     Figure 9       Having completed this last round of demonstrations, we've now reached a comfortable place to stop, review, and look ahead. We've only scratched the surface of how chords are constructed and voiced (in general and then on the fretboard), but we've walked once around the track, gotten the lay of the land, and accomplishing many things at once. You now know all there is to know about the Cipher System's primary components and operations. The hardest part, introducing and explaining our basic set of tools (if that was hard), is over. We can now turn our attention to using our tools, learning about music theory, and applying what we learn directly to the fretboard - and without having to learn how to read staff notation. Given that the Five Degree Calculation Line(s) and counting grid(s) provide so much insight into how the fretboard truly and naturally works, you now know more about fretboard mechanics, apart from music theory per-say, than any note-reader could hope to piece together even after years of diligence study. So even if you were to leave here now and never return, you may already have learned more about the guitar than you ever thought you would or could. I think it's fair to say that The Cipher delivers . . . and here’s more to come.       Index of The Cipher for Guitar (core): 3 Minute Introduction for Guitar Commonsense String Numbers for Guitar Number formula translation tables: intervals, scales, and chords Five Degree Calculation Line for Guitar Cipher Demonstrations 1 for Guitar Pattern of Unisons and Octaves for Guitar Cipher Demonstrations 2 (Righty Guitar only) Triads on the Guitar fretboard (two pages) Scales: Major, minor, parallel, on Guitar fretboard Chord Progressions for Guitar (Triads of Major) Notes of Guitar fretboard spelled Blank 6 string fretboard grid paper in PDF     Up to Top of page