Fundamentals of Guitar presents the results of 30 years of study. It is a reference book for any style of music. Below you will find a summary of the contents, the preface, and a collection of informal instructional videos made to accompany the book.
Note: In order to be a useful tool, the spiral-bound paper version is highly recommended over the electronic version.
NAVIGATION: BOOK MAP | People have different approaches in their studies. In order to move around the book easily, each page is labeled as one of four types: Illustration, Concept, Exercise, or Notes. This is a map of the book by page type.
PAGE TYPE: ILLUSTRATION | A visual display of information. These pages are meant to inspire further study in an area if they seem interesting, or to serve as visual summaries of concepts. The goal is to provide alternative points of entry for different types of musicians.
PAGE TYPE: CONCEPT | A verbal explanation of a musical idea. These pages deal with music theory, with an emphasis on simple language. A glossary is provided at the end of the book for the definitions of technical terms that were necessary in the text.
PAGE TYPE: EXERCISE | A description of a physical process to work on a concept on the guitar. These pages are useful as a "quick start." If the material is confusing or difficult, the reader can review nearby pages to understand the context. Exercises make up the majority of the book.
PAGE TYPE: NOTES | An array of empty staves, fretboard diagrams, pitch circles, or other notation devices. These pages are inserted here and there to encourage readers to interact with the book with their own thoughts.
APPLICATION | Compositions are used extensively as examples of how information could be used in a musical context. They serve as technical études and as jumping-off points for improvisatory practice.
PART I (PITCH): THE STRING | An overview of the properties of a vibrating string, partials and harmonics, how string length relates to pitch, just intonation and equal temperament, stopped pitches and the placement of frets. Exercises include extensive studies in the possibilities of natural harmonics, and various methods of tuning the guitar by ear.
PART I (PITCH): MONADS | Locations of all single pitches on the guitar, beginning with the idea that everything on the guitar is related to a Pentatonic framework (the open strings). The section continues by building Diatonic scales from the Pentatonic and building other scales from the Diatonic. The final pages explore all possible symmetrical scales and their fingerings. Exercises include all fingerings for all scales, all possible non-redundant two and three note diatonic patterns, possibilities for modulation, randomized practice with magic squares, shifting between scales with pivots, common tones and fragments, and techniques for mastering a chromatic scale.
PART I (PITCH): DYADS | Every way to play two notes on the guitar. Exercises include fingering charts for all possible dyads in any position and a method for training interval recognition by ear and on the guitar.
PART I (PITCH): TRIADS | Every way to play three notes on the guitar. Exercises include complete fingering charts for all of the 19 possible triads, ideas for transposition and mutation, and various ways of filling 12 tone space with triadic shapes.
PART I (PITCH): TETRADS AND BEYOND | An exploration of four note structures, beginning with building tetrads from triads. It continues with an exhaustive look at the four note chords that naturally occur in the major, melodic minor, harmonic minor, and harmonic major scales, followed by a theory of dominant movements, a study of all-interval tetrads, and tables that complete the listing of all 351 possible pitch shapes. Exercises include fingering charts for the seven naturally occurring tetrads, dominant chord resolutions, cadences, and progressions, exploring chromatic space with inversions of all-interval chords, and looking at the possibilities of larger pitch sets.
PART II (RHYTHM): SYMMETRICAL PICKING | A complete course in Symmetrical Picking, a method developed especially for this book. The study uses six drum rudiments (single stroke, double stroke, triple stroke, paradiddle, flam, and ruff), to explore the possibilities of reaching any string at any time with the pick with maximum speed, flexibility, and dynamic range. Exercises include Symmetrical Picking applied to the Diatonic modes, individual pages for each rudiment, and workouts for accuracy, articulation, and endurance.
PART II (RHYTHM): SUBDIVISION OF THE BEAT | A look at subdivisions of the beat into 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 parts. Exercises include controlling accents on each subpulse and executing rhythmic figures in changing subdivisions of the beat.
PART II (RHYTHM): LEGATO | Producing more than one pitch on one string with one finger and one stroke (Slides) or multiple fingers and one stroke (Slurs). Exercises include legato fingerings on Diatonic scales, Glissando, Diatonic Ornaments, and all possible Chromatic Ornaments from 2–4 pitches.
PART II (RHYTHM): POLYPULSE | Right hand finger independence — playing constant pulses on two or more strings. The study looks at the 28 possible unique polypulses that are created by combining the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Exercises include ideas for building independence between two layers of pulses, and extension of this idea into three or more layers.
PART II (RHYTHM): POLYRHYTHM | Right hand finger independence — playing uneven rhythmic figures on more than one string at a time. The section begins with the idea of rhythmic dyads, triads, tetrads, and beyond, and continues with a table of basic figures and exploration of their possible applications. Exercises include permutations of a basic “heartbeat” rhythm, all combinations of the first three basic rhythmic figures, and examples of how the study could be extended into infinite variations.
PART II (RHYTHM): LARGER STRUCTURES | Canons, Tiling, Generative processes, and ideas for further self-directed study.
Preface
Why I wrote this book:
While writing, my goal was to produce something to inspire beginners, train intermediate students, and organize information for more advanced players. The approach is heavily visual, because I’ve often found images to be more efficient and inviting than long verbal descriptions. The content is based on performance experience, using techniques that have led to positive results for myself and other students. There is a good amount of theory, but the focus is on application. The topic is the study of fundamentals, which are useful to revisit at every stage of development, applicable to any style, and infinite in scope.
Who it’s for:
This book is meant to serve a multiplicity of personalities and skill levels — the reader is invited to skip around and explore it at any point, according to what seems interesting. There is no reference to the correctness of any particular approach — a primary goal here is to recognize and enjoy that the creative process is different for every individual. We choose the tools that best fit our needs. Think of this book as a creative toolbox — no two people will use it the same way. There is no preferred system for representing musical concepts on the page — I’ve used or invented whatever notation seems most effective for any particular purpose. This includes Western staff notation, fretboard diagrams, pitch and rhythm circles, graphs, and geometric visualizations. This decreases the cultural and intellectual biases inherent to various notation systems, reduces language barriers, and provides a point of entry for a wider variety of people. There are a fair number of advanced concepts here, but I’ve made an effort to avoid academic language and theoretical jargon, explaining things the way I understand them using plain language. The overall aim is to present the maximum amount of information in as clear and efficient a manner as possible.
What’s in it:
The book is divided into two parts: Pitch (Part I) and Rhythm (Part II). Part I is concerned primarily with the positions and movements of the fretting hand, and Part II with the possibilities of sound production with the picking hand. Part I begins the study of pitch locations and formations the fretboard, from natural harmonics to sets of 1, 2, 3 and 4 pitches. Part II addresses the often neglected topic of rhythm, beginning with a complete course in my approach to symmetrical picking and continuing with studies of multiple notes per stroke on one string (slurs, slides, and ornaments) and playing on multiple strings (rhythmic counterpoint).
How to use it:
The level of difficulty depends entirely on the approach of the reader. The main idea is that thorough study of fundamentals is necessary for freedom on the instrument, which in turn is necessary for creative work. It’s very difficult to invent new things without a sense of what is possible and a solid foundation to stand on. This is not the same as accumulating information or having a lot of technical facility. It means being able to decide what information or techniques are useful for your particular creative direction and knowing how to use the tools you have selected. In the world of instructional books there are plenty of encyclopedic listings of chord voicings, compendiums of scales, and exhaustive lists of rhythmic patterns. This is not such a book. It’s designed to be practical and achieve results. When a comprehensive list is required, it is given. The focus is on clear language, intuitive illustrations, and avoidance of redundancies. The amount of material may seem overwhelming, but the student is encouraged to treat this book like a creative sketchpad, marking up and customizing its pages. Take what is useful and discard the rest. Add your own improvements. A deep, personal knowledge of a few chosen things will serve creativity better than superficial knowledge of a huge amount of material.
– Miles Okazaki
Brooklyn, New York
December 2014
Below: 14 free videos on various topics from the book.