Welcome to Infinite Fretboard!

"Since the artist's hand should give vital form to the beauty contained both in the nature of the instrument itself and in the spirit of the work of art, it is obvious that it should master to the utmost degree all the secrets which the instrument conceals." -Guglielmo Papararo, La Tecnica Degli Arpeggi

Fascinated by the secrets which the instrument conceals, I am starting this blog to chronicle my discovery of the many patterns which are hidden within the guitar's fretboard. I will frequently post videos demonstrating concepts such as triads, scales, modes, intervals, etc., accompanied by thorough analysis and discussion.

While studying for my Bachelor of Music degree, I noticed that the guitar program didn't have enough of an emphasis on fretboard theory/knowledge. My intention is to share my knowledge with fellow guitarists in order to inspire others to push the instrument to its limits and beyond.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Drop Voicings Part 1: Introduction

Image
In part 1 of this article, we will identify a challenge that is inherent to the guitar and suggest a solution: Drop Voicings. Then we will go into depth about the most common example: Drop-2.  In part 2, we will dissect all the types of drop voicings. In part 3, we will learn a practical exercise that will incorporate the drop voicings into your harmonic vocabulary.  If you are curious about what "Drop-2" or "Drop-3" means, this article is for you. If you do know what those terms mean, you might find some additional insight here. To start, here are the four inversions of a C Major 7 chord:   Fig 1: Close Voicings These are called the "close voicings" because the notes are as close together as possible. If you look at the top and bottom notes of each inversion, you'll find that the notes span an interval less than an octave. For example, root position has the interval C-B, which is a Major 7th. 1st inversion has the interval E-C, which is a minor 6th. T...
Read more

The Secrets of the Diminished Scale that Theory Professors Don't Want You to Know About

Image
The diminished, also known as the "Octatonic" scale is known for its symmetry which is achieved by a strict alternation of half-step, whole-step, half-step, whole-step etc. G diminished scale One of the many fascinating facts about the diminished scale is its eight tones can be organized into two fully diminished 7th chords, a half step away. The two diminished chords that comprise the octatonic scale On top of that, if we invert any diminished 7th chord, we get the exact same intervals of the original chord, which results as the same shape on guitar shifted up three frets. For example, the G diminished chord above becomes B-flat diminished. B-flat diminished 7th With these two facts in mind, it can be extrapolated that any octatonic scale may be harmonized with nothing but diminished chords, as such: Fig 4: Harmonized G Octatonic Scale Yet this scale hides much more than just diminished chords. It has minor 7th, dominant 7th, major 7 sus4 #11, an...
Read more

CESH Of The Century!

Image
You might've read my previous article on common tone diminished chords (a secret technique to spice up your chord progressions) .  If not, click here to check it out!  The following is a continuation of that article. The year is 2018 and everyone is talking about the B-flat Major7 chord with a C in the bass. Is it a 9th chord in 1st inversion or a sus 13th chord? It's the 2k18 sound . Who cares! I'm more concerned about CESH. CESH is just a fancy acronym for Chromatic Embellishment of Static Harmony . You every read through a boring chart that is something like G7 for 4 bars, followed by C7 for 4 bars? CESH is a way of embellishing such a progression so that one doesn't fall asleep on the gig. While working on common tone diminished chords for my previous article, I realized that chords like these were an effective tool for incorporating CESH. Let's start with a G7 chord: Ex 1: G7 Boring, huh? There's a few different ways of making it more interes...
Read more