Mel Bay Murphy Method Learning To Hear Chord Changes (DVD)
For banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and guitar. Taught by Murphy Henry with Red Henry.
For many people, learning to hear chord changes is one of the hardest parts of learning to play bluegrass. No matter what instrument you are trying to play. And even if you hear when a chord changes, what chord does it change to? And how do you know?
This brand-new DVD will help you learn to hear those chord changes! Even if you’ve never heard a chord change before in your life! Murphy begins with simple, well-known, two-chord songs (like Skip to My Lou) and walks you through the process step-by-step.
First she sings each song while playing the guitar. Then, going through the song slowly, she demonstrates what the song would sound like if you didn’t change the chord. So you can hear that it sounds “wrong.” When she moves to the “right” chord (not a hard choice when you’ve only got two chords!), you immediately hear that the song sounds “right.” And that, she says, is the process: “If it sounds wrong, it is wrong.”
She then demonstrates each song with banjo, mandolin, and fiddle. She does simple strums on banjo and mandolin, and “chop” chords on the fiddle. (Which she shows you.) Red Henry, Murphy’s husband, helps out on guitar and mandolin.
Eventually she moves to three-chord songs, using the C chord. And later, she introduces the A chord and the F chord. She points out that each of these chords has a distinctive sound, and she tries to help you hear that.
