We believe that just about everyone is well-equipped to start exploring and making musical sounds from day one.  You can hear when a singer or instrument is out of tune.  You can remember songs and melodies.  If you’re literally just starting out, then you probably won’t have the mechanical skills developed yet to play the guitar.   That is normal.  But you can start to develop your ear and your musical knowledge  from soon after day one, so you recognise sounds, and tie that to shapes we show you for making these sounds on your guitar.

Prerequisites

Please read the  emuso approach to learning music and check out its video as well.

I highly recommend you look at the explanation on how to use the mouse with emuso.  If you don’t, then you need to know that the term “CTL-left click” that comes up in the xamples below mean:  hold down the Ctrl key on your computer keyboard, then click the left mouse button.

 

Your first ear tests…

In these interactive examples, you’ll see and hear some shapes and sounds. To call up an example, click on the small red-purple icon showing an eye and ear.

If you make a mistake, by just using left-click where CTL-left click is required,  the shape will change (either lose one if its notes, or get a new one) but don’t worry, just continue as asked.  Or you can press the “><” button at the bottom right of emuso to start again.

 

Here’s one sound flavour to move around and listen to

And a different one.

Do you agree that the sounds from these two example are different sound flavours?

If you do agree, you are already well-equipped to start learning musical sounds and how to use them.  If not, then you may have to concentrate harder, switching between the two shapes. Rerun the above examples as you need.  Some people do not have the ability to do this, no matter how hard they try.

 

Now try this.  You’ll listen to a sound that most people find abrasive.  You’ll  be asked to move one of the members of the shape making that sound, and listen again, and observe your feelings after the change of sound.

Most people feel a sense of relief.  If you felt this, then your ears detected a clash set up by the note choice, which was then sorted out by moving a note so it coincided with the rest of the shape.  We use this in music all the time, maybe not as blatantly, to make you feel stuff, to propel the music on.  If you feel like it, try clicking either side, but right alongside, any of the members of the shape, listen, then delete it, and listen again.

 

 

Setting the Scene for the Upcoming Lessons

The fundamental music building blocks at your disposal are 2-note sound combinations called intervals, and there are various scales made of interval patterns, and selections made from a scale to create a melody or chords.  You will be exploring these.

You won’t use music notation to start with (not these lessons) as they can be intimidating.  You’ll encounter a bare minimum of the jargon; just what’s needed to understand other musicians. You’ll rarely encounter note names … they are a lot less relevant than you may imagine.  You just need to use your ears, your eyes, your hands, your imagination, and your emotions, and learn how to use the tools of music, such as chords and scales, melody and harmony and rhythm.

You will explore the emotional impact that different sounds make on the listener .. as we can use these to keep a tune interesting.  This impact comes from what sounds are put together and when against the rhythm.  You interact by clicking on a virtual guitar, but of course you should try what you are shown on your own guitar, if you have one.

This basic information will set you up for making a lot of your own music, and pave the way for moving beyond the beginner.  As you progress, you’ll see that the same concepts repeatedly crop up with different usages.

Different scales to use.  Different chords to use.   Different scales to use with those chords.

But the intervals that underlie all of these are the same few shapes, so once you know them (which is trivial) you can relate these to all these new uses.  This both focuses and minimises your learning, and maximises on reapplying what you know.

All of this builds on what you are about to learn in these beginner lessons.

These lessons do not teach songs.  These are discussed in their own right, with the note choice being explained there.  But you will have an assortment of chords you can use, and understand how to put these together, as is done with songs.

I really hope you enjoy these lessons, and have fun with emuso, and hopefully, a few musical revelations.  I wish you a fun musical journey.  This is one that you can travel on through your life.

 

Next

Take a look at the lesson “working with emuso lessons” as this gives hints and tips on how to drive emuso during the upcoming lessons. Just click on the “Lessons” button at the top of the lesson to get back to the available lessons.