Guitar

Songs I'm learning, theory I keep forgetting, and practice that actually worked.

Most guitar theory gets taught twice — once in Western terms and once in sargam — and almost never in a way that shows they are the same system. This series does that, because I grew up hearing sa re ga ma and learning C D E F, and it took far too long to notice they describe the same thing.

What's here

1. Guitar theory — the nine-part arc, in order: fretboard, sargam, sharps, chords, voicings, capo, rhythm, notation, and one melody worked through end to end — #music/theory
2. Pieces and problems — the E♭ chord, and Sting's Shape of My Heart — #music/pieces

The one thing worth knowing first

Sargam is movable. Sa is not a fixed pitch — it is whichever note you decide to call home. Choose C and you are in C major; choose D and every relationship stays identical, just higher. Western solfège calls this movable do, and it is the same idea.

That is why the fret patterns work anywhere on the neck. Learn the shape once and you have it in all twelve keys — and it is why a capo works at all: it does nothing but choose a different Sa.

Back to notes.