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Welcome
Welcome to Dan Becker's Guitars and Music Site, a personal web site
with articles on playing the guitar, music theory, guitar chords and scales,
performances, technical investigations, and helpful hints. This site has sections
on Music Charts, Demo
Performances, and various amplifier articles.
Navigations buttons on the left side will take you there also.
I never was a dedicated musician when I was younger. I did play accordion,
trumpet, and I sang occasionally. All that changed late in 2007 when my wife gave
me a beginner electric guitar for Christmas, a Paul Westerberg model First Act. I
learned my first three open chords and suddenly I was playing The Beatles, Buddy
Holly, and lots of pop classics. Together with friends who were learning as well,
there were many nights of playing and drinking.
After simple beginnings, I learned many more chords. Then I tackled scales. I
bought many books, and as usual for me, I made lots of charts and notes to help
me remember what I studied. Then I opened up my amplifiers and started digging
around in there. Since I shared my charts and my notes with my friends, I decided
I might as well share them with everyone, so I created this page for you. My
thanks to the many instructors and authors who made learning the guitar,
amplifiers, and music theory so much fun.
Music Charts Quick List
Music theory charts with details and explanations are on the
Music Charts page. Here is a quick list of the charts available
on that page.
- Big Chord Chart (explanation) - common chords and moveable chord shapes.
- CAGED Forms Chart (explanation) - 6 forms to play C, A, G, E, D major and minor chords.
- Big Scales Chart (with fingering) (explanation) - 5 forms each for major, minor,
pentatonics, blues, and country blues with finger placements.
- Big Scales Chart (with note degrees)
(explanation) - 5 forms each for
major, minor, pentatonics, blues, and country blues with scale degrees.
- Triad Arpeggios Chart (explanation) - 5 forms each for major, minor,
diminished, augmented, suspended 2 and 4 triads.
- Seventh Arpeggios Chart (explanation) - 5 forms each for major 7th,
dominant 7th, augmented 7th, minor 7th, minor 7th flat 5, diminished 7th.
- Triad Chords Chart (explanation) - 5 forms each for major, minor,
diminished, augmented, suspended 2 and 4 triads. Roots and inversions color coded.
- Seventh Chords Chart (explanation) - 5 forms each for major 7th,
dominant 7th, augmented 7th, minor 7th, minor 7th flat 5, diminished 7th.
Stock Seventh Chord open voicings highlighted in yellow.
- Mode Scales for G (explanation) - 7 mode scales for G. This chart shows
Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian scales for G.
- Harmonized 7th Chords (explanation) - shows harmonized 7th
chords progressions with stock fingerings on several areas of the fretboard.
- Major and minor pentatonics (explanation) - shows relation of major and
minor pentatonics on the fretboard.
- Ninths (explanation) - shows CAGED forms for ninths and related chords.
Performances
Here is a list of the latest performances. More media and more detailed stories are available
on the Performances page.
- 2017/02/12 - Not really a performance, but a demo of an
Epiphone Guitar Amp Upgrade
- 2016/02/15 - Dan plays an original song
Dirty Dishes.
It started with some jazzy chords, but then with the piano solo, it ended
up sounding like a Burt Bacharach tune. Oh well, I guess
Burt has implanted a chest splitting alien in me.
- 2014/07/14 - Bonus track! Here is a video of "Bill Me Later" playing
Iggy Pop - Home.
- 2014/06/21 - Some videos of "Bill Me Later" playing at Hoggepalooza 2014:
The Clash - London Calling,
The Black Keys - Gold on the Ceiling,
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Soul to Squeeze, and
ZZ Top - Jesus Left Chicago.
- 2014/02/23 - Dan and Aaron Hernandez play a song
No Job Today.
We always enjoyed playing guitar together, so my highly talented nephew and I decided
to make a song.
- 2014/01/13 - Dan plays a song
Trenchtown Bot.
It started out as an original tune, but then I was strongly influenced by
Bob Marley's Trenchtown Rock.
I give him credit for the melody, but the lyrics, bass, rhythm, and arrangement are me.
All instruments (including the highly important güiro and vibra-slap) are done by me.
- 2013/12/19 - Dan plays an original song
Submerged.
I got a bit spooked by a local news article, a woman's body discovered in a local lake.
This song describes some of the events, part true, part fiction.
- 2013/11/03 - Dan plays an original song
Curious Night.
This was a kind of spooky song based on some foggy nights with
strange animals and nature sightings. All instruments played by me.
- 2013/09/17 - Dan plays an original song
Summertime.
It was a lazy hot summer here in Austin, Texas. So I wrote a mid tempo song just in time for the end of summer.
- 2013/04/27 - Dan plays an original song
Turn Out the Light.
This song was inspired by some James Brown riffs and some LED lights that never shut off.
- 2013/03/31 - Dan plays an original song
I Heard Coyotes Cry.
- 2013/01/31 - Here is a
lip-sync video of our work house band "Bill Me Later" playing a cover of the Black Keys'
Gold on the Ceiling.
- 2012/11/11 - Dan plays an original song Here Comes Sandy.
This is a tribute to people who had to endure Hurricane Sandy in the U.S. northeast.
- 2012/03/18 - Dan plays an original song Bacharach Attack.
A song about having Burt Bacharach songs stuck in your head.
Complete with piano, horns, and violins, just like a real Bacharach song.
- 2012/01/30 - Dan plays an original song Bootser Bear.
This is a standard blue progression song with some verses about Mookie, Satchmo, and Harriet.
- 2011/07/24 - Dan plays an original song Tsurf Tsunami.
This song is inspired by some surf music I have been listeneing to. Drenched in reverb and tremolo.
- 2011/07/17 - Dan plays an original song Time Is Moving
Slow. Another Sunday session on the Zoom R16 multitrack recorder and Martin acoustic guitar.
- 2011/07/10 - Demos of more Otto Amp mods:
E Major clean,
G Minor overdrive,
D Sevenths Harmonized,
E Sevenths Harmonized,
Stevie Wonder's Signed, Sealed, Delivered,
Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On?.
- 2011/05/01 - Dan plays an original song Rolling and Rolling.
- 2011/01/30 - Demos of the power-scaled Otto Amp:
E Major neck clean,
G Minor bridge clean,
Amy Winehouse Rehab clean,
Replacements Here Comes A Regular driven,
Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue cranked,
- 2011/01/22 - Dan plays an original song I Ain't Got No Pants.
Nick loaned me an electric mandolin, so I had to write a song that featured mandolin.
- 2011/01/01 - Dan plays an original song Thor. This is me
having fun spitting out as many Thor facts as I could in a 3 minute song.
- 2010/12/31 - Dan plays an original song Is This My
Home?. It's a simple I-IV-V type song.
Articles
Here are my other articles related to music, guitars, and amplifiers:
If you like these articles on guitars and music, and you find a site that might
be helpful in explaining how the guitar or music works, please send it to me, and
I will share it with all the readers.
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