A guitarist inherits some money.  He needs a car, so he buys a beautiful antique Cadillac.  Tons of chrome, big fins, and about a mile long.  Couple days later he locks the keys inside the car.  He calls a locksmith.  The locksmith says, "I can be there in about an hour."  The guitarist says, "Man, you gotta get here faster than that because it's fixin' to rain and the top is down and the windows are wide open!"

The teacher asks Little Johnny, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Little Johnny says, "I want to be a guitar player."
The teacher says, "But Little Johnny, you know perfectly well you can't do both!"

Another notation system uses 'Solfege' or 'Solfeggio' syllables to indicate the notes or chords.  Most people have heard of this system from the 'Doe a deer, a female deer' song from "The Sound of Music".

The notes are Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si (or Ti), Do
Like all the various notational systems, solfege has it's own avid following.

I found a song on chordie notated in Solfege recently.  Just for fun, see if you can translate what is here into what you are used to seeing:
"This Is Us"  Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris
http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/www.u … ;id=485133

Hi gitaardocphil - the Greek mathmatician Pythagorus simply noted that vibrating strings would make certain tones when their length was shortened by certain amounts.

Shorten a string by 1/2 (2:1) and you get an octave.  Shorten a string by other amounts and you obtain certain other pleasant or harmonious tones.  He poposed that the ratios between these harmonious tones coincided with profound truths about how the universe operates.  He also tried to correlate these ratios to the movements of the planets and other cosmic events.

Basically, Pythagous was suggesting a sort of 'unified field theory' that would reduce all things down to nice neat little number ratios.  Interesting stuff but the Pythagorean view of reality was missing some rather important basics regarding the nature of matter since it was premised on only 4 elements (earth, air, fire, water).  James

No problem - glad to do it if it makes the world a better place!  Actually, don't we all get 'cookies' when we visit we websites?  Maybe I'll see if the chordie cookies can have colorful sprinkles on top. . . .

Here's another tip - use the transposing tool (just to the right of the song) to move a song into a key that is good for you.  If the song is properly formatted (has the blue chords above the words), all the chords will change together - that way, you can avoid difficult chords.

I think is helpful to have a realistic goal in mind for each practice session.  For instance, focus on one 'doable' thing - it might be something like getting better at transitioning smoothly from one chord to another.  Or, maybe playing along to a metronome to keep a steady beat.  Or, maybe a little lick that you want to hone.

Whatever it might be, your practice time should be focused on that one particular thing that you need to get better at doing.  Part of the practice process is prioritizing what you should do - consider several possible things and then pick which one you need to do the most.

After working on your focus (for as long as it takes), then you have time to goof around a bit and have some fun doing stuff you are already good at doing.  After goofing around for a while, return to the session's focus and work on that some more.

Practice every day.  Even if you don't have much time - pick up your instrument and let your muscles and mind remember how to do stuff.  Daily practice (with a focus) works wonders.

Greetings atrofabre!  Here . . . have a refreshing beverage and little snack.

So - feeling at home now?  Good!

Welcome to chordie!  James

Hi Bo diddley - See if this helps - it's not much, but maybe it does have the melody line:
http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/songs … wallow.htm

Hi Old Doll - You will Flabbered in the extreme and Gasted thoroughly . . . Statistics is (to me) something quite interesting, although I realize not everybody might share that view.

Often times, I meet people for the first time and after they find out I teach Stats they flinch and edge slowly away.  However, every Statistician I have ever met has been a happy and well-adjusted individual.

Glad you like the video!  James

I like this idea and shall give it a whirl - or, maybe I'll describe my imaginary friend?  Seriously though - good idea!