We can then move to strings 4 and 3 at frets 9 and 10 as we – you guessed it – “ Buy Chocolates Each Friday .”
For now , I ’ m going to skip over to strings 2 and 1 at frets 0 and 1 with – once more with feeling – “ Buy Chocolates Each Friday .”
We ’ ve played the notes in four intact boxes that span 2 strings .
Let ’ s do a little sleuthing here . If I ’ m playing a set of two juxtaposed strings , and I have a 6-stringed instrument , how many sets of juxtaposed strings can I access ? Well , I can play on strings 6 and 5 , 5 and 4 , 4 and 3 , 3 and 2 , and 2 and 1 .
So , I can play five sets . But haven ’ t I only shown you four boxes ?
That ’ s exactly what I ’ ve done . That ’ s because we have an anomaly , because of the tuning of our guitar . Although most strings are separated by a perfect 4 th , one set of strings is separated by a Major 3 rd . And which set of strings shares that interval ? Strings 3 and 2 , the strings I skipped over a moment ago .
Now , what if I bought a box of chocolates for my wife , but I accidentally dropped the box as I was crossing the street , and it got ran over by a truck ? Well , it wouldn ’ t look like a box anymore .
Because of the tuning between strings 3 and 2 , we have an anomaly .
If we look closely at our piano fretboard from today , we see that we do have another “ box ” on strings 3 and 2 , but it is disjointed because it got ran over , and that ’ s why I ’ m outlining it in blue . I ’ d feel blue if my chocolate box got ran over , wouldn ’ t you ?
So , if I want to play this set of B & C and E & F here on strings 3 and 2 , I ’ ll need to play notes on frets 4 & 5 , and 5 & 6 respectively . “ Buy Chocolates ... Each Friday ?” Yeah , maybe next Friday , right ?
So , now you can play all five sweet boxes from low strings to high strings – strings 6 through 1 , including the box that got ran over .
As you can probably tell , two of these boxes are lower in register – indicated by bold letters on our diagrams .
You can also move from the lowest frets to the highest frets for these five sweet boxes , as I demonstrate in the video that accompanies this article .
This discussion has been pretty technical , but you of course have the option of watching and re-watching the video if you want to establish these locations more securely .
The next level is to try to access these five “ boxes ” either by ascending or descending strings or ascending or descending frets .
But get to know these patterns with the Five Sweet Boxes . They will serve as great anchor points for full and partial chords , the capo , and also scales , arpeggios , and any musical fragment that ’ s anchored on the fretboard in any key .
Thanks for exploring this lesson . Keep showing up !
© GuitarSuccess4U . All rights reserved . David Harsh David is a nationally touring worship leader , songwriter and performing artist . He is passionate about equipping guitarists to discover their potential . Learn more and join now at www . GuitarSuccess4U . com .