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Solfa notation of 10 common Nigerian praise songs

This is the solfa notation of 10 common Nigerian praise songs.

Do you ever dream of playing the solo of a song you are hearing for the first time. It’s pretty easy. All you have to do is to train your mind and ear towards achieving it. How do you do that? By scoring out the solfa notation of almost every song you know; take these ones below as examples:

nigerian church choir



Immortal God, Invisible God

d m m d
d f f m
s m m d
m r t d

Ogozimagozi

s s m m f f
s s r r m m
s s m m f f
s s r r m m

s s s m d:::d d s s l l
f r t:::t t t t d d

Akanakwe

s l s===d
m m d r
f f r m m m d r : r : r : r
f f r t t  r r d d d

Since I was born

d m f s
s d
m m l l s
m m s s
f f s f m m

s s s l s m
m s f l m s r f m m s s
f f s f
m m

Father to you oooo

s s s d s
m s f m r r s s s l s
r f m r d d

My Praise

m r m r d
m r m r d r r m
m m r r d d t t d

s m f m r
f r s f mr re
s m f m r m f
m m r r d d t t d

We lift your name higher

s s m s d d
s s m s f f
f f m r s s
s s d r d d

Hallelujah na your own ooo

s s l l m m f r
r f m
m m f f d d r t
d r d

Baba!!!!! mi loke Baba

d d s s l l f f r l l s
s s
mrd mrd
l r d t d d

How To play all over the fret board of a guitar

Firstly the numberings on the images signify the fingers used to play the notes.

guitar fret board

1 is the pointer finger
2 is the middle finger
3 is the ring finger
4 is the pinky

I want to teach you on how to play all over the fret board of a guitar using the pentatonic. Pentatonic as the name implies means five-tonic,
which is C D E G A, it does not matter whether you start from C or D; in fact in this lesson we are starting from A on the first fret.

Yes we are running from the first fret down to where we want to stop. So A C D E G A and so on and so forth, that is what we are going to keep doing.
I prefer to call the notes by their solfa notations, it makes it easier for me to recognize sounds e.g L D R M S L D.

First pentatonic shape

So in the image above, starting from the sixth string we have A C D E G A C D E G A C, using solfa notations I would say L D R M S L D R M S L D.

Second Pentatonic Shape

Now this is the second pentatonic shape which is interwoven with the first pentatonic. For this shape you would just place you middle finger where your pinky was(in the first shape). this one says C D E G A C D E G A C D, using solfas it says D R M S L D R M S L D R.

The third pentatonic shape starts with the middle finger, It is also interwoven with the second pentatonic shape, Its notes are D E G A C D E G A C D E, using the solfas, it is; R M S L D R M S L D R M.

First pentatonic shape

The fourth pentatonic shape starts with the pointer finger, It is also interwoven with the third pentatonic shape. Its notes are E G A C D E G A C D E G, the solfa notations are M S L D R M S L D R M S.

The fifth pentatonic shape is the one I like the most, it is interwoven with the fourth. Its notes are G A C D E G A C D E G A, it’s solfa
notations are  S L D R M S L D R M S L.

NOW LET US TAKE A LOOK AT ALL THE NOTES USING THE SOLFAS

L D R M S L D R M S L D
D R M S L D R M S L D R
R M S L D R M S L D R M
M S L D R M S L D R M S
S L D R M S L D R M S L

If you look at the begining of the notes above respectively, you wil see that they are arranged in a uniform manner in which they are arranged in music [ L D R M S]; likewise too, if you look at it from the ends of the notes respectively going down [D R M S L].
That’s exactly the ways it looks on the fret of your guitar. I hope this post was helpful.

Basic guitar chords you will need to play any song

If you can get to play all the following basic chords without touching the other unnecessary strings and holding the right strings firmly, you are good to go, you will be able to play almost any song on your guitar that you hear today. It might take a while to get it right, but if you keep practicing, your hands will develop the muscles that you require and with time you will be good to go

basic guitar chordss to play while you travel

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This is a video illustration to playing all the open chords below:

Firstly the numbering on the images signify the fingers used to play the notes.

1 is the pointer finger
2 is the middle finger
3 is the ring finger
4 is the pinky

Basic guitar accessories you should get

Picks: You would surely need these picks as they would make it easier for you to solo on the guitar; they also make it easier for you when playing chords. Some people do not use it because they’ve mastered the finger style technique and they are comfortable with it. They vary in thickness, so you might want to choose whichever

guitar play trum

one you are comfortable with.

Tuner: As time goes on, you won’t be needing this but as a beginner you might want to get it because you might not be able recognize the correct sounds that should be produced as you begin to practice; its not about only being able to play tutorials that you’ve been given, you should also be able let the sounds be an essential part of you, it gives room for more inspiration.

guitar strings tied

Extra Strings: You should make sure that you have at least two full sets of extra strings in your bag, you might be practicing and a string or two might snap; it might even be in a show. So to avoid disappointments, always have extra strings at hand.

Straps: When you want to perform in a public place which might require you to stand while playing, it is very necessary for you to use the strap so the guitar can balance well on your body.

Strap Locks: If you do not want your guitar to fall suddenly while you are in another spiritual realm of playing the pentatonic blues or some kind of inspirational scales, you should get one of these.

metronome

Metronomes: they are god for building your speed and are very necessary for your rehearsals. You can download an app for it to save your self some money.

capo

Capo: They help you to easily change your key whenever you are playing. They are not very necessary but you would find them fun to use. They differ by the types of guitars, so I would advice you to take your guitar to the store whenever you want to get one.

Recorder: You can use a recorder to record a chord progression and solo to it when you are done. It is a good Jam Buddy.
For example, you can record a chord progression for about five minutes and after recording, you play it and start soloing to it, that way you will be improve.

 

Two basic Daily Guitar Finger Exercises

Many people have a guitar and they do not know what to rehearse everyday; These exercises could help you while away time and they could be very useful also because as time goes on, you will see that you are increasing in speed and your fingers would be all over the fret board in no time.

travelling guitar exercises

Triads:

C D E F G A B C
D R M F S L T D

D R M
R M F
M F S
F S L
S L T
L T D

That is in ascending order, do the same in descending order.

D T L
T L S
L S F
S F M
F M R
M R D.

You can also decide to do them in four’s also, like

D R M F
R M F S
M F S L
F S L T
S L T D

And in descending order

D T L S
T L S F
L S F M
S F M R
F M R D

Chords:

You should be able to play these chords in the by their notes, they will help your flexibility

C D E F G A B C
D R M F S L T D

D M S
R F L
M S T
F L D
S T R
L D M
T R F
D M S

You can do it in the descending order also

S M D
F R T
M D L
R T S
D L F
T S M
L F R
S M D

This exercise will enable you easily play the notes that you want to play very easily.

Three Guitar tricks that would make you sound like a professional

 

After learning to do all the exercises that you have been given, there are a three basic techniques that you should add to your playing, they will add a little feel to your rhythm.

guitar tricks to make you sound like a professional

The Vibrato Effect
Hammer-on’s
Pull-off’s
Slides

Vibrato effect: I call it the vibrato effect because the sound is going to reverberate in a up and down way. How do you do this, you simply sound whatever note you want to play and while holding it slide it upward and downward in a uniform manner, sometimes you can slide it up only for a long period to really feel it or vice versa; people who play the blues use this technique very
much.

Hammer-on and pull-off: This is when you are holding a note on a particular string and without plucking the string you use your finger to tap the next note to play it, that is called the hammer-on.

The Pull-off technique is like the opposite of the hammer-on. It’s like releasing the second note that you hammered. When you are holding two notes on a particular string, releasing the higher note makes it a pull-off.

Slides: This technique is very very important, it makes you feel like a pro whenever you are soloing. Let’s assume you want to play a note, for example C, the note before C is B, so instead of playing C directly, instead play B and immediately slide to C. You can do it for subsequent notes, just makes sure it sounds cool. You can even decide to do that and add the vibrato technique.

 

How to tune your Guitar as a beginner

Tuning your guitar is a very easy thing to do, whenever you siblings play around with your guitar and dis-tune it, you should be glad because it gives you more experience with the guitar. You can use a piano to tune your guitar or you can do it with

tuning your guitar as a beginner

your mind, that is if you are already very familiar with the sound of the notes of music. You could download an app on google play or in the apple app store for it.

So for begginers, i will advise you to use the piano.
If you look at the strings of the guitar, the strings have their respective notes when they are open. look at the diagram above. The first string has the E note when open. the second string has the B note when open, the third string has the G note when it is open, the fourth string has the D note when it is open, the fifth string has the A note when it is open and the sixth string has the E note.
On the piano

All you have to do is to play the respective notes on the piano and whine the knob of the string you want to tune until they make the same sounds. Be careful as you whine so the strings will not snap.

Easy Way To Play All The Major Chords Of The Piano

The Easiest way to get to play all chords very easily is by using the correct fingering pattern. Look at the image below:

major scale fingering

 

piano fingering

 

piano fingering

For an illustration, let us use the Key of C

C D E F G A B C

C – C E G (Major)
D – D F A (Minor)
E – E G B (minor)
F – F A C (Major)
G – G B D (Major)
A – A C E (minor)
B – B D F (Diminished)

All those chords above, which ever way or arrangement by which you want to play them; on the left hand you should use the pinky for the first note, the middle finger for the second note and the thumb for the third finger, that way it is 5 3 1. For the right hand you should use the thumb for the first note, the middle finger for the second note and the pinky for the third note, that way it is 1 3 5.

when ever you play a particular chord, make sure you leave your fingers in that shape, try to stiffen it to that shape and place it on the second chord you want to play, practice it that way for a while till you get used to it. Your fingers will easily get any chord correctly, and it would make you sound like a pro whenever you are playing on another key.

How to play makossa chords on the piano

 

This is a simple method to get a hold of knowing how to play the makossa progression on the keyboard or how to solo to it.
The basic progression for it is

makossa on the piano

C F G F
DOH FAH SOH FAH

To solo with it i.e if you do not want to play chords you can play the notes individually
C – C E G C
F – F A C F
G – G B D G
F – F A C F

See list of basic piano chords here

 

Some kind of nigerian gospel songs that this progression goes with include

Every body luku luku see what the lord has done for me
Eeh Eh eh eh, my God is good oo

 

Easy Methods to play Hymns on the Piano

While playing hymns, you will need to harmonize. It is very necessary.  Sompe people find it difficult to play a particular note with one hand and another note on the other hand. This technique will really help you if you listen.

We shall be using the key of C# for an illustration.

playing hymns on the piano

The trick is you will be playing chords with the left hand and the right hand will be playing the note of the hymns. You would not need to look at your left hand while it is playing the chords. You would only have to focus on your right hand that is playing the notes.
So in order not to be able to look at the hand playing the chords you must find a way to play them without moving your hand too far. Look at the illustration below o the key of C#

C – G C E —– Middle finger – Pointer – Thumb
F – A C F —- Middle finger –  pointer – Thumb
G – G B D —- Middle finger –  pointer – Thumb
A – A C E —- Middle finger –  pointer – Thumb
E – G B E —- Middle finger –  pointer – Thumb
D – F A D —-Middle finger –  pointer – Thumb
B – you can use the chord for G to play it.

If you can master them perfectly, it would be easy for you to play hymns, it would also be an added advantage for you when playing other songs.