Is the Guitar Fretboard a Mystery to You?
Tired of the hunt-&-peck, trial-&-error, random YouTube approach?
Are you beginning to think there must be a better way?
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How about the latest cool song that you’re into? Can you figure it out on your own or do you have to laboriously work through a tab chart you got online that you hope is correct? (It’s probably not.)
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Have you ever sat in a music theory class wondering what the rules of the four-part Bach chorale style have to do with the guitar?
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Have you ever heard some awesome guitarist play and wondered how anybody could know so many chords?
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Or what bizarre scale is he using that sounds so cool?
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Do you understand this symbol?
- or does it look like some kind of calculus problem?
Bottom line:
IS THE GUITAR FRETBOARD A MYSTERY TO YOU?
My name is Jay EuDaly and I've been a professional, full-time guitarist for over 50 years. My method, Vertical Truth: Chordal Mechanisms for the Guitar, can help you remove the mystery.
What makes my method any different from the plethora of guitar education websites out there peddling guitar lessons? Well, if you really want the complete answer to that question, read A Little Story. It will give you the detailed history of this unique, time-tested & proven method, and why I am the guy to lead you through it.
The short answer is that this method takes you step-by-step through about 1,000 years of music theory evolution and APPLIES IT TO THE GUITAR. As a result of doing this - not just understanding, but DOING - many things happen automatically;
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you gain a complete understanding of the guitar fretboard,
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you learn how to think about music and the guitar,
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you develop good technique and
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you train your ear
- to name just a few things that happen organically as you work your way through this method.
You can then apply your knowledge
to ANY STYLE!
To get started, take these first few steps:
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Become a Master Guitar School site member - it's free. You will then have access to dozens of free lessons in the "Members Only" area of the website. You will also receive the Master Guitar School Newsletter. Most of the monthly newsletters contain a free lesson. Members are also periodically offered first access and deep discounts (50% or more) on new lesson series downloads when they are first published. For more information go to:
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Go through the 5-Lesson Foundational Series. Everything is based on it.
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Master the first 2 Major Scale patterns given here. There are 6 Major Scale patterns given in this lesson but only the first 2 are required to get started.
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Communicate with me. Let me know what you'd like to see as far as lessons go. My agenda is to rewrite and format my method book, Vertical Truth: Chordal Mechanisms for the Guitar, into PDF/video downloads. That process is underway. You can see what's currently available in the column to the right (or below if you're viewing this page on your phone). I'm also open to doing one-off lessons on any guitar-related subject you want, in any format you want (video, PDF, webpage etc.).
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Read the Blog. Blog categories include: Free Lessons, Technique, Music Theory, Stories, Philosophy, Questions and Answers, Rants and Musings, Product Announcements, Gear and more!
The guitar has been a Grand Obsession of mine for over 50 years. I love everything about it. I've been a full-time professional performing musician since the early seventies. I've taught 50-100 personal students a week since the early eighties.
I know what it takes to play, teach and learn. I'm passionate about playing as well as helping people obtain the priceless value that I've received from music and the guitar.
Is the guitar fretboard a mystery to you?
I can help.
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What People are Saying
I’ve had three primary music mentors: Jay EuDaly in Kansas City, Ray McCarty in Austin Texas, and Max Bennett here in Southern California. I’m forever grateful for their wisdom, patience, and inspiration.
Not only is Jay EuDaly one of the greatest guitar players I have ever heard period, but he is also one of the most knowledgeable guitarists out there. Very few know the neck up and down as well as EuDaly. I call his Vertical Truth my guitar bible. Studying with Jay is the most complete guitar/advanced music education one can find anywhere.
I've been teaching guitar online since 2004 and I can tell you from a LIFETIME of experience that you won't find anyone with a Better Guitar Method than Jay EuDaly! He's my personal guitar coach and I highly recommend anyone from total beginner to experienced pros to spend some time with Jay, you'll be glad you did!
Jay is one of the best guitar players/teachers in Kansas City! Superb player and extremely knowledgeable in music theory which he learned from the late, great John Elliott.
- Earl Steely, guitarist for Funk Syndicate
...the way you lay out the circle of 4ths on the guitar neck is a new revelation to me and I've been searching for this sort of stuff for four years online! I've spent the last 2 weeks practicing the stuff in the free lessons and have enjoyed it on a daily basis. Already familiar with some of the scale fingerings and found the key cycle a brilliant way to run them all! Very smartly laid out and easy to put one thing on top of the other. Feels like very little wasted time practicing and I can't tell you how much I appreciate that! An hour of practice flies by in no time and I actually feel like I'm accomplishing something!
- Frank DiNuzzo
I have been puzzled about the fretboard for decades! Thank you for the most intelligent approach to teaching guitar I have ever encountered! I was astounded to follow your lessons and reasoning, and find that all of a sudden I could see the fretboard as something intelligible and not as a jumbled mess! I know the circle of fifths because of piano but had never looked at the other way as a circle of fourths and how to apply that to the fretboard! Who teaches that??? Only you!
-Vickie Bliss
The Process
Reasons to Study Guitar
2024 News
December 25: I'm discontinuing the News section of the website - I got too far behind and besides, it's redundant. The Master Guitar School FaceBook page has all the news, plus you can sign up to the Blog and get the News there as well.
May 20: Republished: You're Not Worse; You're Ear Is Better! "I've practiced exactly what you told me and I'm going backwards; it seems like the more I practice the worse I get!"
May 16: Newsletter: Free Lesson: Concepts for Comping - Lesson 5, plus Blog Links, Tune of the Month and More!
May 6: Republished: Legato/Staccato: Have you ever listened to a guitarist play and marveled at how “smooth” or fluid his solos sounded? Are you struggling to achieve that in your own playing? I can help you with that.
April 29: John Elliott (Part 3): John Elliott produced many world-class musicians (Pat Metheny, Larry Williams, Bobby Watson and others), but my relationship to him had a unique aspect; years after I studied with him I published a guitar method book that includes some of his content. I therefore dealt with him concerning approval, copyright and residuals issues. This blog tells that story:
April 22: John Elliott (Part 2): This part tells of John's influence on my teaching and the creation of my method book, Vertical Truth: Chordal Mechanisms for the Guitar.
April 15: John Elliott (Part 1): This is the first of 3 installments of the story of my relationship with the jazz musician, arranger and educator John Elliott, in which I tell of the years (1979-1986) that I studied with him. John was a formative influence; by far THE most important person in my musical development. He also proved to be a complicated and sometimes difficult individual.
April 11: Newsletter: April Newsletter: Comping Concepts, Free Lessons, Blog Links, Tune of the Month and More!
April 1: Republished: How I Play Songs I Don't Know: I know a lot of songs, but not as many as it may appear, because quite often I play songs I don’t know. Read the blog to find out how:
March 25: Republished: The Mistake-Reboot Loop: If you make a mistake, you're playing too fast.
March 18, 2024: Clip-On This! This is a rant concerning clip-on tuners. They're ugly. And that annoys the crap out of me! Read the blog to find out why.
March 12, 2024: Newsletter: Free Lesson - Concepts for Comping, Blog Links and More!
March 4, 2024: Guitar the Hard Way: You”ll never know what you don’t know.
February 26, 2024: First World Problems (Scambot!): Welp, I have achieved a milestone with MasterGuitarSchool.com. The website is now big enough that the scambot algorithms are noticing! It’s kind of an inverted Social Proof. Yay.
February 19, 2024: Republished: Easy Lesson: The Aeolian/Dorian Distinction: Chances are, you’re somewhat confused by the whole modal-theory thing; Rather than go through a lengthy explanation of what modes are and where they come from, I’m going to approach this from a more limited and practical viewpoint. I am starting from something simple and easy to understand, the Minor Pentatonic Scale.
February 13, 2024: Newsletter: Free lesson on Concepts for Comping, Blog links, Tune of the Month and MORE!
January 28, 2024: Republished: 2-Note Jazz Chords: Applying the concept of 2-note 7th chords to Jazz standards is easy since the basic harmony of that style is 7th chords. When comping behind a vocalist or a soloist, playing these 2-note chords (dyads) leaves space for the bass player and the keyboardist to do their thing. Trust me, they'll appreciate you for it!
January 21, 2024: Republished: 2-Note Blues Chords: A “Whomper” is a big ole fat, bottom-heavy bar chord, full of doubled notes with the root in the bass. Think your typical bar chords that use all six strings. Whompers generally (there are exceptions) don’t work well in a band context. You’ve already got the bass player playing the root; you’ve already got a keyboard player playing chords. All a Whomper does is muddy up the works. Play these dyads (2-note chords) instead:
January 15, 2014: Thoughts on Jimi: an R&B/Soul guitar player…on acid!
January 9, 2024: Newsletter: Free lesson - Concepts for Comping, Blog Links, Tune of the Month and more!
January 2, 2024: Sandbagging Bar Chords: Having trouble with Bar Chords? Here are some workarounds.