Jamming: Finding Tonic
Jamming with other musicians, backing tracks, or songs you stream is really fun, but getting started is sometimes awkward. The first thing you’ll need to do after choosing a song is to determine the key, so that you can use the appropriate scale. Internet tabs won’t necessarily tell you the correct key, so you will need to use your ear to find tonic. In this lesson, you’ll discover that you can do that quickly and get jamming!
Learn a Scale
If you haven’t already learned how to play a scale, that will be your first task. Once you’ve learned a movable scale pattern and practiced it in a variety of ways, you’re ready to start jamming. (If you haven’t learned any movable scales yet, start with scale pattern #1. You can find the scale patterns in Moving On, Learning to Play Lead Guitar and the Virtual Studio.)
Start with songs that are in major keys. Your task will be to sing tonic, or scale degree 1, which is the starting note of the scale or key. Tonic is the note that sounds like home. When you sing up and down a scale, one note feels more stable than the others. That note is tonic.
Listen—and Sing!
You can practice finding tonic by playing a short portion of a song, stopping the recording, and immediately singing the first note that comes into your head. Alternately, and more reliably, you can get help from a friend or teacher (me, for instance!). Your helper should play a series of notes within a given key and stop suddenly in the middle of the musical thought. After you have sung the note you hear as tonic, your helper will play the correct answer, so that you can either confirm or correct the note you chose. (This is how you will learn to hear tonic in the A Guitar Player’s Guide to Ear Training. You can get further help and more practice with the exercises in the Virtual Studio.) It’s essential to sing the note immediately, before your brain gets to work on it. The harder you work to hear tonic, the more likely you are to experience frustration. Don’t try – just sing!
Troubleshooting
There’s a good chance that the note you sing when the music stops is tonic. You may need to practice a bit, though, to be able to consistently find it. The key to success lies in your willingness to relax and experiment.
The most common mistake people make when they begin practicing this exercise is to sing scale degree 5, rather than 1. If you’re doing this, sing down or up until you reach 1 or 8. In other words, sing the note you have found as “5” and go down (“5, 4, 3, 2, 1”) or up (“6, 7, 8”).
Once you’re able to sing tonic, find that note on your guitar and place your hand in the correct position for the appropriate scale pattern. In the case of scale pattern #1, locate tonic on the 6th string and put your second finger on it. (Whenever you are looking for a note on your guitar be sure to hold the note strongly with your voice as you search!)
Try It!
Listen this sample audio clip of a few passages, where you can see how (and how quickly!) you can learn this skill. (There are more exercises like this in A Guitar Player’s Guide to Ear Training, and the Virtual Studio.) After you gain confidence in major keys, use the exercises I provide for minor keys, as well. You’ll find that it doesn’t take long to develop a sense of tonic and the ability to jam along with any song!
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