Cowboy Chords Search Results

Every month I get a Search Results email from Google.

Among other things, there’s a category for “Top Performing Pages.”

One of the top performing pages is usually the most recent blog post. The reason being, besides providing value to my readers, most of my blogs also function as ads. As such, I put some money behind them for roughly 10 days after they're published.

There is an exception, however. And this exception is pretty consistent from month to month, and has been for over a year. Take a look at this:

"Clicks" is how often someone clicked a link from Google to my site. These numbers are from Google only and don't include clicks from other search engines, organic traffic or traffic from blogs/ads.

Numbers two and three are blog posts.

Number one is not a blog, it’s the sales page on MasterGuitarSchool.com for the lesson series download:

Cowboy Chords: A Deep Dive into 1st Position Fingerings & Application.

It seems pretty significant to me that this sales page, with no ad spend, consistently outperforms blog posts that have had advertising money behind them.

That tells me there is a demand for lessons on Cowboy Chords. Next question is, "Out of all the gazillions of webpages on the subject, why me?"

I did a Google search for "Cowboy Chords."

The Master Guitar School sales page is number 1 in the Google rankings! How did that happen? I have no clue.

But after the interested person - I know they're interested because they Googled "cowboy chords" - lands on that sales page, they read this:

• “Cowboy Chords” are otherwise known as “First-Position Chords” and usually contain open strings. The term, “first-position” indicates they occur within the first 4 frets. These are the typical chords (G, C, D etc) that most guitarists first learn...Why then, is a guy like me who has all this advanced teaching content interested in teaching beginner-level first-position chords that can be found with a simple google-search?

  Because I don't see them being taught the way I teach them. Furthermore, while some might say the “Cowboy Chords” and “Deep Dive” of my subtitle is oxymoronic, such an attitude indicates that person does not really understand music &/or the possibilities contained in the guitar.

So I’m making the pitch that my way of teaching Cowboy Chords is different, implying “better.”

Also, I push back against the notion that Cowboy Chords are “beginner level” content. It is true that they are among the first things a beginner guitarist usually learns. However, there are actually some fairly sophisticated things going on from a music theory standpoint that just automatically happen when one learns Cowboy Chords by rote.

One of those things is (more-or-less) smooth voice leading. "Smooth voice leading" is when the switch from one chord to another occurs with minimal movement. A give-away for smooth voice leading is when you see what I call "pivot fingers" given in my fretboard diagrams. For example, C to A minor:

When teaching Cowboy Chords, I present this as a fingering/technique issue. If two chords have one or more common tones you want to finger them in a way that is the most efficient - thus the pivot fingers. Fingers 2 and 1 stay on the same notes from C to Am, therefore you don't pick them up when switching chords.

Now you only have to worry about one finger instead of three.

There are many different fingerings for most chords. Which fingering to use? The one that creates the least amount of movement.

Less movement = less potential for error!

Now if we look at the voicing of each chord (the numerical order of the notes) we see that the voicings are different. From low to high:

C: 1-3-5-1-3

Am: 1-5-1-3-5

The C is in what's called "close position" or "close voicing." The notes are in numerical order

from low to high. The root (1) is doubled an octave up and the 3rd is doubled an octave up.

The Am is in "open voicing" - the 3rd is taken out of the middle and raised an octave. This causes the 5th to be doubled instead of the 3rd.

Changing the voicing from one chord to another to create less movement sound-wise is smooth voice leading. Specifically,

• The note on the 5th string (the root) moves a minor 3rd down.

• The note on the 4th string stays the same.

• The note on the 3rd string moves a whole-step up.

• The note on the 2nd string stays the same.

• The note on the 1st string stays the same.

Only 2 notes out of 5 change and yet the sound completely changes.

This voice leading stuff is NOT necessary to know in order to play C to Am with Cowboy Chords. It happens automatically due to the nature of the instrument. That's because Cowboy Chords occur within the first 4 frets and usually contain open strings. Notice the first string is played open in both chords. They have to be voiced the way they are because the pitch of an open string is what it is and that’s all that it is; it’s a constant around which everything else must revolve.

With any other position on the guitar neck this does not happen! Beyond the first 4 frets a knowledge of voice-leading, chord inversions and chord voicing is very necessary to achieve what happens automatically with Cowboy Chords.

So my Cowboy Chord fretboard diagrams include the voicing of each chord because all kinds of things derive from that knowledge, not just for Cowboy Chords, but also if and when the student moves beyond the first position.

My fretboard diagrams specify pivot fingers. Thus I introduce the concept of economical movement. That is a principle that informs all good technique no matter how advanced you get.

Notice the fretboard diagrams in the google search screenshot - no fingerings, no voicing - nuttin! Just black dots on a fretboard grid:

So yes, my way is better!

But don't take my word for it, prove it for yourself.

Sign up as a site member and download Cowboy Chords with the Site Member Discount. To access the Site Member Discounts for all lessons click the button below. If you are not a Site Member, a sign up form will pop up. Sign up is free! If you are already a site member you'll need to be logged in to access the page.

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HOW ABOUT 5 LESSONS?

The 5-Lesson Foundational Series teaches the Circle of Keys as an organizational mechanism by which you ensure that whatever you learn is drilled in every key in all possible positions. It also gives you a method to find any note, anywhere, without memorizing note names on every string. That is a beautiful thing!

Almost every lesson I teach presupposes these 5 lessons.

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