Guitar practice journal #1

Today I practiced my guitar for 20 minutes, a generous amount of time these days (if you are parent you’ll understand). During this practice session, I worked ear training: I looped the song The Funeral (Band of Horses) on my iPhone and played along, plucking the individuals notes in chord progression on my Traveler’s acoustic guitar.

Just before my 20 minute practice guitar session: jamming with Elliott
Just before my 20 minute practice guitar session: jamming with Elliott

During the practice session, I was able to nail down all the notes from the first two chords (triads) and was also able to determine that song was written in the key of G# (thanks music theory). However, I am a bit confused because the 2 of a major key, normally a minor chord, was played as a major. Is this swap of minor and major chord an example of modal mixture?

Ultimately, I was unable to play the entire chord progression by ear and ended up finding a guitar tutorial1; uploaded on YouTube. Despite that, I’m happy with the progress I’ve made over the last two years of working on my music craftsmanship.

References