Hey guys, welcome to another guitar lesson. Today I want to show you how to add a simple chord progression to a beautiful melody.
I came up with this simple melody a while back, and I thought it would be great to show you how to add a few chords to it so that you can get inspired to pick up your guitar and start practicing.
To make this lesson easy, I decided to break it down into three steps.
Step 1. Learn the melody.
Step 2. Add simple chords.
Step 3. Add percussive rhythm.
The melody is in D major, and it will be played in open position with plenty of open strings and over-ringing notes. The chords in step 2 will be doable and straightforward.
If you are a beginner, spend as much time as you need on step 1 and step 2. Move on to step 3 when you feel ready.
When it comes to Neo-Soul chords learning extended chords and interesting voicings is a top priority.
Now, learning a single chord isn’t going to take you far. For example, if you learn how to play this lovely C#m11 chord, it can be helpful to know it, but if you don’t know how to put it into practice, then it’s just another that you will easily forget.
In this video, I am going to show you how to play five Neo-Soul chords and how to play a chord progression.
If you don’t know what Neo-Soul music is, listen to artists like D’Angelo, Jill Scott, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu.
Also, check on Instagram; many great guitar players are experimenting with this type of chord.
The chords you will learn in this lesson are:
C#m11
Emaj9
Dm9
Dmaj9
Am9
I will also show you a chord progression for each of these five chords to learn how to put it into practice.
Hey guys, welcome to this lesson. Today I want to talk to you about technique, and I want to show you a couple of exercises that can take your playing to the next level.
This exercise is a variation of the famous 1234 guitar exercise that we all have been practicing for years. It has a little twist, but in the end, this is what it is.
I want to show you how to play it and how to get there step-by-step.
We are going to analyze the exercise so that you can understand the technical elements involved.
So how do we get to understand and play this technical exercise? The first step is straightforward. Finger stretching is the key.
Just start with two notes. Play them with the index and middle finger. When you play with the second finger, hold the first one down. The secret is not to play fast. Instead, pause for a moment and try to figure out what’s going on. Notice the space between the two fingers and how the index is way flatter than the middle.
The index finger is the anchor that will give you the control you need to stretch the other three fingers correctly. Keep the thumb in the middle, and don’t move it. Let the fingers do the job.
Once you get to the top E string, move one fret up and do the reverse. Start with the middle and then index.
With the second step, we want to add the other two fingers. I would recommend doing it on the G string so that we are in the middle of the fretboard, which is a neutral position. We will add the third and fourth finger.
Notice how the index finger presses down the string in a slightly different way by resting more on its side—the middle, ring, and pinky press down the string with the middle of the fingertip. Step three is about isolating the movement.
Once you understand the hand position explained in step two, you can get rid of one finger and make it a little easier to practice. There are countless options. Start with 124, go all the way up to the top E string, move one fret up and do the reverse. You can make it up to fret five.
Also, try the 134 pattern. Step four brings us closer to the exercise we are trying to achieve. Once we develop the stretch with the 1234 combination, we can split the pattern into two strings.
We can start with the fourth and third string. The combination remains the same, but this time the first finger in on the D string, the second finger is on the G string, the ring finger is on the D string, and the picky is on the G string.
In step five, we can begin to add more space between the two notes. We would play the pattern on the A and B string.
Simple things seem to work pretty well on the guitar.
We have so many different expressive elements that can be added to a chord or a melody so that even the most simple idea can sound beautiful.
The chord progression I played at the beginning of the video is very simple: C, Am, F, and G. Still, I was able to make it sound more exciting than that by adding a few additional musical elements.
In this lesson, I am going to walk you through the five steps I follow to transform this chord progression so that you can learn them and hopefully apply this concept to the other chord progressions you already know.
1. Use fingerstyle.
2. Add a melody
3. Add extensions. | Combine fingerstyle and Strumming.
4. Strum extended chords | Embellish the harmony.
5. Change the order.
Hey guys, welcome to another module of Just Play Along.
In this final lesson, we will be taking a look at a song in G Major. The goal is to develop a melody over a more extended chord progression.
You will learn how to play the melody in G major in four different sections. There is a short guitar intro in which you don’t play, followed by verse one.
Here’s the song structure.
Intro.
Verse one.
Verse two.
Pre Chorus.
Chorus.
As this is the final lesson for this module, I thought it would be great to take it a step further and try to play a melody over different chord progressions.
The song is slightly longer (about two minutes), so I hope it won’t be too challenging.
Let me know if you enjoyed this course, guys. I had a lot of fun recording these lessons!
Let’s talk about an important topic: Chord changes. How to change chords smoothly and how to implement new chords quickly.
In this video, I will give you ten tips on how to improve your chord changes. Some of these tips will be pretty basic and probably familiar to you, but make sure that you stick around.
I will give you some of my favorite chord change approaches using the fretted notes of the chords along with the circle of fifths.
The goal is to add more practical steps between learning the chords and playing them.
We are going to be using two things: The fingerstyle technique and the circle of fifths.
Practicing the chords with the fingerstyle technique allows you to isolate the notes of a chord, which can’t be done with the strumming technique.
If you are a strummer, you can still practice these exercises and improve your chords.
The Circle of Fifths is a tool that helps us visualize all the natural and altered notes in a circle. We call it Circle of Fifths because all the notes have a distance of a perfect fifth interval.
If we start with the natural note C, we can move up a fifth and play the G. From the note G, we can go up a fifth and play the D, etc.
Once we have all the notes, we can then decide to play each one of them as a major or a minor chord. We will be playing the chords in the order given by this circle.
The Circle of Fifths is a system that forces us to play chords that don’t belong to the same key, which is excellent for developing ear training and muscle memory.
If you are a beginner, you probably want to practice the chords up to the E major, so you don’t have to deal with bar chords, and as you become better, you can slowly move up the circle.
We have a lot to cover, so let’s get started. The first three tips will cover the left-hand technique. From tip four, we will dive into more practical exercises.
1. KEEP THE THUMB DOWN LIKE A CLASSICAL GUITAR PLAYER
One of the first steps to change chords faster is to lower your thumb. Keep it down right in the middle. By lowering the thumb, you will instantly improve the control and stretch of your fingers. As you become better with the chord changes, you will be able to bring the thumb up and play the bass note of some chords. However, when you practice the chords, keep it down.
2.KEEP SPACE BETWEEN THE PALM AND BOTTOM NECK
This should come naturally as soon as you lower the thumb. Now the reason why we need the space between the bottom neck and the palm is that it improves the stability of your hand. When the palm is stuck to the bottom neck, it brings a lot of tension to the muscle and tendons. When you try to change chord, it takes twice the energy and time to do the change because the ligaments are already under stress. So, keep the space between the palm and bottom neck.
3. PRESS DOWN WITH YOUR FINGERTIP, NOT YOU PHALANGES.
Make sure you press the string down with the fingertip. This is kind of straightforward, and I am sure you already know that. The problem is, it can happen that when you change chord, your fingers go all over the place, and you press the frets with the wrong part of the finger. Now, I am going to show you how to fix that in tip five, but you must always keep an eye on the way you press these notes. Always use the fingertip.
4.LEARN THE CHORDS IN FIFTHS
The circle of 5th is a great tool that we can use to practice chords as it allows you to sequence a lot of chords that don’t belong to just one key.
Play the chords slowly and take your time between the chord change. You can either strum the chords lightly or pluck them with the thumb, index, middle, and ring finger.
5.FOCUS ON THE FRETTED NOTES
Practice the chords by only playing the fretted notes. Follow the circle of fifths to play each chord.
6.MOVE THE CHORDS SYMMETRICALLY
If we focus on the fretted notes of the chord, we can move them symmetrically up and down the neck. Now, this is going to improve not only the chord change but also the chord shape. By repeating the same chord many times in different positions, you will naturally improve the muscle memory for this particular chord shape.
7.MOVE DIFFERENT SHAPES SYMMETRICALLY
We can combine two or more chords and move them symmetrically up and down the neck.
8.TWO NOTES CHORD
We can make chord changes easier by plucking just two notes of a chord. If I am playing a chord progression such as C, Am, F, and G, I can decide to pluck just the root note of the chord. The most important thing about this approach is that you want to play the notes with the same finger you use when you play the chord.
In this case, I am simplifying the chords, and I am adding more learning steps that will take me to the final chord.
9.ADD THE 3rd AND 5th TO THE CHORD
Once you have the root note in place, you can then add the third to each chord. And then, the fifth.
10.REPEAT THE SAME PROCESS WITH THE MINOR CHORDS
Playing all these exercises with the minor chords is more challenging as we have fewer chords in open position. The only minor chords we can play in open positions are the D minor, E minor, and A minor. All the other chords will be played with bar chords or at least four fretted notes.
FINAL. JUST PLAY!
The first time I saw Justin Guitar playing the A major like this, I thought it was ridiculous. I never even think of playing the chord as he does.
Fast forward to now, and you see me playing the A major like this all the time. Sometimes we focus very little on the fingers we use. We learn one chord shape, and we keep it the same no matter what. But you can improve your chord change by being smart with the fingering. If you play a C major going to G major, the best option would be to play it like this. It makes sense compared to playing the G major like this.
Strumming Blues chords with the thumb is something that I find myself doing quite a lot. One of the reasons why I like to strum the strings of the guitar with the thumb is because of the unique tone and vibe you can achieve.
In this lesson, I am going to show you how to play a shuffle Blues in 12/8, entirely played with the right-hand thumb.
We will start by learning the simple melody, and then I am going to show you how to apply the strumming technique to add rhythm and groove to the Blues.
Today I want to show you how to take the Merle Travis picking approach, change it up a bit, and make it super melodic.
When we pluck the strings using the Merle Travis style, the thumb will be plucking on two bass notes in a steady rhythm.
Then, we can add chords on top of that bass line.
Now, Merle Travis was a Country player, so he used this technique to play Country songs mainly. His way of plucking the strings was unique; in fact, he would only pluck the top strings with the index finger.
We are going to use the Travis picking with thumb and index and the middle and ring finger.
You don’t have to play the chords as fast as the instrumental I played at the beginning of the video. I played the chords that fast to give it a lovely groove, but you can use this chord progression and plucking as an exercise to improve your finger-picking technique.
In this lesson, we are going to play a lovely Latin melody. We are going to be using a lot of different techniques. The song starts with the thumb. We also have strumming and rasgueado. And obviously, alternate fingering for the melody.
It’s a beautiful melody in A major, and after doing a little research, I think I can say that it does sound quite close to the Mariachi style, which is one of Mexico’s most popular music styles.
It a lovely popular music style and it’s very entertaining to play. It’s mainly played with strings instruments such as violins and guitar, but the trumpet is also very popular.
One of the most characteristic instruments used for the Mariachi music is the Guitarron Mexicano, which is a huge six strings acoustic bass.
Fingerstyle guitar can be one of the most challenging things to approach for a beginner. There are so many variables and different ways to approach this technique that many can feel discouraged even before picking up the guitar.
In this video, I am going to show you nine tips for fingerstyle beginners that will hopefully remove the fear that is blocking from getting started.
1. JUST GET STARTED
Fingerstyle is just as tricky as any other guitar techniques. Everything is challenging at first.
Your very first chord was challenging. Your very first strumming didn’t sound amazing.
Most of the time, what is blocking you is the belief that fingerstyle is not for beginners. The first step is to change your mindset and believe that you are 100% capable of playing with fingerstyle guitar.
2. UNDERSTAND THE BASICS OF FINGERSTYLE
When it comes to fingerstyle, there are three right-hand golden rules everyone should know. You can learn these three rules and then slowly adjust them while you become better. There is not such a thing as one way of plucking the strings. However, these three rules will get you going the right way.
Rule one: Keep the thumb in front of the fingers.
Rule two: Keep the fingers at a 45-degree angle.
Rule three: Use the fingers like a guitar pick. When you pick the strings, you move the pick away from the strings to generate speed and momentum. Do the same with the fingers.
3.START WITH ONE STRING
You can start plucking with just one string. Learn a scale or a simple melody on one string and begin practicing the plucking.
If you do it with the thumb, pluck the bottom strings. If you do it with the fingers, make sure you always alternate with index and middle.
4.ISOLATE THE PLUCKING MOVEMENT
One of the best ways to become better at fingerstyle technique is by isolating the plucking movement. I like to play the same plucking pattern across the strings over one chord.
I would start with one chord and play the same pattern on all the strings. We can start with the E minor chord and play thumb-index on the 6th and 5th string. Then, 5th and 4th, 4th and 3rd, 3rd and 2ns, and 2nd and 1st. You can then move backward.
We can do this exercise with different patterns.
Thumb, index, middle.
Thumb, index, middle, ring.
Other combinations.
We can also play the same patter over different chords.
5.DECIDE YOUR PLUCKING APPROACH
The three right-hand golden rules work great for beginners. Once you start developing your technique, you might naturally change the right-hand position slightly.
Some guitar players like to rest the picky on the body of the guitar. Others like to use a thumb pick.
Understanding that it’s ok to change and adjust your plucking approach based on your physiology is one of the most fantastic things that you can do.
Stop asking questions such as “Am I doing it right?” or stop comparing yourself with other guitar players. Listen to your ears. If you like the tone that comes out and you feel extremely comfortable playing in the way you are playing, then it means that you are on the right path.
However, this tip only works once you start developing your skills. If you are a beginner, stick to the basic rules and learn like everybody else.
As you become better, make your choices and stick to it.
6.RECORD YOURSELF
We all love to look good. We love to take selfies and look sharp, but we don’t like to record ourselves.
Recording yourself exposes all your flaws. When you start, it sounds like crap. However, the more you do it, the more chances you have to fix what it’s wrong in your playing.
Look at this video!
Recording my self not only helped my playing. It improved my English, the way I look, and the way I teach.
Start right now.
7.USE YOUR EARS … AND FOCUS ON THE TONE.
When you start practicing the guitar, there are so many things going on in your head that it’s easy to stop noticing how what you play sounds.
You are so focused on playing the right notes that you forget about making it sound good.
At the end of each session, I recommend that you play the things you practiced focusing on the sound, tone, dynamics, and volume.
Try to get the best tone out of the melody or the chords you played. The tone and timbre (tumber) of your guitar is your voice.
Make sure you develop it just as much as you develop your technique.
8.USE THE METRONOME BUT NOT FOR SPEED.
We usually use the metronome to learn how to play faster.
In this tip, though, I suggest that you use it to slow things down.
Trust me! It can be way more challenging to play something slow with feel and timing than to play something fast.
Put the metronome at 60 Bpm and practice different rhythmic patterns.
Two notes.
Three notes.
Four notes.
Five notes.
Six notes.
Seven notes.
Eight notes.
Do it slowly and try to interiorize the rhythm.
9.PRACTICE SCALES BUT ALSO ARPEGGIOS.
Arpeggios are a great variation to scales. Make sure you practice a couple of arpeggios at the beginning of your practice session to get your fingers going.
Diversify your plucking by practicing major, minor, end extended arpeggios.
