The guitar is such a dynamic instrument. We can go from playing loud strumming chords to quite melodies in fingerstyle.
Now, between these two opposites, there is a whole world of sounds, dynamics, and colors available.
The strumming is not just brushing the strings rhythmically. In this little section, in which I am playing A minor and F major 7th, I am using three different strumming modes.
The loud, quick, and uniform strum (on all the strings).
The balancing strum (the gentle strokes).
The melodic strum (short and arpeggiated).
In this lesson, I am going to show you how to use these different strumming approaches along with the fingerstyle.
I am going to be using my index finger to strum the strings, but you can do it with a guitar pick.
The goal for this lesson is to learn how to control your right hand to strum and pluck the strings with different dynamic ranges, tone, and volume.
There are certain chord progressions that you’ll never forget. For example, I still remember the first time I learned the sus2 and sus4 chords in D. It was such a great discovery.
Another excellent chord progression that caught my attention was the rock chord progression that I was playing at the beginning of the video. This chord progression is entirely played with major chords.
We have E D A G A. It sounds pretty rock, especially if we play the E minor pentatonic over it.
This chord progression sounds excellent even if you strum the chords a few times.
In this lesson, I am going to analyze these chords, and I am going to show you how to play them with strumming as well as fingerstyle.
I am also going to show you which scales I like to use over these chords.
The Canon in D is one of the most beautiful and melodic classical compositions ever written.
It was composed by the German composer, Johann Pachelbel in 1680. Little did he know that his Canon in D would later become one of the most performed pieces of Baroque music.
The simple chord progression, along with a soothing melody, gives to the Canon in D the perfect balance between beauty, melody, and emotions.
It was written for violin but over the years was played and recorded by countless musicians. The song was also rearranged many times in different genres and music styles.
Today, I want to show you how to play it on the Tenor ukulele.
Here are a few things you have to know before you learn Canon.
1. The tenor ukulele is tuned like this: G C E A.
2. Because of the ukulele tuning in G, the Canon is in G major (instead of G major).
3. This version of the Canon is shorted than the original (Only five sections).
If you are ready, grab your ukulele, and let’s get started!
Music is one of the most expressive forms of art. A melody of few notes can express so many feelings that sometimes it is hard to believe it.
A song that starts with such a calm and sad melody can only be composed to express a feeling of struggle, suffering, and pain. It’s a beautiful melody but carries a lot of pain.
This song is called Bella Ciao, which means “Goodbye Beautiful Girl,” and it was sung on different occasions throughout Italian history with different lyrics.
The most popular version of this song is the one sung by the Italian anti-fascist resistance movement during the Second World War. When you think of this particular contest, Bella Ciao sounds pretty sad.
Picture a Partisan saying that to his wife or girlfriend before leaving for the war. When you think about it, it’s such a horrible story. Even the lyrics are about war and death.
In this guitar lesson, I am going to show you how to play Bella Ciao in a simple fingerstyle arrangement in A minor.
One of the things that are going to make you sound different from another guitar player is the way you interpret your music.
There are countless ways of playing the same melody, and in this video, I want to show you a few techniques that I use all the time to add color and dynamics to my music.
The melody you will learn is very simple. It is made up of only one note, so we have to make sure this note sounds beautiful, powerful, and full of expression.
We will talk about dynamics, tone, and vibrato. I am also going to show you a simple technique that will help you emphasize the notes of the melody by anticipating the bass note.
You will learn two sections. Section one is melodic and straightforward, while section 2 is more technical and fast.
As always, take things step-by-step and learn one measure at a time.
Hey guys, welcome to another lesson. In this lesson, I am going to show you how to play a Blues in C major that I wrote a while back.
The goal for this lesson is to use the Blues elements such as dominant 7th chords and chromatic notes to create a song-like Blues. We will not follow the standard twelve-bar blues. Instead, we will be focusing on using Blues elements in a song.
This Blues is in C major. We will be using a lot of chords such as C, C7. F. and G7, as well as chords in the A minor key (Am, Dm, and E7).
There are two versions of this Blues. One with the percussion and one without.
In this video, I will be showing you the version without the percussion (thumb-slap & strum), you can then add the percussion on each second and fourth count.
Check the tabs on my Patreon page if you need them.
Hey guys, welcome to Just Play Along Module 8. In this module, we will be taking a look at a melodic solo/melody in D minor in Latin style.
The Latin style played in the minor key allows you to use two different scales: the Minor scale and the Harmonic minor scale.
In this lesson, we will be using the D minor and D harmonic minor scale to write a beautiful Latin melody.
The solo is split into four different sections. In each section, we will try to use the D minor scale in various ways to create a dynamic and beautiful melody/solo.
We will also learn how to play the D minor arpeggio in different positions.
Just Play Along is a guitar course that put scales into practice. The goal for this course is to introduce you to music scales with musical examples played along with a backing track.
By becoming a Patron, you will access this course as well as all the other courses on my Patreon page.
Watch the video introduction here and move on to the next video to learn this excellent solo.
Hey guys, welcome to the second ukulele lesson on this channel. Today I want to show you how to play a beautiful Spanish chord progression on the tenor ukulele.
The most popular Spanish chord progression is the one built on the i, VII, VI, and V degree of the minor scale. In this lesson, we will be taking a look at a Spanish chord progression in G minor so that the chords will be Gm, F, Eb, and D.
I structured the song in three different sections.
Section 1. Chords and melody played in fingerstyle.
Section 2. Chords played with the strumming technique.
Section 3. Chords and melody played with strumming and fingerstyle.
If you are a ukulele beginner, I recommend that you start by learning the chord progression and strum the chords for a while. Once you feel comfortable with the chord changes, you can then apply the fingerpicking pattern and the melody shown in the video.
One of my favorite classical pieces is the Bourree in E minor by Johann Sebastian Bach from the Suite in E Minor BWV 966.
This Bourree is one of the most recognized guitar classical pieces. Almost any guitar player I know learned this beautiful peace at some point in their lives. It’s a lovely piece transcribed for classical guitar, but it has also been played on the acoustic and electric guitar.
One of the things that I love so much about this piece is its simple melody made great by the incredible composing skills of Bach. It is written with two parts: The bass line and the melody.
In this video, we are going to analyze this fantastic composition melodically and harmonically.
There isn’t any chord played in the composition, so we will have to analyze the melody and bass line to find the right chords.
There is always a moment when you feel you want to add something to your chords. Maybe you’ve been playing the same songs for a while and wonder if there is a way to play the same chord progression in different ways.
Now, if you are a beginner, the chances are that you still don’t have the technique and music theory tools to understand how to make chords more interesting.
In reality, though, there is a straightforward trick that helped me discover new chords without necessarily knowing the type of chord I was playing.
You’ll need three things!
You have to identify the bass note of the chords.
You need to know the notes of the scale related to the key you are in.
You have to know the notes on the fretboard.
So the trick is simple. We are going to play these four chords (Am – C – G – F) with all the notes of the A minor scale.
We can start with the note A and play the A minor, C major, G major, and F major bass note with the note A.
Now, the note A functions differently based on the chord we are playing.
For the A minor chord, the note A is just the root note. For the C major chord, the note A is the major six. For the G major the note A is the major 9th. And for the F major the note A is the major 3rd.
Each note of the scale will give you a different color.
