Super Sad Melody in G major for Beginners

Fingerstyle Guitar Lesson

Can a sad melody be in major key?

I was reading a cool article about the connection between music and emotions and I wasn’t surprised to read that sad, emotional melodies are written in minor key.

It makes sense and I do agree with the writer. The minor key is dark, sad, pessimistic, melancholic, dramatic and unpleasant and there is a reason for that which we are not going to discuss here (at least not in this post).

The question is “Can I make a melody in major key sound sad?”

I think so! And I have been challenging myself trying to write one.

In this fingerstyle guitar lesson I am going to show you a sad melody in G major key.

Because we are playing in a major key, we have to work twice as hard to make this melody super sad. We don’t have the minor cadences to help us and we also don’t have a minor melody.

In order to win this challenge we will have to rely on other things such as: Expression, over-ringing and (not priority) few guitar effects.

• Expression: This is the most important aspect you’ll have to develop. A sad melody needs to express a negative, melancholic mood. We can give this moon to any melody regardless if its a major or minor melody. Pluck the strings gently, play the bass note before the melody, use “tempo rubato” ( an expressive and rhythmic freedom in tempo).
• Over-ringing: Make sure the melody resonate beautifully. Hold the notes and let me melody ring out nicely. The over-ringing technique can make everything you play sound more melancholic and calm.
• Guitar effects: I use a lot of reverb and delay to sustain the notes.

This is an awesome guitar lesson that I am sure many of you are going to like.

As always take it step by step and only more on to the next part when you feel ready.

Let’s get started.

The Video

The Chord Progression

In the first part of the video I am going to show you the chord progression I used to write this sad melody.

We are in the key of G major and the chord progression goes as follows: G – D – Em – Cadd9. We will repeat that twice than C – D – Em – D for the B section.

Notice that the chord progression is very “Major” sounding.

The G major key is one of the most used on guitar. It’s simple, nice sounding and fingerstyle friendly.

Fingerstyle Approach

We are playing this sad melody using fingerstyle technique. This guitar approach is unique and allows you to pluck the strings directly with your fingernails or fingertip as opposed to plucking the strings with a guitar pick.  This guitar technique is amazing because allows you to combine chords and melody together.

For this guitar lesson you will play the bass note with the thumb and the melody with alternate fingering middle and index finger (m-i).

It is of paramount importance that you learn how to pluck the strings correctly.

With the fingerstyle technique the sound comes from your fingers so plucking the string incorrectly will certainly give you a sloppy sound. Spend time plucking the strings using different angles. The tone will change drastically so you’ll have to memorize the which part of the fingertip gives you the sound you are looking for.

Use this sad melody to improve your fingerstyle technique before trying a different lesson.

Good luck.

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Useful Links

• Guitar Lessons in London
• Strumming Guitar Lessons – Justin Guitar
• Sad Melody
• Electric Guitar Lesson]