Description
Most guitarists treat chords and lead playing as two separate things — but they don’t have to be. In this week’s lesson, I’ll show you how to pull harmonized lead ideas directly out of the chord shapes you already know. The result is a fuller, more musical sound that works in country, blues, just about anything.
Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson
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Slow Walkthrough
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Video Tablature Breakdown
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Sounds beautiful! It reminded me of the intro to “Miracles” by Jefferson Starship. I can’t wait to worth with these ideas. Thanks Brian
That would be “work”
Great micro lesson on repurposing chords and licks in different places on the neck. Sadly, I failed the test on recognizing the Bm triad was Em9 in that context, so repeating those types of things are always helpful.
Great helpful lesson! I like the fact that you explain how the chords work together. Also helps with getting used to using the whole fretboard and reinforcing where those chords are. Thank you!
Man, I love this stuff!!! Thanks for sharing, Brian.
I got very excited about this material! It brings a lot of separate bits of my guitar knowledge together into sa very useful concept. I get it, and I love it!
Tremendous lesson Brian. You have made a traditional Turn Around sound very unique with that Bm vs. Em. I really like viewing the licks off of chord shapes more than scales. Other players have told me for years that they don’t think about scales, just the shapes and now I’m finally starting to get it and understand it. Looking forward to playing this and transposing it as well.
I’m having trouble watching part 2 of the video. It keeps saying ‘something went wrong’. Is it just me, or is anyone else having this problem?”
Hi Rafael,
Sorry to hear that. It works perfectly for me.
Georg
Hey I’m having the same problem sometimes. I start the Video lesson again and then it’s working
Brilliant lesson Brian. I love this approach.
Hi Brian,
What a wonderful melody! More of that, please. Sticking with things isn’t exactly my strong suit, but with your friendly way, you’ve managed to keep me excited time and again over the years I’ve been with Active Melodie. That’s definitely a major reason why I’ve stuck with learning to play the guitar the way you teach it. You manage to make the fretboard more and more accessible to me without any frills, simply through your authentic style and clear explanations. Perfect.
It’s definitely true that the repetitions help me. There isn’t really a single lesson anymore where I don’t have that “101st-time-experience”, which finally allows me not only to understand a lick or a concept, but also to incorporate it into my repertoire or knowledge. I can’t think of anything to improve on what you provide us with at Active Melodie.
Thank you very much,
Georg
Another very helpful lesson. Thanks.
This is my favorite style lesson at AM … pulling melodies out of the chord shapes (or should we say snippets). These lessons have helped me reframe songs with a sound more interesting than cowboy chords or traditional bar chords (E & A shape). This style also makes incorporating licks from scales sound seamless. I’d love to see lessons like this more frequently!
Brian, you never need to be apologetic about repetition. Many of your lessons are so thick with ideas and theory any repetition just helps lock it in place.
Thank your for another great lesson!
I love these ideas of leads inside the chord shapes. easy to follow and easy to understand cause you explain them so well.
beautifull guitar Brian.. it looks like it’s made of leather…fantastic sound.
More good stuff. Thanks buddy
Great lesson. I am always looking for things like this where I can pull melodies from the chords!
More light bulb moments for me here today, thank you!
Thanks for some really great ideas on how to look at and use the pieces of chord shapes to create music.
Hi Brian, and every one.
Beautyful song today.
Great lightbulb on this little game with the B minor triad.
I got a question :
Wouldn’t there have been something interesting to do with that Bm triad on the D chord given that it’s like a D6 chord?
Bm is B D F#
D6 is D F# A B
Em is E G B
D is D F# A
Em9 is E G B D F#
There is nothing wrong with trying any triad over any chord. It’s always going to come down to using your ear to decide what is best. In this case the B note functions as the 6th over a D chord.
Hi Michael, thank you for your response.
I agree that it is the ear that judges this.
It seems to me that something is possible.
But I don’t have as good composition ideas as Brian (I’m surely lacking some experience and practice).
Thanks again.
Have a good week
Brian, you talk about “light bulb moments”, I just had one ! By just using partial chord structures ,I am able to enjoy playing guitar again despite significant arthritis in my hands. Thanks for the inspiration !
I’ve been feasting these last 3 weeks on Brian’s smorgasbord of ideas, lessons and styles: playing just 3 strings up the neck in a bluegrass composition 3 weeks ago, which would sound great under a jamming tree here at the Vandalia Gathering this weekend in Charleston Wv, then last week both a rhythm AND a lead lesson in Chicago Blues (plug in that tele and bend some stings man!) and this week a melodic composition giving light to how playing the same lead over a different chord can transform the sound. And yes, I’ve got to hear the same idea a bunch of times before it hits. After 5 years, Brian still delivers. Don’t know how he does it. Just a great teacher.
Solid lesson it really opened up a lot of ideas for me. Keep up the great work you do, much appreciated.
Fantastic lesson Brain.
Thanks
What a fun piece. I started playing it in the key of C and D (not the whole thing) to get a feel for those sounds. Then the fun part came when I added one or two notes to the melody that I heard in my head. Maybe because the tablature had only two lines it gave me freedom to experiment around the chord shapes, add new sounds and lengthen the composition. Lots of great takeaways in this lesson.
Great lesson, beautiful melodies with easy variations of standard chord shapes. Thanks so much for a wonderful demonstration of a “simple” concept!
Enjoyed this one, worked on it for about 3 afternoons and it sounds good. Still not perfect but way better.
Nice looking and sounding guitar.
Brendan
Another great lesson, and what a beautiful guitar. I’ve seen it before but can’t remember what it is. Can anyone help me out please? I want one!
Mule Resonator, and he discusses the details in EP584 if you want to know a little more. Justin Johnson plays a different model of it that has a cutaway feature and he can play the heck out of that thing. It’s quite expensive, and requires a $400 deposit and almost 4K price tag to own one. The wait time right now is just under a year from date ordered.
https://www.muleresophonic.com/products/33342-the-parr-mule
I recognized the guitar as one used in the Movie Sinners by Ryan Koogler. Distinct Sound indeed. Called a Resonator as others pointed out.
Beautiful as always Brian.Yes, the 101st time I hear something it sticks! So in lesson EP627 I started to pay closer attention to those chord shapes to follow the progression. This lesson is seeing the chord without playing all of its parts… the bonus is the Bminor painting that freaked me out. I was ready to tell you you are mistaken Sir..that cannot be the G Major 7…then I saw the F#…in the Bminor…grinning sheepishly at me…saying…Come on Padawan…Master Jedi Brian is in control here… patience.
I liked this lesson because the practice parts showed all my weak playing areas that need improvement.
Terrific lesson! I appreciate the G walk down in the rhythm, it provides an audio landmark to match the melody ( which is my nemesis, that is correctly overlaying the melody on the rhythm to get the best and intended sound). I also like “playing the chords, or the diads and triads, I can once in a while find some of the intervals (scales) on my own which is fun. Also getting mastery of the fingering ( the dance) is a challenge, by Wednesday it seems to get better. By Wednesday I just need to let the rhythm play and venture off of the prescribed lead; a bit slow at this, but even a few correct diads, triads, or licks feels like a win. Keep these awesome lessons coming! I also like the Part 1, Part 2 / lead, rhythm format😃
I know you have mentioned it before, but which dobro model is that guitar.
Another great lesson Brian! Really moves my understanding of the fretboard along in a very positive way. I had several light bulb moments . Thanks.
Absolutely love it.. Nailed it once again.. thank you Brian. I love your lessons. So easy to follow and I could use this idea in a lot of songs I’m playing.
Light bulbs popping!!
The Chord or note I need is literally only one Fret away…another Light Bulb pops! Brian earns another pair of wings!!
G’day Brian,
Just love that Nashville Sound. Floyd Cramer style!
M.J., Oz!
Bonjour Brian,
Je commence au fil des leçons à comprendre comment improviser. Pour cette leçon j’ai réécris un lead guitar en appliquant votre analyse harmonique. Je suis content car je commence à être autonome en composant.
Manuel,
This deserves a follow up lesson, love it
Brian: I prefer to print the music from the Video Tablature section (SoundSlice) as it allows me to see the notation, as well as the tablature.
For this lesson, however, the print function that is available in the Video Tablature section does not seem to work. When I click “Print” from the menu the symbol in the bottom left corner indicates that the function is loading, but it never completes and printing is not possible. Also, selecting the option seems to hang the system. However, I can still print the tablature from the “Download Tablature” button at the top right of the page instead, so it is not a show stopper. Thought you would like to know.
Forgot to add that I am using a Mac updated to the latest version of their OS.
thanks for the heads up on this – i’ve got a note out to soundslice to correct it. it seems to be happening to all soundslice files so something on their end.
After years of searching I found gold… every lesson is a masterpiece, greetings from AUSTRIA !!
I don’t understand Bm over the Em thing but I love the sound
That’s OK, you will eventually get it. It has to do with the functional equivalent chord sound heard together with Em and Bm triad combined.
A Bm triad is considered an Em9 over Em because its notes (B–D–F♯) are the 5th, ♭7, and 9th of Em, forming the upper extensions of an Em9 chord when played over an E bass. If the low bass note in the backing track was just a B note, then yes, a Bm triad sounds like and is a Bm chord.
For now, just accept that this is just the way it works, and later on when you gain more chord and harmony theory, it will all start to make sense.
Brian- Your Real gift is your ability to hear those beautiful melodies and then recreate them for us in such a teachable manner. My favorites folder is getting fuller week by week as you come up with these lessons!
thanks Brian, i can do melodies in the open chords and using capo, so this lesson is great for me, i would like more of these type of lessons, maybe some bluesy ones. Brian it takes me ages to learn your lessons as i am unfamiliar with the tunes hahaha. Your lessons are the best though, and i want to do everyone every week but i cant keep up! i like ALL of your lessons and its hard to stick to one and complete it properly because i need more than a week. One of your lessons took me a year to learn no kidding!
One year to complete one lesson is way too long. You will want to focus in on easier lessons that can at least be completed in one months time. If you have time limitations due to work schedule or something else, that’s understandable, but if you need help with something, let me know what your struggling with and I’ll try to help. I just added you as a friend.
About getting overwhelmed with weekly lessons, just view the weekly lessons and try to learn just one or two things from those lessons. You don’t have to go through it all right away. If I really like a lesson that I viewed and don’t have time to work on it, I’ll immediately add it to my favorites so I get easily go back to it later at any time. If you saw the lesson at the beginning of the year on setting goals, the goal for you is not to complete every weekly lesson. Your goals will need to focus in on your greatest weaknesses and pick very specific goals that address those weaknesses.
Another excellent lesson, and thanks for hammering this incredibly powerful concept home, yet again!
And a pretty melody, too. It is all so appreciated. Thanks!
Good stuff – it reinforces my feeling that I should be better at picking out triads from the CAGED shapes – I’ve done a little of that, moving the D shape and the A shape up the fretboard, but this shows me that I’m just scratching the surface. And looking for harmonies is another dimension I need to focus on. Thanks!
Lots of great ideas to work with in this lesson, Thanks Brian.
A very helpful lesson many thanks Brian. What I love is it all sounds so musical against the chords but there are so many little flavours to make it sound great. One thing that has really struck me which I can’t see mention of (may have missed it of course!) is that when I played it it din’t sound like your version until it really dawned on me how much difference it makes to the sweetness of the sound by adding vibrato on many of the chords – lovely addition.