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Learn to play blues guitar.

Acoustic Rhythms: Creative ways to fill the space – Acoustic rhythm guitar ideas – EP509

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In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn an acoustic rhythm with creative fills that leave lots of open space. You’ll learn how to connect everything to basic chord shapes.

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Comments

  4. Chandler says

    Is this a stupid question? I hear that this is in G, but if I were on my own I’d be trying to figure out how to make it work in C based on the chords, at least until the second part. Is it just because of the progression from G back to G?

    • Michael L says

      Hi Chandler, since the progression and tonal center is around G as the “home base” sound, but the chords (with the F natural, instead of F#) can be seen as from the key of C, it makes a G mixolydian progression. That’s why the G mixolydian scale works in the first part. For the second part we introduce a D natural chord which is not a chord from the key of C, but is in the key of G. This changes us into the key of G, so the G major scale works for this tonality. It’s pretty cool how the tonal center remains G but we move from G mixolydian to G major and back again. Hope this helps.

          • jgreen says

            Hi Dean –

            Assuming you are asking about Bm in the first part of the progression. This section is in G mixolydian which is the C major scale. When you build your chords from the C major scale you would not get a minor chord for B but it would be a B dim chord. The flat 3 (D) and flat 5 (F). B minor would require an F# which is not in the C major scale.

            However when the second section shifts into G major a Bm could be used there because the F# is in the G major scale.

            Hope this helped.
            Jim

      • Chandler says

        Thank you Michael. So its a mixolydian progression because the home base is G – based on the tonal center – but the chords are in the key of the 4 of that home base (C)? So if the tonal center were A, but the chords were D, A, and G (key of D), then it would be A mixolydian? Is it just something you hear?

        • Michael L says

          Hi Chandler, yes, you’ve got it, but it’s usually thought of the other way around. G mixo is a mode of the C major scale. That is, the notes are all from the C major scale, but depending on where you start the scale (the tonal center) you get the different modes built from the C major scale. The mixolydian mode is based off the 5th degree of a major scale (G is the 5th of C). Here is the C major scale:
          C D E F G A B C
          G mixolydian is:
          G A B C D E F G
          Same notes, but different tonal center. If you think of C as the 4th of G, that’s correct, but it implies that the G major scale is the basis of the mode, rather than C major. C, being the 4th of G, gives you C Lydian mode (based on the G major scale). In your other example, yes, it would be A mixolydian because A is the 5th degree in the D major scale.
          In regard to hearing it, one can eventually develop an ear for the modes. I’m still working on it, but I often recognize mixolydian because of the flatted 7th sound. It’s that dominant 7 tension that is really common in music and pulls the ear toward resolution to the I chord.

          • michael f says

            Thanks for explaining this in terms of modal playing in the C major scale. Brian talks alot about fingers finding frets from playing the major scale starting on different notes. To my mind, learning to do this at the outset has to mean understanding what you are doing in your head. Knowing the major scale in different positions comprises a third part of the triangle (fingering geography) before I can finally hear the changes.

          • Michael L says

            Hi Michael F,

            My very first guitar teacher started me off learning the major scale in all 5 positions. There was no talk of modes or anything like it, just the major scale and here’s how to play it in these positions. It wasn’t until much later that this knowledge started to become really useful. ALL of the modes for a given major scale are just that same major scale, but started on a different note. When I started learning about modes I already had the 5 positions of the major scale under my fingers. Playing G Mixolydian, for instance, is just playing C major starting on G. I already knew that position, so the mode came easily. It also works that you can play the C major scale in ANY position, or move from one position to another, as long as you maintain G as your tonal center. That is often handled by the underlying chord progression, and some wise targeting of chord tones in your solo lets you keep to that tonality. When Brian talks about your fingers know where to go, for me this means knowing the major scale well in all 5 positions. Yes, your fingers do know where to go then.

          • michael f says

            I circled back today before Brian posts his Friday lesson to see if anyone responded to my comment here earlier in the week. So thank you Michael L for responding to me (and Chandler) and giving almost a mini lesson here in “G mixolydian is C major.” There is alot going on here with sus 4 chords. And who doesn’t love that sound. My ear is getting pretty good now at hearing them. So the Gsus4 chord in measure 6 is a C, That marks the beginning of the cycle of the song structure G-F-C . At that point, I’m in G mixo. Also the 4 in the Csus 4 is an F, the flat 7 in G mixo. I better stop here before I confuse myself. PlayingG sus 4 over chords in part 2 sounds completely different because its major

      • Nick Ll says

        It is always interesting to see how differently people would interpret a song structure.

        My take on it would have been simply as verses (the G,F,C,G x4 part) in G Major and chorus (the D, Em,C,G,D, Em part) in its relative minor key of Em, followed by a sort of turnaround (with the Am to D bit) and then we’re back into G major.

        But then Brian introduces the concept of the mixolydian mode which causes my brain to go into mixeduplloydian mode.

        (With apologies for my terrible pun and for going one step further by explaining that my surname is Lloyd though only the first two letters show in my userid)

        • Nick Ll says

          Can I just add

          1. that I bow to the master on this, I’m pretty sure my take is too simplistic and reflects my much more basic level of understanding and experience in music.
          2. I love this lesson – the composition itself, the explanations and the whole vibe of the piece are a perfect example of exactly what keeps me hooked on this website as my principal source of learning.

  7. Daniel H says

    Brian, I keep encountering key changes in songs, such as this lesson. Is there a music theory “rule of thumb” for a key change within a song or just go with what sounds nice? Anybody?…

  12. Mark H says

    Thanks Brian, just what I needed. I know all of those positions and use them when fingerpicking. The lesson helps me translate that knowledge to keep things cleaner when using a pick against a backing track. I think everyone can and will get some good mileage out of the lesson.

  20. San Luis Rey says

    Brian, Just got through the whole lesson for the first time today. (Monday) The more I got into it, the more I loved it! Great progression with some really nice embellishments in different positions!

  21. michael f says

    On line 15 in the tab/music , the lick that goes from major to Eminor, I hear that in Jackson Browne’s “Barricades of Heaven”. Sweet. Since Brian is magical at conjuring up ….er stealing…lol licks from his favorite guitar players, how about trying to do so as a homage to David Lindley.

    Also, for sus 4 chords, can’t do any better than lerning to play the Stones’ “Angie”, (sus 4 chords played in E and D positions). Brian has stayed on sus chords the last two weeks, so it really draws one’s attention to them in other tunes. Love it.

  27. James S says

    Brian I do not like what has happened to SoundSlice. The options have been reduced. My favorite way to use it was to ge the whole tab up on one screen and play with the jam track. That cannot be done now. Do us all a favor and get the old version back please!!!

  28. James S says

    Well just after I posted my last comment about SoundSlice I figured out how to get it work the way I wanted. It just was not the same and it took a while but I got it. Keep up the good work.

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