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Enhance your blues rhythm and lead by using dominant 7 triads – Blues Guitar Lesson – EP386

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn several dominant 7 triads in various positions that you can easily add to your blues rhythm or lead. You’ll learn how to connect these to basic chord shapes so that you can easily find them and play them over any chord / key.

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

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Slow Walkthrough

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Comments

  1. Michael Allen says

    November 6, 2020 at 7:08 pm

    Sounds great and looks like fun! I can’t wait to learn this. Thanks Brian

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  2. Jim M says

    November 6, 2020 at 8:04 pm

    Nice chordal motifs Brian.

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  3. Chris R says

    November 6, 2020 at 8:13 pm

    Great Stuff as Always – Thanks Brian!!

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  4. San Luis Rey says

    November 6, 2020 at 8:46 pm

    Thanks Brian. This is just what I needed! I know you covered some of this before and I printed out the triad shapes you gave us but this is the reinforcement for that lesson. Hopefully after this one some of these shapes will be on instant recall!

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    • Brian says

      November 7, 2020 at 8:22 pm

      In that previous lesson (EP362) – I mentioned major chord triads – this lesson is Dominant 7 triads.

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  5. Glenn says

    November 6, 2020 at 8:52 pm

    Whew! Thank you, Brian. I have been meaning to look up an explanation of the difference, but no doubt yours is clearer and more complete. A Big advance for me in this lesson.

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  6. RNArizona says

    November 6, 2020 at 9:18 pm

    Right up front; this is not one of my favorite types of music. That said, I found a lot of very useful information in this lesson, and will probably end up learning most, if not all, of the song. So, thank you as always Brian.

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  7. jimbostrat says

    November 6, 2020 at 9:37 pm

    That sweet ES-175 sounds super and looks like at least a couple of years old, Brian!! :>) Jim C.

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  8. JohnGB says

    November 7, 2020 at 3:25 am

    I love this stuff.

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  9. Ian C says

    November 7, 2020 at 4:15 am

    Brilliant lesson. It’s often the fairly simple stuff that makes the big breakthroughs when playing the guitar.
    I’ve been playing almost 50 years and am almost embarrassed to say had never even thought of making a dominant 7 chord triad using the 4th 5th and 6th strings for G7 and A7 followed by C7 on 3, 4, 5 strings (all using the ‘ D7’ shape) until I saw this in a Mike Pachelli video discussing The Beatles Sgt Pepper intro a week ago. The change in sound using these correct (for this song) chords shapes astounded me.

    Your lesson explores and combines many more voicings and fills off simple triads which all give various unique sounds, many of which I often previously thought to use as a convenience and not how they sounded off eachother. Many thanks Brian.

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  10. Glenn W says

    November 7, 2020 at 4:18 am

    I already learned a few months ago from another site that the 5th could be dropped (the reasoning being, from what I understood, that the 5th had the least “harmonic value”(?) but didn’t realise that any note (1,3,5) could be dropped. Brilliant as usual.

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  11. Lefteris B says

    November 7, 2020 at 4:40 am

    An unbelievably useful lesson. Triads and dominants not memorising or just learning but using them. I’m grateful.

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  12. Jaime says

    November 7, 2020 at 5:52 am

    Thanks Brian, this is a really interesting and helpful lesson.

    I’m missing some diagrams as you did in other lessons, to help visualize triads and how they can be found to regular position chords but maybe it’s all in EP362? I have to review this lesson!

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  13. Brian M says

    November 7, 2020 at 6:14 am

    Nice one! AND… is that another recent purchase you are playing here? It looks well played in! I love P90’s. The headstock looks unusual as it doesn’t have the standard ‘open book’ look on the top. I don’t think I’ve seen that before on a 175. Perhaps you can enlighten me. Best wishes and stay safe.

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    • Brian M says

      November 7, 2020 at 6:21 am

      Replying to myself… I’ve just done some research and had another look at the video, but in full screen mode this time, and the ‘open book’ is more visible but the top centre ‘fold’ is less pronounced than the more familiar, and current, style. Now I’m wondering about the tuners… ; )

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      • Brian says

        November 7, 2020 at 8:18 pm

        Check out last week’s lesson – EP385 at the beginning of the video I talk about the guitar. Rough shape cosmetically but it plays like a dream!

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  14. charjo says

    November 7, 2020 at 8:12 am

    Brian,
    This is a brilliant breakthrough lesson that integrates so many blues concepts. I have always been a proponent of visualizing the intervals around the nearest root to fully understand the shapes, rather than memorize them. These triad shapes should also help integrate all the positions of the myxolydian mode for soloing over the changes. This might be one of the most important lessons you have ever done, along with CAGED and mixing the major and minor pentatonics.
    John

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  15. KEVIN F says

    November 7, 2020 at 8:24 am

    Another great lesson. I have watched many dominant 7 triad videos from some other great teachers on YT but this one is the best example of using them in a musical framework as a rhythm β€˜lead combo. Nothing I didn’t know already in regards to chord shapes but a lot to learn here on applying them.

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  16. Ralph P. says

    November 7, 2020 at 8:51 am

    Hi Brian, I have a few questions that have to do with your right hand technique. There’s a great shot at 7:47-7:48 that clearly shows your pick grip and right hand fingernails. I’ve played for a long time and the past few years I’ve been paying a lot more attention to my right hand technique and trying to clean up some technique problems. My questions are about your nails: Are they natural nails or acrylics? How do you take care of your nails?
    You get an amazing tone playing fingerstyle on acoustic and electric. I’ve played fingerstyle with mostly flesh, but I’ve been adding a little bit of nails to add clarity, and would like any tips you have for keeping nails usable.
    Another huge tip I’ve picked up from your pick playing is to rotate from the wrist. That has definitely cleaned up my alternate picking and upstrokes. Guitarists can learn so much by just watching you play.
    Also, do you ever play nylon string guitar?
    Thanks for all you do for us “geetar players”.

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    • Brian says

      November 7, 2020 at 8:15 pm

      oh man, talking about my nails.. i feel so unmanly right now. They’re natural and i don’t do anything regarding maintenance … chip them every now and then, but that’s just the price you pay I guess πŸ™‚

      Good point on rotating the wrist – that does help a lot and I never really thought about it. I do play some nylon string here and there, but the nylon string guitar I have is in rough shape.

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  17. David L says

    November 7, 2020 at 9:22 am

    Another great one Brian. Getting a backlog of amazing lessons I want to learn but this is going to the front. Thank you.

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  18. erwin41 says

    November 7, 2020 at 10:00 am

    This is another excellent Lesson with good backround information,because 7 accords we all play all the Time.Excellent work,Brian as usual.

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  19. Rollover33 says

    November 7, 2020 at 10:03 am

    Hello Brian, think music with triads rather than scales, pentatonic, positions seems to be better way to progress. It’s difficult. No sense learning that without understanding what we play, intervals, Caged positions… This lesson is top !!!

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  20. Raymond P says

    November 7, 2020 at 12:58 pm

    A great lesson on using the Dominant 7’s and your new-old guitar sounds great too.

    Thanks Brian
    Ray P

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  21. dave t says

    November 7, 2020 at 5:34 pm

    your improv at end of lesson part 1 is fantastic…..any chance of a tab?

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  22. Jaime says

    November 8, 2020 at 3:30 am

    Hi Brian, I caught a typo on the tab. At the beginning of measure 18, the third string should be 12th fret, not 9th. At least, to match what you play at the video πŸ™‚

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  23. Michael R says

    November 8, 2020 at 4:33 am

    A great lesson with beautiful explanations as always.
    Thank you Brian.

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  24. rjwheeler says

    November 8, 2020 at 7:39 am

    This is a comment about last weeks lesson: “When the Saints Go Marching In”. The song came together for rather quickly and I loved the arrangement but was struggling with a couple of things. Then I watched your midweek missive and two of the things you said hit home about my struggles with the song: relaxing and practicing fast. I love the triplet run in the second half of the song and was using the practice slow and work up to speed and it wasn’t getting it and I was struggling getting a free, bouncy feeling to the song. So I relaxed a bit and practiced that run fast and in a very short time I had the run and the feeling of the song I wanted.

    Thanks. These lesson have made playing so much fun and my improvement has amazed me.

    Bob

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  25. smilefred says

    November 8, 2020 at 10:32 am

    Brillant lesson brian. This is will be a Great breakthrough lesson for many of us..thanks

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  26. richard p says

    November 8, 2020 at 2:26 pm

    Man, I love these lessons. The problem I’m having is that my knowledge is now way ahead of my technique… in the dark, I couldn’t find the right string with my pick hand to save my soul… I just can’t seem to feel where the strings are.

    Anyway, I also just started to go back to your first lessons… from ten years ago. It’s kinda fun because you don’t describe the theory back then, but because of your current lessons, I know what you’re doing there!

    As for this week’s lesson… how cool… I thought I knew what a dominant-7th chord was, but I never sat down and drew it out… I was wrong! Very cool to now know it. And love the variations… they all make sense.

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  27. Andre H says

    November 9, 2020 at 7:55 am

    This is another great lesson to understand and uncover the many possibilities on the fretboard. Thanks so much Brian!!

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  28. Dan S says

    November 9, 2020 at 1:11 pm

    I instantly got hooked on this sound and I haven’t past the 8th bar yet and I’m wearing it out.
    I know it’s simple, but that’s the beauty of it. This really can be branched out
    I’ve been fascinated by your depiction of Dom7 and Dim7.
    Thanks a heap..

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  29. Buster89 says

    November 9, 2020 at 4:18 pm

    Superbe lesson once again ! We are blessed to have Brian as a teacher with a gift to continuously impart relevant knowledge and is also a great motivator.

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  30. Greg B says

    November 10, 2020 at 11:00 am

    Hi Brian,

    This is a great lesson. Concepts may be old hat to some but it’s exactly the sort of breakdown which helps me. I love watching Josh Smith play but his level just makes playing rhythm and lead with chordal variations seem so far out of reach. This is a step in that direction. It just injects a lot of fun into playing rhythm.

    Besides, it’s extra fun to play on my old 1953 Epiphone Zephyr. Not a spectacular guitar but fun to play.

    Greg

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    • Greg B says

      November 10, 2020 at 11:36 am

      p.s. Playing triads really helps my right hand control. I’m relatively new to playing electric and used to play more cowboy looking chords or chords using all six or five chords and that seems to have made my right hand lazy or clumsy. At least for me, playing a combination of rhythm and lead, as well as focusing on triads, greatly improves my right hand.

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  31. Robert T says

    November 10, 2020 at 8:38 pm

    Bryan, could you add a chart showing only the triads?

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  32. Benedikt says

    November 11, 2020 at 7:12 am

    Can’t wait to try this out!
    I really admire the rythmic quality of this composition. So much going on and still everything played with perfect timing πŸ™‚

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  33. Rev Bob says

    November 12, 2020 at 5:25 am

    Wow! Wow! Wow! So many light bulb moments from this lesson. Thank you Brian, top draw. Keep them coming. πŸ‘πŸ»πŸ˜ŽπŸ‘ŠπŸ»

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  34. Francesco. ( Frank ) G says

    November 12, 2020 at 3:19 pm

    Great lesson Brian i loved it it would be good i think to have a chart with just triads . thank you Brian

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  35. Bernard P says

    November 17, 2020 at 11:42 am

    Hi! I noticed you seem to often add a little bit of vibrato/ tremolo to your amp, is it on board or outboard? Keep on pickings!

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  36. Dirk E says

    November 27, 2020 at 6:21 pm

    I really like how you added the tab to the video, super helpful. As always, great job Brian.

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  37. Matt C says

    December 3, 2020 at 11:43 am

    Hey Brian, I’m a big fan. Thanks!

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