Description
In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play both the major scale and a bluesy version of the major scale (mixolydian mode) by using harmonized 3rd and harmonized 6th intervals. You’ll be able to not only understand where these harmonies come from, but how to connect them back to familiar chord shapes that you already know so that you can start using them when you improvise.
Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson
Part 2 - For Premium Members
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Slow Walk-Through
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Video Tablature Breakdown
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Very cool concepts and follow up can’t wait!! Great job Brian!
Thanks Brian for this great lesson,now ican understand the 3rds and sixtths the rest is now to practise all that.
Ineed all this paperwork too understand Music.Thats my way of playing.Thanks a lot.
Great lesson! Thank you.
Combining the major and mixolydian gives flavors to the improvise.
Hi Brian,
please let me know, where I can get a 48 hrs day …….
Incredible lesson again. Thanks a lot.
Norbert
Thanks for giving me more great opportunities to improvise.
Wow! Lots of tidbits and light bulbs in this one.
Thank you as always for your
patience with slow learners like myself. These are very helpful,
I have been playing for several decades and still can’t believe I have made it thus far without this knowledge.
The music is refreshing and distracting from our world today.
Great lesson Brian, great explanation and easy to understand, one of the best lessons given out anywhere, thanks, helps me a lot
As always Brian, great lesson. You are a gem! Be interesting to extend this by way of incorporating some minor chords from the same key.
Hey Brian, last two week’s lessons have been superb! Thanks for all the hard work you’ve put into them 🙏
Awesome material every week. So good, I gifted a membership to a guitar playing friend. Question: Tablature for harmonized 3rd, first chart should read “strings 2 & 3”, no?
Yes Michael, I was also wondering about that. I think it should read “strings 2 & 3.”
Agree – I think he meant 2&3. AT least that is what the diagram shows.
Thanx Brian,Great eye opening lesson.
Thank you so much. I am really grateful to have found you.
Excellent lesson, no surprise there !
I know people are at various stages in their learning and experience journey with the guitar so the relevance of significance of each lesson will be different for them. I recall when I first joined Active Melody 3 years or so ago I was a little frustrated that I couldn’t see a route through the material. The lessons just kept coming with a new topic each week which rarely referred to the previous week – I enjoyed them nonetheless and stuck at it.
However, I have to say that in the last few weeks, either by design, good luck, or my perception, there seems to be more of a structure and a sense that ideas and techniques are increasingly building on and reinforcing those recently presented. This has not detracted from the enjoyment, styles or novelty of the new bespoke music you come up with week after week. What it does mean, for me as perhaps an older member, is that I feel I understand and retain a greater amount of the information much more easily.
All in all you are doing a great job Brian, thanks.
I do agree Ian, a roadmap through the material might be nice seeing as it is so voluminous. But, as uncle Ralph said, “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, Of petty statesman, philosophers and divines…“. taking each lesson as it comes and piecing together the parts of the puzzle seems to work equally well in its own way.
Wow, you’ve really been on a roll lately, Brian. Great lessons. If I could make just one suggestion, could you also provide backing tracks in B flat and E flat? I suspect I’m not the only jazzer wannabe among your students, and those are two keys I really need to master. Thanks!
on your harmonized 3rd chart it says strings 3 and 4. Isnt it strings 2 and 3? Incidently this is an incredible lesson. I love the strings 2 and 3 harmonized scale.
Thanks Brian! Great lesson. The topic is very interesting, especially for people studying guitar and trying to improvise on the chords or in a jam with other musicians. Please keep going on posting similar topic.
All I can say is WOW. Love harmonized music. Another one added to my favorites.
Simply living and active melody lessons !
Great Lesson thanks
Great lesson value for the subscription! Learn something I can use every week!
There is something hauntingly familiar about parts of the melody. It’s a jazz standard that uses the harmonized 3rd &6ths. Anyone know the name of the tune?
I recently spent time with the Tony Joe White lesson. We lost another great. Could someone comment on the harmonized 3rds used in the TJW lesson on the 4th and 3rd strings. Two of the three did not fit the definition of a harmonized 3rd based on this lesson. After a lot of scratching my head they appear to be harmonized flat thirds, if such a concept exists. If I am correct, how and when are these used? This is another incredible lesson. The past two have been huge. Thank you Brian.
Those were also harmonized 3rds but in the 4th and 3rd strings as I recall. Less conventional
You’re doing a great job of coming up with valuable lessons week after week. You are teaching us all kinds of things that I really want to learn. Thank you.
I second what Ian C says. . . . these latest lessons are EXCELLENT. A little THEORY goes a long way in understanding not only the HOW, but the WHY.
Brian just checking in on your tab and G mixolydian scale on strings 1 &2. I thought the 7th was flattened, i.e. in G you go from F# to F. If you put that in thirds I was thinking for strings 1&2 it would not be on 7&5 but on 6&5 to flatten the 7th, however, in your supported chart I see it is going from 7&5 to 7&6? Thanks, Andre
Andre,
In your reference to the G mixo Harmonized 3rd scale on strings 1&2 (see gray note group): I think you’re right. You need the flattened 7th (F) on the 6th fret second string and (A)5th fret first string (6&5 not a 7&6 gray note group). Check me on that? Thank you.
Thanks Andre – I have corrected this! Good catch 🙂
Yep, not easy but complete. This is the meat in the sandwich and is exactly what I need. Thank you so much for all the trouble you must have had bringing this to us. I’ve seen a lot of teachers out there and none (as far as I’ve seen) are sharing this kind of information in the great way you have. You are a hell of a teacher and thank you for that. You are correct; this is a lesson…
The harmonized third chart has 2 mistakes?
1. States string 3&4 but should be 2&3 ? No big deal I even figured that out!
2. Chart for 1&2 strings shows D in string 2 and a G on #1 string. Now that’s a 4 th. is it not so maybe the dot on the third fret 1st string is a mistake?
Thanks for the heads up Pat – I have corrected this!
Thanks for another great lesson with some cool theory to digest!
Hi Brian. You’re a born teacher and this is coming from somebody who was a teacher before retirement. I had been unclear in the difference between the use of the major scale and the mixolydian with the 3rds and 6ths and you sorted that out for me. I can only hasard a guess as to how much hard work you put in behind the scenes for these fantastic lessons. Keep them coming. It’s great to be able to learn without being confused. Your taking time to explain is invaluable! So many thanks!
Oh, I get it now! The chart harmonized 3rds on the first and second strings is correct. I was just getting the dots mixed up.
Thanks Brian ! Good lesson my light bulb has been flickering but you look like Eric Clapton these days . Just guess it’s the lock down.
Thanks Bro
This was an excellent lesson! I had sort of known these note relationships, but had no idea what I was doing or how they related. I could play some of this stuff, but didn’t know where to take it. This lesson is a major breakthrough. Even the (corrected) charts make sense. Look out, Steve Cropper!
Great lesson!! Exactly what I was looking for!
Question though about the 3rds PDF file. For the 3rds on strings 2 &3, you show the open G and B string as the first Major shape. But for strings 1&2, you don’t show the Major shape at B1 and e0. The C chord, which is the 4th interval for the key of G. I am correct in that , right?
phil
The C chord is at 12/ 1 (E) and 13/2 (C). Your suggestion would be duplication of the chord. 🙂
Hi Brian,
As i understand the mixolydian mode, it is in fact the fifth mode. Therefore if you count back 5 from say G, you get C. So, correct me if i’m wrong, but when you play G mixolydian, you are in the key of C?
So, looking at your diagrams, if you play C major scale you are in fact playing the G mixolydian pattern. This helped me understand the change in intervals at the point of G.
Thanks, Brian. the last two lessons have been an incredible value. In addition to to improving my playing and perception of the guitar, I actually started identifying the harmonized 3rds and 6ths in music I listen to. Any chance you could repeat these two lessons on the piano?
OMG! Light Bulbs Galore. Thanks so much. I have been working on Double Stops and Triads all month and EP362 and 363 were a great help. Thanks also for all the Charts. It was like you knew what I needed.
Brian,
Double stops.. 3rd and 6ths.. but why does the spacing change When moving up the neck (I always wondered)? When explained in the context of the shapes of the chords for the key, the light bulbs went on like searchlights. If that weren’t enough, you sprinkle in (not inundate) the mixolydian intervals.. just enough to hear the difference and not be overwhelmed. Major takeaways. And it just happened to coincide with the point where my fingers are finally catching up to my brain .
When I first joined as a premium member it would take me a month to learn half a lesson. . then a whole lesson. Then a couple of lessons a month. Now I can get a half a lesson in a day or two, and I understand so much more. The membership has been an incredible value and I have been exposed to so many different styles! It’s been years and I’m still a kid in a candy store, and I can’t thank you enough.
Thank you for helping me to grow as a guitarist.
Jeff (Swiss Elk)
Thank you Brian for such a great lesson, and a significant resource for all of us moving forward. I know I will be going back to this information over and over again.
This lesson seemed a departure, as most of your lessons seemed primarily focused on playing the composition and learning bits of theory along the way. In this lesson, you didn’t even get to the composition until about the 20 minute mark! I love your compositional lessons – they are so beautiful composed and played and I learn a bit of theory while playing music. I also really appreciate a few of these deeper dives into theory every once in a while so that I might improve my playing even more. Very well done!
Thanks Brian. Been a member for 3 years and still learning from every lesson. This one is particularly great for me. Just wanted to say thanks and keep it up.
Garfield
Thanks Brian, wonderful lesson. I was going to skip it, thinking, ah, blah and stayed on. I learned soo much, it’s going to take me some real time and work to absorb it all. Obviously, i am still at the beginner’s level.
Thanks Brian. Just what I needed.
This is GREAT!!! I’ve been loving these sounds for years, but had no idea where to anchor or orient them…well done!!!
This is such a great lesson series you have been creating recently Brian. Combined with mixing the major and minor pentatonic, the CAGED lesson, creating a lead with 4 notes I wonder if you could group these lessons as Fret board Fundamentals. New beginner stage members are always asking where to start and they could be directed to this group of lessons. You could continue the series with basic music theory (harmonizing the major scale) and introduction to the modes, chord substitutions, common chord transitions and sort of have the music theory course you’ve talked of creating. It seems to fit with your Guitar Takeaways idea. All these things are better with your easy to follow teaching style.
John
you’re on to me John! I have created these for that very idea. These are part of a bigger picture – sort of a “Start here” for site members that has all of the fundamentals that can get us all on the same page (theoretically) – the composition lessons then really become reinforcement of those fundamentals and something I can refer back to.
Brian, I think you are creating the most powerful guitar learning resource on the internet. Congratulations and thanks.
John
Hey Brian, loving this background stuff! Learning songs by rote is good for a while but you can’t beat this groundwork. Also need to work harder on rythm and timing etc. so anything you do along those lines always gets my vote.
P.S. the ‘Mountain Man’ lockdown hairdo is reminding me that I also need to get the shears out 😉
Keep up the good work and try not to worry too much…
Great Lesson, Brian. Just one additional remark on the Tablature G Major Scale – strings 1 and 2: The ‘box’ over the note A on the 1st string (5th fret) is wrong. The ‘box’ should be on the note F# on the 2nd string (7th fret). Or am I wrong?
Yes, you are correct! I have fixed this
Hey Brian
I have a question for you. In the diagram of the G major scale (harmonized 6th) on the 5th fret you a calling that the minor shape because it outlines the Am triad and you are playing an A and C notes. Could this also be considered to be outlining the D shape triad of the F major chord because you are essentially playing the same notes but just not playing the root of the F chord? I have been trying to learn the intro to the Steve Cropper song “Soul Man” and it is a little confusing because it goes from an F to a G but uses the minor shapes that you show. Am I playing an Am or an Fmajor-I suppose the answer is yes. Anyway-thanks for the great lessons.
Another gem! Thank you.
Wow. That was amazing! Bravo. I can think of is I want more more more. After I printed out the PDFs and start deciphering it it all hit home. The first couple times I listened I didn’t get it but I stuck with it and it is great. I don’t know if you can do more with this but I loved it.
these last 2 lessons are incredibly good and helpful for jamming and improvising –I cant wait to get back to the jams!!!! after the danger goes away-
Sooooooo much stuff in there, Brian! Thank you so much for all that astonishing and useful info. It’ll take ages for it to soak in but wow! what wonderful stuff – as always.
Is this basically saying the root sounds good with all the notes in its scale and, within that scale, the 3rds and 6ths also work well together? (Example: the root and the 2 sound good when played together but the 2 and the 3, not so much.)
This is wondrous stuff. A complete map of the major and mixolydian court scale with all its attendant intervals. I used to use this stuff on the banjo to a limited degree, but it really comes into its own on the guitar. Thanks for this and the preceding lesson on essential triads Brian – invaluable stuff
This lesson and previous (EP362) are real eye -openers, brain stimulators, to someone like me without any knowledge of music theory.
Worth a year’s sub on their own !
Thanks Brian.
Robin (Brexit Island)
Thanks Brian for another great lesson. This has to be the most informative lessons on this subject I have found on the internet. I know you have addressed this subject on a previous lesson, but this lesson has helped me consolidate my understanding of intervals in a practical sense. As they say this alone lesson is worth the value of admission, or should I say a yearly subscription.
Thanks for all your help Brian
Rob
Just wanted to say that I am really enjoying these lessons. (Along with the rhythm and fills lessons; slowly but surely the ideas seem to be sinking in to the point where I can use them when I’m playing with others.)
Such a wealth of information here explained so clearly. Many thanks for making these 3rd and 6th intervals so understandable and practical. Solid gold!
Thanks so much
Can some explain the color scheme on the chart? I don’t see a key to the colors – thank you.
Got it…
Buckle up: this is a little heavy. Thank you for taking the time on this one. I’ve watched it four times and it keeps sinking in, and the fretboard is lighting up everywhere!
Well, so to speak, I’m blind and took up the guitar a year ago after playing keys for 30 years. I thought the guitar to be an impossible instrument when I picked it up. My fingers hurt like hell, and I had to device a system of Braille tape strips on the back of the neck for fret markers. Now, guitar is all I do.
During this virus, I’ve leaned on you more than you know, looking forward to new lessons and combing through old ones. You got me through some dark stuff these last months. You are so calm, so patient, and you calling out the frets is so important to the blind and visually impaired. I’m so thankful I found you when I did. Music can get you through anything, especially with a teacher like you.
Thank you,
James
Thank you James! I’m glad you like it and glad you’re able to access everything with vision impairment. Very cool!
lol….If you think the handout with all the colored dots is confusing to most pickers….try being a lefty and THEN it really gets tangle-headed!
Brian, Great lesson thank you!
Question: If your playing a minor blues.Using a chord progression and also knowing you can switch your licks back and forth between major and minor pentatonics can these 3rd and 6th also work. Or, is that a no no??
Thanks for a great lesson Brian
Hi Brian…love what you do….
Youre a born teacher!!!
Quick question…I’ve been trying to harmonize e mixolydian as chords. I’m using an app with the scale and chords that go with each degree and it says that the third degree is g#dim but when you’re demonstrating the mixolydian in g you’re saying that the 3rd degree of the scale creates a minor chord. Also, the flat 7th in e is d …is that played as a major chord?
What does it mean on the tab when you have a slur from fret 6 to 7 and string 1 is a slide but string 3 is not? See bar 19.