Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

Soulful, Gospel Style Rhythm and Lead Guitar Lesson – EP330

Description

This week’s guitar lesson is a good example of the CAGED system in action. You’ll learn how to play chords in multiple positions on the neck and how to connect them to the pentatonic scales so that you can easily create fill licks. This lesson is full of “takeaways”.

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - For Premium Members

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Slow Walkthrough

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Video Tablature Breakdown

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Comments

      • Craig F says

        Yep, same here. Lol. The “problem” is that they all are great and I hate missing anything in any of them. Not sure what he could do differently though. Certainly not ungrateful, God, just the opposite, I wish I had run into this material back when I first started playing…

    • Brian M says

      The great thing about AM is the lessons never go away. Choose one work on it for two weeks then choose another. They are always there for you to refer back to. I have been a member for a year and half and have studied about a dozen or maybe 18 in that period. Some are easier some are quite challenging but they all teach you something. What I gave found a year and half later is when I go back and re visit stuff I can now play and understand stuff I could not a year ago. Its a life long journey dont give up

  11. Robert Burlin says

    Musical Gem for true. Almost got last week”s lesson mastered, (at a very very slow tempo) I”ll have to come back to it because I want to learn this little ditty right away. Hey Brian! How about something scary and spooky in the near future? Would make a good lesson with that ghostly time of October right around the corner, it would be fun, or frightening I should say..

  12. Brent C says

    Some Friday’s they just come a little quicker than others. Having a BLAST learning/playing this beauty already. Brian, I sure hope you realize how much enjoyment your teaching brings to a hobbyist like me. Almost makes me feel like a “real guitarist”. Thanks again for sharing your amazing talents!!

  13. Andy N says

    Another lesson that’s exactly what I need and packed with goodies. But I’ve now got a dilemma, do I keep working on the very tasty EP329 or get tempted away by this latest siren!? More life decisions!

  15. Glenn says

    Yes! So soulful, Brian. And so helpful! I don’t know how you learned all this stuff. I’m guessing sitting in the front rows of hundreds of performances. You are an excellent communicator and your website is the best of its kind on the net. I can’t thank you enough.

  17. Hrry T says

    Great lesson Brian! Around the 9 minute mark, where you use the D chord shape, the light bulb came on for me. I have played Funk 49 by Joe Walsh for years and never truly understood the progression until now.

  20. JoLa says

    One of your finest lessons, Brian, both music and the instructions! I love how you make the guitar sing in lieu of vocals, your ear for melodies is amazing. Not to mention your playing skills, oh man! 😲This lesson is a must learn, I can’t wait to dig into it.

  22. chris k says

    Just what i was looking for the other day in your lessons. I know you have others similar but i get distracted by other lessons along the way. Thanks , your lessons have brought me along way .

  24. Roger P says

    I’d gone back to EP199 this week to get my head around those triads and this lesson fits it very well. So nice to have a guitar teacher who genuinely wants to share rather than show-off 🙂

  25. Alan K says

    Beautiful composition Brian. I’ll file it under future lessons. Recovering from elbow/arms issues from over-use. Think I learned my lesson to pace myself and take breaks. Going slow tempo with 302 and 310. So much to learn there. Thanks for so much great stuff and the theory that ties it all in.

  26. Ian D says

    Love it…..Love it ….love it !!

    Brilliant lesson and I really like it when you use the harmonized licks as they offer so many different options outside of the usual pentatonic licks that you can incorporate into your playing. Again I love the way you explain how it all fits together as I can start seeing the fretboard differently !

    Thanks

  30. Laurel C says

    A great instructional lesson packed with goodies. Lots of note taking here for the workbook. Also some complementary material to add to chords (A,D,E) from EP199. Can’t help but sing along with the lyrics, ‘People, get ready, there’s a train a-coming, you don’t need no ticket, you just get on board.’

  32. JohnStrat says

    Brian this is a very good lesson. I wont be able to practice it for a week or two yet owing to my injury (dislocated shoulder) but it is inspiring stuff as have been so many lessons. I am eager to get playing again asap and this will likely top the list. Thanks JohnStrat

  35. Jeff S says

    Brian, many thanks on the recent focus on rhythm playing. I’ve come to the conclusion I need to focus on this aspect of my playing before I tackle any searing lead licks.! I really Like the Motown feel of EP324. I also saw some of those videos with Carol Kaye, pretty interesting. I’m sure Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads has a shrine to her in her house somewhere!

  37. wrightclick says

    I really am enjoying this you can even fit in the lead guitar to “Let it Be ” over the track this is the first time i can make some stuff up and it sounds half decent . I wouldn’t mind a part 2 to see some more ideas and an maybe how to add a bridge section (we call it a middle eight ) .Thanks Brian cracking stuff love the way you attack the notes and do a rake when starting the lead section .

  39. timothy9 says

    Love this one Brian. Curtis Mayfield comes to mind along with Steve Cropper. It’s amazing how much of Cropper’s stuff has become part of the language of R&B.
    The growl of that P-90 kicks in at all the right places.

  41. Brian K says

    Brian, I’m new to your site, and it’s fantastic. Finally, a teaching style that resonates with the way I learn!! (and really cool the way you compose all this helpful material each week). I’m working on #330 now (seriously FULL of practical stuff) – really great. I’m sure someone along the way has asked about your guitar collection – would be great to learn a bit more about it.

  42. Mike A says

    Awesome lesson Brian you always pull out the jams I want to play. I don’t want to learn cookie-cutter songs like on the radio and your lessons always outshine everyone else’s thanks again Brian

  44. Craig F says

    I am really enjoying these CAGED system lessons; the Rhythm/Lead type lessons. Everyone I know is “stuck” in the 1st position rhythm guitar; I was stuck myself for years; these kinds of lessons incorporating Rhythm, Lead, and the whole of the fret board are just great. Thank you once again.

  47. drlknstein says

    I .like what u said- this lesson is stuff you use all the time .

    Maybe that’s why it’s so good for us,. It’s a fusion of ideas that you have developed over time. It’s gold for me!

    Not to take away from other lessons
    There’s always something in there. A new twist on something we have seen before that makes it worth the price of admission and man what a bargain!

  48. Rick L says

    I am continually amazed at the way you interweave a simple melody with an elegant style of playing…the phrasing is key here…I have never been a shredder or had a need for speed playing , the sonic journey is the reward…this and your previous Motown lesson a few back are masterpieces…young players can learn a lot about not being in a hurry…speed is always a tool, never a destination. Great stuff Brian…one lesson on here is easily worth the price you charge for a year’s subscription.

  50. Craig F says

    At the risk of being annoying, having just worked through the first part, I had to jump back on and just say how really great this lesson is. I’m pretty sure every part of it can be taken and played in all the other keys which, for me, makes it extremely valuable. It was just one cool thing after another to try in this or that key. Really enjoyed the first part, at least; all I could keep thinking was “solid gold”. Thanks again for a great lesson. (For me, there was just too much stuff in the first part to go straight into the second part. Hope to tackle that tomorrow.)

  51. RNArizona says

    I absolutely love this lesson. As a new member, I was going to complain that I haven’t mastered Blues EP 327 or Rockabilly EP 226 yet, both of which I love. However, I see that everyone has the same problem–and what a nice problem it is to have! Perhaps even more important to mention is that all three of these songs are in musical genres that I really don’t have much experience with. I’ll date myself by quoting the motto of Faber College, “Learning Is Good.”

  53. Ricky M says

    I really love Your lessons Brian, wish I had more time to work it . with Your help Ive improved a lot. Maybe its is just Me but I thought this one sounded like John Mayers Waiting on the world to change.

  54. David S says

    Brian, Thought 318 couldn’t be beat but this one just jumped out at me with all you’ve been covering lately.Found a song a by Glen Campbell ” People get Ready ” and so much of this lesson fits the song. Found myself playing right along and didn’t realize I could do it. Thanks again for all you do for all of us. Having a ball and playing 2 to 3 hrs. a day. Learning more than I have in 30 years of playing. Wish I knew you back then. David

  55. David B says

    Great Lesson. Love the takeaways. Amazed how I know chords and scales and yet haven’t been able to put it together like you do in this lesson. Great to feel you can kind of create your own song without having to memorise one.
    Many thanks
    David

  57. David S says

    Brian, The Glen Campbell version I referred to earlier is on The Legacy album 1961-2017. Can download off Amazon digital music for 99 cents.So much better than what he put out earlier in his career. The lesson you did hit it on the head.Thanks again. David

  59. Davie d says

    Brian, awesome lesson! This has opened my mind on how to look at the fretboard using the caged system! I understood caged before, but you have really made me see it more clearly especially as it relates to scales! I love that you make me think and figure things out for myself! You are an awesome teacher!!!

    Dave D
    Boise, Idaho

  64. David L says

    Love this lesson. Does anyone know of any tunes that this progression fits with?
    Thought maybe John Mayer, Waiting on the World to Change, but no, not exactly.
    There’s got to be some older tunes that have this progression but I can’t seem to place it.

    Thanks All!

  66. jeff a says

    Really liked EP 330 Brian! I don’t know, some lessons when i hear them i think “that’s cool” but i’ll wait for the next one and then some lessons when i hear them i think “wow, I need to get my lap top out and start learning it now”. That’s how 330 hit me. It sounds awesome and its fun to play. plus a lot of practical theory in it as well. Thanks man! you’re the best! I’m not even gonna hesitate to renew my premium membership come january. this has taken my playing to the next couple of levels.

  68. Gary R says

    First post here. Love these lessons. Mostly self taught learning folk, bluegrass and rock. So the relative major to minor was my young path. Not the other way around. Fingerpicking Dylan to Doc Watson. Then to blues rock stones steely Knopfler. Strange path…
    These are really great approaches for me. Somehow across my journey I realize that all these elements that you explain are here in my knowledge and the dots are ready to connect. My limitations are left hand muscle memory. Over such minimal pentatonic variations. One fret up or down and ouch! Left hand hurts. That surprises me.
    One of my ways of looking at caged here , while watching this lesson, is seeing the F chord replacing the E up the neck, especially on strings 1-4. Same concept, just my glance down anchor.
    Finding your lessons is just what I needed. My wife is amazed that I devote so much time and always walk in grinning cause I can actually understand what I kinda mostly know.
    Plus I saw the b n g little sister here and added to my collection for the first time in years. Great guitar.

  70. sunburst says

    Brian, I actually just started getting into to this lesson,, the tab on this however is not up to par,, i rather now watch and listen for up down strokes .. The videos are better for this one.. because it seems in the tab , the muted up or down strums are not indicated in the first few measures..just thought to point it out to you in case you haven’t noticed

    albeit terrific lesson,, reminds me of Rod Stewart/Jeff Beck people get ready

  71. Staffan W says

    Hi from Sweden! Fantastic lessons! Having played different guitars as a “side-instrument” since I was a kid, these lessons just make me develop real fast and in the direction I need for what I play these days, and for my songwriting. Big thanks!

  73. Smilin' Jim says

    Another great lesson Brian!
    I know little about music theory but, can you tell me if the final measure (#16) in the tabs is all “F”? Is it common to “break the routine” of going back to the “C” (the one chord) mid-measure?
    Thanks!

  74. Gregg G says

    Hi Brian,

    Much like everyone else I love these lessons. But, I would love to know what this particular guitar is?! How about a video on your various beautiful guitars and the kit you use? Sorry if you already have and I haven’t found it.

    Merry Xmas,

    Gregg.

  76. KevinE says

    This is an excellent lesson, it is so musical. As a request, please include the backing track for the slow walk through and the interactive tab for all lessons like you did in ep347 (if there is a backing track). It makes it more fun to play along.

    Thanks, Kevin

  77. scubatan says

    A musical hike that’s full of gems! Love it when you break it down into common sense theory, I am not as overwhelmed as by some other sites. What’s interesting is the composition, especially rhythm is so intricate, it requires Brian’s original ideas and/or experience that’s invaluable. Thanks, man!

  80. brian m says

    Thank you so much, I have subscribed to your lessons before and recently re subscribed. I can go a lot of places but your lessons compared to others sound like you’re playing a song and not a lesson. I am able to learn a lot of “feeling” from you. Stuff that you can’t put in a tab… mainly the rhythm, dynamics and vibrato you use. Add to that, you sneakily teach me music theory haha. Thank you so much for teaching us, this one really inspired me.

  81. Ralph P. says

    Love this one Brian. This is the kind of rhythm playing I’ve always loved. The lick at 13:15 was nagging at me for a while. Then it hit me! The beginning of George Harrison’ s solo on Let It Be. He must have lifted that from you! Borrow from the best.

  84. Timoci R says

    After ep330 so many times the it hit me despite your repeated insistence of using the e shape and the a shape to harmonise.It’s been staring in the face for so long I yelled when I fially understood.Thanks Brian.

  88. David N says

    I joined Active Melody because I watched this YouTube. Learned this song in 2 days, couldn’t help myself!! I’ve been looking for some direction for soloing over my own comping for some time now, this is perfect. Please keep doing these and explaining the theory that you have been doing to get there, awesome.

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