Description
In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to use chord tones to guide your melody when you improvise lead guitar. This is a different approach to lead than simply playing the notes of a scale.
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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Just wow, so much in there.
Lot to learn, really makes it fun to learn. Thanks Brian.
You make it look and sound so simple. A wonderful composition.
Is everyone getting Part 2? It gives an error for me
I’m getting “Sorry, we couldn’t find that page”
Fixed it – sorry about that. Just refresh the page
Brian- what guitar are you playing in this video? Been a a member for a year and appreciate all you do. Happy Holidays.
Yes, same here. Seems to be a bad link
Good one Brian. So much focus on scales when really it all comes down to chord tones and a few extensions. Following the changes is huge!
Love it Brian,Good style for Dancing. Great sound..Can’t Wait.to get to work on .I’ve only listened to you play it .Gotta get to lesson and Holy Charmin So Smooth.Thanks Brian
Great lesson lots of information here love it
Helps with alot of things Pretty much with control Good Lesson 🤔🤔🤔
I like this a lot and it reminds me of EP540 and the same way of thinking about the chords. Thanks Brian
I agree EP 540 really helped me think differently as does this lesson.
Love the lesson. I’m still confused by scale pattern numbers.. Are scale pattern numbers based on. CAGED? I.e. Is Scale Pattern 1 based on the C chord shape? Scale pattern 2 based on the A chord shape, and so on?
You have to be more specific. Scale pattern 1 of what scale? Major or Minor pentatonic?
Scale pattern 1 of the major pentatonic scale sits over the G shaped major chord. Scale pattern 2 of the major pentatonic scale sits over the E shaped major chord. And so on …
I think a lot of the confusion is because people learn the A MINOR pentatonic scale shape at fret 5 to 8 before anything else. And then they relate it to the A MAJOR chord shape between frets 5 & 8.
People are simply less familiar with the major pentatonic sdcale. It is what it is.
I try to relate major pentatonic shapes to major chords and minor pentatonic shapes to minor chords.
Good luck.
Great lesson, simple but very helpfull, thnxs Brian.
Love it! The beauty is in its simplicity. I managed to learn it in a couple of hours. Thank you
Seson of the witch!
Season! Thanks Brian.
Nice smooth transitions in this lesson. Glad to see John Lennon in background on this sad day.
Guthrie Trapp just put out a video showing the 1 fret proximity of the flat 7 of one of the chords to the major 3rd of the next within a major blues, similar to what you often targeted here.
Some of your recent lessons are emphasizing intervals within triads and chords. I always thought recognizing intervals was important.
Hey John, could you possibly dm me that link please?
Cheers
Your lessons brilliantly circle around fundamental concepts. The repetition from different starting points keeps me engaged. I never truly master any one lesson, but there is continued movement forward—all towards a dynamic approach to active melody. Thank you.
Always love when you slow it down Brian. Really good explanation of the stucture of the song. Thanks!
Great lesson as usual Brian. I found it especially helpful as I am trying to deepen my understanding of chord tones and intervals. The simple point you made regarding the E shape and the the third interval are valuable tidbits that I have often overlooked.
Much appreciated!
I couldn’t agree more with the previous comments about chord tones and intervals. Because of your recent lessons and guidence I find myself looking for and using the triads but always trying to keep the 1-3-5 intervals in mind (along with the flat third and flat 7th). Your comment a few lessons ago about not having to start on the first interval has helped my improvising tremendously. This is great stuff!!
Hi Brian, Love this – there’s a deceptive volume of learning here! I have a question/observation if I may & would value your thoughts. Thinking of the chord sequence in the first video – the chords seem to be I, iv (but dom7), I, vi (but maj dom 7)ii, V, I,… and then the turn around.
My question /observation is that it would never have occurred to me to make the iv chord a dom 7 (a maj 7, yes I would), or the vi chord a major dom 7.
Now I guess the ‘answer’ to my question is mainly concerning your vastly greater knowledge and skill! BUT – it’d be great to hear from you (maybe in a lesson??) on your decision making process here to come up with such a creative progression.
I’m imagining there’s a sort of ‘alternatives’ list for each chord in a key, possible substitutions for a desired sound etc. I commonly swap out the iv chord for a major 7, and maybe the iii for a major – but that’s about my limit. I guess ALL chords in a key ‘can’ be exchanged (borrowed from another key) but are there some guidelines/rules of thumb?
Many thanks
Gary
Hey Gary, yes you basically summarized it in your last sentence. The proper / standard format for a chord progression in a key would be 1 (major), 2 (minor), 3 (minor), 4 (major), 5 (major), 6 (minor), 7 (half diminished) – that said, you can alter ANY of the majors to minors or vice versa. It temporarily changes key for that moment in the song… but that’s ok, and even welcomed. It’s super common to make the 2, 3, or 6 chords major within a progression, or the 4 chord a minor chord. The 5 chord CAN be minor, but doesn’t work so well.. because it needs the tension of that major 3rd interval within it (even better with a flat 7) to pull you back to the 1 chord.
This was so helpful Brian. Showing us how to use chord tones and the mixolydian scales in this lesson really generated some great ideas on how to use them in many different ways.
Thanks
Measure 13 confuses me a little. I do not “see” that as an Am triad, but as a FMaj 7 chord (or at least everything except the root). Where does this Am triad come from please. Thx
I now see the minor triad A-C-E. Note: It is interesting that if one adds an F note, we now have the Fmaj7 chord.
I also can see that the lesson here is not to follow verbatim, but to look at the chords and use notes in these chords (arpeggios) and land on the 3rd or 7th… thoughts???
Hi Brian,
Do you have a listing of the guitars you used in your videos?
“Very nice” is an understatement for that lesson. Thanks Brian for emphasising over and over to keep it simple, to repurpose, to find neighbouring chords, to avoid big jumps, to stick to the melody line etc… I have heard that stuff before from you but it is so important to repeat it over and over as , sometimes, fingers seem to have a mind of their own … Thanks.
Love your lessons. Only ones I pay for.
I also love your expressions when playing (don’t get overly concerned). They are always thoughtful looking, almost professorial. Not the pained or constipated look so many get.
Keep up the great work.
Something that I find confusing is the multiplicity of names for any given triad chord. For example, the A minor triad you identify (12:15ish in video #1) is also (I think) a D chord… and then there’s that weird thing about D6 moved down 2 frets is a D9 (or do I have it backwards?) … I guess it’s kind of advanced music theory stuff, but are there any sort of helpful mnemonics or anything like a “cheat sheet” that can help explain it (or another past lesson of yours, perhaps)?
lol, explained more in the next minutes of the video… should listen to the end before I comment I guess 😮
This lesson might help
Good lesson again Brian; you and your family Have a blessed Christmas Brian.
tremendous – thanks so much, I’ve taken a lot of learnings from this one!
What a great lesson. Thanks Brian! This is one of those ones that’s as much fun to sit and listen to as it is to work through.
@Brian…
You have that big LP record collection behind you (which fills me with wonder and curiosity) why not pull a couple down that illustrate the lesson. Maybe just a perk for members so you don’t get a content strike on YouTube or having Metalica demonetize you because you played a power chord.
I loved the bluesy lead fill at the beginning of lesson one. I love how you place such wonderful nuggets imbedded in the lesson. This lesson was very inspirational for me!
Hey Brian I don’t know if you’ll see this this late in but I was wondering if when you compose your music, do you come up with the chords first or the lead? I absolutely don’t mean this as an insult but the reason I ask is a lot of your chord progressions are really hard to remember because you use a lot of different chords. In one measure their minor and in another measure the same chord is major. I know you can do that in music and they sound really awesome. I was just curious.
Thanks for all the awesome things you teach Brian.
Always the chords first
Mate, I love it,
usually, it takes me weeks to play your stuff.
but I got this one in an hour.
more like this please
I love this lesson!! at first I was like ehh it’s ok. By the end, I actually love the tune and the way it flowed. That’s not really the deal though whether you love the tune or not what I am finally learning is to be looking for is what Brian is imagining when he composes the licks to the chords. It’s so awesome to start to get that into your mindset. Keep up the great work, Brian I couldn’t imagine my guitar journey without your excellent lessons.
This is an excellent lesson. Not that all the others are not very good, its the explanation in the beginning of part 1 that was brilliant.
Hi Brian! Love your lessons. I am a member for a while now. I have a question though . In EP546 on chord tones. At bar 18 the tab shows 4 notes. But it looks like you are playing it with a double stop. What are you playing?
What’s the guitar that you’re playing?