Spread triads use the same three notes as regular triads but place more space between them, creating a more open sound. In this lesson, you’ll learn how spread triads are built, play Major and minor shapes across the fretboard, and use them inside chord progressions. Mastery Roadmap Focus · View Roadmap → Start with one … Read more
Improvising on guitar means creating musical ideas in the moment. The more clearly you understand the scales, chords, and sounds you’re working with, the easier it becomes to turn what you hear into something you can play. In this lesson, we’ll look at six areas that support improvisation: scales, diatonic chords, modes, playing over chord … Read more
Did you know there are several ways to play the same chord using different bass notes? In this lesson, we are exploring how to play chord inversions on the guitar. Using inversions will give you different ways of hearing a chord. They can also make your chords sound more interesting when you use them to … Read more
Diminished chords have a tense, unstable sound that becomes much easier to understand when you hear where they resolve. In this lesson, you’ll learn the difference between diminished triads and diminished 7th chords, common shapes on guitar, and how diminished chords can create movement inside a progression. Mastery Roadmap Focus · View Roadmap → Start … Read more
Playing melody and chords together lets you turn separate musical parts into a fuller guitar arrangement. In this lesson, you’ll learn a step-by-step process for combining a melody with its chord progression, choosing useful chord voicings, and gradually adding bass or rhythmic movement. In short, the steps to connect melody and chords on guitar are: … Read more
Drop 2 chords rearrange the notes of a 7th chord to create wider, more playable voicings on guitar. In the previous lesson, you used spread triads to open up three-note chords. Here, you’ll apply a similar idea to four-note 7th chords and use different inversions to move more smoothly through chord progressions. In this lesson, … Read more
Jazz phrasing comes from more than choosing the right scale. Rhythm, chord tones, chromatic movement, articulation, and the way a phrase crosses the beat can all change how a line sounds. In this lesson, we’ll look at nine concepts you can use to develop stronger melodic lines, with notation and audio examples to help you … Read more
One way to develop a melody is to add a second note above or below it. On guitar, 3rds and 6ths are especially useful because they can make a melody sound fuller while still keeping the original line clear. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to find 3rds and 6ths from a scale, apply them … Read more
Do you want to make progress on your guitar skills but keep putting it off because you don’t know where to start or simply feel overwhelmed? We all have things we want to get better at but let’s face it, we simply have a limited time to invest each day. In this post, we are … Read more
It’s easy to spend most of your practice time thinking about what your hands are doing: scales, chords, reading, technique, and exercises. But musicianship also grows by listening closely to music and noticing what is actually happening. In this lesson, we’ll look at active listening, what to listen for, and a few simple ways to … Read more