Hotel California
In this video I'm breaking down Hotel California. First, we'll talk about how the chord progression is an excellent example of Melodic Minor. Then, we'll talk about how the melody fits over the top of the progression.
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Fun With Rhythm Guitar
In this stream I'm talking about the theme for September: Fun with Rhythm Guitar!
We take a basic I - IV chord progression in C and use music theory to play with "chord phrases" using maj6 and maj7 chords.
This is the jam track I used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBNDndQDlAA
You can also download a few audio versions below! Normal, Slow, and Slower
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Mixolydian Mode
n this lesson, I discuss the two ways to think about modes - specifically Mixolydian mode. One way to think of it is as a Major Scale with a flat 7, and another way to think of it is if we create a new scale starting on the 5th note of a major scale. There are some fun chord progressions to be made in mixolydian mode, but we can also borrow mixolydian progressions for our major key progressions. I demonstrate what mixolydian sounds like and show examples of a few popular songs that use mixolydian mode. This is also related to the blues in some sense, while also distinctly being its own thing.
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C Shape
If you've been following my CAGED Soloing series, you know whats going on. In this installment, we'll be working through how to solo over a I-IV progression using all five CAGED shapes. The idea here is to give you a few bite-sized ways to practice soloing over chord progressions.
This is the first in the I-IV series and we're focused on the C shape.
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A Shape
If you've been following my CAGED Soloing series, you know whats going on. In this installment, we'll be working through how to solo over a I-IV progression using all five CAGED shapes. The idea here is to give you a few bite-sized ways to think about and practice soloing over chord progressions.
This is the second lesson in the I-IV series and we're focused on the A shape.
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G Shape
If you've been following my CAGED Soloing series, you know whats going on. In this installment, we'll be working through how to solo over a I-IV progression using all five CAGED shapes. The idea here is to give you a few bite-sized ways to think about and practice soloing over chord progressions.
This is the third lesson in the I-IV series and we're focused on the G shape.
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E Shape
If you've been following my CAGED Soloing series, you know whats going on. In this installment, we'll be working through how to solo over a I-IV progression using all five CAGED shapes. The idea here is to give you a few bite-sized ways to think about and practice soloing over chord progressions.
This is the fourth lesson in the I-IV series and we're focused on the E shape.
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D Shape
If you've been following my CAGED Soloing series, you know whats going on. In this installment, we'll be working through how to solo over a I-IV progression using all five CAGED shapes. The idea here is to give you a few bite-sized ways to think about and practice soloing over chord progressions.
This is the fifth lesson in the I-IV series and we're focused on the D shape.
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Dominant Chords (So Important!)
I had intended to release a lesson about Mixolydian Mode today, but I think this lesson will be awesome to watch beforehand. It may clear up some confusion about how dominant 7 chord can function AND give you some fun things to play around with before next weeks MTM kind of throws a wrench in the whole concept of Dominant 7 chords.
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Applying Shapes to Rhythm Guitar
This is less of a lesson and more of a demonstration. In this video, I'm messing around with a little groove on Logic Pro X (recording software) and walking through a few different ways to approach chord voicings for the rhythm part. Its a little more informal compared to my typical videos, but I think its important to get informal because making music is often an explorative, informal, creative process. Let's just have fun with rhythm parts.
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Melody Making, Week 3
Last week was the second week of Melody Making lessons and WOW your submissions on the the SPJ Community have been awesome! Everyone (yes, everyone) should be proud of the melodies they are writing. This week we'll be diving a little deeper into melody making, so if you haven't watch the past two weeks of livestreams, I recommend that you catch up before watching this one.
Post your homework assignments here, on the patreon forum.
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Mode Clarifications
Last week I got a lot of comments to the effect of "don't move on, let's keep working on Dorian." So I decided to do another lesson clarifying how to think about modes in general and then the last bit is about Dorian specifically. I made some cool charts to help show my points and I made a fun little GIF which I'll post on the community forum. I hope you enjoy this lesson and keep in mind - if this is your first video of mine, definitely go back through the previous Music Theory Monday lessons.
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Melody Making Week 2
Last week was the first week of melody making lessons! We went over some simple melody making "rules" and this week we'll be building on those foundational skills. Watch last week's live stream here if you'd like to get caught up!
Post your homework assignments here, on the patreon forum.
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Dorian Mode
In this MTM, I talk about Dorian Mode - how to think of this mode as a kind of minor key and how to play around with the chord progressions that it gives you. We talk about a few songs that use Dorian mode and how to use it in your own songwriting.
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G Shape
In this lesson we'll take the G shaped chord and move it through this order:
Major
Minor
Diminished
Maj7
Dom7
Min7
Half Diminished
Fully Diminished
From there we'll discuss how easy or difficult it is to use this chord as a movable shape and which forms work best. Sometimes they are easy to move around and easy to manipulate and sometimes they are just plain weird. In this case, the G shape is pretty weird.
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Q&A/August Homework
I'll start the stream with exciting updates and talk a little bit about the homework from last month. Then I'll reveal the theme for this month, give a lesson on it, and pass out your homework assignment for the week! Next week we'll build on the skills you practice this week. After the lesson I'll be available for questions! First, questions about the homework, then whatever questions you have!
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Final Week of Chord Progression Homework
I uploaded a new version of this lesson with a message at the end because we had a technical issue with the audio at about the 1hr mark! This was a fun livestream talking about using movable chord shapes (ala Rubik's Cube) with the 7 chord progressions we came up with this month! If you need to catch up, check out the previous weeks:
Have fun watching this one and please submit homework and questions to the livestream discussion post.
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E Shape
In this lesson well take the E shaped chord and move the chord through this order:
Major
Minor
Diminished
Maj7
Dom7
Min7
Half Diminished
Fully Diminished
From there we'll discuss how easy or difficult it is to use this chord as a movable shape and which forms work best. Sometimes they are easy to move around and easy to manipulate and sometimes they are just plain weird.
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A Shape
In this lesson well take the A shaped chord and move the chord through this order:
Major
Minor
Diminished
Maj7
Dom7
Min7
Half Diminished
Fully Diminished
From there we'll discuss how easy or difficult it is to use this chord as a movable shape and which forms work best. Sometimes they are easy to move around and easy to manipulate and sometimes they are just plain weird.
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Week 3 Chord Progression Homework
Thanks again for being here. I'm so so grateful for YOU. Yes you. I hope you're enjoying your time here and I hope you feel excited to pick up your guitar every day.
This "live!" is the third week of chord progression homework. If you've just joined, here are the links to the last two weeks of chord progression homework. We're gently building layers of complexity for each week of homework, so I'd recommend watching week one and week two!
Week one: https://www.patreon.com/posts/39112891
Week two: https://www.patreon.com/posts/tune-in-today-at-39334605
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