This tutorial introduces the concepts needed for the beginner to understand and learn how to improvise a single note melody, lead or solo over a minor key chord progression. The basic idea is that all chords in a progression are related by some scale. We use the notes of that scale as a basis for notes to use when improvising over the chord progression. Also covered is the important idea of rhy...

This tutorial introduces the concepts needed for the beginner to understand and learn how to improvise a single note melody, lead or solo over a major key chord progression. The basic idea is that all chords in a progression are related by some scale. We use the notes of that scale as a basis for notes to use when improvising over the chord progression. Also covered is the important idea of rhy...

An overview of time structures in popular music.

This tutorial explains how scales and chords are related to each other. You will also learn musical examples that show how to combine scales and chords.

This tutorial explains the concept (theory) of the C Major Scale and how to apply it (practice) to the guitar. This tutorial is primarily written for beginners. But even experienced players might benefit from this quick, concise review of what constitues a scale.

Each note of a major scale has a chord that accompanies it. In this lesson we will learn how to create those chords. Part-1 is contained in the video above while part-2 is contained in the video below. Just a note: The hi-res video contained in lesson-1 is very large.

Hello everyone,here's a few chord patterns that I use when playing metal.The first pattern is your typical powerchord. A powerchord is constructed of three notes. A root, 5th and octave. Let's take the E5 powerchord for example. E is the root (open 6th string), B is the 5th (2nd frt 5th string) and the octave is again E played on the 2nd fret fourth string. I've put some examples of powerchords fo...

A common question in guitar teaching seems to be regarding sus chords. What does it mean? The term �sus� is short for suspended and basically means that the chord is in �suspense� awaiting a resolution. (In more basic terms it means your ears expect to hear a �finishing� chord after a sus chord). The theory behind them is that by replacing the 3rd interval with either a 2nd or a 4...

This is quite an indepth look at using diminished and Half-Tone/Whole-Tone scales over the chords to a 12 bar progression. It is possible (not to mention very cool) to use these scales in various places in the progression. Use of these scales can get complex due to their ambiguous nature. For example because the diminished scale is made up of minor 3rd intervals it ends being an identical sc...

Lydian can seem like a strange mode if you're not familiar with it. Because it's the fourth mode of the major scale it does not have the normal perfect fourth. Instead, it has a sharp fourth (or 'raised' fourth), which makes for a unique sound. Vai and Satch are the masters of this mode. It most closely identifies with ionian, yet it has a much different sound due to the sharp fourth. Lydia...