SPICING UP CHORDS

- You have a certain time – measure for each chord. Within that time it is up to you how you
embellish the chord.
- Instead of playing straight chord, substitute for sus2 or sus4
o E.g. play D, Dsus2, D, Dsus4 in a progression to get the feel
o Dsus4 – add pinky on 3rd fret E string
o Dsus2 – remove finger from 2nd fret E string
o Same D minor – add 3rd fret pinky, remove 1st fret index on E for Dsus2 – there is no such
thing as D minor sus 2 or 4
o A sus2 – remove ring finger from B string, for A sus4 add pinky to 3rd fret B string
- C chord
o Progression – C, Cmaj 7 (remove index from C chord), C, C add2 (add pinky to 3rd fret b
string), Cadd4 (add pinlky to 3rd fret D string)
- TO EMBELISH THE SONGS – JUST EMBELISH WITH SUS AND ADDS FOR A BRIEF MOMENT. ONLY
FOR A STRUM OR TWO. GO VERY QUICKLY DSUS2 DSUS4 BEFORE PLAYING D. ETC.
- ALSO, DURING THE STRUMMING OF A CHORD, EMBELISH RANDOMLY WITH SUS2 AND SUS4,
maj7 and ADD2S AND 4S. E.g. play C, and throw in add 2, add4, maj7.
- E chord
o To play sus4 add pinky to 2nd fret G string
o To play add2, add pinky to 2nd fret high E string
- BUILDING UP
o Strum a chord from the top – start with one string, add another another another, and
build up with volume as well. Good for opening.
- DYNAMICS
o Use volume to build up and release. Alternate between chorus and verse. Etc.
- ARPEGGIATE
o Throw in some arpeggiating into chord progressions
o For example, you can play a strum patter, and on one doen-up play two bottom strings
each: D-D-UpickUpickDU
- SEPARATE DOWN AND UP STROKES
o On down strums, hit mostly top strings, on upstroke, hit mostly bottom strings
- MUTING
o Mute down-strokes – on open chords you have to do this by hitting the strings hard and
mute with the pinky side of the palm
o On bar chords, this is done by touching the strings lightly with the left hand
o FIRST, try D,U,ChUCK,UP – simplest.
o Then try D,CHU, UDU
o Then try D,CHU, UCHU
o Play 16th notes and create rhythms with the fretting hand by applying pressure
- SWITCHING STRUMMING
o Change strum patterns between chords
 o E.g. alternate D(strum only few strings)-D(stress)-DUDU with D-DU-UDU
- DOMINAT 7th ChORDS = 7th ChORDS
o Dom7th is not the same as Maj7th!
o 7th has a flat 7th added, maj7 has a normal 7th added
o Maj7th sweet dreamy jazzy
o 7th bluesy and twangy
o C7 add pinky to g string 3rd string
o Learn open abcdefg7
o Play blues progression in any key 1-4-5

STRUM PATTERNS

- Remember, strumming comes from the elbow, picking is in the wrist

- TRY STRUMMING WITH A STIFF ARM AND NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE WITH RELAXED
STRUMMING WITH A FEEL TO IT

DUDU-UDU

D-DU-UDU

For sixteenth notes: DUDUD-DU-U-UDUDU

D—U,D U-U, UDU-

D-D-,-UDU

D(strum only few strings)-D(stress)-DUDU

- to spice up strum patterns, change chords in the middle of the pattern, so different chord has different
strum.

DUDU,D-U-,DU-U,DUDU

TB BUILDING STRUM PATTERS

- You can sound the drum pattern in the head and then create it on the guitar
- Start with a complete pattern of down-up quarter notes. Then omit some. Then change some
into eighth notes, and some to even sixteenth notes. Consider muting.

WALKING BASE LINE

- This is another way to embellish strumming. Play a quick series of notes on e string before
strumming, or substitute part of the strum pattern for this. E.g. before G chord, you could play
E, F#, G on E string (play the last note with the chord). You can play a triplet. For e minor chord,
 you can reverse the triplet – G, F#, E. For C, you can do E, then A string B and A. You can try this
progression G-E-A with the walking baseline.

FINGER PICKING

- Assign thumb to base string, then three next fingers (i.e. no pinky) to strings g, b and e.
- To spice up – you can pluck two strings in the initial base – e.g. thumb and index finger, then
index, then ring, middle, index. Try.

NEXT STEP – BAR CHORDS

- Learn all bar chords (abcdefg) and their types (major, minor, 7, maj7, etc) for both A and E
strings.
- 6TH STRING ROOT
o MAJOR
 E SHAPE
o MINOR
 E minor shape
o 7 TH

 TAKE PINKY OFF MAJOR E SHAPE

o MINOR 7TH
 TAKE PINKY AND MIDDLE FINGER OFF MAJOR E SHAPE
 Nice jazzy sound
th
- 5 STRING ROOT (rest top of barring index finger against e string to mute it)
o MAJOR
 MAJOR A SHAPE
 You can also finger this with ring finger across d g and b strings, with high e
muted
o MINOR
 MINOR A SHAPE
o 7 TH

 REMOVE RING FINGER FROM MAJOR A SHAPE

o Minor 7th
 Take pinky off minor 7th
 HAMMER FROM BARRED 5 STRINGS TO THIS CHORD, NICE SOUND
o Sus2
 TAKE MIDDLE FINGER OFF MINOR A SHAPE

EAR TRAINING

- Learn to tell the type of chord – maj, min, 7th, major 7th etc.
- Learn to tell the strum pattern
SLASH CHORDS

- Second note is the base note

- E.g. C/G – c chord played over G note in the base (use pinky on E string, or swap pinky and ring
finger)
- Am/G (again pinky)

RHYTHM PLAYING

- Use the E and A string to play the beat, and the rest of the strings to simulate hi-hats. E.g.
E, HH, EA, HH, E, HH, EA, HH

MAJOR SCALE HARMONIZATION

- Major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished

MINOR SCALE HARMONIZATION

- Is more complex than major

o There are three minor scales
 Natural/pure/Aeolian (all same)
 Melodic
 Harmonic
o Minor, diminished, major, minor, minor, major, major
- Take a key, play a progression, add spice, then create another progression – as the chorus. Play
around and use the ear as guide.

FURTHER CHORD PLAY EMBELLISHMENT

- Add hammers and pulloffs

- Use the underlying pentatonic scale to connect chords with melodies in between them
o For example, in the open position, you have the G major pentatonic scale (same as E
minor pentatonic, but starts on G note 3rd fret E string)
 Add hammers and pulloffs to these also

NEXT STEP: LEARN BAR CHORDS IN 6TH AND 5TH STRING ROOTS FOR ALL CHORD TYPES

SUSPENDED ChORDS

- They suspend the 3rd, so they lack the bright/dark quality of major/minor chords
- Sus2 substitutes 3rd with 2nd, sus4 with 4th
- They sound good distorted (as opposed to e.g. maj7 – clashing frequencies)
- X02200 is basic sus2, use it for barre
- You can add low e string to make the sound even thicker, especially when distorted
 - Now you can play progressions with distortion mixing power chords with sus2 and sus4 chords

UNDERSTANDING MODES

- Learn the order of the modes – Ionian, dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, mixolydian, Aeolian, locrian (tb:
I don’t play lotsa modes after lunch)
- Learn the characteristics of the modes – more major sound – 1, 4,5, more minor and dark – 2,3,
6, 7
- Suppose you have a chord progression in G and you want to solo in Lydian
o Ok, Lydian means starting a major scale on the 4th degree – so which scale has G as the
fourth degree? Count four notes lower – E major. G Lydian uses the same notes as E
major. So use this on the neck of the guitar.
o Remember to stress the G note, not E, otherwise it will sound major.
- PEBBER ON MODES
o The reason that people have trouble understanding modes is because they play the
same notes when learning them.
o The key to begin telling the subtleties of the modes is to play the modes using the same
root note! So, play A Ionian, then A dorian etc. not A Ionian, then B dorian, then C#
Phrygian etc. – that would be playing exactly the same notes!
o All that modes are are different arrangements of whole and half steps.