If you’re like a lot of guitar players, you might find learning scales and modes to be dull. But discovering modal playing can really open up new worlds. Best of all, the modes rely on notes and chords you already know! Today we’ll take a closer look at the B Mixolydian mode. What Is Mixolydian […]
How to Transpose Guitar Chords Easy?
We’ve all been in a situation where for whatever reason the chords have simply needed changing. And if you haven’t, chances are that if you have any interest in performing in a group at any point you will be required to do so. What can otherwise seem scarily theoretical is rendered child’s play on a […]
How to Play the E Flat Diminished Chord on Guitar?
The E flat diminished chord has a bizarre, almost dreadful sound when played alone. And if you’ve never heard it before, you might be unsure of how to use it. However, when used properly (it’s most at home in the key of E), it can add just the right amount of tension. Let’s dive into […]
How to Play the B Diminished Chord on Guitar?
If you’re like many guitarists, you want to learn to play as many chord types as possible. Today, we’ll be looking at the dark and mysterious B diminished chord, a chord that can add incredible tension to any guitar or piano piece. What Is a Diminished Chord? If you’ve ever heard a diminished chord played […]
How to Play the D9 Chord on Guitar?
Not all chord charts include D9, a distinctive-sounding guitar chord. But if you’re looking to move past your typical guitar chords, the D9 chord is a new and exciting one to learn! What’s a D9 Chord? The D9 chord is pronounced as the “D dominant ninth” or “D9” chord. A dominant ninth chord includes the […]
How to Play the E9 chord on Guitar?
Unless you’re a guitar player who plays a lot of funk songs, you may not have encountered an E9 guitar chord in your life. Read on to learn it and start adding it to your repertoire! What’s the E9 Chord? A dominant ninth chord (not to be confused with a major ninth chord) builds on […]
How to Play the Gmaj7 Chord on Guitar
With all the characters present in this chord, it would be easy to quickly assume that it is one of those fancy chords beyond the reach of the casual or beginner guitarist. However, though its implementation is often found in more Jazz-based music, or genres with a keener and/or more adept sense of harmonic complexity, […]
How to Play the Eb Guitar Chord?
In progressing as guitarists and expanding our repertoire, we ought to seek to fill our minds and fingers with as many chords as possible, even those that might not be so prevalent in our music of choice. We never know when it might turn up, and when we least expect it and have time to […]
How to Play the A# Chord on Guitar
In progressing as guitarists and expanding our repertoire, we ought to seek to fill our minds and fingers with as many chords as possible, even those that might not be so prevalent in our music of choice. We never know when it might turn up, and when we least expect it and have time to […]
How to Play the D Major Scale on Guitar?
Diligent and intelligent practise is key for learning in all its forms, and nowhere is this more evident than in the study of a musical instrument. The guitar especially lends itself to this ethos of success through repetition which, when harnessed intelligently and consciously, aligns in a seemingly post-human way all of these various aspects […]
How to Use the Ionian Scale on Guitar?
Making the way up the ranks as a guitarist, one could be forgiven early on for feeling as though the modes were another language altogether, one that would evade understanding, like audio-linguistic eels. However, like much of Western music theory, they have much more to do with mathematics and formulas (cue the Pythagorean mode!), so […]
How to Use the 6th String on the Guitar
Such a long neck, and how thick the neck can seem! So many frets, the way they shine and gleam, threateningly scheming against my fretting hand! Dots everywhere, like the eyes of serpents which hiss, the fret buzzing when you haven’t quite played a note correctly. At first, when initially holding a guitar in your […]
Lydian Mode: How to Play it on Guitar?
Making the way up the ranks as a guitarist, one could be forgiven early on for feeling as though the modes were another language altogether, one that would evade understanding, like audio-linguistic eels. However, like much of Western music theory, they have much more to do with mathematics and formulas (cue the Pythagorean mode!), so […]
How to Use the Phrygian Mode on Guitar
Making the way up the ranks as a guitarist, one could be forgiven early on for feeling as though the modes were another language altogether, one that would evade understanding, like audio-linguistic eels. However, like much of Western music theory, they have much more to do with mathematics and formulas (cue the Pythagorean mode!), so […]
4 Fingerpicking Patterns You Need to Know!
As a guitarist more often drawn to using a plectrum, I am aware that it can sometimes feel like the bounds of playing a guitar in this way are limitless, especially when one considers the seemingly endless depths of sound design that can be plundered when procuring analogue and digital effects pedals old and new. […]
How to Master the CAGED System on Guitar
When first starting out, the seemingly endless expanse of nameless frets on a guitar fretboard can appear incredibly daunting! Where, what, why?! The piano and other keyboard instruments seem to follow some sort of logic at least, reliably ascending in pitch as the keys do, but here on the guitar we can play the exact […]
The Major Scale Formula for Guitar
Western music begins with the major scale, establishing its central tenets of chromatic, diatonic harmony, as well as of equal temperament between notes. Even the minor and minor pentatonic scales contain the same notes as their relative major scales, though we are getting a little ahead of ourselves. At the centre of all of this, […]
How to Play 2 – 5 – 1 Chord Progression
Numbers, numbers, as far as the musical eye can see! I’m willing to bet that if I asked all present to raise their hands if they’d ever heard of a 2-5-1 chord progression, the whole digital room would be full of arms outstretched. I am also willing to wager that the room would continue thus […]
How to Play the Db Chord on Guitar
If you’re looking for the “right” way to play the Db guitar chord, we’re explaining barre chords and some alternate voicing. Video lesson included!
Funk Chord Progressions: All You Need To Know
How can we even begin to approach funk, a style that so much relies on a feeling, a mood? How can we learn through study this fabled, funky genre of music? With the benefit of hindsight we can, thankfully, more accurately categorise what made funk funky, able as we are to consider the sheer cultural […]