Chord Inversions 1 – Intro

April 15, 2013May 30, 2015 LTGuitarist Music Tutorials chord, guitar, guitar-based theory, inversions, music, theory, triad

Remember back when your teacher, (possibly me), told you that the deepest pitch in a chord should be its root note? Yeah, that was a lie. Sorry. It’s a good general rule though, because we like to hear root notes in the bass of a chord. Using other notes … Continue reading Chord Inversions 1 – Intro

Arpeggios 1 – Maj, Min & Dim Triad Arpeggios

April 8, 2013May 30, 2015 LTGuitarist Music Tutorials arpeggios, dim, diminished, guitar, maj, major, min, minor, triad, tuition, tutor, tutorial

Arpeggios form a neat middle-ground between chords and scales – you’ll be voicing chords in a manner similar to playing a scale. Today we’re going to cover the three different triads that appear in the Major Scale. A Tonic Triad, as you should know, is built by stacking thirds in your given scale, so the … Continue reading Arpeggios 1 – Maj, Min & Dim Triad Arpeggios

Sus Chords

March 21, 2013May 30, 2015 LTGuitarist Music Tutorials chord, guitar, sus, sus chords, suspended

A Suspended Chord is one in which all 3rds are replaced with either 2nds or 4ths. Losing the 3rd can make a chord sound very vague or open, but the addition of the 2nd or 4th will certainly make up for that loss of character. Despite losing a note from our Maj or Min … Continue reading Sus Chords

Example Song #4: Power Chords & Palm Mutes

March 19, 2013May 30, 2015 LTGuitarist Music Tutorials blues, guitar, learn to play, learn to play awesome guitar, palm mute, play, pop, power chord, powerchord, rhythm, rock, tuition

This song is a demonstration of two very common techniques within rock, pop and blues music. Power Chords, as you should already know, are used in place of full Open or Barre chords, in genres where guitars are usually distorted. Palm muting allows you to control the tone and volume … Continue reading Example Song #4: Power Chords & Palm Mutes

Chromatic Scales

February 27, 2013May 30, 2015 LTGuitarist Music Tutorials augmented, chromatic, diminished, guitar, lesson, scale, tab, whole tone, whole-half

All the scales you've learnt so far have probably been Diatonic ones. A Diatonic Scale is one that ascends and descends in a pre-ordained pattern of Tones and Semitones. A Chromatic Scale is derived from a much smaller pattern. In this lesson we’re going to learn the two Chromatic Scales that have the most musical … Continue reading Chromatic Scales

Performance Directions 1: Note Values & Rests

January 21, 2013May 30, 2015 LTGuitarist Music Tutorials

Playing from tablature alone has one large disadvantage – there’s no real indication of how long particular notes should be. If you’re learning a song with no audio reference this can make things really challenging, so guitarists are often presented with a form of tablature that includes bars of traditional staff notation as a reference. … Continue reading Performance Directions 1: Note Values & Rests

The Mixolydian Mode

November 28, 2012May 30, 2015 LTGuitarist Music Tutorials dominant, guitar, mixolydian, mode, music, theory

Mixolydian is the fifth mode of the Major Scale. It's often referred to as the Dominant Scale, because it is built upon the 5th degree of the major scale. That’s also where we get the name for Dominant chords, which are a major triad with a flattened 7. And that’s all there is to it, if we take … Continue reading The Mixolydian Mode

The Locrian Mode

November 28, 2012May 30, 2015 LTGuitarist Music Tutorials diminished, locrian, minor, mode, music, theory

(Occasionally spelt “Lochrian” by awkward people) The modern Locrian is interesting. It exists more as a theoretical entity, but derived just the same as the other modes. It’s very seldom used in music, as there’s not much in it that listeners want to hear, but it does exist and can be applied nonetheless. Moreover, if … Continue reading The Locrian Mode

The Lydian Mode

November 28, 2012May 30, 2015 LTGuitarist Music Tutorials guitar, lydian, mode, music, theory

Welcome back to the modes, today we’re focusing on Lydian, the fourth mode of the Major scale. Lydian is essentially a major scale so we’ll start off with that formula, this time in F. R 2 3 4 5 6 7 F G A Bb … Continue reading The Lydian Mode

The Phrygian Mode

November 28, 2012May 30, 2015 LTGuitarist Music Tutorials flamenco, guitar, mode, music, phrygian, theory

Today we’re looking at the 3rd mode of the Major Scale - the Phrygian Mode. Phrygian is a minor scale, so lets start with that formula. Here’s E Minor R 2 m3 4 5 m6 m7 E F# G A B C D The … Continue reading The Phrygian Mode

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