Transcripts
1. Introduction: This one's for all
my songwriters and those who want to be able to
express themselves freely. My name is Taylor G, and I'm a professional guitarist and dorsal fender
musical instruments. My love for guitar began at the age of 11 and
has brought me to screens and stages
of life performing with artists such
as Stevie Wonder, our Linux, Victoria
Monet, and more. Every musician has
their own sound. So let's dive deeper
into forming yours. Learn to express yourself in this class where
I'll be teaching you everything you need to be able to construct
your own sounds. Constructing your sound
is for any player at any level who needs help with creating a progression or song, you'll need an electric guitar with a tremolo arm and amp, a quarter-inch
cable, and a tuner. Let's finally make
some music together. By the end of this
class, you'll be able to competently play
chord progression, single note lines, and use guitar technique to fabricate your own approach on the guitar. You ready? Let's rock and roll.
2. Getting Started: You made it. This is the last class. Now we know our basics. We know some music theory, we know some techniques to spice up our core progressions. So let's bring that all
together and begin by constructing your personal
sound as a guitarist. Now I know this is a
lot of information, but if you stick with me
throughout this class, this will be as easy as 123. So grab your guitar,
a quarter-inch cable, fire up that AMP and grab a pic, tune up your guitar, and let's get started.
3. Creating Your Signature Style: Got everything you need, let's jump into it. The easiest way to start constructing your sound
is by using a song. A song is not complete
without a chord progression. If you've been following
along with me in class three, we learned the song using bar chords that taught us
what a progression was. Now feel free to pick out your
own progression as again, this is your journey. The techniques still apply. It's just gonna be a
different chord progression. So let's review on what that chord progression
was in class three. So we started off with
a C minor bar chord, which looks like this. We've got our index finger
barring the third fret. We're placing our ring finger on the D string, fifth fret. We've got our pinky
on the G string, fifth fret, and we've got our middle finger
on the B string. Second fret, barring
the a and E strings to bring out the third fret. Next, we move to a G minor bar chord
that looks like this. We're borrowing the
third fret still, and we've got our ring
finger on the fifth fret of the a string and our pinky on the fifth fret
of the D string. So we're literally just removing our middle finger and shifting our ring finger and pinky
finger up one string. We're going to shift
that G minor chord back a whole step to F minor. And then finally,
we're going to end on a B flat major chord, which is shifting down. And we're playing B-flat major. You can use your ring
finger to bar the D, G, and B strings like this. Or you can form that a major shape that I
showed you and use your middle ring and pinky finger on the
third fret like this. Whatever feels most
comfortable to you. Now, we're going to shift that progression
up a whole step. And we're gonna be playing
D minor instead of C minor. So what does that look like? We're shifting up
to the fifth fret. We read the third fret, one to the fifth fret. We're gonna do the same
movement as we did when we were down a whole step
and we're going to shift this up to an a minor. Take that same shape, move it back a whole
step to G minor. And then we're going
to end with a C major, which looks the same as
our B flat major chord. So we're going to repeat that core progression as
many times as we need to, to get it down
under our fingers. Remember your core
progression is up to you. Whatever you feel like sounds best to you is going to work. This is a learning process. I want you to experiment
and have fun. Now that we've got our
chord progression down, I want you to join me
in the next lesson, we will be discussing the
importance of time and how it can change up the feel of
your chord progression. See you there.
4. Establishing a Tempo: So we've got our
chord progression. Now, let's add time. Remember time is on our
side of music as it helps keep us in a
consistent flow. And if we were
playing with a band, we'd be able to all be on the same page without
rushing or playing too slow. Music. We refer to
time as a tempo. Tempo is a measurement of time
to keep a consistent pace, every person must
be moving along at the same pace when we're
playing in a band setting. How do we measure the tempo
by using a metronome? Remember our metronome gives us a regular tic that
keeps us in time. Simply by inputting a number, were able to establish a
number of beats per minute. So if I were to enter 90
beats per minute or 90 BPM, that means that this
metronome would click Literally at 90
beats per minute. Now that we've reviewed
what simple is, let's define the words that determined the
pace of our tempo. First we have Allegro. Now allegro means fast, is upbeat, is tearful. It's more like, you know, it keeps people move in. Then we have Andante. Andante means slow. It's a little bit more
mellow. It's chill. It's like a ballot or something that's
just more heartfelt. Then we have Moderato. Moderato is basically
a moderate tempo. It's a consistent
pace that's pretty normal for the average humans
who want a groove two. Now, let's take our
core progression, either the one that I'm playing or the one
that you played. And try to figure out which of these three temples
works best for you. Let's start with
a slower pace at 50 beats per minute or 50 BPM. So if you're playing
your own progression, I want you to pause this video. Start at 50 beats
per minute and play your progression a couple of times in what's called a loop, and that's just a
repeating pattern. However, if you're
playing my progression, Let's do it together. Where 50 BPM and we're playing each chord
for a whole note. Remember that's four beats. So I'm accounts you in, get set on that first
chord and let's begin. Ready. Great job. How did that
feel? Feels good to you. Okay, now let's do this at
a more consistent pace, also known as Moderato. And try this chord
progression again. This time we're
gonna be checking for the field compared to the Andante version that we
played in the last example. Remember that feel free to pause the video if you are
playing on your own. However, if you're playing
with me, Let's get started. Very nice. See, the temple definitely
changes up the field. Now, last one, we're
going to do it faster. This time we're
doing it at 160 BPM. I know that's
pretty fast, right. But it's okay. I
have faith in you. I believe you can do it. Let's get our metronome
set and I'll count you in. Wow, that was pretty fast. Wasn't it? Totally
different field, as you can see, that simple change
the entire mood of the progression, right? This is why time
is so important. Again, it's not
about what you say, but how you say it. Or as musicians is not about what you play, by
how you play it. So I want you to pick a
temple that works for you. It doesn't have to be any of the temples that we chose here. However, it has to be
a temple that you feel like is appropriate for
your chord progression. So I want you to practice
up, pick a tempo, join me in the next lesson where we'll be discussing rhythm.
5. Establishing Rhythm : We've got our temple down, we know and what time we want to play our chord progression. So what about rhythm? What's the difference
between rhythm and tempo? Well, rhythm is a strong, regular repeated pattern
of movement or sound. So now we're getting into the pattern of how
we play something. So how do we apply
rhythm to our plane? If you were following along
with me in class one, we talked about our strum
hand are strong hand plays a vital role in how a
chord is articulated. So what are the different
strumming styles or picking styles that you can choose from to switch up your core progression.
Let's take a look. First up we have what's
called the down stroke. So all that is, is strumming in a consistent downward motion, kind of like how we
were doing before. So just like this, very easy and a very
simple technique, then we have our
alternate strum, which were just alternating between strumming
downward and upward. So let's hear how that sounds. And then we have our
syncopated Strome. Remember That's how
rock and roll strong. We're just disrupting
or alternating the pattern in which
we play something. So that sounds
something like this. You can't guess where I'm
going to strum next, can you? That's the syncopated strong. So what about picking styles? We have downward picking
in which you can just downward pick each
note like this. And you can even come
up the other way. So let's go down first. Come up. Now of course, this requires more attention in detail
to your Strom hand. But again, I'm confident in you as a student that
you can get it done. Alright, then we have
alternate picking, which just like
alternate strumming, we're gonna be alternating
between picking upward and downward like this. Now this can be applied to your strings as well.
Something like this. Beautiful, isn't it? All of these different
techniques help to create a different type of rhythm when playing
your core progression. So as usual, we're going to
try this out at an example, and I'm going to
play various forms of rhythmic techniques. You ready? Let's start with
downstrokes wing. We're not going to use the metronome in this
example as we're just getting a feel for how we
want to play our chords. Okay? So let's start with
downward strumming. I want you to downward strong quarter notes in
a consistent pattern. I'm moving at a temple that
kind of feels like this. 12341234. I'll count you in. Ready? One, 23. For how did that feel to you? Feels pretty good to me. Let's try alternate strumming. That same chord progression. You ready? Same tempo. 123412. Ready? Play. Very nice, totally different field. Let's try syncopated strumming. Same tempo, 123412. Ready? Play. Let's try downward picking. In this example, we
are gonna be down picking each note in order. However, when we
get to our corps that require the low E string, I want you to pick five notes that you want to play like this. This gives you the
consistent feel of a downward picking motion
at this tempo. You ready? One, two, ready? Play? Wow, I really thought
that was pretty. Next, we're going to
try alternate picking. I'm going to show you
a quick example of how I will alternate
pick this pattern. If you want to, you
can pause this video and try to get this
pattern down on your own. Feel free to pick your own alternate
picking pattern and join me in the next
lesson if you feel confident. But for now, let's
try it in an example. As you can see,
the various types of strumming and
picking patterns can change the entire dynamic in which your core
progression sounds. This can take time to
get down because again, we're adding the metronome
while we're playing this. So I need you to be able to be consistent with whatever
it is that you're doing. Lastly, I just want to
switch it up a little bit. Do some alternate strumming
though in some down picking, and maybe just end
on a downstroke, whatever is up to you. So let me show you an
example. You're ready. So as you can see, just as you speak, we don't always say
things the same way. Certain words we emphasized
more than others. Picking and strumming
can help you do that by emphasizing certain notes
and hiding certain notes. Again, I want you to
practice this technique. Tried different
styles, mix it up with different patterns
and make it your own. Once you've got
your pattern down, I want you to join me in the next lesson where
we're going to be adding gets hard techniques
to our chord progression. Remember these other
building blocks to constructing your sound? So I want you to have
fun. See you there.
6. Adding Guitar Techniques: So we've got a
chord progression, we've got a tempo. We even added a rhythmic
patterns who are playing? What's next? Let's add some spice
to the recipe by incorporating some
gets hard techniques. Now remember, guitar
techniques are just the icing on the cake to what
you've already created. And in this example, I'm just going to pick three techniques to incorporate
in my chord progression. I'm going to go through
with you one by one so that you can
hear the difference in each technique and how it changes the sound of
your progression. Are you ready? I know I am. So first I want to talk
about sliding notes. This is a technique that's commonly used by
guitarists all over the world to give more of a human feel to their
core progression. So I'm going to show
you an example of how I would slide into my notes using my progression as I talked about in class for, you can slide into
individual notes or you can slide
into your chords. So let me show you an
example of how I would slide into my course
in this progression. I'm just going to do
this on the first chord. Remember we wanna
be tasteful with our guitar techniques as we
don't want to overdo it. Let's try. First
chord is D minor. So what will be cool is if
I went back a whole step to C minor and I slid into
my D minor chord shape. So let's give it a try. One more time. Right away, that chord already feels like
it's got some ***** to it. So let's try to
incorporate it with the entire progression
so that we can hear how different our
progression has become. You ready? Here we go. One, two, ready? Play. Wow, it sounds so
much better already. Now this time I'm
going to incorporate a different rhythmic pattern. But first again, I'm
going to slide into that D minor chord
before I get too far. Ready? One, two, ready? Play. Wow, you're starting to sound like a real guitarist. All ready? Let's try adding another
guitar technique. This time we're going to try
hammer ons and pull-ups. Hammer ons and pull off. Or another classic
technique that guitarist use in order to
spice up there playing. A lot of times you'll hear guitars do a hammer on and pull off on a minor chord
that sounds like this. They take their pinky and
they're going to hammer on and then pull off. This time I'm going to
hammer on and pull off on my C major chord. Now this requires
some pinky strength. So feel free to take some time and actually
try this on your own. What I'm doing is I'm
borrowing the D, G, and B strings with my ring
finger as this loosens up my middle finger
and pinky finger to be able to do other things. So what I wanna do
is I want to hammer on to the B string on the
sixth fret and then pull off. It's going to sound like this. Now remember, you can do this on whatever chord that you choose. This is your chord
progression, okay? I'm just giving you an
example to go by to show you how spicy these cores
can actually become. So let's try by sliding into R, D minor chord and
then hammering on and pulling off of our
C major chord. One, two, ready? Play. Now let's add another gets hard technique to our
core progression. Let's try Paul muting this time. Remember, it's a palm mute. We're simply taking the side of our palm right here
and we're resting it right in front of the bridge to give us that muted
effect like this. Let's add palm using
to our progression. I'm gonna be using it when I
switch to my a minor chord. So when I begin to pick is
going to sound like this. So let's add it in and
see what it sounds like sliding into R, D minor. Ready? One, two, ready? Play. Wow, so beautiful. But you see higher
progression is becoming more and
more interesting. We're adding more of a
human-like feel to our plane. This is what makes a
guitar player great. It's not always
how much you know, but how you apply what
you already know. I want you to pick three
guitar techniques that you feel suit your
progression the best. Then join me in the next lesson where we're going to be
talking about mixing up lines and chords to
help add to your sound.
7. Adding Lines Between Chords: As you can see, all of these components act as building blocks to constructing your sound is not always
about how much you know, but how you apply, what you already know,
what that being said. We're going to add some
lines in between are chords. So what do I mean by that? I literally mean playing individual notes
in-between your chords. This is where playing to a
metronome becomes crucial. Playing to a
metronome allows you to be able to literally here, how much time you have in-between each court
before you get there, you'd be surprised how many
things you can fit into your core progression when you know how much time
you're playing with. Let me give you an example. Playing to the same pace that I've been playing
to the entire time. I've been able to get a feel for how much space I have in-between
each core transition. So let's try this in an example. Remember I'm slotting into
my D minor chord to begin, I'm gonna be applying this
concept before I get to my G minor chord to make it a little bit
more interesting. Ready? 12. Ready? Play is getting more and more interesting
as we go along. This is why gets
hard techniques. I literally like a godsend
to guitar players. It differentiates us from
the rest of the instruments, giving it that guitar flare that everyone is looking for it. Next up, I'm gonna be
showing you how to solo over your
chord progression.
8. Perfecting Your Solo: So now we've got a
chord progression down that suits our personal taste. What's left? Soloing? As you
know, throughout history, guitarists are known for our solos and almost every
environment that you come in. When there's a band playing
nine times out of ten, the person they're
going to ask to solo is you the guitarist. So let's go over how to solo. Soloing is literally the
same thing as playing lines, except for you are putting your own expression on top
of what is being played. We're being a little
bit more intentional about what it is that
we are trying to say. One of the ways that we
can start by soloing is by knowing our scales. Now if you've been following
along in class three, we talked about three
different scale shapes that we can use that work all over
the fretboard in any key. The first one was
our major scale, or minor scale, and the classic
minor pentatonic scale. So in this lesson, I'm going
to teach you how to use those skills in order to attain
what we consider a solo. Now, solo does not
require a lot of notes. I know you guys have
heard Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix and
all of them just go crazy all over the fretboard. However, you can be
just as effective with just three or four nodes. So how do we do this? First, we have to assess
what key we are in. Now this song is in D minor. However, if you want to play a major scale shape
over this key, I would play F Major. F major is relative to D minor as they share all
of the same notes. However, in this example, I'm going to keep it minor. We're going to find our D
minor shape on the fretboard. If you've been following
along in class three. Also, we talked about how to find your notes
on the fretboard. This case, our d minor shape, is going to be found at the 10th fret using
the low E string. Now again, we can
play the minor scale, or we could play our D
minor pentatonic scale. Over this example. It's all up to you. Whichever one you feel
like suits you the best. Let's pick three notes
that we feel like resonate best with what
it is that we're playing. So I'm going to come up to
the D string 12th fret. I'm going to play the
G string 10th for it. And I'm going to play
the G string 12th fret. Just using these
three nodes alone can really make a
difference in my solo. Right? Now if you want to stay down
here, that's totally fine. Which brings me
to my next point. Using chord shapes
can also help you to determine what notes you
should play while soloing. Now, D minor looks like this. That means that the
a string fifth fret is available to play. D string seventh
fret is available. G string seventh fret, B string, sixth fret, and the high
E string fifth fret. All of these nodes are
available for use. Now I'm gonna give you
two examples of how I incorporate both shapes
into my soloing. Another thing,
incorporating gets hard techniques while you solo. One classic technique
that's used in soloing is bending the strings. So let me show you a little
bit of what that sounds like. Remember in class for I
talked about how bending the strings gives the listener the tension that you feel
while you're playing. Guitar. Again, we're trying to evoke
as much emotion as possible. We want to bring
our guitar to life. As first example,
I'm going to use my minor pentatonic scale, the three notes that I picked
in order to play my solo. I want to loop it two times. And I want you to pay
attention to the emotion that I'm trying to give
you through my playing. Now I'm going to show
you another example using my core shape to help me know what notes I'm using to solo starting at
the 10 second mark? You see how easy that is. Not too much thought. With just knowing
my chord shapes, I'm able to just randomly
pick the right notes. Now of course, over time, your ear will begin to
develop and you'll be able to hear exactly where it
is that you want to go. Also studying more into
theory and understanding how each note functions in a scale or each chord
functions in a scale, will help you be
able to determine what nodes are the
right notes to pick. However, take your time and just experiment with
the different notes that are in the D minor scale, the D minor pentatonic scale, or the F major scale, or just simply play around
with your D minor chord shape. By incorporating more
guitar techniques, I'm able to achieve even
more emotion with that solo. I can try bending notes. I can slide into
and out of notes. I can try adding my tremolo arm. Remember, the tremolo arm is there to bend the notes as well, giving you that dive
bomb type of sound, what happens when you start to solo is that you start to really understand what it means
to be intentional. We want to learn how to use our words so
that we're able to form sentences with our guitars. Except for in this
example is just notes. Let me show you how I would solo over this chord
progression starting at ten. You see how I incorporated
some guitar techniques. That is what I call soloing. Take your time,
listen to your notes, see how they make you feel. We did an exercise
in class three, or I told you to record
yourself playing a chord and practicing your
scales over that chord. Listened to each
node as you hear it over the court and see
how it makes you feel. That gives you a better
understanding as to how that note
functions in that key. Take it a step further by
trying to play those scales over this progression or
your own progression. Again, this is a great way to become more of an
intentional guitar player.
9. Final Thoughts: You made it celebrates yourself. You have received your stamp
as an official guitarist. I'm so proud of all the
progress that you've made, all the practice that you put in your determination to stick with me throughout this class. Wow, you must feel so good. I feel good for you. I just remember how I felt
when I finally was getting what it actually felt
like to be a guitarist. Now, I want you to take all
that you've learned and incorporate it into your plan going forward as a guitarist, this is the most
exciting part as you're now free to do whatever it is that you want
and even further your education in music theory. And as a guitar player, this is your moment. So indulge in it. Now we can't end the class
without one final assignment. I want you to come up with
your own progression. Incorporate some guitar
techniques into your playing, even solo over it. If you want to record
yourself and upload it in the project gallery
to record yourself, you can do what
you've been doing by recording yourself
on your phone. You can use a door, also known as a digital
audio workstation, like GarageBand,
Logic Pro Tools, anything that records or you can purchase
a looper pedal at your local music store or online that allows you to control
the loop with just your foot. This is tailored G, signing off. Thanks for watching.
Taylor Gamble, Professional Guitarist
