When it comes to playing guitar there's not much that beats the fun of jamming on new chord progressions. In fact, it's probably one of the most fun things that we do. In this lesson I'll show you a trick that will make this process even more fun the next time you sit down to strum a few chords...




Whether you’re writing loops at home for the practice of solos, or if you're writing a new song, chances are that you'll run into road blocks when it comes to selecting extra chords.

Hitting road-blocks with chord choices is a common problem that a lot of guitarists will face when writing original chord changes. It’s usually fairly easy to find two chords that fit well with each other, but when it comes to adding extra chords after that - things can become a challenge.

In this lesson, I’m going to run through a quick and easy method for bringing in additional chords to your practice progressions (NOTE: this will be great if you’re an aspiring songwriter).

WATCH THE VIDEO:



OPTIONS FOR THE ROOT CHORD:
Let’s start by establishing a basic two chord jam that covers four measures all set-up within the key of “C Major.” We’ll use the 1st and 4th chords of the key, “C Major” and, “F Major.”



Alright, next we’ll “add a chord” into the mix. In the key of “C” our options for the root chord of “C” major would be either the key’s 3rd or 6th chord, giving us options of “Em” or “Am.” So, let’s start by adding in an, “Em” chord.



In the above progression. the "Em" is a pretty decent sound to add in as a chord option for this "C Major" progression. But, we still have another choice to test out.

Next we'll try out the 6th chord degree of “Am” and find out what that chord sounds like in our progression.


If we stop for a moment and take inventory of what’s going on so far, we’ve determined that we have a couple of chord choices that can be added in around any key’s root chord.

We've learned that these chord choices will end up being the 3rd along with the 6th. Both of these chord options sound good and both can act as solid choices alongside of our root chord.




OPTIONS FOR THE 4th CHORD:
Next, let’s try out another option for our, “F” Major,” chord.



The above progression focuses on our 4th chord in the key of “C Major” (which is an “F Major”). The 4th degree chord types (applied as major chords in major keys) can have an optional chord built off of the second chord of the key.

For the key of “C Major” (the key signature that we’re using in this example), that 2nd step option would give us the chord of “Dm.”

This means that you can add that second degree chord (in this case “Dm”), along with the “F” in the chord progression.




CONCLUSION:
Now that we’ve had a chance to practice adding in chords (to help with enhancing progressions and help make even the most basic sounding two-chord jam a little more jazzed up), I want to wrap things up here with a quick summary to review exactly what we’ve done by way of adding extra chord choices into the progression we’ve worked on today.

It's important to understand the process of what we've done so that you will be able to go forward with this system and apply this method to enhance any chord progression that you’re jamming on.

OPTIONS:
The process we’ve covered here offers options of using either the 6th or the 3rd chords of the key when there’s an interest in enhancing the root chord of a progression.



And, if we’re looking to enhance the sound off of the keys 4th chord, we can use the keys second chord as an option.




Plus, these options all work in reverse as well. So, the application is bilateral in how it can be applied musically - making it a really cool way to compose since it offers immediate options when writing your chord progressions! 




VISIT THE WEB-SITE:
Learn more great ways to enhance both your musical awareness and your guitar skills by checking into the guitar courses that are on my website at CreativeGuitarStudio.com

I’ve got step-by-step; Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced courses that work alongside of in-depth elective programs to form the best guitar course available. The courses work to help you learn to identify what's required to get you up to that next level of guitar playing, in a very organized step-by-step way, that makes sense.

I look forward to helping you further at CreativeGuitarStudio.com

Thanks for joining me...If you enjoyed this lesson, please give it a thumb’s up and subscribe for more on YouTube. Until next time, take care and we'll catch up again on the next lesson.