If you've always had a desire to learn how to play melody on guitar, (play guitar solos), then you will definitely want to check out this lesson. I’m going to show you something that you can do every day to get really good at making up melody lines over any Major or Minor chord progression... 

BONUS:
At the end of the video, we'll cover how to use an excellent online chord generator (visit... www.chordchord.com).



WATCH THE VIDEO:




I think this is going to be an incredibly helpful lesson because for a lot of guitar players, the way that scales are used to create melody, (as in guitar solos), can be a mystery.

When it comes to this topic, there’s a lot of simplistic breakdowns that we’ve covered in the past, like my lesson on the, “Ultimate Scale Pattern.”

Those types of lessons offer one side of the idea, (which is entirely based upon using a shape). But, we also need to learn how to get a scale to function in a melodic way.

We need to learn how notes can naturally connect with the chords that are being in played in the background. And, if you stick around till the end of this video, I guarantee that no matter what level of player you are, you will not only be playing a melody by the end of this video, but you’ll also understand how all of this works…




CONNECT TO THE CHORD:
Let’s get things started by learning about the value in listening for how the notes of a simple scale layout can connect into the notes that are found within a chord.

For our example, we’ll use the chord of “A Minor.” If you have a loop pedal, record this chord on your looper. If you don’t have a loop pedal, use a web-site or an app that automatically generates chords for you.

Chord Jam (A Minor):




Chord Generator:
The 'go-to' chord jams web-site that I use is called, “Chord Chord.com.” If you stick around to the very end of the video, I’ll provide a quick lesson for you on how to use their web-site…

Once you have a background chord playing in behind you, you’ll want to select a small group of scale tones that relate to the chord and work at phrasing simple statements into the chord that’s being performed underneath.

We’re going to use a small piece of the “A Minor Pentatonic,” in the 7th position off of, “4th-string root”. Here’s what our shape looks like, and how you can approach practicing this idea.


"A" Minor Pentatonic:


Practice playing through the "A" Minor pentatonic until it is committed to memory.




EXPANDING THE PROGRESSION:
After spending a period of time working out some melodic ideas related to the 1st chord, what you’ll want to do next, is add another chord located right next to the first one.

For our example, we’ll move back a step from our “A Minor” and use another related chord… the “G Major”.

Chord Jam (A minor to G major):



NOTE:
This is an easy to remember theory principle in music, because any root Minor chord will have a Major chord related to its key 2-frets back. 

When it comes to creating melody ideas over two related chords in the same key, the nice thing is you can alternate between simple Pentatonic scales to create some really nice melodies.

Here’s what our new scale shape looks like for covering the additional “G Major” chord.

"G" Major Pentatonic:



Use it can be for you to start practicing this idea using a backing track…

Remember at the start of the video, I said that I guaranteed you - by the end of it you’d be playing a melody. Well, we’re almost there now.

But, there’s one more sound I want to add into our group of backing track chords. And, it’s the sound of the chord located right behind our “G Major”.




FURTHER EXPANSION OF THE PROGRESSION:
Just like within, any root Minor key we can have a Major chord related to the root, 2-frets back. We will also have another Major chord related another 2-frets back.

So, in our example, if we go 2-frets back from the, “G Major” we’ll get an “F Major.” Plus, we can also play the shape of that “G Major” Pentatonic pattern down 2-frets lower as well.

As you might have guessed, this creates an “F Major” Pentatonic that works perfectly for our entire backing track. Notice how the chords and the Pentatonic scales can function in tandem like that.

 "F" Major Pentatonic:


This makes applying the scales pretty darn easy! Practice using the new “F” scale layout along with the new backing track, with all the chords together…


Chord Jam (A minor to G major):



Practice playing over the "A" Minor jam progression until you can create original melody lines that flow melodically. It might take awhile, but over time the process will get easier.




PLAY A MELODY:
Alright, so now it’s the time you’ve been waiting for, it’s time to play a melody over that last group of chords that we were studying, (Am, G, F).

You can use those scale shapes we just practiced off of the; “A Minor,” and the “G Major,” and the “F Major.” Those scales will work great to make up some fantastic sounding melody lines.

And, just to prove it to you, I’m going to play those scale patterns right now for you, and make up a simple melody over those chords.

Example Melody:




EVERY DAY PRACTICE:
Remember, you can practice this at home for hours. It’s fun to do, and if you keep coming back and practicing it every day, (over and over), you’ll find that it gets easier and easier to create melody lines, and (in the end) master your scales.

So, now, I’d like you to move forward on your own and learn how to branch out further from playing this simple melody, (above). It uses those exact scales we tried earlier on in the lesson, and you can take those ideas into expanded directions on your own as well.




CHORD GENERATOR:
Be sure to watch the tutorial segment of this lessons video where I explain the basics for how to use that "Chord-Chord" jam-track generator website I'd mentioned.

ChordChord Tutorial Video:



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