Major & Minor

Lesson 25: The Chords

The first part of our mission is to work through the actual backing track. We’ll show you the chord progression and how to play the individual parts that make up the track first. The better you understand the jam track, the better you will be able to solo over it. So, here are the chords:

The track is essentially in the key of D minor, although the G major would suggest a D Dorian key with the B instead of the Bb. Just to make that clearer, the D minor key consists of D E F G A Bb C (which fits all the chords other than the G major which has a G B D in it). Therefore, using D Dorian will give us the notes D E F G A B C. So that is the overall scale you could use, along with the D minor pentatonic.

Lesson 26: One Part of the Neck

Next up, it’s time to find the chords and scales in one part of the neck. We’ll take the middle of the neck, from the 5th fret, for this example, and write out all of those chords, scales and arpeggios for you. Please note that the C major is such a quick change that we often don’t do anything with it, and just let it flow by before we hit the A minor chord. We’ve put them in here though, just in case you want to give it a go!

D Minor (click to expand)

Minor Chord [A Shape]

Minor Arpeggio [A Shape]

Minor Penatatonic [Box 4]

Minor Scale [Box 4]

C Major(click to expand)

Major Chord [G Shape]

Major Arpeggio [G Shape]

Major Penatatonic [Box 1]

Major Scale [Box 1]

A Minor (click to expand)

Minor Chord [E Shape]

Minor Arpeggio [E Shape]

Minor Penatatonic [Box 1]

Minor Scale [Box 1]

G Major (click to expand)

Major Chord [D Shape]

Major Arpeggio [D Shape]

Major Penatatonic [Box 3]

Major Scale [Box 3]

Lesson 27: Playing Melodically

Now we’ll really take this up a notch and see how melodically you can play over this progression. The key things to note are once again pointed out below. The more subtle you can make those transitions the better! Good luck, and enjoy the process!

Top Tips

• 1. Use the arpeggios to target the key tones of the chord as you change to a new key.
• 2. Visualise the chord box to find the key, but don’t necessarily play it!
• 3. Play simple melodies using the scales provided. No need to overcomplicate this!
• 4. Take your time, and accept that there will be many mistakes! This is a creative process, and therefore you will have good days and bad days with it. Keep working at it and you’ll gradually reduce those bad days!

Lesson 28: Test!!

Let’s have a bit of fun in this lesson, and test me! Dan's on camera with Ollie throwing chords at himleft right and centre. This is full blown on camera testing, mistakesand all. This is a real fun challenge for you to try with random backing tracks or a friend if youhave a guitar buddy. Enjoy!