Beginner Guitar Lesson 29 - Embellishing Chords

Did you have fun with that riff last time?

Well guess what? This time we have some neat little tricks to decorate your rhythm playing and make you sound like you have complex chord changes going on.

We're going to use our minor scale to decorate our chords. So, first off take a minute to review the minor scale. Warm up with it by playing it at 90 bpm, and work up speed to 150, playing 1 note per beat.

 

Now that you've done that I want you to put your plectrum down, because now we're going to rely solely on our fingers!

Your strumming hand can also be used effectively to “comp” rhythm and pluck added notes on top of the comping.

To get the correct kind of motion in your strumming hand, imagine you are trying to pick up a delicate egg a approach with a relaxed, open hand. Then bring your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers together at an even pace so that they meet with your thumb simultaneously. Just practice this motion without your guitar for a couple of minutes to gradually build speed and velocity.

Now pick up your guitar and voice an E7. Play the first 4 strings EADG, using the above method. Your thumb should pluck the root note (open E) and your other 3 fingers should pluck the next three strings respectively.

Pay close attention to the strumming hand in this video (camtasia goes here)

As you can see and hear in the video, three notes are added to the top of that chord to make a kind of riff. Those three notes are D, C# and B consecutively  (the 7th, 6th, and 5th of E7) and are all played on the B string with the 4th finger of the fretting hand. The effect is almost like a horn section playing a riff over the E7 chord…but it’s just coming from one guitar!

You can also apply this riff to your A7 chord just by voicing the A7 and moving the same pattern up to the E string, again with the fourth finger on the fretting hand. This gives you the added notes G, F# and E (the 7th, 6th, and 5th of A7).  Practice this riff on E7 for 5 minutes starting at 80 bpm and increasing your speed to 120 in the usual 5 bpm increments. Then, repeat this process for the A7 chord.

Well done - that’s sounding good! Now let’s include it in our blues progression as demonstrated in the video. Have fun, practice and don’t forget to be creative in your practice, too! See you next time for some more valuable concepts in playing guitar.