Lesson 15

Lesson 15

Please note this lesson is under heavy construction. There are probably things on here that do not make any sense. I'm working on getting it all together shortly.

G major and E minor in 1st and 2nd positions
G major and E minor Pentatonic (1st and 2nd)
G mixolydian in 2nd position

G, G7 and Gmaj7 arpeggios in 2nd position

Slurs - Hammer ons and pull offs
Slurring 3 note/string C scale

Improv over a dominant chord

Sweet Home Alabama

Review Lesson 14

Possible Song ideas to go with Lesson

Islands in the Sun Em Am D G

Lost Em C G D
American Pie
Heart of Gold Em C D G

E Blues scale fun ?

Scales - Review of G major and E minor in open from lesson 5

The scale form to the right is both Em and G major. Play from E to E and you are playing an E minor scale and from G to G you are playing G major.

We build major scales with the formula:

W W H W W W H

We can build minor scales with the formula:

W H W W H W W

Em/G

The scale forms to the right and below are pentatonic. If we take away the 4th and 7th from the G major scale we have both an E minor pentatonic scale and a G major pentatonic scale. The 4th is C and the 7th is F#.

Em/G Pentatonic

G major
Pentatonic

To the left would be G major pentatonic played from G to G.

To the right is E minor pentatonic played from E to E.

E minor
Pentatonic

G Major in 2nd Position

This should look familiar to you. This is the same fingering as your 7th position C scale from lesson 14.

Note: index finger looks after all notes on 2nd fret, middle finger the 3rd, ring finger the 4th and little finger the 5th.

G major scale in 2nd position on fretboard.

G major/E minor Extended

G major/E minor
Pentatonic

The two fretboards to the right show both the open and 2nd positions scales.

All the notes from the key of G/Em in the first 5 frets:

G/Em Pentatonic
1st and 2nd Position

We have not learned G major in 4th but the fretboard to the right shows us both 2nd and 4th G major pentatonic positions.

Mixolydian review

In lesson 12 we introduced a mode called Mixolydian. Let's now relate that to the G major scale we learned above.

A mixolydian mode can be thought of as a major scale with a b7 (flat 7th degree). So in the case of G major the 7th degree was F#. Lower that back a half step and we get F. Play the same scale with F instead of F# and we hear G mixolydian.

Note: it is the 5th mode of a C major scale (meaning it is basically a C scale being played from G to G)

The G Mixolydian extended on the far right is the same as the 2nd position C major scale extended from lesson 7.

G Mixolydian

G Mixolydian Extended

Arpeggios

Below we will look at 3 types of G arpeggios all in 2nd position.

The first is a G major triad consisting of the 1st, 3rd and 5th degree of a G major scale (G, B and D)

Next is Gmaj7th consisting of the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th degree of a G major scale (G, B, D and F#)

On the far right is G7 and consists of 1st, 3rd, 5th and b7th (G, B, D, F) Please note that G7 does not belong to the key of G major because of the F natural instead of F#. G7 belongs to the key of C major. (can also belong to C Harmonic Minor but that is for a later lesson :)

G major

Gmaj7th

Phrasing

Phrasing often tell us what position or where to play a particular riff or passage. The slur (curved line) means to play legato (smoothly). To play legato on the guitar we must pull off or hammer on notes using our fret hand. We do not pick the string.

The Pull Off - A slur connecting one note to a lower note must be pulled off.

A slur tells us these two notes must be on the same string.

Place your 1st finger on a D ( Use 3rd fret of your B string).

Place your 3rd finger on an E one whole step higher. ( 5th fret of your B)
Both fingers should be on the fretboard.

Pluck the 2nd string and we should hear E. Now with the 3rd finger of your fret hand (on the note E) pull the finger off the string. Don't just take it off, pull if off. Do not pick the D. You should only pick the one time.

This slur connects 3 notes meaning all 3 must be on the same string.
There is no way to pull off from one string to another string.

Place your 4th finger on E (9th fret of G string).

Place your 2nd or 3rd (whichever is more comfortable) on the D (7th fret of G string)

Place your 1st finger on C (5th fret of G string)
You should have 3 fingers on the fretboard.

Now pluck the 3rd string and pull off the little finger on E off to D and then pull the D off to C. Pick only the E.

The Hammer On - A slur connecting a lower note to a higher note must be hammered on.

In this case the slur is once again telling us the notes must be on the same string. But in this case we cannot pull off. We will have to Hammer on.

Strike your low E string with your pick and with your 1st finger of your fret hand, hammer down on the 5th fret of that same string.

Strike your low E string with the pick, hammer your 1st finger of fret hand unto the 5th fret and then hammer your 3rd finger of fret hand on the 7th fret of same string, then your 4th finger hammers on the 8th fret.

Two great ways to practice getting really good at hammer ons and pull offs.

Use your finger gymnastics from lesson 1. Place your 1st finger on the fretboard (anywhere), pluck the proper string and hammer your 2nd finger on the next fret, 3rd finger on the next and 4th on the next. With all 4 fingers on the fretboard pull one off at a time until back to your 1st finger. Change strings. Shift positions. Make up different finger patterns. Go nuts!
Use the most popular major/minor pentatonic box form. Open pop up fretboard here.
This particular form is great because it has two notes on every string and is easy to remember.
Pick the low A, hammer on the C with pinky, change strings, pick D, hammer on E with 3rd finger of fret hand.

Once you get to the high C, pull off back to the A. Change strings and place both your 1st finger on the 5th fret E and pinky on the 8th fret G. Pull off the pinky. Continue back down. Use metronome. Work on speed and strength.

Slurring 3 notes/string scale
The fretboard diagram to the right shows us a way to play a scale where we play 3 notes on every string. You should try alternate picking it and natural pick it. Note when you alternate you will start each string with the opposite direction pick stroke than the previous string. When you natural pick it, each string will be the same: Down Up Down You should also practice slurring. Only pick once each string and hammer on the other two notes. Video below shows example:


Below are 3 fretboards showing how you can continue up the neck into different positions while still playing 3 notes per string:

Sweet Home Alabama

This song is a classic and a great way to work on pull offs and hammer ons.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Breakdown

Improv

The above video demonstrating the 3 notes/string scales used a one chord jam. You can find it here.

Lesson 16