Basic Song Structure Guitar Lesson
Basic Song Structure
Freebo talks about basic song structure in this lesson, covering the verse, chorus and bridge. He uses his original song, "If Not Now When" as an example.
Taught by Freebo in Freebo Artist Series seriesLength: 24:45Difficulty: 2.5 of 5
Supplemental Learning Material
Freebo Artist Series
Found in our Beginner Lesson SetsFreebo, acclaimed bassist, guitar player and songwriter walks you through the craft of writing and playing songs.
Lesson 1
Introducing Freebo
In the first lesson of his artist series Freebo introduces himself as both a person and musician. He moves on to talk about his guitar, choice of strings and even throws in a bit of philosophy.
Length: 31:15 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Tuning Your Guitar
Freebo jumps into his first official lesson on the basics of the guitar. Before anything else, you must learn how to tune your guitar. Walk through the process with Freebo in this lesson.
Length: 15:53 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Basic Theory
Freebo touches on some basic theory in this lesson, including the very helpful I-IV-V progression. He uses a keyboard for visual reference.
Length: 33:51 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Introduction to Songwriting
Freebo starts talking about basic songwriting in this lesson. He uses an original song, "She's My D.O.G." as an example, which is a simple I-IV-V progression in the key of E.
Length: 18:30 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Basic Song Structure
Freebo talks about basic song structure in this lesson, covering the verse, chorus and bridge. He uses his original song, "If Not Now When" as an example.
Length: 24:45 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Relative Minors
Freebo continues his discussion on songwriting with a lesson on relative minor chords.
Length: 17:00 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Chord Inversions
In his newest lesson, Freebo talks about chord inversions.
Length: 28:38 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Seventh Chords
Freebo talks all about seventh chords in this lesson.
Length: 22:17 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
The Pentatonic Scale
In this lesson, Freebo gets bluesy and takes a close look at the pentatonic scale.
Length: 24:32 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Circle of Fifths
Freebo takes some time to talk about the circle of fifths.
Length: 13:18 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Alternative Chord Progressions
Freebo uses his original song, "My Personal GPS," to demonstrate concepts such as blues riffs, slash chords, and secondary dominant chords.
Length: 24:55 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
The Songwriting Process
To help explain his songwriting process, Freebo talks about his thoughts and choices behind one of his original songs - "When There's No Place Like Home".
Length: 32:46 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Picking Techniques
Freebo talks about some picking techniques using an original song called "To The Light" as an example.
Length: 30:35 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Pedaling
In lesson 14, Freebo uses an original song, "How Do I Say Goodbye," to talk about pedaling.
Length: 26:00 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Trouble
In this lesson, Freebo teaches an original song called "Trouble." This catchy tune provides a great opportunity to practice more right hand technique.
Length: 30:02 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Time Signatures
Freebo takes some time to talk about time signatures in this lesson. He uses two songs as examples and also touches a little more on groove.
Length: 39:16 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Right Hand Groove
Freebo talks about right hand rhythm and groove using two original songs as examples: "The Beauty Of Life" and "Sometimes It's For Nothin'."
Length: 37:43 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
The Rule of Two
Freebo takes some time to talk about the "rule of two" and how it can be useful in songwriting. He uses a couple song examples to show how it works, including one of his originals, "We Are All One People."
Length: 32:36 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Alternate Tunings: Drop D
In this lesson, Freebo talks about drop D tuning using his original song, "A Soldier At War" as an example.
Length: 16:42 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Alternate Tunings: Double Drop D
Freebo continues his discussion on alternate tunings with a lesson on double drop D tuning. He uses an original song called "More Like You" as an example.
Length: 18:04 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Partial Capo
Freebo talks about partial capos and shares some cool ideas for using them. He uses his original song, "She Loves My Dog More Than Me" as an example.
Length: 32:08 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
It Goes By Fast
Freebo talks about his original song "It Goes By Fast". He uses this song to talk about his songwriting process.
Length: 25:56 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Before the Separation
Freebo continues his partial capo and songwriting discussion using one of his original tunes, "Before the Separation," as an example.
Length: 23:08 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Something to Believe
Freebo continues the topic of the partial capo and songwriting by using his tune "Something to Believe" from the album of the same name.
Length: 16:17 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
On The Parallel Together
Freebo continues his discussion on partial capos in relation to songwriting using two of his original songs - "On the Parallel Together" and " That's What Love Is."
Length: 22:24 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Standing Ovation
Freebo leaves us with one last lesson in this series; he performs a beautiful song called "Standing Ovation". He also concludes his discussion on songwriting and partial capos, and gives his final thoughts...
Length: 26:26 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
About Freebo
View Full Biography
Freebo is an award-winning singer/songwriter and blues folk icon. For 30 years, Freebo played bass on recordings and toured with some of the great artists of our time; people like Bonnie Raitt (10 years), John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, CSN, Maria Muldaur, Ringo Starr, Michelle Shocked, Neil Young, Loudon Wainwright III, Dr. John, and many others. He has alsoappeared on Saturday Night Live, Midnight Special, Muppets Tonight, and in concert with the legendary Spinal Tap.
Acoustic Guitar Lessons
Our acoustic guitar lessons are taught by qualified instructors with various backgrounds with the instrument.
Jim Deeming
Jim Deeming discusses how to use a metronome for practice, skill building, and speed building.
Free LessonSeries Details
Justin Roth
In this lesson Justin introduces his series on playing with a capo and dishes out some basic tips, including how to properly...
Free LessonSeries Details
Miche Fambro
Miche introduces several new chord concepts that add color and excitement to any progression.
Free LessonSeries Details
David Isaacs
JamPlay welcomes David Isaacs to our teacher roster. With his first lesson Dave explains his approach to playing guitar with...
Free LessonSeries Details
Danny Voris
Lesson 7 is all about arpeggios. Danny provides discussion and exercises designed to build your right hand skills.
Free LessonSeries Details
Orville Johnson
Orville Johnson introduces turnarounds and provides great ideas and techniques.
Free LessonSeries Details
Mario DaSilva
Free LessonSeries Details
Freebo
Freebo talks about basic song structure in this lesson, covering the verse, chorus and bridge. He uses his original song,...
Free LessonSeries Details
Steve Eulberg
Steve Eulberg does a quick review of this lesson series and talks about moving on.
Free LessonSeries Details
Mark Kroos
Free LessonSeries Details
Electric Guitar Lesson Samples
Our electric guitar lessons are taught by instructors with an incredible amount of teaching experience.
Stuart Ziff
Stuart delves into all the different aspects of how R&B guitar has had an impact within reggae music.
Free LessonSeries Details
Kenny Ray
Albert Collins brought a lot of style to the blues scene. In this lesson, Kenny breaks down Albert's style for you to learn.
Free LessonSeries Details
Eric Madis
In this lesson Eric talks about playing basic lead in the Memphis Blues style.
Free LessonSeries Details
Dennis Hodges
Learn a variety of essential techniques commonly used in the metal genre, including palm muting, string slides, and chord...
Free LessonSeries Details
Steve McKinley
In his first Guitar & Pedal Mods lesson, Steve McKinley shows you how to replace the input jack on your guitar. If your jack...
Free LessonSeries Details
Tosin Abasi
Tosin explains some of the intricacies of the 8 string guitar such as his personal setup and approach to playing.
Free LessonSeries Details
Bryan Beller
Bryan Beller of the Aristocrats, Dethklok, and Steve Vai takes you inside his six step method to learning any song by ear....
Free LessonSeries Details
Steve Stevens
Steve Stevens shows some of his go-to licks and ideas while improvising over a backing track he made.
Free LessonSeries Details
Brendan Burns
Brendan demonstrates the tiny triad shapes derived from the form 1 barre chord.
Free LessonSeries DetailsAdditional Lesson Features Available to Members
While we have attempted to provide you with an accurate rendition of our video lesson experience, there are some features which
require a membership with us!
Custom Progress Reporting
At JamPlay, we give you the ability to monitor your own progress for any lesson! If you watch one of our lessons and feel as though you understand around half of it, mark your progress at 50%. This adds the lesson to your customized Progress Report, and gives you an incredible ability to document what you need to work on, and where you left off.
Progressive Bookmarking
With thousands of lessons at your fingertips, JamPlay can be a touch intimidating to a first-time user. With Progressive Bookmarking, we give you the ability to systematically bookmark sections of any lessons you are working on to quickly access later. After all, what is the point of all this content if it isn't easy to use?
Save Your Notes
JamPlay also gives you the ability to leave notes for yourself on any lesson. Just like in any educational system, taking your own notes while learning gives you the ability to highlight the instruction that is important to you. Leave your notes, and we store them in our database for you to reference each and everytime you come back to the lesson.
Join the Thousands of Members at JamPlay
Signup today to enjoy access to our entire database of video lessons, along with our exclusive set of learning tools and features.
Unlimited Lesson Viewing
A JamPlay membership gives you access to every lesson, from every teacher on our staff. Additionally, there is no restriction on how many times you watch a lesson. Watch as many times as you need.Live Lessons
Exclusive only to JamPlay, we currently broadcast 8-10 hours of steaming lesson services directly to you! Enjoy the benefits of in-person instructors and the conveniences of our community.Interactive Community
Create your own profile, manage your friends list, and contact users with your own JamPlay Mailbox. JamPlay also features live chat with teachers and members, and an active Forum.Chord Library
Each chord in our library contains a full chart, related tablature, and a photograph of how the chord is played. A comprehensive learning resource for any guitarist.Scale Library
Our software allows you to document your progress for any lesson, including notes and percent of the lesson completed. This gives you the ability to document what you need to work on, and where you left off.Custom Chord Sheets
At JamPlay, not only can you reference our Chord Library, but you can also select any variety of chords you need to work on, and generate your own printable chord sheet.Backing Tracks
Jam-along backing tracks give the guitarist a platform for improvising and soloing. Our backing tracks provide a wide variety of tracks from different genres of music, and serves as a great learning tool.Interactive Games
We have teachers covering beginner lessons, rock, classic rock, jazz, bluegrass, fingerstyle, slack key and more. Learn how to play the guitar from experienced players, in a casual environment.Beginners Welcome.. and Up
Unlike a lot of guitar websites and DVDs, we start our Beginner Lessons at the VERY start of the learning process, as if you just picked up a guitar for the first time.Our teaching is structured for all players.
Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.I am a guitar player, but also checked out the Bass lessons on JamPlay. Freebo has got some nice Bass lessons too. Check them out. I am so excited to find this great site.
Hey Freebo. Thanks for this great lesson and sharing your own songs. I recommend to everyone else to go to http://freebomusic.com and check out the entire albums. It puts all these lessons as well as his bass playing into context and perspective.
Really enjoyed this lesson. Great song, and your an excellant teacher. Very encouraging to those of us getting a late start in our guitar journey! Appreciate all your teachings.
Hey Freebo, I really liked this lesson. Not only is it original material showing your true talent but your explanation opened up new horizons for me. Thanks for being true.
Freebo -- This lesson came at the right time for me. Sometimes the most obvious things can be easily overlooked. Your perspective is even more valuable than the musical content you provide. I have listened to this lesson 3 times now. Please continue.... I will be listening to the next lessons very closely.
well spoken...
Very inspirational lesson! Thanks Freebo
superb lesson.