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Chord Progressions Guitar Lesson

Home > Guitar Lessons > Beginners > Basic Guitar with David Anthony > Chord Progressions
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David Anthony

Chord Progressions

David teaches two separate chord progressions to get you acquainted with performing chord changes. These progressions sound great and are fun to play!

Taught by David Anthony in Basic Guitar with David Anthony seriesLength: 26:32Difficulty: 1.5 of 5
Chapter 1: (1:57) Introduction Now that you have completed the basic chord lessons, it is time to use these chords in a practical musical context. This lesson will take you through some common, basic chord changes that involve the chord shapes discussed in the last four lessons. Forming a chord and playing it well by itself is only a small part of the battle. Switching from one chord to the next in time is a fundamental skill that takes regular, diligent practice. When changing chords, the most important technical aspect to observe is that you are putting your left-hand fingers down simultaneously. From a musical perspective, the most important issue is keeping perfect metronomic time through the changes.
Chapter 2: (5:14) Intro to Chord Progressions Before you begin the first chord progression take some time to review the open E, A, and B7 chords. These will be used in the first musical example. Review your chord charts and tablature if necessary.
Chapter 3: (2:33) Tips on Learning and Changing Chords David gives some great tips for learning new chords and new chord progressions. When learning a new chord, there are essentially three basic components to look at.

1. The individual notes that comprise that chord. For example, an “A” chord consists of the notes A, C, and E.

2. The left-hand fingering or “shape” of the chord.

3. Which strings the right hand is strumming.

While working on any new chord, regardless of your ability level, try to isolate each of these components. Before you even strum the chord, make sure your left-hand fingering is accurate and comfortable. You will be amazed at how easy it is to master the right hand component if you don’t have to think about what your left hand is doing.

Once you are ready to add in the right hand, play each string in the chord individually to ensure that all of the notes are ringing with a clear tone. Finally, you are ready to practice strumming the chord.
Chapter 4: (6:44) First Chord Progression David demonstrates how to play a basic chord progression in the key of E. This progression is comprised of the I, IV, V7 chords of the key or E, A, B7.

When learning any piece of music for the first time, play the excerpt at a very slow tempo. The tempo at which David performs this progression should be your goal tempo, not the tempo that you begin practicing at. Remember! Slow and steady always wins the race! If you begin the chord progression at a quick tempo, you will only reinforce mistakes. The slower the tempo, the more time that you will have to change from one chord to the next. It’s only common sense.

In this scene, David strums each chord for two beats, then switches to the next chord. If you find that these changes are occurring too rapidly for you to keep up with, feel free to double the number of beats that each chord gets. This will allow you more time to settle into each chord.
Chapter 5: (10:20) Second Chord Progression The next basic chord progression to learn is another basic I, IV, V. However, this time you will be playing in the key of G. When first learning some music theory, it is easiest to think of the key as the “home base” that chords will tend to resolve to. Make sure that you have mastered the first chord progression before you move on to this one. I, IV, V progressions are not of the same difficulty in all keys. A I, IV, V in the key of G involves fingerings that are more difficult to switch to and from. As a result, more practice time is required to learn this progression.

When first tackling this progression, begin by using the same process described in the previous scenes. Start by simple quarter notes using only downstrokes in your strumming. Once you become comfortable with this, play the progression in eighth notes. This will require a consistent down, up, down, up strumming movement. Your downstrokes and upstrokes should be indistinguishable from one another. Their tone and volume should be identical.

Before you attempt, more advanced progressions and strumming patterns, you must perfect these two basic progressions. It only gets more difficult from here. If you attempt more difficult passages before you have mastered this lesson, you will only be enforcing poor technique and musicality.
  • B / B7 Chord
  • D Major Chord
  • E Major Chord
  • A Major Chord
  • G Major Chord
  • G Major Chord Alternate Fingering
  • C Major Chord
  •  



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Member Comments about this Lesson

Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.


kalabajabakalabajaba replied on January 26th, 2012

i cant seem to get it

kalabajabakalabajaba replied on January 26th, 2012

poo

albmusicianalbmusician replied on March 16th, 2011

Yeah, I wanted to ask about how to funk it up with the bass string. I bet I casn do it but I haven't see any instruction on it. Maybe beczause we are supposed to improise it, I see. Thanks.

albmusicianalbmusician replied on February 18th, 2011

I bet giving lessons is not the easiest job in the world. Thanks for your instruction and keep giving lessons. Everything gets easier the more you do it.

adjohns3adjohns3 replied on November 26th, 2010

Next sessions, PLEASE get a better mic, or better positioned mic. These lessons sound like you are down in the HOLLOW...your voice is hard to hear/understand if you listen hard enough for the notes on the guitar.

smathers57smathers57 replied on November 27th, 2007

Hey - I love what you did with the E A and B at the beginning there, but I thought I saw some action on the high and low E strings that would not have been part of these three chords. It sounded great. What was that? Thanks.

Basic Guitar with David Anthony

Found in our Beginner Lesson Sets

David Anthony is an acoustic guitar aficionado. In this series you will learn basic concepts that are essential to playing any style of guitar music.



About David Anthony View Full Biography David Anthony was born David Anthony Volckmann, on November 9th, 1982, in the small town of Mount Hope, NY. As a child he absorbed the church flavored musical environment that his parents provided. With this influence he realized at a young age that music would not simply be a passive experience for him. It was not until the age of 15 that he decided to string up his first guitar. Relying solely on his father for his foundational chord knowledge, he quickly became enamored with the possibility of endless melodic structures, and the goal of becoming a fantastic player himself.

His early shredder influences came from Kirk Hammet of Metallica. During his first few years of guitar playing, he developed a very workable knowledge of pentatonic, major and minor scales. Over the years his musical interests swayed from rock to standards, from jazz to classical, and a strong love of the art of flamenco guitar; Spanish finger style. It was not until the age of 18 that he decided to surround himself entirely with the music of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. This influential exclusivity enabled him to learn more about thinking outside of the musical box. In one year he had learned than in the prior 3 years. Picking up multiple ways to structure melodies, create chords and use different modes, his writing and improvisational abilities grew exponentially. In his senior year of high school, he was responsible for the development of the first Musical Appreciation class in the schools history, and had aided the instructor in the teaching of those classes.

After high school, his focus started to rest mainly in writing. With this he realized that he would need additional, abstract influences to develop a unique style of writing. After a couple more years of playing in a small band, and writing some decent material, he greeted 2004 with a move to Nashville, TN. There he found the exact influence that would change his opinion of the guitar forever. Attempting to weed out a strong foundation in shredding and solo techniques, he began learning finger style guitar, and quickly realized the options that his door would open for him.

As he picked up more complex chord structures and jazz scales, his style became a passion for him that continues to drive him and push him to learn more. He feels strongly about the connection between musical input and the music you write. He notes that his subconscious pool of influence, developed from the music he listens to, is almost directly responsible for the type of music that he writes. He adamantly believes that in order to create a unique, soulful style, the pool must remain unpolluted by substandard music. What's that mean? As David puts it, "If you don't want to play crap, don't listen to crap."

David currently teaches Jazz guitar in Fort Collins, Colorado, with plans to move back to Nashville in the spring to pursue a career in writing.

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