The Key of D Major (Guitar Lesson)
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The Key of D Major
Mark demonstrates some basic exercises you can practice with a metronome. He also explains how to play an original melody in the key of D major. This melody will be used in conjunction with a chord progression in the key of D in the next lesson.
Taught by Mark Brennan in Basic Electric Guitar seriesLength: 25:00Difficulty: 1.0 of 5
Video Subtitles / Captions
Supplemental Learning Material
Basic Electric Guitar
Found in our Beginner Lesson SetsMark's Phase 1 series will take you through the basics of playing electric guitar.
Lesson 1
Series Intro - Guitar Parts and Tuning
Mark introduces his Phase 1 series and covers some fundamental electric guitar basics.
Length: 30:12 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Amplification
Mark provides a detailed overview of amplification. This lesson has some great info for any electric player.
Length: 33:55 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Using Tablature and Learning the Fretboard
Before we start rocking, Mark goes over some tools and training necessary to every beginning guitarist.
Length: 12:52 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Right Hand Technique
It's time to get some sound out of your guitar. Mark begins with picking hand technique.
Length: 31:34 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Left Hand Technique
Mark explains proper left hand technique from the ground up.
Length: 10:36 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Natural Notes in the 1st Position
Mark teaches you all of the natural notes played in first position. He uses two classic melodies to supplement this information.
Length: 25:42 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
The C Major Scale - 1st Position
It's time to learn your first scale - the C major scale in first position. Mark also explains how the major scale is constructed.
Length: 21:31 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Chords in C major - Part 1
Mark covers 7 basic chords in the key of C major.
Length: 35:14 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Chords in C major - Part 2
Mark expands on chords in C major by showing full forms of the chords you learned in Part 1. He also teaches you the chord progression to a familiar tune.
Length: 25:00 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Power Chord Primer
It's time to start making some noise by using power chords and palm muting. Mark gives you the framework to start rocking with the 12 bar blues progression.
Length: 36:43 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 11
Open Position Minor Pentatonic
Take your knowledge of the notes in the first position and start jamming on a simple pentatonic riff.
Length: 14:34 Difficulty: 1.0 FREE
Blues Scale Basics with Hammer-ons, Pull-offs, and Vibrato
Let's build on lesson 11 with an extended discussion of the pentatonic scale. For lesson 12, we'll simply add one note to the minor pentatonic scale to give us the famous minor blues scale. We'll also...
Length: 36:27 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Movable Power Chords
Mark explains how to finger power chords and how they can be moved anywhere on the fretboard. He also shows an exercise that will help you remember the name of each power chord.
Length: 16:28 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Rhythmic Notation Part 1
Mark Brennan explains rhythmic notation, tempos, time signatures, note values, and more in this lesson.
Length: 32:14 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
The Key of G Major
Mark explores the key of G major in this lesson. He covers the first position pattern of the scale and explains how it can be harmonized in thirds.
Length: 33:22 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Chords of G Major
Mark teaches the basic chords of G major as well as some other exercises to get you acquainted with this key.
Length: 34:28 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
The Key of D Major
Mark explains the basics of D major.
Length: 25:00 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Chords in D Major
Mark takes you through the chords of D major and explains some new ones that you haven't encountered yet.
Length: 35:00 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
More Movable Power Chords & the Circle of Fifths
Mark continues his discussion of power chords. This time around, he explains the circle of 5ths and demonstrates some power chord progressions that illustrate this concept.
Length: 33:18 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
The Movable Minor Pentatonic Scale
Mark teaches the 1st box of the minor pentatonic scale.
Length: 32:31 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
The Minor Blues Scale Transposed to A
Mark explains how you can transpose the pentatonic pattern covered in lesson 20 to the key of A minor. He also shows the "lower extension box" and "home plate box."
Length: 26:09 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Blues Boogie Shuffle
Mark teaches the difference between straight eighth notes and the shuffle feel.
Length: 42:33 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Amplification Part Two
In response to member requests, Mark added another amplification lesson to his growing phase 1 series. In this lesson, he compares 3 classes of amps from entry level models all the way to a Mesa Mark V.
Length: 40:45 Difficulty: 0.5 Members Only
Introduction To Improvisation
In this lesson, Mark teaches some blues licks that can be used when improvising over a 12 bar blues progression.
Length: 24:01 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
The Key of A Minor
Mark covers the key of A minor.
Length: 29:36 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Two Movable Major Chord Forms
Mark teaches two movable major chord forms and gives many examples of how to practice playing them.
Length: 26:10 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
I-IV-V Progression Revisited
Mark Brennan shows you how to apply the chord forms learned in lesson 26 to a I-IV-V progression.
Length: 21:52 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Movable Dominant 7th Chord Forms
Mark Brennan continues his teachings on movable chord forms. In this lesson he shows the dominant 7th chords and how to use them in a 12 bar blues progression.
Length: 19:49 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Movable Minor and Minor 7th Chord Forms
Mark Brennan teaches these minor chord forms and how they are movable up and down the fretboard. He also shows how to use these chords in common progressions.
Length: 21:29 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
About Mark Brennan
View Full Biography
Mark Brennan, born August 12th, 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio, began playing guitar at the age of 10. His first influences were from the Ventures and the British Invasion, especially the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Shortly afterwards he was playing in rock bands with his brother on drums, developing his ear by learning songs straight from records. Playing in a band became a passion.
In high school, he grew to love acoustic and classical guitar. He spent time playing acoustic music, influenced by The Eagles, CSN, Dan Folgelberg, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, etc. In the 70's, he headed a very popular Cleveland band, The Brennan-Cosma Band, which played a variety of acoustic and rock music, along with originals. He also took up classicalguitar, and began developing his fingerstyle technique.
Mark is a graduate of Cleveland State University (1980), with a Bachelor of Music in Classical guitar performance. He also studied Music Composition, and took many Music Education classes. After graduation, he began his private teaching career, teaching electric, acoustic, and classical guitar, along with music theory. He taught in various studios and guitar shops throughout his career, and currently has a private practice at his home in
Fairview Park, Ohio.
In the 80's Mark took an affection to Progressive rock. With his band Polyphony, he was influenced by the music of Yes, Genesis, Kansas, ELP, Styx, along with a set of prog rock originals.
Currently, Mark is in the regionally successful Pink Floyd tribute band Wish You Were Here. The band performs faithful renderings of the Floyd classics spanning their entire catalog, along with a strong visual stage show. Here, Mark displays his command of the David Gilmour style.
Mark is excited to be part of JamPlay.com's fine roster of teachers. He's looking forward to extending his 35 years of performing and teaching experience to the JamPlay members. His philosophy is about developing a passion for guitar and being the best musician you can be; being true to yourself and developing a personal style, and truly expressing your heart through your music.
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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.On the "original melody" on lesson 17, it starts with an open string slide on the D string to the 4th fret. Mark doesn't talk much about the technique here, but sliding from an open string appears to be challenging . . . for me, the string starts to deaden as soon as I start the slide. And looking at the video, Mark appears to be only sliding from the 3rd to 4th fret despite the notation. Anyway, some assistance on what he's doing and how he's doing it on that opening slide would be appreciated.
Hi Mark, thank you for these lessons. I've notice once or twice that you have made reference to the 'circle of 5ths' I wonder if you be kind enough to explain this (or have I missed something in one of the previous lessons?) Thank you.
Found it on Lesson 19 tnx. I was looking backwards not forwards!
i am 10 years old and i am learning so much from you. thank you for taking your time to teach us.
thanks for taking your time to teach us thank you
How important is it to read the music notation as opposed to the guitar tabs. I'm trying to do that but sometimes it's hard, especially this lesson. should we be able to master reading the music notation (and not look at the guitar tabs) before advancing to the next lesson? Thanks, Ehab
Where is the supplementary Material for the Melody?
It took some time until I got it - but it is quite fun once you have got it.
Regarding lesson 17, the scene 2 video is not available. A notice comes up that says the video cannot be found. Could you please check this. Thanks
you give no theory behind ascending, and also what the pattern is WWHWWm3H etc.etc. can you explain this for all the note keys?
I agree with rflora...there are some work arounds but I like to follow along with the supplemental material below the lesson as I am working / listening.
I'd like to see you keep all the material for an exercise on the same page. I use the monitor. When I print out hard copy, the print is too small. A lot of your exercise is split between two pages.
You can select multiple items at a time under the "Supplemental Content" tab then click the "View/Print Selected Items" button and this will open the multiple pages concatenated in new tab/window. This should solve your immediate issue I think.