Harmonic and Melodic Substitutions (Guitar Lesson)
What are you waiting for? Get your membership now!
Harmonic and Melodic Substitutions
Brendan demonstrates and discusses how various tiny triads can be applied to bass notes to imply larger, more complex chords. He also explains how these concepts can be used in a melodic context.
Taught by Brendan Burns in Improv with Brendan seriesLength: 18:26Difficulty: 3.0 of 5
Video Subtitles / Captions
Supplemental Learning Material
Improv with Brendan
Found in our Beginner Lesson SetsIn his Theory and Improvisation series, Brendan Burns looks at triads, chord voicings and usage across the circle of fifths.
Lesson 1
Lesson Series Overview
Brendan Burns provides an overview of the topics that will be covered in his chord voicing lesson series.
Length: 4:17 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 2
Form 1 Tiny Triads
Brendan demonstrates the tiny triad shapes derived from the form 1 barre chord.
Length: 13:12 Difficulty: 1.5 FREE
Form 3 Tiny Triads
Brendan Burns demonstrates the tiny triads derived from the 3rd form of the CAGED system.
Length: 12:51 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Form 2 Tiny Triads
Brendan demonstrates the 2nd form tiny triads.
Length: 20:57 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Form 1 Minor Triads
Brendan demonstrates the tiny minor triad shapes derived from the form 1 CAGED shape.
Length: 4:41 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Form 3 Minor Triads
Brendan demonstrates the 3rd form minor triads from the CAGED system.
Length: 6:09 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Form 2 Minor Triads
Brendan burns demonstrates the 2nd form minor tiny triads.
Length: 20:21 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Augmented Tiny Triads
Brendan Burns demonstrates the tiny triad shapes for augmented chords.
Length: 6:30 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Diminished Tiny Triads
Brendan Burns demonstrates the grips for the diminished tiny triads.
Length: 7:35 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Tiny Triads Wrap-Up
Now that you've gone through all the tiny triad lessons, Brendan offers some closing statements and insights that will help you with incorporating them into your playing.
Length: 2:00 Difficulty: 0.5 Members Only
More Tiny Triads
Brendan takes a more in depth look at extensions that can be added to the tiny triad forms.
Length: 12:07 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
6th Tiny Triads
Brendan demonstrates the addition of the 6th extension to the tiny triad forms.
Length: 7:54 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Minor Triad Extensions
In lesson 13, Brendan covers the extensions for the minor form tiny triads.
Length: 13:24 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Sus 4 Tiny Triads
Brendan Burns demonstrates the Sus 4 forms for the tiny triads.
Length: 6:13 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Tiny Triads Review
To get you setup to start learning more tiny triads, Brendan talks about what he'll be covering next and provides a review of the previous material.
Length: 5:45 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
More Major Triads
Brendan Burns takes a look at extensions that can be added to major triads.
Length: 16:47 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Major Triad 6ths
Brendan discusses and demonstrates how to add the 6th extension to your major triads.
Length: 11:36 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
More Minor Triads
Brendan takes a look at the extensions and embellishments that can be added to the minor tiny triads.
Length: 22:51 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Unstable Triads
Brendan Burns demonstrates and discusses the unstable or "ambiguous" triads that result from altering the 3rd.
Length: 19:48 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Spread Voiced Major Triads
Brendan Burns demonstrates and discusses how to utilize spread voiced triads in your playing. In the first lesson of this mini-series, he discusses major spread voicings.
Length: 19:37 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Spread Voiced Minor Triads
Brendan demonstrates spread voicings of minor triads.
Length: 14:15 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Triadic Improvisation #1
The first lesson in Brendan's triadic improvisation lesson series covers the major triads and the combinations of their extensions.
Length: 24:51 Difficulty: 0.0 Members Only
Triadic Improvisation #2
Continuing on with triadic improvisation techniques, Brendan discusses and demonstrates how to utilize the minor triads.
Length: 27:22 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Harmonic and Melodic Substitutions
Brendan demonstrates and discusses how various tiny triads can be applied to bass notes to imply larger, more complex chords. He also explains how these concepts can be used in a melodic context.
Length: 18:26 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
About Brendan Burns
View Full Biography
Brendan has been passionate about music since childhood. He began his studies on trumpet, in elementary school, and then moved to guitar as a teenager. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from Berklee College of Music, and has studied with Norm Zocher, Joe Stump, Bret Willmott, Bob Pilkington, Jay Weik, Tim Miller, & Charlie Banacos.
While at Berklee, Brendan was a member of the Music Mentoring Program, teaching private lessons to gifted high school students. He is currently teaches, and is chair of the guitar department at Brookline Music School. Brendan also teaches guitar for Tune Foolery & privately at his home in Cambridge, MA.
Along with educating, Brendan plays out often as a Solo Guitarist, performing standards, pop, and classical repertoire. He has recorded and played with the chamber-fusion band Ra Quintent, and as well as Vessela Stoyanova's Eastern Stories Under Western Skies Project. Brendan also performs as a leader, director and sideman for various Boston art-rock projects, and is former member of MIT's Gamelan Galak Tika.
Acoustic Guitar Lessons
Our acoustic guitar lessons are taught by qualified instructors with various backgrounds with the instrument.
Kaki King
In lesson 6, Kaki discusses how the left and right hands can work together or independently of each other to create different...
Free LessonSeries Details
Miche Fambro
Miche introduces several new chord concepts that add color and excitement to any progression.
Free LessonSeries Details
Freebo
In this lesson, Freebo covers the basics of right hand technique. This lesson is essential for all up and coming bassists.
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
Erik Mongrain
Erik expounds on the many possibilities of open tunings and the new harmonics that you can use in them. He explains what...
Free LessonSeries Details
Mark Kroos
Free LessonSeries Details
Phil Keaggy
Welcome to the Phil Keaggy Master Course! In this series introduction, Phil shows and tells us what we can expect from this...
Free LessonSeries Details
Rich Nibbe
Rich Nibbe takes a look at how you can apply the pentatonic scale in the style of John Mayer into your playing.
Free LessonSeries Details
Dave Yauk
Learn a simple mini song that illustrates just how intertwined scales and chords really are. Dave uses a G chord paired...
Free LessonSeries Details
Mark Lincoln
Lesson 40 takes a deeper look at slash chords. Mark discusses why they're called slash chords, and how they are formed.
Free LessonSeries DetailsElectric Guitar Lesson Samples
Our electric guitar lessons are taught by instructors with an incredible amount of teaching experience.
Chris Liepe
Chris brings his ingenuity to this lesson on the American folk song called "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" Also known as...
Free LessonSeries Details
Bumblefoot
Guns N' Roses guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal pulls out all the stops in his blistering artist series. Dive into the intense,...
Free LessonSeries Details
Nick Kellie
Nick explains how to use scales and modes effectively when soloing over a chord progression.
Free LessonSeries Details
DJ Phillips
Learn a handful of new blues techniques while learning to play Stevie Ray Vaughn's "The House Is Rockin'".
Free LessonSeries Details
Allen Van Wert
Allen shows you the 24 rudiments crucial to developing finger dexterity. This is a short lesson but the exercises here can...
Free LessonSeries Details
David Wallimann
This is a crucial lesson that explains tablature, how to read it, and why it's important.
Free LessonSeries Details
Ian Argys
Lesson 6 is all about the major mode. As with the other lessons you'll be taking a look at the individual notes on the strings...
Free LessonSeries Details
Michael Palmisano
Michael kicks off his course and explains what to expect from the course, as well as who this course is designed for.
Free LessonSeries Details
Paul Musso
JamPlay is proud to welcome senior professor and Coordinator of Guitar Studies at the University of Colorado at Denver,...
Free LessonSeries DetailsJoin over 513779 guitarists who have learned how to play in weeks... not years!
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.Take a minute to compare JamPlay to other traditional and new methods of learning guitar. Our estimates for "In-Person" lessons below are based on a weekly face-to-face lesson for $40 per hour.
 |
||||
| Price Per Lesson | < $0.01 | $4 - $5 | $30 - $50 | Free |
| Money Back Guarantee | Sometimes | n/a | ||
| Number of Instructors | 89 | 1 – 3 | 1 | Zillions |
| Interaction with Instructors | Daily Webcam Sessions | Weekly | ||
| Professional Instructors | Luck of the Draw | Luck of the Draw | ||
| New Lessons | Daily | Weekly | Minutely | |
| Structured Lessons | ||||
| Learn Any Style | Sorta | |||
| Track Progress | ||||
| HD Video | - | Sometimes | ||
| Multiple Camera Angles | Sometimes | - | Sometimes | |
| Accurate Tabs | Maybe | Maybe | ||
| Scale/Chord Libraries | ||||
| Custom JamTracks | ||||
| Interactive Games | ||||
| Community | ||||
| Learn in Sweatpants | Socially Unacceptable | |||
| Gasoline Needed | $0.00 | $0.00 | ~$4 / gallon! | $0.00 |
Mike H.
"I feel like a 12 year old kid with a new guitar!"
I am 66 years young and I still got it! I would have never known this if it had not been for Jamplay! I feel like a 12 year old kid with a new guitar! Ha! I cannot express enough how great you're website is! It is for beginners and advanced pickers! I am an advanced picker and thought I had lost it but thanks to you all, I found it again! Even though I only play by ear, I have been a member a whopping whole two weeks now and have already got Brent's country shuffle and country blues down and of course with embellishments. Thank you all for your wonderful program!
Greg J.
"With Jamplay I can fit in a random session when I have time and I can go at my own pace"
I'm a fifty eight year old newbie who owns a guitar which has been sitting untouched in a corner for about seven years now. Last weekend I got inspired to pick it up and finally learn how to play after watching an amazing Spanish guitarist on TV. So, here I am. I'm starting at the beginning with Steve Eulberg and I couldn't be happier (except for the sore fingers :) Some day I'm going to play like Steve! I'm self employed with a hectic schedule. With Jamplay I can fit in a random session when I have time and I can go at my own pace, rewinding and replaying the videos until I get it. This is a very enjoyable diversion from my work yet I still feel like I'm accomplishing something worthwhile. Thanks a lot, Greg
Bill
"I believe this is the absolute best site for guitar students."
I am commenting here to tell you and everyone at JamPlay that I believe this is the absolute best site for guitar students. I truly enjoy learning to play the guitar on JamPlay.com. Yes, I said the words, ""enjoy learning."" It is by far the best deal for the money.
Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.This is certainly one of the most valuable lesson series I've worked through here.
That's awesome Snowdog. Glad you liked the lessons!
Nice lesson!
Fabulous lesson Brendan.... I'm getting it, what a thrill :-) to learn this...