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Combining chords with a melody riff (Key of G)

Lesson #364 • May 13, 2021

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Instructional PDF 3 pages

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It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

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Editor’s notes

Hey friends! Quick riff exercise here, where I take on the challenge of adding a distinctive melody line into 4 measures of strummed chords. This lesson teaches how to approach this step by step, so that you’re modifying the strummed chords one step at a time – but always working toward the end goal of playing them both at once. The final result is a 4-measure sequence that sounds “full” because of the constant strumming – yet also has that “hummable” quality because of the melody notes you’ve integrated. I hope you enjoy!

  • 0:00 Preview & lesson summary
  • 2:02 Step 1: Chords & melody, big picture
  • 4:11 Step 2: Adding pinky on high E-string
  • 6:53 Step 3: Adding walk-downs
  • 9:46 Step 4: Bringing in the Gmaj7 & Dadd6
  • 18:30 Step 5: Adding rhythmic strumming

What inspired this lesson

The song Drinking Problem by Midland is the partial inspiration for this lesson. Specifically, the post-chorus (bridge?) section where he sing “Call it a problem, I call it a solution” mimics the shape of the melody I am playing here.

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