Using Triads & Double-Stops to Punch Up a Melody

Lesson #436 • May 22, 2022

Video lesson

Instructional PDF 3 pages

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Follow along with the print-friendly PDF!

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 there, friends! New video in my “Learning Lead Guitar” series, where I share my progress & realizations while getting comfortable playing lead licks, fills, solos, and more. In today’s video I’ll take a song I’ve always wanted to be able to play lead fills over… and describe how I realized triads & double-stops could be used to “punch up” the melody line that I was attempting to punch up.

The result is me playing what’s recognizable as the “melody” — but it’s bolstered by additional notes being played at the same time — all of which help fill out the sound. Double-stops and harmonized 6ths also make an appearance. I’ll also explain a realization I had about the multiple places on the fretboard where any given triad can be played — which provides optionality when figuring out how to put it all together.

Video timestamps

  • 0:00 Fretboard & Triad Recap
  • 4:56 Phrase 1 of 3
  • 13:10 Phrase 2 of 3
  • 17:30 Phrase 3 of 3
  • 20:02 Backing Track Playthrough
  • 26:47 PDF Overview

Backing Track

I also created this backing track, which I use at the end of my lesson video, for you to practice with if you’re interested in following along. It repeats the same 12-bar progression over and over (5 minutes total), giving you the perfect playthrough to put all of this into action.

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G-C-Am7-Bm Jam Track (download):

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