Global Moderators

@pedram

Hi Pedram!
So glad you're part of the forum and the site!!
Wish you all the best and that you and your wife can manage to find a good way of living in EU.
Much love! /E

@rover528

Hi Dean!
Thanks so much for sharing here on the forum!

You mentioned that you're getting mixed up where to jump in when you're playing with other guitar players. The good thing is that you're listening, and that is step one. Always listen carefully to what the other player is doing. To have a bit of trouble playing with others when you haven't played a lot in those situations before is super common, and it's just something that most people go through at first. I would recommend you to play together with recordings, and try some of your songs with a metronome and stick to it for a few weeks and you'll notice a difference. Try to play the melody only with a backing track or a metronome, and be as expressive as you can. You'll think its a bit tricky in the beginning but that's only natural and we need to keep trying. Record yourself playing with the metronome and you'll notice even more what you need to work on. You need the listeners perspective, because sometimes it's difficult to really hear how you sound when you're in the middle of playing a song. Therefore, recording yourself is essential to get better. The more yo play with other people the faster you'll learn how to do that. And for solo guitar, it's great to record and listen back a lot too!

Thanks so much for being part of the forum!
All the best/ Emil

@kavusha
Hi Kavi!! Glad you liked that one! :)
That idea could be looked at in several different ways. It starts off with a Am9 chord, followed by that Bbm into the D major triad. The Am and the D is the ii V progression, and the Bbm is just a passing chord that I won't dare to explain theoretically, other than; you can always play a chord up a half step from the chord you're currently playing - to get some tension. It's like we're playing Am --> tension (Bbm) --> D...

After the D triad we play that Bb13 (which can aslo be looked at as a E7(#9), just an altered chord leading to the 2 chord again.. This time it's a A13 instead of an Am9. But still a 2 chord! :)
After the Bb13 (again, a chord a hal step above the 2 chord to add tension).. we move that a half step down to the A13 which is the 2 chord. The next chord is the V chord. It's a D altered (D7#9#5), or you could see it as a Ab13 too, which takes us to the tonic, the 1 chord which is Gmaj7. So the chord just before the Gmaj7 is simply a V chord that leads us "home".

That Ab13 (or D altered) is a subsitution for D7. This is called a "tritone substitution" or "flat five substitution". I go through that concept in a clear way in this free YouTube video, check it out here if you haven't already: Tritone substitution

So the whole example is a variation on a ii V I, adding tension using passing chords, flat five subs and nice voice leading! Let me know if you have any other questions Kavi!
All the best, /E

@nikhilvanam Nice man!!
Glad you're part of the site! Nice production and sounds - yeah!
Glad you like the lessons! Will add Vol. 2 asap.
Kind regards/E

@peter-0
Hi Pete!
Unfortunately I don't have that one written out. Maybe there's a Chet Atkins book that has a similar arrangement of that tune but I'm not sure!
Kind regards/E

@wood-dog

Hi!
I sometimes indicate the slide symbol up to a certain note with a line that doesn't particularly say from what exact note to slide from. The reason is that it varies so much. I might slide from a half step below sometimes, and other times from a whole step below or more. So in the TAB that you're speaking of, you don't see what note I'm sliding from in the TAB. But you hear me explain it when I go through the example.
Kind regards/E

@frankspeer Hi!
Hmm, sorry to hear that it seemed to not work. For me it works.. is it still not working for you?
Kind regards/E

@tho Hi!
No, I have a luthier who makes the fret job and optimized it for low action. No plek yet :)

@tho Hi!
The high E and B does not buzz. I think you might have to either make your action a bit higher, or let a guitar luthier look at your setup. My guitars also has fret job made to optimize low action too.. and guitar neck is usually very straight.
Kind regards/E

@nikhilvanam
Hi!
I previously said that VOL. 2 will be available this month but it will be a bit later. I will release "Bebop Phrasing" this month. However, I will also release a really cool 2 5 1 voice leading lesson in the "Practice Sessions" very soon! Stay tuned for more guitar fun! :)