Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

Connecting double stop harmonies to chord shapes! Guitar Lesson – EP606

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play beautiful harmonies (harmonized 3rds and harmonized 6ths) by connecting them to the chord shapes – much easier to visualize this way.

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - For Premium Members

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Slow Walkthrough

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Video Tablature Breakdown

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Comments

  5. slopace says

    I love it! Sounds Spanish and country. I feel pretty comfortable playing harmonies because of previous lessons but this one really ties them all together. I don’t have to think about the harmonies, just the tune,which speeds up learning it. Great little tune you came up with. That’s where I wish I was musically, creating the tunes in the first place.

  8. Mike R says

    Lots of great connections here with chord shapes from caged. I am going to love playing around with these ideas and sounds. It’s really amazing how the original triads can be reduced even further to only two strings and have such a full sound. I was taught a long time ago how to go from the lower strings to the higher strings playing harmonized thirds but using them the way you are showing pulls it together more to make a more complete sound. Need to play with these a lot. These ideas could also be used to play rhythm, like last weeks lesson. Another wonderful lesson. Thanks

  13. charjo says

    Brian, I’ve said it many times but you are such a good teacher.
    Like Mike R said above, I like to see these harmonized 3rds and 6ths within the full triad shape and those triads within the context of the CAGED shapes of the chord family of the key.

  14. Don R says

    I am going to attempt to learn this finger style. When you play finger style or when you play faster flat picking runs do you sometimes rest or anchor your right hand on the bridge? It seems that you do but I cannot conclusively tell from your videos.

  15. Tremelow says

    Oh boy did I enjoy this lesson! While I have studied all your previous lessons on harmonies, I think it really clicked for me in this one. And so many additional take aways, too. Another favourite of mine, Brian.
    PS What also helps is the Tex Mex style. That adds an extra layer of fun for me.

  16. Daniel H says

    Part 2 of this lesson is so rich! Brian, a deep dive on either of the topics at 7:00 minutes and/or 14:00 minutes with micro lesson would be great! So much musical paydirt in there. Thank you for the great lesson.

  20. Steve M says

    Brian, I’m really liking connecting your various ideas to chord shapes. I find myself learning things and then forgetting them after not doing it for some time just like I’ll forget people’s names ( because I’m gettin older ). When I’m able to connect it to chord shapes it’s seems much easier to remember.

  28. Brian B says

    A really great lesson (and composition) on playing third and sixth intervals over the whole fretboard! Thinking in terms of chord-shapes for this is spot-on as it’s easy to get “lost” otherwise. I’d love another lesson at some point with a jazz/blues feel that uses the Mixolydian scale for the 3rd and 6th intervals and all dominant chords. Thanks again!

  31. Bruce G says

    Great lesson! Connecting to both the chord shapes and the scale make it much easier to understand.

    I get a Jimmy Buffet vibe along with the Tex Mex thing. Also—a big fan of James Taylor, and he loves his SUS 2-4 fills as you described for measures 29 and 30. ( I continue to try to build on my listening skills—this is one of the first ones I heard/learned)

    Thanks!

  32. Mark H says

    I immediately thought of Texas Tango, from David Lindley & El-Rayo X’s album “Very Greasy”, and as mentioned above, many Ry Cooder recordings.

    I love that whole genre and am always looking for ways to throw in those runs. I learned some new variations on them from this lesson, particularly that quick reversal from descending to popping back up the neck and starting again on the next chord, that is very cool.

  38. Kevin L says

    Hey very nice and useful lesson. And it’s not just about double stops. I like the add ons. I am taking a sailing trip to crew a boat in Virgin Islands in a few weeks. This would sound very lovely tied to harbor buoy one night. Thanks Brian. I’ll mention your name.
    Kevin

    • Brian says

      Gary, you’re missing the point of the lesson then. This isn’t a song… or a style. It’s a concept that you can use in ANY style. Learn the concept – how to play harmonies (harmonized 3rd and harmonized 6th) and how to relate them to chord shapes… then apply that to something you WOULD play.

  45. James M says

    Great lesson! Keep doing these types of things! I love how you explain where things are coming from. When you played the sixth intervals for D, you fretted a D on the fourth string twelfth fret, and an A on the second string tenth fret. Are those not a fifth apart? It is interesting because they are both notes in the D major chord–E shape. Thanks, Jim.

  47. Alan L says

    Loving this. I don’t always stop and listen to the breakdown, but glad I did… the “breaking things down to singular, granular” ideas hit me big time. I’ve hit a point where I’ve looked at so many lessons I can’t keep them all memorized and maintained. So I think it’s my time to let go a little and work on that angle. Thx for everything B! 🙏

    Also worth pointing out a 6th is just an inverted 3rd. E to C vs C to E 🙂

  48. Stanislav P says

    Thank you very much for this lesson. I will appreciate all simillar types of weekly lessons in the future. Your excellent teaching methods enable me to understand theory and practising guitar more and more.,This lesson has influenced me even to make the composition of a small song.

    Thanks Brian

  49. Lance J says

    Great lesson. I’ve always loved this sound. Think it might take me a while to remember some of it, particularly the scale played in harmonies. Came away from the lesson with a lot of cool stuff though. Thanks once again

  54. Mark L says

    When you get to the Bm (2nd part), I find myself having to abandon holding down the bar and just picking through the melody. I guess that the section I am struggling with. The rest I am able to get. How do I move on that?

  55. Jeff B says

    I have always loved the sound of double stops. I have been playing some for a while, but now I have a lot more ideas and understand the reason behind them. I’m having new fun playing and I thank you Brian!!!

  56. DON R says

    Brian, Great lesson. Please create more of these double stop melody lessons in the near future. So beneficial to me in seeing how the double stops intertwine and visually relate to the 5 Caged Chord shapes. Real eye opener and very fun and melodic examples for practical use…..

  59. Timothy M says

    Awesome lesson Brian!

    I was getting pretty comfortable with double stops, but I was only thinking of them horizontally. Now, I am starting to think of them vertically as well.

    Thanks for all that you do!

    Tim

  64. Roy L says

    Really enjoyed the sound of harmonised 3 &6ths. Strangely reminded me of a theme from an old film with Orson Welles called the ‘Third Man’ the sound track was called the Harry Lime theme , very atmospheric but played on Austrian Zither, not guitar.

  65. freddie h says

    I’ve been a subscriber for many years and this is a top five lesson for me. So much insight here about harmony, double stops and more. And it’s one of the coolest arrangements you’ve done as well. I would love to get to the point that I can create my own chord melody arrangements and this moves me closer to that goal. Thanks for being so good at what you do.

  67. C R D says

    Great lesson. Someone said they would like to see these harmonized thirds in the context of the full triads. I gave that some thought. Here is my 2 cents on just the first progression at the start of the lesson. To my ears Brian is walking down the D major scale. So chord progression (i.e. full triads) would be D, C# dim, B min, A maj, G maj, F# min, E min to D. If voicing on strings 1-3, first 2 chords are played with A shape but then switching to E shape for B min (to stay on top 3 strings) and then switching to C shape for the final D triad (again to stay on top 3 strings). The descending sound I hear starts with the note A (the 5th of the triad), descending down the D maj scale from there (continuing with the 5th of each triad). A and G are on first string, F#, E, D, C# and B are on the second string, and then the final A is on the 3rd string. I think Brian’s harmonized 3rds consist of the 3rd and 5th of each triad. However the final D chord would be the 5th and root. Not 100% sure if I got this right, but makes sense to me. Probably other ways to look at it.

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