August 2023 “Lightbulb Moments” Challenge: Member Responses Consolidated

[Don D.]

Hello Again, Active Melody Family,

This month’s Challenge focuses on the lessons where Lightbulb Moments occurred (or Aha! Moments). The comments people made when they posted their videos are included (only the original post).

The Active Melody member challenges are open to players of all skill levels. Thanks everyone for leaving friendly and encouraging feedback on each other’s submissions, and thank you Brian for keeping us motivated!

Thanks JoLa, for holding it down while I moved!

Welcome to anyone on your first Challenge!

Brendan G.

EP516
In this guitar lesson, I did learn several classic (must know) blues concepts.
How to connect ideas to chord shapes.
How to use harmonized 3rds.
How to play the chord you are on and its 4 chord.
There is more to get out of this lesson but these are the ones that stuck with me.
The other thing I like about this lesson is that the song is played at a speed I can just about keep up with.

Liam Innes

Hi everyone.
Ok so I’ve went with EP 418 for this challenge – notes to target when improvising.
There are 12 licks in the lesson but it was really lick number 7 that sparked the idea for the piece I’m playing and you’ll see that I keep coming back to it as a pivot.
It also gave me the idea for the melody, the backing track, AND it reminded me of something I saw Jack White do when he was with the White Stripes so that then led me to using the fuzz box and Digitech whammy combo for the effect.
The backing track is nothing really interesting. it’s just a simple blues beat with me jumping back and forth over the chord progression and playing the root notes with the bass so I didn’t really see much point in filming that.
The first round of licks are from the lesson and then I use what I’ve learned over the time I’ve been an AM member to improvise.
If Brian’s main goal with these types of lessons is to inspire and give the confidence to his students to come up with their own music, then I for one have certainly benefited from that ethos.
Please enjoy and thanks for watching.

Garry

Hi All,
When I first joined Active Melody in early 2020 one of the first lessons I came across focused on the CAGED System. Although I knew my way around the fretboard this was definitely a light bulb moment for me. Especially viewing the 1, 4 & 5 triads being so close to each other in the various positions up and down the neck. The added bonus was seeing how these chords were linked closely with the major and minor blues patterns.
So, if you haven’t checked out EP356 (and there are some very helpful printouts with this lesson) it’s definitely worth it.
Looking forward to everyone’s submissions.

Manfred M.

Hi AM folks,
First of all, I have to warn you. This is the longest video I have ever posted in the challenges.
But I can’t help it, there is no other way this month. I blame Brian for this, he released EP 531, while I prepared this and this just had to be included. It just fits too well.
And I also thought to myself: Brian has taken up my suggestion for this challenge, I’ll just do it.
My video is all about, how I tried to get better with alternate picking. And I have prepared a text, before i made the video. It was just too many English words for me to do it in free speech. If it sounds a little wooden, that’s the reason. But no more words here, I explain everything in my video.
I‘m looking forward to watch all your contributions and get to know your special ones of Brian‘s lessons.
Greetings to you all!

Guido

In the last months a key lesson for me has been for sure the EP508 – twelve bar blues.
When I joined AM my goal was to be able one day to play something like this.
I’ve been practicing the lesson almost every day for weeks since it came out. In my rendition I also added a 2nd and 3rd cycle: I’m just not ready to improvise something good so I copied from one of the many “easy” examples/lessons that one can find in YouTube (not as good as this Brian’s lesson, of course!).
My goal is now to keep practicing this kind of blues, enriching my vocabulary, learning different phrases, turns around, how to land on the right notes, mixing major and minor pentatonics (and why not, mixolydian), improve vibratos, picking et cetera etc. There are many Brian’s lessons to take inspiration from for all these goals.
Still a long journey ahead, but a very funny one!

Vincent K.

Hi All,
For this August Challenge I played lesson EP 318. On the first turn an improvisation, and the second cycle EP318 itself.
My Lightbulb moment in this lessons was starting to play more fingerstyle on an electric guitar.
Advantages with “skin on string”:
– Play more expressively
– Play different tones
– More dynamic control
– More focus on some notes
– More fun
– …
In general this lesson had a lot of impact on my playing.
I took the slow version for adding more feeling to this lesson. Hope its fine (a few mistakes due to my poor time management)
Looking forward to all your submission and lightbulb moments.
Vincent

Richard G.

A few years ago Brian posted the standalone acoustic lesson EP261 St James Infirmary, he put his own stamp on this traditional number with some intricate moves. It certainly wasn’t the easiest of lessons to learn however, being inspired by this traditional blues I made a stab at it as my July ‘18 Monthly Challenge.
Over time and with more research I’ve developed some additional grooves to this iconic piece using the ‘alternating thumb’ style and it’s also fair to say I’ve learned to be more relaxed during recording however, it was Brian’s original posting that set me on this creative course.
I don’t normally post much to AM during the summer months but Manfred’s excellent suggestion gave me an opportunity to join in on this challenge. It definitely comes with a few rough edges but it’s also my favourite style of acoustic blues.

Mark T.

Hi AMers.
I came across this lesson – EP383 – quite early in my AM journey. I had always admired players who could play Solo Jazz or Blues, and make it interesting without even vocal accompaniment! I would watch in amazement as they flew around the fretboard, pulling out the most intricate and complicated patterns and chords – none of your Cowboy Chords here buddy 😁 Never thinking that I’d come anywhere close to achieving that 😮
This lesson has so much, and radically changed the way I now play:
– I no longer ‘play it straight’
– It revealed fills and slides I could apply to almost any chord
– Mixing Major and Minor pentatonic scales
– Introduced the T-Bone Walker chord
– The sheer ‘magic’ of the 9 and 6 chord variations
– Introduced the Freddie King (Hide Away) chord
– Playing chords using just the middle strings – particularly leaving out top E
– The confidence to improvise, and even showcase my improvs, using these techniques
– A hugely increased library and toolbox to sound more sophisticated, that is such fun to play
– The realisation that you don’t need to get to full tempo 😂 to learn so much from each lesson 👍🎶
I hope you enjoy this submission! 

Mike W.

August 2023 Challenge Response Submission – Mike W
Good morning to you all.
Brian’s challenge was to identify a lesson that had been of particular benefit. There are so many that fit the description, but I singled out EP296 – a Fingerstyle Ragtime Blues, (that I may have submitted as a response to a previous challenge).
The particular benefit that I obtained from learning this piece is learning to play Travis Picking. This is something that I’d never had the patience to learn before, but the piece is so good that I was more determined to learn and Brian’s explanation was so helpful that I did manage to acquire the technique. Once acquired, I think it never leaves you.
I like the lesson so much that I frequently play it- just to keep it under my fingers. Despite that I messed up as soon as I started to video it. I know that I don’t play it exactly like Brian, but I think it’s near enough.
Anyway, I hope you like it – here’s the link

Don Patton Jr.

Hello A.M. members!
I haven’t participated in a challenge for awhile. Busy with outdoor activities etc.
This month I wanted to use lesson ML045 as not so much a light bulb 💡 moment, but a great exercise in getting the thumb moving.
It uses a constant thumb bass on strings 6 and 4. I found this lesson to be good practice for Travis style picking. I think Brian mentioned he was going after the style of Ry Cooder… Thanks for listening 🎧
Looking forward to hearing your posts!

David H.

Several things come to mind that when combined were a major benefit for me. Those things are CAGED, Triads, and giving notes time to breath. There are numerous lessons that stress all of these, take your pick.
I cannot over emphasize the importance of learning chords all over the fretboard. It may seem a bit daunting and confusing when for example you are told to play an A or E or D shape C chord, but it will become crystal clear at some point. Triads seem to fall right into place after this. The rewards that come along with this are immense. So gratifying and inspiring.
What I like about EP521 is that it has all 3 of these aspects. Gear wise a Collings I35 plugged directly into a Fender Deluxe Reverb Blond Tone Master recorded with my trusty Iphone.
Thanks for taking a listen.

John H.

This, I arranged and recorded two years ago. Based on something I was learning but by the end I ‘lifted’ some Mando licks and just applied them appropriately. THIS BECAME A HUGE A HA OR LEARNING MOMENT FOR ME b/c I never really thought of applying traditional blues licks to the mandolin. And after I did I was more than pleased. I made the backing track. Studied a bunch of G mandolin blues licks and created something that I think sounds pretty awesome. I hope you enjoy.

Alan O.

Mark V.

Rhythm Comping
a)Little Chords
b)2 bar phrases
c)slides

I could have done 3 or 4 different “light bulb” moments on lead playing.
Decided to go with light bulb moment from rhythm playing.
Lead gets most of the attention because it is so much fun.
However, I find that rhythm is an even bigger challenge as it is less forgiving.
IE it is so key to stay locked in on the beat consistently, especially if you are lucky enough to be playing with other folks.
Cheers!

Bob Utberg

Hi my fellow AMers! It’s been three months since my last C.R. I had two Workshops I attended that consumed me gitfiddle time. Feels good to be back. I love Brian’s EP496 lesson, so many “Ahhhhhh Ha”s in there for me. Hope you enjoy and I kept it under 7 minutes. I figured that averages out to 2:40 for the last three months! LOL. Cheers

André M.

Hello Amers,
This is a collaboration with AndréM & Keith Richards, lol
Just a last minute noodling in open G DGDGBD
Exploring Open G.
Tele: rhythm
Garbage find: slide.

Denise & Misty

Hi AMers
My most important light bulb moments have been Brian’s chord shaped lessons, using CAGED and triads. Knowing chord shapes helped me to get more freedom and pleasure in playing and improvising up and down the fretboard🎸.
Since the Soulful lessons are my favourites I chose EP330 and added some more CAGED shapes on different spots on the neck, playing the lead lines mostly thinking of C major pent (and a bit of Allman Brothers). I also played some country licks🤠…can’t help it!😂
Wish you all a great challenge weekend.


Juxi

Hello my friends.
At the moment, I am in my summer holiday in beautiful Corsica, so I recorded my challenge response at home before we left. Of course, as always, I will share some pictures in my next challenge responses 😊
This month‘s challenge was to share a lesson that we have found to be a huge benefit. I chose EP 390 for the following reasons:
1. Normally, when kids learn an instrument, they start with some simple melodies and the corresponding major scale. I am not sure why, but when I first picked up the guitar, I did not do that. Really, my first time learning the mayor scale on guitar was after watching EP 390.
2. Huge lightbulbs went up, when Brian connected the major scale to different „neighbourhoods“ on the fretboard an the CAGED system.
3. Last but not least, it is always a huge benefit to be able to play „Happy Birthday“. Per chance, the day I finished my submission, my favourite neighbour had his birthday. I switched some of the pictures with pictures of him and our „adventures“ – et voilà – the prefect birthday present 😉😁

Michael L.

My light bulb moment is related to chord shapes/arpeggios within the major scale shapes, and seeing them together at the same time. This has really helped me use the major or pentatonic scales while targeting chord tones and using arpeggios or partial arpeggios in lead lines. It has made my improvisation much more musical in a “playing the changes” way, and helped me see patterns up and down the fretboard. I explain how I began to see this in the video. I can’t point to specific lessons for this, but many cover the concepts of “playing the changes”, the major scale in all 5 positions, and targeting chord tones or arpeggios. Hope you enjoy it!

Paddyboy

Hi AM family,
“LEARNING TRIADS AND THEIR INVERSIONS ON THE FIRST 2 SETS OF STRINGS”
This is in the Key of “F” starting on the 5th chord which is “C” and moving up the scale in triads to the root chord “F”
So, the chords are C, Dm, Edim, and root chord F
Thanks for watching
Paddyboy
PS Clipchamp-video editor
Has anyone heard of windows free video editor? It’s called “Clipchamp”. It’s pretty cool, comes with Windows and pretty easy to navigate. check it out.
That’s what I used creating this video. I did 2 videos separately and put them together as one. The first video was the verbal explanation of my challenge and then the challenge.

JoLa

The lesson that made a huge impact on my playing and one of my top favorites is EP261, the rhythmic arrangement of St. James Infirmary. The main reason is that I loved it and just HAD to learn it! I would also go as far as stating that Brian’s generosity in giving away his fantastic compositions was the main reason I fell in love with Active Melody in the first place. Not some scholastic etudes and exercises or short song snippets but REAL, great sounding musical compositions that I LOVE to learn and love to play!
What fascinated me about this rhythmic arrangement of the classic tune was the way Brian played the simple chords but picked the melody notes at the same time AND then played the lead break and still outlined the underlying chords! I thought this kind of solo jamming style was the coolest way of playing acoustic guitar!
So I’ve been playing this lesson (badly) for a few years now and for this challenge I had to go back to the drawing board and unlearn all the bad habits and mistakes. I also added an intro/outro and another lead break into the jam. I did practice it with a pick like Brian plays it but I just sucked at it so had to go fingerstyle for the recording to make it on time. This is my 72nd challenge submission which translates into 6 years. Where did the time go?!? 🫣😧

Lights (Meelis)

Hello my friends!
There is very difficult to tell you my friends, which lesson is the most educative for me in AM ‘cos there is so much of them. When I pick up the guitar and joined with AM eight years ago I can’t do nothing with it, but everything I can do today is thanks to Brian and the AM.
I dreamed to learn to play correctly Ragtime and Delta blues with an additional thumb bass. These were my favorite. I never did. Unfortunately.
But for today I choose just one of them I never published earlier.
Have a nice Challenge Weekend, my mates!

Richard W.

Hey All!
This lesson exemplifies what initially attracted me to ActiveMelody a couple years ago: Brian’s laid back soul/R&B flavored lessons.
I’ve since done a lot of thinking about the things I try to take away from Brian’s lessons and EP222 highlights two of the biggest elements:
1) Brian isn’t afraid to really lean on the major pentatonic when it’s appropriate. You don’t have to explicitly address each chord change in order to sound good. Rather, using the major pentatonic you can let the chords change underneath you, highlighting some of the momentary suspensions and color notes that result. As long as you have an ear towards appropriately resolving your phrases, it sounds great and – well – soulful.
2) Brian’s phrasing is consistently good. This one is harder to nail down, but I often find it useful to really analyze Brian’s phrasing when it catches my ear to see where in the bar he is starting and ending. More often than not, there’s some nice, subtle syncopation in there that makes a phrase standout as an effective statement.
This lesson is also a study in starting out nice and easy lower on the neck and finishing with a flourish high up the neck. Classic stuff.
Look forward to hearing all your submissions!
Thanks for listening,

sunjamr (Steve)

The goal of the August 2023 Monthly Challenge is to “share a lesson you found to be a huge benefit”. I joined ActiveMelody years ago because I wanted to learn to play fingerstyle acoustic blues. These 3 lessons – EP037, EP065, and EP066 – soon taught me the essence of fingerstyle blues, and I often merge them together, since they are all in the key of E and have a similar tempo. The licks are also easily transferable, so they can be mixed into improv.

Martin W.

Hi folks , my submission for this month’s challenge .
So many lessons have inspired my playing over the years but recently Ep 511 stood out mainly because of its simplicity and it’s a style I wanted to get under my fingers so it’s been work in progress ever since and still is !
I’ve added a further 12 bars keeping to a similar vein to Brian’s original.
Definitely a very rewarding style to get to grips with but quite difficult at first .
Look forward to learning to everyone’s submissions this weekend.

Bill

Lots of lightbulb moments from Ep398 for me.
I did a little composition/improv and then link below to when I played this episode in its entirety.
Hope you learn something! Look forward to checking everyone else’s our.

JoeD1

As some of you are aware I’ve been struggling with carpal tunnel and tennis elbow for well over a month. So this challenge was truly challenging for me.
But, I just finished changing the steel strings on my Yamaha to nylon, and I’ve been practicing fingerstyle, so this is from Chet Atkins Fingerstyle Lesson: Very Basic – LEG031. Well, it’s my take on it, much slower than Brian’s and I put my own rhythm to it.
Anyway, there are lots of things I want to learn but this was the first on my list…

Alan L.

For my lightbulb(s), I am sharing the idea to use triads as reference points/landmarks to navigate the fretboard. This challenge was a little intimidating as at first, it felt like I was trying to teach a guitar lesson. But once I looked at it like we are in a group class, and I was giving a presentation to classmates, it got easier. 🙂 I believe taking time to share concepts with others deepens our own understanding.
The one thing I didn’t mention in my video, was that the lightbulbs really came from the time spent analyzing the fretboard. Looking at a given shape and seeing what notes are being used. Almost more importantly, the scale degrees used. (Root, third, fifth.) The root is especially helpful, not only for reference, but for connecting licks. The scale degrees are helpful for chord progressions; e.g., if I know where the fifth is, I can easily build a triad off of that note for the V chord.
Here is my presentation:

Marie Jarreau

I’d originally tuned into and signed onto Brian’s lessons in Active Melody several years ago because I wanted to venture into playing lead guitar – after many years of “fiddling” around with chords and rhythm playing. However while that quest hasn’t left me, I found it easy to sort-of skate around that more difficult effort, falling back to my tried and true method of chord/rhythm playing and occasionally tiptoeing into tiny bits of lead licks for a few of the challenges when that was Brian’s actual directive.
Enter EP-528 (and perhaps a butterfly flapping its wings in Washington) and I found myself, finally, willing and motivated to commit the time and interest in learning to play that beautiful piece.
I happened upon the song (lesson) of Brian’s early in August and something just clicked! At first, I spent hours just listening to and enjoying the music, then I committed to “learning” in my head, the lead note progression.
EP-528 has really stolen my heart and while I am far from a smooth performance here, I do believe it has opened a door for me.
This song REALLY brought me to that “Ahhhhh HAAAA!” moment when it helped me understand that
I – ME – Myself – Marie! can actually do bends and (sorta like BB King) “whip a string” down from the 12th fret with a dang nice sound!! My fingers are doing a fairly good job of falling onto the notes where they should, with enough pressure to get a fairly clean tone, most of the time, without a lot of fighting among themselves to see who gets there first. With much room for improvement, these are real accomplishments for me, finally realizing that “I CAN do this!”
I was thrilled to see Andre` post his really nice performance of EP-528 a week or so ago, which helped me learn from his own effort and added motivation for me to try to master this one, “eventually.”
SORRY Y’all – I’ll quit rambling. You can read more about this journey here if you’re inclined:
A while back and for several months, I did follow thru on completing several modules of the Blues Course that was offered a year and more ago, but for some reason that course and the lessons I’d completed just “went away” and were no longer accessible. I’m not sure what happened to that – but I was very busy with the birth of my newest grandson and so wasn’t motivated to find the lessons. However, much of the well presented information just wasn’t getting thru to me anyway! I just was not ready to really commit to the “effort” to learn to play lead. I really felt that my fingers could never achieve the independence needed to play the way they needed to, to function properly.
I’d been “chording” for so many years, it was all my fingers wanted to do. I could not figure out HOW ON EARTH anyone could properly find and activate each individual string, with each handful of fingers working independently of one another AND producing such clean lovely tones!! My fingers constantly just stumbled over one another, never settling on who should be committed to which string or fret, IF they could even locate – in a reasonable amount of time – just where the note was that was needed at a given time!
And when the tempo raced beyond 60 BPM – then I was truly lost.
Unfortunately, even though I’ve spent most of my life (yes, even as a kid!) paying attention to detail, I still have not come to understand the language of music theory, so I am still the parrot, learning by repetition rather than full understanding. I AM familiar with the Pentatonic scale, and understand the importance of scales and how they work (sort-of), but when Brian talks about borrowing notes between scales or adding a ‘fifth’ or a ‘seventh’ I have to recite the alphabetic note-names on ma’ fingers and he’s seven or more measures ahead before I figure out what or where that fifth note is! LOL! I do think I’ll “get-it” at some point. Commitment is the key!
Anyway, “I’m still using “training wheels” for this so I left Brians lead in with my own, played over the top. I’m sure you can distinguish the two. LOL!
I also slowed it down to about 75 BPM, easier for me to play and actually I THINK it sounds a bit more soulful at the slower speed. My plan is to master this one before attempting another such “lead.”
Here’s hoping this version isn’t too hard on your ears! :o)
Here it is!

cloughie (Brian)

EP530
My little breakthrough was that playing the first fast run was easier when I closed my eyes. I got to a certain point after practicing it a few times, but the breakthrough came when I tried it with my eyes shut. Quite encouraging for those of us with failing eye sight 🙂
Rock on Active Melodians!

Laurel C.

Hi fellow AMers,
As Brian said ‘Pick a lesson that has made a big difference … and that lightbulb moments lead to major breakthroughs.’ The lesson I have chosen is a YouTube vlog back in 2020 ‘Trying to learn the Fretboard’- Start Here. This lesson was the breakthrough for me in seeing the 6th and 5th root strings as pivotal in attaching the main E and A chord shapes. The importance of these fundamentals was made more obvious when I visualised it on paper. Subsequent lightbulbs continued from that with the fretboard for the 2nd string including the ‘L’ shape from Ep440 which gave a visual motif to linking. These two lessons have been instrumental as well as CAGED itself for grasping the fretboard landscape.

Werner

One of my great guitar heroes is Jimi Hendrix. So it was a great moment for me when I found music in the style of Jimi with Brian. So here is my Voodoo Light Bulb. Vielen Dank, lieber Manfred, for this challenge suggestion.

Sumanto Banerjee

EP 315… One great lesson (though I have hardly done justice to it by my own playing). Please use a Headphone / Earphone if possible..
I love this lesson because….
1. Inherent simplicity of Structure… its a Classic Call & Response Blues in 12 Bars.
2. Inherent complexity of TOO MANY THINGS happening at the same time… the theme, the rythm, painting a picture on a blank pallate, timing, memory taxation… lots of things all together. This piece was more of a mind exercise than of the left and right hand.
3. It forces me to go all over the fretboard, and pretty quickly, thats a challenge, but fun trying it also.
4. And finally… this lesson brings out very clearly in my mind… “What sort of a Guitar Player I intend to be”… the one who wants to create a story, with just a single guitar.
Thanks for your patience, looking forward to hearing everyone.

Catherine Arsenault

Hi active melody members I thought today I would share this video that I did a couple of years ago during Covid and mistakenly posted it in the wrong forum. The reason I’m posting this video because this song was a real eye-opener for me and truly inspired me to continue on and improve on my playing. It’s been a crazy couple of months here at home and I thank you for all your kind words last month. I will definitely do something new next month. Whatever the challenge will be. Hope you enjoy keep on playing active melody is
Awesome!!!!!

Slappy

Hey Y’all.
Here’s my deep dive into my favorite lesson.
Hope you all enjoy.

Bruce D.

One of my favorite lessons was EP323 – a Delta blues fingerstyle with a lot of breakthrough ‘light bulb’ moments. It was the transition from “I wonder how they do that?” to actually being able to play it.
Here ya go:

Paul S.

One could argue that only through the grace of God was I even able to complete this challenge on time.
I have just returned home from spending a week in Silver Bay, New York at Bluegrass legend Pete Wernick’s blue grass camp. For five days, from morning til late at night, we did only three things: eat, play bluegrass, and sleep. (Well, there might have also been a little drinking before dinner.) The camp includes instruction in singing, harmony, musicianship and a variety of other skills. Most of all we jammed in small groups made up of guitars, fiddles, banjos, basses, mandolins, dobroes and a harmonica or two. The “faculty” included Wernick (of the band Hot Rize) and his wife, Joan, and an assortment of primo bluegrass musicians of every stripe. The photo at the beginning of my video is my group of old guys performing Crawdad Hole. Wernick is introducing us from the right. Our quickly made up stage name: The Prostate Mountain Boys.
All this by way of saying I didn’t have much time left for this month’s challenge, but revisited a lesson I play when I want to challenge myself. It is a style that stretches my ability and reminds me how difficult it is to play with nuance when having to move all over the fretboard. It’s EP258 — Brian’s lesson on playing a bluesy Amazing Grace.
This kind of playing — unaccompanied, as it were — is a valuable skill I haven’t yet mastered, but haven’t given up trying. Plus the song is pretty cool when you get it right. (There’s also a second section higher on the neck. I try that one on my electric guitar.)

James B.

EP343 & 344
This two part lesson was a real eye opener for me. In 343 Brian shows us a rhythm based on triads and harmonized thirds that is just fun to play. Then in 344 he plays leads over this rhythm connecting CAGED chord shapes with pentatonic scales. Something I hadn’t grasped yet. On top of all that, with a few minor changes this lesson makes a great arrangement of ‘Little Feats’ , ‘Dixie Chicken’ .
I know I’ve done it before but this is a stripped down, condensed version with just acoustic and tambourine. Did I mention this is just fun to play? 😀

Adam H.

I was wondering what to do for this one. I feel like I have so many ‘lightbulb’ moments when I am practicing on Active Melody. I settled on this – understanding modes. I really like how Brian illustrates the use of modes. The lightbulb moment for me was the realization that modes contain the same notes as their related scales BUT their use changes the ‘root’ and therefore biases the player to using different notes and in different combinations thereby changing the feel of the music. Here I am playing with that idea.
Here I played EP477 – “Dorian Lick Ideas,” pretty much as written in A Dorian (a few mistakes) and then I improvised a lead over the same backing track using the G Major scale (frequently pentatonic). The feel of the song changes. My phrases are far less sophisticated than EP477, but I think anchoring to the G and using more major phrases changes the flavor a bit…. or at least I think so… I am curious to hear your thoughts!

Tom D.

If you like the sound of “harmonizing rhythm fills” in either your rhythm playing or in your leads, I recommend checking out Brian’s ep082. Found this lesson by using the AM search function with the topic “harmonizing”.
The lightbulb moments come in the form of Brian presenting, in his relatable style, key of D double stops (4ths and 3rds) that are tied to both chord shapes and to scales. He makes it seem simple and the composition is fun to play. And most importantly, the ideas are “translatable” so you can create your own fills.
I play the lesson in the video below with some changes. Rather than use the backing track, I used dropped D tuning so I could signal the chord rhythms with the open low D, and with the A string; I also shortened it a bit. And to get into the “translation” of the ideas into your own playing, I merged the lesson with a short intro to Bach’s Prelude in D (inspired by an Ana Vidović YouTube), and with a short version of Worried Blues in dropped D tuning (inspired by a Happy Traum YouTube). In both cases, the lesson inspires you to make adaptations based on improved understanding.
Finally, to share a process, with more time (and going forward), focus would be put on tightening up the performance, e.g., the double stop slide technique is not easy, there are some mistakes and timing issues that can be fixed, and, as Brian encourages, there’s opportunity to interject refined melodic and rhythm fills ideas.
THANKS for listening and for your comments. I’m seriously time challenged this month but will catch up with listening to your posts in the coming week. 

Ron B.

Hi,i stumbled onto this lesson when Denise first posted her version of it.
I enjoyed her version very much and wanted to play it myself.
The soul rhythmic lead lessons that brian creates I like the most, today i saw Richard post his version of ep222, which I enjoyed as well, this will go on my todo list.
There wasnt a particular part in ep297 that presented itself as a lightbulb moment, i just wanted to learn it and i had fun learning it.
I hope you like my attempt at it.

Dermot M.

Some Grandpas Play Bingo – EP362

Hello AM Fam!
Hope everyone is doing well.
Loved this challenge and there were soooooo many lessons I could have picked, but I am trying to broaden my playing apart from the pentatonics and trying my luck with triads. So I love this lesson where Brain took the triads a little further down the road (EP362).
I am slowly beginning to learn how to find these at different parts of the fretboard, and I am building this into my daily routine. Still some ways to go, but I just love the variety of sounds you can get with these.
Got a chance to watch the first few postings yesterday and they were great. Looking forward to seeing all the others.
Ta for now.

Pap

Hello fellow AM friends.
Brian asked us to share a lesson that has been a huge benefit. There are plenty. First, I want to say that the most recent lesson that really hit a home run for me is EP 531. It is a great lesson packed with great information. One point he makes in this lesson (see part 1 at 10:45 to 11:45) is to never memorize frets. Always think about what is happening with respect to chords or other anchor points that will help you be able to use it later. He also uses Freddy King Hide Away 9 chord. I could go on and on about this lesson. Check it out. I could not get it under my fingers the way I would like so I will keep working on it. So I played another equally great lesson (maybe Brian’s best yet).
EP 301 Rockabilly Style Rhythm and Lead Guitar. This is my all time favorite because it sounds great and it is absolutely packed with information. So you love listening to what you are playing which makes you want to play more. This lesson has a percussive element that involves a shuffle played on the offbeat and it has it has chord voicings up and down the neck including diminished chords, 6 and 9 chord variations and his favorite Freddy King chord (also featured in 531). Awesome and best lesson that I have completed on AM. It has bang for the buck in terms of knowledge gained for time invested and it is super cool sounding!!! I love it Brian. Thank you.
You should have heard me playing this on my Tele last night (nope…not drinking or anything else….) just loving the groove. I should have recorded it then. Too easy. So I decided to challenge myself and do it on my acoustic. The neck is wider and the strings are farther apart and they don’t bend as easy. So it was a challenge (which is what its all about right?).
Anyway, my wife and I are road trip’n soon so I am super busy. One of my stops will be Nashville so maybe I will run into Brian who knows😊 I am meeting up with one other AM member during my trip. He is going to try to teach me how to jam (he mentioned Margaritaville…so we will see.). I am looking forward to it and I think we will have fun. I hope to see everyone’s post once I get on the road. I am really looking forward to what everyone else weighs in with. Keep learning and playing.

Livio M.

Amers friends I didn’t want to publish this month as I didn’t prepare anything according to Brian’s directions, however I was reviewing Goodbye blue sky, which I really like on classical guitar. Naturally in its “simplicity” it hides some pitfalls for me as you can see. Thank you for listening.
Ciao a tutti

David G.

I remember doing lesson EP399 and getting very excited about playing triads all over the fretboard. I was telling everyone who would care to listen at the time that triads are magical. Anyway I got many take-aways from EP399 so much so that I think I was basically repeating the lesson in my post here (of course in a much less elegant way than Brian). Hopefully I didn’t ramble too much but here it is:

Don D.

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