Finding Melodies (simple methods for being creative--guitar lesson)
Often times we need to find the balance between effort and reward; I work with many of my students in this regard. After a long day of work you might not want to practice the guitar in a traditional fashion, but rather desire to move forward in a way that resonates with you musically. This exercise provides simple, effective ways to create interest within any chord progression, and hopefully inspire you to make music without working too hard.
Here are five simple concepts to try:
1. Subbing out a chord for another variant (in video this is subbing the Am7 for Am in the open position)
2. Choosing a string and finding the tone found in the chord above the current chord (or below). Try all possibilities, then switch to a different string to see what you find.
3. Using an open string for interest.
4. Taking a moveable, symmetrical shape and moving it to the roots of each chord (like this “Hendrix” Fsus2 chord: 1X3013).
5. Try adding the major or minor third to each chord as well.
If you would like to dive deeper into this or related concepts, you can learn more about me here: https://walkerguitarlessons.com