One of the roadblocks guitarists can encounter when they start playing country guitar is playing to the chord changes. If you come from a rock or blues background, you can go a long way using blues scales or minor pentatonic scales. When you’re playing country guitar, you’ll need a different approach. You have to target chord tones and know what scales to use over chords. Great country improvisers can move in and out of these scales and chord shapes effortlessly knowing what notes to target. In Country Connections, Jason Loughlin will teach you this valuable skill while playing over a good ole fashion’d country progression.
Check out these 8 free guitar lessons from Jason Loughlin’s Country Connections below!
Five Positions of Major Pentatonic – Demonstration
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This is very similar to a major scale. We’re just leaving out the 4th and 7th. This leaves us with Root, 2, 3, 5 and 6. This a five note scale and there are five positions on the neck we can play it starting off of a different note of the scale each time. In country music you can’t get very far without playing the changes. So, if you’re playing a I-IV-V progression like we are in this course, you’ll have to learn the corresponding pentatonic scale for each chord. Make sure you review your C major pentatonic and D major pentatonic, too. You need to run those scales enough where you can recognize the scale patterns. I wrote out all of the scale patterns for you here.
Five Positions with Passing Tones – Demonstration
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Technically this is no longer a pentatonic scale now that I’ve added these extra notes, but the way they’re functioning most of the time is as passing tones or ornamentations of the scale. You should still think of this new scale as a pentatonic for these exercises. This a five note scale and there are five positions on the neck we can play it starting off of a different note of the scale each time. In country music, you can’t get very far without playing the changes. So if you’re playing a I-IV-V progression like we are in this course, you’ll have to learn the corresponding pentatonic scale for each chord. Make sure you review your C major pentatonic and D major pentatonic, too. You need to run those scales enough where you can recognize the scale patterns. I wrote out all of the scale patterns for you here.
Voice Leading with Passing Tones – Performance
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For this voice leading performance, I’m in the key G and I’ve chosen eighth notes as my rhythm. I’m swinging the eighths a little. The progression I’m playing over is I-I-I-I-IV-IV-I-I-V-V-I-I. Do this without the track at first. Once you can play it comfortably, try it with the track. If you want to challenge yourself further, see how many times you can go around the form. It will get offset each time so you have to be engaged.
Minor Pentatonic Scale – Demonstration
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The minor pentatonic allows us to access a more bluesy color. It’s very different than the major pentatonic. The formula is root-b3-4-5-b7. Sometimes we’re playing over a outlaw tune or a roots Americana tune and we need to play tap into the blues. Here’s how I like to use it in this context. I imagine jazz or blues singers delivering a song. A lot of singers will sing through a verse or chorus very direct, hitting all the notes with clear tone and phrasing and then with the very last line growl or belt to make it feel like an apex of emotion. I use the minor pentatonic in similar places. it’s like a button at the end of a phrase.
Position 1 Solo Study – Overview
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This first solo in first position will have some great steel bends, double licks and two cool flatpicking licks that could easily send you on a shedding adventure. You can apply these anywhere on the neck. The track is in G of course.
Position 1 Solo Study – Demonstration
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The progression is I-IV-I-V-I in G major. Be sure to take note of my fingerings and my right hand. You’ll notice as a basic rule double stops are played with the middle and ring fingers. Occasionally, I’ll use pick and middle. The most important thing and the point of this course is to find all the music in one position. Mastering all five and then learning how to connect them will give you a ton of freedom. For all of these solos, I packed them full larger concepts like bluegrass runs, octave displacement, arpeggio patterns, hybrid picking ideas and double stops. You could take any one of these licks, patterns or concepts and apply them to different keys, fingerings or variation.
Position 1 Solo Study – Breakdown
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The progression is I-IV-I-V-I in G major. Be sure to take note of my fingerings and my right hand. You’ll notice as a basic rule double stops are played with the middle and ring fingers. Occasionally, I’ll use pick and middle. The most important thing and the point of this course is to find all the music in one position. Mastering all five and then learning how to connect them will give you a ton of freedom. For all of these solos, I packed them full larger concepts like bluegrass runs, octave displacement, arpeggio patterns, hybrid picking ideas and double stops. You could take any one of these licks, patterns or concepts and apply them to different keys, fingerings or variation.
Highways in Thirds Solo – Performance
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The progression is I-IV-I-V-I in G major. Be sure to take note of my fingerings and my right hand. You’ll notice as a basic rule double stops are played with the middle and ring fingers. Occasionally, I’ll use pick and middle. The most important thing and the point of this course is to find all the music in one position. Mastering all five and then learning how to connect them will give you a ton of freedom. For all of these solos, I packed them full larger concepts like bluegrass runs, octave displacement, arpeggio patterns, hybrid picking ideas and double stops. You could take any one of these licks, patterns or concepts and apply them to different keys, fingerings or variation.
Digging these free lessons? Check out Jason Loughlin’s full course, Country Connections.