Guitar Scales and Chord Progressions (Coursera)

You’ve got the guitar basics down: You can strum your guitar and play a few of your favorite songs, but you’re ready to take the tunes to the next level. In Guitar Scales and Chord Progressions you’ll expand your knowledge of scales, chord fingerings, and common chord progressions. You’ll also learn important skills for soloing, creating melodies, and adding depth and dimension to your guitar playing. This course is not only for the aspiring guitarist who has taken Berklee’s Guitar for Beginners, but also for guitarists who have let their six-string gather dust for too long, and want to brush up on techniques.

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Each lesson covers the four basic aspects you’ll need to sharpen your guitar chops: scales, arpeggios, chord progressions, and rhythm. Amanda’s practical approach to learning these important elements is fun and helps you to use what you’re learning and practicing in a real musical setting. You’ll improve your playing and creativity, whether it be as a singer-songwriter, a guitarist accompanying a singer, or a player in the band. By the end of this course, you’ll be more comfortable playing throughout the neck, and you’ll gain a better understanding of chord structure and how each chord relates to tonal centers or keys. You’ll also be able to solo and improvise by playing simple lead guitar lines based on the minor pentatonic scale. Whether your preference is for acoustic or electric, the curriculum is designed to turn you into a real guitarist.

Course 2 of 4 in the How to Play Guitar Specialization.
What You Will Learn

- Play scales in a moveable open position

- Identify and play major, minor, diminished, and augmented arpeggios

- Add rhythmic timing to arpeggios and strumming to enhance your playing

Syllabus

WEEK 1

Welcome to Guitar Scales and Chord Progressions! Here we will cover all the details about the course and what you'll need to know to get the most out of your experience.

Scales

In this lesson, we'll be learning and practicing the pentatonic scale. First we'll learn the b3 pentatonic scale, then the b7 pentatonic scale, and then we'll learn how to play the scale on one string. We'll also work on improvising using a single string. Finally, we'll practice playing scales in a moveable open position.

WEEK 2

Arpeggios

This lesson, we'll be working with arpeggios, which means playing the notes in a chord one at a time. We'll be learning and practicing major, minor, diminished, and augmented arpeggiated chords.

WEEK 3

Chords and Progressions

In this lesson, we'll begin practicing chords and popular chord progressions. We'll also begin practicing these progressions with both open and barre chords.

WEEK 4

Rhythm

How to Play Guitar Specialization