Big Music School & Studios
Guitar Tips from Big Music Coaches
Our coaches are always sharing great ideas in lessons.
Here are some quick guitar tips from Big Music coaches, covering fretboard knowledge, scales, technique and improvisation.
Guitar Tip #1 – Mastering the Fretboard with the CAGED System
The open chord shapes C, A, G, E and D can be made into bar chords to play the same chord in 5 different positions. Taking the example of C major, you can take the furthest note of the open C chord, build a bar and then build an A shape (using the bar in place of the open strings). This can be repeated from the A shape to the G shape, to the E shape and to the D shape as the furthest notes in each chord shape are the same notes that begin the next chord shape.
The only outlier is moving from the D shape to the C shape as all top 3 strings from the D shape remain in the same place to construct the C shape. This means that the bar is built 1 fret back from the furthest note and then the C shape can be made.
This exact logic that’s been used to play 5 different positions of C major can be applied to any chord. To prove this, follow the word CAGED again but begin from the open A shape. You’ll see that the next position is G, then E, then D, then it goes back to C and so on. Each of these chord shapes can be extracted into single note arpeggios using the 1 3 and 5, adding 2 and 6 gets pentatonic scales and adding 4 and 7 gets full major scales in 5 positions across the neck with open chord shapes to anchor them.
Practice tip: Play these 5 different positions of C major, up and down the fretboard and focus on seeing the front to back connection of each chord shape. Once that’s comfortable, do this for each of the 5 open chord shapes of CAGED.
Advanced practice: Play this same sequence but begin on a non open chord e.g. F#
Guitar Tip #2 – A Powerful Way to Practise Major Scales
Knowing a position of the major scale is great but knowing it inside out is when it really becomes useful. Instead of just running the sequence up and down, play a note, skip a note and play a note to get the scale in thirds. Going further with that pattern (play a note, skip a note, play a note, skip a note, play a note) gives you major, minor and half diminished triad arpeggios across different string sets.
Adding another skip a note, play a note means you’ve played the major scale as fully harmonised 7th chords which gives you fingerings for major 7, minor 7 dominant 7 and half diminished 7th chords. This immediately improves your knowledge of major scale harmony by helping you hear which degrees of the scale should be major or minor, which of these majors and minors have 7th or flat 7th degrees, how to construct a half diminished chord and how that differs from a minor 7th chord and it improves fretboard literacy by showing you what these intervals can look like across different string sets and single strings.
Practice Tip: Only move on from the previous pattern when it feels comfortable, for example, if the thirds pattern is still taking time to visualise, don’t attempt the triads until you can play the major scale in thirds in a variety of keys.
Advanced Practice: Play the major scale as 7th chord arpeggios backwards, from the top to the bottom. If that’s too easy, play them from somewhere in the middle of the scale and work up and back down again.
Guitar Tip #3 - Fingerpicking Patterns
An amazing resource for learning fingerpicking on guitar is the 120 Fingerstyle Arpeggio Exercises written by Mauro Giuliani. Despite being written in the 1800s and intended for classical guitar, these arpeggio patterns are amazing tests for any guitar player's right hand. The patterns are primarily taken through 2 chords throughout the book making them easy to repeat on a loop to work on accuracy and endurance but what makes these patterns really great is how musical they are.
They can be huge inspirations for song writing if you decide to take them through different chord progressions because each pattern emphasises different aspects of the chord that’s being used. Bruno Mars is a modern day guitar hero that endorsed this book when he posted it on his instagram a few years ago. Give his track “Columbo” a listen to hear someone that's studied these patterns and put them to use in a modern musical context.
Practice Tip: Take the first page and try to learn each of the patterns. Listen to what parts of the chord are emphasised and which ones you enjoy playing.
Advanced Practice Tip: Try to take your favorite pattern through a new chord progression and make sure each voice is expressed appropriately E.G. whatever melody you hear naturally coming from the pattern mixed with the chord should get extra attention.
Guitar Tip #4 - Horizontal Major Scale Practice
A great way to work on your fretboard knowledge is to practice everything you know vertically, horizontally as well. When doing this with the major scale, it allows you to hear the thirds, triads and 7th chords ring out together which helps to train your ear by giving the same information a different context.
Changing the way that you play something you’re familiar with challenges how well you know the information and the sound.
Practice tip: Use the work you’ve done on the major scale as single notes to help you play thirds, triads and seventh chords going up a single string.
Advanced Tip: Consider the octave shapes that are available near each of the chords and how you could change the voicings the spread the sound.
Guitar Tip #5 - More to Explore with the CAGED System
The open chord shapes C, A, G, E and D can be made into bar chords to play the same chord in 5 different positions. Taking the example of C major, you can take the furthest note of the open C chord, build a bar and then build an A shape (using the bar in place of the open strings).
This can be repeated from the A shape to the G shape, to the E shape and to the D shape as the furthest notes in each chord shape are the same notes that begin the next chord shape. The only outlier is moving from the D shape to the C shape as all top 3 strings from the D shape remain in the same place to construct the C shape. This means that the bar is built 1 fret back from the furthest note and then the C shape can be made.
This exact logic that’s been used to play 5 different positions of C major can be applied to any chord. To prove this, follow the word CAGED again but begin from the open A shape. You’ll see that the next position is G, then E, then D, then it goes back to C and so on. Each of these chord shapes can be extracted into single note arpeggios using the 1 3 and 5, adding 2 and 6 gets pentatonic scales and adding 4 and 7 gets full major scales in 5 positions across the neck with open chord shapes to anchor them.
Practice tip: Play these 5 different positions of C major, up and down the fretboard and focus on seeing the front to back connection of each chord shape. Once that’s comfortable, do this for each of the 5 open chord shapes of CAGED.
Advanced practice: Play this same sequence but begin on a non open chord e.g. F#
Guitar Tip #6 - Mechanical Inversions (or how to discover cool new chords)
Knowing a position of the major scale is great but knowing it inside out is when it really becomes useful.
Instead of just running the sequence up and down, play a note, skip a note and play a note to get the scale in thirds.
Going further with that pattern (play a note, skip a note, play a note, skip a note, play a note) gives you major, minor and half diminished triad arpeggios across different string sets. Adding another skip a note, play a note means you’ve played the major scale as fully harmonised 7th chords which gives you fingerings for major 7, minor 7 dominant 7 and half diminished 7th chords.
This immediately improves your knowledge of major scale harmony by helping you hear which degrees of the scale should be major or minor, which of these majors and minors have 7th or flat 7th degrees, how to construct a half diminished chord and how that differs from a minor 7th chord and it improves fretboard literacy by showing you what these intervals can look like across different string sets and single strings.
Practice Tip: Only move on from the previous pattern when it feels comfortable, for example, if the thirds pattern is still taking time to visualise, don’t attempt the triads until you can play the major scale in thirds in a variety of keys.
Advanced Practice: Play the major scale as 7th chord arpeggios backwards, from the top to the bottom. If that’s too easy, play them from somewhere in the middle of the scale and work up and back down again.
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