kirkcmiller
Verified buyer
11/06/25
Carlson provides insightful lessons
Guitar Lab: Chord Melody Vol. 1
Intensive Examination of Melodic Comping for Improvisation
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About this course
Hi, Brad Carlton, and welcome to Guitar Lab: Chord Melody Vol. 1. This course is designed to take the mystery away from the huge topic of chord melody on the guitar. Although I've titled the course chord melody, the information in this course applies to rhythm and soloing. By being aware of the prevailing chord and how a note functions in reference to that chord, you will have a foundation for harmonic and melodic options. We will be strictly in the key of C major and will focus on the one chord, which is a C major chord. By systematically working through various options of numbers of voices, you'll have at your disposal various levels of harmonic density.
The second half of this course will examine the seven notes of the major scale as the melody. Throughout this course, you'll be encouraged to memorize the information on the guitar fingerboard which will then allow you to clearly see all of your options. The ultimate goal for this series of lessons on chord melody is to show you where to look on the guitar for a wide array of harmonic and melodic sounds, thus enabling you to be more creative in your music making process.
The second half of this course will examine the seven notes of the major scale as the melody. Throughout this course, you'll be encouraged to memorize the information on the guitar fingerboard which will then allow you to clearly see all of your options. The ultimate goal for this series of lessons on chord melody is to show you where to look on the guitar for a wide array of harmonic and melodic sounds, thus enabling you to be more creative in your music making process.
What you'll learn
- Master letter names and scale degrees across the fingerboard
- Apply chord melody concepts to rhythm and lead playing
- Improvise creatively using chord melody approach
- Learn to use Chart 1 to identify notes in the key of C
- Build two, three, and four-voice chord voicings
Release date: 11/01/2017 • 1h 26m runtime
Sample lessons
Key of C
Fingerboard Layout
Melodic Analysis
Over the I Chord
Two Voices
Implied Harmony
What's included
15 lessons • 14 charts
Guitar Lab: Chord Melody Vol. 1
Hi, Brad Carlton, and welcome to Guitar Lab: Chord Melody Vol. 1. This course is designed to take the mystery away from the huge topic of chord melody on the guitar. Although I've titled the course chord melody, the information in this course applies to rhythm and soloing. By being aware of the prevailing chord and how a note functions in reference to that chord, you will have a foundation for harmonic and melodic options. We will be strictly in the key of C major and will focus on the one chord, which is a C major chord. By systematically working through various options of numbers of voices, you'll have at your disposal various levels of harmonic density.
The second half of this course will examine the seven notes of the major scale as the melody. Throughout this course, you'll be encouraged to memorize the information on the guitar fingerboard which will then allow you to clearly see all of your options. The ultimate goal for this series of lessons on chord melody is to show you where to look on the guitar for a wide array of harmonic and melodic sounds, thus enabling you to be more creative in your music making process.
The second half of this course will examine the seven notes of the major scale as the melody. Throughout this course, you'll be encouraged to memorize the information on the guitar fingerboard which will then allow you to clearly see all of your options. The ultimate goal for this series of lessons on chord melody is to show you where to look on the guitar for a wide array of harmonic and melodic sounds, thus enabling you to be more creative in your music making process.
Key of C
We will be in the key of C major through this entire course. Diagram 1 shows the seven notes in the key of C (which are all naturals) over the entire fingerboard. Diagram 2 labels each of these seven notes in reference to a C bass note.
Melodic Analysis
This lesson will discuss the concept of melodic analysis in your playing over the I chord in the key of C.
Two Voices
The upper and lower parameters for our areas of activity will be the root of the chord in the bass and the melody note as the highest pitched voice. This lesson deals with two voices.
Three Voices
The upper and lower parameters for our areas of activity will be the root of the chord in the bass and the melody note as the highest pitched voice. This lesson deals with three voices.
Four Voices
The upper and lower parameters for our areas of activity will be the root of the chord in the bass and the melody note as the highest pitched voice. This lesson deals with four voices.
Five Voices
The upper and lower parameters for our areas of activity will be the root of the chord in the bass and the melody note as the highest pitched voice. This lesson deals with five voices.
+ 8 more lessons
Reviews
7 results
Derrickd3_64b7b16c288ec
Verified buyer
06/18/25
Really helped with how I think about chord melody. Instead of thinking about which chords to use and their inversion to bring out the melody, make more simple by starting with just a melody and bass line.
Muso1
Verified buyer
03/31/20
Melody - The Key To Good Songs
Really like this course ... learning technical skills is one thing, but melody is what truly makes a tune come together ... TrueFire delivers once again ... thanks so much
klog52
12/24/19
Chords galore
Not really a beginner course more intermediate, that being said even as a beginner this course is explained in such detail that even as a beginner I was able to pick up on a lot of the lessons being taught. It's a wonderful course for learning chord melodies and I highly recommend it f that is what your next step in the guitar learning process is, as far as I'm concerned you can never go wrong with any of Brad Carltons lessons one of my favorite educators for guitar.
PastorJon
Verified buyer
11/19/19
Guitar Lab
Almost done with this course. It has been good and I have learned a lot. Thank you
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