Guitar Lab: How to Build Chord Progressions

Intensive Examination of Chord Progression Construction

Marty FriedmanTommy EmmanuelSteve VaiEric GalesEric Johnson

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Guitar Lab: How to Build Chord Progressions

About this course

Hi, I'm Brad Carlton and welcome to Guitar Lab: How to Build Chord Progressions. This course is designed for the absolute beginner as well as intermediate players studying diatonic chord progressions.

You'll be encouraged to be a creative, experimenting with different grooves, tempos, and rhythmic patterns. For the more advanced player, the options offered by viewing the heptatonic arpeggios of the prevailing chord will reveal the available chord extensions, thus enhancing the sonorities in each progression.

What you'll learn

  • Identifying common tones between chords
  • Creating musical phrases with chord progressions
  • Exploring chord voicing techniques
  • Understanding vi IV V chord progression variations
  • Understand multiple key interpretations of chord progressions
Release date: 08/01/2017 • 1h 36m runtime
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Sample lessons

What's included

24 lessons • 23 charts

How To Build Chord Progressions
Hi, I'm Brad Carlton and welcome to Guitar Lab: How to Build Chord Progressions. This course is designed for the absolute beginner as well as intermediate players studying diatonic chord progressions.

You'll be encouraged to be a creative, experimenting with different grooves, tempos, and rhythmic patterns. For the more advanced player, the options offered by viewing the heptatonic arpeggios of the prevailing chord will reveal the available chord extensions, thus enhancing the sonorities in each progression.
Diatonic Harmony Pt. 1
This lesson will give a basic overview of the theory for the diatonic triads built from the major scale.
Diatonic Harmony Pt. 2
This lesson will equip you with two general layouts on the fifth and sixth strings for the bassline of each progression.
Diatonic Harmony Pt. 3
This lesson builds on the previous lesson by demonstrating how a power chord is the next level up harmonically from just a bass note.
Diatonic Harmony Pt. 4
This lesson covers the three major chords in the three minor chords are built from the major scale with both sixth and fifth string roots.
I ii Progression
This lesson will demonstrate the I-ii progression.
I iii Progression
This lesson will demonstrate the I-iii progression.

+ 17 more lessons

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Reviews

6 results

bigbesthill

Verified buyer

01/28/26

Mandatory

I (also) found Brad Carlton a bit technical at first, it took a while for me to warm to him. However, getting over that, I came to appreciate just how rich his courses are in terms of content. Very focused on the fundamentals, and this course is an excellent example of that. Haven't worked through all of it yet, but enough to appreciate its value in brining attention back to the essentials, in order to find treasure.

bosshog1

10/23/22

Proper ah ha moment

Brads style is quite dry for me - like a gym instructor ;-) - he comes hard and fast with the facts, but this course is absolutely brilliant. It totally changes how I see the guitar and how everything hangs together. Very recommended indeed.

DassassinD

Verified buyer

06/10/22

How to build chords

Well explained. Really helpful so far!

Resojoe

12/02/19

Putting Chords Together

Brad Carlton is one of my favorite instructors and I own more than several of his courses. I like his teaching style in that he shows you the chord ideas and then he shows you just about every possible way to play it. Each section could be a standalone course there is so much information. I think this is a great course if you are writing songs and trying to build chord progressions for them.

PastorJon

Verified buyer

11/07/19

Good Basis Course

I like the way he teaches, though I wish that he would show fingerings. I bought 5 different course because he is good and I can understand what he want.

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