Alternative guitar summit jam – Solar

With Nir Felder and Walsh Kunkel

Next in the Guitar Dojo practice routine arsenal – Drop-3 chords! This time on strings 6, 4, 3 & 2. Between the PDF at the bottom of the page and the video, this material illustrates the movement of dominant chords up the neck as well as detailing the spelling of these harmonic structures in terms of intervals. Part two of this lesson will deal with the 5, 3, 2 & 1 drop-3 dominant chords and their shapes/sounds, in the meantime here are some exercises to be applied to the guitar neck and brought to the attention of your ears: (As ever, it would be great to run them through all 12 keys for versatility and ear training).

For visuals of the shapes, as well as more information on the structure of the chords – roots, thirds, fifths and sevenths – please click on the following link, which redirects to a PDF:

Drop 3 dominant chords on strings 6,4,3 &2

Scales are a great way to improve fluency on any instrument, and the guitar is no exception. To diversify practice, however, scales work can be structured in intervals. This benefits technique, fretboard awareness and last, but not least – Ear training! A must for every musician. Here is an example of the G Major scale played in thirds, starting on the root – G – on the low E string, an approach some players refer to as ‘Position 1’:

To further practice with this material, additional positions/starting points on the fretboard can be used and the exercise can be played in different keys. Work well!