Hi again, fellow twanger.

This week’s lesson looks at just one way to create an interesting part for a bluesy I-IV-V progression. I comeup with a fairly complex sounding rhythm part by fiddling with the timing and moving chord positions around the fretboard, setting up a pattern that applies to each of the primary chords. The end result is an interesting part over what could normally be a fairly bland and overused progression. I did this version in the most popular of all guitar keys — E — but of course the arrangement can apply to any old key.

You will find it, and well over 85 similar lessons, at http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/ … all consisting of a movie/tablature/midi files and written plain English commentary. All free!

If you haven’t yet, come and join us at the forum. We’re getting close to 10,000 members now and we’re a very friendly civilized bunch of twangers, many of whom are very experienced players, technicians and songwriters, eager and willing to help out and answer any questions. We also have a very healthy ‘It’s your Take’ forum where members post their recordings for all to hear, a new ‘Classifieds’ forum, a ‘chat’ facility and of course, all the free lessons. Come and join in!

I’ve had some very nice testimonials for my book PlaneTalk posted at the forum also. It certainly is nice finding out that the simple technique I describe in the book has turned the lights on for so many players. PlaneTalk, of course, is the book that reveals the underlying fretboard ‘constant’ — that one simple landmark that everything (and I do mean everything) can be referred back to. Like most players, once I had the basics under control and I understood scales and modes, where chords come from, how they move around the fretboard and how to fake my way through a bit of improvising, I hit the wall. I could see and hear that some players had some sort of mental map of the fretboard that allowed them to be playing anything, anywhere, anytime on the fretboard, whether it was chords, melody lines or harmony. That’s what I wanted … fretboard freedom. I found that one constant, and it is the subject of PlaneTalk – The Truly Totally Different Guitar Instruction Book.

Read all about it here. http://www.thatllteachyou.com

The Slide Guitar Forum has had a bit of a resurgence of activity … if you’re into the art of slide guitar, or want to get into it, drop in and join in. Again, there are some great sliders there with decades of playing experience under their straps, more than happy to pass it along. http://www.bottleneckguitar.com is where to go for that.

Finally–since playing guitars is really about the music we can extract from them–if you’re curious about the music I make, you can have a listen at me SoundClick pages. I recently passed the ‘100,000 listens’ mark! That’s here: http://www.soundclick.com/kirklorange

Enjoy the new lesson! Until next time,

Kirk