Chord Embellishments

Chords can be used for a whole lot of different things. In today's lesson we'll use them to create nice atmospheric layers of guitars over a simple bass line. Instead of trying to build chords using theory, we'll take a more visual approach using the whole scales below to create new fingerings.

The bass line will take us through the following notes: A, F and G. The piano part suggests major chords through the track. For the A Major chord, we'll use an A Major scale (Ionian). Once the F Major chord appears, we'll have two options, either F Major or F Lydian since these two modes will work over a Maj7th type of chord. We'll pick the Lydian mode here as its augmented 4th is a common note with A Ionian. On the G Major chord, we'll use a G Mixolydian mode which is relative to F Lydian.

In order to play the chords correctly, we'll use a hybrid technique holding the pick between the thumb and the index and plucking the other strings with the middle, ring and little finger. Take is slow and practice well!