Chord Melody Part 1
Group guitar class taught by Molly Miller
7 lessons · 1 hour per week · intermediate
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$35 / lesson
Thursdays, 12:00 AM - 1:00 AM
Apr 10 - May 22
16
In my opinion, chord melodies are one of the most challenging things you can do on the guitar - you have to hold down melody, harmony, groove, and tempo, while making it all sound good at the same time. In this course we will dive into chord melody playing. What are some of the key elements into taking a song and making it sore in a solo guitar setting. We will look at different approaches from right hand technique, to harmonic options, to phrasing, to chord voicings. Chord melody is a bit endless, so in the course there will be clear guidelines of how to start on this magical and challenging journey. We will look at specific arrangements, dissect them, and understand them so you can then make your own. Chord melodies changed the way I play and see my instrument - I am excited to show you what I have learned in my 15 years of studying and obsessing over it. As a note: we will study a mixture of genres. This will not be just jazz - we will also check out pop, soul, and r'n'b. I know sometimes when we hear "chord melody" we go right to Joe Pass- we will be using chord melodies to look at a variety of genres.
What's included
4.97 · 548 students · 139 lessons
Molly's highlights
Phrasing
Phrasing
How to get your melodies to sing!
Hybrid Picking/ Right Hand Technique
Hybrid Picking/ Right Hand Technique
I found this technique super helpful for chord melodies. You have more control over what notes are being played and more options when you can hybrid pick. We will work on some right hand technique through different exercises as well.
Triadic Chord Meldies
Triadic Chord Meldies
You can do a lot with just a few notes.
Seventh Chords in Chord Melodies
Seventh Chords in Chord Melodies
Using these slightly larger chords can help fill out the sound- let's investigate!
Arranging For Chord Melody
Arranging For Chord Melody
While this is endless (which I love!), let's look at some key elements of how to arrange a chord melody
DJ
Loved the class--learned so much and have a TON of things to work on now after taking Molly's course!
Chris
Loved the Intro to Jazz class. We learned 4 standards and Molly introduced concepts like arpeggios, enclosures, scales and drop2 chords in a way that's digestible and rooted to the songs we were learning. I did really feel a build during the 6 weeks and I'm excited to continue 🙌
Kim D.
Molly Miller is a very gifted player and educator. She is dedicated, and personable, and very good at demonstrating and explaining the lessons. I highly recommend her classes !
Tim V.
Dr. Molly's "Intro to Jazz" was a fab course. She presented a methodical system to learning standards that greatly helped me to get past the intimidation of difficult chord changes. Each class built on the concepts of the previous week, so it was easy to practice all of the material and keep up with assignments. Molly was very patient and friendly during lessons. She took the time to thoroughly answer everyone's questions either in the lesson on in the class chat. I appreciated that she provided constructive feedback on the posted assignments every week too. I highly recommend this course to intermediate players looking to expand beyond pop/rock idioms.
Jose
Dr Miller gives great importance to the fundamentals and has very effective ways to allow her students to internalise them not just mentally but also by execution. Not just a great guitarist but also a great teacher!
Les B.
As a newcomer to Jazz, this was an easy to follow course that covered some essential pieces while still allowing us to dive right in and start playing. I had been taught some of these "pieces" before, but was able to finally "connect the dots" here -looking forward to "Part II" in the new year.
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