Forming Melodies

It is important to know how to play chords, but just playing the chords alone isn't enough to make music. It is important to also develop the ability to create little melodies that are made from the notes within the chords. To only play chords up and down in a solo would sound monotonous and robotic. The master improvisers are also master melody makers.

Once you can easily play the notes of a chord progression, the next step is deciding which notes NOT to play. The following example shows to ways to do this. One way is to simply drop certain notes from the chord patterns, which results in fewer chord tones & different rhythms. Another way is to condense chord patterns rhythmically and to add passing tones to them:

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Click Below to Watch a Video of the Example Above:

Using the Pentatonic Pairs:

The beauty of Uncle Willie's Pentatonic Pairs system is that it helps you to play more melodically. The system gives players a launch pad of a couple great sounding notes (root & 3rd, 3rd & 5th or 9th & 13th), rather than having to play every single note of the chord. These pentatonic pairs form great little melodies on their own, while also providing a foundation for navigating through chord changes. You can read more about the Pentatonic Pairs in the Free lesson.

The following example, using the same chords as above (C blues), uses the Pentatonic Pairs system to build a simple, yet effective melody over the changes:

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Click Below to Watch a Video of the Example Above: