You’ve got the guitar basics down: You can strum your guitar and play a few of your favorite songs, but you’re ready to take the tunes to the next level. In Guitar Scales and Chord Progressions you’ll expand your knowledge of scales, chord fingerings, and common chord progressions. You’ll also learn important skills for soloing, creating melodies, and adding depth and dimension to your guitar playing.



Guitar Scales and Chord Progressions
This course is part of How to Play Guitar Specialization

Instructor: Amanda Monaco
Access provided by The National Institute of Engineering
50,736 already enrolled
(391 reviews)
Recommended experience
What you'll learn
- Play scales in a moveable open position 
- Identify and play major, minor, diminished, and augmented arpeggios 
- Add rhythmic timing to arpeggios and strumming to enhance your playing 
Skills you'll gain
Details to know

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There are 4 modules in this course
Welcome to Guitar Scales and Chord Progressions! Here we will cover all the details about the course and what you'll need to know to get the most out of your experience. Then, we'll start by learning and practicing the pentatonic scale. First we'll learn the b3 pentatonic scale, then the b7 pentatonic scale, and then we'll learn how to play the scale on one string. We'll also work on improvising using a single string. Finally, we'll practice playing scales in a moveable open position.
What's included
8 videos6 readings3 assignments2 discussion prompts
In this module, we'll be working with arpeggios, which means playing the notes in a chord one at a time. We'll be learning and practicing major, minor, diminished, and augmented arpeggiated chords.
What's included
6 videos7 readings3 assignments1 discussion prompt
In this module, we'll begin practicing chords and popular chord progressions. We'll also begin practicing these progressions with both open and barre chords.
What's included
6 videos5 readings3 assignments1 discussion prompt
In this final module, we will focus on arpeggiated chords and playing them in different rhythms. We will also practice blues scales and finally, put all of these aspects together.
What's included
7 videos1 reading3 assignments1 peer review
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391 reviews
- 5 stars77.80% 
- 4 stars17.34% 
- 3 stars2.29% 
- 2 stars1.78% 
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Showing 3 of 391
Reviewed on Nov 24, 2018
Great run through scales , chord progressions & arpeggios whether experienced & reviewing your skills or just getting started.
Reviewed on May 6, 2020
Definitely a great intro (or refresher) to guitar scales and chord progressions. Amanda does a great job with the lessons and making assignments clear!
Reviewed on Aug 16, 2020
Excellent, very helpful, the instructor was fantastic, I learned a lot. Would appreciate more examples of putting it all together. I enjoyed the process, even with my busy schedule.
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