The Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy
August 2024
“The 10-Step Fretboard Developer!”
Part 1
“The 10-Step Fretboard Developer!” is a fun exercise. What we are doing is taking one common chord progression and playing it in a variety of different ways to help you solidify your skills and discover new ideas… all while having more fun on the fretboard!
Introduction
In this video, I explain briefly how it works, why it’s so useful, and I give you a little taste of what you will learn in this lesson…
Part 1: Levels 1-5
Let’s start off by breaking the ten ideas up into two parts. Here, in part 1, we are keeping things pretty simple and covering the first five examples – these range from playing the chord progression as root notes, power chords, octaves, and two types of “dyads”. There’s lots of fun to be had here!
Part 2: Levels 5-10
When you are ready, move on to these slightly more advanced ideas. We are taking what we’ve covered previously and developing it further to help you “connect the dots”. Some of the ideas here include playing open chords, “triads”, the “Crooked finger”, barre chords, and arpeggios!
Bonus: Developing the Techniques
Finally, let’s touch on a few ideas you can use to have fun and jam these techniques now that you have learnt them. Feel free to experiment with different rhythms, such as the ones taught HERE and have fun!
That was fun, and hopefully, it was very useful for you. Some of the above ideas may be familiar to you… Others may be brand new. Either way, solidifying what you learn while keeping one variable (the chord progression) the same is a powerful thing to do. It will help you connect the dots in your playing, which is one of the most important things we can do. For even more development with these ideas, I recommend you apply the techniques to the other chord progressions you know – especially those in the 5-Star Award.
Do leave a comment below, and let us know your thoughts on this. If you’d like me to develop this further, I’d be more than happy to! Any questions, let us know… and enjoy!
Great teaching Dan !
You explain everything so that it’s clearly understood. When replaying the video it becomes even clearer.
I am a person who needs to understand the whys and you explain so beautifully.
1 have incorporated the powerchord exercise into this my daily warm up practice to help strengthen that ring finger & separate it from its dependency on the middle finger.
You are a good teacher, so methodical👍
Thanks Dan
Cheers, Diane. Yes, the “why” is always super important for many, me included. Without knowing why something is important, it’s hard to want to put it into action. Pleased you are enjoying the lesson and good about the power chords too. Thanks for the kind words. 🙂
Outstanding!! I love how you started with a popular progression and applied so many key points to what can be done with the notes and chord. It was so much fun and thorough!! Thanks Dan!!
Thanks, Krystal. For sure, that’s why I love chord progressions – they give us a solid base to explore many techniques and ideas. Remember to try these techniques with other chord progressions (any in the 5-star award will be good). Cheers 🙂
great lesson and lots to process, for certain. I’m looking at the fingering on the Triad for the E and C chords. You use your index,middle and ring. I find it easier to use my index on the B & E strings but it’s not an easy transition (for me). Helpful hint request from Maestro Dan, please. 🙂
Thanks, Susan. Pleased to hear it. In terms of the changes, the “Fake Pivot” technique will likely be the one that can really help a lot here. You can find that lesson in the chord changing jump start course. Do let us know if that helps. 🙂
I enjoyed this lesson. I’m still trying to process it, but I’m glad you included the extra lesson on how to apply this information. I’ll look forward to that.
Great stuff, thanks, Leslie. Pleased to hear it and I hope this lesson gives you lots of fun uses over the months and years 🙂
Great lesson. Love the progression through starting with a single finger and working up. Very helpful!
Great stuff. Thanks. Super pleased you like it 🙂
Holy fretboard, Guitar Man! Yes, please develop this lesson further. John is right, it helps tie things together. Thank you. This is a great lesson. (They all are)
Ha, very pleased to hear it. For sure, happy to do more on developing this. Keep enjoying yourself and the lessons and I’ll get that done. 🙂
really neat lessson, ties a lot of things together, really enjoyed this one
Cheers, John. That’s the idea, so pleased it hit the mark. Keep up the good practice. 🙂