Girl

Girl by Maren Morris, an instrumental piece of guitar music, is a fantastic way to approach the relationships between harmony or rhythmic guitar playing and pentatonic single-note melody. Watch the lesson below.

Harmony & Melody

This pentatonic, or music developed in the style of five tones, relationship between harmony and melody make Girl a wonderful option for study.

First we will learn the C# Major chord and its straight forward finger picking pattern. Then we’ll do the same for the B Major, and again for the A# minor. I’m not really sure what the lead sheet for this song actually looks like but sharp keys feel and sound a little brighter don’t they?

The chord progression on the actual recording and the acoustic tribute are presented with differing techniques. You will find in the first few measures of the recorded version on YouTube to be focused on delivering the bass note first and then leap to the 10th or 3rd of the chord. Whereas you will find, on Apple Music, a steady right hand combination finger roll throughout.

The beautiful melody is born of an ancient scale. We are intimately familiar with the Pentatonic scale because of its natural application to melody. In other words, the 5 note scale is inherently melodic by its design which incorporates leaps between scale tones. These leaps can make the scale sound more interesting and singable.

In this free online guitar lesson we will also learn the C# Major Pentatonic Scale. While the scope of this lesson may only include one or two positions in which to play this scale, you may also wish to become familiar with this scale on all parts of the guitar neck over the next several weeks.