Scott Paul Johnson
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Music Theory for Guitar II | 9 | What's Next?
🕑 Added 2025-03-10 19:58:01 +0000 UTCWhere to Start • Lesson Archive • Recommended Lesson Plan • Book a Private Lesson
Hi Everyone!
This is the final lesson of Music Theory for Guitar II!
In this lesson we do a little review, a little clarification about what it actually means to be in a key, and we discuss where to go from here.
The most important question you can ask yourself is this: Where do I WANT to go from here? Following your interests is the single best way to keep playing guitar for the rest of your life. There is no "ought" from here. There is no "proper pathway." Below, I'll provide some suggestion based on your interests. Your job is to pick the path that seems most exciting. Of course you could go through ALL of these lessons if you want to, and you might find yourself bouncing around as questions arise, but definitely start down the path that seems most interesting to you.
Have a question? Ask on the weekly live Q&A, called Office Hours. Also, check out Practice Thoughts if you need help figuring out how to practice.
I have more lessons than what I've suggested below as well, check them all out on the Lesson Archive.
So what are you interest in? Here are a few suggestions:
If you want to develop your musician mindset:
• Practice Thoughts
If you want to develop your ability to play chords and scales all over the neck:
• CAGED Basics I (playing triads all over the neck)
• CAGED Basics II (turning those triads into scales)
• CAGED Soloing (shows you how to solo over progressions within pentatonic shapes)
If you want to get into writing music, check out the following series:
• Melody Making
• GarageBand (general recording lessons)
• Roles (how to play in different band orientations)
• Community Challenges (participate in fun, low bar, writing exercises with my Patrons)
If you want to learn how to improve your ability to improvise a solo:
• Watch my free YouTube Video: 5 Levels of Soloing
- This lesson lays out a pathway of 1 through 5:
1. Basic Pentatonic
• CAGED Basics I & II - get you familiar with Pentatonic Scales all over the fingerboard
2. Full Scale - you learn about this a bit in Music Theory for Guitar I & II
3. Focus on Specific Chord progressions
• Melody Making - (a solo is basically an improvised melody and this lesson is a great introduction to the next series below)
• CAGED Soloing - this uses the basic Pentatonic Shapes as a scaffolding for using the full scale to solo over chord progressions like the ones you've learned in Music Theory for Guitar
4. Focus on notes outside the basic triad
• Rubiks Cube - This shows you how to turn any CAGED Shape into Major, Minor, Diminished, Maj7, Dom7, Min7, Half Diminished, Fully Diminished. While this doesn't directly correspond to soloing, learning these shapes helps you find notes outside the basic triad shapes to accent in a solo.
• Music Theory Monday 28-35 - These lessons help you understand other kinds of chords and how they fit in a key: sus chord, 7th chords, 9th chords, 11th, 13th, 6th chords.
5. Focus on all 12 notes - I don't have any lessons on this topic, but bring me questions on the next Office Hours!
If you want to learn more music theory:
• Music Theory Monday, starting on lesson 07 - Starting here, continue your music theory journey to learn about modes, learn more about dominant chords, and an assortment of other theory concepts. This course, Music Theory for Guitar II, replaces the first 6 lessons of Music Theory Monday.
• ASK ME ABOUT IT ON THE NEXT OFFICE HOURS
Check out a previous lesson in this series:
Music Theory for Guitar II | 1 | Chords in a Key
Music Theory for Guitar II | 2 | Roman Numerals
Music Theory for Guitar II | 3 | 7th Chords
Music Theory for Guitar II | 4 | Chords in a Minor Key
Music Theory for Guitar II | 5 | Harmonic Minor
Music Theory for Guitar II | 6 | The V of vi Chord
Music Theory for Guitar II | 7 | Melodic Minor
Music Theory for Guitar II | 8 | The V of V Chord
Music Theory for Guitar II | 9 | What's Next? (current lesson)
Comments
Scott Paul Johnson
Oh good call!
why
probably makes sense to add missing lesson plan links on the website now that the series is finished (says coming soon here: https://www.scottpauljohnson.com/scotts-recommended-lesson-plan). cheers
Tasha McManus
👏👏👏
