From bluegrass to swing and everything in between, True Fire’s “CAGED Dominant” is a godsend for budding guitarists and consummate hobbyists alike.
Legendary guitarist and master instructor Brad Carlton guides students through the guitar’s five moving CAGED positions, continually relating them to the dominant seventh chord, the main harmonic foundation of blues, jazz, and rock music. For those readers allergic to music theory: the dominant seventh chord is built from notes 1, 3, 5 and 7 of the major scale.
Does your head hurt already? Yes, mine as well. Fortunately, that’s all the boring music theory needed to master the two hours of teaching material presented in “CAGED Dominant.”
The lessons are simple and easy to digest. After relating the five mobile chord shapes to their corresponding arpeggio patterns, Carlton demonstrates a wide range of solo melodic patterns and some basic chromatic moves like b3 to 3 and b7 to 1, both classic staples of the jazz and blues sound.
This is where the course really heats up.
Carlton then plays some killer solos over the most common chord progressions found in popular and jazz music like C7 – F7 (I – IV), C7 – B7 (I – bVII), and C7 – Eb 7 (Substitution I). -bIII).
Finally, Carlton pulls back the curtains and reveals the true inspiring power of the CAGED mobile chord system, linking block chords and arpeggios with major and minor pentatonics as well as the mixolydian mode.
But don’t let all those geeky scale names scare you. These concepts are actually quite simple to understand. After the first few minutes of studying, I was playing bebop solos so hot my fingers were dripping with chicken grease.
Unfortunately, “CAGED Dominant”‘s best asset is also its biggest drawback: it focuses on the dominant chord to the exclusion of everything else, so students hoping to improve their improvisation skills on major, minor, or diminished chords are better off looking elsewhere. part.
In the end, “CAGED Dominant” is the perfect learning tool for both accomplished and aspiring musicians. Plus, the software package includes guitar tabs, slow motion, loops, and hours of jam tracks to apply your new skills.
Available at Truefire.com for Mac and PC users and priced at $29 for an instant download or $39 for a DATA-DVD, I give “CAGED Dominant” a perfect five out of five guitar picks.