Am One Chord Jam


	Minor Chord Jam This is another one chord jam which will allow us to really explore the minor chord! For this jam we will use Am. Unlike the dominant 7th chord from the first jam lesson, the minor chord lets us have a few options for soloing. If you go back to lesson 3 you will find that there are 3 minor chords in a key. The ii, iii and vi. So this means that if we were to play over an Am chord we could treat it has a ii chord in the key of G, a iii chord in the key of F or a vi chord in the key of C.

	Let's start by looking at the notes in the Am chord. 1 b3 5 A C E



	A minor Arpeggio
			Here is an A minor arpeggio in 2nd position. For strings 1, 2 and 3 you will use your pinky. It is a bit tricky to get those notes to ring clear when the speed increases. Practice slow and gradually increase the speed.


	A Aeolian Scale (A minor scale)
			If we treat the Am chord as a vi chord then that will put us in the key of C major. On the left is an A minor scale. Also called A Aeolian. To the right is the same scale with the extended position. So it includes a lower F and G.


	A Dorian
			If we wanted to treat the Am chord as a ii chord then that would put us in the key of G major. To the right you have a G major scale in 2nd position. If you play that same scale but play from A to A you are playing G dorian. So basically we are playing in the key of G major but because of the Am chord, we hear a dorian sound. The only difference between the Aeolian sound and Dorain sound would be changing the F to F#.



	A Phrygian
			If we were to treat the Am chord as a iii chord, then we would play in the key of F. To the right is an F major scale in 1st position with the extended G and A on the high E string. Play from A to A and you have A Phrygian. The Phrygian sound is not going to work so well over this particular jam because there is one melody part in the jam that uses a B and the A Phrygian scale has Bb in it. If that melody wasn't in the jam it would work well.