This tune is called “Highlands”, and it’s from my record I’m Tired. It uses one of the most common chord changes in popular music, the I-V-VIm-IV. It shows us how important melody is when composing. We could stick to an E major pentatonic scale on this tune and be fine, in fact I largely do, as I think it works nicely.

I always try to think about melody and it’s never a problem if someone refers to me as a melodic player. I take that as the highest compliment. It’s what people remember. Why were the Beatles songs so successful? Melody.

It was a real revelation when I realized that melodies are made of chord tones, and the best note to play on a chord is one of the notes in that chord. The scale it comes from is important, but not nearly as important as the notes of each chord.

Video Performance

Jam Track
Notation

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