I’ve seen/heard something along these lines… and I have no idea what it means. I guess it was explained in some earlier lessons, when my brain didn’t understand anything.
“ used over the IV chord in the G position.”
I’m sure the IV chord refers to the Nashville Number System, but I don’t understand the what the heck I’m supposed to do!
Ben’s camp seminar on the Nashville Number System would be one of the best places I can point you:
https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/the-nashville-number-system-beginner
I can tell you what the IV chord is in the key of G, for instance, but I think it’d be more helpful in the long run for you to watch the lesson first and see if you can tell me what the IV chord is in the key of G.
It’s a comprehensive lesson and it’s got a lot of information, but I think you’ll definitely get it. You’ll probably want to watch it more than once, and make a few notes of the things that go “over your head”— then try to narrow down exactly what you don’t understand about it or the further clarification you need to understand it. I’d be thrilled to help you out with any questions!
I understand what the IV chord is, and in G it would be a C.
In D it would be a G.
I don’t understand what it means to play “over a chord in G position.” I know how to play a chord & I know how to make a G chord using an F chord hand shape. But “play over a chord” is some far out lingo I don’t dig daddy-o, capisce?
We usually talk about playing “over a chord” to refer to the act of playing notes that sound fitting with a certain chord while the song is on that chord. If the rhythm section is playing that chord, then you are playing “over it”, if that helps explain the term.
For instance, if we were to play over the well-loved classic and popular favorite “Unclouded Day” (
), we’d probably want to highlight G chord tones and other “fitting” notes (according to our ear) while we are on the G chord, and lean towards C chord tones and notes that sound friendly with the C chord while the song is on the C chord (and so on and so forth). We want to help the listener hear what chord we are playing, even if we aren’t playing the chords themselves. The notes you choose can add different amounts of tension or release to your phrase.
In guitar, G position is referring to the CAGED G position. Please see 3rd one in the diagram below.
For example, you play a song in the key of A.
For the G position, the root note would start on the 5th fret 6th string.
To scale over the IV chord in that G position for key of A, you would not want to start or end on the root note of the G position. Instead, you would start or/and end 4th diatonic note, which would be D note, 5th fret 5th string, scaling over the notes in A scale, which is basically Lydian mode for A.
Like so many beloved melodies, I haven’t mastered that one yet.
BTW- Your explanation makes sense to me & I now feel as if I understand the jargon. Much to my surprise, I understood the jargon in your reply, like “tension or release to your phrase.” Thanks!
Maybe I’m turning into a musician. How can I keep my poor aged mother from finding out?
Just hide in plain sight and say that you are one. “Oh, my little Joe insists he’s a musician because he plays the banjo. Hasn’t he always been the cutest!” Works every time!
“Hasn’t he always been the cutest!“
More like “He’s always had such a vivid imagination, even as a little boy!”
Exposure Joe, it’s all about exposure. If you know, you know, if you don’t, you don’t. I have no idea what a huckleberry is but I know a raspberry when I see one.
One is Finn, another is Pi.
I think the phrase ‘well played’ is apropos here.
Don’t you love instructions like… Play that note from first position using your second finger on the third fret on the sixth string?
I do! It’s right up there with “Play a B flat diminished on the third string with a hammer on, then slide to an A sharp over a IV chord before pulling off and starting the chromatic scale run pentatonicly in the single-string fashion. Add tension then release before the B part.
Repeat.”
I know! I guess just improvement over instructions too terse like “scale over the V chord in the C position”!
Old enough to recall the greats doing Video lessons and doing it real slow at about 120 BPM that was useful as well as the language!
Wow !!! As a beginner picker I didn’t realize that becoming a site member also included free
"foreign language" lessons !!!
What a deal !!! 
