Your guide to easy Chord Melody guitar

[@shawndeveau]

I don't understand why you don't have millions of followers. Your content is solid gold. Thanks for everything you do Uncle Justin! 👏

[@JustinOstrander]

I need to start telling all my friends about this channel

[@przemysawhellich5251]

😂😂​@@JustinOstrander

[@seanoflynnmusic]

😂😂​@@JustinOstrander

[@MrKaufmana1]

This is really wonderful man. I grew up as a jazz guy, so there was always a handful of tunes I could play if I was at a party and someone said "Hey, play us something!" Just having a few easy pop tunes, or a chord melody thing like you just did is always nice to have in the tool box

Justin, your channel is one of the best on youtube. Thanks for every single video. You are an amazing player. Thanks for the inspiration.

[@robertmurraybell]

Yea! I've had my '66 Starfire since 1969. Thank you for sharing!

[@PeteGuitars]

This is so cool. I have a few “older” acoustic students and we’ve been working on this exact thing. Same tune, chord melody but in C with the melody starting on the open G string to make it a little more manageable as they’re all still pretty new to it. Of course I had to “country” it up a bit which they love. Point being that moving them from basic chord changes and strumming patterns to that next step really ignited their desire for more. It’s never too late to start and it’s a joy to be part of. I really enjoy your channel, Justin. Thank you!

[@IrishBog]

Oh nice…. I have a 66 Starfire 3 - amazing guitar. Since I got it in 2017 I’ve bought a couple of Es330s thinking they’d take the favorite spot (a 61 and a 62 single pickup) but nope….the Starfire kicks their ass

[@ScotYount2025]

Justin...what is so clear to me only a wee bit into the video...is that you have mastered something most of us will never even realize we need to pay attention to. We fumble for fingerings to play the crazy licks or chords we think we wanna play, never "listening" to the fretboard. We think we are learning to play guitar because we can ham-fist our way though Little Wing or even Eruption or some such thing. What I hear and see in your playing is that you have surpassed that, and along the way learned to seemingly effortlessly "hear the fretboard". No matter what you play, you know where the notes that you want to hear are on that damn board! Congratulations and thank you. I will be reviewing this video for a long time to come.

[@JustinOstrander]

That’s a good way to put it: know the fretboard so well that you know what every note and voicing on it sounds like before you get there.

[@ScotYount2025]

I think for me it is a hold over from practicing the trumpet for six hours a day. You have to hear the note before you blow. You only have three buttons you can push and those don’t even get you into the zip code of the note you are attempting to play. The rest is in your ear.

[@jim4588]

Best advice I ever got was "play what you sing and sing what you play". That's a great way to start down that path with something actionable.

[@jergreen9050]

Excellent lesson justin I really like the way you didnt spell out or tab out the melody notes. I found it challenging but achievable to follow your chord shapes, slowly, then use my ear to guide me to the melody notes. Your course is awesome btw, i recommend it for any guitar player!!

[@jr0706]

I used the chord melody concept on my most current song that is being mixed now. It lives within the first three frets and is played with full arpeggios, but the melody floats along the top.

[@jr0706]

And it’s acoustic.

[@TheFeelButton]

Once you memorize the 50 simple ways to think about guitar it gets easy! Cheers Justin!!

[@georged9194]

Thanks, Justin. Chord melody is one of my current favorite learning topics.

[@vicguitar1]

Merry Christmas Justin ! Love your channel ! Vic from Vancouver Canada 👍

[@Talisk3r]

Great video! Love the tremolo sound of the amp too.

[@JustinOstrander]

The tremolo you're hearing is from my Voodoo Vibe. Best kept secret of that pedal

[@Talisk3r]

@@JustinOstrander I own one! You are righ it is a great tremolo. It's the best also the best vibrato or univibe in vibrato mode that I have heard. I own quite a few Univibe pedal. For some reason the VoodooVibe is not my favorite Univibe in chorus mode. Then again one of my favorite univibe is the little orange chicken salad by danelectro. I still don't know exactly why. I think it does a little tremolo on top of the univibe effect. Do you like/use your VoodooVibe in chorus mode? Any trick to get to most out of it. Especially for it to sound less like a chorus and more like a leslie. I'm thinking of moding mine to make it a VoodooVibe+. The + version has Square and Sine instead of triangular and sine. Thank you for sharing the best kept secret of the voodoovibe.

[@coryfraser8588]

I came across your channel at the tale end of COVID 2022 ish (the dates blue) anyways I had some time off due to dealing with a car accident and the fallout. Your videos have been therapeutic for me. I gave up on being the best guitarist a long time ago but your videos have helped in unpacking the best version of me on the guitar. It's been awesome to see a pros approach to song structure and voicings and cherry pick the stuff I vibe with. Cheers🎉

[@dave_d_i_a_l]

Hope your holiday season is going well Justin, thanks for the video

[@TimsGuitarWorldwithTimFeskorn]

Surprising how freakin hard Silent night is to play when you have never tried to play that way. This is a brand new rabbit hole. As usual great video great content. I'll check out your course. Thanks Justin, T 😎

[@buzzfretwear2906]

Justin, we share an admiration for Bill Frisell. One of the most understated, under-rated players, IMO. I'm not sure why, but I was surprised to hear that you were a fan - but on the other hand, I'm not surprised. Your playing shows that you have big ears 😎.

[@martydibergi5228]

Yes no wonder i lobe Justin’s playing. I just told my young nephew to listen to Bass Desires Samurai Hee Haw

[@apexwetdog]

A lot of great learning on this! Thanks for this lesson!!

[@chrisnatoli66]

Great lesson mate, more stuff like this would be awesome Merry Christmas.👍

[@midiman5045]

Nice tips Justin. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

[@PaulMottram-y1l]

Thanks Justin, for the easy to follow video I always have a guitar in hand when I'm watching, also great playing on Whiskey or Wine by Willow Hill.

[@davidhaugh3544]

Some helpful thoughts as I start to pluck out "What Child Is This." Happy Holidays, Justin, snowing here in WI

[@liontone]

Great stuff! I use this same thought process.

[@HazeOfWhearyWater]

That was a lot of fun. I keep pausing the video and getting lost in it. It's been hours, I'm still here and I'm only half way through. My fingers are about to fall off. Time to pause.

[@petertiffany8096]

I had wondered if you had purchased that Starfire as well when you bought the tele. Really nice guitar.

[@damagedave]

That guild is spectacular . I need one

[@r0bophonic]

2:40 I thought you said “The Christmas Song” and was excited because I’m trying to come up with an arrangement of it for guitar and voice. But these tips on chord melody are great regardless!

[@joelmorgan7399]

We need a "Silent Night" video like you did a couple years ago on "What Child is This?" Acoustic guitar, fireplace in the background. I'd put that baby on repeat.

[@WayneMemphisMojo]

Very much a favorite style for me. That Starfire did look familiar 🤔

[@loveguitars]

Awesome! 🔥🤘🙏

[@onethousandtwonortheast8848]

Thank you for making this video as I’m very interested in this topic. I’m a new subscriber and I’m trying to play chord melodies without using a repetitive pedal tone. I’m finding it challenging more so and a lot of fun. But it makes me wonder, what kind of notes I can use on the base without sounding to jazzy.

[@therealdoug1000]

Adam Levy is astonishing!

[@djh6970]

Loved this video and what you said from 5.44-5.54 is the bit that I can’t do🤣

[@matthewgross818]

That Guild sounds absolutely killer. Would like to know more about it and if it's all original.

[@JustinOstrander]

It is all original. Old starfire III. Missing the pickguard.

[@steveb9325]

Thank you 🙏!!!

[@seanoflynnmusic]

Merry Christmas

[@JustinOstrander]

Merry Christmas!

[@TomCPlus1]

Hey, my [6- 4 1 5] shirt is no laughing matter. I wear it to confuse the uninitiated, whether musicians or non. And if I forget the specific sequence and just play these at random, I get perfectly serviceable pop songs every time. Great shirt. 😎🎸

[@coolblues14]

Cool video- the weird thing I was practicing something pretty damn close to this and this video comes on-that’s how good the KZbin algorithm is I guess, or my phone or Alexa is listening to me play or talk and matches it to a similar KZbin thing. Probably not but it seems possible sometimes. Lol

[@JustinOstrander]

It can be eerie for sure!

[@BeefNEggs057]

It’s how you know you’re just an NPC doing as programmed. I still think you’re special though.

[@thisisblakemillermusic]

Another awesome video man! So many nuggets of gold. Also- DM me and I will give you my address to ship me that sweet guild 😂😉 Thanks for the all the great videos

[@BarneysBullit]

listen up everyone... i'll say it one more time: the greatest christmas album in the history of music is vince guaraldi's "a charlie brown christmas". period. no debating. just accept it, buy it, soak it up. you're welcome. (christmas time is here... perfection)

[@BobcatOneManBand]

I have a one-man band surf punk psychobilly instrumental called "Don't Walk Down The Stairs Backwards" that is essentially a chord melody. Check it out at kzbin.info/aero/OLAK5uy_mhMJZ5E_zHjn8DrP3V1eQ3M1_efQx_fsk&si=DIcKPCMihFxTnCuU

[@jeffro.]

Uncle Larry never gives me stuff! I still don't know why Tom is called Uncle Larry, and nobody will tell me!

[@JustinOstrander]

I don’t know the origins of Uncle Larry, either. I think he just started calling himself that. The mystery is part of it, I suppose.

[@edjones2199]

So I’m speaking strictly as a drummer so I haven’t got a fucking clue what you’re doing but theory wise it seems that you are able to hear the note before you play it and all the different permutations of that very interesting. Seems like a smart way to go to play much more creative than just thinking linearly as a scale I could delve into timekeeping with the same thought pattern, but that might bore four shit out of you guys. If anybody would like advice on that hit me up, I have many ways of locking in with time to make you a better player Thanks again for your insight. I’m still learning a lot !

[@JustinOstrander]

Yes, I am hearing things before playing them most of the time. Sometimes a practiced “muscle memory” lick makes its way in there, too

[@edjones2199]

@ it’s the same on the drums. Everything I do is a repeat of a thought that I already had and it seems to take no time it’s simultaneous almost lots of practice, bro.

[@wdbuchner]

The intro melody sounds a lot like be thou my vision