How 1-on-1 guitar lessons helped Dylan master chord shapes and improve his improvisation

Dylan, like many guitar players, struggled with understanding chord shapes, memorizing scales, and improvising on the guitar. Despite his love for playing, making smooth transitions between chords especially in more complex progressions was a challenge.

But everything changed when Dylan started working with his 1-on-1 guitar tutor, Shraddh Buddan. With dedicated lessons, Dylan made remarkable progress, learning to visualize scales, improvise with confidence, and smoothly transition between chords.

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Real class insight: Dylan’s one-on-one guitar session

In their recent live lesson, Dylan worked with Shraddha on improving chord shapes, finger placement, and improvisation techniques. Here’s what they worked on during their session:

Mastering chord shapes – from A to G and D major

Although Dylan had been practicing guitar for a while, transitioning smoothly between complex chords like A major, G major, and D major remained a challenge. His hand placement was often off, which affected his ability to play quickly and comfortably

What Dylan learned: 

“Shraddha showed me how to play the A major and G major chords with better finger positioning. I was always confusing my finger placements, but after practicing slowly, I was able to see the patterns more clearly,” Dylan recalls.

Shraddha helped Dylan understand how to use muscle memory and visualize the fretboard more efficiently, making transitions between chords much smoother. “The shapes are becoming clearer now,” Dylan says, noting that he’s able to transition more easily now.

Understanding scale shapes – D major and caged system

One of the challenges Dylan faced was memorizing scale shapes and understanding how to apply them during solos or improvisation. Shraddha walked him through the D major scale and how to move within the CAGED system to find notes and play melodies.

What Dylan learned:

“Before, I could play scales, but I wasn’t sure where to go next. Shraddha showed me how to think of the fretboard as a connected system of shapes. Once I understood the CAGED system, I could find the notes more naturally and improvise better,” Dylan explains.

Shraddha also emphasized the importance of visualizing the scale shapes and how they correspond to the root notes on the fretboard. “It was like a lightbulb went off in my head,” Dylan adds. “Now I can move through scales and see the shapes without getting lost.”

He also credited his tutor’s assignment for the breakthrough: “This exercise – the homework that you gave me – really helped. Fine, I probably couldn’t just improvise that, but at least I can look at the fretboard and logically know, okay, I have my A minor right here.”

Improvisation – adding melody to arpeggios

One of the most exciting breakthroughs during the lesson was when Dylan began to experiment with arpeggios and improvisation. Using the D major scale and incorporating seventh arpeggios, Dylan started creating his own melodies and integrating them into his playing.

What Dylan learned:

“I had been stuck playing just pentatonic scales and blues licks, but Shraddha encouraged me to use the seventh arpeggios to build melodies. It was hard at first, but now I can break away from just running scales,” Dylan says with excitement.
By practicing with backing tracks and improvising over them, Dylan started to develop a more musical approach to soloing, layering notes and arpeggios with feel and expression.

Why this matters: you can learn faster with personalized guidance

Dylan’s progress in just one lesson shows how 1-on-1 lessons can address specific challenges and help you make rapid progress. With Shraddha’ personalized feedback and targeted exercises, Dylan was able to improve his chord shapes, scale knowledge, and improvisational skills.

“My playing has definitely improved,” Dylan admits. “The lesson helped me get clearer on finger placement, and now I feel much more confident with improvisation.”

Want to master chord shapes and improvisation like this?

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• Help with finger coordination, chord transitions, and scale mastery
• Provide real-time feedback and structured exercises
• Offer personalized lessons that adapt to your progress

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Link to Shraddha Buddan’s profile

Shraddha Buddan

Footnote: The student’s name has been changed for privacy reasons.