How To Play Dreamy Ambient Lofi Guitar

Posted by Damon Siseman on

2 Chord Progressions To Snake Charm To 🐍

Here are two guitar chord progressions which I really like to use for lofi. They have a soft, airy sound which makes them perfect for any kind of dreamy, ambient genres of music.

 

Be sure to check out the YouTube video which accompanies this guide, you’ll find it at the bottom of the page.

 

These lofi guitar chords are around a beginner-intermediate level of difficulty, so ideal if you’re a bit newer to guitar but ready to explore different chord voicings. I like to play them in an arpeggiated way to create a relaxed, ambient mood, but they’ll also sound fantastic as strummed chords to amp up the energy. Go ahead and make them your own!

 

Lofi Guitar Chord Progression #1

 

Our first progression consists of 4 chords, which I’m playing at 85BPM. For each chord, we’re gonna avoid playing the low E and G strings.

 

Bm7 - C - Em7 - Dadd9

 

The first chord is a Bm7, which looks like this:

Guitar tab and notation of a B minor 7 chord

From there we go to a C major chord, which moves up a fret to look like this:

Guitar tab and notation C major chord

After that we move up to Em7, like so:

Guitar tab and notation E minor 7 chord

This is exactly the same shape as the Bm7 chord we used earlier.

 

Finally, we have a Dadd9, which also happens to be the same shape as the C chord from earlier:

Guitar tab and notation D add 9 chord

It’s great to play around with the picking pattern for these chords and find something which fits your style. This is roughly the pattern I like to use, and it’s the same for all four chords:

Guitar tab and notation of picking pattern 1

For this chord progression I’m soloing in the E minor pentatonic scale, which would make this a v - VI - i - VII progression if you want to get technical.

 

I like to use the E minor box around the 12th fret for a nice bright melody. If you’re working on your scales it’s great practice to learn the minor pentatonic scale in other positions around the neck so you aren’t stuck in one place!

 

 

Lofi Guitar Chord Progression #2

 

For this next chord progression we’re only gonna be using the highest 4 strings. Plus, the B string is always open like a pedal note to ground the chords.

 

I’ve seen this style of chord voicing become very popular on TikTok and it’s been fun to play around with, it’s a very pretty and delicate sound.

 

G♯m - B - F♯add11 - E

 

So, our first chord is a G♯min, played like so:

Guitar tab and notation G sharp minor chord

Next up is a simple B major chord:

Guitar tab and notation B major chord

We then move down to an F♯add11:

Guitar tab and notation F sharp add 11 chord

The last chord is E major - we just move the same shape two frets down:

Guitar tab and notation E major chord

As for the picking pattern, I like to use this sort of pattern for all four chords:

Guitar tab and notation of picking pattern 2

Solo-wise, I’m approaching it from the G♯ minor pentatonic scale, and staying a bit lower down so that delicate chord progression has space to shine through.

 

 

So, that’s both chord progressions. You’re now well on your way to creating beautiful, dreamy ambient lofi guitar music! Remember that you can play them as strummed chords or with an arpeggiated pattern, and make them completely your own.

 

Don’t forget to check out the YouTube video below:

 

Looking for more lofi guitar ideas? I have more chord progressions here.

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