The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 5 – Making The Most Of One Pattern

Posted on September 19, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Welcome to the fifth installment of the GuitArcitecture Mode Visualization lesson series.

If you see anything unfamiliar here, you may want to check out:

part one,

part two,

part 3a

part 3b or

part 4 of the series.

About The Modal Exchange Example

Since describing how interchanging modes work doesn’t really get you any closer to hearing how they work – I’m going to present a simple exercise first and then explain the process of what’s going on theoretically in the post following this one.

Using one pattern to get all the sounds of the major scale modes:

As I’ve discussed before the modes of the C major scale are all related. Each individual mode has a different root but all belong to the same parent scale.

That being said, if I use any C major pattern (like this one with C played with the first finger on the 8th fret of the low E string):

C Ionian

and move the note C to different scale degrees – I’ll have all of the parallel modes (or modes have the same root notes – but belong to different parent scales) based on the pitch C.

So if, for example, I take the same pattern and move C to the 2nd scale degree (with C played with the second finger on the 8th fret of the low E string) I’ll have C Dorian.

C Dorian

Moving it to the 3rd scale degree (with C played with the 4th finger on the 8th fret of the low E string) produces C Phrygian.

On the 4th scale degree (with C played with the first finger on the 3rd fret of the A string) – I’ll have C Lydian.

C Lydian

The 5th scale degree (with C played with the second finger on the 3rd fret of the A string) – produces C Mixolydian.

C Mixolydian

On the 6th scale degree (with C played with the fourth finger on the 15th fret of the A string) – I’ll have C Aeolian.

C Aeolian

And finally, if I move it to the 7th scale degree (with C played with the first finger on the 10th fret of the D string) – I’ll have C Locrian.

C Locrian

Taking stock of the exchange:

Now I’ll show a musical example that uses this one shape to play all of the parent major scale/natural minor scale modes.

Note:

This is not the most efficient way to get around the fingerboard but it can help with 3 things.

Hearing the difference in how modes sound
Seeing the modes as they relate to parent scale and
Gaining fluidity in getting around the fretboard.

What you’ll need

You’ll need a time keeping device (like a metronome, or a drum loop) and

A drone of the note C (You can create this by looping the pitch C in your DAW or just recording a note C)

The drone is very important because the drone and the combination of notes will be what helps you hear the change in modes (and tonality).

Playing the Example

I’ve created a simple one bar phrase for each mode.

All you have to do is play them over the C drone, in the order I’ve listed below and in time.

That being said, here are some additional things to keep in mind:

The primary goal of this is not physical technique – but developing your ear. Playing through it at slower tempos will probably be more beneficial to you in really being able to hear the transitions.

Note:

If you really want to get something more out of it – try singing along with the pitches as you’re playing them. This sounds goofy to most people but singing really is the way to get the sounds into your ear.

Take this as a piece of advice learned by many people who take four terms of ear training at the collegiate level. If you look at those 4 terms as 3 units each that’s 12 units or a full term load (at most for-profit colleges at $18-19,000 a term).

In other words, people spend a lot of money to sing things to train their ear, doing it for free on your own is a good idea.

Focus on the 3 T’s in performance (Tone, Timing and hand Tension). From a technical standpoint, the goal is to play though the whole cycle without stopping.

Get the patterns and the timing under your fingers first – and then worry about making music out of it. The important thing here is connecting the sound with the pattern visualization. (I’ve tabbed all the examples as well – but try to be aware of the change in key signatures in each bar).

First, here are the individual measures.

C Lydian

C Ionian

C Mixolydian

C Dorian

C Aeolian

C Phrygian

C Locrian Option 1

If you want to keep a low register pattern – you can try starting the Db Major pattern from the 7th putting 4 notes on the low E string).

C Locrian Option 2

and here’s the whole thing:

(Just click to see full size)

Going Further

Once you can get through the example at various tempos cleanly and really hear the transitions, take a short phrase and try moving it through the different modes. It will be easier initially if you think about scale degrees. Here – I’m thinking 5-4-5-6-7-2-1.

Also: try playing it swung in double time (ala Jazz 001)

C Lydian Lick

Note: The scale degrees stay the same when I move to C Ionian but the F# becomes F natural.

C Ionian Lick

The same phrase changes the B to Bb when moved to C Mixolydian:

C Mixolydian

The lack of an Eb in the phrase means that the notes are the same between Mixolydian and Dorian in this case – just played in different position.

Moving it to Aeolian, the A natural becomes Ab.

C Aeolian Lick

The D becomes Db in C Phrygian.

C Phrygian Lick

And finally, changes the G to Gb for C Locrian:

C Locrian Lick

From the light to the Dark.:

I’ll be talking about how I derived the order I’m using for the mode progression in the next lesson post on the circle of 5ths, the tonal circle of 5ths and talk about how these relate to modal interchange. For now here’s a shortcut to consider until next time.

In general the more flats a mode has in its scale formula – the darker its sound.

Note:

This is a tricky area for intermediate students. While I use a parent scale approach to visualize how I solo over chords, I am aware of the chord tones (and tensions) and tend to focus on those melodically.

When soloing, Just running up and down a scale isn’t going to help you really nail changes – it’s just going to fill space that often doesn’t need filling sonically.

For beginning or intermediate players new to this – like I said before, for now just worry about associating the modes, fingerings and sounds.

I’ll be talking about each of the modes in-depth in future posts, but for now understand that each mode of Major, Melodic Minor or Harmonic Minor has its own unique characteristics that are worth exploring.

As before, just go through the lesson at your own pace and return to it as you need to and please feel free to post any questions you might have (or pm me at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com).

I hope this helps and as always, thanks for reading!

-SC

P.S. If you like this post – you may also like:

.

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 4 – Modes and Chords

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 3B – SEEING THE SIX-STRING MAJOR SCALE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 3A – SEEING THE SIX-STRING MAJOR SCALE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 2 – SEEING THE TWO STRING MAJOR SCALE

The GuitArchitecture Guide To Modes Part 1 – Seeing The Single String Major Scale

.

Making Music Out Of Scales

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

.

PRACTICE MAKES BETTER AKA PRACTICING PART I

PROPER POSTURE IS REQUIRED FOR PROPER PERFORMANCE – PRACTICING PART II

TENSION AND THE SODA CAN OR PRACTICING PART III

DEFINITIONS AND DOCUMENTS OR PRACTICING PART IV

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PLAY OR PRACTICING PART V

TESTING YOUR VOCABULARY OR PRACTICING PART VI

POSSESSION IS 9/10S OF THE LAW BUT PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING OR PRACTICING PART VII

SOME USEFUL ONLINE PRACTICE TOOLS

.

GETTING HIPNESS FROM A MAJOR TRIAD OR MORE CHORD RECYCLING PART 3

Getting Hipness From A Major Triad Or More Chord Recycling Part 2

GETTING HIPNESS FROM A MAJOR TRIAD OR MORE CHORD RECYCLING PART 1

.

Getting Through The Gig – Negotiating A Chord Chart Part 3

Getting Through The Gig – Negotiating A Chord Chart Part 2

GETTING THROUGH THE GIG – NEGOTIATING A CHORD CHART PART 1

.

WARMING UP: FINGER EXERCISES, THE 3 T’S AND THE NECESSITY OF MISTAKES.

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 3b – Seeing The Six-String Major Scale

Posted on September 5, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Hello Everyone! Here’s the second 1/2 of the GuitArcitecture Mode visualization lesson 3 extravaganza!

This lesson, is only the six-string examples from the first 1/2 of the lesson. If the charts or the rules don’t make any sense – you may want to read the first 1/2 of this lesson (found here) for clarity.

(If you need to go back further, you may also want to check out part one or part two of the series.)

A set of examples showing all the positional three-note-per-string modal fingerings in the key of C Major follow.

Note:

The sextuplet rhythms are merely presented as a logical rhythmic division of a six note pattern, and are by no means the only rhythms that should be practiced for these modes.

Ascending Parent Major Modal Patterns

(As the scale ascends the patterns descend)

Descending Modal Patterns:

(As the pattern descends across the strings, the modes ascend in order)

Here are the important things to focus on for now:

(It may seem like a long list – but really most of it is holdover from part 2 of the lesson series)

1. Theoretical:

The guitar fingerboard can be divided into 3 sets of two strings. Any 2-string fingering pattern that starts on the B string can be moved to the same starting pitch on the D or the low E string and keep the same fingering.

The major scale can be broken down into seven two-string modes that follow a specific order based on its scale degree from the parent scale (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian). The two-string patterns are modular and can be adapted to positional playing (see rules above).

The sound of the mode is based as much on the notes of the mode as it’s related chord. So for right now – this is just a whole lot of ways to see C Major on a fingerboard – you should adapt the process to other keys as well.

In addition to using a time keeping device of some kind (like a metronome, drum loop, etc) playing along to a chord or a bass note will help establish tonality and help associate each pattern with a sound). For now try playing the patterns over the related major chord (C Major / C Major 7) or the relative minor chord (A minor/A minor 7 chord).

For those of you looking to skip ahead, try playing the root of each 6 note pattern as a bass note and then playing the pattern over it. (i.e. D Dorian over D, E Phrygian over E etc.) one you get the initial patterns in your ears as C Major.

2. Technical:

While it’s natural to want to progress quickly, trying to play too quickly too soon results in excess hand tension which will increase the difficulty of what you’re trying to play. Fluidity comes from focused, relaxed repetition.

Fretting hand: When playing these patterns, practice using just the fingertip to fret the notes and use the minimum amount of tension needed for the note to sound cleanly. Additionally, try to keep the fingers down on the strings when playing and remove them from the string only when necessary.

Picking Hand: Try using the above picking pattern on the top two strings or alternate picking.

Practice the scale ascending and descending and really focus on clarity of notes, hand tension and timing. Even many intermediate to advanced players can gain something by really focusing on making clean transitions between the fingering shapes.

Isolate problem areas and work out. You’re not going to be able to play the sequence cleanly if any of the individual components aren’t 100%. This isn’t a bad thing. Things you develop over time are more likely to stay with you (and thus be accessible when you’re improvising).

3. Musical:

Making music from the patterns is a whole other skill set, but you need to know where to put your fingers on the strings while you bend, slide and phrase your way into making music. Having said that, since the visualization process doesn’t take that long, as soon as you get the patterns down I’d recommend to start manipulating the patterns to try to make them more musical to your ear. See Part 2 of this series for more specifics or the making music out of scales post.

The Obligatory book plug:

The GuitArchitect’s Guide to Modes: Melodic Patterns takes all possible permutations and variations of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 note groups of these 2 string shapes and then shows how to build them up into extended melodic sequences. As a 300+ page book, it is a substantial reference/informational text, and goes into further depth than any other known book on the subject. You can find out more about it here.

In the next lesson, I’m going to cover chords associated with the forms and start to move towards the individual modes and making music out of them. As before, I recommend that you just go through the lesson at your own pace and return as you need to. Please feel free to post any questions you might have (or pm me at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com).

I hope this helps and as always, thanks for reading!

-SC

P.S. If you like this post – you may also like:

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 2 – SEEING THE TWO STRING MAJOR SCALE

The GuitArchitecture Guide To Modes Part 1 – Seeing The Single String Major Scale

MAKING MUSIC OUT OF SCALES

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

PRACTICE MAKES BETTER AKA PRACTICING PART I

PROPER POSTURE IS REQUIRED FOR PROPER PERFORMANCE – PRACTICING PART II

TENSION AND THE SODA CAN OR PRACTICING PART III

DEFINITIONS AND DOCUMENTS OR PRACTICING PART IV

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PLAY OR PRACTICING PART V

TESTING YOUR VOCABULARY OR PRACTICING PART VI

POSSESSION IS 9/10S OF THE LAW BUT PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING OR PRACTICING PART VII

SOME USEFUL ONLINE PRACTICE TOOLS

WARMING UP: FINGER EXERCISES, THE 3 T’S AND THE NECESSITY OF MISTAKES

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 2 – Seeing The Two String Major Scale

Posted on August 29, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Welcome to part two of modal/parent major scale lesson series that’s been adapted from the forthcoming, GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes book. In the last post, I showed how to visualize a major scale on a single string using seven connecting patterns. (Note: you can see that lesson here). In this lesson, I’m going to expand on those fingerings to include 2-string patterns and start to get into the actual modes themselves.

The power of 2 (strings)

In the first lesson, I discussed how to visualize a pattern on a single string. The advantage to this type of visualization is that it’s applicable to any fretted string instrument. Whether its a bass or a banjo or a mandolin – the fingering pattern applies to a single string scale. If you ever see guys at a music store pick up 3-4 different stringed instruments and be able to get around on them, this is the type of visualization that they’re typically using.

Now it’s time to expand on that visualization process. Let’s look at the standard guitar tuning. Here’s a blank fingerboard with the string numbers on the top and the tuning below.

You may have missed an important observation; namely that the open strings are tuned in 4ths except for the second string, B, which is tuned a 3rd above the G string.

This means that the six-string guitar can be viewed as three sets of two strings that are tuned in 4ths

(i.e. the E and A strings, D and G strings and B and high E strings).

This also means that any fingering pattern contained on those two strings will be the same fingering pattern on the other two-string sets.

First Steps

In a future lesson post, I’m going to show how these modular patterns connect, but the first step is visualizing the initial 2 string patterns and then associating them with a related mode.

So if, for example, we combine the C major scale on the B string:

with the C major scale on the E string:

We get a series of interconnecting patterns that can played as a melodic sequence like this:

Note:

Don’t worry about the odd time signature. It’s included here to show all seven 2-string patterns, but this can easily be adapted to any time signature.

I’m going to talk about each pattern – but first I need to talk about modes.

Modes

A mode is a type a scale that starts from a note in a parent scale and is tied to a specific chord type.

For example: C major has seven unique notes. The scale degree of each note in the parent scale determines the name of the associated mode. Here are the modes in sequential order.

Note:

While this has been applied to the key of C major, the modal order is the same for any parent major scale.

Each mode then, can be viewed as just playing the parent major scale starting from a different note and played over a related chord.

Modes = notes + chords

While these modes all share the same notes of the parent major scale, they all have different sounds based on the harmony that they are played against – provided that harmony is not the first chord of the parent major scale.

For example: if I play any of the modes above over a C major or a C major 7 chord, it’s all going to sound like C major. I’ll get into the associated chords for each mode in next week’s lesson, for now understand that a mode is:

derived from a parent scale
always follows a specific order and
is associated with a specific chord.

The two-string/6 note modal fingerings

As a first step, let’s go back and visit that initial 2-string pattern:

Here the same pattern broken down into seven individual shapes.

Note:

while the fingering pattern only includes 6 of the seven notes of the scale, since the patterns are interconnecting, you’ll pick the missing up note in the next pattern in the sequence.

I – Ionian

II – Dorian

III – Phrygian

IV – Lydian

V – Mixolydian

VI – Aeolian

VII – Locrian

Don’t worry about how these fingerings relate yet or how to use them outside the initial 2 string patterns – that will all be covered in the next lessons.

Here are the important things to focus on for now:

(It may seem like a long list – but really it’s only a few key points presented in multiple ways)

1. Theoretical:

The guitar fingerboard can be divided into 3 sets of two strings.

Any 2 string – fingering pattern that starts on the B string can be moved to the same starting pitch on the D or the low E string and keep the same fingering.

The major scale can be broken down into 7 two-string modes that follow a specific order based on its scale degree from the parent scale (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian). While the fingering pattern only includes 6 of the seven notes of the scale, since the patterns are interconnecting, you’ll pick the missing up note in the next pattern in the sequence.

Combining these 2 ideas:

The 2 string modal fingerings on the B and High E strings

(C Ionian, D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Aeolian, B Locrian then back to the C Ionian and D Dorian).

.
A technical note and a tech note:

I played the examples as 16ths then sextuplets. I changed the ending a bit for the sextuplets on this example to fit the 4/4 phrase better (it’s just the last sextuplet descending and ascending on the B and high E strings).

The drums are the same raga drum file I’ve used before – but I sped the drums up with an AU plug in – AU Varispeed:

It’s a cool plug in to use for sonic mangling – or in this case when I needed to track something quickly.

Follow the same fingering pattern and order on the other string sets, but start from a different mode.

D and G Strings

(E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Aeolian, B Locrian, C Ionian and D Dorian)

and the Low E and A strings:

(F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Aeolian, B Locrian, C Ionian, and D Dorian)

Sorry!!

I thought I recorded at least versions of this but the one I tracked was recorded too hot and in distorted (in a very unpleasant way).

The sound of the mode is based as much on the notes of the mode as it’s related chord.

2. Technical:

While it’s natural to want to progress quickly, trying to play too quickly too soon results in excess hand tension which will increase the difficulty of what you’re trying to play. Fluidity comes from focused, relaxed repetition.

Fretting hand: When playing these patterns on 2 strings, practice using just the fingertip to fret the notes and use the minimum amount of tension needed for the note to sound cleanly. Additionally, try to keep the fingers down on the strings when playing and remove them from the string only when necessary.

Picking Hand: Try using the following picking pattern on the top two strings. By starting on an upstroke and using alternate picking, the pattern ends on a downstroke on the E string and sets you up to start on an upstroke again.

Practice the scale ascending and descending and really focus on clarity of notes, hand tension and timing. Even many intermediate to advanced players can gain something by really focusing on making clean transitions between the fingering shapes.

Isolate problem areas and work out. You’re not going to be able to play the sequence cleanly if any of the individual components aren’t 100%. This isn’t a bad thing. Things you develop over time are more likely to stay with you (and thus be accessible when you’re improvising).

In addition to using a time keeping device of some kind (like a metronome, drum loop, etc) playing along to a chord or a bass note will help establish tonality and help associate each pattern with a sound). For now try playing the patterns over the related major chord (C Major / C Major 7) or the relative minor chord (A minor/A minor 7 chord).

For those of you looking to skip ahead, try playing the root of each 6 note pattern as a bass note and then playing the pattern over it. (i.e. D Dorian over D, E Phrygian over E etc.) one you get the initial patterns in your ears as C Major.

3. Musical:

Making music from the patterns is a whole other skill set, but you need to know where to put your fingers on the strings while you bend, slide and phrase your way into making music. Having said that, since the visualization process doesn’t take that long, as soon as you get the patterns down I’d recommend to start manipulating the patterns to try to make them more musical to your ear. There are a number of different ways to do this:

Try changing up the ascending note order. While the example here is presented as 1-2-3-4-5-6 (C, D, E, F, G and A) , you can try other note orders such as: 1-3-2-4-5-6 (C, E, D, F, G and A), 2-1-3-4-5-6 (D, E, C, F, G and A) or 2-3-1-4-5-6 (D, E, C, F, G and A) as starting variations.
Try using different rhythms (16th notes, etc).
Try integrating rests in the patterns.
Try sliding between pitches instead of using different fingers. Like-wise try bending to notes (Example play C, D and then bend it up to E )

Obligatory book plug:

In the next lesson, I’m going to cover how to make positional sense of these forms and start to move towards making modes (and music) out of them.

The next posts in the series will be substantially shorter (and have more examples) but in the meantime, I recommend that you just go through the lesson at your own pace and return as you need to. Please feel free to post any questions you might have (or pm me at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com).

I hope this helps and as always, thanks for reading!

-SC

P.S. If you like this post – you may also like:

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 3B – SEEING THE SIX-STRING MAJOR SCALE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 3A – SEEING THE SIX-STRING MAJOR SCALE

THE GUITARCHITECTURE GUIDE TO MODES PART 1 – SEEING THE SINGLE STRING MAJOR SCALE

MAKING MUSIC OUT OF SCALES

MAKING SENSE OF THE PENTATONIC SCALE – DIAGONAL FORMS – PART TWO

MAKING SENSE OF THE PENTATONIC SCALE – DIAGONAL FORMS – PART ONE

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

PRACTICE MAKES BETTER AKA PRACTICING PART I

PROPER POSTURE IS REQUIRED FOR PROPER PERFORMANCE – PRACTICING PART II

TENSION AND THE SODA CAN OR PRACTICING PART III

DEFINITIONS AND DOCUMENTS OR PRACTICING PART IV

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PLAY OR PRACTICING PART V

TESTING YOUR VOCABULARY OR PRACTICING PART VI

POSSESSION IS 9/10S OF THE LAW BUT PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING OR PRACTICING PART VII

SOME USEFUL ONLINE PRACTICE TOOLS

WARMING UP: FINGER EXERCISES, THE 3 T’S AND THE NECESSITY OF MISTAKES

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 1 – Seeing The Single String Major Scale

Posted on August 25, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Welcome to part one of a lesson series that’s been adapted from the forthcoming, GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes book! Over the next several months, I’m going to post related lessons on modes, scales, chords and 12-tone guitar from my GuitArchitecture book series.

This first posting is an entry-level post for the beginning or intermediate guitarist who may have heard some music theory terms but weren’t really clear about what they meant.

If you’re already familiar with basic musical terminology and single string scales, you may still find some useful tips and observations below and use this post as a useful primer and/or review.

Note:

If you’re new to this, there’s a lot of initial ground work to cover, but once we get past it the applications are really useful (read: cool) !

So you want to know about Modes?

I have some good news and some bad news about learning modes.

I’ll start with the good news.

The Major, Melodic Minor and Harmonic Minor scales (and their associated modes) make up a lot of the melodic and harmonic material used in western pop and jazz music in the 20th (and 21st century).

If you’re an intermediate player with a basic understanding of intervals, chords and scales, I can show you a way to adapt a positional fingering pattern for all of the above scales or mode that can be modulated to any key in about 10 minutes – 20 minutes depending on your skill level.

Given a 1/2 hour or more, I can show you an integrated way do the same thing anywhere on the fingerboard using seven core fingerings and a simple visualization method that can be applied to any scale.

The Bad News:

Making music from those fingerings will take a lot longer.

To paraphrase W.A. Mathieu, “There are only a few notes and learning them takes forever.”

I can’t teach you to be musical in an hour-long lesson – but I can certainly try to guide you towards being more musical when you leave the lesson than when you walked in. One way to do that is to bring your attention to some benefits associated with sonic visualization.

Sonic Visualization?

Here are a few notes to clarify what I’m talking about:

The GuitArchitecture concept, in broad strokes, is that the nature of the guitar’s fretboard and tuning lends itself to visualizing fingering patterns.

While patterns performed mindlessly can be a bad thing, they can allow people to realize ideas more readily.

More importantly, patterns can be associated with sounds and visualizing how to realize a sound by seeing its shape on the fretboard makes performing it easier. Hence the term Sonic Visualization.

If I hear a sound in my head, and know how to finger it on the fretboard before I play it, that not only allows me to create the sound but also offers me more flexibility when improvising.

Likewise, if I stumble across a sound I’ve never heard before, and understand the fingering behind it – it makes it easier for me to remember that sound for future use.

The GuitArchitecture Process

While GuitArchitecture utilizes sonic visualization as it’s core foundation, the process behind developing and utilizing that process can be adapted to any musical context. The process itself is fairly straightforward:

Understand the approach (harmonic or melodic)

Develop a fingering pattern to use with that approach

Associate the pattern with a sound

Manipulate the patterns to make music

Now let’s start to apply this to Major Scale Modes. In order to understand modes, we need to have a grasp of the Parent Major scale.

Understand the Approach or

Parent Scales and Painless Theory

A parent scale is a sequential collection of notes within an octave that define a tonality. An example of a parent scale would be the C Major scale which has no sharps or flats and is spelled, C, D, E, F, G, A, B and C. The easiest way to visualize this on the fingerboard initially is on a single string.

Played on the B string it looks like this in standard notation.

Note:

Instead of speaking about notes (which are tied to specific scales), when speaking about scales in general, musicians sometimes refer to their location in the scale as scale degrees and use numbering based on the Roman numeral system to indicate their position (this will come much more into play when we get to chords). In this specific case:

C=I : D=II : E=III : F=IV : G=V : A=VI and : B=VII

Building Blocks:

The smallest unit of measurements on the fingerboard are the 1/2 step (1 fret) or the whole step (2 frets).

If you look at the tablature above, you’ll see that the Major Scale is made up of a series of whole steps with 1/2 steps between the IIIrd and IVth degrees (E and F in this case) and the VIIth and VIIIth degrees (B and C).

This general formula applies to any Major Scale.

All major scales are made up of whole steps 7 scale degrees with a 1/2 step between the 3rd and 4th scale degree and the 7th and 8th. The distances between these notes are constant. If we move the C major scale to the E string:

Since C is still the root of the scale (also refered to as the tonic), the 1/2 steps still occur between the IIIrd/IVth and the VIIth/VIIIth degrees. Since this is true of any major scale, any major scale can be visualized this way, but the number of components makes it cumbersome to get around. So let’s look at positional shapes.

Positional Playing

Or developing a fingering pattern to use with that approach

A position is usually defined as a four-fret section of the fingerboard. If the scale is broken down into positional components, we end up with a series of three-note shapes. We’ll number each one from the scale degree for now:

A Brief Interruption

When practicing anything on the guitar, you should pay attention to what I call the 3 T’s (Tension, Timing and Tone). If you are unfamiliar with practicing methodology, you may want to read through my practicing posts (you can find them under the lessons heading on the Blueprints page).

First here’s the tab:

And a generic 3 note shape. The numbers indicate recommended fret hand fingers to use.

III

VII

Putting it all together

If you combine all of the patterns together. You’ll get something that looks like this:

Notice that the fingering patterns move in sequential order (I, II, III… etc) up the B string. If we play the C Major scale on the E string:

The fingering pattern now starts with pattern #3, but continues in sequential order.

Next steps:

I’ve covered a lot of groundwork here, so this is a good place to stop for now. In the meantime, here are some things to consider:

1. Theoretical:

The important things here are learning the initial pattern fingering sequence, and associating each of them with a sound.

In addition to using a time keeping device of some kind (like a metronome, drum loop, etc) playing along to a chord or a bass note will help establish tonality and help associate each pattern with a sound). For now try playing the patterns over the related major chord (C Major / C Major 7) or the relative minor chord (A minor/A minor 7 chord).

Sing. The most tried and true method to attach the sounds made with your hands to your ears is to sing what you’re playing. This isn’t an American Idol audition, so you don’t have to worry about how good you are as a vocalist. Instead, just work paying attention to the tuning and timing between your voice and your guitar (and check out some George Benson guitar solos to hear at least one place where this approach can take you.)

2. Technical:

While it’s natural to want to progress quickly, trying to play too quickly too soon results in excess hand tension which will increase the difficulty of what you’re trying to play.

Fluidity comes from focused, relaxed repetition. From a technical standpoint, this observation is really important. (As in: you may want to write that down on a piece of paper and tape it to your guitar level of important).

Even many intermediate to advanced players can gain something by really focusing on making clean transitions between the fingering shapes.

3. Musical:

Making music from the patterns is a whole other skill set, but you need to know where to put your fingers on the strings while you bend, slide and phrase your way into making music. Having said that, since the visualization process doesn’t take that long, as soon as you get the patterns down I’d recommend to start manipulating the patterns to try to make them more musical to your ear. There are a number of different ways to do this:

Try changing up the ascending note order. While the example here is presented as 1-2-3 (C, D, E) , you can try other note orders such as: 1-3-2 (C, E, D), 2-1-3 (D, E, C), 2-3-1 (D, E, C), 3-1-2 (E, C, D) or 3-2-1 (E, D, C) as variations.
Try using different rhythms (16th notes, etc).
Try integrating rests in the patterns.
Try sliding between pitches instead of using different fingers. Like-wise try bending to notes (Example play C, D and then bend it up to E )

In the next lesson, I’m going to cover how to exploit standard tuning in visualization, expand on the single string fingerings for these forms and continue to move towards making modes (and music) out of them.

The next posts in the series will hopefully be a little shorter (and have more examples) but in the meantime, I recommend that you just go through the lesson at your own pace and return as you need to. Please feel free to post any questions you might have (or pm me at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com).

I hope this helps and as always, thanks for reading!

-SC

P.S. If you like this post – you may also like:

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

PRACTICE MAKES BETTER AKA PRACTICING PART I

PROPER POSTURE IS REQUIRED FOR PROPER PERFORMANCE – PRACTICING PART II

TENSION AND THE SODA CAN OR PRACTICING PART III

DEFINITIONS AND DOCUMENTS OR PRACTICING PART IV

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PLAY OR PRACTICING PART V

TESTING YOUR VOCABULARY OR PRACTICING PART VI

POSSESSION IS 9/10S OF THE LAW BUT PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING OR PRACTICING PART VII

SOME USEFUL ONLINE PRACTICE TOOLS

WARMING UP: FINGER EXERCISES, THE 3 T’S AND THE NECESSITY OF MISTAKES

MAKING MUSIC OUT OF SCALES

Making Music Out Of Scales

Posted on August 15, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Hello everyone, and welcome to the largest GuitArchitecture lesson I’ve ever put up online!

In this lesson (an excerpt of some ideas from my forthcoming GuitArchitect’s Guide to Modes book), I’m going to talk about the difference between scales and music and show some concrete ways to adapt scales into unique phrases.

When I first started playing guitar, I listened to a lot of metal and the players I was into were fond of working ascending and descending scales into their solos. (I also listened to a lot of Al DiMeola on Friday Night in San Francisco as well). So I initially focused a great deal on scales and got to the point where I could play them quickly (but not really cleanly). The flash of this got me noticed by other players in my area, but I always felt like something was missing.

At best, scales are only ½ of the equation

Seeing where my fingers needed to go was important but phrasing is where the real music is happening.

Note:

There’s a lot of information below. Just take your time and go at your own pace. It’ll still be there later.

Here’s another way to think of it. Scales are like basic vocabulary. They’re your nouns and verbs and no matter how you speak (with arpeggios, intervals or chords), they all have a basis in scales.

Your phrases are your sentences. Guys with great phrasing can play a scale and make sentence out of it. But a scale is, in and of itself, largely just a tool in making music and not music itself.

First Steps: Music is a language.

So approach it the way you approach your native language

The way we learn language is by listening to other people speak and then emulating their speech. Initially it’s nonsensical. Then some disjointed vocabulary emerges which eventually gives way to sentences. There is typically a period of formal study where reading is taught, and students are required to write ideas down. Eventually, we take on unique characteristics that make our voices distinct. With daily exposure language, and our understanding of it is constantly evolving.

Learning music is the same thing. It first requires active listening. You need to find music that you’re passionate about and really work on learning it by ear. Music theory is also important, because it can help you make shortcuts to understanding a sound (for example, “that Phrygian pattern” gives the informed listener an idea of what a sound is before he or she even hears it), but really getting into phrasing requires an aural understanding. Initially, this will take a long time and you probably won’t have all of the technical skills that you’ll need to get it at 100% accuracy. That’s fine. Get what you can – but really pay attention to phrasing details like pitch (vibrato, slides, bends, etc) and rhythm. If at all possible – try to sing along with what you’re trying to learn. If you get to the point that you’re not enjoying it – move on and come back to it. The more you actively enjoy what you’re doing, then more you will get out of it.

Step 2 involves listening out of your comfort zone.

Try checking out music from other (non-guitar playing) musicians and cultures as well. A lot of my pointillist rhythm ideas were copped directly from Japanese Koto approaches. I stole a lot of things from Arabic music (specifically Turkish folk and classical music, the Iranian Radif and various maqams), Hindustani music, and vocal music from around the world. I copped gypsy violin and accordion licks and Klezmer clarinet lines. Lately I’ve been super into the insanely wide vibrato and pitch bends in Vietnamese Dan Bau music. The important thing is searching out for other sounds, getting inspired by them and taking something from them.

For me a lot of this has been the nonsense portion of trying to speak other musical languages. Not everything I do translates in multiple musical situations. It’s not always correct or accurate, and sometimes that’s even better because then it’s my own spin on it.

Really importantly – not all of it sticks. I spent a lot of time learning things that didn’t directly work its way into my playing. That’s fine. The important things are the things that will ultimately stick with you. What it’s given me are some things that are distinctly mine now. A distinct accent if you will, that immediately identifies a handful of things that I say as me.

Next Steps:

In addition to learning things by ear, having a few different approaches to using scales in your bag can help give you the flexibility to express some really musical things. I’ve already posted on the area of limiting options, and with that in mind I think it’s more important to go deep with a few ideas, rather than just scatter-shot a number of approaches and deal with them all superficially. So I’ll cover some of them here

Starting point: The Scale

For an initial starting point, I’m going to look at a 3-note-per-string C Aeolian scale. Try running this scale a few times with the fingering and picking patterns I’ve provided to make sure it’s under your fingers.

In the mp3 above, I’ve played the scale in 16th’s, a C minor 7 chord (to hear a harmonic context) and then as sextuplets.

Note:

In some textbooks you’ll see the b6 as an avoid tone against a minor 7 chord (i.e. the Ab as an avoid tone for C minor 7). You can always just play a minor triad or a 5th for a similar effect. I’ve included the minor 7th here because – aesthetically – it doesn’t bother me and I like the sound of a minor 7th better than the triad.

Picking this as I have above results in a smoother (almost legato) sound than I could get using alternate picking, even though I’m still picking every note. For the initial fingering, I’m playing the first 2 notes of each grouping with my 1^st and 2^nd fingers to facilitate the slight positional shift on the B and E strings.

Note: When practicing any musical idea, it helps to have a melodic and rhythmic context. A time keeping device can certainly help, but I’ve included a short C note for a drone and a drum loop for your convenience below:

Approach #1: Skipping notes and using patterns

The only time I use straight ascending/descending scales is if I have a target note that I’m specifically trying to get to. In those cases, having some velocity to get there can build tension and make it exciting to hear. Otherwise when you hear one note after another in straight ascending or descending scalar patters, it gets very predictable pretty quickly.

Here’s a sample phrase I improvised based on the scale above. I’ve added some notes below.

On the first part of the phrase on the A and G strings, I’m only playing the notes C, D and Eb. Adding a string skip and doubling the C at the octave creates more excitement in the phrase. I’ve provided an optional notation indicating picking the octave C with the pick hand middle finger to give it a little snap – but you can certainly flatpick it as well.
Starting on the Bb on the G string, I’ve rhythmically copied the same phrase as on the A and G strings. By playing it as a pattern, it creates some consistency in the phrase. While the rhythm is sextuplets – the phrasing is alternating groups of 4 and 6.
The last 6 notes break out of the pattern by just playing a straight ascending scale.

Here’s another track variation. I’m picking every note on this one:

Approach #1a: Skipping notes part 2 (Pentatonics)

Another way to work scalar ideas into a musical context is to reduce scales to pentatonics. For example: Here is my initial scale again:

And now I’m going to remove the F and the Bb from the scale. This leaves a five-note pentatonic (C, D, Eb, G, Ab) – sometimes called Hirajoshi.

The term, “Hirajoshi”, actually refers to a Koto tuning. In the Japanese scale system, this collection of intervals would be recognized as belonging to the In scale. But since so many guitarists refer to this as Hirajoshi, I’ll use that nomenclature here.

Regardless of what you call it, sonically it’s a very cool scale. The skips between the Eb/G and Ab/C really open the scale up sonically.

Here’s a variation on the lick above using this pentatonic idea in the second ½ of the phrase.

Technically, in addition to some of the challenges of the first lick, another tricky thing here is the skip from the C to the Eb on the G and B strings because the D, C, Bb pull off wants to go back up to D. Sonically though it adds a really nice contour to the phrase.

Approach #2: Sequences

Sequences are a cool way to use scales in a way that generate melodic momentum but contain an internal logic. Here’s an example of using the pentatonic in descending groups of 3s.

This is a very Marty Friedman-esque idea. A little goes a long ways with this type of approach, but these sequences are great devices to work into phrases as a way to get more mileage out of a scale.

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Approach #3: Octave displacement

Playing notes in order can be boring, but as we saw with the octave C jump in the first lick, alternating scale notes in different registers can be much more interesting melodically. Since the A and B string are a 9^th apart, playing an ascending melody between the strings works well positionally.

The first step in this process involves being able to visualize the scale on each individual string:

Here’s a melodic idea that works off of this ascending/descending idea. It works without a trem as well, but adding the trem gives it more of a slidish feel. The important thing is to let it all ring together in a controlled way. I’ve recorded this at full tempo and then in 1/2 time and I think it works a lot better at 1/2 speed .

If you look at the notes in the phrases (C, D, Eb), (D, Eb, G), (Ab, Bb, Ab), (G, F, Eb). They’re all based on short simple melodic ideas that sound more complex when broken up over octaves.

Approach #4: Modal Arpeggios

Previously, I removed two notes to create a pentatonic scale but if I play every other note of a mode, I can create an extended arpeggio called a modal arpeggio.

For example, here’s the scale again:

Taking every other note:

And putting it into a phase gives me this:

Note#1:

It’s interesting because while the scale and tonality is rooted in C, sliding the last note of the arpeggio up to D gave it a whole other texture.

Note #2:

A lot of phrasing is really about minute details. Here’s the same arpeggio but I sit on the first note just a little longer. It makes the phrase more musical to me:

Here’s another arpeggio idea with a repeated phrase in the middle.

Playing arpeggios on smaller string sets allows me to sequence ideas more easily (Like the first 5 notes). The jump to the Eb is probably the biggest surprise in the phrase. Short but sweet.

This modal arpeggio approach can be applied to any mode or scale and offers a great way to add some additional textures into your soloing.

Some Concluding Thoughts

Normally, I would have broken this up into multiple posts, but I though it was important to get the aural learning component and the melodic variations on the same page.I didn’t even get into rhythmic variations, double stops, chromatics, chordal applications, superimpositions or any of the literally dozens of other approaches that can be used to extract music from scales. It really all comes back to how much music you’ve absorbed because the most used tools in your melodic toolbelt are going to be your ears and your aesthetic and those are both guided by what you’ve been exposed to.

For those of you using GuitarPro, you can download the .gpx file of this lesson (with an extra arpeggio thrown in for good measure) here.

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Chord Scales

I’ve mentioned before, that (for me) the biggest advantage of investigating harmony and theory is to expose people to sounds that they didn’t know where there. This is the entire purpose behind the GuitArchitecture series. One of the GuitArchitecture books in that series, The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Chord Scales utilizes and expands on this idea by exploring all unique scales from 3-12 notes!!! The above material is expanded on substantially in that book so if you like this lessons you’ll really like the book.

More info on the book here.

Lulu Link

Amazon link

If you like this book you might want to check out the other books in this series here.

As always, thanks for reading!

-SC

What’s wrong with playing “Flight of the Bumblebee” for a world speed record?

Posted on July 4, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

A lot actually, because if speed is the only tool at your disposal you’re not going to be a working craftsman (or craftswoman) for very long.

Guitar-squid, (a cool user-generated content guitar site I really like and recommend you check out), recently posted a link to a you-tube clip of of John Taylor trying to break a speed record by playing along with a sequence of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the bumblebee at 600 bpm ( 11:48/12:26 in the video – note: I think the math here is suspect – it may be 600 bpm if he’s counting it as 1/8th notes – but it sounds like 1/16ths at 250 bpm/300 bpm to me).

For sheer technical precision you can also see this attempt by Tiago Della Vega at the same song here at a much cleaner 320 bpm. (7:38 or so)

The Guitar-Squid post was asking the question of whether or not the performance was real or faked. The real question however should probably be, other than the players themselves, does anyone care?

Flight of The Bumblebee

I’m not going to bag on either of these players because I respect the work that went into both renditions, but I am going to use this approach as a springboard for:

Why I think trying to set Guinness World Records for speed is a musical dead-end.

It’s not emotionally moving. It’s hard for me to think of a worse piece of music to devote time developing than a solo guitar rendition of the main “melody” of Flight of the bumblebee. It’s not a particularly memorable melody and other than the initial exposure of – wow that’s fast – it doesn’t leave you with anything.

One reason these particular arrangements aren’t moving is because there’s nothing to contrast the velocity of notes against besides a number of earlier renditions of the same arrangement. Let me use another analogy. Say you take a commercial flight somewhere and have a window seat. Soon you get to cruising height and look out above the peaceful clouds and it feels very calm. You’re actually moving at over 500 mph but since there’s nothing to contrast it against, it just seems like a “normal speed”. If, however, you were to fly at that speed about 20 feet off the ground you’d probably die of fear – because when you saw how fast you were moving past other vehicles and identifiable landmarks, you would understand just how fast you’re going. When you play quickly, it’s only quick compared to the slowest note you’re playing. Otherwise, you’re just playing a lot of notes and it’s perceived as cruising speed by the audience.

It’s not musical. Perhaps you disagree, and this would be why Flight of the Bumblebee is the number 1 song on your Itunes playlist. 😉 Other than musicians, practically no one listens to renditions of this song because (particularly as a solo guitar arrangement) – it just isn’t a strong piece of music.

In contrast to this, Hendrix’s solo on All along the Watchtower is something I could sing start to finish right now. Paco De Lucia can play a million notes with every one of them will leaving you breathless – and I’m sure that he could care less about how fast he could play Flight of The Bumblebee. In these examples, both players left me with something even after I stopped listening to the recording, because there’s real expression behind it. It’s hard to be play a lot of notes with meaning, but it can be done and when it happens – it’s done by people who are playing a lot of notes to get somewhere very specific rather than just to impress you. I’d point to the best moments of Yngwie or Scotty Anderson as one starting point and Shawn Lane, Allan Holdsworth or Guthrie Gowan as three guys on the more extreme end of the spectrum of note density who have something to say.

I’m not going to put all the fault on Rimsky-Korsakov either because the fault lies more in this particular arrangement and the parts people are leaving out as much as it is what they’re playing. Below is a piano rendition by Maxim. While it’s nowhere near the velocity of either of the guitar versions above, playing the harmonic component at the same time makes for a more nuanced (i.e. to my ears – enjoyable ) rendition.

As a career, it’s not sustainable and it’s not going to get you a gig. This is a little misleading. You probably can get a gig from this. If you make a world record attempt at something like this and you have a news worthy hook (like being particularly young for the child prodigy angle, or physically impaired in some way for the overcoming obstacles angle (yes – this sounds particularly harsh – but believe me, the healthy middle class 22-year-old trying for the record will have great difficulty getting air time)), you might be contacted to do a version for your regional morning show. You’ll get to the studio at some inhumanly early hour and (in a best case scenario) get enough time to run the piece and answer some questions. You’ll be replaced the next day by the local pie baker with an award-winning recipe or the local author with a new parenting book out.

If you do get gigs from it, they’ll be clinic type gigs where you play this and (just like the end of the first video) you’ll just getting people demanding that you play it faster. Not “better” – just faster. Because all this arrangement has going for it is velocity, and just like your news story will get bumped by other local news, your speed playing will get bumped by a cool extreme sports video or another video of someone wiping out trying to do a stunt.

I’ve mentioned some elements of this here and here as well, but being known as a really good guitar player who has the ability to chop out when you need to will serve your career in a much greater capacity than being known as the player with just a lot of chops.

Please note:

I’m not bagging on having chops or trying to develop them (and to do so would be completely hypocritical in my case). As a musician, you have to have enough ability to express yourself on your instrument and that requires technique. But technique only exists to help serve the song and the musical moment. Technique for its own sake is a musical dead-end.

Bonus quiz:

Give yourself a B+ if you can name either of the names of the two guys playing the guitar videos above without looking them up. If you can name either one two days from now without looking it up give yourself an A+.

Be the person people hit the rewind button for.

..
Marty Friedman once talked about how a really great solo is the one that you’d stop the recording for and rewind to hear again.

We remember things that touch us. We remember things that move us in some way. We share those things with other people. People that get excited about the things you do, are more likely to see you perform or seek you out and if you can move them at a show, you’ll see them again. That’s how you build an audience – one rabid fan at a time. If you touch people as a musician, you’ll be able to sustain an audience (and a career) a lot longer than someone who merely impresses them.

Thanks for reading!

-SC

ps – if you like this you may also like:

VISUALIZING VIDEO GAME LICKS OR AN INTRO TO SYMMETRICAL 12 TONE GUITAR PATTERNS

MAS MODELING!! POD FARM, POD HD, SCUFFHAM AMPS AND A WHOLE TONE LICK

MELVILLE, MADNESS AND PRACTICING – OR FINDING THE DEEPER LESSON PART 2

FINDING THE DEEPER LESSON

INSPIRATION VS. INTIMIDATION

KEEPING YOUR EGO OUT OF THE SONG’S WAY

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SURVIVING THE GIG

A Lesson In Improvisation And Jargon From A Cooking Show

WARMING UP: FINGER EXERCISES, THE 3 T’S AND THE NECESSITY OF MISTAKES

BUILDING BLOCKS – OR MORE EXAMINATIONS OF A LAPTOP GUITAR SETUP

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A QUICK LICK – AND A RIG DU JOUR UPDATE FROM HO CHI MINH CITY

“THE LIMITS OF MY LANGUAGE ARE THE LIMITS OF MY WORLD”

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

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Books:

LESSONS

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Practicing:

MELVILLE, MADNESS AND PRACTICING – OR FINDING THE DEEPER LESSON PART 2

Some Useful Online Practice Tools

POSSESSION IS 9/10S OF THE LAW BUT PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING OR PRACTICING PART VII

TESTING YOUR VOCABULARY OR PRACTICING PART VI

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PLAY OR PRACTICING PART V

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DEFINITIONS AND DOCUMENTS OR PRACTICING PART IV

TENSION AND THE SODA CAN OR PRACTICING PART III

PROPER POSTURE IS REQUIRED FOR PROPER PERFORMANCE – PRACTICING PART II

PRACTICE MAKES BETTER AKA PRACTICING PART I

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Circumnavigating The Wall You Just Hit

Posted on June 16, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

It’s easy to get so caught up in the how, or the technical process of what you’re doing, that you forget the why.

Every once in a while someone will send me a You Tube clip of some wunderkind playing a million notes and I often think, “Wow it’s impressive to spend so much time getting that down. I wonder how they’re going to use that when they’re playing Brown Eyed Girl at the local bar?” The answer, of course, is that they’re not going to play that or maybe even any song. The point of the video generally isn’t to develop something interesting in a larger musical context (like a song) but instead to promote their efforts by performing something technically difficult to get people impressed.

I don’t fault players for this, they’re simply trying to make a connection and that’s the point of music in general. Sometimes that means playing a million notes and sometimes that happens in the silences of the music you’re playing. It’s an easy path to go down because making a connection is really hard. In addition to a lot of work, it requires experience, sincerity and no small amount of guts to leave yourself exposed. In contrast, sitting down with a metronome and getting a lick up to a quick tempo is substantially easier and the result is quantifiable. Even if people aren’t impressed, you’ll know that you got it up to speed and take some comfort in advancing your technical ability.

But the flash of something fast will fade quickly, and what’s left is the content of what’s being said and the sincerity behind it.
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I like video game licks in certain contexts, but they’re probably not going to work on a ballad very well (even if it is a fusion track 😉 ). If you’re saying a lot of words without much meaning it’s not going to have a lot of impact.

I’ve had gigs where everything involving making a connection turns off on the stage and while it’s not a defining moment in human history, for someone who’s being used to being connected to music it’s a pretty awful feeling. I’d even argue that this was the case for 90% of the gigs I’ve played in LA. There can be any number of reasons for this. There might be technical issues that completely pull you out of your mindset. The audience might not be there to make a connection. Things may not be jelling with the band. But most importantly, it may be your disconnect, and it’s the most important, because it’s the only performance factor that you really have control over.

Those of you familiar with the Aesop’s fable regarding the fox and the lion will probably remember the final adage, “Familiarity Breeds Contempt “. You can put so much time into the same thing on guitar that it loses all musical meaning. The bad news is it’s probably not going to gain additional meaning on the bandstand. In all likelihood you’re going to disconnect from it further.

The more you work with specific things the easier it is to auto pilot your way through them, and the less likely you’ll be able to connect with it. Taking that a step further, it’s going to be hard to connect to audiences if you’re disconnected from your own playing. It’s more common than you might think, and a lot of musicians go through small (or large) periods where they “weren’t feeling it”. They hit a wall.

By it’s nature, any wall is usually made of pretty hard material so meeting it head on and trying going through it is not the best approach. I can tell you from personal experience that taking the approach of saying, “suck it up” isn’t going to get your groove back. Playing through it is exactly what you probably shouldn’t be doing because it’s just going to distance you further from the actual music when you play. It’s like when a relationship is on the rocks and you’re convinced that spending more time together will make it better when the time you spend now is stinted and awkward. The better approach in both cases is to step back and get some perspective…to go over the wall if you will…

One man’s recommendation for dealing with the wall

If you’re facing this right now, here are some strategies that may help.

Acknowledge that you’ve hit a wall. You can’t fix something you don’t recognize as a problem.

Once you acknowledge that you’ve hit a wall, realize that while it might be big and imposing, it’s still only a wall.

If the wall you’ve hit is from playing in general, take a break from playing for a couple of days. Spend that time trying to connect with friends or family. What you do isn’t really as important as the fact that you’re engaged and connected while you do it.

Learn some new songs. Learn things that are very non guitaristic like vocal melodies or horn lines. Take those ideas and write something new with them.

Go back and listen to music that inspired you. Try to find out what it was that inspired you about the music. Don’t over think or over analyze it, just try to connect with it.

Get out of your comfort zone. Listen to music from other cultures. Read a book by an unfamiliar (but recommended author). Play with different musicians. Take a short trip somewhere you’ve never been with a friend and see some new surroundings. When I was in Phoenix, I checked out the Musical Instrument Museum and had my head turned around in a dozen different directions both by the instruments and the multimedia presentations of field recordings. I left that place with a lot of new musical ideas buzzing around my head.

Practice playing in front of other people. Learn a new song and play it at an open mic. Make notes of when you’re connecting and when other people are connecting and make mental notes of how they’re doing it.

When you come back to practicing, take a measured breath before you begin playing. Mark the fact that you’re about to start something to get into the zone.

Try being mindful of what you’re practicing. Set limits on time and only practice one thing as long as you can be engaged in practicing it.

When you play a solo – try only playing what you can sing.

There are a lot of other things you can try, but the real goal here is to get re-engaged and bring that to your playing. As corny as it may sound, playing is an expression of who you are and where you’ve been. If you don’t have anything to say in your playing, it may be time to live a little more so you’ll have a story to tell next time you sit down…For me, it was about realizing what was wrong, taking ownership of that and moving past it to get back to making music instead of just sound again.

Good luck to you and thanks for reading!

-SC

Getting hipness from a major triad or more chord recycling part 3

Posted on April 19, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

In part one of this post, I looked at generating different major chord variations based on flatting the root and the 5th. In part 2, I sharped those pitches and then combined the two approaches to create additional chords and textures. In this post, I’m going to look at applying these chord tones to melodic (or lead) ideas. But first…

The Relative Minor Explanation:

The second post of this series ended on a cliffhanger when I said that all of the A major upper extensions would work as substitutions for F# minor chords. You can read the rest of this Relative Minor explanation if you want to understand why this works – otherwise you can just skip ahead to the next section for some melodic ideas.

Here’s the explanation for this.

In a major chord, the 4th is sometimes known as an avoid note. In the key of C, this means that the note F is usually viewed as a note to avoid either melodically or harmonically. If we look at a major scale:

C D E F G A B C

the only 1/2 steps in the scale are between E/F and B/C.

Chromatics are powerful things in music. They tend to act as tonal anchors to where the tonal center is. If you play a simple ascending C major scale and stop on the note B, most listeners will want you to resolve to C. In the major scale the 1/2 step between the 3rd and 4th makes the ear think that F major is the tonal center.

(For those of you familiar with ear training, if you sing a c major scale from C to F – it sounds like you’re singing so la ti Do – instead of Do re me fa.)

One innovation that came about in jazz music was to substitute an #4 for a 4 over chords with a major quality. This put the 1/2 step motion between the 4th and the 5th. Since the 5th is a chord tone in a major triad, it has less of an effect of moving outside of the key.

Here’s how this is applied:

Any Major scale with a #4 is a Lydian mode.

The A Lydian mode is taken from the parent Major scale of E Major.

The Relative Minor chord of A Major is F# minor.

In the key of E Major, F# is the second scale degree and uses the Dorian mode.

Dorian is a popular mode for soloing over minor chords.

Here’s the shortcut:

You can change the chord scale with the chord if you want here – but if you’re playing a chord progression that goes between a major and the relative minor chord (and you’re using Lydian for the major chord) – you can keep using the same scale to create a Dorian sound over the minor chord

(and vice-versa).

A Quick Review

Here’s the Major chord shape I’ve been modifying over the first 2 lessons:

A Major

If the root and the 5th are strategically sharped or flatted, other chord tones (7, #11, 9 and 13 can be created).

Since the b (9th) on the high E string is available, the 9th on the g string is something that can be incorporated as well.

A Lydian/F# Dorian Chord tones based on an A major chord shape

If I’m soloing over A major (or F# Minor) – all of these notes are fair game.

Try all the licks below over an A major type chord or F# minor type chord.

Lick 1 (Double Click any notation to see full size)

Lick 1

I try to stay with consistent note-per-string fingerings on strings when playing melodically, so here I’m going to take the same idea and just move the last note to the g string to create a 3 note per string pattern.

Lick 1: Three note-per-string shape

Here’s how it sounds at 1/2 speed.

Here’s how it sounds at tempo.

Lick 2:

Here, I’m taking the same notes and breaking them up intervallically into 4ths (except for the 5th in the last 2 notes which adds some variety in the cycle). Licks like these are easy to visualize (and therefore easy to manipulate when improvising).

Here’s how it sounds at tempo.

Note:

When I improvised this- I played it as transcribed – but when I recorded it – I played the last 2 notes as 1/8th notes instead – please take any of the ideas here and manipulate them as you see fit.

Here’s a similar (but shorter) idea with a scalar pattern at the end.

4ths lick 2

Here’s how it sounds at 1/2 speed.

Here’s how it sounds at tempo.

Lick 3:

Here’s an arpeggio idea that incorporates chromaticism.

arpeggio lick w. chromatics

Here’s how it sounds at 1/2 speed and then at tempo.

A couple of notes:

In the beginning I’m visualizing a C# min7 arpeggio (C#, E, G#, B) starting on the B.

The chromatic motion isn’t random – instead it specifically emphasizes the A and the C# in the A Major chord.

In the 3rds pattern that ends the lick – I’m skipping the middle note of the 3 note per string pattern in Lick 1. I like using 3rds in patterns because it breaks up the monotony of just running scales up and down.

Going Further – Dominant Superimposition:

Now that some initial options have been explored – I’ll take a look at the upper notes of the voicing. If I take the previous fretboard diagram and extend a note on the g string I’ll have something that looks like the diagram below:

Here’s a chord voicing I discussed in part 2 of this series (B7/A)

And here’s how it sounds.

Short cut 1:

Playing a dominant 7th chord on the second scale degree of a major chord will get you all of the upper extensions and the root)

(i.e. B7 over A major)

Short cut 2:

When soloing over a major chord – you can play a dominant arpeggio on the second scale degree (i.e. B7 over A major).

In the example below, I’m combining a B9 arpeggio and an A major arpeggio to create a melodic idea. The A and C# on the D string are the linking material between the 2 arpeggios (they act as the 7 and 9 in the B9 chord, or as the root and 3rd of the A Major).

The important thing with any superimposition like this is to resolve it to a chord tone in the chord you’re soloing over (in this case A).

Here’s how it sounds at 1/2 speed.

Here’s how it sounds at tempo.

Going Further – Minor Superimposition:

Here’s another chord voicing I discussed in part 2 of this series (G# min7/A)

Short cut 1:

Playing a minor chord on the seventh scale degree of a major chord will get you upper extensions (7, 9, #11 and 13) of the chord.

(i.e. G# min7 played over A major)

Short cut 2:

When soloing over a major chord – you can play a minor arpeggio on the second scale degree (i.e. G# min7/A).

In the example below, I’m combining a sextuplet idea from the earlier licks and a G#min arpeggio to create a melodic idea. Again, an important thing with any superimposition like this is to resolve it to a chord tone in the chord you’re soloing over (in this case A).

I’m not a fan of the shift from E to D# in this fingering as it requires quickly barring to get the rest of the arpeggio. As an alternate fingering, I recommend this:

The “picking” is just a suggestion. (For example: you could also pull off the D# to the B on the g string and then just continue the sweep picking motion.)

Here’s how it sounds at 1/2 speed.

Here’s how it sounds at tempo.

Wrapping it up:

This is really only the beginning of where these approaches can go. Hopefully this will give you some ideas to explore both in comping and soloing. If there’s enough interest, I’ll expand this approach to minor and dominant chords in future posts.

Final Tech Note:

For those of you who are interested, these are the approximate settings I’m using in Pod farm for the distorted tone here:

Thanks for reading!

-SC

Getting Hipness From A Major Triad Or More Chord Recycling Part 2

Posted on April 4, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

In part one of this post, I looked at generating different major chord variations based on flatting the root and the 5th. In this post, I’m looking at sharping those pitches and combining the two for additional textures (if you came here directly – you may want to review the A major variations in part one before continuing).

Start with a map:

Adapting chord forms requires the ability to visualize chord tones around the shape you’re using. As a starting point, here’s a fretboard diagram of an A major chord (with the A being on the 7th fret of the D string). I’ve added some additional chordal extensions on the E and B strings (but this process could be applied to any string-set).

In the last lesson, I looked at creating sounds with the 6th (or 13 – see post 1 for the difference between the 2) on the E string. This time, I’ll add the 6th (6th or 13th) on the B string by raising the E up to F#.

A Major 6th no 5th

Here is the sound of the A Major 6th (no 5th) chord.

Comparing this to the A major 6th voicing in part 1:

A Major 6 - Watch the 1st finger stretch - if it hurts - stop Immediately!!

Here’s an mp3 of this chord.

The new voicing is certainly easier. If I was really stuck on the close voicing of the E and the F# in the A major 6th, I could simply move the F# to the B string and move the E to the open string like this:

A maj 6 with open E string

Several Notes:

This voicing wasn’t included in the first lesson as I wanted to show the process of how to derive these chords.

The upside to this approach is it makes this specific voicing easier to play – but the downside is it’s not movable – which may or may not be problematic for you.

If a chord is really difficult to finger – there is always an easier way. You may not get the specific notes or voicings you’re looking for – but there’s always an easier way.

Now I’ll extend the initial Major 6th sound by flatting the 7th. This is done by lowering the A to G#.

A Maj 7 add 13 no 5th

Here’s how it sounds.

Again, I’m a sucker for chords with seconds in the voicing (in this case the F# and G#). It adds a little but of tension and elevates the chord a bit.

Adding in the 9th:

First let’s create an A major add 9 chord.

A add 9

Here’s how it sounds.

Note:

The reason this is an add 9 chord and not a major 9 chord is the lack of a 7th.

Since the chord is a major chord with a 9th added, it’s called an add 9.

Now I’ll add a sharp #11. This is done by lowering the E to D#.

A maj 9 sharp 11 no 7th no 5th

Here’s how it sounds.

Another Note:

The further you extend the harmony and remove initial chord tones, the more vague the sound of the chord is as related to the tonic.

For example: The chord above could be analyzed as an A major 9 # 11 with no 7th and no 5th. But the notes are A, C#, D# and B. If those tones are centered around B – you have a B, D#, A and C# or a B dominant 9 (no 5th)/A.

If you have to analyze a chord with more than 1 elimination (i.e. “no 7th no 5th”) there’s probably a simpler analysis of the chord.

Going Further:

Now that some initial options have been explored – I’ll take a look at the upper notes of the voicing. If I take the previous fretboard diagram and extend a note on the G string I’ll have something that looks like the diagram below (again the A listed below is on the 7th fret of the D string):

If I’m willing to be a little adventurous and replace the 3rd of the chord (C#) with the #11 (D#) , I’ll get a voicing with a root and then all upper tensions (9, #11 and 13). Here it is notated:

B7/A

And here’s how it sounds.

While you could analyse this related to the key of A Major (A major 13, #11, no 3rd, no 5th, no 7th) you may have noticed that shape is the upper chord voicing for a VII position B 7 barre chord.

Short cut 1:

Playing a dominant 7th chord on the second scale degree of a major chord will get you all of the upper extensions and the root).

(i.e. B7 over A major)

But isn’t a stable sound on its own. If you play this chord and then the standard A major, it will probably feel resolved to you when you play the A. If you have a song with a number of bars of A major – switching between these two chords is a nice way to generate a little harmonic motion.

Now, I’ll take this idea a little further by lowering the A to a G#:

G# min 7/A

Here’s how it sounds.

This gives the chord a 7 (G#), 9 (B), #11 (D#) and 13 (F#) – or all of the upper chord tones.

Short cut 2:

Playing a minor 7th chord on the seventh scale degree of a major chord will get you all of the upper extensions of the chord.

(i.e. G# minor 7 over A major)

Like the B7/A, this isn’t a stable sound on its own. If you play this chord and then the standard A major, it will probably feel resolved to you when you play the A.

Quartal for your thoughts?

Here’s one last transformation for now. Here I’m going to lower the D# to C# to create a quartal chord.

Quartal Chord

And here’s how it sounds:

A quartal chord is a chord that is built on 4ths (G#, C#, F#, B) as opposed to being built on 3rds like A Major (A, C#, E). To me, quartal voicings have a nice “airy” or “floating” quality . This is just one of many possible quartal voicings built from A major. Quartal voicings will be discussed more in-depth in a future post.

How to double the number of chords that have been covered.

So far, I’ve looked at a series of chords that either work as substitutions and/or extensions for major chords I’m going to go into more depth about why this works in the next post but for right now – here’s a quick tip that gives a whole other dimension to using these chords.

Every chord presented here also works over the relative minor (i.e. F# minor chord).

Try taking this chord:

and after you play it add an F# by tapping a fret hand finger on the 2nd fret F# on the low E string for a very hip F# min 9 extension.

F# min 9 add 13 no 11

Hopefully this has given you some new chordal ideas!! You may want to go back to the first post and apply this idea by playing through all of the voicings covered there and adding the F# as a root.

In addition to explaining this approach more in-depth, in part 3 of these posts I’m going to explore a number of ways to use these ideas in your soloing.

Thanks for reading!! Please feel free to post any questions you might have.

-SC

Getting Hipness From A Major Triad Or More Chord Recycling Part 1

Posted on March 31, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

When I was at Berklee, one thing that took a while for me to really get my ear around was upper chord tones (7ths, 9ths, 11ths and 13ths). Growing up listening to a great deal of rock music – basic triads sounded “right” to me. I learned a lot of esoteric chord voicings to try to expand on those forms – but my ear wasn’t ready for it and so I had no real motivation to develop it at the time.

As I mentioned in the getting through the gig and the recycling chords posts, simple triadic forms can be manipulated in a way that allows players to get more complex harmonic textures in real-time. Additionally, these approaches can be adapted to lead playing as well. This short series of posts are going to go deeper into adapting one specific chord voicing. As a starting point I’ll use the major triad.

The following examples are based around a 5th position A major chord played on the D, G, B, and E strings.

The reason I’m using this specific voicing is to allow the open A string to ring while playing the chord to help reinforce the root. Here’s the basic rhythm of the chordal examples:

While notated this way for simplicity, all the examples are played with a slight arpeggiation to help accent the different notes.

Here’s an mp3 of an A Major Triad.

Rooting around for extra tones:

The first way to generate some additional substitutions for a simple major chord is to lower the root chromatically.

While there is a root on both the D and the high E string, for now these examples will focus on manipulating the root on the high E string.

Lowering the root of a major triad a 1/2 step (1 fret) produces a Major 7th chord:

(This can be used in place of any A major triad)

A Major 7 Chord

Here’s an mp3 of this A Major 7 chord.

Lowering the root of a major triad a step (2 frets) produces a Dominant 7th chord:

(This can sometimes be used in place of an A major triad

Example: When the A acts as a V chord in a chord progression (A -> D becomes A7–>D))

A7 Chord

Here’s an mp3 of this A 7 chord.

Note:

While dominant 7th chords contain a major triad in them – they are their own unique animal. A future post will go into generating dominant chords – in depth – but this voicing is presented here as part of the process of generating chords by altering the root.

Lowering the root of a major triad a step and a 1/2 (3 frets) produces a Major 6th chord:

(Typically this can be used in place of any A major triad)

A Major 6 - Watch the 1st finger stretch - if it hurts - stop Immediately!!

Here’s an mp3 of this A Major 6th chord.

Another Note:

There are certainly easier ways to generate this chord – but any chord form with a 1/2 or whole step between notes on the B and E strings will require some limber hands. Again, this voicing is not the only possible voicing of this chord but instead is just one possibility.

6th chord/13th chord Tip:

Frequently, I’m asked about the difference between a 6th chord and a 13th chord. Since the note is the same for both the 6th and the 13th, the terms are sometimes used interchangably – but the difference is based around whether the chord has a 7th in it. In the example above, the F# acts as a 6th, because no 7th is present in the chord. If a seventh was in the chord, the F# would be viewed as a 13th.

The #4/#11:

One hip tone to use in a Major based chord is the #4 (or #11). This is generated by flatting the 5th a 1/2 step (1 fret).

A Major add #4

Here’s an mp3 of this A Major add #4 chord.

I like voicings like this where the top voices (C#, D# and E in this case) are all close voiced (i.e. in the same octave). The technique of combining these close voiced ideas with open strings is a favorite approach of mine.

This idea can be expanded on by flatting the root as well.

This produces an A major 7 add #11 (no 5th) chord (A favorite substitution of mine for a major chord).

A Maj 7 # 11 no 5th

Here’s an mp3 of this chord.

Shortcut:

If you flat the top two notes of a major barre chord with the fifth and root on the B and high E string – you get a pretty hip major chord substitution. This works in any key.

In part 2 of this series, I’ll look at sharping the 5th and the root to generate more chord voicings, combining both approaches and extrapolating lead ideas from these approaches as well.

Thanks for reading!!

-SC

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Category Archives: Pedagogy

What’s wrong with playing “Flight of the Bumblebee” for a world speed record?

VISUALIZING VIDEO GAME LICKS OR AN INTRO TO SYMMETRICAL 12 TONE GUITAR PATTERNS

MAS MODELING!! POD FARM, POD HD, SCUFFHAM AMPS AND A WHOLE TONE LICK

MELVILLE, MADNESS AND PRACTICING – OR FINDING THE DEEPER LESSON PART 2

FINDING THE DEEPER LESSON

INSPIRATION VS. INTIMIDATION

KEEPING YOUR EGO OUT OF THE SONG’S WAY

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SURVIVING THE GIG

A Lesson In Improvisation And Jargon From A Cooking Show

WARMING UP: FINGER EXERCISES, THE 3 T’S AND THE NECESSITY OF MISTAKES

BUILDING BLOCKS – OR MORE EXAMINATIONS OF A LAPTOP GUITAR SETUP

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A QUICK LICK – AND A RIG DU JOUR UPDATE FROM HO CHI MINH CITY

“THE LIMITS OF MY LANGUAGE ARE THE LIMITS OF MY WORLD”

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

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Books:

LESSONS

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Practicing:

MELVILLE, MADNESS AND PRACTICING – OR FINDING THE DEEPER LESSON PART 2

Some Useful Online Practice Tools

POSSESSION IS 9/10S OF THE LAW BUT PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING OR PRACTICING PART VII

TESTING YOUR VOCABULARY OR PRACTICING PART VI

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PLAY OR PRACTICING PART V

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DEFINITIONS AND DOCUMENTS OR PRACTICING PART IV

TENSION AND THE SODA CAN OR PRACTICING PART III

PROPER POSTURE IS REQUIRED FOR PROPER PERFORMANCE – PRACTICING PART II

PRACTICE MAKES BETTER AKA PRACTICING PART I

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Circumnavigating The Wall You Just Hit

Getting hipness from a major triad or more chord recycling part 3

Getting Hipness From A Major Triad Or More Chord Recycling Part 2

Getting Hipness From A Major Triad Or More Chord Recycling Part 1