GuitArchitect’s Guide to Modes Part 10 – Getting into Modal Arpeggios – Triads

Posted on February 27, 2012 by GuitArchitecture

Hello everyone!!

I’ll be delving into individual modes in more depth in the coming weeks and months ahead but as a preliminary step, I wanted to get into modal arpeggios a bit as they’ll be important components in future lessons.

Scales = Chords

Since chords and scales are made up of the building blocks (notes), they are essentially 2 sides of the same coin.

For example, let’s look at an ascending C major scale on the B and E strings:

If we remove every other note of the first for notes we can see arpeggiated versions of the triads associated with those modes.

While 2-string arpeggios are often neglected by guitarists, they are certainly worth investigating for helping with visualization.

2-String Triadic Visualization

The major scale is made up of three types of triads: major, minor and diminished. Played as unique notes, any triad has three typical voicings:

Root position with the root as the bass note: (i.e. Root, 3rd, 5th)

1st inversion with the 3rd as the bass note: (i.e. 3rd, 5th, Root)

2nd inversion with the 5th as the bass note: (i.e. 5th, Root, 3rd)

Here are some sample fingerings of each of the chord types played as 2-string arpeggios in each inversion:

2-string Major Scale Triads

Now I’ll apply each of these arpeggio shapes to the C major scale starting with the root position.

As a reminder here are the triads of the C major scale.

Since the fingerings are on 2-strings, they’ll be the same on the E/A, D/G and B/e strings.

Here are the arpeggios in 1st inversion. Again, since the fingerings are on 2-strings, they’ll be the same on the E/A and B/e strings as well.

C major scale triads in 1st inversion ascending by scale degree

And finally, here are the arpeggios in 2nd inversion.

Putting it together positionally

At the top of the page, I showed how I extracted arpeggios from ascending 2 string patterns. This same process can be applied positionally. For example, here’s a 3-note per string C major scale played in 8th position.

Now I’ll apply each of these arpeggio shapes to the C major scale starting with the root position. To create a modal arpeggio, simply remove every other note. Doing so with this scale creates a C Ionian modal arpeggio.

Modal arpeggios are sonically cool because they convey the full sound of the mode but break it out of a scalar pattern.

Modal arpeggios are cool in this method, because if you can visualize a scale then making the arpeggio is relatively easy.

The trouble with Ionian

The “problem” with the Ionian mode in general is that the natural 4th is an avoid tone over major 7th chords with the same root. (i.e. C Ionian played over C maj7). For this reason, I generally avoid Ionian as a mode and instead focus on the major scale for visualization purposes.

With that in mind, here ‘s another approach for using this arpeggio.

I really dig playing this particular arpeggio over D minor – to create a D Dorian type of sound. In the example below, I’ve used the C and the E pitches on the low E string to encircle the D (one note above and one below) to help emphasize the D minor 13 sound of the arpeggio and end it on the 9th.

The final visualization trick

If we look at the positional arpeggio again:

Take a close look at the positional modal arpeggio! If you look at it as a group of 3-note shapes you’ll see that it’s actually made of of 3 triadic arpeggios: C Major, B diminished and A minor.

C Ionian = C maj + B dim + A min

Going back to the 2-string scalar observation in part 3 of this post, as the pitches ascend, the related arpeggios descend. This is true of any of the modal arpeggios – so it might be a cool way for you to visualize it! Try it with your own arpeggio forms!

In the next post, I’ll go through 7th chord arpeggios. In the meantime, try practicing the 2-string arpeggios over all of the chords of the C major scale:

C maj 7
D min 7
E min 7
F maj 7
G7
A min 7
B min7 b5

and then over whatever other tonal centers inspire youI hope this helps! As always, thanks for reading!

-SC

PS – if you like this post, you may also like:

Books:

Lessons

Visualizing Video Game Licks Or An Intro To Symmetrical 12 Tone Guitar Patterns

Posted on January 14, 2012 by GuitArchitecture

Hello everyone!

Update: My updated 12-tone pattern book is out! I want to give you a precursor by showing you a cool approach to working 12-tone ideas into your playing. This is a really long lesson because it’s tough to distill 200+ pages of material into a web post, but just take it in bite sized chunks and come back to it as you need to and I’m sure you’ll get something from it.

First, a little bit about the book!

The physical book and the e-book pdf are available on Lulu.com or on Amazon.com (or any of the international Amazon sites).

Symmetrical Twelve Tone Patterns is a 284 page book with a large reference component and about 100 pages of extensive notated examples and instruction.

What makes this book different (apart from the cover) and what I’m most excited about offering is a bundle of files that will help readers maximize material in the book. The bundle contains:

Guitar Pro files of all the examples in the book (in GP6 and GP5 format). For those of you unfamiliar with this musical notation, tablature platform and playback program, having Guitar Pro files means that the reader can hear the examples without having a guitar handy and can work as a phrase trainer to help the reader get the examples to up to speed.

MIDI files of the musical examples.

PDFs of the musical examples.

MP3s of all the musical examples (again, exported from the same material).

Symmetrical Twelve-Tone Patterns presents 12-tone patterns in both improvisational and compositional contexts. It shows how to create various intervallic lines and creates the outline of a tune and dissects how all the parts were created using this method. If you’re looking for ways to explore new avenues in playing or in your writing this is the book for you!

Fire up the video game

When I heard the Praxis Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) record, I was blown away with Buckethead’s playing. It also came at a time that I was getting into a lot of 12-tone music and trying to figure out how to adapt those things to guitar and his intervallic/atonal tapping ideas in particular seemed to go in a completely different direction that the 12-tone ideas I heard Jason Becker and Marty Friedman throw into their playing.

Public Service Announcement (i.e. a brief note about playing out):

Playing out just means playing note choices outside of a given tonality. By its very nature, playing out requires an ability to play “in” because it requires a contextual contrast. So my suggestion is that you make sure you develop your ability to play in a tonality as well as outside of it. (Also as a FYI – playing out is easy, but musicians are often judged by how musically they get back in).

Every once in a while, I get a hankerin’ for what I call “video game licks” (or symmetrical interval legato licks with a lot of gain and an unclear harmony). Shawn Lane could veer into that territory when he wanted to but for me, Buckethead is pretty much the king of this approach.

In the lick below, I’ve worked all 12 tones into a two-handed idea that uses pick and fret hand tapping. I’ve kept it short so that you can focus on the coordination between both hands, but I’ve included a longer version of the lick after it. As the lick uses all 12 tones, it doesn’t belong to any one key so try playing it over various chords or riffs of your choosing.

Technical Notes:

If you want to get this lick under your fingers, pay attention to the 3 T’s (hand tension, timing and tone) as you practice this.

Try to make sure that the motion from the fingers for striking the strings comes from the large knuckle of the hand (for more information on this see the glass noodles post).

The pattern is a variation on the tapping figure Greg Howe uses in kick it all over. It’s written in groups of 6 to fit into one bar – but just practice it slowly as triplets to get the initial speed and coordination down.

I never got into muti-finger tapping on phrases like this one (I just use the middle finger of the picking hand while I hold the pick with the index finger and thumb), but using the ring, middle and first finger on the picking hand for the upper register tapping you could probably work the phrase up to a tempo 30 bmp faster than this one.

Short lick faster

Short lick slower

Here’s an extended variation that moves the fingering pattern to the B and D strings. While the pattern doesn’t keep all of the same intervals as the first example, it has enough continuity to sound like the same 12 tone idea. One recommendation I have is not to get into the dogmatic practice of having to use all twelve tones. If 10 notes work well, use ten notes. In any process like this, use the rules that work for you and discard the rest.

While not notated, this pattern uses all of the same fingerings and note attacks as the first example.

Longer lick faster

Longer lick slower

Here’s how I’m visualizing this and how you can generate a lot of ideas from this one approach.

The 12-tone pattern vs the 12 tone row

When I first got into 12 tone music and tried to think of a way to incorporate it into improvising, I grabbed some Webern and Berg tone rows (in an over-simplified description – a tone row is a restructured chromatic scale that is used for melodic and harmonic material) and tried improvising with them.

It was pretty dismal.

I found them really hard to improvise with because the row material was difficult to memorize and the number of notes made it difficult to use in an improvisation and then I thought about generating 12-tone patterns instead of working with rows.

Patterns can be useful in improvisation because:

they can be used to generate motifs, or themes
they can be manipulated in real-time and
they can establish recognizable elements of control in an improvisation.

The other advantage of a pattern is that its intervallic consistency adds an internal drive to melodic ideas. The notes of the pattern move in and out of various tonalities, so it sounds “out” but not random (although you can modify it to be as random as you’d like.

In the 12 tone pattern book I wrote, I used a chromatic scale as a template for generating symmetrical patterns for improvisation. Intervallically uniform, the 12 notes of the chromatic scale are evenly divisible by the numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12. Since divisions of 1 and 12 do not divide the row into a more useable set, they can be ignored. This leaves:

6 equal divisions:

(of a descending chromatic scale staring on C)

C B / Bb A /Ab G /Gb F / E Eb / D Db

Taking the first note of each division gives us:

C, Bb, Ab, Gb/F#, E, D

aka: Whole tone scale (any note root)

A 12-tone pattern can be created by putting notes in between the notes of the whole tone scale. Note that the intervals between all the 2-note divisions are symmetrical.

C B / Bb A /Ab G /Gb F / E Eb / D Db

C A / Bb G /Ab F /Gb Eb / E Db / D B

C G / Bb F /Ab Eb /Gb Db / E B / D A

C F / Bb Eb /Ab Db /Gb B / E A / D G

C Eb/ Bb Db /Ab B /Gb A / E G / D F

C Db/ Bb B /Ab A /Gb G / E F / D Eb

One advantage to symmetrical patterns is that they work off of divisions you probably already know. If you can visualize a whole-tone scale, for example, filling in the other notes of the pattern becomes relatively easy.

4 equal divisions of the row:

C B Bb /A Ab G / Gb F E / Eb D Db

aka: C, Eb, Gb, A (Bbb)

aka: Diminished 7 chord (any note root)

3 equal divisions of the row:

C B Bb A /Ab G Gb F / E Eb D Db

aka: C E G#

aka:Augmented triad (any note root)

2 equal divisions of the row yields:

C B Bb A Ab G / (Gb/F#) F E Eb D Db

aka: Tritone interval either note could be root

Using the divisions to create a 12-tone pattern

Here’s how I came up with the original example. Using a diminished 7th chord as a starting point, the rest of the twelve tones could be filled in by playing three additional notes off each chord tone. Let’s say you have D diminished 7th chord (since any note in a diminished 7th chord can be a root it’s also a B, F and Ab diminished 7th chord).

B D F Ab

By adding 3 notes not already in use to each starting pitch you can create a 12-tone row. If you work out the same intervals on these notes you get a symmetrical twelve-tone pattern.

B (Perfect 5th down) E, (minor 2nd down) D#

D (Perfect 5th down) G, (minor 2nd down) F#

F (Perfect 5th down) Bb, (minor 2nd down) A

Ab (Perfect 5th down) Db, (minor 2nd down) C

Adapting it to guitar

Where this gets cool part 1:

If we restructure the order of the first notes we get two tritones a minor 3rd apart. Since the E and G strings are a minor 3rd apart this means that the fingering pattern will be the same on both sets of strings.

Where this gets cool part 2:

As I’ve mentioned before, using standard tuning the guitar can be visualized as three sets of strings tuned in 4ths. So this means that the same fingering can be used to generate the same intervals on the G and D strings.

From here, you can see where the approach for the first lick came from.

Taking it further

Another nice thing about patterns is that they’re easy to manipulate and draw other ideas from. Let’s take a look at the first 12 notes:

You can change the last four notes to create new lines.

Here are these two ideas in notation and tab.

You could apply the same two-handed idea we’ve been looking at to any of these patterns or, better yet, apply your own!

Here are the last two patterns starting with F-Bb

The next step is to change the middle notes of the pattern.

This creates 4 new patterns that start with F-E-A, F-E-Eb/D#, F-E-C and F-E-F#.

Here’s the same idea applied to F-C#/Db

And finally, patterns starting with F-G.

To sum up, that’s 16 very different licks all pulled from one approach and one initial pattern. This is really the tip of the iceberg for this concept but as you can see, you really don’t need more than one approach to get the ideas flowing and use them on your own.

Note:

Sometimes you get an idea and think that you’re doing something unique. You get all excited about it until (if you’re me) you realize that Dave Creamer addressed many of these points back in the June 1989 issue of Guitar Player. Dave’s article inspired me to continue to research this book and try to present similar material my own way.

* (I should also mention in passing that (with the better part of a year’s worth of research) – The GuitArchitect’s Guide to Symmetrical 12-Tone Patterns shows all possible symmetrical patterns for the 2, 3, 4 and 6 note divisions above.)

I hope this helps and thanks for reading!

-SC

The physical book and the e-book pdf are available on Lulu.com or on Amazon.com (or any of the international Amazon sites)

Symmetrical Twelve Tone Patterns is a 284 page book with a large reference component and about 100 pages of extensive notated examples and instruction.

What makes this book different (apart from the cover) and what I’m most excited about offering is a bundle of files that will help readers maximize material in the book. The bundle contains:

Guitar Pro files of all the examples in the book (in GP6 and GP5 format). For those of you unfamiliar with this musical notation, tablature platform and playback program, having Guitar Pro files means that the reader can hear the examples without having a guitar handy and can work as a phrase trainer to help the reader get the examples to up to speed.

MIDI files of the musical examples.

PDFs of the musical examples.

MP3s of all the musical examples (again, exported from the same material).

I like physical books and the softbound version looks really good on my music stand – but I understand that some people like pdfs. The softbound copy GuitArchitect’s Guide To Symmetrical Twelve-Tone Patterns is $35 (though it’s currently selling for $31.50 on Amazon) and the e-book pdf is $15. Both are available from The GuitArchitecture Product page on Lulu.

Creating Chords And Lines From Any Scale – A Harmonic Combinatorics / Spread Voicings Lesson

Posted on December 18, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Hello everyone!

I wanted to post a lesson up that uses one of my approaches to harmonizing scales from my Harmonic Combinatorics book. It’s a cool way to not only get away from stock voicings but also to generate new lines as well!

I’m using C Major as the tonal center for this lesson but the approach can (and probably should be) be adapted to any scale.

A couple of lessons ago, I talked about the modal microscope – which was a term I used to discuss examining modes on multiple levels and the advantage of viewing modes as subsets of a parent scale. Before I get into the harmonization approach I want to expand on this idea of the microscope analogy and apply it to harmony.

The Harmonic Microscope

If I harmonize a parent major scale in the key of C, I’ll end up with the following chords on each scale degree.

So if you’re playing in the key of C and want to get into more harmonic depth on an E minor chord, it’s time to reach into your chord bag and pull out your stock minor 11 (b9, b13) voicing. Oh, you don’t have one? Don’t worry – most guitarists don’t. Learning stock voicings and inversions for this specific chord form probably isn’t the best use of your time anyway.

Using the microscope analogy, this is really looking at the chord on a 2x setting.

Here’s the 1x setting for this example:

playing any combination of the notes from C Major over the root E creates some variant of an

E min / min7 / min7 (b9) / min 11 (b9, b13) chord.

And here’s the bigger picture:

Once you are aware of the types of sounds that are created from various chord types, you can start thinking about chords and chord voicings on the macro (i.e. parent scale) level. This means that if I’m playing over a D minor chord and using notes from the C major scale, I don’t have to analyze each indidual chord because I know it’s all under some type of generic D minor 7/minor 9/minor 11 or minor 13 umbrella.

Harmonic Combinatorics

Harmonic Combinatorics refers to a process of identifying “countable discrete structures” harmonically. In other words, it examines unique combinations of notes on all of the possible string combinations for the purposes of develop harmonic and melodic possibilities. One way to do this is through a method that I use to generate unique ideas through a process that some people refer to as spread voicings.

A Systematic Method For Harmonizing Any Scale Or Mode On The Guitar

It’s important to state at the outset that the method I’m employing is only one possible way to approach this exploration. I’ve taken this approach to maximize the number of unique voicings, but you should feel free to take any of the rules that I’ve applied to this approach (like eliminating octaves) with a grain of salt. The object is to gain new sounds – so change the patterns here in whatever ways necessary.

Here’s an approach that will give you more voicings and lines than you might have thought possible.

Step 1: Write out a scale and write the scale degree under each note.

(Example: C Major)

Step 2: On a blank chord sheet – write out the scale degrees on each string up to the 5^th fret.

(To clarify: The numbers on the left hand side of the diagram are the fret numbers ).

Step 3: Starting with the lowest note on the lowest string, write out all the initial voicing of all possible 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 note harmonies by scale degree on different string sets.

For example, if I was looking at the G, B and high E strings, some sample initial voicings would be

573, 574, 576, 513, 514, 516, 523, 524, 526, 534, 536

673, 674, 675, 613, 623

713, 723

173, 174, 175, 176, 123

You may have noticed that I skipped some voicings:

If you want to save some time and increase the number of unique chords try the following parameters:

No doubling of chord tones (Ex. 363). (Again – if you like that sound – use it! but the point of this process is to generate unique voicings with unique notes.)

At least one note in the voicing has to be the lowest on a string. If you look at 614 on the G, B and high E strings you’ll see that it’s really the second voicing of 573 on the frets below it. Having at least one note be the bottom note on any string will help ensure that you’re not just working out voicings that you may have already done.

The highest fret to be used in the first voicing is the 5^th fret. This last step is going to produce some voicings that aren’t playable on the lower frets, but might work in the upper registers.

Step 4: Select a string set and move the voicing in scale-wise motion up the strings to the octave.

For the purposes of this lesson – I’m going to focus primarily on 3 string groups, but this idea is applicable on any 2-6 string set of strings. (It’s worth mentioning that – Harmonic Combinatorics does all the work for this process for all string sets – (it’s also why it’s over 400 pages long!!)).

(Again, while this book follows this process through the key of C Major, this process can be applied to any tonal center.)

I’ve written out an example based on the D, G and B string set (i.e. 432) and gone with an initial voicing of a F, G and D (or 452).

(Note: The reason I start with numbers instead of notes is 1. It’s a lot easier to see if I’ve missed a number in a sequence when working these things out and 2. It eliminates the initial step of wondering what harmony I’m creating. This is simply a process that I’ve used with good results. If the numbering is weird for you, just use what works for you.)

This creates seven different voicings which could be played as a modal chord progression, used as the basis for a melodic idea or even isolated into individual chords. If this process yields even one chord that you like it’s worthwhile.

The function of the voicings will depend on the root. If you want to dig deeper into this area, you can use other notes as a root (note Harmonic Combinatorics includes a chart which shows all chord tones based on scale degree). I’ve posted the sound of the chords being played against an A root below. A was picked as a root because it’s an open string, but you could just as easily tap any note from the C major scale to create various modal sounds:

Playing C as the bass note will give you C Ionian sounds
Playing D as the bass note will give you D Dorian sounds
Playing E as the bass note will give you E Phrygian sounds
Playing F as the bass note will give you F Lydian sounds
Playing G as the bass note will give you G Mixolydian sounds
Playing A as the bass note will give you A Aeolian sounds
Playing B as the bass note will give you B Locrian sounds

Check out these chord sounds over A. In addition to possible comping ideas, these can be arpeggiated for melodic ideas as well.

A few notes on working with voicings

Here are some additional points to consider when using this process:

Common sense is your friend. If a chord seems difficult to play:

there is almost always an easier way to play it on another string set.

.
Since the voicings presented are in the key of C Major with no sharps or flats, the information (and approach) here is easily adaptable to other scales, modes etc…

If you find a voicing in C Major you like, just move it to whatever other key you’re playing in.

To create all of the C Melodic Minor (i.e. Jazz Minor) voicings – just change any E to Eb.

To create all of the C Harmonic Minor voicings – just change any E to Eb and any A to Ab.

Now I’ll talk about making melodic lines from this material.

Melodic Variations

As I mentioned earlier, these voicings can be played as melodies simply by playing the notes one at a time. In The GuitArchitect’s Positional Exploration and the GuitArchitect’s Guide to Modes: Melodic Patterns, I’ve outlined a series of methods for generating melodic variations. But since this approach is about combining things, it makes sense to at least look at some melodic possibilities with regards to note choice. I’ve decided to take a three-note voicing as it offers enough possibilites to be interesting, but not too many to be over-whelming and have chosen this pattern simply because I like the first voicing.

It sounds a little deceptive if you play it as is. This is because the first voicing is actually a G major chord in 1st inversion (i.e. with B in the bass). Here it is with the root of each chord added to the low E string (Try working them out and playing them!! There are come challenging chords there.)

but when you play it with the B as the lowest note it sounds like a B minor with the b3rd on the B string.

If you play it without harmonic backing, try changing any F natural to F # and it should sound more pleasing to you.

“Variety is the spice of life”

There are six unique melodic variations of any three-note chord or pattern.

These numbers represent note order. Assigning 1 as the lowest note and 3 as the highest – here are the unique variations on the first three notes.

Applying this idea, one possibility for 123 looks like this:

Two things to consider:

1. I’ve notated this as triplets for ease of reading, but the very first thing you should probably do (after getting the notes under your fingers is look for a more musical phrasing).

2. Again, if you play this without harmonic backing this may sound more “right” to you:

Alternating groups of 123 and 321 for each chord produces:

Combining the first 2 chords into a 6-note pattern allows even more flexibility. Here, I’ve moved the number order around and made a more interesting line.

One part of this phrase has caught my ear:

When I add a low E root, I get a cool little Phrygian phrase (with a couple of notes snuck in on the high E string).

The GuitArchitect’s Positional Exploration and the GuitArchitect’s Guide to Modes: Melodic Patterns, has a systematic approach to exploring these types of variations. Having said that, those of you who want to do the work, could just write down a collection of numbers and apply them to different ideas and see what happens.

The first important thing, however, is to experiment with different rhythms (including rests!), phrasings (like slides, hammer-on/pull offs) and make some music out this raw material.

The second important thing to consider is that with any approach like this you should:

take the things you like

use them in what you’re currently working on (songs, solos, etc)

make what you keep part of your sound and discard (or ignore) what you don’t use.

I cover some other approaches and break down the theory a little more in depth in Harmonic Combinatorics but I hope this lesson here helps and if you like this idea – you should check out the book (if you haven’t already)!

Thanks for reading!

-SC

If you like this post you may also like:

.

Books:

The Modal Microscope And A Sequenced Arpeggio Approach

Slash and Burn – Creating More Complex Sounds With Slash Chords

Making Music Out Of Scales

.

Chords/Triads/Superimposition/Arpeggios:

AUGMENT YOUR KNOWLEDGE: SONIC SHAPES AND GETTING MORE FROM AUGMENTED CHORDS

.

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

.

RECYCLING CHORDS PART II: TRIAD TRANSFORMATION

RECYCLING CHORDS PART I OR WHERE’S THE ROOT?

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FAVORED CURRY OR SPICING UP CHORD SCALES AND TRIADS PART 2

FAVORED CURRY OR SPICING UP CHORD SCALES AND TRIADS PART 1

.

RECYCLING SHAPES OR MODULAR ARPEGGIOS FOR FUN AND PROFIT

GLASS NOODLES – ADAPTING A PHILIP GLASS ARPEGGIO APPROACH TO GUITAR

.

Augment Your Knowledge: Sonic Shapes and Getting More From Augmented Chords

Posted on December 11, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Hi everyone!

I wanted to post a lesson that uses some of the material from my Positional Exploration book in a way that I didn’t get to cover in the text itself.

Back in November when Guitar-Muse posted the second part of my interview with Rob Balducci, Rob brought up a process he called chord morphing. When I saw it in the video, I slapped my head forehead loudly as I realized that while I mentioned that any of the melodic exercises in the Positional Exploration book could be played as a chord, I didn’t include chord tablature.

Anyway Rob had this cool idea of taking a 1-2-3-4 chromatic shape and playing it one note per fret on the bottom 4 strings which produces an Augmented chord like this:

Note:

Rob play this up on the 12-15th fret, but I’ve moved it to a low pitch of C for the purposes of explanation.

He then goes on to lower each note of the chord chromatically one at a time until he ends up with an augmented chord a 1/2 step away from where he started. I’ve detailed a sample of this below with analysis, when playing it the key to remember is keeping your fingers down and only moving finger playing the individual note that changes.

Sonic Shapes

So, I thought that was a cool way to:
.

warm up
find some new voicings (1 shape yields 4 chords total) and
see how different chord forms can be created by modifying existing voicings.

(You can check out my recycling chords post, for a pretty in-depth exploration of this idea with triads!)

And then I got to thinking about Sonic Shapes. Back in the day, Howard Roberts used to write a column for Guitar Player magazine and he had a whole series of columns that centered around an idea of sonic shapes, which is moving a fingering to different string sets to create different sounds. So here, I’ve taken the same 1-2-3-4 augmented shape and moved it to the 5th string:

And finally moving it to the top four strings:

Going Deeper

Then, because I couldn’t leave well enough alone, I started thinking about augmented chords in general. They’re neat little things because they’re intervallically symmetrical and any note in the chord can be the root.

You can also use them to visualize all of your 3-note major and minor inversions.

Here’s the first trick using augmented chords that I copped from Pat Martino:

If you sharp any note of an augmented chord you create a minor chord with the sharped note acting as the root

In the following chords, I’ve taken the original 4-note voicing I had (with doubled C) and sharped one note at a time which creates A minor, F minor and Db (or C#) minor.

Following through on this process, we can find voicings for every minor chord inversion. First I’ll go through the inversions of the 3-note augmented chord across each group of 3 strings:

With the augmented inversions outlined, try converting each voicing to a minor chord:

Raising C a 1/2 step creates a C#/Db minor chord
Raising E a 1/2 step creates a F minor chord
Raising G# a 1/2 step creates a A minor chord

Since augmented chords are symmetrical – the fingerings for inversions repeat every Major 3rd (i.e. 5 frets higher).

The next step is to move the entire pattern up 5 frets and repeat the process of converting the chords to minor.

Going up another 5 frets gives up the final inversion.

Once you get used to manipulating the augmented patterns to create all three minor chords, try taking one minor voicing (like A minor for example) and using the augmented visualization, try visualizing every inversion of A minor both across the fingerboard as well as on each string set.

Augmented visualization tip #2:

Here’s another cool trick from Mr. Martino:

if you flat any note in an augmented triad, the flatted note becomes the 5th of a major chord.

You can guess that the next step would be to apply this to all of the above inversions like you did with the minor.

To Review:

C / E/ G# (Ab) augmented can be transformed into:

A minor
F minor
C#/Db minor
C major
Ab major
E major

In a future post, I’ll talk about this as a melodic application, but in the meantime think about this:

If all of the above chords are related from C / E / G# augmented, then that augmented chord could be used as a bridge to cross bridge chords in very different key centers.

For Example:

A minor – C augmented – F minor.

A minor – C augmented – Db minor.

For those of you who have read my glass noodles post, you’ll see where this is going for a future lesson.

Enjoy the new voicings and thanks for reading!

PS – If you like this idea, you might find my Positional Exploration book, Harmonic Combinatorics Book, Chord Scale Book or Melodic Patterns book really helpful in generating new melodic ideas or approaches.

For posts here, you may also like:

.

Chords/Triads/Superimposition/Arpeggios:

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

.

RECYCLING CHORDS PART II: TRIAD TRANSFORMATION

RECYCLING CHORDS PART I OR WHERE’S THE ROOT?

.

FAVORED CURRY OR SPICING UP CHORD SCALES AND TRIADS PART 2

FAVORED CURRY OR SPICING UP CHORD SCALES AND TRIADS PART 1

.

RECYCLING SHAPES OR MODULAR ARPEGGIOS FOR FUN AND PROFIT

GLASS NOODLES – ADAPTING A PHILIP GLASS ARPEGGIO APPROACH TO GUITAR

.

Books

The Modal Microscope And A Sequenced Arpeggio Approach

Posted on November 30, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Hello everyone!

I’ve been cleaning up a lot of the text for the GuitArchitecture book releases and wanted to post a lesson that uses some ideas and approaches from my Melodic Patterns book (available here). But first, I need to talk about…

The Modal Microscope

When I explain using modes to students – I typically use the analogy of a microscope to discuss viewing modes conceptually on multiple levels.

Let’s say I want to solo over a D min7 chord. So I’ll put that “under the microscope”.

On the 2x setting, I see that a number of minor modes will work over D min7. In this case, I’ll choose Dorian.

Going to the 4x setting on the microscope, I see that Dorian is made up of a series of interlocking 2-string patterns.

Note:

If you’re unfamiliar with the 2-string approach I’m discussing I definitely recommend that you check out part 2, part 3a or part 3b of my guide to modes posts.

If I go to the 8x setting, I can break the 2-string patterns down into 1 string shapes and going to a higher resolution (16x) I can see those shapes as individual notes. At the 16x setting – maybe I’m looking at the individual notes of D min7 (D, F, A and C) and thinking about accenting those notes in my playing.

If I now go out to the 1x setting – I see that D Dorian is just a subset of C major. The thing is if you go playing a bunch of C major scales over D dorian and don’t resolve anything (or focus on the chord tones) – you’re missing a big piece of the puzzle.

It’s good to understand modes on multiple levels but if you see how all of the related modes interlock with each other, then (using the microscope analogy), you can deal with using modes with chords on the 1x or 2x level but use information from the higher levels in your playing.

Putting this to use:

I’ve posted a number of technical things here and decided to use a much lower gain approach than normal and slow things down a bit. The same practice points as before (Tone, Tension and Timing) apply – but this exercise is all about how to find variations in small things. (If you like the technical things don’t worry I’ve included some deceptively tricky variations as well!)

Let’s take a 2-string G Major shape.

The nice things about 2-string patterns like this is that the fingering repeats at each octave. (So you only need to remember one fingering for a multi octave run).

One process I explore in my Melodic Patterns book is systematically breaking down patterns to get new sounds out of them. In this case, I’m going to remove the 2nd and 4th note from the pattern which leaves me with this shape:

Looking closely at the notes reveals that I have a G, B, C and E which is a C maj7 arpeggio. By limiting it to a 2-string shape, I can move it in octaves and the fingering stays the same.

Note:

The drums are the same pattern I’ve used on my other posts, so you can play against it for any other the things I post here (more info below).

.(I’ve added a C maj7 chord in front of this to give a sense of tonality.)

Going to a higher resolution

I know that G parent major also contains A Dorian – which works well over A minor chords. So playing this shape over A minor the notes – now become: b7 (G), 9 (B), b3 (C) and 5th (E). Which has a cool sound associated with it. (I’ve subbed out A min7 for C maj 7 here for the opening chord).

Sequencing the ideas:

However cool any scale or arpeggio is, playing it in a linear up and down manner will only get you so far. By playing groups of notes in short sequences, the arpeggio gains a little melodic drive.

In this first variation I’ll play groups of 3 (So I’m playing 3 ascending notes from each note of the arpeggio). One way to immediately make this more interesting is to break the 3 note grouping out of the triplet rhythm. Playing the same pattern in 16ths – displaces the first note of each pattern across different beats.

Here’s the same idea descending: (This is another case where the microscope idea comes into play. The A note ending the phrase isn’t part of the 4 note arpeggio – but gives the descending line a sense of resolution. Since I’m seeing and hearing the phrase as an A minor tonality – I’m resolving it to the tonic (A), third (C) or 5th (E).

For a little variety – I’ve taken the same idea but played it as sextuplets instead. I’ve notated the first bar of it (as the notes are the same as the patterns above) – but I play it ascending and descending on the mp3 below.

5 alive

To get a little more mileage out of this arpeggio, I’m going to play the notes in groups of 5. Here it is in a 1/16 note rhythm (I’ve left off the last 2 notes to keep it on one line).

Technical note:

Watch the position skip on the A/D and the B/ G strings!!

Here it is as septuplets (5 notes to the beat).

Changing the note order

You may have noticed that all of these arpeggios use a linear note order in the sequence. So if G is the first note of the 1st pattern and B is the 2nd note – every pattern moves in straight ascending or descending order.

3 Note Pattern: G, B, C/B, C, E/C, E, G

in note order = 1,2, 3/2, 3, 4/ 3, 4, 1 etc.

But what if we varied up the note order? In this example, I’m going to take play groups of 3 descending notes on each ascending note of the arpeggio. (So instead of playing note numbers 1,2 3 – I’m playing 3-2-1).

Here it is descending:

Displacing the rhythm by a 1/16 makes it cooler.

And again, descending:

Obligatory Plug

I’m only scratching the surface of what’s possible here. The big takeway here is – if you really go deep on even something small – you can probably find interesting things that will work in your playing.

I would also be remiss in not mentioning that my melodic patterns book shows every possible unique combination of notes (and rests) in 1 – 6 note shapes and then shows how to combine them into longer sequences (up to 9 note patterns). It is a deep resource that can open all manner of melodic and compositional doors (and makes a great gift as well!) ; )

Tones

I went with another tonal variation here and tried some of the lower gain settings on the Scuffham amp AU. It’s a cool product and I should have a review up soon. In the meantime – he’s a screenshot of the laptop set up I used to track this:

Click to see full size

I‘ve mentioned this in the laptop guitar posts – but the varispeed is a useful plug-in! When I get bored with a metronome sound – I’ll throw a drum loop into the AU fileplayer and then use the varispeed to control the speed of the loop.

As always, I hope this helps!

-SC

If you like this post, you may also like:

Books:

LESSONS

.

Slash and Burn – Creating More Complex Sounds With Slash Chords

The GuitArchitect’s Guide to Modes Part 8 – Major Positional Modal Interchange and Complimenting Modes with Chords

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 7 – MINOR POSITIONAL MODAL INTERCHANGE AND COMPLIMENTING MODES WITH CHORDS

.

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 6 – THE CIRCLE OF 5THS AND MODAL INTERCHANGE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 5 – MAKING THE MOST OF ONE PATTERN

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

.

Chords/Triads/Superimposition/Arpeggios:

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

.

RECYCLING CHORDS PART II: TRIAD TRANSFORMATION

RECYCLING CHORDS PART I OR WHERE’S THE ROOT?

.

FAVORED CURRY OR SPICING UP CHORD SCALES AND TRIADS PART 2

FAVORED CURRY OR SPICING UP CHORD SCALES AND TRIADS PART 1

.

RECYCLING SHAPES OR MODULAR ARPEGGIOS FOR FUN AND PROFIT

GLASS NOODLES – ADAPTING A PHILIP GLASS ARPEGGIO APPROACH TO GUITAR

.

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

.

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

.

The Ballad Of Cigar-Boy Or Threading Unlikely Connections Together Through Unison Tapping

Posted on November 5, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

The Story of Cigar Boy

has moved! You can find the all new and improved version here! (http://www.guitar-muse.com/unlikely-connections-unison-tapping-7805)

Slash and Burn – Creating More Complex Sounds With Slash Chords

Posted on October 28, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Hello all,

I wanted to take a break from the excerpts from the modes book I’ve been posting and post a lesson that’s based on material from my new Harmonic Combinatorics Book. In that book, I have an entire section about using triads and 7th chords to create more complex sounds.

Here’s the two sentence synopsis:

Playing a minor chord (or arpeggio) a 1/2 step below a major triad implies a Lydian sound by giving you upper chord tensions (7, 9, #11) of that major chord. (i.e. B minor/C).

Playing a minor chord (or arpeggio) a step above a minor triad implies a Dorian sound by giving you the upper chord tensions (9, 11, 13) of the minor chord. (i.e. playing B minor over A minor).

Seeing (and making sense of ) the bigger picture:

When beginning players see a 3rd position C major chord they see something like this:

But an experienced player sees something more like this:

One of the secrets to seeing more of the fretboard is to see chord tones relationally. I’ll show you how to do that by applying some of the approaches from a previous Triad Transformation lesson:

Taking a C major chord:

C Major Triad

(here’s a reference chord):

Lowering the root a 1/2 step gives you a major 7 chord:

C Major 7

C Major 7:

Lowering the 3rd a 1/2 step gives you a 9th. Since there’s no other 3rd in the chord – this becomes a slash chord of G Major over C (written G/C). It has a lot of the sound of a major 9th chord – but because it’s missing the 3rd it really only implies the tonality.

G / C

G/C:

If you want this to sound like a Major 9th, we’ll need to add a 3rd in as well.

C Major 9

C Maj 9

Lowering the 5th a 1/2 step gives us the #4 (aka the # 11). Here I’ve kept the 3rd to make it a Major 9 (#11) chord.

C Major 9 (#11)

C Maj 9 (#11)

Notice that if we lower the root a 1/2 step – we have a B minor triad:

B Minor

So, as a short cut, playing a B minor over C we imply the sound of a C major 9 (#11) chord without having to memorize a separate voicing.

Melodic Application

This extends into lead playing as well. Rather than just playing a C major arpeggio over a C chord, here I’ve replaced the bottom note of a B minor arpeggio with a C and resolved it to C:

B min / C or C Lydian Lick

C Lydian lick (louder than the chord mp3s- FYI):

Here’s another chord voicing of B minor/C:

B minor / C

When I see voicings that use the middle notes of the 7th fret, I generally try to think of ways to incorporate harmonics into it. In this example, I’ve added harmonics in to fill out a B minor arpeggio with some encircling to resolve it to C. I forgot the fermata on the first chord – but you’ll figure it out when you hear the mp3.

B min / C aka C Lydian Lick 2

C Lydian Lick 2:

Now we’ll take this in a different direction: playing B minor over A minor implies a cool A minor 13 sound. I’ve added an A to lick #1, and a semi-chromatic run that skips the 3rd and makes it a more open sound.

B min / A min – A Dorian Lick

B min/A Dorian Lick:

I’ve resolved the lines to the root notes of the chords I’m playing over – but you may want to stay on a tension depending on the context.

With any approach like this – always use your ears as a guide for what sounds good and what doesn’t.

The Quiz:

Did you notice anything about the C major voicings? Using a B minor triad doesn’t take it to the 13th.

In any chord tone voicing, raising the 5th a step gives you the 6th (if no 7th is in the chord) or (in this case) the 13th So using our initial voicings, the easiest way to bring in the 13th is to raise the G on the high E string to A.

B min 7 / C Implying C maj 13 (#11)

Looking at at a little deeper,

if we fully spell out this chord:

C (root)
E (3rd)
G (5th)
B (7th)
D (9th)
F# (#11) and
A (13)

the top 3 notes form a D major chord. As a modified rule for playing over a major chord:

Playing a minor chord (or arpeggio) a 1/2 step below a major triad implies a Lydian sound by giving you upper chord tensions (7, 9 and #11) of that major chord. (i.e. B minor/C).

Playing a major chord (or arpeggio) a step above a major triad also implies a Lydian sound by giving you the upper chord tensions (9, #11 and 13) of the minor chord. (i.e. playing D/C).

As with any material here, pay attention to the 3 T’s (Timing, (hand) Tension and Tone) and just go through the lesson at your own pace and return to it as you need to.

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

-SC

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

.

MAKING MUSIC OUT OF SCALES

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

.

RECYCLING CHORDS PART II: TRIAD TRANSFORMATION

RECYCLING CHORDS PART I OR WHERE’S THE ROOT?

.

FAVORED CURRY OR SPICING UP CHORD SCALES AND TRIADS PART 2

FAVORED CURRY OR SPICING UP CHORD SCALES AND TRIADS PART 1

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

.

The GuitArchitect’s Guide to Modes Part 8 – Major Positional Modal Interchange and Complimenting Modes with Chords

Posted on October 15, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Welcome to the part eight 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

part 4

part 5

part 6 or

part 7 of the series

In the last lesson, I took a look at adapting minor chords to modes and modal interchange. In this lesson – I’m going to apply the same process to major chords.

Note:

I’ve outlined this process thoroughly in part 7, so if you have questions – just check the instructions there.

One Chord Modal Interchange Exercise – Major

Of the parent major scale modes I’ve been covering – there are 3 that can be used over an A major chord:

A Lydian (E major):

A Lydian – Click to enlarge

A Ionian (A Major):

A Ionian – Click to enlarge

A Mixolydian (D major):

A Mixolydian – Click to enlarge

Here’s the major-based chord progression:

Repeat each bar 2-4 times ** Click to enlarge**

Here are the steps (repeated from Part 7):

Record or loop the pattern in time

Playing over the loop practice switching modes each bar. I’ve outlined the fingerings above (see earlier posts in the series if you want to see how I derived them) with a sample rhythm. As an initial step – just practice ascending and descending the patterns in a scalar fashion.

As the level of familiarity with the modal interchanges increases, try removing the repeats and increasing the tempo (thus increasing the difficulty level).

Note:

Make sure you don’t start every bar with the low A root!

The goal of this is to be able to switch between modes “mid-stream”. As a first step, when playing these ascending and descending make sure that wherever you are in the pattern ascending or descending that you transition into the next mode smoothly. The initial goal here isn’t speed – it’s fluidity and being in control of switching between modes.

(See the melodic note below for some other tips once you get comfortable with the transition).

Now let’s examine each chord (and mode) individually:

First measure: A Major

A Major – Play A Lydian, A Ionian or A Mixolydian – Click to enlarge

The modes could be played over this chord are:

A Lydian (recommended), A Ionian (be careful of the 4th) and A Mixolydian

Measure 2: A Major 7

Lowering the root to G# creates an A major 7 chord – which works with either A Lydian or A Ionian.

A Major 7 – Play A Lydian or A Ionian – Click to enlarge

Measure 3: Lowering the G# to G produces an A7 – stick with A Mixolydian for this one.

A7 – Play A Mixolydian – Click to enlarge

Measure 4: I’m going to start the process of chromatically ascending certain pitches rather than descending. So I’ll go back to A Major here.

Measure 5: Raising the 3rd (C#) a 1/2 step to D produces an Asus4 chord. The #4 in Lydian will clash with the natural 4th – so go with Ionian or Mixolydian for this one.

A sus4 – Play A Ionian or A Mixolydian – Click to enlarge

Measure 6: Raising the 4th another 1/2 step results in an A major (add #11) – a chord firmly in the domain of A Lydian.

A Major (add #11) – Play A Lydian – Click to enlarge

The chord progression then goes back to A major where any of the 3 modes could be used.

Notes:

Harmonic – If you’re playing with another musician try taking this one chord vamp idea and using your ear to change the chord when the soloist changes modes. You can make other chordal alterations as well creating melodic movement in the voicing – is a great approach to use both in comping on a single chord as well as creating melodic movement between 2 chords (more on that in another lesson).

Melodic – As the soloist in this approach – try to change modes then the rhythm player changes chords. As soon as you get comfortable with the shapes – try making melodies and taking them through each modal change. (See part 5 for an example of that process with one modal shape).

The nice thing about playing with human beings (rather than sequences) is that people can introduce random factors into playing. A person can make all kinds of melodic or harmonic decisions that require the other person to change and adapt. It develops a dialog and allows people to become more attune to playing with other people (and ultimately more musical).

The next lesson will cover a go a little deeper into modal chord progressions and offer some new challenges. As before, just go through the lesson at your own pace and return to it as you need to. Also 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 7 – MINOR POSITIONAL MODAL INTERCHANGE AND COMPLIMENTING MODES WITH CHORDS

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 6 – THE CIRCLE OF 5THS AND MODAL INTERCHANGE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 5 – MAKING THE MOST OF ONE PATTERN

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 4 – MODES AND CHORDS

.

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 7 – Minor Positional Modal Interchange and Complimenting Modes with Chords

Posted on October 8, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Welcome to the seventh 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

part 4

part 5 or

part 6 of the series

In the last lesson, I took a look at the modes and the circle of 5ths. In this lesson, I’m going to:

show how to modify a minor chord to cover minor modal interchanges and
show how to switch modal patterns in position

Complimenting Modes with Chords

A lot of print has been used to describe how modes fit with chords but substantially less has been written about modifying chords to fit various modes. I’ve developed this approach as an introductory way to work on modal interchange it does three things:

Limits harmonic content to simplify the modal interchange process
show a way to modify chords to work with modes and
develops the skill set for changing modes in position.

(All useful skills to have – btw). Since I’ve been dealing with C major – I’m going to look at A minor (the relative minor chord) first.

One Chord Modal Interchange Exercise – Minor

Before we get into the exercise, let’s make sure we’re clear about the modes we’ll be using. Of the parent major scale modes I’ve covered – there are 3 that can be used over an A minor chord:

A Dorian (G major):

Click to enlarge

A Aeolian (C major):

Click to enlarge

A Phrygian (F major):

Click to enlarge

Here’s the accompaniment pattern:

Repeat each bar 2-4 times ** Click to enlarge**

Here are the steps:

Record or loop the pattern in time

Playing over the loop practice switching modes each bar. I’ve outlined the fingerings above (see earlier posts in the series if you want to see how I derived them) with a sample rhythm. As an initial step – just practice ascending and descending the patterns in a scalar fashion.

As the level of familiarity with the modal interchanges increases, try removing the repeats and increasing the tempo (thus increasing the difficulty level).

Note:

Make sure you don’t start every bar with the low A root!

(See the melodic note below for some other tips once you get comfortable with the transition).

Now let’s examine each chord (and mode) individually:

First measure: arpeggiate a minor chord in 4/4 time (in this case A minor).

A minor – Play A Dorian, A Aeolian or A Phrygian – Click to enlarge

In order of increasing darkness, the modes could be played over that chord are:

A Dorian, A Aeolian and A Phrygian

Measure 2: adapt the chord to a specific mode using the mode’s characteristic note.

The first mode explored in this example will be A Phrygian. Since Phrygian’s characteristic note is the b2, I’ll change the 2nd root (A) with the b2 (Bb) creating an A minor (add b9).

A minor add b9 – Play A Phrygian – Click to enlarge

Measure 3: I’ll continue the chromatic motion on the G string changing the Bb to B natural. This produces an A minor (add 9).

A minor add 9 – Play A Dorian or A Aeolian – Click to enlarge

Measure 4: Now the 5^th of the chord (E) will move chromatically to F, emphasizing the b6 of the Aeolian mode creating an A minor (add 9, b6) chord.

A minor add 9 add b6 – Play A Aeolian – click to enlarge

Measure 5: The 6th of the chord will now move chromatically to F# emphasizing the natural 6 of the Dorian mode and creating an A minor (add 6, 9) chord.

A minor add 6, 9 – Play A Dorian – Click to enlarge

The chord progression then goes back to A minor where any of the 3 modes could be used.

Notes:

Harmonic – If you’re playing with another musician try taking this one chord vamp idea and using your ear to change the chord when the soloist changes modes. You can make other chordal alterations as well creating melodic movement in the voicing – is a great approach to use both in comping on a single chord as well as creating melodic movement between 2 chords (more on that in another lesson).

Melodic – As the soloist in this approach – try to change modes then the rhythm player changes chords. As soon as you get comfortable with the shapes – try making melodies and taking them through each modal change. (See part 5 for an example of that process with one modal shape).

The next lesson will cover Major chord variations in this same style. But if you want to get a head start the process is the same as what I just covered, the characteristic notes for the major modes are:

Lydian: #4

Major: Natural 7

Mixolydian: b7

As before, just go through the lesson at your own pace and return to it as you need to. Also 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 6 – THE CIRCLE OF 5THS AND MODAL INTERCHANGE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 5 – MAKING THE MOST OF ONE PATTERN

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 4 – MODES AND CHORDS

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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

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Making Music Out Of Scales

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

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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

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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

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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

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

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The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 6 – The Circle of 5ths and Modal Interchange

Posted on October 2, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Welcome to the sixth 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

part 4 or

part 5 of the series.

In the last lesson, I took a look at using one fingering pattern to play all of the modes. I wanted to get the sounds under your fingers a little bit and then start to explain a context for them a little more.

In this lesson, I’m going to go into modal interchange more in-depth. To get deeper into modes, we need to talk about Relative Modes versus Parallel Modes, examine tonal centers and keys and talk about Modal Interchange.

Organizing the sounds of the different modes:

While the different modes of a parent major scale all contain the same notes, each mode has a unique sound.

For the purposes of this lesson, modes of the major scale will fall into one of two (overly general) categories (Major or Minor) based on their third scale degree.

The sounds of the modes are based on their scale formula. Their scale formula is based on their relationship to their parallel major mode.

For Example:

To determine the scale formula of, say, C Mixolydian, the notes of C Mixolydian would be compared to the notes of a C major scale.

Since C Mixolydian is spelled C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb, and

C Major is spelled C, D, E, F, G, A, B,

the scale formula of C Mixolydian is b7.

Relative versus Parallel Major

C major is the relative major scale to A natural minor (A Aeolian) because both are part of the same parent major scale

C major is the parallel major scale of C natural minor (C Aeolian).

In this case they share a common root, but C natural minor has a different parent major scale than C major.

Here’s a table that shows the parallel modes of C Major and their scale formula.

The Tonal Cycle of 5ths

Listing the modes in order of scale degree (Ionian, Dorian, etc.) is one way to work through the modes but a more logical way to see the relationship of the modes is to place them in a tonal circle of 5ths. So first let’s talk about the circle of 5ths versus the tonal circle.

The circle of 5ths:

The circle of fifths is a way to see all of the major and minor keys and key signatures in a logical order. The Wikipedia page on it offers an excellent detailed explanation – but seeing the actual circle will help clear things up.

: Circle of 5ths taken from Wikipedia.com

From the pitch C :

moving in clockwise motion, the number of sharps in a key signature increase sequentially with each tonal center a 5th away. (C, G, D, A etc.)

moving in counterclockwise motion the number of flats in a key signature increase sequentially with each tonal center a 4th away. (C, F, Bb, Eb etc.)

This is a very handy and compact way to see tonal centers and relative major/minor scales – but adapting it to a tonal circle of 5ths will help clarify modes in a very unique way.

The Tonal Cycle of 5ths:

In a tonal circle of 5ths, the circle moves in diatonic 5ths (and thus stays in a particular key). In the key of C it looks like this:

The next note in a circle of 5ths after B would be F#, but keeping it in a tonal cycle of 5ths the key of C major, the next note would be F natural.

Now that we have a tonal cycle of 5ths in C Major, let’s fill in the modes associated with each note of C Major.

Now let’s insert the scale formula of each mode:

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Note:

the scale formula is listed as a series of cumulative alterations rather than sequential.

In general, the more flats in the modal scale formula, the darker the sound.

Modal Interchange

The key to using these to create modal sounds is what is called Modal Interchange.

As a simplified definition – a mode associated with a specific chord will work over the same chord in any other key. In other words, D Dorian could be played over any D minor 7 chord in any other key that has a D minor 7 chord in it.

Rather than thinking of modal ideas when I play, an easier way (for me) to think about modal sounds is to think of parent scales since all the modes are derived from a parent scale (and it’s less to keep track of).

If I’m playing a song in the key of F major:

soloing over a Dm7 chord
and playing the notes from the C parent major scale over that chord
I’m playing in D Dorian.

If I use notes from the F major scale, I’m playing in D Aeolian.

If I use notes from the Bb major scale, I’m playing in D Phrygian.

Since I’ve been dealing with C major – I’ll give a C parallel mode example:

If you want a C Lydian sound – you’re really talking about playing a G parent major scale over a C Major / C Major 7th) chord or a C major chord progression. Here’s a shortcut:

Note (repeated from part 5):

This is a tricky area. 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.

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

That being said, the first step in any playing process is knowing where to put your fingers – so working through scales is as good a place to start as any….

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

Next Steps

In the next part of this series I’m going to give some major and minor positional approaches and talk about a cool way to use modes to modify chords. In the meantime you may want to familiarize yourself with the shapes in part 3b of the lesson series.

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

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