The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes – Part 13 Not-peggios

Posted on March 24, 2013 by GuitArchitecture

Hello everyone!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything mode related. So I thought I’d make up for some lost time by posting this lesson.

Not-peggios?

Those of you who have been following the licks in this blog for a while have probably figured out that one of my favorite melodic approaches is to work in the area between scales and arpeggios.

For those of you who remember all the way back to part 11 of this series – this idea works on the same approach but with triads.

Step 1: Extracting the Not-peggio

This idea uses the same 3-note-per-string / two string idea that’s behind all the visualization process here. But to review: Let’s start with a B Locrian scale pattern on the E and A strings:

From there: I’m going to remove the 1st and 3rd notes of the pattern:

Leaving a C major major triad with an added 4th which is something that intervallically lies somewhere between an arpeggio and a scale. Technically it’s a close voiced arpeggio but the “not-peggio” tag has worked better for me when I explain to people so I’ll use it here as well.

Call it scrapple, grapple or anything else that will help you remember it – the naming convention is much less important than getting it under your fingers and in your ears so you can play it.

The good news is that applying this approach to a Major scale only produces four unique qualities of these melodic devices which I’ll talk about below.

One brief technical note: I recommend either one of following picking patterns for any of the 4-note shapes presented here:

If you’re used to alternate picking, that will work as well but I find that the semi-swept approach of the first example gives me a more uniform sound for legato playing. It’s counter-intuitive but check the A minor straight ascending mp3 below to see what I mean.

Major add 4

This shape doesn’t really work that well over major chords because the 4th (aka 11) is an avoid tone over a major chord.

However they do work well over minor chords. Try playing the C Ionian shape over an A Minor but for the most part, I find the major add # 4 shape to be one I use much more often.

Major add #4

I’ve talked about this before – but a kind of cool applied theory trick is that Lydian and Dorian are relative major/minor substitutions. By that I mean that while C major is the relative major key of A natural minor related chords scales C Lydian and A Dorian both come from the same parent major scale (in this case G Major). So licks generated from this source will do double duty over both major and minor chords. A two-fer if you will (or won’t – I understand either way).

Let’s apply this idea to G Dorian.

Here’s the 4-note shape taken from F# Phrygian:

And here it is an a 3 octave form:

Here’s a more sequences lick type of approach:

Here’s the audio – with a short descend of the patten ending on the G on the 8th fret of b string.

You can try this approach over E minor for an E Dorian type sound as well.

Minor add 4

Okay a couple of quick tips here. Since you don’t get the natural 6 of Dorian or the b2 of Phrygian in these shapes – they’re not really going to give you much of the flavor of those modes.

In this case, I’ll use the A Aeolian shape over A minor and F Major chords.

A Minor:

In this audio example I play the 3 octave form and then play the multi-octvave sequenced idea.

Used over F Major:

Now I’ll take the same sequenced idea and apply it over an F major lick. Here’s an audio example. I slid up to the G on the 15th fret of the high E string and then descended with some tremolo bar scoops along the way.

Normally, applying an A Aeolian idea over F major would give it a Lydian sound – but the lack of the B (#4) in the pattern makes it a little more open sounding to me.

Finally – here’s the Diminished form.

Diminished add 4

Looking at the notes here (B, D, F, E) – I see the upper notes of a G7 (add 13) chord: G [Root] – B [3rd] – D [5th] – F [b7] – E [13]. So this pattern is one I use in Dominant 7th situations.

Here’s the basic pattern:

And here’s the application over a G7 chord. It uses the same pattern sequencing idea as the other examples ascending but bends into a couple of notes including the 3rd on the B string for the final note.

Next time? Some Melodic and Harmonic Minor shapes to get under your fingers.

As always, I hope this helps!

-SC

PS – if you like the ideas in this approach – the following books will help you expand on this idea exponentially!

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Chord Scales

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes: Melodic Patterns

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes: Harmonic Combinatorics

Hot Rodding Your Minor Arpeggios – Or A Little Theory Goes A Long Ways

Posted on April 30, 2012 by GuitArchitecture

Hey everyone!

This post is tangentially related to the Modal Arpeggio posts that I put online so I’ve adapted the title (just like I’m going to be adapting the arpeggios in the post).

“Minor minor on the wall….”

Let’s look at a 5-string A minor arpeggio:

Now there’s nothing wrong with this form. But I find that a lot of people practice this arpeggio ascending and descending and then when it’s time to play over an A minor chord guess how they play it?

There was a time in the ’80’s where just cycling an A minor arpeggio over an A minor chord would cut it, but now it’s (yawn) boring. So what can we do to make it more interesting?

Start with the Top Side

In a previous post, I talked about modifying triads to get more complex sounds. In this lesson I’ll apply that to arpeggios.

The following is a map of alterations to show how chord tones can be modified to create other sounds.

So with any triad:

The root of the chord can be lowered to the 7 or raised to the 9

The third of the chord can be lowered to the 9 or raised to the 11

The fifth of the chord can be lowered to the 11 or raised to the 13

In this manner, a triad can be altered into almost any other functional chord.

Let’s apply this to a minor arpeggio.

In the case of A minor I’m going to change the C on the high E string to B. This creates an A minor (add 9) sound.

This is already a more interesting sound over an A minor chord to my ears. But cycling the top notes of the arpeggio creates an interesting arpeggio sequence along the lines of something Tosin Abasi of Animals For Leaders might cycle (Try combining this lick with the one before it to see what I mean).

Going under the Hood

This modification idea can be applied to any of the notes of the arpeggio, but for a moment let’s go in the opposite direction.

In the previous post I talked about superimposing arpeggios. Here I’ll take the same arpeggio form and drop the low note.

Instead of stacking ascending thirds like so:

A [up a 3rd]

C [up a 3rd]

I’m going to go a 3rd below A to F. In this example I hammer on the 2nd note and then play the rest with sweep picking.

Over F, these notes become:

F (Root), A (Major 3rd), C (5th), E (Major 7th) and B (#11) or F Maj7 #11.

Using F# instead:

These notes then become:

F# (Root), A (Minor 3rd), C ( flat 5th), E (minor 7th) and B (11) or F Minor 7 b5 (add #11).

You could also make to low note G on the 10th fret for an A minor 9 sound (starting from the b7 – G) or make the low note an E which creates a A minor (add 9) arpeggio starting from the 5th.

For now, let’s stick with the F major 7 (add #11). If we stack another 3rd below the F, we get D which creates a D minor 9 (add 13) sound.

The natural 13 with the minor 9 is truly a Dorian modal arpeggio sound. To play a simplified version – just play the F major 7 (#11) arpeggio above over a d minor chord.

In the following example, I’ve added an open A string to the F major 7 (add #11) arpeggio. Try playing this as a repeating figure which changing chords over the top of it. It might give you a new song idea!

Hopefully this has given you some ideas and some new things to work on. In the next lesson post, we get back into modes and get deeper into the individual modes.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps!

-SC

PS If you like this post you may also like:.

The Modal Microscope And A Sequenced Arpeggio Approach

Slash and Burn – Creating More Complex Sounds With Slash Chords

.

CREATING CHORDS AND LINES FROM ANY SCALE – A HARMONIC COMBINATORICS / SPREAD VOICINGS LESSON

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

Slash and Burn – Creating More Complex Sounds With Slash 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

.

RECYCLING CHORDS PART II: TRIAD TRANSFORMATION

RECYCLING CHORDS PART I OR WHERE’S THE ROOT?

RECYCLING SHAPES OR MODULAR ARPEGGIOS FOR FUN AND PROFIT

.

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 GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 12 – Getting Into Modal Arpeggios – Superimpostion

Posted on April 3, 2012 by GuitArchitecture

Hello everyone!

Greetings from NYC! While I’m still unpacking and waiting for instruments and boxes to make it here from South Pasadena I thought I’d mix and match a few ideas from my GuitArchitect’s Guide to Chord Scales book and modal arpeggios and talk about more ways to recycle things you already know!

2-string or not 2-string

(is that really the question?)

I’ve been talking a lot about 2 string arpeggios. They’re really useful things in soloing because you can take a figure like this:

and move it in octaves while keeping the same fingering.

It’s a really useful visualization tool, and a relatively easy way to cover a lot of range on the instrument.

The real secret behind this approach is how you use the arpeggio or:

“So what about this superimposition thing?”

Superimposition is simply playing one thing on top of something that’s related but not in an immediately direct way. Logic would dictate that you would play a C major 7 arpeggio over a C major chord. That’s certainly one valid use, but it’s really not superimposing the chord because their directly related (i.e. Cmaj7 and C major). Playing a C major 7 arpeggio over say a d minor or an e minor chord is getting more into what we’re talking about here.

In the examples below, I’ll be using a bass note to indicate tonality. If you have a recording of a chord (or a bass note) to play over – just play the c major 7 arpeggio over one of those – otherwise you can use your fretting hand to tap each of the notes of the arpeggio (see the glass noodles post if you’re unfamiliar with the technique) and use your picking hand to tap the bass notes in the figure (and to help mute the strings)!

If the C major 7 chord is created by stacking ascending 3rds (C, E, G, B) then we should be able to go the reverse direction using descending 3rds from the root. Going a 3rd below C gives us A which creates A, C, E, G, B or an A minor 9 arpeggio (no root):

Going a 3rd below A gives us F which implies: F (root), A (3rd), C (5th), E (7th), G (9th) and B (#4 or #11) or a F major 9 #11 arpeggio (no root, no 3rd):

(Note: This concept is explored in much more depth in the Harmonic Combinatorics book but you can get some information about the approach from the slash chords post or the recycling triads posts as well.)

You could continue on with this approach, and each time figuring out how the arpeggio functions over different chords, but there is an easier way!

The Chromatic Root Interval Chart

In The GuitArchitect’s Guide to Chord Scales, I devised a chart that would tell the reader how any chord scale would function over any root. I’ve adapted that chart and utilized it for arpeggios in this lesson. Here’s the full chart:

At first glance, this can look confusing but it’s REALLY useful for determining how scales and arpeggios (or chords) function over different tonal centers.

In the steps below, I’m going to outline every step that could be taken to visualize this, but once you understand the process, you can skip a lot of the steps and understand what’s happening almost immediately.

Let’s go back to the C maj 7 arpeggio. The formula for the arpeggio is Root (or R) 3rd, 5th and 7th. Here’s what it looks like superimposed into the chart.

I’ve taken the extra step of removing all of the information in the other columns of the chart to solely show how the Root, 3rd, and 5th of a particular chord functions over other tonal centers. It’s also important to note that this chart accommodates all possible root notes. So while sharped roots (#R) or flat roots (bR) are really heard as b2 (b9) or 7ths respectively, they’re listed here to show the functions of specific notes over tonal centers (e.g. C maj 7 arpeggio played over a C# tonality).

Okay – now let’s move the information in the chart to the key of C:

Presented this way, we can see how things function. Played over D for example – the C, E, G, B functions as a b7th, 9th, 4th (or 11th) and a 6th. As a D Dorian sound (C major over D implies D Dorian) you lose the minor 3rd but get the natural 6th flavor of the mode.

I’ll simplify the chart a little more:

Again, it’s also important to note that this chart accommodates all possible root notes. So while sharped roots (#R) or flat roots (bR) are really heard as b2 (b9) or 7ths respectively, they’re listed here to show the functions of specific notes over tonal centers (e.g. C maj 7 arpeggio played over a C# tonality). This also counts for b4 (which will be heard as a 3rd), and double flats (like bb7 which will be heard as a 6th or bb3 which will be heard as a 2nd).

From intervals to chord tones

Since this chart was initially created for chord scales, the intervals all exist within an octave. For the purposes of chords and arpeggios it’s more beneficial to think of:

2nds as 9ths
4ths as 11ths and
6ths as 13ths

I’ve converted these intervals to chord tones in the chart below:

One sound I get out of this immediately is the Ab which gives a Ab maj 7 (#5, #9 no root) sound. I’ve resolved it to Ab in the example below – but give it a shot – it takes a generic C major 7 arpeggio and gives it a shot glass of tabasco.

When I went to Berklee and got knee-deep into analysis, my teacher gave me this pearl of insight,

“Actually the whole point of harmony 1-4 [classes] is to show you how any chord can follow any other chord”.

The reality behind all of the charts and theory is, if you understand how an arpeggio functions then you’re more likely to be able to resolve it – regardless of what chord you play it over.

That’s a big picture concept – you may want to give it a second to let it sink in.

The thing to start to focus on is how things sound to you – specifically how various chord tones and intervals sound over various chords you’re using. How do you like the sound of a #4 over a major chord? Or a b9 on a minor chord? As you start to find chord tones that you like over those areas, you’ll start to find that you’ll seek those sounds out. The chart is just a shortcut for seeing how things function – but it’s reliant on what you hear.

My recommendation is take this arpeggio, play it (slowly at first) over all the tonal centers and really be aware of how the notes are functioning. And (here’s the step most people skip) if it sounds “bad” to you – find a way to resolve it (like going to the Ab in the example above). I call this the Van Halen approach, there are plenty of times that Eddie hits clams – but he finds cool ways to work them around so that you say, “wow what a cool idea” rather than “oh he botched that one”.

I’ll talk more about the importance of knowing how to “fix” things in a future post, but trust me – it’s worth spending some time on.

In the next lesson post, I’ll get into arpeggio modification slash chord stylie. It’ll be really cool and if I have my audio converters delivered in time I can even go back to posting audio clips again!

ah the joys of moving….

I hope this helps and thanks for reading!

-SC

GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 11 – Geting Into Modal Arpeggios – 7th chords

Posted on March 17, 2012 by GuitArchitecture

Hello everyone!!

In the previous modal arpeggio lesson, I covered how to visualize triads from 3-note per string patterns. In this post, I’m going to apply the same concept to 7th chords. If you haven’t checked out part 10 of the series, you may want to review the approach before moving on.

Major Scale Harmonization

Any major scale is made up of the following triads and 7th chords based on scale degree.

Related to the key of C major, this breaks down into:

Triads: C major, D minor, E minor, F major, G major, A minor and B diminished.

7th chords: C major 7, D minor 7, E minor 7, F major 7, G7, A minor 7 and B minor 7b5

This means that there are 4 unique qualities of 7th chords for a major scale:

major 7 (C major 7 and F major 7 in the key of C)

minor 7 (D minor 7, E minor 7 and A minor 7 in the key of C)

dominant 7 (or 7) (G7 in the key of C)

minor 7 b5 (B min7b5 in the key of C)

Played as 2-string fingerings there are 4 possible inversions of each arpeggio.

To see how these shapes relate to the modes, let’s look at an ascending C major scale on the B and E strings:

Previously, we extracted every other note to reveal the triads related to each 6-note shape.

This time, we’ll remove the 3rd and the 5th note from each shape. This will create a 7th chord arpeggio in the 3rd inversion (i.e. starting from the 7th).

Here it is written as 16th notes:

Chord sequence Dm7-Em7-Fmaj7-G7-Am7-Bm7b5-Cmaj7

While the approach I’ll demonstrate will work with any inversion, all the examples here will utilize the 3rd inversion.

The first important visualization with each form is that the 2nd note of each arpeggio in this lesson is acting as the root.

Step one: Using the patterns diagonally

As I mentioned in the previous arpeggio post, a distinct advantage of 2-string patterns is that you can move them in octaves and maintain the same fingering. Here’s a C major 7 arpeggio moved in octaves on the middle and top set of strings.

Michael Angelo Batio was the first rock guy I saw playing this type of pattern in a shred context but now the sound of it is pretty common rock/metal vocabulary. This idea will get covered more in part 12 of this series, but to make it sound a little cooler, instead of playing it over a C major chord – try playing the above arpeggio over an A minor chord:

when C major 7 (C, E, G, B) is played over A the notes act as (b3rd, 5th, b7th and 9th) or A minor 9 (no root)

Step 2: Putting it together positionally

At the top of the page, I showed how I extracted arpeggios by eliminating the 3rd and 5th note from an ascending 3-note per string pattern. This same process can also 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. Notice that the 6-string shape links together a D minor 7, C Major 7, and a B minor 7b5 into one big arpeggio.

: .

To visualize the arpeggios across 6 strings just remember:

as the pitches ascend, the related arpeggios descend (and vice versa)!

Also remember that the 2nd note of the arpreggio acts as the root, so if you want the C major 7 arpeggio on the low E string

you’ll extract it from B Locrian.

The pattern creates a different flavor of modal arpeggio than the triadic version in part 10 of the guide. Where the triadic version moves in diatonic thirds, this pattern keeps a diatonic 2nd between each 7th chord arpeggio. Here are all of the positional arpeggios of the C major scale derived this way:

Big Picture Alert!!

Since all of the notes of the C major scale are presented in the linked arpeggios, you could technically play this over any diatonic 7th chord in C major if you resolved it properly. As a recap of the modal microscope lesson, I tend to view things from a parent scale perspective so:

If you play any of these patterns over a C major 7 chord – you’ll imply a C Ionian sound

If you play any of these patterns over a D minor 7 chord – you’ll imply a D Dorian sound

If you play any of these patterns over an E minor 7 chord – you’ll imply an E Phrygian sound

If you play any of these patterns over a F major 7 chord – you’ll imply a F Lydian sound

If you play any of these patterns over a G7 chord – you’ll imply a G Mixolydian sound

If you play any of these patterns over an A minor 7 chord – you’ll imply an A Aeolian sound and

If you play any of these patterns over a B minor 7b5 chord – you’ll imply a B Locrian sound

Now I’ll apply each of these arpeggio shapes to the C major scale. Feel free to try these over any of the chords listed above (although you may want to read the note about “The Problem with Ionian” below if you’re playing any of them over C major 7). I’m partial to playing them over D minor 7 or D minor 9 depending on which note I’m starting or ending on.

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. If I were to use this approach over a C major 7 chord, I would probably be more likely to go with a Parent Major scale of G major for a C Lydian sound (i.e. change the “F” in each pattern to “F#”).

Step 3 – Adaptation

While I dig these arpeggios as is – I tend to use them as visualization tools.

You may notice that these arpeggios are all 2-note per string.

Just like a “box” position pentatonic scale….

“Hey”, you might be thinking, “what if you adapted all of those pentatonic variations and sequences that you worked out to these arpeggios?”

Good Idea!!!

As a starting point, I’m partial to playing this form over D minor as it already has some of the step-wise shapes I associate with pentatonics:

so I’ll use it for the examples below. In the first one, I’m applying a descending group of threes to a pattern. (This also works ascending as well).

A big thing I work on with pentatonics is string skipping. Here, I’ve adapted an idea to the linked arpeggios.

Here’s a cool variation on this lick – replace the 8th fret “G” on the B string with an “A” to match the major 3rd interval on the G string. Once you can visualize a lick making variations like this is relatively easy (and it sounds cool!!)

From there it’s easy to mix and match things, Now that you see the pattern it comes from, the lick below just removes the F to create a different arpeggio shape. It starts off as C major 9 but links into a D minor shape to create a D minor 13 sound followed by some string skipping. Grab your guitar and give it a whirl!

The key with any approach like this is to keep it simple. Mind you, some of these ideas might not sound simple, but the approach really comes from mastering the 2-string visualization idea, and then usurping it in cool ways! Try coming up with your own variations!

Extra Credit!!

Like I said before, while I’m sure that they’re out there, I don’t know any other guitarist who approaches fingering modal apreggios with the interlocking 7th chords, but if these shapes are already familiar to you or if you’re looking to expand outside of this tonality, I have a few small tweaks that have BIG implications.

Lowering the E –> Eb in any of the C major patterns above will give you all of the Melodic Minor 7th chord linked arpeggios.

Lowering the E–> Eb and lowering the A –> Ab in any of the C major patterns above will give you all of the Harmonic Minor 7th chord linked arpeggios.

In other words, “Thar’s gold in them thar’ hills!!” If you put some time into working with these ideas methodically, I’m sure you’ll get some unique approaches under your belt that’ll pay dividends (even if they don’t get you a tab at the general store).

Part 12 gets into superimposition. It’ll be short, sweet and really cool!

I hope this helps!

-SC

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

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

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