Fretboard Framework has a fancy new site:
http://www.fretboardframework.com
Check it out, lots of cool and fancy stuff!
Saturday, March 4, 2017
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Saturday, December 28, 2013
I got an email question about Harmonic Minor from a friend; when's a good time to fit it in to general improvisation?
I responded with this. He seemed to find it very helpful. Enjoy.
---
Hey Charlie, how's it going, sure here's some info.
You can think of it a lot of ways. Yes, it's a good sub for Aeolian over a minor chord. That's a very straightforward way of thinking about it.
The deeper thinking for use of a scale, and the sign of a guitar player that really knows his stuff, is to know how a scale is harmonized. Like every scale, Harmonic Minor has modes starting every note of the scale. So yes, there are 7 modes of the harmonic minor scale (just like the major one), and seven chords. For instance, you know the standard Ionian (Major) scale is Maj7, min7, min7, Maj7, Dom7, min7, min7b5. And you probably know by now that the modes over those chords are Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixo, Aeolian, Locrian. So, you know you can play those modes, over those chords (e.g. Dorian over a Min7 chord).
I responded with this. He seemed to find it very helpful. Enjoy.
---
Hey Charlie, how's it going, sure here's some info.
You can think of it a lot of ways. Yes, it's a good sub for Aeolian over a minor chord. That's a very straightforward way of thinking about it.
The deeper thinking for use of a scale, and the sign of a guitar player that really knows his stuff, is to know how a scale is harmonized. Like every scale, Harmonic Minor has modes starting every note of the scale. So yes, there are 7 modes of the harmonic minor scale (just like the major one), and seven chords. For instance, you know the standard Ionian (Major) scale is Maj7, min7, min7, Maj7, Dom7, min7, min7b5. And you probably know by now that the modes over those chords are Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixo, Aeolian, Locrian. So, you know you can play those modes, over those chords (e.g. Dorian over a Min7 chord).
Harmonic minor, harmonized (so the chords from each note) is (assuming A Harmonic Minor)
- A min/maj 7
- B Min7b5
- C Maj7+
- D Min7
- E Dom7
- F Maj7
- G# Dim7
You see here, the fifth chord is a Dom7 chord. You might think "mixo for Dom7", and that'd work. But...you're not working with the Major scale, you're working with Harmonic Minor. For spice, why not try the scale that Harmonic Minor suggests over Dom7...which is, Phrygian Dominant. (You can figure out all the modes yourself; just start on the root note of the mode you want, and go up the scale. For instance, if in A Harmonic Minor, the fifth note is E, so you'd go E, F, G#, A, B, C, D, E).
Note that figuring out the logic of naming of scales, will drive you bezerk, because frequently there isn't any. Don't worry too much about it. Frequently you'll even see the same scale named differently in different books. I try to use the one that makes sense given the structure of the scale, for instance "Dorian #11" (keep reading).
You also see that, for instance, the fourth chord is a Min7 chord. Again, you might say, "Dorian," which would be D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D. But, do the same thing...in A harmonic minor, you'd go "D, E, F, G#, A, B, C, D". When you play it, this pattern will look like Dorian, but with a #4 (or alternatively, a Lydian scale with a b3). So you could use the fourth mode of Harmonic Minor over Min7 chords, as an alternative to Dorian.
So there's two applications; Dorian #11 (same as #4) over Minor7 chords, Phrygian Dominant over Dom7 chords.
All to be used with taste, resolving properly to the "tone" you're looking for (e.g. The Thrill Is Gone, is actually a Harmonic Minor progression. But if you blew A harm minor all over it, it wouldn't "fit", even though it'd be more or less academically correct. Better to just use the Harmonic Minor as spice, heading for the resolution to the Dorian or Aeolian scale when it comes back to the root).
So there's two applications; Dorian #11 (same as #4) over Minor7 chords, Phrygian Dominant over Dom7 chords.
All to be used with taste, resolving properly to the "tone" you're looking for (e.g. The Thrill Is Gone, is actually a Harmonic Minor progression. But if you blew A harm minor all over it, it wouldn't "fit", even though it'd be more or less academically correct. Better to just use the Harmonic Minor as spice, heading for the resolution to the Dorian or Aeolian scale when it comes back to the root).
Hope that helps, and happy holidays.
Tim.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Practice Deliberately...That's what I been sayin'.
Interesting article. I always believed that learning when you're a kid and all that, is generally bunk. The reason kids learn something faster is they are provided with instruction, errors are identified by that instruction, and they are forced to address those errors immediately. Sure there's probably some truth to not having predispositions and all that, but in general I think that's mostly just excuses.
Adults don't have the sort of forced guidance we impose on children, and it requires a great deal of self discipline to force yourself to work on things that are frustrating or currently beyond your ability. It's hard enough being an adult, so when we do things like play golf, go to the gym, or play guitar, we want to enjoy it, so we generally avoid anything that can compromise that. Most people simply won't do something they don't want to do unless they're forced by somebody else to do it.
Fortunately for me, the process of improving at anything is something I enjoy. But after reading this article I'm recommitting to my weaknesses as a guitar player; work has been picking up a lot lately and the quality of my practice has slipped, because I'm usually a little more tired and/or have a little less time.
http://ideas.time.com/2012/01/25/the-myth-of-practice-makes-perfect/
Adults don't have the sort of forced guidance we impose on children, and it requires a great deal of self discipline to force yourself to work on things that are frustrating or currently beyond your ability. It's hard enough being an adult, so when we do things like play golf, go to the gym, or play guitar, we want to enjoy it, so we generally avoid anything that can compromise that. Most people simply won't do something they don't want to do unless they're forced by somebody else to do it.
Fortunately for me, the process of improving at anything is something I enjoy. But after reading this article I'm recommitting to my weaknesses as a guitar player; work has been picking up a lot lately and the quality of my practice has slipped, because I'm usually a little more tired and/or have a little less time.
http://ideas.time.com/2012/01/25/the-myth-of-practice-makes-perfect/
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Drop 2 Root Position Chord/Mode Map
That's a mouthful, then again, when isn't a discussion about chords and modes.
Although you probably already know it, within every mode you play lies the basic chords that represent the underlying harmony. The reason I'm betting you already know this, is at some time when you were trying to figure out a chord, you probably did something like this:
"Hmm...I know I'm trying to make an Amaj7 (add 13). Let me see, if I fret it this way with the root on the 7th fret...yeah, all those notes under my fingers are in the A major pattern I know..."
That doesn't necessarily mean you have the chord right, but it probably does mean you're trying to figure out the chord based on the scale you already know. I think this is a good signpost along the way to really understanding how chords and modes relate. But, as was pointed out to me by one of my Berklee professors, it's a visual way of making the association, as opposed to aural. You should know what things sound like, and how they sound over other things, as opposed to trying to figure things out visually.
I studied martial arts for years, fairly seriously. I remember when we were learning to do backflips. The behavior is almost always the same; as soon as the never-backflipped-before student starts to turn over, the instinct is to turn the head to see the ground; you have no internal sense of your orientation, and you instinctively try to find it. This of course will not be a pretty backflip, and you'll probably not land daintily on two feet; that's because you're not supposed to have to look, you should just know where you are in the air at all times, ultimately being able to do it blindfolded. But you have to get that internal orientation started somehow, and if your instinct requires you to look at where you're going a few times, don't fight it; just remember not to stop there. You should be listening. Try closing your eyes when you finally get the chord right, and really listening to it, then try to play a couple of notes around it, maybe slide the seventh to the root (you know it's only a half step in a major 7 chord). Try playing the nine..."hmm so that's what the nine sounds like over a major seven hmm what if I play dominant same note but hmm...". Simple stuff, but it gets you moving in the right direction.
With that said, here's a document I call "The Drop 2 Root Position Chord/Mode Map", or "The D2RPCMM" (I've never actually called it that). What it does is, first shows a given drop 2 chord diagram, e.g. "Maj7", then, superimposes the basic harmonized mode shape it. For instance, the drop 2 A7 played using the D string as the root (so you're playing A on the 7th fret as the root) shows the Aeolian mode shape superimposed on top of it. This is because, on the fifth fret, you know the mixolydian shape and you probably use it over your A7 chords with the root on the low E string (A7 at fifth fret). But if you play an A7 higher up on the neck, do you always know the mode shape to play over that voicing of the chord...or do you run back down to the fifth fret to your familiar root shape? Why? You know the next mode position up from AMixo fifth fret, is A Aeolian 7th fret. If you know where the chord falls in that shape, you can hit the chord tones and so forth without moving positions. You also have access to the shape up from there, which is Ionian. And you have the familiar shape two frets back. Now you have a bigger area of the fretboard to work with. And so on.
Using this map, you can get a feel for playing an entire lead that moves with the harmony of a given chord structure, without changing position. For instance; you're playing an Amaj, fifth fret. So there's Ionian. You go to the IV chord, so Dmaj7. Are you still playing in A Ionion? That would give you G#...which is not in the Dmaj7 chord. That would in fact be a #11. Is that ok? It depends...how's it sound? Not sure? Then maybe you shouldn't play it. Have time to think about that when improvising with your friends? Probably not. But if you know, that a Dmaj7 chord at the fifth fret can have A mixolydian played at the fifth fret, then you have a guide to avoid it altogether.
Eventually, you memorize the sequences; for instance, I know that over a standard I7 IV7 V7 bluesy jam thing:
- I7 5th fret = mixo 5th fret
- IV7 5th fret = Dorian 5th fret
- V7 7th fret = Ionian 5th fret.
And by experimenting with this using a looper and whatnot, I learned that, if I play Mixo over the I7, then switch to the IV7, I drop the third of the Mixo down a half step (so I'm playing the C# on the high E string, then drop it down to C on the chord switch), it sounds great, and, I'm now in the third of the Dorian shape. So I run down Dorian to the third of D7 (F#), and I have a great, stable line over the harmony. To funk it up, throw in the beepop note, use an approach note, tap up an octave, hit your whammy bar, whatever.
Point is, I know it SOUNDS good. But I did indeed learn it visually. I'm not a pro player, on a good week I can probably find 10-12 hours to really practice, and these days it's been more like 5-6. I'm sure most pros play that much within a day or two tops. La dee da for them ;p
As always, thanks for visiting, here's the link to the map.
http://www.tcoz.com/fretboardframework/files/Drop2ChordModeMap_RootPositions.pdf
Although you probably already know it, within every mode you play lies the basic chords that represent the underlying harmony. The reason I'm betting you already know this, is at some time when you were trying to figure out a chord, you probably did something like this:
"Hmm...I know I'm trying to make an Amaj7 (add 13). Let me see, if I fret it this way with the root on the 7th fret...yeah, all those notes under my fingers are in the A major pattern I know..."
That doesn't necessarily mean you have the chord right, but it probably does mean you're trying to figure out the chord based on the scale you already know. I think this is a good signpost along the way to really understanding how chords and modes relate. But, as was pointed out to me by one of my Berklee professors, it's a visual way of making the association, as opposed to aural. You should know what things sound like, and how they sound over other things, as opposed to trying to figure things out visually.
I studied martial arts for years, fairly seriously. I remember when we were learning to do backflips. The behavior is almost always the same; as soon as the never-backflipped-before student starts to turn over, the instinct is to turn the head to see the ground; you have no internal sense of your orientation, and you instinctively try to find it. This of course will not be a pretty backflip, and you'll probably not land daintily on two feet; that's because you're not supposed to have to look, you should just know where you are in the air at all times, ultimately being able to do it blindfolded. But you have to get that internal orientation started somehow, and if your instinct requires you to look at where you're going a few times, don't fight it; just remember not to stop there. You should be listening. Try closing your eyes when you finally get the chord right, and really listening to it, then try to play a couple of notes around it, maybe slide the seventh to the root (you know it's only a half step in a major 7 chord). Try playing the nine..."hmm so that's what the nine sounds like over a major seven hmm what if I play dominant same note but hmm...". Simple stuff, but it gets you moving in the right direction.
With that said, here's a document I call "The Drop 2 Root Position Chord/Mode Map", or "The D2RPCMM" (I've never actually called it that). What it does is, first shows a given drop 2 chord diagram, e.g. "Maj7", then, superimposes the basic harmonized mode shape it. For instance, the drop 2 A7 played using the D string as the root (so you're playing A on the 7th fret as the root) shows the Aeolian mode shape superimposed on top of it. This is because, on the fifth fret, you know the mixolydian shape and you probably use it over your A7 chords with the root on the low E string (A7 at fifth fret). But if you play an A7 higher up on the neck, do you always know the mode shape to play over that voicing of the chord...or do you run back down to the fifth fret to your familiar root shape? Why? You know the next mode position up from AMixo fifth fret, is A Aeolian 7th fret. If you know where the chord falls in that shape, you can hit the chord tones and so forth without moving positions. You also have access to the shape up from there, which is Ionian. And you have the familiar shape two frets back. Now you have a bigger area of the fretboard to work with. And so on.
Using this map, you can get a feel for playing an entire lead that moves with the harmony of a given chord structure, without changing position. For instance; you're playing an Amaj, fifth fret. So there's Ionian. You go to the IV chord, so Dmaj7. Are you still playing in A Ionion? That would give you G#...which is not in the Dmaj7 chord. That would in fact be a #11. Is that ok? It depends...how's it sound? Not sure? Then maybe you shouldn't play it. Have time to think about that when improvising with your friends? Probably not. But if you know, that a Dmaj7 chord at the fifth fret can have A mixolydian played at the fifth fret, then you have a guide to avoid it altogether.
Eventually, you memorize the sequences; for instance, I know that over a standard I7 IV7 V7 bluesy jam thing:
- I7 5th fret = mixo 5th fret
- IV7 5th fret = Dorian 5th fret
- V7 7th fret = Ionian 5th fret.
And by experimenting with this using a looper and whatnot, I learned that, if I play Mixo over the I7, then switch to the IV7, I drop the third of the Mixo down a half step (so I'm playing the C# on the high E string, then drop it down to C on the chord switch), it sounds great, and, I'm now in the third of the Dorian shape. So I run down Dorian to the third of D7 (F#), and I have a great, stable line over the harmony. To funk it up, throw in the beepop note, use an approach note, tap up an octave, hit your whammy bar, whatever.
Point is, I know it SOUNDS good. But I did indeed learn it visually. I'm not a pro player, on a good week I can probably find 10-12 hours to really practice, and these days it's been more like 5-6. I'm sure most pros play that much within a day or two tops. La dee da for them ;p
As always, thanks for visiting, here's the link to the map.
http://www.tcoz.com/fretboardframework/files/Drop2ChordModeMap_RootPositions.pdf
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Beware Practice!
This might seem odd...beware practice? Practicing is a good, and you should practice as much as possible until you're so good you don't have to (Yngwie for example claims to not practice anymore after years and years of maniacal bedroom shredding). I'm certainly not that good yet, I'm still in the phase that, like Vito Bratta once said, "being a guitar player is like being a marathon runner...you have to be a guitar player to understand...you have to keep it every day or you start to lose it."
Then again, Vito allegedly practiced so much that he pretty much lost the use of a hand. Classical guitar or something. They say he practiced all day every day, even after a show.
As I think many guitar players, and just people in general, overlook, you have to constantly deconstruct your habits to make sure they're benefitting you. Bad practice can be worse than none at all. Again, I cite Vito. I would bet he injured himself by consistently doing something that hurt his hand. He probably tried to play through it, got used to doing it, and eventually exceeded the capability of physiology. Whether or not this is actually the truth for Vito, it most definitely can happen. Paul Gilbert says he deconstructed his picking technique because the way he was originally holding his pick was hurting his hand. For 18 months he slowed himself down (which for him means somewhere just shy of warp speed) and learned how to pick all over again, and all these years later he's still going strong. One damn fine guitar player, and educator, is PG.
Anyway, watching your practice carefully isn't just a way to avoid injury. Practice by it's nature is about repetition; you play something until you get it right. Start slow, build up to the tempo you want. Then do it again, a thousand times. You're not going to learn to play Presto by listening to it in the car.
So how's it apply to me?
Every single day, I practice at least four scales, and all their modes, up and down the neck, as a drill and warmup. For instance, today was Church, Harmonic minor, Melodic minor, and Pentatonic Mixolydian. Then I go through all drop 2 and drop 3 inversions of Major7, Minor7, Dom7, Min7b5, and Dim chords. Then I do the arpeggios of same with roots on three strings. I just use these as drills to warm up, and I get a lot of benefit out of it. I can rip up and down the entire neck in pretty much any scale and mode.
But recently, I caught myself doing something I didn't like; after running up and down a position, I found that when I got back to the root, or whatever tone I was targeting (it's often good to say, "I'll go up from the root to the third, then descend to the fifth"), I would vibrato the last note. Every single time. I didn't even realize I was doing it, it was just a way of concluding the run.
Vibrato is great; Steve Vai calls it "the soul of the note." You should practice vibrato entirely on it's own to really learn to control your timing and intonation. It's a lot harder to get right than it sounds.
But...you should be aware of it. ANYTHING that you do during practice that you don't even realize you're doing, means you're not really paying attention to what you're doing, and the sounds you're making. You're just going through the motions. You may as well just hold a baseball bat and twiddle your fingers on it, the exercise would be more or less the same.
Why is this alarming to me? Because I know that if I'm doing it in practice, it's probably working into my live performance. I practice WAY more than I gig (a sad truth). So without a doubt, my practice habits will show when I gig...even the bad, or unrealized, ones. So I know that, unless I deconstruct this habit, many of my runs will end with the same identical vibrato, unintentionally. Even if it sounds good, it should be intentional, not incidental; I should be listening and making sure that my resolutions make sense in the context of the music, not just to my fingers.
How am I working on it? I started by saying, "let me use no vibrato. I'll just sustain the note". Sound easy? Uh huh...try changing a simple picking pattern that you've done for so long that you don't even think about it anymore. You'll flub the run at any speed faster than your brain can keep up with, because your fingers and your brain take time to rewire habits.
Other things I'm doing; slide into the final note instead of picking it to work in some legato. Instead of landing on the note as usual, play the octave; work in some string skipping. These deliberate things force you think about what you're doing, and give you a greater instinctive arsenal; sometimes you'll find yourself sliding and sometimes sustaining without vibrato, and so forth, because you'll have more practiced options to satisfy your ear.
Anyway, that's where I'm at with this now, and so far, so good.
As always, thanks for visiting.
Then again, Vito allegedly practiced so much that he pretty much lost the use of a hand. Classical guitar or something. They say he practiced all day every day, even after a show.
As I think many guitar players, and just people in general, overlook, you have to constantly deconstruct your habits to make sure they're benefitting you. Bad practice can be worse than none at all. Again, I cite Vito. I would bet he injured himself by consistently doing something that hurt his hand. He probably tried to play through it, got used to doing it, and eventually exceeded the capability of physiology. Whether or not this is actually the truth for Vito, it most definitely can happen. Paul Gilbert says he deconstructed his picking technique because the way he was originally holding his pick was hurting his hand. For 18 months he slowed himself down (which for him means somewhere just shy of warp speed) and learned how to pick all over again, and all these years later he's still going strong. One damn fine guitar player, and educator, is PG.
Anyway, watching your practice carefully isn't just a way to avoid injury. Practice by it's nature is about repetition; you play something until you get it right. Start slow, build up to the tempo you want. Then do it again, a thousand times. You're not going to learn to play Presto by listening to it in the car.
So how's it apply to me?
Every single day, I practice at least four scales, and all their modes, up and down the neck, as a drill and warmup. For instance, today was Church, Harmonic minor, Melodic minor, and Pentatonic Mixolydian. Then I go through all drop 2 and drop 3 inversions of Major7, Minor7, Dom7, Min7b5, and Dim chords. Then I do the arpeggios of same with roots on three strings. I just use these as drills to warm up, and I get a lot of benefit out of it. I can rip up and down the entire neck in pretty much any scale and mode.
But recently, I caught myself doing something I didn't like; after running up and down a position, I found that when I got back to the root, or whatever tone I was targeting (it's often good to say, "I'll go up from the root to the third, then descend to the fifth"), I would vibrato the last note. Every single time. I didn't even realize I was doing it, it was just a way of concluding the run.
Vibrato is great; Steve Vai calls it "the soul of the note." You should practice vibrato entirely on it's own to really learn to control your timing and intonation. It's a lot harder to get right than it sounds.
But...you should be aware of it. ANYTHING that you do during practice that you don't even realize you're doing, means you're not really paying attention to what you're doing, and the sounds you're making. You're just going through the motions. You may as well just hold a baseball bat and twiddle your fingers on it, the exercise would be more or less the same.
Why is this alarming to me? Because I know that if I'm doing it in practice, it's probably working into my live performance. I practice WAY more than I gig (a sad truth). So without a doubt, my practice habits will show when I gig...even the bad, or unrealized, ones. So I know that, unless I deconstruct this habit, many of my runs will end with the same identical vibrato, unintentionally. Even if it sounds good, it should be intentional, not incidental; I should be listening and making sure that my resolutions make sense in the context of the music, not just to my fingers.
How am I working on it? I started by saying, "let me use no vibrato. I'll just sustain the note". Sound easy? Uh huh...try changing a simple picking pattern that you've done for so long that you don't even think about it anymore. You'll flub the run at any speed faster than your brain can keep up with, because your fingers and your brain take time to rewire habits.
Other things I'm doing; slide into the final note instead of picking it to work in some legato. Instead of landing on the note as usual, play the octave; work in some string skipping. These deliberate things force you think about what you're doing, and give you a greater instinctive arsenal; sometimes you'll find yourself sliding and sometimes sustaining without vibrato, and so forth, because you'll have more practiced options to satisfy your ear.
Anyway, that's where I'm at with this now, and so far, so good.
As always, thanks for visiting.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
The Dangers of the "Key Center"
You've heard it a million times: "find the key center".
If you're not familiar with the concept (and I'd find that hard to believe), it boils down to, "play in the key that best fits the chord progression you're soloing over." Almost every guitar player I know goes at improvisation this way. Teachers tell you to do it, books tell you to do it. But is it right?
I'd have to say, sometimes, but for the most part, it's a dumbed down version of the real deal.
Consider the following progression; "Blues in A". That's going to be a I IV V progression (forget things like quick change and such now, that's not what I'm talking about here). So, your typical guitar player leading it will say, "So it's A, D, E".
Ok...first, that's not enough info. Maj7? Min7? Dom7? Just use the 5ths (power chords)? There's all kinds of blues, the variety is endless (consider "The Thrill Is Gone"; that's pretty basic blues, but if you use Dom7 chords for everything, you're not playing the song correctly). Asking for this clarification seems to frustrate a lot of guitar players, but tough Toblerone, I want to know.
You get the condescending eye-roll and "dominant 7" reply (if the guy actually knows what a Dom7 chord is). So, A7, D7, E7. Right away, you say, "Ok, I'll use A to solo over it."
"A" what? If you know a little about modes and chords, you know a dominant chord is a major chord with a b7; so you're going to think Mixo (let's forget about subs, variations, and whatnot, keep it basic).
So, A mixo; A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G. I've got it, I know how the other modes connect to it up and down the neck, I'm ready to go, kick it over professor.
You're moving along nicely, got your major third and minor seventh going, you're a master of modal improv, flying all over the neck. But then the progression goes to the D7 (D, F#, A, C), and you hit the C# in your A mixo scale. You know it doesn't sound right (especially if the bass player is using the b7 from the root, which is very common), but you want to stick to your key center, so you fudge it, slide or bend or whatever. You're still alright, hey it's a "passing tone."
Now you go to the E7 (E, G#, B, D), and C# seems ok again, but you hit the G in A mixo. OMG something is wrong again, wtf is going on?
Then you do what most guitar players do when they're lost; you slide into the minor pentatonic scale. So you futz around with A pentatonic minor, bending liberally, and finally get out of your solo. Dang why don't I sound like all those great players, I was using the right mode...
...it's because you weren't using the right mode. Well, you were, but only over one of the chords. The key center concept failed you, because it's not enough.
Check it out:
A7 = A mixo = A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G
D7 = D mixo = D, E, F#, G, A, B, C
E7 = E mixo = E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D
The scales aren't drastically different, true, But assuming that any one of them will fit over all three chords is simply a mistake. You have to be aware of what notes don't fit (or rather, just make sure you are playing notes that do). Many great players may not actually know the science behind it, but they definitely DO know that the same scale doesn't work over all the chords, so they make the adjustments in their head, frequently just be years of hearing what sounds right and wrong, they remember it, and use it as needed. Note that this sort of player frequently does have a homegrown system of some kind and they work VERY hard at recognizing and cataloging "good" sounds.
Academically though, the more advanced way to think of this is: FOLLOW THE HARMONY (harmony = chords). That's how your solo will sing, and sound right. Always know what chord is under you, and if you're totally lost, don't just start wanking in a minor pentatonic scale; try to use your ear, stick to the roots, ninths and fifths (a ninth and a fifth is a pretty safe bet unless you're playing altered chords, and if you're playing over that kind of harmony, you've probably already stopped reading), or, STOP PLAYING (an option frequently forgotten).
Note that a key center can work well under certain conditions. If all the chords come from the same key, then it's great. In terms of the progression we mentioned before, that would be Amaj7, Dmaj7, E7, over which you'd play (at a fundamental level) A Ionian, because all the chords are from the A major scale. If they're Amaj, Dmaj, E7, you're fine too, now you're just leaving out the sevenths (which actually gives you some additional flexibility; this is a very common rock characterstic, using Mixo over a straight Major chord, look at guys like Neil Schon for some real mastery of this). If you're just using power chords, then you can make just about anything work, because now you don't have any thirds or sevenths to worry about conflicting with (though you should still understand what sound you're trying to get...happy major, gritty rock/blues, etc.).
However...if the chords are Amaj, Dmaj, Emaj, you have the key center problem again; Emaj isn't diatonic to the A major scale (you're raising the 7th of the chord, from D to D#, and D# is not in A major). But, D# is the #4 of A major, which puts you in A Lydian. Ionian and Lydian, although very different in terms of modes, are commonly mixed freely, subbing one for the other. So the effect can be interesting and probably won't train wreck. But you need to be conscious of it to really make it effective.
The more I solo, the more I force myself to acknowledge the chord I'm playing over to ensure that I know where I am. I try not to take anything for granted, and when I catch myself thinking in key centers, or slipping into default minor pentatonic, I know I'm either being lazy or just don't know enough about the arrangement, so I start listening, trying to use things I know fit over certain sounds, stick to the safety notes, and try to wind up my lead in a reasonable spot so I can get out without breaking anything.
As always, thanks for visiting.
If you're not familiar with the concept (and I'd find that hard to believe), it boils down to, "play in the key that best fits the chord progression you're soloing over." Almost every guitar player I know goes at improvisation this way. Teachers tell you to do it, books tell you to do it. But is it right?
I'd have to say, sometimes, but for the most part, it's a dumbed down version of the real deal.
Consider the following progression; "Blues in A". That's going to be a I IV V progression (forget things like quick change and such now, that's not what I'm talking about here). So, your typical guitar player leading it will say, "So it's A, D, E".
Ok...first, that's not enough info. Maj7? Min7? Dom7? Just use the 5ths (power chords)? There's all kinds of blues, the variety is endless (consider "The Thrill Is Gone"; that's pretty basic blues, but if you use Dom7 chords for everything, you're not playing the song correctly). Asking for this clarification seems to frustrate a lot of guitar players, but tough Toblerone, I want to know.
You get the condescending eye-roll and "dominant 7" reply (if the guy actually knows what a Dom7 chord is). So, A7, D7, E7. Right away, you say, "Ok, I'll use A to solo over it."
"A" what? If you know a little about modes and chords, you know a dominant chord is a major chord with a b7; so you're going to think Mixo (let's forget about subs, variations, and whatnot, keep it basic).
So, A mixo; A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G. I've got it, I know how the other modes connect to it up and down the neck, I'm ready to go, kick it over professor.
You're moving along nicely, got your major third and minor seventh going, you're a master of modal improv, flying all over the neck. But then the progression goes to the D7 (D, F#, A, C), and you hit the C# in your A mixo scale. You know it doesn't sound right (especially if the bass player is using the b7 from the root, which is very common), but you want to stick to your key center, so you fudge it, slide or bend or whatever. You're still alright, hey it's a "passing tone."
Now you go to the E7 (E, G#, B, D), and C# seems ok again, but you hit the G in A mixo. OMG something is wrong again, wtf is going on?
Then you do what most guitar players do when they're lost; you slide into the minor pentatonic scale. So you futz around with A pentatonic minor, bending liberally, and finally get out of your solo. Dang why don't I sound like all those great players, I was using the right mode...
...it's because you weren't using the right mode. Well, you were, but only over one of the chords. The key center concept failed you, because it's not enough.
Check it out:
A7 = A mixo = A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G
D7 = D mixo = D, E, F#, G, A, B, C
E7 = E mixo = E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D
The scales aren't drastically different, true, But assuming that any one of them will fit over all three chords is simply a mistake. You have to be aware of what notes don't fit (or rather, just make sure you are playing notes that do). Many great players may not actually know the science behind it, but they definitely DO know that the same scale doesn't work over all the chords, so they make the adjustments in their head, frequently just be years of hearing what sounds right and wrong, they remember it, and use it as needed. Note that this sort of player frequently does have a homegrown system of some kind and they work VERY hard at recognizing and cataloging "good" sounds.
Academically though, the more advanced way to think of this is: FOLLOW THE HARMONY (harmony = chords). That's how your solo will sing, and sound right. Always know what chord is under you, and if you're totally lost, don't just start wanking in a minor pentatonic scale; try to use your ear, stick to the roots, ninths and fifths (a ninth and a fifth is a pretty safe bet unless you're playing altered chords, and if you're playing over that kind of harmony, you've probably already stopped reading), or, STOP PLAYING (an option frequently forgotten).
Note that a key center can work well under certain conditions. If all the chords come from the same key, then it's great. In terms of the progression we mentioned before, that would be Amaj7, Dmaj7, E7, over which you'd play (at a fundamental level) A Ionian, because all the chords are from the A major scale. If they're Amaj, Dmaj, E7, you're fine too, now you're just leaving out the sevenths (which actually gives you some additional flexibility; this is a very common rock characterstic, using Mixo over a straight Major chord, look at guys like Neil Schon for some real mastery of this). If you're just using power chords, then you can make just about anything work, because now you don't have any thirds or sevenths to worry about conflicting with (though you should still understand what sound you're trying to get...happy major, gritty rock/blues, etc.).
However...if the chords are Amaj, Dmaj, Emaj, you have the key center problem again; Emaj isn't diatonic to the A major scale (you're raising the 7th of the chord, from D to D#, and D# is not in A major). But, D# is the #4 of A major, which puts you in A Lydian. Ionian and Lydian, although very different in terms of modes, are commonly mixed freely, subbing one for the other. So the effect can be interesting and probably won't train wreck. But you need to be conscious of it to really make it effective.
The more I solo, the more I force myself to acknowledge the chord I'm playing over to ensure that I know where I am. I try not to take anything for granted, and when I catch myself thinking in key centers, or slipping into default minor pentatonic, I know I'm either being lazy or just don't know enough about the arrangement, so I start listening, trying to use things I know fit over certain sounds, stick to the safety notes, and try to wind up my lead in a reasonable spot so I can get out without breaking anything.
As always, thanks for visiting.
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