If you play, you probably know all about alternate picking. Down, up, down, next string, repeat. You've practiced it, can blow through scales all the way up and down the neck (or you're working on it). Some of you may even use a metronome when you do it (a very good idea; knowing how to move through a scale in time, instead of rushing it and just holding the last note until the 1, is imho one of the men-from-boys hallmarks).
Recently I've been listening to a lot of Paul Gilbert and Steve Morse; I cycle through players like this now and then, because one day I'll be in the gym or something, and once again just be blown away by the accuracy and dexterity of these players. They can play scales, arpeggios, skip strings, all that, perfectly in time, and they don't miss notes. Both of these players are considered very speedy; Gilbert is in the world's top 50 fastest, Morse is a five-time Guitar Player "of the year" guy (which means he had to bow out; he's no longer eligible for the award...and this was years ago), so when they say, "I used to do this but don't anymore, here's what I do now", I figure I should listen.
Interestingly, neither of these guys are huge fans of sweep picking; there's video lessons right on youtube of both of them saying they've done it, they get it, but they prefer alternate picking...EVERY time. That includes vertical arpeggios. If the pick direction is down on the E string, it should be up on the A string. Both Gilbert and Morse make that very clear.
I've always somewhat prided myself on my alternate picking; I've worked pretty hard at it, have taken direction from the Morse, Malmsteens, Gilberts, etc. of the world, and it's helped me differentiate, to a point, from most of the players I see at the jams and so on. I'm known as a "fast, technical" player (though I'm not one of the nu metal shredders, that use hammers/pulls and sweeps constantly to create what I call "blurs", etc., that's just not my style). But, I had to be honest with myself, after I got "good enough" at it, I sort of took it for granted. I find a new scale or run, I practice it cleanly and with a metronome a while, then instinct takes over and I just let my hands go. The results have always been more or less acceptable to me, largely because live, I tend to pull off what I know. But now and then, I know that my picking would sort of "get lost", and I would finish the run with hammers or pulls, then reset.
What was causing this? Were Gilbert and Morse telling me, "good...but get better. Look MORE closely at your picking, REALLY break it down." I figure they'll both tell themselves that until the day they die, so maybe I should to.
Back to the drawing board I went, and I found out a few things, the most important being, I was taking notes for granted. By this I mean, I wasn't consciously picking notes; I was taking for granted that my pick would find them, because I know the pattern I'm playing. Sort of like not consciously looking where I put my feet when I walk...we all do it, but you only have to visit the Fail Blog once in a while to know the hazards of it.
Take for example, this major arpeggio I like to play (the number is the fret so start, "R" indicates a root tone). I sort of consider it one of my signature riffs. This example is in A major:
4
-R---
-x-x-
x--x-
--x--
x--x-
-R---
I've shown that to a lot of people; it's a great way to open up a run in a major scale. You can play it up, down, start it in the middle, as long as you resolve to the root (or a chord tone), it's classy.
I sat down and played it, as usual, without thinking about it; I blew through it, clean. Here was the pattern I used (the arrows indicate the up/down strokes).
4
-v---
-v-^-
v--^-
--v--
v--^-
-v---
Surprise surprise; according to the wisdom of Morse and Gilbert, I'm not alternate picking. I guess I would call this "alternate sweeping". It was quite a revelation, because I realized that I was taking the picking pattern I was using entirely for granted. I was totally unconscious of the direction my pick was moving on any given note, I was just instinctively telling myself "If the next note is on a string below the current one, even if my last pick stroke was down, change the picking to a downward sweep. If the next note is on the string above, even if my last pick direction was up, change the pick direction to an upward sweep". Or taken another way, if you can just keep your picking going in the same direction, do it. Only change direction when you have to, which usually means, if your next note is on the same string.
Acceptable here; I knew that, although I should analyze this more deeply, that there was nothing wrong with this, when taken from the perspective of motion conservation, which instinctively makes sense to me...on paper. So, I said hmm...how am I actually blowing through my straight scales? Although not every time, I did catch myself doing this (no fret number here, this is just an extended Ionian mode shape):
v-^-v
v-^-v
-v^-v
-v^-v
v-^-v
v-^-v
Now, according to Steve and Paul, it should look like this:
^-v-^
v-^-v
-^v-^
-v^-v
^-v-^
v-^-v
In other words, entirely regardless of what direction the string is, if your picking is a downstroke on the current note, it should be an upstroke on the next note, and vice versa. ALWAYS.
Ok, I'm an alternate picker, I can drop the metronome to the bottom and still double the click on a good day. How hard can this be? I discovered that, while not beyond my ability as far as alternating went, it was pushing me to be absolutely aware of what note I was picking. In fact, I found that for turning scales around (so playing up, then down), it somehow flows better, and it certainly makes it easier to be conscious of the beat. This kind of precision is something I constantly strive for; when I move through a run or arpeggio, I want to be able to nail a chord tone, or switch modes, cleanly and with intent, exactly when I want to. What I discovered I was doing though, was just letting my hands get ahead of me, and sort of timing the stop on the target tone, not really being aware of what direction my pick was moving, doing a mental reset, and proceeding with a downstroke to begin my new phrase.
I also found this, and to me, this is the clincher; when sweeping, I hit the next note faster than when I alternate...but you can't play a whole lead without alternating, even if you alternate sweeps. I'm not talking about tremolo picking here, I'm talking about a conscious alternate to hit a particular note. This can make your timing jagged. Not good. When I switched to all alternates, I discovered that my timing was more consistent. Even though this is taking me out of a comfort zone that has served me well for years, just by doing this little exercise, I've found an opportunity to become a better player, and perhaps gotten a glimpse of how Steve and Paul think about what they do.
In the end, I believe that, if you were to tear apart their playing, you'd find even the most adamant alternate picker hybrids their technique to a point. But I think they might do it more for a certain tone or feel than out of habit; alternate picking can't get the fluidity of a legato run or the rake sound of a sweep. But if you default to one or the other simply because that's what your limbic system (sort of your unconscious learning/memory system) is telegraphing to your hands, and you're not REALLY paying attention to what exactly your left and right hand are doing and how you're syncing them up, then you're taking your technique for granted, which as I found, can probably lead to some bad habits.
Give it a try; take an arpeggio or run you love to play in front of people. Sit down and REALLY carefully look at how you're playing it, against a metronome. Then try alternate picking it without any sweeps at all; the pick should never move twice in the same direction. You might find out a couple of things about your playing.
As always, don't show up too drunk for gigs, and thanks for visiting.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Significantly expand your chord vocabulary with 7th chords...easily.
Probably one of the most frustrating things for any guitarist that really hasn't done the whole theory thing is chords; you know your major, minor, and dominant, and can probably play those three kinds in a few positions up and down the neck. But then one day you want to add a jazz tune to your repertoire, or you're at a party and somebody drops a lead sheet on you, and you see "Cmin7b5".
Erm...I dont know that one. You fiddle around with a chord you know that has the root, and in the end wind up saying, "sorry man I don't know it, let's do a blues jam." The other guy sighs and says sure, or starts showing you the fingering, which you try to get right but struggle with...
...so you go home, and once again break out that chord book, saying, "this time I'm going to memorize ALL of them in one key, which will show me the fingerings in all keys, I just have to move them up and down the neck."
The thought is right; you're trying to find a core position that you can use to play all your chords in relation to. "A major is here at the second fret, if I slide it up two frets it's B major..." and so on. You play those great chords, memorizing all those fingerings in one night, and man they sound great; pretty, expansive, "advanced" tones shimmer from the wood; now THIS is what it's all about.
Unfortunately, it won't work, because you don't use all the chords all the time. You may pick up one or two chords from the exercise, but in the end, you're trying to retain too much information. You'll go back to that party next year and once again end up doing a blues jam.
Not to fear, Fretboard Framework to the rescue. As always, the Fretboard Framework is about starting points; memorize the core idea and use it as a reference to build more advanced patterns and voicings. If you've read some of my past articles, you know it works for scales and modes; it works for chords too, and that's what we'll look at now. By the end of this article, you should be able to drastically expand your chord vocabulary.
Let's start with the following; these you'll need to memorize. Note that when I say "flat the..." I mean "drop it a half step (or one fret)", and when I say "sharp the..." I mean "raise it a half step (or one fret)". So flatting something twice would be a whole step (two half steps, or two frets).
For now, let's stick to expanding into all 7th chords. Extended chords (9, 11, 13), 6 and Sus chords, will come in a later article. Believe it or not, they're pretty easy as well if you know a couple of simple rules, but 7th chords are the reference for pretty much all advanced chord voicings, so let's make sure you know all about that first. Also, I'll assume you know how to play your basic plain-old major and minor chords well enough; we won't cover them here.
- Major 7th chords are built on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th notes of a given major scale. So, Cmaj7 = C E G B.
- To make that major 7th chord dominant (blues), you flat the 7th. So, C7 = C E G Bb.
- To make that major 7th chord minor, you flat the 3rd and 7th. So, Cmin7 = C Eb G Bb.
- To make that major 7th chord half diminished (also called "min7b5"), you flat the 3rd, 5th, and 7th. So, Cmin7b5 = C Eb Gb Bb. This is a very important chord that, surprisingly, many guitar players, even good ones, don't know.
- To make that major 7th chord fully diminished (also called "diminished"), you flat the 3rd, 5th as before, but flat the 7th twice. So, Cdim = C Eb Gb Bbb (notice the "flat flat" on the B). You may be wondering what "half dim" vs. "dim" is all about; that's a good observation, and has to do with the order of intervals in the chord; don't worry about it for now.
- To make that major 7th chord augmented, you sharp the fifth. So, C E G# B.
More simply:
aug7 = 1 3 #5 7
maj7 = 1 3 5 7
dom7 (or just "7") = 1 3 5 b7
min7 = 1 b3 5 b7
min7b5 = 1 b3 b5 b7
dim7 = 1 b3 b5 bb7
If you're thinking, "so all I need to do is memorize "aug, maj7, dom7, min7, min7b5, dim7", and what notes are flatted from one to the next", then you get it; it's that easy. As far as fingering them, the below tips are important:
- Practically in day-to-day use, all chords can be played on the top four strings (so the D, G, B, E strings). This is in fact frequently preferable, as the bass will hold the low end. Sure, ultimately you should know all chords on any combination of strings, but as a starting point, you can't go wrong this way. However, make sure you ONLY play those four strings. A stray tone can totally break your chord.
- Just because a note "number" is a higher than another DOES NOT MEAN THE NOTE MUST BE HIGHER THAN ALL THE REST IN THE CHORD. In other words, the 7th does not need to be a higher register/pitch than the rest of the chords and so on. You'll see this work later. I was confused about this when I started learning theory, because I studied for a while with a piano teacher. If you are in the same boat, jump out of it and get into the guitar one.
- Chords notes don't have to be played in the order you may write down on paper; keep reading, you'll see what I mean.
So, let's use it. For reference, I start with the easiest thing to finger on the top four strings, which is a min7 chord; you may think "start with major 7", but meh, this is easier to me. Let's do Cmin7; you just lay one finger across all four strings at the 8th fret. You probably already know this chord already.
Do it, and look at the notes (the top number is the fret, the numbers to the left of the notes are the note number, and "R" means "root"). Sure enough, as described earlier, you have a Cmin7 chord.
---8
R - C
5 - G
3 - Eb
7 - Bb
Interesting; they don't appear in the order you'd expect on paper (C Eb G Bb). That's ok; this gets into inversions and such, don't worry about it for now (though inversions are important). They don't have to be in the "straight" order, they just have to represent all the notes you need to make the chord "sound" right. Also notice that the Bb note is "lower" than the root, even though it's the 7th; again, the "height" or "register" of a tone isn't the key factor in playing it (in advanced harmony, this isn't always true, but for day-to-day it's true enough).
So...ok. From the formulas earlier, we know:
"- To make that major 7th chord minor, you flat the 3rd and 7th. So, C Eb G Bb."
This means that we started with a maj7 chord, but flatted the 3rd and 7th to get a minor one. So to get a maj7, we reverse the process; raise the 3rd and the 7th of the min7 chord a half step (so they are now on the 9th fret).
---8
R - C
5 - G
3 - x E
7 - x B
That's it...you have converted the min7 to maj7. You're now playing Cmaj7.
Now that we know how to get to our maj7 chord, let's convert it to dominant. Again, we know:
"- To make that major 7th chord dominant (blues), you flat the 7th. So, C E G Bb."
So, starting with the Cmaj7 chord, let's apply the formula...
---8
R - C
5 - G
3 - x E
7 - Bb
That's it; you're now playing C7 (note that, when you see a 7, 9, 11, or 13 on a chord, but no "maj" or "min", that means it's a dominant chord).
Moving along; let's make this a Cmin7b5. Start with the Cmaj7 again, and apply the formula:
"- To make that major 7th chord half diminished (also called "min7b5"), you flat the 3rd, 5th, and 7th."
---7
R - x C
5 - Gb
3 - x Eb
7 - x Bb
There you have it; you are now playing a Cmin7b5 (uncommonly called "half diminished"), a VERY important jazz chord that can even be used to spice up some blues numbers here and there. You can also look at this as "start with a Cmin7 (which already has the 3rd and 7th flatted), and flat the 5th".
Now let's do diminished (uncommonly called "fully diminished"). Start with the maj7 chord and apply the formula:
"- To make that major 7th chord fully diminished (also called "diminished"), you flat the 3rd, 5th as before, but flat the 7th twice."
---7
R - x C
5 - Gb
3 - x Eb
7 - Bbb
There you have it; you're now in the "fully diminished" world. Note that saying "flat flat (bb)" is correct; you're supposed to think of it this way. Again, there's a theory reason for it, we'll get into that another day.
On to augmented, again start with Cmaj7, and apply the formula:
"- To make that major 7th chord augmented, you sharp the fifth."
---8
R - C
5 - x G#
3 - x E
7 - x B
There you have it, Cmaj7 aug chord, commonly written as "Cmaj7+" or "Cmaj7#5" chord. You're a crazy jazz cat.
If you've really been thinking about what's going on here, you may have noticed that, just by knowing where to finger a min7 chord, which is easy, you don't have to know the notes you're playing. Just be knowing that, when played on the top four strings, that the root is on the first string, the 5th on the second, the 3rd on the third string, and the 7th on the fourth, and knowing what notes to flat to get to your desired chord, you can build these chords anywhere.
Bbmin7b5 used to look intimidating; now you know, lay your finger across the top four strings on the sixth fret; this is Bbmin7. Flat the 5th (which is "whatever note I'm playing on second string"), and you are playing that scary looking chord. Get really snooty and say, "ah, the half diminished chord". Juliard, Berkley, eat my dust.
This concludes the article, but I'll give some extra here, because it's so important:
Just in case it didn't sink in yet:
- KNOW THE CHORD TONES WHEN FINGERING A CHORD. IT'S THE PRACTICAL KEY TO KNOWING ALL CHORDS EVERYWHERE, EVEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN KNOWING THE NOTES.
Take the formulas given before, and try it anywhere you know how to finger a maj7 or min7 chord, whether or not it's on the top four strings. Let's look at Cmin7, played at the third fret. Again, we'll stick to four strings (and again, for these exercises, ONLY play those four strings);
---3
3 - x Eb
7 - Bb
5 - x x G
R - C
The order of chord tones has changed; the root is now on the fifth string, the 5th on the fourth string, the 7th on the third string, and the 3rd on the second string (so you're using the "middle" four strings).
Well, you know that to get to a maj7, you will have to sharp the 3rd and 7th.
---3
3 - x x E
7 - x B
5 - x x G
R - C
There you have it; Cmaj7.
Let's get out there and try Cmin7b5 this way; convert the maj7 (so starting with the maj7, flat the 3rd, 5th and 7th, or just start with the min7 chord and flat the 5th) and you get:
---3
3 - x Eb
7 - Bb
5 - x Gb
R - C
Blammo; you're playing a nice, rich sounding Cmin7b5. Compare it to the one on the top strings you learned before; note that they're the same chord, but you can imagine using one sometimes, and the other sometimes. You may play the Cmin7b5 on the top four strings, but the vocalist may say "I'm hitting the upper registers, can you play a different voicing?". Sure...I'll play this one on the middle four strings, I know how to do that easily enough now. Sure, they may get picky...no, play THIS exotic one. But at least you showed up knowing what the chord is, and you can play it a couple of different ways, which will usually do the job nicely.
So, applying the formulas to the chords based on where the tones are in the chord, you can build any 7th chord, anywhere, on the neck. It works for extensions and such too, like 9th and 11th chords, but there are a couple of other rules to know to build those properly; material for another article.
Have fun with that. As always, thanks for visiting.
Erm...I dont know that one. You fiddle around with a chord you know that has the root, and in the end wind up saying, "sorry man I don't know it, let's do a blues jam." The other guy sighs and says sure, or starts showing you the fingering, which you try to get right but struggle with...
...so you go home, and once again break out that chord book, saying, "this time I'm going to memorize ALL of them in one key, which will show me the fingerings in all keys, I just have to move them up and down the neck."
The thought is right; you're trying to find a core position that you can use to play all your chords in relation to. "A major is here at the second fret, if I slide it up two frets it's B major..." and so on. You play those great chords, memorizing all those fingerings in one night, and man they sound great; pretty, expansive, "advanced" tones shimmer from the wood; now THIS is what it's all about.
Unfortunately, it won't work, because you don't use all the chords all the time. You may pick up one or two chords from the exercise, but in the end, you're trying to retain too much information. You'll go back to that party next year and once again end up doing a blues jam.
Not to fear, Fretboard Framework to the rescue. As always, the Fretboard Framework is about starting points; memorize the core idea and use it as a reference to build more advanced patterns and voicings. If you've read some of my past articles, you know it works for scales and modes; it works for chords too, and that's what we'll look at now. By the end of this article, you should be able to drastically expand your chord vocabulary.
Let's start with the following; these you'll need to memorize. Note that when I say "flat the..." I mean "drop it a half step (or one fret)", and when I say "sharp the..." I mean "raise it a half step (or one fret)". So flatting something twice would be a whole step (two half steps, or two frets).
For now, let's stick to expanding into all 7th chords. Extended chords (9, 11, 13), 6 and Sus chords, will come in a later article. Believe it or not, they're pretty easy as well if you know a couple of simple rules, but 7th chords are the reference for pretty much all advanced chord voicings, so let's make sure you know all about that first. Also, I'll assume you know how to play your basic plain-old major and minor chords well enough; we won't cover them here.
- Major 7th chords are built on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th notes of a given major scale. So, Cmaj7 = C E G B.
- To make that major 7th chord dominant (blues), you flat the 7th. So, C7 = C E G Bb.
- To make that major 7th chord minor, you flat the 3rd and 7th. So, Cmin7 = C Eb G Bb.
- To make that major 7th chord half diminished (also called "min7b5"), you flat the 3rd, 5th, and 7th. So, Cmin7b5 = C Eb Gb Bb. This is a very important chord that, surprisingly, many guitar players, even good ones, don't know.
- To make that major 7th chord fully diminished (also called "diminished"), you flat the 3rd, 5th as before, but flat the 7th twice. So, Cdim = C Eb Gb Bbb (notice the "flat flat" on the B). You may be wondering what "half dim" vs. "dim" is all about; that's a good observation, and has to do with the order of intervals in the chord; don't worry about it for now.
- To make that major 7th chord augmented, you sharp the fifth. So, C E G# B.
More simply:
aug7 = 1 3 #5 7
maj7 = 1 3 5 7
dom7 (or just "7") = 1 3 5 b7
min7 = 1 b3 5 b7
min7b5 = 1 b3 b5 b7
dim7 = 1 b3 b5 bb7
If you're thinking, "so all I need to do is memorize "aug, maj7, dom7, min7, min7b5, dim7", and what notes are flatted from one to the next", then you get it; it's that easy. As far as fingering them, the below tips are important:
- Practically in day-to-day use, all chords can be played on the top four strings (so the D, G, B, E strings). This is in fact frequently preferable, as the bass will hold the low end. Sure, ultimately you should know all chords on any combination of strings, but as a starting point, you can't go wrong this way. However, make sure you ONLY play those four strings. A stray tone can totally break your chord.
- Just because a note "number" is a higher than another DOES NOT MEAN THE NOTE MUST BE HIGHER THAN ALL THE REST IN THE CHORD. In other words, the 7th does not need to be a higher register/pitch than the rest of the chords and so on. You'll see this work later. I was confused about this when I started learning theory, because I studied for a while with a piano teacher. If you are in the same boat, jump out of it and get into the guitar one.
- Chords notes don't have to be played in the order you may write down on paper; keep reading, you'll see what I mean.
So, let's use it. For reference, I start with the easiest thing to finger on the top four strings, which is a min7 chord; you may think "start with major 7", but meh, this is easier to me. Let's do Cmin7; you just lay one finger across all four strings at the 8th fret. You probably already know this chord already.
Do it, and look at the notes (the top number is the fret, the numbers to the left of the notes are the note number, and "R" means "root"). Sure enough, as described earlier, you have a Cmin7 chord.
---8
R - C
5 - G
3 - Eb
7 - Bb
Interesting; they don't appear in the order you'd expect on paper (C Eb G Bb). That's ok; this gets into inversions and such, don't worry about it for now (though inversions are important). They don't have to be in the "straight" order, they just have to represent all the notes you need to make the chord "sound" right. Also notice that the Bb note is "lower" than the root, even though it's the 7th; again, the "height" or "register" of a tone isn't the key factor in playing it (in advanced harmony, this isn't always true, but for day-to-day it's true enough).
So...ok. From the formulas earlier, we know:
"- To make that major 7th chord minor, you flat the 3rd and 7th. So, C Eb G Bb."
This means that we started with a maj7 chord, but flatted the 3rd and 7th to get a minor one. So to get a maj7, we reverse the process; raise the 3rd and the 7th of the min7 chord a half step (so they are now on the 9th fret).
---8
R - C
5 - G
3 - x E
7 - x B
That's it...you have converted the min7 to maj7. You're now playing Cmaj7.
Now that we know how to get to our maj7 chord, let's convert it to dominant. Again, we know:
"- To make that major 7th chord dominant (blues), you flat the 7th. So, C E G Bb."
So, starting with the Cmaj7 chord, let's apply the formula...
---8
R - C
5 - G
3 - x E
7 - Bb
That's it; you're now playing C7 (note that, when you see a 7, 9, 11, or 13 on a chord, but no "maj" or "min", that means it's a dominant chord).
Moving along; let's make this a Cmin7b5. Start with the Cmaj7 again, and apply the formula:
"- To make that major 7th chord half diminished (also called "min7b5"), you flat the 3rd, 5th, and 7th."
---7
R - x C
5 - Gb
3 - x Eb
7 - x Bb
There you have it; you are now playing a Cmin7b5 (uncommonly called "half diminished"), a VERY important jazz chord that can even be used to spice up some blues numbers here and there. You can also look at this as "start with a Cmin7 (which already has the 3rd and 7th flatted), and flat the 5th".
Now let's do diminished (uncommonly called "fully diminished"). Start with the maj7 chord and apply the formula:
"- To make that major 7th chord fully diminished (also called "diminished"), you flat the 3rd, 5th as before, but flat the 7th twice."
---7
R - x C
5 - Gb
3 - x Eb
7 - Bbb
There you have it; you're now in the "fully diminished" world. Note that saying "flat flat (bb)" is correct; you're supposed to think of it this way. Again, there's a theory reason for it, we'll get into that another day.
On to augmented, again start with Cmaj7, and apply the formula:
"- To make that major 7th chord augmented, you sharp the fifth."
---8
R - C
5 - x G#
3 - x E
7 - x B
There you have it, Cmaj7 aug chord, commonly written as "Cmaj7+" or "Cmaj7#5" chord. You're a crazy jazz cat.
If you've really been thinking about what's going on here, you may have noticed that, just by knowing where to finger a min7 chord, which is easy, you don't have to know the notes you're playing. Just be knowing that, when played on the top four strings, that the root is on the first string, the 5th on the second, the 3rd on the third string, and the 7th on the fourth, and knowing what notes to flat to get to your desired chord, you can build these chords anywhere.
Bbmin7b5 used to look intimidating; now you know, lay your finger across the top four strings on the sixth fret; this is Bbmin7. Flat the 5th (which is "whatever note I'm playing on second string"), and you are playing that scary looking chord. Get really snooty and say, "ah, the half diminished chord". Juliard, Berkley, eat my dust.
This concludes the article, but I'll give some extra here, because it's so important:
Just in case it didn't sink in yet:
- KNOW THE CHORD TONES WHEN FINGERING A CHORD. IT'S THE PRACTICAL KEY TO KNOWING ALL CHORDS EVERYWHERE, EVEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN KNOWING THE NOTES.
Take the formulas given before, and try it anywhere you know how to finger a maj7 or min7 chord, whether or not it's on the top four strings. Let's look at Cmin7, played at the third fret. Again, we'll stick to four strings (and again, for these exercises, ONLY play those four strings);
---3
3 - x Eb
7 - Bb
5 - x x G
R - C
The order of chord tones has changed; the root is now on the fifth string, the 5th on the fourth string, the 7th on the third string, and the 3rd on the second string (so you're using the "middle" four strings).
Well, you know that to get to a maj7, you will have to sharp the 3rd and 7th.
---3
3 - x x E
7 - x B
5 - x x G
R - C
There you have it; Cmaj7.
Let's get out there and try Cmin7b5 this way; convert the maj7 (so starting with the maj7, flat the 3rd, 5th and 7th, or just start with the min7 chord and flat the 5th) and you get:
---3
3 - x Eb
7 - Bb
5 - x Gb
R - C
Blammo; you're playing a nice, rich sounding Cmin7b5. Compare it to the one on the top strings you learned before; note that they're the same chord, but you can imagine using one sometimes, and the other sometimes. You may play the Cmin7b5 on the top four strings, but the vocalist may say "I'm hitting the upper registers, can you play a different voicing?". Sure...I'll play this one on the middle four strings, I know how to do that easily enough now. Sure, they may get picky...no, play THIS exotic one. But at least you showed up knowing what the chord is, and you can play it a couple of different ways, which will usually do the job nicely.
So, applying the formulas to the chords based on where the tones are in the chord, you can build any 7th chord, anywhere, on the neck. It works for extensions and such too, like 9th and 11th chords, but there are a couple of other rules to know to build those properly; material for another article.
Have fun with that. As always, thanks for visiting.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The POG2 (Electro Harmonix)
If you know the kind of guitar player I am, you'd probably be surprised to hear that one of the acts I'm working with these days is using me as a rhythm and acoustic player. You'd probably be further surprised to hear that it's a Led Zeppelin cover band. Is it going to go anywhere, I don't know, but it's good practice and shows promise, and besides, there's nothing wrong with killing a couple of hours in a studio on a weekday night.
One of the songs we targeted is "Since I Been Lovin' You". The lead guitar player is a total Jimmy Page disciple--in fact, it seems to be more or less all he's really interested in playing--so the song lets him showcase. The singer can pull it off, which is enough of a reason to hang in there and see where it goes, and of course if we actually can nail it in front of a crowd, it'll probably land well.
But...we don't have a keyboard player. So the guys were a little tentative when the lead guy pushed to get the song on the list. I understood the hesitation; if you listen to the song, there's no rhythm guitar, it's all keyboard swells and fills, and without them, the song would probably still work, but it wouldn't be the whole pig.
I'd actually been working on my synth/octave sounds recently, and had achieved some organ-like effects, and was looking at some other devices, in particular, the POG2, or "Polyphonic Octave Generator" from Electro Harmonix; it's brand new, and is an upgrade to their previous POG. I couldn't find it anywhere though, I'd only seen demos online, so figured "sooner or later", but I believed it was now my best chance to fill the keyboard void in this song.
I'm pretty heavily invested in Line 6 stuff; I've got a GuitarPort (if you don't have one and you're a guitar player, for shame, it's 80 bucks and, coupled with a GuitarPort Online seven dollar a month membership fee and a computer, is easily one of the best play-along, sound experimentation, learning tools ever made), a PodX3 (the BIG, BIG pro brother to the GuitarPort) for recording and sometimes stage work, and an M13 Stompbox Modeler for stage.
With all that digital wizardry, you'd figure I could get that organ sound; Line 6 offers a variety of octave, synth, etc. effects that I can mix and match pretty much any way I want. But, no; I tried and tried. I couldn't get the sound I wanted, simple though it may seem. Line 6 makes great distortion and time based effects, but IMHO, their octave stuff isn't really that strong.
I called the guys at Sweetwater (they're great, I mean they actually place follow up calls just to see "how it's going"), and inquired about the POG2; they said it was shipping in a few days, so I could reserve one, they'd send it to me, etc. It wouldn't make it in time for rehearsal though...hmm.
Suddenly the guy says, "well, you saw our online demo right? I could sell you that unit. It's been used only a couple of times and is in mint condition. We'll sell it with the full warranty, yada yada."
I did it; the pedal came the next day via overnight delivery. Man, am I glad I made that call.
In a couple of hours, I knew my way around this amazing device, and with some experimentation, got it up and running to do exactly what I wanted. It's got a dry sound level, -2, -1, +1, +2 octave volume settings, four Q settings, and three filters; Low Pass, Attack, and Detune. The Attack filter was of great interest to me; you can keep your dry signal strong, but set the attack filter to fade in to your sound, giving, at high settings, "ghost on drugs" swells, and at low settings, a very Holdsworth-like "I can't hear his pick" attack sound; it's also perfect for that Andy Summers-ish delayed attack thing. It's true bypass and such, so signal degradation isn't a serious consideration.
Anyway, my settings for the organ sound are a light -2 octave, pronounced -1 and +1 octave, and a semi-pronounced +2 octave, with no Q, a slight attack setting for a quick initial swell without losing the ability to "hit" a chord, no low pass, and no detune. I also run it in front of (on the M13) a lightly set Opto Trem for that organ tremolo effect, and a pretty "hall" reverb sound (though not exaggerated at all, just enough to fill it up a little). You can save eight presets on the POG2, and toggle them with a footswitch, so I saved everything and called it a night.
Note that I'm not mentioning what amp I use, because these days, I'm playing here, there, everywhere; I can't count on the amp for reverb or distortion. My personal amps are Marshalls (I'm looking at the new Vintage line in fact), but when you play in studios or a club, you have to use the backline, so one day it could be a Marshall, one day a Fender, one day a Bogner, one day a Mesa Boogie, or one day some piece of junk somebody kicked a lot. Bottom line, if all you need is a clean channel, and you otherwise walk in with your sound, you can stay consistent pretty much anywhere.
Anyway, I was pleased with the result of my M13/POG2 combo, so I brought it to practice and kicked on the preset I mentioned previously. The band mumbled a little about a keyboard player again, but when I started riffing a little to check my level, they were like...
"WTF IS THAT?!?!?"
I told them what I worked up for the rehearsal, and they immediately wanted to play the formerly maybe/maybe not "Since I Been' Lovin' You". I'd worked out a lot of the important keyboard fills and such, and they were completely blown away; all hesitation was gone. The singer went on and on about how he could finally "hear" the song, and so forth. It also opens up other possibilities; "Your Time is Gonna Come" for instance.
Aside from that though, I've set up some other octave/swell settings that are far more subtle than an organ (or are just really pure octave effects), and am pretty confident when I say that there is nothing else I've found that comes close to the quality of this pedal. It's really pretty much just amazing.
Maybe some day you'll hear me use it. If you play and have any interest at all in octave effects, GET THIS PEDAL.
As always, thanks for visiting.
One of the songs we targeted is "Since I Been Lovin' You". The lead guitar player is a total Jimmy Page disciple--in fact, it seems to be more or less all he's really interested in playing--so the song lets him showcase. The singer can pull it off, which is enough of a reason to hang in there and see where it goes, and of course if we actually can nail it in front of a crowd, it'll probably land well.
But...we don't have a keyboard player. So the guys were a little tentative when the lead guy pushed to get the song on the list. I understood the hesitation; if you listen to the song, there's no rhythm guitar, it's all keyboard swells and fills, and without them, the song would probably still work, but it wouldn't be the whole pig.
I'd actually been working on my synth/octave sounds recently, and had achieved some organ-like effects, and was looking at some other devices, in particular, the POG2, or "Polyphonic Octave Generator" from Electro Harmonix; it's brand new, and is an upgrade to their previous POG. I couldn't find it anywhere though, I'd only seen demos online, so figured "sooner or later", but I believed it was now my best chance to fill the keyboard void in this song.
I'm pretty heavily invested in Line 6 stuff; I've got a GuitarPort (if you don't have one and you're a guitar player, for shame, it's 80 bucks and, coupled with a GuitarPort Online seven dollar a month membership fee and a computer, is easily one of the best play-along, sound experimentation, learning tools ever made), a PodX3 (the BIG, BIG pro brother to the GuitarPort) for recording and sometimes stage work, and an M13 Stompbox Modeler for stage.
With all that digital wizardry, you'd figure I could get that organ sound; Line 6 offers a variety of octave, synth, etc. effects that I can mix and match pretty much any way I want. But, no; I tried and tried. I couldn't get the sound I wanted, simple though it may seem. Line 6 makes great distortion and time based effects, but IMHO, their octave stuff isn't really that strong.
I called the guys at Sweetwater (they're great, I mean they actually place follow up calls just to see "how it's going"), and inquired about the POG2; they said it was shipping in a few days, so I could reserve one, they'd send it to me, etc. It wouldn't make it in time for rehearsal though...hmm.
Suddenly the guy says, "well, you saw our online demo right? I could sell you that unit. It's been used only a couple of times and is in mint condition. We'll sell it with the full warranty, yada yada."
I did it; the pedal came the next day via overnight delivery. Man, am I glad I made that call.
In a couple of hours, I knew my way around this amazing device, and with some experimentation, got it up and running to do exactly what I wanted. It's got a dry sound level, -2, -1, +1, +2 octave volume settings, four Q settings, and three filters; Low Pass, Attack, and Detune. The Attack filter was of great interest to me; you can keep your dry signal strong, but set the attack filter to fade in to your sound, giving, at high settings, "ghost on drugs" swells, and at low settings, a very Holdsworth-like "I can't hear his pick" attack sound; it's also perfect for that Andy Summers-ish delayed attack thing. It's true bypass and such, so signal degradation isn't a serious consideration.
Anyway, my settings for the organ sound are a light -2 octave, pronounced -1 and +1 octave, and a semi-pronounced +2 octave, with no Q, a slight attack setting for a quick initial swell without losing the ability to "hit" a chord, no low pass, and no detune. I also run it in front of (on the M13) a lightly set Opto Trem for that organ tremolo effect, and a pretty "hall" reverb sound (though not exaggerated at all, just enough to fill it up a little). You can save eight presets on the POG2, and toggle them with a footswitch, so I saved everything and called it a night.
Note that I'm not mentioning what amp I use, because these days, I'm playing here, there, everywhere; I can't count on the amp for reverb or distortion. My personal amps are Marshalls (I'm looking at the new Vintage line in fact), but when you play in studios or a club, you have to use the backline, so one day it could be a Marshall, one day a Fender, one day a Bogner, one day a Mesa Boogie, or one day some piece of junk somebody kicked a lot. Bottom line, if all you need is a clean channel, and you otherwise walk in with your sound, you can stay consistent pretty much anywhere.
Anyway, I was pleased with the result of my M13/POG2 combo, so I brought it to practice and kicked on the preset I mentioned previously. The band mumbled a little about a keyboard player again, but when I started riffing a little to check my level, they were like...
"WTF IS THAT?!?!?"
I told them what I worked up for the rehearsal, and they immediately wanted to play the formerly maybe/maybe not "Since I Been' Lovin' You". I'd worked out a lot of the important keyboard fills and such, and they were completely blown away; all hesitation was gone. The singer went on and on about how he could finally "hear" the song, and so forth. It also opens up other possibilities; "Your Time is Gonna Come" for instance.
Aside from that though, I've set up some other octave/swell settings that are far more subtle than an organ (or are just really pure octave effects), and am pretty confident when I say that there is nothing else I've found that comes close to the quality of this pedal. It's really pretty much just amazing.
Maybe some day you'll hear me use it. If you play and have any interest at all in octave effects, GET THIS PEDAL.
As always, thanks for visiting.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Fretboard Framework: Targeting Triads
Lately, I've been reviewing my knowledge of triads, particularly because some of the guys I've been playing with like a bluegrass sort of thing. The chord changes we're using are pretty basic, which to me means, I've got a lot of opportunity to try new things.
I found the band vamping on A major, so I said, let me try moving up and down the neck, hitting the triad notes in their inversions here and there, embellishing them with riffs in the same position as whatever triad I'm playing, and see what they guys think. One of my favorites is the second inversion of a triad, because the root note will be in the middle of the three strings you play it on, so you get a "string skipping" interval if you leave out the root, which is something all the greats cultivate (and a lot of guitar players seem to neglect).
Anyways, I pulled it off, and the band approved; they seemed to think I had some deep knowledge of some sort of blue grass zen, when all I really did was blow around some of the triad inversions of A major, occassionally throwing in a run and the basic blues note, which in A major, would be C (the flatted third).
So, one performance note here; you CAN NOT go wrong if you know your basics and use them in creative combinations and phrases.
Anyway, I did find myself saying "ok, so an A major triad is A, C#, E. First inversion is C#, E, A, so let me find the C# and hit that, then the second inversion is E, A, C#, so let me find the E and hit that..."
I know the three triad patterns (root and two inversions) on all strings, so when I find my target note I can lay it on, and of course in A, G, C, or E major/minor, the target notes are in pretty familiar spots. But what about, say, Db major? I'll be honest here and say that I can't name the notes with the same no-thought immediacy of, say, C or A major.
It occurred to me that I should plug this somehow into my little Fretboard Framework, which is all about easy-to-recall points of reference for running around the fretboard (I still work hard to know all the notes at a glance and such, but l don't think there's anything wrong with using landmarks to get around a town you visit, but don't live in, which is how I look at some keys).
Say you're working in A major. The triad is A, C#, E. That's the first, third, and fifth, of the A major scale; pretty straightforward.
Start with A major on the sixth (low E) string. You start on the fifth fret, use your Ionian mode pattern, and get this (roots are annotated with "R":
5
R-x
Hmm...well, you can see your root (A on the fifth fret), and the second, B. We still need the third and the fifth. Throw in the Phrygian (which in the order of modes, is the third one) mode pattern, and you get this (the root, third, and fifth is indicated with an R and the corresponding numbers).
5
R-x-3x-5
Notice that the Dorian mode is in there too (starting on the second of the major scale, Dorian is the second mode in the order of modes). That's not entirely relevant here though, because we're interested in the first, third and fifth notes. The Ionian and Phrygian modes, played sequentially, contain those notes, so there's our framework.
I've heard this sort of thing also called "one string theory" as well. While I think that you should know your mode patterns and think in terms of them for just about everything, it's worth mentioning that you can forego thinking about modes here entirely if you can just move all the way up a string in either a major or minor scale, so in A major, you'd count "A is one, B is two, C# is three, D# is four, E is five". However, if you know your mode positions, when you play that second inversion, you can more easily embellish it with phrases and runs, because you know what pattern works in the position you're playing the triad.
So, whether you're just counting, or you are thinking of modes, or both, now we have our first, third, and fifth. So without having to compute/hunt the notes of the triad, I know, just from knowing my mode patterns (or counting), that the root triad starts on the 5th fret, the first inversion starts on the 9th, the third on the 12th. True, I have to know the shapes of the triads, but at least I don't have to hunt 'n peck for the target notes to start them on, as long as I can identify the root note of the scale on any given string.
Let's map it out; because I only need three strings, I'm only showing the low E, A, and D strings (6, 5, 4). The roots are shown as "R", and the other notes use a number to indicate if they are the third or fifth (remember the number on top specifies the fret number for orientation, in this case I use 2, but note that the root is indeed on the fifth fret).
2 (root position A major triad)
5---
--3-
---R
7 (first inversion A major triad, the target note, C#, is on the 9th fret)
R--
5--
--3
11 (second inversion A major triad, the target note, E, is on the 12th fret)
3-
-R
-5
So, if I know those three shapes, and I know my mode patterns and/or if I can count, I can find the targets for my triads on the 6th string, in any key, easily.
Regarding the triad shapes, there's three sets of shapes to know: set 1 is the shapes with the target notes on the 6th and 5th string (the shapes are identical, but the frets you target them on change because A is now either an open string, or on the 12th fret), the shapes on the fourth string (so you'd apply this logic starting on either the 7th or 19th frets), and the shapes on the third string (apply logic on the 2nd or 14th frets). There's plenty of reference for triad shapes out there, so I won't go into that in this article.
The minor triads work the same way, except instead of starting with the Ionian mode, you start with the Aeolian one, and use the modes "to the right" until you have your third and fifth. In this case, Aeolian contains the first and third, Dorian contains the fifth, so we mentally move past Locrian and Ionian; or, we just "count" up the minor scale until we find the third and fifth notes. Note that minor triads are almost the same shapes as the major, except the third is lowered a half step in all the shapes (half step = 1 fret). Here's A minor:
5
R-x3-x-5
So I know my triad shapes start on the 5th fret (root shape), 8th fret (first inversion, note it's now 8 instead of 9, because this target note is the third, so we need to lower it a half step; the root and fifth remain the same), and 12th frets. Here's the map:
2 (root position A major triad)
5---
-3--
---R
7 (first inversion A major triad, the target note, C#, is on the 9th fret)
R--
5--
-3-
11 (second inversion A major triad, the target note, E, is on the 12th fret)
3--
--R
--5
Again, the only difference between the major and minor shapes, is that the third is lowered a half step. Diminished lowers the fifth a half step as well, and augmented starts with the major triad shapes, but raises the fifth a half step.
Ultimately, you want to know the voicing you're looking for (major/minor/dim/aug), know the inversion you want, then look at the fretboard and just bang them out without thinking, but that's a tall order for even an advanced guitar player (though I assume any of the "gods" can do it easily).
Play around with it, look both ways when crossing the street, and so on. As always, have fun.
I found the band vamping on A major, so I said, let me try moving up and down the neck, hitting the triad notes in their inversions here and there, embellishing them with riffs in the same position as whatever triad I'm playing, and see what they guys think. One of my favorites is the second inversion of a triad, because the root note will be in the middle of the three strings you play it on, so you get a "string skipping" interval if you leave out the root, which is something all the greats cultivate (and a lot of guitar players seem to neglect).
Anyways, I pulled it off, and the band approved; they seemed to think I had some deep knowledge of some sort of blue grass zen, when all I really did was blow around some of the triad inversions of A major, occassionally throwing in a run and the basic blues note, which in A major, would be C (the flatted third).
So, one performance note here; you CAN NOT go wrong if you know your basics and use them in creative combinations and phrases.
Anyway, I did find myself saying "ok, so an A major triad is A, C#, E. First inversion is C#, E, A, so let me find the C# and hit that, then the second inversion is E, A, C#, so let me find the E and hit that..."
I know the three triad patterns (root and two inversions) on all strings, so when I find my target note I can lay it on, and of course in A, G, C, or E major/minor, the target notes are in pretty familiar spots. But what about, say, Db major? I'll be honest here and say that I can't name the notes with the same no-thought immediacy of, say, C or A major.
It occurred to me that I should plug this somehow into my little Fretboard Framework, which is all about easy-to-recall points of reference for running around the fretboard (I still work hard to know all the notes at a glance and such, but l don't think there's anything wrong with using landmarks to get around a town you visit, but don't live in, which is how I look at some keys).
Say you're working in A major. The triad is A, C#, E. That's the first, third, and fifth, of the A major scale; pretty straightforward.
Start with A major on the sixth (low E) string. You start on the fifth fret, use your Ionian mode pattern, and get this (roots are annotated with "R":
5
R-x
Hmm...well, you can see your root (A on the fifth fret), and the second, B. We still need the third and the fifth. Throw in the Phrygian (which in the order of modes, is the third one) mode pattern, and you get this (the root, third, and fifth is indicated with an R and the corresponding numbers).
5
R-x-3x-5
Notice that the Dorian mode is in there too (starting on the second of the major scale, Dorian is the second mode in the order of modes). That's not entirely relevant here though, because we're interested in the first, third and fifth notes. The Ionian and Phrygian modes, played sequentially, contain those notes, so there's our framework.
I've heard this sort of thing also called "one string theory" as well. While I think that you should know your mode patterns and think in terms of them for just about everything, it's worth mentioning that you can forego thinking about modes here entirely if you can just move all the way up a string in either a major or minor scale, so in A major, you'd count "A is one, B is two, C# is three, D# is four, E is five". However, if you know your mode positions, when you play that second inversion, you can more easily embellish it with phrases and runs, because you know what pattern works in the position you're playing the triad.
So, whether you're just counting, or you are thinking of modes, or both, now we have our first, third, and fifth. So without having to compute/hunt the notes of the triad, I know, just from knowing my mode patterns (or counting), that the root triad starts on the 5th fret, the first inversion starts on the 9th, the third on the 12th. True, I have to know the shapes of the triads, but at least I don't have to hunt 'n peck for the target notes to start them on, as long as I can identify the root note of the scale on any given string.
Let's map it out; because I only need three strings, I'm only showing the low E, A, and D strings (6, 5, 4). The roots are shown as "R", and the other notes use a number to indicate if they are the third or fifth (remember the number on top specifies the fret number for orientation, in this case I use 2, but note that the root is indeed on the fifth fret).
2 (root position A major triad)
5---
--3-
---R
7 (first inversion A major triad, the target note, C#, is on the 9th fret)
R--
5--
--3
11 (second inversion A major triad, the target note, E, is on the 12th fret)
3-
-R
-5
So, if I know those three shapes, and I know my mode patterns and/or if I can count, I can find the targets for my triads on the 6th string, in any key, easily.
Regarding the triad shapes, there's three sets of shapes to know: set 1 is the shapes with the target notes on the 6th and 5th string (the shapes are identical, but the frets you target them on change because A is now either an open string, or on the 12th fret), the shapes on the fourth string (so you'd apply this logic starting on either the 7th or 19th frets), and the shapes on the third string (apply logic on the 2nd or 14th frets). There's plenty of reference for triad shapes out there, so I won't go into that in this article.
The minor triads work the same way, except instead of starting with the Ionian mode, you start with the Aeolian one, and use the modes "to the right" until you have your third and fifth. In this case, Aeolian contains the first and third, Dorian contains the fifth, so we mentally move past Locrian and Ionian; or, we just "count" up the minor scale until we find the third and fifth notes. Note that minor triads are almost the same shapes as the major, except the third is lowered a half step in all the shapes (half step = 1 fret). Here's A minor:
5
R-x3-x-5
So I know my triad shapes start on the 5th fret (root shape), 8th fret (first inversion, note it's now 8 instead of 9, because this target note is the third, so we need to lower it a half step; the root and fifth remain the same), and 12th frets. Here's the map:
2 (root position A major triad)
5---
-3--
---R
7 (first inversion A major triad, the target note, C#, is on the 9th fret)
R--
5--
-3-
11 (second inversion A major triad, the target note, E, is on the 12th fret)
3--
--R
--5
Again, the only difference between the major and minor shapes, is that the third is lowered a half step. Diminished lowers the fifth a half step as well, and augmented starts with the major triad shapes, but raises the fifth a half step.
Ultimately, you want to know the voicing you're looking for (major/minor/dim/aug), know the inversion you want, then look at the fretboard and just bang them out without thinking, but that's a tall order for even an advanced guitar player (though I assume any of the "gods" can do it easily).
Play around with it, look both ways when crossing the street, and so on. As always, have fun.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Interstitial Patterns, or, Why Some People Say I Think Too Much
Without a doubt, one of the lifelong quests of the guitarist, particularly the guitarist that pursues improvisational leads, is seeing the neck as one pattern, or looked at another way, eventually dispensing with the need to see any patterns at all; or, looked at even another (and more exaggerated) way, seeing the neck as having every mode and pentatonic position on every fret, it's just that they're all interconnected into one big pattern.
That's a lofty ambition for even the experienced pro. With the exception of people like Alan Holdsworth, who have a superhuman view of the guitar, I'd be willing to bet that almost every guitar player sees the neck as, at the advanced level, a series of intertwined patterns, and at intermediate and beginner levels, as a series of boxes (you've heard the term often lauded by many training courses as helping you "break out of the box").
I'm no different than anybody this way; while my view of the neck is evolving all the time, when I'm in a jam or run into a key or chord progression I'm not accustomed too, even if I see it coming a mile away, there I go into the safety of a known box. It's not a bad thing; I'm in key, I know where the roots are so I can hit at least the root chord tone, so I won't get thrown out of the bar for abusive wanking. And of course, most structured music leverages these vertical patterns on the guitar because they are readily accessible, both to the finger and the ear.
Not a bad thing, no; but it's safe, and feels "student-ish", and I like to experiment. Sure I can throw artificial harmonics, squeals and pops, some finger tapping, whatever, into the mix, but in the end I'm adrift in a river of music, floating in a safe cardboard box with the flag "A minor pentatonic postion 1" flying in the breeze. Not much of a differentiator there.
To that end, I started trying to figure out some useful exercises to join together the keystone positions of the neck; the seven modes, and the five pentatonic shapes. If you've read some of my previous articles, you might know of the CAGED PMAID 45123 framework. This exercise idea takes that to the next level by filling in the spaces between.
The crux of the biscuit; find patterns that aren't typically documented, between the patterns that are. I call these the "interstitial patterns". It's a little different than extended patterns, because it doesn't attempt to join two patterns, it attempts to create new ones, sorta.
Here's one example that I already use; it has an interesting sound, and joins together the Aeolian and Ionian positions without shifting between the two. Aeolian and Ionian are consecutive positions as far as most guitarists are concerned; Ionian is the relative mode of Aeolian, for instance, A Aeolian is the relative mode of C Ionian (or, A is the relative minor of C major); very seldom do I see a guitarist say, "that's when I moved from Aeolian, to Locrian, to Ionian".
Note that, as I've mentioned before, the Locrian mode is an important one, particular when playing over your half diminished chords and such. I should actually work on it more.
So... (starting at indicated number fret, you play the X and R symbols, the "R" symbols are the roots).
Here's A minor, or A Aeolian:
5
-R-XX
-XX-X
XX-X-
-X-R-
-X-XX
-R-XX
Here's the relative major, C Ionian:
7
XR-X-
-X-X-
X-XX-
X-XR-
XX-X-
XR-X-
Now, take the notes from the two patterns that make a single pattern that overlaps both. I came up with this:
6
-X--X
X---R
-X--X
-R--X
-X--X
-X--X
Very simple pattern, and contains notes not typically played as a sequential scale from either C major or A minor. But they're all in there, it's not random. It does have almost a Lydian quality to it though, notice that the "F" (or the sixth of the Aeolian / fourth of the Ionian) is doubled (no doubt what gives it the spacey, floating quality of the Lydian mode, I should probably analyze that a bit more).
Remember though, that the point of this pattern is to make the "bridge" from one typical pattern to another more seamless; although you can experiment with it in your improv, be careful, because it does sound kinda wonky if you just blow through it.
Complicate it a bit: add the blues note from related modes. In this case, A minor / C Major would be the D# (I indicate the blues note with a "B")
6
-X--XB
X---R-
-XB-X-
-X--X-
BX--X-
-X--X-
Now that's spacey.
Anyways, this is one of the things I experiment with; sometimes I take it out and it works, sometimes people say, "wtf was that can't you play anything straight". Either way, it's helping build my voice, whatever that may be, and if nothing else, has me staring at the neck and getting used to where notes and intervals are, which is always a good thing.
Have fun with this, remember, always listen to the band, mind your chord tones, show up on time, wear clean underwear (unless you're on a string of really great gigs then superstition rules the roost), and all that.
Fretboard Framework, the name, and all related articles, are the creations and property of Tim Consolazio.
Copyright 2009 By Tim Consolazio. All rights reserved.
That's a lofty ambition for even the experienced pro. With the exception of people like Alan Holdsworth, who have a superhuman view of the guitar, I'd be willing to bet that almost every guitar player sees the neck as, at the advanced level, a series of intertwined patterns, and at intermediate and beginner levels, as a series of boxes (you've heard the term often lauded by many training courses as helping you "break out of the box").
I'm no different than anybody this way; while my view of the neck is evolving all the time, when I'm in a jam or run into a key or chord progression I'm not accustomed too, even if I see it coming a mile away, there I go into the safety of a known box. It's not a bad thing; I'm in key, I know where the roots are so I can hit at least the root chord tone, so I won't get thrown out of the bar for abusive wanking. And of course, most structured music leverages these vertical patterns on the guitar because they are readily accessible, both to the finger and the ear.
Not a bad thing, no; but it's safe, and feels "student-ish", and I like to experiment. Sure I can throw artificial harmonics, squeals and pops, some finger tapping, whatever, into the mix, but in the end I'm adrift in a river of music, floating in a safe cardboard box with the flag "A minor pentatonic postion 1" flying in the breeze. Not much of a differentiator there.
To that end, I started trying to figure out some useful exercises to join together the keystone positions of the neck; the seven modes, and the five pentatonic shapes. If you've read some of my previous articles, you might know of the CAGED PMAID 45123 framework. This exercise idea takes that to the next level by filling in the spaces between.
The crux of the biscuit; find patterns that aren't typically documented, between the patterns that are. I call these the "interstitial patterns". It's a little different than extended patterns, because it doesn't attempt to join two patterns, it attempts to create new ones, sorta.
Here's one example that I already use; it has an interesting sound, and joins together the Aeolian and Ionian positions without shifting between the two. Aeolian and Ionian are consecutive positions as far as most guitarists are concerned; Ionian is the relative mode of Aeolian, for instance, A Aeolian is the relative mode of C Ionian (or, A is the relative minor of C major); very seldom do I see a guitarist say, "that's when I moved from Aeolian, to Locrian, to Ionian".
Note that, as I've mentioned before, the Locrian mode is an important one, particular when playing over your half diminished chords and such. I should actually work on it more.
So... (starting at indicated number fret, you play the X and R symbols, the "R" symbols are the roots).
Here's A minor, or A Aeolian:
5
-R-XX
-XX-X
XX-X-
-X-R-
-X-XX
-R-XX
Here's the relative major, C Ionian:
7
XR-X-
-X-X-
X-XX-
X-XR-
XX-X-
XR-X-
Now, take the notes from the two patterns that make a single pattern that overlaps both. I came up with this:
6
-X--X
X---R
-X--X
-R--X
-X--X
-X--X
Very simple pattern, and contains notes not typically played as a sequential scale from either C major or A minor. But they're all in there, it's not random. It does have almost a Lydian quality to it though, notice that the "F" (or the sixth of the Aeolian / fourth of the Ionian) is doubled (no doubt what gives it the spacey, floating quality of the Lydian mode, I should probably analyze that a bit more).
Remember though, that the point of this pattern is to make the "bridge" from one typical pattern to another more seamless; although you can experiment with it in your improv, be careful, because it does sound kinda wonky if you just blow through it.
Complicate it a bit: add the blues note from related modes. In this case, A minor / C Major would be the D# (I indicate the blues note with a "B")
6
-X--XB
X---R-
-XB-X-
-X--X-
BX--X-
-X--X-
Now that's spacey.
Anyways, this is one of the things I experiment with; sometimes I take it out and it works, sometimes people say, "wtf was that can't you play anything straight". Either way, it's helping build my voice, whatever that may be, and if nothing else, has me staring at the neck and getting used to where notes and intervals are, which is always a good thing.
Have fun with this, remember, always listen to the band, mind your chord tones, show up on time, wear clean underwear (unless you're on a string of really great gigs then superstition rules the roost), and all that.
Fretboard Framework, the name, and all related articles, are the creations and property of Tim Consolazio.
Copyright 2009 By Tim Consolazio. All rights reserved.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Visceral guitar theory
I'm going to take a chance, and write a blog article after a full bottle of Albarino, which is my favorite type of wine.
Me 'n my gal Debe went to one of three Spanish places I consider worthy. I love going out to dine, but have particularly pursued Spanish authentic. Follow me on twitter (tcoz_tweet) or facebook (google my name) if you want to know more.
I was at NGW (National Guitar Workshop) last week, you can read my article about it by looking to the links to the left (lazy html).
I'm moving forward from the NGW...and it's a lot to move forward from. But I've rebuilt my kit, and rebuilt my thinking of guitar playing. I'm a different player, thank you NGW. Shameless plug for her, Jane Getter is easily one of the best instructors evah.
Fanboi anyway, I clocked out of my tech project today (read Tcoz Tech Wire for a great pointer all you ECMA cats) and of course said, "eh, got some time, I should play guitar."
I worked it, metronome ticking, foot tapping. I was on, and happy, running pentatonic licks, adding fourths...etc, presto, ON the beat. Alternating thirds, fourths, string skipping patterns...like I said, the NGW is worth it.
I recorded it. I record everything now. It was ok, sharp, a little mechanical, but on...so ok.
I came home later after the meal and the wine. Debe was tired, she went right to bed, I went into the studio, loops waiting.
I started up the same loops (thank you Boss RS-20) I was so on over the tracks I laid out, I was amazed. Not at my "greatness", but sort of in the way you go "wow" when you see a really good photograph of yourself. There's nothing really different about you, you're just shinin' the light right.
I recorded it. It was, rough, but it swung swing on the first beat, which is very musical. I was surprised in fact...I tended to hold the first note of a run..just..a.little, andthenrun into the next beat. Hard to describe, sort of like water flowing when being dumped suddenly, it doesn't all move at once, but when it does, here it comes.
Anyway, it led me to some thoughts about visceral guitar playing. That is, the raw sensation of playing guitar. Perhaps I actually know enough about it after 25 years to say something.
- Don't practice in front of a mirror.
- It is GOOD to have a mirror and watch yourself play guitar.
- Practice with a metronome, always.
- Every now and then, turn off the metronome.
- You should stand, wear your strap, and MOVE.
- Always practice sitting down.
- Be humble.
- Nevermind all that.
Hope that makes sense. See you out there.
Me 'n my gal Debe went to one of three Spanish places I consider worthy. I love going out to dine, but have particularly pursued Spanish authentic. Follow me on twitter (tcoz_tweet) or facebook (google my name) if you want to know more.
I was at NGW (National Guitar Workshop) last week, you can read my article about it by looking to the links to the left (lazy html).
I'm moving forward from the NGW...and it's a lot to move forward from. But I've rebuilt my kit, and rebuilt my thinking of guitar playing. I'm a different player, thank you NGW. Shameless plug for her, Jane Getter is easily one of the best instructors evah.
Fanboi anyway, I clocked out of my tech project today (read Tcoz Tech Wire for a great pointer all you ECMA cats) and of course said, "eh, got some time, I should play guitar."
I worked it, metronome ticking, foot tapping. I was on, and happy, running pentatonic licks, adding fourths...etc, presto, ON the beat. Alternating thirds, fourths, string skipping patterns...like I said, the NGW is worth it.
I recorded it. I record everything now. It was ok, sharp, a little mechanical, but on...so ok.
I came home later after the meal and the wine. Debe was tired, she went right to bed, I went into the studio, loops waiting.
I started up the same loops (thank you Boss RS-20) I was so on over the tracks I laid out, I was amazed. Not at my "greatness", but sort of in the way you go "wow" when you see a really good photograph of yourself. There's nothing really different about you, you're just shinin' the light right.
I recorded it. It was, rough, but it swung swing on the first beat, which is very musical. I was surprised in fact...I tended to hold the first note of a run..just..a.little, andthenrun into the next beat. Hard to describe, sort of like water flowing when being dumped suddenly, it doesn't all move at once, but when it does, here it comes.
Anyway, it led me to some thoughts about visceral guitar playing. That is, the raw sensation of playing guitar. Perhaps I actually know enough about it after 25 years to say something.
- Don't practice in front of a mirror.
- It is GOOD to have a mirror and watch yourself play guitar.
- Practice with a metronome, always.
- Every now and then, turn off the metronome.
- You should stand, wear your strap, and MOVE.
- Always practice sitting down.
- Be humble.
- Nevermind all that.
Hope that makes sense. See you out there.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
A blurb on attending The National Guitar Workshop
I've been slacking a little on my blogs lately; reason being, I've been drilling my guitar skills at the National Guitar Workshop in Purchase, NY.
If you haven't heard about it, visit their website. In brief, it's a music education program focusing heavily, as the name implies, on guitar oriented music. At the same time, as the name does not imply, it's also for bass players, drummers, classical guitar players, jazz players, and so on. I haven't seen any horn or keyboard players involved in the courses or workshops I've been exposed to, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're not here; I certainly haven't seen it all by a longshot.
As I'm writing this, I just came from a run (yes some musicians exercise, Steve Vai goes to the gym and Herman Li studies martial arts) following another full day, 9-5, of exposing myself to just about every aspect of the instrument I love and have been playing for years. I've been playing guitar longer than I've been a technologist, and if you read my tech blogs, you get an idea that it's more than say...a couple of years (or 10x that).
However, I never took it to the pro level. I've been in bands, studied some classical theory, can find my way around notation, and have a walk-around repertoire of classical, blues, jazz, and rock songs, and have even "played out" as recently as last week, but I've never taken it to the "next level", as it were. I get a lot of compliments on my playing, but I know that, put into a setting with bonafied pros, I'd have some gaping holes in my overall package.
A few months ago, I received a Facebook notification from the Steve Vai fan page; it said that he'd be appearing at the National Guitar Workshop summer session. Steve is one of my favorite guitar players, I even have his signature model Ibanez JEM. I also play a Les Paul, a Strat, a Kramer, as well as classical and acoustic guitars, so I wouldn't say I emulate Steve heavily, but I'm clearly influenced by his style, and of course the JEM is just a great, top-of-the-line guitar.
Anyway, I decided to pull the trigger, sign up for the program, and see what it was all about. I'd just finished a stint in a rock band and advanced lead class at New York City Guitar School, and have been studying my composition, theory and technique diligently, as well as just playing hard, so figured I'd be ready for a more advanced program.
I have to say, so far so good. If you're a player looking for a crash course and exposure to some top notch teachers working in the industry at the pro level, you should visit the site and consider taking a week or two out of your life to polish up your chops and performance.
Day 1: I walk into class in the morning, and sitting there is a woman I know I've seen somewhere before. She's wearing a Fender shirt, is sitting next to a Fender Strat and a Fender practice amp...who the heck is she, I know that face from somewhere. My suite mate (we get individual bedrooms but share a suite, remember it's at Purchase college), had done his homework and knew she was Jane Getter, who has played with any number of big names, such as warming up for Alan Holdsworth (wow), as well as being part of the Saturday Night Live band for a stretch. This was going to be my teacher all week; I sat down and waited to see what it's all about.
Jane is great. She's laid back but in control of the sessions, which is challenging to say the least; it's a full class of rock guitar students, all plugged into amplifiers, in a closed-door classroom, so now and then it's GUYS PLEASE STOP PLAYING. In addition to keeping the roof on, she finds time to dissect solos and techniques from guys like Trey Anastasio, Eric Johnson, Alan Holdsworth, Robben Ford, and so on. We learn a little of how they might think about their approaches to composition and lead structure and improvisation, then we settle in with a drummer and bass player for a while, trade fours on the leads, and call it a day. Jane's son actually plays the drums, lucky for her (if you play guitar, have two kids, make one play bass, the other drums).
On top of that, we had guest sessions with Steve Vai himself, and Herman Li. Both were well spoken, revealed a number of interesting points about playing and the industry, and showed us a few things from their magic bags of tricks.
At night, we go to the concerts, and/or perform. The faculty here is, without a doubt, a group of the finest players I've ever seen under one roof at the same time. Even the guy who administers and runs the program, who you'd think of as the "business guy", turned out to be a brilliant jazz player. Bar none, they can all teach, play, and communicate in a variety of ways to show you how to do so.
The students are great as well; it's a mixed bag of ability, age and experience, but from a networking perspective, it can't be beat. I've already got some contacts for players back in NYC, which I plan on taking advantage of right away, so look out for me in the clubs; I'll be the guy playing guitar.
I'll leave it at that for now; just figured I'd blurb a word about this amazing experience.
As always, thanks for visiting, and see you out there.
Fretboard Framework, the name, and all related articles, are the creations and property of Tim Consolazio.
Copyright 2009 By Tim Consolazio. All rights reserved.
If you haven't heard about it, visit their website. In brief, it's a music education program focusing heavily, as the name implies, on guitar oriented music. At the same time, as the name does not imply, it's also for bass players, drummers, classical guitar players, jazz players, and so on. I haven't seen any horn or keyboard players involved in the courses or workshops I've been exposed to, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're not here; I certainly haven't seen it all by a longshot.
As I'm writing this, I just came from a run (yes some musicians exercise, Steve Vai goes to the gym and Herman Li studies martial arts) following another full day, 9-5, of exposing myself to just about every aspect of the instrument I love and have been playing for years. I've been playing guitar longer than I've been a technologist, and if you read my tech blogs, you get an idea that it's more than say...a couple of years (or 10x that).
However, I never took it to the pro level. I've been in bands, studied some classical theory, can find my way around notation, and have a walk-around repertoire of classical, blues, jazz, and rock songs, and have even "played out" as recently as last week, but I've never taken it to the "next level", as it were. I get a lot of compliments on my playing, but I know that, put into a setting with bonafied pros, I'd have some gaping holes in my overall package.
A few months ago, I received a Facebook notification from the Steve Vai fan page; it said that he'd be appearing at the National Guitar Workshop summer session. Steve is one of my favorite guitar players, I even have his signature model Ibanez JEM. I also play a Les Paul, a Strat, a Kramer, as well as classical and acoustic guitars, so I wouldn't say I emulate Steve heavily, but I'm clearly influenced by his style, and of course the JEM is just a great, top-of-the-line guitar.
Anyway, I decided to pull the trigger, sign up for the program, and see what it was all about. I'd just finished a stint in a rock band and advanced lead class at New York City Guitar School, and have been studying my composition, theory and technique diligently, as well as just playing hard, so figured I'd be ready for a more advanced program.
I have to say, so far so good. If you're a player looking for a crash course and exposure to some top notch teachers working in the industry at the pro level, you should visit the site and consider taking a week or two out of your life to polish up your chops and performance.
Day 1: I walk into class in the morning, and sitting there is a woman I know I've seen somewhere before. She's wearing a Fender shirt, is sitting next to a Fender Strat and a Fender practice amp...who the heck is she, I know that face from somewhere. My suite mate (we get individual bedrooms but share a suite, remember it's at Purchase college), had done his homework and knew she was Jane Getter, who has played with any number of big names, such as warming up for Alan Holdsworth (wow), as well as being part of the Saturday Night Live band for a stretch. This was going to be my teacher all week; I sat down and waited to see what it's all about.
Jane is great. She's laid back but in control of the sessions, which is challenging to say the least; it's a full class of rock guitar students, all plugged into amplifiers, in a closed-door classroom, so now and then it's GUYS PLEASE STOP PLAYING. In addition to keeping the roof on, she finds time to dissect solos and techniques from guys like Trey Anastasio, Eric Johnson, Alan Holdsworth, Robben Ford, and so on. We learn a little of how they might think about their approaches to composition and lead structure and improvisation, then we settle in with a drummer and bass player for a while, trade fours on the leads, and call it a day. Jane's son actually plays the drums, lucky for her (if you play guitar, have two kids, make one play bass, the other drums).
On top of that, we had guest sessions with Steve Vai himself, and Herman Li. Both were well spoken, revealed a number of interesting points about playing and the industry, and showed us a few things from their magic bags of tricks.
At night, we go to the concerts, and/or perform. The faculty here is, without a doubt, a group of the finest players I've ever seen under one roof at the same time. Even the guy who administers and runs the program, who you'd think of as the "business guy", turned out to be a brilliant jazz player. Bar none, they can all teach, play, and communicate in a variety of ways to show you how to do so.
The students are great as well; it's a mixed bag of ability, age and experience, but from a networking perspective, it can't be beat. I've already got some contacts for players back in NYC, which I plan on taking advantage of right away, so look out for me in the clubs; I'll be the guy playing guitar.
I'll leave it at that for now; just figured I'd blurb a word about this amazing experience.
As always, thanks for visiting, and see you out there.
Fretboard Framework, the name, and all related articles, are the creations and property of Tim Consolazio.
Copyright 2009 By Tim Consolazio. All rights reserved.
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