John McLaughlin Concepts Part 2 “Shakti” Phrases:

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Here, is part 2 of the John McLaughlin Guitar Concepts trilogy.

Single Note “Shakti” Concept

The main part of this collection of phrases is to employ a repeated note and then play off of it.

So, let’s take this repeated note of G to begin with.

Now, let’s add a little Mixolydian scale fragment/motif.

mage shows music notation and guitar tab for John McLaughlin Shakti alternate picking guitar lesson.

This time, we will expand on this with an answering phrase.

Image depicts music notation and guitar tab for John McLaughlin Shakti alternate picking guitar lesson.

This works well, so let’s repeat this with a slight variation/longer response.

image shows how to play guitar like John McLaughlin

To create some contrast, we will exploit imitation though the octaves.

Image depicts how to play guitar like John McLaughlin

From here, we will complete the phrase with some scale activity.

This is an F Dominant scale [or you might like to think of this as Bb in a Pentatonic form].

Image shows music notation and guitar tab for John McLaughlin Shakti alternate picking guitar scale.

This then lands on two classic McLaughlin chords.

PDF DOWNLOAD:

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Pat Martino-Linear Expressions Guitar Activity#1 Example:

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application
Pat Martino “Linear Expressions” guitar lesson

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a look at the first example in Pat Martino’s brilliant book “Linear Expressions”.

This is a great resource for guitar improvisation as it contains many arpeggio, scale and chromatic phrases in different keys and octaves.

Please be aware though, that this book does not contain guitar TAB [Tablature].

Page example:

GUITAR ACTIVITY #1

[This line is played with alternate picking guitar technique starting on a downstroke].

The key for this line is Gm:

This hard bop sounding activity line starts with a simple fragment of a G minor scale that chromatically connects to a minor 3rd interval creating a jazzy pentatonic sound.

Image shows guitar tab of Pat Martino's linear expressions . Guitar lesson with analysis teaching how to improvise. Full guitar lesson with guitar tab and music notation.

Next, we employ two contrasting “Tetrachords” [4 note groupings]. The first being E minor [G Major] based and the second implying Bb Major 9 [G minor].

Image shows guitar tab of Pat Martino's linear expressions . Guitar lesson with analysis teaching how to improvise. Full guitar lesson with guitar tab and music notation.

From here, Pat exploits Major 3rd intervals with connecting chromaticism that is once again followed by some simple scale fragment.

Image depicts guitar tab of Pat Martino's linear expressions . Guitar lesson with analysis teaching how to improvise. Full guitar lesson with guitar tab and music notation.

This then brings us back to our BbMaj9 tetrachord accompanied by another piece of simple scale fragment.

Finally, we finish with a simple piece of pentatonic.

FULL ACTIVITY LINE #1

Here, is the full activity line with guitar TAB:

Guitar TAB showing activity #1 guitar line from Pat Martino's book linear expressions.

PDF DOWNLOAD:

linear expressionsDownload

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Off-Beat in Alternate Picking Example:

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, just a quick look at alternate picking phrases on the off-beat.

In this short example, we will pick in 16th’s and cross the string on the off-beat as we do.

So, if we look at the example below we can see the notes in red on the “a”. The last note of each 4 note [tetrachord] grouping.

Image depicts alternate picking guitar technique in a syncopated off-beat manner. Guitar lesson for alternate picking that crosses the strings with syncopation.

I am starting this phrase with an anacrusis/up-beat and an “Up” stroke.

This means, that the first beat will be on a down stroke and so the phrase will cross on the last 16th off-beat note.

Image shows music notation and guitar tab on how to do alternate picking in a syncopated off-beat manner. Guitar lesson for alternate picking technique that crosses the strings with syncopation.

This makes the phrase easy to pluck and the off beat pushes the music along.

image showing music notation and guitar tablature for alternate picking guitar technique on the off beat

I set this little phrase up with a couple 7sus4 chords. These being F/G and G/A

To round off this line, I finished with a fragment of basic major scale descending starting on a downstroke.

And cadenced with G/A A7 D/E as a ii V I.

Full Alternate Picking Phrase:

image shows guitar tab and music notation for alternate picking off beat example and lesson.

Pdf Download:

off beatDownload

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