Alternate Picking Tips: Grip for Fast Playing

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Alternate Picking: Essential Grip for fast articulated picking

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys

Today, a “Re-Post” that some of you have been searching for:

It’s the look at alternate picking plectrum/pick grip page.

PLEASE NOTE: This page/blog is only for anyone who might be having problems with holding the pick for long periods when improvising, or moving from the improvised line back to chord melody.

PICK GRIP:

It’s not so important how you hold the pick or what finger you use. But, it is essential not to have a wobbly thumb and/or finger .

Three pictures demonstrating how to grip the guitar pick correctly for fast alternate picking guitar phrases in the syle of malmsteen, mclaughlin and al di meola and other guitar shredders.

A lot of guitar players when they start out with alternate picking often change the grip just as they are about the pluck the string! This makes it impossible to gauge distance.

When the thumb is rigid and the grip is solid, distance, articulation and timing fall into place automatically.

Pic 1: Good solid grip

Example of how to grip the guitar pick correctly for fast alternate picking in the syle of guitarists like malmsteen, mclaughlin and al di meola

Pic 2: Pick confidently plucks string

Image depicting how to grip the guitar pick correctly for fast alternate picking guitar technique

Below [Pic 3]: BAD!

At the last moment the pick is turned as it is about to pluck the string and the thumb and finger wobble/collapse:

2 BASIC EXERCISES:

Here are a couple of exercises for practicing whilst getting the feel of gripping the pick firmly.

The first is a simple A minor Pentatonic scale in sextuplets.

Counting basic 1 2 3 4 5 6:

This starts on a down stroke:

Next we have the same thing but in groups of four 16th notes.

alternate-picking-guitar-techniques-exercise

It’s a good idea to play around with these two exercises by mixing the groups of 4 and 6 together and create little phrases out of them.

PDF DOWNLOAD:

alt-pick-guitar-gripDownload

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Harmonising Melodies with Diminished Chords: [Chord Melody]

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Following on from our previous lesson, we will now exploit the diminished 7th chord from our harmonised diminished scale examples.

To recap, here, is our basic shape:

PART 1 Harmonising a Simple Melody

To begin with, let’s take a very basic fragment of melody:

Now, we will simply harmonise this with our diminished 7th shape:

Guitar tab displaying example of how harmonising melodies with Diminished Chords is so easy on guitar. Brilliant lessonthta's easy to understand

Notice, that straight away we have a sophisticated harmonic Palate and accompanying chord melody.

Let’s now stretch this further and broaden out on our diminished 7th chord shape by adding a couple of extra melodic notes:

Lesson in harmonising melodies with Diminished Chords for easy on guitar and all musical instruments

From here, we will now harmonise the same piece of melody with slash chords from our previous lesson/video [on harmonising the diminished scale]:

Guitar tablature displaying how to harmonise melody with slash chords from the diminished scale.

Lastly, here are two examples with diminished 7th chords from the 5th and 6th strings. Both harmonising perfect cadences.

From 5th string

From 6th string

Examples from Standards:

Below, we have an example from “Stella” where we have both the minor7b5 and the diminished 7th [also Dominant7th].

Music notation and guitar tab displaying example how harmonising melodies with Diminished Chords on jazz standards is easy.

In the next example, we have lots of colourful diminished 7th movement from the Gershwin classic “Someone to watch over me”.

Guitar tab displaying jazz standard example how harmonising melodies with Diminished Chords is so easy on guitar and all musical instruments

Here, is the same but with the original Ab13 chord

Guitar tab displaying jazz standard example how harmonising melodies with Diminished Chords is so easy on guitar and all musical instruments

Ascending Melody Harmonisation

To conclude, we will harmonise a simple ascending melody and add passing diminished 7th chords and vary it:

Simple Melody:

BASIC MELODY/HARMONISATION:

Variation-Filled out:

Variation 2:

IN CONCLUSION

This was just a quick look at how to exploit melodies with the diminished 7th shape from our lesson on harmonising the diminished scale.

What you will notice, is how easily we can apply them as passing chords and colourful harmonic decorations to create really sophisticated accompaniments and chord melody functions.

For a really in depth take on this, it is a good idea to take a look at some Barry Harris material as this contains a huge wealth of possibilities. Also, for guitarists, Pat Martino’s approach to chords.

PDF DOWNLOAD

Dim chord 2Download

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Easy Ways to Harmonise the Diminished Scale

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application
How to Easily Harmonise the Diminished Scale Lesson

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at an easy way to harmonise the diminished scale.

PART 1: The Diminished 7th Chord

To begin our study, let’s take the diminished scale and play it on the 1st [E] string of the guitar.

Notice, the half steps and whole steps of the scale.

This scale can now be harmonised with diminished seventh chords.

What’s equally amazing is that with this form we have a separate diminished scale starting on each note of the chord itself.

This in turn gives us four part harmony.

Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass. or S.A.T.B

image displaying how to easily harmonise the diminished scale with 4 part harmony like composer Bach.

The other interesting point, is that the first two chords of the scale incorporate all 8 notes of the scale:

image of music notation and guitar tab displaying how to easily harmonise the diminished scale with diminished 7th chords.

So, now let’s harmonise the scale fully with the diminished 7th chord shape ascending:

image of music notation and guitar tab displaying how to easily harmonise the diminished scale with 4 part harmony.

The key from here, is to accentuate an inner or outer voice.

In this case we will accentuate the Soprano [or top line] scale ascending:

image of music notation and guitar tab displaying how to easily harmonise the diminished scale with 4 part harmony all playing the scale

To continue our investigation, we will now accentuate the scale in the Bass.

image of music notation and guitar tab displaying how to easily harmonise the diminished scale

Now, as we look at the chord and scale within the S. A. T. B. we can see the full realm at our fingertips.

The ascending scale of each voice is in full view:

image of music notation and guitar tab displaying how to easily harmonise the diminished scale with 4 part harmony all playing the scale

PART 2: SLASH CHORDS

Another useful device for harmonising the diminished scale is to employ the use of slash chords:

These, will be moving in minor 3rds with the scale on the top.

Below, we have a triad of F Major played over a Gb bass. This is then followed by a D Major triad played over an Eb Bass.

These chords, are now sequenced: Moving up in minor thirds whilst carrying the scale on top.

Music notation and guitar tablature showing how to harmonise the diminished scale with slash chords easily.

In the next example, we will use another diminished favourite:

The minor7b5: Or Half diminished:

We, will follow this with our B/C slash chord form our lesson a little while back:

Now, let’s view the full chord scale:

Be amazed!…..Yes, this works out in all 4 parts once again:

Music notation and guitar tab showing how to harmonise the diminished scale with slash chords

PART: minor 3rd Chord Movement

To complete this, here are the two most common chord movements in minor 3rds for our scale.

This is NOT harmonised, but still essential to look at as it really displays the minor 3rd movement in both major and minor tonality within this scale.

Minor 7ths moving in minor 3rds:

Dominant 7ths with sharpened 9ths moving up in minor 3rds:

CONCLUSION:

This was just a quick look at how to harmonise the diminished scale.

These concepts are quite basic in many regards but contain a wealth of power for both on the spot Re-harmonisation and 4 part voicing for composition.

Traditional harmony and as we can see in this blog/lesson contemporary harmony both work well for the task.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

Dim HarmonyDownload

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