PLEASE WATCH VIDEO FOR CLEAR ANALYSIS:
Moving on from our last lesson on simple 2 finger alternate picking guitar scales we will now look at applying it to “Raga-Esque”
improvisations. We will do this by using repeated notes to set up the fluid Raga like scales/motifs to hold time together in the beat cycle.
Both examples in this blog employ strict alternate picking guitar technique starting with a “Down” stroke.
Below we can see the whole bar of repeated notes ready to set up the 2 finger scale.
EXAMPLE 1: Indian Raga Guitar Alternate Picking with “Repeated” Notes employing simple 2 finger guitar pentatonic scales.
Indian Raga 2 finger Alternate Picking Guitar “Extended line”.
Another great and common concept in Indian Classical Music is to employ rhythmic groups of 5 notes.
Lastly, we can employ a reduction effect by removing one beat at a time. This is, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
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Hello Clifford, I really appreciate your lessons thanks ! In this raga lesson you seem to use the 2 fingers I-M mainly. I find it easier to use I-A instead, is thit OK ?Best Ala
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Hi Alain,
Yeah, you can use whatever you find easiest. There are no set rules, and at times I use three fingers. But, the idea is to have a really simple fingering to get across all 6 strings [ascending/descending] and land on a repeated note rhythmically to create a Rag-esque improv/composition.
Thanks
Cliff
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