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Hi Guys,
Today, a quick look at the first of a few Shakti Indian guitar scales for tabla and guitar improvisation.
The first one that we will look at today is the A Mixolydian Mode exploited in a pentatonic form.
“The guitar technique employed is strict alternate picking”.
A MIXOLYDIAN:
Here, is the basic scale ascending. The G natural gives the unique flavour and colour as it possesses the dominant sound, but, in a non resolving from.
DESCENDING SCALE:
In this first exercise we will descend with the A mixolydian mode and employ imitation with the pentatonic form.
This example exploits strict alternate picking guitar technique. And, it works really well for two reasons:
A] It start on an “Up stroke”
B] It starts in the bar and on the “Off” beat
This creates a nice, smooth phrasing and is easy to copy and repeat down the octave.
EXERCISE 1:
As you can see below, it is repeated, and copied down an octave starting on the upstroke and on the off beat:
Finally, a variation/implication of this is played, due to the guitar running out of notes to fully copy it.
Counting Time example:
EXAMPLE 2: “Down” Stroke
In this next example we will vary what we have just played in the example above.
But,
with two differences,
A] We will start on a “Down” stroke
B] We will play “On” the beat.
EXERCISE 2:
As with the previous example, we will now imitate what we have just played and copy it exactly down an octave:
Counting Example:
QUICK SCALE FINGERINGS:
Here, is another form/fingering of the scale in descent: Notice that this is starting on an “Up” stroke.
And finally, an ascending form/sequence starting on a “Down” stroke.
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