Category: Jazz fusion guitar music theory lessons, guitar technique and improvisation.

How to improvise over altered dominant chords. How to employ chromatic jazz and fusion harmony. Apply twentieth century classical composition techniques to modern jazz music and improv. How to exploit modes of the major. minor and diminished scales. Lesson in alternate picking guitar techniques as used by John Mclaughlin and Al di Meola. How to do metal rock and all styles of alternate picking on the guitar. Plectrum pick technique for electric and acoustic guitarists. alternate guitar style of picking lessons.

KraftGeek “Capsule” Music Stand [And Accessories] REVIEW:

Posted on October 5, 2025October 5, 2025 by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a product review.

This is the KraftGeek “Capsule” music stand.

This stand won the best music stand award at NAMM in 2024.

Not only, is this a great music stand, but it’s also a great tool for the content creator.

The best part for me, is that the design allows [with accessories] iPad/iPhone and “LumiLight” application for social media needs.

THE BASIC STAND:

Straight out of the box the stand has a sleek, smooth and state of the art feeling. The materials used are top notch.

It’s also pretty light, and very mobile/portable.

The other great thing is that the stand folds and unfolds easily with a sliding telescopic leg support. So, there’s nothing sticking out or sharp

This makes it especially useful for traveling, gigging, orchestral performing and social media/content creating on the go.

ACCESSORIES:

The great thing about this stand is that we can attach a light, an iPhone and/or an iPad .

The “LumiLight”

The light accessory, screws on to the top of the stand.

This, has two settings and can be powered by a USB Power bank or 3 AA batteries.

The iPhone/iPad HOLDER:

Next, we have the iPhone/iPad Holder. This simply screws in, either, at the centre or at the top.

This, can also make the stand into an iPad holder [or iPhone] on its own if needed.

For a musician and content creator this is unbelievably useful, and essential when creating on the go.

This, is what makes the stand so unique, because, it is more of a “Tool” really, a sort of Swiss army knife [of mobility] for a social media and/or gigging musician that dosen’t want to carry a big bulky stand with separate iPad/iPhone stands and cases etc.

PRICE:

Prepare yourselves!….This is not a cheap stand. But, as in all things in life, you get what you pay for.

The stand itself costs [at the time of writing this review] £68

The stand with all accessories costs £114 [at the time of writing this review]

THE CONS:

There are two points that I would say need looking at though.

1] The middle bar needs to go out further and come in closer. As, the clips can’t attach themselves to both ends of the manuscript paper. Not all music paper sizes, but some, especially songbooks.

EXAMPLE:

Diagram showing adjustments for the middle bar of the KraftGeek 'Capsule' music stand, labeled 'In Closer' and 'Out Further'.

The second point: [for me this is not really an issue, but, to some musicians it might] it’s this: This stand does not really hold books that are excessively heavy or super bulky in weight.

Although, in my test it can hold one single heavy [heavy-ish] book without a problem.

Here’s a couple that I tried.

The “Jazz Theory Book” [Thick ring binder book]

This held fine:

This, also held up fine.

But, both together were too much and the telescopic leg slid down a bit.

Again, for me, this was not a problem, [as I use this as a gigging/content creating stand], but, perhaps for some people who wish to use big bulky books at home, a heavy duty stand would be preferable.

IN CONCLUSION:

This stand is a pretty light, mobile, [quick telescopic set up], easy to carry tool that can handle an iPad and an iPhone [and/or Light] with sheet music at the same time.

This is not what I would call a home music stand. Although, it does look really nice in the house and does work relatively well in that function.

But, I would call this a tool for the gigging musician that needs to travel light. This one stand can do the work of having separate stands and cases etc, whilst being hassle free in terms of mobility/portability.

If you are interested you can get 15% off with the code below:

Online Store: https://bit.ly/4prxMOA
15% Code: Cliff123
Amazon US: https://bit.ly/3SgJrjo

Schoenberg’s chord of the 15th-Music Examples and Analysis

Posted on August 25, 2025August 25, 2025 by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a look at the final chord of Arnold Schoenberg’s “Sechs Kleine Klavierstucke” 2nd movement. In thirds this reads as: C–E–G–B–D♯–F♯–A♯–Cx.

Schoenberg Chord in classic form:

schoenberg_chord_music_analysis_extended_15th_in_music

This extended chord of a 15th, can also be viewed and heard as a bi-tonal construction of C Major 7th with Eb minorMajor 7th superimposed on top

Schoenberg Chord Clarified:

This can also, be thought of [especially in terms of the guitar] as an arpeggio of CMaj7 and an Arpeggio of EbmMaj7.

schoenberg_chord_music_analysis_explained_15th_in_music

Due, to the nature of its sound and collection of notes, it can produce some interesting counterpoint. Especially, as the Eb to E natural resolution creates colour and drama. [view video at top of page].

schoenberg_chord_music_analysis_extended_15th_in_music_guitar

Being, a Bi-Tonal chord it is useful as it gives us triad pairs.

Ascending Line:

schoenberg_chord_music_analysis_chord_pairs_guitar

Now, we will take this a stage further by adding more chords/triads available.

D+ to C to EbmMaj7 to CmMaj7 to Em7 to Bmaj7

schoenberg_chord_music_analysis_chord_pairs

CHORDS:

Let’s now, re voice the chord. Here we will make the chord of C a minMaj7 and add D Augmented [9th] on top.

In the video/audio [a quick demo I created] below, we can hear the dramatic sound of this voicing in the orchestra.

Next, we have two guitar voicing’s. Firstly we have a Bsus/C [or plain B/C] as a typical McLaughlin guitar voicing.

schoenberg_chord_music_analysis_extended_15th_in_music_mclaughlin_guitar

Secondly, we have the same voicing but with a changing bass.

Lastly, another guitar voicing that is useful for chordal picking:

From here, we will add a partial scale descending that is formed from the chord: This chord voicing has a flattened 5th and a sharpened 9th.

Lastly, we can create some interesting and colourful passages by exploiting the intervals inherent within this 15th chord.

EXAMPLE 1 Ascending:

schoenberg_chord_music_analysis_extended_15th_in_music_intervals

EXAMPLE 2 Descending:

PDF DOWNLOAD:

schoenberg_chord Download

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Exploring Modal Chord Progressions in C Major

Posted on June 14, 2025June 14, 2025 by Modern Music Theory and Application

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Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at modal chords.

The chords are from the backing track [below in this page] and they are “Transposed” with C as the root note.

These are exploited in the 12 bar form of a fusion blues.

Here are the chords for the chart:

modal_chords_guitar_lesson_explained_easily

To begin with, we will take the first chord for the basic Ionian/Major sound. Here we have a chord/triad of G Major over the bass note C as a substitution for Cmaj7:

Next, we have a C Dorian tonality. For this I am employing a 7sus4 chord with a triad of Bb over a C bass once again

From here, we will create a C Lydian sound. We will do this by employing a triad of D Major over a C Bass.

Now, we will move back to Ionian with another 7sus4 chord. This time it’s a triad of C Major over a D Bass.

To create interest, we will now make this tonality minor by adding a triad of Eb Major over a C Bass [a la C minor 7th]. [Aeolian/Dorian]

For, the Phrygian/Aeolian sound, we will employ a 1st inversion triad of Ab Major over a C bass.

To create some dissonance, and a more ethereal sound it’s a good idea to add a Locrian chord. In this instance, I am employing a triad of Db Major over the C Bass.

For the mixolydian sound I am employing a simple C7 chord. [You could also add a 4-3 suspension]

Now, let’s add a couple of Dorian chords.

These will be another 7sus4 chord of an Eb triad over an F bass.

And, a Major 9 [or sus2] no 3rd chord. For this we will add a triad of F major over a Bb bass.

For the penultimate Mixolydian chord, we will create a 3rd inversion [Dominant]. This will be a C Major triad over a [the 7th] Bb bass.