Lessons from Jazz/World to 20 Century Classical Music Harmony Rhythm and Theory
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.
IMPORTANT: Please watch video above for detailed info:
Hi Guys,
Today, a quick look at alternate picking plectrum/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 .
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
Pic 2: Pick confidently plucks string
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.
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.
IMPORTANT: Please watch video above for detailed info:
Hi Guys,
Today, a quick look at another way of exploiting modes/improvisation on the guitar fingerboard.
We will be creating music via concepts/musical tools based on this minor shape.
Why do this?
Because with this 5 fret shape arpeggio we can easily create:
So, for instance in C Major [Ionian] we can take chord iii and Vi arpeggio shapes as a solid base and create/develop improvisation-as opposed to learning millions of scale/mode shapes/patterns etc.
With this as a base we can develop proper musical lines and rhythmic phrasing
Before we start it’s important to see how easily chords iii and Vi link together:
Example:
The first thing to be aware of is the basic pentatonic’s right under our fingertips with this arpeggio shape:
[These pentatonic’s give us some basic building blocks from the outset]:
QUARTAL SOUNDS
Next let’s add some 4ths for a Quartal jazz/fusion-esque sound:
Descending:
Ascending:
With extension
Basic Quartal fingerboard movement:
CYLE OF 4THS
Another thing to take into consideration is the cycle of 4ths under our fingertips:
Remember that we can also make these, major, minor, diminished or augmented:
For instance all major:
All minor
[This gives us even more colour and choices for chromaticism/chromatic movement right under our fingertips once again]
TARGET TONES/APPROACH NOTES [JAZZ CHROMATICS]
Below, we can see the set-up for target tones with this Em arpeggio shape:
We can also add some chromatic notes to this to create a longer jazzy-esque line:
String Skipping Petnatonic’s
String skipping works well because it removes familiarity/cliches from the ear:
Here are two examples:
Example 2:
PAIRING TRIADS
Lastly pairing triads works really. Here is a Lydian example:
conclusion
This blog has only really touched on this way of thinking, but, you can see how easy it is to make connecting lines and musical phrasing and how to exploit improvisation tools from this simple minor arpeggio shape.
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IMPORTANT: Please watch video above for detailed info:
Hi Guys,
Today we will look at Modern Jazz Fusion Chords. These are mainly based around a Triad over a different bass note commonly called “Slash” chords.
Here are the main common slash chords employed in reharmonisation.
The fist chord is C/F# and creates a colurful tri-tone timbre. This is a triad of C Major over an F# bass note.
Next we have the most common slash chord type. Here it is C/D or a 7 Sus 4 chord. This type of chord is heard a lot in pop songwriting, but is also highly prominent and best known in Herbie Hancocks composition “Maiden Voyage”.
[These chords can also function as substitutions for a dominant, e,g F/Gto CMaj]
The next chord is a Dominant 7th 3rd inversion. In this case it is D/C. Generally in Fusion these chords do not resolve and/or are played in succession.
Here we have one of John McLaughlin’s favourite Slash Chords. This is an Eb triad over an E [up 1/2 step] bass. [This is also known as a13b9 that works well with the diminished scale].
This next chord is a favourite of the late great jazz guitarist Pat Martino. With the open E note resonating in the bass this produces an extremely beautiful set of tone colours in one chord.
Here we have another John Mclaughlin voicing. This is a B Major triad over a C Bass. This also works well with the open E string ringing out.
Lastly another tri-tone voicing:
Okay, you might ask. What do we do with these chords? How to we compose with them? Re- harmonise with them? Actually use them?
Firstly, lets take a chord sequence: This will be,
iii Vi ii V7 I
For the first chord we will employ a C6/9 but just use the E A D G tones to create a “Quartal” sound.
Next we will move a tri-tone away from Am7 chord and employ Eb. In the bass we will use the 5th note of Am7, the note E.
For the chord ii [Dm7] we will have a C triad over an F bass note acting as a First inversion Dm7 chord. [You could also think of this as having an added 9th and 11th]
The dominant chord will have the dominant root in the bass with a Db Major triad, a flat 5th [tri-tone] away in the treble.
Finally this returns to the CMaj 6/9 tonic chord
Below is another example:
Notice, the reharmonisation and how the basic chords are exploited with colourful slash chords.
THE BLUES
To complete this look at slash chords let’s put them into a blues 12 bar structure [turn around] so that you can clearly see how to create composition from them:
From the above chart notice that the first 4 bars are more of a long drawn out affair in the tonic key. Next, this is repeated in a similar fashion [or a variation] with chord IV of the key.
But, now we have the last four bars of the blues and this is where the harmonic rhythm picks up.
Firstly, with 1 chord per bar for two bars and then 2 chords per bar for two bars.
Lastly, notice the “Reharmonisation” of the blues turn around. This is where you employ all of those slash chords that you’ve learnt.
BLUES CHART: Example,
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