Tag: Examples

Robert Fripp Guitar Picking Exercise for Unique Phrases and Patterns

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application
Robert Fripp Guitar Picking Lesson and Exercises

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a Robert Fripp style Guitar Picking exercise that incorporates various Fripp/King Crimson guitar picking patterns.

These are angular, string skipping and awkward intervals that can be picked with either strict alternate picking or “Down Down up”. I employ alternate picking mostly, but, there are parts where I exploit the “Down Down Up” pattern purely because some string skipping intervals are too wide and awkward for alternate picking alone.

PART 1

The first bar is quite awkward and so I “Float” with my right picking hand. This way I am not stuck in any one position and I can freely pluck the passage without any intrusions.

king-crimson-fripp-guitar-picking-lesson-example

At this part of the bar you will notice the awkward string skipping part between the C and C# down to the E note. You will need to pivot with the fretting hand for this. [Please see video above for detailed info].

fripp-guitar-picking-lesson-example-intervallic

The next bar is starting on an “Upstroke” with strict alternate picking:

fripp-guitar-picking-lesson-example

PART 2

The next Phrase is reminiscent of “Larks Tongues in Aspic III” by Fripp. Notice the C note to the open E string to the C# note. This connects the phrase nicely by breaking the chromaticism up and at the same time making it fluid.

robert-fripp-guitar-picking-lesson-example

In the next part we can see how phrases might be counted or felt as groups of 5 or 3. [See video above]

crimson-fripp-guitar-picking-lesson-example

PART 3

To round the phrase off I employ a descending Eb Dominant pentatonic scale: This employs alternate picking starting on an upstroke. [I finished on the note F# purely becasue I like the sound].

fripp-guitar-picking-lesson-example

FINAL PART:

The final part employs a 5/8 chordal picking vamp:

The picking pattern I use is : “Down down down up up” and “Down down up down up” with the plectrum.

fripp-guitar-picking-lesson-example

IN CONCLUSION:

This was just an exercise/example by taking some King Crimson, Robert Fripp signature licks, patterns and phrases and making a little etude from them. This in turn creates some familiarity with the right hand picking in order to create patterns of our own.

Making your own patterns and coming up with your own original and unique phrases is the key rather than to just copy.

There are so many variations to exploit, which gives any player a mountain of material to work with. So, anyone can make some really original, colourful and interesting music from this.

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Fripp-Guitar-LessonDownload

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Fripp-guitar-lesson

Pat Martino Unpublished Book: Intervallic Studies: NEW PAGES:

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Hi Guys,

Many of you have asked me to publish more pages from the unpublished book on intervallic studies by jazz guitar legend Pat Martino:

Here are some excerpts/pages from the book that you might find interesting/insightful and useful:

SCALES:

Firstly, we see Pats thoughts on the many scales available to create his intervallic studies: [He seems to have had an impressive encyclopaedic knowledge of scales].

pat-martino-intervallic-studies-jazz-guitar-book

Here, Pat lays out the main/commonly used scales to his preferred/choice of harmony [inversions/voicing’s]

pat-martino-intervallic-studies-jazz-guitar-book

Here, his harmonic expansion is continued: Again, scale to harmony [chord voicing’s].

pat-martino-intervallic-studies-jazz-guitar-book

This page demonstrates once again, scales and harmony with possibilities and personal choices. It’s interesting to see Pats chord voicing’s available for development with his unique intervallic concept:

[It presenst a unique glimpse into Pat’s theoretical outlook, considerations and harmonic outlook].

pat-martino-intervallic-studies-jazz-guitar-book

Full Study: The Melodic minor scale EXAMPLE:

Now, let’s take a complete study. Here is the first one of the melodic minor set :

pat-martino-intervallic-studies-jazz-guitar-book-melodic-minor
pat-martino-intervallic-studies-jazz-guitar-book-melodic-minor-scale

Pat’s studies to be completed:

Towards the end of the book we find that Pat was either still working on the book or he didn’t have time to complete [in all 12 keys] everything that was in his mind.

Here is an Example:

Although incomplete, here we see Pat preparing studies for the Spanish Gypsy scale, with the key points of string order and correct guitar fingering:

pat-martino-intervallic-studies-jazz-guitar-book

LAST EXAMPLE: FULL STUDY

Lastly, we have a full study with the Hungarian minor scale: Once again notice the string order and Pat’s choice/recommended guitar fingering.

pat-martino-intervallic-studies-jazz-guitar-book

IN CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, these are some of the important pages of the book, although there are lots more studies of interest and some more interesting pages [chords/scales] that I will publish in a later blog. But, this is the main core for those interested.

Judging by this book, although, Pat was an amazing jazz guitarist/composer and improviser he also seems to have been a great theoretician and super creative individual with a vast knowledge of music and not just jazz:

Finally, I would like to say a big thanks to Mark Koch for sending me the book and making all of this possible.

PDF DOWNLOAD:

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Pat Martino’s Minor Conversion Jazz Technique: Chromatic Devices and Examples

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application
Pat Martino’s Minor Conversion Jazz Technique: Chromatic Devices and Examples

PLEASE Watch Video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Some of you have said “How do we make Pat Martino’s minor conversion technique actually sound jazzy?”

Okay, let’s take a closer look!

CHROMATIC JAZZ TECHNIQUES FOR MINOR CONVERSION

There are 5 essential devices to employ for this:

1] Target tones:

These are employed to target a specific note. In this case E the 5th note of Am.

The use of an anacrusis/upbeat works best with target tones as this also sets up the jazz phrasing.

pat-martino-minor-conversion-jazz-guitar-lesson-target-tones

2] Chromatic scale.

This is usually delivered in fragments:

pat-martino-minor-conversion-chromatic-jazz-guitar-lesson

3] Side stepping:

In this case we are moving the interval of a tone down a semitone:

pat-martino-minor-conversion-side-stepping

4] “Classic” Jazz passing melody/MOTIF:

This is heard a lot in Charlie Paker’s playing as well as Pat’s improvisations.

pat-martino-minor-conversion-jazz-guitar-lesson

5] Minor arpeggio/min7th:

This is really useful and simple melodic tool for improvisational manipulation:

pat-martino-minor-conversion-minor7th-arpeggio

PART 2:

Analysis/Example- Pat Martino’s ii V7 I

In this example we can clearly see Pat’s exploitation of chromatics and how fluid they are in creating a long phrase.

pat-martino-minor-conversion-jazz-guitar-lesson

We can see the target tone set up with an upbeat. Next we can see the manipulation of the chromatic scale, also, with a chromatic mix of scale and target tones. The minor arpeggio descends easily whilst the classic jazz motif/melody comes into play to round the phrase off .

This creates a very convincing jazz line in the “Minor conversion” Martino jazz guitar style/approach.

To complete this ii V7 I minor conversion we will exploit the minor7 arpeggio. From this, notice, the use of simple scale movement that finishes with a variation of the “Classic” jazz melody/motif:

pat-martino-minor-conversion-jazz-chromatics-guitar-lesson

Minor conversion: Sequence/Juxtaposition

As an exercise to display the brilliance of Pat Martino’s minor conversion jazz technique we will take the minor 7th arpeggio from the previous bar in the previous example and sequence/juxtapose this to play through both major and minor ii V I’s

1] Example 1: “MAJOR”– the same line moves down a fourth to play a ii V7 I Vi

pat-martino-minor-conversion-jazz-guitar-lesson

2] Example 1: “MINOR”– the same line moves down a fourth to play a ii V7 i Vim7b5

pat-martino-minor-conversion-jazz-sequence-guitar-lesson

Shown in Full:

pat-martino-minor-conversion-jazz-guitar-lesson

IN CONCLUSION:

This was a look at the essential devices any jazz guitar improviser needs to know and use for creative improvisation with the minor conversion, or minorisation technique.

As, I stated in the previous blog this simple method can save you 20 years of hard slog! Why? Because, Pat Matino’s minor conversion technique can be applied immediately!….

With these 5 musical improvisation tools anyone can create confident musical lines with strong and fluid jazz guitar phrasing.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

chromatic-minor-conversionDownload

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