guitar target tones – Modern Music Theory Improvisation and Application

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Please watch above video for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, we will employ chromatics [Target Tones]to a simple guitar fingering/scale that everybody knows.

Yes, this is our old mate the A minor Pentatonic scale.

TARGET TONES/CHROMATICS- GUITAR FINGERING:

Before we start: Both fingerings are essential and very useful, but, in different instances.

Okay, let’s compare fingering.

Below, is the more “Traditional” fingering:

mclaughlin-jazz-guitar-chromatics-lesson-explained-example

Now, let’s simplify this with a more intuitive John McLaughlin style guitar fingering. [2 fingers to 2 fingers with a slide].

We will now now apply this to the simple A minor Pentatonic scale guitar shape.

Here, we will employ a “Side Step” with chromatic target tones for more interest and chromatic colour.

This time we will extend the line with an upbeat of 4 chromatic descending notes starting on the note D as the tonic:

Lastly, let’s try this over a ii V7 I [Dm7 G7 CMaj7]

IN CONCLUSION:

This simple minor pentatonic guitar scale/shape allows us an easy way to employ chromatics and chromaticism by exploiting it with what we are already very familiar with.

This familiarity means that it is not only easier to learn, but, also, easy to remember. Hence, we can apply it to any strings of the guitar and create some colourful and interesting sounding lines.

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minor topic-an easier way to improvise with modes of music

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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