Tag: guitar technique

John McLaughlin Pentatonic Guitar Concepts part 1:

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at John McLaughlin’s use of the pentatonic scale.

PART 1:

To begin with, it is a good idea to map out the fretboard of the guitar with an arpeggio.

This way we can ascertain where the different positions are.

Now that we have this, let’s connect two positions together:

John McLaughlin sheet music depicting a guitar piece with notes and highlighted sections. Two distinct sections are marked with colored circles and arrows.
Diagram illustrating a guitar fretboard connecting pentatonic scale positions.

Moving up, we have this interesting scale combination:

Music sheet illustrating John McLaughlin's pentatonic scale with notes labeled for minor third, major third, tone, and semitone.
Musical notation demonstrating the McLaughlin pentatonic scale with highlighted intervals.

Finally, we have another pentatonic combination at the end of the octave:

A musical score showing notes and tablature for guitar, illustrating the pentatonic scale.

PART 2: CREATING COLOUR:

In order to create some magic, John McLaughlin naturally colours the phrase by adding a magic note.

In this example it is the E natural sliding down a semitone to E flat.

Also, the Eb moving down a semitone again, an octave up to D natural.

CREATING A LINE:

To see/hear this in action,let’s create a phrase/line.

We will do this by starting with an A minor arpeggio and an open D string. This has a triad pair inflection.

This open D string also gives our fretting hand a fraction of a second to get into the next position:

John McLaughlin heet music notation displaying a guitar arpeggio with annotated markings highlighting specific notes and techniques.

Another important point-John creates interest, by manipulating the 1st inversion minor chords on the first three strings of the guitar: In this case Cm and Am.

This gives us that spiritual or ethereal sound John is known for. It also, creates flavour and colour out of the basic minor pentatonic scale sound, yielding a more original result. [Please watch video above for demo performance]

Another great idea, is to employ the minor 7th arpeggio to the pentatonic scale:

Musical notation featuring a John McLaughlin pentatonic scale and Am7 arpeggio, indicating different positions on a guitar fretboard.
Chord diagram illustrating the McLaughlin pentatonic scale and Am7 arpeggio for guitar.

Lastly, John is a master at exploiting quartal harmony to create smooth pentatonic lines.

Music notation showing guitarist John McLaughlin's use of quartal harmony at the guitar when improvising
Sheet music illustrating guitar techniques used by John McLaughlin, focusing on quartal harmony ascending

PART 3:

What’s great about using the minor arpeggio as a mapping tool, is that we can add notes of the pentatonic scale in between it. [Resulting in long fluid lines].

Musical notation with notes and tablature for guitar, highlighting a pentatonic scale exercise.

To conclude, we will take the first exercise from this blog and connect it to the pentatonic exercise above.

Sheet music illustrating John McLaughlin's pentatonic scale and various guitar techniques.
Musical notation illustrating John McLaughlin’s use of the pentatonic scale.

IN CONCLUSION:

This was just a quick look at how John McLaughlin exploits the common pentatonic scale.

There are many other approaches to this like those found in John McLaughlin’s educational video “This is the way I do it”.

But, the concepts detailed in this blog/lesson work really well as a primer for John’s live performances/improvisations.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

Pentatonics JmlDownload

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Guitar Counterpoint Techniques Using Plectrum/Pick

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a look at using the guitar pick/plectrum to create contrapuntal/counterpoint ideas.

In this first part, [This lesson] we will look at treble to bass and bass to treble and how to make the non consecutive 3rds, 5ths and octaves and harmony work.

In the next part [next lesson] we will look at how to create “Resonance”, especially in regards to scales.

PART 1: Etude/Prelude

At the beginning of the video above, you will see/hear a little prelude that I composed for the contrapuntal plectrum/picking ideas.

This demonstration concepts piece will be the lesson of today.

SMOOTH “CLEAR” HARMONY=Key

In the first bar we have chord I to Vb. This, could also be seen as, C to G/B or chord I to chord V first inversion: [Landing on the root]

Musical notation showing chords I and Vb with an arrow indicating movement from I to the root of Vb for counterpoint guitar picking techique.
Musical notation for plectrum guitar illustrating the progression from chord I to Vb, emphasizing harmonic structure.

From here we have chord ii and then chords moving up the scale – I ii iii iV

Here, I am also employing the second finger with the pick in order to pluck both strings at once [see video].

Sheet music displaying musical notation for guitar, featuring chord notations 'ii', 'I', 'ii', 'iii', and 'iv' along with corresponding tabs.

In order to keep the harmony ascending with clear movement, we will now take the F natural up a semitone to F# and create a secondary dominant first inversion-II7b

This chord ii [Dm] is now, made Major with the added seventh [D7].

This in turn, resolves up another semitone to G for the dominant chord of G Major.

A musical score showing a 'Secondary Dominant II7b' and 'Chord V', with annotations highlighting specific notes.
Musical notation depicting the secondary dominant II7b and chord V for guitar pick practice.

We will now, exploit a perfect cadence of I V I to complete this section of the composition:

Musical sheet displaying notes and indicators for guitar playing, including directional arrows for phrasing and finger placement.
Musical notation showing guitar tablature and standard notation, with notes and rests for a melody in guitar counterpoint.

PART 2:

Now, to create contrast, we will employ scale movement, double stops and imitation:

Musical notation showing an upbeat/open string along with notes indicating scale movements and major thirds, highlighted for instructional purposes.

The technique to keep this ascending is “Imitation”, using and implying what we have already played up an octave.

Musical notation showing imitation technique for guitar picking counterpoint with labeled sections and highlighted notes.

Finally, the cadence is created with “Contrary Motion” technique. And, once again we will imitate this, but, an octave lower this time, to complete the cadence.

Musical sheet music displaying notes in contrary motion, with labeled sections indicating 'contrary motion' technique for guitar pciking counterpoint
Musical notation illustrating the technique of contrary motion, highlighting specific notes and finger positions and imitation.

PART 3:

In the coming part, we will exploit much string skipping and intervallic movement.

This technique is great for Low High Low with the Bass to Treble or Treble to bass.

This is an amazing way, to perform a contrapuntal effect and map out and perform crystalline clear harmony that resonates beautifully when fretted on the guitar. [See Video Above].

Musical notation displaying a contrpuntal sequence for guitar picking, featuring treble and bass clefs and tab with notes and measures.
Sheet music illustrating plectrum techniques and contrapuntal ideas for guitar.

Second Part:

Sheet music showing a series of notes and a guitar tablature for a prelude, illustrating counterpoint ideas for the plectrum guitar picking techniques
Musical notation showing notes and finger placements for contrapuntal guitar picking.

PART 4: Recapitulation:

The last part employs our original little tune, but will change key at the finale.

Musical notation for a guitar piece featuring notes and tablature, illustrating a series of musical ideas and chord progressions for plectrum guitar techniques.

In order to change the key and “Uplift” the end, we will exploit two secondary dominants: The first being chord ii as II7b [D7 to G].

And the second being Chord iii. So, we have III7b [E7 to A Major]

Musical notation featuring chords D7/F#, II7b, G, V, E7/G#, III7b, A, and V, with arrows indicating movement between notes.
Musical notation illustrating the progression from D7/F# G to E7/G# A, highlighting the transitions in chord structure and secondary dominants for guitar.

This, means that we now have to cadence with D Major as the new tonic key.

A sheet of music notation featuring musical notes, symbols, and markings that indicate rhythm and pitch for a guitar piece.

To wind down the composition we will outline a D Major [13/sus4] arpeggio and cadence with some simple contrary motion emphasising the new key and chord of D Major.

Musical notation showing a piece in D Major for guitar with a highlighted section indicating 'contrary motion again'.

Conclusion:

This, was just a quick look at the fretting side of plectrum contrapuntal guitar writing and playing.

This style, encompasses the no consecutive 3rds, 5ths and octaves approach, taken from the Bach’s chorales.

In the next part, we will look at how to create resonance and a much bigger sound with more colourful plectrum techniques.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

contrpuntal-EtudeDownload

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Alternate Picking Leverage:Open String Concept:

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Just, a quick response Blog to a video I made about employing the “Open” [2nd] string ascending with alternate picking guitar technique.

Why do this?

The main reason that this works, is because it is an “Even” grouping, and, by plucking the open 2nd string it gives the fretting hand a fraction of a second to relax and get into position.

This in turn gives us some natural and excellent leverage. This also, means that we have the “Up” stroke to descend with.

This technique works really well for the precise picking passages both in Fusion and World Music, like, for example the precise lines of McLaughlin’s “Shakti” compositions.

This extra note, or even pattern, works in principle like a Be bop scale in that the extra note creates a smooth picking line for the right hand.

EXAMPLE 1:

4 note “Even” Pattern:

Here, we can see the employment in action by crossing with the open B string on the “Upstroke”.

alternate_picking_guitar_technique_expalained

This gives us, the 4 note “Even” grouping.

alternate_picking_guitar_technique_expalained

EXAMPLE 2:

In this example, we can see where the “Up” stroke occurs, which, sets us up nicely to descend:

alternate_picking_guitar_technique_expalained

Here, is the whole scale passage.

Also, notice that the open B string is “Off” the beat.

alternate_picking_guitar_technique_expalained

EXAMPLE 3: Descending:

There are, other open strings that we can exploit. But, for the sake of a quick response blog we will just look at one more idea and that is for descending:

Here, will will pluck the open G string and then add a chord. [Again, notice the the open string is off the beat]

alternate_picking_guitar_technique_expalained

Finally, let’s extend this:

alternate_picking_guitar_technique_expalained

Conclusion:

This is only touching the surface. There are many variations on this and any string can be employed both ascending and descending.

Now, you might say what if the open B note isn’t in the key? Well, this doesn’t matter as it is only one note and can add colour. John McLaughlin does this to great effect. Also, due to the picking and the velocity the ear of the listener is not really affected, it’s very difficult to tell.

Lastly, this is not a shred gimmick or a means of tremolo picking and trying to play fast. It is a concept for really precise picking awkward lines, when, for instance you are doubling with a Sax or Piano or as a Rhythmic “Shakti” style line with a tight drum/drummer/percussionist.

PDF DOWNLOAD:

ap open stringDownload

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