Today, a quick look at applying octave displacement into your alternate picking guitar technique.
This [12 tone] concept was originally taken from the brilliant 12 chromatic forms by jazz guitar great Pat Martino and then re-developed into a more 20c classical picking Fripp-esque guitar etude.
Sheet music for Pat Martino’s 12 chromatic forms for guitar, illustrating the String Skipping exercise.
PART 1– Octave Displacement:
I am starting this little etude/exercise on an “Up” stroke with alternate picking guitar technique. [You may prefer to start on a downstroke]
As an example here is the first part:
Notation for the ‘String Skipping’ guitar exercise exploring octave displacement.
The key to be aware of = The exploitation of “Octave displacement”. This creates unique harmonies and S.A.T [B] style 12 tone lines.
Diagram illustrating octave displacement and the chromatic scale in guitar playing.
As you can see in the diagram above, this is just the chromatic scale, but, moving/resolving through the different registers.
This octave displacement technique, offers us a way to create/extract interesting colourful music from the chromatic scale [12 tone], whilst, complimenting our instrument through the high low high or low high low resonances.
Musical notation for the ‘String Skipping’ exercise, highlighting octave displacement techniques in guitar playing.
PART 2: Scale Employment:
Although, [for this etude] I have employed octave displacement, I have also incorporated some basic scale parts to link it all together and avoid intervallic monotony.
I am starting both of these scale fragments on an“Up” stroke with strict alternate picking once again:
Tab notation for the ‘String Skipping’ exercise inspired by guitarists Robert Fripp and Pat Martino.Guitar tablature for the ‘String Skipping’ exercise inspired by Robert Fripp, illustrating techniques of alternate picking and octave displacement.Musical notation for the ‘String Skipping’ exercise inspired by Robert Fripp, illustrating alternate picking techniques and octave displacement.
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:
Diagram illustrating a guitar fretboard connecting pentatonic scale positions.
Moving up, we have this interesting scale combination:
Musical notation demonstrating the McLaughlin pentatonic scale with highlighted intervals.
Finally, we have another pentatonic combination at the end of the octave:
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:
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:
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.
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].
To conclude, we will take the first exercise from this blog and connect it to the pentatonic exercise above.
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.
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 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].
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.
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:
PART 2:
Now, to create contrast, we will employ scale movement, double stops and imitation:
The technique to keep this ascending is “Imitation”, using and implying what we have already played up an octave.
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 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].
Sheet music illustrating plectrum techniques and contrapuntal ideas for guitar.
Second Part:
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
