Tag: how to play

“In a Silent Way” Zawinul/McLaughlin Guitar Analysis

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

John McLaughlin/joe Zawinal “In a silent way” Guitar Analysis Lesson

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a look at the amazing performance/improvisation of “In a Silent Way” by John McLaughlin and Joe Zawinul.

PART 1:

The key to this is to look at the 16 bar structure and view the two main chords and acknowledge how the melody is/can be contained within them.

FORM and CHORDS Chart:

A notated piece of sheet music for Joe Zawinal and John McLaughlin "In a silent way" chords and melody.
Musical notation illustrating the chords E6/11 and Bm7/E for ‘In a Silent Way’ Zawinal/McLaughlin

So, from this simple chart we can observe that we have two main prominent chords. These are E6/11

Musical sheet showing an E6/11 John McLaughlin chord diagram with specific finger placements on a guitar neck.
Chord diagram for E6/11, highlighting its structure used in the performance of ‘In a Silent Way.’

and Bm7/E

Chord diagram for Bm7/E John McLaughlin chord featuring finger placements on the guitar fretboard.
Chord diagram for McLaughlin’s Bm7/E, illustrating finger placements and string usage.

6/11 as Substitutions;

Here, is how the 6/11 is exploited by John for the intro: So, instead of the plain minor 7th chords we have:

A music sheet showing chord progressions by John McLaughlin and Joe Zawinal labeled G#m Sub, F#m Sub, and Dm Sub with corresponding note positions indicated by numbers on the staff. This is for the song "In a silent way".
Chord chart showing G#m, F#m, and Dm substitutions with a pedal bass note for guitar improvisation.

PART 2: Chord Melody Barre Shapes:

Now, let’s loosely add some chords [Shapes] to the melody, and see what we can come up with,

EXAMPLE: Notice that the 1st note of each melody section [circled] fits perfectly within the chord shape.

A sheet of music by John McLaughlin and Joe Zawinal notation featuring various notes, chords labeled E6/11 and D6/11, with annotations indicating E/F# from "In a silent way"
Chord progression and melody outline for ‘In a Silent Way,’ highlighting E6/11 and D6/11 McLaughlin chords.

In terms of harmonising the melody and creating a nice ethereal or dissonant resonance on the guitar it is a really good idea to employ a pedal note.

In this case it is the low E string.

Example:

Sheet music displaying Joe Zawinal and John McLaughlin's "In a silent way" notes with a marked 'Pedal E Bass' section and tablature notation.
Notation example highlighting the use of a pedal E bass “In a silent way” in the chord sequence.

To conclude, we will cadence nicely with the 7sus4 chord and a little descending run back to the tonic chord of E Major.

A sheet of music featuring guitarist John McLaughlin's little bass run highlighted in red with annotations for A/B and E chords for "In a silent way" song.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD

in a silent wayDownload

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How to play Shakti Indian Guitar Scales

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at the first of a few Shakti Indian guitar scales for tabla and guitar improvisation.

The first one that we will look at today is the A Mixolydian Mode exploited in a pentatonic form.

“The guitar technique employed is strict alternate picking”.

A MIXOLYDIAN:

Here, is the basic scale ascending. The G natural gives the unique flavour and colour as it possesses the dominant sound, but, in a non resolving from.

how_to_play_shakti_indian_guitar_scales_lesson

DESCENDING SCALE:

In this first exercise we will descend with the A mixolydian mode and employ imitation with the pentatonic form.

This example exploits strict alternate picking guitar technique. And, it works really well for two reasons:

A] It start on an “Up stroke”

B] It starts in the bar and on the “Off” beat

This creates a nice, smooth phrasing and is easy to copy and repeat down the octave.

EXERCISE 1:

how_to_play_shakti_indian_guitar_scales_lesson

As you can see below, it is repeated, and copied down an octave starting on the upstroke and on the off beat:

how_to_play_shakti_indian_guitar_scales_lesson

Finally, a variation/implication of this is played, due to the guitar running out of notes to fully copy it.

how_to_play_shakti_indian_guitar_scales_lesson

Counting Time example:

EXAMPLE 2: “Down” Stroke

In this next example we will vary what we have just played in the example above.

But,

with two differences,

A] We will start on a “Down” stroke

B] We will play “On” the beat.

EXERCISE 2:

how_to_play_shakti_indian_guitar_scales_lesson

As with the previous example, we will now imitate what we have just played and copy it exactly down an octave:

how_to_play_shakti_indian_guitar_scales_lesson

Counting Example:

QUICK SCALE FINGERINGS:

Here, is another form/fingering of the scale in descent: Notice that this is starting on an “Up” stroke.

how_to_play_shakti_indian_guitar_scales_lesson

And finally, an ascending form/sequence starting on a “Down” stroke.

how_to_play_shakti_indian_guitar_scales_lesson

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

Shakti_guitar_scalesDownload

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McLaughlin: Rhythm Guitar Revisited: Part 2

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

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Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, the second part of the John McLaughlin style rhythmic guitar essentials.

ALTERNATE TIME SIGNATURES:

If we look at a composition like “Face to Face” by Shakti, we will find interesting rhythmic strumming patterns:

It’s unique how John creates interesting rhythmic riffs with just a couple of chords by employing a bar of 7 to a bar of 8:

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

You may wish to count this in different ways. For Example, you could count this as: 15/16 to 16/16 [in groups of 3 to groups of 4 in the next bar]:

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

And, also, Groups of 4 with the last being a grouping of 3 [or one note removed in a bar of 4/4 time]

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

Here, are the two chords that I have used.

These being similar to McLaughlin’s “Face to Face” composition with Shakti.

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

To complete this vamp I employ a little “Turn around” in the bass with a 4 note descending scale motif.

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

Here, is the full 2 Bar Sequence with the turn around motif:

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

CHORD SEQ VARIATION:

In this variation we have the previous bass scale notes played in the treble on the first string of the guitar.

We also have changed the first chord with a “Quartal” E minor voicing.

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

John McLaughlin Concept # 2

John McLaughlin sometimes strums quickly between two chords and the open strings. Here are a couple of examples.

Firstly, we can see how John exploits 2 simple chords of A Major and D Major between the open strings:

john-mclaughlin-strumming-guitar-lesson

[This is strummed at a very quick pace by alternate strumming “Down Up“] etc

STRUMMING RIFF 3:

To finish, we will look at one last alternate strumming McLaughlin favourite.

This again follows the same principle with the quick “Down Up” fast wrist movement in the strumming hand.

john-mclaughlin-strumming-guitar-lesson

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

shakti-guitar-lessonDownload

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