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Exploring Messiaen’s 7th Mode of Limited Transposition:

Posted on January 25, 2025January 25, 2025 by Modern Music Theory and Application

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Hi Guy’s,

Today, a quick look at the amazing 7th mode of limited transposition employed by the great French composer Olivier Messiaen.

This is a ten note scale [and is almost a chromatic scale apart from two notes: In this blog Bb to E as a tritone]. It has 6 Transpositions:

MODE 7 ANALYSIS:

This mode consists mainly of half steps [semitones], but, there are two whole steps that divide this and give this mode its unique sound.

Messiaen Mode 7

Let’s now create an interesting guitar line from this mode 7.

This works well as a Robert Fripp style phrase/line as the intervals lend themselves well to tritone developing material.

Phrase 1:

messiaen_mode_7_limited_transposition_lesson_diagram_example

Phrase 2:

Now, let’s repeat these two phrases up an octave:

messiaen_mode_7_limited_transposition_lesson_example

LINE in Full:

LINE 2:

This line is devised from various intervals like 6ths and 7ths and 3rds that are nice to alternate pick on the guitar for that angular sound once again. This also shows how easy it is to exploit various intervals with this mode/scale form.

Bar 1:

messiaen_mode_7_limited_transposition_lesson_example_guitar

Bar 2:

Bar 3:

LINE in Full:

Dyads/Double Stops:

These modes works well with 2 note chord voicing’s as Dyads or Double Stops: These are great for comping or creating composition from on the guitar. Also, they are useful for plucking and then playing a lead mode 7 line on.

Messiaen mode 7 Dyads: Example 1

messiaen_mode_7_limited_transposition_lesson_example_dyads

Messiaen mode 7 Dyads: Example 2

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Happy Birthday John McLaughlin! 2 Guitar Licks/Lines

Posted on January 4, 2025January 4, 2025 by Modern Music Theory and Application

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Hi Guys, and Happy Birthday John!

Here, are the two licks from the latest Youtube video!

Guitar Line #1

I am starting this phrase on an “Up” stroke with strict alternate picking guitar technique.

The phrasing of this line feels like two groups of sextuplets. It’s a sort of juxtaposed phrasing as it is picked in 4 note tetrachord groupings starting on an up beat.

john-mclaughlin-guitar-lesson-alternate-picking

In the second part of the first bar, the fretting is simplified as it works into basic 2 notes per string pentatonic style phrasing:

In the last bar we are playing over the Dominant 7th chord with the the same mixed phrasing as the first bar:

Finally, we finished with 2 triads of Eminor and F Major:

Guitar Line #2

This line, once again employs strict alternate picking guitar technique.

I am starting with an upbeat on the open E string. I am also starting my alternate picking on an upstroke.

As you will see, the “Up” stroke on the “Up” BEAT means that the 1st beat of the next bar will be on a Down Stroke.

From here, we can connect the Tetrachords [4 note groupings] together:

Finally, we have the same juxtaposed notes/groupings as in the first exercise. This line comes to rest on the tonic chord of C Maj7:

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12 Tone Pattern: Scott Collins Guitar Line:

Posted on January 3, 2025January 3, 2025 by Modern Music Theory and Application

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Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at a Scott Collins 12 tone guitar pattern and applying it to alternate picking guitar technique as an exercise in descending intervallic movement.

First of all, let’s look at the pattern.

I am thinking of these motifs as 3 note “Tri-chords” [as in John ‘O” Gallagher’s book 12 tone improvisation].

Here, are the first 3 pitches as a tri-chord.

TRI-CHORD:

What makes this line interesting is that the “Tri- Chords” move in “Tri-Tones”.

You could view this from a diminished perspective but from a picking perspective it is more like tritones and semitones. This gives it that unique angular sound.

If we look at the example below we can see a classic example of a tri-chord pattern/sequence with the same guitar fingering.

PATTERN: Same fingering

scott-collins-12-tone-symmetrical-guitar-patterns

In the next example, we can see the tri-chords, the tritones and the semitone movement.

TRICHORDS-TRITONES-SEMITONES:

ALTERNATE PICKING:

I am using strict alternate picking guitar technique for this exercise starting this on a “Downstroke”.

I am counting in groups of three note triplets, although, you could count in sextuplets.

There is a lot of one note per string and two notes per string picking. So, remember when you pluck down to pluck back up equally. This very much Robert Fripp style picking and hence you need to be aligned with the string you wish to pluck.

Here is the first part: