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Alternate Picking Guitar Technique: The Plectrum/Pick Grip

Posted on July 9, 2023July 17, 2023 by Modern Music Theory and Application

Alternate Picking: Essential Grip for fast articulated picking

IMPORTANT: Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at alternate picking plectrum/pick grip.

It’s not so important how you hold the pick or what finger you use. But, it is essential not to have a wobbly thumb and/or finger .

A lot of guitar players when they start out with alternate picking often change the grip just as they are about the pluck the string! This makes it impossible to gauge distance.

When the thumb is rigid and the grip is solid, distance, articulation and timing fall into place automatically.

Pic 1: Good solid grip

Pic 2: Pick confidently plucks string

Below [Pic 3]: BAD! At the last moment the pick is turned as it is about to pluck the string and the thumb and finger wobble/collapse:

2 BASIC EXERCISES:

Here are a couple of exercises for practicing whilst getting the feel of gripping the pick firmly.

The first is a simple A minor Pentatonic scale in sextuplets. Counting basic 1 2 3 4 5 6

This starts on a down stroke:

alternate-picking-guitar-techniques-exercise

Next we have the same thing but in groups of four 16th notes.

It’s a good idea to play around with these two exercises by mixing the groups of 4 and 6 together and create little phrases out of them.

PDF DOWNLOAD:

alt-pick-guitar-grip Download

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MINOR TOPIC-EASIER WAY TO IMPROVISE WITH MODES

Posted on June 24, 2023July 9, 2023 by Modern Music Theory and Application

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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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McLaughlin-esque ii V7 I Alt Guitar Line [140 Bpm]

Posted on May 13, 2023May 24, 2023 by Modern Music Theory and Application

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John McLaughlin-esque ii V7 I Alt Guitar Line [140 Bpm]

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick ii V7 I McLaughlin-esque lick

This is at 140 Bpm with an altered approach to harmony with strict alternate picking guitar technique.

The chords are as follows.

For the ii minor chord I employ a minor chord with a Major 7th and an added 9th.

mclaughlin-altered-harmony-guitar-theory

For the V7 chord I raise the 5th [#5] and add a flattened 9th note.

And for the I chord I make this augmented by raising the 5th.

So, the ii V7 I becomes harmonically altered and creates an interesting sound

john-mclaughlin-altered-harmony-guitar-theory

Guitar Line

The line starts on an upbeat with 3 target tones that deliberately set up the 1st note of bar one. This adds forward momentum and adds a colourful chromatic set-up.

mclaughlin-altered-harmony-guitar-chromatics-lesson

The target tones start on an “Up stroke” so that on the first beat of bar one you will land and start a “Down stroke”

mclaughlin-alternate-picking-guitar-how-to

Over the DmMaj7/9 chord I start with a Dm9 arpeggio and then exploit the D Harmonic minor scale by ascending in fragments.

mclaughlin-altered-harmony-guitar-improvisation-theory

Over the G+b9 chord I start on the third note B and then play an Eb 4-3 arpeggio.

mclaughlin-guitar-music-theory-improvisation

The Bb from this arpeggio then moves up to the B natural and then I play the b9 to tonic and #5 to5 which then finally moves down to the note C for the tonic of the next chord C+.