Tag: improvisation

Quick Tips for Jazz Guitar Turnarounds: Martino,Mock,McLaughlin

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a look at playing through a Vi ii V7 I Turn around/Cadence at a quick pace/tempo.

This is in the style of Don Mock, Pat Martino and John McLaughlin. So, this employs the alternate picking guitar technique.

PART 1:

In order to achieve our goal, we will exploit pentatonic fragments and connect them together in four note groupings.

This also means that we can make use of simple guitar fingering and hence pick quick rapid phrases.

Here, is the chord sequence:

A jazz chord turnaround and cadence featuring Gmaj7, E7, Am7, D7, Gmaj, Gm7, C7, and Fmaj7 in 4/4 time.

Now, we will solo through the first two chords of I VI [Chord VI as a Domoninat 7th]

Musical notation and tab showing GMaj7 and E7 jazz turnaround chords with corresponding notes and finger placements for guitar.

Starting, on a down stroke with alternate picking, we can see how easy it is to connect these simple pentatonic’s together through the two chord changes.

Now, let’s connect the pentatonic’s over the next two chords in the same manner. [Notice the G to F# resolution for Gmaj7]

Musical notation and tablature showing jazz ii V7 I chords Am7, D7, and Gmaj7 with highlighted notes and guitar finger placements.

PART 2:

Having completed our Turnaround, let’s cadence this to a new key: This will be F Major.

To do this, we will make the G Major 7th chord, minor, to G minor 7th.

Musical notation and tab for the Gm7 chord featuring pentatonic scale connections for jazz improvisation

From here, we will carry this pentatonic scale/line along and play it over the next chord.

This will be the Dominant chord of C7 [or chord V leading to/of the new key F Major].

Notice: the use of a few chromatic notes to fill out the pentatonic scale/line.

Sheet music showing a chord progression with annotations for C7 and Fmaj7, highlighting chromatic jazz improvisational movement.

PART 3:

Full Turnaround/Cadence:

Sheet music and tablature displaying chord progression for jazz Vi ii V7 I Gmaj7, E7, Am7, D7, and Gmaj7, with annotations and notes for guitar performance.
Sheet music showing a chord progression for jazz with ii V7 I with Gm7, C7, and FMaj7, highlighting chromatic scale movement and alternate picking guitar techniques.

This, was just a quick look at how easy it is to connect long lines together through very quick chord changes, especially, at the guitar with alternate picking technique.

It’s amazing the amount of chords we can play through fluently and quickly with this simple pentatonic four note [tetrachord] approach when improvising.

This short blog/lesson was just touching the surface. But, it does still give quite a comprehensive view of what can be achieved with this approach.

It’s a good idea to apply this method to any quick chord changes that you can find [e,g “Giant Steps”] and try this.

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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.

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ap open stringDownload

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Guitar Imitation: Effective Octave Shifting Exercises with Alternate Picking:

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

PLEASE: Watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at employing imitation, through the registers of the guitar fingerboard.

This is a useful device for imitating bits of scale by shifting the fingering [[the same fingering in a lot of cases] up an octave each time.

EXAMPLE 1:

In the first example we will take a 3 note triplet figure and “Copy/Imitate” it up an octave each time.

The key is to hold the shape/fingering and slide the hand up without taking it off the guitar fingerboard onto the next position [up an octave].

So, here we have the pitches E F G and we take that fingering and slide it up to the next position.

Sheet music notation displaying downstroke and finger positions for alternate picking guitar playing.

Here, is the next position, an octave higher:

Musical notation showing a 3-note triplet figure on the guitar fingerboard.

Now, we copy/imitate it again, up another octave higher:

Sheet music showing guitar fingerings and notes, with a focus on triplet figures and octave transpositions.

Finally, I don’t have enough notes on the guitar to copy it exactly, so, I play something similar to finish the phrase.

EXAMPLE 2: Anacrusis/Up-Beat

Here, is a variation of the above, but, with an upbeat on the open D string. This, also starts on an“Up” stroke.

Sheet music diagram illustrating a guitar lesson with notations for triplet figures and up-beat alternate picking technique sequences.
Musical notation example illustrating an upbeat and open string technique for guitar playing.

Finally, we have another variation but this time we do this by employing 16th notes and two open string connections.

Musical notation example showing 16th notes with arrows pointing to specific notes for alternate picking guitar technique.
Example of 16th note guitar technique, showcasing notes and finger placement.

EXAMPLE 3: High to Low Movement:

In this last example, we will go the other way.

This time, we will start high and descend lowering the phrase.

Guitar sheet music showing a descending phrase notation, with labeled sections indicating 'Descending'.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

GuiatrDownload

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