“Mr PC” is a 12 bar jazz composition in a minor blues form. The piece was composed by John Coltrane in 1959. The song is named in tribute to the bass player Paul Chambers who had accompanied Coltrane for years. It first appeared on the album Giant Steps where it was played with a fast swing feel.
In this final part of alternate picking guitar techniques for jazz fusion improvisation. We again look at the style of John Mclaughlin in order to play through the changes with 4 groups of 4, or 4 tetrachords per bar.
We can now apply this to playing through complex chord changes at a fast tempo. In the example below we will take John Coltrane’s “Countdown” and play one chord per beat as an example for setting up these 4 x 4 note groupings [Tetrachords]for quick rapid improvisation at a super fast tempo.
Sextuplets John Mclaughlin guitar style into 4+2 Alternate Picking
In this post we will go one further than the last post. This time we will take a group of six [Sextuplets] and make a tetrachord and a half from it.
This will make 4+ 2 which will make us nail the changes with 4 notes on the first chord and 2 notes on the second chord with a short rest to reset our fretting hand to repeat the pattern again on the next two chords.
Alternate picking exercise warm up in Sextuplets/Triplets
Sextuplets John Mclaughlin guitar style into 4+2 Alternate Picking
Why do this?
Because the groups of six are quite easy to play on the guitar and there a heaps of variations on each pattern. They flow easily and can be alternate picked rhythmically to create musical phrasing.
The first pattern for playing through the changes in Sextuplets
Sextuplets John Mclaughlin guitar style into 4+2 Alternate Picking
The first pattern is now changed into 16ths. From 1 2 3 4 5 6 into 1 e and a 2 e
Sextuplets John Mclaughlin guitar style into 4+2 Alternate Picking
The second part of the chord sequence in sextuplets
Sextuplets John Mclaughlin guitar style into 4+2 Alternate Picking
The second pattern is now changed into 16ths. From 1 2 3 4 5 6 into 1 e and a 2 e
Sextuplets John Mclaughlin guitar style into 4+2 Alternate Picking
Finally, the full one bar alternate picking chord sequence nailing the changes
Sextuplets John Mclaughlin guitar style into 4+2 Alternate Picking
VARIATION:
Sextuplets John Mclaughlin guitar style into 4+2 Alternate Picking
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