Tag: John Mclaughlin

alternate picking guitar style and jazz fusion improvisation lessons in his style. Looking at Mclaughlins use of altered dominant chords and chromatics in john’s improvisations. Lessons in john mclaughlin’s guitar style and improvised line using altered scales, harmonic minor and melodic minor scales. Mclaughlins use of modes, dorian, phrygian,aeoloean,ludian,mixolydian, locrian. Also the modes of the diminished scale.

Play better arpeggios with the guitar pick:

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at adding an open string for creative arpeggio picking on the guitar.

ASCENDING

To begin with, let’s take a simple root position G Major arpeggio and add an open G string to it:

EXAMPLE 1:

This creates a more musical sound with an implied inversion:

We, will now extend this further by adding an open A string and completing the two octaves.

image shows how to play better arpeggios with open guitar strings and chord inversions. Easy to play example and exercise for the guitar.

EXAMPLE 2:

In the next example we will apply the same concept to a D Major arpeggio.

So, let’s start on the 5th of D major by plucking the open A string [second inversion]:

And now, continue ascending with 3 octaves: [Notice the smooth transition/fingering by adding the open string]

image shows how to play better arpeggios easily with a simple exercise

DESCENDING

We can also descend with this concept.

In the following example, we will start on the root [D] and finish on the 3rd [F#].

Once again, notice the open G and open A notes:

Image shows an exercise in how to play better guitar arpeggios.

We could also, descend the above example like this for a simple cadence:

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arpeggiosDownload

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John McLaughlin Concepts Part 2 “Shakti” Phrases:

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Here, is part 2 of the John McLaughlin Guitar Concepts trilogy.

Single Note “Shakti” Concept

The main part of this collection of phrases is to employ a repeated note and then play off of it.

So, let’s take this repeated note of G to begin with.

Now, let’s add a little Mixolydian scale fragment/motif.

mage shows music notation and guitar tab for John McLaughlin Shakti alternate picking guitar lesson.

This time, we will expand on this with an answering phrase.

Image depicts music notation and guitar tab for John McLaughlin Shakti alternate picking guitar lesson.

This works well, so let’s repeat this with a slight variation/longer response.

image shows how to play guitar like John McLaughlin

To create some contrast, we will exploit imitation though the octaves.

Image depicts how to play guitar like John McLaughlin

From here, we will complete the phrase with some scale activity.

This is an F Dominant scale [or you might like to think of this as Bb in a Pentatonic form].

Image shows music notation and guitar tab for John McLaughlin Shakti alternate picking guitar scale.

This then lands on two classic McLaughlin chords.

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ShaktiDownload

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John McLaughlin “Stylistic” Guitar Concepts.

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at some unique concepts that John McLaughlin employs for composition and improvisation.

I have put these into a compositional lick of sorts.

FIRST PART:

I am starting this by opening with a 7su4 chord –C/D

This, then leads us nicely into a descending alternate picking run. This is a pentatonic scale fragment that then creates a bit more width by finishing with an arpeggio. [Starts on a downstroke]

image shows John McLaughlin's use of quartal harmony and pentatoinc scales in his guitar solos in tab and music notation.

The last accented open E note, acts as musical punctuation as this simple articulation sets up the next phrase nicely.

From here, we add some quartal harmony and more pentatonic movement:

image shows John McLaughlin's use of quartal harmony and pentatoinc scales in a lesson his guitar alternate picking style.

NOTE: Accented low E note again to articulate the Em11 chord.

This is then developed further, with more pentatonic accentuation from the low E to articulate the next chord and once again create punctuation in the phrasing.

To round this off, we descend with a quick A Major scale run. This exploits a simple fingering of 3 and then 2 notes that make the scale easy to play and connect to the next part.

SECOND PART:

Now, we move to some interesting chordal work.

This is a bit more unique than usual, in that its movement is that of contrary motion.

NOTICE: The bass descends chromatically as the treble ascends with the chromatic scale.

image shows John McLaughlin contrary motion guitar chords in tab and music notation.

From here, we exploit quartal chords for that modern sound and diminished chords for their melody and colour.

image shows John McLaughlin guitar chords in tab and music notation.

To complete this we just employ a simple V-I of C to F. This is really just exploiting the shape by adding a C note and then an F note:

C Maj13 to FMaj13[#11]/E

IN CONCLUSION:

This was just a short look at a few interesting concepts that John employs. For example, the simple concept of articulating the low E note is really useful as it helps enormously when punctuating and phrasing, wether, compositional or improvisational with the guitar pick.

Also, for example, breaking the scales down to simple guitar fingerings is also essential as it means that it is easy to connect to chords and/or melodic double stops.

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MCL 2Download

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