Please watch video above for in depth analysis:
Hi Guys,
Today, a quick look at exploiting the Em scale for John McLaughlin’s and Shakti’s composition “Lotus Feet”.
The key to making a solo sound interesting is to highlight the prominent notes of the scale: In this case it is the semitones F# G and B and C.
Here are the semitones ascending:
Here, they are descending:
Also, take into consideration that the F# note will make the Cmaj7 Lydian:
Now, let’s add one extra note to the semitones and create an imitated phrase going through the octaves.
Now, we will connect some scale to the semitones ascending:
Here we will connect three tetrachords in 3/4 creating a smooth pentatonic style line:
ARPEGGIOS FROM THE SCALE:
Another key component when improvising is to exploit the arpeggios within the scale:
Two arpeggios that work well for this composition are Em and Bm:
E minor:
Mixing the scale with the arpeggio also works really well.
PENTATONIC’S FROM THE SCALE:
It’s always a good idea to have a few pentatonic’s from the scale at hand:
Here we can manipulate the Em, Bm, and Am to good effect. Again we can make them more unique by adding the semitones:
Em Pentatonic:
Bm Pentatonic:
Am Pentatonic:
Now, lets connect two fragments together:
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