rhythm – Modern Music Theory Improvisation and Application

Robert Fripp Guitar Picking Exercise for Unique Phrases and Patterns

Posted on August 5, 2024August 14, 2024 by Modern Music Theory and Application

Robert Fripp Guitar Picking Lesson and Exercises

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a Robert Fripp style Guitar Picking exercise that incorporates various Fripp/King Crimson guitar picking patterns.

These are angular, string skipping and awkward intervals that can be picked with either strict alternate picking or “Down Down up”. I employ alternate picking mostly, but, there are parts where I exploit the “Down Down Up” pattern purely because some string skipping intervals are too wide and awkward for alternate picking alone.

PART 1

The first bar is quite awkward and so I “Float” with my right picking hand. This way I am not stuck in any one position and I can freely pluck the passage without any intrusions.

king-crimson-fripp-guitar-picking-lesson-example

At this part of the bar you will notice the awkward string skipping part between the C and C# down to the E note. You will need to pivot with the fretting hand for this. [Please see video above for detailed info].

fripp-guitar-picking-lesson-example-intervallic

The next bar is starting on an “Upstroke” with strict alternate picking:

PART 2

The next Phrase is reminiscent of “Larks Tongues in Aspic III” by Fripp. Notice the C note to the open E string to the C# note. This connects the phrase nicely by breaking the chromaticism up and at the same time making it fluid.

robert-fripp-guitar-picking-lesson-example

In the next part we can see how phrases might be counted or felt as groups of 5 or 3. [See video above]

crimson-fripp-guitar-picking-lesson-example

PART 3

To round the phrase off I employ a descending Eb Dominant pentatonic scale: This employs alternate picking starting on an upstroke. [I finished on the note F# purely becasue I like the sound].

FINAL PART:

The final part employs a 5/8 chordal picking vamp:

The picking pattern I use is : “Down down down up up” and “Down down up down up” with the plectrum.

IN CONCLUSION:

This was just an exercise/example by taking some King Crimson, Robert Fripp signature licks, patterns and phrases and making a little etude from them. This in turn creates some familiarity with the right hand picking in order to create patterns of our own.

Making your own patterns and coming up with your own original and unique phrases is the key rather than to just copy.

There are so many variations to exploit, which gives any player a mountain of material to work with. So, anyone can make some really original, colourful and interesting music from this.

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John McLaughlin Rhythm Guitar Riffs/Strumming Techniques

Posted on September 19, 2023September 26, 2023 by Modern Music Theory and Application

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John McLaughlin rhythm guitar techniques and riffs lesson

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, we will look at some of John McLaughlin’s rhythmic guitar concepts.

Here’s how John makes interesting rhythmic riffs by employing a bar of 7 to a bar of 8:

john-mcluahglin-rhythm-guitar-lesson-tab

This could also be counted as: 15/16 to 16/16 [in groups of 3 to groups of 4 in the next bar]:

OR: Groups of 4 with the last being a 3 grouping [or one note missing in a 4/4 bar]

The chords I have employed are from Shakti’s composition “Face to Face”.

john-mcluahglin-rhythm-guitar-face-to-face-chords

In order to turn this around I employ a simple piece of descending bass scale:

2 Bar Sequence:

VARIATION

Here is a variation with the bass scale played in the treble and the first chord being a quartal voicing for Em:

STRUMMING RIFF 2:

In this next example we employ 2 simple chords of A Major and D Major: The key is in the open strings that are played in between these chords at a fast tempo.

The key to executing this=”Down Up” alternate strumming all the way:

STRUMMING RIFF 3:

Lastly, we will finish with another of John’s alternate strumming favourites which employs the open strings concept once again: [“Down Up”] etc- all the way.

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How to Create “SHAKTI” John Mclaughlin Indian/Western Guitar Lines

Posted on November 28, 2022December 4, 2022 by Modern Music Theory and Application

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How to Create “SHAKTI” John Mclaughlin Indian/Western Guitar Lines

Please watch above video for detailed analysis:

Hi Guys,

Today we will look at how to develop “Shakti” John McLaughlin-esqe Indian raga lines with alternate picking guitar technique.

To begin with we will take this Scale as our Raga Base: [This starts on a “Down” stroke for alternate picking]:

how to-createshakti-john-mclaughlin-raga-guitar-lines

This base is a sort of Lydian sound with the tonic note as F and the B natural as the #11

In this first example we will employ arpeggios to create a chord pair effect:

Here is the full line: Notice how we go from a “Western” concept of chord pairing to a more non diatonic scalic raga answering phrase

The next concept exploits repetition: This is common in raga’s and is very good when alternate picking to get the tempo and rhythmic groove into your right hand picking so that the following phrase will be rhythmical!

Here is the full Phrase:

We can now add slurs and slides: “On” the beat:

“Off” the beat:

Full line/phrase with “Slide”:

Another useful concept is to repeat the semitones in the scale and create a phrase/lick:

PENTATONIC POWER!

The most common thing found in creating “Raga’s” from a western point of view is the employment of pentatonic scales. In this example we will build up a pentatonic line:

This time we will start on the 6th guitar string: Notice, the 4 note groupings of 16 notes [Tetrachords]

INTERVALS:

In the next example we will start a phrase with the interval of a 4th and a bit of repetition. Again, this is useful in order to set the tempo and prepare the fretting hand fingers to get in position to play a fast phrase rhythmically.

Here is another example:

GROUPS OF 5:

Groups of 5 notes create “Odd” patterns when alternate picking. But, 2 groups of 5 will go back to an even pattern, meaning that you will be starting on a down stroke again and back to familiar alternate picking territory.

This exercise works easily because the second group of 5 starts on an upstroke on the first string:

GROUPS OF SIX [Sextuplets]:

It’s a good idea to barre a chord or an interval group [if possible] when playing 6’s [Sextuplets] as they will be very fast when picking and you will need to be in control of the rhythm. It’s also a good idea to repeat any notes or phrases that are at hand :

Example:

Classic John mcLaughlin Improvisation Tool:

This next concept uses an arpeggio and 4ths. This crops up in lots of Johns improvisations:

One last concept is that of quoting another melody, phrase, or famous lick into the Raga. Here we will use the old jazz favourite as a reference:

Notice how this weaves back into the Raga:

Finally, in order to create your own raga it’s a good idea to take a form:

In this case we could take a 16 beat cycle and times it by 4 to create a 16 Bar Structure:

Notice the turn around in bar 16: At this point everyone will know where they are in the composition/raga so it can start back to the beginning and repeat itself for improvisation:

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