technique – Page 9 – Modern Music Theory Improvisation and Application

Alternate Picking Guitar Exercises/Runs 140 bpm ii v7 i

Posted on November 1, 2023November 5, 2023 by Modern Music Theory and Application

alternate-picking-mechanics-guitar-exercise-fusion-fluidity-lines

Video above demonstrates the exercises below:

Hi Guys,

Today, a couple of alternate picking guitar exercises.

The difference with these is that they are LONG “Fusion” fluidity exercises/lines. The Goal is in “Connecting” the 4 note tetrachords together to produce long liquid lines for jazz/fusion improvisation.

mclaughlin-liquid-lines-fluidity-alternate-picking-exercise

These lines are through a ii V7 I chord sequence/cadence at 140 bpm, so they are not super fast but are at the tipping point of the fusion tempo.

I am starting on a down stroke with the pick and following through with strict alternate picking in double time with 16th notes.

EXERCISE 1:

This first exercise employs some chromaticism ascending with pentatonic movement. The last 2 notes have a big stretch so there’s also a quick moment of detailed finger precision in the fretting hand.

alternate-picking-mechanics-guitar-exercise

As always with these types of exercises it’s important to count time and feel the pulse.

This will create the “Fluidity” in movement and help connect it all together.

EXERCISE 2 VARIATION:

Next, we have a variation of the exercise above. This time starting with an upbeat and an extension all the way to the top D note.

alternate-picking-mechanics-guitar-exercise-fluidity-lines

EXERCISE 3:

Lastly, we have another tetrachord exercise and variation going the other way,

alternate-picking-mechanics-guitar-exercise-liquid-lines

CONCLUSION:

As you can see from these short exercises, the only way to get the alternate picking effective with jazz/fusion is through the “Connections”, because the harmony/chord changes have to be dealt with whilst picking.

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12 tone jazz/fusion 20c classical quartal/quintal lines

Posted on October 21, 2023November 1, 2023 by Modern Music Theory and Application

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12 Tone Jazz/Fusion Quartal/Quintal improvising and composing concepts

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a look at employing 12 tone rows for Quartal and Quintal improvising and composing.

Here is the first row: Notice the movement of 5ths and 4ths.

Now, we will play it backwards with retrograde motion or reversal: Also, notice the use of changing register.

Full 2 bars:

In this next example we will employ Triadic movement and semitone connections.

In the following part we connect triads directly:

Finally, we will add some non 12 tone notes to complete the phrase:

From here we will exploit the tone row and make 4 bars of music from it: Here is the 12 tone row:

We will now copy it and change register: Notice that the last four notes descend:

Now, that we have this we will reverse both bars and create another 2 bars of music:

Lastly we will join together 2 different rows: We will break these up a bit with the first part acting more like a vamp:

The second part employs quintal and quuartal movement once again:

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E Pedal Note Rhythm Guitar Alternate Time Signatures

Posted on September 26, 2023January 27, 2024 by Modern Music Theory and Application

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Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a response video to my previous blog in regards to employing a pedal note.

What is the E Pedal Note?

This is just an open E string that can be plucked as the basis for holding time.

john-mclaughlin-pedal-note-guitar-technique-diagram

We can use simple quarter notes as our base and syncopate chords between them or play chords on different beats.

We can also double this with 8th notes

And of course taking it further with 16th notes:

To make this more interesting we can play on the off-beat:

And finally, “Mix” the Pedal note rhythms for rhythmic drive:

This is all good and well and extremely useful, but there is more………..

What makes this really useful is that we can play odd time signatures or uncommon time signatures along with alternate time signatures.

For this I am going to employ Indian “‘Teen Taal” and then break it up.

So, above we see the 16 beat cycle with the accented red numbers 1 5 9 13

Next, count this and accent those numbers and get a feel for the repeated cycle.

Now we will break this up:

We will only count up to 11 and then create a loop with our E pedal holding time in quarter notes. Remember the accents on 1 and 5 and 9.

This now gives us 11/4

From here we can develop and create our own patterns in 11/4 with the E pedal note holding time and our accents of 5 and 9 which tell us where we are in the bar or beat cycle.

Lastly, let’s mix two different time signatures together.

Here we have a group of 5 and a group of 7. Also, notice the rhythm in the bass with the E Pedal note.

From here you can create and develop easily what you want as this concept works really for the guitar and alternate time signatures and uncommon time signatures.

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