teen taal – Modern Music Theory Improvisation and Application

John McLaughlin Rhythm Guitar Techniques: Pedal Notes Revisited.

Posted on December 5, 2024December 5, 2024 by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at how JohnMcLaughlin creates interesting time signatures with his rhythm guitar playing by employing the open E string as a pedal note.

This unique approach to rhythm guitar makes it easy to play in odd time signatures and create alternate time signatures.

Okay, so what is this E Pedal Note?

This is the open E string that is plucked as the time keeper.

mclaughlin-pedal-note-rhythm-guitar-technique-lesson

[It can also play rhythms and add rhythmic drive of its own as we will see later on].

Let’s begin with simple quarter notes: Here, will will add chords on beats 2 and 4.

Now, we will do the same thing but with 8th notes as the pedal bass:

Let’s take this further with 16th notes creating that rhythmic drive:

To create another useful effect we will play the chords on the off-beat:

Now, let’s mix it all together by applying all of the 1/4 1/8th and 16th notes in the E pedal bass!

MANIPULATING THE 16 BEAT CYCLE:

This is really useful because we can play odd/ uncommon time signatures and also alternate time signatures.

Let’s start by exploiting Indian “‘Teen Taal” or a 16 beat cycle and then alter it.

Above, we can see the 16 beat cycle with the accented red numbers/Beats 1 5 9 13

Now, we will count this and accent the numbers/beats 1 5 9 13 and repeat the cycle until it is effortless to do.

Next, we will break this cycle up, and only count to 11. From here, we will create a loop with our E pedal note holding time in quarter notes. So we have, 1 5 9 [11] REPEAT.

This in turn gives us an 11/4 time signature:

john-mclaughlin-pedal-note-rhythm-guitar-technique-lesson

From this point on we can see how easy it is to create interesting odd time signatures and rhythmic patterns with the E pedal as our base and time keeper.

Our understanding of beats 5 and 9 tells us where we are in the bar or beat cycle and hence what might sound complex in theory is actually pretty easy to do and exploit.

ALTERNATE TIME SIGNATURES:

These, are the combing of two or more different time signatures.

Here we employ a bar of 5/4 and a bar of 7/4. We will highlight the E pedal bass note with some quarter and eighth notes for good measure.

CONCLUSION:

This was just a brief look at this concept, but, exploiting just one of these techniques can lead to lots of interesting and useful guitar rhythms and time signature manipulations.

The E Pedal note as the time keeper is so useful because it means that we are in control of the timing/signatures and can accent chords off of it.

Lastly, these techniques are incredible for composition/songwriting. We hear this a lot with John McLaughlin’s Shakti, especially the great albums from the 1970’s where the rhythm of the acoustic guitar is prominent.

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Shakti: Indian Raga alternate picking and fretting hand technique[Development]

Posted on August 29, 2023September 12, 2023 by Modern Music Theory and Application

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Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at developing Shakti style Fusion guitar Raga’s from the Mixolydian mode.

Below, is the mode in a Pentatonic form:

Next, we have a phrase that is developed from this mode. In order for it to be smooth and fluid at a “Fast” tempo we will change the fingering:

So, here the 2nd finger comes into play. This makes connecting the phrase easy and smooth to execute with alternate picking.

Notice: I am starting on an upstroke. This is because it is a very smooth “Scalic” and mostly step-wise passage.

Below, we are starting with an anacrusis [Up Beat]. Because of this I am starting on a downstroke.

This means that the actual phrase [1st beat of the bar] will start on the upstroke for smooth step-wise scalic movement.

Below, we have the same thing. This time it starts on the off beat in the bar and employs the same concept:

Start on the down so the up carries the smooth scalic movement:

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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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