The Infinite Guitar

Melodic or Harmonic Minor

2012-01-09T18:05:00.000-08:00

Q: I'm enjoying your Infinite Guitar book very much lately but I'm wondering why you dedicate so much time to Melodic Minor and not so much to Harmonic Minor. Why is Melodic Minor more important?

A: Good question. There isn't anything wrong with Harmonic Minor so to speak but Melodic Minor has more applications. Only one mode of Harmonic Minor is exclusively used and that mode is the 5th one, sometimes named the Phrygian Dominant mode. As an example, E to E in the A Harmonic Minor scale: E-F-G#-A-B-C-D. You would play it over an E7 or E7b9 chord and more often than not, it would get used over a V chord in a minor progression. For example in a rock application: Amin-G-F-E, you would want to play A natural minor over the first three chords and A Harmonic Minor over the final E chord. In a Jazz application, you would play it over a iio-V7 in A minor, as in Bmin7b5-E7b9-Amin7 (over the last chord, you wouldn't generally play A harmonic minor but A natural minor or A dorian. You can use Harmonic Minor over a i chord (as in A Harmonic Minor over an Amin chord) but it sounds like you are playing Mexican or Middle Eastern music. I might do this if I need to play something blatantly stinky, like when a director asks me to play something that sounds like a snake charmer.

On to Melodic Minor (click on the links for more information)

Dorian b2: B-C-D-E-F#-G#-A (1-b2-b3-4-5-6-b7): This mode gets used over a 13b9sus4 chord or a b9sus4 chord. It's not a very common chord but has a great sound.

Lydian Augmented: C-D-E-F#-G#-A-B (1-2-3-#4-#5-6-7): This gets used over a Cmaj7#5 chord. You can play it like a E/C slash chord.

Lydian Dominant: D-E-F#-G#-A-B-C (1-2-3-#4-5-6-b7): Play this over a D7, D9, D13 chord but especially over a D7#11 chord. You can mix this scale up with a Blues scale over a vamp for some interesting contrast.

Locrian #2: F#-G#-A-B-C-D-E (1-2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7): This is a much better choice over a min7b5 chord than locrian.

Altered: G#-A-B-C-D-E-F# (1-b2-#2-3-b5-#5-b7): Perfect for any altered dominant chord, as in 7(#5,#9), 7(b5,b9), 7(#5,b9), 7(b5,#9)

Most common are the Lydian Dominant and Altered mode but the other modes can be used quite effectively as well. For example, over a minor iio-V in A minor, you could play a B locrian #2 mode (D Melodic Minor) over the Bmin7b5, and the E altered mode (F Melodic Minor) over the E7b9 chord. You could even get away with playing A Melodic Minor over the i chord if you do it right (this works because A Melodic Minor looks a lot like A dorian, actually a dorian scale with a major 7th).

Pentatonic Scales

2011-11-13T05:29:00.000-08:00

Q: The way you use pentatonic scales fascinates me. Not only does it sound cool, it is easy since most of us already know the patterns. In your book and on your site lesson: superimposing pentatonic scales, you describe the guidelines perfectly well (as in "play a minor pentatonic scale on the 3rd, 6th and 7th of any major chord") but what is the theory behind this? How and why does it work?

A: Good question. I suppose you are at the point in your studies where you need to question these things. I did the same thing a long time ago. I learned about the concept of superimposing minor pentatonic scales years ago and by simply memorizing the rules I could apply the concept any time I saw fit. Let's review the basic rules:

For a major chord:

Play a minor pentatonic scale on the 3rd, 6th and/or 7th degree of the chord

Let's try it. Record yourself a long Cmaj7 or Cmaj9 vamp. What is the 3rd, 6th and 7th of this chord? The 3rd is E, the 6th is A and the 7th is B. If you can't understand this yet, this lesson is too much for you so you should go back and study theory starting with scales, chords and intervals. Go here for that lesson >>>

It doesn't matter what scale pattern you play as long as you play the proper pentatonic scales. E is the 3rd of the C chord so you can play an E minor pentatonic scale. Try it and you'll see. Be a little careful though because the usual lines you play might not work as well but in general all the notes are OK.

Why does it work? Well, the best way to figure that out is by comparing the chord to the scale. Let's see, the scale looks like this:

E-G-A-B-D and compared to the chord, these notes are the 3-5-6-7-2 of the C major chord. These are all very consonant tones and match the chord with little rubbing or grinding. it actually looks like a C69 chord if you place all the notes on top of each other.

Next, let's look at the minor pentatonic scale from the 6th. The 6th of C is A so an A minor pentatonic scale is what we are looking for. The A minor pentatonic scale looks like this:

A-C-D-E-G and compared to the C chord: 6-1-2-3-5. All perfectly nice sounding notes over the C major chord. I bet someone out there figured this out already but what we have created is simply the C major pentatonic scale with here. Right? A minor pentatonic and C major pentatonic are the same scales.

Next up, the minor pentatonic scale on the 7th. The 7th of C is B so B minor pentatonic is what we're looking for: B-D-E-F#-A or 7-2-3-#4-6. Now this looks very lydian to me because of the #4 (or #11 if you prefer).

All three of these scales combined give you the C lydian scale. Check it out yourself. C lydian: C-D-E-F#-G-A-B or 1-2-3-#4-5-6-7.

Now, go on, get to work. Over your Cmaj9 vamp, try all three of these scales.

The pentatonic scales always intrigue me because by simply taking 2 notes away from the 7 note scale you get something that actually has more personality. Less is more sometimes.

The next thing I did is look for the minor pentatonic scale patterns inside the scale itself. I mean, if all three pentatonic scale combined look like the lydian scale, all three must be inside somewhere. Take a look:

C lydian

Look, here is an E minor pentatonic scale:

And an A minor pentatonic scale:

And finally a B minor pentatonic scale:

Can you see that they are all inside the lydian scale?

We used our ears to make sure these scales work right? Next we used our eyes by looking inside the lydian scale and finding the three minor pentatonic scales.

Now we'll use our brain. You can see this one more way. Remembering that there is a major pentatonic scale for every minor pentatonic scale:

E minor = G major
A minor = C major and
B minor = D major.

Now look at the diatonic chords in the key of G major (G major is the same as C lydian):

G - Amin - Bmin - C - D - Emin- F#dim

Are you getting my point here? The three diatonic minor and the three diatonic major chords = the same three minor and major pentatonic scales that work over our C chord.

I've basically examined the minor pentatonic scales that work over major family chords. If you want to investigate more, go to the original lesson >>>

Recording Sessions

2011-10-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

Q: What is the best way to prepare for session work? How did you put your self in a position that you could go into the studio and put the perfect part to a song that you had never heard before? And do it in a few takes. What should I study and how should I prepare? 'The Empowered Musician' gave some good ideas. But how do you go from playing a rock session to playing a soul session and make them both sound convincing?

A: My take on recording:

1. Half the battle is your sound. Going from Rock to Soul or anything else for that matter has a lot to do with your guitar and amp. Listen to some of the best players and ask yourself how he is getting that sound. Is it a telecaster or a Les Paul? Which pickup is being used? Is it a Marshall, Fender or VOX?

2. Simple is usually better unless they say otherwise. You always play more than you think (at least I do) so simplifying isn't a bad thing. A lot of Soul for example is just a convincing chord on 2 and 4 and nothing more. Conviction and a good tone count for just about everything sometimes.

3. Sessions are mostly done at home these days. If you had emailed me ten years ago, I would have told you to get your reading chops together. But these days I would tell you to get your recording chops together. At the college I run here in Tokyo I've made protools a required course for all students. Reading is obviously important but when you record parts at home you have very little time restrictions. You have to send the client a dry wav file but I'll often mix the guitar wet against the track to show them how I imagine the part should be mixed. So I send the dry wav plus a mixed mp3 of the song. Of course the client will mix it how he likes but sometimes it helps to give them an image. The problem with recording at home is the utter lack of conversation and creative input. You don't get any chance to talk to the other musicians about how to come up with something fun and interesting anymore or how the part could be mixed with the engineer or producer.

4. Good working instruments. Things that you sort of take for granted will screw up your sessions. You really have to make sure that your intonation is right on and there isn't any blatant fret buzz. I used my old Strat on a session recently and realized that the guitar isn't perfectly in tune all over the place. On the song I was doing, I had to play arpeggios up and down the neck on the top strings and I found that a D chord down at the bottom was in tune but when I played the D chord in the middle of the neck, it wasn't really in tune. My Strat is old and I don't think they were very particular about intonation in those days. The guitar is great for a Blues or something like that but won't really cut it for a modern sounding track. This sort of goes back to answer #1 but picking the instrument is important.

5. Be prepared to change your approach. Sometimes you think a Strat is right and the producer wants a Les Paul sound. It's as simple as that. Be prepared to switch instruments. Sometimes you think busy is good and the producer wants something simple.

6. Know a lot of music. If you want to come up with good parts, learn a bunch of music. Buy yourself the best of Wilson Picket and learn the songs and you'll be able to come up with good Soul parts. Buy yourself a Mike Landau CD and listen to all the sounds he gets. It's all about experience.

Quick Question About The Blues...

2011-07-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

Q: Hey Chris, I’ve been working through some of the exercises in your book (specifically harmonizing the Major scale) and wondered about the standard Blues progression. People will often say ‘Play a blues in G Major’ Now this isn’t a diatonic progression – G7 is the V chord from C Maj, C7 is the V chord from E Major and D7 is the V chord from G Major. So why would this be referred to as a Blues in G Major. Is it just that the Blues progression is a kind of special case, that sits outside the normal diatonic rules? A basic question I know, but the harmonizing exercises in your book have got me thinking about this sort of thing.

A: Generally, at least in my circle of partners in crime, we say "Play a Blues in G" or "Play a minor Blues in G." Or even "Play a Jazz Blues in G." But not so often a "Blues in G major" it isn't wrong of course but sort of unnecessary. I guess you might say "major" just to make sure the person you are talking to doesn't play a minor Blues, but I think most players wouldn't confuse a Blues with a minor Blues.

When you try to make theoretic sense of a Blues it doesn't usually work out to well. If you had a time machine and went back to Bach's time and explained (in German) in pure theoretical terms about this style called the Blues, he would probably think you a nut case. Of course we know from playing it and listening to it, it works out pretty well though, at least to our modern ears.

It is sort of diatonic and I say that because it is based on the I, IV and V chords of one key. The "sort of" is because we change the I and IV chords to dominant chords. If St. Peter wouldn't let me through the pearly gates unless I could explain why the I chord is dominant in the Blues, I suppose I could tell him that it sort of functions as a V/IV chord. Right? a C7 in the key of C is the V chord of the IV chord. C7 goes nicely to F, a secondary dominant chord.

The dominant IV chord can't really be explained but if I had to come up with some sort of explanation at gunpoint, and I'm not really sure this is right, but I would say that as we like to play a minor pentatonic scale over the progression, the minor 3rd in the scale, is the b7 in the dominant IV chord. Right? the Eb note in the C minor pentatonic scale is the b7th of an F7 chord. Maybe that has something to do with it, but I'm not sure. The dominant V chord doesn't need much explaining.

All in all, the truth is that slaves liked the way that the minor pentatonic scale sounded of the white man's I-IV-V progression. And the major triads eventually turned into dominant chords. Maybe because of the b3rd in the scale but that is just a guess on my part.

More on the Blues here >>>

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THE INFINITE GUITAR COMPANION VOLUME 1

2011-06-27T05:27:00.000-07:00

It took about a year and a half but its finally done. I've started publishing a companion series for THE INFINITE GUITAR. As IG was, for the most part, a big fat theory book for the guitar, I felt that a method book was important and I started with this one. Volume 1 is dedicated entirely to imrov based on the major scale, major scale modes, pentatonic scales and the diatonic arpeggios inherent of all the major scale patterns. There is 224 pages of exercises.

THE INFINITE GUITAR COMPANION VOLUME 1 >>>

Writing Music - Art or Science

2011-06-23T22:48:00.000-07:00

Q: I'll Start off by saying that I'm really digging the Prospects album. Anyhow, lately I've been getting really interested in the art of composing music and writing songs. Is it necessary to have a repertoire of cover songs (for educational purposes?) to begin composing my own music? Did you have a vast repertoire of cover songs before you began composing, or did you start composing/writing songs out of the blue? Did any other composers that you know of do the same/different? This question has been on my mind for a very long time, but I have no connections with the experience to give me a proper answer. Thanks in advance for any advice you might have.

A: Thanks, glad you are digging my CD. Good question too. Now remember here, writing music is a personal experience and it is part art and science. And depending on who does this writing, the balance or ratio of art and science changes.

Art and Science - When I say art, I mean writing by pure musical instinct, for the lack of better words. When I say science, I'm mostly referring to music theory. As you might know, you can write music to some degree using strictly theory. Whether or not the music will be stimulating or not is a different story. Even people who don't technically know music theory sometimes use it and don't even know they are. Theory is sometimes learned through experience and if you learned every Beatles song by ear and sort of figured out how they write, without knowing it you would be learning about secondary dominant chords and borrowed chords. Even though they didn't technically know in theoretic terms what they were doing, they were using a very standard musical theory that they certainly used by experience. I use both aspects to some degree when writing and depending on the song, this ratio of art and science changes somewhat.

Templates - There is also something that I call templates. This kind of music, or at least the chord progression is pretty much pre-determined. Two typical examples would be the "Blues" and "Rhythm Changes." There are variations on both, like a Minor Blues, Eight Bar or Jazz Blues. Rhythm Changes also have a pre-determined set of changes and the variations on these changes include various substitutions. For the most part, composers might use the "template" progression as is, and compose a melody over the top. Anybody who plays the Blues, knows about this.

Learning From Others - Some people will tell you that you shouldn't learn from other people's compositions because you'll never get an original sound of your own. I say that is the the stupidest advice I have ever heard. Out of all the great writers that I know, they all, and I mean every one of them learned through learning other composers music first. Whether they conceptualized everything using theory or not is a different story but regardless, they internalized certain tricks of the trade. So my best advice for you is to learn as many songs as you can and try to figure out how they came up with their hooks.

Me Personally - Since you are listening to "Prospects" let's see if I can't give you some background on how I came up with some of the songs. The methods may surprise you to some extent. The opening song, "Prospects" was basically an exercise or at least an assignment by my rhythm guitar teacher in college. I won't get into the details but it is all based on theory. I added in a little musical sense and made it musical. I basically wanted to do something lydian and that was my motivation. Chart >>>

"When Love Greets You" - the second song isn't based on any sort of traditional theory but I was able to write it because I played so many Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock songs over the years. There isn't much functional diatonic harmony going on but I learned from his music how to use 9ths and 7ths as melody notes. It is really pure influence so if I never played Wayne's songs from the Real Book, I could have never written a song like this (not to say that I can write anything as well as Wayne Shorter). Chart >>>

"Extraordinaire" - The next song is what I previously called a "Template Song." It is mostly based on a minor blues. And I couldn't have possibly written this song without having played a million other minor blues, like "Equinox" or "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" before hand.

So you can see my experiences helped me write all the music. I personally don't believe you can learn to be a musician in a musical vacuum so I suggest you copy and analyze as many songs as possible.

More on composition here >>> and here >>>

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How Do You Get That Tone?

2011-05-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

Q: I was listening to you play on the YouTube video, the one of recording a Blues in a recording studio. How do you get that sound? I want it for myself. Are you using some sort of overdrive or something? Can you tell me how to get a similar sound?

A: It really isn't that complicated. You really have to start with the basics, meaning amps and guitars.

Amps: I'm really old school about getting my tone. I like Marshall amps. Actually that's not really true, what I mean is that I like the sound of Marshall amps. I'm not sure that I like Marshall amps anymore because they seem to stop working on me and they don't all sound the same and on top of that, their effect loops on some of their models are weird. But when they sound and work right, I love them. There are other makers that duplicate what a Marshall should sound like but as I don't have an artist deal with any amp makers, I don't really want to advertise for anyone. But basically I like the sound or British type amps, the ones with EL34 power amp tubes and 12AX7 pre-amp tubes. The amp you hear in the recoding is a 100 watt Marshall half stack. I'm actually not sure which model because I don't usually pay very much attention, with a little tweaking I can generally make any of them sound the way I like. Anyway, I like to get about 75% of my overdrive and tone from the amp.

Amp Tone: Marshalls are easy to set although most guys don't know how. Basically you crank up the bass and mids and keep the treble down with the presence mostly off. Maybe like this (in clock settings): Bass: 3:00, Mid: 1:00, Treble: 10:00, Presence: Off or maybe add just a tiny bit. Now this totally depends on your guitar and the room. If the amp is sitting on carpet rather than on a wood floor, things change a little. I like 100 watt Marshall (type) amps because the bass response is the way I like it. I know that those little 18 watt amps are popular (and I have a few myself) but they don't have a nice bass response like a blasting 100 watt Marshall (type) amp.

Gain: I don't blast the gain on the amp, I keep it at about 4 or 5. Some or the newer Marshall amps are wired to have more gain than their older versions so you have to use your sense. I usually have the amp volume around 4 or 5 (this is generally enough to piss off a sound man in a medium sized venue). Anything under 4 will lead to less round tone. Basically I want a crunchy sound, just about short of being able to play a singing guitar solo. Shoot for a great crunchy rhythm sound. I'll explain how to make it sing later. What you should do next is experiment with your pickup selector, tone knob and volume knobs.

Guitar Tone and Volume: Most Strats aren't wired right. You would figure somebody would get it right after all these years but not that many makers (other than the best ones) have figured it out. You want one volume knob, and two tone knobs. The volume knob is obviously wired to all the pickups and one tone knob is wired to the neck position pickup and the other to the bridge position pickup. The problem is that if you set your amp tone for the bridge pickup, you will find that your neck position pickup will sound muddy. If you set your amp tone to your neck position pickup, your neck position pickup will sound shrill and hurt your ears. You want to set your tone for your neck position pickup and roll off highs from your bridge position pickup, so obviously if you don't have a tone knob for your bridge pickup, you can't do this. This way you can use both pickups without one being too much of something or the other. Some guys will set their tone to the middle pickup. You should also be able to roll back volume from your guitar and clean it up almost completely. I don't generally use a two channel amp unless I need something absolutely distortion free for some reason or another. In the video, I have my guitar volume turned down to about 7 or 8 and the bridge pickup's tone down at about 4 (although I'm not sure I use this pickup at all in the recording). I think I exclusively use the neck pickup.

Guitars: The guitar on the video was made for me by Devilstone but it is just a Strat for the most part and is somewhat reasonable price wise. It is made from Alder. I think Alder sounds great and have never really liked the sound of fancy wood. My pickups are vintage Strat style pickups, nothing special at all really. If there is anything unusual about the guitar on the video, it is that the bridge saddles are titanium ones made by KTS. They tighten up my tone and keep me from breaking strings. Besides this guitar I play a vintage Strat and an Xotic guitar that I also like. I like Les Paul sounding guitars as well and of course Telecasters. Now that you have a nice even tone and can manipulate your guitar's tone and volume knobs to create a whole range of sounds between all pickups, you'll need to use something to make your guitar sing for your solos.

Boost/Overdrive: This is where you want to plug in a booster to raise things a few decibels and add some singing sustain. Stevie Ray Vaughn used a Tube Screamer. I'm using an Xotic BB + in this video but these days I use Xotic's EP Booster. Basically you want the volume all the way up on the box, with the gain down to like 1. I know this is different from what most people tell you but it is true. I personally think the worst sound is a clean amp with a distortion box with the gain all the way up. I prefer a distorted amp with a slight bit of overdrive for my solos. Don't forget to play with your guitar volume and tone knobs because there are all sorts of interesting and different sounds you can find.

Delay: I'm crazy for delay but won't use a box in the studio. Obviously you want to put that on after. If you record with a bunch of effects already on your guitar, you are stuck with it. You also have to match up the repeats with the tempo of the song which is difficult with a stomp box. Live is a different story. In this case, I run the delay pedal in the amp's effect loop.

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half/whole vs. whole/half diminished scales

2010-11-24T18:36:00.000-08:00

Q: Hi Chris, Just getting into diminished substitutions. I've been using whole/half diminished scales over the diminished subs for the V chord the ii V7 I7. progression. I've been substituting diminished chords on the b9, 3rd, 5th and b7th of the V, usually using the whole/half diminished scale over these diminished subs for the V chord. My ear (and recorded tracks from Jamie Aebersol) tells me that it works well, but in reading various sites, many suggest a half/whole diminished scale. Is it the same function? Can I substitute the half/whole diminished scale over the same diminished chord subs over the dominant? Which one is better, the half/whole diminished scale or the whole/half diminished scale over these dim7 subs? Clarification would help..Thanks

A: First of all, you have to remember, one dim7 chord is really four. So when you say that you sub a dim7 chord on the 3, 5, b7 and b9 of a functioning dominant chord, you are really doing the same one thing. (If we were to use G7 as our example) every one of the subs, creates a 7b9 chord because all four dim7 chords are built from B, D, F and Ab notes, the 3rd, 5th, b7th and b9th of G. The standard way of thinking is "sub a dim7 on the 3rd of a functioning dominant chord." If you prefer to think "sub a dim7 on the 3rd, 5th, b7th and 9th of a functioning dominant chord," it is OK, although keep in mind, it is all the same thing.

Next point: you are right to think that the whole/half diminished scale can work for all these four subs, but once again, just like the four dim7 chords, being a symmetrical scale, all four scales are the same one scale as well. That's right, a B, D, F and Ab whole/half diminished scale all have the same notes and are technically the same scale, same as the four dim7 chords (augmented triads are also symmetrical chords). The other symmetrical scale is the whole tone scale (all whole steps).

It might seem confusing but these four chords and four scales all really being the same thing means that any one and all of the scales work over any four and all of the chords. For example a B whole/half diminished scale played over a Ddim7 chord is the same as, let's say a F whole/half diminished scale played over a Abdim7 chord. Not to be redundant, but they are all the same and if you notated everything and looked at the notes, you would see that they are.

Half/whole diminished scale - Now this is where you might have gotten confused. The half/whole diminished scale is one of the standard choices for a functioning dominant chord, especially one with a b9. But you play it on the root. So a G half/whole diminished scale on a G7b9 chord. BUT, a G half/whole diminished scale is the same as a B, D, F and Ab whole/half diminished scale. So the final result is that you are doing the same things.

Other than the half/whole diminished scale, the altered sub is also popular. It is called the b5sub and you just sub a dominant chord a tritone away. So a G7 chord gets turned into a Db7 chord, and you play a Db lydian dominant scale (which is the same as a G altered scale from melodic minor).

Links:

half/whole diminished scale

whole tone scale

altered scale

b5subs

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-CJ

Some Points on the Mixolydian Mode

2010-08-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Q: Hi Chris, I just checked out your revision of the mixolydian lesson on your site and the new video. I really liked the sounds you get with mixolydian especially in the Blues you played. I just have a few questions.

Q1. Why is it that you can play a G minor pentatonic (or major pentatonic) over the whole 12 bar progression, but have to switch mixolydian modes for each of the three chords?

A: Well, both the minor and major pentatonic scales will (for the most part) work over the whole progression because of their simplicity. I suppose that is why using one or both of them is a popular approach rather than using a separate mixolydian scale over each chord. Even though you can technically use both a minor and major pentatonic scale over a Blues, not all the notes work well over each of the chords. For example, take a look at the G minor pentatonic scale: G-Bb-C-D-F. And remembering that chord tones sound the best over each of the chords you play over, look at the scale compared to each chord in a G Blues:

Here is the G minor pentatonic scale again: G-Bb-C-D-F

G7 (G-B-D-F): The scale has three chord tones, the root (G), 5th (D) and b7th (F). C is sort of lame as it is a 4th and the chord isn't a 7sus4 chord and the Bb needs to be bent up the the major 3rd to sound right against the G7 chord. But overall, your chances of hitting a good note is pretty high.

C7 (C-E-G-Bb): The scale has three chord tones, the root (C), the 5th (G) and the b7th (Bb). Again pretty good hit/miss ratio against the IV chord.

D7 (D-F#-A-C): Two chord tones here. We have the root (D) and b7th (C). So we have to be a little more cautious using the scale over this chord.

But all in all, you have will have pretty good luck using the minor pentatonic scale over the Blues progression. You just need some sense and decent ears.

Now let's take a look at the G major pentatonic scale used over a G Blues progression. Here is the G major pentatonic scale: G-A-B-D-E

G7 (G-B-D-F): Three chord tones available, the root (G), 3rd (B) and 5th (D).

C7 (C-E-G-Bb): The scale has two chord tones, the 5th (G) and the 3rd (E). The biggest problem with this scale over the IV chord is that is has some downright lousy notes. The worst being the B note which is a major 7 to the C7 chord. If you play this note and hold it, you could probably make someone in the audience throw up. If you dare to play it, try bending it up to the root for good results.

D7 (D-F#-A-C): Two chord tones here as well. We get the root (D) and the 5th (A). The remaining three notes in the scale are not chord tones, but they aren't blatantly ugly (like the B note over the C7 chord) either.

Now on to the mixolydian scale. You can get pretty good results from using the G mixolydian scale over the whole thing. I mean, Blues harp players pretty much do exactly that to some extent. For example, a Blues harp player would use a C major harmonica over a G Blues and as you know from the lesson, the C major scale over a G7 chord is the G mixolydian mode.

Let's look at the G mixolydian scale over all three chords. Here is the G mixolydian scale: G-A-B-C-D-E-F.

G7 (G-B-D-F): We get every chord tone!! Bingo! If I have any advice for you here, beware of the 4th. It doesn't sound that hot over a G7 chord unless it is a 7sus4 chord, in that case it would sound pretty good but the 3rd would then have some problems.

C7 (C-E-G-Bb): Three chord tones, the root (C), the 3rd (E) and the 5th (G). Be very careful because once again, there is a B note in the scale which is the major 7th and will gross you out over a C7 chord if you hold it for any length of time.

D7 (D-F#-A-C): Three chord tones here, the root (D), the 5th (A) and the b7th (C). When the G mixolydian scale gets played over this chord, there is a minor 3rd (F) that you might want to bend up to the 3rd of the chord (F#).

All in all, the G mixolydian scale over the entire Blues progression isn't that bad of a choice but it leaves a lot to be desired, simple because of the difficulty in making the changes using it. But remember, using the corresponding mixolydian scale over each chord offers you the opportunity to get all the chord tones on all three dominant chords.

I personally prefer to use the mixolydian mode over the IV chord, for example, C mixolydian over the C7 chord in a G Blues, while sticking to a combination of the minor and major pentatonic over the I and V chords (although I'm somewhat inclined to use the mixolydian scale over the I chord from time to time). There is a good reason for using mixolydian over the IV chord, you can see that the C mixolydian scale and G minor pentatonic scale are pretty close to the same, or at least we could say that there is a G minor pentatonic scale inside of the C mixolydian scale. See:

G minor pentatonic: G-Bb-C-D-F

C mixolydian: C-D-E-F-G-A-Bb

Therefore playing the G minor pentatonic scale over the G7 chord and simply expanding it to the C mixolydian scale for the C7 chord is a fairly simple thing to do (just add a E and A note). Some players like to play the C mixolydian mode over both the I and IV chords but I don't think that is a great choice (if you want to know why, there is another post here).

Q2: I can follow what you are playing somewhat on the video. But in certain places I'm not quite sure (especially over the C7 chord at around 14 minutes). Can you tell me where you start using the mixolydian scale or if there is something else going on?

A: Sure. I'll take a look and notate the times (keep in mind, when I say G minor pentatonic, I might be playing a major 3rd here and there):

10:48 - 11:10 - G minor pentatonic scale

11:11 - 11:19 - C mixolydian

11:20 - 11:22 - G minor pentatonic

11:23 - 11:28 - G mixolydian

11:29 - 11:46 - G minor pentatonic (with emphasis on an added A note for the D7 chord)

11:47 - 11:50 - G mixolydian

11:51 - 11:55 - C mixolydian

11:56 - 12:03 - G mixolydian

12:04 - 12:11 - C mixolydian

12:12 - 12:37 - G minor pentatonic

12:38 - 12:42 - G mixolydian

12:43 - 12:47 - G minor pentatonic

12:48 - 12:55 - G mixolydian

12:56 - 13:06 - C mixolydian -

13:07 - 13:16 - G minor pentatonic

13:17 - 13:21 - C Mixolydian

13:22 - 13:30 - G minor pentatonic

13:31 - 13:35 - G mixolydian

13:36 - 13:38 - C mixoldydian

13:39 - 13:47 - G mixolydian (the arpeggio thing you hear is basically the diatonic arpeggios ascending from Cmaj7 up to Amin7)

13:48 - 13:55 - C mixolydian

13:56 - 14:05 - G minor pentatonic

14:06 - 14:09 D mixolydian (something I usually don't do)

14:10 - 14:12 - C lydian dominant (Woops.. sorry, I cheated)

14:13 - end - G minor pentatonic

Modes of the Major Scale

2010-07-26T03:01:00.000-07:00

Q: I read forums all the the time and I'm always confused about modes. I'm not sure anyone can really explain it without confusing me. Can you give me a hint?

A: I'll do my best. Take your time and read through this really slowly. Obviously you want to learn how to use the modes properly but first you need to understand a few different things first. You can't put the cart before the horse regarding the modes. First you will have to have a very good understanding of the major scale and the diatonic system. Ask yourself these questions:

Can you write out all the major scales? If you can, move on to the next question. If you can't, go here >>>
Do you understand intervals? If you do, go to the next question. If you don't, go here >>>
Do you understand the harmonized diatonic system? If you do, go on. If you don't, go (half way down the page) here again >>>
Can you play the major scale and improvise in all keys with little problem? If you can, go on to the rest of this article. If you can't, go here >>>

OK, if you are here, you should be able to:

Write out your major scales. For example: what are the notes in an E major scale? E-F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#. What are the notes in a Bb major scale? Bb-C-D-Eb-F-G-A. etc.
Be able to identify intervals. For example: What is a perfect 5th from A? E. What is a major 7th from Eb? D. etc.
Understand the diatonic system. For example: what is the "V" chord of D major? A or A7. What is the "ii" chord in F major? Gmin or Gmin7. etc.
And be able to play and use the major scale. Although it may not be completely necessary, I would strongly suggest that you know all five (the conventional) patterns of the major scale. You should be able to play over diatonic progressions using the scales.

If you don't understand these things and can't improvise using the major scale, I'm not sure that getting involved with modes will do you a lot of good. So let's assume that you've reached the point where we can move on. If you haven't gotten to that point yet, don't worry, this post will be waiting here for you.

Now, let's try to understand modes theoretically first. You have probably already heard this and it is one reason you are confused, but it is important to get this first Make sure you read to the end of this article or you will stay confused.

What are Modes?

Modes are scales based on different degrees of the major scale (and other scales like the harmonic minor or more commonly the melodic minor scale). There are seven notes in the major scale, so there are seven different modes. The first is easy enough:

The Ionian Mode - The major scale based on the first note. Silly right? Look at these examples:

C Ionian: C-D-E-F-G-A-B

G Ionian: G-A-B-C-D-E-F#

F Ionian: F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E

It is important to understand the notes by what they translate to in intervals:

The C major scale: C-D-E-F-G-A-B. The intervals are: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 (or 1-M2-M3-P4-P5-M6-M7-M7). You have to learn to look at scales this way or it is impossible to understand their uses and how to apply them.

This is easy enough, the Ionian mode is simply the major scale. Next let's move on to the dorian mode. The dorian mode is a scale based on the second degree of the major scale. Now to find the proper major scale or (parent scale) all you need to do is remember a simple formula. The formula for the dorian mode is:

Dorian = Major Scale Down a M2

So let's say you want to write out or play a D dorian mode. Now you promised me that you know your intervals so you should be able to do this right? What is a Major 2nd down from D? The answer is C, so D dorian = C major. See if you can do more of these:

B dorian = ?
E dorian = ?
F# dorian = ?
A dorian = ?
C dorian = ?

Answers: A, D, E, G and Bb major. Where you able to do it? Good. Now going back to D dorian as our example, D dorian carries the same key signature as C major right? So write out a D to C scale using the key signature of C and you'll get what you are looking for:

D Dorian: D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Let's do some more:

B dorian:B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A (The major scale down a M2 from B is A and the key signature for A is F#,C#, G#)
E dorian:
F# dorian:
A dorian:
C dorian:

Answers:
B dorian: B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A

E dorian: E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D

F# dorian: F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#-E

A dorian: A-B-C-D-E-F#-G

C dorian: C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb

What we have done is find the mode using a derivative method. We basically found the dorian mode by finding the parent scale. Now this is fine and dandy for finding the scale quickly but it doesn't show you what it is and how to use it. To do this you absolutely have to understand it from a parallel point of view. We already did this with the major scale (or ionian mode), now let's do it with the dorian mode as well. Using D dorian once again:

D dorian: D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Now what does this translate into intervalically? 1-2-b3-4-5-6-b7 (or 1-M2-m3-P4-P5-M6-m7).

Now you can see what the scale actually is. It looks like a:

natural minor scale with a major 6th (or)
major scale with a minor 3rd and minor 7th

if you told the truth and also understand the diatonic system, you know that this scale will harmonize to a min7 chord. The "ii" chord in C major is Dmin or Dmin7 so obviously the dorian scale harmonizes to the same chord:

So What?

You may know this much and might be asking yourself what the big deal is. There is no big deal really. But there are some important points to remember. A lot of aspiring guitarists mistakenly make the assumption that you are playing a different mode over every chord in a diatonic progression. In other words, over a Cmaj7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7 progression you would be playing a C ionian, A aolian, D dorian and G mixolydian mode. This is not really correct and is a waste of brain power. The chord progression revolves around C, the "I" chord and the "I" chord has what I call tonal gravity. You do not hear any of the other three chords as the tonal center so you hear the progression as C major. The trick to modal music is that you have to hear the music's tonal center as the chord that corresponds to the mode in question. The ear decides but personally I find that anytime you get a functioning "V" chord, in other words a "V" chord going to a "I" chord, you lose the sense of anything modal. The less chords the better actually. So you will want to play the D dorian scale over a ii chord vamp (Dmin7), ii-iii (Dmin7-Emin7) or ii-V (Dmin7-G7) progression. You can experiment and see what you think.

More common misconceptions

1. You have to start on the root of the mode. In other words, to play D dorian, you have to start on a D note. This is:

False. You have to hear the tonal center as D dorian only. Hearing the tonal center is to the largest degree due to the chord vamp or chord progression. A C major scale played over a static Dmin chord (not one in the middle of a diatonic progression) is dorian. It might have have been true back in the ancient modal days when there were no chords that your melody had to start on D for it to be dorian (wouldn't want the king of the ancient kindgom of Doria to chop your head off) but in regards to modern modal music, it certainly doesn't make much difference.

2. You can start on any note you want. A C major scale over a static Dmin7 chord or progression which is perceived as centering on D minor is Dorian.

Partly true. Just because you are technically playing a mode, it certainly won't sound good if you aren't putting emphasis on one of the notes in Dmin (D-F-A) or Dmin7 (D-F-A-C). This goes for improvisation on any level.

3. You have to play over a one-chord vamp for it to be modal. The chord has to be static.

False. The tonal center of gravity has to be the modal chord but it doesn't have to be static. Granted, static probably works best because there are no gravitational tonal distractions but it doesn't have to be a one-chord vamp. But the more chords you add to the mix, the less you will hear what you are doing as modal.

Applications

The method I first described is the "derivative" approach or point of view. What this means is that we refer everything back to the major scale (the mother scale, so to speak).We used D dorian as our example, and I taught you to think: the dorian mode is the major scale down a major 2. This is handy for coming up with what you need on the spot. If you need to play a D dorian mode, you can simply play the major scale that is down a 2nd (C major in this case). This works for all the modes:

Dorian = major scale down a 2nd. (Ex: C dorian = Bb major)
Phrygian = major scale down a 3rd. (Ex: C Phrygian = Ab major)
Lydian = major scale up a 5th. (Ex: C lydian = G major)
Mixolydian = major scale up a 4th. (Ex: C mixolydian = F major)
Aolian = major scale up a minor 3rd. (Ex: C aolian = Eb major)
Locrian = major scale up a minor 2nd. (Ex: C locrian = Db major)

You get a chart and it says by the word "Guitar Solo" Cmaj7. You want C lydian, all you have to do is remember the rule (lydian = major scale up a 5th) and play a G major scale being sure to start on a chord tone (C, E or G) and you'll be playing lydian. Some guys who I call the mode nazis bitch and moan about this method of locating the mode. You get these guys all the time on forums and I wouldn't listen to them. My experience is that these guys generally don't play modal music and take the whole thing too seriously. The proof is in the pudding as I always say and if you like the way I do modal improv, you can take my method as a a fine and dandy way of approaching it. Look here, me playing dorian:

And me playing phrygian:

More Silly Questions I Have Heard on Various Forums

Q: I don’t know what this Juergensen cat is talking about. He says that if you want to play a G mixolydian scale, you should think “up a 4th” I thought the mixolydian mode was the 5th mode. Why does he want to make it so hard?

A: Quit being a complete dingbat and use your head. Using your logic, which is right by the way, G mixolydian is the 5th mode of what scale? C major. OK easy enough. But unfortunately when you get a chart and it is your time to solo, it doesn’t say on the chart next to the word solo “play mixolydian, the 5th mode of C major” it only says G7 and you have to figure out on your own what the hell to play. My logic says:

G7 = mixolydian, up a 4th from G7 is C, G mixolydian = C major.

It is the same thing in reverse: the 5th degree of C is G mixolydian and a 4th from G7 is C major.

You only get the chord, so thinking about what degree of what scale is a big waste of time. It is much faster thinking: major scale up a 4th.

Parallel is the point to understanding

Using the derivative method might be easier to locate and play the mode, but to really know what is going on with modes, you absolutely have to see things from a parallel viewpoint as well.

You have to think of the mode as a separate scale all together (which in all reality it is). This point of view would say that the dorian mode is, compared to the parallel major scale, a scale with a fixed set of intervals: 1-2-b3-4-5-6-b7. The advantage is simple, it shows you clearly what the scale is, its intervals, its tonality and the harmony born from it. It is clear and direct. The disadvantage is that to play it using this method of classification means that you have to learn a separate scale pattern for every mode. I mean, lets say you are playing a tune and the chart tells you that it is time for you to play a solo and gives you a Cmin7 chord to solo over. You would have to think; "Okay, Cmin7, that means I can use the dorian mode, let me think here, the root is C, a 2nd from that is D, a b3rd from the root is Eb, the 4th is F, the 5th is G, the 6th is A and finally the b7th is Bb." It is a lot of thinking to do if you are not yet familiar with all five of the dorian scale patterns. Using our first method, the derivative approach, you would simply say to yourself in the same situation; "I have to solo over a Cmin7 chord, so I need to play the C dorian mode, let's see, a 2nd down is Bb so if I play a Bb major scale everything will be cool." This approach takes a lot less effort. Regardless it is important to look at the modes from the "parallel" standpoint in order to truly understand the nature of each individual mode. The parallel system works for all the modes:

Dorian = 1-2-b3-4-5-6-b7
Phrygian = 1-b2-b3-4-5-b6-b7
Lydian = 1-2-3-#4-5-6-7
Mixolydian = 1-2-3-4-5-6-b7
Aolian = 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7
Locrian = 1-b2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7

I personally believe it is important to understand both these methods. I tend to teach beginners using the first method for finding and applying the mode simply because it allows someone with little experience to get immediate results with little effort. The student simply needs to know the major scale. By knowing five patterns of the major scale and a few rules you can play every mode. By using the "parallel" method, to get the same results, the same student wound need to know thirty-five different patterns (five patterns x seven modes). Using the "parallel" method you would think of the dorian scale pattern like this (black notes are the "dorian" root):

Eventually what happens is that both these concepts begin to overlap and you stop thinking about it overly. Especially in regards to modes you play often. For example, in the dorian video above, I'm practically not thinking at all. I have played dorian enough over the last three decades for it to be very natural. But in the second video, I am thinking almost completely using the derivative method. In other words, I am thinking" Ok, I've got to play over this Csus4(b9) chord here, down a major 3rd from C is Ab, so I'll play an Ab major scale making sure to start on some chord tone from the chord (C, F or G). Oh, here comes a Db major chord, let me grab a Db, F or Ab on the first beat." The reason I have to do this for phrygian and not dorian is simply because I don't play phrygian very often, it certainly isn't something I do everyday like I might dorian.

Anyway, if you want to get into this mode by mode. Follow the links:

developing a modal practice routine pt.1

developing a modal practice routine pt.2

The Whole Diatonic Picture

2010-07-06T18:08:00.000-07:00

Q: Somebody was telling me that charts only give the bare minimum regarding chord symbols and you are expected to play something "bigger." How do I know what liberties I can take with certain chords?

A: The trick is to understand the diatonic system with each chord harmonized to its full extent. For example, when we look at the seven harmonized triads from the diatonic system, we notice that there are three major triads, the I, IV and V chords. But when we harmonize to 7th chords the same three chords that were once all the same, we now get two maj7 chords ( I and IV) and one dominant chord (V). The more you harmonize, the more each chord becomes unique until all seven are completely different.

I first noticed years and years ago after finding 9th chords that while the ii and vi chords sounded nice as min9 chords, the iii chord sounded wrong to me played as such. I didn't know why at the time but after some investigation I figured it out. Using the chart up there, you can see why. It is because while the ii and vi chords harmonize to minor chords with a major 9th interval (in other words, min9 chords), the iii chord has a flat 9th.

The I and IV chords become different only till we get to the 11th. The IV chord has a #11. Players always ask me; "How did you come up with that chord in that song?" And I always answer that it is simply because I know what the chords could possibly be fully harmonized and take advantage of that information. This means that in any given song, even a simple one, I could take a IV chord for example, and play it as a maj7#11 chord while most other guys would stick to the chart and play a triad or maj7. You have to be careful but you can certainly take liberties.

Taking a simple song like "Stand by Me," what could you do? The song is basically a I-vi-IV-V progression. You could try taking advantage of the IV chord and adding in a #11. Or maybe make the V chord into a 9sus4 chord. Knowledge is power.

6 chords - The chart up there will give you some insight but there are certain things you should know (the gray boxes). While a dimb6 chord seems weird enough, it sounds pretty good. But the reason is simply because, it looks like a G7/B chord (B-D-F-G). 6 chords look the same as 7th chords in 1st inversion and in that respect are tricky. the vi chord being a minb6 chord spells out the same as a Fmaj7/A chord.

7 chords - All these are fine and there is nothing to confuse or trip you up here.

9 chords - Gotta watch out for the iii chord, the min7(b9) chord. It isn't a very attractive sounding chord and as I said before, a min9 chord will not work here. Just avoid playing 9th on iii chords and stick to a min7 chord even if you play the other minor chords (ii and vi) as min9 chords. There are however certain things that you pick up with experience. For example, the min7(b9) chord is pretty lame but if you get rid of the minor 3rd and add in the 4th, you get a very nice chord, a 7sus4(b9) chord. You can remove the b7 as well and you get a sus4(b9) chord which is sometimes known as the "phrygian" chord. The viio chord harmonizes to a min7b5(b9) chord... Gross. Again it sounds like a G7 in 1st inversion but this time the C note (b9) sounds like a 4th in the G7 chord which clashes against the B in the chord.

11 chords - beware of major 3rds and natural 4ths in the same chords. That is why the I chord is written as a sus4 chord. With the natural 4th in the chord, you are best to get rid of the 3rd all together (thus making it a sus4 chord rather than a maj11 chord). There are certain voicings that work but be weary. Same with the V chord. You will want to get rid of the 3rd here as well making the chord a 7sus4 or 9sus4 chord. The viio chord sounds ok as a 11th chord. It sounds like a G13 in 1st inversion.

13 chords - similar to 6 chords but with the 7th included.

Links:

Playing Over Dominant Chords

2010-06-09T01:55:00.000-07:00

Q: Hi Chris! I really dig your lydian dominant video on youtube and want to get that type of sound. I sort of understand how you mix different scales to get that kind of fusion vibe, what choices do you have for a dominant chord?

A: Thanks! Musicians really like soloing over dominant chords simply because you have so many choices. Actually, you can use all 12 notes, even the major 7th if you place it on an up-beat. As far as scales there are a bunch you can use and each has its own mood. Let's say you have to play over a static dominant 7 chord (the bigger the chord, the less choices you have so we'll go with a simple dominant 7 chord). Let's look at our possibilities, from inside to outside (click on the links for more on these scales):

1. Major pentatonic (1-2-3-5-6): this is a really inside sound and popular for all styles of music.

2. Mixolydian (1-2-3-4-5-6-b7): no bad notes here really, you might want to be a little weary of the 4th as it sort of has issues with the 3rd in the chord (if you were playing over a 7sus4 chord, it would be perfect).

3. Lydian Dominant (1-2-3-#4-5-6-b7): some people could actually argue that this scale is more inside that even the mixolydian scale. The reason is obviously because the issue regarding the 4th clashing with the 3rd in the chord has been dealt with. Regardless, the melodic minor scale, simply because of its intervalic structure, has a quirky sound, so I'll list it after the mixolydian scale on our list.

4. minor pentatonic or blues scale (1-b3-4-(b5)-5-b7): It might seem strange to put this scale at 4 on our list because out of all the scales, this one is probably the most accepted by our ears for a dominant chord. I think that is simply because we have heard and used it so much. But in all reality, it is a pretty abrasive sound if you think about it. Its got a b3 that you really have to be careful of because of the major 3 in the chord. Experienced players know that this note should be bend up. We still have the 4th to be weary of as well.

5. H/W diminished (1-b2-#2-3-#4-5-6-b7): Against a 13b9 or 13#9 chord, this wouldn't be such an outside choice but against a plain old dominant chord, it has more tension, simply because of the flat and sharp 9ths (2nds). The scale is symmetrical so it has a very angular sound. You can create dramatic effects with this scale mixed with, let's say, the major and minor pentatonic scales. In a lot of ways, it looks like the blues scale right?

6. Altered (1-b2-#2-3-b5-#5-b7): Again, against an altered dominant chord, this scale is not so outside, but against an unaltered dominant chord, it will really rub. But by strategically placing it between two inside choices, you can create some great tension.

Lydian Dominant b6

2010-04-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

Q: I was looking through the lessons on your site and have been using them a lot. Your information on the melodic minor modes is great and you really can't find that information anywhere. I was wondering, is there any other scales besides the ones you talk about (major scale and melodic minor modes, half/whole diminished, whole tone and pentatonic scales) that interest you or you find useful?

A: For the longest time I never imagined that anything but the scales you mentioned above would be of any possible use to me. You can really just about deal with any chord or chord progression using them exclusively. But recently a colleague of mine told me that Ravel (I think that is who he said) used a scale that looked like a melodic minor scale with a flat 2: 1-b2-b3-4-5-6-7. I can't remember anymore what he said it was called but I looked around the internet and and have seen it referred to as the Neopolitan Major scale (he gave me another name and when I see him, I'll ask him and update this post). I'm not sure if that is a completely accurate name for the scale, matter of fact it seems like a dumb name because the scale has a minor third in it so the scale is minor not major. The only reason I can see for it be named "major" is because there is apparently a Neopolitan Minor scale with a minor 6th (1-b2-b3-4-5-b6-7), so I assume the minor is referring to the 6th and not the 3rd. A much better name for the scale would be Melodic Minor b2 scale, or maybe Phrygian Melodic Minor (because of the b2). Anyway, regardless of the confusing name of the scale, it is a good one if you can figure out how to use it (and I did).

As you probably know, there is a mode for every note in a scale but all modes from the scale are not created equally. Just like the modes of the major scale, dorian and mixolydian are big time winners and locrian sucks. Of all the modes of this so called Neopolitan Major scale, one really stands out, and it would be the 4th one. I use it just like I would the 4th mode of the melodic minor scale, the lydian dominant mode. Since this scale is a melodic minor scale with a b2, the 4th mode of this scale will obviously look like some sort of lydian dominant scale with one alteration. It looks like this: 1-2-3-#4-5-b6-b7. So if I had to name it, I would call it the Juergensen scale (just kidding), the Lydian Dominant b6 scale.

Try playing a B Neopolitan Major scale over a E9 chord. It has a real middle eastern sound because of the three chromatic notes (#4-5-b6). It is also interesting to note that the scale looks like a whole tone scale with one note added between the #4 and #5. I've really learned to enjoy the scale and have welcomed it into my bag of tricks. The pattern is illustrated above for you.

Sequences

2010-03-06T02:24:00.000-08:00

Q: First of all I would like to congratulate you on your web site. I am currently practicing Sequences and Intervals which I found very helpful in order to become technically fluent. I was wondering if you can help me to obtain the tabs for the sequences and intervals of the other positions?

One last question if I may, I am becoming quite fluent on the interval patterns, is it good practice that I play them in all directions ex diagonally, vertically, horizontal and on 1 string on the whole fingerboard? The more I practice I find new patterns that sound right.

A: Thanks for your email and I'm glad you are finding the lessons of good use. Unfortunately I don't have any tabs for the other scale patterns. It is too much to assemble all of them. But if I have any advice, my experience tells me that figuring them out and transcribing them yourself will lead to a much better understanding. That is one reason why I only transcribed the one scale pattern (major scale pattern 4) in my book and on the site. I have also found that if the sequence becomes second nature with the one scale pattern, the other scale patterns become pretty natural as well as long as you are familiar with the individual patterns.

The more ways you do things the better. The ultimate goal is not really to play sequences but to be able to play anything your imagination dictates. Sequences just force you to do things that wouldn't seem natural to you while improvising freely. I would definitely mix the time you practice sequences with time that you spend actually improvising solos.

Another way you would want to practice the sequences is over a chord progression, making sure to start on a chord tone of each individual chord as they pass by. This will challenge your brain as well as your fingers.

Links:

Sequences and Patterns

The Major Scale

Targeting Chord Tones

Music Education in the 21st Century

2010-02-17T16:04:00.000-08:00

Q: I've been a fan of your book Infinite Guitar since I bought it last year and I am doing some research on the needs of today's budding guitarist. I was wondering if you could tell me what are some of the common questions/problems you get from your students about theory and technique? Have you detected any changes through the years in what aspiring guitarists consider their priorities? I would greatly appreciate hearing what you think and want to thank you again for your brilliant writing and teaching.

A: Wow, what a question. Let me reflect on this for a minute. You have to recall, I teach both in America and Japan and there is a big difference between the two as well. When I started teaching at MI in the late eighties, music was going through what I often call the sports mode, this went for all genres. Everything was super-charged; Yngwie Malmsteen was at his zenith and Paul Gilbert was getting his start. Frank Gambale had just gotten the Chick Corea gig and was sweeping all over the place and you could walk through the school and hear “Giant Steps” being played all over the place even faster than the original and sometimes in odd time signatures. Even Blues was hot and SRV was the focus. So basically, if you wanted to compete, you really had to go to a school and get your chops together. It wasn't really a good time for music because when musicians focus on technique they generally stop focusing on music, so there was a lot of great players playing solos over lame tunes. Japan was still going through its fascination with western music so they were shredding along with the rest of us. I could see the writing on the wall though: I thought to myself that this is going to come to a grinding halt because it just couldn't go any further and everyone was pretty much doing the same thing.

You also have to remember, this was before the internet was around so as I will describe, players were different then than they are now. One reason is because, when I was coming up in the 70s and got into the guitar, we didn't have video games, or the internet, so pretty much it was either sports or music after school. The way I had fun and most other musicians my age, was to put together bands with our classmates and jam out after school everyday. I was easy for us because we mostly jammed the blues. Not because we were crazy about the blues so to speak, but because a lot of the music we were familiar with was based on it back then and it was easy to get a handle on. I mean, if you could play a Blues, you could also play “Rock and Roll” by Led Zeppelin or “Crossroads.” A 12 bar blues could be moved around to different keys and played many different styles. For the most part, my generation of musicians got a lot of ensemble experience under or belts.

So anyways, when I started teaching at MI, even though music was going through this super technical stage, guitarists were good ensemble players, although they couldn't write worth a crap. The ensemble classes were a breeze and the students were good at remembering the assigned songs and could play good solos, had decent time and could communicate musically. And since they had plenty of ensemble experience, they knew how to dial up a guitar amp. If there is anything negative to say about that (the 80s) generation of players, they weren't very good at coming up with parts (and had bad hairdos). The slightly older generation (the 70s generation like me), was much better at coming up with parts simply because the players we listened to like Page and Hendrix were good at parts. The 80s guys focused on technique and sort of snickered at the blues based 70s guys. They preferred to focus on bpm’s which was (and still is) something strange to me.

Now let's compare that generation of musicians to today's. The interent age brought about a whole new way to have fun with the guitar. Basically you could pick up licks and songs on Youtube. Generally speaking, that generation of players had way less experience playing with other musicians than the generation of students before them. And this has really changed the way that we have to design curriculum. As students have such little ensemble experience, I personally have had to rethink the way I design the ensemble classes. Twenty years ago, I could assign the songs, write up the charts, hand out the audio and the students could learn the song and play it in class using good tone and good communication skills with a nice balanced sound (tone and volume). The focus could really be on increasing the student’s repertoire, picking songs you knew would be of good use in the future, while focusing in on their weak points. I would also try to come up with songs that required technical challenges that would force the students to stretch a little further each week. These days, I have had to simplify the music and work on really basic skills like, using an amp, communicating endings and beginnings, switching channels, following form, etc. I actually have eliminated standards to some extent and have been writing simple, short songs in order to allow the students to learn these basic skills. The focus has really been on increasing the amount of time students can play in an ensemble situation. Also considering that blues is non-existent, students are less likely to simply book an ensemble room and jam out. Which brings me to another point: the lack of Blues.

When I started teaching at MI back in the eighties, most players had plenty of experience playing the Blues and really didn’t feel the need to study it anymore. We were mostly trying to get away from it actually. I mean, why would you want to travel halfway across the world to study Blues? I’m not saying that the Blues is something that everyone could do convincingly but at least most of us could fake it decent enough. Now the blues is pretty much gone so students are packed into the Blues electives almost like it is some sort of ethnic music or something. Nowadays very few players can play something that sounds anything like the blues and because of that, there is really something lacking in a lot of younger players solos and phrasing. So again, Blues is starting to look like more of a required course than an elective.

Japan has completely moved away from western music since the mid 90s. They are going through a love affair with their own domestic music and for the most part have no clue about what is going on in America. Very few young Japanese guitarists know who Jimmy Page,Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton or jeff Beck is. So I have found that music history is a very important course in the Japanese college I teach in.

On top of all this, modern music has moved away from technique (like the 80s) and is based more on the song. So guitarists don’t even necessarily have to play solos so we get a lot of students who don’t know scales or have chops. Music education has really moved back to focusing on basics in both countries.

But to end on a positive note, students are generally writing better than they have in the past. So maybe it is safe to say that there are more musicians or artistic types than virtuosos. And it certainly seems that there are more guitarists that can sing compared to a few decades ago, something positive I think.

Another point that I often think about is the obsession with boutique equipment these days. Although I’m thrilled to death that I can get all these great, hand built effects and amps, sometimes it seems that many guitarists are just searching for the ultimate generic tone. Everyone sounds the same theses days. It is funny when I think about it because in the 60s and 70s, musicians were looking forward, for something new, their own unique tones and now guitarists look back. When I think about the musicians I loved, they all had unique tones, even unconventional. Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and even Brian May, had their own sound. Jimi Hendrix even helped come up with a lot of the new sounds himself, like the Univibe, Wah Wah and Octavia or at least used them in a way nobody had thought of before. Granted I’m thrilled to death that I can once again get a Marshall plexi that I loved in the 70s, although now it isn’t made by Marshall anymore, it is made by John Suhr or Blankenship but it seems that there are too many players and some students that obsess about it too much. It is especially odd because it is just making things like they used to, and considering that there really aren’t that many guys playing the type of music that was around back then, I can’t understand the obsession. For someone like me who plays roots music, it is great though.

Collecting Royalties as a Composer

2009-11-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

Q: Hi Chris!
I took your music business class at the Los Angeles Music Academy last year. I need some help with a situation that has come up with my career. I am currently in Phoenix recording my first record. One of the songs I wrote, another band really liked and wants to record. I'm totally happy about that and want to let them do it. I also want to make money for letting them use it. I'm not really sure what the rules are here and I don't want to get screwed. If you could give me any advice I would really appreciate it.

A: Hey that's great! I would suggest that you should make a publishing company as a DBA. register with BMI as a publisher and writer. This will make sure that you collect performance royalties when the song gets played on the radio, in film or TV. As you'll recall from the class, as a composer you are entitled to points when a CD gets sold. You can get paid directly for mechanicals from the record company or sign with harry fox to administer and collect (maybe this is better as you don't have much experience).

A DBA stands for "do business as." More about that here:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-dba.htm

-CJ

Blues Power

2009-09-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

Q: I was reading your blues lesson on your site and am wondering: what do you think makes the Blues greats, great? I mean, what do they have that all the others don't?

A: Man, what a question! It is really hard to talk about Blues from a theoretic point of view but I'll give it a shot. First let's just talk about the few things you have to have:

1. A complete understanding of the chord changes when you solo - This means you really have to be able to hit the right chord tones as the chords come by, to the level that you can stop thinking about it and your fingers know the way. That is why simply playing the minor and/or major pentatonic scale over the progression doesn't guarantee you anything but a very mediocre solo although it is a start.

2. Knowledge of at least some of the traditional licks - You see, even playing the right scales and chord tones doesn't guarantee you a great solo either. There is a definite vocabulary and the only real way to be able play an effective solo is to learn the vocabulary from the best. You have to know where the licks work too: the I, IV, V and turnaround licks for example. If you copy from a wide variety of players, you'll be sure to not sound like any one player and eventually a little time with them under your fingers will lead to a natural evolution of the phrases and your own personality will start to emerge.

3. Good Blues Tone - I'm not saying your tone has to be just like everyone else's but there is a generally excepted tone that involves a certain amount of warmth and/or twang. Of course there is a wide variety of this tone, from Strats and Teles to Les Pauls, but you know it when you hear that Blues tone. You certainly are going to have a rough time milking it from a Roland Jazz Chorus amp.

4. Power - I'm not sure how to describe this, but let's just say the greats all have this power that just knocks you out. It isn't really a technical thing but just this overwhelming sense of strength. Take a look at the great Freddie King and see if you don't feel it:

Guitar Tools pt.2

2009-09-26T22:48:00.001-07:00

My second installment of the column I write for guitartools.co.uk. This one is dedicated to treble boosters and especially the most famous one, the Rangemaster.

Treble Boosters – As we learned in part 1 of this column, guitarists in their quest for rock and roll tone often turned to fuzzes to push their amps to the breaking point, but another group of guitarists used a different device. To add some sparkle to the dark British amps in the sixties, many guitar players turned to treble boosters. In addition to adding more high frequencies, they also helped drive their amps with a dbl boost and some added distortion. Although a very 60s sound, the treble booster sounds completely different than the fuzz but if you want and need a varied classic type sound, having one of these in your bag is a must. More >>>

Recording Advice

2009-09-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

Q: My band is recording our first EP in a couple of weeks. Could you please share any insight on how you prepare to perform your guitar parts in the high pressure, clock ticking environment of the recording studio? I don't mean engineering advice, but performance/guitarist tips or even mentality. So far I've been woodshedding the most difficult guitar parts I have to pull off (two shred solos) at home. I record myself, listen back and work specifically on the parts that get sloppy. I play them out of time, then with a slow metronome speed, and then finally up to speed with my goal being to eliminate unwanted noises and to play each note clearly in tune and in time.

A: If this is your first time in the studio, it will be an eye opener. Since the session is your own, there are different thing to consider as opposed to a session for someone else. In some ways it is a lot less pressure, because after all the time is your own and not somebody else’s. Things you might want to think about besides your guitar parts: 1. Get the endings and intros straight before hand. Rehearse your band and figure out how you want to end the songs. Live endings and recorded endings are usually different. Live endings, you bash out a chord and your drummer does a fill and you end it and he play another drum fill. In the studio, you usually don't do live endings that way. Have a listen to various studio recordings and check out how the bands end the songs. For reference, here is two versions of one of my songs, check out the endings. You’ll have to click on the titles of the songs individually but there are four live version songs of songs that appeared on my second CD, compare them and see.

Have a listen to “House on the Hill,” and “Tell me A Story” here:

http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/bigbadsun-strange/

and then have a listen to the studio cuts here:

http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/juergenson-badsun/

You would be surprised how much time gets sucked in the studio on intros and endings so try to get it straight a head of time or you'll end up rehearsing on studio time.

2. Rehearse your band with a click track. If you guys can't play to a click, you will also suck time trying to get in sync. This goes for your guitar parts as well, practice them to a click or rhythm track, this will help you lock in when the time comes.

3. Figure out how to play without any effects on your guitar. Ambient effects definitely come after you record your part so get used to doing it that way. You can use distortion, just make sure you turn it on at the very last second because it is noisy. As it is your time, the engineer might not say anything about you bringing delay or reverb but it will ruin your sound possibly and maybe even make your part unusable if your delay rhythm is different than the song tempo. It is much better to record dry.

4. Get you headphone mix right before hand. Since you have to play dry, have the engineer send you back your guitar mix wet. I sometimes have him send it back really wet, even wetter than I would have him mix it, but this can make it very easy to record. Don’t forget, what effects he sends back to you in your headphones, doesn’t stay in the mix. If you are not sure how to describe what you want, and you are used to playing with a wet sound, just ask him to send it back with about 700 ms and two or three repeats. Maybe have him give you one channel dry guitar and one channel effects on your little groovy headphone mixer and you can mix it there yourself.

5. Try to record Drums, Bass and guitar together. You can throw away the guitar track later so it doesn’t matter if you screw up or not. Your guitar part is just to help your drummer and bassist keep track of where they are in the tune. If you are using a vocalist, it also helps to have him sing as well just to keep everybody true to the form. As I said you can scratch the tracks later and redo them. If you don’t have any booths, you can record your scratch track direct. You bass player will most likely get recorded direct anyways so you can all be in the room with the drummer this way. You can of course move your amp into a booth if there is one but as you are throwing away the track anyways, it doesn’t make much difference. When you record your guitar part (the one you are going to keep), if you have a big room, you can be in there with your amp. I tend to record this way a lot. It helps if you keep the amp far away from you because the loud amp can overwhelm your headphone mix leading a variety of problems. You should definitely practice through the amp you will be recording with because if you practice through something else, the difference in tone might be enough to throw you off.

6. As far as getting nervous, there is no real reason to. As I said, it is your project and your studio time so you shouldn’t feel pressured. The time you should feel pressured is when you are recording for a pain in the ass producer who wants the perfect guitar part done in ten minutes. But if you are having a real hard time getting it together, just simplify. It might help to prepare a simpler part ahead of time if you really need to be out quickly. If worst comes to worst, record the other parts for all the songs minus the guitar solos first, because you can always do your guitar parts after the fact without your band there to bug you. So even if you need an extra day, you can knock out your tracks in one day.

7. If it is a pre-written part, make sure you have it 120 percent down because you lose about 20 percent because of nerves.

Hope this helps, -CJ

Dominant Pentatonic Scale

2009-08-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Q: I read a column about the dominant pentatonic and I'm feeling a little confused. Here's why... The dominant pentatonic comes from the Mixolydian Scale, and I know this mode and have no problems with that. Now the pentatonic takes only five notes of this scale. My problem here is what are these five notes? The Mixolydian looks like this: 1-2-3-4-5-6-b7 What should be the formula for the dominant pentatonic? Should it be this: 1-3-4-5-b7 (referenced here >>>):

Or should be this one: 1-2-3-5-b7 (referenced here >>>):

Because in fact both use only five notes, and in both, the five notes come from the Mixolydian Scale, so which one to use? I've seen in several places the first one, and in others the second one. Thanks a lot for any info!

Q: I can see how this might confuse you. Let me see if I can shed some light on the subject. First of all, you'll be happy to know that there is no set standard pentatonic scale called the dominant pentatonic scale, so there might be several different examples floating around out there. As you probably know the most common pentatonic scale used for dominant chords would be the minor pentatonic: 1-b3-4-5-b7.

The examples you picked up are synthetic pentatonic scales, for the lack of a better name. Now this does not mean that they are wrong or anything and are fine to use in the right circumstances. Pentatonic simply means five notes so there are plenty of combinations you could make from any 7-note scale. Now the first one you describe is a common synthetic pentatonic scale that was probably made popular by Jan Hammer (matter of fact, I have heard it referred to as the "Jan Hammer Scale" before.

Here is the trick with this scale and how you can do the trick to make different pentatonic scales. Before I do this, let's make sure you know exactly what the "standard" two western pentatonic scales are. They basically eliminate the half steps from both the major and minor scales:

Major Pentatonic: 1-2-3-5-6

Minor Pentatonic: 1-b3-4-5-b7

These "standard" pentatonic scales work well with the 7-note modal scales because the same pentatonic scales work as good replacements for most of the modal scales. In other words the major pentatonic (1-2-3-5-6) can be found in the three major modes (ionian, lydian and mixolydian) and the minor pentatonic (1-b3-4-5-b7) can also be found in the minor family modes (aolian, dorian and phrygian):

Ionian: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7
Major Pentatonic: 1-2-3-5-6

Lydian: 1-2-3-#4-5-6-7
Major Pentatonic: 1-2-3-5-6

Mixolydian: 1-2-3-4-5-6-b7
Major Pentatonic: 1-2-3-5-6

Nothing changes here right? How about the minor modes:

Aolian: 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7
Minor Pentatonic: 1-b3-4-5-b7

Dorian: 1-2-b3-4-5-6-b7
Minor Pentatonic: 1-b3-4-5-b7

Phrygian: 1-b2-b3-4-5-b6-b7
Minor Pentatonic: 1-b3-4-5-b7

Now let me explain what we will call, modal pentatonic scales. Again this is my description and just like there is no standard term like "Dominant Pentatonic" there also is no standard term "modal pentatonic." But let's just use the term for the lack of a better one. What we are going to do is use the formula for the minor pentatonic (1-3-4-5-7) and use it for the major family modes adjusting the intervals accordingly. After that, we will take the major pentatonic formula (1-2-3-5-6) and apply it to the minor modes.

First let's take the minor pentatonic (1-3-4-5-7) formula and apply it to the major family modes starting with mixolydian. We will have to lower the 7th because the mixolydian scale has a minor 7th:

Mixolydian: 1-2-3-4-5-6-b7
Mixolydian modal pentatonic: 1-3-4-5-b7 (based on the formula for the minor pentatonic scale) This is the scale that was referred to as the "dominant pentatonic scale," we made it by applying the minor formula to the mixolydian scale.

Lydian: 1-2-3-#4-5-6-7
Lydian modal pentatonic: 1-3-#4-5-7

We can take the major pentatonic formula (1-2-3-5-6) and apply it to the minor modes as well:

Dorian: 1-2-b3-4-5-6-b7
Dorian modal pentatonic: 1-2-b3-5-6

Phrygian: 1-b2-b3-4-5-b6-b7
Phrygian modal pentatonic: 1-b2-b3-5-b6

Aolian: 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7
Aolian modal pentatonic: 1-2-b3-5-b6

Locrian: 1-b2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7
Locrian modal pentatonic: 1-b2-b3-b5-b6

So there is how your first dominant pentatonic scale comes about. Your next example is also just synthetic and the person who made it simply eliminated the 6th from the major pentatonic scale and replaced it with the b7th from mixolydian.

Mixolydian: 1-2-3-4-5-6-b7
major pentatonic: 1-2-3-5-6
synthetic: 1-2-3-5-b7

Another great pentatonic scale for the Blues can be made by replacing the b7 in the minor pentatonic scale with the major 6th. That scale looks like this: 1-b3-4-5-6. I love this sound and use it all the time in the Blues. The major 6th in the scale gives you a super major sound over the I chord and the same 6th in the scale becomes the major 3rd over the IV chord.

There are actually countless pentatonic scales used all over the world, for example this one used by the Japanese in Okinawa: 1-3-4-5-7

To make this even more confusing, you can also superimpose various pentatonic scales over individual chords for outstanding results. Just for example: Lydian = minor pentatonic on the 3rd, 6th and 7th (E lydian = G#, C# and D# minor pentatonic scale).

But as far as I know, there is no one standard dominant pentatonic scale. So as far as which one to use, whichever you like is fine.

Link:

Pentatonic Scales

Modes and Slash Chords

2009-08-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

How are you? I was just going over some of your lessons online and found them very interesting. I do have a question:

Q: I am currently using the C Mixolydian mode to jam/solo over the root of the mode (C). I am very confused on what chords to use. I saw a video of Frank Gambale explaining this but I can't understand this. He mentions to use the 4th and 5th chord of the major scale. To me, the major scale of C mixolydian is F major...correct??? do I play a B and C? If I am wrong, what am I doing wrong??? I would appreciate any help

A: Glad you like the lessons. You have to understand the diatonic system to use the modes properly. As you described, you always use the mode over the diatonic chord of the same name right? So C mixolydian works over a C7 chord. Here is the diatonic system for C mixolydian, the key is F major:

I - F (or Fmaj7) - Ionian
ii - Gmin (or Gmin7) - Dorian
iii - Amin (or Amin7) - Phrygian
IV - Bb (or Bbmaj7) - Lydian
V - C (or C7) - Mixolydian
vi - Dmin (or Dmin7) - Aolian
viio - Edim (or Emin7b5) - Locrian

Now probably what Frank is saying, is that the IV and V chords of this key, played over the root of the mode are good slash chords to play for a modal vamp. The IV and V chord in the key of F are Bb and C right? So play these over the C root, as in: Bb/C - C/C (C/C is really just a C triad). So this is a good progression to jam on. This will work for any of the modes:

Bb lydian for example: Bb and C over the lydian root: Bb/Bb - C/Bb (really Bb - C/Bb). This is good for Bb lydian.

D aolian: Bb/D - C/D
A phrygian: Bb/A - C/A

All these examples are simply the IV and V chord played over the modal root. Of course this is just a simple way to practice and you can simply make up progressions from the modal chord. Just don't mix up the chords too much or you will lose the modal sound. Two chords are usually best. C mixolydian: C7 - Dmin7 or C7 - Bbmaj7 for example.

Links:

Mixolydian vs. Lydian Dominant

2009-07-21T04:56:00.000-07:00

Q: I have to play a solo over a C9 vamp, and I realize I have several scale choices. let me see if my theory is correct here: The mixolydian scale is totally diatonic, but the #4 in the lydian dominant scale works because the ear also accepts the blues scale (b5), right? So in a way, the lydian dominant works like a pivot between inside (diatonic mixolydian) and out (blues with b3 as well), which also lets the Dorian work sparingly too. Does that sound about right? (or am I trying to get into heaven here?)

A: You pretty much have it but not completely: Some people would argue that lydian dominant is actually more inside than mixolydian because the natural 4th in mixolydian would technically clash with the major 3rd in the C9 chord. There is some truth in this I think. Technically lydian dominant has no "avoid note" so to speak, the #4 being far enough away from the 3rd in the chord. Some players would tell you, me too for that matter, that mixolydian is better used for a 7sus4 chord. It is all a matter of taste I suppose. C Dorian would only work over a C9 chord because it sort of looks like a combination of the C major pentatonic and C minor pentatonic scale. But it leaves out the most important note, the major 3rd. And it seems clumsy (too big) for blues. So I think that a C dorian scale over a C dominant chord isn't really a great choice. Also, I wouldn't put the cart before the horse, meaning that I wouldn't think that (as you said) a scale is diatonic to a chord, it is really the other way around: chords are diatonic to scales. So C9 is diatonic to both C mixolydian and C lydian dominant. But you are right to think that we like the sound of the b5 because it reminds us of the blues scale (again, a matter of opinion).

Besides the major and minor pentatonic scales, mixolydian and lydian dominant, you can also create some tension by using the half/whole diminished scale.

I've posted on dorian over a blues before. Here>> Other links:

The Whole Tone Scale

2009-07-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

Q: What can you tell me about the whole tone scale? I didn't find anything on your site regarding it.

A: The whole tone scale is used in very specific situations, so I didn't mention it too much in the lessons on chrisjuergensen.com. But it is a valuable scale to know and has one very interesting application that took me about 20 years to figure out. First of all, it is a 6-note scale which is unusual in itself. It is a symmetrical scale, meaning it is based on a set of specific intervals that repeat. The half/whole diminished scale (an 8-note scale) is also a symmetrical scale based on a repeating half-step, whole-step pattern. The whole tone scale is a pattern of all whole steps. So for C: C-D-E-F#-G#-A#. If you harmonize it, you will get a C7#5 or C7b5 chord. When you add in the 9th (D, in this case) something strange happens, you get a C9 chord with a b5 or #5. How strange is that? I've actually run it to one or the other on a few charts but it is rare and sounds somewhat strange. You have to be weary of using the scale because a lot of guys will add in an altered 9th on a 7#5 chord, thinking altered rather than whole tone. I like to use it on chords that are specifically #5, like in "Stella by Starlight" when that G7#5 chord pops up. It is a real abstract sound, I've heard it described as Bambi disintegrating. I suppose the fact that all the intervals being the same distance apart give the scale a sort of nebulous vibe. You hear it sometimes in movies or TV when somebody goes into a dream or fantasy scene. Anyways, that's how I hear it.

I actually use it more in another application than the standard, over the 7#5 chord. I like to use it a half step down on a minor chord. You have to be daring and have good improv sense to make this work because it is outside. It is a good way to play outside on minor chords and works well if you sandwich it between two inside minor scales, like dorian. It can be justified as well. Here is a B whole tone scale: B-Db-Eb-F-G-A, now let's look at the intervals comparing it to C minor: B is the major 7th (like melodic minor), Db is the b9th (as in phrygian), Eb is the minor 3rd (like all minor modes), F is the 11th (like all of the minor modes), G is the 5th (like all the minor modes except locrian) and A is the 6th (like dorian). No root!

This was a good subject so I put together a whole lesson on the subject: The Whole Tone Scale

Cissy Strut

2009-07-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

Q: I had a quick go of "Cissy Strut" last night. I'm trying to figure out the progression. If you look at it in Eb you get a vi-ii-V which seems on the money. I've tried some improvising and C blues or minor pentatonic fits, as does C Dorian and C natural minor. However, I was trying to figure if you can analyze the sequence from C harmonic minor perspective, since the tonal is so clearly a centerCm key (the Eb relative major is only implied, right?) But that gives a i-VII-IV which seems screwy... any ideas?

A: I wouldn't think too much about this one. I mean if God came out of the heavens and said; "Chris Juergensen, entering heaven will depend on how you analyze 'Cissy Strut,' the famous New Orleans funk hit covered by many musicians, what are the three chords in relation to each other?" I would say; "Thanks for this chance to get into heaven God, here is my answer: The C chord is a 'I' chord, the Bb chord is a 'bVII' borrowed from C minor, and finally the F chord is a 'IV' chord." And he would most likely let me into heaven despite all the rotten things I have done to various women over the years. But if he was anything like me, and this is very unlikely, he would say; "You are thinking too much about it, just play a blues have a good time."

Thinking minor is not such a good idea with this tune. It is only minor the same way a Blues is minor, meaning the minor pentatonic scale will work, but the chord is really a C7 chord.

Cissy Strut if a fun song to play if you are adventurous, It is basically a A-A-B-B form with both the As and the Bs in C. Scofield changes the B section to the key of Ab I think. When I have my students play it in their ensemble class, I make every guitarist change the B section to something different. It makes the song fun but also makes the solo a bit more challenging.

-CJ

Playing Over "Impressions"

2009-07-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

Q: I´m playing the song IMPRESSIONS in D-7, but when I play F melodic minor it sounds good, tell me why?

A: Good question. I'll take you through my thinking process rather than just give you my answer: Let's see, F melodic minor: F-G-Ab-Bb-C-D-E, now let's look at the scale from D, as that is the chord you are playing it over: D-E-F-G-Ab-Bb-C. That gives us a 1-2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7. Ah, this is the locrian #2 mode from melodic minor. This is a very common scale for a min7b5 chord, much better than the locrian scale or harmonic minor that a lot of guys might use. Although, not the most common choice, it is one choice for a min7 vamp like Impressions. Other choices: D dorian, A, D and E minor pentatonic, D melodic minor and if you are really daring, Ab melodic minor. Check out this scale/arpeggio guide and try some different things. This is a lesson dealing with locrian #2.

Modes and Chords

2009-07-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

Q: Is there a simple way to remember the which major scale equals what mode and the chords they work over?

A: I wish there was a quick method but I'm not sure there is one. You just have to remember the rules, which are:

Dorian = major scale down a 2nd. (Ex: C dorian = Bb major)
Phrygian = major scale down a 3rd. (Ex: C Phrygian = Ab major)
Lydian = major scale up a 5th. (Ex: C lydian = G major)
Mixolydian = major scale up a 4th. (Ex: C mixolydian = F major)
Aolian = major scale up a minor 3rd. (Ex: C aolian = Eb major)
Locrian = major scale up a minor 2nd. (Ex: C locrian = Db major)

The chart above might help put things in perspective.

Links:

Playing Guitar and Antarctica

2009-03-03T23:29:00.000-08:00

Q: As my sightreading reaches more acceptable levels I look to consider comping on cruiseships in a ‘Jay Leno’ style pit band. Although it is not a first choice, it will at least be something professional top put on my CV, as well as a chance to play something beyond party tunes, and to further improve reading skills and save. How well respected are people who have done cruise gigs? Will it open any doors on my return? I’m 25 now and I feel like if I don’t do something it will be too late. I can’t think of any other options at the moment. Some wisdom from someone of your experience and calibre would be fantastic.

A: I'm not sure that a boat gig (as we call it in musician circles), in itself commands any real respect. What does command respect is a musician who consistently works, be it a boat gig, plus anything else for that matter. A good friend of mine just went on a boat gig, he is a year younger than you and a very fine guitarist. He asked me what I thought about the job offer on the boat. Some other musician who was there at the time gave his two cents, which I thought was a load of crap. He said that a boat gig does nothing for one's career and should be avoided. I told him this: that it doesn't matter what the gig is and a gig is a gig and should not be turned down unless you are sure that there is something better on the way and the boat gig would ruin your chances. You see, it is a privilege to get paid to play a guitar. Think about it, it is a piece of wood with some steel strings attached and when you hit them with a little piece of plastic, somebody gives you money and you can get babes too. What a concept, it seems to good to be true! Some people even give me money to show them how to pick at the strings with the plastic thing so they can get paid too. So when you start wondering if a boat gig will pay well or commands respect, the answer is that any job you can do with a guitar in hand commands respect and any amount of money is overpayment for such a fun thing. And I'll tell you when he emailed me a photo of Antarctica, i really thought so. How many people get to go to Antarctica? And how many of them get paid to go? And how many of them get paid to go to Antarctica by hitting some steel strings on a piece of wood with a plastic thing? Pretty amazing if you ask me. I suppose that there are better paying gigs but so what? Hopefully it is just one gig in a series of gigs that will stretch on and on. Plus, you never know who is on the gig. One of the guys on the gig could go on to a real big gig one day and take you with him. If you can get yourself on a boat gig, pat yourself on the back my friend and welcome to a very exclusive club, the club of professional musicians.

3rds and 4ths together in chords

2009-01-25T10:28:00.000-08:00

Q: Why is it that major 3rds and 4ths in the same chord is prohibited? In your book (p.49) You say that simultaneous presence of a major 3rd and perfect 4th in the same chord is undesirable – so, why exactly? Because it’s said to be cacophonous? And that’s all? Hmm… Maybe there are some reasons which are more objective? "Cacophonous" is too subjective to my mind (especially regarding modern music)… As I understand it, any two notes a min2nd (or min 9th) apart never should present in the same chord simultaneously. But later in "The Infinite Guitar" while regarding different modes You give a lot of examples of chords with simultaneous presence of one and even two pairs of notes min 2nd (or min 9th) apart. How could You explain all this?

A: 3rds and 4th together in the same chord is not prohibited, just not a great sound. Sometimes minor 2nds together in a chord sound better than others, like between the 7th and root in a maj7 chord or between the #11 and 5th in a maj7#11 chord. Even between the 3rd and #9 in a 7#9 chord. So why not in a sus chord? Because:

It throws the nature of the chord into question. In a maj7 chord the B and C notes are important to the nature of the chord (the chord sounds crappy with the 7th as the bass note but eliminating either, would change it from what it is), same with the #11 and 5 in a maj7#11 chord. A 7#9 chord without both the major 3rd and #9th would turn the chord into something else. But the 3rd and 4th in a dominant chord are conflicting to the nature of the chord. It makes the ear wonder if something is wrong and confuses us.
It isn’t necessary. The 4th is way more important in a sus chord and there are better notes to add to the chord than a 3rd.

By the way, theory is just common practices to specific genres and, although sometimes based on laws of nature, is not musical law. You can add a third and there are some interesting voicings. Like a IV–V in G (C–D). Play an open position C chord and slide it up a whole step leaving the 3rd and 1st string open. Nice sound as long as you are arpeggiating and not bashing the chord (look at the chord up on top of this post).

Q: C-E-G-B-D-F-A (maj13 chord) = also impossible? Why? For the same reason, the 3rd and 4th can't be included together in the same chord? But is the 11th note is necessary for the 13th chord?

A: No, theoretically the only notes that must be included in a 13 chord (major or minor) is the 1-3-5-7 and 13. 9ths and 11ths are options. But the general rule is that the 11th, if you were to include it should be raised, as in C-E-G-B-D-F#-A. But once again, they are options and regardless, you couldn’t play a 7 note chord on the guitar. If you were playing with a bassist, you could technically just play the 3rd, 7th and 13th.

Links:

Easier Voicings

2008-12-14T23:42:00.000-08:00

Q: I was looking through some of your lessons (which, by the way, are all very well written), and wondered something. I was checking out the "Thinking out of the Cage" lesson and thought to myself that there are a lot of easier voicings than the ones you have. Is there any reason for the difficult voicings? Wouldn't it be quicker and easier just to play the standard voicings rather than struggle with the ones you have as examples?

A: Yes it would be quicker and easier to play the garden variety voicings that everyone plays. It just depends on whether or not you want to play chords like everyone else or not. Guitar players always give me a good crack up because, at least regarding chords, we only want to play what is easy, even if the voicing sounds goofy. And the rational is that it if it can't be learned in a few minutes, it isn't worth working on. Think about it for a second: how long did it take you to learn the F chord? The answer is usually a month or two. How come guitarists seem to think that the F chord is the right of passage and no other chord should take that long? When I was learning guitar, I thought that all chords were supposed to take weeks or months to be able to hold down so I worked on them for long periods of time and that is why I can play big hairy chords that very few other guitarists can, even though my hands are relatively small. I will concede that it is better to play simple in certain situations, but I personally believe that showing an interest in, and learning interesting voicings is important unless harmonic mediocrity is something you can be satisfied with. Listen to Herbie Hancock play chords and tell me you wouldn't want to sound like that.

Lessons:

triads and the half/whole diminished scale

2008-11-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

Q: look at the ii-V-I that I attached, the key is C Major. What is going on over the V chord, G13? I see two arpegios, E major and the other of Db major Why?

A: Yes, this is a trick for the half/whole diminished scale. Actually four triads placed minor 3rds from the root of the dominant chord work well. For example, a G7 chord: G, Bb, Db and E placed over the G7 chord are all good choices for arpeggios. Obviously G placed over G7 would just be the root, 3rd and 5th of the chord. Bb would be the #9th, 5th and b7th. Db would be the b5th, b7th and b9 and E would be the 13th, b9th and 3rd. These are pretty common arpeggios to play over the G7 chord. The sound is from the diminished scale creating a 13b9 and 13#9 tonality. Check here: diminished scale

Phrygian over ii-Vs

2008-10-18T12:41:00.000-07:00

Q: I'm learning jazz from a book by Mark Levine called The Jazz Piano Book and where I can't understand the book, I use your website and it has been really useful so far. But now I'm kinda stuck at a point about Phrygian chords. Mark Levine says that you can combine an E-7 and A7, a II-V in the key of D, into an A Phrygian chord (For example in Victor Young's "Stella By Starlight"). I can't get my mind to it why you can combine those two chords into an A Phygian chord. On your site I can't find an answer, so maybe you can help me.

A: I would have to assume that it is not a Emin7 but Emin7b5, and that would also be the right progression for "Stella." It makes pretty good sense:

You see, A phrygian = F major, and F major = E locrian. So that scale is a good match for Emin7b5 right? And the A phrygian is a pretty good match for the A7, especially as the A7 chord, like in stella, is a A7b9 chord. A phrygian = A-Bb-C-D-E-F-G = 1-b9-#9-4-5-b6-b7. I don't think these are the best scale choices for the progression but it will work. Better would be G melodic minor for the Emin7b5 chord (E locrian#2), and Bb MM for the A7 chord (A altered). The A phrygian mode would work better for a A7b9sus4 chord.

The Phrygian Mode >>>

Mics and Goofy Engineers

2008-09-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

This post didn't start with a question but because of some goofy recording engineers. I went in the studio for a session yesterday, set up my head on a cab that they had there and went out for a coffee while they got their mics set up. When I came back, there was 12 mics on and around the amp. Needless to say, this gave me a good crack-up. I've never seen so many mics on one amp. Anyways, they had me play an improvised solo for a minute and they recorded 12 separate tracks (one for each of the mics). Then they had me listen, without knowing what was what, to each one and pick the mics I liked the best. As usual, the Shure '57 won. The SM57 is about the cheapest mic there is (about 80 bucks) and always sounds great on Celestion speakers. Coming in second was the Sennheiser e906, going for about $180.00. It is supposedly designed specifically for guitar amps. It seems to have a little bit more high end compared to the '57, while the '57 offers nice midrange. For the ambient mic, I picked the AKG C414 B-XLS/ST, which is about a two-thousand dollar mic. I actually liked these three mics in combination, panning the '57 and e906 slightly left and right. They later mixed the track with reverb on the ambient track and stereo delay on the two close mic tracks. Pretty fat sound:

Min(maj7) chords

2008-09-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

Q: I have a question about the min(maj7) chord. its supposed to be the strongest resolve to the melodic minor and harmonic minor scales. but when i play it on the guitar, it just sounds wrong like it needs to be resolve itself. Is there a common progression for the melodic minor using the min(maj7) that works? i remember you saying in one of your articles that when you first encountered some of these chords, that you ears just hadn't been 'opened' yet. but i've listened to a lot of the jazz guys, to know what sounds properly resolved. so why is this one chord a problem?? Thanks for your time sir.

A: The i chord in MM takes some getting used to and is not as common as you would imagine. It doesn't need to be resolved and usually functions as a resolved i chord. It just has to be in context and voiced the right way. By context, I mean in the right genre. Jazz is the only real place it gets used as a resolved i chord. The other way it gets used is in a progression that goes:

min - min(maj7) - min7 - min6. You see the root keeps moving down in half steps:

Amin: XX7555, Amin(maj7): XX6555, Amin7: XX5555, Amin6: XX4555. Add in your open 5th string if you want to hear the A bass note underneath.

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As a resolved i chord, it usually shows up in a iio - V(alt) - i : Emin7b5: X7878X, A7#5: 5X566X, Dmin9(maj7): X5365X. See the way the #5 in the A7#5 stays on as the maj7 in the min9(maj7) chord? Good voice leading utilizing common tones helps. It is not the easiest chord to use.

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Chris this answer really hits home with me. i enjoyed reading this explanation. I do have a couple of questions just to make sure that i understand how to use these "awkward" chords from now on, especially with voice leading, resolving etc.

Question 1: Would an easy way to learn chord voicings be to memorize five shapes of each chord type? or learn the intervals of the scale 'solid' and build the chords that way? (easiest most efficient way?)

A: I would say, learn the chords inside the scales. You can usually achieve good voice leading by staying inside one scale for most of the chords. If the chords are unrelated, you can still get similar results by staying in the same position. I think it is important to learn your chords both ways, from shapes and by being able to understand the intervals and being able to manipulate them.

Question 2: Would it be correct to say that voice leading is a more elaborate way of phrasing, a non-diatonic approach, and as long as there is a common tone you can connect just about any neighboring chord?

A: I'm not sure if phrasing is the right word but I think you can make unrelated chords blend together by using voice leading, such as keeping common tones. There has to be a thread running through the progression. This thread could be common tones or some kind of motif. Slash chords are a good example. For example Amin7-Dbmaj. This would seem like a very difficult progression to make work as the chords are completely unrelated. But they have one common tone, a C note. And, they can both be though of as slash chords, a C/A and a Ab/Db. The two triads one after another, is a sort of motif.

Question 3: Your example: Amin - Amin(maj7) - Amin7 - Amin6: This is in my opinion kind of like a "pitch-axis" scenario. changing key, but keep the same tonal center. If you were to go back into a diatonic progression after this "series", how would you go about doing that...(give me another example, please).

A: The Amin - Amin(maj7) - Amin7 - Amin6 thing is not changing keys. It is a very common thing for any i chord that you would do if you have enough time to do it. Like two measures, or even a slow tempo number with the four chords played as quarter notes. This works for jazz, Latin and even rock to some extent

Question 4: I would like to hear a bit more on resolving. knowing which chord naturally leads to another, and why theory makes it that way. for example, i have a theory book that tells that the I chord can lead to any chord, the ii leads to IV and vi, the iii leads to V or viio, etc, just as examples. is there a reason behind this? tones going up major/minor thirds, or tonic note resolving up and down perfect 4ths and 5ths ? is there really a 'systematic' way of approaching this sort of thing, or is it based off entirely chord voice leading?? Thanks so much for your time.There is no other source i've found better than yours! Good solid answers.

A: It has a lot to do with intervals of 4ths and tritones. That is why a V chord likes to go to a I chord. The B and F tritone in the G7 want to resolve to C and E, the root and 3rd of the C chord. The root likes to move up a 4th to C, the root of the chord. 4ths are very strong, play a progression using the diatonic chords in C starting on the ii chord moving up in 4ths and you'll hear it: Dmin - G -C - F - Bdim - Emin - Amin.

Dorian in a Blues

2008-08-31T21:56:00.000-07:00

Q: Any tips on using the dorian mode over a 12 bar blues?

A: The dorian mode looks a lot like the major pentatonic and minor pentatonic scale superimposed over one another. In this respect, it seems like a logical choice to use over the blues progression but there are problems with this approach. I think it is a little too bulky for this application myself and leaves out the most important note, the major 3rd over the "I" chord. I think better use for the dorian mode would be over the "IV" chord. Let me explain: let's say we are playing an A Blues, I might use:

1) A minor pentatonic scale over the A7 chord (this might just as well be the major pentatonic or combintation of the two as well).

2) The A dorian mode over the D7 chord. The A minor pentatonic scale sits inside the A dorian scale nicely and allows a lot of interplay.

The A dorian mode over the D7 chord is really just a D mixolydian mode, but relating it to the Blues key center of A makes it seem a lot simpler to me. Especially as I am way more familiar with the dorian mode than the mixolydian mode. Matter of fact you can think dorian up a 5th for any dominant chord: A7=E dorian, D7=A dorian and E7=B dorian. It is really a matter of perspective though. I am not really a big fan of using modes too much over blues, it seems to complicate something that was meant to be simple. I do however use the dorian (based on the "I" chord key) over the "IV" chord quite a lot, it creates a few moments of interest and creates a jazzy sound. Now, a jazz blues is a different thing all together, using modes is fine. I would also be using the lydian dominant and altered modes in this situation.

Talent pt. 2

2008-08-17T04:06:00.000-07:00

This is more of a continuation of my previous post. It always strikes me as funny how I post or talk about something and within a day or two something related comes up in the classroom or in conversation. Anyway, there was an open house at the college here in Japan and one of the students was a high school junior. After the lesson I asked her if she planned on perusing a career in music. She told me she wanted to, but didn't think she had any talent. She then asked me:

Q: Do you think most people have talent?

A: Yes, I think they do. Of course everybody has different degrees of musical talent, just like everybody has different degrees of the natural ability to, let's say, throw darts or swim the backstroke. Regardless, just about anyone can, at least sort of do both these things and would get better at them with a little practice. Why? Because these skills are part of our genetic makeup, without them, it would have been difficult to survive as a race. We have needed these skills since the dawn of man, throwing things at enemies and perspective food and swimming away from saber tooth tigers. That is why you can teach an infant to swim (like on the Nirvana CD jacket). Even to a one year old, it is somewhat natural. We have been genetically engineered over the millenniums to do these things with some level of proficiency. So what does this have to do with music? I'll get to it, give me a minute.

Think about it (as I had this high school student do), Is there any place in the world that doesn't have some kind of music? Is music not somehow connected with most occasions, in all cultures? It sure is. How long have we been messing around with music? Let's see:

2008 - Music is everywhere.

How about 2000 years ago - Hmm.. Buddhism is getting its start as well as Christianity. It is pretty easy to imagine people making music. Matter of fact, Sumerian notated music was found dating back to 800 BC.

2000 years earlier than that, 2000 BC - The great Pyramids are standing. Yes, there was music. Archaeologists found stone carvings of a guitar looking instrument. There are signs of tonal music everywhere. Ancient documents show that music was alive and well in Persia and India around this time. There is evidence of harps and flutes dating as far back as 4,000 BC. And there is no doubt, people were beating on drums way before there was any kind of tonal music.

10,000 BC - Agriculture was taking place. Do you think people were making music? Considering they had figured out how to reap and sow crops, it is a good bet that they were making some kind of music. Likely singing and dancing at least to make it rain during droughts.

50,000 BC - Yup, music. How do I know? Because a Neanderthal flute was found in what is now known as Yugoslavia and it is between 50,000 and 80,000 years old. And get this: it plays (at least a partial) major scale!?! Go figure, Neanderthals, had the same tools and abilities to play Bach or the Beatles.

Homo-Sapians showed up over 300,000 years ago and there are remnants of wooden tools and weapons. How likely do you think that they were also making drums?

Anyway, the point I'm getting at is that humans have always made music. And I bet we were doing it before speaking and definitely doing it long before there was any written languages. And it has been being done all over the globe. Why? Why was it necessary for us to make music?

It is safe to conclude that making music was a skill deemed necessary by evolution. Music was not just a fun thing, it was vital for our survival as a race. If it wasn't an evolutionary requirement, it would have disappeared at one time or another and certainly would not be practiced virtually everywhere around the globe, throughout the millenniums. Thus, the ability is part of our very being, a trait we have passed on to our children. It is in our genes. But why, why would musical ability be such an important trait? There are many different theories (some explained in Daniel Levitin's great book "This is your Brain on Music").

One theory is that men have used musical ability to get a spouse. The way birds sing. Having musical ability would mean that time has been dedicated to musical pursuits. And having this time to spare would also mean that the man displaying these musical skills would also have the financial abilities to not be working all the time thus guaranteeing a safe a prosperous lifestyle for wife and children. Ancient man had been using music to get girls just like I was trying to do when I started guitar lessons at twelve years old.

Being able to dance would prove one agile, thus proving the dancer a good hunter as well. Ancient girls were saying to themselves; "Check out them dance moves, bet he can bring back some meat for dinner!"

Music would prove important to pass on ones peoples history. If you didn't have a written language, you could teach your kids history lessons and folklore in music. Just like my daughter learned the alphabet song.

Music could motivate people to get things done. The whole village out beating drums and chanting before a big hunt or tribal war.

Music could bring one closer to God or the Spirits. Most religions use music this way, from Gospel music to Buddhist rituals. How about the Rain Dance?

The bottom line is that we've been making music for as long as we've been around. Therefore it has been part of our evolution and thus are brains have been designed to be able to do it. We all have the ability to make music. Unfortunately, society has conditioned us to forget these musical skills somewhat. When we sing loud as children in a place deemed inappropriate for such behaviour, or parents and teachers chastise us. When we jump and dance, we are told to calm down. We slowly lose the ability to express ourselves through music and dance. We are all born with perfect pitch, it is a necessary skill to learn language. But we unlearn this skill as well unless we actively participate in music by four.

But the good news is that musical skill is all part of us as human beings. We just need to locate it. It is buried deeper in some of us than others, but it is an ability we all have. How could it not be there, we have been making music as a race for millenniums. So my answer to the question, do all people have talent? Yes, we were designed to make music.

What it Takes

2008-08-14T06:25:00.000-07:00

Q: You've been playing a long time and can really play. And you have taught, I don't know how many students. I want my kids to play music because I wasn't able to stick with it (they are eight and ten). What is important to be a good player? Is it all up to talent? How can I teach them guitar so that they will become great players (and how can I get better for that matter)?

A: Man, this is a hard question. Sometimes it is much easier to answer a "what scale over this chord" type question, but I'll give it my best.

Talent - Is it talent? Sometimes that has a lot to do with it, but not always. It seems different things, all combined. Talent is probably part of it. But most people who play have some kind of talent, I think that is what draws us to playing an instrument. I mean, if you think about it, most of us start because we heard someone play and it reached deeper inside us than most other people. Surely that is a sign that we must have some kind of talent. But I have taught some students with more talent than I have and unfortunately a lot of them don't amount to greatness. Talent almost seems like a kind of familiarity with music and the instrument, like they have done it before in a different life or something. It often strikes me as odd why some people can pick up a guitar for the first time and hold it like they have done it a thousand times before. I think my daughter has talent. Look at her photo up there, that's her at one years old and she holds it like a pro (pinky on the fretboard, no thumb stickin' out, nice right hand position, guitar angle, etc.). Now let's say that she has real talent, some sort of inborn insight to the guitar and music, does that mean that she will be a great guitarist or musician? Not at all (although, like you, I hope and pray she becomes a musician like her old man). Why not? Because she might not like it or it may not interest her. If talent is only part of the picture, what is the rest?

Love - I'll say love, but I could just as well say obsession or fascination. You have to love it and spend a lot of time playing. But not just playing, thinking about it. I know that half of what musicians become, is because of the time they spend with the guitar in their hands, in their mind. It is almost the same as really practicing, imagining the guitar in your hands, playing this and that. The older I become, the more I realize it. I have been playing long enough that there is very little difference between practicing and visualizing and I have come to the conclusion, that this time visualizing, is a major part of the equation. That is why love is the key. If you didn't love the guitar, how could you think about it all the time? I think that more than talent, I've always had an infatuation with the guitar, and that has been the key to my creativity, my musicality. I have always had such a love for the instrument, that I play, in my head almost all the time. Even now, I can't get enough of it, when I sit on the airplane, flying over the Pacific, I'm playing the Blues. When I'm driving my car down the 110 freeway, I'm practicing some ii-Vs. When I was a teenager, I would go on a date to the movies with my girlfriend, would hold her hand and imagine myself playing this scale or that chord (don't tell her). This fantasy time is the key. Let's just say that the talent we have, has to be nurtured by love and passion. In the book, "This is your Brain on Music," Daniel J. Levitin comes to the conclusion that to be good it takes about ten-thousand hours on your instrument (that equals about 3 hours a day for 10 years). But I will add that a lot of these hours can and have to be knocked off in your head. I'm not that sure that your brain knows the difference.

Joy - This is why, it is really important to teach your kids to feel joy when it comes to playing music. You can start your kids at three, but if you yell at them to practice, and make them feel it an obligation to do so, it is unlikely that they will learn to be creative, vibrant musicians. The reason is simple, if they don't love it, they will not fantasize about it when they don't have the instrument in their hands, and they certainly will not crave it to be in their hands. It must first be fun. I let my daughter play with the guitar (as opposed to play the guitar), so she will see it as something fun. I play for her and I play fun songs that she will enjoy. This way she will see the guitar as something that we can enjoy together. I want her to equate the guitar with good times. I set up all her stuffed animals as an audience and have her play a concert for them. I let her see me play in front of an audience so she can see that people love music, and love me when I play it well.

I play at her pre-school and she sings the loudest. Her friends say I'm cool!

The Empowered Musician

2008-07-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

Finally published! I've been working on this book for so long that I can't even imagine looking at it again. My first book, THE INFINITE GUITAR was easy compared to this one. Guitar hasn't really changed over the last twenty years but the music business, especially the independent market, is changing everyday. And since that's what this new book THE EMPOWERED MUSICIAN is about, I found myself in constant edit mode. Basically I describe what I have done over my twenty year career as a musician and educator. I also owe thanks to my friends who helped me get it done: Doug Ross, Phil Nobo, Joey Carbone and George Smyth.

Altered Dominant Chords

2008-06-26T00:15:00.000-07:00

Q: I have been going through your site and it is great. I like all of the information you have provided. One thing that still confuses me is what is an altered chord. I see this some time. G7 alt. What does that mean? How do I know what the extra note(s) that need to be added to make this an altered chord? Is there a way to tell what note(s) need to be added based on the key signature? I am confused.

A: Thanks! Glad you like the site and the lessons. You can find most of what you need in two lessons on my site: The Altered Scale and Dominant Chords but let me give you a simple explanation first:

Alt is an abreviation for altered which is refering to the altered scale (the 7th mode of melodic minor). Always keep in mind, every chord has a scale from which it is built. The G altered scale looks like this: G-Ab-Bb-B-C#-D#-F and the intervals: 1-b9-#9-3-b5-#5-b7 (pay close attention to the 5ths and 9ths).

I imagine that the standard 7 chord eventually gave away to a 7b9 chord which has more tension. It is a pretty safe bet that the 7b9 chord was harmonized from the 5th mode of the harmonic minor scale (sometimes refered to as the phrygian dominant scale). Using G (same as C harmonic minor) as an example: G-Ab-B-C-D-Eb-F or 1-b9-3-4-5-b6-b7. See how this scale makes a G7b9 chord?

Eventually musicians looking for even more tension would turn to the altered mode from the melodic minor scale to get some great sounding dominant chords (after all, besides the b9, it also contains a #9, b5 and #5). A G(alt) chord would be any G7 chord with any two (or more) of the altered intervals in it (b5,#5,b9,#9). How do you know which ones to stick on top? You could just pick the ones that you like. For example, I personally like the 7(#5,#9) chord. Sometimes the melody of the song will give you a hint as well. If the melody note in the song is a #9, it would probably be a good idea to play an altered chord with a #9 in it as well.

The altered chord is almost always a "V" chord going to the "I" chord, as in G7(#5,#9) - C maj7. But there are examples where this is not the case.

Rehearsing Your Band

2008-06-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

Q: I have recently joined a band. The band was mostly formed when I joined and I noticed that their practice schedule is pretty lax compared to what I am used to so I suggested that we start playing every song on our list 4 times in a row, back to back, before we move to the next song, keeping any talking down to a minimum. ie. unless its about the arrangement, play it again and keep playing. This is what we did in the bands that I had when I was in my 20's and we were one of the tightest bands around. My idea was not met with much enthusiasm which I can understand so I want to ask you. Do you think that I am asking to much? Would this be over kill? I am asking you because you are a professional musician. And I want to get a second opinion. Keep in mind that we are all 40 something with jobs and lives and can really only practice once or twice a week. (usually once) What is your opinion on this.

A: Well, its sort of hard to say but let's assume you guys all play well. I would actually suggest that you run through the song once then focus on the problem areas of the song. It would seem more efficient to find the section of the song that is not tight and go over just that section several times. The solo section is pretty typical, if you can't get the solo to work out, maybe you have the band go over that section a few times. Unison parts and endings are all good examples. After doing the song once, working on the not so tight sections, you could run through the song again. It seems like a waste of time running through the whole song if you guys already have most of it down so focus on the train wrecks.

If you guys are going to do shows, you may want to run through the set the way you are going to play it a few times a day or two before you do the show. Including the mc sections so you can time it and see how the songs work one after another (you don't really need to rehearse the mc section but try to imagine the break that might last a minute). The way the keys and tempos change really make a big difference in the way a set sounds. I usually try to avoid keys going down, ie: E going to D going to C, this kind of thing mixed with slowing tempos will put your audience to sleep. I also try to avoid similar styles back to back. You need momentum in the set, divided by a cool-down song like a ballad so you can restart the momentum.

I know this has nothing to do with rehearsing but you need to pay special attention to your MC. If you are playing in bars or clubs you have to get your audience to drink and tip the barmaids and a good rap is important for this. In the end these things is what will make your band popular with the club owner. It also goes without saying that if you guys record yourselves a CD, a good sales pitch is a must.

-CJ

Using Pentatonic Scales

2008-06-05T00:35:00.000-07:00

Q: I've obviously learned all the 5 minor pentatonic boxes over time, and am wondering if im using them in the best way. For example over Cmaj7-Am7-Dm7-G7 I use the A minor pentatonic box shapes. Is this a common thing to do? Sometimes it sounds a bit too 'off the mark' and unfocused dues to playing bluesy licks based in these positions over a major chord progression.Do you use this approach ever? It just seems learning all the 5 blues boxes has got to be more useful than JUST playing over blues don't you agree?

A: Regarding your Cmaj7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7 and pentatonic scale question:

There are many things to consider here. Genre and your level as an improviser. If you are starting out, I think the most important thing is to get you playing, so I might tell you; Yes, use the A minor/C major pentatonic scale over the whole thing. But assuming you have more experience, I would give you slightly different advice.

Anytime you use any given scale oven a progression, the most important notes in the scale are the notes that are also in each of the passing chords and therefore need to be focused on. Looking at the A minor/C major pentatonic scale: C-D-E-G-A.

Now look at the chords:
Cmaj7: C-E-G-B
Amin7: A-C-E-G
Dmin7: D-F-A-C
G7: G-B-D-F

The red notes are common notes with the scale and the ratio (chord tones/scale tones):
Cmaj7: C-E-G-B (3/5)
Amin7: A-C-E-G (4/5)
Dmin7: D-F-A-C (3/5)
G7: G-B-D-F (2/5)

You can see that regarding the first two chords, the C major pentatonic scale is dead on. Dmin7 is ok, but take notice, the strongest tone, the 3rd of the chord is not included. The scale is very weak against the G7 chord, only the root and 5th and no 3rd. This is probably why you say that sometimes the scale is "off the mark." There aren't enough common tones for the G7 chord for it to sound on. You could make it work by really aiming for the G and D notes on the V chord, like you would with the blues.

If you wanted to take a pentatonic scale approach, it would seem that it would be better to:

A) Use the C major/A minor pantatonic scale over the first three chords, and a G major pentatonic scale over the last.

B) Use the C major/A minor pentatonic scale over the first two chords, a D minor pentatonic scale over the Dmin7 chord and a G major pentatonic scale over the last.

As an example, take a listen to this video of me playing in Tokyo. The song is Jimi Hendrix' "Little Wing." I'm mostly playing an E minor pentatonic scale over the whole thing but play a D major pentatonic scale over the final D chord in the progression. The top of the chorus where I do this is at 6:30 and I use the D major pentatonic scale at: 7:00:

You have to take into consideration the extensions on the chords though. For example your ratio will change if you make the chords into min9 or min11 chords. In this case there would be better scale choices.

A Jazz player would be more inclined to take more of a chord tone approach or modal approach.

Links:

minb6 chords?

2008-05-06T07:02:00.000-07:00

Q: I'm thinking about 6th chords. I know that a 6th chord, whether it is minor or major (depending on the 3rd of the chord), ALWAYS has a major 6th interval. So, taking the min 6th chord, I can see from what you said in your lessons that it can only replace a ii chord since out of all the minor chords of the scale (ii, iii, vi), only the ii has a major 6th interval.

I also understand this about the ii chord because I understand that the dorian mode is a minor scale with a raised 6th (raising it to a major 6th interval). But what about the iii, and vi? Suppose I wanted to play some kind of 6th chord for each of them where the 6th interval is minor to keep the chords diatonic? So, for lack of better nomenclature, I'd be playing a minor b6 chord. But... there doesn't seem to be any such thing as a minor b6.

Are "minor b6" chords simply not played in favor of some kind of 13th substitution for the iii, vi chords? I guess I came across this confusion because I had attempted to write down and play the C major scale harmonized with each note's appropriate triad and its 6th interval. That would have been C6, Dmin6,..... Emin b6??? (no such thing), F6, etc.... It looks to me that a 6th chord harmonization is kind of out of the question. Is there an actual chord that includes only a minor triad and a minor 6th in western music theory?

A: Great question. Yes, there is a minb6 chord, sometimes it (mistakenly) gets written as a min#5 chord as well. Usually the chord contains a b7 as well, if so, technically we should call it a min7b13 chord. A good example of a tune would be that Steely Dan tune, (I don't remember the name or key of the tune but you'll get the idea:

C69 - Bmin7b13

C69: string/fret: 6/8, 4/7, 3/7, 2/8
Bmin7b13: 6/7, 4/7, 3/7, 2/8 basically all the notes except the note on the second string move down in half steps.

This pattern keeps getting moved around. It looks like a IV-iii thing to me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also you get it like this: Amin7-Amin7b13-Amin13. Just play your garden variety Amin7 chord on the 5th fret: 6/5, 4/5, 3/5, 2/5 and keep moving the note on the 2nd string up chromatically. You see this in the song "Israel" in the real book.
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The chord works fine in a diatonic progression. Here is a nice voicing (also at the top of this page):

Emin7b13: 5/7, 4/10, 3/7, 2/8, 1/7

Play this shape from the second fret over an open 6 string for an Emin9 to the one on the 7th fret for a Emin7b13 chord. It is a nice sound, you will be playing E aolian here. I use this kind of thing in "Little Wing" for example.

-CJ

Chromatic Tones or Something Else?

2008-04-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

Q: It seems that in every book I read, everything comes down to scales. But often in some solos I analyze, I see notes which are not in the key center. For example:

The solo is in the key of A Major (the sheet tells me so as there are three sharps, F#, C# and G#).
But I find many times the notes f natural and G natural in the solo. They are not in the key of A major. It sounds ok but I get very confused. What is going on?

A: To really understand what is going on, more important than the key signature, is the chord in relation to the scale being played. Just because a song is written in the key of A major, doesn't mean it stays there the whole time. In your example of A major, the F and G natural notes can be many things. An A major scale with the G natural is a A mixolydian scale. Is the chord A7 while the G natural shows up? An A major scale with both these notes flatted is a D melodic minor scale. Is the chord a chord that works with this scale, like a C#7, G7 or Bmin7b5 chord? There are many possible explanations.

If these notes fall between normal scale tones, they very well may be passing tones. Both these notes are common passing tones as they come between two scale tones. The G natural falls right between the 7th and 6th and the F natural, right between the 6th and 5th. Pretty standard fare for Jazz, especially if they are falling on the up beats.

-CJ

Arpeggios for Blues

2008-04-16T06:15:00.000-07:00

Q: In your book, and you've shown me this before, the "Eric Johnson" 1-5-3 interval arpeggios. I've been trying to put all seven of the diatonic arpeggios into use over a 12 bar blues in A. I know that each one of the arpeggios that I play contain the same notes of the minor pentatonic scale, but it still sounds funny. I'm starting on the root (A) then B etc. Should I do minor arpeggios instead? OR do these not work as well over blues stuff, OR am I just not doing it right and shitting my pants for no real reason? -John

A: First off, the pentatonic scale is a partial scale, from the major or minor scale. So you don't harmonize chords or arpeggios from it. So the question is what scale should you be making arpeggios from?

A7 is the "I" chord in an A blues, but if you think about it, it is a dominant chord and dominant chords can't really be "I" chords except in the sense that it is home for a blues, they are "V" chords. Now you tell me; what key is an A7 chord from? It certainly ain't A major so what is it. Think about it before continuing on........

Did you get it? A7 is the "V" chord of D major. So the scale you need to be harmonizing is D major. By the way, what is a D major scale played over a A7 chord? It is the A mixolydian mode right? So you need to be thinking in A mixolydian/D major.

What are the chords in D major from the "V" chord?

A (V)-Bmin (vi)-C#dim (viio)-D (I)-Emin (ii)-F#min (iii)-G (IV)

or A7-Bmin7-C#min7b5-Dmaj7-Emin7-F#min7-Gmaj7 if you prefer to think in 7th chords.

so these are your arpeggios for an A7 chord and all of them can be superimposed over the chord to various degrees of success. Obviously the A triad is fine and the C#dim arpeggio looks like the top half of the dominant chord as it is basically the 3-5-b7 of the chord. The Emin arp is the 5-7-9 of an A9 chord as well. Even an ascending line using all of them diatonically will work fine.

BUT.... You will have to do this with each chord in the Blues progression. The D major key arps will not work over the D7 chord or the E7 chord. You will have to harmonize from G major (D mixolydian) and A major (E mixolydian) for those. Mixing them will be a lot of work but in combination, it could be pretty impressive.

-CJ

Stage Fright

2008-04-12T04:33:00.000-07:00

Q: My playing has taken a new turn in that I played my first open mic, playing my own songs about a month ago. It has taken me many years to get up on that stage. The one thing I noticed is how different and difficult it is right now in comparison to playing in my living room. I feel little tight and nervous. I had one song where I muffed up a Basic Bar F chord and C sharp minor Yikes, I have been playing those for years. Any advice?

A: There isn't too much advice to give about stage fright but I'll tell you one thing, it eventually goes away. It is just a matter of experience playing in front of people. Even me, who has been caught on stage yawning in front of several thousand people, used to be so scared to play in front of an audience that my legs would shake on stage. It takes about four of five times and its over. In some ways, when you stop getting stage fright, part of the fun goes away. Its sort of like when you are a teenager and go on your first date and you are all nervous and hating it, but looking back, it was part of the fun. There are a few thing you can do to make sure things go without any train wreck though.

1. Practice standing up. You see the guitar different when you sit down compared to when you stand up. This can lead to mistakes. When you sit down, you may tend to look at the top of the fretboard but when standing you see more of the side of the neck.

2. Even when sitting down, keep a strap on. And when you stand up and play, make sure the strap is adjusted so that the height of the guitar is the same as when you are sitting. I see this with students all the time and it always screws them up. When you sit down the guitar sits on your leg, and that is about the height that you want when you stand up as well. If your strap is long and your guitar is hanging down to your knees like Jimmy Page, you are going to have a hell of a time playing it, especially if you are nervous. If you are concerned about your image, drop it a little at a time to get used to it.

3. As I said, it is a matter of experience, so play in front of your friends and family before you get up on stage.

4. Last on my list. I always have found that anything I can do in my living room is only worth 80 percent on stage. I've managed to get it closer over the years but I know that if I want to play 100 percent on a gig, I need to have it at about 120 percent at home.

Don't worry too much about it. Enjoy the jitters while they last and keep on keepin' on.

-CJ

Carpet Bombing vs Sniping

2007-12-16T01:06:00.000-08:00

Q: How come even though I am using the right scales, my solos sound wrong?

A: Ha! We're back to the old scales vs arpeggios argument again! First off, let me explain how guitarists tend to approach improvisation. Since scales are relatively easy to remember on our instruments, they are our usual weapon of choice. The nature of the guitar makes it so. I mean, we don't even have to remember scales by note names, we just do it by fingers and frets. For example, a G minor pentatonic scale is just our 1st finger on the 3rd fret of the 6th string followed by our pinky on the 6th fret, etc. Once we have it down we just move the same pattern up and down the fretboard to accommodate key changes. We think in geometric patterns more so than intervals and notes. This is not such a bad thing though, it gets us playing solos early but it can also be our downfall in the long run.

Other instruments don't have it so easy. They have to actually think in intervals or notes and don't have the advantage of having everything laid out where they can see the patterns. The fingerings change as the keys do as well, meaning there are no transferable patterns. That is why we guitarists like to approach everything by scales, they are easy for us to use. I call it carpet bombing.

You see, when we improvise we have a bunch of targets. These targets are the chords we have to play over in the progression. You can't ignore them and expect to play a meaningful solo. We carpet bomb, meaning we throw all the notes (like bombs in an airplane) out at once and hope that they hit the targets. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Let's say for example you are playing over an A minor progression like this: Amin-G-F-Dmin-C-G. Logic pretty much dictates that we need to use an A minor or an A minor pentatonic scale. Yes, it will work. The problem is hitting the targets. For example, a D note played on the first beat or held out for the bar over the A minor chord isn't going to sound very good. Simply because it isn't in the chord. It will work in passing but it isn't really something you want to lay on. On the other hand, it will sound great on the D minor or G chord. Why? Because it is in both. It is the root of the D minor and the 5th of the G major chord. Yup, rock solid.

Now, other instruments tend to think in chord tones rather than scales. In the same progression, a saxophonist would tend to think in chord tones: Amin = A-C-E, G = G-B-D and F = F-A-C. There is no risk of hitting a lame (or weak) note. This is the sniping method of improvisation. The disadvantage of this method is it seems a little harder to express ourselves using only arpeggios.

One way to use a combination of carpet bombing and sniping is to practice playing scales from the 1-3-5 of each passing chord. In other words, play the A minor scale from A over the A minor chord, from G over the G chord, from F on the F chord. Next try playing from the 3rd of the chords: from C over the A minor chord, from B over the G chord. Last but not least practice playing from the 5ths: from E over the A minor chord, from D over the G chord, etc. You could also try playing up and arpeggio and down the scale or up a scale and down an arpeggio.

Getting my students interested

2007-10-06T01:11:00.000-07:00

I teach guitar to mostly beginners. Mostly young 14, 15 and 16 year old boys who want to be thrash metal players. (gotta love those kids, they fall sooo deeply in love with guitar). I start them on Pentatonic scales and blues chord patterns and of course all the right hand speed exercises. They seem to love this and are willing to practice for hours. But when I start to tell them about major scales and modes and music theory in general they rebel, especially if I mention Jazz (you should see their eyes glaze over). I think it's very important for them to learn this stuff, after all once they know it they will use it.

Q: Do you have any tips for getting these young guys excited about the modes? Anyway, thanks in advance for any help you can give. Love the lessons on your web site, keep em coming. -Mike

A: It is a challenge to get younger inexperienced players into playing the major scale and the modes but as you said, it is important. One reason is simply because using only the pentatonic scales will not lead to any great technical skills. Two notes per string scale patterns fall short when trying to build chops (not that the pentatonic scales are not important). The other reason is of course that the modes open up a lot more choices.

I would perhaps start them on the minor scale. Don't forget, it is still a mode, the aolian mode and you will be tricking them into learning the major scale at the same time. After all, it is great for rock. Have them start working on a few patterns and have them play over some typical rock progressions such as an E minor scale over a Emin-C-G-D progression. Show them how they can add in their pentatonic scales as well. Have them check out guys like Mike Schenker who do this kind of thing all the time. After they get good at that, show them that the minor scale is really the major scale and move into the modes. Have them take a listen to Mike Schenker's solo on "Rock Bottom" from the UFO "Strangers in the Night" CD. It is the perfect example of the dorian mode used for rock. "I don't Need no Doctor" by HUmble Pie is another great example of the dorian mode.

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai both use Lydian everywhere. The trick is to show them the concepts from a rock standpoint. Take the modes one at a time rather than a big theoretic overview. Just say things like; "Play the C major scale over a Dmin-G7 progression" and have them take a listen to Carlos Santana.

After they show some interest tell them why you can do it. It is also quite east to go from minor to harmonic minor using a similar progression as before: Emin-C-G-D-B and have them play an E harmonic minor scale over the last chord. Instant Malmsteen or Uli Roth!

Phrygian Harmony

2007-09-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

Q: What would you consider to be the "dominant" and the "subdominant" chords in the Phrygian mode? Is there a "leading tone" chord i.e. in Major, we have diminished chords; what is there in Phrygian?

A: Regarding the modes, I don't imagine it useful think in diatonic systems so to speak. This works great for the major and minor scales but not so well for the modes. Regarding the harmonized major scale, a I-IV-V or Tonic-Subdominant-Dominant progression (C-F-G or Cmaj7-Fmaj7-G7), harmonically has a lot of strength, it ends with a perfect cadence, meaning a major or dominant chord resolving to a major tonic chord. But if we were to use the same system (using C phrygian for example), making the iii chord (of Eb major), the tonic or i chord, we would get a Cmin-Fmin-Gdim progression (i-iv-vo), which is rather lame. Yikes! A diminished vo chord!

You sort of have to change your way of thinking when dealing with modes. Modes don't work well harmonized for long progressions. Usually one chord for a measure or a few measures leading to something completely unrelated is the norm. It is more important to think more about the quality of the chord and pay close attention to what the chord is with its "modal" extensions added on. In other words, a measure of a Csus(b9) chord is a way more effective use of modal harmony than a long chord progression of chords diatonic to C phrygian (Eb major). Sometimes shorter progressions work fine. As an example, a Cmin-Db or Cmin7-Dbmaj7 chord progression works fine for phrygian.

I suppose that a Cmin-Dbmaj-Bbmin progression would work. But in all reality the more chords you were to add in, the weaker the phrygian tonality would become. If you really wanted a phrygian type sound, it would seem best to use a sus(b9) chord. Let's say you have a C progression you are working in and you wanted to work in a phrygian sound, it would seem better for you to replace the I chord with a Csus(b9) chord to create a real phrygian texture. You may even extend it for a bar of two or create a vamp before falling back to your C major progression.

Regardless, you should experiment. If you wanted to harmonize the C phrygian scale, this is what you would get:

Cmin-Db-Eb-Fmin-Gdim-Ab-Bbmin

If you were to consider these chords as borrowed from phrygian and imported them to C major you would get this: i-bII-bIII-iv-Vo-bvi-bvii

You do sort of see this thing from time to time. You often get the bII and bIII in major keys and of course the minor iv chord (although the latter two usually considered borrowed from C minor).

Experiment and see what your ear likes.

-Chris

Links:

The Phrygian Mode

Modal Practice Routine

Scales or Arpeggios?

2007-09-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Chris,
I argue with my friend everyday about the same thing.

Q: He says that when soloing you only need to play arpeggios over the changes, I say that that way of thinking is old and nowadays musicians use scales. What is the proper approach, scales or arpeggios?

A: Ha! Musicians always argue about this. But the truth is that there is not really a right and wrong, but there are distinct advantages and disadvantages to both approaches.

Arpeggios: the advantage here is that you don't have to worry very much about playing wrong notes, if the chord changes are Dmin7-G7-Cmaj7, you can play the arpeggios of the chords and you are pretty much safe. You can also superimpose other various arpeggios to create more interest, a standard one would be a B diminished triad over the G7 chord. Bdim = B-D-F-Ab, played over a G7 chord would supply the extensions 3-5-b7-b9 creating a G7b9 sound. This kind of approach was very common for for Jazz, all the way up until modal music became popular. It would have been treacherous to attempt plaing scales over fast changes, you would run the risk of missing chord tones and the changing keys every measure or so wouldn't leave you any time to consider the proper fingerings. It would seem a lot easier to simply connect the dots using arpeggios. And that is pretty much what took place all the way through Bebop with the chord changes flying by at breakneck speed. I suppose the disadvantages to this approach would be the difficulty in expressing ones self, after all, a G7 arpeggio played by you or me, is pretty much the same thing.

Scales: Jazz tempos became faster and faster until they just couldn't get any faster and that is when things began to change. Modal music was born. I suppose Miles Davis and some of his contemporaries decided that all this connecting the dots with arpeggios at lightning speed had gotten old and were frustrated with the lack of ability to express themselves musically. So they started to write music with bars and bars of the same chord. For example, the song "So What" from Miles' "Kind of Blue" CD was simply 16 bars of Dmin7 followed by 8 of Ebmin7 followed by another 8 of Dmin7. To Jazz musicians in those days, it must have been quite a challenge to play over such long sections of the same chord. I mean, up to this time they played arpeggios, they couldn't simply play a Dmin7 arpeggio for 16 bars. So musicians started experimenting with the modal scales and the chords harmonized from them. Scales gave musicians more options in improvisation. Because of this, harmony became more complex as well, min7 gave way to bigger minor chords such as min9, min11, min69, min11, etc. This this would lead to more interest in other modes, not only from the major scale but from the melodic minor scale as well. Eventually, like Bebop before, the chord changes started moving by faster as well, but this time the chords were more modal and the improvisers more modal in their choices.

Conclusion: Each player leans a little more one way than the other. While Joe Pass played mostly arpeggios, John Scofield chooses scales (although both of these fine players cross over as well), they both sound great. In all reality, both approaches are important and both should be utilized to their full extent. Think about the Blues, if you were to play a minor or major pentatonic for your whole solo, it would sound pretty lame. It would get boring after a little while. You have to outline the changes in your solo, and this can prove quite an undertaking using only scales. Outlining the changes with arpeggios paves the way to a better solo. And of course blowing through a scale from time to time adds some excitement to your solos as well. Become an expert at both.

Links:
Arpeggios
Modes
Modes of the Melodic Minor Scale

-CJ

Major Scale Patterns

2007-09-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

Dear Chris,

Thanks a million for your informative site which over the past few months has built my knowledge of theory substantially. However, there is till one thing I don't understand with the 5 positions of the major scale.

Q: I have worked out that one is the 'stock standard' major scale or first position (pattern 4, I think?) and that some of the other shapes turned out to Phrygian, natural minor and Dorian, but its still not clicking with me as to where each position is used. I am aware that ie the dorian for the key of c major is just d to d over a dmin, phrygian e to e over e min etc, but there are a couple positions of the major scale (patterns 3 and 5) that im not sure where to use. I hope this question makes sense.....thanks in advance for your time,

warm regards,

Marty

A: We as guitarists tend to think in fingerboard patterns rather than notes which sometimes can be problematic. Remember, a major scale is a major scale no matter what the fingerboard pattern looks like. Anywhere you can use one of them, you can use the other four as well (and should).

As an example, let's say you have to play over a Dmin7-G7 chord progression. Obviously, the scale needed here is the D dorian mode, which is simply a C major scale. Any five fingerboard patterns of the C major scale will do here. I imagine you are looking at pattern 4 of the C major scale and thinking to yourself that there is a D on top so this scale is the dorian mode because you can start on it. But the truth is it doesn't matter what note you start on as long as the chord over which you are playing is a Dmin7 chord. I mean think about it, when improvising, would you always start on the root? The root would actually be a somewhat boring note to start on so as long as it is the proper major scale, start on any note that suits your ears.

More information on modes:

The Dorian Mode

Developing a Modal Practice Routine

The Circle of 5ths

2007-07-27T00:33:00.000-07:00

Q: Hi Chris,

What is Circle Of Fifths? please tell me about Circle Of Fifths and why it is so important.

Thank you,
Varad

A: The circle of fifths is simply a geometric diagram that makes it easy to see the relationship between all the keys in music. If you look at the diagram, you will find the key of C up on top. The key of C is at the top because it has no sharps or flats. The next one to the right is the key of G and it has one sharp (an F sharp by the way). G is a perfect 5th from C, count the notes and you will see: C-D-E-F-G. A perfect 5th from G is D, and the key of D has two sharps so D is the next key after G.

If you go the other way from C (counter clockwise), the diagram becomes the circle of 4ths. C to F is a perfect 4th: C-D-E-F and by moving in this direction, each key will gain a flat.

If you tape the chart on your wall and look at it before you go to sleep, it will start to make sense to you. It simply makes it easy to remember the keys and their corresponding sharps and flats.

I'm going to get into the diatonic system in a second so if you think you aren't going to get it, go here and learn about the major scale and the diatonic system.

Sometimes the circle gets used to make progressions. A good example would be ii-V-Is taken around the circle. So the first one would be a ii-V-I in C: Dmin7-G7-Cmaj7. the next ii-V-I would be taken from the next key down, the key of G: Amin7-D7-Gmaj7, etc.. You could also take the same ii-V-Is the other way aroung the circle of 4ths. Ex: Dmin7-G7-Cmaj7, Gmin7-C7-Fmaj7, Cmin7-F7-Bbmaj7, etc..

Tone

2007-07-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

Q: Chris, I stumbled onto your site looking up 8 bar blues progression. Thanks for the info. I do have a question for you about tone. How do you balance the lush 9th chords with the distortion in the leads. I either have a killer clean sound for 9 chords and the lead that sounds too clean or a muddy sounding 9 chords and perfect lead. Can You help? Thanks, Rick

A: There are a few different things you can do. One thing is use one of those two or three channel amps and just switch between them. I personally don't do this unless I'm playing in some sort of fusion or pop situation where I have to have chrystal clear chords and super saturated solos.

But for my own general brand of music, which if you heard, is mostly Blues and Rock, I use one amp channel and that is it. What you may of heard on the mp3s on my site is pretty much a Marshall amp or something pretty similar. First I dial up my basic tone from which I will subtract to for rhythm and add to for solos. I don't think about the signal chain, meaning effects until I get the amp tone happening first.

You want middle of the line overdrive here, so with a Marshall, I put the gain on about 4 or 5(depending on the model, room and guitar I am using). And maybe the volume on about 4 or 5 again depending on the venue or studio. Bass up around 8, mid up around 7 or 8, treble at about 4 or 5 and presence on maybe 1 or off if I'm using a Tele. I should be able to roll off a little volume on my guitar and get a pretty clean sound, thus the somewhat clean tone for chords. I could roll back the volume to about 5 on the guitar and get a almost completely clean tone. If I roll back the tone as well on the guitar a bit, and use my neck pickup, I can almost get a hollowbody type sound.

For my solos, I use a tube screamer, or something similar. What you heard on the recordings was probably a HAO Sole Pressure. But I like tube screamers as well. Lately I have been using a Xotic BB preamp which is an overdrive/booster type of thing. How you set your boost, is with the distortion at about 1 or 2 and the volume at 10. This way when you step on it, it boosts your volume and sustain a little but doesn't really change your tone too much. I am using the Xotic box now and quite honestly, it is the best thing on the market today.

The main point is the sound you get from your guitar and amp first and then giving it a little boost from the box. Some of the tones I get are a little different from tune to tune so take a listen to the mp3s for free here, and if you have any questions about the individual sounds, e-mail me and ask and I'll be happy to tell you how I did it. You will be happy to know that it is not rocket science and you won't need a million dollars to get the same tone. Check out tunes like "Big Bad Sun," I like the tone I got there. Link: "Big Bad Sun"

Modes of Harmonic Minor

2007-07-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

Q: Could you please shed some light on the modes of the harmonic minor scale. I notice that you do not elaborate on this material in your book - The Infinite Guitar, yet several of these, most notably the phrygian dominant and double harmonic, are popular among the more adventurous in order to expand their colour horizons.

A: I'm not an expert on using the modes of the harmonic minor scale. I dabbled in it a bit when I was a kid and when I found the melodic minor scale and its modes, I lost interest in its cousin the harmonic minor scale. Its modes are not very common, so there seems to be no standard name given to all the modes. Regardless, that shouldn't stop us from taking a closer look at each of them.

Let's write out each mode using the A harmonic minor scale as our base:

A-B-C-D-E-F-G# - This is the harmonic minor scale from its root. If we harmonize a chord, we will get a Amin(maj7) chord. The scale played over an Amin triad or min(maj7) chord sounds sort of Spanish or Middle Eastern like a snake charmer or something. I've done session work where the producer specifically asks for a Spanish or Middle Eastern cliche sound and have used this scale in those situations.

B-C-D-E-F-G#-A - The harmonized chord is a min7b5 chord. The scale looks like a locrian scale with a major 6th. Possible name: locrian #6. This mode is often played over the minor iio-V (Bmin7b5-E7b9).

C-D-E-F-G#-A-B - The harmonized chord is a maj7#5 chord. The scale looks like a major scale with a augmented 5th. Maybe a lydian augmented scale would be a better choice as the lydian augmented scale contains a #11 rather than the natural 11th found in this scale. Possible name: augmented major.

D-E-F-G#-A-B-C - The harmonized chord is a Dmin7 chord. The scale looks like a dorian scale with a augmented 4th. Possible name: dorian #4

E-F-G#-A-B-C-D - The harmonized chord is a E7 chord, harmonized to a 9th chord it becomes a E7b9 chord. This mode is probably the most common of the harmonic minor modes. Sometimes called: phrygian dominant. This mode is pretty common for rock over the major or dominant V chord.

F-G#-A-B-C-D-E - The harmonized chord is a Fmaj7 chord. It looks like a lydian scale with a #9th! Wow! I've heard this scale referred to as a split major third scale.

G#-A-B-C-D-E-F - The harmonized chord is a G#dim7 chord. Possible name: diminished b2.

Just because I'm not well versed in these modes doesn't mean that they are not of use. You may find that they work great for you. Tell me how they work out.

Got a question? I'll answer it if it's a good one!

Soloing over Slash Chords

2007-06-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

Q: Love your lesson on slash chords. By the way do you have a lesson on how to solo on these chords?

A: Thanks! No lesson on soloing over them but I'll tell you what I know.

Soloing over slash chords can be challenging because you really have to read between the lines when dealing with them. Most of them simply imply a bigger chord. Don't confuse these with triads in inversion though, these inverted triads are easy to deal with. Ex: C/E or C/G. Both are C chords, the first with the 3rd in the bass and the latter, with the 5th. No big deal here.

The difficult ones are the ones that are creating complex harmony. That is the beauty of these slash chords, they are simple and complex at the same time. Simple in the fact that they are just triads over bass notes, and every guitarist with a week of experience knows triads. Complex because they can be used to make chords that you would have a hard time figuring out to play on your own, like a like a Cmaj13#11 chord for instance could be played as a D/C chord. But the one thing that makes them easy to understand and analyze is the fact that they are usually in root position, meaning the bass note is the root. So a G/C slash chord is some kind of C chord.

Now on to figuring out what to play over them. This is what I'll do, I'll take a triad and move it up chromatically over the static bass note (C) and talk about what you should possibly play over it.

C/C - Simply a C triad and not really a slash chord.
---------------------------------------------------------
Db/C - This one is tricky. Let's see, C-Db-F-Ab = 1-b2-4-b6. Looks phrygian to me. Like a b9sus chord (which is the phrygian chord) but with a b6 which can also be found in the phrygian scale. Just think phrygian here. Then again, it could also be a maj7 chord in 3rd inversion as in Dbmaj7 with the 7th in the bass. Either way, the same major scale: C phrygian = Db lydian = Ab major.

Concept: triad min2 above the root = b9sus = phrygian, or a maj7 3rd inversion.
---------------------------------------------------------
D/C - C-D-F#-A = 1-2-#4-6 = lydian assuming the bass note is the root. No 3rd or 7th here so a lot of reading between the lines. Looks like a Cmaj13#11 chord but since there is no 7th, could also be C13#11. It could also be an inverted D7 chord with the 7th in the bass. Both the D7 in 3rd inversion and the Cmaj13#11 can be approached the same way however because D mixolydian and C lydian are both a G major scale. My experience tells me that chord is generally not the dominant chord with the #11 but it is still a possibilty. You sometimes see this in a C-D/C progression which is so lydian it makes me want to barf.

Concept: triad maj2 above the root = maj13#11 or dominant 7th in 3rd inversion (same scale, lydian or mixolydian from the same major key) but there is a slim chance could be a 13#11 (lydian dominant) chord as well.
---------------------------------------------------------
Eb/C - C-Eb-G-Bb = 1-b3-5-b7 = min7 as in Cmin7. Easy enough. There is another exeption where this could possibly be a trick from the h/w diminished scale making it a C7#9 chord. I'll get to this later...

Concept: triad min3 above the root = min7 (dorian, aolian, etc.. but could be a 7#9 chord if part of a h/w diminished harmony.
---------------------------------------------------------
E/C - C-E-G#-B = 1-3-#5-7 = maj7#5 as in Cmaj7#5. Lydian Augmented.

Concept: triad maj3 above the root = maj#5 = lydian augmented.
---------------------------------------------------------
F/C - C-F-A-C = 5-1-3-5 = ain't nothin' fancy here, just a triad in 2nd inversion, in this case a F triad with the 5th in the bass.

Concept: zippo
---------------------------------------------------------
F#/C - C-F#-A#-C# - 1-#4-b7-b2 = a h/w diminished thing going on here. Looks like a 7(b9,#11) chord. More on this later...

Concept: triad a tritone from the root = 7(b7,#11) = h/w diminished.
---------------------------------------------------------
G/C - C-G-B-D = 1-5-7-9 = No 3rd but safe to assume it is a maj9 chord.

Concept: triad a 5th above the root = maj9 = lydian or ionian.
---------------------------------------------------------
Ab/C - C-Ab-C-Eb = 3-1-3-5 = triad in 1st inversion, a plain old Ab chord with a C in the bass.

Concept: nada
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A/C - C-A-C#-E - 1-6-b2-3 = h/w diminished here as well, a C13b9 chord.

Concept: triad a 6th above the root = 13b9 = h/w diminished.
---------------------------------------------------------
Bb/C - C-Bb-D-F - 1-b7-9-4 = usually a 9sus chord mixolydian in nature But... sometimes this chord can be a min11 chord. You have to check the context clues to know but sometimes it pops up after a min7 chord of the same name like this: Cmin7-Bb/C.

Concept: triad a 2nd down from the root = 9sus = mixolydian. But may be min11 as well and probably aolian or dorian.
---------------------------------------------------------
B/C - C-B-D#-F# - 1-7-b3-b5 = strange chord but you get it as a i chord sometimes in minor keys. Looks like a min/maj7(b5).

Concept: triad a min2 down from the root = min/maj7(b5) = diminished scale.
---------------------------------------------------------
Slash chords and the h/w diminished scale: Sometimes you get four triads played over the root a min3rd apart as a h/w diminished harmonic magic trick: C-Eb/C-F#/C-A/C. See the above examples to make sense of what I just said.

Remember, you can always just play the triad arpeggio and a lot of times a major pentatonic scale that matches the triad in the slash chord.

Links:

The Lydian Dominant Mode and b5 Subs

2007-06-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

Q: I played through this progression today:

Dmin7-Amin7-G7-Cmaj7

I tried using lydian dominant over the G7 chord and it sounded ok, but not that great. I know its meant to be used over a non-resolving dominant but why??

A: Although I suppose you could use the lydian dominant scale over the V chord, it may not be your best choice. If the V chord in your progression is not altered in any way, it may just be best to stick with the major scale throughout the whole thing (C major for your example progression). The lydian dominant mode of the melodic minor scale is best used over the b5 sub (or tritone substitution if you prefer). Using your original progression as our model, try a Dmin7-Amin7-Db7-Cmaj7 progression using a C major scale over the first two chords and a Db lydian dominant scale (Ab melodic minor) over the Db7. The Db7 chord is the b5 sub, it is a dominant chord placed a tritone away from the V chord.

To give you a simple explanation of why you would want to do this in the first place, substitute another unaltered dominant chord a tritone (b5th) above your V chord: it is to simply create an altered tonality. A Db7 chord placed above a G bass note looks suspiciously like a G altered chord. Look for yourself: Db7/G = G-Db-F-Ab-Cb. Analyze the intervals: G is the root, Db is the b5th, F is the b7th, Ab is the b9th and Cb (B) is the 3rd. You see, the Db7/G chord is really a G7(b5,b9) chord.

Now for a magic trick... What would you play over a G7(b5,b9) chord? That's right, a G altered scale. What melodic minor scale is a G altered mode? It is a Ab melodic minor scale. Remember our b5 sub, a Db7 chord? I told you you would want to play a Db lydian dominant mode over it. What melodic minor scale is the same as a Db lydian dominant mode? Hmm... an Ab melodic minor scale. Do you see the whole picture here? Both the altered V chord and the b5 sub chord are really the same things.

The lydian dominant scale is also commonly used over vamps as well. If you want to learn more about the lydian dominant mode go to these links:

Avoid Notes

2007-05-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

Q: My question is about avoid notes. There seems to be something about keeping an F over an Cmaj7 chord and for what I've read about it so far it has to do with the F clashing with the (major) E: E being one of the basic chord notes (3rd) and the F only being a half step apart. Can this be applied to other stuff: playing the C major scale notes over an E-7 will give me the phrygian feeling, but isn't then the flattened 2nd an avoid note too, although the flatened 2nd is characteristic of the phrygian mode?

A: I'm not a big subscriber to the "avoid note" concept. I think some of it may hold true for chords but as far as scales go, it depends completely on the chord you are playing over and the way it is voiced.

Granted there are some notes that have be handled with a little more care, but the musical caste system is a little too much. Let's take your example of the C major scale over an Emin7 chord. What makes this mode phrygian? It is the b2 (or b9) of the scale. If you were to avoid it completely, you wouldn't be playing phrygian anymore, you would be playing some kind of neutered scale. The b2 is possibly the most important note. Granted, it will want to resolve down to the root, so play it and let it resolve. Your ear might not be pleased with the effect of sitting on the note for a long time, so don't sit on it if your ear protests. The important thing to remember here is where the root is placed in the chord voicing makes a big difference. If the root is placed near the bottom of the chord voicing your ear will protest less about you playing the b2 in a higher register. Usually whatever note is on top of the chord is the strongest note. Also, remember that if you played the definitive phrygian chord, a sus(b9) the supposed avoid note, the b2 is going to become the un-avoid note.

Teachers love to divide thing up into good and bad but music doesn't really work that way. They will tell you that the 4th in the mixolydian scale should be avoided but if the chord you are playing over was a 9sus chord, it would be a great note to play. Okay, the 6th! That note has to be weak and avoided at all costs! Yeah, what if the chord were to be a 13th chord? For that matter, what if the chord was a 13sus chord? The 4th and 6th would be the notes to be shooting for in your solo.

Your ears will tell what is strong and weak anyway, believe in your ears and listen when you play and you should be okay. If there really were "avoid notes," musicians would have eliminated them from scales a long time ago.

Anyway, the point I am making is that any note in the chord is a strong note and any note not included is going to be weaker and possibly rub against the notes in the chord. In the latter case, they need not be avoided but treated with more care.

Links:
Developing a modal practice routine pt.1
Developing a modal practice routine pt.2
Got a question? I'll answer it if it's a good one!

-CJ

Tonal Centers

2007-05-23T00:04:00.000-07:00

Q: If I were to play, for example over a ii-V in the key of C (Dmin7-G7), is it correct to assume myself playing a D dorian scale over the Dmin7 chord and a G mixolydian scale over the G7 chord. Even though I would still be playing the C major scale, should I think of the scale as a different mode over each diatonic chord? I mean, over the G7 chord am I all of a sudden getting the mixolydian modal sound as opposed to the dorian sound over the chord before? Or should I simply be thinking that the whole thing is dorian?

A: I wouldn't think that much into it. Although, maybe technically you are playing a new mode over each chord, it is a little too much to consider. Think more in tonal centers. What is the sound of the C major scale played over a Dmin7-G7 progression? It is dorian. Whether you play a ii-V or a ii-iii-IV-V progression, the tonal center is revolving around the ii chord, the dorian chord. The only thing that would change this is if you had a functioning V chord resolve to a I chord, this cadence would automatically turn the center of the tonal universe to the I chord. But if the V chord doesn't resolve in a ii-V or something similar, the focus would be on the ii chord. I mean, if you were playing the C major scale over a I-vi-IV-V progression, would all of a sudden everything go minor sounding on the vi chord? Over the IV chord, would everything turn lydian? Even though you might be able to say that you were temporarily playing the aolian mode for a bar, it wouldn't sound so. Nor would the one bar of the IV chord sound lydian. The reason is simply because the major tonality of the major key has been determined, you have started on the I chord and that is what the ear will consider home. The only time it might be safe to think modally over each chord in a diatonic progression is if for example each chord was eight or more bars. I imagine the listener’s ear would start to hear each chord as a different tonal center. Regardless, you would still be playing the same scale over the whole thing no matter what you named the scale when the diatonic chord changes.

Needless to say, that does not mean that you should take all chords that come after the first chord lightly, even though you might play the same scale over all the chords, you would want to pay special attention to each chord and maybe outline or shoot for chord tones especially on the strong beats where the chord changes. Your ears are your most important tools when improvising, I wouldn't worry too much about pasting names on the scale everytime the chords change, especially if the chords are diatonic to one key.

Links for modes:

Developing a modal practice routine pt.1
Developing a modal practice routine pt.2
Got a question? I'll answer it if it's a good one!

-CJ

Why The Major Scale?

2007-05-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

Q: Why the major scale? Why is music based on it and who decided that the major scale is what we will create music from? Couldn't it just as well have been something else?

A: No, it couldn't have. I've always sort of assumed that the major scale was a result of physics but never thought much about it. I did a little research and found out something really interesting. Now, remember here I am not a musicologist, music historian, physicist or archeologist so I'm just giving you my opinion based on some facts, you can decide for yourself if I'm full of it or not.

Anyway, it turns out that several years ago Dr. Ivan Turk, a paleontologist, found a bone fragment that looks like a flute. It is between 42,000 and 82,000 years old and was found at a Neanderthal campsite in Europe. I found the essay on the web and believe me it is a hard read. The scale apparently plays part of the major scale which bugs a lot of academics because it possibly means that major scale may be the processor of the pentatonic scale and not the other way around. Some of these so called academics claim that a bear or wolf may have chewed on the bone and it was pure luck that it turned into a flute that plays the major scale (yeah right, and pigs are going to fly out of my butt!).

So what this says to me is that Neanderthal musicians were messing around with the major scale before we were (which bugs a different set of academics). Do you think it is it a coincidence that they found the major scale and we also did? That a completely different race at a completely different time based their music off of the same scale that we do? No, it leads one to the conclusion that the major scale is something created by some natural force and is most likely inescapable for the most part. Why would this be? I researched this too and it turns out that academics also fight about this as well (they give me a good crack up).

Anyway, the theory is that generally the interval of choice for the common ear is a fourth and fifth from the root. In other words if you were a normal person and sang or played a C note, you would be likely to sing the C note followed by a F note (the fourth) and/or a G note (a fifth) It is true, take it from me, music and especially bass movement favors 4ths and 5ths. If you play any of these notes against a C note, you get a fairly pleasing effect, very little dissonance. On the other hand any other intervals played against a the root creates a less pleasing effect. Therefore is seams pretty likely that these would be the intervals of choice even 80,000 years ago. Hold on to this thought while I explain something else.

Overtone Series - You also have this thing called the overtone series. When you play a note, you are really playing a few notes. If you listen real carefully you can hear it. I tried it the other day in the classroom to demonstrate the principle to my students. I played a C note real loud on my guitar and let it feed back. After a few seconds you can start to hear some other notes come out. What comes our besides our C note is a G note and to a lesser degree an E note. That is the overtone series. C = C, G and E. There are some other notes that come out too but don't concern yourself with them because they aren't really audible. Once again, besides your root, you get a 5th and a 3rd in that order.

Overtone Series and the major scale - Now let's go back to my last section, I said that C is generally followed by a F or G note. If we look at the harmonic overtones created by these three combined notes, we get this:

C = C, G, E
F = F, C, A
G = G, D, B

Now combine all these notes in order from low to high: C, D, E, F, G, A, B. Wow, it's the major scale! Pretty cool! That is the theory anyway, and academics fight about this too. I'm probably going to get some slack too for writing this as well. I always get hate mail from academics who hate my simplicity. When I wrote about the "Baroque Police" and "Mr. Rodgers Diatonic Neighborhood" I got a bunch of hate mail.

But that is why the major scale is the basis for what we do, physics has made it inescapable. I would even suggest that if there is life on other planets there is a pretty good chance that they too are making music somewhat based on the major scale. Let's petition NASA to test the overtone series on Mars next time they send a probe. I mean, they bring worms on the space shuttle, why not musical instruments? Hell, I'll bring my guitar along! (Now I'm going to get hate mail from astronauts as well for making light of what they do with worms in space).

Links:
Full Free online lesson: "Developing a Practice Routine"
chrisjuergensen.com lesson list

The Infinite Guitar

2007-05-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

The Infinite Guitar - I started adding a new lesson every month to my site. I guess it was just my way of spreading my knowledge of the electric guitar around. After all, I've had the opportunity and good fortune to study and work with some of the best musicians in the world and there are plenty of young aspiring guitarists who haven't had the same chances, either because of financial reasons or other hardships. Let's face it, it takes a lot of money to relocate to Los Angeles or New York to study music if you where born in a far away place. My site is my way of helping out, I added a new lesson every month for free. The response was overwhelming, thousands of guitarists subscribed to my newsletter and before long I was getting a thousand hits a day to my "lessons" page. What ended up happening is that a Japanese publisher asked me to rewrite the lessons for a book that they wanted to publish in Japan in Japanese. I didn't imagine I would get rich or anything but what the hell, sounded like a chance to learn something about the "book" business. I rewrote most of the lessons and added a bunch of other sections too and turned the rewritten 266 page book into them and they had it translated into Japanese and released the book. What I ended up with was an unpublished English version with no place to go. I originally considered searching for an American publisher but desided against it because I knew they would want to shorten it and/or charge too much for it which would make me a hypocrite. After all, I started the whole thing because I wanted aspiring guitarists all over the world to be able to study and grow without having to get themselves into financial ruin. So I decided to publish it myself and offer it for a price that most anyone could afford, $25 for the book and $15 for the PDF. Pretty cheap for a book that I think someone could use for years and years. Was it easy? Absolutely not, it was an enormous undertaking. It erased all my free time but I'm pretty sure it will be worth it. I wish I had this kind of book when I started out. For those of you who use my site as a recourse, continue to do so. The book will simply offer you the expanded lessons in the form of a book. A book is different than the internet, you can read it while you ride the train, lounge around on the beach or in bed. You can leave it on your coffee table and you can also teach from it. Some of the sections are lifted right from the site but there is plenty of new things too.

The popularity of "The Infinite Guitar" has led to an enormous amount of e-mail with specific questions. This is a good thing, it keeps me thinking and learning myself. I wanted to share these questions, and the answers with everyone so everyone gets a chance to learn too. Feel free to e-mail questions anytime, they may get posted here with the answers.

Links:
The Infinite Guitar
Sample PDF