Rehearsing Your Band

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

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 pentatonic 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 pentatonic scale but don't approach it like you are playing in A minor or A blues, rather treat it as the progression it is: An Cmaj7-Amin7-Dmin7-G7 progression making an effort to start on a chord tone every time the chord changes. If you think you can play the same licks like you would over an A Blues, it will sound wrong.

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

C) 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:

• Pentatonic Scale Applications
• Playing The Blues
  -CJ

minb6 chords?

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

E|------------------
B|----8-------8----
G|----7-------7----
D|----7-------7----
A|------------------
E|----8-------7----

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 and keep moving the note on the 2nd string up chromatically. You see this in the song "Israel" in the real book.

E|------------------
B|--5-----6-----7--
G|--5-----5-----5--
D|--5-----5-----5--
A|------------------
E|--5-----5-----5--

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The chord works fine in a diatonic progression. Here is a nice voicing (also at the top of this page):

Emin7b13

E|-----7--
B|-----8--
G|-----7--
D|----10--
A|-----7--
E|-----0--

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?

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

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

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

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.