My guitar teacher taught me to use a method where you stay in the same region of the neck. So if you start the I with first position in A, then for the IV use the position for D that's right in the same area (the 4th position). Then for the E scale in the V you use the nearest pattern of E (the third pattern.)
You can also start in the 3rd position for the root scale in I and the scale boxes that are in the same area. Same for starting in the 5th position for the root scale in I.
And, he said you can play the I with the first position, the for IV go up the neck to the first position for that scale (D, if your root is A), and up two more frets, 1st position for the V chord (E, in this case).
What I like is that more than 5 notes will be played with the 3 scales. I'm not sure how many, but more than 5. More notes = more sounds, more variety.
I played the fender and gibson today. i was favoring the fender lately, but today both felt pretty comfortable. i prefer the 9 gauge strings of the fender, but the gibson's 10 gauge felt fine.
also lately i haven't been using a pick, because of some thumb pain in the right hand. but now i'm holding the pick differently, trying to use my hand in a way to distribute the force more evenly so the thumb doesn't take so much. seems to reduce the twinge of pain. still gotta work on it.
3 comments:
I tried writing a comment about this a while back but something went wrong and I lost everything I wrote leaving me too frustrated to try again. I thought I might try to shed some light on why this modal stuff works.
Anyway, gonna try to give it another go...
So we'll suppose we're in A blues. The I-chord is A, the IV is D and the V is E. Now consider the A minor pentatonic scale. It consists of the notes:
Am Pent: A C D E G
(in diatonic terms the root, the minor third, the fourth, the fifth, and the dominant 7th. - it's that last note that connects the 7 chords typical of blues tunes with the scale played with them. Another way to think about this scale is as the sequence of steps - start at the root (A) go up a minor 3rd (C) go up a full step (D) and then another full step (E) then finally another minor 3rd (G) before arriving at the octave. Anyway...)
The "modes" are just cyclic permutations of the scale. Otherwise the notes are the same modulo an octave. So for example, one can obtain mode III from the scale by starting at the fourth (i.e. the 3rd note in the scale), moving up to the fifth, then cycling around the root and ending on that minor third. (think space invaders universe):
Am Pent., mode III: D E G A C
Now compare this to the Dm Pent. scale (see above parenthetic explanation for how to generate this)
D - root
F - minor 3rd
G - fourth
A - fifth
C - Dominant 7th
Now do you see how this compares with Mode III of Am Pent? The only note that's different is the F replacing the E.
How about mode IV of Am Pent? Here we start on the E, go up to the G, then loop back around:
Am pent mode IV: E G A C D
which we compare with Em Pent mode I:
E - root
G - minor 3rd
A - fourth
B - fifth
D - dominant 7th
Again, only one note difference, this time it's the B that replaces the C.
One last thing: what really makes thinking in terms of modes useful is that it shifts the "tonal center" of what you're playing. In other words, when your playing in say Am pent mode I, the resolving note is the tonic A. But when you shift to mode IV, even though you're still playing the same notes, the resolving note is now E.
Something I've noticed as I've written this: modes work by the same principles on the diatonic scale except that there are 7 of them instead of 5. And because of this they track better with notes harmonic functions. (i.e. the fifth mode starts on the diatonic "dominant fifth" and so on.)
Thanks for the comment! I gotta think about it for a while... it's one of my summer projects -- gonna read up on the musics theory in my blues books. i wanna know how the music works!
thanks for the comment! I'm gonna think about it for a while! it's one of my summer projects, to read up on music theory in my blues books. i wanna know how the music works!
Post a Comment