I Can Name That Key In ___ Notes...

i teach with a very open attitude - i like to let things flow freely between the student and myself. as a result, a lot of open jamming tends to happen. during these jams a student can learn the ins and outs of a simple scale, a song, or even themselves. it's very liberating for the student and rewarding for me to watch.

however, most of my students tend to ask the same question as soon as i give them something to play over: "wait, what key is this in?"

today we're going to discuss some simple and logical ways to figure out what key you're in on the spot, without taking too much time or asking out loud. after all, sometimes the band is too loud to speak to you! onward...

we're going to pull up the diatonic chord structure for some reference to help us out...

I     Major
II    Minor
III   Minor
IV   Major
V    Major
VI   Minor
VII  Diminished 

we've discussed before that chords appear in this pattern in every diatonic key. because of this, we can use it to help us determine what key a particular chord progression is in by looking at how the chords are built. let's take a look at this example progression...

E- D- Gmaj A-

the clue here is in the chords that fall next to each other in the alphabet. in this case, D- and E- are the clue. there is only one spot in the diatonic chord structure that allows for 2 minor chords to be next to each other, and that is the II and III positions...

I     Major
II    Minor
III   Minor
IV   Major
V    Major
VI   Minor
VII  Diminished

therefore, we know now know that II = D- and III= E-. this only occurs in C major. success!

some of you might be saying to yourself, "but A- and Gmaj are next to each other in the alphabet as well. how come you didn't use those chords?" the answer is simple - a Major chord followed by a Minor chord happens twice in the scale structure (I->II and V->VI). this would have narrowed down the key possibilities to two, but in this case that wasn't necessary.

another example...

DbMaj EbMaj F- AbMaj

this one should be easy. we've got 3 chords in alphabetical order here. two Major chords next to each other, followed by a Minor? that's gotta be IV, V, and VI. yup, we're in Ab Major.

this is all well and good, but so far we've only been looking at chord progressions that have triad-based chord structures. what happens if we don't get full triads, like in a power chord jam, or even worse, a single note riff that might not imply chords at all?

enter some note analyzation. remember how to play that major scale?

|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|
|-------------4-5-----------------|
|-------1-3-5---------------------|
|-1-3-5---------------------------|

let's convert this major scale to a one string setup. this way we can see all the whole and half steps that make up this scale...

    w w h w w  w  h

|-1-3-5-6-8-10-12-13-|

given a power chord or riff based progression, we're going to be forced to use the notes themselves instead of the chord structures to help us out. imagine we're playing over a certain punk rock tune from the 90s (fill in your own rhythm)...

Eb5 Bb5 C5 G55 Ab5 Eb5 Ab5

we've got 5 notes to go by in this example...

Ab Bb C E G

again, we're taking an interest in the notes that happen to be next to each other alphabetically, but now we're also interested in the half and whole steps that occur between them as well. since the major scale consists of more whole steps than half steps, the halves are much more valuable. we've got one set in our little green riff, and it falls between G and Ab. so now we know we've got two possible scales...

Ab Bb C x Eb x G

and...

Eb x G Ab Bb C x

hmm... still not enough information! let's have a look at this progression in tab format...

|------------------|
|------------------|
|------------------|
|-8----------8-----|
|-6-8-10-5-6-6-8---|
|---6-8--3-4---6---|

each power chord consists of TWO notes. let's add those extra notes into the mix, and we end up with...

Ab Bb C D Eb F G  

looking like we have a lot more options here. now all that's left to do is arrange the notes around so we have the only way to make the whole and half steps appear in the right spots. we end up with...

Eb F G Ab Bb C D

Eb major! 

wow, that was a lot of work! well, not really. the first few times you try to figure out what key you're in on your own it might take you some time, but after a few tries you'll not only start to remember these tricks, but you'll begin to hear them as well. most people playing through this basket case of a riff will be able to pick out that they're in Eb major just by hearing it. if you can't, though, there's always these tricks we spoke about today. check for chord qualities, notes and chords that fall alphabetically next to each other, and for the arrangement of half and whole steps. with practice, you'll be able to hear and feel each key in less and less time.

until next time, grasshoppers!

How To Properly Not Practice

for this lesson i'm going to offer another mental consideration to think about that is somewhat related to The Apex Shredator's Shreditation article. we've all been there - you're practicing lick A for a painstaking amount of time. you're tired, your fingers are red and ripping up, and while you were progressing nicely 30 minutes ago, you're somehow falling on your face now and regressing to sounding even worse than when you started. what's going on here?

cut to another day. and another situation entirely....

it's 9am. your Stand Out! guitar lesson is today at 1pm. you haven't practiced your frosted mini sweeps all week, but you figure since Shredator said to work on these for 30 minutes a day that 4 hours straight before your lesson will work even better. hey, you'll even be nice and warmed up for when he gets here. 4 hours later at 1pm, you never got there. what happened?

both of these situations are seemingly different, but both have the same reason for failure - you didn't not practice correctly.

every time you learn a new lick, your brain, hands, arms, and eyes need to work together to make it happen. the first time you play a new passage, most of this is a mechanical process. all of your associated parts have to figure out how to physically make lick X happen. think about the first time you learned the blues scale - it sounded nothing close to 'bluesy' - it was just a bunch of notes getting plunked down on your instrument for reference. it's only after mindlessly beating it into your brain over and over again that the notes start to sound like something. start to mean something. start to have some soul to them. while it's true that practicing over and over helps you to cross over to this point, the time spent not practicing also helps as well.

your hands and arms need time off to release tension created from learning harder passages. your brain needs time off as well, but something different happens inside your head while you're not playing. when you relax your muscles, they get to recharge their batteries. when you take your mind off guitar playing, your brain is still working on what you were practicing at a subconscious level. it's like that awful math lesson you had to sit through one day at school - it seems foggy the day you learn it, but a week later the concept of the lesson becomes clear and 'easy' to think about. it works the same way, and i know nobody practices math class on their own time to get better at it!

now let's keep this in mind - you still need to practice regularly. you can't just merely think about guitar on your off time and expect to get better consistently. this is more about budgeting and prioritizing your practice time and time off from the instrument. you cannot get these skills hammered into your brain by trying to 'cram' for hours before a performance or a lesson. however, if you try for a '30 minutes on, 1 hour' off kinda of a schedule, you might find yourself learning things quicker, with less overall time spent hammering on the instrument. everyone's time limits will be different - i recommend practicing for a decent amount of time up until you begin to get frustrated. once that happens, you're likely to slow down any progress, and just get more and more angry. don't quit in 5 minutes, but anywhere from 20-60 minutes spent on a single topic should be good enough for one practice session.

the next question - what to do when you're not playing? the answer is simple - anything else. sports, video games, social activity, sleeping - any of those healthy (in moderation) activities will help keep your mind fixed on something else besides your instrument, which will in turn relax you and prepare you for your next practice session. when you do return to your instrument, you should feel recharged and calm, ready to hack away at whatever you're working on.

give it a shot, and see if any differences in your playing show up. practice is important, and so is 'not practicing' - but only in moderation!

Harmonization 101

this week i had a request from a student to explain the process of harmonizing single note lines. as you may know, lots of harder rock and metal lately involve 2 guitar players playing single notes that somehow interact with each other in a cool way. we're going to talk about some basic harmonization that occurs in lines like these.

it all begins (as always), with the foundation of music - the Major scale...

you'll notice this particular diagram has numbers written in place of note names. these are the scale degrees of this particular Major scale. at the moment the actual key is not important. let's keep it universal for now.

all of these notes bring a certain color to the table sonically. we're going to structure these sounds into 'intervals' to get an idea of what they sound like. the way we're going to analyze these notes is to compare all of them to the root of the scale, which in this case, is D. play all of these combinations of notes together to get a quick little primer as to what these harmonizations will sound like...

D against D
D against E
D against F#
D against G
D against A
D against B
D against C#

you might find some of these are fairly pleasant. you might find others are more angular or boxy, but still quite cool. you also might find a couple that just sound all sorts of wrong. that's ok - these are the flavors that we're given.

remember that diagram earlier of the major scale with the numerical degrees on it? let's check it out again...

the scale degree you play will also dictate the harmonization's name. in other words, if you play D against G, you'll be harmonizing a 4th. if you play D against E, you'll be harmonizing a 2nd.

this system is pretty easy to deal with. if you have a melody that you want to harmonize, decide what sound you like, count up that many scale degrees, and play your original part in that new location in the scale.

let's practice one. let's stay in the key of D for the moment. play this melody to get it in your ears...

|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|
|---------------6-7-------|
|-------------7-----7-----|
|-5-7-9-5-5-9---------5---|
|-------------------------|

i know, i'm a regular mozart. deal with me.

what i'd like to do now is take this and harmonize it up a 3rd. 3rds are very common starting points. let's look at the melody in english, now..

D E F# D D F# A C# D A D

if i'm harmonizing up a third, i'll take each note and count 3 degrees up. take note you must count the original note as the 1st degree! so up a third this harmony will be..

Original - D  E F# D  D  F# A C# D  A D

Up a 3rd - F# G A  F# F# A  C E  F# C F#

makes sense? good. keep in mind that in our example we harmonized a third higher than the melody. you could just as easily harmonize below the melody, just counting backwards in scale degrees. that's pretty much it! it might take you some time to figure out more harmonizations at first, but in time you'll learn to hear and feel them in the same way you feel the scales on their own. also feel free to experiment with different harmonizations in the same passage - they dont have to all be 4ths or all 5ths or whatever. play with it!

Pentatonic Shapes You Don't Care About

everybody knows the standard minor pentatonic shape that our first teachers make us fiddle around with to a half forced, fully generic blues progression...

while this scale is fantastic (and necessary!), sooner or later the shape of the 'box' becomes a little bit stale. how many times can you rocket up and down the same shape before you start to yearn for more?

well, you're in luck. just like the modes of the major scale, we can alter the appearance of this humble shape by using a different note at a starting point, and building a position-based scale from there in a different area of the neck.

let's begin by moving up one note from where we left off on the original minor pentatonic scale. yes, we are staying in A minor penta, so now our shape will begin with a C note...

notice i am still labeling the root notes of A minor pentatonic, even though they are no longer at the beginning of the scale shape. what we have here is the Major Pentatonic scale - and if you are used to playing the diatonic major scale in position, you will notice it is very similar, minus 2 notes per octave. yes, you can use this over any ionian-based progression. if you were to do so, however, your root note in this particular key would shift over to C.

the remaining 3 pentatonic shapes are shown below. they unfortunately go by many names, so i will simply omit any labeling for simplicity. for reference, most people prefer to simply number them from 1-5.

please note the fretboard positions - the first 2 patterns shown have diagrams that run from frets 5-19, instead of 1-12.

once again, i've kept the minor-based root notes in bold. if you were playing a major based-progression, you'd shift to C in this key.

you may notice that while the patterns share the same notes, they also share 'ends' with each other. for example, the notes that end the A minor pentatonic shape are exactly the same as the note that begin the C major pentatonic shape, position-wise. see them? if you can visualize adjacent patterns while you are playing another shape you'll be able to borrow notes from them, which will only expand your 'box,' and your playing overall.

here's what all of them look like laid out on the fretboard at once. note the colors of each note to visualize the shapes, and to see where they intersect with each other...

this fretboard diagram runs from fret 3-17

this chart should get the point across - pentatonics are very powerful and useful! combine this technique with the the use of superimposition and you have an insane array of options without ever leaving the key!

Superimposing Pentatonics

ladies and gentlemen, the minor pentatonic scale:

 
you've seen this before. if you haven't, well, now you have. in case you need to be reminded, the minor pentatonic scale has been the building block for the better amount of blues and rock solos for basically of the electric guitar's life, and likely beyond. the reason for its success is in its simplicity, i think. 2 notes per string, very easy to remember, and very easy to play with minimal practice time.  

it has one problem though - most players that get addicted to this scale tend to complain about being stuck 'in the box.' this shape is so memorable and so easy to learn, its often hard to break free from its grasp to find new sounds.

we're going to use this scale's simplicity to help us break from the cycle.

i just gave you an A minor pentatonic scale. let's have a look at all the notes that make this scale up...

i usually teach this scale first in my private lessons, and then when we move on to minor scales, i make mention that minor scales and minor pentatonics are interchangeable in real time. so, having said that, we can safely use A natural minor in place of its minor pentatonic relative. this makes sense, because the notes of A minor pentatonic are built into A natural minor...

A B C D E F G 

see them in bold? good. now let's expand on this idea even further.

it's easy to see these two scales contain the same notes, but on the subject of A minor, if you do some digging you'll notice there are actually two more pentatonic scales hidden in A natural minor... can you find them?

A B C D E F G - A Natural Minor
A     C D E    G - A Minor Pentatonic
A     C D   F  G - D Minor Pentatonic
A B     D E    G - E Minor Pentatonic


sneaky, right? do yourself a favor now - fire up a backing track in A minor, and give D minor pentatonic a shot. then try E minor pentatonic. you will find that all the notes work, but the riffs you are used to playing in A might sound a little odd. this is because although you're playing the correct notes, the notes are in different places under your fingers. this is a good thing - because now you can come up with new licks that sound entirely different from your usual riffs, all without learning any new scales!


furthermore, you'll also realize that in addition to having your same old A minor notes in different areas under your fingers, you'll also find that these scales inhabit different areas of the neck...

it would be smart to remember how far apart these scales are, so you can get to them easily while improvising. i highly recommend basing everything off of the pentatonic scale that is interchangeable with the natural minor (A), and thinking +/-5 and +/-7 frets up or down (its the same thing!).


now, with all that said, there's just one thing left to do - combine them all in realtime! 

i used multiple colors to show you where all the pentatonic scales fall. please note i also used the E minor pentatonic in two octaves, just to show the area you can cover. notice D and E minor pentatonic overlap each other a bit - that's ok. what's really important to notice here is that with these three scales, we can essentially cover the entire fretboard - how's that for breaking out of the box?

enjoy your newly rekindled relationship with the minor pentatonic scale.


 

Major/Minor Relativity

hello again! so we've been beating our major and minor scales to death, hoping to somehow use them well enough to create melodies, solos, and in the end, wonderful music for all to behold.

now i'd like to point out something interesting about these two scales. let's have a look at them...

 at first, these both look like ordinary run of the mill major and minor scales - and they are. however, you might have noticed that i took two scales from two different keys.

...or did i?

let's take a second look at the scales, this time with the notes labeled...

if you look closely, you'll notice that both of these scales contain the same notes, they just use different starting points in the scale. therefore, we can say that these two scales are related. now take notice of where the two scales intersect with each other, and you'll see that the relative minor scale starts off the 6th degree of the major scale (A), and the relative major scale starts off the 3rd degree of the minor scale (C). 

no matter what key you're in, this relationship never changes. 

now i bet you're thinking, so what? what good does this do me? well, for starters, if you have to play an improvised solo in the key of, say, B minor, not only can you use B minor, but you can also use D major, which in turn now doubles the amount of space you occupy on the fretboard, and gives you double the options. that's a very powerful thing. how often do we get bored with scale shapes, and annoyed that we can't find ways to 'break out of the box' - this is one way to do so!

it's important to be able to call up your relative majors and minors in any key in realtime - if you are proficient in both of these scales, it's a technique that will make you sound more interesting and sophisticated almost instantly. add in your superimposed pentatonics (to be discussed later), and now all of a sudden you can cover the entire neck with just three simple scales that most guitar players are very proficient in!

 practice!

A Diatonic Primer.

so if you're reading this article, you've got a few scales under your belt, your essential chords, and probably more than a couple of songs and guitar solos in your head. but what does it all mean? how does it all come together? what decides if a lick sounds good or bad?

we're going to take a look at some ground rules for the theory behind things. notice i said 'theory,' not 'rules' - this is all truly theoretical and what you might perceive as beautiful might be someone else's 'wrong.' what we will be delving into will be the agreed upon harmony of things, and it is to be used as a guideline for creating real music, not the absolute law.

we're going to start with the basis of all diatonic harmony - the very humble, yet powerful, major scale. surely if you're one of my minions you'll have played this, likely in at least two forms...

Major - 3 notes per string
|-------------------------------5-7-8-|
|-------------------------5-7-8-------|
|-------------------4-5-7-------------|
|-------------4-5-7-------------------|
|-------5-7-9-------------------------|
|-5-7-9-------------------------------|

Major - position based

|---------------------------4-5-----|
|-----------------------5-7---------|
|-----------------4-6-7-------------|
|-----------4-6-7-------------------|
|-----4-5-7-------------------------|
|-5-7-------------------------------|

now, this is not a lesson on how to play the major scale, but instead a lesson on how to use it as a building block for other scales and chords. most theory students learn to utilize the major scale a skeleton for all other aspects of music, and we will do the same.

very simply, i'm going to take the same scale, and number each note. let's take the key of C, and lay it out.

C D E F G A B

1  2 3 4  5  6  7

all we're doing is numbering the notes of scale instead of using the original note names. this will allow us to work with it without the bias of what specific key we're in. oh, and we're no longer calling them 'notes' when we leave out the keys - we'll instead refer to them as degrees. 

so now that we have eliminated our letter names, we can begin to use this scale as a roadmap to other scales. the beauty behind this system is we can take the original numbers, and alter them to suit our needs, to create new scales.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - Major scale

1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 - Minor scale 

what did i just say??? all these numbers is giving me a headache. nah, not really. i'm implying a simple set of rule changes to the major scale to make a new scale. if you take the 3rd, 6th, and 7th degree of a major scale, and lower them by one half step (one fret), you end up with a minor scale...

Major

|--------------------------------7-9-10-|
|-------------------------7-9-10--------|
|-------------------6-7-9---------------|
|-------------6-7-9---------------------|
|-------5-7-9---------------------------|
|-5-7-9---------------------------------|
     1   2   3  4   5  6   7   1   2   3  4  5    6   7    1    2   3   4


Minor

|--------------------------------7-8-10-|
|-------------------------6-8-10--------|
|-------------------5-7-9---------------|
|-------------5-7-9---------------------|
|-------5-7-8---------------------------|
|-5-7-8---------------------------------|     

     1  2  b3   4  5  b6 b7 1  2  b3 4  5   b6  b7 1     2  b3   4

the students on my roster learn both the major and minor scales at about the same time, but most do not compare the two to each other in this manner. if you can memorize how to play the major scale, you'll be able to alter it very easily into any new scale.


let's take a look at a previously undiscussed scale - 

Harmonic Minor

1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7

maybe you don't know this scale. maybe you don't want to know it. but using your pre-existing knowledge of the major scale, you can alter it in real time to create this scale - and it's way easier to remember b3 and b7 than to remember a whole new scale!

take a breath. are you still with me? good.

let's move on to chords now. using the same basic principles, we can start to analyze and alter chords in the same manner. let's have a look at a typical C major barre chord:

|-8--|
|-8--|
|-9--|
|-10-|
|-10-|
|-8--|

 if we break down the notes that make up this chord, we get C, E, and G, with a couple of repeats in there. if i refer back to the original C major scale, you'll see that these notes match up to 1, 3, and 5.

so then, just like how we numbered out a C scale in degrees, we can do the same thing for chords. the numerology for a major chord will simply be called '135.'

now that we have a basis for major chords, we can begin to alter it to get different chords, as follows...

Major -          1  3   5

Minor -          1 b3  5

Augment -     1 #3  5

Diminished - 1 b3 b5

Sus2 -            1  2   5

Sus4 -            1  4   5

we can very easily modify our major chord into any of these shapes by following the instructions above. let's do an easy one, and switch c major to c minor. all i have to do is take my 3rd degree (in this case, E) and lower it to Eb.

|-8--|
|-8--|
|-8--|
|-10-|
|-10-|
|-8--|

how about you try to build the other chords listed in the same way?

study this, my young minions. we'll be using this technique of altering major scales and chords from here on out.

Learn the fretboard easily!

the fretboard. the matrix of music on the guitar. many students of mine, young and old, beginner or advanced, have similar problems memorizing all the notes on the board. with this article i hope to give you a logical and systematic way using things you already know about the guitar to help you memorize the entire fretboard quickly and easy.

before we even look at a fretboard diagram, let's lay out the material we intend to learn - the notes themselves. western music divides the spectrum of an octave into 12 pieces, and we label them in alphabetical order from A to G...

A B C D E F G

but that's only seven of them. the rest are hidden between the letters as accidentals, as in, we accidentally forgot to use 12 letters, so we used 7 instead. what can i say? you should know by now that music is very foolish at times.

accidentals take two forms - some sort of sharp (#) or some sort of flat (b). sharps and flats work similar to test grades. if you got an 86 on your math test, some teachers will call that a B+. others will call it an A-. replace the +'s and -'s with #'s and b's and you get the musical version of this system.

therefore...

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#

or

A Bb B C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab

but wait! why are there no accidentals between B and C and E and F? just because, is my answer for now. i will leave you to ponder it. if you need a handy sentence to remember the 4 notes that have no spaces between them, simply remember that Big Cats Eat Freely. see what i did there? don't like it? well one of my students made it up, so blame him.

it is also good to note that each fret on your guitar will take the place of one of each 12 notes, in order. if you fret an A note, and jump up one fret, you end up with A#/Bb. if you fret an E note and go down one fret, you end up at Eb/D#.

armed with the names of all 12 notes, and the notion that each fret spans exactly one note (haha!), we can begin!

let's start with a standard fretboard, running from open to the 12th fret:

 oh no! it's so scary! there's no hope!

yes there is. you already know 6 notes. they are situated at the nut of the guitar - the open strings! see them on the left? good! 6 down, a bunch more to go...

...but wait! if you have memorized all 6 strings, you also know the same notes somewhere else, right? RIGHT? i hope so...

at the 12th fret (double dots on most guitars), the octave begins anew. in other words, we have the same notes at the 12th fret that we do at the nut. good! we know 6 more... 

 moving right along now! what other notes have we already memorized? how about the ones we use to tune with? most guitar players are familiar with the '5th fret' rule for tuning... take an in tune string, fret a 5th fret note, and check it with the next higher open string, and you should have the same note. if you are aware of this (and i think you might be if you're my student!) you know all the fifth fret (and one fourth!) notes as well...

 

 delightful. we're getting there, trust me.

here's another trick that i teach all of my students. just like we use the 5th fret for a shortcut to get to the next string, we can work in the opposite direction and use the 7th fret to name the notes on the string thats one lower than where we fretted. in other words, on the high E string, fret a 7th fret note (B) and realize the string before it should be the same thing. memorize your 7th (and one 8th) fret notes and you'll have this...

 ahh, now we have a great start for knowing all of our notes. how, you ask? it's pretty simple really. refer back to our chart of notes, represented in sharps for fun...

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#

if you look at the 4 positions we have laid out on the fretboard already, you should be able to find any note on the fretboard no more than 3 frets away from any of these positions. counting 3 notes up or down is WAY better than starting at the open string every time like you used to do it, isnt it? (yes, dont lie. you've tried it before).

let's try one. 4th fret on the E string. you already know that the 5th fret is an A note. count down 1 note......

Ab. boom.

let's do another. 10th fret on the A string. you already know that the 12th fret is an A note. count down 2 notes....

G. how easy is this?

one more - 9th fret on the G string. you already know that the 7th fret is a D. count up 2 notes...

F.






no, i'm kidding. pay attention! it's E.

not so terrifying now, is it? memorize your four positions first, then practice counting up and down random unknown spots on the fretboard until you've got it. it shouldn't take you long to get the whole process down, and once you do, you'll be flying around the fretboard in no time.

if you want some more reference points on the guitar, here's another example citing all natural notes on the fretboard. if you want to come up with your own system, feel free!

My tablature system explained

it seems everyone has their own system for writing and using tablature. the system i tend to use is full of variables, and i will try to explain a few of my stranger topics here.

my basic tabbing preference is an ASCII-style grid, seen below. for first time tabbers, you'll notice each line is assigned to one string - and it's upside down from the way your guitar is laid out. i don't know whose idea this was, but you'll get used to it. the numbers on each line denote what fret to play on what string at any particular time, and time runs left to right, just like in regular written notation. notes that fall on top of each other are played at the same time. in other words, the following example first shows a bunch of single notes, and then a chord...

  vii                   i

     2 4    2 4  1 3 4

     d u  d u d  u d u   d

E|-----------------------0--|

B|-----------------------1--|

G|-----------------------0--|

D|---------------7-9-10--2--|

A|--------7-8-10---------3--|

E|---8-10----------------3--|

       

i have included some other things to more accurately represent some things. i call these 'lines' and they can be added anywhere above or below the tab line, depending on what i think is easiest to read based on what we're playing...

    vii                 i    <-----position line

       2 4 1 2 4 1 3 4      <-----fingering line

       d u d u d u d u  d   <-----picking line

Position Line: how i mark the position of a fretting hand. if you don't already know, 'position' playing involves two simple rules. the first rule states that your first fretting finger will denote what position you are playing in. the second rule states that once in position, each of your four fretting fingers will be assigned one fret. the above example has us playing in 7th position, meaning our first finger will handle all the 7th fret notes, second finger will get 8th fret notes, 3rd/9th, and 4th/10th. pretty simple. i have gotten used to using roman numerals in lowercase form to show positions, since it eliminates some numbers from the view (and we've already got tons of those), and we'll be using capital roman numerals for harmonic analysis from time to time.

Fingering Line: this line shows you which fretting finger to use. your fingers are numbered sequentially from 1-4, with your thumb being omitted for obvious reasons. sometimes it is necessary to play out of position momentarily, like in this example...

   vi

   -1 2 4 -1 2 4 1 2 4 2 1 4 2 -1 4 2 -1

|----------------------------------------|

|----------------------------------------|

|----------------------------------------|

|----------------4-5-7-5-4---------------|

|----------5-7-9-----------9-7-5---------|

|---5-7-9-------------------------9-7-5--|

most of the fingerings in this example coincide with position VI, with our first finger occasionally stretching out and dropping back one fret. this is denoted as -1. if, on the other hand, our pinky was stretching out and moving up a fret, it would be written as +4. get it? good.

Picking Line:  in most cases, this will have only two symbols in this line - d (downstroke) and u (upstroke). i might throw some h's and p's (hammer ons and pulloffs) in there to remind you from time to time, but for the most part this is a simple system. tapping (T or +) will also happen here.

Extra Lines: i will invent more lines as we go. you might see things like...

PM----------------| (palm muting)

let ring -----------| (let notes ring out - obvious?)

...and any other sort of playing tips that i will deem helpful for the time being.

keep in mind you won't see all of this extra information in all the tab i do - just where i feel it's necessary. after all, tablature was invented as a way to simplify notation for guitar, not become an alternative to it!

2 String Sweep Arpeggios

we've all seen the masters flying up and down their guitars like it ain't no thang. the sight itself is almost beautiful to behold - a well manicured hand is seemingly floating up and down multiple strings with an almost effortless motion of fluidity, accompanied by a barrage of notes and a very sharp pick attack that is uniquely different front standard picking. what is this lunacy?

today we're going to delve into one of the hardest techniques to practice correctly - the art of sweep picking.

i start this article by mentioning that this is one of the harder techniques to practice - and at this point you're probably saying to yourself, "how can this be harder to practice than anything else i've learned so far?" the answer is relatively simple - when we learn new techniques we often slow them down, allowing our brains and our hands to deal with them at a comfortable pace, until we feel confident enough to speed them up. with sweep picking, however, often times our hands will change their approach to these techniques massively at slower tempos automatically, and will render all of your time spent practicing almost completely useless.

but more on that later.

let's begin with an explanation of the topic. what is sweep picking? essentially, sweep picking encompasses the same use of your picking hand that's involved with slower strumming - gliding your picking hand up and down the strings in a relatively even motion, depending on the emphasis you're looking for. where this technique differs from strumming, though, moreso is in the fretting hand. when you're strumming chords, you're generally holding down a combination of notes across multiple strings to make one unified sound in the end. when sweep picking, we're going to focus on playing one note at a time with one finger at a time - and then immediately removing that finger when we move to the next note. 


personally, i think this technique is a rather odd way of playing the guitar. the instrument itself is designed to allow notes to ring out and melt on top of each other. this style of playing avoids that at all costs. i think it is this factor combined with the maniacal speed often used that makes this technique so desirable to many players.

on the topic of desire, let's make dreams a reality.

when i think of sweep arpeggios, i am instantly reminded of the big ones. the arpeggios that sound like the player is moving across something like 14 (or more) notes in a fast up and down motion that involves 4, 5, or even 6 strings. while these might be your ultimate goal, i highly recommend against starting with these shapes. i prefer to take a different approach, and work on the smallest sweeping technique that can possibly occur, which is across 2 strings.

let's have a look at a basic major shape triad in a 2 string sweepable pattern. playing this in the position noted helps greatly, but what's very important is the picking. you will notice i have not only indicated which way to pick, but have also included pulloffs in the picking line to remind you - because they are that important.

  iv

    d d u p d d u p d

E|----4-7p4---4-7p4---|

B|--5-------5-------5-|

G|--------------------|

let's break down exactly what our hands are doing throughout this process. for the first note, E, we're picking a downstroke. for the next note, G#, we're also going to use a downstroke, but you have to make sure that both of these notes get the same downstroke. in other words, you can't pick E, stop your picking hand, and then pick G#. you have to keep your right hand moving fluidly, otherwise it will feel just like two regular downstrokes in a row and not one sweeping motion. this is what makes practicing this technique slowly so tough. slow down too much and you'll end up stopping your picking hand from between notes, and the whole process is now just picking, instead of sweeping.

in the beginning stages, practicing at slow tempos, my advice would be to pick the E note, and let the downstroke collide with the adjacent string, and then continue with the next part of the sweep.

in the beginning stages, practicing at slow tempos, my advice would be to pick the E note, and let the downstroke collide with the adjacent string, and then continue with the next part of the sweep.

i said that twice because i really want you to try it.

now, once those two notes are done, your pick has run through two strings (with the same motion!) and now has run out of guitar. the next note, B, will systematically then get an upstroke - no time to cross back over the high E string to downstroke it!

however, sometimes we need to make time to cross strings. that's what our pulloff to G# is for. while you're pulling off with your fretting hand, your picking hand has time to move back up to the B string, to prepare a downstroke. it is at this point that the 2 string sweep is complete and you are ready to repeat the process.

whew! that's a lot of information for a 4 note repeating pattern. i know it's a long read, but unless you're conscious of every motion both of your hands are making, you are likely not going to be as accurate as you want. 

now that we have the basic technical itinerary laid out for these 2 string triad arps, we can take a look at all the basic triads, in all their inversions. while the spacing of the notes changes, the basic principles of technicality still apply. behold, the lunacy!

Major

 Root           1st Inversion    2nd Inversion

|---7-10-----------10-15------------15-19-------|

|-8-------------12---------------15-------------|

|-----------------------------------------------|

Minor

  Root         1st Inversion     2nd Inversion

|---6-10----------10-15-------------15-18-------|

|-8------------11----------------15-------------|

|-----------------------------------------------|

Diminished

  Root        1st Inversion      2nd Inversion

|---6-9----------9-15--------------15-18---------|

|-8-----------11----------------14---------------|

|------------------------------------------------|

Augmented

  Root         1st Inversion   2nd Inversion

|---7-11----------11-15------------15-19----------|

|-8------------12---------------16----------------|

|-------------------------------------------------|

these are the shapes you need to memorize to complete your 2 string studies for triads across the B and E strings. you could apply these to other stringsets if you wish, but i recommend you learn these across the top two strings first, as we'll be utilizing this stringset as a framework for the 3, 4, and 5 string arpeggios, discussed in later articles.



if you feel so inclined, you could also figure out patterns for suspended triads, 7th chords without a 5th, or any other variation you can dream up that yields 3 notes per chord.



until next time, happy sweeping!

Diatonic chunks, 3 notes per string edition.

i read somewhere that the average man can only remember 6 numbers in a row before getting all hazy. yes, ladies, that's why he wants to give you his number, instead of take yours. now i wonder - does it work the same way for us guys on guitar

well, even if you're not a male, you might benefit from this idea.

i have found over the years that learning new systems of notes (scales/riffs/solos/etc) has been getting increasingly harder. my ears have developed so that i can regurgitate through my fingers what i hear, but if there is something my ears don't quite know how to translate to the fretboard i find the process of remembering said lick to be quite long and painstaking. in other words, i think the better my ears get, the more i learn to rely on them. this is great, but not so wonderful for when my ears can't remember a melody - they can't tell my hands what to do if they don't know what they're hearing!

a very common way to alleviate this is to break licks into small bits for processing, and then moving on to the next bit, until you're done learning what you need to learn. we're going to revisit this approach today, with a focus on the modes for an example of how to do this.

here are all the standard modes, laid out for you to see, 3 notes per string, in the delightful key of G...

Ionian (Major)

|-------------------------------5-7-8-|

|-------------------------5-7-8-------|

|-------------------4-5-7-------------|

|-------------4-5-7-------------------|

|-------3-5-7-------------------------|

|-3-5-7-------------------------------|

Dorian

|--------------------------------7-8-10-|

|-------------------------7-8-10--------|

|-------------------5-7-9---------------|

|-------------5-7-9---------------------|

|-------5-7-9---------------------------|

|-5-7-8---------------------------------|

Phrygian

|-------------------------------------8-10-12-|

|-----------------------------8-10-12---------|

|----------------------7-9-11-----------------|

|---------------7-9-10------------------------|

|--------7-9-10-------------------------------|

|-7-8-10--------------------------------------|

Lydian

|------------------------------------------10-12-14-|

|---------------------------------10-12-13----------|

|-------------------------9-11-12-------------------|

|-----------------9-10-12---------------------------|

|---------9-10-12-----------------------------------|

|-8-10-12-------------------------------------------|

Mixolydian

|----------------------------------------------12-14-15-|

|-------------------------------------12-13-15----------|

|----------------------------11-12-14-------------------|

|-------------------10-12-14----------------------------|

|----------10-12-14-------------------------------------|

|-10-12-14----------------------------------------------|

Aeolian (Minor)

|----------------------------------------------14-15-17-|

|-------------------------------------13-15-17----------|

|----------------------------12-14-16-------------------|

|-------------------12-14-16----------------------------|

|----------12-14-15-------------------------------------|

|-12-14-15----------------------------------------------|

Locrian

|-------------------------------3-5-7---|

|-------------------------3-5-7---------|

|-------------------2-4-5---------------|

|-------------2-4-5---------------------|

|-------2-3-5---------------------------|

|-2-3-5---------------------------------|

if you are familiar with the modes, this information will seem very normal to you. however, if this is your first time diving into them, you're probably thinking a chillling thought: "that's a lot of stuff to remember."

maybe at first glance, it is. the sheer amount of screen that whole mess takes up can be quite scary the first time you lay eyes on it. the focus of this lesson is to get you not to fear the modes, but instead to look at this large chunk of information differently, and learn to pick out patterns that will help you to remember them better.

let's start back at the beginning, at the very vanilla ice cream-sounding ionian mode...

Ionian (Major)

|-------------------------------5-7-8-|

|-------------------------5-7-8-------|

|-------------------4-5-7-------------|

|-------------4-5-7-------------------|

|-------3-5-7-------------------------|

|-3-5-7-------------------------------|

forget about how many notes we've got flying around here. take a look at just the notes on each string, and you might notice something interesting. each stringset of notes falls into one of three patterns...

A)
|-1-3-5-|

B)
|-1-2-4-|

C)
|-1-3-4-|

in terms of how the notes get spaced out, those are the only 3 variations we have - not just in our ionian scale - but throughout all seven modes! if we could remember these patterns, and label them in our heads for easy recalling later, this might help to get these into our memories faster and easier.  

as you can see from above, i have labeled these 3 variations A, B, and C (what originality!). let's take a look at that mode again, this time labeled appropriately for the note spacing variations for each string...

Ionian (Major)

|------------------------------------5-7-8-| C

|-----------------------------5-7-8--------| C

|----------------------4-5-7---------------| B

|---------------4-5-7----------------------| B

|--------3-5-7-----------------------------| A

|-3-5-7------------------------------------| A

if you were trying to remember this scale, you could simply memorize your variations, and then say to yourself: "ionian - AABBCC." how much easier is that?

now let's apply this method to all the modes...

Ionian (Major)

|-------------------------------5-7-8-| C

|-------------------------5-7-8-------| C

|-------------------4-5-7-------------| B

|-------------4-5-7-------------------| B

|-------3-5-7-------------------------| A

|-3-5-7-------------------------------| A

Dorian

|----------------------------------7-8-10-| B

|---------------------------7-8-10--------| B

|---------------------5-7-9---------------| A

|--------------5-7-9----------------------| A

|-------5-7-9-----------------------------| A

|-5-7-8-----------------------------------| C

Phrygian

|----------=--------------------------8-10-12-| A

|-----------------------------8-10-12---------| A

|----------------------7-9-11-----------------| A

|---------------7-9-10------------------------| C

|--------7-9-10-------------------------------| C

|-7-8-10--------------------------------------| B

Lydian

|------------------------------------------10-12-14-| A

|---------------------------------10-12-13----------| C

|-------------------------9-11-12-------------------| C

|-----------------9-10-12---------------------------| B

|---------9-10-12-----------------------------------| B

|-8-10-12-------------------------------------------| A

Mixolydian

|----------------------------------------------12-14-15-| C

|-------------------------------------12-13-15----------| B

|----------------------------11-12-14-------------------| B

|-------------------10-12-14----------------------------| A

|----------10-12-14-------------------------------------| A

|-10-12-14----------------------------------------------| A

Aeolian (Minor)

|----------------------------------------------14-15-17-| B

|-------------------------------------13-15-17----------| A

|----------------------------12-14-16-------------------| A

|-------------------12-14-16----------------------------| A

|----------12-14-15-------------------------------------| C

|-12-14-15----------------------------------------------| C

Locrian

|-------------------------------3-5-7---| A

|-------------------------3-5-7---------| A

|-------------------2-4-5---------------| C

|-------------2-4-5---------------------| C

|-------2-3-5---------------------------| B

|-2-3-5---------------------------------| B

something you're probably also noticing is that these patterns progress in the same order everytime - there is no skipping patterns! this helps to alleviate even a bit more stress when it comes to memorizing.

the only thing we have left to categorize (if we want to) is when we have to change positions from string to string. let's use the lydian scale this time for fun...

Lydian

|------------------------------------------10-12-14-| A

|---------------------------------10-12-13----------| +C

|-------------------------9-11-12-------------------| C

|-----------------9-10-12---------------------------| B

|---------9-10-12-----------------------------------| +B

|-8-10-12-------------------------------------------| A

now i'm adding the use of +'s and -'s to denote where to move (just like we do when we make fingering changes with the roman numeral system, discussed in a different article). while this does make things a bit more complicated, A +B B C +C A is quite easier than memorizing every single fret position in an 18 note grid. if i was descending, the +'s would change to -'s, and vice versa.


is that now too complicated? maybe it is - it's up to you. keep in mind you also don't have to analyze every single scale you come across in this way - you can pick and choose what works best for you. for me, i find that remembering the position changes aren't as necessary for some reason, so i focus more on remembering the fingering patterns for each mode. on the contrary, if you find that your ear tends to steer you towards the right notes on each string, but you end up losing yourself when changing to the next stringset, it might be good to develop a system to help you remember your positions.

the moral of the story is to approach all new material you learn from as many angles as you can to help you remember and understand them better. this particular method works very well for me in my quest to dominate the modes, and i think with a bit of customization may help you solidify these 7 horrifying scales of torture into your head.

and now, using both methods invented in this blog, i give you all 7 modes one last time...

Ionian (Major)
A A +B B +C C

Dorian
C A A A +B B

Phrygian
B C C A +A A

Lydian
A +B B C +C A

Mixolydian
A A A +B +B C

Aeolian (Minor)
C C A A +A +B

Locrian
B B C C +A A

look at how much less screen that takes up! i should write that on the back of my strat.