Tag: Harmony

Playing ‘Out’

Playing ‘out’ is very common in jazz and fusion circles, as it adds tension-resolution to your phrasing. In the video I show a few examples of this and of how to get ‘that’ sound.

Tips: 1- always use phrases that are very recognisable, with very strong melodic content.

2- use this techinque at the end of a bar, or a section of the tune

3- resolve on a strong note, preferably chord tone

4- in the end, this has a lot to do with HOW you play than WHAT you play!

best of luck!

Suggested reading:

Contemporary Blues Soloing

Cont Blues Soloing

Intervals Explained pt 2: practical application on guitar.

We have seen in this post https://www.giannichiarello.com/intervals-explained/ what intervals are in theory and how the simplest and safest way to identify an interval is by calculating the number of semitones between the two notes.  Again, this is the table for you to ‘do the math’:

N.of halfsteps

1

2

3

4

5

6

6

also

7

8

8

also

9

10

10

also

11

12

Interval

m2

M2

m3

M3

P4

4aug

5dim

P5

5aug

m6

M6

6aug

m7

M7

P8

Example

C

Db

C

D

C

Eb

C

E

C

F

C

F#

C

Gb

C

G

C

G#

C

Ab

C

A

C

A#

C

Bb

C

B

C2

C3

where m=minor, M=major, P=perfect, dim=diminished, aug=augmented.

If you look closely, you will notice that the notes that are contained in the C major scale (being the example from the note C) are all a major or a perfect intervals.

C-D Major 2nd

C-E Major 3rd

C-F  Perfect 4th

C-G Prefect 5th

C-A Major 6th

C-B Major 7th

This stands true for all the major scales in every key.  So another quick way to find at what interval distance two notes are, is to calculate from the major scale.

How do I calculate intervals on guitar?

To  calculate intervals on guitar is not difficult at all as everything translate in exactly the same way. If I know the notes on the guitar neck this is all very simple as all I need to do is make the calculation like I did above. (Eg: if I am playing a C on the 3rd fret, 5th string and an F# 4th fret 4th string , that is a augmented 4th, just like above).

After a while you will see a some recurring ‘shapes’  and you will learn to quickly recognise an interval by the shape it draws on the fretboard, just like you do with chords: the following is an attempt to summarize all these shapes. Maybe not complete, but I hope it will help.

Click on the images below to download the interval charts PDF files:

Both these resources are from ‘The Guitar Kit Pro’, where the files will be higher resolution and unbranded: read all about it here: ‘The Guitar Kit Pro’ . Keep supporting this site by purchasing the products on the Shop page, thanks!

The Importance of Repertoire

In this short post I want to spend a few words on the importance of knowing tunes, either written by other musicians or by yourself. ‘Repertoire’ is often a fancy word we use to identify ‘all the tunes we know’.

In my experience as teacher I have found to be a divide between the guitarist that is obsessed by theory and scales and that who is just interested in learning songs with no real interest in knowing how this songs are created.  I always wondered why  the second category were happier about their playing…

We spend as musicians most of our time learning theory, techniques and we often wonder how these fit in with ‘real life’….a lot of times we forget that tunes and musical pieces/compositions should be the goal of what we do. All these exercises and music theory studies should be a way to better perform and understand the tunes we know and write.

I always suggest to all my students to always keep an updated list of all the tunes they know (or they can busk), and a folder with all their original material, from the completed tunes to the ‘work in progress’ type material.

Keep writing and learning new tunes: this will give you a sense of purpose  in your studies and also it will be a test for all the techniques and theory you have learnt…

Good luck!

A tool to improve your improvising skills.

It’s not a secret that one of my all time favourite guitar instructional books is The Advancing Guitarist The Advancing Guitarist   by Mick Goodrich   Review by Mick Goodrich. One the exercises explained in this great book is about creating a random sequence of chords by writing every type of chord (major, minor, all the 7th chords and, if you feel more adventurous, chords with extensions and alterations) on small pieces of paper and extracting them at random. This will not only improve your sight reading in terms of chords and chord progressions, but, if you record these sequences to create a backing track, it will greatly improve your improvisation skills.

This is where http://www.thestringery.com/featured/random-chords-generator/ comes into play.

On this site you can easily generate random sequences to improve your chord recognition knowledge and improvisational skill. The default number of chords is 16 but you can easily change that number. I advice to play along to a drum beat or a metronome, so that you are more focused, starting with a chord per bar.

Also you could leave the recording backing track for a few days, so you completely forget what you recorded, and use it to practice your aural recognition skills (ear training). Try and see if you can recognise a major chord from a minor, or what extensions are contained in a chord.

I am also sure you will find some ‘snippets’ that will inspire you…maybe the beginning of your next masterpiece.

Triads Pt 2 Spread Voicings

We have seen in the previous lesson al the major triads in close (or closed) position. As already stated if these notes of the triad (or ‘voices’) are contained within an octave we call it in ‘close’ or ‘closed’ position, as opposite as ‘spread’ position (more than an octave). Just watch the video where I go through all the most popular shapes for the latter.

OTHER TRIADS

Just like for the close position, it is really simple to find other (minor, augmented, diminished) triads from the major triad.

Major triad – R,3,5 – C,E,G

Minor triad – R,m3,5 – C,Eb,G (Lower the 3rd one 1/2 step)

Augmented triad – R, 3, #5 – C,E,G# (Raise the 5th one 1/2 step)

Diminished triad – R,m3,dim5 – C,Eb,Gb (Lower both the 3rd and 5th one 1/2 step)

Download –here– the page with all the triad inversions on a printable PDF file or click the image below (2 pages, both close and spread voicings).