[thechat] WAS Anybody here NOW: guitar ka-ka

[Morgan Kelsey]

RonL resonated:

> <Warning - Guitar / music junk ahead />

> Anyway, been working on odd stuff ... I start off working on 'Western
Swing'
> ... which is actually jazz that just happens to get played on old country
> radio stations ... ('Faded Love' is about 3 minutes long and has 40 chords
> in it - chords - not chord changes! Ouch!) ... it's got pretty much
nothing
> to do with country ... zillions of those dang [jazz] 'finger-buster'
chords
> ... {Grab the first two strings at the 7th fret ... now walk your little
> finger down the third string ... 11th fret, 10th, 9th, 8th, arpeggio and
out.}
> [Oh, and just how do you cleanly play a chord with strings 1,2,6 at the
10th
> fret and strings 3,4,5 at the 9th fret? I run out of fingers! Ouch!]
Grrrr!
> Oh well, when I get frustrated with that I work on heavy metal ... it's a
> LOT easier for me to play.
>

hehe, I joined the "Maiden the UK" clan for Iron Maiden fans over at RHP.


> 'Course the combination *does* mess with what's left of my mind a bit ...
I
> keep getting this overpowering evil urge to throw some b-altereds or
> flatted-5th-flatted-9ths into the middle of 'Paranoid' ... I think it
would
> be great fun - a dainty little jazz cascade and then, wham!, back to the
power
> chords ... just to see if everyone is still awake!
>

dude, i'm like so with you.
my jazz quartet used to play "Four Sticks" pretty regularly.


> Man, I just gotta learn more music theory!
>
> (Speaking of which ... any good sites / suggestions for learning that
<snooty
> musician snob tone> "well we've got a basic I-VI-ii-V change coming up, so
> obviously we'll improvise using a melodic minor hexa-dexatrim" </snob>
kinda
> stuff?)

Uh-oh, now here's something I actually *know* about!!!

At the risk of offending those amongst us who find 12-tone systems childish,
here's some tricks from the school of hard knocks:

To find the scale that goes with a 7th chord:
(you're gonna love this, mr. math-major)
1. Find a piano, or draw one if you have to.
2. Play the 7th chord with your left hand.
3. Play the same chord type up a whole step with the right hand.
i.e.:
C7 = C E G Bb
put a D7 on top:
D7 = D F# A C

put em both together:
C D E F# G A Bb C
wadda ya know, G melodic minor from C to C.
(hypermixolydian, if you will)


another:
Cmaj.7 = C E G B
Dmaj.7 = D F# A C#
we're gonna ignore the C#, which is the "#15th" for now:
C D E F# G A B C
wadda ya know, C Lydian (G major from C to C)

and to prove the absolute profoundidy here:
Cdim.7 = C Eb Gb Bbb (B double flat, you can call it 'A')
Ddim.7 = D F Ab Cb
put em together and you get the diminished scale.
(insert scooby doo theme here)

it works with flat fives too and other alterations too,
though there is lots of stuff with dominant chords that doesn't pan out.

C7b9 for instance, calls for
Db melodic minor from C to C (the so-called 'Altered scale')
C Db Eb Fb(E) Gb Ab Bb C
one of my favs, it's so appetizing with cocktails.

so, see how it easy it is? you just switch scales for every chord,
and -- oh yeah! -- don't forget to make a nice melody
with a unique and interesting rhythm while you're at it!

Oh wait, I forgot, for guitar!
I thought every guitar player knew that:
C-7 = C blues scale
C7 = G blues scale
Cmaj.7 = A blues scale

nyuk nyuk nyuk.



nagrom