Working with "Out" tones
Posted by zylaxis - Feb 06, 2005 @ 04:56:59 PM
filling in the chromatic spaces in scales and modes
hi all, recently in the Music Discussion section of the message board, there was
a question raised about how to use outside chromatic notes and make 'em sound
good. John Petrucci, who i think we all would agree is a monster player, had
some GREAT Guitar World articles back in the day talking about this very
subject. I can't find the exact article (my magazine pile has like 200+ back
issues in it- one of these days it's gonna fall over and they'll find my
crushed, lifeless body decomposing underneath a pile of mags with an article
like "Lindsay Buckingham talks fingerstyle" sprawled across my face :P), but I
can convey the basic approach here. Essentially, you just take any three
notes-per-string scale fingering (for example, 'A Ionian', cause i feel lazy
today):
E
|--------------------------------7-9-10-|
B
|-------------------------7-9-10--------|
G
|-------------------6-7-9---------------|
D
|-------------6-7-9---------------------|
A
|-------5-7-9---------------------------|
E
|-5-7-9---------------------------------|
and simply add whatever fingers remain unused to the mix, giving
yourself a nice neat scale run with chromatic tones thrown in more-or-less at
random:
E
|------------------------------------------7-8-9-10-|
B
|---------------------------------7-8-9-10----------|
G
|-------------------------6-7-8-9-------------------|
D
|-----------------6-7-8-9---------------------------|
A
|---------5-7-8-9-----------------------------------|
E
|-5-7-8-9-------------------------------------------|
cool, huh? no credit to me- like i said, i ripped
this off Petrucci years ago. it's the best way i know of to really get into
chromatic runs.
once you have the fingering down, you can turn this into
licks just like any other scale. here's a basic 4-note sequence, similar to
something Pat Metheny might use:
E
||------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B
||------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G
||------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D
||-----------------------------------------------6-----6-7--6-7-8-6-7-8-9-|
A
||---------------5-----5-7---5-7-8-5-7-8-9-7-8-9---8-9----9---------------|
E
||-5-7-8-9-7-8-9---8-9-----9----------------------------------------------|
E
|------------------------------------------------------------------------7-|
B
|---------------------------------------7----7-8---7-8-9-7-8-9-10-8-9-10---|
G
|-------6-----6-7---6-7-8-6-7-8-9-7-8-9---8-9----9-------------------------|
D
|-7-8-9---8-9-----9--------------------------------------------------------|
A
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E
|-----7-8----7-8-9-7-8-9-10-12-11-10-9-10-9-8-7-9-8-7----8-7------7-------|
B
|9-10-----10------------------------------------------10-----10-9---10-9-8|
G
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
A
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B
|-10-9-8-7-9-8-7---8-7-----7-----------------------------------------------|
G
|----------------9-----9-8---9-8-7-9-8-7-6-8-7-6---7-6-----6---------------|
D
|------------------------------------------------9-----9-8---9-8-7-9-8-7-6-|
A
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
[repeat until brain cramps up]
E
|---------------------------------------------------------||
B
|---------------------------------------------------------||
G
|---------------------------------------------------------||
D
|-8-7-6---7-6-----6---------------------------------------||
A
|-------9-----9-8---9-8-7-9-8-7-5-8-7-5---7-5-----5-------||
E
|---------------------------------------9-----9-8---9-8-7-||
hope this helps! if i get enough responses, i'll do
a follow-up; i have REAMS of these exercises. :) -dave
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