IntellectualMusician.com

If you look at my last article, “superimposing arpeggios” you’ll read how it is possible to superimpose a different arpeggio of a chord from the same parent scale over the chord that you are improvising on. In this lesson I am going to take it one step further and combine it with another of my previous articles “Jazz Up Your Blues Progressions”, in which I describe how to add a jazz flavor to your blues progressions by adding different chord substitutions throughout the sequence. Continue reading »

When playing over a particular chord how many different arpeggios would you consider using? Over any chord you can superimpose a large number of different arpeggios which can give you greater harmonic choices. In this lesson I am going to look at one approach of doing this. By having a parent scale in mind (ie playing in a specific key) whether it’s for one chord, a chord sequence or for a whole piece of music, I’m going to show how to determine all the different arpeggios that are available to play over each chord in that key. Continue reading »

As a guitar player and guitar teacher I meet a lot of people who always wanted to play jazz but thought it was too difficult so they never give it a go. This lesson is kind of aimed at those players who want to jazz up their blues playing without too much stress. It’s not designed as quick-fix but will get you sounding much more jazzy in just a few simple steps. Continue reading »

How many of you guitarists out there can play in any key, any scale in any position on the neck? I would lay a bet that there are more that can’t than can. This lesson will put you on the right path to breaking out of those comfortable boxes and shapes that you have probably become used to. Continue reading »

The blues scale was the first thing they taught me when I got into jazz band in high school. It’s a simple scale to learn, and all the tones sound good over blues changes. The advantage of knowing it Continue reading »

Here is a couple of finger exercises for guitar / bass that I was taught years ago and I still swear by them now. Although they do not sound particularly melodic they are great for coordinating your fingers, especially your little finger. Continue reading »

The whole tone scale is one of the most underused scales in improvising, in my opinion. It has revolutionized my approach to improvising on a tune. People always talk about playing “out” and they will spend years and years working on all kinds of complicated ways of doing it, but the answer is right under our noses and its really not all that complicated. Whole steps. That’s it. Just play whole steps. I’m dramatizing a bit, but essentially that’s the idea I’m talking about. Continue reading »

How is your bassdrum technique? Many drummers are looking for a better way to control their foot technique as it seems the bass drum presents the most challenge on the conventional drumkit . Most of us are looking for some type of secret technique to conquer it’s mass and awkwardness. There are however many ways which to address this issue however today we will talk about a simple secret that is very effective. Continue reading »

Have you ever wanted to go to a music store and get a book that had the best information on how to play guitar, explained in ways that were easy to understand and made sense, and not know which book to buy? Ever go out and get that book, only to discover that it had a bunch of information that you didn’t need and didn’t make a good deal of sense after all? Ever wonder whether the “get chops quick” guitar methods so prevalent on the Internet today are really ripoffs? Well, no need for further frustration, help is here. Continue reading »

Just when you thought it was safe to return to the fretboard nasty Uncle Richie adds another finger and brain twisting section to the hell that is the Exercise of Doom. Continue reading »

Exercise of Doom Part 1The exercise of Doom as I christened this 15 years ago. Is a way of practicing major scale fingerings. Continue reading »

In this installment we’ll explore the playing of chords on the bass. While this stretches a bit beyond ‘basic’ I think is is an often unexplored area for new bassists. It is another tool for creating interesting basslines and is particularly useful in situations such as a trio (or 4 piece with a singer who’s not playing another instrument) where the bass may need to occupy more space. Use of chords on bass crosses many genres as well, including jazz, classical and rock. Some bands and players to check out for chordal bass work would be Rush, Primus, Stu Hamm, and John Patitucci (especially his “Heart of the Bass” cd.). My band Strange Land also employs this technique.
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As far as rock guitar lead is concerned, it is the scale of all scales, the mother lode so to speak, the scale used early and often by such lead guitar greats as Jimmy Page, Edward Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Slash, and Neal Schon, to name a few. If indeed a rock n’ roll encyclopedia exists specifically for rock lead guitar (and who knows, there might be one floating out on the web somewhere), this scale would and should appear on the top, right up front. Continue reading »

George Van Eps first coined the phrase “lap piano” as a way to describe his style of guitar playing. I think I would have to agree with this methodology. In this lesson we’ll discuss an approach to the instrument that will make your harmonic playing more melodic, and your melody playing more harmonic. -This is a good one so check it out! Continue reading »

Using substitute chords is a common practice that spices up chord changes and often makes melodies sound more “modern.” The most common chord substitution you see is the tritone sub. Continue reading »

Hi all, thanks for checking out my first intellectualmusician.com article. Here is my take on modes, how I learned them and how I use them. I have a few different approaches I use depending on the situation. Caleb Raney also has a recent article covering modes and their application to chords, check it out Modes Demystified. Continue reading »

I’m sure a lot of you out there who are just getting into jazz have heard about modes. And if your experience was anything like mine what you’ve heard is very difficult to understand gibberish. Today we’re going to take a look at modes and why they work in a rather easy to understand way. Continue reading »

Conducting is one of the most important tools you can acquire to assist you in rhythmic transcription. In this article I’ll explain why this is, and how to use this skill. Continue reading »