Hey there! In this lesson we’re going to be looking at emulating the tones and sounds of other instruments on the guitar, focusing on 3 instruments from the Far East, the Pipa, the Koto and the Shackuhachi (Japanese Flute). Being brought up on a diet of old Kung Fu movies and Manga, the distinctive music of the Orient has always been of great interest to me Continue reading »
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 »
Kumoi Joshi is an exotic sounding Japanese pentatonic scale comprising of the intervals R b2 4 5 and b6. This scale can be used to spice up your solos with a fresh sound and as it is similar to Phrygian can be used to great effect in modern metal. 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 »
In celebration of UK rock band Muse selling out the new Wembley Stadium in June, I’m going to be looking at the playing style of singer/guitarist Matt Bellamy, paying to particular attention to the band’s “Showbiz” and “Origin of Symmetry” era.
After forming in Teignmouth Devon in 1994 Muse have managed to become one of the biggest rock bands on the planet, although many would have thought their mind blowing headlining set at Glastonbury 2004 would have been the peak of their career, Muse have once again raised the bar for what it means to be the ultimate live band. Continue reading »
Hello there,
It’s Nick Andrew (the Mad Scotsman) here with the first in a series of lessons in cliché busting musical ideas for the bold axe men and axe women out there, looking for something more than the latest licks. 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 »
Putting some conscious thought time into the detail of your melody writing can give them a twist or a sound that you might not come to just by ear. Of course, the ear is still king, but there are several ways to examine a melodic line.
The approach I’m outlining today is counterpoint. Counterpoint is simply the movement of two or more melodic lines together. The lines should stand on their own, that is, they will sound good and make some sense played separately. And while counterpoint lines do create harmony, that is incidental to the independent lines. They way the lines interact should be seen as the creation of tension and release.
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Modes are the arrangement of consecutive pitch-names arranged in such a way that there will be whole steps except for two half-steps with the two lower pitches a perfect fifth or fourth apart (and therefore the two upper pitches also a perfect fifth or fourth apart in the same direction). Continue reading »
In the Indian music system which originates from South India, there is a particular form of classification and nomenclature of scales arising out of the maximum number of scales known as “Parent Raagas or Melakarrtaas” These are arranged in a very specific Ascending and descending order. Continue reading »
Music is mysterious stuff. It’s completely invisible. You can’t smell it, taste it or feel it in a normal sense, yet it can touch you. Fair enough you can hear it, but what makes music different from anything else you may hear? After all, it uses the same parts of your body you would use to detect a barking dog, or an engine starting. We have evolved ears as a kind of early warning system for our eyes - We will hear a bus coming before we see it, so we’re less likely to get run over by it. Music was not ‘planned’ by nature, and has no real purpose in our survival except for what we have made of it since we discovered it. Continue reading »
It is certain that every chord combination has tones that distinguish it from others and give it its personality. I am going to review a very simple way to add a little bit extra boost to the chords you might already know. 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 »
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 »
These bits of advice that I’ve heard or read over the years have earned their weight in gold…. Continue reading »
I am making an attempt to go into the intricacies of the traditional and aesthetic aspects of Indian classical music and to give a detailed picture of the universal sound known as “Naada.” “Sound” plays a very important role in human life especially in expressions. It is well expressed by the famous French researcher of Indian classical music, the great Alain Danielou in his book, “A study of Indian classical music,” thus: 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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Hey, in this lesson we’re going to be looking at some lead guitar funk style! The idea here is to accompany the rhythm section and your fellow guitar player with some well chosen melodic, single note lines that compliment the overall feel and groove of the song. This technique, commonly called “popping” Continue reading »
In my last article I talked about how triads can be used to construct more interesting solos. If you take this whole concept one step further you can begin to really incorporate these ideas and shapes in new ways.that will allow you to scale the fret board, somewhat escaping the idea of scales, or combining the knowledge you have of scales with the shapes and melodic sounds of these triads. Continue reading »
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 »
Hi and a big welcome to everyone out there in guitar cyberspace. As this is my first contribution to the site I thought we would begin by taking a look at how to harmonize the Major Scale, This will then help us to determine various chord types and their association within Major keys. Over the coming months I will endeavour to address many guitar related subjects. If you have any suggestions or items that you would like to see included here then please feel free to send me an E-mail. Have fun and I’ll see you next time! 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 »
The first in a series of bass articles covering a wide array of topics. Email me if you have any suggestions. We’ll start with some common blues patterns.
I am a huge advocate of the simple things in life. One of my favorites is the good old 1, 4, 5, progression. In my opinion it is much more difficult to write a simple/easy song that is good than it is to write a complicated/hard song. This is another debate maybe reserved for a different forum. Personally, I do like both, but this article is intended to turn the first notion on it’s head. 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 »
This, like many of my other articles, will be the first in a series discussions which will hopefully get you thinking about different things you can do as an artist to improve your melodies, both in composition as well as improvisation. Continue reading »
The major scale is root of all western music. So it always astounds me just how many guitarists try to avoid it like the plague. A good grasp of this scale can stand you in firm stead for most musical situations! I’ve played just about every type of gig going and this scale has been at the fore in every single gig. So the best advice I can give is get good at major scales as soon as possible! Continue reading »
‘Octave’ is the term used to describe the distance (or ‘interval’) from a one note to another, with half or double the frequency. 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 »
Over the coming weeks I plan on uploading my collection of guitar charts… so you’ve been for warned! I’ll start off with one of my favorites, which is simply the C Major Scale. Everywhere. Continue reading »
As a guitar player who focuses a good deal of his attention on Jazz there have been things I have noticed along the journey to becoming a better musician. The understanding of Harmony is basically the most essential element in becoming a proficient jazz musician. Besides applying this knowledge to your comping it can be directly applied to your soloing and quickly put you on your way to sounding more melodic. Continue reading »
The minor7b5 chord is found diatonically across major and minor scales but is often misunderstood, or worse, poorly applied. Continue reading »
The tetrachord for deriving minor scales is the same as for major, but it is treated differently in two important ways: it starts at the top and descends, and the lower tone of the upper tetrachord is the same as the upper tone of the lower tetrachord — they interlock with no whole step between the tetrachords. Continue reading »
Learning to play scales on any instrument with velocity is an important part of developing a technique which will support anything the player wants to accomplish. It is not the only thing; there are, after all, many other aspects to a solid technique which must be learned. But learning scales is usually one of the first things taught. Continue reading »
Whether you’re a classically trained player looking to branch out into jazz, a budding jazz player looking for more explanation on how to solo over changes, or a rhythm section player starting to approach jazz Continue reading »
In this article, I’m expanding on my previous piece, “Why I-IV-V Works, And Works So Well.” I’ll be adding 7ths to the chords and starting to talk about harmony a little more. Continue reading »
My first article on transposing instruments was a brief overview of instrument transposition, if you’re looking to write for these instruments and don’t play them yourself. Continue reading »
When I’m reading down saxophone music and I see a written pitch, the pitch that sounds is different from the one written. This is because saxophones are in a class of instruments known as “transposing instruments”. Continue reading »
Everyone knows it, a progression so common that entire genres of music are based on it: the I-IV-V. What makes it so powerful? The answer is surprisingly simple Continue reading »
Want to improve your ears? It doesn’t matter whether or not you’re a singer, Solfege can improve your aural ability and make you an all around better musician. Continue reading »
Major what? Augmented who? Intervals can be confusing, but by breaking them down into their smallest forms one can quickly demystify them and the start putting them to use almost immediately. Continue reading »
Many people cringe at the mention of key signatures. In actuality, a key signature can be a huge help and a great short cut to memorizing intervalic relationships, scale shapes, and more. Continue reading »
As explained in the first article of this series “Playing The Right Notes” chord tones are the building blocks of all music. In this article we’ll learn how they are made in just three easy steps. Continue reading »
Music, while being an art, is also VERY much a science. In this lesson I’ll break down what it is that makes certian notes sound better than others, and in my follow-up lesson, “Building Chord Tones” we’ll see how to find as well as play these magic notes.
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