This is the second post in my ongoing series on Soloing, Improvising, and Composing. This is a long post, so follow the link below to get to the complete document, including song tabs, and other links.
In the first installment of this series, you recall we were challenged to begin with a song, or at least a chord progression. Once we have our basic song in mind, we can now move on to the real creative process. Or, to state it a bit more hep, "we gonna mess with it, and lay down some mojo."
One of the first steps I always follow when creating is to try out chord substitutions. Substituting alternate chords for those in the base progression will yield new harmonies that will point to new melodies and ideas. (I won't promise you that you will always like them! But, it will open up ideas, and let your ears be your guide.)
Chord substitution involves playing extensions, inversions, or totally different chords in place of the basic chord in a progression. (Look out!!! Here comes some theory!!) Here's the basic concept: Take a simple Cmaj7 chord. It is composed of these notes: C, E, G, B. Take a close look at those notes. If you start on the E, and build a triad using the same notes from the C chord, you get E, G, B. Recognize that? That is an Em chord! What that means is, the Cmaj7 chord, (the root chord in the C scale), contains an Em chord "inside". This means you can substitute an Em chord for a C chord in tunes written in C, and it will usually sound "ok". It will definitely sound different, because your putting a minor in place of a major sound. But, none of the notes are "wrong", or chromatic.
This process can be extended to other chords in a given scale. In general, the following substitutions will work.
I = iii = vi (The I chord, aka the "root", can be substituted with a minor 3rd, (the iii), or the minor 6th, (the vi), which is the relative minor to the scale.....)
IV = ii (The minor 2nd chord can be substituted for the major 4th in a given scale)
V = vii (The 7 chord can be substituted for the dominant 7th (the V7) chord)
I was experimenting with some triads, and attempting some extensions. Adding some flat or sharped 5ths, 9ths, 11-ses.... that kind o' thing. Along the way I came up with this little chord melody. So, I put it down for posterity. Here, I'll go over the basics of the tune, and details on recording, etc.
This tune is a "chordal melody", and these are fun to create on accoustic guitar!! (Head over to MusicDispatch for books on Chord Melodies, Chord Libraries, etc.) It's in A, and/or Am. It's in 3/4 time at the start, (a waltz!!), and switches to 4/4 for the swing part. (When Slim walks in.....) If you look closely at the beginning of the tune, you'll see me doing some "interesting" A chords. The first is some kind of inverted A5, followed by an inverted A7add6, moving to a boring ol' D. This was the "invention" that started everything off.
From there, I got this melody in my head that I wanted to follow. Basically, what I did was, pick out the notes of the melody, (focusing on the B and E strings), and then fill in chords on top of the melody notes with whatever sounded "cool". I really wanted to stay away from the major chord sounds here, so I focused on filling in with minor 6ths, minor7thflat5ths, etc., etc. I've discovered that, if you know the chord shapes, you can select one that has the melody note where you want it, and then listen to see if it works. This is where it pays to have a big vocabulary of chords to pick from. So again, the process was
Create the melody on the high strings
Fill in above the melody note with a chord from your chord vocabulary
Once I had the basic tune(s) in my head, I moved on to finishing the song form. This is where I like to fire up my Band In The Box (BIAB) program. Using BIAB, I wrote down the chords for the backing track. BIAB is great for doing this as you can just select a style, and write out the chords, and it does the rest. I find BIAB is EXTREMELY useful for "finishing" a composition. For example, in this case, I had a couple of melodies, etc., in mind. However, it wasn't until I tried to set them down in BIAB that I "discovered" the true form of the song I was writing. For example, if you listen carefully, you'll note there is a measure of 4/4 right in the middle of the 3/4 waltz. I had been playing it that way to make the melody work. However, I didn't fully understand it until I attempted to tell BIAB how to "back me up". That's what I mean by "finishing" a composition.
Band In The Box is VERY intuitive, but it's not always perfect. (What software ever is??!?!) One area I had trouble with was changing tempos and meters on specific bars. BIAB has a very intuitive utility for doing this, but I've found it doesn't always work like you want it to. For example, in the 3/4 waltz, there is that one bar that has 4 counts. What I tried at first, which didn't work, was to create a 4/4 bar on that measure, and then switch back to 3/4 on the next measure. What I had to do instead was, ADD a measure of a single (1) beat between two 3/4 measures, and that worked. I had some similar trouble when switching over to the 4/4 swing section in the middle. I had originally set the entire song style as a waltz (3/4), and then attempted to switch over to a 4/4 swing where I wanted to. That did NOT work. What I had to do instead was, set the style of the ENTIRE song as 4/4, and then set the bars I wanted to be 3/4. I don't understand why it wouldn't work the other way, (which seems more intuitive to me), but it wouldn't. By setting the base style of the song as 3/4, (a waltz), BIAB could NOT figure out how to handle the 4/4 bars when I switched into them. However, starting as a 4/4, and switching into 3/4, (and back again), DID work.
Once I had a backing track built in BIAB, I used a few tricks to bring it to life. For example, I turned off everything but the drums on the bars that lead into the 4/4 swing section. That sounded "cool", and more "realistic". BIAB makes that easy by adding dots, ("."), after the chords in the editor.
Now that I had a backing track, I wanted to do a recording. For this, I relied on the trusty BOSS BR-600 (again!). Step one was, I recorded my BIAB backing track via the line-in into the BR-600, on tracks 5/6. Now I flipped over to track 1 for the guitar input.
At this point, I had to spend some time picking an effect I liked. I had just put new strings on the Gretsch, and I found I was not liking everything I was hearing. The lower A and E strings REALLY resonate on that hollow body. I couldn't seem to get them balanced well with the top 4 strings. (Next up: Experimenting with unmatched string sets on the Gretsch. Stay tuned !!) Anyway, I found an effect I liked, but as you'll notice, I really struggled with overdriving it. If you listen closely, you'll hear that it's really overdriven in a few spots.
To compensate for the overdriving, I decided to add another effect to the sound AFTER I had done the initial bounce of the tracks to make the song. The BR-600 has an effect called, "Classic LP" that sounds like the song is playing on an old analog phonograph. (Retro dude!!) I set up the BR to play the output of my tune through this effect, and re-bounced the song to create the final.
And that's it! For the video, I just used Windoze Movie Maker (again), and selected a few "antiquing" effects to match the audio. I had an idea to do something really cool with the video, (so it wasn't just watching ME sit and play!!). BUT, after spending 5 hours FAILING to get some video editing programs to work, (Adobe AfterEffects, Wax 2.0, Jahshaka), I gave up. (Can anyone recommend any GOOD video editing programs???)
Folks, if you haven't checked out GuitarPro yet, then now is definitely the time! GuitarPro is THE ultimate tool for creating your own tabs and/or editing tabs you can download off the web.
I use GuitarPro all the time for writing down ideas, and what not. Not only does it help me store my musics for later retrieval, but it gives me an awesome tool for working out kinks and nits in my ideas. ("Hey, I need a bar of 2/4 right there....") As another idea, I have used GuitarPro to create the score for a song (using the tab editor), then exported it to MIDI for import into Ableton (my DAW). Bingo! I have a fast, intuitive way of creating a melody, for subsequent editing and final work up in my DAW. Quite powerful.
I can not stress enough the importance of KNOWING the fretboard. It is absolutely essential for soloing and improvising. But it will also benefit even the most novice player by helping him understand how to build chords all over the neck, and by giving him confidence when playing the guitar.
Fretboard logic, or fretboard mastery is the concept of understanding how the fretboard is laid out end to end, and across all six strings. It is the concept of seeing any note on the fretboard, and immediately knowing where every other note is in relation to it. Imagine how much easier playing could be if, when seeing your finger holding a root note on the guitar, you immediately knew where to find the 3rd, 5th, 7th, b3rd, #5th, 4th, and/or any other note of the scale. It should be easy to see how this would help with soloing AND with chord creation across the fretboard.
There are some great books out there that will teach you fretboard mastery. Here are a couple available from MusicDispatch that I recommend. (You might want to right-click the links, and open in a new tab. The links will take you to the product page.)
I have used this one extensively, and have even bought a few extras for family and friends. This MI press book is laid out like a workbook with exercises, and places for you to fill in your answers. Bring your pencils to class!
This book looks to be another in the Grimoire series. Although I haven't tried any of the Grimoire books myself yet, I'm thinking this might be my first one to try! Looks very useful.
Ok, that's it for this installment. Now get out there, and master that fretboard!
Here is a list of my top guitar apps for the iPhone. I have downloaded many others, but these I've found to be the most useful. I can honestly say I use the "toolkits" from Agile Partners daily. And, Beatmaker is just a blast to practice with. ("DJ Master Student, in da house !!" *ahem*)
Anyway, clicking on the iTunes link next to the app name will take you to iTunes where you can learn all about the app, and buy one fo' yo' ownself!
There is a wealth of training material available today for anyone wanting to learn to play the guitar. (In fact, you can purchase some right now by clicking some of the links on this blog.) (Ok, STOP THAT!!!) This set of articles is focused on helping you get better at creating your own guitar solos and compositions, which will ultimately lead you to becoming a better improviser. These articles will not replace or, (heaven forbid!!) rehash any of the plethora of guitar study materlal already available. Instead, I intend to show you an organized method for creating solos and improvising that will build on all the other lessons already available. I’m going to show you how I organize all that other guitar training when I want to create my own unique “music”. If you stick with me through this, I believe I can help you understand how to get the biggest bang for your buck from all that other guitar training material out there, and probably even answer a few questions you’ve had such as, “why would anybody want to practice THAT anyway?”
It is worth taking a moment to understand why I play the guitar. Uniqueness, and individuality are at the core of my motivation for learning the guitar. I’m seeking to express myself musically in ways that are unique, and enjoyable by others. I want to create new, individual compositions that will be enjoyable to play, and that others will enjoy hearing. (Else, why play at all??) To that end, I study other player’s solos, compositions, and techniques with a focus on what I can learn to help me create my own, unique “compositions”. I point this out because not everyone plays guitar for this same reason. And, it is important that each player take the time to understand their own motivations and drives. Some people play because they truly are interested in performing. Being on stage, providing entertainment is the key for these players. As such, when they study someone else’s material, they will be looking for how it can be used to help them create a better performance, which is not necessarily what I’m looking to understand. Having said that, I do believe what I’m about to explain is useful for EVERY guitar student. Understanding an organized method for creating compositions is comparable to understanding a little theory, practicing scales, or any other fundamental. It may not be your prime focus, but it can certainly help ANYONE with whatever focus is their prime. Let’s begin.
Our little edutainment enterprise is happy to announce plans to become an affiliate for MusicDispatch.com. MusicDispatch is the retail arm for Hal Leonard publishing. And just how big is Hal Leonard, you ask? (C'mon, ask !!!!) Well, if you've ever looked around for guitar instructional material, I'm sure you must have run across one of these:
Musician's Institute
Guitar Grimoire
Mel Bay
Berklee Press
Alfred Guitar
Plus too many more to name here. Hal Leonard publishes thousands, (millions ??), of guitar instructional books, videos, magazines, and other publications. Stay-tuned, once we get the paperwork ironed out, I'll break down the various publications available to make it easier to know what to search for the next time you go looking.
Had an interesting exchange on one of my YouTube vids around this problem with MIDI sync IN to an RC50 looper. Now, if I was a social-media expert, I'd know how to have the entire exchange show up here live. (Is that possible???)
Anyway, using MIDI to sync various electronic musical devices, including loop stations, is an interesting topic, and still quite a bit of a black art. If you want to read an interesting exchange, check out the comments on the following video. You can check out the video, (and rate it too please !!), if you like. But, the discussion is in the comments under the video. Check it out.
Everyone plays guitar for their own reasons. In my case, I'm interested in free-expression in the form of soloing, improvising, and composing. I claim jazz as one of my influences, even though I'm far from a "jazz guitar" player. What I am, is someone interested in creating my own voice, and my own expression using the guitar. For me, it's all about originality. (But, hopefully good originality...)
Along the way, I've developed some concepts of my own that I use when practicing and playing the guitar. I used many of these techniques to create the song Grace and Harmonics demonstrated in the video below. What I intend to do over the next few months is write out what I've learned, and how I use it. Don't worry, I'm not going to bore you by rehashing the plethora of other guitar training material out there. (Originality, remember??!?) And, I think what I have to offer will help anyone interested in becoming a better guitar player.
So, stay tuned!! And for now, enjoy Grace and Harmonics!
I ran across an interesting site yesterday. It is GuitarScaleMastery.com, and I found a very interesting chart there for memorizing the major scale modes. You can check it out here:
As many of you may know, I use the Boss BR-600 for a lot of "studio" recording. (I also have a Zoom H4 I use for "live" stuff.) Here's a little tongue-in-cheek video I did demonstrating my thought process for recording a song solo. And, when I say "solo", I mean I recorded the entire thing myself. Lead, rhythm, drums, etc, etc. (I even shot the video by myself....)
As always, if you have questions / comments, drop me a line. Also, I can make tabs available if there is interest.
Well, I've written, and recorded, another new song. I call it "Anthem of the Accepted," and you can check it out on MyJonesMusic by clicking on the following link. (You'll have to click the "Play Song" button when you get there.... And watch your volume. My Jones Music always starts cranked all the way up..... )
I tried something different this time. I'm relying a lot more on the recording equipment to help with the composition, etc. And, I spent a lot more time working out the drum fills, etc, instead of just relying on the out-of-box samples. I did this all on the trusty dusty Boss BR-600. I had envisioned doing more with background instruments, (keys, etc), but once I got into it with the guitar, I thought this sounded pretty good, so I just stuck to that. Add a few Boss effects, and my Gretsch was once again doing double duty as the bass, and lead.
I've got a tab started for this, and will make it available if anyone wants it. I'd like to hear some feedback on the song, and recording, etc, first. I'm still trying to figure out how to polish the final version better, (along with working on some faster licks). I've learned in the past that, parts I don't think sound all that great can be fixed with recording techniques often better than rewriting, or re-recording the part from scratch. I think I'm going to check out Cubase next, to see if I can get even more control over the final mix-down, etc.
Anyway, check it out, and please comment, and rate. I need the feedback. (Honestly!!)
The continuing saga of MIDI sync of the Boss looper and Ableton. (Actually, it goes even deeper than that!!!)
My objective has been to use Ableton, (or some DAW), and/or a drum machine, synced up with the Boss RC50 looper, to create unique live performances. I'm all about solo-ing, and improvisation. And, these tools offer a guitarist a unique opportunity. BUT, they can be extremely .... complicated.
In this instance, I used Band In The Box, (look it up), to create the original backing track. Then, I exported that to MIDI file. Then, I imported the MIDI into Ableton. I goobered around with it in Ableton until I got something I kind of liked. (Although, in hindsight, I'd like a LOT more drums....). That required finishing up the backing track, as well as working out all the guitar licks, and the song form, etc. Then, I MIDI synced it to the RC50, and created.... this work of ART !!!!
I like the tools, but there's still more I'd like to do. The backing track, (Ableton), isn't near as .... dynamic.... (aka LOUD), as I'd like it to be. (For a $500+ piece of software, it should be doing more "stuff".....) However, I'm finally getting the knack of importing stuff into Ableton, and editing it. I got nowhere to go from here, but up tho.........
The MIDI stuff is working OK. I originally tried going FROM Ableton to Boss RC50, but that SUCKED..... The RC50 could NOT get the same tempo as Ableton, and was constantly slowing down. The only way I got it to work was to sync FROM RC50, TO Ableton. SOoooo, I had to work everything out around that foundation.
Finally, this is fun, BUT, it makes playing the guitar VERY difficult. Because, I'm no longer just playing the guitar. Now, I'm effectively, (.... well ok... "essentially", I'll let you decide how "effective" I was...), playing band conductor, as well as drum "manager", BESIDES just playing the guitar. I'm not gonna kid you. This is work..... I don't know what you think of my guitar playing here. BUT, it's a fact, it would be easier IF I didn't have to concentrate on 3+ things all at once.
Here's some ideas for you to focus on in the video. And, if you want more info, feel free to comment or email. I'll respond as I can.
Using Ableton as a backing DAW. Composing backing tracks in Ableton.
Syncing Ableton with Boss loopers. It can be done using MIDI, but it isn't perfect....
The song arrangement. I used at least three different arrangements for the lead work on this song. There's some standard positional soloing here, plus some chord substitutions, and a few other things. I'll try to put together a tab, and add it here later.... (I'd be interested to hear how many people would like to have a tab for this....)
The sound recording. Here again, I used my Zoom H4 to record this live. That works, but it could sound much better if more effort was put into just the recording technique(s).
Still looking for the uber-chord dictionary for guitar. What I'm looking for is something that will help visualize chords through a progression for a given position. I'm looking for an app that can help me learn more chords by organizing, and presenting them in some meaningful way.
For example, would like to start with a G major in some position, and have the app present different exstensions, sustains, etc, in such a way as to make remembering them easier. (For example, change one note and go to a G9, or Gadd2, swing a different way, and show a Gsus4, swing again and go to Gmin.....)
But, as far as dictionaries go, you can never have too many. And, this one is very useable.
I'm an avid guitar player and enthusiast. I play in the No Cash Value band, (www.NCVBand.com), and I enjoy sharing information about music and the guitar.
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