Welcome to this 2nd instalment of exotic scales & modes. Today we’re heading to the far east to unearth some inspiration. This is a sound from the depths of ancient Japan. This Hirajoshi Scale is a 5 note scale which makes it a pentatonic scale. Penta meaning 5 in Greek.
These Japanese style pentatonic scales are easy to learn because they feel so similar to the traditional pentatonics and dominant pentatonics. This scale will open up new ideas therefore imbuing your playing with an exotic new sound. If you know your pentatonic scales then learning this Hirajoshi scale will be an exciting addition to your modal arsenal. Additionally if you know your 3nps Major Scale Modes then you can derive these scales from those as well.
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Today we’re going to look at some ways of playing chords with high gain amp settings.
With high gain, power chords sound great, basic triads can sound pretty good too depending on your tone.
7th Chords and beyond however, start to sound ‘muddy’ and unclear like this:
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Today we’re going to be adding some sweep picking into our heavy riffs. Note that I said “INTO” and not “over”. The difference is that these examples would be played on one guitar. Not a lead guitar playing over the top of a rhythm guitar.
In this lesson we’ll be looking at incorporating arpeggios into riffs. We’ll be looking at an example on an 8 string guitar and another on a 6 string. One of the reasons I like 7 and 8 string guitars is because you can get plenty of low end without losing any of the higher notes. Mixing lower riffs with arpeggios that go up into the higher notes can give your playing some really interesting dynamics. So, let’s check out these ideas with some examples.
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In this quick licks webisode we’re going to look at extending the basic 5 string sweep picked arpeggio shapes to make them sound much bigger and more interesting. This is a good exercise in beginning to advance your sweep picking ability. Lets look at some easy extensions you can add to the two most common sweep picked arpeggio shapes.
These will make your arpeggios sound much bigger and cover more of the neck. These extended sweep picking ideas are the next step in becoming an efficient sweep picker. The basic 5 string shapes now cover 6 strings, however we’ll do this in a way that still feels familiar. It’s important that you apply the correct fingering technique to ensure these sound as smooth as silk.
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Welcome guitar fans! In this webisode we’re going to learn to extend the modes of melodic minor into a 3 octave format. This will help you explore more of the guitar neck using these modes. We’ll also learn some modal theory to understand how to use these modes in practice.
If you’ve already checked out the three octave major scale modes or the three octave harmonic minor modes you’ll know how this three octave formatting works. However in this lesson we’ll be looking at the 3 octave melodic minor modes. Because this is a really simple formula you can apply it to any scale or mode and cover more fretboard. As a result you’ll add more diversity and possibility to your lead playing.
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In this lesson we’re going continue to build on our knowledge of music theory and learn how to use the Circle of Fifths to change keys.
Let’s take a simple chord progression and put it under the microscope. Analyzing an example like this using the circle of fifths will help you to write your own music and ideas using this concept. If you’ve started to learn about music theory the following progression might seem ‘wrong’:
E Major – D Major – G Major – D Major
This is because there is no Major key which contains all three of these chords. If you want to learn about which chords occur in each key check out this post.
If I play that progression E – D – G – D, it sounds like this:
Today we’re going to look at the ‘Circle of Fifths’. You may have come across the term before, or the ‘Circle of Fourths’, or just ‘The Circle’.
Check out the diagram below and then we’ll look at what it means and why its useful.
As you can see if we move clockwise in The Circle of Fifths we go up in fifths, e.g. C to G. If we move anti-clockwise we go up in fourths, e.g. C to F. The inner ring shows the relative minor key of each Major key. For example the relative minor to C Maj is Am. The relative minor of G Maj is Em etc.
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Welcome! In this lesson we’re going to learn a creative string skipping and tapping sequence that changes key on the same root note, meaning that we’ll change between G Major & G Minor. We’ll also be using some extended arpeggios that use 7th and 9th extensions. If you want to read the lesson later then download the tab book.
We’re going to take two basic string skipping tapped arpeggios and make a sequence out of them to make it more interesting. This tapping sequence uses T2 and T3 tapping, that’s two fingers on your picking hand. Usually I would suggest your middle and ring finger so you can still hold the pick. For a really creative sound that throws your listener off we’re going to change key using the same root note. Let take a look at these basic shapes first and then we can check out the sequence.
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This episode we’re going to look at the 3nps modes for extended range 7 string guitar. The tuning will be B E A D G B E. If you want to know more about modal theory then check out this post for some extended ideas on how the modes for 7 string guitar work. If you want to read this later then download the scale book here. Let’s Go!
Let’s take a look at the major scale modes for 7 string guitar. If you know the modes for 6 string guitar then this will be made even easier since we can reference these. However if you started your guitar story on a 7 string then this will be a helpful starting point. If you don’t know the modes at all it might be worthwhile getting comfortable with these first. You can check out the 6 string major scale modes here.
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Playing through a scale is a great way to warm up your fingers before going into an intense practice session or playing a gig. Today we’re going to look at a simple warmup sequence using the Mixolydian mode, the fifth mode of the Major scale.
You can play this warmup sequence across 6, 7 or 8 strings or extend it further if you have more.
Warming up is very important, especially if you are going to be playing fast, complex or intense riffs. The last thing you want is to strain the ligaments in your hand during practice. Warming up helps prevent repetitive strain injuries and the dreaded condition of carpal tunnel syndrome.
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