You’ve probably heard from several players that learning licks or lines is an important ingredient to mastering improvising. I’m no exception. It has been proven to me time after time how helpful emulating favorite musicians is to developing as a player. Despite popular belief, we’re not born with music running through our veins. We have to put it there. Only a very very few musicians are “naturals” able to make up their own music without hearing or copying other players. Most of us normal folk need to surround ourselves with music and force feed it to ourselves. After a few short years of copying the licks and styles of our heroes, we will begin to discover our own individual style.
Let me give you the short version of my own learning guitar story. When I was young I never gave the notion of sounding “original” a second thought. I simply wanted to sound exactly like my favorite players. In my late teens and early twenties I practiced over ten hours a day. I’d latch on to the “hot” guy at the time and spend weeks trying to cop every note off his record. Over the next ten years or so I emulated many of the top players traversing from rock to blues and finally spending the most time in the jazz world. If someone came up to me at a gig and said “Don, you sound just like George Benson!” I would happily respond with: “Thank you very much!” I had accomplished my goal.
A few years later when playing a gig in L.A. an excited fan came up to me and said; “Don, I have never heard anyone play like that before! How did you come up with all that stuff?” He insisted that I had a very original style and wanted to know how I developed it. I told him that it just happened all by itself. I explained that sounding like no one else was not my intent, I just wanted to play as well as the guys on my records. I later realized that my style was a natural evolution of learning. No matter how hard I tried to sound like my record collection, I would always end up sounding like myself.
Students of other art forms such as painting or poetry, also find that emulating the styles of the masters paves the way to their own originality. My playing is a mixture of many influences culminating into my own style. (My only regret is not spending more time on horn and piano players.)
I should mention that throughout my years of studying recordings, I paralleled this with an intense study of music theory. All the hot licks in the world would have been useless had I not known what scale or chords they belonged to. Theory can also help you find new ways to use licks that you know. I soon began to superimpose lines over different chords than on the recording. I also changed individual notes, rhythms, added bends, as well as stylistic inflections such as hammer-ons and pull-offs.
And then there is musical style. Who says you have to play lines in the same style, or with the same guitar sound as the original artist? This was my ace in the hole. I often took lines from traditional jazz players like Joe Pass and played them in a jazz/fusion setting with screaming distortion on my Les Paul. I combined maybe a Hendrix lick with a Pat Martino phrase. McLaughlin with Montgomery, etc. You get the idea.
I could name a long list of extraordinary guitar players who all learned to play the same way I did. In many cases, it’s nearly impossible, when hearing them play, detecting who their influences were.
The note-for-note learning of lines from recordings or from books mature in a players mind and soul in the following manner. At first, a new line may feel foreign with uncomfortable fingerings, tricky picking patterns and unfamiliar sounds. After a few weeks of practicing the line, it starts to feel more natural yet still seems a bit mechanical. Several months later the line is comfortable but you still must consciously think of it as “so and so’s lick” to recall it. After a year or so, the line starts to become a part of you. You find yourself humming it and can play it with almost unconscious thought. The line by now has also probably changed a bit. You might be playing it with different accents or maybe changed a few notes or the rhythmic orientation (triplets instead of 8th notes, etc). You may even have unknowingly connected it to another line idea.
And finally, a few years down the road, you may not even remember the specific line as you first learned it. It has evolved to a pure musical thought that you “hear” in your head. And “playing what you hear” is, after all, what improvising is all about.
- Don Mock
Monday, September 7, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Chord Construction Tips by Don Mock
1. Chords must be built by stacking notes (scale tones) in an ascending order. 1-3-5-7--9-11 etc. You cannot, for example, build a chord such as: 1-3-11-5-9 or 9-1-3-5-13-11. These must be stacked in order: 1-3-5-7-9-11 and 1-3-5-7-9-11-13. And you must include all lower extensions below higher ones such as 1-3-5-b7-9-11-13 for example, C13.
2. The 7th degree is always flatted if the 3rd is also flatted. Such as; 1-b3-5-b7.
However, if, for example, the chord needed was a minor with a natural 7th, (1-b3-5-7) then the chord symbol must show; Cmin/maj7 (a C minor triad with a major 7th on top).
3. All chords in the Dominant family must have the 7th flatted while the third remains major. Dominant 7th's such as C9; 1-3-5-b7-9 or C11; 1-3-5-b7-9-11, or C13; 1-3-5-b7-9-11-13. Also, the chord symbol for Dominant 7th’s do not show the flatted 7th. They are written; C7 or Eb7 etc (1-3-5-b7) It is assumed that the 7th is flatted. Dominant family chords always have just the major triad name; C, and the 7 or highest extension in the chord symbol name (C9, C11 or C13).
4. The word “Add” is used to add only that pitch to a chord. Cadd9 or Cmin6add#11. Suspend means to raise the 3rd to a 4th, such as C9sus or Cmin9sus. (both of these examples happen to result in the same chord)
Some Sample Chord Constructions:
Cmin7 1-b3-5-b7 (C-Eb-G-Bb)
Cmaj7 1-3-5-7
C7 1-3-5-b7
Cmin7b5 1-b3-b5-b7
Cdim7 1-b3-b5-bb7
C9 1-3-5-b7-9
C11 1-3-5-b7-9-11
C13 1-3-5-b7-9-11-13
Cmin9 1-b3-5-b7-9
Cmin11 1-b3-5-b7-9-11
Cmin13 1-b3-5-b7-9-11-13
Cmaj9 1-3-5-7-9
C7b9 1-3-5-b7-b9
C9b5 1-3-b5-b7-9
C13#9 1-3-5-b7-#9-11-13
Cmin7#5 1-b3-#5-b7
Cmaj7#11 1-3-5-7-#11
Csus add9 1-4-5-9
C13#5b9 1-3-#5-b7-b9-11-13
Caug7 1-3-#5-b7
Cmin/maj9 1-b3-5-7-9
Omitting Tones
The above explanation shows how chords are constructed from a basic music theory point of view. When it comes to practical application, especially for guitar players, notes are usually omitted or removed from a chord voicing. In fact it’s a necessity when attempting to play a 7-note chord on an instrument only capable of six.
So which ones can be left off? It usually depends on the musical situation but here’s a practical guide to follow:
1. Roots can sometimes be omitted from a chord if it is being played by other instruments such as a bass or implied by the situation.
2. 5ths can often be omitted because of the physics of sound. The 5th is implied by the root of the chord and is even present as an overtone in the root.
3. Lower extensions can be omitted. If a chord is Cmaj13, for example, the lower extensions 9th and 11th can be removed.
Here’s the bottom line when it comes to omitting chord tones:
You should try to have all the tones necessary to capture the sound and personality of the chord.
Chords should have a 3rd to tell the listener the chord is major or minor.
Chords need to have the 7th to tell the listener the chord is either major 7th or dominant 7th. And chords need to have any additions, suspensions or extensions that are written in the chord symbol.
Also, any alterations, shown in the chord symbol, should be played.
Below are some example chords shown in reduced form (taken from the list above).
The root is retained for these examples.
Cmin9 1-b3-b7-9
Cmin11 1-b3b7-11
Cmin13 1-b3-b7-13
Cmaj9 1-3-7-9
C7b9 1-3-b7-b9
C9b5 1-3-b5-b7-9
C13#9 1-3-b7-#9-13
Cmin7#5 1-b3-#5-b7
Cmaj7#11 1-3-5-7-#11
Csus add9 1-4-5-9
C13#5b9 1-3-#5-b7-b9-13
Caug7 1-3-#5-b7
Cmin/maj9 1-b3-7-9
On guitar, choosing voicings is up to each player and is usually influenced by the music style being played. In many situations, and depending on the chord, it may be preferable to include notes such as the 5th and some lower extensions to get a fuller sound. Other times you might play small two or three note voicings to get the point across. There’s just no exact rule.
-Don Mock
2. The 7th degree is always flatted if the 3rd is also flatted. Such as; 1-b3-5-b7.
However, if, for example, the chord needed was a minor with a natural 7th, (1-b3-5-7) then the chord symbol must show; Cmin/maj7 (a C minor triad with a major 7th on top).
3. All chords in the Dominant family must have the 7th flatted while the third remains major. Dominant 7th's such as C9; 1-3-5-b7-9 or C11; 1-3-5-b7-9-11, or C13; 1-3-5-b7-9-11-13. Also, the chord symbol for Dominant 7th’s do not show the flatted 7th. They are written; C7 or Eb7 etc (1-3-5-b7) It is assumed that the 7th is flatted. Dominant family chords always have just the major triad name; C, and the 7 or highest extension in the chord symbol name (C9, C11 or C13).
4. The word “Add” is used to add only that pitch to a chord. Cadd9 or Cmin6add#11. Suspend means to raise the 3rd to a 4th, such as C9sus or Cmin9sus. (both of these examples happen to result in the same chord)
Some Sample Chord Constructions:
Cmin7 1-b3-5-b7 (C-Eb-G-Bb)
Cmaj7 1-3-5-7
C7 1-3-5-b7
Cmin7b5 1-b3-b5-b7
Cdim7 1-b3-b5-bb7
C9 1-3-5-b7-9
C11 1-3-5-b7-9-11
C13 1-3-5-b7-9-11-13
Cmin9 1-b3-5-b7-9
Cmin11 1-b3-5-b7-9-11
Cmin13 1-b3-5-b7-9-11-13
Cmaj9 1-3-5-7-9
C7b9 1-3-5-b7-b9
C9b5 1-3-b5-b7-9
C13#9 1-3-5-b7-#9-11-13
Cmin7#5 1-b3-#5-b7
Cmaj7#11 1-3-5-7-#11
Csus add9 1-4-5-9
C13#5b9 1-3-#5-b7-b9-11-13
Caug7 1-3-#5-b7
Cmin/maj9 1-b3-5-7-9
Omitting Tones
The above explanation shows how chords are constructed from a basic music theory point of view. When it comes to practical application, especially for guitar players, notes are usually omitted or removed from a chord voicing. In fact it’s a necessity when attempting to play a 7-note chord on an instrument only capable of six.
So which ones can be left off? It usually depends on the musical situation but here’s a practical guide to follow:
1. Roots can sometimes be omitted from a chord if it is being played by other instruments such as a bass or implied by the situation.
2. 5ths can often be omitted because of the physics of sound. The 5th is implied by the root of the chord and is even present as an overtone in the root.
3. Lower extensions can be omitted. If a chord is Cmaj13, for example, the lower extensions 9th and 11th can be removed.
Here’s the bottom line when it comes to omitting chord tones:
You should try to have all the tones necessary to capture the sound and personality of the chord.
Chords should have a 3rd to tell the listener the chord is major or minor.
Chords need to have the 7th to tell the listener the chord is either major 7th or dominant 7th. And chords need to have any additions, suspensions or extensions that are written in the chord symbol.
Also, any alterations, shown in the chord symbol, should be played.
Below are some example chords shown in reduced form (taken from the list above).
The root is retained for these examples.
Cmin9 1-b3-b7-9
Cmin11 1-b3b7-11
Cmin13 1-b3-b7-13
Cmaj9 1-3-7-9
C7b9 1-3-b7-b9
C9b5 1-3-b5-b7-9
C13#9 1-3-b7-#9-13
Cmin7#5 1-b3-#5-b7
Cmaj7#11 1-3-5-7-#11
Csus add9 1-4-5-9
C13#5b9 1-3-#5-b7-b9-13
Caug7 1-3-#5-b7
Cmin/maj9 1-b3-7-9
On guitar, choosing voicings is up to each player and is usually influenced by the music style being played. In many situations, and depending on the chord, it may be preferable to include notes such as the 5th and some lower extensions to get a fuller sound. Other times you might play small two or three note voicings to get the point across. There’s just no exact rule.
-Don Mock
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