Acoustic Guitar Player

The other day I posted about a blues scale that I invented in my very active musical brain about 3 or 4 in the morning.  So now it’s time to dig a fraction deeper and spread it across thre octaves and also add a few guitar lick exercises.  Scales are great to add to the toolbo, but it needs to be done intelligently in a non-robotic manner, else a person can become a great scale player, yes and that’s it a great scale player. The work that I am interested in with music is about supplying things that make guitar players think, feeling first, yes, but let’s think things through to develop our musical chops, instead of just running the fingers up and down the freatboard in a ‘dig me I’m fast style’, having the ablity to play fast is good but it’s something that is just there for when it’s sensible to use it. 

How to Work with This Scale:

It’s been written over 3 octaves, from the low open E to the top E on the 12th fret of the first string. 

I have intentionally included a few open notes, this gives you the breathing space to move to the 4th fret and then the 7th. This method player is different to a lot of players that play a very horizontal stlye, straight up and down the neck.  I like the sound of the open strings, and with a scale like this it will give you some great guitar solo options.  As stated in my previous article it is a good mode / scale to use over the E7th chord in a blues. 

To download the printable version, click the following link E Blues Scale Super Altered Scale

NEW BLUES SCALE BREAKTHROUGH  

The standard blues scale has been around for quite some time, also the country blues scale, the one that is really a C# blues scale played over songs in the key of E. 

I’m reasonably confident that I have invented a new scale that is highly useable, easy to play and is more flexible over a lot of songs.

When you play the standard blues scale, the second one on my TAB and music dots chart, it sometimes sounds too blues too strong.  An alternative is what I personally call the Country Blues Scale, the third one on my TAB and music notation.  The Country Blues Scale is fantastic, sounds great over some tunes but if you look and listen to it closely it is minus the 7th (really flattened 7th) . 

I woke up about five this morning and had a brain wave, a moment of inspiration and I thought ‘ What if I take the Country  Blues Scale, remove the 6th (the C sharp) and replace it with the 7th instead. 

Why oh why have I never thought of it before and why on earth have I never seen it over 38 years of playing guitar?
Is it because we often miss the simple and obvious.

So the notes are E,  F sharp , G natural, G sharp, B and D natural.

Yes we could create hybrids of this but this is a great starting point and I’ll be adding information in the near future on how to use it intelligenty, it comfortably sits over chord one of an E blues, the E7 chord.

 I decided to call it the Super Blues Scale at this point, but may change it later.

To download this scale click: Super Blues Scale in E
 

This guitar scale is the final one in may six part series on Pentatonic Scales.  As you my remember from my previous web blog posts, I decided to do a short series because many players have difficulty following through if there is too much information.  To work steadily through a half a dozen scales won’t hurt too much but the benefits will be many because a little self-discipline goes a long way.  And the way I have written most of these scales is a little unusual to try and prevent players monotonusly running their fingers up and down the fretboard, but the fingerings are interesting and I know from experience that they will force you to think a little when you play them.

Most guitar players avoid the flat keys, they stick to C, D , A , G and E, because they are guitar friendly.  So let’s break the habit a little with this one and do a B Flat.  The key of B flat includes the notes B flat, C, D, E flat, F, G A  and B flat. 

But the Pentatonic I’ve used (penta being 5) is Bb, C, D, F, G .  Note the fingering of the exercise, I jump to the 5th fret after playing the open G and a few of notes later I jump up a fret.  And then decscending I move back to fret one.  Playing this way will force you to think.

To download the printable guitar scale in TAB and music notes click below:

TAB and Music Notes Guitar Scale Pentatonic Major in B Flat

My next set of six short tutorials will cover Chord Construction Made Easy

This Pentatonic Major Scale in D is very useful on acoustic guitar. Note how I’ve used the open E string to create a bit of time to jump up the fretboard to the 7th fret.  This scale is very suitable for improvising over a D chord, it doesn’t include the Blue Note of the Country Blues scales.  The Blue note would be an F at the 3rd fret on the 4th string. 

 The notes of this scale are D E F sharp A B and I’ll include the next D so it sounds complete. Leraning simple scales like these are very usually for acoustic players, a lot of acoustic players when they are jamming will just all play the same chords.  A little aresnal of scales will enable you to create a bit of interest in a tune by using simple improvisation.  When two guitar players play the same thing at the same time,  then tend to squash each other.  Look for ways of creating space, the ‘Less is More’ principle is very useful in music. 

Ok, how to play the scale:  Start in the 2nd position, this means the first finger lines up at the second fret.  Ones you play the open E on the high string, move up to the 7th fret.  When descending, once you hit the high E note again on the open E string, move back to the second postion.  

Enjoy it, once you know the scale start to break it up into little melodic musical phrases.

To download the printable version click the link:
Pentatonic Major Scale for Guitar in D

This is part 5 of the 6 part series of Pentatonic scales, Part 6 will be uploaded within the next 5 days

To view part Part 4:
http://the-guitarplayer.com/2008/06/12/pentatonic-major-scale-in-a-part-4-of-6/

This is the fourth pentatonic Scale in my six part series of Pentatonic scales.  When I write the fingering for these scales I often think about what is suitable for the acoustic guitar.  I’m writing them in a manner that will get you out of the habit of just running your fingers up and down the neck.

This one is in A, use it over a chord pattern that uses A D and E.  The notes of this five note scale are A B C sharp E and F#.  The ascending is quite straight forward, start on an open A but be ready in the second position.  The descending part is great on the acoustic, you move up to the 5th fret and uses a couple of open notes and then moves back to the 2nd fret.

An additional thing that I’ve done with it is to put it into 3/4 time, count 1 2 3 1 2 3 123 etc, placing a slight emphasis on the first beat.  

 For part three click on scale link

 Part five will be added in the very near future.

This is the 3rd article about guitar scales, this is pentatonic major scale in the Key of E.  It’s very useful for improvising in the Key of E, it’s reasonably ’safe sounding’ and difficult to go wrong with it if you are soloing in E.  The notes are E, F sharp, G sharp, B, C sharp.  It would be useable over a standard sort of chord pattern in E which included E A and B.  Yes it is useable over other chords,  but if you are new to improvisation just get it down so it works over those chords.  You’ll notice there will be strong and weak tones.

As always, when I write scales I write them with a few twists to prevent you from becoming lazy and to help you focus on what you are doing.  The version I have written starts on the second fret, moves to the 4th, then the 7th and briefly to the 9th.

When descending, you’ll notice I’ve added some open notes on the first and second string.  This is a great way to play, because you’ll get a nice ringing tone of the open notes, almost bell like and it gives you a split-second to change frets.  The bluegrass guys are great at this. 

 The printable version is available in pdf, don’t ruin your eyes trying to work off the screen, print them out and create a folder of them all so you can work through them away from the computer, minus the distraction of checking your email

Click below for the Printable PDF TABS and Notation for guitar

Pentatonic Scales for guitar in E Tab and notation

Here is the link for Part 2 of the Pentatonic series http://the-guitarplayer.com/?p=181

Practice slowly

The Pentatonic Major scale is pretty common amongst rock players.  I’ve written it here in the key of G.  It consists of 5 notes,  G A B D E. If someone were to turn those notes into a chord it would be a G6 add9 , some might call it a G6 sus2.  It’s a fairly straight sounding scale, useful if you are reasonably new to guitar playing, it is a good foundation to work from when improvising over a G chord. 

I’ve added a little twist to it (as always) because I think it’s important not to become lazy.   The first part is very straight forward. Then once you’ve hit the top note on the high sounding E string, I’ve written it so it doesn’t descend directly, it steps down (lower sounding) by missing a note and then goes back up and down etc.  This exercise, when played like this will help you to learn to play across strings and it will help you to hear intervals (the distance betwen notes). Eventually you’ll play it automatically once your hearing has developed a little.

Here’s a great guitar tip:  Learn to hum your solos (to yourself if you like, not through the front of house PA speakers ). This will help you develop a great sense of melody, what you hear in you head you’ll eventually be able to play. 

Guitar Scales Pentatonic Major in G

Part 3 will be written within 3 days, come back and visit.

Are you feeling a little stuck and having difficulty organizing your practice?

 Well, I’ve decided to do a six part  series on scales to get the old fingers going, READ ON

 This is the first of a six part series on guitar scales. I’ve done them for both TAB and guitar music notation.

The Pentatonic scale is the most basic scale used for improvisation.  It is very useful and at the same time. probably the most boring scale possible. Useful because it’s easy to master

and apply, and boring because it is so easy and useful, it is possible to get stuck on it and not venture too far away from it.

I have named this scale the Pentatonic Minor because it is a five note scale, Penta meaning five and Minor because the relationship between the 1st and second note of the scale is a tone and a half (3 frets) apart, this is a minor 3rd interval.  But lets keep it simple for now.

The guitar lends itself to this type of scale, it’s easy to play, and play it can be played fast without too much sweat because there are only two notes played on each string, this enables the player to pick up and down and then move to the next string.

If you’re just starting out just play the first 3 bars, get it going nice and steady, play in time, relaxed and with feeling.

BUT if you can already play, you’re not getting off that easy.  I’ve created an exercise that moves up the fretboard.  It starts at fret one, then moves to fret four, then seven, then ten.  I prefer to work this way than just move robotically up the fretboard fret by fret.  It will force you to think a little more.

The chords behind each one of these sclaes would be:

F minor for 3 bars,  Ab minor for 3 bars, B minorfor 3 bars, D minor for 3 bars

Practice these scales smoothly.  This is not a race!  Oh yeah, turn the tele off.

To download the 1st of the printable Guitar Scales for Rock Guitar Pentatonic Minor click the link below

 Guitar Scales for Rock, Pentatonic Minor Scale pdf

Guitar players and other musicians get a little musically stale, you know that feeling when you feel absolutely and totally uninspired?

One of the reasons is that it’s easy to be disorganised, sound familiar?

Another is because you’re playing the same thing over and over.

Some weeks ago I started writing a few variations on a a blues scale, things that I use unconsciously, so I thought I’d share them.  G Blues sits very nicely on the acoustic guitar.  Don’t worry if you can’t read music dots, the guitar tab is there as well and is easy to follow.

The G blues Variation that I have done is not a song. It is some scalar (new word…I just made it up) ideas that can be used over a straight blues that consists of G7, C7 and D7. Easy enough.  You’ll notice I haven’t written so the ascend and then descend, I’ve added some little twists to make it more musical.  I know many guitarists that play real hard at scales to get faster and faster and faster and faster…then eventually they play themselves off the map because they are “Great Scale Players” but are musically numb. As I’ve played for so long and have suffer every musical ailment I think a little more about what I put out. 

 The standard Blues scale, what I refer to as a Minor Blues scale is G, B flat, C,  D Flat, F

The things I put on my blogs are very good resources, the other guitar players that can play well realise this and many of the visitors don’t realise what they are getting here for free, there’s years of work offered here.

To download the printable version click G Blues Scale Variations Free Tab and Notation

Many guitar players that I have met have managed to play at very high standard but due to life’s circumstances they found themselves in situations where they virtually stopped playing guitar.  It could be because family, disillusionment with the music industry, health, substance abuse, or many other scenarios that can leave a musician feeling uninspired. Over the period of time that I have played guitar, even though I have an incredibly deep passion for music, I personally have found that have been times that I have drifted away from music. As a guitar player you often find yourself ‘between jobs’ and this is the time when a lot of life’s challenges and diversion get in the way of music.  Many of the things I discuss in my blog posts, I have never seen addressed in music books or discussed openly by most players. I have decided to write about this because I recently got together with a very good guitar player that I played with just under twenty years ago, he all but stopped playing for a number of years, this for me is a fantastic thing because good players need to play and it is a loss to all of us when they don’t.

So here are a number of things that I think will help some of the players that have stopped playing, ease back into music.

1. Find some recordings that will inspire you to play.  Make sure they are not too complex.
2. Clean up your guitar.  Get rid of any old dirt on the fretboard
3. Change the strings; I recommend going a gauge lighter
4. Make sure your instrument is set up well
5. Allot some time to practice.  Formalise it by writing it down and stick to it

Stay there for the whole session, turn off the mobile, unplug the sign, and put a note on the door

6. Do some simple exercises to get your fretting hand going
7. Do some picking exercises (fingerstyle or plectrum) to get the picking hand going
8. Write a short list of songs that you used to play.  Make sure they are not too complex, if need be get some simple charts just in case your memory is a bit foggy
9. Don’t waste time playing snippets of music that you can’t really remember, this could dishearten you; you may end up getting frustrated
10. Be really focused but keep as relaxed as possible
11. When you finish, make sure you finish on a song that you can play reasonably ok
12. Write a plan for your next session and stick to it

There are many other things that may be useful but the ones listed above include most of the aspects that require attention, these include: 

A good working instrument

A plan

Techniques

Mental attitude

Philip Catherine may be unknown guitarist to many people but he was the guitarist that joined Focus (Hocus Pocus) after the great Jan Akkerman left. The following video shows him in in action on what loks like a Lowden guitar.  Nigel Clark is a superb guitar player from Scotland. Another great Scottish player worth investigating is Martin Taylor.

These guys are serious.  Some of you readers may remember the incredible duets that Philip did with Larry Coryell on the Splendid and Twin House albums of the 70’s. Some of plectrum guitarists greatest in action

This is a brilliant duet that exemplifies how beautiful two guitars of different styles can work together, still play fast and sound musical.  Coryell’s playing in this tune, when he takes a guitar break reminds of the great player from Belgium Philip Catherine.  It’s a very fine line always, playing at a very high technical level but trying to keep musical.  Playing fast is not hard at all, being musical and playing fast is hard.  It requires technique, restraint and the correct use of both speed, space and phrasing.

The late great Joe Pass is a perfect example of someone that has mastered improvisation on the guitar.  Although he didn’t play straight acoustic guitar, he was a master of the semi-acoustic, what’s a few different shaped sound holes amongst friends anyway. I first bought the Joe Pass guitar books over 30 years ago now.  What is really important to recognise is that we don’t necessarily play the same style as a person/guitarist but they can still inspire us, give us a new resource to draw from and help us to develop as guitar players.

 The tune is “All the Things You Are”. 

Some people are intimidated by great players. But I find all good players inspring, regardless of style because they show us a potential that we may not have ever considered.

TIRED OF PLAYING THAT SAME OLD BLUES SCALE?

In keeping with my secret desire to help raise the standard of guitar players globally, I decided to sit down and write another tutorial for those players that want to extend their playing a little when playing a blues.

Here’s why I love playing blues. I can go to many places in the world (and I have been) and sit down with a group of musicians of any standard, they don’t even have to speak the same language and we can make music together.  Blues can be simple or complex, or any standard inbetween and all the other players have a pretty good idea where things are going. What can happen though is when you play Blues over and over, you may find it can get a little predictable, and if you’re not in one of those musical moments when the inspiration tap is on, you can feel a bit musically dry.  You may not feel to fired up about playing the same old blues scale for th 24,000th time. So what I’ve done is create a few more options based around a basic A Blues. 

As you’d probably know, the foundation chords of an A Blues are A7 D7 and E7.  You’ll notice in the chords I’ve used,  instead of a D7 I’ve used a D7th with a different bass note, no big deal, just another way of playing it.  Also for the E7th I’ve used a G sharp in the bass.  Easy enough if you look closely.Now remember, always play with feeling, take your time, enjoy what you are doing.

Click the Link to download the GOOD QUALITY PRINT VERSION A blues scale variations Tab and Free Notation

Improve your Blues Guitar playing

Blues guitar players. You know when you get a little bit stale with your guitar playing, you find yourself improvising the same as you always have and you feel you want something to help break your habits.

 Well today I sat down and wrote some simple blues scales which will enable you to play a blues different to the way that you would nonmally do.   A lot of blues / rock  players are familiar with the standard blues scale E G A B flat B D E, well that’s fine but why not play with not only feeling but a bit more thought.

The scales I’ve put together go over the standard Blues in E, an E7th chord, A7th chord and a B7th chord, no big deal. 

BUT, the scale I’ve used for the E consists of an extra note, a G sharp as well as a G, you end up with a very nice sound by using five notes next to each other, (check out the TAB / Notation) the G G sharp and A B flat and B.  Just try it, your ears will tell you why I’m showing it to you.

Over the A7th, I’ve used a very simple five note scale A C Csharp E G, this really spells out the A7th chord but also having a C note gives it a very bluesy feel.  Remember, often it’s what you leave out that gives music its characteristic.

For the B7th, I’ve used a hybrid scale, a bit of this and that, it’s intentional, what I felt was required was a scale that implied a B7th chord but sat nicely with the E blues chord progression.  You’ll notice it has a B D D sharp E G A in it, I’ve played around by running the scale a little higher past the B, up to the D. 

In the exercise I’ve also added simple chord fingerings.  This works very well on an acoustic guitar, yes also on electric, but the open notes sound very sweet on an acoustic, best played a nice late afternoon just before the sun goes down.  Take it slowly, you’ll be surprised how much there is in these simple exercises.

Enjoy it. 

To download the Free printable TAB and Notation Blues guitar exercise, click the link below now

Blues Guitar TAB Notation exrcises

To improve your guitar playing you need to get your hands on some good guitar exercises that will help get your fingers play different patterns than what they are used to.  Most guitar players get caught in a musical rut because they only play certain exercises that are repetitive and predictable.  Although I always stress that the end result needs to be good music that sounds musical and not like scales or exercises, there is still a need to strengthen the fingers on a regular basis so you’ll be equiped to play at a decent standard.

The exercise above is a  sort of a crab walk where you play to fingers then jump to the next string.  When you get this one down, try swapping the order of the fingers e.g. 21 34 21 34 etc.  I highly recommend after you have done some finger exercises, it is worthwhile playing some music.   idon’t recommend finishing the day or musical practice session on finger exercises.  It is important to get something back from the practice session, and that is MUSIC itself.

I’ve uploaded a printable version to make it is easier on your eyes.  Click the link to download

Guitar Finger Exercise - Free Tab and Music Notation

 Free Tab and Guitar Notation guitar Exercises

Sometimes there’s very little time to warm up before playing a live gig.  you’ve done everything right, been organised, turn up early and kappow, everything goes skewiff.  I always like to warm up before I play.  Above is a very basic warm up exercise that I have found to be very valuable if there is very little time befor I go on live.

It is a simple D major arpeggio (A chord broken up) played across the top (highest sounding) three strings of the guitar.  Work your way all the way up the neck.  Yes there are many exercises, but if I’m really pushed for time, I’ve found this one to be tremendous.

 PRINTABLE VERSION available Click Here Guitar Warm Up

Learning to play a Twelve Bar Blues is very common.  What I’ve done is written out a simple 12 Bar blues but in a minor key instead of using the standard seventh chords. It has a much softer feel than the standard E7 A7 B7. What you will use is an E Minor 7th chord, and an A minor 7th chords instead of the E7 and A7.

 This is very soulful sounding and works well if you play it slow

Click on the link to download the printable acrobat reader pdf
E minor Blues Free Notation and Tab 12 bar blues

To improvise over this use the E minor Blues scale that is also useable over a standard blues.

You’ll find it here http://the-guitarplayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/e_blues_scale_3_octave.pdf