Video Guitar Lesson 8: Unusual scale choices (e.g. harmonic minor modes) and grace notes
In this lesson Dan really helps me to further my exploration of the harmonic minor by examining some usable situations in which to employ it. We also talk about grace notes and the value of ‘feel’. There is plenty of other material and hints in this lesson too from using the tremolo bar to a major 7th variation of the pentatonic scale. As always, there is plenty of demonstration and guitar playing throughout. We hope you get a lot out of this lesson, whether you want to shred or are aiming for some new strategies to add interest to the melody of your improvisation.
SoundCloud timings and rough timings for YouTube video:
00:00:00 Discussion about my gig with the new band and some insights about gigging
00:02:12 Introduction to the topic of the lesson
00:02:37 What are grace notes?
00:04:21 Blues in A – Gary improvising over the top
00:06:11 Dan demonstrating slides as slides or as grace notes
00:08:17 Discussion about ‘feel’
00:10:21 Slides as a useful jazz tool, as indicative of the genre
00:11:04 Whereas Blues is categorised by more bending
00:12:12 Me improvising again trying to use grace notes over a Blues
00:20:37 Appoggiatura
00:22:39 Transition of topic from grace notes to scale choices
00:23:30 Playing the aeolian mode or natural minor
00:24:52 The harmonic minor scale
00:25:31 Harmonic minor demo
00:26:18 demo using the major seventh as a quick flavour
00:28:00 Using harmonic minor modes
00:28:11 E as tonal centre: Phrygian Major
00:31:57 Phrygian Major (Dominant) over a more metal groove
00:33:41 Taking each diatonic chord and changing to add the major seventh from the harmonic
00:37:50 Dorian #4 – Harmonic minor off the fourth (D for A harmonic)
00:39:53 Playing the Dorian #4 over a dorian vamp
00:47:50 Comparing to a diminished arpeggio
00:50:24 Marty Friedman type ideas for getting an unusual sound
00:51:32 Introducing the tremolo bar to increase the pitch capacity of bends
00:52:39 Using the trem to shape the transitions of the notes
00:54:39 Tremolo bar demo
00:58:25 New strange scale – move each root note in pentatonic a semitone lower
00:59:49 Funky vamp demo
01:02:56 Final suggestions
01:07:35 Diminished string skipping ideas
All the best, Gary and Dan
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