FRETBOARD FLUENCY
Today Martin Goulding looks at Lydian, whose distinctive #4th degree gives an airy and uplifting sound heard in countless sci-fi films.
Martin Goulding examines Lydian mode, whose #4 interval lends a spacey, sci-fi element.
Welcome to this month’s column on developing fretboard fluency; the third part in our series exploring extended harmony. Continuing from last month’s lesson where we looked at the extensions of the II minor 7 chord, this month we’ll move on to extensions based around the
7b5, IV major 7 chord, including major major 9#11 and major 13#11 voicings arranged in five shapes on the fretboard.
We’ll then move on to study two approaches for creating extended arpeggios: the first – simply adding the triad from the next consecutive scale degree to our basic major 7 arpeggio to cover all three extensions up to the 13th; and the second which is superimposing diatonic arpeggios from the 3rd, 5th and 7th of our ‘home’ IV major 7 chord, which as we’ll see gives us a range of extended sounds. In addition to our extended chords and arpeggios, we’ll also be looking at some of the ways in which we can use these ideas in our improvisation by applying chromatic enclosures to certain intervals, as well as using sequences to extend the basic IV chord tonality and add colour and sophistication to our soloing.
On all arpeggio-based examples, we’ll be using our usual legato approach, which combines hammer-ons and pull-offs with sweep strokes for a smooth and even tone. As well as picking lightly and hammering down firmly, the quality of your execution will also depend on effective use of fretting and picking- hand muting techniques, so follow the rule that the first finger on the fretting hand mutes the lower adjacent string to the one you are playing with its tip, as well as laying flat over the treble strings underneath, and also in conjunction with the picking-hand palm which mutes off any unattended lower strings as you ascend runs.
Diagram 1 presents an overview of the C
7b5, major C major 9#11 and C major 13#11 chords arranged across the fretboard in five shapes. As you play each chord, call out the intervals from the lowest to the highest note and visualise their placement within the relevant position of the underlying Major scale, which acts as a template. As we saw last month, certain intervals may be omitted to
7b5 arrive at a practical voicing. The major chord is based around our standard major 7, with the 5th degree lowered by a semitone in each of the five shapes. If the 5th were present, it would then be called a major 7#11. The major 9#11 chords may also omit the 5th degree, as its primary function is to support the root note, while on the major 13#11 chords the 5th and 9th are often omitted instead.
NEXT MONTH Martin continues his fretboard navigation with more chord extensions