SHAUN’S CREATIVE ROCK
Shaun Baxter looks at the time-honoured practice of introducing a target note by using surrounding scale- and non-scale notes.
Shaun Baxter continues a new series that aims to improve your rock theory and technnique. This month: scale and non-scale enclosures.
The enclosure technique (a prominent musical feature when playing singlenote lines in jazz) has been an aspect of classical music for centuries, from the ‘musica ficta’ of Medieval and Renaissance music, to Baroque composers such as Bach, Mozart and Haydn, up to the Romantic music of Schubert, Chopin and beyond.
In this series, we’ve been looking at the use of non-scale notes in order to add spice to our lines. By mobilising notes that are not in the key (chromaticism), we get to nearly double the amount of different notes in our musical palette (from seven per octave, to 12) and this can really enliven our solos and make them sound much more sophisticated.
Crucially, chromaticism provides us with the opportunity to use tension (dissonance) and then resolve it (consonance), rather than just dwell on consonant notes all the time. So far, we have looked at:
1) Chromatic approach-notes: a single note used either from a semitone above or below the target note.
2) Chromatic bridging: whereby one note is linked to another (however far apart) by a consecutive series of scale tones and chromatic steps.
In classical music, when a chord tone is arrived at via a chromatic route, it is known as chromatic decoration. However, in this lesson, we are going to explore the concept of ‘enclosure’. Basically, enclosure involves approaching a target note from above and below, either diatonically (from the scale) or chromatically (from outside the scale), so that the target note is effectively surrounded or ‘enclosed’ by the decorative material leading up to it.
Generally, when applying chromatic notes, various issues that need to be considered are: a) Whether a chromatic note is used on an offbeat (the most palatable option) or a downbeat (the most pungent option). b) The speed at which chromaticism is applied: the longer you linger on a chromatic note, the more it will prolong tension for the listener; conversely, the quicker you play, the more liberties can be taken as any tensions created are brief.
For the solo piece, building on our recent Mixolydian studies, we are going to continue to use an A7-C7-D7-F7-G7 chord progression with a different Mixolydian being used from the root of each chord. Throughout the solo, it’s important to remain visually grounded or you’ll get lost and will not to be able to reapply what you have learned to other music contexts, so please look at Diagram 1 which shows all five CAGED shapes of A Mixolydian before transferring that same information to the other keys (for C7, D7, F7 and G7). Use this information as your visual reference when moving around the neck.
In the solo transcription, each chromatic note is indicated using an asterisk just so that you can visually distinguish them from the ‘correct’ notes (in other words, the ones that belong to each Mixolydian mode); however, this does not mean that they should be played as ‘ghost’-notes (no rhythmic value): each chromatic note has a full note-value (usually an eighth-note in this solo) and should be played as loud and proud as any other note within the line.
Finally, the solo transcription also features hybrid picking indications for certain sections that reflect the technical approach that would normally be adopted by most country-rock guitar players; however, it’s not essential. The same sections can also be alternate picked (flat-picked). Just focus on producing as much staccato snap and separation between the notes as possible.
NEXT MONTH Shaun brings us another Mixolydian solo to learn in Creative Rock
ENCLOSURE INVOLVES APPROACHING A TARGET NOTE FROM ABOVE AND BELOW, TO DIATONICALLY AND CHROMATICALLY SURROUND IT