GETTING IN SHAPE
In this issue, we’re looking at resolving phrases to chord tones. We’ll start off by mapping out patterns based on the CAGED system: this has been done so you can see - and more importantly, hear - the notes belonging to the chord, the notes belonging to the pentatonic scale, and all of the notes in the key. Sometimes we learn patterns without really knowing or understanding where the notes that belong to the chord we are playing over actually are. Learning arpeggios helps us create phrases that sound musical and resolve - it’s like putting a full stop at the end of a sentence.
When you practice these exercises, I recommend using a metronome and practicing slowly and cleanly at first. Build up speed by creating a playlist of one minute long metronome tracks and think long term. Speed comes with repetition, so practice for one week up to your target tempo, even if you can play faster. Bump up the tempo by ten or twenty BPM the following week. Give yourself a month or two to get any exercise lightning fast, and you will develop good technique, not just speed.
EXERCISE 1
Exercise one begins with an A minor chord in the E minor form. If you are unfamiliar with the CAGED system, its definitely worth checking out: there is a wealth of information about it on the internet. Next, we have the A minor arpeggio ascending - we are outlining the three notes of the A minor triad (AC E). These notes are important because they are the resolution notes; if we complete a phrase on these notes, it will sound like the phrase has finished. These notes are also great starting points as they belong to the chord we are playing over.
The next shape should look familiar: it’s the first box shape that many guitarists learn when they are first learning to improvise. Some guitarists use this shape for most of their soloing ideas - hopefully you’ll already know some phrases in this box shape, so we can build on what you’re proficient with. Play through this shape a few times and pay attention to which notes belong to the A minor arpeggio. Try to resolve each phrase to a note belonging to the A minor chord. The same idea works with the scale pattern in the last bar. The A Aeolian mode - or natural minor scale - contains all of the notes that belong to key of A minor. It is a great idea to play through exercise one from start to finish as a loop - by doing this, you can see exactly which notes belong to the A minor chord, which notes are added to create a pentatonic sound, and which notes belong to the key of A minor.
EXERCISE 2
Exercise two works in the same way as exercise one, however exercise two outlines the A minor form of the CAGED system. By mapping out these two forms, we can cover a fair amount of the fretboard from open position up to the eighth fret. Play through exercise two in the same way that you did with the first exercise, making sure you can see where the chord tones and pentatonic scale sit underneath all the notes of the A minor key. This will help you to create musical phrases that resolve and sound like little musical sentences or statements.
EXERCISE 3
Exercise three is a simple threechord progression in the key of A minor. Play through the exercise slowly - start at 60BPM - so you get the arpeggios under your fingers. The idea here is that we’ll get used to hearing the notes belonging to each chord in the progression. When we improvise phrases, we want to be able to resolve them to a chord tone over the chord we are playing. We don’t always want to resolve our phrases, but it is important that we can. If possible, record the progression as a loop and play through exercise one and two so you can hear the notes of the A minor arpeggio, pentatonic and modal pattern against the different chords. Then, play through exercise three as it is written, followed by improvised phrase using the patterns from exercise one and two.