FRETBOARD fLUENCy
Martin Goulding continues his look at the Lydian mode. With its distinctive #4th degree it’s an airy and uplifting sound, known for its association with flight.
Martin Goulding takes to the sky as he navigates the airy Lydian mode in 5ths and 6ths.
Welcome to this month’s column, with the sixth part in our series looking at developing fretboard fluency. Following on from last month’s lesson, where we worked through a multiple element ‘master exercise’ in C Lydian (C-D-E-F#-G-A-B), and with the associated chord, scale, arpeggio and intervallic pattern in 3rds and 4ths arranged in positions 1 and 4, this month we’ll revisit the same idea using 5fths and 6ths.
In order to develop both legato and alternate picking approaches to scale and arpeggio playing in tandem, this month we’ll practice the Lydian mode using a legato approach, with the major 7 arpeggio forms played using the sweeping technique combined with hammer-ons and pull-offs. All intervallic patterns will be played as usual using regular alternate picking technique and starting on a downstroke.
Playing through the scale using intervals of 5ths and 6ths may be challenging at first, so start by breaking each example down two beats at a time and work on memorising each four-note ‘fragment’ before moving on. Pay particular attention to the recommended fingerings as well as the direction of the pick strokes, which form the basis of the technique. As with all exercise routines, shake out the hands and arms as soon as you feel the onset of any tension or fatigue.
In the third part of our lesson, we’ll continue developing our recognition of the strongest intervals in the scale – the chord tones or in this case notes of the major 7 arpeggio (root, 3rd, 5th and 7th degrees). Following on from last month’s lesson, where we used lower and upper neighbour tones to surround or ‘enclose’ each chord tone, this month we’ll apply chromatic enclosures to the root note of our major 7 arpeggio form in positions 1 and 4. This will help to consolidate our visualisation of the key intervals as well as developing a new vocabulary of jazz inspired lines which we can use alongside our existing Lydian ideas when improvising.
NEXT MONTH Martin navigates the fretboard with more modal, picking and interval ideas