TargetPractice
Difficulty 10-15minsperexample
Tutor: Neville Marten Some timeback,MattSchofielddidan exerciseforuswherehedemonstratedthat, byusingstrongchordtones,youcouldimply theunderlyingchangeswithoutabassline, keyboardorrhythmguitar.Matt’ssequence wasajazz-bluesusinga13th‘I’chordanda turnaroundfollowingtheVI-II-V-Iformat commontothatstyle.
Itoccurredtomethatsomereadersmight supposeyoucouldonlydothatwithmore sophisticatedprogressions–jazzplayersare knownforchangingscaleswiththechords, whereasbluesersusefewerscalesand ploughonthrough!Butwe,too,canoutline evenabasicthree-chordtrickbytargeting eachchord’sstrongestnotes.
Thenoteswewanttohighlightaretheroot –thestrongestnoteinanychord;the3rd, whichsignifiesmajororminor;andthe whichprovides‘bluesiness’.AnotethatMatt mightnotchooseisthe5th:thisisoften ignoredasatargetnoteinjazz,butold bluesmenwouldoftenuseittoaddtension. Ifyouwanttosoundincontrol,youneedto knowwherethesenoteslay,bothwithinthe underlyingchordsandinthescalesyouuse.
Let’skeepitsimpleandstaypentatonic. Theminorpentatonic(R 45 contains threeofourfourtargetnotes,andsincewe usuallysharpenthe bybendingorusingthe minortomajor3rdhammer-on,youcould sayitboastsallfour.Whilethat’sfineforthe Ichord,whenitcomestotheIVandV,we needtobemorecreative.Ifwenowaddthe majorpentatonic(R2356)wegainthe2nd (or9th),themajor3rdandthe6th.
Eb InourkeyofC,thatgivesus:CD EFGA Bb.
Andifwelookatthetargetnotesinall threechordsinthismonth’sblues–C7(CEG Bb), Eb)
F7(FAC andG7(GBDF)wecansee thatcombiningthescalesgivesusallbutthe BinourG7chord–italsocreatesasortof
Gearused: GibsonLesPaul’59Reissue
Eb) Bb ‘superMixolydian’scale:CD( EFGA –
Eb thebracketed isourextranote.
Now,it’sallwellandgoodknowingallthis; thetrickislearningtousetheknowledgeto targetgoodnotesineachchordasitcomes along.I’vetriedtocreateasimplebut satisfyingsolowherelicksbeginorendona chordtone,andcontainasmanyaspossible withoutresortingtostrictarpeggios.
Checkouttheperformancenotesforasolo ‘roadmap’,andseeifyoucanusethesame ideastospiceupyourownplaying.