Welcome, Maestro
This issue sees the debut technique column from guitar whizz Robbie Calvo, whose aim is to buff your playing to a shine
THIS ISSUE
we’re welcoming a new contributor, Robbie Calvo. Now based in Hawaii, the London native is a long-time Nashville session player, having spent two decades recording, teaching and performing in the States. Robbie is an alumnus of the Guitar Institute (GIT) in Hollywood, a Yamaha Guitars and Line 6 artist,Yamaha Guitars trade-show clinician and vlog contributor. He also has a host of instructional DVDs to his name, and he’s ready to impart some lead skills here in Trading Licks. Over to you, Robbie…
Did you know that the five-note minor pentatonic scale contains all four chord tones of an A minor 7th chord plus an additional 4th? This means you know an A minor 7th arpeggio. In my first article we’re going to employ your new arpeggio shape but in the form of the A blues scale – the A minor pentatonic scale with a added.
Starting phrases on the up-beat will result in cooler-sounding phrases and also defines your rhythmic approach
The two-bar groove we’ll be playing over is one measure of Am7 and one measure of D9. We can define this progression as a II min7/ V9 in the key of G. The tonal centre (resolution point of the progression) is Am7, so we’ll be targeting all four chord tones of Am7, in sequence, to develop a solo strategy. Each phrase will resolve to each of the four chord tones: phrase one resolves to the root note A; phrase two will resolve to the minor 3rd (C); phrase three to the perfect 5th (E); and phrase four will resolve to the minor 7th (G). This intentional approach develops your melodic lines, structures your phrases and helps you define your solos, even if the other notes in the phrase are completely improvised.
The first three resolution points of Am7 are also chord tones of the D9 chord, so you can even resolve your lines on the V9. The nonchord tone (G ) will also sound good because it’s the tonic of the key centre and the of Am7 (the tonal centre).
In addition to this approach we’re going to start each phrase on the up-beat of 1 (the ‘and’ of 1). Starting phrases on the up-beat will result in cooler-sounding phrases and also defines your rhythmic approach (more on this in another article…). Finally, you’ll notice from the notation that the lines have alternating ascending and descending contours. The first phrase is a descending line, the second is ascending, and so on.
In the second half of the solo I shift into the adjoining pattern of the A blues scale and sequentially resolve to each of the chord tones in a descending fashion, starting with the minor 7th (G). One last trick, the underlying pulse of the track is 16th notes – phrase in 16ths and you’ll have rhythmic support helping your phrases really shine.
I know I’m throwing a lot at you guys right now but you can handle it! Watch the video and everything will be super-obvious, plus I’ve labelled everything in the video to keep you on track. Work through my examples and then apply my concepts to your own blues scale licks. Have fun and I’ll see you next month. www.robbiecalvo.com