Two really important things we went over tonight: breathing, and phrasing. When you breathe during a solo, you give yourself time to play and craft a melody. When you phrase, you are definitely creating a melody, in this case by messing around the minor thirds and major thirds. The BB King song definitely tied all of it together, too. See if you can get that first 18 seconds of How Blue Can You Get down, and keep on playing it!
Our work tonight was strategizing. What I think is best is that we spend a good amount of time each week, getting you to improvise in here. The other amount of time should be spent working on a transcription. BB King and Muddy Waters are great artists to explore. Then we figure out how to get these transcriptions in your solos. Bam.
1. Got comfortable with the G triadic inversions.
2. Ditto with D inversions.
3. Started to mix the G and D inversions.
4. Voiceled the G and D inversions, up and down the neck (this simulates the I - V harmonic motion). In other words, alternated between the G and D triads.
5. Introduced and got comfortable with the C triadic inversions.
6. Switched between G and D triadic inversions (voiceled), and C inversions.
7. Voiceled the chord progression: G - C - D - G (this simulates a I - IV - V - I harmonic motion).
8. Kept at it until the brain was sufficiently numb.
When you get to the point where your fingers just go to where they need to go automatically, the equation goes like this:
muscle memory + musical memory (a strong idea for what it sounds like) = intuition.
Voice leading ought be done intuitively, and with as little cognisizing as possible.
Good fun tonight. So, remember that in order to get a huge massive distorted, almost crazy, sound, you have to get the reverb before the distortion in the signal chain. Easy to do with a good tube amp and a fun little effects processor. Very good fun. Also, we talked about hitting the thirds when you are soloing over music that is more triadic.
When you are able to relate each mode to either the major scale or minor scale, you are making an easy to remember hierarchy. From one note, if you are able to see the sharp 4's in Lydian, or the flat 2's in Phyrgian, you are setting yourself up to switch between these modes very quickly. That's pretty cool.
Excellent! Your modes sound great, you aren't tied to a specific template, and the melodies are very much all around the guitar. A most awesome thing. Next week, we are going to start on a idea generating system for lead guitar.
The trouble with learning modes is that keeping them all straight inside the mind can be tough at first. But the language used to define them in the mind, as you so rightly pointed out, changes the perception we have of them. Ultimately, it's forcing yourself to find a mode, stick to it, and use the errors we have to switch between them. Good fun, in a nerdy sort of way.
The template I (well, forcefully) heaped upon you this evening is going to be a safety net for solos from here on out. Anything I share with you about soling will fit inside that. There are plenty of interesting things we can do with this template, but only when you can visualize it. If at all possible, see if you can try to visualize it better by next week.
Okay, about four bars into the solo on this one. It will take a little time, but I think we have made tons of progress so far. For next time: don't forget to give this more force! It needs just a tad more...
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