Rob Smith's Guitar Blog

Intervals and Pentatonics: Part I

2009-06-15T20:13:00.014-05:00

Intervals and Pentatonics: Part I

This lesson will be on lead guitar over a minor blues progression. These tabs are inspired by one of my favorite guitarists; Carl Verheyen.

First let's take a look at our chord progression:

Slow-Medium Minor Blues in B (Andante for metronome users 76-108 bpm)

Bm 4 measures, Em 2 measures, Bm 2 measures ,G7 1 measure, F#dom7#9 1 measure, back to Bm

fig.1

E---7---7---7---10--------
B---7---8---7---10---10---
G---7---9---7---10---9----
D---9---9---9---9----8---
A---9---7---9---10---9----
E---7-------7--------------

----Bm-Em-Bm-G7--F#dom7#9(a.k.a hendrix chord)

A standard progression used commonly by blues players. Can be used in many positions on the fretboard (I stress how important it is to find these chords and progressions in new places on the fretboard!)

Now lets talk about Soloing over this progression, The mark of a good lead guitarist is being able to play through the chord changes. The mark of a solid guitarist is to be able to play great lines through the changes, break out of the parts of the fretboard your mind squares off, building up better comfort zones in your lines.

(let's say a guitar player's soloing over Emajor. you'll notice how many of them use the E major pentatonic right below the 12th fret, yes you know the one)

The main goal here is to break into something all your own. break out of the boxes your use to playing in. pay attention to where the same scales are up and down the fretboard, map it out, and finally build your own lines.

What I'm getting to is lines can be used in Intervals. In basic theory an Interval is the distance between any two notes, I'm not the smartest guy when it comes to theory so i wont go too deep, still learning myself.

here's a basic layout of the distance between notes.

B Interval

Half Steps from B Interval:

1 Minor 2nd C

2 Major 2nd C#

3 Minor 3rd D

4 Major 3rd D#

5 Perfect 4th E

6 Augmented 4th / Diminished 5th F

7 Perfect 5th F#

8 Minor 6th G

9 Major 6th G#

10 Minor 7th A

11 Major 7th A#

12 Octave B

OK since this is a Bm progression, what we're going to do is make Bm Intervals, WIDE Intervals, using different strings out of a a Bm blues pentatonic scale:

(these are all used and inspired by Carl Verheyen)

fig 2. pentatonic blues B

E-----------------------7-10-7-----------------------
B------------------7-10--------10-7------------------
G--------------7-9------------------9-7--------------
D----------7-9--------------------------9-7----------
A------7-9----------------------------------9-7------
E-7-10------------------------------------------10-7-

Now we will make the"Big Interval"

Start at the B(unison) to a D(minor3rd) A(minor7th) F#(perfect 5th) A again(minor 7th) and then go backwards, on tab it will look like this:

fig 3.

E--------------------------------------
B---------------7--10--7---------------
G--------------------------------------
D---------7--9------------9--7---------
A--------------------------------------
E--7--10------------------------10--7--

you can alternate pick or use pull offs.
same Interval starting on the A string:

fig 4.

E--------------2--5--2--------------
B-----------------------------------
G--------2--4-----------4--2--------
D-----------------------------------
A--2--5-----------------------5--2--
E-----------------------------------

here's another one Carl uses starting on the D instead of a B, still in the B Interval:

D(minor 3rd)F#(perfect 5th)C#(major 2nd)D(minor3rd)A(minor 7th)C#(major 2nd) and back down, using the majors in the Bm Interval gives it a cool voice, works well when soloing.

fig 5.

E--------------5--9--5--------------
B-----------------------------------
G--------6--7-----------7--6--------(use your Index and Middle)
D-----------------------------------
A--5--9-----------------------9--5--
E-----------------------------------

fig 6.

E------------------10--14--10------------------
B----------------------------------------------
G----------11--14--------------14--11----------
D----------------------------------------------
A--12--14------------------------------14--12--
E----------------------------------------------

Now what I would do with these is when I'm soloing over the Bm blues shown in fig 1. I'll play my lines out of the Bm pentatonic and modes usable in Bm, then I'll throw one of these in for a nice effect. double speed most of the time. they sound good fast even if your lines are on the beat. alternate picking, pulloffs, and even hybrid picking work with these kind of lines.

The second chord of the fig. 1 progression would be Em, you can still play out of the Bm pentatonic for a certain effect, you can play out the Em pentatonic for a certain effect. I find these intervals to be somewhere in between:

fig 7.

E---------------7--10--7---------------
B--------------------------------------
G---------7--9------------9--7---------
D--------------------------------------
A--7--10------------------------10--7--
E--------------------------------------

fig 8.

E------------------10--14--10------------------
B----------------------------------------------
G----------11--12--------------12--11----------
D----------------------------------------------
A--10--14------------------------------14--10--
E----------------------------------------------

fig 9.

E--------------3--7--3--------------
B-----------------------------------
G--------4--7-----------7--4--------
D-----------------------------------
A--5--7-----------------------7--5--
E-----------------------------------

Ok now lets look at the G7, this is what I do to get through this part of the progression:

fig 10.

E--10--7----------------
B-----------------------
G---------10--7---------
D-----------------------
A----------------10--8--
E-----------------------

fig 11. same thing with a D and B on the bottom, end on the B(the 10) with your thumb:

E--10--7--------------------------
B---------------------------------
G---------10--7-------------------
D---------------------------------
A----------------10--8------8-----
E-----------------------10-----7--(hold that last 8 out with the 7 on top with your thumb)

fig 12. move fig 11. down a half step for the F#dom7#9 chord

E--9--6--------------
B--------------------
G--------9--6--------
D--------------------
A--------------9--7--
E-------------------- (start at the top or bottom) back to Bm

you can make your own map of the Intervals in every key simply by starting at the Root Note and finding the notes up to the octave. you can find these notes on the fretboard, and build your own lines with your own phrasing etc. possibility's are endless.

I hope you found this useful, and I hope you check into Carl Verheyen.

feel free to comment or email me.
Guitarist2098@aol.com
www.myspace.com/robertesmith

Robert Smith
copyright ©2009- Robert E Smith. All Rights Reserved.

Back From Memphis...

2009-06-15T00:50:00.007-05:00

Hello Readers.
I wanted to apologise for not having another lesson up as promised. thank you for all your kind emails and responses to my first lesson, It truly means a lot to me.

I left for Memphis early Wednesday. I got to where we practice at Galloway Methodist church and found that my equipment bag with about $600 or so dollars worth of chords, tools, strings,picks and a very nice microphone had been stolen. very troubling for me. it took most of the money I had saved to go up to Memphis from Little Rock to buy the bare necessity's back for our show in Auburn, and left me very little for food and stuff, very rough trip, heard gun shots at night close to the house I was staying in, and the show didn't pay that great either so if nothing else...I'm very glad to be home! whew!

I've gotten a few requests for lessons on picking differences, some tab requests for some songs, some country licks, basic theory etc. so stay in touch I'll be posting a lesson soon.

Rob

Chord Voicings - PART I

2009-06-06T04:32:00.010-05:00

Lesson One: "Chord Voicings"
For my first blog I want to share a simple way to expand your knowledge of chords and playing in the pocket with other musicians.
we will start by taking a simple chord progression in the starting position:

--0-------2-----------------E chord 1st string or open E root
--0-------3-------2-------- D being the 3rd string or open D root
--1-------2-------2---------A being 2nd string or open A Root
--2-------0-------2--------.
--2---------------0---------
--0-------------------------

---E-------D------A---------

And of course your power chord positions:

---12-----10----5---------
---12-----10----5---------
---13-----11----6---------
---14-----12----7---------
---14-----12----7---------
---12-----10----5---------

----E------D-----A--------

----x-----x-----x-------
----9-----7-----2-----
----9-----7-----2-----
----9-----7-----2-----
----7-----5-----0-----
----x-----x-----x-------

----E-----D-----A----

The simple progression with chords every ones familiar with right? My favorite thing to do is to take these ideas, tweak them, and use the same progressions in different positions, tweaking a few notes along the way its possible to get very creative unique progressions, if nothing else for the sake of doing your own thing!

This will be the E-D-A progression with the first root starting at the D string, the the second root on the A string and the third root on the E string,
>>i-index finger m-middle r-ring p-pinkie<<

--------------------------------
----5p------5p------5p--------
----4r-------2i------2i---------
----2i-------4m-----2i---------
-------------5r------x---------
----0----------------5r--------

-----E------Dsus2---A--------

Next we'll tweak our E chord slightly by adding an F# on the top e string, Making this chord an Esus2.

2
5
4
2
x
x

When you progress from the Esus2 to the D chord, The note you added to make the Esus2 stays a 3rd for the D chord and therefore works just as well and gives a different effect having your 3rd in a high string position rather than a bottom position, sounds different!(think outside the box!)

--2i-------2i-------2i--
--5p------5p------5p--
--4r-------2i------2i--
--2i-------2i------2i--
-----------5r------x--
-------------------5r--

Esus2 Dsus2 A6 (F# at the top of A makes an A6 chord)

On the Dsus2 chord notice i took away the bottom 3rd. the 3rd is now on top and the E in which is on the second fret on the makes it an upside down Dsus2 (compared to the tab shown above this one) pretty cool huh lol.

This idea of voicings sounds particularly good to me when being attacked with your fingers, like something you'd here the rolling stones do, maybe use the guitar pick on the root note and use your fingers for the chord, using your fingers like this to me gives a full sound, and im also bit of a country guy so i use my fingers more often than not.

You can move this progression up and down the neck to any key, and mix in other ideas. take these chords and feel around for yourself.
And when playing with other guitar players these voicings can really stand out. especially when your other guy is hammering bar chords.
There's A LOT more you can do with these shapes and progressions which I'll be covering soon, We'll call this Part I of Chord Voicings.

Email me your Ideas or Requests at:
Guitarist2098@aol.com

copyright ©2009- Robert E Smith. All Rights Reserved.

Introduction

2009-06-04T00:47:00.006-05:00

Greetings and Salutations!

My name is Robert Smith and I'm from Little Rock Arkansas.

I'll be posting lessons and topics on guitar, music, and the styles within. I hope to hear from you as well and hopefully we can all broaden our horizons and learn from each other.

I'm here to share my knowledge of the blues, country, jazz, r&b, rock, acoustic, classical and rockabilly for you to study and hopefully take from for yourselves, and also share from my own experience's as a working musician, a student of music, and my favorite part, life on the road! thank you for stopping by.

soon to be continued,
Rob.

say hi to me at www.myspace.com/robertesmith
IM me at Guitarist2098@yahoo.com