Rhythmic Lead Guitar Book/CD (Jan 2010)

Rhythmic Lead Guitar: Solo Phrasing, Groove and Timing (2010) Book/CD pack that takes you step by step from beginner to master of the rhythmic aspect of soloing and riff creation. Learn to count beat divisions and subdivisions at every level to contribute the right feel to songs in any style.

You'll apply exact timing to bends, slides, legato articulations and grace notes to get your soloing under your complete rhythmic control. No prior music reading knowledge is required, but you will learn a bit about correct rhythmic notation as you go. Over 150 examples are tabbed and notated, and demonstrated at slow tempos on the CD.

Chapters 12-19 cover motific development; setting up audience expectations with form signaling; odd meters; creating syncopation with displacements, additive rhythms, pedal tones, polyrhythms, and metric modulation.

This Book/CD combo is now available exclusively at Barrett's amazon.com marketplace.

Thanks!

Pattern Numbers on the Guitar Fretboard

Hey Barrett,

I've been playing guitar for 10 years now, but I am going through your Guitar Fretboard Workbook to be able to visualize the fretboard better. So far, knowing the root shapes is definitely coming in handy. However, I have come across something that doesn't quite make sense to me. When I get to the Natural Minor Scale section of the book, exercise #13 doesn't quite make sense to me. For example, #3 is E Minor Pattern 1. I understand the scale formula and I also realize that the Natural Minor corresponds to the 6th degree (aeolian) of diatonic harmony. Now, I can see how you would conclude that #3 deals with "root" shape 1, but it doesn't make sense to me that you would call it "pattern" 1. That particular scale shape seems like it corresponds with "pattern" 5 in terms of playing all the notes of the scale. Hopefully you understand what I am trying to say and can clear things up for me. I really am enjoying your book, but for some reason exercise #13 doesn't quite make sense in terms of what pattern you would call each scale. I would greatly appreciate your help. Thanks much, take care.

Anthony

Hi Anthony,

I think I understand what you're suggesting. You're saying it would make more sense if a scale fingering were to retain the same pattern number no matter which of its notes is used as the root.

For example you want to refer to E minor scale Pattern 1 as Pattern 5, because it is the same fingering as G major scale Pattern 5, and just remember that the roots are different.

(The relative minor concept is drilled on Exercise 14, right after where you are.)

That approach might seem easier at first, but it is harmful to musicality later. Unfortunately I may not be able to explain why it is disadvantageous until you've looked at later chapters. But I'll make a short good-faith attempt.

When you work with chords, arpeggios, intervals, and modes, you'll see that the root shape determines the pattern number in every case, and all the other notes of these things are measured in comparison to a major scale from the same root---not from a different root. Do it this way until you have these basic shapes clearly planted in your mind. The method you're proposing as your primary thought process will help you later in certain circumstances, for harmonic substition and mode location.

So, we are going to say that because it has root shape 1, the E minor scale in 4th position is a Pattern 1 minor scale, even though the Pattern 5 G major scale uses the same notes and the same fingering, and in spite of the hardship of recognizing the b3, b6, and b7 in the "new" scale.

Any note except the root can be altered against the natural-degree markers on the yardstick of the major scale. For example, you can have a scale that is the same as C major except its 7th is flatted: C Mixolydian. Its Pattern 2 fingering is at fret 2, like C major. We call it Pattern 2 of C Mixolydian (again, even though it is equivalent in fingering to F major Pattern 5).

When you play the C7 chord that goes with this scale, it'll help you understand that we don't necessarily want to be thinking about F major.

C7

-3-
-5-
-3-
-5-
-3-
---

This chord does go to F major quite easily, but it could also be used in other situations that have nothing to do with F at all. Therefore we want to measure it in comparison with a major scale from its own roots: Pattern 2 in this spot on the fingerboard. The scale is C Mixolydian. Start with the 2nd finger.

C Mixolydian

------------------
------------------
-----------2-3-5--
-----2-3-5--------
-3-5--------------
------------------

This explanation may or may not make sense to you at your current position on the learning ladder. If not, I'm going to have to ask that you temporarily trust that the book's system contains the most-reduced and simplest methodology and reserve any suggested changes until after you've gotten through Chapter 21. Please contact me when you reach page 67!

Thanks,
Barrett

An 8-bar blues solo

Hello guitar lovers!

I'm trying to keep up more posts on my blog. This week I've got a little 8-bar blues solo for you.

Here's the sound file:


http://monsterguitars.com/blu.mp3

And here's the transcription:

http://monsterguitars.com/Steal_Away.pdf

Till next time!

twitter posts

My twitter username is BarrettTag. (Yes, that's ttT in there.)

http://twitter.com/BarrettTag

Trying to tie blog posts, tweets, and other updates together.

Intro Lick from "Wrecked on the Sirens' Rocks." You can play it!

Click the play button below to start the half-speed version.

Click here to load the notation in a separate page.

The rectangular marks represent downstrokes of the pick. The V's are upstrokes.

Dan's Major Triad Diagrams

After his post, Dan replied with some nice diagrams he made of the major triads. You can see these and many more at his website.



Root Position



First Inversion





Second Inversion

The 12 close-voiced triads

Dan writes:
>
> Hello Barrett,
>
> I'm a beginning guitarist, and I've been working my way
> through your "Guitar Fretboard Workbook". It is a great
> workbook, and I really like your style of "read it, write
> it, play it" which really helps me learn.
>
> As you state late in Chapter 22, I've been constructing a
> final project workbook with all sorts of shapes, chords,
> scales, and arpeggios. However I am confused by one item.
> You recommend to make diagrams of 72 triads (12 major, 12
> minor, etc.). I cannot figure out how to come up with 12
> major triad chords. In chapter 14 you show five patterns of
> each triad and then talk about inversions, but I still can't
> figure out how you come up with 12. Did you mean 15? Five
> triad patterns plus five first inversions plus five second
> inversions?
>
> Please let me know how to come up with a good practice list
> for triads.
>
> Thanks, Dan
>


Hi Dan,

The last sentence on page 44 of Chapter 14 says, "We will divide each (triad shape) into four small three-string shapes..."

Here is another way to look at it that I think you'll find helpful.

If you stay on one stringset (a group of adjacent strings), there are three triad voicings. Play this example on the top three strings for D major.

-2--5--10-----
-3--7--10-----
-2--7--11-----
--------------
--------------
--------------

Those are, in order, 2nd inversion, root position, and 1st inversion.

On the next string set, the same D major triad goes like this:
--------------
-3--7--10-----
-2--7--11-----
-4--7--12-----
--------------
--------------
Those are 1st inversion, 2nd inversion, root position.

Following this systematic exhaustion we have 4 possible sets of adjacent strings: 321 432 543 654. Multiply that 4 by the 3 inversions on each stringset and you get 12 close-voiced triads.

Here are the major triads on the other two stringsets.

--------------
--------------
-2--7--11-----
-4--7--12-----
-5--9--12-----
--------------

-------------
-------------
-------------
-4--7---12---
-5--9---12---
-5--10--14---

The list does not yet include any open-voiced triads like this, which would greatly increase the number of permutations:

-5-
-3-
---
-4-
---
---

Some of the inversions are shared by two root shape/pattern numbers. For example, this voicing is shared by Pattern 2 and Pattern 3.

---
-7-
-7-
-7-
---
---

Thanks for your mail, and congratulations on finishing the book.

All the best,
Barrett