Understanding Intervals

Hi Barrett

I am working my way through your Chord Tone Soloing book and am so far half way through Part II. It has already improved my understanding for guitar playing a lot. Your books are the best guitar learning material I have ever read - and that's a lot. Thank you!

I'm having a problem with understanding the 6ths intervals on page 34 (track 20). How can it be 6ths if you are in the key of C?
C-E = 3rd interval
It would make sense to me if we were in the key of E: E-C = 6th interval.

I can see the tones are the same, but not how it can be a 6ths interval? Won't E always be the 3rd tone in the key of C?

Could you please explain to me how to understand this? Thank you again
-Martin from Denmark
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Hi Martin,
We use a number like "3rd" to describe two things. This is how there can be confusion.

A "3rd" is a scale degree (which is what you are thinking). As you say E is always the 3rd degree in the key of C major.

A "3rd" is also an interval: the exact distance between any two pitches. Not just from one C to the next higher E. There is more than one C and more than one E. Which C and which E do we mean?

From C up to E is a 3rd:

C D E
1 2 3

And from E down to C is also 3rd.

E D C
3 2 1

but from E up to a higher C is a 6th:

C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
   (1 2 3 4 5 6)

From C to an even higher E is a 10th:

C D E F G A B C D E
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Please let me know if this helps you. And thank you very much for getting my book.
Barrett

Tasty Diminished Licks on the Blues

Double-Stop Blues Lick

Short and easy to learn, but cool.

City Solo

This was composed for a client of my friend, producer Billy Burke.

Pendulum Picking

Hi Barrett,

I am working through your book Rhythmic Lead Guitar, I really enjoy it. After playing the guitar for 15 years, it's been really helpful to remind myself to play in time.

I am working through the portion on intentionally make the pick miss the string while maintaining constant motion along with the foot. I realized I don't do that at all, especially when I am playing the acoustic guitar when all I'm doing is mainly strumming. I would just like to ask if it make sense for me to correct that, so that I will maintain constant motion. Do you do it yourself as well when playing acoustic?

Thanks for your help!
"John"


Hi John,

Yes, I do it that way too.

One of the main benefits of keeping your hand moving along with the foot, even if it is not really a visible movement, is that you start strumming again on either a down or an upstroke that is aligned with the down or upbeat of the music.

If you are just strumming 8th notes on an acoustic (with pick or fingers) to accompany vocals in a pop or folk tune, then I'd recommend the alternation to keep the time steady. A good example is "Yesterday" by the Beatles. When Paul sings the title word (at about 1:15), the final up strum with "-day" is left to ring for a quarter note duration, and he comes back in with up-down-up strums before the down beat of the bridge section ("Why she had to go").

Strict right-hand alternation even when some notes are not played (some call it "pendulum picking") is useful for making sure you play syncopated single notes and chords without rushing the time. If you try to play single-note funk parts (or mixed single-note lines with chords like the two guitars in Rufus's "You Got the Love") without this steady alternation, it's much harder to stay in the groove.

For strumming chords with no single notes involved, you may alter this approach for tonal purposes. Downstrokes and upstrokes sound a little different from each other. The downstrokes are chunkier and the upstrokes are a little more chime-like due to the order of the strings being hit. Usually the first strings you hit in a strum get hit the hardest and therefore get a volume boost. Punk and metal rhythm parts are often played with downstrokes only and would not have the same impact otherwise. I usually play ska skanks with only upstrokes (they're on upbeats anyway) on the high strings for stinging accents that stay in the rhythmic pocket.

Thanks for your question.
Barrett

Rhythmic Lead Guitar Book/CD interview question

Arpeggiating through a Minor ii-V-i

Hi, I have and love the chord-tone soloing book - so glad I started working through it. I am working on chapter 17, arpeggio connection. However when I try arpeggio connection over a progression, such as Autumn Leaves, with extended chords I run into a little problem over altered arpeggios, such as the B7(b9). I understand the spelling is 1, 3, 5, b7, b9, then into the next octave with 3, 5, b7, b9 but how do I perform the arpeggio connection exercise over this chord? Do I include the root, but only in the beginning in the low register? How do I determine where and which ‘1’ of the arpeggio is the root (to include) when I'm descending? Would I essentially just be arpeggiating a diminished chord (B# diminished) over the dominant seventh flat nine chord? There is probably no straight answer but thanks,

Mike

Hi Mike,

Good question, and you're right that there's no hard and fast answer. I just connected arpeggios over a minor ii-V-i a bunch of times to make sure, and all three of these possible ways sound good to me over the B7b9 in any register: root, b9, or both.

You can expect that you get some freedom on the V7 chord in a minor ii-V-i, and a lot of things will work. Jump over and check out the licks on page 106. They just happen to also be on B7-Em. They all have both B and C as high notes, with the B falling on either a strong or weak beat. On that particular chord situation---V7 resolving to im, almost any chord tone or altered extension sounds cool on the beat: 1-3-b5-#5-b7-b9-#9 (or the perfect 5th if it is present---most accompanists will alter the 5th or leave it out to give you freedom). I just avoid the root of the upcoming chord (E). I want to save that note for the resolution.

(By the way that's one goal of the altered scale. It includes notes on either side of the upcoming root.)

That "anything goes" idea is not true of all chord types, though. For example, I don't always like hitting the root of a major 7 chord right on the downbeat in the upper register when playing a line of eighth notes. I'll go for the 7th or 9th instead.

If I'm going to hit the root there, I try to make it a quarter note or longer so the listener has time to hear it as something out of the ordinary. The line stalls, but you get an interesting "suspended" kind of sound in its place. (Actually it sounds more like an appoggiatura, but don't say that word if you want to keep a job!)

Barrett
For you out there in TV land, the book under discussion can be previewed here:
Chord Tone Soloing