The Guitar Study Newsletter for 5/22/2002

By Darrin Koltow

Greetings once again from MaximumMusician.com. This is Darrin Koltow, webmaster, guitar coach, fret aficionado, all around good guy, bringing you more music making, guitar-playing tips. First I want to thank you again for signing up for the Guitar Study newsletter at www.MaximumMusician.com. You can unsubscribe at any time using instructions at the end of this email.

And quit keeping all this good advice to yourself. Tell a friend to sign up for the Guitar Study newsletter at www.MaximumMusician.com, or I'll melt your Milk Duds.

In this issue:

== World's simplest blues ==
=== Whatcha callit? ===
== The Big Put Down ==
== The James Bond chord ==
== Alternate picking, the fun way ==
=== Chords and arpeggios ===

++++++++++++++++

== World's simplest blues ==

Okay, all you minimalist fans. I want to show you how to get the absolute most music with the absolute least effort. As usual, I don't want to tell you what we're gonna do, I want to *show* you. Dig the tab.

(Remember to set your fonts to Courier or Courier New, unless you like looking at visual spaghetti.)

|-------------|
|-------------|
|-7-7-7-7-7-7-|
|-6-6-6-6-6-6-|
|-------------|
|-------------|
(repeat)

|-------------|
|-------------|
|-6-6-6-6-6-6-|
|-5-5-5-5-5-5-|
|-------------|
|-------------|
(repeat)


|-------------|
|-------------|
|-7-7-7-7-7-7-|
|-6-6-6-6-6-6-|
|-------------|
|-------------|
(repeat)

|-------------|-------------|
|-------------|-------------|
|-8-8-8-8-8-8-|-6-6-6-6-6-6-|
|-7-7-7-7-7-7-|-5-5-5-5-5-5-|
|-------------|-------------|
|-------------|-------------|

|-------------|
|-------------|
|-7-7-7-7-7-7-|
|-6-6-6-6-6-6-|
|-------------|
|-------------|
(repeat, lather, rinse)

If this isn't the world's simplest blues, it's gotta come pretty darn close. It might not be the most bluesey or exciting or most fun blues to play. But you can identify it as the blues, even though you're playing very few notes. That's what we're going after.

So, how does this work? What exactly are you playing? That first "chord" -- really an interval of D and G# -- is an E7. The next interval, the C# and G, is an A7. The third, a D# and an A, is a B7. There you have an E blues: E7, A7 and B7.

The purpose of this little blues ditty is to illustrate a kind of chord substitution. We substituted the most important intervals in each of the chords for the full chord. In other words, we put in the best, strongest and sweetest part of a chord -- the nectar of the chord, if you will -- for the chord itself.

In each case, the interval we used is called a tritone. It consists of 6 half steps, and has a sound so unstable that they would excommunicate you from the Church if you were caught playing it, about 500 years ago. (I'm not kidding about this.) This same interval is what gives the dominant 7 chord its flavor. And as we know, the dominant 7 chord is part of what gives a blues progression its distinctive sound.

Enjoy this simple blues. And adapt it and use the lesson we built from it in your playing. The next time you play a dom 7 chord, and you think a wee bitty interval would sound more appropriate than a full chord, use the tritone.

=== Whatcha callit? ===

I saw a term used once on the back of a book about chords. The term was "chord combinations." I thought to myself, "'Chord combinations, chord combinations.' What the heck are they?" I researched it, I wrote about it, I asked higher powers for insight on what they might be. Were they some special kind of chord progressions? Were they special arrangements of notes within chords? Were they a message sent from Alpha Centauri meant to confuse humans?

After abandoning all hope of understanding the term "Chord combinations," insight came to me. Maybe it was the fungus gathering on unwashed dishes that facilitated this insight. I don't know. I know only that "chord combination" is just someone else's term for chord progression.

The point of all this is that how you name something determines how well you're going to understand it. Also, the language you use to describe a thing will determine how well you're going to understand it. There's hope in this observation: it means that if you don't understand what the heck this chord is 4-5-4-x-x-5 when Teacher A calls it an E suspended 4, then you can turn to Teacher B, C or D. One of these fellas or ladies is going to call the chord an E/A. It's a slash chord.

The moral of the story is, when you don't understand something about music, rather than give up hope of understanding it, and rather than start to equate your intelligence with garden vegetables, write out a description of what you don't understand. If you need to, stow it away for a few days, and come back to it. Throw questions at it. List people who could help you understand it. List what the thing definitely is *not.* I guarantee you that if any other human being had the ability to figure out your problem, you can figure it out, too.

== The Big Put Down ==

Recently, I was working on my arpeggios, and I was singing along to them. I was fretting the arpeggios and singing at the same time. I don't know anyone else who does this, though it's a good way to build essential, powerful musicianship skills. But what doesn't build skill is the other thing I was doing while I was singing. Actually, it was something I was doing *to* my singing.

I was struggling. To the world's most natural and pleasurable skill I was adding pain. I would catch my breath and play a bit and sing a short burst. I just couldn't seen to get it *just right.* Now, this is classic anal retentive, obsessive compulsive behavior. I'm not putting myself down, I'm just stating a fact. I was being a perfectionist, first of all. Second, even after I had sung what I set out to sing, I kept doing the exercise over and over! I felt locked in this cycle of struggle.

Do you know what effect this was having? It was making me dread picking up the guitar to do that exercise -- and my other exercises. The cost of perfection is pain. And, in this case, frustration. So, how did I get out of this?

The first thing I did was become open-eyed, totally aware of what I was doing, through writing in a music journal. After each session of doing the singing exercise, I'd ask how it felt, as a mentor, teacher, or true friend might ask me. I'd answer on paper, sometimes assigning a number to rate my feeling.

This helped a bit but I still was struggling, still was making mountains out of mudpies, and worst of all, making the joy of music into a pain in the butt. Finally, I got serious in creating a solution. I picked up some hardcore music advice from Kenny Werner's Effortless Mastery book. First of all, I put down the guitar in the middle of performing the singing exercise. Second, I *tried to fail.* Third, I made the goal of the exercise not to sing a certain pitch in just the right way, but to sing in the most relaxed -- even lazy -- way.

The result? I dig doing the exercise again. Also, I've since picked up some other techniques for breaking the obsessive pattern. These other techniques are focused on making me laugh, or putting me in a state of complete enjoyment, just as though I were watching a great movie or eating a delicious food.

You know, a lot of what practicing and playing is about centers on how we view our experience: is practicing something you "have to do" or something you enjoy doing? Be honest with yourself. Your state of mind will improve, and if there's even just a nugget of music desire in there, so will your playing.

== The James Bond chord ==

I honestly don't know if this next chord occurs in the theme music to the James Bond movies, which were so beautifully scored by composer John Barry. But, this chord, the minor-major 7, add 9, feels like it belongs in a James Bond movie. Check it out:

x-7-8-5-7-x

Moving from the high E string to the low E string, you play nothing on the high E, an F# on the B, D# on the G, G on the D string, and an E on the A string. This is a super hip sound.

It would be even more hip if we actually *used* it in a musical context, wouldn't it? You wouldn't just learn to play one chord and expect to impress an audience. Let's learn a progression with the A minor-major, add 9. And you know, while we're at it, that name for the chord is too darn long, so let's call it 007, as in "James Bond, 007." When I write "007," you think, "Oh yeah: the James Bond minor major 7, add 9 chord. Cool." Okay, dig the progression:

x-7-5-7-7-x (F# half-dim)
x-7-5-7-6-x (B7b9)
x-7-8-5-7-x ("007")

What do you think? Did you have an urge to use futuristic weapons, do death-defying stunts, have several brief romances with impossibly beautiful people with exotic accents? If you did, you played the progression correctly.

Now, dig this progression:

x-7-8-5-7-x ("007")
x-7-6-5-x-5 (A13)
x-7-7-7-5-x (D)

Is that a bit happier sounding? In this instance, we used the 007 chord as a ii chord. We used it in place of an E minor chord, which has its uses, but can get kind of humdrum. We want to spice up our playing, don't we? After the ii, we have the V7, which is A13, and the I, which is D major.

Doesn't sound too shabby. *Anything* you put into a ii-V-I context is going to sound good. Bear in mind that, with a minor ii-V-i progression, the "i," or the One, is minor, and the ii often has its fifth flatted. In other words, the ii is often a half-diminished chord.

== Alternate picking, the fun way ==

For those of you who use a pick, here's a nifty little exercise to build those alternate picking muscles, while also building your ear.

|-----------------5-5-------------|
|---------5-5-7-7-----7-7-5-5-----|
|-----6-6---------------------6-6-|
|-7-7-----------------------------|
|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|


|-------------5-5-7-7-5-5---------|
|---------7-7-------------7-7-----|
|-4-4-7-7---------------------7-7-|
|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|


|-------------4-4-7-7-4-4---------|
|---------5-5-------------5-5-----|
|-4-4-7-7---------------------7-7-|
|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|


|-------------5-5-----------------|
|-----5-5-7-7---------------------|
|-6-6-------------6-6-------------|
|---------------------7-7-4-4-----|
|-----------------------------7-7-|
|---------------------------------|

This exercise is in A major, and is in fact a ii-V-I with arpeggios. All these notes are 16th notes, by the way. That doesn't mean you should play them so fast that your strings stark glowing red, but you definitely should play them at a tempo that's comfortable. And do like Jamie Andreas says to do: *use a metronome*.

So, what's the big deal with this exercise? What makes it more musical than a lot of other alternate picking exercises? I'll tell you. As I already mentioned, this exercise is built over a ii-V-I progression. That progression *is* music: it's moving harmony. How many picking exercises have you seen that look something like this:

|-1-1-2-2-3-3-4-4------------------|
|-----------------1-1-2-2-3-3-4-4--|
|----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|

I'm sorry, but that's not music, and it's no fun to practice, at least not after the first day or so of playing it. The difference between that stuff and the cool A major ii-V-I ditty is the same difference between talking to a wall, and talking to a live person. Make *all* your exercises musical, or I'm going to come to your home and make toothpicks out of your guitar.

=== Chords and arpeggios ===

I was playing hooky from playing guitar recently, when I started playing the piano. (There's a whole lotta playing going on in this household, I can tell you.) I noticed something about piano playing that gave me an insight about the guitar.

There are lots of things that are easier to play on the piano than on the guitar, and one of those things is arpeggios. More specifically, playing chords *with* arpeggios is a lot easier to play on a piano than on a guitar.

See, everything on a piano is laid out in a simple, linear way. Left is down and right is up. On the guitar, as you know, but as your fingers are only slowly beginning to know, moving left can mean going up or down or into quantum space-time wormholes, and going right can mean going up or down in pitch, or over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house.

The point of all this is real simple: *play chords as part of your arpeggio practicing, and play arpeggios as part of your chord practicing.* In fact, we need to go even further with this. It's not just about arpeggios, but *any* melodic material. So, when you practice any melodic material -- scales, arpeggios or related single-note stuff -- play them together with chords. And do the opposite: when you play chords, work in melodic material.

Why are we doing this? We're doing this because when we're creating a melodic solo, we see more easily what notes will sound cool, because we can see the chords under them. And we're doing this because when we strum the chords to that great new Jewel tune, we can more easily see and soon play the melody notes connected with those chords. This will lead soon to chord-melody playing, which is so spiritually gratifying that you'll be spending hours doing it without even realizing it.

To figure out how to practice chords and melodies together, you'll make a habit of asking some key questions. For example, to work chords into your melody practicing, you might say, "Okay, I'm doing my workout in A major. I'm playing an A major arpeggio: A, C#, E. I'm currently on the C#. What A major chord patterns that I know have this C# as their top note?" For working melodies into chords, your key question might be, "Okay, I've been strumming along on this G major chord as I sing along. Which note of the G major, G, B, D or which passing tone, A, C, E, F#, am I singing now? Where is that note on the fretboard?"

Practice harmonies with your melodies. Practice melodies with your harmonies.

Well, it's time to get this issue out to you all. Enjoy the material in this issue, but not so much that you forget to sleep or eat. If you want more guitar stuff to read, there's plenty at www.MaximumMusician.com, including the highly hip ebook Guitar Chords. You can pick up your copy at www.MaximumMusician.com/chordbook.htm.

It's more fun than shooting milk through your nose, probably not as much fun initially as seeing the new Star Wars movie, but definitely a lot more fun over the course of time because it will show you how much fun learning about and applying harmony can be, even though it won't show you how to write ridiculously long sentences like this, which are intended to tell you what a terrific learning experience reading Guitar Chords can be. (Whew.)

Have a harmonious, melodious, joyful week.