Eric Johnson's ability to solo with chords always impressed me when I was starting to play guitar. It was so much to take in, it's hard enough to make single note solos interesting and here he was using a whole bunch of notes all at once. A lot of what he does is based on triads, every inversion and position, be it open or closed. This lessons covers open position triads, their inversions and how they relate to each other with voice leading and melodization. Example 1 is a simple C major triad with it's inversions. The first voicing is C,G,E, it's first inversion is E,C,G and the second inversion is G,E,C. Arpeggiate it like Example 2 and you can hear how these voicings can be used for intervallic sounding lead lines. Example 3 is the same voicing and inversion idea on an F chord so we can get a progression going like Example 4, changing from C to F. The idea here is smooth voice leading. each chord taking the shortest possible route to the next. Look for common tones between chords, see how the C note doesn't move in the first chord of the first bar in Example 4? That's voice leading. That's the ticket. Example 5 arpeggiates the same progression. Remember, these voicings can be used for soloing with a distorted lead tone as well as chords with a clean tone. EJ is all over this stuff, it gives a real solid sense of harmony and freedom to the player when you can hear the changes going by without accompaniment. Example 6 gives an A minor chord the same treatment. Now we have three chords to voice lead into. Example 7 shows a few possibilities with C, Aminor and F. This is were things get a little more advanced. Example 8 is the entire chord scale from the key of C. Example 9 is an arpeggiated chord scale. Don't forget to try these examples as single note leads as well. Examples 10 and 11 are all the inversions. This is a lot to take in so be patient with this stuff before you try the next examples. This is when it starts to sound like music. A standard diatonic cycle of fourths applied to the key of C gives us a chord progression of C-F-Bdim.-Em-Am-Dm-G. Example 12 shows a couple possible permutations of said progression using all the voicings we have worked on so far. The next step is, how do we incorporate some single note stuff to play melodies on top of the chords? Examples 13 to 15 show how a scale note can be applied BETWEEN the chord changes to give some melodic flavour. Example 13 is the same cycle of fourths progression in Example 12 but with a scale on the highest voice in the chord. This scale will always descend into the highest voice of each chord change. Example 14 does the same thing except on the mid voice. Example 15 is a little different considering the smooth voice leading between every chord. The bass note doesn't move much so a scale note below each new chord was added. If this is all starting to sound like a really remedial Bach piece than you are correct. J.S Bach was a master of voice leading and inner melodies (AKA Counterpoint). Listen to Glenn Gould performing Bach's Inventions to hear a master at work.
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Playing with strict alternate picking at all times is fine if you're John Petrucci or Al Dimeola. I am not. I had people tell me when I was starting up to alternate pick everything at all times, it's the only way to play fast and clean. That's fine for picking on one string, but you have to change strings eventually, and that's where things fall apart. Playing a downstroke on one string and then an upstroke on the other always caused me to "trip over" the string in a way. My right hand never could do it very well, I always just kind of played whatever felt comfortable. I found out later on that what I found comfortable was referred to as "Economy Picking". Basically, economy picking is alternate picking, the only difference is the way you change strings. Play the three note per string scale in Example 1 to get a feel for it. The picking hand is going "down up down, down up down" changing strings with the same picking direction. Same thing applies to example 2, descending with the opposite picking direction. This makes all the difference in the world. Watch guys like Tal Farlow when he's playing an up tempo tune and it looks like he's dragging his hand all over the strings, like he's "wiping" the notes out. This is also the method Frank Gambale uses. The trick with economy picking is odd number note groupings. Any pattern with 1,3,5,7 etc. notes per string will allow you to change strings picking in the same direction, thus saving you from alternate picking hell. Examples 4 and 5 are an A major scale in note groupings of 7. This is a John Petrucci Style lick that can go by in a flash. When playing these odd note groupings it is important to practice with a metronome. The accents are all over the place and unpredictable so it can be easy to lose track of where the "one" is if you're not careful. What about pentatonics? Good question. Pentatonic scales usually lie on the fretboard in two note per string shapes, an even number. how Eric Johnson can play these the way he does has always baffled me. Anyhoo, remember the "Extended Pentatonics" lesson I posted earlier? Changing the scale to three notes per string helps get the economy going. Example 5 is a pentatonic lick in E minor using economy picking and a five note grouping. Remember the metronome! These odd numbers aren't what we are used to hearing in western music, keep the rhythms tight. |