Pattern transposition (part 1)

Hi !

Today I'm starting a serie of exercices on a subject that is dear to me in improvisation and practicing: patterns.

Lately I've talked about motives in improvisation, stressing out a rhythmic approach.

Here we'll focus on choice of notes, intervals and modes. Since we'll be in a practicing mood, rhythm will be restricted to plain sixtenth-notes.


The purpose of this blog entry is twofold:

• Step 1: to show how to take a simple 8-note pattern then to develop the idea as far as possible.
• Step 2: to transpose a pattern in different ways with modulations.

( fig. 1 ) shows the basic idea: a 8-note pattern in A minor pentatonic. I stole this idea from Michael Brecker lines and from Paul Gilbert killer rock licks, mixing strict alternate picking and hammer-ons and pull-offs. With accents carefully chosen at high speed and with this pattern developped all along A minor pentatonic scale, this simple lick can be really effective in a hot improvisation.

Now let move to C minor pentatonic and let blend with F# minor pentatonic (b5 transposition) to bring in some "out-phrasing atmosphere". In ( fig. 2 ) this modulation is performed in the same area of the neck, the pattern is transposed every 8 notes. The basic idea of the ( fig. 1 ) pattern is underlying all the way.

( fig. 3 ) takes the basic pattern further up the road of modulation. Now we're in C augmented scale, with the same pattern contour and accents. If we step back for a while, we notice many common grounds between ( fig. 1 ) and ( fig. 3 ). This is the same damn idea, transposed in another scale.

( fig. 4 ) brings some kind of Oz Noy touch with the introduction of the whole tone scale. Oz is fond of this scale and uses it in a very clever and subtle way.
Basically, we only take the first ascending part of the original pattern, then we basically go down with the C whole tone scale.
After playing ( fig. 4 ), you notice 2 things:

• we start the idea on an E, then on a C, then G#, E, and C
• we come up with a pattern transposed according to the C augmented triad. 

Actually this is not a surprise, since C whole tone scale is built on Caug and Daug triads.


After hours of practicing I've noticed this pattern transposition approach being really effective to practice muscles, rhythmic endurance, modes and picking accuracy.

We'll see later on how to apply this approach on modes and arpeggios, vertically and horizontally on the neck.


Shred on

Jean-François


Don't hesitate to drop a line below, or on Facebook or Twitter to let me know about your thoughts on this blog post. That would be really helpful for me. THANKS !

www.soubelet.com 

South West of France (nov 2013)

The other side of the coin (part 1)

Hi !

Today I’m sharing ideas on right hand picking after having numerous bad experiences a long time ago.

Imagine the situation: you’re a sideman, you got the gig, playing in a band in a cool venue. 
For 10 songs, your job is just to groove hard on chords, play a few lead licks sometimes but no real guitar solo on the horizon.
On the 11th song, then comes the 24 bar-guitar solo where everyone is excited (including you) and expecting you to burn, to be up to the great guitar player they all know.

Unfortunately, even if you spent hours practicing awesome licks, crazy shreddy alternate picking lines, soulful blues bends, elaborate bebop lines : all this background is destroyed by the funky hour you just spent playing rhythms with downstrokes, more focussed on groove than the subtleties of picking. Your right-hand is unbalanced, sort of attracted by a mysterious force towards the ground, on which you keep on desperately looking at, since you’re too ashamed of yourself playing like crap. 

What the hell is going on? Even if you’re trying hard to ignore this unbalance, everything you’re playing is not like what you’re usually practicing. You’re not confortable, sort of caught off guard by the situation whereas you know you’re a decent badass six-stringer.

Sounds familiar ? 

I’ve lived these moments, so I had to work on a territory I rarely used to go: the upstrokes.
Since playing downstrokes on the beats is natural, we guitar players tend to feel/think that upstrokes are less important or even not natural.

Here’s what I've noticed: 

• If I want to play better on what I know and usually do, I must work hard on what I rarely do.
• The more prepared and confortable with upstrokes I am, the more efficient I am in solos.
• If downstrokes are easy, natural and into the light, they can only shine if what is in the shade (upstrokes) are clean and strong.
• Right-hand picking is like a coin. One side is a downstroke, one side is an upstroke. Each side is as important as the other: If I want to improve, I have to work in both territories and leave no stone unturned.

Here are a few exercices I like to practice when I’m preparing for a gig, a recording session or any other guitar situation.

( Fig. 1 ) is a 5-note chromatic line played on even rhythms. Downstrokes and upstrokes are exaggerated with accents. Each accent is deliberately placed on a specific note in the 5-note line.
bar 1: accent on 1
bar 2: accent on 2
bar 3: accent on 3,
etc….
The purpose is to flush the crazy idea that all accents must be on downstrokes, to have more control on the music you play with your pick, to feel the independence of the upstroke from the downstroke.

( Fig. 2 ) is the G major scale we all know, played differently. It starts with an upstroke instead of a downstroke. After a few minutes you’re confortable with changing strings with an up-down right hand movement. You feel that your pick is "inside" the strings, your right-hand picking is more accurate.

( Fig. 3 ) is based on a G Maj7#5 arpeggio. I’ve seen John McLaughlin warming up playing strict alternate picking on triads. I’ve humbly practiced this approach and came up with my own stuff. Like ( Fig. 2 ), the cool thing is to reverse what we already know: upstrokes are played on beats, instead of downstrokes. For jazz lovers, note the substitution on B7 ( = GMaj7#5/9) then D#min7b5 ( = GMaj7#5/9/#11) in bar 8.

( Fig 4. ) is G major scale played in triads. Every group of 4 notes starts with an upstroke for all the good reasons I’ve developed before. The nice thing is the mix the accent-thing of ( Fig. 1 ) with a triad approach. In this exercice the accent is displaced: on the first note, then the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, the back to the 1st note, etc….


Have fun ! 

Jean-François

www.soubelet.com 

Moving chord tones (part 3)

Hi!

Today we carry on with chord tones practicing in two directions:

• how to play chord tones in diatonic patterns, the direct suite of part 2
• how to play chord tones with the addition of extra notes, creating some melodies on the top and on the bass.

( fig. 1 ) shows the progression of chord tones in a 1-5 pattern.
1 is F#, first degree of F# mixolydian,
5 is C#, fifth degree of F# mixolydian,
Then this movement in fifths is transposed in ascending thirds according to F# mixolydian.
F#-C# becomes A#-E, then C#-G#, then E-A#, and so on....
This exercice is good to practice intervals (fifths and thirds) horizontally and vertically on the neck; this also allows to play 3 octaves of the guitar in just 2 bars.

( fig. 2 ) takes the approach of ( fig. 1 ) in triad patterns.
Basically, we apply a chord tones on each note of each triad of F# mixolydian, in a 1-5-3 approach.
These are the triads of the pattern:
F#, G#m, A# dim, B, C#m, E#m, E.
F# is played in 1-5-3: F#-C#-A#
G#m is played in 1-5-3: G#-D#-B
etc....
This progression is a nice way of practicing rhythm (triplets) and chords positions altogether.


Now let's see how we can come up with tools to create melodies with chord tones.
( fig. 3 ) introduces the fourth, which is half-step or half-step above the third.
Each chord tones is followed by the related fourth. I purposely grouped all chord tones positions in the same neck area, in order to display many ways of playing the fourth.

( fig. 4 ) take the idea of ( fig. 3 ) horizontally on the neck in order to reach another range.

Let's do with the root what we just did with the third.
( fig. 5 ) is a interpretation of ( fig. 4 ).
Instead of playing the fourth of the chord tones we play the second, half-step or half-step above the root.
In my opinion, this lovely approach is perfect to break down all prejudices on melodies, bass, chord progressions. Each note become a potential melody on the bottom, the middle and the top.
We'll develop this concept later on.

Have fun!

Jean-François


Don't hesitate to drop a line below, or on Facebook or Twitter to let me know about your thoughts on this blog post. That would be really helpful for me. THANKS !

www.soubelet.com

The motive of the crime (part 1)

Hey !

Today I'm starting to speak about a vaste and important subject in improvisation and composition.

From my humble point of view this is the spine of any great improvisation and any great composition: motives (commonly called "patterns").

These are fragments of musical statements that are developped (or just repeated) in order to create a robust frame in which songs, solos and melodies are built.

So many great songs are composed on motives, from pop to heavy metal, from world music to classical.
At least we can find some similarities between Metallica's "Sad but True" and the intro of Mozart's "Serenade #13 In G, K 525, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik". 

In this post I'll focus mainly on rhythmic motives. Some motives can also be considered only with notes choice or movements, regardless of rhythm.

( fig. 1 ) is the Mozart's famous catchy "Kleine Nachtmusik" line that we all know. The motive is built on G (the key of the tune) and D7 (the related dominant).
What makes this line so mighty is not only the Wolfie's genius but also the 2-bar rhythmic motive that is transposed from G to D7. Also the conclusive movement of the second line that mirrors the suspended first line (ending on the note D) creates no doubt on the resolution on bar 4.

Now what is cool is to strictly separate rhythm from notes or harmony in solos.
Why not take a simple rhythmic motive (a canvas) and play all the notes (colors) we want on it ?

Let's play on B7.
Basically we can play B mixolydian or B mixolydian #11 (F# melodic minor) and other simple stuff such as B blues or Ab major pentatonic.

( fig. 2 ) is the main 2-bar motive we'll develop in this exercice. This is just F# melodic minor scale played in a jazzy mood, mixing some diatonic chromatisms, arpeggios and some kind of "pentatonic" sound on bar 2 with a little help from my scale.

( fig. 3 ) takes the rhythmic motive of ( fig. 2 ), plugged with a descending B7 arpeggio and chromatisms around the 7th and 3rd of B7.  

( fig. 4 ) starts with the #11th of B7 and leads to a bluesy tone on the 3rd. Bar 2 stresses the 2nd (C#) and the 6th (G#) of B7 to bring a jazzier sound. The end of bar is a plain excerpt of F# melodic minor in order to stress the B7#11 sound.

( fig. 5 ) is deliberately based on an A lydian #5 position, i.e F# melodic minor starting from the 3rd degree (A on fret 5, E string).  Bar 2 is a jazzy chromatic lick leading to the 3rd and 7th of B7, the chord tones.

As you can see in these short examples, possibilites are limitless in solos and compositions if we keep the same motive.
I could even play any crazy note I want (atonal, chromatic or tonal) and still be consistent with the rest of the solo because the spine is still here. Consistency, that's the point.

I'll develop other examples on motives in the next future.

Play strong

Jean-François


Don't hesitate to drop a line below, or on Facebook or Twitter to let me know about your thoughts on this blog post. That would be really helpful for me. THANKS !

www.soubelet.com 

 

Moving chord tones (part 2)

Hi!

Chord tones are back with a vengeance.

Whereas part 1 was dedicated to the introduction to chord tones and some ascending phrases, part 2 goes deeper into diatonic movements and emphasizes on descending movement all along the neck.

The raw material is still F# mixolydian harmonized in chord tones (1 root, 3rd third, 7th seventh) with the same chord structure (3rd is actually the 10th).

With two, three or four notes per string, we guitar players love structures when it comes to scales.  
( fig. 1 ) is a plain way of playing F# mixolydian with a 4-notes-per-string approach. This phrase starts with a F# on the melody and finishes with a F# on the bass.

( fig. 2 ) is built on a F# mixolydian pattern played in fourth. This example is interesting because of the mix between vertical and horizontal chord tones positions, as the objective is to strictly follow the pattern from F# to F#.

( fig. 3 ) is built on a simple 4-note pattern that is developed in a diatonic way. Because of the long range of this pattern (one octave between F# and F#), the phrase is restricted by the architecture of the guitar neck. Hence the limitation in two bars in this exercice.

( fig. 4 ) is one of my favorite approach of chord tones. An ascending phrase that mixes chord positions on 2 different sets of strings.
Set 1 with E, A and D strings.
Set 2 with D, B and E strings.
Of course, these sets can be customized with any adjacent strings (ex: Set 2 with A, G and B strings) and that freedom is the cool aspect of the exercice.
The 4-chord pattern is developped all along the neck, allowing to play nicely from fret 2 to fret 18 in just two bars.

( fig. 5 ) is the classic diatonic cycle in fourths. Each chord is a diatonic chord resolution for the next one, and so on. This cycle encompasses the famous II V I turnaround that is the core of jazz harmony.
Note in the last bar a new chord tones position with a different set of strings (A, D and G). The introduction of this new position brings numerous chord changes that we'll discuss later.


Play on!

Jean-François

Don't hesitate to drop a line below, or on Facebook or Twitter to let me know about your thoughts on this blog post. THANKS !

www.soubelet.com

Augmented reality (part 1)

Hi !

Today I'm back with a beefy subject. We'll talk about a really important color in modern music and that is dear to me: the augmented sound.

As the major third is a very powerful interval, the augmented triad brings a perfect balance between 3 notes and some kind of mystery too.

Basically the augmented triad is made of two major thirds piled up on one another.

The symetry of this triad brings limitless chords, phrasing and composition possibilities, and also paved the way to pieces of music that made history, such as "Giant Steps" by the great John Coltrane.

The purpose of this lesson is to:

• identify the main positions of the augmented triad
• train the ear to this specific sound 
• check how the augmented sound can be applied on 3 scales
• practice a few phrasing applications with the augmented sound

Here we'll talk about E augmented as an example.

In a nutshell, E aug can be summarized as the infinite possibilities of three notes (E, G# and C) played together.
Here we'll follow the transposition from E in major thirds pattern: E, G#, C, E, G#, etc...

Which means that E aug is understood as E/G#/C triad in this blog post.
A really cool exercice would be to play E aug with E/C/G# instead of E/G#/C !

( fig. 1 ) allows to practice the main positions of E aug triad on the guitar, listen to the augmented sound and figure out the symetrical architecture of this specific triad.

( fig. 2 ) shows the main E aug triad positions in upward and downward patterns.
Note on the last beat the triad combination E/C/G# that I mentioned above. The next step would be to transpose this combination on the ( fig. 2 ) pattern !



Now let's talk about chromatism, maths and...family.

We all know that the chromatic scale is made of 12 notes. The augmented triad is the perfect addition of 3 notes with 2 major thirds that can be transposed symetrically.
As a consequence we come up with four triad combinations (12 = 3 x 4) with the same symetrical architecture :

• E/G#/C : E aug
• F/A/C# : F aug
• F#/Bb/D : F# aug
• G/B/D# : G aug

If you push G aug a half-step higher you reach G# aug, which is just E aug transposed one major third higher.
 
My personal organization of augmented triads is to split them in "brothers" and "cousins":

• E aug, G# aug and C aug are "brothers" because they originate from the same source (or parents?) : E, G# and C notes.
• E aug, F aug, F# aug and G aug are "cousins" because the indirectly come from the same source: the architecture of the augmented triad in major thirds.
• With ( fig. 3 ), you can hear and notice the 4 groups (or "cousins") I've just mentionned.

Now let's play music with the augmented triad and try to apply the sound in a cool way.

( fig. 4 ) is the basic A melodic minor scale position.
( fig. 5 ) is a phrasing example with the augmented sound on A melodic minor with the E aug triad.
You can play the melodic minor scale in many chords situations, playing this example on a plain Am chord works fine.

( fig. 6 ) is the basic A harmonic minor scale position.
( fig. 7 ) is a phrasing example with the augmented sound on A melodic minor. with the E aug triad. With this scale, I like to pivot on the minor 6th and the major 7th to emphasize the harmonic minor sound.
Like ( fig. 5 ), playing this example on an Am chord is a nice and simple approach.

( fig. 8 ) is the basic E augmented scale position.
This 6-note symetrical scale is useful to play on augmented chords and others chords too.
E augmented scale is : E, G, G#, B, C, D#
Another point of view is to consider this scale as a combination of E aug and G aug (or B aug) triads

( fig. 9 ) shows a phrasing example with the E augmented scale.
This phrase works nice on a Am chord. The scale allows to bring chromatisms in a structured way


Have fun !

To be continued...

Jean-François

Don't hesitate to drop a comment to let me know about your thoughts on this blog post. THANKS !

www.soubelet.com

"Soft Whisper" guitar solo (excerpt) - Backstage Pass - The Guitar Channel (EN)

Hi,

Today I'm sharing with you an excerpt of the transcription of my guitar solo on "Soft Whisper", 6th track of my instrumental album "Seven Seeds of Life".

-->  Click here  <---

I'm doing this for two reasons:

1. I'll propose in the next future a thorough theorical analysis of the chords structure (12 bars) and the guitar solo to talk about modal jazz-fusion improvisation
2. The complete transcription in tab (48 bars) and the mp3 backing track are available for those who subscribe to the Backstage Pass in The Guitar Channel.

The Guitar Channel is a vivid French startup that proposes quality interactive content on guitar (podcast, video, soundseeing, blog). I had the pleasure to meet with CEO Pierre Journel for an interview in April 2012 when "Seven Seeds of Life" was released.
The Backstage Pass enables you to get numerous cool benefits on The Guitar Channel. Among them, you can listen to my interview (in French) in podcast format ^^

Jean-François
www.soubelet.com

"Soft Whisper" guitar solo (extrait) - passe Backstage - La Chaîne Guitare (FR)

Bonjour,

Aujourd'hui je diffuse un extrait du relevé en tablature du solo de guitare de "Soft Whisper", 6ème titre de mon album instrumental "Seven Seeds of Life".

-->  Cliquer ici  <---

Je le fais pour deux raisons:

1. Je proposerai prochainement une analyse théorique précise de la grille d'accompagnement (12 mesures) et du solo pour évoquer le jeu jazz-fusion modal.
2. Le relevé complet du solo en tablature (48 mesures) et la backing track en mp3 sont disponibles pour celles et ceux qui souscrivent au passe Backstage de La Chaîne Guitare.

La Chaîne Guitare est une startup française très active proposant du contenu interactif de qualité sur la guitare (podcast, vidéo, soundseeing, blog) et j'ai eu le plaisir de rencontrer Pierre Journel en avril 2012 pour une interview à l'occasion de la sortie de "Seven Seeds of Life".
Le passe Backstage permet d'accéder à de nombreux avantages qualitatifs et quantitatifs sur le site de La Chaîne Guitare. Il vous permet en particulier d'écouter à mon interview en format podcast ^^

Jean-François
www.soubelet.com

Moving chord tones (part 1)

 
Hi!

Today we'll talk about chords, intervals and modes. Here my purpose is to show a cool approach to link a few concepts.

The hidden challenge is to get out of the confort zone and find creative tools that can be used in composition, improvisation and accompaniment.

We'll work on a F#7 chord. The related diatonic mode is F#7 mixolydian, 5th degree of the B major scale.

(fig. 1) displays the most common way of playing F#7.
If we strip down this chord we come up with the most significant notes: the root, the third, the seventh. See (fig. 2) in this case : F# (root), A# (third) and E (seventh).
The third and the seventh of a chord are called "chord tones".

Put into practice, (fig. 1) may work in pop or rock, but might quite irrelevant in an improvised music context (such as jazz) where a minimalist approach of chords such as (fig. 2) is more than welcome to give some fresh air to the music.

Since we talk about F#7, let's talk about F#7 mixolydian. See (fig. 3).
Simply put, this is B major scale starting on the 5th degree (F#).

Now let's play intervals and build chords tones on each degree of F# mixolydian.
Step 1 is to harmonize F# mixolydian in sevenths. See (fig. 4)
Step 2 is to harmonize F# mixolydian in tenths. The 10th of a chord is just the 3rd an octave higher. See (fig. 5)

When we mix (fig. 4) and (fig. 5) we come up with F# mixolydian harmonized in chord tones.
You can play this harmonization in vertical (fig. 6) but also in a horizontal approach to reach higher notes.
(fig. 7) is built on F# mixolydian played 3 notes per string.

Let's go back to the usual way to practice a major scale and apply to F# mixolydian.
We all know how to play B major scale broken into thirds, (fig. 8).
If we apply the chord tones harmonization on this pattern we play (fig. 9). This is a vertical approach of F# mixolydian.
Of course F# mixolydian can be played horizontally, with 3 notes per string for example. And now you have the necessary tools to play this phrase by yourself...    :)

To be continued 

Have fun!

Jean-François


Don't hesitate to drop a comment to let me know about your thoughts on this blog post. THANKS !

www.soubelet.com

Atonal phrasing

Hi

Last year I recorded a demonstration video for an equipment I dig and that I use for any recording session, the PI-101 Wall of Soung plug-in made by the cool people of Two Notes Audio Engineering.

In this video I decided to point out how I use this killer technology in my work. This was also an opportunity to deliberately experiment a few musical concepts I love in my music writing.

Today I'm sharing the first part of the guitar solo, beginning at 3:07 in the enclosed video.
My purpose is to display an example of atonal phrasing with some techniques such as transposed patterns and sweep picking.

bar 1: patterns transposed in major third and flat 5th.
bar 2: previous phrase transposed one minor third down.
bars 3 and 4: ascending blues pattern freely revolving around G diminished scale.
bar 5: small wacky part, mostly based on intention and rhythm.

From my humble point of view, atonal phrasing can NEVER work (for me) if any one of these ingredients is absent in the moment:

• intention, 
• conviction, 
• control, 
• technique, 
• rhythm, 
• fun,
• subversion, 
• harmony, 
• knowledge, 
• respect.

 Enjoy
J-F

Left-hand accuracy exercice

Today my left-hand is as shitty as my smile during a hangover.
I felt so ashamed of myself that I couldn't help writing an exercice to develop my dumbass left-hand accuracy.

This exercice mixes:

• right-hand tapping
• descending hammer-ons
• slides
• odds pattern (5 + 3)
• chromatism

The objective is to play each note clearly and with perfect accuracy, in time, without hesitation and regardless of speed.

Chromatism helps to develop the strenght of each left-hand finger.
It also allows to play a lot of notes at fast tempo...because this is simply fucking cool :)))  #shred

When practicing with a crunch sound, I enjoy letting ring the last note of the pattern before changing string. Just to have more control of the sound and to bring a "grungy" touch.
Ex: bar 2, between A# and B

Have fun

Dominant seventh exercice

The purpose of this exercice is to integrate several jazz ingredients in improvisation such as:

• modes
• triads
• chord tones
• rhythm patterns

The basic pattern is applied on a 7 -- m6 resolution, then transposed in fourths.
A7, A7alt, Dm6
D7, D7alt, Gm6
G7, G7alt, Cm6
C7, C7alt, Fm6
F7, F7alt, Bbm6
etc...

• A7: A dorian b9 mode ( = G melodic minor) is used to get an A7sus4b9 color on A7. Then C# is integrated to mess up with C and D on A7, and bring some kind of ambiguity.

• A7alt: Bb melodic minor ( = A altered mode) pattern with augmented triads to point out a clear A7(#5) sound.

• Dm6: the last pattern of Bb melodic minor is used on Dm6 to introduce a short D melodic minor flavor. Then E and B bring a Dm6/9 color on a Dm6 chord.

The 2-bar pattern is to be transposed in 12 keys while using the fourth cycle I started in this exercice.

Have fun

Paris in summer

Chroniques d'une vie ordinaire: la Les Paul

Après 3 mois de conversion (sans regret) à la Les Paul et de nombreuses expérimentations, voici quelques idées dont je suis (quasiment) certain:

1)  Pour jouer une Les Paul et être à la hauteur de cet instrument il faut jouer comme un voyou et un dévot à la fois.

2)  Il faut se battre pour chaque note, tout en lâchant prise dans le résultat.

3)  La baffe est en haut et le cri est en bas.

4)  Quand on s'achète une Les Paul, on fait une promesse à soi-même.

5)  Le lait est au nord, le vinaigre est au sud. Entre les deux tout un monde de possibles.

6)  On choisit une Les Paul comme guitare principale non pas parce qu'on le veut mais parce qu'on est prêt.

7)  Jouer une Les Paul est comme écrire un manifeste et l'envoyer avec une lettre en recommandé avec AR. Jouer une Strat signifie...tout le reste.

8)  Quand on a une Les Paul, on en veut une deuxième.

9)  Jimmy Page est le patron.

New album update - First tune

:

Écriture nouvel album, premier titre terminé.

Je suis très heureux de considérer ma première composition de cet album bouclée.
Il s'agit d'une charmante balade jazz avec une mélodie simple et bluesy, supportée par des harmonies et modulations assez sophistiquées.

Je recherche de plus en plus dans mon écriture un équilibre entre la simplicité et la sophistication. D'ailleurs j'ai toujours été touché dans la musique par cette coexistence. D'une part des thèmes complexes soutenus par un groove basique, d'autre part des mélodies simples qui adoucissent un contexte harmonique très riche ou une section rythmique totalement déjantée.

Cet album sera enregistré en situation live de manière la plus spontanée possible, sans overdubs. Le format sera très probablement en trio guitare, contrebasse, batterie. Un organiste interviendra peut-être sur un ou deux titres.

A suivre...






New album composition, first tune finished.

So excited to consider the first track of my new album wrapped up.
This lovely mid-tempo jazz ballad revolves around a simple bluesy melody, supported by sophisticated and modern harmonies.

As a composer, more and more I'm looking for this balance between simplicity and sophistication.
I noticed that I've always been moved by music pointing out this coexistence. On one hand, highly complex melodies mixed with basic grooves. On the other hand simple melodies soothing sophisticated harmonies or crazy rhythmic environment.

This album will be recorded in live situation in the most spontaneous way, without any overdubs.
The selected format is a jazz trio with guitar, acoustic bass and drums. An organ might be involved in some tunes.

To be continued...

The basics

A Marshall and a Les Paul. 

Pat Metheny-style fluidity exercice

Hi
When it comes to fluidity on jazz guitar, Pat Metheny is the master. His techniques have been pushing guitar forward for decades.

The purpose of this exercice is to strenghten the fluidity in musical statements.

This exercice is freely inspired by Pat Metheny and mixes hammer-ons, pull offs and some slides.

• The 1st part is based on a simple 4-note pentatonic pattern, transposed in downward major thirds.
• The 2nd part is a pattern revolving around the augmented scale, transposed in ascending major thirds.

From my point of view:

• practicing this exercice in clean sound and bridge position is good for picking accuracy,
• practicing this exercice in distorted sound is good for string skipping accuracy and overall fluidity.

Chromatism and diminished scale exercice

Hi,
This example shows a chromatic approach of the diminished scale.
I deliberately broke down the rhythm between the ascending and descending pattern to have more fun (and difficulties).

Fourths exercice

Just me, having fun on Bbm in fourths.

Hope you'll enjoy. 

Chroniques d'une vie ordinaire: le guitar hero

- Hey, c'est qui ton guitar hero préféré?

- Euh, il y en a eu pas mal mais en ce moment certains gars m'inspirent plus que d'..

- T'aimes pas Satriani?

- Si si, gros respect et reconnaissance pour ce bonhomme.

- Moi j'adore.

- J'en suis sûr. En fait il y a deux sortes de guitaristes que j'aime: ceux qui renouvellent l'ancien avec passion et authenticité, puis ceux qui sont des voyous de la musique et prennent tous les risques pour affirmer leur identité.

- Tu kiffes Steve Vai?

- Oh oui j'aime beaucoup son parcours. Much respect!

- Cool.

- Je trouve que des gars comme Doug Aldrich font beaucoup de bien à la guitare rock, son humilité et son talent sont des leçons de vie. D'un autre côté je suis profondément inspiré par des artistes comme Wayne Krantz ou Ben Monder. Voilà mon choix du moment. 

- Wayne qui?

- Krantz.

- Il a fait le G3?

- Je ne crois pas. 

- Il fait du jazz, lui.

- On peut dire que c'est du jazz. Mais tu sais, le jazz peut être parfois bien plus rock n roll que le rock lui même.

- ...

- J'aime ces gars parce qu'ils n'ont pas peur de se planter ou de choquer dans leurs expérimentations, c'est surtout ça l'esprit du jazz ou même le but de la musique. Le fun et le risque. 

- Ouais ouais. C'est original comme choix, non?

- Peut être. La guitare pour la guitare, on arrive vite à des limites. D'ailleurs la plupart des musiciens qui m'inspirent ne sont pas guitaristes et sont morts. 

- Hé?

- Bah oui, la guitare n'est que le moyen. 

- ...

- Le but du jeu, c'est quand même de regarder devant soi et d'entendre ce qui est plus grand que son petit instrument.
- ...
- Tu vois ce que je veux dire?

- Ouais ok, mais tu penses à qui quand tu parles de ces morts.

- Astor Piazzolla, c'est le maitre absolu.

- Un accordéoniste??? Uuuuuh, pourquoi?

- Parce qu'il a dépoussiéré, réinventé et révolutionné la musique de son pays, le tango. Il a incorporé dans une musique traditionnelle tout ce qu'il a développé en parallèle dans la musique classique, le contrepoint et les orchestrations. 

- Comme Bach?

- Yes sir. Il a même étudié avec une française, Nadia Boulanger, comme l'a fait Quincy Jones. 

- Lui je connais.

- Astor, il a injecté la rigueur de l'écriture classique, les harmonies jazz, et sa propre ouferie dans le tango. Il s'est fait cracher dessus à chaque concert par les puristes, les rabats-joie, les abats-jour, les grincheux mais il a gagné. Le tango, c'est lui maintenant depuis les années 90. C'est ça la classe absolue (à mon humble avis).

- ...

- Il est un peu le Jimi Hendrix du tango. 

- Là je vois ce que tu veux dire. 

- Tu sais, les punks ne sont pas toujours ceux qu'on croit...

- Ouais bon, et ton solo de guitare préféré de tous les temps intergalactiques forever, vas-y, c'est quoi?

- Zakk Wylde, album live "Just say Ozzy", le solo de fin dans "Shot in the Dark". Toute la guitare rock racontée en une minute. Rien à jeter. 

- Yeah baby!!!

- Tu vois, je ne suis pas perdu!

Chromatism exercice

This exercice I just wrote is based on a chromatic approach of DMaj7#11. Then the pattern is developed downward in major thirds.

Enjoy

Streetart in Paris

Cool streetart pics on the go