Millibobs, you sound damn good to me already. Just keep doing what you are doing. Your feel and intuition is worth more than any book can teach you.
Rob _________________ www.rmguitar.info
Rob. you just blew your credibility in front of the whole forum! Cheers for the nice words but I really do need to tidy up my playing and pull in some new ideas. As a life-long busker, the only way I know how to do this is by listening and watching so maybe I will acquire some of those DVDs, but where to start?
I swear that one day, I will make it to a clinic........
Blew my credibility? My playing would do that in an instant! I need to get in a good working band to sharpen up my chops. Really sloppy just now. The theory is no problem, I just need to get a groove going with a B3 player and a good drummer. Not many B3 players around here...
Joined: 20 Jul 2008 Posts: 1 Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 8:14 am Post subject: scales 101
Rob MacKillop wrote:
Dear Vinnie and all,
Good discussion! This is my first post to this site. I'm really looking forward to reading the other posts, and will hopefully contribute something useful over time.
I like the idea of playing the dim scale over the three chords, sidestepping a semitone for each chord. I was confused at first by Vinnie calling it the diminished/half whole-tone scale - my mind clicked into the diminished/whole tone scale, sometimes known as the superlocrian. Anyway, my misreading helped me stumble across something useful:
Let's say we are playing a blues in A. The dim/WT scale on A is A Bb C Db Eb F G A [not something I would spend four bars on, but it is good to slip it in at bar 4, before the move to the IV chord].
Now, if we take Vinnie's idea of sideslipping for the other chords:
Chord IV - the above scale down one fret is G# A B C D E F# - in other words the Lydian Dominant scale for the chord D7#11.
Chord V - same as Chord IV but two frets higher.
So, the same pattern shifted semitonally gives some really interesting harmonies/runs. Its a little bit 'out', but used sparingly will add some interesting dissonances which can easily be resolved by slipping back into the basic blues scale.
For those who would like to experiment with this pattern, here is my shape starting on A, written out long hand:
I admit I have not seen this instructional video of Robben explaining the dim/wt scale, but for those who have not had the benefit of studying music theory, the real name for this scale is the 'melodic minor'. When looking at the scale in this context, much more can be derived from this information.
Let's look at the scale:
As the writer states: "The dim/WT scale on A is A Bb C Db Eb F G A"
The Bb melodic minor scale is: Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, G, A.
You can build any melodic minor scale by flatting the 3rd of a major scale (technically we are sharping the 6th and 7th degrees of a natural minor scale).
Same notes, folks. What we are talking about is playing a 'mode' of the melodic minor scale. You remember modes, right? That's how we get major and minor scales, major and minor pentatonics, etc. Modes can be built using different starting points from ANY scale. The point to keep in mind is what chords work with your scale. In the case of this 'A' scale, you get:
root, b9, #9, 3rd, b5, #5, b7
So in essence, this scale provides all of the altered notes for an A7 chord. That's why you might think it's so hip!
Therefore, it works with A7, A7b9, A7#9, A7b5, A7#5, A7b9b5, A7#5#9, etc.
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