You may think that this is a guitar technique video about major scales, but there is more to scale practice than moving your fingers. Most musicians study major scales as part of their practice routine. In this video I want to talk about what you want to learn, what you need it for and how you use it to build on when making music. Hopefully you can recognize and maybe re-shape your practice and connect things more.
For a lot of you this may be a big check list that you can cross a lot of stuff off on, but it will also give you some new ideas on where to go and connect the things you already know. I may give you the advice to learn a bit of theory.
List of Content:
0:00 Intro – What you need to know, what is going to make you play better
Jimi Hendrix is a one of the most influential guitarists in history. There is a lot to be gained from checking out guitarists outside the jazz guitar. In this video I will go over how you can apply some of the ideas that Hendrix uses in his playing when you are playing chords in jazz.
The examples in this lesson are all on the first 4 bars of the jazz standard “You Stepped ut of a dream”, which consists of two bars of Cmaj7 and two bars of Dbmaj7.
A Jazz comp example
The way we mostly comp in jazz is by using complete chords and then use different voicings to create movement in the top notes or in the inner voices of the chords.
This is shown in the example here below:
How Hendrix would play it
If we take the chords and try to imagine playing them in the style Hendrix might use on his ballads like Little Wing or Wind Cries Mary then that might yield something like this:
The important thing to notice here is that the chords are played in the begining of each chord to state the harmony. The variations that are used are not complete chords but more double stops and partial chords. The sound of this approach is a lot lighter than using only complete chords and that can be a nice variation to add in your comping vocabulary.
The way I am playing example 2 is of course also changing the feel of the song, so we still need to find a way to apply this to a jazz standard without making it sound like a Jimi Hendrix cover.
The way the chord is split up in bass note and chords so that it spells out a back beat groove and this is probably the main reason it sounds so little like a jazz groove.
A more jazz example of this approach
Example 3 is taking some of the techniques used in example 2 and then adding more of a jazz feel to it. The idea is quite simple, the chord is still initially stated and then the rest of the time is used to add fills and partial chords. The fills do convey the sound of the chord, but does not yield a complete chord sound all the time.
In this example I am using the same ideas for fills but taking away the back beat feel so that the jazz feel isn’t lost.
A closer look at the Techniques in the fills
The two main ingredients of the fills Hendrix uses are probably the chords themselves and then mixing this with pentatonic ideas.
A “jazz” version of this could be to use the chord and also use a pentatonic scale that fits the chord. In this example the chord is a maj7 chord so a suggestion for a pentatonic scale could be the E minor pentatonic scale as shown here below.
If we relate the Em pentatonic scale to C maj 7 we get:
E G A B D E
3 5 6 7 9 3
One thing that wouldbe useful to explore is some of the intervals we have in the scale. The 3rd bar shows a simple set of intervals in the scale.
Practicing Fills from Chord shapes
On the Cmaj7 I am using some of the Em or G major pentatonic ideas that you would often associate with a G major chord. One good exercise to get used to some of the G major fills that are in the style of Hendrix is to go over the fills that I have written out in example 5. This is associtated and based on the E minor pentatonic scale and the G chord shown in the 3rd bar.
Another possibilty is to take the same exercise and use the fills associated with the C chord in the 8th fret. This is shown in example 6 here below:
Applying the Hendrix exercises to a Cmaj7 chord
As a short example of how I apply the G Hendrix fills to a Cmaj7 I have written out the chord and the fills here below.
Using Fills in comping and soloing
With the long history of jazz guitar it has become a common thing that we add to the style by borrowing techniques and ideas from other styles. I personally find it great that we keep developing the style and that jazz in this way keeps changing and evolving.
Incorporating fills into your playing is a good way to add some color to your comping. You can of course also use these ideas in your solos as melodic material, something you will also hear Hendrix do in his solos.
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Alternate picking is the core of what I use when I play jazz guitar. But there are other strategies that I combine alternate picking with to make it easier to play faster phrases. This video is on how I use sweeping and economy picking to play certain arpeggios and jazz phrases.
In the end a good technique is going to be a combination of several techniques and should be a tool set that you rely on to help you get the phrasing that you like. In the end we have to let the music rule the technique and not the other way around.
The construction of the lesson
The way this is build up is that I have three examples with some different techniques that I break down and give you some exercises to work on the picking technique strategy in that example.
Small sweeps for 7th chords
The first example has two different applications of economy picking or sweeping. The firs is a standard sweep of an Abmaj7 arpeggio. The 2nd is used twice to add some more dramatic movement with the arpeggios in the bar.
Here I will focus on the second approach. The idea is to use a down stroke for the first note in the arpeggio and then add a pull off to give your right hand time to easily make the sweep of the last two notes.
To work on this idea it is probably a good idea to first spend some time with just getting your right hand used to the movement. I demonstrate this in the video as well.
If you want to go on further you can do the exercise shown here below:
The opening of the example is using a slide to make it easier to speed up the phrase. That is another thing that I use a lot in combination with all the chords
Economy picking triads in string combinations
The opening part of the second example is using a pentatonic scale layed out in a 3-1 pattern on the neck. That way of playing a pentatonic scale makes it really easy to play certain types of melodies (for me anyway).
The picking of this phrase is a bit tricky and I start the phrase with an up stroke. If you have a phrase that is difficult to play then it can be a good idea to check what it feels like and how it sounds if you reverse the picking.
In this case it really helps me with playing the phrase fast enough, and I also talk about this idea in the next example.
The main focus in this example is playing triads. The 2nd bar of the example contains two triads, one is 1 note per string and one is a 2-1 fingering (so 2 notes on one string and 1 note on the next).
The Triad Picking strategy
The triads I am concerned with in this lesson are the descending triad arpeggios. The idea in the 2nd bar is to start the triad with a down stroke and play the rest with upstrokes.
The way I do this it feels like a more balanced way to play them than having to “reverse” the picking if I play several triads.
You can work on the 1 note per string variation using this exercise on the middle string set:
The two string version of this exercise could be something like this.
If you get more used to this approach it is really useful to try to play a scale position of diatonic triads.
Turned Around Sweeps! The surprising solution
The idea in the beginning of this example is to play 3 note patterns with one note per string and then use a specific picking idea that if you try if for the first time seems counter intuitive.
In this example I am using the approach on the first two arpeggios in the example. First an Abmaj7 shell voicing and then a quartal arpeggio from Ab.
I discovered that I use this approach when I was explaining and slowing down an example for a student, but I find that the idea works extremely well.
The strategy is to start with an up stroke and then go down and up on the next two notes. This is in fact all alternate picking, but if you repeat it then we get two up strokes after each other. One at the beginning and one at the end.
The advantage is that the last note is setting us up to move back and get the first note in the next one. This is mostly useful if you are repeating 3 note patterns like I do in the example here below.
To work on this approach you can do the exercise of diatonic shell voicings shown here below:
Putting it all together with techniques
As I mention in the beginning the best strategy for me is to have a lot of different options with picking and then try to find a combination of what is playable and what sounds good. I think this should be the main priority when working with technique. in my opinion.
Of course you can also tell that I also use legato very often as a part of the strategy. If you are interested in a video on this then leave a comment on the video on YouTube. Maybe I should do a video on that.
Get a Free Ebook
If you want to download a Free E-book of 15 II Valt I licks then subscribe to my newsletter:
Get the PDF!
You can also download the PDF of my examples here:
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics or how I can make the lessons better then please let me know. Leave a comment on the video or send me an e-mail. That is the best way for me to improve my lessons and make them fit what you are searching for.
We need to work on guitar technique, but at the same time, it is important not to get stuck with the same guitar technique exercises day after day. Having an ever-varying technique routine is a better way to help you prepare for jazz improvisation and practice guitar effectively.
Since my video on things you should include in your guitar practice routine. This video is discussing the Guitar Technique part of a practice schedule and is just an overview of what I work on. It is my version of the best way to practice guitar, but it is of course not the only way.
Some of the topics I cover are: 0:00 Intro (26-2) 0:22 What is a good Technique Schedule? 1:17 Do you have a good idea for an exercise? 1:45 Basic Coordination and warm up
3:49 Arpeggios across the neck 5:36 Triads Across the neck 7:28 Improvisation with Open voiced or Spread Triads 8:48 Steve Morse Exercise with open triads
9:39 Scale Practice 11:01 C melodic minor across the neck 11:25 Scales in position 12:06 Triads 14:14 Diatonic 7th chords
14:57 Basic intervals 16:15 Focus on different Right Hand Techniques
