Improvising from Modes: Lesson One
Introduction: The Trio.
Three of the world's greatest guitarists, Paco de Lucia, John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola first played together on a Friday night in San Francisco in 1980. In a video about Paco, he discusses how he really struggled to "keep up" with John and Al. He would get back to the hotel and be exhausted, have headaches and difficulty sleeping. How could this be? For me, Paco was always the world's greatest guitarist. I was lucky to have met him once in 1974 well before he became known here in the United States. While studying studying flamenco with Rene Heredia in Denver, Paco came to play a concert there. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the "juerga" afterwords.Traditional Flamenco is not really "improvised."Traditional flamenco may sound spontaneous and "improvised" to the unfamiliar but really most of it is not spontaneous and usually worked out well before it is performed. While Paco had incredible technique and compositional skills he rarely "improvised" in the true sense of the word.
On the other hand both John and Al had grown up playing modes (known to them or otherwise) and spent most of their guitar time really improvising, especially John. If you listen to Paco's flamenco it is really fairly structured. Listen then to John playing on Shakti. The cut "All is Bliss" sounds to me as if the whole 29:02 minutes is one incredible long improvisation. Having studied flamenco since 1962 I could play many solo pieces but much to my chagrin I could never really "sit in" with a group of other musicians. I didn't really know the basics of improvisation.
Do you have to improvise to be great? Absolutely not. There are some really great musicians who never really have improvised at all. It really depends on whether or not you enjoy it and it fits your perceived musical "style." I really like to improvise now that I have some idea of "how" to improvise. However, while it is easy to learn to improvise, it takes a lot of practice to really improvise well. There are many great guitarists out there but few who can improvise as well as John McLaughlin, Alex Lifeson or Paco de Lucia.
Where to start?
The above diagram from the Mericle Mode Chart demonstrates the Major (Ionian) mode. This is a good place to begin since no shifts are required for a full two octave mode (scale). The diagram below demonstrates the left hand fingering for this mode. There are a variety of fingering codes or schemes but for this we will use the following:
2nd finger or index = i
3rd finger or long = m
4th finger or ring = r
5th finger or small = s
The above mode is a Major Ionian with the roots on the 6th and 4th strings. Note the fingering on both this and the mode below.
Ionian Major 7th root 5/3
The mode chart below is the same Major Ionian but with the roots on the 5th and 3rd strings. In order to get a full two octaves starting on the 5th string requires a shift on the third string. This mode could be rewritten to shift on a different string if you preferred that. As an aside however, the Segovia Scales all shift on the 3rd string (for what that is worth).
To Begin.
To begin first just play the mode until you are fairly familiar with it. A good place to start is at the 5th fret on the 6th string (A) or for the root 5/3 mode start on the 5th string at the 5th fret (D major 7th). Play the modes in both directions until you can play them without having to think which fingering comes next. Practice starting them at all frets on the 5th and 6th strings where you can complete the mode with no open notes.
Add some rhythm guitar.
Now that you are familiar with the modes add some rhythm guitar behind you. Record an A chord evenly in 4/4 time (4 quarter notes per measure) for at least 2 or 3 minutes and then play this mode over that.
If you don't have access to a recorder then try to get one of your guitar friends to play rhythm for you or purchase a Jamey Abersold play along CD. (Volume 1 "How to Play Jazz and Improvise" and volume 26 "The Scale Syllabus" are really good for this). Initially just play up and down and listen to the notes. Then maybe just go up two or three notes and back down. After that go up a full octave and back down. Next try leaving a few notes out on the way up or down. Soon you will begin to hear groups of notes that you like. You are now "improvising."
That concludes lesson one. Please stay tuned for lesson two where we will discuss changing modes over the chord change from the I chord to the IV chord (Ldyian Major 7th).Thanks for your attention.Play to express -not impress.
John Mericle
http://www.4ImprovGuitar.com
Introduction: The Trio.
Three of the world's greatest guitarists, Paco de Lucia, John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola first played together on a Friday night in San Francisco in 1980. In a video about Paco, he discusses how he really struggled to "keep up" with John and Al. He would get back to the hotel and be exhausted, have headaches and difficulty sleeping. How could this be? For me, Paco was always the world's greatest guitarist. I was lucky to have met him once in 1974 well before he became known here in the United States. While studying studying flamenco with Rene Heredia in Denver, Paco came to play a concert there. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the "juerga" afterwords.Traditional Flamenco is not really "improvised."Traditional flamenco may sound spontaneous and "improvised" to the unfamiliar but really most of it is not spontaneous and usually worked out well before it is performed. While Paco had incredible technique and compositional skills he rarely "improvised" in the true sense of the word.
On the other hand both John and Al had grown up playing modes (known to them or otherwise) and spent most of their guitar time really improvising, especially John. If you listen to Paco's flamenco it is really fairly structured. Listen then to John playing on Shakti. The cut "All is Bliss" sounds to me as if the whole 29:02 minutes is one incredible long improvisation. Having studied flamenco since 1962 I could play many solo pieces but much to my chagrin I could never really "sit in" with a group of other musicians. I didn't really know the basics of improvisation.
Do you have to improvise to be great? Absolutely not. There are some really great musicians who never really have improvised at all. It really depends on whether or not you enjoy it and it fits your perceived musical "style." I really like to improvise now that I have some idea of "how" to improvise. However, while it is easy to learn to improvise, it takes a lot of practice to really improvise well. There are many great guitarists out there but few who can improvise as well as John McLaughlin, Alex Lifeson or Paco de Lucia.
Where to start?
The above diagram from the Mericle Mode Chart demonstrates the Major (Ionian) mode. This is a good place to begin since no shifts are required for a full two octave mode (scale). The diagram below demonstrates the left hand fingering for this mode. There are a variety of fingering codes or schemes but for this we will use the following:
2nd finger or index = i
3rd finger or long = m
4th finger or ring = r
5th finger or small = s
The above mode is a Major Ionian with the roots on the 6th and 4th strings. Note the fingering on both this and the mode below.
Ionian Major 7th root 5/3
The mode chart below is the same Major Ionian but with the roots on the 5th and 3rd strings. In order to get a full two octaves starting on the 5th string requires a shift on the third string. This mode could be rewritten to shift on a different string if you preferred that. As an aside however, the Segovia Scales all shift on the 3rd string (for what that is worth).
To Begin.
To begin first just play the mode until you are fairly familiar with it. A good place to start is at the 5th fret on the 6th string (A) or for the root 5/3 mode start on the 5th string at the 5th fret (D major 7th). Play the modes in both directions until you can play them without having to think which fingering comes next. Practice starting them at all frets on the 5th and 6th strings where you can complete the mode with no open notes.
Add some rhythm guitar.
Now that you are familiar with the modes add some rhythm guitar behind you. Record an A chord evenly in 4/4 time (4 quarter notes per measure) for at least 2 or 3 minutes and then play this mode over that.
If you don't have access to a recorder then try to get one of your guitar friends to play rhythm for you or purchase a Jamey Abersold play along CD. (Volume 1 "How to Play Jazz and Improvise" and volume 26 "The Scale Syllabus" are really good for this). Initially just play up and down and listen to the notes. Then maybe just go up two or three notes and back down. After that go up a full octave and back down. Next try leaving a few notes out on the way up or down. Soon you will begin to hear groups of notes that you like. You are now "improvising."
That concludes lesson one. Please stay tuned for lesson two where we will discuss changing modes over the chord change from the I chord to the IV chord (Ldyian Major 7th).Thanks for your attention.Play to express -not impress.
John Mericle
http://www.4ImprovGuitar.com
posted by John Mericle M.D. D.A.B.R. @ 4:04 PM
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