Wise words from Lin Flanagan- Strugglers weekend
| Remember to take a breath.
Q Lin, in your notes on ideas for soloing you mention "breath marks,
breathing spaces, gaps between phrases". I think I understand
the gaps, but I'm not sure about the other two.
|
A Hi 'Downstroke' Chris,
Thanks for the kind email. Re your question, the three descriptions are
pretty much the same thing, but think of it like this:
Barrie will be able to relate to this, so at the risk of causing offence
(certainly none intended) I'll use him as an example, although this is by
no means particular to him as I think we found out, and besides this will
help him no end too. If Barrie played (e.g.) the saxophone instead of the
guitar, he'd be dead by now. Because from the first note of his solo
through to the last, there was nowhere to take a breath. Guitarists and
pianists suffer from this affliction more than most, because unlike wind
instruments, breathing doesn't get in the way of their playing. It would
be better if it did! Because the human voice (i.e. Singing) is the most
natural and honest musical instrument of them all, and is the one we all
use (perhaps subconciously) as our ultimate target. How many times have
you heard the clichéd phrase “he makes the guitar really sing” or
“try to sing the phrase in your head before you play it”?
By 'leaving gaps' between your phrases (be they questions or answers), you
give each phrase a chance to breathe, yourself a chance
to breathe (as if you were a singer), and the listener the chance
to absorb that information before you throw the next phrase at them. Sheet
music for wind instruments often has ' (apostrophe) marked on the page to
tell them of appropriate places to take a breath without ruining the flow
of the music. These are called “breath marks”. If you listen to any
piece of music with all of this in mind you may be surprised. Not only
will you start to hear separate phrases with 'gaps/breathing spaces/breath
marks' in between them, but you also start to identify whether a phrase is
a question or answer. This approach will help you to create better and
more interesting solos yourself, avoiding what we called the “inane
drivel” or “women's talk” of just note after note after note. And
don't we all recognise that sound (of women's talk).
I hope that helps. Do let me know if it doesn't, or there's still
confusion. Right, next question...
Best wishes to all of my 'Grasshoppers',
Lin |
|
Is it major or Minor and what key. |
A 'Afternoon Boys,
Barrie mentions an interesting point, which Malc was touching on, on the
Friday night. This relates to the chart that you wrote out regarding keys,
and also to the page in your handouts that mentions the different scales
that pop up in different genres/styles of music – except for reggae.
I don't want to get too bogged down in the theory stuff here, but if you
look at your list of chords for the key of A, you'll see that most of the
section of the song that Barrie is working on, is indeed in the key A
(ignore the diminished bit and the A7 instead of A – these bits take us
to a different level of theory).
Barrie is quite right in saying that his F#minor pentatonic scale seems to
work with this song, which appears to be in the key of A. Why?
Right, well try this. Play your minor pentatonic scale with the first
finger up at the 5th fret. Are we all agreed that we're therefore playing
an A minor pentatonic scale there then, because your 1st finger is on the
A (the root note)? Ok, here's the weird bit. If you take the note that
your little finger is playing on the bottom/bass/E string to be the name
of the scale (your new root) you have a C MAJOR pentatonic (a.k.a. Country
scale). Yes, that's right. This scale shape has two names depending upon
which finger you take to be the root note. So, moving down to the 2nd
fret, you're playing either a F#minor pentatonic, or an A major pentatonic
depending upon which note/finger you're calling the root note.
Again without really freaking you out with too much theory (the Strugglers
2 weekend is where we use this scale in both styles), try to just use your
ears to decide which is the right choice. If the song has a country/folky/prettiness
about it, put your little finger on the root (assuming that you can hear
what key you're in, and off you go. If it sounds bluesy/rock/riff-like,
put your 1st finger on the root and there you go. Try playing along to Bob
Dylan's Knockin' on Heavens Door, or that awful Clapton one – Wonderful
Tonight, or Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama, using both types of
scales (minor and major pentatonics). You'll have find the keys (and the
chords) for each, yourself. See which one you prefer the sound of in each
case. Some songs, although one scale may work better, will accept both!
Eeek! Life's like that, I'm afraid.
I hope that doesn't cause more confusion. It should give you the tools to
really explore different styles of music – except reggae.
Best wishes Grasshoppers,
Lin
|
|
|
