Bored and stale licks try this!

[harryjmic]

I was thinking about playing last night and it seems like all of us get into ruts so I thought to myself, "I need to break out of playing the same cliches" Here's my solution.

Take any pentatonic scale, I'll use A minor pentatnic for the demo. List the notes by number, A=1, C=3, D=4, E=5 and G=7. Now using math list all the possible orders you can put the numbers. You will come out with 120 different note sequences to play.

For example:
13457
13475
13547
13574

Continue this starting on 3, then 4 etc... building up all the possible number inversions

I hope you guys get the point, try this out and see if you can get out of your predictable pattern playing. You could use the same technique with any other scale or just arpeggios, there really is no limit.

Have fun, and good luck.:AOK

[Old Tele man]

...keep going, try starting on a note other than the scale root, ie: 3rd, 5th and 7th, too!

[dkaplowitz]

Check out Wayne Krantz's "An Improviser's OS" for this kind of approach on steroids.

[harryjmic]

Originally posted by Old Tele man
...keep going, try starting on a note other than the scale root, ie: 3rd, 5th and 7th, too!

Tele man I said that in my post already. That's ok however because I did forget one point. Once you figure out the pattern continue the pattern duplicating the sequence on the 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings. For example if the first sequece is A,E,G,C,D or 1,5,7,3,4 follow this pattern on the fifth string. You will get, D,A,C,E,G.

I wrote out all the combinations last night and played through each one checking off the ones that really clicked for me. I will now take this patterns and apply them all over the guitar for each pentatonic shape.

[Yossi]

Originally posted by harryjmic
Now using math list all the possible orders you can put the numbers. You will come out with 120 different note sequences to play.

... building up all the possible number inversions

If I was a computer then I could see getting into that type of approach towards playing.

Even to use it to get out of a rut in playing seems way to "left brain" for me.

Besides, how many of those patterns sound good on their own?
Not to mention what happens when you try to play them with chords, etc.

I'm not sure if that approach works is all I'm saying. If I'm wrong, then let me know.

Regards,

Yossi

[harryjmic]

Yossi,

What this does is gets us out of our habit's and cliche's. Sure, not every combination is unique or ground breaking, that's not the point of it. I found about 15 that are really cool to me, someone else might find 30 which is great, good for them. By doing this you'll find tendancies in your playing or should I say habits that make it difficult for you to play certain patterns which come from the exercises.

I have multiple Ted Greene books and I can tell you with an unbiased opinion not every chord or arpeggio in the books are great, let alone any good. I have, however, found a couple gems which work for me. Many people play the same thing over and over again wishing there was another way of doing things, this is all I'm offering. I'm not offended, I just want to share why I posted this.

[Yossi]

Thanks for the response.
I appreciate your help.
Keep up with the posts.
Good Luck!

Yossi

[fr8_trane]

Sequences have their place but they must be used tastefully or they sound MECHANICAL. The way to make music out of any scale depends on HOW YOU BREAK IT UP. Remember the first time you played the pentatonic scale? Didn't sound like music did it? I ALWAYS have this problem after learning any new scale or mode - how the hell do you make music out of it? Obviously the easiest way is to copy licks from your favorite players but thats just relying on someone else to show you how THEY break up the scale. With any scale I think its more valuable to isolate the IMPORTANT scale degrees (usually the 3rd and 7th or any extended or altered tones that may be present) and learn the sound that they impart to the scale. Next look at the intervals contained within, then triads and finally arpeggios. Try playing the pentatonic in 4th's, 5ths, and 6ths (double stops as well as individual notes). Check out all the triads to be found. By adding one or 2 common passing tones (major 3rd, major 6, b5) you now have plenty of cool arpeggios (m7b5, dom7, maj7, min7) and new intervals and triads to explore.

[fr8_trane]

P.S. How is Wayne Krantz' "Improvisors OS". I'm a BIG fan of his. Incredible player.:AOK

[kimock]

There is actually a great independance exercise lurking just one number away from this combinations of 5 thing.

Instead of using 5 chord tones, run the same idea using 4 fingers. Here are the permutations:

1234      2134       3124  &nbs p;   4123
1243      2143       3142  &nbs p;   4132
1324      2314       3214  &nbs p;   4213
1342      2341       3241  &nbs p;   4231
1423      2413       3412  &nbs p;   4312
1432      2431       3421  &nbs p;   4321

Start up around the 7th or 8th fret and just play the first example chromatically, however many repetitions you feel is appropriate on each string.

By the time you get done scanning the first column, you'll probably find that there are maybe one or two examples that you never use as fingerings in your normal routine.

As you get more comfortable with these fingerings, you can expand them to cover an interval of a fourth by using a whole step between the first and second, and third and fourth fingers.

It's OK to start these scalewise fingerings higher on the neck, so you don't have to stretch so much while you're learning them. Trying this stuff starting on the first or second fret is just unnecessarily difficult, you can work up to that if you want to.

When you feel comfortable with the scalewise fingerings, go back to the chromatic one finger per fret position style thing, and following the list of examples, try holding down fingers 1 and 2 and trilling (alternate) fingers 3 and 4. So for the 3rd example, you'd be holding down 1 and 3, and alternating 2 and 4.

Play these examples slowly, deliberately, and with strength. Put your fingers down hard and pick them up high. Some of these will not be easy.

If you're OK up to this point, try holding down your 1st and 4th fingers a minor third apart on the D string. For example, A at the 7th fret on the D string, and C on the 10th fret on the D string. Hold them both down hard. Now play the 2nd and 3rd finger alternately, putting your fingers down and picking them up hard on the A string, 2nd finger 8th fret F on the A string, 3rd finger 9th fret F# on the A string. OK with that? Continue to hold down the A anc C on the D string, and try alternately putting down and picking up your 2nd and 3rd fingers on the G string 8th and 9th fret, Eb and E.

If you're still good to go, you can apply these permutations to some chord shapes, some will obviously work better than others. Lots of them won't work at all!

You could also use the list to generate 16th note accents in a measure, or organize any other group of 4 things. Be creative.

Most importantly, working through any finite basic technical exercise like this one, that allows you to see what you like, what you don't like, and what you need to work on, knowing that you have fully exhausted the permutations available, is a huge confidence builder. I'm fifty, I started working on this when I was a teenager. I think getting this under my fingers and in my head was the single most important lesson I've learned, as far as physical command of the instrument is concerned.

Good luck, and thanks for all the good tips and tricks along the way!

[matte]

Originally posted by kimock
There is actually a great independance exercise lurking just one number away from this combinations of 5 thing.

Instead of using 5 chord tones, run the same idea using 4 fingers. Here are the permutations:

1234      2134       3124  &nbs p;   4123
1243      2143       3142  &nbs p;   4132
1324      2314       3214  &nbs p;   4213
1342      2341       3241  &nbs p;   4231
1423      2413       3412  &nbs p;   4312
1432      2431       3421  &nbs p;   4321

Start up around the 7th or 8th fret and just play the first example chromatically, however many repetitions you feel is appropriate on each string.

Django used this independance exercise a lot. Really helped his playing.

[shigihara]

Originally posted by Matte
Django used this independance exercise a lot. Really helped his playing.

ouch...

as you know number permutations of pentatonic scales and the above
LH exercise are really old news. Banacos, Bergonzi, Goodrick have been teaching these systems for ages... so give the guys a break !

[matte]

Originally posted by shigihara
ouch...

as you know number permutations of pentatonic scales and the above
LH exercise are really old news. Banacos, Bergonzi, Goodrick have been teaching these systems for ages... so give the guys a break !

My personal experience has led me to this simple conclusion. Playing music and playing guitar can be mutually exclusive. To this end, the vast focus of my technical development was on music that often did not sit comfortably on the guitar fingerboard. Stravinsky's Clarinet solos, RH parts to Chopin etudes, Paganini's Caprices (which approach/address a multitude of technical issues musically, the least of which are velocity based) Bach's solo violin Partitas, cadenzas to a number of violin concertos(Berg comes to mind), etc.

[lhallam]

Originally posted by Matte
My personal experience has led me to this simple conclusion. Playing music and playing guitar can be mutually exclusive.

Well put.

When running scales, I attempt to do it musically. eg - Ascending from ppp to FFF & descending FFF to ppp, vice versa, accent up beats, legato, staccato, 1/4's to 1/8ths to tripletts to 16ths, blah blah blah.

Working out of Alban's trumpet exercises and some clarinet books is great fun as well.

[shigihara]

Originally posted by Matte
My personal experience has led me to this simple conclusion. Playing music and playing guitar can be mutually exclusive.

I wholeheartedly agree with you...
just thought bringing in Django as an example against the validity
of certain exercises wasn't exactly fair...