Moved to Blogger! All new posts with videos!

Hi there,

Thanks for reading my blogs. Just to let you know my blog has now been moved to http://www.jsmusicschool.co.uk/search.

All posts are being moved over with added videos. Also overlays for all new videos so you’ll have chord charts / tabs appear on the screen as you watch the videos!

Many thanks for your support!

James Schofield

Twitter:  @jsmusicschool

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jsmusicschool

 

12 bar blues – Spice up your patterns with triplet rhythms

Hi there,

Thanks for taking the time to read my blogs 🙂 Feel good about posting comments / questions, any other subject matters that people would like me to blog on.

Just to let you know i’ll be eventually adding some audio clips/ videos but they’ll be uploaded to my blogger page soon (www.jsmusicschool.blogspot.com)(as wordpress charge for mp3/ video uploads)

This blog (and the next one) will help beginner bass players to really start to mix up your 12 bar blues patterns with different rhythms. So using these new rhythms in conjunction with various arpeggios will give you more options/variety.

Below I’ve got 3 basic 12 bar blues progressions in A Blues. (the arpeggios are Major 6, Major and descending major bass line at bar 12 of each pattern)

Pattern 1 is ‘straight’ quavers :

Pattern 2 we’ve got a traditional ‘shuffle’ feel where each beat is split up into triplet quavers (1 + a, 2 + a, 3 + a, 4 + a). Each beat has 1 note lasting 2/3rds of the beat (1 and the +) and the 2nd note on the ‘a’)

** this is stated by the triplet 8th note feel sign at the top left hand side**

Pattern 3 is based on the triplet quaver structure of 3 notes per beat but the + is a rest. This provides you with another variation and choppy feel.

Practice these at various speeds with a metronome 🙂

Next blog will look at varying the rhythms within each bar!

Many thanks for reading.

James Schofield

Twitter: @jsmusicschool

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jsmusicschool

 

Add variety in your rock playing with Augmented power chords

Hi there,

Thanks again for reading my blogs, feel free to spread these around if you know other guitarists that will benefit from these posts.

So this blog will focus on Augmented power chords and how they can really add some nice variety to your playing.

An augmented power chord is essentially an augmented 5th interval which is 4 tones in size. A standard power chord is 3 1/2 tones in size so you are stretching or ‘augmenting’ the power chord to give yourself a different sound.

Here are the 2 most common examples of an augmented power chord (on notation these would read F5(#5) )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are many examples of when you can use these but for me the simplest way to start integrating them into your playing is by replacing the 3RD and 7th chords of any major scale e.g.

C MAJOR SCALE:

C5, D5, E5, F5, G5, A5, B5

so you can also use E5 (#5) and B5 (#5)

They often work best in conjunction with with the next chord in the scale for example:

B5 (#5) to C5, E5 (#5) to F5 would sound great

Have a play around with these to see how great they are!

You can find other great free info via the JsMusicSchool twitter feed @jsmusicschool @harvey_jsmusic

Many thanks

 

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL

James

 

 

 

Become great at Improvisation – Pt. 9 – Major/Minor scales on 1 string

Hi there,

In the next part of this Improv series we’ll look at learning to play your major/minor scales on just 1 string. This is another excellent way to fully absorb your shapes and move about the neck freely. Also to helps to fully absorb the notes on the neck.

To start with let’s get the notes of a major scale. Let’s say D major:

Using our TTSTTTS rule (tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone)  Tone is 2 notes (e.g. A to B) Semitone is 1 note (e.g. A# to B) :

D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#

Although D is your key centre, it’s best to practice on all your strings from your first available note. So for example on the 6th E string you’d start from the open E then F#, G and so on.

Here’s how it would look for the 6th string.

So practice this for all 6 strings (the A string would go A, B, C#, D and so on) and all 12 major keys.

Do this for your minor keys as well. Your Natural Minor scale is made up of a Root note (1), Major 2nd (2), Minor 3rd (b3), Perfect 4th (4), Perfect 5th (5), Minor 6th (b6) and Minor 7th (b7).

Major 2nd = 1 tone, Minor 3rd = 1 1/2 tones, Perfect 4th = 2 1/2 tones, Perfect 5th = 3 1/2 tones, Minor 6th = 4 tones, Minor 7th = 5 tones

G minor would be G, A, Bb, C, D, Eb, F for example and your first available note would be an F on the 6th E string.

By doing all this you are essentially learning 3 things at once:

• Further integrating your scales to provide you with runs on each string and move around the neck effectively in a particular key
• Reinforcing your knowledge of keys
• Reinforcing your knowledge of the notes of the guitar fretboard

So get cracking 🙂

Thanks for reading these blogs, hope you find them useful.

You can find other excellent free info via the Js Musicschool twitter feeds @jsmusicschool @harvey_jsmusic

Many thanks

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL

James

 

Become great at Improvisation – Part 7 – Major/Minor scale bends

Hi there,

Thanks for reading my blogs, feel free to ask questions or suggest a subject matter you are having issues with.

Our next part of this improv series focuses on pitch bends using the major and minor scales. The previous blog centered on the essential bends of the pentatonic scales. Remember the pentatonic scales are simply 5 notes from the possible 7 available from the major/minor scales. Depending on the type of chords being used and style of music, one type of scale may be more suitable. With the Major/Minor scales you have 2 semi-tone bends which can be great for adding variety.

In the picture below i’ve highlighted the most essential bends that you can play around with. Red dots are Tone bends (2 notes/2 Frets e.g. G to A) and Blue are Semi-Tone bends (1 fret/1note e.g. G# to A)

CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR A LARGER IMAGE 🙂

So a great thing to do is practice each shape up and down but performing the bends as you go along. By doing this you’ll get used to the tension needed to perform each bend accurately and you’ll give yourself a wealth of possible pitch bends to use in each key.

Remember to practice in all 7 shapes in all 12 keys. The tension of the strings varies up and down the neck (it’s the tightest near the nut) so it requires more strength at the start of the fretboard. Have fun!

Our next blog on the series will help to further integrate the scales by just going up and down the scales on one string at a time.

You can find other excellent free info via the Js Music School twitter feeds @jsmusicschool @harvey_jsmusic

Many thanks

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL

James

 

Become great at Improvisation Pt.5 – String skipping, hammer on’s and pull off’s

Hi there,

Thanks again for reading my blogs, if you’ve found them useful feel good about recommending other guitarists to read the blog.

So on part 5 of the Improv series we’re going to look at integrating String Skipping, Hammer on’s and pull off’s into your scale exercises.

So far we’ve looked at learning your 4 essential scales, then patterns of 3’s and 4’s. IMHO the next exercise is another excellent way to help integrate your scales into using them in a more musical context.

• Often in riffs and solo’s guitarists will play a pattern and then switch to a string that’s not necessarily next to it. Being able to jump across strings whilst still using the same scale is a great skill to have.
• Hammer on’s and pull off’s are used a lot in creating riffs, melodies and solos as they provide you with different sounds and ways of connecting up shapes.
• A ‘hammer on’ is where you pick a note on a string and literally hammer on the next note with another fretting finger (without picking)
• A ‘pull off’ is where you are picking a note and then creating another note by pulling off your finger (with another finger already pressed down)
• This exercise combines 3 techniques at once so it’s a fantastic one to learn.
• With the 3 examples below when ascending up the shape you use hammer on’s and coming back down you use pull off’s

Here’s the 1st shape of the A minor pentatonic using the exercise:

Here’s an audio clip of me playing it:

Here’s the 1st shape of the A major scale using the exercise:

Here’s an audio clip of me playing it:

Here’s the 1st shape of the A minor scale using the exercise:

Here’s an audio clip of me playing it:

Have fun using these exercises, you’ll also find them great at stretching those fingers. Remember to practice them in all shapes and keys.

You can find other excellent free info via the Js Music School twitter feeds @jsmusicschool @harvey_jsmusic

Many thanks

Rock ‘n’ roll

James