Become great at Improvisation – Pt 11 – Unison bends!

Hi there,

Thanks again for reading the blogs – if you like them please share the links to your friends!

The next chapter in this improv series talks about how to integrate Unison bends into your playing.

Unison bends are used in millions of songs to provide a different type of bend to your standard semitone, tone or 1 1/2 tone bends.

A Unison is where you play 2 notes of the exact same pitch. I.e. 5th fret of the B (2nd) string and the open E (1st) string.

A Unison bend is where you strike 2 strings, the top string is playing say an E (12th fret) and the B string you’d play a D (15th fret) and bend the B string to reach the E. The most common places on the neck where these are performed are on the G (3rd) and B (2nd) strings and B and E (1st) strings. Here are some examples:

The sound it produces sounds great and can be used lots in your riff making and lead playing.

To really integrate it into your playing, practice going up and down your scales using these. For example here is the G major scale (G, A, B, C, D, E, F#) using the unison bend shape on the E and B strings.

Here’s another example of using the notes of the A minor pentatonic (A, C, D, E, G) using unison bends:

Practice this using all your scales in all the various shapes and positions.

You can find other great free info on all things guitar related via the Js Music School twitter feed @jsmusicschool @harvey_jsmusic

Many thanks for reading

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL

James

 

Creating riffs and melodies using the Major Pentatonic scales

HI There,

Thanks for reading my blogs so far. Feel good about asking questions or suggesting a blog that I could write to help your guitar skills.

In previous blogs about the pentatonic scales we’ve centred mainly on the Minor pentatonic scales. The great thing about the Major pentatonic scales is that they are actually based on the same shapes as the Minor pentatonic. The difference is that shape 2 of the Minor pentatonic becomes shape 1 of the Major pentatonic. The key thing to remember here is that the key centre has changed. So they function in a different way.

The notes of Em (probably the most common minor pentatonic key) pentatonic are:

E, G, A, B and D

The notes of G major pentatonic are:

G, A, B, D and E

So as you can see the notes are the same but if you play these notes in both the orders above you can hear the difference in sound between the Em pentatonic and G major pentatonic.

In order to determine which type (minor or major) to use, this all depends on the chord progression you are playing over. (we’ll explore this in future blogs)

Here are some examples of G major pentatonic riffs – when playing them they have more of a happy, major feel to them.

Enjoy!!!

Hope you found this blog useful.

You can find other great info via the Jsmusicschool twitter feed @jsmusicschool @harvey_jsmusic @annie_jsmusic and @katie_jsmusic

Many thanks

James

 

Pentatonic riffs in the 3rd shape

Hi There,

In the last blog we looked at some examples of riffs that you can use in the 2nd shape of the minor pentatonic scale.

I’ve now come up with some more riffs that you can use for the 3rd shape.

This time i’ve used the key of Bm (3rd shape will start on the 12th fret 6th string)

Here’s a pic of the 3rd shape:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the riffs have different slurs you can practice with such as bends, slides, hammer on’s and pull-offs

Here’s the first riff:

Here’s an audio clip of me playing it:

RIFF 1 AUDIO CLIP

Here’s the 2nd riff:

 

 

 

 

Here’s an audio clip of me playing it:

RIFF 2 AUDIO CLIP

Here’s the 3rd riff:

With the audio clip below:

RIFF 3 AUDIO CLIP

Here’s the 4th riff:

With the audio clip below:

RIFF 4 AUDIO CLIP

These are just ideas that you can play around with. There are so many things you can do with the pentatonics, it’s important that you practice in different keys with different techniques.

Thanks for reading

For other music tips feel free to follow me on twitter @jsmusicschool

ROCK N ROLL

James

 

Pentatonic riffs in the 2nd shape

Hi There,

Thanks for reading my blogs so far.

In the last blog we looked at some examples of riffs that you can use in the 1st shape of the minor pentatonic scale.

I’ve now come up with some more riffs that you can use for the 2nd shape.

This time i’ve used the key of Am (2nd shape will start on the 8th fret 6th string)

Here’s a pic of the 2nd shape:

For the first riff we start on the highest note of the pattern on the 10th fret 1st string which we’re going to bend up to reach the pitch of the 3rd shape:

In this riff we’ve got;

– A ‘bend and release’ pitch bend

– A hammer on and pull off just plucking once

– Hammer on and vibrato at the end

Here’s an audio clip of me playing it:

2ND SHAPE MIN PENTATONIC NO.1

For the 2nd riff we are going to utilize hammer on’s, pull offs, a slide and vibrato

Here’s an audio clip of me playing it:

2ND SHAPE MIN PENTATONIC NO.2

For the 3rd riff i’ve combined the pattern on 2 strings for a smoke on the water type riff maker:

Here’s an audio clip of me playing it:

2ND SHAPE MINOR PENTATONIC RIFF 3

For the 4th riff i’ve shown how you can get more of a melodic type riff using the pentatonics that’s less ‘solo like’

Here’s an audio clip of me playing it:

2ND SHAPE MIN PENTATONIC RIFF 4

Hopefully this has given you some ideas to play around with in the 2nd shape of the minor pentatonic

Thanks for reading

For other music tips feel free to follow me on twitter @jsmusicschool

ROCK N ROLL

James

 

Pentatonic riffs in the 1st shape

Hi There,

Thanks for reading my blogs so far.

In today’s blog you can learn how to use various different techniques to play some riffs just using the 1st shape of the Minor pentatonic scale

When starting out on your pentatonic scales you need to realise that it takes time to be able to use the scales in a musical context.

Learning the 5 shapes is just the initial step, then it’s all about integrate various techniques like ascending/descending in groups of 3 to randomise the scale

Here’s the picture of the 1st shape of the Emin pentatonic (probably the most common key in rock and pop music due to the chords that belong to it)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• The wavy line at the end of each sequence means vibrato

• As it’s in Em you’re going to start on the 12th fret 6th string

• He’s a riff that incorporates a hammer on and a pull off in one sequence:

Here’s an audio clip of me playing it:

RIFF 1

For the 2nd riff we’ve got a few ‘full’ tone bends. This means you are bending the notes to reach a desired pitch of 1 tone above the starting note (1 tone = 2 notes) so G to A would be a full tone for example

Here’s an audio clip of me playing it:

RIFF 2

For the 3rd riff i’ve introduced a different sort of bend where you bend up and bring it back down to create 2 notes with one picking strike:

Here’s an audio clip of me playing it:

RIFF 3

That should give you a few ideas on how to create riffs / solos / melodies from your pentatonic scales that randomize the scale and utilize different techniques.

Thanks for reading

You can also find regular guitar tips on my twitter feed @jsmusicschool

ROCK N ROLL

James

 

Practice schedules

Hi there,

Previous blogs have been much of a technical nature so now I can share thoughts on how you should practice.

Say if you have a 30 minute/ hour lesson every week, you should be spending about 3/4 hours on top of that to really get on top of all the content as there is so much to do if you want to become good.

Now at Js music school I actually stress quite clearly that if you don’t practice enough of the right things every week there is no point in coming to the lessons as I will have to go over the same stuff every time.

This makes lessons rather boring for all parties concerned and a waste of time/ money and energy.

Plus the school gets a big kick out of people progressing and becoming good players.

Your practice schedule should balance between the following 5 cornerstones:

1. Performance
2. Improvisation
3. Theory
4. Technical
5. Aural Perception

The idea is that all the aspects help each other out in some way and will make you progress faster.

I.e.

Practice writing out the G major scale (Theory)

Practice the G major scale using the 7 3 note per string patterns (Technical)

Learn how to recognize by ear the intervals that make up the major scale (Aural Perception)

Play the scales using various slurs and exercises over backing tracks to develop riffs (Improvisation)

Get your rhythm guitarist in your band some chords from the key of G major e.g. G major, E minor , D major and C major, and create some riffs / solos over the top (Performance)

So as you can see everything links together and learning one thing reinforces others.

So a weeks schedule may look like:

Monday: warm up exercises (i.e. A chromatic scale), Pentatonic scales in 2 keys ascending in groups of 3, quaver strumming patterns and play over backing tracks in those 2 keys

Tuesday: On the train to work write out a few major scales and harmonize them to produce chord progressions, and listen to some intervals / chord progressions on the train to train your ears.

Practice strumming patterns in the evening

Wednesday: Practice with mates, come up with a few riffs using major, minor scales, pentatonics – swap between rhythm and lead playing, practice arpeggios

Thursday: CAGED chord system, sixteenth note strumming patterns, practice improvisation using major scales and the blues scale

Friday: Learn some songs that utilize all of the above techniques, ask your teacher for suggestions

Again in between this learn some fun riffs and songs to break up your schedule

Many thanks for reading

ROCK N ROLL

James Schofield

You can find me on twitter @jsmusicschool

 

Understanding how scales and chords link together

From my experience as a player and teacher, there are many guitarists out there who can play bits of scales and can play lots of chords.

But to really elevate your playing to the next level, learning how everything fits together in a theoretical sense will help massively.

You’ll be able to introduce different chords to your songs using the harmonized major scale, then come up with cool riffs using the relevant pentatonic scales over the top.

Major and Minor Scales:

• Your Major scale is build up of 8 notes from the TTSTTTS rule (T=Tone and S=Semitone)
• So G Major is G,A,B,C,D,E,F# and G
  These notes are then stacked on top of each other to produce chords/harmony:
• G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F#dim and:
• Gmaj7, Am7, Bm7, Cmaj7, D7, Emin7, F#min7b5 when harmonized to the 7th degree of the scale
• Every Minor scale derives from the Major scale by starting from the 6th note:
• So is E, F#,G,A,B,C,D and E and the same harmonies are produced:
• Em,F#dim,G,Am,Bm,C,D and Em7,F#min7b5,Gmaj7,Am7,Bm7,Cmaj7,D7

Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales:

• Your 5 notes of the Major pentatonic are built up from the 1,2,3,5,6 notes of the Major scale
• So the G Major Pentatonic contains the notes: G,A,B,D,E
• Your 5 notes of the Minor pentatonic are built up from the 1,3,4,5,7 notes of the Minor scale
• So the E Minor Pentatonic contains the notes: E,G,A,B,D,

Linking chords and scales together

• A song in the key of G major could contain the following chords:
• G, Bmin7, Cmaj7, D

If you wanted to improvise over it you can use Gmaj/Emin Major/Minor scales and pentatonics. GO PRACTICE!!!!!!

Thanks for reading!

You can find me on Twitter at @jsmusicschool

Rock n roll

James