Inztro

Developing Bass Solo

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Wed, 07 May 2014 09:55:00 +0000

Bass soloing is simply the way of expressing yourself by playing bass in the way you feel best known to you. it is an increasingly used musical part in different musical genres – in small and big musical groups but often used especially in small groups.Solo is usually improvised. It can also be written and learned, but played by heart because it requires a double - finger technique, slap playing, scaling and other bass techniques.

Rules to Develop Bass Solo

Do not improvise interminably when playing a solo. Do not play mechanically and become a music machine. Finish an individual musical phrase with a pause or let the sound fade out slowly and then start with a new musical phrase.

Develop and enhance the solo with sense and feeling, to which you add emotions. Be relaxed.

If it’s solo, you’re free!: One thing that’s nice about everyone dropping out is that it doesn't always matter if we follow the form. We can, in fact, abandon the tune all together and go off on our own planet (groove solo, for example) and simply cue the band back in by going back to that last A section (for example) and leading everyone back in gently (or even better, by playing the end of the head).

The bass solo must have a pleasant musical (jazz) and logical melodic connection: Take the chord progression into account. Develop your own and interesting modulation. Use the scale tones and any other tones we pass over quickly reasonably. You have to learn the scales and harmonic structures (chord progression) by hearth.

Use the melody as your guide: If we learn the melodies to the tune, not only can we hear it in our heads (hopefully), but it can serve as the entire foundation for our solo. Nothing wrong with one solid chorus of an ornamented melody. Now, if you’re going to play multiple choruses, you might not want to just repeat the process. A solo needs to develop and lead somewhere, so you’ll need to continue to develop your playing in order to have something to say on your own.

Reggae Scale

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 16:14:00 +0000

Reggae is a musical style that began in the 1960s in Jamaica, based on the Ska and rock-steady musical genres of the region. Reggae is characterized and easily identified by a heavy accent on the off beat, which creates an unanticipated stress.
Reggae does not have scales, but it is built from the major scale because all other scales needed to build the reggae scale is found in the major scale such as major and minor pentatonic scale, major and minor scales.
Reggae bass scales and rifts comes from the mind, all you just need to do is feel and enjoy what you are grooving and you will be able to create better reggae bass lines. Here is a little video for you.

Left Hand Slapping On Bass

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 12:37:00 +0000

To do a left hand slap, you let your fingering hand snap down on the finger board to produce a sound similar to (but a bit quieter than) the sound of a muted slap. It should no rebound off the string as your thumb would rebound but should NOT snap down hard enough to sound any notes. Keep your fingers relatively loose, but not flappy. Also note that the sound produced will be louder when the string hit is vibrating.

The left hand slap is very useful if you need to produce a muted slap sound immediately after another note and not tire out your thumb. The left hand slap usually does the job much faster than your thumb, especially if you need to do something else with your thumb.

Pop on Bass

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 12:24:00 +0000

Once you have learnt the slapping technique,popping is a much easier technique to learn.All you have to do is curl a finger around the side of the string so it is very slightly underneath it and you kinda grab the bass string with your first or index finger, pull it away from the guitar and let it "snap" back. the string hits the fretboard fairly hard and makes that percussive sound.It is best to be able to use both your fingers then you are able to use your Index finger for the D string and your Middle finger for your G string.

Practice Slapping Bass

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 12:02:00 +0000

The only way (outside of the Matrix) to develop your technique is practice, practice, practice! You probably won't sound like your slap bass idol the first time you play a bass. In fact, you might not even sound like the pros in your first few years, it all depends on how much and how consistently you practice. In fact, consistency is more important than quantity. It's better to practice a little every day than a lot every three days. Your brain and muscles develop memory faster if they are exposed to practice on a daily basis. If you are serious about playing bass, practice one hour per day minimum. The moreconsistent hours of practice you get, the faster your slap tone will develop.
Here is a short video for your practice:

Slapping Bass Technique

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 11:52:00 +0000

Slapping technique involves an approach to slap where you hit the string with your thumb and follow through, landing on the next to get that percussive sound .Your overall tone and performance will improve if you keep your slapping hand as relaxed as possible. When slapping, attack by rotating your hand at the wrist only, moving your thumb toward the stings when slapping and pulling your finger(s) away from the strings when popping. Make sure not to rotate your hand more than 30 degrees in either direction, you will be faster and get less fatigued.

Your hand and wrist should be angled at about 30 to 45 degrees relative to the strings, so that your thumb naturally rests parallel to them for easy access to low strings.When slapping with your thumb, you want the side of the pad/knuckle to bounce off the string just hard enough to slap it against the frets.You can also experiment with attacking the strings at different points down their lengths, listening for tonal differences.

Practice Bass Plucking Technique

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 11:19:00 +0000

A good exercise that players can use to develop solid alternate plucking technique is to perform four sixteenth notes on each string working vertically across the string sets. Always begin with the same finger on the way up . When descending alternate between index and middle.

When it comes to two-note chords, rest the thumb on a lower string and pluck notes with index and middle fingers. For three-note chords (or four-note) use the thumb for the lowest pitch (similar to classical guitar technique).

Remember:Really, there is no right or wrong way to choose which finger plays which note.Generally, it is best to alternate plucking fingers. When you pluck a string, draw your finger across the string, rather than pulling it up away from the body. When your finger releases the string, it should come to rest against the next string (unless you played the lowest string).

Here is a little video for your practice

Bass Plucking

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 11:06:00 +0000

Finger Plucking hand technique on the electric bass begins with players finding their optimal playing and thumb positions,this refers to the use of your index and middle fingers (some bass players use more) to pluck each note. No matter what kind of music you are playing.

Placement and Playing:
The usual method of right hand placement is to anchor your thumb on one of the pickups, the bass body, or the edge of the fret board. With your thumb firmly planted, your fingers have leverage to pluck the strings. Another method is to move your thumb to rest on the string below the one you are playing, shifting it up and down as needed. Use whichever method feels most natural to you.

Really, there is no right or wrong way to choose which finger plays which note.Generally, it is best to alternate plucking fingers. When you pluck a string, draw your finger across the string, rather than pulling it up away from the body. When your finger releases the string, it should come to rest against the next string (unless you played the lowest string).

JIMMY STAFFORD NOHEA

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 10:17:00 +0000

Fender’s Jimmy Stafford Signature Nohea Tenor Ukulele is based on the Train guitarist's customized Ukulele Nohea model, as heard on 2009 hit "Hey, Soul Sister." It's a real stunner, too, with a gorgeous all-koa body, abalone acrylic rosette and binding, and a rich Transparent Black gloss finish.

Other features include scalloped fan bracing, 17" scale, "U"-shaped mahogany neck with aged white binding and Telecaster® headstock, 19-fret rosewood fingerboard with abalone acrylic dot inlays, rosewood bridge and Fishman® Sonitone soundhole pickup system with volume and tone controls.

FENDER FISHMAN TRIPLEPLAY STRATOCASTER HSS

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 10:12:00 +0000

The Stratocaster of the future is here. Fender’s Fishman® TriplePlay Stratocaster® HSS guitar uses state-of-the-art built-in digital technology to give you a thrilling new playing experience in which you can emulate other instruments with ease and create a world of all-new sounds. It’s a phenomenal leap forward in the evolution of the world’s greatest electric guitar.

With its potent tonal combination of Vintage Noiseless™ single-coil Stratocaster neck and middle pickups and a powerful Seymour Duncan® Pearly Gates™ humbucking bridge pickup, it’s a fine instrument in the conventional manner. But two other ultra-modern performance features launch this re-imagined Stratocaster into a brilliantly exciting future.

Engage the built-in Fishman® TriplePlay system, which wirelessly transmits MIDI data to your computer to create virtually unlimited sounds with a wealth of performance, composing and recording features. The Fishman hex pickup, TriplePlay D-pad controller and MIDI volume control are all built into the front of the guitar, with the TriplePlay wireless controller built into the back. The wireless controller transmits the signal from the hex pickup to the included USB transceiver, which plugs into your computer (a handy clip on the back of the headstock holds the transceiver when not in use). For charging the unit, a power supply and micro-USB cable that connects to the TriplePlay wireless controller are included.

Also, the mini-USB output on the side of the lower bout digitally transmits the audio signals from the three Stratocaster pickups to your computer using the included USB cable. The adjacent 1/8” output jack lets you monitor the proceedings with headphones and has its own volume control on the front of the guitar.

Once the signal reaches your computer—from the TriplePlay system or from the mini-USB output—all the software you need to record, edit and play back your sounds comes in an included USB flash drive that contains Fishman® TriplePlay, IK Multimedia SampleTank 2.5 and AmpliTube Custom Shop, and Native Instruments Komplete Elements (additional software such as Notion Progression and PreSonus Studio One® Artist available for free download with product registration).

The guitar also features a maple neck with “modern C” profile and satin finish, rosewood fingerboard with a 9.5” radius and 22 medium jumbo frets, standard master volume control and ¼” output jack, standard five-way pickup switching, three-ply parchment pickguard, and vintage-style synchronized tremolo bridge with six saddles. Available in Black and Three-color Sunburst gloss finishes. Deluxe gig bag included.

Hammer-ons and Pull-offs on Bass Guitar

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 12:34:00 +0000

Hammer-ons and pull-offs are also known as slurs These two things refer to techniques employed by the left hand to sound notes without the direct aid of the right hand. You don't always have to pluck a note to play it. Hammer-ons and pull-offs let you play your notes using only your left hand. They are useful for playing quick bass licks with quick runs of notes and slurred notes, because they help to create a smoother sound between notes.

A hammer-on is a note you play by "hammering" a finger of your left hand down onto the string while it is still vibrating from a previous, lower note. when a note is sounded, and while it is still ringing, a left hand finger is used to quickly press down a fret that is on the same string, and close to the original fret. This will result in the sounding of the second note, even though the right hand did nothing but sound the first note. The vibrations that occurred from the sounding of the first note will be carried on to sound the second note.

Here's an example.place our index finger on the 3rd string, 5th fret, and sound that note. While the note is still sounding, we can use our ring finger to come firmly and directly down on the 7th fret of the 3rd string.

A pull-off is basically the opposite of a hammer-on. There are 2 notes involved. We can use a finger to fret a note, and then sound that note. While the note is still sounding, a finger can be placed directly behind the first finger, and then the first finger can be 'pulled off'. or
Before starting, you will need to have both left hand fingers that are involved already placed in their perspective frets. The first note is plucked, then a second note is sounded by pulling that finger off of the string with force. You are basically plucking the string with the left hand finger you used for the 1st note first note. You will need to pull both towards the floor, and out away from the neck of the bass.

For example, we could place our index finger on the 5th fret, 3rd string AND place our ring finger on the 7th fret, 3rd string. We can play the note on the 7th fret, and then 'pull' that finger off the string, which at the same time, will sound the note on the 5th fret. This is a pull off.
Here is a simple video for you.

6th Chords For Piano

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 06:33:00 +0000

The 6th chord (major) can probably be best described as whimsical. It’s the kind of chord you’d think a harp would play. The structure of the chord is the same as the major or minor plus an added 6th note. The 6th is not flatted, this would make the chord a C 6 flat or C minor 6 flat.

It is a four note chord, with the notes construction of 1-3-5-6. So for example a C6 will have the notes C-E-G-A. A think of it as typical of Western Swing. Here is a little chart to help you with your practice.

6th Chords For Guitar

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 06:13:00 +0000

It is a four note chord, with the notes construction of 1-3-5-6. So for example a C6 will have the notes C-E-G-A. A think of it as typical of Western Swing.

Try out some of the chord formations and see if they can fit into your repertoire.Here are some guitar chats for you.

Transposing Chords

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 00:47:00 +0000

You often find out that the song you wish to play may be written in a different key which you are not good on maybe the key of A# and you wish to play this in a key which has easy chords probably C,G or F.When transposing you will be moving upwards or downwards.

Transposing Instruments:they are instruments that play in a different key to the piano(they automatically transpose) - the actual pitches they play are different from what is written in the music. For example, the B-flat Trumpet transposes down by a Major second. For a B-flat Trumpet the written note C would actually come out as B-flat.

example:When transposing the song Be Thou My Vision from key C to D it means moving every chord a whole step upwards

After transposing you should have:

strumming patterns

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 00:37:00 +0000

Strumming patterns are something that most beginners struggle with until they have learned a few. It's pretty important that you count out loud the first time you start strumming to help keep time. Once they get a few in their head, a light bulb usually comes on and they can begin to figure out other strumming patterns and even make up their own.If you palm mute the strings and strum the patterns it will help you hear the rhythm a bit better. Most of these strumming patterns you have heard before, but if you aren't used to strumming you may not recognize the rhythm until you get better. But the thing that works best for me is thinking of the strumming patterns as drum beats: bass-bass-treble-bass-treble. The down strums are the bass beats and the up strums are the treble beats.

Some Strumming Pattern

Now this next advice will be a bit hard to do, but keep your arm moving in a constant up and down motion. So if you strum down and you get to a straight line, move your arm back up without hitting any strings, that will prepare you to do a second down strum. You will see what I mean in Strum pattern one. Just like the chord progressions when you get to the end of the pattern just repeat back to the start again for a continuous loop. It is best to first learn the strum patterns without switching chords just to get the hang of the motion.

Strum pattern one:

▼_▼▲▼▲

1 & 2 & 3 &

Strum pattern Two:

▼▲▼▲▼▲
1 & 2 & 3 &

Strum pattern Three:

▼_▼▲▼_▼▲

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

Strum pattern Four:

▼_▼▲_▲▼▲

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

Strum pattern Five:

▼_▼▲▼▲▼▲
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

Strum pattern Six:

▼_▼_ ▼ ▼▲▼_▼_▼▲

1 & 2 & 3&a 4 &a 5& 6&

Strum pattern Seven:

▼▲▼▲_▲▼_▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

1 & 2 & 3 &4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 &

Guitar Chord Shapes

Before we get into the chord progressions we first need to get into the chord finger shapes. We won't get into what the chord names mean because that would be a whole new article.

For the SUS (suspended), Add9 and EM7 chords your fingers will always stay on the bottom B and E strings on the third frets. Use your ring and baby pinky fingers for those two strings. The other chord shapes are pretty easy to figure out when you start playing around with them on the guitar. Remember, you may not be able to switch between them fluently at first but just stick with it and practice slowly. Eventually you will be able to pick up speed and play some of your favorite songs.

Now that you know the shapes you need to know which group of chords to play together to make songs. A lot of songs now days can be played with only four chords. After you play the last chord in one of the groups restart back to the beginning of that same group so that it continuously loops. This rule applies for all the following chord groups as well. Here are some Guitar Progressions:

Practicing Scales Made Easier: Guitar

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 00:32:00 +0000

How Practicing Scales On Guitar Improves Your Technique: When you work on scales with the goal of improving your guitar technique, it is important to focus on very specific elements that make such an improvement in your technique possible: economy of motion, tension control, 2 hand coordination and articulation of the pick. Notice the important difference between practicing scales while concentrating on specific elements of your guitar technique vs. Monotonous repetition of finger motions that most guitarists go through. It is this difference that allows the mind to tell your hands what to do in order to learn to play guitar at a higher level.

How Practicing Scales On Guitar Makes You Better At Improvising: When it comes to improvising, playing scales on guitar is obviously only one of many elements that needs to be practiced, however in order to improvise freely and creatively, you MUST go through the process of becoming accurate at playing the scales needed for your musical style. One practice method to achieve this goal requires you to work on mastering each shape of a particular scale individually by improvising ONLY in that scale shape over a backing track (while switching to a different shape of the same scale every few minutes). There are many more possible ways of using scales to grow as an improviser, but the idea is to illustrate how your attention is being directed on a very precise goal (when practicing scales to improve as a soloist) versus working on scales to improve other aspects of your guitar playing.

How Practicing Scales On Guitar Helps You Learn The Guitar Neck Better: When you work on learning the guitar neck with scales, you need to pay more attention to how the scale shapes form visual patterns that occur all over the fretboard. In this case, less attention is needed to be paid to what your hands are doing and all efforts must be directed on memorizing how every scale pattern will look in your mind before your hands touch the guitar. When you focus in this way, it will be impossible for your fingers to mindlessly go through the motions of practicing and your fretboard visualization skills will have no choice but to improve.

How Practicing Scales On Guitar Will Make You A More Creative Musician: One effective way to become a more creative guitar player when practicing scales is to work on coming up with new sequences and phrases from scale shapes that you are practicing. Instead of merely playing the notes of the scale up and down in a boring way, this will require your mind to think in innovative ways that you don't normally do when doing regular guitar practicing. This is yet another way of how scales can be used to grow a certain element of your musical skills by directing your attention to a very specific mini goal. So far in this article I have given you examples of how you can use a single guitar exercise to grow in a variety of elements of your musicianship. By choosing where to focus your attention in a guitar practice session, you can achieve a variety of objectives. Its important to mention that these general approaches can be used with ANY exercise that you practice on guitar (and aren't limited to only scales) in order to refine any musical skill that you think of. The more you do this, the more you will realize that your guitar playing progress isn't affected by "the exercises" you practice on guitar, but rather by HOW you practice whatever it is you are working on. In order to get the most out of this approach to practicing guitar, divide your attention to working on a unique "daily goal" during each day of practicing. This will enable you to cover everything without trying to cram too many things into each guitar practice session. For instance, set a specific goal for an item such as scales for Monday's practice session, then work on scales with a different focus on Tuesday and continue in this way through the week. One last point I want to make about this general approach to practicing guitar is that having a lot of exercises is NOT a bad thing in and of itself. In fact, multiple exercises are often necessary for more productive practicing, but it is still critical for you to learn how to get maximum value from only a single practice item. After you begin to practice guitar with this mindset, your rate of progress will skyrocket and you will amaze yourself by how much faster you will move towards your guitar playing goals.

Master Changing Guitar Chords In Seconds

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 00:30:00 +0000

The first thing to focus on is how to create Pressure. One of the principal reasons beginners don't make great progress is because they practice guitar in a lazy way and without any specific goal in mind. They do not put any pressure on themselves and as a consequence their rate of improvement is slowed or even nonexistent.

The second is called looking for pivot fingers: It’s not really a “secret” among seasoned guitar players, and some of you may even remember me mentioning it before. But if you’re new to the art, then it will likely be an unfamiliar term. looking for pivot fingers basically means that less is more. In other words, if you reduce the amount of movement to get from point A to point B, you will become faster and more efficient.One of the ways you can apply looking for pivot fingers to your guitar chord changes, is by leaving your finger down on any string that is played in both the chord you’re on and the chord your moving to.For example, your 3rd finger plays the 2nd string for both the A major chord and D major chord. So, instead of taking your 3rd finger off the string and placing it back down again when moving from one chord to the other, just slide it from the 2nd fret to the 3rd fret.

This next secret is very easy to do and also very effective.Let’s say you are strumming a 4/4 rhythm on the chord G and you just can’t seem to change to the chord C without missing the first beat. Here’s what to do.

* Hold the chord G and strum the first three beats.
* Lift your hand on the fourth beat and at the same time strum the open strings as you move to the chord C.
* Strum C on the first beat, second beat, and third beat.
* On the fourth beat lift your hand and at the same time strum the open strings as you move back to the G chord and time for the first beat.
* Continue on in this manner while gradually increasing your speed (tempo).

The next is so simple and will help you when practicing. As you know we have a basic set of 10 open chords which give us an excellent foundation for playing a great many songs. Currently you may be very good at changing only between certain pairs of those chords such as E minor to G or C to A minor. Ideally what we want to achieve the same level of fluency between all 10 chords.A good way to begin is by selecting one chord, for example G, and make a list where you are paring that G chord with every other chord available. It would look like this.

G – Dm
G – Bm
G – D
G – A
G – E

G – Em
G – F
G – Am

You may have notice about the list I have created above. Firstly, my focus is squarely upon a G chord and I am relating every other chord in the set to that specific G major chord. In a future practice session you may choose to focus on any other chord and match it against all the others in the exact same fashion.

Practicing Power Chords

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 00:19:00 +0000

When practicing power chords on your guitar, there are three things you should concentrate on:

Fretting
Strumming
Moving the chord position

Start off by fretting a single chord (say G5), as described in "Basic Power Chords". Add a little distortion to your amp if possible (don't overdo it!) and concentrate on strumming technique. Remember you need to strum only the strings you are fretting, so the technique is totally different to playing open chords.

Play using a pick and play down-strokes only, using short strokes with the pick and using your wrist, not your arm to strum.
Staying on the same chord, practice playing 1-2-3-4,you can do that 4 times.

When you're happy with your strumming technique, try the following exercises. Start slowly at first and gradually increase your speed as you become more confident. But don't be overeager to play fast too soon, as the most valuable practice can be gained from playing slowly.

Strum each chord 4 times using short, even down-strokes before changing to the next one. Remember you don't need to remove your fingers from the strings when changing chords, just relax the pressure a little and slide up or down the neck to the new chord position.

Your Power Chord Trainer will help you to keep your finger spacing correct, just remember that you need to squeeze as you move up the neck and relax when you move down the neck.
Here are some exercise for you:

1 : A - D - A - E (First finger on fret: 5 - 10 - 5 - 0)
2 : G - F - C - D (First finger on fret: 3 - 1 - 8 - 10)
3 : Bb-C - D - E (First finger on fret: 6 - 8 - 10 - 0)
4 : B - A - G - F (First finger on fret: 7 - 5 - 3 - 1)

Here are other tips to help you with your practice:

Make sure your guitar is in tune.
Warm up by playing the chromatic scale, forwards and backwards, several times. Play slowly, use alternate picking, and make sure each note rings clearly.
Review the names of notes on the sixth and fifth string. Practice calling out a random note (e.g. C), and trying to find that note on BOTH the sixth and fifth string. Memorize at least two other notes, and their positions on each string.
Work on your power chords. Make sure your ring finger is positioned well on the appropriate fret (it is the finger that most often makes power chords sound bad). Slide from chord to chord, and try moving from the 6th string power chords to the 5th string power chords.
Review all nine major and minor chords we've learned. You should really be close to memorizing all of these chords by now. Pick two chords, and practice moving from one to the next quickly and smoothly. Then, pick two new chords, and repeat the process.
Spend some time working on this week's new strumming pattern.
Work on playing that pesky F major chord. Don't give up until it sounds perfect. Try playing some of the songs listed on that page.

Power Chords

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 00:01:00 +0000

Guitar Power Chords can be two or more notes that are played together. These Chords are the easiest chords you will learn. These are easier than learning open chords! I even suggest you learn Power Chords before you learn open chords, because it will give you a good foundation of root notes and music theory. When learning your guitar chords, these should be the first you learn. These are the easiest to understand and require less finger dexterity than other chords.

In order to learn power chords effectively, you'll need to really understand the names of the notes on the neck of the guitar. In some styles of music, particularly in rock and roll, it's not always necessary to play a big, full sounding chord. Often, especially on an electric guitar, it sounds best to play two-or-three note chords. This is when power chords come in handy.

Power chords have been popular since the birth of blues music, but when grunge music started to rise in popularity, many bands chose to use power chords almost exclusively, instead of more "traditional" chords. The power chords we are about to learn are "movable chords", meaning that, unlike the chords we've learned so far, we can move their position up or down the neck, to create different power chords.

Practicing Your Bass Pentatonic Scale

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 14:51:00 +0000

Both the Major/Minor pentatonic scale are very much alike with the Major/Minor scale. The Major pentatonic scale misses out the 4th & the 7th, leaving us with just 5 notes (penta = five). The minor pentatonic scale misses out the 2nd and the 6th and sounds much more bluesy or jazzy. click here to know more on the pentatonic bass scale. And here is a practice video for you

The Blue Scale: Piano

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 14:49:00 +0000

Ever wished you could play the blue scale. here is a little tip for you. The blue scale is a combination of the
major diatonic scale(meaning all your natural notes,chords) plus three additional notes which are:

The flatted 3rd

The sharp 4th/ flatted 5th

The flatted 7th

So the blues scale really contains 11 notes -- the 8 of the normal diatonic scale -- and the 3 "blue notes".
These are used in various combinations, as we shall see, to create a "bluesy sound".
The blues started not as a piano style, but as a vocal style, and of course the human voice can sing "in the cracks" between
the notes on the keyboard. So when we play blues on the keyboard, we try to imitate the human voice by playing BOTH the
3rd and the flat 3rd -- BOTH the 5th and the flat 5th -- BOTH the 7th and the flat 7th. We would play in the cracks if we could,
but we can't, so we do the best we can by combining the intervals to imitate the quarter steps that a human voice can sing. (Certain
instruments can do that too -- for example, the trombone. Since it has a slide, it can hit an infinite number of tones between any
two keyboard notes.). Here is a formula chart for all your blue chords.

Five Positions Of The Blues Scale On Guitar

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 14:47:00 +0000

The blues scale contains all the same notes as the minor pentatonic, with the addition of one note, the flatted fifth. Sometimes known as the "blue note" , the flatted fifth is usually used as a passing tone. So in this lesson we are going to go through all the five positions of the blues scale on the acoustic guitar.

POSITION 1

POSITION 2

POSITION 3

POSITION 4

POSITION 5

Note that all "Red circles" with (R) are root notes.

The Blue Scale

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 14:46:00 +0000

The blues scale is actually a 6 note scale and the scale is similar to the minor pentatonic/ major scale, but with an additional lowered fifth. The lowered fifth, also known as the "blue note", is essential in blues music.

Constructing The Blue Scale

From Major Scale: You can easily play this scale in any key by using the major scale as your starting point. Just note that the scale is built with this formular 1, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7, and 1 again.

First, play your major scale in whatever key you’re in. From there you can find the blues scale in whatever key you’re in by just following these easy steps:

Move your 3rd note in the major scale down a half step to find the b3.

Move your 5th note in the major scale down a half step to find the b5

Move your 7th note in the major scale down a half step to find the b7.

The rest of the notes (1,4, and 5) are the same pitches you would find in the major scale.

For example C blues scale consists of C, Eb, F, Gb, G and Bb.(If you’re new to the major scale check out Major Scale).

From Minor pentatonic Scale:They are the 5 notes of the minor pentatonic scale, plus one additional note.The note added is the diminished 5th (o5) measured from the scale tonic.

For example C minor pentatonic scale: C - Eb - F - G - Bb - C. With the addition of the diminished 5th-Gb, Produces the C Blues Scale: C - Eb - F - Gb - G - Bb - C

Pentatonic Scale

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 12:12:00 +0000

A pentatonic scale is a musical scale which consists of five notes per octave it differs to heptatonic (seven note) scale such as the major/minor scale. The pentatonic scale has fewer number of notes in it scale and can be helpful to the beginner guitarist and it is one of the most commonly used scales in music because the scale omits some of the "trouble" notes found in major and minor scales that can end up sounding wrong if not used properly. The pentatonic scale is used both for soloing, and for basing song riffs around. Guitarists with an interest in learning to play lead guitar must learn their pentatonic scales.

Although the pentatonic scale is not the only scale available for playing rock lead, it is the most widely used and easiest to learn. The beauty of this scale is that it sounds great over every chord change in a key, and you can begin to make music with it almost immediately.

Major Pentatonic: The Major pentatonic scales have the same fingerings, only the root note is different, and the major pentatonic sounds happier, and more upbeat than the minor pentatonic, but can still be used in a rock context. when constructing the major pentatonic scale you use the formula 1 2 3 5 6 1. for example In C, you have C D E G A C.

	I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII	I
C Major	C	D	E	F	G	A	B	C
C Major Pentatonic	C	D	E		G	A		C
Equation	1	2	3		5	6		1

But also know that the major pentatonic is like the minor pentatonic, in the way that the relative minor/majors share the same notes. Ex. C major pentatonic has the same notes as Am pentatonic.

	I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII	I
C Major	C	D	E	F	G	A	B	C
C Minor Pentatonic	C		Eb	F	G		Bb	C
Equation	1		b3	4	5		b7	1

Minor Pentatonic: The Minor Pentatonic scale is often the first scale that people learn. This is because it is easy to play, very very useful and is the basis of much blues and rock improvisation. when creating Your Minor Pentatonic scale you can use the formula : 1 b3 4 5 b7 1. In A, that's A C D E G A. You can find all the scales for what ever key you want, but you might prefer boxes. There are 5 box patterns for the pentatonic scale. Using your Major scale you can easily calculate your minor pentatonic scale, for example

Major/minor scales

noreply@blogger.com (xnopino) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 12:10:00 +0000

The major scale which is known as the cornerstone of all western harmony and the foundation from which all other scales are formed. It has seven notes (plus the octave in practice) but first you need to know what a whole/half step means in music and the sequence that make up a major scale. A whole step is generally two frets up or down generally two fret up or down, and a half step is just one fret up or down on the guitar.A C major scale begins with a C and ends with a C. The same rule applies with the rest of the keys where a D Major Scale begins and ends with a D and so on.

Constructing The Natural Major Scale is so easy all you just need to do it use the pattern WWHWWWH or TTSTTTS stuff. In the WWHWWWH, W means whole step (2 frets distance on guitar/bass) and the H means half step (1 fret distance on guitar/bass). In the TTSTTTS, T means Tone (2 frets distance on guitar/bass) and an S means Semi-Tone (1 fret distance on guitar/bass). therefore the WWHWWWH and TTSTTTS basically means 2 frets, 2 frets, 1 fret, 2 frets, 2 frets, 2 frets, 1 fret. Remember both WWHWWWH and TTSTTTS means thesame thing but in different forms, different people have varying ways on how to present the major scale using the WWHWWWH/TTSTTTS.

C = C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
D = D - E - F# - G - A - B - C# - D
E = E - F# - G# - A - B - C# - D# - E
F = F - G - A - Bb - C - D - E - F
G = G - A - B - C - D - E - F# - G
A = A - B - C# - D - E - F# - G# - A
B = B - C# - D# - E - F# - G# - A# - B

Constructing The Natural Minor Scale is like constructing the major but when constructing the minor scale you use the WHWWHWW/TSTTSTT instead of the WWHWWWH/TTSTTTS . Notice that the natural minor scale W's and H's start on the sixth note of the W's and H's of the major scale.

C = C - D - Eb - F - G - Ab - Bb - C
D = D - E - F - G - A - Bb - C - D
E = E - F# - G - A - B - C - D - E
F = F - G - Ab - Bb - C - Db - Eb - F
G = G - A - Bb - C - D - Eb - F - G
A = A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A
B = B - C# - D - E - F# - G - A - B