4/28 Lesson

Nice soloing tonight!

1a. It showed that you practiced form 1 to 2 pentatonic transitions. When improvising don't be shy to use techniques such as the hammer ons and the double-note lick we practiced.

1b. I gave you a new form of the major scale that meshes well with form 2 of the pentatonic. The pentatonic (5 note) scale is simply the major scale in this form less the 4th and major 7th notes.

____________1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
major ______C D E F G A B C
pentatonic _C D E G A C

Here is an example of the A Major pentatonic


Improvise between the major and pentatonic forms. this is what is going on in Comfortably Numb.

1c. Practice a great way to string pentatonic forms together at:

• Method 1
• Method 2
  

2. Download the trial version of band-in-a-box. Its good til July 1 and will be a great way to practice at tempo over a virtual band. For This exercise start by playing the 12 bar blues.

A great video tutorial that you can play along to can be found here

3. Listen to some guitarists and start to identify styles you like. the best way to get very good is to emulate players you like. You will find that they tend to use certain scale forms and you will begin to identify lines that the play variations of. David Gilmour is a case in point.

4. Learn the first three phrases or lines of of the solo in comfortably numb. If you want learn as many as you can. So much of what he is doing is the way he plays the notes. Much of his style comes from his use of sustain - so using a pod or even your amp cranked up will help.

5. What the World will never take. Strategy for learning the tune.
a. download the chords - look at them and use your chart to figure out the chord family and hence the key.
b. learn the rhythm part FIRST. this will help you know the landscape of notes and will guide you when you are improvising.
c. play back the lines of the solo and hum the tune. From the scale form pluck out the notes til they match what you are humming.
d. repeat the line until you know it then move on to the next line.
e. string the lines together and try to play them all in a row along with the CD.


6. Make sure to play your scales and call out the notes on the fretboard. you should be able to identify all the major home notes. E G A B C D F - common sharps will be F#, C# - know these as as well.