 |
LESSONS
@ CHRISBROOKS.NET |
Filling
In The Blanks:
Connecting scales and
arpeggios while soloing
by Chris Brooks
Whether you play Fusion, Metal, Jazz, Blues or whatever else, arpeggios are a great way to play wide
intervals, traverse the neck in a hurry or to outline a chord or chords in the
key you may
be playing in. A very common way to do this is with sweep-picking
patterns that use one note per string for the most part.
One problem that arises among some apprentice arpeggio-meisters that I've heard
or taught is that playing arpeggios in solos can often sound disjointed or unrelated
to the licks that precede or follow the arpeggio lick, or at worst, they can
sound unsuited to
the music being played over at all. I'm not here to
preach about what constitutes good taste but, to me, it's more interesting to hear
someone getting in and out of arpeggios smoothly and with some
direction, than sweeping the floor but getting stuck at the the door without any
sense of direction. Learning to play phrases with arpeggios and avoid
segregating them from your other ideas is a good way of exploring their
potential outside of up and down patterns.
There are ten examples to accompany this lesson, which you can view here or
download for future reference (in Powertab format). Keep reading to get a
better understanding of the ideas behind the licks.
Examples A - G use the
common 5 string arpeggios in the key of D major, as well as their related
modes. The first part of each exercise starts with an ascending arpeggio
(to be executed with sweep-picking), from the 5th string up to the 1st string,
at which point we return to our root note by following the scale downwards (to
be executed with alternate picking). The second part of Examples A-G start with a descending arpeggio
and an ascending scale.
Running through each of those exercises will
prepare your hands and ears for the scale notes that surround each arpeggio in
the key. When you're done with these, take any arpeggios you normally
play, whether smaller or larger than the examples given, and get familiar with
the notes that lie around them.
While the examples given so far are useful for learning your way around, they sound a little stiff
as licks per se. Applying phrasing devices like syncopation, sequence, dynamics etc
can get it out of the realm of the ordinary. Examples H, I and J
illustrate practical uses of the ideas that are common to my playing.
Example H,
"Taking Notes", is a longer figure made
up of the phrasing devices mentioned a second ago. It occurs over Em7
and DMaj7 chords (both from the key of D major), and starts with a syncopated
phrase, moving onto an E minor arpeggio which is broken by a couple of scale
notes mid way and by a change of phrasing. It continues with two measures
consisting of 16th note triplets which mix up the D and Em arpeggios and scale
notes quite nicely. Try it slowly and make sure you're nailing that phrasing
before speeding it up. The picking strokes I generally use are included,
but try whatever seems logical to you. Often, changing between sweeping and alternate
picking can feel awkward, and you may find that economy picking on a couple of
strokes keeps things moving.
Example I, "B Sting" uses the concept in a larger arpeggio
(Bm11) with the B Minor scale. Alternating between 16 notes and 16th note triplets,
as done in this phrase, is another easy way to stop the lick from sounding like
an exercise.
So far we've looked at arpeggios and modes derived from the Major scale, but
you're certainly not limited to that. Try out some other scales and
arpeggios, for example, the Melodic and Harmonic minor scales, or anything else
you're familiar with. Example I, "Minor
Concern", occurs over an AmMaj7 chord, and uses said arpeggio along
with the notes of the A Melodic (Jazz) Minor scale.
Spend some time on these ideas and transpose them to different keys. I'd also advise practicing with
both clean and distorted tones to check
your clarity and control of the strings not being played. Most importantly, adapt the ideas to
create your own licks. Whether it's a small triad or an extended
6 sting arpeggio, the more possibilities you're hands (and ears more
importantly) are used to, the more
options you have when soloing.
Copyright ©2002 Chris Brooks
Return to Lessons main page
Back to Home Page
Hear the album Buy
the album
|
