Here's a rant and lesson wrapped in one ... and yeah, its abt GETTING OUT OF THE DAMN BOX!!! :evil:
Its been just too often, that I hear the Em Pentatonic played over that E power chord riff; Its the same DAMN scale over and over again... Same sounding licks over and over again... Same chinese pentatonic flavour... Same bluesy flavour... I mean, COME ON GUYS!!! How many times have WE, as musicians, heard an enjoyable solo of whatever standard, and said to ourselves, "Now, that is some serious creativity!"?
Too many times, a musician holes himself up in the good ole pentatonic... doing the same runs up and down... only difference being the positioning, order the notes run, duration of notes held and whatever fancy stuff like vibrato or efx.
I've grown SICK, SICK I SAY! Of hearing that same pentatonic run up and down, up and down... For one player thats so guilty of it, its Joe Satriani. Once he was regarded as an innovator... now, my goodness. He resides in Pentatonic Avenue (The Safest Way). Sure, some of you may say that he does innovate with middle eastern melodies... weird efx... but gone are the days where he played the Extremist. Always with You, Always with me. Flying in a Blue Dream. Its now, "Starry starry night" stuff...
So right now, here's a simple lesson on GETTING OUT OF THE DAMN BOX!!!
Lets talk abt being INNOVATIVE.
Over a simple progression like this:
E5 E5 C5 D5
What can you play? Yes. You can play that Em pentatonic for the whole progression and have me (and a couple of others) fall asleep.
How abt playing this?
E major.... then switch to E minor on the C5 and D5?
OR
E lydian... then switch to C minor on the C5 and D minor on the D5?
We all know that the almighty power chord is really, the almighty power chord. But how many of us realise that its really really, the almighty chord to IMPROVISE over?
Without the 3rd of the chord (E.g. C = C E G; C5 = C G) , the power chord is ambiguous and therefore, you can play either minor or major tones over it.
Now THAT is versatility. And that is why metal/rock shouldn't be boring.
Lets get back to this.
"E lydian... then switch to C minor on the C5 and D minor on the D5??"
On the E5 chord of the above progression, because E5 is ambiguous, neither major or minor... you can play the following scales.
- EVERYTHING thats in E.
Now, the NORM is to play in Em penta or E harmonic minor or E minor. Lets get out of it.
I choose the Lydian mode (major scale with sharpen 4th) , my fave mode.
So over the E5 chord... I go improvise in Lydian... taking care to emphasize the sharpen 4th.
When we come to the C5, why did I say improvise in C minor? Well, thats because I choose to make the C5 chord take on the tonality of a Cm chord. And so there is a key change to Cm. So there I go... Improvising in C minor.
Next, I choose D minor for the D5 chord for the same reason as above. Key changes to D minor.
So when the track is played out, I switch between different flavours of the dreamy lydian and the sad sounding minor... plus, the change in key from E5 to C5 then C5 to D5, gives a nice sonic twist.
So look here Musician. GET OUT OF THE DAMN BOX!!! Be innovative, think differently and BE CREATIVE.
There. Rant is done and so is my lesson. Chill people. 8)
Its been just too often, that I hear the Em Pentatonic played over that E power chord riff; Its the same DAMN scale over and over again... Same sounding licks over and over again... Same chinese pentatonic flavour... Same bluesy flavour... I mean, COME ON GUYS!!! How many times have WE, as musicians, heard an enjoyable solo of whatever standard, and said to ourselves, "Now, that is some serious creativity!"?
Too many times, a musician holes himself up in the good ole pentatonic... doing the same runs up and down... only difference being the positioning, order the notes run, duration of notes held and whatever fancy stuff like vibrato or efx.
I've grown SICK, SICK I SAY! Of hearing that same pentatonic run up and down, up and down... For one player thats so guilty of it, its Joe Satriani. Once he was regarded as an innovator... now, my goodness. He resides in Pentatonic Avenue (The Safest Way). Sure, some of you may say that he does innovate with middle eastern melodies... weird efx... but gone are the days where he played the Extremist. Always with You, Always with me. Flying in a Blue Dream. Its now, "Starry starry night" stuff...
So right now, here's a simple lesson on GETTING OUT OF THE DAMN BOX!!!
Lets talk abt being INNOVATIVE.
Over a simple progression like this:
E5 E5 C5 D5
What can you play? Yes. You can play that Em pentatonic for the whole progression and have me (and a couple of others) fall asleep.
How abt playing this?
E major.... then switch to E minor on the C5 and D5?
OR
E lydian... then switch to C minor on the C5 and D minor on the D5?
We all know that the almighty power chord is really, the almighty power chord. But how many of us realise that its really really, the almighty chord to IMPROVISE over?
Without the 3rd of the chord (E.g. C = C E G; C5 = C G) , the power chord is ambiguous and therefore, you can play either minor or major tones over it.
Now THAT is versatility. And that is why metal/rock shouldn't be boring.
Lets get back to this.
"E lydian... then switch to C minor on the C5 and D minor on the D5??"
On the E5 chord of the above progression, because E5 is ambiguous, neither major or minor... you can play the following scales.
- EVERYTHING thats in E.
Now, the NORM is to play in Em penta or E harmonic minor or E minor. Lets get out of it.
I choose the Lydian mode (major scale with sharpen 4th) , my fave mode.
So over the E5 chord... I go improvise in Lydian... taking care to emphasize the sharpen 4th.
When we come to the C5, why did I say improvise in C minor? Well, thats because I choose to make the C5 chord take on the tonality of a Cm chord. And so there is a key change to Cm. So there I go... Improvising in C minor.
Next, I choose D minor for the D5 chord for the same reason as above. Key changes to D minor.
So when the track is played out, I switch between different flavours of the dreamy lydian and the sad sounding minor... plus, the change in key from E5 to C5 then C5 to D5, gives a nice sonic twist.
So look here Musician. GET OUT OF THE DAMN BOX!!! Be innovative, think differently and BE CREATIVE.
There. Rant is done and so is my lesson. Chill people. 8)
