If you are seeing this text, you need to download the latest version of Flash Player here.
Welcome to the Guitar For Beginners & Beyond Forum, the fastest growing Guitar Community on the Internet.
You are currently viewing our site as a guest which limits your access to many of the great features available. By joining our free community you will gain access to over 100 free guitar lessons, be able to post topics, ask questions and communicate with other members (currently we have close to 80,000 guitar players from all over the World). By becoming a member, you will also be able to respond to polls, upload and get feedback on your playing and access many other special features... Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so why not join our community today! If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.
Live Stone over at the PlaneTalkers' Forum posted a Sinatra-ish tune backing track, asked about chord tone improv over it, so I did this little movie to show him an example. I'd say this is 95% chord tones ... of course, there are lots of chords, but that's what makes it fun.
Here's the progression. I've loaded the backing track up for anyone who wants a go ... scotty_b? Be nice to hear a modal approach too.
But, the only way I'm able to do any of it is to see the whole neck as each chord. That's the trick. I don't see chords as little boxes, I see them as neck-long entities, so every time the chord changes, so does my (mental) fretboard. I just pick a path through that ever-shifting fretscape.
How do you memorize all that chords neck long? I mean, you can play those notes on at least 4 or 5 "positions" on the neck for every chord??
Even without PlaneTalk I memorized all C, A, G, E, D chord notes (on whole fretboard) but still didn't figure out others i need. I guess I might take a look at PlaneTalk.
Whoa!!! an A-Ha! moment!! For the life of me, even though I've read and re-read Plane Talk, and I've watched the DVD, my brain just never caught the idea of NOT looking at chords as little boxes. I've always looked at them as such. Even with Plane Talk, I thought of them as little boxes, but sort of connected down the neck. Not as a neck-long thing. Putting it that way hit home!
Ok, back to the book & DVD and my guitar!!! Start looking at it in a new light!!
Ditto for me too! I realized they were connected, but never allowed my brain to try and look at the whole picture. Will be trying to see the forest now and not just looking at a tree!
hb
hb ... you hit the nail on the head with "The forest, not the trees". That's an analogy I've often used for the PlaneTalk way of thinking. Why get all bogged down in the minute detail that thinking scales/modes forces on you? That's like being lost in a maze of back streets and alleys trying to find a melodic path by trying to make sense of the Greek signposts. PlaneTalk is more like taking a hot air balloon ride above the town and seeing how all those pathways interconnect without worrying about what they're called or how they're classed.
Well I finally got around to it!
I just put on the track, put down a solo and decided that whatever came out was what I was going to post.... No editing or second takes.
I tried out the Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2 software for this - have not used it before. For plugging the guitar straight into the PC, it sounded pretty good. Certainly saved me the hassles I normally have with mics, amps, neighbours and the like.
Hi Scotty ... good to see and hear that you had a go at this. Tough little sequence, isn't it? There were some nice moments in there but I must say, I do like hearing chord tones as the main strong-beat notes. I guess I've just been working toward that goal for too long to be able to hear anything else.
I'm a little shy about critiquing your take too much, but if you'd like some more feedback, just say so.
Download the PDF of the 'Guitar Chord Slide Rule', print it out, fold it together and you'll have at your disposal a very neat tool that will not only show you all the positions for the main flavors of chords, but will also teach you a very important lesson about how the guitar works... It consists of a folded sleeve and six double sided inserts, instructions for cutting it out and folding it together are included with the PDF ... it's very simple to do, and if you botch it, you can simply print it out again!
Tony
