Example 1 (which I entitled “Tabla Rhythm Accent Exercise 1″) is an exercise in accenting notes. The note choices used are insignificant, just 4 notes that repeat in cycles (below are the first 4 notes of the C Major scale).

It may help to exaggerate the accent so that it is obvious to the ears which notes are accenting, while playing the other notes softer than normal.

The notes to be accented are denoted in the staff music by the ^ sign. Strict alternate picking is recommended.

I’ve found that my dynamics have greatly improved – due to the fact I am more in tune to dynamics of each note (varying pick attack) with respect to its beat. I also have a better feel for the rhythmic spacing betweeen the downbeats. Also I feel I focus more intently on each note that I play.

The first pattern involves accenting on each of the actual beats (repeated 4 beats).

Measure 2 – accenting the 2nd note of each 4 note grouping (repeated 4 beats),

Measure 3 – accenting the 3rd note of each grouping (repeated 4 beats)

Measure 4 accenting the 4th beat of each grouping.

Measures 5 – 8: only 3 beats are repeated.

Measures 9 – 12: only 2 beats are repeated.

Measure 13-16: Beat 1 Grouping – 1st note is accented; Beat 2 Grouping – 2nd note is accented; Beat 3 Grouping – 3rd note is accented; Beat 4 Grouping – 4th note is accented…Following the accent note of beat 4 (the 16th note of the measure) the first note of the next measure is accented.

It’s a mind exercise as well – as you’re playing you have to be able to remember and feel which measure you are playing so you know how many times to repeat the lick with the given accent.

Exercise 1:

Note Accents

Exercise 2 uses the same pattern as Exercise 1 – the difference is the notes are omitted instead of accented. It’s a great method to turn tired licks into fresh interesting sounded licks – also creates a spacing and interesting rhythmic variations.

Music to me is intangible, elusive, universal, bonding, expression, soul uniting, creative, the ultimate language and so on.

I’ve been playing guitar for 12 years, the last 2 or 3 years I’ve become more serious. I’m currently taking instruction from an excellent teacher who has shown me the way to lay down a proper foundation to really learning music. Guitarists, myself included, more times than not are guilty of not learning music – just learning how to play chords and the proper fretboard patterns over given chords. The last 2 years I’ve been working on breaking out of that mold and to play real music.

To me it’s all about seeing things from different angles and perspectives – from microscopic and telescopic vantage points; connecting harmony to melody, melody to harmony; chords to modes to scales, scales to modes to chords; connecting shared notes or connecting what is seemingly unconnected. Once I began seeing things from various angles, there were more ways to connect notes to form melodies and to connect them with underlying harmonies.

I’ve also taken interest in mandolin, lap steel guitar, and have been considering buying a keyboard. I play slide guitar and have been told by a very well traveled and accomplished player that he thinks I’ll become “The slide guitarist” from my area – so it’s something I work on. I try to keep an open mind about music and learn from as many avenues and people I can.

“There is an art of listening. To be able really to listen, one should abandon or put aside all prejudices, preformulations and daily activities… But unfortunately most of us listen through a screen of resistance. We are screened with prejudices, whether religious or spiritual, psychological or scientific; or with our daily worries, desires and fears. And with these for a screen, we listen. Therefore, we listen really to our own noise, to our own sound, not to what is being said. It is extremely difficult to put aside our training, our prejudices, our inclination, our resistance, and, reaching beyond the verbal expression, to listen so that we understand instantaneously.” J. Krishnamurti, The First and Last Freedom.

2 main ideas.

The first is to really get down Tritone Substitution. We’ve worked on this concept before, but now it’s something to really focus on. I’ll be working on paralleling two keys of the tritone – basically combining two keys a tritone (3 whole steps) apart to form one “tritone key.”

For example take the dom V chord of the C scale – G7…the dominant chord up a tritone is the Db7. The chords share the same guide tones (b3 & b7 notes) but inverted (G7 – B, F Db7 – F, Cb). To create the “parallel keys” we can take the parent mode (I) of each of the dominant/mixolydian (V) modes and present them chromatically up the neck (alternating parent modes/keys)…I’ll upload an image later which will be easier to see:

F Lydian -> Gb Ionian -> G Mixolydian -> Ab Dorian -> A Aeolian -> Bb Phrygian -> B Locrian -> B Lydian -> C Ionian -> Db Mixolydian -> D Dorian -> Eb Aeolian -> E Phrygian -> F Locrian -> F Lydian

We also discussed noted guitar players using tritone…Jimmy Herring and Allan Holdsworth. Jimmy coming from more of a blues (huge Allman Brothers fan growing up and eventual member of the band) and country (huge Steve Morse/Dixie Dregs fan) style of fusion – and one of my top 2 or 3 favorite players…so his style appeals to me a lot. Allan comes more from the jazz side of fusion.

I’ll begin working on unconventional patterns like Holdsworth’s legato and 4 notes per string approach – the idea being that I break free from the conventional patterns.

Second main idea is to work on the whole harmony/melody-guide tone voice leading thing…pick different guide tone based melodies and view present harmonies…look for common tone voice leading as well as the guide tones.

I was told I need to work on the above stuff for an hour a day here on out if I wanna get what I want out of it…this being the first time he’s told me to practice x amount a day – so I’ll get on it. For the next month we’ll also be focusing on technical aspect of playing – with some b-bender (w/o the b-bender) type licks and some Hellecaster licks; learning Holdsworth’s solo to “Devil Takes the Hindmost” (off his Metal Fatigue CD) and back to learning Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” saxophone solo.

Just realized I’m going to miss the Bill Kirchen guitar clinic and concert in 4/19 since I’ll be in Baltimore for a bachelor party. The last guitar clinic with Bill was a treat – he did incredible versions of Sleepwalk and did his classic “Hot Rod Lincoln.” Derek did go into some detail of what Bill said playing with Danny Gatton was like. Bill said after playing with Danny – there was never anyone else quite like him.

Here’s Danny Gatton playing Sleepwalk:

Lesson went real well tonight – better on my part than the previous one. My “assignment” was to create a melody – then determining “what all the things each of the notes can be.” Essentially take it note by note and figure out what chords could be played over each note. Pretty much take each note and look at it from some sort of a guide tone perspective (i.e. either b3, 3, 7, b7 note) and do this for every note. I hadn’t really come up with anything I was pleased with, but in the time before my lesson – I managed to pick up out a nice chordal melody with a cheap nylon string guitar in the next room using inversions, embellishments, chromatic movement, arpeggios all as tools for voice leading.

The lesson consisted of me playing over a ii-V-I progression in C (Dm, G7, C) but with various embellishments. I had a pretty good handle on it and came up with some nice themes on the spot, superimposed some chords, and even got outside using tritone substitutions over the dominant chords. Hell I was even a bit proud of how it went – and even got some props from him in the middle of some of the phrases. Then I jammed over a I-vi-ii-V (in C as well) with the instruction of using chord-soloing…this is something I gotta work on and isn’t something that comes easy.

We then went over a print out showing the idea of plurality – the idea that one entity can have multiple functions. The example used was a Dm13 chord broken out in an interesting fashion. Basically the Dm13 is broken out in 5 triads (Em, C, Am, F, Dm) then four 7th chords (Cmaj7, Am7, Fmaj7, Dm7) three 9th chords (Am9, Fmaj9, Dm9) and two 11th chords (Fmaj9+11, Dm11) -> the diagram breaks it out as a sort of triangle figure. This sort of thing I find extremely helpful since I’m very mathematical minded.

From here we apply plurality:

Base Chord: Dm11 -> D, F, A, C, E, G,

Then take any of the 5 triads for example – Em -> E, G, B

Em can be used diatonically as either the ii (key of D-2 sharps), ii (key of C-no sharp/no flats), or vi (key of G-1 sharp)

Using just the one example of Em – the possible expansion of harmonies includes C# and F#, thus creating two additional avenues one can go…this idea can be applied to all the chords composed within the Dm11 chord -> eventually achieving a true 12 tone harmonic basis.

The thought process to focus on here on out is the idea of plurality as it relates to melody and harmony – it’ll take some further breakdown of chords on my part – but the basic premise makes sense. The tough part is always the application of ideas and using them in a musical sense. I’m also to focus on chord soloing. Derek mentioned for me to listen to Wes Montgomery – who was excellent at chord soloing. I’d been so focused on listening to jazz horn players I hadn’t listened to jazz guitarists in awhile – sometimes I try so hard to play like a horn player that I lose sight of some of the advantages of guitar (that being single note playing as well as harmonic playing).

So work on the chord soloing stuff, plurality as a function of a relationship between melody-harmony, and work over some progressions: ii-V-I, I7-VI7-II7-V7. I’ll spice up the ii-V-I with key changes; get back to work on the Giant Steps solo; work on the bluegrass stuff; work on I Got Rhythm (in all 12 keys); work on some stuff out of the Real Book; and I’d like to transcribe Bela Fleck’s tune Bigfoot (New Grass Revival version – found this video of when Bela toured with his trio in Charlottesville, VA which I’m sure was a day removed from when I saw them in Richmond).

Since I’d been listening to bluegrass the past bit, he mentioned there’s talk of a Alison Krauss, Mark O’Connor, and Jerry Douglas collaboration in the works – which won’t be nothing short of phenomenal. – as well as a Mark Knopfler-Alison collaboration. He also recommended I check out the Waybacks (the name was familiar but I had no idea who they were) for some good jazz-grass…they’re coming to the Berkeley April 1st. He said one guy sounds similar to Chet Atkins, one sounds like Tony Rice, another sounds like Mark O’Connor. Also I might get in a mandolin lesson with John Teer from Chatham County Line – which would be great.