Major Triad fingerings

Hybrid Chords Part 1 - Major Triad/Bass Note

I'm checking out the different sounds I can get by playing a major triad over a bass note, both harmonically and melodically.

I picked C as my bass note, and here are the chords, (firstly with Wayne Krantz numbering system and then an analysis of sorts)

C/C - 1,3,5 C Major Triad (1,3,5)
Db/C - b2,4,b6 Csus4(b9/b13) - C Phrygian Voicing or DbMajor7(3rd inversion)
D/C - 2,b5,6 C(no 3rd,9,#11,13) - C Lydian, CLydian b7 upper structure voicing
Eb/C - b3,5,b7 Cmin7
E/C - 3,b6,7 C+Maj7
F/C - 4,6,1 Csus4(add6no5th), F triad (2 inversion)
F#/C - b5,b7,b2 C7(#11,b9)
G/C - 5,7,2 CMaj7(9)no 3rd - C Ionian, C Lydian, C Harmonic Major
Ab/C - b6,1,b3 C aeolian modal, Ab Major (1st inversion)
A/C - 6,b2,3 C7 Sym. Dom, C7 (b9,13)
Bb/C - b7,2,4 C7sus4(9)
B/C -7,b3,b5 Cdim(maj7)

Cool Links #1

• Rick Peckham Lessons Page
  Great site from the Assistant Chair of Berklee's Guitar Department. Good PDF files of Essential Scales and Modes, material on the harmonic major modes and more. I use this as part of my reference while practicing nowadays.
  

Automatic Guitaristic elements

There are some things that are just inherent to the guitar and therefore using these devices will bring out the quality of the guitar. They are:

1. Open Strings
2. Harmonics
3. Muted strings/Percussive playing on strings
4. Prepared Guitar
5. The sounds behind the nut and the bridge
6. Neck Bending
7. String Bending
8. Slides
9. Hammer-ons and Pull-offs (and legato playing)
10.String Noises (Fret noise, string noise, stratching the strings, pick gliss etc.)

Especially in jazz playing, I think some of these ideas go untapped and unexplored by many. Those who embrace these sounds tend to get a more unique sound. In some ways, I believe that the exploration of these qualities should be a part of a guitarist's proficiency on the instrument in addition to the knowledge of scales, chord voicings, arpregios, picking fluency, technical fluency etc.)

Some recommended listening:

For prepared guitar,string noises,muted strings/percussive playing: David Tronzo
Harmonics: For jazz: Lenny Breau, Tal Farlow; In general: Tommy Emmanuel, Eric Roche, Thomas Leeb
Open Strings: John Stowell, Pat Metheny (especially his acoustic stuff)
Legato Playing: Allan Holdsworth, Tim Miller, Pat Metheny, John Scofield

Symetrical Augmented Scale: Part 1

I just recently got introduced to this scale in a more in-depth manner via Ed Tomassi's class. This is what I get out of it so far:

The construction of it is:

Minor 3rd-Half Step-Minor 3rd-Half Step-Minor3rd-Half Step-Minor3rd-Half Step

In Notes that means:

C Symetrical Augmented
C Eb E G Ab B C
1 b3 3 5 b6 7 1

These are the main chords from the scale:

Major: C, E, Ab
Minor: Cmin, Emin, Abmin
Augmented: C+, E+, Ab+
Major 7th: CMaj7, EMaj7, AbMaj7
Aug Maj7th: C+Maj7, E+Maj7, Ab+Maj7

Will blog more about the scale as I get more into it.

Till later, play on!

Melodic Minor Part 2: On Triads From The Melodic Minor Scale

I was thinking about what triad over bass combinations one could get in a mode and how Mick Goodrick came about them in his Almanac books. This was my thought process:

Take the first triad from C Melodic Minor:

C Minor

C Eb G

Over the different bass notes from the scale:

C Minor/C - C Minor triad in root position
C Minor/D - D7sus4(b9)no fifth or D dorian(b9) modal voicing or min triad from b7 of chord/root (7susb9, Mixo(b9), Phrygian Voicing)
C Minor/Eb - C Minor triad, first inversion
C Minor/F - F7(9) no 3rd, min triad from 5 of chord/root (Dorian/Mixo voicing)
C Minor/G - C Minor triad, second inversion
C Minor/A - Amin7(b5) chord (a 7th chord quality)
C Minor/B - Baug(b9), Altered voicing, Cmin/maj7 in 3rd inversion (7th chord quality)

Looking at the list, we can see that there are three standard triads (and inversions)

C Minor/C - C Minor triad in root position
C Minor/Eb - C Minor triad, first inversion
C Minor/G - C Minor triad, second inversion

Two 7th Chord qualities:

C Minor/A - Amin7(b5) chord (a 7th chord quality)
C Minor/B - Baug(b9), Altered voicing, Cmin/maj7 in 3rd inversion (7th chord quality)

And two hybrid chords (i.e triad over bass with no 3rd in voicing)

C Minor/D - D7sus4(b9)no fifth or D dorian(b9) modal voicing or min triad from b7 of chord/root (7susb9, Mixo(b9), Phrygian Voicing)
C Minor/F - F7(9) no 3rd, min triad from 5 of chord/root (Dorian/Mixo voicing)

This leads me to the assumption that the definite usable triad over bass combinations are triad from 5 of chord/root and triad over 7 or b7 of chord/root.

In the next post, I will examine the results of this in relation to each root from the Melodic Minor mode.

Melodic Minor Part 1: The Modes of Melodic Minor

Hi everyone!

I'm starting this blog to share some of my favorite things regarding guitar harmony as well as more line-based ideas. It also acts to document my thought processes in learning some newer concepts I'm exploring. I haven't done much in the melodic minor modes so I will start on that.

Basically, the melodic minor scale is the major scale with a b3.

Hence, C Major is:

C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

C Melodic Minor is:

C D Eb F G A B C
1 2 b3 4 5 6 7 1

There are 7 modes in the scale which are:

C Melodic Minor -From the root
D Dorian (b2) - from the 2nd degree
Eb Lydian Augmented - from the b3 degree
F Lydian b7 - from the 4th degree
G Mixo (b13) - from the 5th degree
A Locrian (natural 9) - from the 6th degree

and

B Superlocrian/ B Altered - from the 7th degree

The most commonly used of these modes are the:

7th Mode - Altered (used over Altered Dominants- dominant chords with a b13)
4th Mode - Lydian b7 (used for subV7 chord-chord resolving a half-step down and non resolving down a fifth dominant7 chords)
1st Mode - Melodic Minor (used over Tonic Minor Chord- minor 6, minor 6/9, minor/major7)

I'm currently exploring more of the b3rd degree, because it is one of the modes that I love the sound but is not really comfortably in my playing as yet. In the next post, I'm going to explore more of what lurks in the scale.

Till later, play on!