How to Stop Guessing When You Improvise

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[00:02:22]All right, folks.

[00:02:25]Let me know when you're there. We have one person on.

[00:02:30]Looks like Michael's on.

[00:02:35]What up?

[00:02:38]Not much. How about you if you're joining? Uh I was wondering if anybody's going to join. Uh we haven't done one of these in a long time. So, um thought it's high time to get started again and um when you're on. Cool. Cool.

[00:02:58]When you join, tell me where you're where you're from and then um and uh when we have enough people joining, we'll get started.

[00:03:11]When we have enough people joining, we will get started. I was just about to put up a uh a banner where you're from. And then um that said, uh how to stop guessing. Oh, hi Strong. Hey. Hi. Good to see you.

[00:03:32]We haven't done one of these in a while.

[00:03:36]Toronto, Canada. Cool. Very cool.

[00:03:46]All right. Well, we're going to check and see on. We've got uh 24 people on.

[00:03:51]Look like look like some people got on and got off right away. Not sure why.

[00:03:56]Hey, Peter. Good to see you on. Okay.

[00:04:00]All right. Well, we'll wait for just a few uh just another minute or so while we're chatting here, but uh it's always good to see fe people uh coming on. And we're going to talk about uh improvisation today. And um I guess the formal title is how to stop guessing when you improvise. It's really how to how to make music when you improvise.

[00:04:25]And while you're out there, um, why do you think you struggle? I've been a teacher for I've been a teacher for many, many years, but a guitar teacher for, uh, I don't know, let's say 35 years. Um, but um, tell me why you uh, good way to start my Sunday after church. Cool. Yeah. Um, so tell me why you you struggle when you improvise. I think most people have kind of misconceptions about it. Uh people who struggle to improvise and we're going to talk through some of those things. What I think kind of the framework is uh to understand it and then start making improvements as well. Uh I'm going to raise my I'll raise the console up just a little bit. Okay. Well, I'll tell you what.

[00:05:18]Let's get started. So, um, uh, we'll be doing some playing in a bit. I've got this relatively new, uh, this apohone, uh, 339. You can see it's a smaller than a 335 and it's got P90s.

[00:05:34]So, so I wanted to play it today and uh, we'll be doing we'll be doing some of that. Uh, what's your take on Fender Supersonic amp? I don't know. Never played them. Um, all right. So, we'll be talking about improvisation today.

[00:05:54]So, uh, why it feels kind of, uh, random to a lot of people. A lot of people feel like it's random or they're stuck in a rut. They can't come up with any ideas or they play the same old licks.

[00:06:07]That's part of the problem, I think, right there, is they're playing licks.

[00:06:11]And you know, licks uh are great, but uh it's pretty tough to uh to do it. A lot of people can play licks great or can play scales great, but then when it comes to actually improvising and playing over the music, uh they're dumbfounded because they don't know what to do. They don't have ideas or they play them too late. They start playing licks, stuff like that.

[00:06:34]Um um okay so uh the first thing that I want to note is that uh a lot of people also think it's a misconception with what they know and usually people know plenty to be able to improvise and uh but they don't realize that guitar is physical. you know, it's not just, hey, you have to practice, but you have to be comfortable with what with using what you know, right? And that's sort of a that's sort of an important part is to be comfortable with using what you know.

[00:07:11]And um so for the all the folks who are struggling to say, well, first things first, I've got to know the five pentatonic positions all over the neck and every key or stuff like that.

[00:07:24]You actually don't. What you need to do is be comfortable with what you know. If you listen to somebody like Billy Gibbons or Robert Cray, Robert Cray is a great example. Robert Cray has played the minor pentatonic his whole life and primarily in one spot. Um in one in the extended minor pentatonic position. So he's just very comfortable with that sort of stuff. Um and and think of it this way too. Uh, in some ways the guitar is supposed to be emulating a vocal. Um, and vocalists uh don't go all over the neck, so to speak. They're not usually singing, you know, vocalists who have these amazing ranges, three, four, five octave ranges that I've heard. They're not always using all of them. You not everybody is singing pavarati stuff. Um, so, you know, it's it's kind of important to to use what you know. Um, and if that comes down to, you know, um, I know how to play, say we're playing in C, we're going to do a lot of examples in C. And if that means what I'm comfortable with is knowing that C major minor pentatonic box and minor, see, I've messed it up. And minor and the major pentatonic box.

[00:08:47]That's okay. There's a lot of music that you can make with that. But just knowing those patterns is not music, right? So, we're gonna break down that. Um, one last thing I'll say about playing licks.

[00:08:59]And, uh, here was one that I did. Uh, let me go close for this one. We'll do a closeup. Uh, here's one I did recently.

[00:09:07]I don't know, it was on YouTube or you book or face or tick tickbook. Um, it was one of those. Um, and I think it was in D minor, and it went something like this. Um, okay. So, that's the lick itself. It's actually more than a lick. It's a whole phrase, right? So, it's over like a D minor And it went like this.

[00:09:59]Now, the only reason I know it is because I just did it. Okay. But it's a Robert Cray sort of phrase. I probably should be using a Strat for that. If I'm gonna improvise over D minor and I stop and I think, what was that Robert Cray uh lick that I played? I've already lost the game, right? I've got to be able to have it in the moment and uh be able to be able to play like that. So, uh and and then if you add in, oh, I'm transposing it to a minor and maybe it's not all a minor, maybe I'm doing a major. Am I going to transpose it to F# sharp minor and play?

[00:10:40]It's fine. I can take I can take ideas like that, but I have to be comfortable with using the ideas, not just knowing the lick. Hopefully, that's that's reasonably clear. Okay. So, I want to go over the whole spiel. Um, in order to do this, we have to I already said we have to be comfortable with what we're with what we're doing. So, I happen to be and I I'll give you some examples on how to do that in just a bit on how to get comfortable. Um, but I have to be I have to be comfortable and uh I guess I'll give you an example about what I'm comfortable with. I just showed you two things I'm pretty comfortable with that most people most intermediate players are pretty comfortable with. the main minor pentatonic box. Again, this is going to be in C.

[00:11:29]Most people are comfortable with that.

[00:11:30]Most people are comfortable with the main major pentatonic box for C.

[00:11:37]Now whether you know all the you know the minor pentatonic box and all the other sorry um you know and all the other ones or or you know whether you know it all over the place that's a different thing and you build that up over time just getting comfortable with it. Um, so that happens to be one thing I'm fairly comfortable with are major scales and and their pentatonic equivalents. Um, but I'm also comfortable with using with being able to visualize triads. So if somebody says we're playing a minor, that means to me I can play a minors or C majors. I can see them pretty quickly over the neck on a few different string pairs. prime.

[00:12:34]Let's take the uh the uh the um the DG and B strings for instance. I'm pretty comfortable and quick in seeing there's an A minor right there. There's an A minor right there. There's an A minor right there. There's an A minor right there. There's an A minor right there.

[00:12:52]And if I combine that with my knowledge of the of the pentatonic scale or the major or the minor scale or whatever in those different positions, I can then use that to my advantage. Right? So I can play and that's just really going from this minor chord to this minor chord.

[00:13:18]All right. Now I can go to this minor chord and do this I can do the same thing like I can do that sort of thing. Okay. So um that's just because I've practiced it.

[00:13:36]It's not because it's native to my ability to do these things. It's because I've practiced it. And um later on once we get through sort of the preliminaries I'll show you how to get comfortable with how to do exercises to get comfortable with whatever you want to get comfortable with. Okay. Um whatever you want to get comfortable with.

[00:13:54]There's so many different things that you can study. So part of the trick is to say okay I'm good in one part of the neck. I need to get good in another part of the neck. So I practice that. I'm good in one part of the I'm good with using pentatonics but I want to get used to using triads. So I'm going to practice that. And I'll show you how to how to directively do that. Okay. The the other half of it that so that's half really. Half is getting comfortable with what you know when you improvise. You can't be just like trying to pull up licks that you barely know or that you've studied. Here are the 12 licks I want to use in this or I'm thinking about this scale that I'm going to try and use. That's practice. You know, that's what practice is for.

[00:14:35]Okay. So now the other part the other parts is making music. And making music is all music is really and improvisation is music. All music is really three parts. It's rhythm and melody and harmony. So, uh, improvisation is built from all three of these things. Rhythm is probably the most important. So, you should probably always start with air.

[00:15:00]But what do we always start with? We always start with the most common question I get is, "What scale are you using?" I get that all the time. What scales are you using? Rhythm is the most important thing. So, that's where you should start. So, uh I'll just give you an example.

[00:15:15]Um I'm going to pull up a track here and hopefully you can hear it. Okay. And we'll just um we'll just kind of play rhythm over that track. Let's soak in the rhythm that we have. So, I'm just going to mute everything but the drums on this. And you can see how I play is hugely different um based on the rhythm. So here's just the drums, right? So if that's just the drums and I'm not even showing you the chords, which I can show you in just a second.

[00:15:56]I'll show you or and when we get to the next part, I'll show you the chords for sure. But already I know I'm not going to be playing um to those drums like something lyrical, right?

[00:16:08]You know, I might be trying to go, where are the strong beats, where are the weak beats, and stuff like that. So, I always like to try and start out with just getting the groove of the rhythm in first. And you can get pretty creative with it as well if you just put on a track like that and just try and hit one note. Uh first it's and then you can add in like you know that kind of stuff right. Um, now to give you an example or to give you a second example, how I play is going to be very different, you know, I could play this instead and it's going to be it's going to be very different.

[00:17:15]Here's a second rhythm track.

[00:17:22]Now it's very different. Right now I'm thinking like You know that kind of stuff. So it it reacting to the rhythm is probably the first thing that you ought to do whenever you're listening or trying to do any sort of improvisation. Rhythm is king. If you're out of rhythm, everybody will notice. If you miss a note or if you play a wrong note, almost nobody will notice. It's amazing um how few people know that. And yet, we're mostly worried about like which notes we hit.

[00:18:12]So, I think that's a really good uh I think that's a really good thing to keep in mind. All right. So, that's the first thing is is rhythm. The second thing is melody. notice. And and melody is kind of like um how you use whatever framework you're going to use, whether it's a scale or how how you enhance that rhythm with um with some sort of sense of pitch rising and falling. And then uh how you can phrase different things in there. So, um, when I'm doing sort of anything that's, uh, that's that's, uh, improvisational, I'm trying to do some put some melody on it, I'm going to be sensitive to the beat first. Um, the the overall feeling of the song. Is it uh, happy? Is it sad? Or whatever. And that's going to dictate sort of the melody that I'm playing. Now, one way to build a sense of this, a great way is to learn melodies, right? And this is also going to reinforce that you don't need to know, you don't have to play every solo all over the neck, right? Sure, epic virtuoso solos do that, but you don't have to play every solo all over the neck. Use what you know. So, um, for example, one of the best melodies, most recognizable is is this one. I bet you'll get it.

[00:19:39]Right.

[00:19:43]Right. Let it be. And uh I did play it in C. It happens to be in C, but I bet you recognize that right away. Learning melodies uh is very helpful that way.

[00:19:54]And look, it just went like between this note and this note. So, a little over an octave or I'm sorry, a little less than an octave. Just all contained in one octave.

[00:20:09]I guess it went down. It did go down to this E. So, it's a little bit It's an octave and in one note. So, it's an octave plus one note. So, it's not really using anything that I needed to move outside of this area for.

[00:20:32]Right. So, so there we go on that. So, that's that's melody. Now, one of the things with melody as you're learning those things, and I strongly encourage people to learn melodies, is that there's lots of different types of melodies, too. There's that would be what I would call maybe a sweet melody, right? A me call that melodic, but there's other melodies that are not. And those lend themselves to different sorts of playing, like stuff that's more rhythmic, you know, that kind of stuff. It's like I bent myself a little out of tune.

[00:21:07]Oh, it's the G string, of course.

[00:21:15]Okay, there we go. Um, so, um, you know, melodies can vary that way, but the the key takeaway I wanted from this one is that you don't have to be all over the neck to play a good melody. So, uh, now melody includes lots of phrasing. So, if I'm, and this is another reason why you should learn melodies, because when I played it like this, um, that certainly sounds different than or you know doing things like that is really going to enhance how you can play and just kind of jazzing it up or whatever. Um all right and then the last thing I wanted to say is for harmony and that gives us a framework for our melodies that we're going to create. It it shouldn't be a straight jacket. It shouldn't say these are the only notes that we can use but it should give us a framework for the melodies that we create. So, for example, now we're going to get into real examples here. We've been doing real examples, but let's go let's go to this uh shuffles type of uh let's go to this. Let me see if I can get it on the second monitor. There it is. Okay. And we'll go back to listening to this blues. And now I'll put in the uh the rest.

[00:22:53]So, it's like a blues. It's kind of happy upbeat sort of sound.

[00:23:00]See the guitar I can put it and this is going to dictate at least in part the framework that's going to make our lives easier. So for example on this one uh on this one we could um we could use the C. It was a blues and C, right?

[00:23:36]Blues shuffle in C. So, we could do a couple of different things. We could use the C minor pentatonic as our framework.

[00:23:47]We could do that. We could use the C major pentatonic as our framework.

[00:23:54]Sorry.

[00:24:03]So, I was adding in a couple of different notes there. We could use the C mixelyian as our framework, and that's just what I use there or um it's kind of noty. or we can use some you know combination of that sort of thing but that can be our framework that we use as we're creating the melody right so if I have some melodic idea like um as I'm crafting this I'm using I can use that framework to help me find ideas right? That kind of stuff. Okay. Now, we can also use, and I'm really really big on this, really big on this. We can also use the framework of um of the chords themselves. So, as I'm using this, as I'm using this uh this framework of the scale, I always think whatever chord I'm on, whatever chord I'm on, I can always play any tone from that chord. Okay? So, if I know how to play a chord, and this is one thing that people just don't tap into enough, I I I work with a lot of people and they'll say I'll say, "Okay, play a C major." And they'll play this. And I'll say, "Okay, play another C major." and they're like, "Uh, well, I can play this. Great. Play another C major. Okay, I'll play this. Play another C major."

[00:25:48]And they struggle a little bit. Maybe they come up with this, you know, or maybe they come up with this.

[00:25:55]Um, and yet when it comes to playing over a C major chord, they don't think they don't think those notes, right?

[00:26:04]They start thinking scales immediately.

[00:26:06]Well, even if you're thinking scales like the C major pentatonic scale, when you come to that F, you can think about that that F right there, right? Or that F right there. So, if I'm playing a let's say I pick minor pentatonic as my framework, when it goes to F, I can certainly play this note even though it's not in the C minor pentatonic.

[00:26:48]you know, when it comes back to that C, I can play a C7. It was a C7 there. So, all that stuff is fair game. And I think um just using those two frame, those two ideas is huge. So harmony is going to give us the chord the uh the framework for it. And I'll just show you why one last thing why this is important and why it's important to consider all these things. Um because music is all of these things. All right. So for example, here's the shuffle that we're just playing. Let's see if I can play it.

[00:27:24]And if I want to harmonize to this.

[00:27:28]Hey, straight A. Thank you.

[00:27:51]Right. So I'm playing I'm playing that same I'm playing that framework based on the chords. Right. I'm playing a comb.

[00:27:58]In this case, I'm playing I was playing a combination of the chords and the minor pentatonic scale. Um, okay. Now, the reason why I said this is now let's open up a different one. Oh, and you're going to say, "Oh, yeah.

[00:28:16]Well, this is the same song, isn't it?"

[00:28:19]Well, I don't know. Let's listen to it and see if it is.

[00:28:29]It's definitely not right.

[00:28:32]This is going to require me to play differently, but I may use the same framework. So, hey, good to see you from Grand Rapids.

[00:28:44]So, I'm going to use the same framework, but it'll sound different.

[00:29:17]Heat.

[00:29:36]Heat.

[00:29:54]Okay, you get the point. You get the point. The rhythm is king there. I'm using the same scale because the framework's exactly the same, but it sounds different because I have to practice over different re rhythms. And so many people just don't realize that the rhythm is king. Rhythm is king for all this stuff. Okay, let's give um let's give an idea for all these sorts of things. So, um I'm going to stop and see if anybody has any questions I can answer right now. I'm happy to answer them. But that's the framework. get yourself comfortable and then when you're improvising, think about well, you should be thinking about your ideas as you're playing. But but um and trying to lock into the music, but when you're practicing, get yourself practice to get comfortable what with whatever you're trying to do in an area of the guitar.

[00:30:45]And then also when you're coming when you're trying to improvise, you've got to think about rhythm. You've got to get me melodic ideas, right? A melody is just sort of an idea that you come up with that you can repeat. Uh maybe uh say it again, say it again in a different place. Um that's it. Like well, I won't get into that. And then the the last thing is harmony. And that's what framework do I use to to put all this in. Okay, think in terms of that. Okay. How do you play if you have no fingers? Uh you can hum, you can sing. You can't play guitar probably or you can have somebody else play it, but you can certainly sing. And uh plenty of improvising with people singing. And how do you do it without a head? I don't know. All right. Um so the first thing is to get comfortable. So here's the best way that I know to get comfortable.

[00:31:35]You take different rhythms. Get comfortable with what you know. Do it over one thing. So here is probably, you know, just about the simplest thing that you can do. This is just a C vamp. Okay.

[00:31:51]And we're gonna listen to it for a second to see if we can lock in with a harmony.

[00:32:03]I'm going pump up the volume just a bit on that.

[00:32:07]So, it's just one thing, right?

[00:32:13]That's all it is.

[00:32:16]Now, when we're getting comfortable, whatever it is, like I say, if you're trying to learn um me pause this, if you're trying to learn the minor pentatonic and you're doing it in one area, that's really simple, right?

[00:32:32]You're just trying to get comfortable with playing that minor pentatonic in that one area. And uh that's fine. You know, you try and play in time with this and just let that happen. if you're trying to move around the fretboard or you're trying to find all the different things. That's another thing, right? So, I'm just going to do that and I'll I'll show you how I do it. Uh I'll show you how I do it. So, let's just play this.

[00:32:56]Here's my C vamp. So, I could certainly play a C minor pentatonic, right?

[00:33:17]I'm going to move into a different area.

[00:33:19]Get comfortable there.

[00:33:37]Get comfortable switching between those two.

[00:33:56]Okay. So, that's one thing I can do. I can also try and get used to playing if I'm learning triads or whatever. In this case, we're doing C7s. It's very similar to a C major, but I can come up with it.

[00:34:08]Here's my C.

[00:34:10]Here's another one. C7. Here's another one. C7. C7. Here's another one. So, I can get used to playing between those.

[00:34:21]And that's a great way to practice. I've only got one chord to worry about. I'm just trying to lock in with the rhythm.

[00:34:38]Here's the right C7 or C uh triad.

[00:35:17]So you get the point. I hope you get the point is that by playing over one chord uh or you know you can get comfortable with moving around your scales and all that kind of stuff. It's a way to get comfortable and improvising and being confident is largely about being comfortable and having fun and now just making music. So, we're just going to do an example, a couple of examples and then uh I'll answer some questions and uh play around if you want. You can do as many examples as you want till I get hungry and have to go and have lunch.

[00:35:53]I haven't eaten today. All right. So the first thing we'll do uh is uh we will I should mention that at this point and I'll talk about it at the end for those of you who are interested enough to to listen or to stick by. I have both a rock and a blues program that I'm starting in June. And it's you work personally with me. Uh we do a lot of one-on-one work and uh coaching and uh I have a program. There's three spots left in each. There's a link for the blues and there's a link for rock. And I'll put them in the uh comments. I'll put them in the chat now and then we'll do the rest uh in just a second.

[00:36:36]Let's see.

[00:36:39]We will do the rest in just a second.

[00:36:43]So Oh, great. Uh okay. Here's the blues one.

[00:36:53]This is the blues.

[00:36:56]And this is just for information, okay folks? If you are interested in it, if it turns out you're interested in it, you can just book a one-on-one with me and we can talk about the program and whether it's a good fit for you.

[00:37:12]And here's the rock information. Okay.

[00:37:17]So, it's a 30-day blues transfer uh 30-day blues boot camp, if you will. uh and you get support for three months. So the program is 30 days but you get three months of support and the rock program is 90 days and you get six months of support. So that's what that is. All right. Um I'll talk about it more at the end. Okay. So let us as the rabbit said move to the examples.

[00:37:46]So we already did one of those.

[00:37:49]Uh, let's do it for um, yeah, let's do it for our gritty our gritty uh, our let's just do it for our blues by the road shuffle, right?

[00:38:03]So, we'll do that first.

[00:38:06]So, if we take a look at this, the first order of business is really to listen.

[00:38:11]Okay, whenever I'm playing, whenever I'm impro improvising, the first rule of business is to listen. And even if that means and believe me I think uh I spend a lot of time I spend a lot of time improvising because most of the bands I sit in on and I am expected to solo because that's my job. I'm usually coming in as a lead player. So um they'll just nod at me and say solo. And what I'm doing is I'm listening throughout the song. Now, many of the times I know the songs or I've heard them before, like let's say uh uh Van Morrison's Crazy Love or Wild Night, but I haven't heard them do it before.

[00:38:56]So, I'll be listening to how this particular band is doing it, and then I'll be locking in with their rhythm and using ideas from what I'm hearing. Okay?

[00:39:05]So, that happens a lot to me, uh where I've got to do something just on the fly.

[00:39:11]So, um, do you think Henrik's new, uh, Okay. When you play, okay, a few questions. Good. Uh, keep on rocking.

[00:39:19]Thanks. Um, BB Stratman, when you're play when you're played by triads, you using a lot of other notes. Which ones?

[00:39:28]Great. So, when I'm playing triads, I work on playing out of chords. So, if I want to get a triad to sound a little bit edgy, I know how to I know how to use those. I know how to use other notes. How do I know? I've practiced them. I I've literally practiced them. So, for example, when I'm playing a triad and I'm playing this, let's say I'm playing over a C7 chord, I know I want to get that bluesy sound.

[00:39:59]So, stuff like this.

[00:40:06]That's going to work for me. I just know it.

[00:40:11]That's an example of how I might play over that C7 chord.

[00:40:18]You'll notice I'm just playing chromatically.

[00:40:23]Just playing no ideas that I know. Um, however, if you want some guidelines, here are some ideas. If you're playing a major triad, you can start by putting the major pentatonic notes around.

[00:40:44]Sounds a little bit too uh nice, but it's good. If you're working a minor tri pentatonic or if you're playing a minor chord, you can try the minor pentatonic notes around it.

[00:40:56]But that's just a start. It really is just a start because um it gets you in the game and so that's a good way to start. But um I also use another idea.

[00:41:08]This is a people in jazz talk about this uh of an enclosure. An enclosure is just that if I'm playing a note, I often play a note above it and then a note below it and then I play the note. So instead of playing just this note, I might play So I might play.

[00:41:42]So I'm using those two ideas basically to start. I'm I'm suggesting or try expanding the major pentatonic around it if it's a major triad. If it's a minor triad, expand the minor pentatonic around it. And then um you can always play instead of playing the notes of the triads, practice playing uh notes above and below them before landing on the notes. So for example, if I'm playing this minor, here's a C minor chord, right? So there's a minor triad right there, the C minor triad. Instead of playing just the C minor triad, I might play I might play something like that or All right. Uh, great question really.

[00:42:35]Uh, what do you think Hendrickx knew?

[00:42:38]What a mixelyian triad or any of this information that you were talking about?

[00:42:41]Well, uh, Hrix played nonstop. He even played at the dinner table. If you want to do that in your life, you can go ahead and do that and you will develop your ear just like I was talking about before. The person said, "How do you use triads and you're playing other notes?"

[00:42:58]How do I know they know? Because I played them before and I know they well they work. They work for me. They give me the sound that I want. Okay. So, multiply that by a 100 and you've got Jimmyi Hendris, right? So if you want to make that investment and like not know things and just play, but trust me, Hendrickx knew the notes of the guitar, okay? He did know things like that. If he said play a G chord, he could do it, right? If he probably if he even said play a G7, he could do it. Now, if he you said play a uh E7 sharp nine, his chord, he might not know what you were talking about. And certainly if you said I want you to play D mixelyian, he wouldn't have known. But that's okay. I mean plenty of people in history didn't know how to read books either but it's still advantageous to us today. So um there's a limit right to pick and choose and that's why I'm saying whatever you want to build up your knowledge in whatever it is you want to build up your theory knowledge to me there's not much theory that you need at all. But whatever you build up know how to play it. It's that it's really that simple. How do you know how to play it? put on a vamp and and play it until you feel good about what it sounds like. All right. Good question, though. All right. Well, sort of a little bit snarky question, but still a good one. Um, I had a teacher once tell me that when I asked, I said, "Lighten Hopkins," I was learning the blues. I said, "Lighten Hopkins didn't know that, didn't know all this stuff." And he said, "Yeah, but you ain't you ain't Lightning Hopkins."

[00:44:32]I was like, "Okay, I get it.

[00:44:36]Okay. When I'm using triads, what other notes am I using? Uh, I think we covered that. Uh, very cool. Uh, sound and technique. Thank you. Uh, your frets are buzzing. Sounds like your guitar needs a setup. Question mark. Oh, I don't know.

[00:44:51]Is it a question? I don't know. Yeah, I have some buzz on the on these. Not quite comfortable yet. I just changed to nine and a halfs, so I probably need to raise the action a little bit on that.

[00:45:03]But I like to let it settle in. Still using minor and major scales, but targeting chord tones. Uh sometimes sometimes I'm using the sometimes I'm using the chords directly. Sometimes I'm using I typically use major and minor scales. Uh but yeah, uh that's the sort of thing that I do. Notice that so many of these questions are about harmony.

[00:45:24]Almost none are about rhythm. And that usually means people are feel they're more comfortable with uh with they feel that they know rhythm and that they know melody, but they usually don't. So just make sure you're not one of those people. Practice locking in with rhythm.

[00:45:41]Practice getting creative with rhythm because that's I'm telling you that's where most of it's going to come from.

[00:45:48]All right. Okay. because the rest of it's really simple. Once once you've sort of invest in triads and seeing them all over and then you're intrepid about playing different notes, it's all going to be fine. It's all going to be fine.

[00:46:04]All right.

[00:46:06]Uh let's go to uh let's go to the example.

[00:46:13]Let's go to an example.

[00:46:17]Um yeah, let's let's keep it simple first.

[00:46:24]All right. So, the first one we'll do is is uh this one. So, uh we already talked about the we're going to listen to it first.

[00:46:39]You bet. Thanks, Okay. So, it's a shuffle, right? So, I'm going to have to play lock that shuffle rhythm in.

[00:47:08]Really important. So, Hey, hey, Okay. So, that's the first thing. The second is I'm going to come up with some melodic ideas. And so, let me try and do that. I'll come up with some melodic ideas. So what are I can always use my my typical things you know that sort of idea I can always use some stuff like that I can use the you know so that that sort of repeated idea Or I could use the, you know, those sorts of ideas, the sort of bluesier ideas, you know, that sort of idea. So, let's just kind of put it all together. And then, oh, the last thing is framework.

[00:49:07]Well, I already told you I can use any sort of one framework, but here's some advice I'll give you when you're starting out and you're if you're if you're trying to build confidence, pick one framework that's your home framework and then you can always vary and go to other stuff. So, for example, I might be more comfortable with minor pentatonic than all the other frameworks. This is very typical for a lot of people coming from rock. So if I'm very uh comfortable with minor pentatonic framework and it works for this, I might pick the C minor pent pentatonic for this because this is just a C blues.

[00:49:44]Um but I might vary by playing chord tones once in a while or I might vary by playing uh you know uh the mixelyian once in a while you know once in a while. Now, personally, my my per I'm personally favorite with a comfortable with a combination of all three of those, but of the the uh of all three of those, but uh let me stick primarily to the m minor pentatonic and then I'll show you how you can use those other things in there, right? Um okay, so let's use minor pentatonic first.

[00:50:23]Start out with a bad note.

[00:50:37]Heat. Heat.

[00:51:15]Okay, now that wasn't going to light the world on fire, that solo right there, but I'd be perfectly comfortable playing that uh at at a show. I'd feel, you know, people would be fine with it. Um, so the rest is just kind of like having fun, right? So, I can start throwing in those other things and and be comfortable with it. Now, you'll notice with the melodic ideas, I'm not thinking licks. I didn't play too many licks there. I didn't do too many, you know, any of that kind of stuff or, you know, I didn't play any of that kind of stuff. Um, that was super licky except for maybe this part.

[00:51:57]I played sort of that Albert King lick.

[00:52:00]But, um, I'm letting the ideas just kind of sit and and and play there for a while. And I think that's a good practice too because it gives the listener time to process what's going on and then if you repeat something they're like hey I heard that before and they're they're you're making them more active.

[00:52:17]Do I agree with Joe Pass on harmony can be stripped down to three fundamental sounds minor? Yes I do. I'm a total devote of Joe pass on that one. Uh that's that's the biggest takeaway I think from Joe Pass. I think if you strip harmony down into minor, uh, major, minor, and dominant, it works.

[00:52:39]All diminished chords are are basically dominant chords. It it works so well.

[00:52:44]It's not 100%, but dang, it's like 98.

[00:52:47]And uh it simplifies your life so much uh to think about things that way. Um, all right, let's do another example.

[00:52:57]This one we'll play a little bit more uh we'll play it a little bit more complicated. Um so we're going to do a different example and this is all this is all improvised folks. So uh it's not like I've never played this stuff before, but let's take a look at another one and I'll show you sort of you know I'll give you my thought process on how this this sort of thing would work.

[00:53:17]Okay, so this is a more uh is a slightly more complex thing. Uh, it's it looks like it starts in G and uh oop, but there's a there's a D in there and a C.

[00:53:30]That's all kind of three chord stuff, but then there's a C minor in there.

[00:53:35]There's a C and a C minor. That's going to probably be crucial. So, I want to listen to that. And boy, if I can make that come out in my melody, it's going to be really interesting right now. Uh, here's an A minor there.

[00:53:50]So, that's a little bit different, but the C minor is really the only one.

[00:53:53]There's another C minor there at the bottom. And I guess that's the end of the thing. So, let's uh let's see if we can listen to it and and maybe get some information for how this sounds, what the rhythm is and so forth.

[00:54:08]Oh, this is Americana type stuff.

[00:54:12]So, I can stretch out and be more melodic on this than I normally would.

[00:54:28]can play some beetleish stuff there, right?

[00:54:32]Okay.

[00:54:35]Okay. Interesting.

[00:54:42]Okay. So, in terms of the rhythm, this is going to be more flowing rhythm. So, I'm probably not going to have uh, you know, I'm not gonna I'm gonna pick a I'll tell you what, I'll pick a G major framework. We'll pick the G I'm a major scales guy, so I'm going to pick G major, the G major scale as my as my home base here. But you could pick G major pentatonic. That would work just fine. Um, and then I'm going to note that the C minor, that's a key chord.

[00:55:10]I've got to react to that. I've got to react to that. And I'll tell you how I can react to it. I'll show you how I can react to it. But um then the uh then the other stuff is that the melody has got is probably got to be flowing. The rhythm in the melody here are going to be flowing. So if I played something like G major pentatonic, I don't know if I played something like this um you know or if I played something like that, it probably wouldn't work over this song.

[00:55:42]So um we're going to try something We're going to try something else that's maybe a little less rocking. Um, so, uh, let's try it. Let's try playing more flowingly.

[00:55:57]All right. I'm going to pick the major pentatonic, but I am going to use maybe some uh, Hey, T-Bone. Maybe I'll use some triads in there. Who knows?

[00:56:12]Seems quiet. Seems like my guitar got quiet all of a sudden.

[00:56:38]All right, maybe that'll work. I don't know. Let's try it again.

[00:57:15]Hey, heat. Hey.

[00:57:48]Heat. Heat.

[00:58:17]There we go.

[00:58:25]So much more flowing, right? And I'm definitely reacting more to the chords.

[00:58:29]You can hear me kind of, you know, playing to those G's and whatever, playing over the D.

[00:58:52]There's my C. Now, all of these are in the key of G. So, it all works. Let me try playing all in one. I'll try playing all in one position. We'll play the key of G and I'll try and stay in this position. Okay.

[00:59:12]I'll try playing all in that position and we'll react to all the chords. Okay.

[00:59:17]So, um we'll react to all the chords because all the notes are in that scale.

[00:59:23]So, if you're not used to playing chords, uh at least try and think of playing some chord tones. One way to do this if you're not great at like understand at at playing all over the neck is to take a specific scale and map out the chord tones that are there. So, for example, just play the chords.

[00:59:42]There's my G. There's my There's my D.

[00:59:47]There's my C.

[00:59:50]Uh, there's my A minor.

[00:59:53]Or there's my A minor. And um then there's my C minor.

[01:00:07]I do use a mixelyian a lot. I use it on pretty much every bluesy sort of thing I do. Uh except minor blues of course. Um but here mixelyian is not going to sound so good. Uh because there's no edgy sounds in this. It's all sort of key of G. But that's the idea that I try and that's the idea that I'm trying to do here. So I'll try and play those chord tones, emphasize those chord tones, but I'm not going to leave one scale position. Okay. So let's try and do that.

[01:00:50]Hey.

[01:01:04]Hey. Hey.

[01:01:06]Heat. Heat.

[01:01:30]Heat. Heat. N.

[01:02:16]So here I just stayed all in one position. very hard for me to do because I have a tendency to like to move all over. But you can see I can play all those chords right here. I don't have to I don't have to move to get those different chord tones. So, uh, can I name the notes that I'm playing? I can't usually name the notes that I'm playing when I'm playing them, right? So, when I'm practicing, I could certainly I could target a root. Uh, but again, knowing the chord is helpful. Uh, knowing the chord is most helpful. Okay. Um, and if you know the chord, you should know which note you're targeting. So, if you're playing a G, a G chord, root, third, fifth, root, 3r, fifth, right? So, right, if I'm playing the the D, I guess this is the third, that's the root, and that's the fifth. If I'm playing the C, that's my root. Third, fifth. C minor root, minor third, fifth.

[01:03:21]Okay, so I can name them, but the important thing is to find those chords and then when you're playing, you know, come up with melodies that make sense.

[01:03:30]If you're learning melodies, I think uh learning melodies is going to tell give you a good sense of when you want to end on a root or stuff like that. Okie do.

[01:03:41]All right, let's do another one. Let's do another one.

[01:03:52]Okay.

[01:03:54]All right. Let's do this one. This is going to require something different, right?

[01:04:22]might have to get out a different guitar for this one. But this is much more rhythmic, right? I'm not flowing on this one. Uh there's not going to be a lot of flowing stuff. This is going to be a lot of edgy stuff that I'm playing on this for sure. Um I want we want to even kick on a little bit of uh you know distortion right now. Uh, this is uh in a different key. So, let's kind of figure out what the um what the um I think it's in D minor.

[01:04:59]It sounds like what it was. Let's listen to it.

[01:05:04]Oh, it's in drop D, so I'm going to have a hard time learning the riff exactly, but All right. So, so um So it's F back to D. So this is classic sort of minor pentatonic.

[01:05:55]That's going to work really well. So D minor pentatonic framework is going to work great over this. And the rhythm is different though. Right now we're not going to be using these melo super melodic ideas. We're gonna be playing um we're gonna be playing sort of edgy sort of sound. So more now I'm going to come into the sort of like you know now that kind of stuff is going to sound good or better. Anyway, I don't know.

[01:06:31]Let's try it for a little bit and see what we get.

[01:07:00]Oh, now it changes.

[01:07:18]What do we call Heat.

[01:07:44]Heat.

[01:08:21]All right, that was pretty awful. But I think you get the idea that I've got to play significantly differently, right?

[01:08:27]I've got to play more rock on this one.

[01:08:34]So, I could have I used the minor pentatonic framework, but I was figuring out I could use other framework.

[01:08:40]I could use the Dorian mode there, which is the same as a C major scale.

[01:08:55]The question is, you know, as I limber up my fingers, can I play it in time?

[01:08:59]And that's the whole thing. I was kind of messing up a little bit, you know, playing stuff like that would work pretty well over it. Let's do Let's just do one more example. And uh yeah, let's do one more example.

[01:09:21]This one's kind of fun because I I do have actually on my second monitor I have the chord progression. So, this at first glance looks kind of crazy. Yeah, it required much more punchy playing.

[01:09:34]And I got to tell you, I was not feeling on this. I couldn't hear it in my monitor first things. I hope you could hear it out there. Um, but I couldn't hear it in my monitor. Um, so I was kind of playing blind. I could hear the backing track, but I couldn't quite hear what I was playing. So, um, I'm hoping I can I can change that around on this.

[01:09:53]Um, okay. So, this one is a little bit different. First of all, it's an A. Uh, this is an A. Well, let's listen to it first. Let's see what it sounds like.

[01:10:05]Right. Put my money where my mouth is.

[01:10:12]Yeah, I love that one. I got to get better at that. Tim Tim Weaver. I got to Tim Weaver, I've got to get better at playing that backing track. Maybe maybe we'll practice a little bit.

[01:10:27]Good. That's good. Vince Vincent, let's listen to it first.

[01:10:36]Oh, it's slow.

[01:10:38]So, use lots of space here.

[01:10:43]It's a blues.

[01:10:49]Cool.

[01:10:54]Here's the main part.

[01:10:56]Quick change blues.

[01:11:01]Going to leave lots of space when I play on this one. Not very rhythmic. I need to have long sustained notes. Playing riffs and licks and stuff was not going to work over this one.

[01:11:27]Okay.

[01:11:33]B minor 7 is a little interesting there.

[01:11:37]E7's kind of cool. and then just a turn around.

[01:11:49]Okay. So, even though this is it looks like it's more complicated, I think to a lot of people it does. You've got this G and the D and you've got this B minor 7 in there. I can just play the blues.

[01:12:00]Okay. I I know this from experience. I can just play the blues over here. I'm going to use nice s sustained notes over this. I am going to maybe target some chord tones there. Um, I also know from experience that when you do this, when you go to this B minor 7 and then the E7, instead of instead of the E7 to the D7, which would be normal blues, right?

[01:12:23]Where you're playing a bar normal 12 bar blues, you'd have an E, you go to the five chord, then the four chord. This goes to the two chord. Now, I'm just going to show you this. This is just something I picked up.

[01:12:38]This idea, this right here, this B minor 7. Turn this down.

[01:12:47]That B minor 7 is very similar to a D major triad, isn't it? So, it's not that different from the blues.

[01:12:59]It's not that different from the normal blues. And so, here I'm going to answer I think it was T-Bone's question. I'm gonna use a lot of mixelyian on this one.

[01:13:11]A lot of a mixelyian. We're playing an a blues.

[01:13:19]That's what I'm going to use is pretty much that a mixelyian framework, but I'm going to throw in, you know, that sort of stuff.

[01:13:32]Um, and I'm gonna also play some chord tones that are there. Anyway, you'll hear how I play it. More important is how I lock in with the rhythm, honestly, than than the notes. I can't play terrible notes, but let's see.

[01:13:47]Let's give it a shot here.

[01:14:09]Heat. Heat.

[01:14:18]Heat. Heat.

[01:14:54]Heat.

[01:15:05]Hey. Hey. Hey.

[01:15:30]Hey.

[01:15:38]Yeah.

[01:15:39]Hey.

[01:16:08]One more time.

[01:17:19]Okay, there we go.

[01:17:23]So, uh, yeah, a bit of a Stormy Monday vibe to it, for sure. Definitely.

[01:17:31]Some of my favorite lines come from that. Anyway, just kind of a fun little improv and all that stuff. All right, let me tell you a little bit just more a little bit more about the about the working with me. If you're interested in working with me, like I said, I have three spots open for rock, three spots open for blues. Uh we're going to start on June 1st and uh there's a link in the description of the video. That's just for information. If you want to set up a meeting with me just to talk one-on-one, I'd love to hear what your goals are and uh you know, if the program's right for you, then great. And if it's not, that's okay, too. Totally okay. All right. Um I'm going to get out my telly. It's 12:18. Wow. A lot later than I thought.

[01:18:17]Uh, I'm gonna get out my telly and see if I can see if it's in tune. Maybe we'll play something a little bit different. Um, need to tune it, but we'll play maybe a couple of other things that are a little bit different. And, uh, what little chords am I playing for that series of trills? Uh, I don't know what I was playing honestly.

[01:18:44]I guess I was playing over an A of an A major, right? So, uh you know, or an A7.

[01:18:51]So, uh when I'm doing that, let's see if we can um that's full on. I'm going to boost my signal a little bit.

[01:19:04]Okay. So, here's there's my A7, right?

[01:19:08]There's an A7 right there. And here's there's an A7.

[01:19:16]So I can I'm just bridging between different things.

[01:19:42]Yeah, just a little different there. All right.

[01:19:47]Oh, it's a little sharp.

[01:20:12]All right, let's see what we can get here with a telly. Um, let's try uh I don't know.

[01:20:20]Let's try this. I think this is a funky sort of thing. So, let's try this. Uh mostly because I want to do a different rhythm and show you how much rhythm matters. You already know that though, right? So Okay, let's see if we could try this one.

[01:20:53]Heat. Heat.

[01:21:14]Heat. Heat.

[01:21:38]Heat. Heat.

[01:22:01]Heat. Heat.

[01:22:37]Heat. Heat.

[01:22:58]Heat. Heat.

[01:23:07]Heat.

[01:23:31]Heat.

[01:23:47]Heat. Heat.

[01:23:55]Heat. Heat.

[01:24:45]Heat. Heat.

[01:24:49]All right, you get it. Get the point. All right. Okay. meant during your last pass. What chords are you playing for that little series of Oh, for the last pass in that minor blues. Stevie does a lot. Hard to go back. I know. Oh, in the minor blues. Um I don't know, man.

[01:25:33]Sorry. Uh yeah, I can't remember. In the minor blues.

[01:25:41]Uh oh, Paul. No problem. All right.

[01:25:44]Yeah, no problem. Yeah, just gonna just gonna end up. What's the sound tune settings for the amp? Oh god, I don't know. I I mean, I'm gonna look back and I'll tell you the sound tune settings for the amp are uh my volume is at eight.

[01:26:01]Uh I just turned up to 10, but normally I play lower on my guitar. Uh my treble's on uh on four and a half. My bass is on four. My reverb's on three and that's it. Oh, and I'm put on some shake. A little bit of a little bit of shake. That sounds good. Let me up the bass a little bit. I like a little more bass and treble.

[01:26:29]I was wondering why I couldn't hear the other one.

[01:26:41]All right.

[01:26:43]Okay, folks. I think we're going to call it. Um I think we're going to call it.

[01:26:46]Thanks for so so much for joining me.

[01:26:48]Again, I just want to remind you if you do want to work with me. Uh happy to do so. I've got three spots open in July and June. I'm sorry, in June. Open in June. And uh you can get them by uh I'll I'll post one more time in the comments, but you can get them in the comments.

[01:27:06]And um yeah, that's about it. All right.

[01:27:10]Um um yeah, I'll post it one more time in the comments and I'll wish you a happy Sunday and it felt good. You know, it felt good doing this live. Uh I have to say and um I haven't played live in a while. Played live on the internet in a while. I play live every week now. Um I'm doing very different stuff, but uh but yeah. Um, let me uh here is the rock.

[01:27:39]Work with me for rock.

[01:27:47]And that's the info for that. And if you're interested, if you like the info, then book a book a one-on-one with me and we can talk about your goals and all that kind of stuff. And then uh work with me for blues.

[01:28:04]And there you go. All right, folks.

[01:28:08]H I think I'm gonna I think I'm gonna get some grub. I'm gonna have another coffee, too. I definitely need another coffee. All right.

[01:28:16]Oh, thanks, man. I'm glad I'm glad you like the smile. I can't help smiling these days. I I have to tell you, I'm playing out a ton. I'm playing in Europe uh this year. Uh, I'm touring with a group that's going primarily to Ireland.

[01:28:31]It looks like Spain might be cancelled.

[01:28:33]Ah, I was so looking to go for forward to going to Spain, but we're our our first gig uh that we're playing in Europe is at Yates Castle. Yes, Yates the Poet. And uh yes, we're playing at that castle. It's so cool. Um so um we'll see what it is. Um, I'll have information for that even if you if you're so inclined to join us on the tour. It's a musical tour, so be prepared to do a lot of singing. And, uh, yeah, the people I'm touring with are three three ladies, uh, two sisters, the Burns, two of the Burns sisters and Kate Pcel, Annie Burns and Marie Burns and Kate Pcel. And they will be singing.

[01:29:18]They sing all kinds of stuff, but uh Annie loves singing. Like her sweet spot is Linda Ronstat type stuff. That's what she's really really good at. Marie sings a lot of sort of bluegrassy sort of tunes. And Kate is just unbelievable at singing so many different things, but uh but uh so many different things. All right. Um but especially the Irish. So she's from Goway. So there you go. Uh she's our person. Okay. Um okay, we'll see you all. Have a great uh have a great uh weekend. Oh, did you just get back from Italy? That's awesome. Have a great Memorial Day tomorrow. Hopefully you get it off if you're in the US. And if you're elsewhere, just have a great Monday. All right, we'll see you all.

[01:30:08]Now, how do I get out of here? That's the other that's another question.

[01:30:13]Okay, I think this is it.