I would be really grateful for some insight as to how other players target chord tones.
This is something that I have only recently been trying to actively do, in an attempt to make my improvisation sound a bit more musical.
I have my own system of doing this but would be grateful for some advice on whether this is a good/bad way of looking at things.
1. I have learnt the major scale in all the CAGED shapes ( I know that there are lots of people that prefer the "3 notes per string" technique but I find CAGED, as a beginner I find CAGED more manageable).
2. For each shape, I have learnt the intervals - for example, if I am in the "C" shape, I can pick out all of the seven sets of intervals.
3. I pick a random backing track - e.g. Am, C, Em, G.
4. I work out that this is all part of the C major scale, thus this is a vi, I, ii, V progression.
5. Over each chord, I try and target the chord position, plus 2 up, plus 2 up - e.g. over the vi chord, I play 6 intervals, plus root intervals, plus 3 intervals.
Is this a good way of looking at things?
The alternative would be to think - this chord is Am, this is made of notes A C E, I need to target these at the moment.
Any views/tips would be much appreciated.
Comments
I do consciously target the chord tones but will often precede them with, say, the 6th or the 9th so that there’s a tension and resolution there. (Again, the 6ths and 9ths for the major chords are all there in the major pentatonic.) Another thing that works quite nicely is to hit the chord tone on the last beat or half beat of the preceding chord (again tension and release). For instance imagine a two note phrase consisting of just C# and E - hit the C# on the last beat of the D chord and then a sustained E over the following A chord. This also gives ‘harmonic intent’ in that the C# gives the listener a clue as to what’s coming next.
Hope that’s helpful.
Sorry, my point 5 above was a bit unclear - I use the chord interval of the parent scale to work out what chord tones to target.
For example, if I am playing in the key of C and I have to play over an Am, I know that the Am is the sixth chord so to use the 6th interval. I then go up through the octave to work out the rest of the triad - two notes up from the 6th interval is the root and then two up from that is the 3rd. Am I perhaps over-complicating things?
I think I might try and have a go at only playing chord tones, for a bit, to try and drill them into my head.
Can I just ask - when you are improvising, what are you actually thinking when there is a chord change?
Do you think "this is Am, the triads are A, C, E, I shall target those" or do you automatically know the shapes of all the A C E triads and just rely on those?
Right I think I get where you’re coming from
If I’ve understood you correctly, I think you may be leading yourself to problems further down the line.
Sometimes I won’t even think, I just know where a given tone is in relation to a chord and how it’s going to sound or if I can’t quite hear something then I’ll at least know something will work, due to having practised it anyway. Sometimes I just play with abandon!
this just means the pupil writes down the chords and on the change he targets the third note in the scale of that chord.
I learnt this by listening to Dave Gilmore ... it’s easy to learn but amazingly melodic
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An exercise another Brad (Shepik) showed me was to take a chord sequence, start on the lowest chord tone, and then move up to the next available one when the chord changes.
So, for example:
|| Gmaj7 | Em7 | Am7 | D7 ||
you would play...
| G (3rd fret E) | B (2nd fret A) | C (3rd fret A) | D (5th fret A) |
etc. up the scale or neck until you reach the top and then come down in a similar fashion.
Just as an exercise, and when you get comfortable playing one-note per chord, you can try doing two notes per chord...
| G - B - | D - E - | G - A - | C - D - |
...and eventually four...
| G B D F# | G B D E | G A C E | F# A C D | (although you'd run out of neck probably...)
But yeah, what @Brad says basically, limit yourself to just chord tones for a bit.
It teach you so much more as well, particularly ear training.
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Feedback
A couple of my favourite on-line tutorials come from Steve Stine and David Walliman.
Stine seems to favour the approach of always relating diatonic scales back to the parent major scale.
Walliman, however, really advises against this and prefers to learn every scale in its own right.
For example, if you wanted to play something in D Dorian:
Stine would say - play the parent C Major scale but emphasise the D.
Walliman would say - you should know all the Dorian shapes, separately, so just play them in D.
I sort of got drawn into the Stine camp as it seemed less effort - however, perhaps I can see the benefit of the Walliman method, based upon what you have said.
In my example above -
If I need to play Am chord tones, I would have to think
1. the route of Am is the sixth interval of the C major scale - target the sixth intervals.
2. the third note of the Am triad is two notes up from the sixth interval, which is the 8th (i.e. the root).
3. the final note of the Am triad is two notes up from the root of the parent, which is the third.
Perhaps it is this constantly referring back to the major scale that it is holding me back.
If I saw the Am as its own scale, I would then see the root, third and fifth in their own right (and not go through the mental gymnastics of the above).
Feedback
May I just run one more example by you, please, just so I get the big picture:
Say you are faced with the following chord progression:
Em F Dm C
I know that E Phrygian will fit over the whole thing, so that is the scale to play throughout.
1. I take it that you just know the Phrygian shape all over the neck and you just play away in the key of E?
2. How do you then target the E, B and D over the Em and then the F, A and C over the second chord? When the Em is being played, are you visualising all the E's B's and D's nearby and emphasising them or something else?
I realise that good players (which I am clearly not) will instinctively know where the triads are - it is trying to find a practice routine, to get me to that point,
Btw, I have just ordered this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Chord-Tone-Soloing-Musicians-Institute/dp/0634083651/
with the hope that this shall help get me thinking in the correct way.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
I meant I should have said E, G and B over the Em.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Well, reading these and related posts I think there are 3 schools of thought emerging.
1) just noodle in E phryg. The chords will come back round to the tonic (E) at the end of the line, and all your notes will sound harmonious with all the other chords because they’re all “diatonic” to E phryg.
Cons: may sound rather E-ish, and miss out on things like suspensions around the chord changes
Pros: you will help the listener understand the harmonic flow. You will be very aligned to it.
Pros: your tune will flow because you’re thinking of the arc not leaping from chord to chord.
Cons: none really, except I guess your fingers might come up with something cool that your brain wouldn’t, just through chance or habit.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.