I recently downloaded 6 lessons from NY based guitar guru Wayne Krantz (available from the link above). He discusses scales, chords, rhythm, rhythmic imagination, phrasing and a 4 fret approach to practising. The lessons, which are about 45 minute long audio clips of Krantz playing and talking, are a really great addition to his book, “An Improviser’s OS”. They are full of insightful gems of information! It’s amazing how a simple change in perspective can significantly alter one’s playing. Inspired by Krantz, I’m going to explore a more rhythmic approach to improvising and writing… :)
Oz Noy is one of my favourite guitar players. I’ve been listening to his latest record, Twisted Blues Vol. 1, a ton lately. It’s awesome! Great guitar tone, fantastic musicians, genre-bending, quirky compositions and Oz’s unique improvisational style makes for a really cool record.
He recently released a couple of instructional videos, too, through JazzHeaven.com and launched a contest in support of the release. Up for grabs is a private lesson with Oz! To enter, guitarists record themselves trading choruses with him over a blues in G7, using specific scales that he outlines from pentatonics to altered modes. I spent hour 35 - 38 working through some whole tone, diminished and altered ideas before recording the video above. The video with the most “likes” on YouTube by midnight tonight wins!
My debut album, Suites, wil be officially released on iTunes on June 26th, 2012. I had the help of some super talented friends in making a video for one of the songs on my record - “Gold Dust Reprise”. FemBots - you rock my world!
Jammed through some tunes in prep for a rehearsal with my Electric Band. Lot’s of shows coming up this month, including 3 nights at The Orbit Room. Hope you can make it!
Anytime I begin incorporating a new musical concept into my playing (like all of the altered scale stuff I’ve been shedding), I start with a blues. ”Groove Elation” by John Scofield is one of my favs. It’s in Eb. To spice things up a bit, I think about playing Eb alt to the four chord, Bb alt to one, and sometimes, F alt to the five, in addition to my regular blues lines. This video was recorded at the legendary New Morning in Paris, France. The band sounds stellar!
I love the way the altered scale (R-b9-#9-3-b5-#5-b7) sounds, although it’s always been a challenge for me to incorporate it into my playing in a seamless and interesting way. I followed Krantz’s orders (see the Improviser’s OS below), shedding the scale along the fingerboard through what he describes as the “twelve zones”. With the metronome set to 80 bpm, I practised playing the scale in quarters, eighths, triplets and sixteenths to get it under my fingers, before freestyling for a while. Then I worked through all 12 keys. The freestying part of this exercise through all of the zones could easily be a lifelong study promoting creativity and personal expression.
Here’s a photo from beautiful Barbados. I was lucky to spend a few days there recently with Shakura S’Aida. We performed in the second annual Naniki Jazz Festival. During my flight back home to Toronto, I crunched numbers for a solid few hours. What does this have to do with music you may ask? In continuing my studies inspired by the Wayne Krantz book, “An Improviser’s OS”, experimenting with various note groupings (aka numeric formulas), within a scale, can help to create new musical ideas and sounds. In addition, it demands a better understanding of your instrument and can greatly improve your ear. Krantz outlines over 400 note groupings within a 7 note scale! Amazing. I was trying to crack the code during the flight by identifying all of them within one particular mode. From a playing perspective, it was helpful to go through this process, to familiarize myself with all of the number sequences. When I got home, I jammed over one of my new tunes, “Pow!” using the dorian mode like never before, being mindful of just a fraction of the 400+ approaches Krantz discusses. Applying these formulas in a practical way has totally opened up a whole new approach to improvising for me. If you’d like to grab a copy of the book, click here!
An Improviser’s OS, written by Wayne Krantz, has changed my perception of how to organize combinations of notes and sounds. His approach to improvising and understanding the fretboard (or any instrument for that matter) is truly brilliant; it’s simple, yet completely comprehensive and it encourages players to develop their own voice. You can check it out on Abstract Logix, an awesome website dedicated to promoting predominantly instrumental jazz-rock/fusion music. During these first few hours, I began applying some of Krantz’s ideas to the guitar. I was searching for a systematic way to practice some of the concepts discussed in this book, related to my new compositions.
I think the Ted Talk below ignited a creative spark. And it’s Spring. :) I’ve been writing, charting and jamming through several new compositions lately…
When I wrote my first album, Suites, I consciously incorporated chord progressions, tempos and grooves that I enjoy and feel comfortable playing. The music I’m writing now is a lot more challenging for me. I’m writing songs that I need to learn how to solo over!
Here’s one in particular. It’s an adaptation of the chord progression I put together a few weeks back (see Hour 3), with a melody. I don’t have a title for it yet. Imagine it with a hip hop drum groove.
I’ve been using the looper on my TC Electronic FlashBack Delay pedal to record one or two chords at a time. From there, I’ve been jamming over top, trying to create fluid phrases, with a strong sense of time. I recently read an article by Wayne Krantz about the effect of caring about time - very insightful.
I’ve been delving into the melodic minor scale since this song incorporates an Eb7#11 chord (aka lydian dominant, or the fourth mode of the melodic minor scale). New revelations are brewing…
TonePrint gives you instant access to tones that are custom-tweaked by your own guitar heroes!
TC Electronic
Hour 13
My mind is blown. I just “beamed” signature guitar sounds from world renowned players to my TC Electronic Shaker Vibrato pedal using my iPhone. Technology is amazing. Check out the free TonePrint app and the TC Electronic website for more info!
Thanks to the kind folks at TC Electronic, I was introduced to a number of new pedals while I was at the NAMM show in Anaheim, California earlier this year: the Shaker Vibrato, FlashBack Delay, Hall of Fame Reverb, Vortex Flanger, Mojo Overdrive and PolyTune Mini. They’re totally rad. Toneprint is taking things to a whole new level.
This opens the door to hours of fun. So many pedals, so many sounds… so little time!
I’ve written some new tunes recently for the Electric Band. One of them, Pow!, has a super simple melody against a pretty busy, drum n bass influenced groove. I spent some time playing this melody in different ways. Here’s the approach I took:
I incorporated natural harmonics as much as possible.
I played E, A, D, G or B notes using open strings.
I voiced consecutive notes on adjacent strings, especially between small intervals (2’s or b2’s) to create a nice dissonance.
I’m definitely going to work on this more. I’d like to be able to freely improvise, incorporating this approach. It adds a unique quality to phrases and is a great exercise in visualizing note choices outside the box.
I was listening to a few Ted Talks about creativity during a morning walk through High Park today. I thought this one in particular, was really interesting. I haven’t written a song for the Electric Band since January, but as soon as I got home, a song popped into my mind. I grabbed my guitar and recorded a riff and melody into my phone before the idea could get away.
During hour 10, I was wood shedding the whole tone scale in intervals of a 3rd, b5th, #5th and b7 to get the scale under my fingers better. I also started working out altered chord voicings in (mostly) 4ths across the neck. You can hear a glimpse of what this sounds like between the 0:51 and 0:54 second mark in the video clip above. The clip was recorded at my album release party at The Rex Hotel in Toronto on January 14th, 2012. We’re playing the Billy Cobham classic, Stratus.
