<![CDATA[Scott Hesse

<![CDATA[Scott Hesse - Blog]]>Mon, 13 May 2024 13:46:50 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[I Plead the 5th(s)]]>Sat, 30 Jan 2016 15:38:25 GMThttp://scotthesse.net/blog/i-plead-the-5ths

A couple of days ago I posted a video on Facebook of me demonstrating the exercise below. This exercise is taken from a book I'm writing that utilizes successive intervals played around interval cycles.

This particular excerpt uses two notes built from a perfect 5th apart from their root note. In the example below, I start on an F, then build two perfect 5ths above it for my note sequence. So that gives me an F going up to a C, then ascending once again up to a G.

Then I progress the stacked 5ths pattern in parallel fashion through sequenced patterns of interval cycles. What that means is that I ascend and descend through minor 2nds, Major 2nds, minor 3rds, Major 3rds, etc. I do that all the way up through the Major 7th interval.

This is a great way to keep in shape on your instrument! It requires both physical and mental dexterity to get through the exercise, as you can tell from the video. Upon seeing me work through this set of patterns on Facebook, one person noted that as the interval cycles widened, my brow got more and more furrowed. And, indeed it did!

Apart from this being a great physical workout, I really like the fact that playing through the interval cycles with any pattern, is a great ear trainer!

Work through this slowly, and in small pieces at first. One advantage to working through a big exercise in small pieces is that you'll be able to conceptually understand what you're doing on a deeper level. If an exercise remains at the mechanical level and never evolves to the point that I can figure out how to use it when I play or write, then I feel like it's not a great exercise.

Of course, you really can figure out different uses for ideas like this if you use your imagination. This has been an incredibly enriching activity for me in working with this interval concept over the past several years.

If you have other ideas about this concept, let me know about it! Connect with me below and share your ideas!

Happy practicing!!

]]><![CDATA[How to be a Sixth Lord]]>Mon, 04 Jan 2016 03:48:16 GMThttp://scotthesse.net/blog/how-to-be-a-sixth-lord

Apologies for the Star Wars pun in the title. Couldn't help it after seeing the hype around the newest chapter to the Star Wars saga for the last year or so!

The page pictured below is an excerpt from a book I'm working on, which I hope to have ready in the coming months. But I wanted to give you a sneak peek now.

This is a melodic exercise I've written built around the diatonic Major Scale. Specifically, I took the intervals of a Major and minor 6th and put it through the Major Scale. There's nothing special or different about that, although it's a great technical exercise to work out.

Instead of just leaving it at the Major Scale played in Sixths, as it is in the first line of the exercises below, I wanted to dig in deeper. So the next line is the Major Scale sequenced in a cycle of thirds. The third line is a sequence of fourths, the line after that a sequence of fifths, etc.

I wanted to hear these lines played forward and backward so the first two measures of each line are the original melodic sequence. The last two are the sequence played in retrograde. I did also set up the parameter of not going higher than the B in the middle of the staff ascending a minor 6th to G. That way, a particular pattern (contained within an octave) emerges.

There were a few reasons I started writing ideas like this. First, was to train my ears to hear specific sequences of notes. Second, these are also great technical exercises. It takes me awhile to really figure out effective fingerings for some of the patterns. So this becomes a really great way to learn my instrument. Third, reading through these exercises has greatly enhanced my ability to read. As you know, many guitarists are poor readers. I'm not the best reader in the world, but I'm getting better...mainly because I'm working at it with these exercises every day.

Again, this is just a very rough sampling of a much larger work. This is something that I've worked on in various forms for a long time. I've shared this with some of my private students to great effect. I hope you can gain something from this as well!

If you have other ideas about this concept, let me know about it! Connect with me below and share your ideas!

Happy practicing!!

]]><![CDATA[Wide Leaps: How to Expect the Unexpected]]>Thu, 03 Dec 2015 00:12:35 GMThttp://scotthesse.net/blog/wide-leaps-how-to-expect-the-unexpected

One of the ideas I've been working a lot on lately is widening the intervals in my playing. I've always been fascinated by players who use unexpected leaps in their playing. Some of my favorites include trumpeter Woody Shaw, pianists McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock, and guitarists Jimmy Raney, Nathan Page, and Rodney Jones. (As a quick aside, I studied with Rodney for three years in the mid 1990's. He completely overhauled my playing and made me understand the guitar and music on a much deeper level. Check that link out above!!)

This exercise consists of moving through the diatonic major scale (in G) using a parallel arpeggio. The arpeggio itself is built with two ascending P5th leaps followed by a descending m3rd. In other words it goes Root, 5, 9, (down to) 7 throughout.

In the first line below, you'll play the arpeggio through each step of the scale in order (2nds). After that, the subsequent lines you can break the scale up in 3rds, then 4ths in the next line, 5ths in the next, and so on.

I took into consideration a particular range on the guitar. For non-guitarists, you should also think about the range in which you'll play these exercises. I'm quite sure you will have to modify the lowest and highest notes depending on your instrument. But the idea can remain the same.

For the guitarists here, I've intentionally left out fingerings simply because there are several ways to play these exercises. But I will say that I personally like to think of the guitar horizontally first, because it's the most linear and logical way in which I see the fretboard. In doing the exercises below, I generally play horizontally across the fretboard for as long as possible, switching to different string sets when needed.

As with all of the exercises I give, they're meant to be a starting point, internalized on a mechanical level first. My hope is that this will give you a technical means to expand your vision of the instrument and train your ear to hear in new directions. So don't just take these at face value. Do something else with them as you unfold with practice. After a while, you'll be able to create some very interesting and unexpected leaps in your playing with relative ease.

If you have other ideas about this concept, let me know about it! Connect with me below and share your ideas!

Happy practicing!!

]]><![CDATA[7th Chord Arpeggios with Interval Skips]]>Sun, 08 Nov 2015 03:51:59 GMThttp://scotthesse.net/blog/7th-chord-arpeggios-with-interval-skips

There are a lot of ways you can break up arpeggios. One thing I like to do is put an interval skip, or two, within the line.

Below, I've written one way to break the arpeggio up based on string skips. For each arpeggio, instead of playing the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th in order, I break it up as follows: 1, 3, 7, 1, 5, 7. The descending version comes back the same way it went up: 7, 5, 1, 7, 3, and 1.

The idea behind these interval skips is for you to get used to hearing the different interval patterns. Once you do, you can use these different skips to alter or enhance a particular line as you improvise.

If you have other ideas about this concept, let me know about it! Connect with me and share your ideas below!

Happy practicing!!

]]><![CDATA[Playing Scales with Polyrhythmic Accents]]>Mon, 19 Oct 2015 23:50:35 GMThttp://scotthesse.net/blog/playing-scales-with-polyrhythmic-accents

You can create rhythmic interest in your lines in many ways. One easy and natural way is to pay attention to the number of notes per string you play.

In the exercise below, I took a two-octave C Major scale and broke it down into groups of five. To accomplish this, I put the first three notes of the scale on the low E string. Then the next two on the A string. The entire two-octave scale can be played by alternating between three notes on one string and two on the next. The effect is a slight (or not-so-slight, depending on how hard you hit it) accent in rhythmic groupings of 3+2. A natural accent is heard when you switch from string to string.

The descending version of the scale below turns the grouping of fives around to 2+3 grouping. So, of course, you put two notes on the first string, three on the next, and alternate between two notes or three notes until the end of the scale.

The second example takes a grouping of five, but does the opposite breakdown of the first one by ascending with a 2+3 grouping of notes. The descending scale then comes down as a 3+2 division.

For the last example, I use the same idea of notes-per-string to create a grouping of seven, broken down 2+2+3.

There are many variations, fingerings, or divisions, of notes that you can use with this idea in mind. Another thing to consider with this exercise is that it is a means to an end. The hope is that it gets you to hear and feel different rhythmic pulses along with a method for playing it on the instrument. Once you lay the foundation of the idea and get comfortable with it, you can get as creative with it as you like!

If you have other ideas about this concept, let me know about it! Connect with me and share your ideas below!

Happy practicing!!

]]><![CDATA[Extending Diminished 7th Chords with Dominant 7th Arpeggios]]>Fri, 11 Jul 2014 18:48:09 GMThttp://scotthesse.net/blog/extending-diminished-7th-chords-with-dominant-7th-arpeggios

The diminished 7th chord is one of those chords that seems to give many of us fits when improvising. One of the problems is that the diminished chord is built symmetrically. This can lead to a very mechanical, pattern-oriented line that is more of a lick than a melodic phrase.

One way I find to be an effective approach in improvising or writing over a diminished 7th chord is to think of its' extensions. I've been writing about extensions over the other 7th chord types, which you can view here.

But the diminished 7th chord is a little different from the other types because of the symmetrical build. So, for this chord, I like to think of the 9th, 11th, b13th, and the natural 7th as an extension. You wouldn't normally include the natural 7th as an extension, but for a diminished 7th chord, it functions like one to my ear.

In the excerpt below, I've written out four different examples of how to build the extensions into a diminished 7th chord. The trick is to use a dominant 7th arpeggio a half-step below the root of the diminished 7th chord you're playing.

For an Adim7 chord, the first line below shows the combination of an Adim7 arpeggio with an Ab7 arpeggio. The result puts emphasis on the natural 7th (G#/Ab) of the Adim7 chord. Lines two, three, and four then follow the same logic; the Adim7 chord is now shown from the inversions. As you'll see after working through what's below, you get four different dominant 7th chords from which to choose notes. Each of the dominant 7th chords (Ab7, B7, D7, and F7) are also built a minor 3rd apart, like the diminished 7th chord.

As each dominant 7th arpeggio is applied, another extension of the chord is emphasized. You can see in the diagram which extension is being featured with the corresponding number above the second part of the arpeggio.

As with pretty much everything I write about here, give yourself some time to let your ears wrap around these different sounds. The idea is to have these different options as a melodic choice when you play or write.

If you have other ideas about this concept, let me know about it! Share your ideas below!

]]><![CDATA[Building Extended Arpeggios with Triads]]>Sat, 03 May 2014 16:38:32 GMThttp://scotthesse.net/blog/building-extended-arpeggios-with-triads

In the last issue of Guitar Notes, I walked you through a way of using triads to build an arpeggio that uses all the extensions of the chord. Specifically, it was on an FMaj7 chord.

This time, we will look at the Extended Arpeggio idea from another angle: the combination of three different triads.

In the example below, I've given you four of the five types of seventh chords to use with the Extended Arpeggio idea. The four given chord types, Major 7th, Minor 7th, Dominant 7th, and Half-diminished 7th are built with three different triads. (The fifth chord type, Diminished 7th, is not included here because when stacked tertially (in thirds) it inverts itself with the same notes throughout. There are other ways to tackle the Diminished 7th chord, which I will cover another time.)

You'll notice that the arpeggios themselves are stacked tertially. In breaking the combination of notes down to triads, an interesting pattern emerges. The arpeggio ascends through the chord tones (1, 3, 5, 7) and extensions (9, 11 or #11, 13). At the same time, you can see that the triads descend down the the particular scale you're playing; i.e. F down to E down to D etc.

So, what to make of all of this? Well, first off it gives a big picture of sound that fits over each chord type using all of the extensions. Secondly, there is a smaller picture of sound that you get from seeing/hearing the three different triads combining to make one sound. You can use these smaller parts (the differing triads) to play over a specific chord type to accentuate a particular color of sound. For instance, if I play only the Emin triad over the FMaj7 chord, it really brings out the colorful notes of the chord.

One last idea you can use with this combination of triads is that each triad is the basis for a pentatonic scale used over that chord. So, you could play an Eb Major triad over an F7 chord and really bring out the sustained 4th sound. Incidentally, if you're wondering how to play a diminished pentatonic scale, try this: 1, b3, 4, b5, b7. In the Fmin7 chord above, you find a D diminished triad. The pentatonic scale for that would then be the notes D, F, G, Ab, C.

Take some time and experiment with each different sound.

If you have other ideas about this concept, let me know about it! Share your ideas below!

Happy practicing!!

]]><![CDATA[Triads--Rack 'em and Stack 'em!]]>Tue, 25 Mar 2014 00:40:28 GMThttp://scotthesse.net/blog/triads-rack-em-and-stack-em

This tip deals with expanding your usage of colors through combinations of triads. I've taken an FMaj7 chord below and broken it into seven different triads. Each of those triads is built upon a chord tone of the FMaj7, including the extensions of the 9th, #11th, and 13th.

Any one of these triads sounds great over an FMaj7 chord. One exercise I like to do is to isolate one of these triads over the FMaj7 chord and explore the sound-colors it produces. That way I get my ear used to hearing each color so I can get it into my improvisations faster. Combinations of triads also work well. For example, the FMaj and GMaj triads really bring the Lydian sound out of the FMaj7 chord.

The next step in this color exploration project is to stack the triads as a continuous arpeggio. What you see below here is an FMaj7 stacked with all of the extensions. Just continue up the arpeggio in 3rds (major and minor) until you've played through them all.

I've written these stacked 3rds arpeggios on each scale degree. Please note that because I'm using the #11 (B-natural) in this key, I'm super-imposing the key of C for my FMaj7 sound.

There are some really great angles on harmony in studying this FMaj7 chord in this way. The idea is to open your ears to new harmonic pathways around the instrument (bearing in mind that the instrument is not only your physical instrument, but your mental one as well!).

Can you think of any other applications for these stacked harmonies? Share your ideas below!

Happy practicing!!

]]><![CDATA[FAQ on Substitute Harmony]]>Sat, 02 Nov 2013 22:14:17 GMThttp://scotthesse.net/blog/faq-on-substitute-harmonyby Scott Hesse

One of the things my students most often ask is how to use different substituted sounds over various chords. In particular, they ask how to make the Major 7th chord more interesting. For all of the other 7th chords, it's not too difficult to find extended, altered, and subbed harmonies that make them sound more interesting. Why should it be different for the Major 7th?

The answer is, it really isn't that difficult.

Apart from the 9th, #11th, and 13th extensions (which I love), I find a lot of material from the Harmonic Minor scale. More specifically, from the 6th mode of the scale which is also known as the Lydian #2 scale.

Below, I've written the Lydian #2 scale in two octaves. The fingering is a suggested one that works well for the way I play. If it works for you, great. If not, there are other fingerings you can explore.

Here, I've broken the chord tones (1, 3, 5, and 7) apart from the scale and added tertial harmony so you can get a bigger harmonic picture of this superimposed sound. What it boils down to is that the G#, or #2 of the scale, becomes an integral melodic choice. At first, this might seem like an odd choice for a subbed harmony on a Major 7th chord. After all, you have the #2 pitted against the Major 3rd of the chord. But you can learn to use this to great effect.

In this last part, I've taken each of the above harmonies and broken them down as arpeggios. All of these different chords you see (the A-(Maj7), CMaj7#5, and E7) work very well over the FMaj7 chord. The arpeggiated line below just outlines these different sounds so you can get your ear used to this sonority.

Learning how to expand your harmonic/melodic choices starts with first getting these different choices in your ear. Like the title of my upcoming workshop says, "You'll play it when you hear it."

If you have any questions about harmonies, improvisation, or anything else music-related, feel free to comment below-- or bring them to the workshop!

Happy practicing!!

]]><![CDATA[Simplify and Expand with Four-note cells ]]>Mon, 21 Oct 2013 22:03:22 GMThttp://scotthesse.net/blog/simplify-and-expand-with-four-note-cellsby Scott Hesse

Often times simplicity is best in music, as in life. So I thought for this week's tip, I'd go back to something fairly simple...then expand it. After all, I do like some complexity mixed in too!

This exercise is designed to help make your playing more colorful by utilizing the extensions of a chord (9, 11, and 13). In doing so, you will hear immediate results as you add this on top of what you already know how to play.

What you see below, in Example #1, are seven different groups of notes that can be played over an F7 chord. They are arranged in four-note cells and ascend diatonically. The cells themselves are also put together positionally on the guitar. For example, Group 1 starts in first position and includes four notes you can play from the mixolydian scale on the B and high-E strings. The rest of the groups follow the same basic intervallic pattern as they ascend by position and through the scale.

Example:

Each group is played only on the B and E-strings. When you play all the groups in succession, the result is a colorful and modern way to approach this particular chord.

Remember, too, that these notes that work over an F7 chord will also work well over Am7(b5), Cm7, and EbMaj7(#11).

So, the main idea is to stay simple here. Use only the top two strings of the guitar. I find that these little cells are great to use as foundation melodies when improvising. As you progress up the neck, each cell includes at least one extended chord tone. You have the choice to use the entire exercise as a larger melodic sequence by moving from position to position, or you can isolate one or two of the cells. It's up to you to use as much or as little of the cells as you like.

Happy practicing!!

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