 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!!
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 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!! |
Guitar NotesHey, Friend! Welcome to Guitar Notes, practice tips and exercises for the progressing guitarist. I am passionate about music and all the possibilities for growth that come with an in-depth study of music. Even more, I am committed to sharing what I know to help YOU find a deeper awareness of your own possibilities as a musician. Here you will find a growing archive of the tips I send by email every other week. (Click the link below to sign up.) Archives
January 2016
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