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Author Topic: Ever think "I'm not playing enough notes?"  (Read 2040 times)

Offline JayP5150

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Ever think "I'm not playing enough notes?"
« on: December 04, 2004, 08:48:35 AM »
Let's face it, secretly, we all want to be shredders (okay, sometimes, at least), but that can get old very quickly.

A very cool thing to do to get your speed fix is to throw in some chromatic runs with your basic blues scales to give the "illusion of speed."  When used with taste, you can throw this stuff in, not sound like an ego-jockey, and still add some 'flash' to your soloing.  

I was noodling and came across a couple of licks one day.  They are both in A.  I thought it would be cool to share, since I won't be laying them down to tape anytime soon (unless the Lord calls me to!  He's gotta' send me a band first...)

The first one is mostly triplet hammer-ons with little "stop notes" in between.  Basically, the 3 chromatic notes are the same length as the one single note (nail the triplet on one beat, basically).  The last 3 notes are your run-in-the-ground blues lick, but you can end it however you like.  Sorry no sound clips.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------8-10----15b--13--------
---------------------------------5---7-8-9---------------------14----
---------------------5---5-6-7----------------------------------------
---------3---5-6-7----------------------------------------------------
--3-4-5---------------------------------------------------------------

The second one I play as mostly hammer-ons again, and is very similar.  It does some "overlapping" runs, though.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------8-10--5b-------
--------------------------------------5-6-7--7-8-9---------5b-------
-----------------------5-6-7--5-6-7-----------------------------7----
--------3-4-5--5-6-7-------------------------------------------------
-3-4-5----------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah, I know these are basic, but they're fun, too.  Thinking chromatically can get you out of many a rut, so have fun!

God bless.

Offline uriahsmusic

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i love this topic!
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2004, 08:17:10 PM »
:D ....I am from the school of thought that a little is a lot!...It's more about what you play when you do play...and not playing a lot!

still..Sometimes I get the feeling I am not playing enough...but people tell me that it was great!...it makes you selfconscious!

I personally sit and wait for that moment where the things that I do will make a difference....mostly because most keyboard players take alot of the available space!..!(they have to ..really)..and I like to play funky...so I need a pocket

still.....I feel selfconscious!....did I play enough..or too much?...or what!

Offline JayP5150

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Ever think "I'm not playing enough notes?"
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2004, 09:22:28 AM »
I feel you, I just thought that those runs were pretty cool--not sure how useful they actually are (good as an "intro" to your solo, though).

I just know that I was hitting a wall for a while, and I started messing around with adding chromatics that I normally wouldn't touch, and it lit me up a bit.  The examples above are the extreme side of that.

Oh, and if I'm playing too much, I get "the look" from our drummer sometimes.  But I keep myself pretty restrained.

Usually...

Offline katstrat

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Ever think "I'm not playing enough notes?"
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2004, 10:59:03 PM »
Jay,you sound like my kind of player! I play the blues scale contantly,lets face it,it's easy and effective. I normally stay in the box,or change where the chords change. The blues scale is easy,fun,and can be played with a lot of flash,I agree with you.

Offline JayP5150

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Ever think "I'm not playing enough notes?"
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2004, 11:14:11 AM »
Thank you very much.  I have studied my major scales and modes, but they always sound too sterile to me.  I think the best thing is to mix them (a tip from my teacher about 6 years ago), i.e., Aeolian + pentatonics, or Dorian + pentatonics.  That way you can do these structured, tech-y sounding ascending runs into a complete flurry of blues licks.  It's a pretty cool technique, but I too stay in the blues stuff a lot.

My whole musical background is classic rock/blues, so I have to adapt what I can for the stuff we do at church!  I have learned a lot in the past 2 years, though, by playing in church again.  Like some jazzy chords, and stuff.

That's just a perk, though.  I'm just glad I'm saved now!
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