Denis Taaffe From Bloomington, IN is a guitarist in search of unique guitar sounds and unusual approaches to guitar to enhance conventional guitar playing. He has been playing guitar for the last 24 of his 31 years. He also teaches at Vance's music in Bloomington, IN. He focuses on perfecting his unique multi layered guitar style and has just released his new CD "Modern Guitar Vol. 4 'An Evening with Guitarist Denis Taaffe''. Visit http://www.dtguitar.com for more info. Past audio examples can be found at www.musicianshotline.com/taaffe/index.htm.

Scale Sequences II

Welcome again to another edition of "Practice up", the column that will get your playing into shape. Last month we touched on scale sequences in conjunction with power chords. By using one scale (last month was E pentatonic minor), we substituted scale notes and power chords to create fills and riffs inbetween power chords. Well, just this past weekend, I played a solo electric guitar and guitar loops gig in Elletsville, IN, where all the music is improvised and this technique came in very handy. I was a little apprehensive as I am about every show of this type, because there are no worked out songs and you have to think very quickly when improvising. It is almost like doing multi track recording on the fly. To add to it, I was using all new gear which I had only had a couple of weeks.I tried to have my guitar setup be a simple as I could while still achieving the sounds I wanted.It is always tempting to bring everything you own to a gig hehe..but take it from me, when you have very little time to set up and you are your own roadie, always try to make your guitar setup as simple as possible without compromising your sound. Well, the gig turned out great and I relied a lot on the scale sequences technique. So to continue from last month's column, we will use more complicated scales and apply the scale sequences rules to it to create fills and riffs and the basis for many songs. If you don't have last month's issue, you can find it online in the practice up archive of past lessons. So let's get started:

Example 1) First let's pick a scale from which we will work. Instead of a pentatonic scale, which we used in last month's column, let's use instead position 1 of the A Aeolian mode or A natural minor scale. This is a pretty common scale, but will work well to show the concepts of scale sequences.The fingering is as follows:

E-----------------------5-7-8-7-5---------------------
B-------------------5-6-8--------8-6-5-----------------
G--------------4-5-7-----------------7-5-4-------------
D-----------5-7-------------------------7-5---------
A-------5-7-8-------------------------------8-7-5------
E--5-7-8----------------------------------------8-7-5-

Example 2) the A Aeolian scale is made up of the notes A, B , C, D, E, F, and G and the scale is minor sounding.The root note of the scale is A. Now if we take power chords ( or 5 chords as in A5 and so on) for each scale note and map them for the E and A strings.We get a series of power chords form which to make chord progressions. they are as follows:

E----------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------
D--2-------4---5---7----9------10-----12----14----------
A--0-2---3-----2---5--3--7--5--9---7-----10--8---12-10-14-12-----------
E-- -0---1----3----5--- -7----8-------10----12-----------

Example 3) Now that we have our scale and power chords from which we will work, the next component is timing. Timing is very important, if you have a metronome or a drum machine to use or you can stamp your foot at a steady pace. Most rock as we know are in measures of 4 beats, which are broken up into 1234,1a2a3a4a,1ea2ea3ea4ea,1eau,2eau,3ea,4ea and 1eau2eau3eau4eau with the main beat being on the 1234 and the a,ea,eau being between the beats.See last month's issue for more on timing. Now, for this example we will use a simple 1 2 3 4 beats per measure. For each beat we will choose one power chord form example 2 to create a chord progression. How about A, C, G and D in 4 measures with 4 beats each measure:

E-----------------------------------------
B-----------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------
D--2-2-2-2--5-5-5-5----------7-7-7-7------------------
A--0-0-0-0--3-3-3-3---5-5-5-5-------5-5-5-5------------------
E--------------3-3-3-3------------------------

Example 4) Now, let's take example three and use the 1 and 2 beats of our 1 2 3 4 beat per measure to play the power chord, but for beats 3 and 4, we will substitutes notes from example 1. In this way we create fills and riffs that are more interesting:

E-----------------------------------------
B-----------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------
D--2--2--------5-5--------------7-7-------------------
A--0--0--8-7------3-3--8-7----5-5--8-7--5-5-8-7-------------------
E-------------------- ---3-3---------------- --

Example 5) ok, Example4 shows the idea of scale sequencing or more accurately substitution in its simplest form. In this example, we will use different scale notes from example one between each chord and we will use the timing of 1 2 3a 4a , so beats 1 and 2 are again the power chords and 3a and 4a will be 4 notes from the A Aeolian mode in ex.1:

E--------------------------------------------
B--------------------------------------------
G-------------------4------7-5-4-----------5-----7-4-----
D----------------2--2---5-7----5-5-----7------5------7-7-----7-5---
A--0--0-7-----3-3--------5-5--7-- 5-5---------------
E--------------------------3-3-8--------------- -

Example 6) Another interesting way to use this techniqueis to use double stops instead of single scale notes from the A Aeolian scale. Double stops are two scale notes played together. This can really alter a chord progression and make it much more interesting. Let's use Example 5 (A, C, G and D chord progression counting 1 2 3a 4a) and instead substituting single scale notes we will substitute double stops from the A Aeolian scale in example 1.Notice that the timing of the double stops can be played two times on the 3a and 4a or just one time for each 3a and 4a:

E-------------------------------------------
B------8-8-6-6------6--5------------------6--5-----
G------7-7-5-5-----------------5---7-------7--5-----
D--2--2--------5-5-7--5----------------7-7-----------
A--0--0------------3-3--------5-5--7--8-5-5---------------
E------------------------3-3-----------------

Example 7)Now let's apply these concepts to some different scales and scale shapes. First lets try an A mixolydian mode. The notes of A mixolydian are A, B, c#, D, E, F# an G . Let's use the third position fingering of A mixolydian which is as follows:

E-------------------------------------9-10-12-
B--------------------------------10-12--------
G-------------------------9-11-12--------------
D-----------------9-11-12---------------------
A----------9-10-12-----------------------------
E--9-10-12-------------------------------------

Example 8) Again, let's map out power chords from A Mixolydian on the E and A strings. Remember that the notes of A Mixolydian are A, B, C#, D, E, F# and G. so we have power chords A5, B5, C#5, D5, E5, F#5 and G5:

E----------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------12----
D-2----4----6----7---9---11-----12----10--------
A-0--2--2----4---4--5--5--7-7-9-9---11--10--12------------
E---0----2----3----5---7-----9------10------ ---

Example 9) OK, let's try an A Mixolydian chord progression using the power chords form Example 8. Notice that the chord progression does not have to start with the root note of A. How about an F#, G, D and A chord progression counting 1 2 3 4:

E----------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------
D-----------------7-7-7-7--------------------
A--4-4-4-4--5-5-5-5--5-5-5-5--7-7-7-7-------------------
E--2-2-2-2--3-3-3-3--------5-5-5-5----------------- -

example 10) let's substitute some A Mixolydian scale notes instead of playing all the power chord progression of Example 9. However notice also that we can vary the rhythm so that instead of 1 2 3 4 , we will use 1 2 3a 4ea:

E--------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------10-12-----
G-----------------------------------------9--------------
D----11-9---------------9---11-12-7-7-7-7-11-12---------------
A----4-4----10-9---5-5-5-5-10--------10-----5-5-5-5------------7-7-7-7---
E-----2-2--------12-3-3-3-3-----------------------------5-5-5-5

I realize that the examples are somewhat simple, but I think they effectively demonstrate this idea effectively. It can be as simple or as complex as you would like. I have always been able to find new riffs, fills and song ideas using these ideas. Try other scales that you know or instead of single notes try to create triads and try to use other scale s in between the power chords. In any case, even an advanced player can use these ideas to their benefit and one can always use work on their timing. So experiment and I will see you next time!!!