jussy
07-05-2006, 09:08 PM
Hello fellow musicians! My name is Justin. I am 18 years old and I have played guitar for 7 1/2 years. My influences include Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, John Petrucci, and Steve Vai.
Today I'd like to talk about a pretty cool concept involving mixing different scales to get new "hybrid" scales. I'm mainly going to talk about mixing the blues scale and the Dorian mode. For lack of a better name let's call it the dorian blues scale.
When improvising over a chord such as an Am (1,b3,5) or an Am7 (1,b3,5,b7), you have many different minor scales to choose from. Some obvious ones are the Aeolian mode aka the natural minor (1,2,b3,4,5,b6,b7), the Dorian mode (1,2,b3,4,5,6,b7), the Phrygian mode (1,b2,b3,4,5,b6,b7), the minor pentatonic (1,b3,4,5,b7), and the blues scale (1,b3,4,b5,5,b7). The possibilities are endless and we are only limited by our imagination. With that said, let's use our imagination!
Here is a common pattern for the A blues scale:
|--1--|-----|-----|--4--| -1st string
|--1--|-----|-----|--4--|
|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--|
|--1--|-----|--3--|-----|
|--1--|--2--|--3--|-----|
|--1--|-----|-----|--4--| -6th string
|
5th fret
I usually use the 3 note per string version of the Dorian mode, but for now let's look at the box shape:
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--| -1st string
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--|
|--1--|--2--|-----|--4--|-----|
|--1--|--2--|-----|--4--|-----|
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|-----|
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--| -6th string
|
5th fret
Make sure that you familiarize yourself with both of these scales separately before you move on. Listen to how the notes sound in relation to the tonic note. You can even play them over an Am or Am7 vamp to really bring out the qualities in each of them.
Here's the fun part...putting them together!
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--| -1st string
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--|
|--1--|--2--|-----|--4--|--4--|
|--1--|--2--|-----|--4--|-----|
|-----|--1--|--2--|--3--|-----|
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--| -6th string
|
5th fret
The scales degrees for the new hybrid scale we have created are: 1,2,b3,4,b5,5,6,b7. Wow...an eight note scale...not too bad huh? If this is difficult for you to see, just add the b5 to the dorian mode. It's just as simple as that.
Below is a diagram with the scale degrees.
|-----|--1--|-----|--2--|-b3--| -1st string
|-----|--5--|-----|--6--|-b7--|
|--2--|-b3--|-----|--4--|-b5--|
|--6--|-b7--|-----|--1--|-----|
|-----|--4--|-b5--|--5--|-----|
|-----|--1--|-----|--2--|-b3--| -6th string
|
5th fret
Hopefully all of that didn't lose you because now we are going to look at some licks using the blues/dorian hybrid scale! I'll start off simple and then I'll move into some more advanced licks. All of these licks will work with almost any type of Am chord. Some of the sounds you are going to get using this scale may sound strange at first, but the more you familiarize yourself with it, the better you will be able to get full mileage out of it.
Lick #1
E:-------------------------5~--
B:--------------------8p7------
G:---------5h7h8h7~------------
D:--5h7~-----------------------
A:-----------------------------
E:-----------------------------
Lick #2
E:--7h8p7p5-------------------------
B:------------7h8p7p5---------------
G:----------------------7h8p7p5h7~--
D:----------------------------------
A:----------------------------------
E:----------------------------------
Lick #3
E:------------------------------------------
B:----------------------8p7-----------------
G:-------------5--8p7--------8p7--4/5-------
D:-------5--7---------------------------7~--
A:--6/7-------------------------------------
E:------------------------------------------
Lick #4
E:--10h11h12p11p10\7h8h11p8p7-----------------------------------------
B:-----------------------------h8h10p8p7\5~--5h7--7b8r7b8r7p5-----5~--
G:-------------------------------------------------------------7------
D:--------------------------------------------------------------------
A:--------------------------------------------------------------------
E:--------------------------------------------------------------------
Lick #5
E:-----------------------5h8/12~--------7h8h11p8p7\5h7h8p7p5~--
B:--------------------5--------------8-------------------------
G:---------------5h8--------------9----------------------------
D:------------7------------------------------------------------
A:-------6h7---------------------------------------------------
E:--5h8--------------------------------------------------------
Lick #6 (actually an Yngwie lick, but I liked it so much I decided to add it)
E:--7h8p7p5--------------------------------
B:-----------8-7-5-------------------------
G:-----------------8-7-5-4-----------------
D:--------------------------7-5-4----------
A:---------------------------------7-6-7~--
E:-----------------------------------------
Lick #7 (Let's make this one the grand finale lick!)
E:--------------5h8p5-------------8h11p8-----------------------------------------------
B:-----------7---------7-------10---------10-------------------------------------------
G:-----5h8---------------8/11----------------11p8\7~--/9-8-7---------------------------
D:--7----------------------------------------------------------9-7---------------------
A:-----------------------------------------------------------------9-7-5-7-6-5---------
E:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------8-5~--
Hopefully you found this lesson to be insightful and I hope it gave you some ideas on how to spice up your playing a bit. I just brushed the top on the subject and I could have gone into much more detail, but I would have been sitting here all night long at my computer. Try this in different keys and combine other scales to see what kind of unique/whacked out sounds you come up with.
Today I'd like to talk about a pretty cool concept involving mixing different scales to get new "hybrid" scales. I'm mainly going to talk about mixing the blues scale and the Dorian mode. For lack of a better name let's call it the dorian blues scale.
When improvising over a chord such as an Am (1,b3,5) or an Am7 (1,b3,5,b7), you have many different minor scales to choose from. Some obvious ones are the Aeolian mode aka the natural minor (1,2,b3,4,5,b6,b7), the Dorian mode (1,2,b3,4,5,6,b7), the Phrygian mode (1,b2,b3,4,5,b6,b7), the minor pentatonic (1,b3,4,5,b7), and the blues scale (1,b3,4,b5,5,b7). The possibilities are endless and we are only limited by our imagination. With that said, let's use our imagination!
Here is a common pattern for the A blues scale:
|--1--|-----|-----|--4--| -1st string
|--1--|-----|-----|--4--|
|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--|
|--1--|-----|--3--|-----|
|--1--|--2--|--3--|-----|
|--1--|-----|-----|--4--| -6th string
|
5th fret
I usually use the 3 note per string version of the Dorian mode, but for now let's look at the box shape:
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--| -1st string
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--|
|--1--|--2--|-----|--4--|-----|
|--1--|--2--|-----|--4--|-----|
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|-----|
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--| -6th string
|
5th fret
Make sure that you familiarize yourself with both of these scales separately before you move on. Listen to how the notes sound in relation to the tonic note. You can even play them over an Am or Am7 vamp to really bring out the qualities in each of them.
Here's the fun part...putting them together!
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--| -1st string
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--|
|--1--|--2--|-----|--4--|--4--|
|--1--|--2--|-----|--4--|-----|
|-----|--1--|--2--|--3--|-----|
|-----|--1--|-----|--3--|--4--| -6th string
|
5th fret
The scales degrees for the new hybrid scale we have created are: 1,2,b3,4,b5,5,6,b7. Wow...an eight note scale...not too bad huh? If this is difficult for you to see, just add the b5 to the dorian mode. It's just as simple as that.
Below is a diagram with the scale degrees.
|-----|--1--|-----|--2--|-b3--| -1st string
|-----|--5--|-----|--6--|-b7--|
|--2--|-b3--|-----|--4--|-b5--|
|--6--|-b7--|-----|--1--|-----|
|-----|--4--|-b5--|--5--|-----|
|-----|--1--|-----|--2--|-b3--| -6th string
|
5th fret
Hopefully all of that didn't lose you because now we are going to look at some licks using the blues/dorian hybrid scale! I'll start off simple and then I'll move into some more advanced licks. All of these licks will work with almost any type of Am chord. Some of the sounds you are going to get using this scale may sound strange at first, but the more you familiarize yourself with it, the better you will be able to get full mileage out of it.
Lick #1
E:-------------------------5~--
B:--------------------8p7------
G:---------5h7h8h7~------------
D:--5h7~-----------------------
A:-----------------------------
E:-----------------------------
Lick #2
E:--7h8p7p5-------------------------
B:------------7h8p7p5---------------
G:----------------------7h8p7p5h7~--
D:----------------------------------
A:----------------------------------
E:----------------------------------
Lick #3
E:------------------------------------------
B:----------------------8p7-----------------
G:-------------5--8p7--------8p7--4/5-------
D:-------5--7---------------------------7~--
A:--6/7-------------------------------------
E:------------------------------------------
Lick #4
E:--10h11h12p11p10\7h8h11p8p7-----------------------------------------
B:-----------------------------h8h10p8p7\5~--5h7--7b8r7b8r7p5-----5~--
G:-------------------------------------------------------------7------
D:--------------------------------------------------------------------
A:--------------------------------------------------------------------
E:--------------------------------------------------------------------
Lick #5
E:-----------------------5h8/12~--------7h8h11p8p7\5h7h8p7p5~--
B:--------------------5--------------8-------------------------
G:---------------5h8--------------9----------------------------
D:------------7------------------------------------------------
A:-------6h7---------------------------------------------------
E:--5h8--------------------------------------------------------
Lick #6 (actually an Yngwie lick, but I liked it so much I decided to add it)
E:--7h8p7p5--------------------------------
B:-----------8-7-5-------------------------
G:-----------------8-7-5-4-----------------
D:--------------------------7-5-4----------
A:---------------------------------7-6-7~--
E:-----------------------------------------
Lick #7 (Let's make this one the grand finale lick!)
E:--------------5h8p5-------------8h11p8-----------------------------------------------
B:-----------7---------7-------10---------10-------------------------------------------
G:-----5h8---------------8/11----------------11p8\7~--/9-8-7---------------------------
D:--7----------------------------------------------------------9-7---------------------
A:-----------------------------------------------------------------9-7-5-7-6-5---------
E:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------8-5~--
Hopefully you found this lesson to be insightful and I hope it gave you some ideas on how to spice up your playing a bit. I just brushed the top on the subject and I could have gone into much more detail, but I would have been sitting here all night long at my computer. Try this in different keys and combine other scales to see what kind of unique/whacked out sounds you come up with.