New exercise I invented - see what you think?

[Hector]

Ok, so lots of areas of my playing are converging on the idea of breaking the hideous tyranny of the root note (always playing the root on one when walking, resolving solo lines to one when, and getting the sound of the different chord tones in my ears. Particularly important for my solo lines, but also nice to be able to walk in a more melodic style. To do this, I need all my chord tones available to me, both in my mind and under my fingers.

Anyway, my thinking was that I only practise my arpeggios as 1-3-5-7, but there are actually 24 possible ways to order these tones. What I do is take a ii-V-I in a single key, and keep looping it playing one particular order (e.g. 3-1-7-5) over each chord. I work with a bar per chord, walking crotchets. Once I'm comfortable with that, I'll move onto the next order etc. until I've done all 24. Then I'll noodle for a bit, playing a chord tone solo over the progression. Then I move onto a ii-V-I in the parallel minor and repeat the process once more.

I've been doing this for a little while, and I've really found that I start to "see" harmony a bit better on the fingerboard. My lines are also now making a hundred times more melodic sense without relying on root notes, as the sounds of these harmonies are really working their way into my brain.

You can easily mix this exercise up by considering which direction you go between chord tones (e.g. from a 3 to a 7 upwards or downwards). For example even with tired old 1-3-5-7, you could play up/up/up/up down/down/down/down, up/down/up/down etc. for a lot of different combinations. Combining this, although not in a disciplined manner, with starting on different places on the neck has really opened up the fingerboard for me. Then there's the possibility of playing different patterns on each chord.

It's also possible of course, to do this over different progressions e.g. entire standards or less common progressions like iv-bVI-I, to get their sound drilled in. I'm building up to be able to take chord tone solos on standard progressions, which is essentially just a freer form of what I'm doing at the moment, and to walking lines that don't reference the root on the one (or even at all), yet still connect chord tones in a logical manner.

I'm seeing a lot of benefits in my playing and hearing from working with this relatively simple exercise, so I thought I'd share. It can be quite tough, but I think it has a real positive influence on your playing if you stick at it.

H

[Dad3353]

Damn..! No 'Like' button any more..! Oh, well, 'Like' anyway.
I've been doing this for years, pretty well unconsciously; this more 'formalised' routine makes sense to me, perhaps even enough to be adopted. Better late than never..?
Thanks for sharing.

[Bilbo]

Looks good. Just changing your perspective on the content of the arpeggio (i.e. not always starting it on the root) opens up the harmony. Big ears are worth the effort....

[Faithless]

That's why there is such thing like super-imposition.
You can simply think of Em7 when playing over I (Cmaj7), and you won't hit that C

As for walking lines - in most cases, you WANT to play root notes. Of course,as with everything, rules can be broken, but the best thing you can do for a soloist you're comping for, is support him with laser-sharp harmonic clarity, which implies root notes most of the time

[Hector]

[quote name='Faithless' timestamp='1335651868' post='1634352']
That's why there is such thing like super-imposition.
You can simply think of Em7 when playing over I (Cmaj7), and you won't hit that C

As for walking lines - in most cases, you WANT to play root notes. Of course,as with everything, rules can be broken, but the best thing you can do for a soloist you're comping for, is support him with laser-sharp harmonic clarity, which implies root notes most of the time
[/quote]

Yeah, I'm a big fan of superimposition. I especially dig the sound of using a #11 over a key center, like playing a section in C major and superimposing chords from G major (e.g. F#m7b5 instead of Fmaj7). Ultra-hip. If you wanted to really take this exercise further, you could repeat it with superimposed chords over the underlying harmony.

You're preaching to the choir about connecting root notes though, that's 95% of my regular gigs. This exercise isn't really about that.

[ZMech]

Yup that's a great exercise, it's what I spent much of my summer doing. I'd suggest taking the same idea but instead of a II-V-I just opening a realbook at a random page, and trying to play the arpeggios straight off for a song you haven't played/heard. As soon as I learnt that you didn't have to start a bar on a root note walking suddenly became much easier and more interesting. How about trying to extend it so that you're playing a chord over two bars, but including the 9th, 11th and 13th? Chord tones aplenty that way.

I'd disagree with Faithless, in that you don't want to play root notes in most cases, just one of the chord tones generally, and in fact the 3rd/7th will add more character than the root (but I'm guessing you already know that).

Edited May 6, 2012 by ZMech

[Faithless]

3rds and 7ths are already being given by either pianist or guitarist. I'm not saying you can't use them in your lines to outline the chord qualities, I'm just saying that on beat 1 (and 3, but it's less important) you want to emphasize roots so that soloist is supported with harmonic clarity.
Walking lines is a different beast and a study in itself , that's why I pointed out that Permutations dont really work as a device to use when walking, in this case.

Edited May 7, 2012 by Faithless

[Hector]

Ok, so this thread is getting derailed a bit.

My offhand mention of using non-root chord tones on beat 1 when walking doesn't mean that's what this exercise is geared towards, or that one should use lots of permutations when walking. I came up with this exercise to help me get the sound of these chords (as well as individual chord tones) in my head, and to better be able to see harmony on my fingerboard. For linking the hands and ears. This exercise might make the sound and position of those chord tones available as raw material for you to work with more generally. This would allow you to walk without putting a root on the one if you chose to, but that's not what it's for per se.

For the record, what you play when you walk is totally a matter of personal taste, and how that taste meshes with that of your bandmates. No hard and fast rules, no objectively right answer.

[Faithless]

Sorry for the OT, Hector, though the subject we're touching is really subtle, and, to be honest, I think that, as with anything with music, there are certain rules that should be followed.
We'd probably make another thread to discuss walking thing, sorry for the OT again.

easy
L

[Hector]

Hey no worries L - it's an interesting discussion! I just didn't want people who read this to miss the point of what my exercise was trying to do (which I'm not sure I initially explained very well!).