Can someone explain this?

Patriots2006 · #1 02-02-2011, 06:23 PM

I have read, (can't recall where), that if you practice improvising through a tune strictly with eigth notes that it forces your ear to expand and here things that you hadn't before. I have attempted this a number of times but I can't say I have had any positive results that I am aware of. I think it is a good exercise to keep you moving through the changes but I don't know if it really helps with creating melodies.
I have been working with "Fly Me To Cancun" for the past couple of weeks and after tonights disaster I thought I would take a break. Maybe it was all the snow shoveling I did before going to work today. Anyway I was wondering if anyone has heard of this approach to improving your ear and what results they may have had with it.

docbop · #2 02-02-2011, 06:34 PM

It's usually done a couple ways. One is 8th notes arpeggios typically two-octave and when chord changes go to the closest chord tone of next chord and continue the direction your were going. This help get the harmony of the song in your ear. It helps you to learn to see chord tones on the fretboard, and to connect them on chord changes.

The second was is to do similar exercise using the scales for each chord. This helps a lot with fingerboard knowledge. Another way to do it is accend using arpeggio and descend using scale. So it help the ear to hear the songs changes via chord tones and helps a lot with fretboard knowledge.

Then you want to follow those with improv without restrictions. In school we usually played the head, one chorus of arps (or scale), then one chorus of pure improv.

Patriots2006 · #3 02-02-2011, 06:46 PM

Thanks Doc,
I have spent time doing different things. Playing the arrpegios to all the changes in one position. Things like that. I like your idea of combining arps with scale patterns. I don't think with scales very often. More with arps, and guide tone lines and chromatics. I usually have to have the changes in front of me so I don't get lost. That is part of my problem as well.
I think I need to be able to play better horizontally in combination with the arps.

jsepguitar · #4 02-02-2011, 07:03 PM

Check out the Howard Roberts book Super Chops if you can find it.

YouTube - Super Chops Guitar Method - Project #1

ksjazzguitar · #5 02-02-2011, 07:03 PM

I like the running 8th note exercise. It becomes a drill in trying to get the line to resolve on the guide tones or some other dissonance. It forces you to think ahead and figure out where the line is going. (Of course, this means little if you're a chord scale player where worrying about chord tone resolution is less "important.") Joe Pass was a big proponent of this drill and I've heard some other big guys talk about this.

Of course, it is only a drill. This is not music. The trick is to not let yourself do this when it comes time to make music. It was just a drill to work your brain really hard to solve line problems that arise.

Peace,
Kevin

Reg · #6 02-03-2011, 10:29 AM

I hate to say this... I agree with Kevin. It's strictly an exercise, if anything I would think you would be training yourself to have a bad habit.... playing with steady 8th's... what most think of guitar players... steady noodlers. I guess if your aware of what your doing... But would probable be much more efficient to have rhythmic patterns or phrases and go through the arpeggio/scale exercise.
I'm not a fan of pounding in standard voice-leading and typical chord tone, tensions or what ever you want to call, resolutions. You should be aware of classic tradition, but when one plays with those principles as control factors of your line or improve... well your going to sound like a kid going through drills. Not much to listen to, at least to my ears. What I've done over the years is to train(Trane), my ears to react the way I want them to. It may become personal... isn't that the point.
One other point I'll bring up is when one solos... there are forms and structural elements with which at some point you need to internalize... they need to be your method of expressing what you hear. Not the actual choice of notes... but how you express them, the shape and development of those pitches. These methods of expressing what you hear internally are how you play. May be simple, simply a shape, or pedal to act as a thread that holds the solo together. Depending on your skill level this can become very complicated with many levels of connection.
My point... you do need to develop this ability as a mechanical process rather than think about it. Best Reg