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here are the LH fingerings that Garrison Fewell gave me for the "activities." i understand Garrison is retiring, so i doubt he'd mind if i posted them. a "-" refers to a slide. for the full Martino experience, pick every note using alternate picking.
Activity #1:
1341 2313 1341 41-11
3212 1431 3122 1213
1313
Activity #2:
1214 3-321- -1341 3214
2321 3213 1313 2312
1331
Activity #3:
4131 3414 1213 3-321-
-1312- -2143 1323 1214
41-13 1313
Activity #4:
2414 1341 2313 13-31
2414 3142 1213 1313
2312 1341
Activity #5:
whoops, didn't have it written down (blame it on my youth!). but it shouldn't be difficult to figure out from the other 4
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09-02-2014 01:37 PM
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as for application of this stuff, my advice is to learn the Activities and the corresponding chord forms, get comfortable with them in a variety of keys, and then go transcribe a bunch of Pat Martino, particularly early Pat (before his stroke).
you'll see bits and pieces of these activities pop up in his lines over and over again, and you see how he uses them in actual playing situations
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Interesting. I love Garrison's playing. I find it interesting that he was teaching this material.
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Thanks for that.
Originally Posted by dasein
I learned this with strict alternate picking. (It was all I was doing at the time.) But now I use some slurs and slides, which makes the lines feel more lively.
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with regards to the slide, you're still picking each separate note, you're just moving from one fret to the next using the same finger
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Hey Guys,
Glad to see this thread. I happened to spot his book when it first came out, way back in the late 80's (1989?). I was just browsing through some titles at a local music store (SF Bay Area), and it immediately piqued my interest because I had already spent a few years transcribing several Martino solos note-for-note. Of course, nothing like my good friend Wolf Marshall, who has transcribed almost every Pat solo in existence.
Anyway, I had logically come to the conclusion that he was using minor thinking, converting his existing jazz language (i.e. melodic II-Vs) for use against other chord families. That was becoming obvious to me while working through his Sunny solo from the Live mid-seventies recording on Muse, with that great band from Philly. Seeing his opening remarks in the preface was a light bulb moment, because it was a total confirmation of everything that I had already concluded.
The beauty of minor conversion (also sometimes called minor superimposition) is that if you've already done your jazz language homework it multiplies the use of your existing knowledge. For me it was like opening Pandora's Box and realizing that I could use what had become a large vocabulary in so many other situations. Wolf and I talk about this all of the time even to this day. One thing that Pat has said is that if you have the core language there are no bad notes to be found, only bad connections. Martino is a great player, and I've learned and assimilated a lot from transcribing and studying his lines and concepts over the years.
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What a great line! I'm going to be repeating that one. I might even make it my signature! Originally Posted by JazzOnSix
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I see what you mean. Yes, that is how I learned the lines. But now I'm not doing strict alternate picking. Some slides (-that I play) are unpicked notes. That's just what I'm doing now. Originally Posted by dasein
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Well said, Mark Stefani!
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Thanks! Also to Mr. Rhodes, and if you liked that quote here's one I just picked up from Mark Levine's superb "Jazz Theory" book, a publication that is based 100% on language gleaned through transcription: Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
"Playing jazz means learning as many licks as you possibly can." - Duke Ellington
That statement truly resonates with me, because I've always felt that any great lick, whether it's from Pat or anyone else, is like a seed that when planted will spawn powerful variations retaining the strength of the original line. As a case in point, check out the following excerpt from my Jazz Language series:
You might recognize two things from this example. One is that the chord progression is the first 4 bars from Trane's Giant Steps. The other is that the first bar is one of Martino's favorite minor licks that he's used in countless solos. When Wolf was working on his "Giant Steps for Guitar" book (highly recommended), we were engaged on a regular basis discussing the tune and specifically the harmonic possibilities for bars 1-2 and later bars 5-6, considered the most challenging part of the 16-bar progression.
If the scenario were B minor, Martino would normally play the 9th (C#) after that first bar and do a number of things with it. In this case by the time you hit the minor 3rd (D) the harmony has shifted from Bmaj7 to D9, and it works perfectly using Trane's classic 1-2-3-5 pattern. Just sound the chord after each four notes to hear what I'm talking about. The 2nd bar is something that he did a lot in his original solo, using the notes of a G triad with the E connected to F minor over the Bb7 chord, again reminiscent of Pat's minor conversion principle but also something that JC did as well. All for now..
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I love that line of Duke's. It's all the more impressive because he composed so much brilliant music----when a composer as well as the leader of a band with a legion of legendary soloists tells you to learn as many licks as you can, you'd be wise to listen! Originally Posted by JazzOnSix
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I love Pat Martino's Jazz playing and share a lot of your thoughts on him.
Relunctantly, I will keep an eye this thread and follow as time permits. I just cannot resist taking the ride with you folks.
I picked up my book and looked at activity #1 and was immediately confused by the numbers in the circles under the notes of the line. Can someone please tell me what they mean?
Also, in the fretboard diagram, what are the numbers in the frets? This can't be tablature, at least in the traditional sense. Why are there two, sometimes three circles with numbers inside a single fret?
I can read standard notation, BTW, but need help on Martino's symbols.
Thanks.
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Yes, those numbers tell you the order in which the notes are played. (1, 2, 3) Frets with 2 numbers mean you will play that note (there) two times, the lower number first and the higher when its turn comes. Originally Posted by AlsoRan
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The number in the Activity are the order the notes are to be played in. It was kind a tab-type thing. Look at the notation then the numbers and you see the relationship. Originally Posted by AlsoRan
Tony Baruso was the copiest for the book, Tony was the staff copiest and librarian at GIT back then. Tony was also a huge Pat Martino and spent a lot of time hanging out and studying with Pat.
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I think the numbers there indicate which finger frets that note. Originally Posted by AlsoRan
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But there is a number "6" cited in the standard notation version of the line, on the very first note. Was that a typo? Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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Ok. Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
Mark and Doc, I do however understand the numbers on the fretboard now. thanks!
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The circled numbers in the standard-notation stave refer to which string the note is on. There are only six numbers, of course... Originally Posted by AlsoRan
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O, THOSE numbers. Those are the strings, six being the low E. Originally Posted by AlsoRan
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Got it, now...
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I had this book a while ago and never really did anything with it. I love PM and hope I can take this opportunity to follow along too. I've memorized (tenuously) the 5 activities and am going to try and move them around into different keys and get comfortable playing them smoothly in time. That should give me something to work on for quite a while.
I must say I really like the sound of the activities. And they are mostly comfortable to play.
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I like the sound of them too. And they lay out nicely on the guitar. One thing that's great about what Pat is doing is that he unashamedly figured out how to play great jazz on the guitar. Part of this 'system' is to play good jazz but another part, a big part, is making in convenient to play on the guitar and easy to move around on the guitar. You would think ALL jazz guitar instruction would follow that model but it does not. Originally Posted by ColinO
Having said that, a few phrases in a few lines bedevil me if I'm not careful.
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Definitely me too. I am finding Activity #3 the most difficult to play without hitches. Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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That's my experience too. Also, in the 2nd activity, I used to have trouble with the line where it turns back on the high E string (a C note? I'm away from the guitar just now or I'd look!) and then does that string-crossing move (E, B, G strings). I only alternate picked back then and lines like that gave me fits. Solution: 'go with the flow' of an upstroke! Problem solved.... Originally Posted by ColinO
I often use that second activity as a Major 6th chord in swing tunes, like "All of Me," which starts with two measures of C6. It's a melodic line as it is, and after getting used to, it's easy to vary in many ways without veering off into mere noodling...
I've checked around my room and cannot locate my copy of this book. I have photocopies I made of the first five activities. The book itself may be part of the stash I left in New Orleans back in 2005. So I ordered a new copy from Amazon. It'll be like a fresh start. Should be here soon.
Which reminds me: when I got Pat's book the first time, I had a teacher and he said the diagrams were wrong and made corrections in my book. His idea was that the lines were (or should be) Dorian minor. I thought then---and still think now---that Pat meant what he said: that G minor 7 in activity 1 is a natural minor, the 6th of Bb (-which gives us that Bb6 shape three frets up, a great shape for swing, where the Major 6 makes a better I chord than a Major 7 does (-in many cases, that is, not all.)
Is that everyone else is thinking? When Pat says minor he means 'natural minor' (unless otherwise indicated)? Granted, Pat's lines incorporate alterations. It matters less from the point of view of analysis than it does from the point of view of shifting the shapes around. (If "All of Me" is called in C and you're thinking of using activity 1 as a launching pad for your solo, you would start in the fifth position, A minor being the natural minor of C. Right?)
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Mark, I think your teacher was wrong. We are clearly in the 6th mode of Bb major.
You've also touched on applications of what we are picking up here - the C6 in All Of Me, as a for instance. I'm still getting the lines into my fingers - I've just about memorised all five - and although I use So What transposed to Gm (thanks to iReal Pro) for a backing track, I haven't looked at using lines in Standards yet. But that will come. I'm in no hurry.
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