Variations on upper structure arpeggios

[Irez87]

I might be moving out west, that's why I ask

[jordanklemons]

Oh word. Where to? I've heard Stefon teaches clinics via online Skype stuff. Not sure if he does private sessions that way or not. He's like a mad scientist. Within the 1st 2 hours of hanging with him he had me able to hear 6 different types of extended/altered dominant chords immediately, near 100% correct. And he changed my entire way of thinking about music, harmony, and melody.

Ill put put it this way. Of all the guys I got to study and work with at NYU, Stefon's the only 1 that I didn't leave to work with someone new. Some guys in the program stuck with 1 teacher their entire program. I mixed it up every semester. But he changed that for me.

[jordanklemons]

Hey Irez, I know you mentioned wishing you could hear the notes I was playing against the root of the chords...to put them in context. I was at the piano today and did a little variation of the original video but using the piano to help. Instead of just sticking with one chord type and moving through the circle of 5ths, I just went with a ii V I.

A-11(9) - using the G triad
D13b9 - using the B triad
GMaj9 - using the D triad

Here's are the dyads being played across the fretboard

And here's the dyads broken up to create more of the angular arpeggio sound

[Irez87]

Jordan,

Awesome, thanks! There are so many different ways to hear things in music, but ya gotta use your ear in some way. Right now my studies are dyadic modulations and hearing multiple random pitches (in succession) against a key.

With the dyads, I hear a I-V-I in C, than I sing the root. Than I hear a dyad, like A and E (the dyad is played at random, so I don't know what it is before hand). If I sing that root C against A and E, I hear the minor 3rd against A major/A minor. Since C sounds like the minor third in A, and I am hearing fifths, I know that the dyad is A and E. I do this for 5ths, 3rds, 6ths, 4ths, 2nds, and 7ths, then I put it all together at random. Does that make sense? This is the founding principal of Bruce's harmonic ear training. It's done wonders for hearing chords and modulations (I can leave a link if anyone wants, but it's major work and you need to train your ear in other ways before you can do this).

The two notes in succession is also interesting. I hear a rapid I-V-I in C major, then I hear two notes played really quickly in succession right after the cadence. The trick is to relate EACH note to C major as quickly as possible to THE KEY and not to EACH OTHER. You memorize the sounds of pitches in a key to a point that you can hear them almost instantaneously, because you are working on "performance" ear training. Any lapse in the process like "that pitch sounds like my Bonnie lies over the ocean" hinders the process and gets in the way of you getting to those sounds as quickly as possible.

Bruce's method is only one way of many to approach ear training. It works for me, so that's why I've stuck to it for years now. Your video helps me makes sense of your studies even more, but I would just need to hear the root note of the key of the whole idea, and not the individual chords, to make sense of the idea sonically. Not trying to be smug, that's just how Bruce's method works. Ab13B9 could be the key if it is a modal vamp (or a Henderson/ Shorter tune) or Db could be the key if it was more of a standardish tune. Dig? Thanks!

[jordanklemons]

Yeah I hear you. It doesn't seem smug. Just working from where you approach things. Anything that's improving the ear is great in my book... especially if it's being focused in a functional, 'performance' type fashion. If our ear is improving, our musicianship is improving.