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Alright kids, after a foray into the joys of comping using simple and straight-forward principles, this month we return to single-line soloing putting all of these concepts together.
We start with a few exercises to get us used to resolving 7ths to 3rds, which will finally get us sounding like we're really playing the changes. Then we cover a few different approaches to resolution, including direct, indirect, and chromatic.
Finally, we get to practice all of this over Miles Davis' classic, Tune Up!
Let's do this.
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07-31-2020 08:30 PM
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Dreadfully behind but still very interested in the progress everyone is making. Cheers, Joe
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I'm way behind too, though the book has found its way back onto my music stand and I'm reviewing the early chapters.
Kudos to all who have carried on and are up to date in this important study.
And a big thumbs up to those who have done any of the work---we're better off for doing however much we've done so far. And having done some, we're a bit more likely to get back in the swing of things and do more! (At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)
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Having read this thread I started looking if this would fit me, then I got lost in possibilities.
So I started with the free download book. It’s given me a taste, fun, and exercises. Thanks to this study group!
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Sorry I had to bail several months ago. I’ve been focused on the stuff I am working on for lessons but would like to revisit this book someday.
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Seems that this chapter demands a lot of determination and focus, You have to visualize the fretboard really well in order to see triads at the moment. Triads are so important, I wish I knew this some years ago.
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All true, slj. You get out of it what you put into it.
Originally Posted by sjl
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How are we going this month, folks?
I haven't had a chance to video or record anything, but I've got most of the exercises under my fingers pretty well and I'm currently working on the sample solo. I'm hoping to get something laid down over Tune Up before the end of the month, but we'll see what the week has in store for me!
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I'm still following but have been sidetracked a bit by playing / practicing other stuff but I'll be back aboard!
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Reading on this thread and the forum is a big motivation for me but many days my forearms are to painful. When it’s all physically working I do sometimes get nice lines but pure on ear and it’s not secure. I’m hoping this course next year for me.
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No problem, Eck. These threads will still be here for the next generation of GFers!
By the way, I find that a good warm-up is moving gently and freely up and down the neck using the triads+extensions from pp. 18-22. Even spending a few minutes a day loosening up with that will help to give you something on the fretboard to visualise, and to start connecting your ear to those shapes.
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Here's a crack at Tune It Up!.. Fewell's sample solo followed by my own nonsense:
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Nonsense? No way! Very very nice Jay! And inspiring!
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How did you guys get through this chapter in one month?!!
This is by far the hardest for me. So now I'm supposed to keep up with the changes, see the triads (and their extensions), recognize the third and the seventh everywhere (not just in the middle strings like the last chapter), plan my line so that I happen to fall on the seventh just as it changes into third of the next (except for the altered six chord, which does its own thing).
And that is just the first exercise! This is going to take some serious shedding.
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Take your time - it's not that you have to pass an exam at the end of the month. That's why every chapter has its own thread. Originally Posted by rlrhett
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Getting a jump on the New Year... not much just exercise 8.1, baby steps
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And I thought this study group had run its course. Thanks fep and a Happy New Year to everybody - that Yamaha sounds great!
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Thank for listening the good people of Fewell study group. I hope to post a lot, thinking posting all the exercises might breath some life into this excellent study.
Honeymoon period for my new Yamaha RS620, I'm really liking it. And I have another new addition, Mac the puppy. In case you missed it... Originally Posted by TOMMO
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Great to see the study group still progressing with some lovely playing. I still pull the book out now and again and still peruse the first few chapters...
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Exercise 8.2.
Both examples from page 85 running thru part of the cycle. This guitar has a pull switch on the treble pot, I pulled it for this recording (and not on my previous recording at post #16 and #18). Yamaha calls it "the dry switch", that description doesn't make sense to me. Sounds like a high pass filter. Some say sort of like the sound of a P90, I'm not good on evaluating that as I don't have any P90 pups on my guitars. Still a humbucker though with no hum.
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Maybe we discussed this before, not sure...
I like Garrison's lines and concepts and it's a fine idea to take the line through the cycle of fifths... but, how do I get these concepts as part of my playing, part of my personal style?
Something I'm going to try is to take a line/idea and start to evolve it by addition, subtraction, embellishment, twisting and turning, playing it in my personal style. Will see how that goes.
Also, chapter eight is a lot to swallow, isn't it.
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Hey Frank, sounding great, and good to see people still chipping away at this stuff. I've been focusing on classical lately, but I think I'll come back to this book soon.
Good question about how to get this stuff into your playing. I think it really just takes time and comes down to using it in your playing, and forcing yourself to organise the fretboard according to GF's approach. I do a lot of slow, out-of-time improv over changes, and I think that helps. It's one thing to play lines using these concepts, and it's a whole 'nuther thing to produce them in context over constantly changing harmony!
Nice axe. Is that pull switch not a coil tap?
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In my modest attempts at improvisation I use a lot of the lines / fretboard patterns that I have learned from Fewell's book. I have also noticed them a lot in great players' vocabulary.
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Not a coil tap, the pull switch is described as this: Originally Posted by Jehu
It seems to be it's own thing, just an EQ effect. I like the sound of it and there's no hum which can be a big problem in my room. The effect can be mostly heard in the lower and middle part of the guitar range. However by the time I get to the B note on the high E string, I can hardly hear the difference. Maybe that's fine as the high notes don't get thin that way.Dry Switch
Designed especially for Revstar, the Yamaha proprietary Dry Switch gives you the versatility of a coil split, but with tone that's miles ahead. Using a passive filter circuit painstakingly designed to give the perfect frequency response, the Dry Switch filters out low frequencies to give the punch and clarity of a single-coil pickup without the inevitable hum and hollow tone often associated with split humbucking pickups. The Dry Switch works on both humbuckers and P90s for a totally unique, usable tone.
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Getting this into my playing... the targeting of the 3rds along with the approach tones is tricky. I'm finding I got to get use to instinctively choosing the right approach technique to get to the 3rd of the next chord and have it be on the beat I want (usually the down of 1 or the up beat of 4). There's a lot of choices and I need to hear it to make it land nicely. Consider some of the options to get to the B note of the G7:
(As an aside, I think one wants to eventually abandon approaching just to the 3rd and use these approach techniques to other chord tones and extensions which should be a bit easier in that you don't have to play lines that end up near the third of the next chord.)
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Targetting the 3rd of a chord is the first step in targetting chord tones I think. There's more options and Fewell mentions them: b9 to 5 for example. Originally Posted by fep
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Today, 04:35 PM in Improvisation