|
My intention in this series of articles is to give you an insight into how a professional musician approaches the guitar from a perspective of typical practice sessions. The content of my session will work on any type of guitar, but in the interests of diversity I tend to distribute the elements across my three main instruments: Parker Fly Deluxe (electric), Ovation Balladeer (electro-acoustic) and Godin ACS slim (electro-classical). The purpose of this approach is to keep my mind and fingers fit and prepared for when a creative opportunity presents itself. It also ensures that any new creative inspiration can take advantage of the improvement in my abilities and understanding. What’s more, by practicing fresh material you often stumble across elements which stimulate new ideas.
The routine follows a scale (mode) > arpeggio > chord route for the purposes of producing a holistic experience. This route traverses an individual mode in order to be immersed within its vibe and get to know it intimately for the purposes of improvisation and composition. The patterns are designed to utilize as many fingerings and positions as possible and appropriate techniques are suggested along the way. Set aside a few hours each session to work through it patiently and thoroughly.
Step1: Tune-up & Warm-up
Use a tuner to check your 6E string but use equivalent harmonics and your ear to tune the others. This is valuable aural training.
Step2: Performance Notes
Pick a new key & mode each new session. This will ensure that over the mid-term you will do a grand tour of the fretboard as well as all 7 modes of each of the 12 keys.
General advice: Use as much economy as possible by playing in effective positions and using all fingers where appropriate. Always use a metronome to improve timing. Learn the names of each note- this way you will eventually know the fretboard and be able to transmute theory into practice with greater ease.
Bars 1-12 are modal shapes. Use different techniques on each shape e.g. I might try some ‘flutter picking’ on the single-string version and ‘economy picking’ on the 5 string version where the 3-note-per-string shape is ideal. Try 4-finger ’hammer-on, pull-offs‘ on the 4-note-per-string shape.
This is not an exhaustive list e.g. Bar 13 is the mode harmonized in 3rds. I recommend you attempt to try other harmonies and play in all positions. Try using ‘hybrid picking’.
Bars 15-23 represent a set of minor triad and minor 6th (signature of Dorian) arpeggios following the CAGED system. Bar 25 is an arpeggio based on all the intervals of Dorian spread over two octaves and built by stacking 3rds i.e. R b3 5 b7 9 11 b13 R. Try using ‘sweep picking’. Maybe even try a ‘sweep, hammer/ pull, tap’ approach where possible.
Bars 27-31 are a range of CAGED-shaped Dorian chords focusing on the inclusion of the characteristic major 6th in addition to the core triad. Try ‘finger picking’ and jumping from shape to shape. Build your own versions e.g. bar 32 takes advantage of an open G (the 6th).
Step3: Patterns
If you have imbibed these patterns with vigour then I reckon you will now have an idea of how the major 6th interval influences the overall minor tonality of Dorian. Bear in mind though that Dorian is mode II in Ab so you might want to try combining these chords/arpeggios with others from the Ab key. If you don’t know how this is done then consult my other articles for the relevant wisdom.
In the next installment I will introduce you to the realm of practicing which focuses on developing ‘finger independence’.
|