Idiots Guide Chord Melody

JEFF MCERLAIN SHOWED HIS
improv class an intriguing way to splash a
hint of “outside” color onto a minor blues.
“This doesn’t require new scales or pat-
terns,” he said. “It’s right under your finger-
tips.” The secret, he explained, is to focus
on the min7b5 arpeggio that’s buried within
a blues scale.

Take a closer look: The formula for a

blues scale is 1, b3, 4, b5, n5, b7. In, say,

that’s

A, Cn, D, Eb, En, and Gn. Within this

scale lurks an

Am7b5 arpeggio—A, Cn, Eb,

Gn (or 1, b3, b5, b7). “Here’s what’s really hip,”

said McErlain. “When you leave out just two
notes, you suddenly have this other sound
from your basic scale. You won’t hear B.B.
King outline a min7b5 in his solos, but
Robben Ford would.”

x.. 1

1 shows how easily you can slip this

tart flavor into an otherwise standard blues
lick. To hear this in its proper context,
record a funky

Am7 vamp as a backing

track. E

x.. 2

2 puts the b5 in two octaves, dou-

bling the pleasure.

“For more chromatic interest, add the

n5 to a min7b5 line,” said McErlain, playing

R O A D

S C H O L A R

=============

T
A
B

Am7

= 104

ö ö ö

öb ö ö ö öb

ö ö

~~~~~

Ex. 2

===========

T
A
B

Funky minor blues

ö öb ö ö ö ö

~~~~~

Am7

= 72

Ex. 1

============

T
A
B

= 104

44 ö ö öb ön öb ö ö ö ö ö ö ö

Am7

~~~~~

Ex. 3

=======================

T
A
B

Freely

# 44

ö ö ö ö

ön ö ö ö ö

ön ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ön

ö ö ö ö ön ú

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

G dominant pentatonic

Ex. 4

Familiar Patterns,

Fresh Pathways

Jeff McErlain (left) explains the dominant pentatonic scale.

o far in our Road Schol-
ar series, we’ve taken
you on vicarious visits to

Hollywood’s famed G.I.T. (May
’97) and Boston’s renowned
Berklee College of Music (Aug.
’97). This third installment finds
us at the National Guitar Work-
shop—a summer camp for 6-
string enthusiasts of all ages.
Here in the small town of New
Milford, Connecticut, nestled in
the tranquil, green New England
countryside, I spent a week at-
tending guitar classes, refining
my chops, making new friends,
and gathering a year’s worth of
fretboard study material.

Shouldering a DAT recorder,

camera, and well-worn G&L
ASAT, I attended workshops on
a wide variety of topics that in-
cluded folk fingerpicking, blue-
grass flatpicking, modal rock,
and altered-scale improvisation.
I learned how to craft jazz
chord-melody arrangements
and reharmonize blues progres-
sions. I watched students wrestle
with novel concepts, banter with
instructors, and help each other
reach new musical heights. Sit-
ting among fellow classmates, I
dug into rhythm grooves,
swapped solos, and even led a
funk class jam.

CAMP VERSUS COLLEGE

Learning guitar in a summer

camp environment is radically

B Y A N D Y E L L I S

Jammin’ at the
National Guitar
Workshop

x.. 3

3. Here we’ve got the b5 and n5 rubbing

shoulders. Cool!

McErlain had another trick up his

sleeve, this time for dominant chords.
“We’re used to playing a minor pentatonic
across a dominant 7—say,

G minor penta-

tonic over

G7. We hear the Bb-Bn clash as

bluesy. But sometimes that’s not what you
want. Try raising the scale’s b3 to a n3, but
keep everything else the same. This yields
a dominant pentatonic. Amazing! You can
change one note of your pentatonic scale
and get a whole new sound.” To compare
minor and dominant pentatonic formulas

and scales, refer to the chart below.

The beauty of McErlain’s system is that

you’re likely quite familiar with minor pen-
tatonic scale patterns. Rather than learning
a new scale, you need only adjust one note.
Try E

x.. 4

4—a

G dominant pentatonic scale

using McErlain’s favorite fingering.

Record E

x.. 5

5’s funky rhythm figure and

improvise over it using

G dominant pen-

tatonic (think Grateful Dead or Blind Mel-
on). You’ll find patterns all over the neck:
Simply play

G minor pentatonic licks, and

whenever you encounter

Bb, bump it up

a fret to

Bn. g

=============

T
A
B

Funky

= 76

# 44 {

ön

ö ö

ö ä ä ö

ö#

ön

{

Ex. 5

MCERLAIN’S FORMULAS

miin

orr p

ntta

atto

niic

c ffo

orrm

ulla

a::

G minor pentatonic scale:

miin

ntt p

ntta

atto

niic

c ffo

orrm

ulla

a::

G dominant pentatonic scale:

R O A D

S C H O L A R

IN SUSAN MAZER’S FINGER-
picking workshop, we explored a fistful
of alternating bass patterns, including
the dozen 4/4 patterns shown in the
chart. Each column represents an
eighth-note, and each row shows the
sequence of strings for a particular
pattern.

“These patterns make good warm-

up exercises,” said Mazer. “Try them
with a variety of chords and progres-
sions.” For instance, E

x.. 1

1 features the

second pattern (5-1-4-3-5-2-4-3).

You can also modify the one-string-

per-eighth-note rhythm. “To convert
any of these patterns into a Travis-style
rhythm,” Mazer explained, “simply
play the first two notes together, sus-
tain them for a quarter-note, and then
proceed with the rest of the pattern.”
E

x.. 2

2 illustrates the process.

x.. 3

3 shows another useful varia-

tion on the original straight-eighth
rhythm. “Drop the last note,” said Maz-
er, “and let beat four sustain for a quar-
ter-note.” Think of this as a reverse
Travis pattern.

Mazer offered some final tips: “If

you’re accompanying someone, you
may not want to be too busy. If you’re
accompanying yourself, you might
want to fill it up a bit more. Patterns
are like vocabulary words. Select one
you like, and start using it. It will be-
come a part of your repertoire. I prob-
ably have 20 that I draw from. Because
I know them well, I can intuitively find
the right one for a song.” g

==============================

## 44 {

ö ö ö

ö ö ö ö

ö ö# ö ö ö ö ö

ö ön ö ö ö ö ö

ö ö ö

ö ö ö {

T
A
B

(

)

simile

Flowing

E/B

F 7add4/C

Aadd2/E

E/B

let ring
throughout

Ex. 1

===========

## 44 {{

ö ö# ö ö ö ö {{

===========

## 44 {{

ö ö {{

ö#

T
A
B

F 7add4/C

p i

T
A
B

F 7add4/C

let ring
throughout

Ex. 2

Ex. 3

Eighth-Notes:

12 ALTERNATING BASS PATTERNS

String Sequence:

A Picker’s Dozen

Susan Mazer (left) conducts a fingerpicking workshop.

different from going to music
school. Schools demand a ma-
jor commitment—both in time
and tuition. Depending on the
institution, you’ll spend from
one to four years studying. A
year’s tuition can exceed
$10,000— and that’s not in-
cluding room and board. For
some, this is ideal: Move away
from home, get serious about
guitar, and earn a degree or
diploma. For most of us, how-
ever, job and family responsibil-
ities preclude music school.

This is where NGW comes

in. For the cost of a brief vaca-
tion in Maui, you can spend
two weeks soaking up as much
fretboard lore as you can han-
dle. Every teacher is an expert
in his or her field, and plays
for a living. I found the quality
of instruction extremely high—
on par with that of the best
schools—and the enthusiastic
teachers are tapped into
current music. (Many are

Sessions contributors, including
Matt Smith, Jody Fisher, Jeff
McErlain, Erik Halbig, Wayne
Riker, and David Hamburger.)
Overall, NGW’s non-competi-
tive, laid-back atmosphere is
conducive to learning. Good
times, good music.

In addition to the main New

Milford campus, NGW conducts
classes in Seattle, Orlando,
Nashville, Austin, Toronto, and
Claremont, California, as well
as Bath, England, and Freiburg,
Germany. Sessions last from
one to six weeks, depending on
the location. All instruction oc-
curs on college or prep-school
grounds, and each campus
hosts about 200 students a
week. Average class size is six
to eight pupils. Guitarists attend
class for about five hours a day.

This isn’t Club Med, howev-

IN LEO MALLACE’S FUNK
workshop, everybody got to play.
He’d show one student a rhythm or
riff, and gradually have the others
pick interlocking parts above or be-
low. Soon a sophisticated, churning
groove would fill the room.

One such jam was based on the

Gm7 and C7sus4 voicings in E

x.. 1

“See how there’s only a half-step
difference between these chords?”
asked Mallace. “Funk rhythm parts
typically feature common tones
and minimum movement.”

Put these voicings into action

in E

x.. 2

2’s IIm7-V7 move. Mallace

pointed out how the rhythm
part’s two-beat rest leaves plenty
of room for an answering riff.
“Call-and-response is essential to
funk,” he said. Guitar 2’s riff starts
on the

and of 2—right after Guitar

1’s chords cease.

Guitar 2 has a cool b5 in beat

three of each bar. Hammer the
first b5 up to 5, and pull the other
off to 4. The sly

Bb quarter-bends

add a bluesy touch.

Record Guitar 1, overdub Gui-

tar 2, and then try improvising over
both parts using

G Dorian (1, 2, b3,

4, 5, 6, b7, or

G, A, Bb, C, D, E, F ).g

========================

T
A
B

========================

T
A
B

b 44

44 {

{

ööö

...

ööö

ö ä î

ö.ö.ö.

ö.

ööö

{

= 76-92

Gm7

C7sus4

ä öj ö ö öb ön ö ö Î

ä öj

ö ö öb ö ö ö

4 1

3 3

B1/4

Gtr. 2

Gtr. 1

Ex. 2

Funk Time

Leo Mallace leads a jam on Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon” riff.

III

4 7 3 5

C7sus4

III

7 3 7 R

b b b

Gm7

Ex. 1

R O A D

S C H O L A R

==================================

T
A
B

öjú.ú.

ú.

öj ö

ö ö

öj
öJ

öö öä Î öj úú

Em7

ö ú#ú

wÎ â ö ö ö

let ring - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

3
2

Em9

Baug7

Em7

==================================

T
A
B

Slowly,
freely

# 44

öjú.ú.

ú.

öj ö

ö ö

öj
öJ

öö öä Î öj úúú

öjú.

ú.

öj ö

ö ö

öj
öJ

öö öä Î öj úúú

Em7

Am7

Em7

3
3
3

1
1
2

1
1

Ex. 5

=============================

T
A
B

44 öö

ööö öö

ööö

ööö ööö öööb ööö www

Cmaj7
(I)

Am7
(VIm)

Dm7
(IIm)

G7
(V)

Cmaj7
(I)

Fmaj7
(I)

Dm7
(VIm)

Gm7
(IIm7)

C7
(V)

Fmaj7
(I)

Slowly

VIII

R 7 3

VIII

R 7 3

R 3 7

X X

X X X

1 3

Cmaj7

Cm7

Cmaj7

Cm7

Ex. 1

Ex. 2

HOW DO YOU CRAFT A CHORD-
melody arrangement? “Start with really
simple voicings,” Adam Levy—now

GP’s

Associate Editor—told a group of bud-

ding jazzbos. “This will leave room on
the fretboard for the melody. Besides,
big, fat chords are harder to mani-
pulate.”

Playing the voicings in E

x.. 1

1, Levy

elaborated: “When I went to music
school, one of my teachers called these
‘kernel’ chords. For now, just the root,

Idiot’s Guide to

Chord-Melody

Ex. 3

Ex. 4

er. Segregated by gender and
age, students bunk in Spartan
college or prep-school dormito-
ries, where drugs and alcohol
are strictly prohibited. (So much
for night life!) You also won’t
find much

haute cuisine at

campus cafeterias, but well-
heeled adult students can al-
ways opt for a motel and off-site
eateries. But, hey, NGW is all
about guitar—after hours you
can jam with friends, attend
evening concerts, and, of
course, practice.

Now in its fifteenth year,

NGW offers instruction in many
flavors of rock, blues, folk, and
jazz, along with courses in gui-
tar repair, songwriting, sight-
reading, recording, sound rein-
forcement, and digital technol-
ogy. Special seminars feature
pros such as Ronnie Earl, John
Jorgenson, John Scofield, Tal
Farlow, Benjamin Verdery,
Manuel Barrueco, Pierre Bensu-
san, David Bromberg, Adrian
Legg, and Alex Skolnick. Guest
artists scheduled for ’98 include
Laurence Juber, Martin Simp-
son, Preston Reed, John Ren-
bourn, Ed Gerhard, Mike Stern,
John Abercrombie, Scott Hen-
derson, Rodney Jones, Duke
Robillard, Gary Hoey, Mike Ke-
neally, Ray Flacke, David Gris-
som, Vinnie Moore, Carlos Bar-
bosa-Lima, and Sergio and
Odair Assad.

7, and 3 give you all the harmony
you need. Commence with major
7, dominant 7, and minor 7 shapes
with the root in the bottom voice.
When the root is on the sixth
string, the 7 and 3 are on the fourth
and third strings, respectively. Lo-
cating the root on the fifth string
puts the 3 on the fourth string and
the 7 on the third string (E

x.. 2

2). To

make this really useful, learn each
set of three kernel chords in 12
keys. And how do we do that? We’ll
use the circle of fourths (E

x.. 3

3).”

Levy then played E

x.. 4

4. “I’m us-

ing only kernel chords to voice a I-
VIm-IIm-V7-I progression, first in
the key of

C, then in the key of F, a

fourth away. Notice how the chord
roots alternate between the sixth
and fifth strings.” Keep moving
counterclockwise around the circle
to play through the remaining ten
keys:

Bb (Bbmaj7, Gm7, Cm7, F7,

Bbmaj7 ), Eb (Ebmaj7, Cm7, Fm7,
Bb7, Ebmaj7 ), and so on. “Name
each chord as you play it,” Levy ad-
vised. “You’ll learn faster.”

Once you can cycle a I-VIm-

IIm-V7-I progression in fourths us-
ing kernel chords, Levy told the
class, you’re ready to arrange a
chord melody. Some tips:

• When working from a lead

sheet or songbook, move the
melody up an octave so it falls on

the top two strings.

• Don’t feel you have to harmo-

nize every melody note or play a
chord on every beat.

• Because stripped-down ker-

nel voicings don’t contain a 5, ig-
nore this note when you encounter
chords with altered 5s. For in-
stance, play a

Cm7b5 as a Cm7, or

G7#5 as a G7.

• Similarly, ignore extensions.

If the chord has a 9, 11, or 13, sim-
ply play the root, 3, and 7.

• Chord-melody arranging

means learning the melody. Play
through the melody by itself to get
it under your fingers.

• Strive to sustain the harmony,

but preserve the melody above all.
If this means cutting a chord short
or dropping it altogether, so be it.

• Don’t necessarily settle for a

song’s original key. You may want
to move down a few steps to take
advantage of the guitar’s rich tim-
bres, or transpose to allow open
strings.

Inspired by Levy’s ideas, I

trekked back to my quarters to
draft a basic chord-melody
arrangement for “Motherless
Child” (E

x.. 5

5), based on kernel

voicings and simple triads. Try it—
you’ll see the system works. g

“If you play

only simple
chords con-
taining the
root, 3, and
7, you’ll still
get paid for
the gig.”

—ADAM LEVY

Amanda Monaco (left)
leads an improv class with
intern Jessie Murphy.

R O A D

S C H O L A R

================

T
A
B

= 60-88

bb 44

ön ö# ön ö ö ö ö ön öb öb öb öb ön

ö# ön ön ö

B 13(I7)

B aug7(I7)

E 9(IV7)

3 3

Ex. 6

================

T
A
B

= 58-80

bb 44 ö ö# ö ö ö ö ö ö öb ö ö ö ön ö# ö ö# ö

E 9(IV7)

B 13(I7)

3 3

Ex. 5

============

B whole-half scale

öb ö öb öb ön ö# ö

w h w h w h w

Ex. 4

===============

T
A
B

= 63-96

b 44

ö ö# ö ö ö ö öb ö# ö öb ö# ö ö

ö# ö ö ö

C7 9(V7)

Fmaj7(I)

4 2

8 8

9 9

Ex. 3

============

T
A
B

= 116-152

b 44

ö öb ö ö ö# ö ö# öb öU

C7 9(V7)

Fmaj7(I)

8 8

Ex. 2

===========

& ö öb ö# ö öb ö# öb

C altered dominant scale

1 9 9 3 5 5 7

Ex. 1

Let’s Go Out Tonight

“HERE’S A LICK THAT
completely changed my life,”
Mark Dziuba told his improvisa-
tion class. “It’s based on the

C al-

tered-dominant scale (E

x.. 1

1),

which fits over

C7 because it con-

tains the chord’s root, 3, and b7.
The altered tones—b9, #9, b5, and
#5—add tension. The altered-
dominant scale never sounded
musical to me until I discovered
this lick (E

x.. 2

2). We’re going from

C7#9 to Fmaj7—a V7-I cadence.
There’s always the risk that you’ll
play this lick for the rest of your

life when you go to

C altered, but

learn it anyway, because it really
opens up doors.”

“What other things can you

do to keep the altered-dominant
from sounding like a scale?”
asked a student.

“See the

C augmented triad

inside the scale?” replied Dziuba.
“Try hitting

Caug chord tones on

the downbeats, like this (E

x.. 3

3).”

Once set into motion, the pattern
changes only on the last

D#—the

one note that nails the

C7#9

sound. “I have to apologize,”

“Anything that’s

musical comes from

you

, not your

fingers,” says Mark
Dziuba (far left).

Guitar summer camp is a

great way to jump-start inspi-
ration. Back home, you can
continue honing new-found
skills with private lessons. In my
opinion, this educational “one-
two punch” is ideal for the ma-
jority of us. It’s affordable and
logistically feasible. And don’t
think you’re too old for camp: I
saw white-haired grandpas
and middle-aged business pro-
fessionals mixing with 14-year-
olds. Age and background dif-
ferences tend to melt away in
an environment where every-
one digs guitar.

THERE’S ALWAYS MORE

Future Road Scholar adven-

tures lie ahead (periodically
subbing for Sessions). We’ll visit
music schools, workshops, and
camps around the country, and
cram as much of the experience
as possible into these pages. If
you’re planning to attend music
school, Road Scholar can help
you make an appropriate selec-
tion. And if you’re not heading
down the academic highway,
no problem—we’ll distill the
best ideas we find and deliver
them to your music stand.

For now, grab your guitar,

tape recorder, and metronome,
settle back with a cup of cof-
fee, and get ready to stretch
your boundaries with five
lessons from the National
Guitar Workshop. g

Dziuba said. “This is a lick. But you
need to get the ball rolling. Your ears
will expand when you start explor-
ing these sounds.

“The whole-half scale is another

tool for adding color to a solo,” he
continued. “This scale consists of
alternating whole- and half-steps.
In

Bb, it looks like this [draws E

x.. 4

on the chalkboard]. Try this whole-
half blues lick, which goes from

Eb9

Bb13—a IV7-I7 change. I heard

Stan Getz do this over a IV chord,
and it knocked me out [plays E

x.. 5

5].

“If you know where you want to

land, you can simply set up a sym-
metrical pattern that brings you to
that note on the right beat. For ex-
ample, here’s a I7-IV7 lick in

Bb,

based on melodic fourths that alter-
nately descend and ascend (E

x.. 6

6).

Each time you play a fourth, drop
down a whole-step. This is a cool
pattern because it’s going in, out, in,
out—tension and resolution. It’s a
fleeting moment you can throw into
the fourth bar of a blues, heading
into the IV chord. This one-bar lick

is full of outside notes, but look
where we land—on

G, the 3 of Eb9.

Can’t get more inside than that.”

Know your destination, Dziuba

reiterated. “I can play chromatically
because I know where I want to land.
You guys are really good at knowing
where to start. But where do you
want to end? You need to think
about that more. And be behind
what you play—

sing it! Really, that’s

the bottom line. If you sing along
with what you’re playing, you’ll
sound a lot more musical.” g

CONTINUING ED.

For more info, write National
Guitar Workshop, 407 Bantam
Rd., Unit A, Litchfield, CT
06759, email an inquiry to
nng

gssw

@eesssslliinnkk..ccoom

, or call

Michael Allain at 1-860-567-
8529. NGW’s Web address is
w

.gguuiittaarrw

woorrkksshhoop

p..ccoom

ACCESSING NOTES ON CALL

To sample or record any lesson

in this month’s Road Scholar sec-
tion, call 1

1--9

0--3

0--0

0 and enter

the appropriate four-digit code. It
costs 75¢ per minute. You’ll need
a touch-tone phone and parental
permission if you’re under 18. To
better control your phone time, use
these touch-tone commands: 7 =
forward ten seconds; 8 = rewind
ten seconds; 9 = pause ten seconds;
# = skip to end;

= repeat lesson.

This month’s lessons are also

available on CD for only $6.95 (plus
$3.95 s/h). For credit card orders
call 1-800-222-5544, or send check
or money order to Notes On Call,
June ’98 Lessons, 146 2nd St. N.,
Ste. 201, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.

Learn something new every day! For $5.00—less than a set of strings—

you can get

GP’s sampler CD with 11 way-cool lessons. Call 1-800-222-5544.

Net-heads: For the lowdown on

GP’s music notation symbols—

and to hear lesson sound samples—visit w

w..g

guuiitta

arrp

plla

ayyeerr..ccoom

June ’98

Guitar Player Road Scholar lessons:

1633 - Familiar Patterns, Fresh Pathways
1634 - A Picker’s Dozen
1635 - Funk Time
1636 - Idiot’s Guide to Chord-Melody
1637 - Let’s Go Out Tonight

Feature music lesson:

1638 & 1639 - Stealing Thunder,

BY JESSE GRESS

1 3 2

GUITAR PLAYER XXXX 19XX

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