Jim Rumbaugh
146 posts
Feb 06, 2010
7:52 AM
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When the chord changes go I , IV, V , do you use three sets of scales when you play or do you stay whith scales that match the I chord? I have been practicing scales/notes that match the 3 chord changes, but I just read that it's OK to just stay with the I chord scales.
What is your opinion or aproach as to what to play?
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hvyj
131 posts
Feb 06, 2010
8:25 AM
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It depends on what style of music you are playing.
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DirtyDeck
17 posts
Feb 06, 2010
8:40 AM
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There aren't any rules man. Use your ear, play what sounds good. You can stick with the root scale in blues but you may find that it gets boring after a while. If you're tired of repeating yourself then you can jazz things up a little by using chord specific notes or scales. My advice is just to follow your ears and your heart, if you play with enough feeling then you'll never get tired of playing the same licks - they'll give off a different feeling and sound every time if you play with your heart and your balls.
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DesertDog
23 posts
Feb 06, 2010
3:30 PM
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If you read Jamey Aebersold’s books he advocates matching the scales to the chord, but in my view even if you did that there is no guarantee that you will “sound good.” On the other end of the extreme David Barrett has no problems playing a I chord riff throughout the whole 12 bars.
To me a better question to ask is if I just learned a cool riff -- over what chord changes will it fit? A rule that covers this question is something I picked up from Hal Galper’s articles in Down Beat Magazine on his theory of “Forward Motion.” Like any theory in music it doesn’t work 100% of the time, but over the years I’ve found it to match what the pros are doing intuitively. Basically the rule is to have chord tones on the strong beats. Otherwise anything goes. In blues the strong beats are the 1st and the 3rd beats of the bar. These are the beats you want to end a riff or phrase on and emphasize the chord you are in. The strong chord tones are the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th of the scale that matches the chord. With the 3rd and 7th the strongest notes to reinforce a chord. To be more bluesy you can also flat the 3rd, 5th and 7th. You can also stretch this rule to every once in a while to allow the 9th and 13th. Which is the 2nd & 6th of the scale. So like anything in life there are different degrees of being “right” and gray areas. You might ask what’s left? The 4th is one of the notes you don’t want to play on the 1st or 3rd beat, but I’m sure someone like Gussow could make it work! In 2nd position that would be 4 blow for the I chord, 5 draw for the IV chord, and 6 blow for V chord.
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Diggsblues
138 posts
Feb 07, 2010
6:35 AM
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Aebersold usually gives two options on blues stuff.
You can use the blues scale built from the I chord
over all of the changes or he shows the Mixolydian scale
for each of the change. IMHO the blues scale will
give you a more traditional or bluesy sound. Playing
on the changes may sound more jazzy. Experiment with
a slow blues so the changes last longer.
I like to experiment with b9 which is the b5 of the
five chord. This hints at third position.
Nothing says you can't mix it up. You may just want to
learn licks that go on the changes until you create your own stuff.
own stuff.
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mr_so&so
268 posts
Feb 07, 2010
7:43 AM
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For completeness, I'll just say that you can think of this style of playing as changing positions, as Diggsblues hints at above. Say you're playing 2nd position over the I chord, you could switch to 1st position riffs on the IV chord, and 3rd position riffs on the V chord. The circle of fifths tells you this.
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hvyj
134 posts
Feb 07, 2010
8:44 PM
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@Diggs I am assuming that you only use the flat 9 on the V chord....or do you play it on any of the other chord changes when you "experiment?" Please elaborate. What can you tell us?
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boris_plotnikov
10 posts
Feb 08, 2010
3:40 AM
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I've found the best way for me and I teach that to my students. When you are new to matching chords or if you work on the new tune you have to try playing scales and arpeggios for each chord (slowly with metronome!). After you practice that for some times (when you are new to that you'll spend a lot of time, but if you are enough good, it's enough to do it 5-10 times).
So when I play it live or at rehearsal I thinking about chord changes! It's easy to make music lifeless while thinking about chords. You can listen to my attempts to play All The Things You Are http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LynOmzp3oG0. It's really hard to follow this chord changes by ear, but it's possible.
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http://myspace.com/harmonicaboris
Last Edited by on Feb 08, 2010 3:44 AM
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