SVAN CAI JamTrackCentral CREATIVE CHROMATICS MASTERCLASS: BEGINNER INTRODUCTION Welcome to this JTC masterclass! There are three parts: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. You can choose your level, but consider working through the whole masterclass. Even if you can play the licks or exercises from the Intermediate or Advanced parts, you might still learn something new from the easior ports. The format is similar forall three parts. We'll start by looking at some theoretical concepts, with exercises to develop your technique andlor fretboard knowledge. Next welll see how these: concopts can be used in a roal musical situation, using a series of short licks and a longer sol. Are you teady?AN CENA CREATE CRONIES MASTERCLASSBEGRNER THE CONCEPT OF THIS MASTERCLASS. This masterclass is all bout the OTHER notes. The notes outside of the scale ar arpeggio, the notes between the scale notes. The wrong notes? Well, maybe, but we're going to show you how you can make them sound interesting, not wrong. We're going to work with thase othar notes (sometimes referred to as ‘non-diatonic’) in a fow differant ways, but the general term we use for this is “chromaticism" or “chromatics”. This refers to the fact that all the notes in the westem musical system can be found in te chromatic scale, THE CHROMATIC SCALE The chromatic scale is ALL the notes. Thera are twelve different note names in our western system of music, but the sequence repeats infinitely (or as far as your instrument allows). Each sequence of twelve notes spans an octave. It's an octave from ane C to the next C, from one G# to the next G#, etc... Chromatic scale rom C to C C CHDS D DHE = «EF FRG GG GHAB A Atm c You may already know that some of the nates (the black nates on @ pianc) have two possible ames, such as Fé (F sharp) and Gb (G flat). Don’t worry too much about that for now... there are some music theory conventions dicteting which name you should use, but the main thing is thet youre aware of the dual names. Now, we call it the chromatic SCALE, but it doesn’t function like the other scales you may have learned. There's no connection with tonality or key; you would never say “this song is in F# chromatic’, In fect, you don't even have to think of it as a scale. A scale is @ group of notes arranged in a ling, but this is really a complate palette ofall available notes...a note cache, if you like. It’s the raw material of music. When we make music, we normally work with smaller subsets of the chromatic scale. We could use just the E minor pentatonic (E G AB D) or the A mejor scale (A 8 C# D EF# Ga). But the chromatic scale is always there. We can aiways pull extra notes out of it, in ordor to add melodic flavours that aren't available with the scales we're using. Ifyou're femiliar with Photoshop or other photo/graphics apps, here's another way of thinking about the chromatic scale... it’s a LAYER. Your new band logo looks fine in plain red, but what |WWW.JAMTRACKCENTRAL.COMSTAMINA CNL CREATE CRONIES MASTERLASSBEGRNER CHROMATICISM FOR BEGINNERS So far, we've been making itall sound easy and fun... and then you try adding few random notes from the chromatic and it sounds terrible, What we need is a structured appreach. Here's a couple of easy ways for you to take your first steps in chromaticism. PASSING NOTES ‘A chromatic passing note Is played between two scale notes, creating ¢ continuous line in the same direction. You may have played chromatic passing notes without realising it, especially if you've played blues licks. The eugmented 4th or diminished Sth (same note, two different names) s often added to the minor pentatonic to create the blues scale. In this example, we have two versions of the same lick. The first one is just A minar pentatonic (ACD EG) but the second has the D# inserted between D and E. Without passing note w passing note The Important thing about a passing note fs thet you go through it without changing direction... ascending D-D#-E or descending E-D#-D, Also, as with most of the examples we'll be covering, you normally don't emphasise or sustain the passing note. In the example above, the D# will sound dissonant ovar most of the chords in the key of A minor, APPROACH NOTES An approach nate precedes the target nate, approaching it fram above or below. As we're dealing with chromatic approach notes here, that means we're playing the note a semitone above or below the target note. As with passing notes, the chromatic approach note will almost always be an ‘outside” note, so take care - if you hold it too long, i'l sound properly dissonart. In this example, we're preceding each note of the A minor arpeggio with @ chromatic approach note above. WWW.JAMTRACKCENTRAL.COMSVAN TAR CTL, C4," 4906" B/S, oH HB) AS Welll be looking at examples of both approaches in the exercises and licks, but do try experimenting on your awn, THE PHYSICAL ELEMENT One of the challenges in working with a new set of melodic ideas is that you have to force your fingers into new patterns. We all spend hours working on scale and arpeggio shapes, so it can be a challenge to start adding the “wrong” notes without hesitation. With thet in mind, some of the exercises in all three parts of this masterclass are designed to work on a physical level, increasing your flexibility. the physical flexibility of your hands AND your knowledge of the fretboard layout. BEGINNER EXERCISES EXt: Simply a chromatic scale, starting on C, using 4 notes per string, This is a good warm-up 10 play before working on all the other exercises and licks. EX2: Another technique exercise, this introduces the important skill of position shifts. Teke note of the slide symbols in the Tab - these are not actually slides. In JamTrackContral Tabs, wo always use a lagato slide symbol (diagonal line and a curved slur lina] to signify a slide. In this case we just have a diagonal line, and were using it to show that you use the same finger for Iwo notes, picking both notes. XS: You may have practised patterns like this with regular scales. I's an ascending three-note sequence (123, 234, 345, etc) but working through the chromatic scale. We'e using the 4.note- per-string fingering from Exercise 1 EX4: And now we have something mote lke a lick that you might use in a solo, This fs C minor pentatonic (C Eb F G Bb) but with the edded F# between F and G, making the blues scale. This is probably most poople’s first experionce of a chromatic passing nots. n this example, wore playing ascending and descending patterns through two actaves of the scale. EXS: Now welll try adding chromatic passing notes to other parts of the minor pentatonic. In this example, we're adding the B (major 7th) between Bb and C, Also consider that the B can also be an approach note into C or Bb. As you'll see, there's often a grey area between these concepts, and we'll talk about that in the Intormediate section. WWIWJAMTRACKCENTRAL.COMSTAM ETE aU ATV CRONATS MASTERGLASS ECNR However we interpret them, though, remember that we're dealing with non-diatonic notes. if you hold them too long, there’s a risk that they'll sound wrong! (But try anyway; that's how you learn what works and what doesn't). EXG: This time, we're adding the E (major 3rd) between the F and Eb of the C minor pentatonic. Notice how the little chromatic passage runs in the opposite direction to the rest of the scale... it's all about stretching those fingers and increasing the fretboard knowledge! EXT: Now we move to approach notes, and this Is an easy Introduction to the concept... aC major arpeggio, with chromatic approach notes below. That means, instead of playing simply C EG, you're playing B-C Eb-E F#-G. EX: Here's the same approach applied to the minar triad (C Eb G) and played aver a triplet rhythm, to make it a little more challenging EX9: Back to the C minor pentatonic (C Eb F G Bb), this exercise is a bit more melodically sophisticeted. We're using C# as e chromatic passing note between C end the added D note (hinting at Dorian or Aeolisn modes}. BEGINNER SOLO AND LICKS. It’s up to you how you use the solo. You could study the solo in detail, analysing all the chromatic notes, or just steal your fevourite licks. Whatever you do, be sure to play your own idees over the backing track. The only way to master this stuffs to make mistakes, learning what works and what doosnt. The backing track is in C# minor, and the chord progression works with Dorian (C# D# E F# G# ‘A# B) and minor pentatonic (Ci E Fé G# 8). Also try working with arpeggios, as this gives you a greet foundation for exploring epproach notes. ‘The shorter licks contain many of the ideas from the solo, along with even mare cool uses of chromatics. Let’s take a look in more detall. LICK 1: This is mostly C# minor pentatonic (C# E F# G# B) but with the G note added to create the blues scale. However, notice how it's used in two different ways... as a passing note on the first beat of bar 2, and then as an approach note on the 3rd beat (the 10-11 on the Bth string). LICK 2: Similar to Lick 1, but notice how the chromatic line F#-G-G# continues to A, the root of the A7 chord. LICK 3: You can probably spot the passing notes in this exemple, but the quick 7-8-7 slide in bar 1 doesn't follow the pattern of the passing note or approach note. The technical term for this is @ chromatic neighbour note. We start from a regular scale note, move to the chromatic ote and then back again. LICK 4: In this lick, Jake plays longer streams of chromatic notes. You could interpret this as simply C# Dorian (C# Dé E F# G# A 8) with chromatic passing notes, or as a chunk of the chromatic scale baing used to connect two target notes. The ear can tie up the loose ends as long as this kind of thing resolves in a secure fashion, WWV/JAMTRACKCENTRAL.COMSIAM CAL TVECARONATCS MATERIA eRER LICK 5: Here’s a more complex version of what happened in Lick 4. We have an approach note {G) leading into the target note (G#, Sth of the C#m7 chord). Then we climb chromatically up to the B (the minor 7th of C#m7) before doing another approach from G to G#, We then have tho familiar blues scale G4-G-F# move loading into bar 2. The most important thing is that it sounds cool! LICK 6: This stuff gets more complex when you start to consider the chord changes, We then have different target notes, different interpretations of “inside” and “outside”, etc. The G#7#5 is potentially confusing here... we might use Cas a chromatic approach note over A7 (C-C#, classic blues move) but over G87 it's the major 3rdl LICK 7 This lick hes quite a Texes blues sound, with that extensive use of the flat 9th (0) in bar 1. You hear loads of Texas blues players using it as e passing note between root and Sth (C#- D:D) or as a neighbour note (C#-D-C#). But also consider this... we're playing over G#7, <0 it could be considered the 4th-#4th.Sth of the G# blues scale, a temporary change of scale to fit the chord. LICK : This one has everything... approach notes, passing notes, escape notes. Notice how ‘we have approach notes leading into the Sth (G-G#) and Sth (D-D#), LICK : A variation on the approach note technique - bend into a target note fram a semitone below! LICK 10: Hero's another example of chunks ofthe chromatic scale being used es melodic devices in their awn right, connecting widely spaced target nates. Also, in the transition from bar 110 bar 2, notice how the G note Is used twice as an approach note... ascending to Gi and descending to FA. LICK 1t: Here's a more intensive study based on a concapt from Lick 10. Each chromatic note is used to approach the scale note above, and then the scale note below. LICK 12: Don't get too bogged down in the theory - chromatic notes can simply allow you to create a desired rhythmic pattem within a familiar melacic shape. Without the chromatic Notes, this line would descend too quickly, or we'd have to use longer notes. But by edding the chromatic notes, we can fill a line of regular 16th note triplets, creating the desired melodic contour. LICK 13: Here's a lick over the full A7-G7-C#m-F7 progression. Notice how Jake plays around the changing target notes for each chord, using different chromatic notes to approach or connect them. LICK 14: In a biues-flavoured progression like this, you can of course play right through the chords with blues licks, and that includes the chromatics added to them. WRAP UP... ‘And that's ¢ wrap for the beginner volume! Take your time and remember to work carefully on the exercises. When you're ready, well see you in the Intermediate volume! (Please Scroll Down For The TABS) WWW/JAMTRACKCENTRAL.COM