GUITAR SECRETS: SYMMETRICAL SCALES REVEALED, (Diminished and Whole Tone Scales). Don Mock. CD TAB.
CATEGORY: Guitar Method or Supplement
FORMAT: Book & CD
Learning how to play and use scales has always been a large part of every guitar player's practice schedule. Written from a player's perspective, this book doesn't get too in-depth into the history and classical theory of the scales, but focuses on their uses in contemporary styles such as blues, rock, fusion, and jazz. Includes tons of diminished and whole-tone lines, licks, and music examples; soloing and scale substitution from a player's perspective; and new sounds and ideas. Written in standard notation and Tablature.
Foreword
Welcome to Symmetrical Scales Revealed. Learning how to play and use scales has always been a large
part of every guitar player's practice schedule. Playershave spent countless hours practicing scales up
and down all over the guitar, sometimes with great success and sometimes with frustration as the end
result.
Thoseof you who know me from my books and videos or years at the Guitar Institute of Technology (Gin
know I've been involved in guitar education for a long time. I've seen hundreds of students struggle with
the same problems that I faced when going through the process of learning how to play and use scales.
After many years of experience, both playing and teaching, I've become a big believer in cutting through
the nonsense and getting to the point of it all, which is playing music.
The presentation and ideas in this book are definitely from a player's perspective. We're not going to get
too in-depth into the history and classical theory of the diminished and whole-tone scales. We'll focus more
on their usesin contemporary styleslike blues, rock, fusion, and jazz. Don't get me wrong: there will be no
shortcuts here when it comes to modern music theory. As far as I'm concerned, all guitar players must
have a good working knowledge of harmony and theory and the ability to read music, even if it's only simple
chord charts.
Three Steps to Success
Learning to improvise can be thought of as a three-step process. The first step istypically the learning of
scales. Usingeither the key center approach or the modal approach, students should learn at least a few
useful fingerings of the major scale and be able to play them in all keys.Also, in this first step, players need
to learn about harmony and theory to help understand which scale fits over which chord. Armed with
some theory knowledge, students can immediately begin playing over even difficult chord changes by
simply switching to the correct scale or key center for the given chord.
Most players after a period of time will begin to find this first step limiting. They may say that they can't
seem to make their solossound like the chords, that they sound too scalar. Moving on to step two, we
introduce arpeggios as a tool to create chord sounds. Mixing arpeggios with our scales starts making our
solos more harmonically intelligent.
Step three isthe final frontier of improvising, as we now start really learning music. So far we've been using
scales and arpeggios but may not been able to make our solossound melodic. Now it's time to learn
melodies. Most of us need to learn a repertoire of melodic lines to use when we improvise. Almost every
one of our favorite players has, at one time or another, learned linesby copying recordings or transcriptions.
I've met many students who tell me they don't want to sound like anyone else and feel they shouldn't
copy other players. They soon realize that the road to originality goes through the land of copying licks,
phrasing, and concepts used by favorite players. Eventually, these influences merge together into your
own original style.
One last thing: A common misconception about improvising isthe phrase "playing what you hear." Many
players say they do this, leading students to think that they simply make up music on the spot. What they
are really saying isthat they are playing what they know.
Improvising isthe spontaneous performance of ideas that come to you in the midst of soloing. You may
not know ahead of time what you are going to play, but armed with scales, arpeggios, melodic ideas,
and theoretical concepts, you can playa creative and spontaneous improvised solo.
Introduction
This book deals with the two most used symmetrical scales-the diminished and whole-tone. Symmetrical scales are best defined as having repetitive or equal-note spacing that repeats throughout the octave. For example, the whole-tone scale is exactly what the name indicates; it's a scale built entirely of whole tones The symmetry of a diminished scale is a pattern of alternating whole steps and half steps, four times per octave.
One great thing about symmetrical scales is that they are very guitar-friendly and easy to memorize. The fingerboard is a visual, graphic instrument similar to a slide-rule. In most cases, you can get by with just one fingering for each of these scales and then repeat the same fingering every two frets (whole-tone) or three frets (diminished) up or down the fingerboard, Guitar players can easily discover hundreds of unique melodic and harmonic ideas that are not as obvious on other instruments like keyboards, reeds, or brass.
Both of these scales are very useful and creative tools used by improvisers. Their simplicity can be deceptive; it's almost surprising how these simple scales can provide such a complex sound. In traditional jazz, they provide a contrasting flavor against functional dominant chords, Modern players exploit these scales to add an outside sound to contemporary jazz, rock, and even blues. In Symmetrical Scales Revealed you'll learn the most useful scale patterns and explore sequences and arpeggios within the scales. Next we'll learn the secrets of how to best use the scales, followed by several of my favorite melodic lines.
We'll begin each of the two sections by first learning some good fingerings for each scale. If you already know a fingering or two, stick with them or feel free to modify any of the fingerings here to suit your technique and style. The ultimate goal isto be able to play the particular scale anywhere on the guitar in any key.
One more thing about the fingerings: You are limited only by the lowest and highest notes on the guitar. Think of scales as having no beginning and no end. Don't be too concerned with the bottom or top notes of each individual pattern, You'll find that each has a different starting and ending note because of the natural range of the strings.
SCales are simply a row of notes, and you should learn to control the scale by being able to start and end on any note. Eventually, individual scale fingerings will begin to blend together into larger patterns until finally the whole fingerboard is under your control!
How to Get the Most Out of This Book
The best way to get the most out of this book is to scan through each chapter first. Get a feel about where and what the various topics are and if they contain information you already know. You should read every page carefully, but it's okay to start with any section in the book that interests you
Guitar Secrets - Symmetrical Scales Reveale
Contents:
SECTION I: INTRODUCTION
Tuning Notes
Unit 1: Modes of the Diminished and Whole-Tone Scales
Examples
Unit 2: Static and Functioning Dominant 7ths
Examples
SECTION II: THE DIMINISHED SCALE
Unit 3: Fingerings of the Diminished Scale
Examples
Unit 4: How to Learn and Practice the Diminished Scale
C7 Practice Track
Unit 5: Diminished Scale Sequences
Examples
Unit 6: Diminished Arpeggios,
Examples
Unit 7: Using the Diminished Scale,
Examples
Unit 8: Six-Note Diminished Shapes
Examples
Unit 9: Major Triads in the Diminished Scale
Examples
Unit 10: Using the Diminished Scale Over Static Chords ..
Examples
SECTION III: THE WHOLE-TONE SCALE
Unit 11: Fingerings of the Whole-Tone Scaie,
Examples
Unit 12: Whole-Tone Scale Sequences
Examples
Unit 13: Whole-Tone Arpeggios
Examples
Unit 14: Using the Whole-Tone Scale
Examples
Unit 15: Modern Uses of the Whole-Tone - Static Chords
Examples
Unit 16: The Fingerboard - Symmetrical Scales Geometric Playground ,
Examples
Unit 17: Diminished and Whole-Tone Lines
Examples
Italiano
English
