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Tagged: Soloing in A with a looper
- This topic has 6 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 5 months ago by Warren G.
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November 25, 2016 at 9:20 am #55839
Hi there,
I have hit a bit of a dead end with my technical ability and lack of knowledge. I have been through Brian’s pentatonic scales and learnt them by heart. So I went out and purchased a cheap looper. I fully understand that you have to have good timing ( mine is pretty bad ) but I thought that if I just strummed an A chord into the looper to play back that if I then played any of the 5 pentatonic scales in A that it would just sound correct. Some on the notes do sound good but others just sound bad even though I have followed them correctly. Why?
Despite there must being some logic to it surely as a guitarist you just have to avoid the ones that wrong in scale?
I had to laugh ( eventually ) as my wife who I thought was listening intently was actually in the kitchen with some headphones on listening to her music as my playing was so bad. So now I’m a bit dispirited about playing.
Any help would be gratefully received.
All the best,
Warren.
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November 25, 2016 at 11:17 am #55851
HI Warren,
First, dont get dispirited, we have all been through the same cycle on the way to playing better, it’s a journey with no end….I’ve been playing since I was 11…..over 40 years and I am learning more now than ever.
It’s very hard to give you targeted advice without hearing what you are doing…..could you post a recording or send to my AM email?
Having said that the scales are great and will work to help give you grounding on where to play, but that doesn’t mean you can simply jump around the positions, although that can help with your knowledge of the fretboard, etc, if you listen to the masters, there is a musicality to the way the use the scales, famously BB KIng used small sections of all those positions and made a whole career out of it. So listening to the great blues players is a must to get some of the themes or basic licks into your head.
Have you learned any of Brians lessons yet besides the course? This I believe will get you over the hump. pick a lesson or two that is the kind of soloing you’d like to play and focus on that lesson…what is great about AM and Brian is that he references back to the positions and theory during the learning of the lessons….so when you’re done you have a piece of music you can play and you know why it works. I think I can guarantee you’ll feel much better when you get a full lesson under your belt.
We’re here to help so let me know….good luck…BTW my wife doesnt listen either…LOL
Roberto
PS here;s a video of a young BB KIng live….watch his fingers…..he’s mostly in the same places and uses bends, slides etc to make it interesting…no rocket science there…..
Roberto
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November 25, 2016 at 11:42 am #55855
Hi Warren
I assume you are playing the minor pentatonic scale with a Major chord.
Music is about tension and resolution. There are several notes in the minor pentatonic scale that have some tension that
you may find a little uncomfortable. They may not make good melody notes so holding them for long duration will be dissonant but using them to move the music along will help.Some styles of music (heavy metal etc.) will eliminate the third of the chord and play a “power chord’ with just the root and fifth and that will help avoid the clash you hear. As your skills and ear develop you will learn to chose which notes to hold, which notes to start phrases or licks with and which to end them with.
To start with you can try ending licks on a chord tone, either the root or fifth.
Lots of blues and blues based music use this Minor/Major sound so listen to some of these styles to help your ear.
When you start to play over progressions rather than a 1 chord vamp you will find some notes that will lead you to the next chord as well.
Gordo
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November 25, 2016 at 1:34 pm #55872
Hello Warren..In addition to the excellent comments made by Roberto and Gordo….I’m going to take a stab at what went wrong…..You may recall that there are minor and major pentatonic scales that each have five positions. They are closely related as you may remember from Brian’s lessons. If you know one set you can quickly find the other by dropping down three frets….but let’s forget that at the moment. If you are hoping to jam against an A major chord (as opposed to an A minor or A minor 7th chord, At least at first you’ll want to be playing the A MAJOR pentatonic scales…..not the Am pentatonic scales. That might indeed sound unpleasant. I would encourage you to start with the second position of the A major pentatonic scale, sometimes known as BB King’s box….(referenced above by Roberto) I suggest this position first as the reference note to name the scale on the 1st string, 5th position is A, and names the scale. ie…5th fret first string, A, anchors the A major pentatonic scale. Your ear will guide you as to which notes you can jump to when leaving the box and still sound good. You’ll be surprised at how much melody can be had from just moving around in that box. Check out that box in Brian’s lessons regarding A major pentatonic scales.
Let’s go back to the locating of the major and minor pentatonic scales. You probably know the Am pentatonic scale starting from the 8th fret on the first string and walking your way down, with the fifth fret being the second note in the scale. (A) If you drop that second note, the A, down three frets to what would be F# (2nd fret), you are locating the major pentatonic scale with F# as the second note of the scale as you walk down. But here’s the clinker. As you walk the scale down and end it on A on the sixth string, you have effectively played the first position of the A major pentatonic scale. Had you continued going down to the F#, you would have been playing the F#minor pentatonic scale. Your ears will once again tell you the difference. This may help you to understand why the second position of the A major pentatonic scale sits where it does, in that little box around the 5th fret on the first string.
At some point a light bulb goes off in your head that makes this clear…For now find that box and have fun with your looper. They are tricky items at first with respect to timing….
Marty
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November 25, 2016 at 4:19 pm #55879
Hi Warren,
Some advise from a beginner: First: Play an A, D, E, open chord progression and record it into your looper (this is a I, IV, V progression but don’t worry about that for now, just know that all three chords are major). Second: Play pattern 1 of the major pentatonic scale in the key of A. So, start on the sixth string (fatest string) on the 5th fret (this is the note A). Then play frets 2 and 4, 2 and 4, 2 and 4 on strings 5,5, and 3 respectively, and finally play frets 2 and 5 and 2 and 5 on strings 2 and 1, respectively. You are starting and ending on the note A (two octaves apart, but don’t worry about this for now).
When you play your loop of the A, D, and E open chords it will align well with the pentatonic pattern you’re playing because they’re both in the key of A major.
Keep playing and don’t be discouraged, none of us were born knowing how to play and the only way to improve is to play and play some more. Finally, even if you have to play very slowly and record each open chord separately into the looper, enjoy every chord and every note.
Cheers,
Richard
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November 25, 2016 at 7:23 pm #55890
Great advice on the chord and scales issue from all the guys so far. And as for the looper, I am far from an expert, but I have been using my Boss RC-3 more and more lately. Most loopers use an 8 bar loop (of course that won’t work for 12 bar blues). So if you strum your chord for 2 cycles of “1-and 2-and 3-and 4-and” using a down-up pattern, here’s how it would be done: Play one warm-up cycle to get the rhythm going, then without hesitating when the “1” rolls around again, step on the pedal exactly on the beat. Now count two cycles of strums, and when the “1” of the 3rd cycle occurs, hit the pedal again. You absolutely have to count all the beats in your head. If you have trouble with that issue, you can play a drum track or a metronome and follow along with that. OR you can buy a Boss RC-3, which has a built in set of drum tracks. With it, if your start and stop is not perfect, it doesn’t matter since the looper will automatically adjust it to make the timing perfect. I’ve gotten better at it lately, so I don’t actually use that feature much anymore. If you want to see some cool stuff that can be done with a looper, check out Hvettor on Youtube.
Sunjamr Steve
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November 28, 2016 at 6:57 am #56269
Hi There,
Thank you so much for your help its really appreciated.
It is great to be reminded that we are not alone in our love and learning of the blues guitar!
I have completed a number of Brian’s lessons which I have really enjoyed but I now know, thanks to you guys, that I was playing major chords into the looper and playing the blues minor pentatonic scales from Brian’s courses over the top which sounded completely wrong.
Thank you so much – Sunjamr, Richard, Marty, Gordo and Roberto
All the best,
Warren.
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