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Targeting inside the scale

All the notes comprising a chord exist in a scale of some sort. For example, each chord in the key of C is built from notes in that key.

Sounds obvious, but let’s unpack it anyway. I’ll start with the scale.

Here’s the notes and the tab…

c major scale

 

…and here’s the image.

c major scale2

 

 

Bear in mind that both of these images represent a two-octave C major scale, which has 15 notes.

That’s important to remember for the following:

 

  • The 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale give you the C major arpeggio (6th string, fret 8), E (5th string, fret 7), and G (5th string, fret 10).
  • The 2nd, 4th, and 6th notes give you a D minor arpeggio: D (6th string, fret 10), F (5th string, fret 8), and A (4th string, fret 7).
  • The 3rd, 5th, and 7th notes give you the E minor arpeggio: E (5th string, fret 7), G (5th string, fret 10), and B (4th string, fret 9).
  • The 4th, 6th, and 8th notes give you an F major arpeggio: F(5th string, fret 8), A (4th string, fret 7), and C (4th string, fret 10).
  • The 5th, 7th, and 9th notes give you a G major arpeggio: G (5th string, fret 10), B(4th string, fret 9), and D (3rd string, fret 7).
  • The 6th, 8th, and 10th notes give you an A minor arpeggio: A (4th string, fret 7), C (4th string, fret 10), and E (3rd string, fret 9).
  • The 7th, 9th, and 11th notes give you a B diminished arpeggio: B (4th string, fret 9), D (3rd string, fret 7), and F (3rd string, fret 10).

 

Chord-tones in the scale

So the idea here is that when you see a progression with chords in the key of C, you can find the notes of the chord in a scale. Because of this, you can easily slip in other notes in the scale that aren’t part of the chord. This creates more tension, which is easily resolved by moving to a chord-tone.

You get good at this by practicing only the chord-tones first.

Take the following progression:

 

c major progarp

 

Play the C major arpeggio a few times, just to get used to it. Now play the A minor arpeggio until you’re comfortable with it. Then play from the C major arpeggio to the A minor arpeggio, treating them as a single unit. Once that’s comfortable, add the D minor arpeggio (play it by itself, then as part of a C – Amin – Dmin unit). Then add the G.

It will probably feel a bit unnatural, jumping from arpeggio to arpeggio (especially from A minor to D minor). All we’re doing here is teaching our fingers where to go for each chord. Don’t expect music yet.

 

Linkages

C major to A minor and D minor to G major link up pretty naturally. But A minor to D minor is a problem. You can’t really move naturally from the last note of the A minor arpeggio to the first note of the D minor arpeggio.

Good thing it’s a two –octave scale. You can make a D minor arpeggio starting on the 3rd string:

  • D (3rd string, fret 7), F (3rd string, fret 10), and A (2nd string, fret 10).

 

a min to d min

 

That’s the basic strategy: if something doesn’t seem to work, look for alternatives. The specific strategy here is to find another place on the neck to play the D minor arpeggio.

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Targeting 2

Targeting (see the last post) gives us all the safe notes. If you use the chord-tones of the chord you’re on when you’re soloing, it’s going to sound ok.

But there are only three chord-tones if you’re playing triads, and four if you’re playing 7th chords. Since there are 12 notes to choose from, you might be wondering what you can do with all those other notes.

 

Tension

It really depends on how much tension you want to create. Instead of using all 12 of the notes available to us, let’s just use the seven that are in any major scale.

I implied in the last post, that the key of C has seven notes. And I pointed out the notes that are in a triad (root, 3rd, and 5th). Using a C major triad as an example, that gives us C (root), E(3rd), and G (5th), leaving D (2nd), F (4th), A (6th), and B (7th) just sort of sitting there.

Is it ok to play those on the C major triad? Sure, but you need to be careful with them.

You need to be careful with them because those are the notes that create tension.

And because they create tension, you need to know how to resolve them.

 

Resolution

Resolving these notes is pretty easy. Just follow them with the closest chord-tone.

 

  • Follow the 2nd with the root or the 3rd.
  • Follow the 4th with the 3rd or the 5th.
  • Follow the 6th with the 5th.
  • And follow the 7th with the root.

 

Once you start playing these you might find that you like the sound of the 2nd against the chord. The 6th sounds ok, too, and if you play the 7th you’re essentially creating a 7th chord. So it’s ok, too. The 4th is the one that usually gives people the most trouble.

Keep in mind that each of them have a level of tension different than the others. You’ll wind up liking some more than others.

 

Practice

Record a C major triad, and practice playing all of the notes in the C major scale against the chord. A good way to approach this is to just play the scale, stop on the 2nd(D), and hold it. Then resolve it down to the root (C).

Do it again, but resolve it up to the 3rd (E). Do you like the resolution up or down? Or do you prefer to just stay on the D?

Staying on the D creates a feeling that we haven’t arrived at the end. All non chord-tones create this feeling. Because of this, it’s a good strategy to rest on non chord-tones at the beginning of a solo, and rest on chord-tones toward the end.

Go through the same process with the other non chord-tones (4th, 6th, and 7th). Pay close attention to what your preferences are. Do you prefer to rest on the non chord-tone? What resolution do you like: up or down? Knowing what you like and don’t like is crucial in developing a personal voice.

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Targeting

I’ve talked a lot about chords in the last few posts. I want to focus on the individual notes in those chords now.

I’ve talked about how we get the notes of a chord (Take every other note of the scale).

And I’ve talked about what to name those notes. For example…

 

Key of C:

 

C                 D            E           F            G             A          B

Root          2nd        3rd        4th          5th           6th        7th

 

So the C major chord has a C, E, and G, also known as the root, 3rd, and 5th.

Start the C major scale from D and you have the dorian mode.

 

D                E             F           G         A              B             C

Root         2nd          3rd        4th       5th          6th          7th

 

…and the notes of the D minor chord are D, F, and A.

 

Targeting

Why am I talking about all this? Because the notes of any chord (called chord tones) can be used to make solos and riffs sound like they make sense (i.e. good)

How? By placing chord tones in strategic places in the solo or riff. This is called targeting. You’re targeting notes in the chord

And how do you do that? Take a look at your progression. Figure out the notes in each chord by taking the root, 3rd, and 5th of that chord. Then place those notes in important places in your solo or riff.

 

The important places

Where are the important places? Perhaps the most important place in a solo or riff is at the end. When you put a chord tone there, any tension you’ve created gets resolved. Everything sounds complete.

Of course, you may not want it to sound complete. But that’s another post.

So, an example…

 

simple progression

 

The first thing to notice is where the chord tones are. I’ve started the whole thing on the root of the first chord. The root is the most stable chord tone so it always works at the beginning. It communicates solidity. That doesn’t mean it’s the right thing every time, but it’s not a bad place to start.

 

 Tension/resolution

The second note is the 5th of the chord, and I end the first bar on the 3rd (E). In between those notes are non-chord tones (F and D); these communicate less stability, and are great for transitions to chord tones. To make things interesting, it’s important to create tension and then resolve it (which going from non-chord tones to chord tones does).

 

Do some analysis

Analyse the rest of the progression keeping in mind what chord you’re on, and what chord tones you’re looking for. Which bar creates the most tension (i.e. has the most non-chord tones)? Notice how a non-chord tone on one chord (E on the G chord, bar 3) turns into a chord tone on the next chord.

 

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Pedal

Everyone seems seems to like pedal.

The pedal is that unchanging, drone-like note that gets sustained while other notes or chords change.

 

Scale-tone triads

This is where scale-tone triads work well. I’m going to use some in the key of A major that I haven’t presented before. I’m using the key of A because I want to use the open 5th string A as the pedal.

Here are the scale-tone triads in the key of A:

scale tone A

 

Play up and down the scale to get used to the shapes. Notice where it shifts string sets at the 6th chord. Once they feel comfortable, start adding the open A string to them. Try it both strumming or arpeggiating.

 

Making 7th chords

When you add the pedal (5th string A) to different triads in the A major scale, you get some 7th chords.

  • Adding A to the B minor triad gives you a B minor 7th chord (B, D, F#, A)
  • Adding it to the C# minor triad gives you an A major 7th chord (A, C#, E, G#).
  • The E major chord turns into an E major add 11 chord (E, G#, A, B)
  • The G# diminished chord turns into a G#, B, D, A chord. It makes more sense to spell this B, D, G#, A to produce a B minor 13 chord.

 

We don’t really hear these chords that way, but knowing this gives you an idea of why the whole thing sounds richer. In the end, though, we tend to hear them like triads sliding around under the pedal rather than 7th chords.

 

Adding to songs

This is a good technique to use when you want some contrast between verse and chorus, or when you want an interlude going from chorus to verse.

To use this technique in other keys, just tune the 5th or 6th strings to the note you want. For instance, if you want to use the C as a pedal, tune the 6th string down to C. If you want to use the G as a pedal tune the 5th string down to G.

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