Category : guitar

Paradiddles

I love paradiddles.

A paradiddle is a drum rudiment that drummers use to work on coordination, among other things. I’m introducing these as a way for you to experience rhythm in your entire body, instead of just your arms. This will seriously improve your sense of rhythm.

We’ll play these by tapping our hands on our thighs. Unless you’ve got a drum kit…

Bear with me. We’ll transfer this to the guitar in the next post, but this is one of those ideas that benefits from a bit of work away from the guitar. Most rhythm work is that way.

The upper body

The “para” part of paradiddle means alternate hand-tapping starting with either the right hand or the left hand. If all you did was the “para” part you would just tap your thighs starting with either left hand or right hand, and alternate them. Here it is starting with the right hand (R = right hand; L = left hand).

The “diddle” part means playing twice in a row with either just the left hand or just the right hand.

A paradiddle starting with a right hand/left hand alternation is followed by right hand/right hand. We’ll abbreviate this to RLRR.

Follow that with LRLL You get this pattern: RLRR LRLL. Practice this until you’re comfortable with it. Be patient. It might be frustrating at first. But once you get it, you’ll love it.

The whole body

Once you’re comfortable with this, alternate foot taps while you do it. In other words, tap left foot, right foot. Continue alternating feet while you tap RLRRLRLL on your thighs.

Do this really slowly at first. Do it to the point of frustration and stop. This is not giving up. This is slowly introducing a really complex movement into the body.

Do it again the next day and it will be a bit better. Ignore the voices in your head telling you that you can’t do this. Continue this for a week, and your body will see it as familiar instead of strange. Then it starts to be fun.

The point of this is to use the whole body to experience rhythm. This translates to better rhythmic control on the guitar. The work is worth it. Really.

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DADGAD: Three-string open chords

By now you’ll have noticed that not everything you’ve made sounds good. That’s normal. Don’t let it slow you down. Just document the stuff you like.

Note on the D string

Let’s add one more string that we can use to add to our collection of possible chords using the dorian scale as a resource.

The notes for D dorian on the D string, starting on the 5^th fret are:

• Fret 5
• Fret 7
• Fret 9
• Fret 10
• Fret 12
• Fret 14
• Fret 15

All of the ideas from the last two posts apply.  Having three strings to deal with just makes it more complex.

Possibilities

• You can make chords using only one fret on either the B (tuned to A), G, or D strings. Then you can move from string to string, playing a single fret on each string while strumming.

• With five open strings ringing in each chord, it might get a bit monotonous. Even so, it might provide a nice effect. Figure out how you can use it to create a contrasting section in a song you’re working on.

• Or strum only 3, 4, or 5 strings while fretting one note

• You can anchor one finger and move the other two. Or anchor two fingers and move one.

• You can move all three fingers together to create a progression of triads.

• You can choose a note on the D string and one on the B string. Leave the G string open.

• You can go from a chord where you’re fretting one note, to one where you’re fretting two notes. Follow that with a chord where you’re fretting three notes. Or go from a two-note chord to a three-note chord to a one-note chord.

The scale

And you have a three string scale.

Like the 2-string scale you can make short riffs that complement the chord progressions you’re making.

You now have resources to keep you busy for a long time.

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DADGAD: Two-string open chords

Adding a second string allows you to make more interesting chords.

You know the notes in D dorian on the B string from the last post. Here they are on the G string, starting at the 4^th fret:

• Fret 4
• Fret 5
• Fret 7
• Fret 9
• Fret 10
• Fret 12
• Fret 14
• Fret 16

Play around with these like you did in the last post (playing the frets in sequence, making chords, etc).

Now play from the G string to the B string. One way to do this is to play the 4th, 5th, and 7th frets on the G string in sequence. Follow this with the 5th, 7th, and 8th frets on the B string (It’s basically a two-string scale). There are a ton of ways to do this…

Two strings together

Strum all six strings while fretting notes on the G string and the B string together. There are a few basic ways to do this.

1. Anchor a finger on one string and move a finger around on the other string. For example, place your index finger on the G string at the 4^th fret. Now move between the 5^th , 7^th , and 8^th frets with your middle finger (5^th fret) and pinky (7^th and 8^th frets).

2. Use the same idea, but anchor a finger on the B string and move fingers on the G string.

3. Move two fingers together. For example, play the 7^th fret on the G string and the 5^th fret on the B string. Now move your fingers to the 10^th fret on the G string and the 8^th fret on the B string.

There are lots of combinations here. Do some exploring.

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Open chords and DADGAD

DADGAD is an alternate tuning. Alternate tunings are pretty much what they sound like: an alternate way to tune the guitar. They’re a great way to come up with new ideas when standard tuning starts to get old.

I’m going to talk about one of the most popular ones: DADGAD.

Re-tuning the guitar

Here’s how you tune the guitar for DADGAD:

• Low E string: tune to D a whole step lower than low E; should be an octave lower than the 4^th string.
• A string: stays the same
• D string: stays the same
• G string: stays the same
• B string: tune to an A a whole step lower than B; tune to the 2^nd fret of the G string
• High E string: tune to a D a whole step lower than E; tune to the 7^th fret of G string

Re-tune slowly so that you don’t break strings. I’ve broken more strings tuning down than tuning up. Releasing tension can do that.

Strum all six strings. While you strum, play one of the following frets on the B string (which is now tuned to A):

• Fret 5
• Fret 7
• Fret 8
• Fret 10
• Fret 12
• Fret 14
• Fret 15
• Fret 17

These frets outline the D dorian scale.  You can play them as a sequence from fret 5 to 17. Or you can play them in any order you want.

Chords and progressions

Play each fret while strumming the other strings. Think of the result as chords by playing each one for at least four beats. This allows you to get a sense of each sound.

Once you have a sense of what each fret sounds like with the other five strings, create some progressions. Try strumming the 5^th fret for a bar, followed by the 10^th fret for a bar, then the 7^th fret for two bars. Repeat. This should give you some ideas for your own stuff.

By the way, I haven’t tried that particular pattern. I like to write patterns away from the guitar then try them out later. This means that habits that I have when the guitar is in my hands don’t control what I do. New stuff happens more regularly.

For those of you wondering about shapes that produce conventional chords with DADGAD, here you go. It’s good to know these if you want to go from a more conventional sound to an invented chord.

Too much drone?

The drone of the five unfretted strings might be too much for you after a while. Experiment with eliminating strings. Try strumming the first three strings. Or the first two. Or whatever. Find variety.

Using notes on other strings is good for adding variety, as well. I’ll talk about this in the next post.

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Mixing scales

Here are some examples of how to mix minor pentatonic and dorian.

Endless 8th notes

I’ve used eighth notes to make the difference between minor pentatonic and dorian easier to see.

Rhythmic variation

Use the same lick and vary it rhythmically.

 Long notes

Long notes are always effective. They act as milestones for listeners simply because they last longer than the notes around them. Notice that I removed a note from the original. It wasn’t working with the rhythm I was using.

Repetition

Repeated notes are also very effective.

Next post: open chords and alternate tuning.

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A bunch of notes for the blues 2

Here’s the A dorian mode. Use it on the blues in A.

Here’s the backing track from the last post again.

Play the A dorian scale against it. Once again, get comfortable with the scale, and write down stuff you like as you play it.

Notice that all of the notes of the A minor pentatonic scale are in the A dorian mode. Knowing that, you can easily move between the different moods represented by each of these scales.

Blues scale

Here’s the blues scale in A.

Play it against the backing track.

Moving between worlds

Each of the four scales I’ve been talking about in the last two posts offers a completely different melodic world. Play the backing track and play each scale, one after the other. As you move from one scale to the other, notice how the mood changes. Does this offer any ideas for composition or song-writing? Are you able to sing along with any of the things you play?

If you can sing along with them, do they inspire any lyrics?

Once you’re comfortable with each of the scales, practice going fluidly between them. For instance, play 4 or 5 notes of minor pentatonic, then 4 or 5 notes of major pentatonic. Then go to dorian and then the blues scale. Try writing a solo that uses all four scales.

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