Diminished Patterns

|--8-12-8-------9---------------------------------------------
|---------11-10---10-8----11--------8-------------------------
|----------------------11----11-9-8---8-------9---------------
|---------------------------------------11-10---10-8-7-11-7---
|-----------------------------------------------------------10
|------------------------------------------------------------- etc.

|--8-11-8-------8----------------------------------
|---------11-10---10-8----10-----------------------
|----------------------11----11-9-8-11-8-------8---
|----------------------------------------11-10---10
|--------------------------------------------------
|-------------------------------------------------- etc.

|--9-12-9-8----9-------------------------------------
|-----------11---11-10-8-11-8------8-----------------
|-----------------------------11-9---9-8----9--------
|----------------------------------------11---11-10-8
|----------------------------------------------------
|---------------------------------------------------- etc.

|-----11---------8--------------------------------------------------
|--11----11-10-8---8------10----------------------------------------
|--------------------11-9----9-8----11---------8--------------------
|--------------------------------11----11-10-8---8-------10--------7
|--------------------------------------------------11-10----10-8-7--
|------------------------------------------------------------------- etc.

|-----12---------9----------------------------------------
|--11----11-10-8---8------11--------8---------------------
|--------------------11-9----9-8--------------9-----------
|--------------------------------11---11-10-8---8-------11
|-------------------------------------------------12-10---
|--------------------------------------------------------- etc.

|-----11---------8--------------------------------
|--10----10-8-------------10----------------------
|-------------11---11-9-8----8-------11--------8--
|------------------------------11-10----10-8-7---7
|-------------------------------------------------
|------------------------------------------------- etc.

|--11-9------8-----------------------------------------------
|-------10-8---11------10-8----------------------------------
|-----------------11-9------8----11-9------8-----------------
|-----------------------------11------10-8---11-7----10-8----
|-------------------------------------------------10------9-7
|------------------------------------------------------------ etc.

|--11-12-9-8--------------------------
|------------10-11-8-7----------------
|----------------------8-9-6-5--------
|------------------------------7-8-5-4
|-------------------------------------
|------------------------------------- etc.

|--8-9-8----------------------------------------------------
|-----------10-11-10----7-8-7-------------------------------
|--------12----------------------8-9-8----------------------
|--------------------14-------11-------8-10-11-10----7-8-7--
|-------------------------------------------------10-------7
|----------------------------------------------------------- etc.

|--8-9-------------------------------------------------------
|------10-8-10-11--------------------------------------------
|-----------------11-9-11-12-8----8-9------------------------
|------------------------------11-----10-8-10-11-7----7-8----
|--------------------------------------------------10-----9-7
|------------------------------------------------------------ etc.

|--12-11------9-8----------------------------------
|--------11-8-----8---11-10------8-----------------
|-------------------9-------9------11------9-8-----
|-----------------------------11------11-8-----8---
|------------------------------------------------10
|-------------------------------------------------- etc.


http://www.hotfrets.com/tabWriter.asp

Kind of handy!

In Response to another recent question, "What do you think about while you're playing?"

Thank you for you question James!  This is what I think about: Music.  But before I could do that, I had to think about the mechanics of this kind of unwieldy instrument with 5 different places to play middle C and four, potentially 5 fingers to play them with.  My strong suggestion is to begin by learning arpeggio shapes.  Then moving them through a key.  Familiarize yourself with the shapes of different intervals and how you might reach them.  Where your hand is currently dictates some of where you can go next and so context becomes very important and to develop continuity you must learn every inversion of every chord and all positions of a given scale.  My little book on motific mastery might be helpful.  It is a fairly robotic approach but it lays the groundwork of moving up and down the neck.  We should just do lesson!  Until then, YouTube!  So many free guitar lessons it's silly.  Everyone has something to offer, even if it's a good example of what not to do.  Best of luck.  Oh, and often I'm thinking about dynamics and balance.  That is the thing I'm conscious of most of the time.   

In response to a recent question, "Where do you find your vocabulary?"

Some of the most helpful answers I’ve found are in the music itself.  By transcribing what it is that piques my interest musically, I have learned to make the theory come alive in a way that it might not have otherwise.  I think the theory you learn in college or wherever is a useful framework for cataloguing your musical ideas and extrapolating new ones but in itself does not inspire.  So return to the source, the artists who made you pick up the instrument in the first place and listen.  Transcribe what you love and see if you can stretch it rhythmically, harmonically, melodically into a vocabulary of your own.  Keep only what you love.  Make mistakes, learn from them.  Let them go.  Be forgiving of yourself and others and keep playing. 

Practice connecting your instrument with your voice by vocalizing while you play, unless you play a wind instrument.  Be disciplined.  If you want to be dogmatic go ahead, though it may limit your circle of friends.  I’m from Seattle where the rule seems to be “to each his own” and I’m just fine with that.  You can see a prism of the world’s cultures here and I love it.  When I hear something that touches me I isolate it and study it and and work it up and down it's given harmonic context.  I break things down by key center, and mode.  In other words, “What key are we in?  What chord are we playing in that key, the IV, the V, etc?  What degree is this melodic note relative to the root of that chord?”  Some things are atonal and those are usually kind of intuitive on the geometry of the fingerboard, even if they don't fall into a key.  I had just played "Freedom Jazz Dance" when this question was posed to me.  What had I played and where did it come from?  I was following my ears and occasionally my fingers.  There were other things like superimposed harmonies and a Michael Brecker lick that I lifted but that intervallic stuff lays on the guitar pretty well.  That is such an idiosyncratic melody that just moving motifs from it around can make up a great solo.  The diminished scale has a lot to yield toward outside playing but there are other symmetrical scales, like Messian's modes of limited transposition that can be applied to a static harmony to give a sense of movement.  Was I thinking of any of this while I played?  No.  But's it's good to have onboard.  

That Mysterious Kurt Rosenwinkel Lick

This is what I'm hearing and feeling about this lick at 2:18 in Minor Blues from Kurt Rosenwinkel's album The Next Step.  It's on the 2nd and 3rd strings and this fingering is pretty intuitive.  I've transcribed it in C to remove accidentals and any resulting confusion.  The slurs indicate pull-offs.  If you've been trying to figure this out for a while, you should feel pretty good this.  Now put it into different scales and keys and make it your own.  As ever, thank you Kurt for the inspiration and thank you reader for sharing my enthusiasm for this music.  

Tuck Andres in '84

There aren't too many guys who carry the history of the guitar on their backs the way Tuck does.  He is able to elucidate techniques from a broad range of players and has developed such a unique style over the years.  He touches on George Benson, Jay Graydon and Lenny Breau in this clinic.  A lot of key stuff here.

Patterns

Here's what I'm practicing today.

"1+2! 1+2 more fun for me and you and you!"- Richie Aldente

So, yeah. Me and my metronome here just leaving a mark.

Come to think of it, I've travelled quite a bit these past 7 years.

The job I have playing guitar on the cruise ships of Holland America Line has been a real education in geography and the world's cultures.  Even though we spend only a day or two at each destination, my perspective has been enriched by this experience and I am grateful for the opportunity to open my eyes and ears to people I would not otherwise have met.  As T.S. Eliot so aptly put it, "The journey not the arrival matters." That being said, it is good to be home and after seeing a fair part of the world, I have a better idea where home is.  I think he said something like that too.  Anyway, right now I am happier than ever to see my friends and family and I am grateful for their continued support as I look forward to embarking on my 3rd world cruise in 2012.  I'll miss you guys and girls!

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