Today is Friday September 03, 2010
Modes Of The Harmonic Minor Scale
The harmonic minor scale has some really interesting modes but they are rarely used or heard. The two most important modes of this scale are the classical sounding harmonic minor and the eastern sounding phrygian dominant scale.
If you’ve ever listened to anything by Swedish guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen then you will have a pretty good idea what this scale sounds like. It also crops up frequently in classical music.
Lets look at the chords of the harmonic minor scale. We can see that they are more interesting and unusual than the standard major scale chords. Note the more harmonically rich augmented and diminished type sounds.
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Guitar Interval Sequences
In this lesson I will show you some interesting ways to make scale practice more rewarding and interesting. As well as playing scales straight up and down you can also practice them using scale sequences. Playing scales using intervallic sequences is one of the best ways to get to know the sound and shapes that can be found within the scale. Some of these examples also make great technical exercises, which can greatly develop both your left and right hand. In our final exercise we will look at sequencing the major scale using triad arpeggios.
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Modes Of The Major Scale
In this lesson we will look at the seven modes of the major scale. A thorough understanding of these modes is essential for many musical styles and will greatly improve both your technique and versatility as a soloist. Using these modes will give you a much richer musical palette to work with and can be used to great effect when composing music.
An important step in understanding modes is to realize what chord the mode applies to. It is the underlying chord that creates the sound of the mode itself. Therefore you must make sure you fully understand what chords each mode is related to.
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The Whole Tone Scale
The Whole tone scale as the name implies is made up of whole steps. This is a really interesting and beautiful six note scale that all guitarists should know.
Because of the symmetrical nature of the scale it only has two real positions on the guitar neck making it very easy to learn and remember. The nature of the scale lends itself to licks based on repeating patterns.
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