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Alex, I think you are reading the exercise incorrectly. From your description I assume your root is C. Are you aware that this specific exercise is descending only? Therefore it goes from the highest 3rd (E) on the 1st string down to the 6th string and does NOT ascend from the 6th to 1st string.
In the Calisthenics, when there is a “down” arrow on the left, the exercise only works descending; if there is an “up” arrow, it only works ascending which is the case for the 3rd and 4th exercises. All other exercises are to be played descending and ascending as in the videos. Is this what is throwing you off?
Hi Alex,
Sorry, I can’t understand what you are referring to…I can’t find any instance in which the #5 is played twice in a row on any of the calisthenics on p.56
Can you be more specific?
Yes, the ultimate goal is to understand and visualize all scale fingerings and the chord voicings they generate. This is something I stress in Module 1 and I also offer a review of all the chord families and their inversions in the 1st 4 strings, before starting the course. Later in Vol 2, for which we use all the fingering patterns, I further demonstrate this relationship. It is something I work on extensively with most of my “one on one” students.
I am currently putting together a chord melody and comping course that will explore this concept in detail, as it is necessary to understand in order to harmonize a melodic line.
I assume that you meant b7-ch-b7 (the B7 threw me off). The reason this is not valid or mentioned is because there is no “ch” available as a lower neighboring tone in the mixolydian. It is in turn a “6” which is diatonic and instead mentioned here.
On the other hand, if you are asking why it isn’t used as an upper chromatic NT, that is due to the modal ambiguity that chromatic upper NTs create and therefore are avoided for the most part(see p.46 Lesson Book). In this case it would sound like a major 7 and creates some rather nasty dissonance (at least at slow to medium tempos) with the b7 which is a primary guide tone of this chord/scale.
Most guitarists, myself included, find the 4 note per string configuration very awkward. However, you can do as you please, although I would not recommend this to any students who are doing one on one lessons with me. I believe it would create a series of problems in certain fingering situations which they would have to figure out for themselves and they might not always come up with a proper solution. Furthermore all the exercises and etudes featured throughout the rest of the entire course are demonstrated using the prescribed fingering.
I’m glad you figured it out!
I honestly don’t want to add tab to this Calisthenics. I believe that someone who is going to be dealing with the intricacies involved at this level of improvisation should already have a good understanding of the fingerings and where all the intervals are situated within each one. The material included in Calisthenics 7 and 8, with the exception of introducing a wide leap at the point of chord change, is made up of concepts which were repeatedly used and reinforced in VOL 1. There is very little that is new here. So this leads me to believe that those who are challenged by not having tab at this point might not have completed VOL 1 correctly. But please don’t take this personally. Since I don’t know your playing, I can’t really judge if this is your case.
As far as my private students go, I make sure that they can get through the exercises and etudes in VOL 1 reading the interval script before starting on VOL 2. This proves to me that they have a solid understanding of the fretboard, as well as the related theory. Of course the bottom line is being able to improvise over all the progressions introduced in VOL 1 before moving on.
Most guitarists, myself included, find the 4 note per string configuration very awkward. However, you can do as you please, although I would not recommend this to any students who are doing one on one lessons with me. I believe it would create a series of problems in certain fingering situations which they would have to figure out for themselves and they might not always come up with a proper solution. Furthermore all the exercises and etudes featured throughout the rest of the entire course are demonstrated using the prescribed fingering.
You shouldn’t need the tabs to do the exercise. That is what the interval script is for. It is also assumed that by now you should be very familiar with Fingering Model 1 which was covered extensively in VOL 1.
Fingering Model 7 features pattern 1 for the II chord, pattern 4 for the V7 and pattern 7 for the Imaj7…It should be easy to adapt from the available interval script as these fingerings overlap with those of pattern 1. In addition, both exercises are demonstrated in detail on the video.
In all honesty I discourage my students to rely on tab. It can become a real crutch, especially for jazz. I’ve only included it in the books because of the large amount of guitarists who can’t read regular notation and as a helper for those who are transitioning from other styles such as rock, to jazz. Having said that, it should only be used when learning new scale fingerings to make sure in the very beginning that you are using the right fingers. After that, if you want to understand and be in control of the music for improvisation purposes, you should be identifying (and hearing in your head) all notes in terms of intervals assigned to specific locations on the fretboard.
Thanks again Jack. I will fix it…Also thanks for sharing your experience!
The super locrian is the hardest scale I’ve learned, which holds true for most people when they learn it starting on the root. It took me over 6 months to really get a few patterns down back in the day when I decided to stop relying on the melodic minor a half step up. The bottom line is that it really paid off because I finally gained control and an understanding of what interval in the scale I was playing, versus hitting random notes in the mel min. Also did wonders for my ear because I learned to identify all those altered tones for what they are in relation to the real root!Hi Wim,
This will be available along with a new related video series only to Platinum members towards the end of this month. At that time I will send out an email with info for Gold members who may wish to upgrade.
Hi Daniel,
Welcome to the BGIS! I can’t really give you a determined amount of time for studying because I don’t know your personal schedule. All I can say is, “the more the merrier”. You get out of it what you put into it.
I will send you an email shortly with info on our private lessons and after our first lesson we will be able to better determine what and how long you should study.
Look forward to meeting you online!
Richie
Kelly,
I just remembered that the rhythms are on the melody channel. Try setting it to channel 4 and it should work.
Hi Kelly,
I wish I could be of more help. Band in a Box is very different on Macs than on PCs. Unfortunately I’m not sure which platform you’re on. Even if it was on a PC which I am better familiar with, I really don’t know what can be going on.From what you’re saying, it sounds like you might have the track in question set to a wrong midi channel. Try a different instrument or you might try experimenting with other styles to see if anything changes.
Hi Steve,
Glad to help, but I will need more info as how you are trying to open the file. I assume that Band in a Box is installed and working? If so, after you downloaded the file are you navigating to the location in your hard drive where you downloaded it, from within Band in a Box (from the top menu “OPEN” and locate the file)? Finally, are you on a PC or a MAC?
