#2 note runs

[donnagrantis]

Hour 53

Jammed along to “Soul Serenade/Rasta Man Chant” and “Bock To Bock” from the album Soul Serenade by The Derek Trucks Band.  2 observations:

1) In trying to mimic Derek’s slide playing without a slide myself, I was reminded how interesting the effect can be.  I slid in and out of notes quickly from above and below and exaggerated the technique by using it way more than I normally would.  I’ve been listening to classical Indian music lately, and this fit right in with that vibe.

2) A phrase flew by around the 1:45 minute mark of “Bock To Bock”.  My first instinct in trying to do something similar was to play an ascending fast run that turned out to be 2 notes per string.  Without thinking about it too much, I repeated this concept throughout the song using any combination of 2 notes in a Db dorian scale.  Incorporating color tones to this approach sounds especially good - it adds a more exciting dimension compared to straight pentatonics.  The runs easily set up and lead to new phrases.

[donnagrantis]

Hour 43

Chord voicings in 4ths always sound so hip.  I was working through various inversions of minor 6 chords played in 4ths along the neck, using all 6 strings initially and then breaking the shapes down into 2, 3, 4 and 5 note chords.  For example, in C minor (dorian) starting from the lowest string, the voicings can be spelled out as follows:

- 5, R, 4, b7, b3, 6

- 6, 9, 5, R, 4, b7

- b7, b3, 6, 9, 5, R

- R, 4, b7, b3, 6, 9

- 9, 5, R, 4, b7, b3

- b3, 6, 9, 5, R, 4

Then, I combined 2 shapes into a scale and practised playing the notes as fast as possible ascending and descending.  Taking the first 2 formulas above as an example, the new collection of notes becomes:

- 5, 6, R, 9, 4, 5, b7, R, b3, 4, 6, b7

It sounds pretty cool!  A refreshing alternative to pentatonic runs.  :)