For those who struggle with following changes !

AmundLauritzen

Yes, isolating chord changes for in-depth study is a great way to learn. You could spend an eternity collecting licks and movements just for C6 to E7. Then practice the remaining chord changes like that, isolating each cadence. For dominant licks, it's a great idea to take one lick through the cycle of fourths. There is a lot of dominant movement in fourths in GJ tunes. Taking a lick through the cycle, or setting up a backing track with dominants through the cycle and improvising connecting the licks you know will prepare you for many situations.

anthon_74

Hey there -

Okay so after just under a week of 2 hour a day arpeggio practice (only) over the song All of me, the results are in and they are good.

To review I've been practicing arpeggios in every position on the fret board, going up in one, down in the other, vise versa, and pretty much every permutation of that I could think of. Specifically focusing on '2 chord at a time' intensive work.

So, today I put on my All of me play along and improvised, and it was like a completely new experience. I would say it cut down on so called "wrong notes" by a good 60 - 70 %. The freedom I felt in my hands just knowing where the chord shapes are at all times was great. And there was one hypothesised benefit that I didn't assume would happen that DID happen - All the practicing of the arpeggios made me so much better at the arpeggios themselves (not just the transitions which was my main focus) that I felt much more creative improvising around them and coming up with new ideas spontaneously.

now I gotta do the same thing for about 10-20 more songs (at least) before Django in june...

Anthony

Bones

Hey Anthony,

Using the All Of Me example, the first 2 chords (C and E7) both last for 2 measures each.

When you practice your arps over that do you do 2 measures of each or just one measure of each?

Do you have any tab of an example of playing thru those changes?

thanks

anthon_74

I'll break it down for you -

I start by practicing arps in what I call first position - roughly the 1st through 6th fret zone, and play the arps as they line up in that position.

I usually start by playing the C chord up and down (ascending then descending), and then the E7 (for now, I'm just using the Emajor arp, I later plan to add the 7ths and such) up and down without pauses.

Then once that feels better, I switch directions and go down then up in each, again no pausing.
Once that feels easier, I go up in one, down in the other (only one measure each for time saving and consistency of directions) and then vice versa.

Then I move on to the next chord pairing - E7 - A7, and repeat the process... once I'm done, I play all three together, two measures each, up and down in each one... then all together down and up in each one (2 measures each). Then I mix it up a bit - one measure each (this of course is without playalong accompaniment), up in one chord, down in the next, then up in the next (and so on depending on how many changes I'm up to). and then I switch it (down in C, up in E7, down in A7 one measure of each).

The trick comes when you get to the F - Fm - C - A7 etc...
for me, I do different things there. To get them in my fingers, I just play them 2 measures each (not like the song)... then I try to do them like the song - one measure each - up in one down in the next/up in all of them/down in all them/ and so on.

Then I do the WHOLE process in the next "zone" which is the 4th through the 9th fret...

Then the next which is the 6th through the 10th fret.

then the next 9th through 13th....
12th through 17th
And so on.

Bones

Ok, that makes sense. I'll work on that with All of Me and also rhythm changes.

Thanks!

Lango-Django

Hi, Anthony, here's something that helped me and who knows it may help you, too...

Take whatever tune you're working on and play it real slow, totally without accompaniment of any kind.

You will by necessity be forced to stay pretty close to the chord changes, but still your brain has plenty of time to stay ahead of your fingers and navigate from one chord to the next.

It's actually not very hard at a slow tempo.

Once you become proficient at this, then you speed it up, and add a metronome or backing tracks to the equation.

The guy that amazes me with his ability to stay right on the chord tones at fantastic tempos is Adrien Moignard.

I guess if you wanted to be picky, you could criticize him for not always being the most melodic kid on the block, but Jesus! How the hell does he play those arps so effortlessly at those tempos?

And to the naked ear, he doesn't seem to be just playing the same licks over and over.

It may be sacrilige around here to say this, but I've gotta say it, so here goes--- I don't even think Django could've kept up with him when it comes to just playing arps that fast.

I think Adrien Moignard must have a computer for a brain...!

Buco

Jazzaferri wrote:

My milestone is if ai can sing the melody and play the chords easily I have it.

When you say "play the chords" do you mean arpeggiate the chords while singing the melody?

Jazzaferri

No just playing the chords but play the arps would be an even higher level

Buco

Jazzaferri wrote:

No just playing the chords but play the arps would be an even higher level

I see, definitely an important part of learning a tune, it's what my guitar teacher (when I still could afford private lessons) wanted me to do every time he gave me a new tune, to get me off the sheet ASAP.

Lango-Django wrote:

Take whatever tune you're working on and play it real slow, totally without accompaniment of any kind.

You will by necessity be forced to stay pretty close to the chord changes, but still your brain has plenty of time to stay ahead of your fingers and navigate from one chord to the next.

It's actually not very hard at a slow tempo.

I try doing this occasionally but even though I can play the chords for the tune without thinking about it and no problem whatsoever, I can play it in my sleep kind of thing, I still struggle playing a simple improvised melody line and stay aware of the every chord change and intentionally target chord tones.
I'm aware of the harmony change and "feel it" but sometimes I have to stop and ask my self "what's this chord now?" and sometimes even run through the chords quickly to get to the chord in question.
So frustrating, makes me feel like a moron.

I'm making a list of what I found in this thread would work for me and will make sure I stick to for a period of time.
I really gotta get off of this point and plow through it, it's getting stale.

anthon_74

Newest addition to the practice -

So, as I delve deeper into really knowing these arpeggios and their relationships to each other, I have added a new wrinkle to the arp practice - eliminating one string at a time.

In other words, I will do all the same exercises over all of me arps, except I take out the 6th string, and start at the 5th, working up to the 1st and back.

Then take out both the 6th and 5th, only playing up and down from the 4th to the 1st, and so on, until I'm only playing the 1st and 2nd string (then it gets quite boring).

And then when I'm done with this, I plan to reverse it and take out one string at a time from the other end (1st, then 2nd etc)..

the idea here is to get even better at finding the closest chord tone of the next chord, on the string your on, regardless of the string, so when you change chords, you can move into the tonality of the next chord with ever greater ease...

All in all, I have to say that focusing on ONE song, while less exciting, has been a revelation for my playing...

Anthony

PS - Will, I had been doing your advice all along. no playalong tracks to work out the arps better in preparation for having to follow the tracks. Cheers buddy and I'll see you soon !