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After I’d been in it quite a while, it struck me rather forcibly that I knew sodall about music and what I would have to do really would be to learn a little bitabout it, seeing as I was doing it; going into these sessions and different things. SoI thought I’d try and figure out a little more about it, that’s all. So I just sat downand made myself stick at it. It wasn’t easy, but then it just started becoming easierand easier and I realised that even if I couldn’t always remember the name ofsomething, then I would recognise the sound. It’s like learning a language whereyou don’t know the long words but after a while you recognise them, like a child. Sonow I say, ‘That’s a 13th with a flattened 9th’ because I know the sound of it.

QUOTE FROM TALKING GUITARS: MARK KNOPFLER ON LEARNING HIS TRADE…STAR SOUND BITE...

TheorygodmotherPost your playingposers and technical teasers to:TheoryGodmother,GuitarTechniques, 30Monmouth Street, Bath, BA12BW; or [email protected] - yourwish ismycommand!

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8GuitarTechniquesOctober 2012

Minor MoodDear Theory Godmotherhaving spent a while nowpractising playing over a II V Isequence using modal thinking –Dorian for the II chord, mixolydianfor the V and Ionian for the I - I’veturned my attention to tackling theminor version. But it seems thatthe thinking behind a minor IIm VIm isn’t quite as clear cut and, to behonest, things become confusedvery quickly! Is there any way youcan give an understandable guideto approaching a minor IIm V Im as abasis for soloing?

Pete

It’s always been my impression thatwhereas major harmony in music isrelatively logical and straightforward,when we start to discuss minorequivalents we quickly run intotrouble! I mean: one major scale vsthree minors – what’s that all about?Also, regular readers of TheoryGodmother will know that I tend toresist turning music into a science,where formulae are dogmaticallyapplied and adhered to, in favourof a slightly more organic approachwherever possible. For instance, theway in which you would tackle aminor IIm V Im depends a lot on thecontext in which you find it and soapplying a single rule isn’t generally afoolproof fit.

However, as usual in these cases,let’s look at things from the ground upand see what we can discover alongthe way. A major II V I can be dealt within exactly the way you describe, usingthe modes of the major scale: Dorian,Mixolydian and Ionian respectively(see Ex 1). A lot of teachers (includingme) will tell you that in reality all that ishappening is that you are improvisingusing the major scale of the key centreand so really it’s one scale and notthree. But thinking modally does helppeople look at the three chords fromthe perspective of their separate rootsand arpeggios, which is important forphrasing and so on. Another way oflooking at things – and something Iknow is popular with Pat Metheny - isto consider all three chords as triadsand work from there. I also generallyrecommend that students examinethe melody involved and use aconglomeration of these ideas whenthey take a solo.

Many teachers will then go onto recommend that the V chord besubjected to all kinds of chromaticalterations and additions and this issomething that we looked at in recentTheory Godmother columns.

Things change when we get to theminor variant of the II V I - and, to behonest with you, it can take a while toget your head around the plan of attackused by many texts on the subject. Sohang on to your hat!

A very wise musicologist by thename of Cecil Sharp once said thatthere are very few true minor keys usedin popular music, most of them beingmodal in nature even if they have allthe apparent characteristics of minorkey melody and harmony in place. Hewent on to say that very nearly 100% ofthe tunes he found that were thoughtto be minor were in fact modal. In otherwords, instead of the actual minorscale of any given key being used toharmonise a melody, it’s more likely thatyou’ll find Dorian or Aeolian thinking inplace. Obviously a lot of jazz tunes arebased around popular music of the dayand so we find pretty much the samething happening. So it’s no surprisethat a IIm V Im is commonly dealt withmodally, too. There are other waysof looking at it, but I’m going to stickmy neck out here and say that this ispossibly the most common for jazz.

If you take a look at Ex 2 you’ll see theharmonised Eb scale and notice thatthe VII chord is a Dm7b5, just like the iichord in our progression. Furthermore,you’ll notice that right next door there’sa convenient Cm7. In this way thesetwo are prime candidates for use asthe II and I chords of our progression;the Dm7b5 being dealt with via theD Locrian mode and the i having theC Aeolian assigned to it as a means ofimprovisation (Ex 3). The only chord thatdoesn’t really fit into the modal planis the G7 - in the Eb scale the note G

produces a IIIm chord – Gm7 – whichwould be Phrygian in its natural state(see Ex 4). That’s no good to us as weneed a dominant 7th to do its job ofsignposting the way back to the tonicchord. So what to do?

It so happens that, in jazz, it’s notuncommon to find a III7 chord – a 7th

built on the third note of the scale –and that’s exactly what we’re going toadopt here as a means to make theprogression work. If we look at the twochords, the only difference is the Bb/Bwhereas we abandon the Eb scalealtogether by losing the Ab, Eb and Bb(Ex 5). It might sound complex to beginwith but switching to the Mixolydianand beyond when we reach the V chordwill feel natural with a little orienteeringin the practice room.

So you now have three scales onwhich to base your solo: Locrian,Aeolian and Mixolydian. Naturally,many jazz players will elaborate on theV chord using altered forms and otherscales in order to introduce tension atthis point to make the resolution to theIm chord stronger and more effective.That lies in the future, though; atpresent we have enough to think about!

An alternative way of looking atthis – and favouring the more organicapproach to improvisation – is to lookat what notes we actually need to coverall three chords and we do that simplyby breaking the chords down to theirfundamental parts. As you can see (Ex 6)the Dm7b5 contains the notes D, F, Aband C, the G7 has G, B, D and F and theCm7 has C, Eb, G and Bb. If we rearrangethose notes into scale order we comeup with a choice between the Charmonic and natural minor scales. Youcould even say that C minor’s relativemajor Eb is a pretty good fit, too, as isthe C minor pentatonic scale (Ex 7).

The best approach would be tofind a minor ii V i backing track andexperiment; begin with the simplestsolution and look at it as a modalprogression, test driving the Locrian,Mixolydian and Aeolian modes. Thenmix it in with a bit of C minor bluesbefore looking at it from the naturaland harmonic minor perspective. Onceyou have the basic sound in your headand can actually hear the transitionbetween the three chords happening

Q&a

Visit www.davidmead.net to check outDavid’s books and solo CD...

Unplugged?Dear Theory GodmotherIt seems that getting a good, naturalacoustic sound in a live situation is alot harder than it sounds. I’m using anunder-saddle pickup and when I playlive it goes through a DI box into the PAwhere a little reverb and EQ are added.But it still has a tendency to sound a

in your single note soloing, advanceinto exploring some altered scales tofit the V chord for that added jazz bite.But remember the most importantthing: target the root notes and theircorresponding chord tones as theprogression moves along.

The aim must always be to playmelodically, and not just cram togethera series of interlinked scales.

EXAMPLES 17

October 2012GuitarTechniques 9

share the results! I’ve used microphonemodellers both live and in the studioand they definitely do something tostop the output from an under-saddlepickup sounding sterile. I’ve evencarried out some A/B tests in a studioand while it’s very difficult to put intowords exactly what the difference was,I can definitely say that I liked whateverit was doing. Somehow it seemed likethere was more air in the signal – andof course a microphone’s job is to pickup sound waves in the air so I guess thiswas the simulation at work.

There are alternatives to microphonemodellers, though. On the market atpresent you’ll find quite a few systemsthat combine an under saddle pickupwith a mic that is mounted on the guitarinternally. The two signals – from thepickup and mic – are then blendedtogether either in an integral preampor an external device. I know a fewplayers who use these systems andthey all manage to get a very goodcross section between piezo punch andmicrophone airiness. The best advicehere is to explore the marketplace andtake a good look at your options, aska few players which systems they useand see if you can try a few guitars outwith some different systems in place.That way you’ll be in a far better andmore informed position to make yourdecision. Be aware, though, that mostacoustic players I know change theirminds, gear, preamps and reverb unitsas often as some of us change our socks- you know, around every three to sixmonths or so!

The Numbers RacketDear Theory GodmotherForgive me for going seriously off-topic here, but have you any idea whyit’s common for bands to introducetheir material to a live audience bysaying ‘The next number we’re goingto play is…’. Do you know why songsare referred to as ‘numbers’ in thisway? It’s puzzled me for ages!

James

Switching over into Stephen Fry modefor a second James, it just so happensthat I do know the answer to this one!Around 100 years ago at functions anddinner dances it was common practicefor a band to hand out cards to theiraudience that had their repertoire listedwith numbers by the side a bit like aChinese take-away menu. So revellersand party goers could request the tunesof the day by number rather than byname. In this way it became commonfor band leaders to announce to theiraudience ‘Our next number is a waltzentitled…’and so on. I like these bitsof trivia - like the word ‘riff’ apparentlycomes from jazz too - “Play the refrain” ,with “refrain”being shortened to “riff”.

bit boxy and artificial. An alternative I’mhearing more and more about wouldbe to invest in a microphone modellingunit but I don’t know if they work. As anacoustic player yourself, have you anyinput on the matter?

Martin

I’ve actually done quite a lot of researchin this area, Martin, and I’m happy to

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TOMMYEMMANUELWILL need nointroduction. Regarded as probably the finestacoustic guitar player on the planet, Tommy’sincendiary live shows and breathtakingtechnique havewon him legions of fans acrossthe globe. However, Tommy is also a giftedarranger and interpreter of popularmusic. Sothismonthwe are examining the true depth ofhis playingwith this wonderful arrangementofHenryMancini’sMoonRiver. However,don’t let this slow-paced ballad catch you

off-guard – there are enough twists and turnsto ensure that it is every bit as challenging assome of Tommy’s uptempo tunes!

Tommy employs a great deal of subtletiesand idiosyncrasies when he approaches a slowtune and some of thesemay take you bysurprise. Generally the picking hand followsthe pim and pima conventions and these areopen to your own interpretation; beyondsome artificial harmonics and some fleetcross-string picking there isn’t toomuch toworry about with this hand. It’s whenwe getto the fretting hand that some of the realchallenges appear –we are dealingwith a

‘chordmelody’ arrangement here so you aremostly picking amelody fromwithin a chordshape and some of these can be a realchallenge. I’ve included all of Tommy’sfretting hand fingerings as a guide and youalso need towatch out for those places wherehe uses the fretting hand thumb to reach overthe neck to fret the sixth string.

There are quite a few ‘jazz’ chords here thatmay be new to you and their resultingdissonancemay take you by surprise to beginwith. However, withMoonRiver essentiallyfollowing jazz chord changes it’s no surpriseto find themhere and Tommydoes a fantastic

TRACK RECORD You can’t go wrong with any of Tommy’s solo albums. But seeing him live is where the real magic happens: he is THE

consummate entertainer, which separates him from so many dry, ‘technique for its own sake’ players. Type “Tommy Emmanuel Moon

River” into YouTube to see him casually playing the beautiful rendition that this transcription is based on in his hotel bedroom!

job of extending and substituting the variouschords he uses.

It’s worthwatching the YouTube footagethat I transcribed this from so you can reallyhear Tommy’s command and control ofdynamics as well as just getting the notes – heis perfectly attuned to themusic and uses theebb and flow of volume and pace to keepthingsmoving along brilliantly. You’ll noticehow at times he voices themelodywith fullchords whilst at other times he uses just onenote or simple two-note chords to createharmony. This level of interpretation is allpart of the skill of the arranger who knows justwhat to play at any given point.

This is a wonderful arrangement of aclassic tune that would be a great addition toany guitarist’s repertoire. Yes, there areinherent challenges but the visceral nature ofthe piecemeans that this will be a very deeplearning experience for players of allstandards. As ever if you have any questionsfeel free to dropme a line!

Tommy is associated with maton guitars fromAustralia and has his own signature model.Any acoustic will serve you well here but anOm body size will give the required responseand even dynamic range whilst a new set ofstrings is always a good idea for gettingmaximum clarity and tone.

Getthetone

3 5 8 8 1GAIN BASS MIDDLE REVERBTREBLE

ABILITY RATING

Moderate/difficult

KEY: CTEMPO: VariousCD: Track8

INFO WILL IMPROVE YOUR

Fingerstyle techniqueChord frettingMelody and chords

If you can get a melodyout there while playing afingerstyle arrangementit’s very exciting and veryself-contained.TommyEmmanuel


Tommy emmanuelmoon river

Our third instrumental isTommy’s superb version of a1961HenryMancini classic, originally a hit for singerAndyWilliams. Stuart Ryan transcribes...

Play: aCoUSTiC ONtHECD traCk8

technIque FocuSARTIFICIAL HARMONICSTommy achieves the basic harmonic by pickingthe string with his thumbpick, touching it light-ly with a fingertip twelve frets above the frettednote, and releasing the finger. You can of courseuse your thumb, not thumbpick.With chords,hemimics the chord’s shape twelve frets up oneach string. For a 3rd fret G barre chord: playthe harmonic on the sixth string, 15th fret; fifthstring, 17th fret; fourth string, 17th fret; thirdstring, 16th fret; second and first strings, 15thfret. This is themost basic use of the technique:you can use other fret distances, such as sevenor five frets; Tommy often alternates artificialharmonics with ‘natural’harmonics too.


Tommy Emmanuel:the greatest acousticguitarist of them all?

Tommy emmanUel: moon river

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[Bar 3] Right off the bat we encounter a typical Tommy embellishment that we’llsee several times during this arrangement. It’s not easy to execute this at speedso this will make a great stand-alone exercise (as will several others in the piece!).[Bar 6] Some of those tasty ‘jazz chords’ that add some darkness before resolvingbeautifully back into the very major orientated melody.[Bars 8-9] here is an example of the thumb used to fret the sixth string at the 1st

fret (bar 8) - quite a tricky technique when holding down the rest of the chord. Inbar 9 there is picking hand flourish that may raise the heart rate! Tommy uses athumbpick but it’s certainly not essential here.[Bar 16] This is difficult – Tommy slides his first finger up two frets while holdingdown the rest of the chord with the remaining fingers. The challenge is to keepthe other fingers in place. he does it without breaking sweat but it’s very tricky!

Play: aCoUSTiC ONtHECD traCk8Moon River Music and lyrics by Tommy Mercer and Henry Mancini©1961 Sony/ATV Publishing LLC. US/CAN reproduced by kind permission ofHal Leonard Corporation. UK/EU reproduced by kind permission of Music Sales Ltd.All RIghts Reserved. International Copyright Secured.

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[Bar 25] Some of Tommy’s famous artificial harmonics are here (see TechniqueFocus). he’s not using his famous ‘harping’ technique so you just need to lightlyrest the first finger of the picking hand on the string fret twelve frets above thenote on the tab (marked as Ah19 etc) before picking the string with the thumb.[Bar 28] You might find this to be another chord challenge, since you need touse a barre to keep this chord in place whilst ensuring that the first and second

strings remain open and sounding cleanly. This will take a great deal of precisionon the part of the first finger barre so I’d suggest building this chord in isolationto begin with, then including it in the main part when you’ve nailed it.[Bar 34] Some more ‘thumb on the sixth string’ chords here (shown as ‘T’ belownotation) so, again, take a good look at these in isolation before factoring theminto the whole piece. In fact, with any tricky number that’s the sensible way to go.

Tommy emmanUel: moon riverTommy Emmanuel: Signature Licks (Guitar tab and CD, 127pp, £17.95, HL00696409) Take an in-depth look atthe virtuosic playing of the Aussie acoustic master. Delve through detailed analysis of 12 songs including GuitarBoogie Shuffle and Angelina, plus a CD featuring demonstration tracks of Emmanuel’s style and techniques.Each track is presented as guitar tablature with standard notation. Available from: www.musicroom.com

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[Bar 37] Tommy actually plays a ‘neck bend’ here which means he holds thechord and then pushes the neck from behind with the picking hand to create awhammy bar effect. I’d say this is optional – it probably won’t harm your guitar inany way but neither Tommy nor GT want to take responsibility in the event that itdoes! You may want to use a different fingering for the G#9 chord.[Bar 40] And a lovely change of feel which acts as a coda to the piece - you mayfind some more challenges for the picking hand here.

[Bar 46] And finally, just when you thought it was all over… this bar is very tricky!First you have to fret the sixth string at the 8th fret with the first finger, whileusing the fourth finger to create the 12th fret harmonics on the remaining strings.When Tommy does it he quickly shifts his fingering on the sixth string from firstto second finger so he can perform the harmonics at the 7th fret. The key is thathe keeps the sixth string sounding while changing fingers. This can take a lot ofgetting used to and will again serve as a great practice bar on its own.

Play: aCoUSTiC ONtHECD traCk8

Johnny Smith favoured full-bodied archtopjazz guitars, and Guild, Gibson and heritageproduced signature models at different points- all designed by Smith himself. For a goodclassic jazz sound, use the guitar’s neck pickupwith the tone control rolled off to around 3 or 4(or take the treble down on the amp), and setup a warm clean tone on your amp. Thickstrings work better, as does a hollowbodyguitar, but neither is essential.

Getthetone

2 6 5 2 2GAIN BASS MIDDLE REVERBTREBLE

Johnny Smith’s masteryof every aspect of jazz guitarmakes him in many ways thecomplete jazz guitarist.

the complete jazz guitarist. Thismonthwe’re going to explore key elements ofJohnny’s soloing style and learn someof his greatest licks.

Johnny Smithwas born inBirmingham, Alabama in 1922 andtaught himself to play in pawnshops,where in return for keeping the guitarsin tune hewas allowed to play them.Aftermilitary service, Smithmoved toNewYorkwhere he swiftly carved out abusy career as a studiomusician andin-house arranger at NBC, orchestralsidemanwith the likes of theNewYorkPhilharmonic and PhiladelphiaSymphony orchestras, and popularfixture on theNewYork jazz scene,counting Charlie Parker among hisfans. An early pioneer of chordmelodystyles, Johnny Smithwas equally adeptas a soloist, showcasing impressivetechnique andmelodic invention in hisspeedy, swinging lines. During the 50she released a series of albums for theRoost label, including 1952’s acclaimedMoonlight In Vermont withsaxophonist StanGetz, a colleaguefromNBC.He also composed the tuneWalkDon’t Run, based around thechanges to the standard Softly As In AMorning Sunrise, which subsequentlybecame a huge hit for The Ventures.Following the death of his secondwife

in 1958, Smithmoved to Colorado Springs(where he still lives) to raise his youngdaughter and largely retired from themusicscene from the 1960s onwards, focusinginstead on teaching and running amusic store.

Smith’s playing takes in fast double-stopmelodies, close voiced chordmelodies,harmonics, intervallic ideas, speedy alternatepicked runs and occasional outside flourishes,andwe’ll be exploringmany of these aspects inthismonth’s examples.

Example 1 features a jaunty short III-VI-II-V-I line in G followed by our second example,which is based around a turnaround inD thena longDmajor II-V-I.

Johnny Smith possessed a gift for slow

“ANEXTRAORDINARYVIRTUOSO. As far asI’m concerned, no one in theworld plays theguitar better than he. Theymight play itdifferently, but nobody plays better.” This wasBarney Kessel’s view on Johnny Smith, aremarkablemusicianwhosemastery of everyaspect of jazz guitarmake him inmanyways

TRACK RECORD Any of Johnny Smith’s 1950s albums on the Roost label are worth investigating. Good starting points are Moonlight InVermont, Walk Don’t Run and The Sound of the Johnny Smith Guitar. There are many great Johnnny Smith tracks available online and it’sworth checking these out to get the flavour of this often rather forgotten titan of jazz guitar.

ABILITY RATING

Moderate/Advanced

KEY: VariousTEMPO: VariousCD: Tracks33-54

INFO WILL IMPROVE YOUR

Jazz soloingPhrasingSwing feel

76GuitarTechniqueOctober 2012

leSSon: Jazz

tempo ballads, as seen in Examples 3 and 4which both feature twisting lines and flurries ofactivity and invention. Equally, his enviabletechnical proficiencymeant hewas amaster ofup-tempo soloing, as demonstrated inExamples 5 to 8.

Many of the lines we’ve featured so far arefairly consecutive in their notemovement, butJohnny Smith also liked to experiment withwider interval skips and occasionally angular,outside harmony, as Examples 9 and 10 show.

Our final example, appropriately enough, isa simple but effective ending idea in Eb basedaround the Ebmajor pentatonic scale, closingon a pleasingly sour Eb7#9b5 chord. That’s allfor now, but joinme nextmonthwhenwe’ll belooking at some of the greatest licks of thewonderful Emily Remler.

Johnny SmithJoinPeteCallard as he uncovers someof thegreatest licks from thegiants of jazz.Thismonth,the incredible,multi-faceted Johnny Smith.

Johnny Smith:one of theall-time greats

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A short III-VI-II-V-I in G starting on G major pentatonic (G Bb C D F) and G major (G A B C D E F#) before outlining Am9 and D7 and ending back in G major pentatonic.

ExAmplE 1 Short IIIVIIIVI In G CDtraCk33

Smith plays around the initial chords, then eases into a speedy scalar 16th noteline moving from C lydian (C D E F# G A B) to C major (C D E F G A B) then an Fdim7

arpeggio (F Ab B D) over the E7b9, finishing in A minor pentatonic. This mix ofscalic runs, chord tones and arpeggios often characterises Smith’s playing.

ExAmplE 3 Slowtempo Short IIVIS CDtraCk37

Our second example starts with a turnaround in D, followed by a long D majorII-V-I. Smith stays in D major over the A7/G and D/F# chords, moving to outlineB7b9 over the B7. Over the Em7 he throws in some chromatic passing notes, then

suggests Em9 and A7b9 over the A7 and resolves to D major pentatonic on theDmaj7. Smith always manages to sound effortless, both technically and in notechoice - he’s never obviously thinking, “I’ll cram the Dorian scale in here.”

example 2 REpEATInG lAST 4 BARS ThREE TImES CDtraCk35

Solo Jazz endingS learning zone

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78GuitarTechniqueOctober 2012

leSSon: Jazz

For Example 5 we’re upping the tempo for a line taking in a couple of long DbII-V-Is and a short minor II-V-I in Bb minor. Smith outlines Ebm9 over the Ebm7 andAb7, then suggesting Ab7#5 before resolving to Db major with chromatic passing

notes. he then takes a rhythmic figure based around the chord tones with morechromatic passing notes in bars 5 and 6, returning to Db major with chromaticpassing notes, then outlines F7b9 resolving to Bb minor over the final 2 bars.

ExAmplE 5 IIVIs In D banDB bmInor CDtraCk41

For this example Johnny Smith takes a dominant 7th arpeggio down in minor 3rds,starting on G7 and E7 over the Bm7b5 then moving to Db7, Bb7 and G7 over the

E7b9 and finally running down the A natural minor scale (A B C D E F G) endingon the 9th (B) over the Am7. A great pattern to use over your next dom7 alt chord!

ExAmplE 4mInor IIVI IDea In amInor CDtraCk39

Starting in Eb Dorian (Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db) moving down chromatically to Dbmajor pentatonic (Db Eb F Ab Bb) in bar 3, then Db Dorian (Db Eb E Gb Ab Bb B) in

bar 4 he embellishes the following chords before employing Bb natural minor (BbC Db Eb F Gb Ab) over the remaining chords, ending on the 3rd (C) of Abmaj7.

ExAmplE 6a bBeBop Sequence CDtraCk43

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This up tempo bebop idea starts with a simple rhythmic motif which Smithdevelops masterfully over the next three bars, moving into a chromatic idea in bar6 and outlining C9 over the C7 in bar 7. Incidentally, the C# is essentially a gracenote leading into the D, but Smith tends to play these longer than most, so written

down they come out as 8th notes even though they’re intended as grace notes).Over the F7 he plays the ‘bebop scale’ - F mixolydian (F G A Bb C Db Eb) with amajor7 passing note (E) added, then moves from Bb7 to Bb altered (Bb Cb Db D EGb Ab) over the Bb7 and ends on an Eb major triad.

ExAmplE 8 GBeBop Sequence

A speedy bebop line starting in Eb and ending in G. Smith starts around Ebmajor in bar 2 moving to an Ebmaj9 arpeggio in bar 3, then uses chromatic andarpeggio ideas up to bar 5. Over the Fm7 he plays around Fm9 and F Dorian (F G

Ab Bb C Db Eb), then suggests Fm7 and Bb altered (Bb Cb Db D E Gb Ab) over theBb7, resolving to Ebmaj9. The Bb over the Am7 suggests he’s treating it as an A7,followed by a D major arpeggio over the D7 and G major pentatonic to finish.

ExAmplE 7 e bBeBop Sequence CDtraCk45

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leSSon: Jazz

here is another somewhat angular idea featuring interval skips. The first fourbars are around C major but feature some wide jumps, in particular bars 2 and3, starting with an ascending Am arpeggio and ending with a descending Dm7arpeggio, and featuring a great descending 4ths and 5ths ‘cross string’ idea.

he then neatly nods towards the C dim7 with the Eb in bar 5, throwing in anotherbig interval skip suggesting Gmaj7 in bar 6, then launches into a very ‘outside’ Daltered line over the short II-V-I in bar 7 resolving to Gmaj7 in bar 8 and ending onthe 6th (E).

ExAmplE 10 InterVallIc IDeaS

This example is quite a departure from the previous ones, starting off with a solobreak that’s surprisingly angular and ‘outside’, featuring wide interval skips. In bar1 Smith’s outlining a G6 (or Em) arpeggio, but he’s more likely thinking in terms of

a symmetrical G major pattern across the top five strings. In bar 2 he plays an Emtriad then moves it down a semitone before resolving back to Gmaj7, moving intoG major and finishing around a Gmaj9 (or Bm7) arpeggio.

ExAmplE 9 Gmajor InterVallIc lIck

Over the closing II-V-I Smith repeats an Eb major pentatonic motif, then playsstraight down the scale to the low Eb, ending on a pleasingly sour Eb7#9b5 chord.

Watch out for the position shifts on the third and fifth strings, and aim to land onthe low Eb with your second finger ready for the following chord.

ExAmplE 11 ebenDInG IDea

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