Contents. Introduction. Musical Patterns. 1) The Secrets of Scales. 2) Play With the Patterns. 3) The Secrets of Chords. 4) Play With the Shapes

Transcription

1

2 Contents Introduction Musical Patterns 1) The Secrets of Scales 2) Play With the Patterns 3) The Secrets of Chords 4) Play With the Shapes 5) Every Semitone Has a Name 6) Build Your 2-Note Chords 7) The Secrets of Keys 8) Major Keys and the Minor Relatives Patterns on your Fiddle 1) The 4 Major Pentatonic Scale Patterns 2) Suggested Fingering Patterns 3) The Pentatonic Scale Patterns for Every Major Scale 4) The 4 Minor Pentatonic Scale Patterns 5) Suggested Fingering Patterns JennieWilliams2013 6) The Pentatonic Scale Patterns for Every Minor Scale Shapes on your Fiddle 1) The 2 Major Chord Shapes 2) The 2 Minor Chord Shapes Conclusion

3 Introduction Two and a half years ago I started to create my first Blues solos and I made 2 Blues Fiddle teaching videos and put them up on YouTube. To my surprise they were very successful and I had a lot of requests to make more videos. I had taught one pentatonic minor scale and how to improvise using this and short of making videos in every key I couldn t think how to help people further. At the same time I was becoming interested in playing Blues on my 5-string banjo and decided I would try to work out the patterns for all the different scales so I could happily play Blues in any key. As I was doing this, I was struck by the interesting pattern shapes that the scales were creating. They suggested names to me like one bar gate, crown and wonky m so I ran with this idea and found that by using these names I could more easily remember the shapes I needed to play... and so my book Patterns on Your 5-String Banjo was born! Somehow, though, I knew it wasn t complete as there was the question of chords and how these could fit into my improvisation. I took the same approach as with the scales looking at the shapes and again became fascinated by the patterns how they shift and change as they move up the neck...and so the final part of my banjo book was born. Fuelled by my excitement at my discoveries about banjo patterns I gave myself a new quest which was to find the pentatonic scale patterns and chord shapes on the fiddle and help people to use them as a basis for creating their Fiddle Blues solos. Music it s all about patterns! I wish someone had told me this 35 years ago! I thought that it was only something that the intellectual and the left brained could understand! The more I worked to understand the patterns on my instruments, the more I wanted to understand the bigger patterns of music scales, chords and keys and so the first part of this book was born. Since completing patterns on Your Banjo and Patterns on Your Fiddle my intention is to write the patterns for the Blues on my other instruments guitar and ukulele. I am intrigued as to what my discoveries will be! Please look out for my next books! Jennie Williams 2013

4 Play With the Patterns Look for inspiration Start by putting on a backing track in the same key as the pattern you have chosen. The patterns don t make much sense without the backing music. They become an exercise. However as soon as you play the music they come to life. Feel the Patterns In the second half of this book you will find the patterns for the pentatonic scale shapes. The pentatonic scale is used a lot in Blues though in more complex Blues you may find the notes from the diatonic scale are included. I have chosen names for the pentatonic patterns that describe the direction, making them easier to remember. For instance Up The Fiddle starts on the 1 st finger and goes up to the 3 rd finger to climb up the scale whereas Down The Fiddle starts on a 4 th finger and goes back to the 1 st finger to climb the scale. If the same pattern fits in 2 different places on the violin then I refer to the number of string the pattern starts on in the name. For instance Up and On 3 starts on the 3 rd string (D). Doodle Play around with the patterns. Play the first note and repeat it a few times if you like. Just listen to how that one note blends with the backing and you may be surprised! Add a bend and you ve got your first Blues solo!! Yes, it is that easy! Now play with 2 notes and keep moving between the 2 notes. Try repeating one of the notes and just dropping or rising to the other note occasionally. Now add a note and keep on going like this. Before you know where you are you will be playing the whole pattern. You could start by playing the scale up and down but this can be like starting a painting by numbers when you really want to let loose and make your own brave mark on the world! When you feel like it, add slides, pull-offs, hammer-ons and bends and these will all add colour to your Blues solo. Feel the Rhythm Experiment with different rhythms. Sometimes it is the rhythm we feel drawn to that influences which notes we play and sometimes it is the notes we play that influence our rhythm and pace. I suggest you play the same backing track Jennie Williams 2013

5 on different days and see how your different moods influence the solos that you create. Don t forget that Blues can be lazy, maudlin, triumphant, joyful, sorrowful, cheeky, querky... Rhythms can be smooth, jumpy, shocking, laid back, electrifying, held back... Play what you hear in your head or what you feel in your fingers or if you don t feel that you are very intuitive just try different things out until you find something that pleases you. Try thinking about a character you know in life and make your Blues solo about them! Be You Keep your playing authentic an expression of you. The best riffs are those created by you in the moment. They may become your signature or they may only live fleetingly before you move onto something new. Creativity is a journey. Take the first steps and play that first authentic Blues solo today! Jennie Williams 2013

6 Play with the Shapes What Chords do I Need to Play 12 Bar Blues? To accompany backing for 12 bar blues use the chords 1, 4 and 5 and try adding the flat 7 th to these chords. Adding the major 7 th chords only works if the 3 rd and 5 th is present in the chord. The sound of the bare major 7 th chord is not pleasing to the ear making it not a good choice when playing 2 note chords. How Do I Add Chords to My Solos? Blues solos are built around the 12 bar blues so again are based on the chords of 1, 4 and 5 with added flat 7ths. The Blues 2 note chords are built around the intervals of the Major and Minor 3 rd and Major and Flat (Diminished) 5 th The Flat 7 th can also be added to create a Dominant 7 th chord. Look at the section Shapes on Your Fiddle and you will find the chord shapes you need plus how to add the flat 7ths. Playing the 2 note chords Each chord shape can be played across any 2 consecutive strings and if you count up 5 notes (7 semitones), the same pattern of notes will fit perfectly on the next 2 consecutive strings. You can use slides into any 2 note chords except when the note preceding the one you are sliding to is an open string. Here you could use a hammer on. You can bend any note except an open string and you can pull-off any note except for an open string. I have chosen shape names that reflect the shape of the chord. For instance one of the chords is called Stride because you need to spread your fingers to play it. How Do I Add More Colour to My Chords? Adding slides, hammer-ons ons, pull-offs and bends to your chords changes the feel of them and adds to the Bluesy sound of your solo. th.

7 FIDDLE MAJOR PENTATONIC SCALE SHAPES FOR EVERY SCALE C# and D MAJOR E F F# G G# A Bb B C C# D Eb E F F# G G# A Bb A Bb B C C# D Eb E F F# G G# A Bb B C C# D Eb D Eb E F F# G G# A Bb B C C# D Eb E F F# G G# G G# A Bb B C C# D Eb E F F# G G# A Bb B C C# C# MAJOR Using patterns Down The Fiddle, Up The Fiddle and Up and On 3. You could also use the pattern Up and Back. E F F# G G# A Bb B C C# D Eb E F F# G G# A Bb A Bb B C C# D Eb E F F# G G# A Bb B C C# D Eb D Eb E F F# G G# A Bb B C C# D Eb E F F# G G# G G# A Bb B C C# D Eb E F F# G G# A Bb B C C# D MAJOR Using the patterns Up and On 3 and Up The Fiddle. You could also use the pattern Up and Back, and Down The Fiddle.

8 Conclusion: Moving Beyond the Patterns In the pages of this book I hope to have given you a framework that you can use to create your Blues solos but there is more... When I improvise I play what I hear in my head. I don t know whether I m going to find the exact notes with my fingers but I quite often do! This is probably partly down to practice and experience but also a result of being very intuitive. I don t think about notes, scales, chords or keys but simply play the notes that my fingers find. That may sound strange as I am a classically trained musician but something tells me that this is the way I have to play. Coming back to the purpose for this book, it is a framework and if I put a backing track on and feel stuck and unable to find the notes and chords I hear, I use my book. I can find the scale patterns and chord shapes that match the key and these give me a stable base from which to create my solo. The next time I come to improvise in that key I may not need to look at the written patterns and shapes as my fingers will remember them. My aim in music is to make every note count and allow every note to come from within. I hope that this can become your aim too and that you will allow yourself to move beyond the patterns and fly with your own Blues voice. Happy Flying, Jennie I can be contacted on Tel: jennie.online@gmail.com and you will find more information on my web-site: