The Guitar Scale System User Guide 2008 Claude Johnson

The Guitar Scale System User Guide 2008 Claude Johnson

Welcome to the Guitar Scale System! This guidebook will give you an overview of how to use the system. This is a very easy application to use because there is only 1 screen. Let's take a look: Above is how the Guitar Scale System appears when the application is first loaded. Let's look at the various buttons and what they do:

Here's a description of each element of the screen: 1. Neck Type Selector This allows you to change the look of the fretboard. Choose from either Rosewood, Maple, or Ash. Can be changed at any time. 2. Key Selector - This allows you choose what key you want to play in. Choose from any of the 12 keys. Your selection will affect the backing track that will be played (unless you choose a custom track), and also the notes that show up during the Various positions practice mode. (You will read about the various practice modes in a few moments.) 3. Tempo Selector This selection will affect the backing track that will be played (unless you choose a custom track). Choose from 5 tempos 80 bpm, 110 bpm, 130 bpm, 160 bpm, or 180 bpm. Keep in mind some of the backing tracks may in double time or half time so may not necessarily sound fast or slow but the tempos are accurate.

4. Backing Track Style Selector This selection, along with the tempo and key, will be used to determine the backing jam track that will be playing. There are 4 basic choices - 12 bar blues, minor vamp, harmonic minor, and melodic minor. Not very original names, and please don't confuse these with the scale type selector. It is entirely possible to choose a scale type (see #6) that is different from the backing track. For example, you might select your scale (see #6 below) as natural minor while soloing over a 12 bar blues backing track, or a harmonic minor backing track. There is also a no sound option if you want no backing track at all. 5. Custom Backing Track Selector In addition to the 240 standard backing tracks (5 tempos x 4 styles x 12 keys), there are several custom backing tracks that can be selected. If you choose one of these custom tracks, the tempo, key, and style are not used at all to generate the sound. (But, the key is still used in the Various positions practice mode to generate scale patterns.) 6. Scale Type Selector Choose from Pentatonic minor, Natural minor, Harmonic minor, or Melodic minor, either normal (the default) or advanced. The scale type selector is used in the Various positions practice mode and also the Find the shape practice mode. Because this system is designed to teach you complete patterns across the entire neck, no differentiation is made between modes such as Lydian, Dorian, Phrygian, etc. This is because all those modes are inversions of the diatonic major/minor scale and contain all the same notes. In other words, if you know the A natural minor scale everywhere on the neck, then you also know the D dorian and E phygian modes everywhere on the neck because they are the same scale. Only the emphasis on the root tone is different. The normal scale patterns contain 2 or 3 notes per string for the natural, harmonic, and melodic minor scales, and contain 2 notes per string for the pentatonic minor scales. The advanced scale patterns contain 4 notes per string for the natural, harmonic, and melodic minor scales, and contain 3 notes per string for the pentatonic minor scales. 7. Practice Mode Selector This selector allows you to choose from various practice modes. We'll go over these in a moment, after the descriptions of the screen elements here.

8. Start/Stop Timer Button Starts and stops the timer, the backing track, and visual display. Upon launching the application, this button will be inactive until you choose a practice mode. When the timer is running, you cannot change most other settings. Also, keep in mind that no sound will be played unless you either choose a backing track style or a custom backing track. 9. Voice Prompt Checkbox Certain practice modes contain voice coaching prompts. To disable this feature, simply uncheck this box. You can turn this on and off in the middle of a practice session while the timer is running if you want. 10. Information Bar This displays information often about what % the scale pattern data or sound files are loaded into memory (you'll see something like XML 100% loaded). 11. Pattern Indicator Displays additional information about what scale pattern is currently showing.

Practice Modes Practice Mode #1: Entire Neck. Displays all the notes in the scale across the entire neck. Please note that using an advanced pattern will not make a difference in this practice mode, since we are showing everything on the entire neck. Will not show open strings or notes above the 17 th fret. The pattern indicator will show pattern 0 here, which simply means the whole neck. The idea behind this practice mode is to see the entire pattern and get new connections into your brain each time you play it. Practice Mode #2: Playing in Various Positions. Displays, at random, a specific pattern in one position, based on the scale chosen and the key chosen. The pattern will switch every 30 seconds with a voice prompt that says SWITCH. You can see the pattern number in the pattern indicator, but this number is just an arbitrary number I assigned to a particular pattern in any given scale. For any given key, there are 5 pentatonic patterns, 20 advanced pentatonic patterns, 14 patterns for harmonic, melodic, and natural minor each, and 28 advanced patterns for harmonic, melodic, and natural minor each. This practice mode is geared toward getting you to memorize individual patterns as fast as possible.

Practice Mode #3: Playing in various areas. Displays a random ellipse on the fretboard that changes every 15 seconds with a voice prompt that says SWITCH. The idea in this practice mode is to have your fingers just fall into the scale at any given area of the neck with no hesitation. When it's time to switch, move to the new area as quickly as possible with as little thought as possible.

Practice Mode #4: Switching Direction. Nothing will appear on the neck diagram, but every 15 seconds you will be told to either MOVE UP THE NECK, MOVE DOWN THE NECK, MOVE TO A HIGHER STRING, or MOVE TO A LOWER STRING. Also, this command will be flashed to you in the information bar. You can choose to turn off the voice command just watch the command if you want, but I prefer to use the voice command. The idea behind this practice mode is to solo everywhere all over the neck freely, but be able to move in any direction at will. Start soloing just anywhere, and when the voice tells you to move, you move, but stay in the scale. Move with as little hesitation and thought as possible. Although you may have to think about where you are, at first, eventually the goal is to be able to do it automatically with no thought. Now, if you are already at the top string, and it says move to a higher string, you won't be able to, so just stay at the higher string... In between commands, feel free to move in any direction you want.

Practice Mode #5: Find the shape. This practice mode removes the neck pattern and shows you just a 2 string snippet of a shape, based on the scale (but not the key) that you selected. The pattern is not necessarily at the top - on the top strings but anywhere on the neck. Also note that using an advanced pattern will be the same here as the normal pattern. The idea for this practice mode is to become intimately familiar with all the interlocking shapes on the entire neck. These shapes can be found in various octaves, in different positions on the neck. You'll be switching every 15 seconds. Practice Mode #6: Specifics strings. This practice mode will highlight certain strings either 1 or 2 strings at random. When showing 2 strings, the strings might not be next to each other. You'll be switching strings every 30 seconds. The idea behind this practice mode is to learn scales on specific strings to deepen your mastery. It is an entirely new challenge for most players.

Nervous System Practice Modes The nervous system part of the system are essentially a click track that gradually speeds up. To properly use these, you must read and closely follow the information in the nervous system protocol. This guide is incredibly simple yet amazingly cutting edge. It took Virtuwul years to distill the essence of the worldclass training he received into an powerful fail-proof formula for guitarists. Don't be deceived by how simple the 11 step formula is... Just put it to the test and you'll experience the results first-hand. There's 6 nervous system modes: Track #1: (The caution lane) Goes from 80 bpm to 100 bpm over 60 seconds. Track #2: (The on-ramp) Goes from 100 bpm to 130 bpm over 90 seconds. Track #3: (The highway) Goes from 130 bpm to 170 bpm over 2 minutes. Track #4: (The speeding lane) Goes from 170 bpm to 200 bpm over 3 minutes. Track #5: (The speeding lane) Goes from 200 bpm to 250 bpm over 3 minutes. Track #6: (The pitstop) Just a silent track so you can rest and watch the timer. Again, please read the nervous system protocol.

Backing Track Chord Progressions The chord progressions are fairly straight forward for the basic backing tracks, but there are some subtle differences in the tracks depending on what scale and tempo you choose. Here are the exact progressions... (Obviously changing the key would transpose these) Natural Melodic Harmonic Pentatonic 80 bpm 2. Dm9 / Em7 2. D9 3. E7 4. E7 2. Bm7b5 3. E7b9 4. E7b9 Blues progression 110 bpm 2. Am9 3. Dm9 4. Em7 2. D9 3. E7 4. E7 2. Am9 3. Bm7b5 4. E7b9 Blues progression 130 bpm at half tempo = 75 bpm 1. Dm9 2. Em7 3. Am9 4. Am9 2. D9 3. E7 4. E7 1. Dm9 2. E7b9 3. Am9 4. Am9 Blues progression 160 bpm 2. Fmaj7 3. G 4. Em7 2. D9 3. E7 4. E7 2. Bm7b5 3. E7b9 4. E7b9 Blues progression 180 bpm at half tempo = 90 bpm 2. Am9 3. Fmaj7 4. Fmaj7 2. D9 3. E7 4. E7 2. Bm7b5 3. E7b9 4. E7b9 Blues progression

Custom Backing Tracks In addition to the standard tracks, we've added several custom tracks. Circle of 5ths This progression starts off Am9 to Fmaj9, (key of A minor) then goes around the circle of fifths Dm9 to Bbmaj9 (key of D minor), etc... Try playing this with the various practice modes. Very challenging. This kind of soloing in all 12 keys is a favorite exercise of Joe Satriani. Here's some other cool tracks we've added, special thanks to Robert Chiefari. SlowbeatA- Slow Pink Floyd-esque style Rock 143 - Pearl Jam style in A FunkBb- Funky jam in Bb FunkyB- A Funky jam in B 50s in C -- a 50's style rocker in C OldFunk - in E with a C# chorus - Honky tonk Keyboards backing also 5 Layer Cake- Nice rock tune in D Metal Track- Wicked metal track in E with a cool break in the middle JB-Funk- James Brown funk in E FusionJam96- Mellow funk/jass fusion jam in F to Db "Hippy" - A dedication to Living Colour in F# Jam62 - A great EVH rocker in G

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