S E S S I O N S

Symmetrical B Y K E V I N J . L U T K E

Pentatonic Modes
YOU CAN REALLY BURN THROUGH
a pentatonic scale if you lay it out on the fret-
board using a symmetrical fingering pattern.
The first five notes—one octave—establish
the particular fingering whose moves you du-
plicate in the second and third octaves.
For starters, try Ex. 1, a three-octave G mi-
nor pentatonic scale (G, Bb, C, D, F, or 1, b3,
4, 5, b7 of the G major scale). Notice how the
two-string, five-note pattern repeats across the
fretboard. Look for the boxed root to identify
the start of each one-octave pentatonic cell.
Here are some more hip-sounding three-
octave patterns. Each starts on low G:
• Ex. 2 is the second mode of an E minor
pentatonic (E, G, A, B, D).
• Ex. 3 is the third mode of D minor pen-
tatonic (D, F, G, A, C ).
• Ex. 4 is the fourth mode of C minor pen-
tatonic (C, Eb, F, G, Bb).
• Ex. 5 is the fifth mode of A minor pen-
tatonic (A, C, D, E, G ).
Play these patterns ascending and de-
scending, gradually building speed. If you hit
a bump, slow down and carefully go forward
and backward over the problem area.
Finally, subvert the pattern’s predictability
with large interval leaps and rhythmic vari-
ations. g
New Yorker Kevin Lutke has two CDs—
Fallenwood and Road to Santa Ynez—on Am-
persand. Check your local record store or call
1-800-378-9313 for details.

bö ö ö ö ö ö ö
Ex. 1 4 Ex. 2 3

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1 4 1 3

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3

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1 4 1 3
4 1 3

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4 1 ö ö ö 3 3
1 3 1 3

1 1

8 10 13 10 12
T
8 11 8 10 12
5 7 10 T 7 9
A 5 8 A 5 7 9
B 3 5 8 B 5 7
3 6 3 5 7

ö ö ö bö ö
4
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Ex. 3 Ex. 4 4

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1 1
10 13 8 11 13
T
8 10 13 T
8 11
A
7 10 A
5 8 10
B
5 7 10 B
5 8
5 8 3 6 8
3 5 8 3 6

Ex. 5
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3

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1

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1 3
1 3 3

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 L i c k o f t h e M o n t h
J A Z Z B O C H O R D W O R K O U T

APRIL’S LICKMEISTER IS KRZYSZTOF MISIAK, WHO In my band System of Survival, the bass plays the highest notes
hails from Plock, Poland. His submission is a harmony workout along with the guitar chords, and it sounds cool.”
that’s good for limbering up fingers and ears. “This segment is from Try playing this progression fingerstyle, so you can control the
an original tune titled ‘Schody’—which means ‘stairs’ in English. dynamics of each chord tone and emphasize the top line. g

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= 130 Am9/G
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D9/F Cmaj7,9 D13/G G
ö
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1 2

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let ring
7 5 3 2 10 8 7 5 7 7
T
5 5 2 0 5 12 8 7 5 7
A
5 5 2 0 4 12 8 5 5 7
B
5 4 1 0 5 10 7 5 4 5
4

Send us your candidate for Lick of the Month (preferably notated entry to Lick of the Month, Guitar Player, 411 Borel Ave. #100, San Mateo,
and on cassette), along with a brief explanation of why it’s cool and CA 94402. Include your name, address, and phone number. Materials
how to play it. If we select your offering, you’ll get a funky custom T- won’t be returned, and please don’t call the office to check the status
shirt that’s available only to Lick of the Month club members. Mail your of your submission. You’ll get your shirt if your lick is chosen. g
 S E S S I O N S
BY DAN BOWDEN

Triad Power
MANY PLAYERS GREASE BY WITH
a few basic major 7, minor 7, dominant 7, and
minor 7b5 chord forms. Typically, these are
the standard four-note shapes with roots on
the fifth or sixth string. While suitable for solo,
duo, or small-group settings, these voicings
often sound sluggish and bottom-heavy in the
context of a full rhythm section.
One quick way to pare down lunky seventh
chords is to discard the root—the most ex-
pendable chord tone. The remaining chord
tones (3, 5, and 7) are fully functional triads.
Ex. 1 shows how you can view a seventh chord
as a triad-over-bass-note slash chord. For in-
stance, a Cmaj7 is also an Em triad perched
on a C root (Em/C ).
Triads can be inverted across as well as up
and down the fretboard. Focus on a seventh

Ex. 1
Cmaj7 = Em/C Cm7 = E /C b C7 = Edim/C b
Cm7 5 = E m/C b
4
& 4 wwww
================= b b wwww b ww
(n ) ww b bb wwww =
Em triad E b triad Edim triad E b m triad

Ex. 2
Cmaj7 = Em/C Cm7 = E /C b b
C7 = Edim/C b
Cm7 5 = E m/C

ö
ö öö ööö ööö b öö b ööö b ööö ööö
ö n ö
ö b ööö ööö ööö b b öö b ööö b ööö ööö
4 ö bö b( ) ö bö
& 4 (w )
=========================
(w ) (w ) (w )
=

3 7 12 7 3 6 11 6 3 6 12 6 2 6 11 6
T
5 8 12 8 4 8 11 8 5 8 11 8 4 7 11 7
A
4 9 12 9 3 8 12 8 3 9 12 9 3 8 11 8
B (3) (3) (3) (3)

Ex. 3
Cmaj7 = Em/C Cm7 = E /C b b C7 = Edim/C b
Cm7 5 = E m/C

ö bö bö bö
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=

T
5 8 12 8 4 8 11 8 5 8 11 8 4 7 11 7
A
4 9 12 9 3 8 12 8 3 9 12 9 3 8 11 8
B
5 9 14 9 5 8 13 8 5 8 14 8 4 8 13 8
(3) (3) (3) (3)

Ex. 4
Cmaj7 = Em/C Cm7 = E /C b C7 = Edim/C b
Cm7 5 = E m/Cb
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=============================
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ö
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7 12 7 6 11 6 6 12 6 6 11 6
T
8 8 12 8 8 8 8 11 8 8 8 8 11 8 8 7 7 11 7 7
A
9 9 9 12 9 9 9 8 8 8 12 8 8 8 9 9 9 12 9 9 9 8 8 8 11 8 8 8
B
9 9 9 9 9 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 9
(8) 12 (8)11 (8) 12 (8) 11
chord’s upper-structure triad—and all its in- fretboard, changing string sets on the way. chord forms. You’ll be on your way to a new
g

versions—and you’ll open the door to a gen-
erous supply of seventh-chord surrogates.
To explore Examples 2, 3, and 4, record
a succession of whole-note C roots and then
play the Em, Eb, Ebdim, and Ebmin triad in-
versions as shown. Examples 2 and 3 move
along the fretboard on the same string set.
In Ex. 4, the inversions carry you across the
Ex. 5 illustrates how you can bring life
to a simple Cmaj7-Fmaj7 vamp by simply
playing off the upper-structure triads.
In Ex. 6, triad inversions add movement
to seventh chords in a typical R&B groove.
To further investigate this approach, try
harmonizing the melody of a favorite stan-
dard tune using your new, scaled-down
S
world of voicing possibilities.
Berklee faculty member Dan Bowden
plays in the all-acoustic trio Stingy Brimm. His
Mel Bay guitar-transcription catalog includes
books on Wes Montgomery, Emily Remler,
and Tony Rice. Bowden’s latest transcription
is Lightnin’ Hopkins, The Goldstar Years.

Ex. 5
Cmaj7 Fmaj7
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Cmaj7
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Fmaj7 Cmaj7 Fmaj7 Cmaj7 E
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& 4 öö öö öö öö öö ö Å ö Å ö ö
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Em - - - - - Am - - - - - - - - - - Em - - - - - Am - - - - - - - - - - Em - - - - - Am - - - - - - - - - - Em
5 3 3 3 3 3 5 5 5 5 8 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 12 12
T
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 10 8 8 8 8 8 10 10 1010 13 12
4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 14 12

S
A 5 5 5 5 5 7 7 7 7
B

B bmaj7 B bm7 E b7
Ex. 6
Fmaj7 Cm7 B7
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(Am) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #
(E b ) - - - - (D dim) (Dm) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (D b) - - - - - (Gdim) - - - - -

T
A
B
10
9
10
8 8
10 10
9 9
10
9
10
8
8
8
6
8
8
5
7
8
7
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7
6
7
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5 5
6 6
7 7
6
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4
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S

I
“My greatest
technique is
my concern
for clarity and
precision.”
—Pat Martino

S
 S E S S I O N S
Do It Yourself
B Y A D A M L E V Y

“WHAT SHOULD I PRACTICE?” hands at the same time is fine—but two of

This is probably the question students ask
me most often, as well as the question I ask
myself most often. The answer, in both cas-
es, is another question: “What needs work?”
If there’s an area of technique I know I need
to work on, I’ll invent a little exercise to help
me focus on that specific thing.
Ex. 1 came about in an attempt to work
on my picking technique, specifically for
playing one-note-per-string melodic ideas.
The phrase sounds cool, and it’s a lot more
challenging than you might expect. Use al-
ternate picking—this isn’t a sweep exercise.
After practicing this for a while, I no-
ticed that in addition to getting right-hand
burn, my left hand was working pretty hard
too. Great—an exercise that works both
my left-hand fingers (2nd and 4th) were do-
ing nothing at all. So I extended the idea
into a four-bar phrase and put the rest of
my fingers to work (E Ex. 2).
Develop your own licks and phrases to
help you achieve your goals and get the
most out of your practice time. Decide on
something you want to improve in your
playing, and go to it. g
A former Ted Greene student and fre-
quent instructor at the National Guitar
Summer Workshop, Adam Levy has toured
with Dan Hicks and Tracy Chapman. You
can hear Adam on Chapman’s New Begin-
ning. This issue marks his debut as GP’s
new associate editor.

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Ex. 1 Ex. 2
3 1 3 1 1 3

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4

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3 3 2
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1 3

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1
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1 3
1 1
4 2
3
3 3 4 2
1 1

T .. 7
5
7 5
7
5
.. T .. 7
5
7 5
7
5 5
8
5 7
6
7
..
A 5 7 A 5 7 9 6
B 7 5 B 7 5 5 7
5 7 5 7 8 6
One-Note Blues
B Y W A Y N E R I K E R

HERE IS A POTENT WAY TO IIm-V cadence (bars 11 and 12).

spiff up your jazz-blues comping Try this “key-note-on-top” tech-
chops: Voice each chord so its high- nique when you accompany a
est tone is the key’s tonic note. For soloist. g
example, we’re in the key of G for
this 12-bar workout, so we’ll place Musicians Institute grad Wayne
G in the top voice of every chord. Riker teaches regularly at the Na-
As you play through the progres- tional Guitar Summer Workshop,
sion, listen to the common tone and has written four books in Alfred
and notice how it automatically Publishing’s Workshop Arts series:
creates colorful chord extensions Mastering Blues Guitar, Slide Guitar,
and alterations. Stand Alone Urban Blues, and Clas-
In addition to the requisite I-IV- sic Blues Improvisation.
V (G, C, and D) dominant chords,
there are several harmonic treats:
the C#dim7 passing chord, three
IIm-V moves (in bars 4 and 8, and
across bars 9 and 10), and a I-VI-

G13 # C9 G13 Dm11 G7 5 b C9 C dim7

# 4 www b
ww
w n
ww
w n úúú úúú b
ww
w b b ww
& 4 nw w n w
================================== w ww =
( )
ú bú

T
8 8 8 8 8 8 8
A
9 7 9 10 10 7 6
B
9 8 9 10 9 8 8
8 7 8 7 7
10 9

G13 C9 Bm7 5 # E7 9 # Am7 D11 G13 E7 9 # Am7 D11

# n úúú úú úú n úú ww www úú n úú úú úúú

( )n ú b ú ú # ú w núú # ú ú
==================================
& ú ú w w ú ú ú =
( n )ú

T
8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
A
9 7 7 7 5 9 9 7 5 9
B
9 8 7 6 7 10 9 6 7 10
8 7 7 7 8 7 7
7 10 10

G13 C9 Dm11 G7 5 b #
C dim7 Bm7 5 # E7 9 # Am7 D11
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
VIII 1 2 VII 1 2 VIII 1 VIII 1 VI 1 VII 2 3 VI 1 VI 1 VIII 1
3 4 3 4 2 3 2 4 2 3 2
2 3 4 4 3 4 4 2 3 3 4
4