S E S S I O N S

“ P I A N O ” P I C K I N G B Y L E N N Y B R E A U

INCLUDE YOUR PINKY IN FINGERPICKING The following exercises will strengthen your pinky and help you
patterns, and you’ll be able to sound each pitch of a five-note voicing adjust your right-hand position if necessary. Practice slowly at first.
simultaneously—like comping on piano. Other techniques don’t allow Pay attention to the right-hand fingering: thumb (p), middle (m), in-
this. When you strum a chord with a pick, it may appear that the dex (i), ring (a), pinky (q).
notes are being played simultaneously, but in reality each note is sep- Don’t stop here. When you find a progression containing five-
arately articulated. note chords, convert it into your own pinky-building exercise. Prac-
The right-hand pinky is the least used finger, because it’s both tice it two ways: Simultaneously sound each chord’s tones, then
short and weak. To help compensate for shortness, try keeping its nail quickly arpeggiate the voicings forward and backward. g
about 1/8" longer than the others.

#4 #4 ö ö ö ö ö ö ö={
4 ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö & 4 { ö ö ö ö
=============== ö ö ö
===============
& { ö ={ ö
ö 2
3
etc.
ö p q a m
2

i m a q
3
etc.
p i m a q a m i
let vibrate let vibrate

T .. 0
0
0
0
0 0
0
0
0
0
.. T .. 0
0
0 0
0
0 0
0
0 0
0
0
..
A 4 4 4 4 A 4 4
B 5 B 5
0 0
p= thumb a= ring
i= index q= pinky
m= middle

Souped-Up Blues B Y J O H N S T O W E L L

SINCE THE LATE 1930S, WHEN EDDIE LANG dominant chords, a tritone substitution (replacing
and Charlie Christian mixed the basic pentatonic blues G13, Db13b5 moves to C13 in bars 4 and 5), and IIm7-
vocabulary with embellished dominant chords, re- V7-I and II7-V7-I cadences. The last two bars contain
harmonizations and new cadences, jazz guitarists have a basic I7-VI7-IIm7-V7 that resolves to I when the pro-
been expanding 12-bar blues harmony. For instance, gression wraps around to the top.
Jim Hall souped up his blues “Careful” by adding four Bebop blues of the 1940s often built altered-har-
bars and beaucoup altered-dominant harmony. mony sounds into the melody itself. Learn a few
Try this jazzy G blues (Herb Ellis’s favorite blues of these tunes and then start spinning your own
key). It features tensions (such as #9, b9, #5, b5) over variations. g

bb b b b
G13 5 9
# C11 Dm9 Dm/maj7 D 13 5
b#
C13 F13 5

öö öö öö
1 4
ú
G13 9 1 Cadd9 Dm/maj9 D 9 11 F11
bööö ööö
1 1

b öö
1 3 3

# 4 bööö ... # ööö î n ) öö b öö

1 1
ö
2 1

n ö ö ö n
1 4 1 3 1 4 1 1
n ö b ö b ú
2 1
n ö
4 4 4

# ö ö ä b öö Î ä b n öö î
3 1 1 1 1( 3

b ö( ) î b ö öö Î î î (n) núúú =
3 4 4 3

& 4 { b ö . n Jö
1 1 3

===================================
3 2
b Jö b Jö ö
2 2 2
1 4 2 4 1
2 1 2

T .. 3
5
6
6
5
4
6
6
9
8
8
9
10
10
10
12
10
10
10
10
10
8
8
11
12
10 6
10 8
10
0
8
A 6 3 8 12 14 11 11 9 9 8 8 7
B 11 11 10 8
9 9 8

Bm6/9 E7 5 5 b# A7 5 9 b# A7 5 9( 5) bb n D7 9# D9 b
G13 9 E7 9 11 ## Am11 ##
D7 9 5

n )ww ö. # # ö
4

# #www # úú b nb úúú
3 4 2 1
1
úú öö ... Ü # ööö
1 1

ú öö ... # ( ) öJöö î
7 1 3

b # n ú 1( 4 1

w ö
3 3 4 2 1

# ú n ú ú
1
b w ö î
1
b ö . n
2 2 2 1 3 4 4

# w ú ú # ö
1 4

===================================
& ú Jö ={
4 3 3
( )
ú
4 3
( ) 2 3
ú ú
1 1 2
2 2
w
T
7
3
6
8
7
7
8
4
6
6
5
8
5
6
5
2
5
5
3
5
4
6
8
7
8
5
7
6
6
11
..
A 6 8 5 5 4 6 6 7 10
B 0 0 5 7
0