Jack here, jbf music and guitar lessons,
back with some more quick guitar tricks for you- this bizarre, but oddly diverse scale
In this quick guitar tricks we’re looking at a scale that in all honesty I just stumbled
across when noodling around vaguely in the style of Chris Poland or George Lynch, more on those
guys with the little I up there; I’ve really been trying to capture some of their amazing use of
out or exotic sounds in my playing a bit more recently. Thought I’d share this happy little
accident with you with guys. I’ve ran it through a few scale identifiers are they come up blank,
so please leave you insights of suggestions as to what this should be called in the comments!
All the resources from this will be up on my Patreon.com/Jbfmusic
I’m gonna break down the scale in terms of fairly easily digestible music theory
and give some ideas of how to use it- feel free to skip to which ever part is
most relevant to yourself with the chapters below. If you appreciate this waffle-free
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So by the end of this you should have a shiny new scale to play around with
and an idea of what contexts you might want to use it in!
It’s a 9 note scale so a bit odd, from the get go I’m playing it in C here; check out the I up
there for a suitable jam track; we’ve got- C, C# D#, E, F#,G,G#, A#, C. Since there are a lot
of repeating notes and I don’t want to face the wrath of the online music theorist community;
cause, I mean who does??; using the enharmonic values of C,Db,Eb,Fb,Gb,G,Ab,Bb,C is probably
a better idea. Same pitch, but a bit neater to write out since we’ve got less repeating notes.
When we do that we get something very close to a Super Locrian,
that scale being: C,Db,Eb,Fb,Gb,Ab,Bb,C.
The other possibility; which for the way I’d probably tren to use the scale makes more sense;
is thinking about it essentially as a Phrygian Blues scale; more on that with the i up there;
but in a nutshell, that hybrid scale if just Phrygian with an extra b5th; the
blues note; so we’d have C, Db, Eb,F,Gb,G,A,Bb,C.
So we’ve got 9 notes this time, but the only problem here is that F natural.
However! If we flatten that F to an Fb, we get this new mystery scale
which for the time being- cause it’s the same as a Phrygian blues scale, if we flattened the 4th. I’m
calling a Phrygian Blues Flat 4. Doesn’t really pop does it? See why I welcomed other suggestions!
Here’s the full shpe we’ll be using…
Ok, so next up lets break down the intervals and see which chords this
could work over and get an idea of how to use it:
Root, b2, b3, b4th, b5th,5th,b6th,b7th.
Well, we know from the name I’ve given it, that it’s some sort of Phrygian variation,
so over a minor chord we’d want to see the Root, b3rd and 5th.
Yep all present and correct. So if you widdle through the scale, provided you land on,
or resolve to one of those notes over a minor chord it should sound good, albeit tense due
to the nature of the scale. Here’s a quick idea followed by a short backing for you to try your
own ideas out over. I’m more or less going through the scale, using the chord tones as pit stops
As a side note due to the b7th it’ll work over that just fine as well.
The theory minded among us may have already hypothesized that; since
the scale is very similar to a Super Locrian; a diminished chord might work here as well?
Lets have a look: Well, we’ve got a Root, b3 and b5th, so it looks promising. Like
before resolving to one of the chord tones here will have more conviction, even when
playing over an unstable chord like this. I’m really just outlining the arpeggio and adding
in the b9 and b6th in passing for some more edge. Again followed by a bit for you try out
and experiment over
So, could play this over a half diminished,
or minor 7 flat 5; as my transatlantic cousins call it- which I also agree is a better name;
I can’t agree with you on football being soccer and American football being called ‘football’,
but minor 7 b5th. Nailed it! Haha. In all fairness I think Association football,
ie. Soccer is actually the fault of us Europeans, but I’m already way too far off the grid on a
tangent here, so time to reign it back in, eh? If we look to our intervals- if you’re a bit
hazy on them check out the tutorial with the I card up there; we’ve got a b7th, so yep
the minor 7th b5 is fair game as well. Alright, Alright, but what about a major chord??
Well, yeah we can even tackle that! It’s a bit convoluted,
but if we look at the intervals: Root, b2, b3, b4th, b5th,5th,b6th,b7th. If we call the b4th
a major 3rd, we’ve got Root, 3rd, 5th. Alright, lets lick-ify that- a quick idea from me first;
sticking to the major arpeggio but adding in some 6bth for that augmented vibe.
Alright, so as a side note you might have noticed I said “augmented” there,
well because of that b6th, enharmonically a #5th or
augmented 5th, you could even use this scale over an augmented triad, which is: Root, 3rd, #5th.
However! There is one more chord I want to take a look at and that because I think it
might very well be the best chord for this scale. The dominant 7th. If we look through the intervals
one last time: Root, b2, b3, b4th; which we’ll be calling the 3rd again; b5th,5th,b6th,b7th.
We can see that there is a flat 7th. So we can made a dominant 7th chord; Root, 3rd, 5th,
b7th. In this lick I’m starting off with a really
Mixolydian sounding lick then adding in some of the spicier notes, before going back up the scale,
where I really put the odd notes in the spot light! And if you’re still with me after
that lengthy dive, props to you and a shout out to the lick squad elite! You guys rock!
Ok, so those were some more practical examples, some more vague uses for
you here. I found this scale because I was playing a symmetrical scale shape, this one
across the neck, I started just playing the top 3 strings
and something sort of clicked in my brain and I realised there was some kind of pattern,
within an octave and worked out it was this set of notes. And
that’s Tip number 1 just
noodle this shape on the G, B and high e strings. Mess about and you can get some cool results
Tip 2, try different fingerings, two simple ones add in this
12th fret on the high e. And trying moving this 12th fret on the E string, on the 7th fret on the
A as a different fingering. Using tip 1 and adding little bends or slides between the 11th and 12th
fret in conjunction with this sounds good to me And using this 7th fret on the A string will
also change the type of lick you play- it tends to make me go more Dominant 7th
And if we add in this 6th fret on the low E; a b7th. We can use this shape of tone, semi tone,
and take it across the strings moving up a #4th While
that doesn’t use every note in the scale it’s a nifty way of really spanning the
fretboard with the same shape, just moved up a by a semitone on each new string;
making sure to go up by a tone on the B string to compensate for its tuning.
Tip 3, embrace these semi tone bends- there are a lot of them and they sound killer
Tip 4 we used C as our root; this 8th fret on the low E string; so if you want to
try it in another key, just move it. Like if we went up to the 12th fret it would be in E
Tip 5 for mystical reasons; at present beyond my world ken; this magic, but uneasy scale is pretty
complimentary to most chords. So if you’re soloing; and for whatever reason forget the
tonality you’re in, but know the root; or are playing over a vamp that switches for
example C minor, C minor 7, C major, C dominant 7th and/or C minor 7 b5 or combination thereof
bust this scale out for some exotic flavours and make sure to resolve the edgier licks to the root.
Tip 6 if you like this scale try it out in different positions all over the neck!
And Tip 7 if you want even more exotic or unusual scales to play around with, check out that video.
This has been quick guitar tricks, that’s the playlist there. But yeah, hit subscribe
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