Jack here, JBF music and guitar lessons, what really changed my playing, I’d say for the
better was learning and mapping out intervals; rather than just memorising loads of chords
and arpeggios I started to pay attention to the smaller shapes within. I wrote an eBook
focusing on the major scale a few years back. This approach can really open up the fretboard
and give you way more improvisational freedom- when you see all the practical ways in which
an interval can be played it shuts off paths that don’t make much sense and lets you
explore different areas of the neck. The real eye opener for me, was that in discovering
how limiting guitar can be in terms of getting from one note to the next, it really narrowed
everything down- tackling extended chords, note targeting, following chords, hitting
chord tones, paying what I heard in my head and general improvisation just became that
little bit more straightforward.
Ok, I’m just going to go through the intervals chromatically to start with. I’m using a
C# as my root; this could be any note, but I’ll stay with that as my root to make things
a bit clearer. So, we could also play this root note on the A string, bit of a stretch,
but achievable. A b2nd can be played here, and here. So right off the bat you can see
how moving in this direction, as opposed to this one, is already opening up more options.
A major 2nd can be here, or here. A minor 3rd. Major 3rd. 4th. #4th. 5th, now we can
play this on the same string, but at this point, for me anyway not only is the starch
getting a bit far, but it’s also a bit hard to visualise. We can play it here, and also
on the D string, here. The b6th,, I mean it’s up here, so not that accessible. Much easier
on the A string, or the D string. The major 6th, I’m missing out the E string now, that’s
a bit too far for me, but we can get it in these two places. The b7th can be found here
and here. Major 7th. The octave, well I’m sure you know this one, and you can get in
on the A string as well, hmm bit of a jump though. But, we can hop over to the G string
and get it here. I have to admit, when I first started writing these out with my guitar in
hand; a task which I’d highly recommend really helps you learn them; I had never realised
I could get a 5th or octave in these places. I mean, I played riffs with the 5th in that
position, but it hadn’t really dawned on me that is was actually a 5th. And with this
octave I can make playing licks much smoother; you know something like this:
Outlining an E major 7th; for more on 2 note per string major 7 arpeggios check out that
card in the top right; Alright, so now let’s move on to the A string, with this C# here.
I’m just going to rattle through the intervals, at the 5th I’m not going to play it on the
same string as our new root note; instead I’ll switch to using the D and G strings.
Ok, so staring at the Root. b2nd, Major 2nd, b3rd, major 3rd, 4th, #4th, 5th ,b6th, 6th,
b7th, major 7th And octave. And you’ll notice because that pesky B string is tuned from
the 4th fret, we need to adjust the shape accordingly. This means we could also have
played the major 7th here. I mean, you could play the b7th there as well, but again I find
that a bit stretchy and not as easy to visualise. Cool, so lets try this with the C# on the
D strings 11th fret. Root. b2nd, Major 2nd, b3rd, major 3rd, 4th, #4th, 5th , so staring
here this time, again because of the B string, we’ll need to bump the remaining intervals
up by one fret. b6th, 6th, b7th, major 7th And octave.
The last example here, is we start on the G string’s
6th fret every interval needs to go up one. This might be a bit confusing to being with,
but if you know these two octave shapes or these power chord shapes it’s just the same
principle. So, Root, b2nd, Major 2nd, b3rd, major 3rd, 4th, #4th;which we can play here
as well- probably better to play it there, I reckon; 5th ,b6th, 6th ; it’s starting
to get a bit stretchy here… b7th, major 7th And octave. So for lead and part writing,
where this comes in pretty handy is if you know your arpeggios, the theory behind them
that is, or chord construction; lesson card in the top right for a quick overview of the
take one, skip one method; But yeah, I know a minor arpeggio is Root, b3rd, 5th; now I
do know my arpeggios, but I always found learning big shapes across the fretboard to be pretty
hard and it also meant that I tended to play pretty much the same licks within that larger
shape. Using our interval mapping; our Minishapes, we are afforded much more freedom. And let’s
try to slide about between those and make it a bit more musical. It’s also a great
way of extending chords with triad arpeggios on the fly; although that’s maybe a topic
for another lesson! Finally, rhythm playing or riff writing can also benefit, if we take
No Doubt’s Hellagood:
Well, can you recognise what interval that is? … It’s a 5th, now this is a subtle
change to playing it the standard way; on two adjacent strings. But it sounds much funkier,
more open and way less dense; I’m guessing due to this string being in the way
and the fact that the 5th is on a thinner string. Which for me, opened up a whole new
area to explore, which, bonus tip! I really like using with open strings
That was a brief introduction to interval mapping;
took a surprisingly large amount of takes for me to be able to say that! This has been
quick guitar tricks, that’s the playlist there, for more ideas on breaking out of boxes
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