An article for LickLibrary.

com by Guthrie Govan

Performance notes
In this column, we'll be learning a few new licks... and we'll also be establish
ing, beyond all scientific doubt, that ANY note can be made to sound good over A
NY chord, so long as you put it in the right place!
THE TRACK
The basic chord progression for this track is; Gm-Dm (x2), Eb-F (x2) The most co
nventional scale choice for a chord progression like this one would of course be
the G minor pentatonic; G Bb C D F 1 b3 4 5 b7 If you wanted a broader palette
of notes to play with, you could look at the composition of each chord in the pr
ogression. As it turns out, Gm contains the notes G, Bb and D, Dm contains the n
otes D, F and A, Eb contains the notes Eb, G and Bb, and F contains the notes F,
A and C.
If you put all these notes in order and look at them in the context of G minor (
the key of the track) you get the following seven note scale; G A Bb C D Eb F 1
2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 This is the G aeolian mode, also known as the 'natural minor'. (I
ts component notes, incidentally, are the same as those of a Bb major scale, but
they have a very different effect when you hear them in the context of G minor.
In other words, 'G aeolian is a mode of Bb major'.) This mode give you consider
ably greater freedom in your improvisation, for the simple reason that you now h
ave the choice of seven notes, rather than five.
If you've always been a pentatonic based player, I would urge you to spend some
time getting familiar with the sound of the modes before pursuing the chromatic
ideas which follow...
THE CHROMATIC SCALE
Hopefully, you'll agree that the extra two notes of the aeolian mode can enrich
the playing of anyone who wishes to expand on their pentatonic vocabulary. The n
ext logical step would be to add a couple more notes - ones that aren't included
in the G aeolian mode. But which ones?
If you fire up the accompanying backing track and try out each of those five rem
aining notes (Ab, B, Db, E and Gb), you probably won't feel much inclination to
include any of them; they are, without exception, horrible sounding. Despite thi
s, the chromatic scale cheerfully accommodates all five of these 'forbidden' not
es, and the key to making them sound good lies in using them tastefully. If you
end a phrase with a long, screaming chromatic note, it won't sound 'clever' or '
jazz' - it'll just sound like you're playing in the wrong key!
The simplest and safest use for a chromatic note is as a means of approaching a
better sounding note one semitone higher or lower. For instance, try playing an
ascending G minor arpeggio (G, Bb, D, G) by approaching each note from a semiton
e below (ie Gb-G, A-Bb, Db-D, Gb-G). The results should sound strongly reminisce
nt of G minor (it's like a Gm version of 'Hey Jude', in fact) even though half o
f the notes you played weren't in the chord and three of them weren't even in th
e G aeolian mode! This works because it creates a 'tension and release' effect;
first the chromatic approach note (for such is its technical name) creates a sli
ght tension, then the chord tone next door steps in and diffuses the situation b
efore things start sounding too weird!
Typically, jazz players use this idea a lot to keep the momentum and interest le
vels up when they're playing those long sixteenth note lines, but anyone can fin
d a home for it if they use it sparingly... Taking this idea one step further, y
ou might use a string of chromatic notes to connect two good notes. In G minor,
for instance, you could join up the chord tones G and Bb by playing the chromati
c run G, Ab, A, Bb. (The technical name for that would be chromatic passing tone
s.) This sounds good because the notes are all in a row, and the notes of the ch
romatic scale make a strange kind of sense when you hear them played in the righ
t order - so long as the notes at the start and the end are good! ('The Pink Pan
ther' and 'Flight Of The Bumble Bee' spring to mind...) If you fill in the gaps
like this, using a minor pentatonic scale shape to dictate your highest and lowe
st notes on each string, you'll find lots of Steve Morse style licks waiting to
be discovered!
THE DEMO SOLO
In the interests of keeping things vaguely musical, I tried to play a 'proper' s
olo over the backing track, rather than merely illustrating a series of chromati
c licks. The idea was to mix the chromatic ideas with a few slightly more 'tradi
tional' rock moments - this way I figured you could hear the effect in a musical
context, which hopefully provides you with more incentive to experiment with th
ese ideas in your own playing. If you just want to learn a few chromatic ideas t
o get you started, try bars 1, 9 and 13-14 (don't be put off by the speed of tha
t last one; those notes work equally well at slower tempos!)
As you scan the rest of the transcription for other ideas worth borrowing, bear
in mind that the most chromatic intensive moments are those where you see the mo
st sharps and flats in the music notation. The best long-term policy is to break
these down into smaller licks, always starting and ending with good, solid G mi
nor chord tones; that way, it'll be easier for you to incorporate them successfu
lly into your own style. One final tip; the most effective note of a chromatic l
ick is the last one, so try starting each short lick at various places in the ba
r. You'll probably agree that it sounds most effective when the last note falls
on a main beat. (Food for thought!) Guthrie Govan

http://www.licklibrary.com/resources/Chromatic%20Licks%20May%202003%20Solo.mp3
http://www.licklibrary.com/resources/Chromatic%20Licks%20New%20May%202003%20Back
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http://www.licklibrary.com/resources/Chromatic_Licks.pdf
http://www.licklibrary.com/resources/Chromatic%20Licks%20New%20May%202003%20Solo
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http://www.licklibrary.com/resources/Chromatic%20Licks%20New%20May%202003%20Back
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