Not that kind of scale, knucklehead!

There are two primary schools of thought when it comes to scales and improvisation. The first is to treat each chord as a separate entity and improvise using certain scales/modes over each one individually. I like to think of this as “vertical improvisation” as the player deals with each chord individually.

The second is to think more linearly – “horizontal improvisation” – by finding the cadence patterns and chord progressions that fall under a certain scale/mode, and then adding certain alterations to spice up the lines.

Both ways work, but does one necessarily work better than the other?

Is there a secret method or special trick you can use to master the scales and chord progressions and be able to become the fiercest soloist on the block?

First and foremost, let’s answer the question:

No, there is no trick!

Hey, it's cheap...

C’mon folks, if you thought there really was a trick then I have some land to sell you. There are no tricks, no matter what people tell you. Both methods require hard work and lots of shedding, so let’s dispel any notions to the contrary.

Vertical Improvisation

As I mentioned previously, vertical improvisation deals with each chord as a separate entity. Surely, you would identify certain progressions such as ii-V-I’s as a single unit, but the overarching principle is to look at each chord on its own. For example, let’s take a ii-V-I in the key of Ab Major:

Bbm7 / / /  |  Eb7 / / /  |  AbMaj7 / / /  |  / / / /  |

A typical vertical improvisation approach to this progression would go like this:

Bbm7 = Bb Dorian mode
Eb7 = E melodic minor scale
AbMaj7 = Ab Major or Ab Lydian mode

This is obviously not the only way, but it is perhaps the most basic for vertical improvisation.

Improvising this way requires the player to first memorize all three of these scales and, secondly, know how to play them in all areas of the fingerboard.

Horizontal Improvisation

Let’s take the same ii-V-I in Ab:

Bbm7 / / /  |  Eb7 / / /  |  AbMaj7 / / /  |  / / / /  |

Jimmy Bruno

Using the Horizontal Improvisation approach, you would think of this whole section as being all in the key of Ab Major. In this way you really only need to learn one set of fingerings or scale (for lack of a better term). However, this in and of itself is going to sound very stale and boring. Jimmy Bruno, as an example, teaches in his Guitar Institute that you make certain alterations to address certain sounds in the progression – he calls them “outside notes.”

This approach requires the player to have all of the fingerings for the key figured out on the entire fingerboard, as well as knowing where all of the altered/outside sounds are within the larger framework. When playing a b9 during the Eb7 you essentially need to know where all of the ‘E’ notes on the guitar are, but you need to know these as b9′s and as the note names. It’s a lot harder than you think.

The Hybrid

Pat Martino

There is a pseudo third school of thought which I think of as something of a hybrid. Pat Martino comes to mind in this method. In his approach, everything is reduced to a minor sound. (It’s really more of a Dorian mode sound than a regular minor one.) His concept is similar to Bruno’s in that he thinks of everything as minor (as compared to Bruno thinking in Major), but all of the alterations are already included in Martino’s lines. If you study Martino’s approach you will see that it’s not just a “Dorian” sound but a highly chromatic/altered concept within a tonal center. The lines themselves inherently teach you all of the alterations and color tones by simply learning his approach to playing. There is no analysis or specific identification of one note being the b9 or this or #5 of that; it’s all about the sound.

Which Way is Better?

Well that’s the million-dollar question now, isn’t it. To be honest, I can’t definitively answer that. It’s really up to you to decide what works best for you. I have had great amounts of success with both. Bruno’s system filled in many holes I had in my fretboard knowledge in a very short amount of time. My knowledge of the guitar is 1000% better thanks to his method. But I’ve also had success with the vertical approach (and I’m studying Martino’s approach currently).

My suggestion, however, is for you to try all of the approaches and see what works for you. I recommend you work one at a time so as to not confuse yourself. Start with one and milk it for as long as you can. When you’ve gotten all you can out of it, move on to the next. It will probably take you a very long time in each one before you switch, so be patient.

Most importantly, have fun!

Learn the Modes, or One Big Scale? is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Gibson J-45 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar

My First Electric Guitar

Well, before too long a few friends of mine put together a band, so I naturally needed an electric. Luckily, a friend of my dad’s was looking to sell a late 50′s Gretsch anniversary model plus amp, for about $150. Ah, the good old days. Playing the Gretsch with its flatwound strings was like entering another world. Here was an instrument that wasn’t fighting me, and I loved it. Well, you guessed it, the love didn’t last too long, because my friends were soon off to college, the band dispersed, and I began looking for an acoustic. Enter a 1967 Gibson J-45 dreadnought, probably one of the instruments I owned for the longest time….about 20 years. …until it had an unplanned fall and suffered a cracked bridge. I was referred to John Monteleone’s shop for the repair, and John gave me an estimate of $250 to make a completely new rosewood bridge. Since I had only paid $165 for the guitar new, this seemed a bit much, although, looking back, it was probably pretty reasonable. And, at least I got to meet  Mr. Monteleone, maker of some truly unique instruments. I finally did have the original bridge repaired, but the job wasn’t anything to write home about. For quite a few years, I barely picked up the guitar, mostly to sing for my young son.

I don’t know when the urge to pick up the guitar again hit me, probably sometime in the mid-eighties, but I do recall making many trips to the local Sam Ash music store to check out all the shiny new instruments hanging on the wall. Each one beckoned to me to become “the one” that would not only make my playing better (or at least “sound better,”)  but would fulfill that sense of “something’s missing” from the previous guitar I owned. Well, you can imagine where this line of thinking led me. Guitars shuttled in and out of my closets like locals arriving at a train station. Among them, guitars by Gibson, Fender, Rickenbacker, Guild, Yamaha, Takamine, and Taylor.  At one point there were guitars in 3 closets, and none of them was “the one.”

Time to Step It Up

Well, fast forward to 2004, when I thought I had truly found the instrument of my dreams: a D’Angelico New Yorker reissue. I first saw it at a local guitar show, and finally found a New York city dealer that had one in a natural blond finish. Heaven, and all for only $3,000.  I should stop a minute to add that I did sell several other guitars to purchase this one, and if ever there’s a lesson to be learned it’s this: Give up on the idea that a guitar is a good investment & you will actually make some money on a resale. It never happened. In fact, I’ve lost money on every instrument I’ve ever sold. Maybe if you’re lucky enough to own an original D’Angelico you’ll make a profit, but not on a mass manufacturer’s instrument.

So, here I was with my latest “must have” guitar, happily playing it for a year when I began to realize that it was way too big for me and not all that comfortable. Hmmm …what to do? Risk my marriage by telling my husband this expensive guitar he had just bought for me was not filling the bill either? So, I did nothing…..I’m a good wife. Finally, I did tell him, and being a great husband, he agreed to stop by Mandolin Brothers to see what they might have, with the understanding that I’d trade in the D’Angelico. Much to my delight, I found a smaller bodied D’Aquisto reissue that had all the attributes I was looking for. So, the deal was made for another $3,000 guitar, and I soon sold the D’Angelico on eBay…more or less. That long saga of criminality is enough to fill an article of its own.

The Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno Signature Guitar

Finding the Guitar of My Dreams

So, I thought I was done with buying guitars…so did my husband…….until 2005. We attended the Classic American Guitar Show on Long Island, NY, as we always did, and through our friend, the brilliant guitarist Jimmy Bruno, we were introduced to master luthier Roger Sadowsky. As luck would have it, this was the year that Roger unveiled his new Jimmy Bruno model, a small-bodied (14″ at the lower bout) laminate guitar. As we visited with Roger at his booth, he handed me the guitar to check out. Now, I knew how dangerous this was, even if my husband didn’t. First, it was aesthetically stunning, with workmanship second to none, and it bore the name of my favorite player of all time. So, I graciously took the guitar in hand and sat down to check it out. Even unamplified, this was the guitar of my dreams, the one I had been searching for from the beginning. But, what could I do? Just the year before, my husband had bought me the D’Aquisto. I had to just grit my teeth and walk away. But, the guitar never left my thoughts, especially since I was involved with Jimmy’s new interactive website, JBGI, and saw Jimmy play it every day.

Finally, the 2006 guitar show rolled around and there we were back at Roger’s booth. I’ll never forget Roger’s first words when he saw us: “Are you back to kick the tires?”  We still joke about it. No, I wasn’t back to kick the tires, I knew this was the guitar I had been looking for for over 40 years. I had never played an instrument with a neck that rivaled this one; so smooth, so comfortable, such fast action, with the most incredible fretwork I’d ever seen. I’ve often described the difference between other guitars and Sadowskys as being the difference between driving a truck and driving a sports car. It may sound like an exaggeration, but to me, it’s dead-on accurate.

I’ve owned my Jimmy Bruno model Sadowsky for almost 4 years now, and a few months ago, added another Sadowsky to the family: a stunning natural finish semi-hollow body, based on the body size of the JB. I love them both, and for the first time in years, I can finally say that I play all of my guitars now, which is what it’s all about, isn’t it?

My 45-Year Quest for the Perfect Guitar is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.