I came up with this lick last night, which combines several ideas worth practicing. It was intended for use in an E dorian context. We begin with E minor pentatonic, but with fingering spaced in a way that creates a… Continue Reading
I was noodling around in C minor (dorian), and came up with this chromatic lick: One of the tricks to playing outside the changes is using simple chord arpeggios or digital patterns in remote keys. In this example, we move… Continue Reading
Earlier, I presented a 7th chord arpeggio workout (see “Practice Journal: A7 Arpeggio Exercise“). Now, let’s use fragments of those patterns to construct a short solo. This is an étude, so don’t expect a profound musical statement. Etude: 7th Chord… Continue Reading
Here’s a good arpeggio exercise for warming up. It’s based on an A7 chord, and takes you from one end of the neck to the other, through all five CAGED forms. I devised it as a drill to help develop… Continue Reading
Today’s lick from my personal notebook is a flurry of sextuplets that would be quite at home in a D Minor context. The lick begins with some string skipping, which creates the effect of a pseudo-arpeggio. Then we transition into… Continue Reading
As I practice, I keep a notebook full of blank manuscript paper handy in case I come up with something worth remembering. Here is one such thing — a nice, fast minor seventh arpeggio: Notice how we cover a wide… Continue Reading