Tip: Continuous Scale Exercise
Here’s a scale exercise you might especially helpful if you’re interested in improvisation, especially modal improvisation. This exercise uses three different modes of the major scale (with a couple of chromatic alterations) to create the feeling of a I-iv-V-I progression in Bb minor.
The striking thing about this exercise is the way it communicates the feeling of the underlying chords using only stepwise movement. Hearing the changes is a piece of cake when you play arpeggios, but using scales to hear the changes requires some understanding of how modes work. I hope this exercise helps build that understanding for you.
These are all eighth notes, except for the last note, which is a half note.
|------------------|----------------8----| |------------------|----------6-7-9------| |------------------|------6-8------------| |-------------6-10-|-8-10----------------| |-------6-8-9------|---------------------| |-6-8-9------------|---------------------|
|-6------------------|---------------------| |---9-7-6------------|---------------------| |---------8-----6----|---------------------| |------------10---10-|--8-6----------------| |--------------------|------9-8-6----------| |--------------------|------------9-8-6----|
|-----------------|----------------5-|----| |-----------------|------------7-6---|----| |-----------------|--------6-8-------|----| |-----------------|-6-8-10-----------|----| |---------6-9-8-9-|------------------|----| |-5-6-8-9---------|------------------|----|
|-6-8-9-8-6----| |--------------| |--------------| |--------------| |--------------| |--------------|
Thanks for reading.
Copyright © 2010 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News – December 1, 2008 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.