Runs and Fills

Anyone have any good runs and fills or sites with examples and/or lessons?

Especially when going from a certain chord to another?

My questions are often a little vague...

Can't say i'm looking for specific chord progressions. but how about D to A?
Or Db to G?

I'm new to this so i'm not completely sure what to ask. I guess i'm really interested in learning fills, runs and progressions based on the minor scale. Hardcore/metal music, classical and spanish styles. If that helps in pointing me in the right direction.

Thanks for responding.

Runs and fills are all about scales, and relating your run to the melody and harmonic backdrop of the song.

There are a million ways to go from D to A. And 50,000 of them will sound good in any particular song. To figure out what those ways that will work are, you have to know what's going on in the song and then do something on the guitar that either compliments, contrasts or highlights what's going on.

One of the best ways to start getting a feel for the things you can do is to start playing arpeggios of different chord voicings, listening to how the notes sound as you move from chord to chord. Then add some simple background chords and as you do the arpeggios start adding in important melodic licks.

Pretty soon you start to get a feel for when in a particular song you should be following the harmony, and when you should follow the melody, and when you can do your own thing.

Once you have that feel (and this is really where I am) start learning some theory and figure out WHY it works. Not just that it works. Everytime you find yourself getting an "aha!" about how something worked, see if you can adapt the idea to another song, or a different run, or a new progression.

To do this stuff well you have to understand a lot of theory (either explicitely or implicitely), voice leading, chord voicings, scales and rhythmic punctuation ... just to name the big things.

It takes a long time to do it well. But it's actually pretty easy to figure out once you start.

One of my big "aha" moments was figuring out that chord arpeggios fit into scales in the key of the song.

I knew they fit into the key of the chord - Am arpeggios fit in the Am scale. But they also fit in every other scale that contains Am as a chord when you harmonize the scale. That has profound implications on what you can do melodically as you move to or from an Am chord.

*ack double post*

I was asked to play at a birthday party on Sunday and as I have never played solo before (only played in front of an audience once before!) I was stuck because I can't play a complete song except just strumming the chords.

Perhaps someone could recommend a fill - was playing Love is All Around (Troggs version) and was going from A7 to G, what would be a suitable fill (the chord sequence for the verse is D - Em - G - A7, then the chorus is G - Em - G - D - G - Em - Em - A then back to the verse.

Also what would be a good fill for the A to D.

I tried to work it out for myself just based on what I thought sounded OK - so from A7 to G I went b (5th string 2nd fret) a (open 5th) g (6th string 3rd fret) e (open 6th) f# (6th string 2nd fret) then strum the G chord. Was that any good???

What would anyone recommend going from A to D?

I would like to play a counter melody (my words) sometimes rather than strum and I can hear in my mind what I want to play, but I can't yet work out what notes to use on the guitar - most frustrating.

In the end I didn't play at the birthday party, chickened out!! Everyone else had been performing for years - but still I know I should have had a go - next time I will..

Well, a chord uses the notes D F# A and an A uses A C# E. So, any fill using those notes will work, espeically the A. Its hard to recommend something w/o a context, but if you were playing a blues, for example, going back to the root from the four chord in the key of A, this generic lick sounds good.

e-----------------5-----------
b-------------5---------------
g------7b9--------------------

Start on the C (flat 3rd in blues) note, bend to the D, play the E, and end on A. This outlines the chord transition in a very basic way.

Hope this helps a bit.
Matt

Thanks Matt, I'll try that..

Some context:

I'm trying to learn triads and the inversions right now. I enjoy playing dark or dissonant sounding things at times so this might be a clue as to what i want for a fill. As an example i'm playing the chords in sequence
A minor triad
4 E note
5 C note
6 A note

C major triad (second inversion)
4 E note
5 C note
6 G note

E minor triad (first inversion)
4 E note
5 B note
6 G note

So, i get that runs with these notes in them will work. And i'm most likely in an A minor scale so i can add an F note, so i play 6th string g, 4 f, 4e, 5c, 5b, 5d, 6 g. then 6th g, 4f, 4e, 5c, 5b, 6 a
As an example, how is this?

I assume if i want something dissonant sounding i can look at intervals. I have a chart which lists the consonance or dissonance from the tonic, but is there a way to chart out dissonance within the scale. I'll give a smart ass answer to my own question by saying chart it out yourself, it's good for your ear.

If you want to figure our consonance and dissonance within the scale, just treat the interval in relation to the tonic scale:

Key of C (w means whole, h means half)

C w D w E h F w G w A w B h C

For example, C>G is a fifth, which is consonant.

Within the C scale, E>F would be second. But in the E major scale, it would be a minor second. Both are dissonant, but the intervals shift.

Talk to noteboat, he's a composer and knows this stuff like the back of his hand.

Matt

Goto Mr. hodge lessons archive and what u find is a full article on fills.Take this link,

https://www.guitarnoise.com/authors.php?id=3

Rahul