There are many scales outside of the Major Scale and its modes. These other scales all have modes of their own. One definitive work on the subject is the Thesaurus Of Scales And Melodic Patterns by Nicolas Slonimsky. How many scales and modes does he catalog? Well, depending on how you count, up to 1330!
You'll be glad to know that I'm not going to get into an exhaustive treatment of all the modes of these other scales. I'm just going to deal with ones that I tend to use, which is merely a fraction of the total; other players would come up with different ones to emphasize.
First will be the Harmonic Minor Scale. How can we derive the Harmonic Minor Scale from the Natural Minor?
Simple; sharp the 7th.
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Blogs Published Since Last Newsletter
Blues Plus! (1): A 4-Lesson Series.
I took a phone call at my teaching studio one day that went something like this,
"I’m new in town, I recently moved here from Austin. I got your number from the guitar player at the jam at Jimmy’s Jigger last night. They called a Blues in Bb. I’ve been playing guitar professionally for over 20 years and what we call a Blues in Austin ain’t what you Kansas City guys are doing! There were tons of chords! I was totally lost! It was humbling. I need you to show me what y'all are doing.”
I'm going to give you what I gave him; I call it, "Blues Plus."
Blues Plus! (2): The I-VI-II-V Turnaround and Tritone Substitutions!
Blues Plus! (3): The Walkdown, the Walkup & Stormy Monday.
NOTE: The 4th and final installment of the Blues Plus series will be published this Monday, Feb 14, on the Master Guitar School blog.
Podcast Interview
I recently did an interview for comedian David Nasters' podcast, You Just Have To Laugh.
David wanted to talk about my history, my family and how I’ve maintained healthy relationships with my wife, kids and grandchildren -AND- maintained a successful music career.
So there’s more personal stuff than I usually share publicly.
I wanted to talk about what I’m focused on now - MasterGuitarSchool.com and the conversion of my teaching method to the internet environment.
We covered it all, and more on Davids’ podcast!
It’s long - an hour and a half - because we were having a great time!
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