(This is the MasterGuitarSchool.com monthly Newsletter - July, 2022.)
The Chromatic Scale formula is nothing but half-steps. As with any symmetrical pattern the issue is getting out of it. In other words, resolving. You have to know where you're going to end before you start; otherwise you'll get lost out in the ether. I usually resolve a chromatic phrase into a typical blues lick.
Another thing you can do with the chromatic concept is apply it to phrases. You can take a lick that you play all the time and move it chromatically. Don't forget, resolve it into something that's diatonic, that is, something that's consonant with the key/tonality.
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BTW: The next lesson in this series will probably be the last of the Going Modal lessons. After that I will offer the entire series as a PDF download; watch for it!
The Blog
I have been consistently publishing a blog more-or-less weekly for the last 7 years. Last time I looked there were 239 blogs. The first blog is dated Oct 22, 2015. I'm easing up a little on that now for several reasons:
1) I want every blog to be high quality, original content. I'm not going to publish bullshit filler &/or curated or copied stuff from other sources. In other words, after 7 years I'm running out of things to say (I think!). I've said most of what's been backlogged in my mind up to now on the subject of music and the guitar. As I think of things I will continue to write and publish but I am no longer going to pressure myself to stick to an every-week schedule.
You could help by making suggestions or asking questions; that would be a way to give me ideas for new blogs.
2) I'm going to concentrate more on providing free guitar lessons in the blog. There is already a FREE LESSONS category; I'll be adding to that. Since it takes longer to produce that kind of content rather than Stories, Jam Tales, Rants & Musings, etc. there will be longer stretches of time between new blogs being published.
3) It's time to begin leveraging the content I've already produced. The whole point of the blog from the beginning, besides the fact I simply enjoy writing, was to create interest in MasterGuitarSchool.com, resulting in consistent increases to Site Membership. It's called, "content marketing." It's my Site Members in which I'm interested; helping people add value to their lives through the guitar and propagating a legacy that involves the method I learned from John Elliott which made such a huge impact on my own playing - and therefore on my life in general since playing the guitar has been my primary career for over 50 years now.
So, in this section of the monthly newsletter, you'll begin to see the term, "Republished." What that means is I am pinning a previous post to the top of the blog feed and posting it on Master Guitar School's Facebook page, from which I can do paid promotions to funnel interested people to the blog and website. Some of those people will sign up. At the moment I have about 4,000 folks on the mailing list and over 1500 of those are Site Members. If you want more info on Site Membership, see Why Become a Site Member?
4) I'm trying to scale back and decompress in general. I consider myself now "semi-retired.” Over the last couple of years, I have allowed my teaching schedule to attrition by about 50%. I'm now teaching about 35 personal students a week instead of 70 or 80. It feels like a vacation! Additionally, I'm trying to retrain my brain to not knee-jerk and say "Yes!" to every single gig that comes along that I could do. That's been a tough one for me but I'm gaining on it!
Blogs Published Since Last Newsletter
Republished: Quick & Dirty Altered Dominants: A quick primer on altered dominant chords: 15 fretboard diagrams, 5 exercises and links to free downloads!
2-Note Jazz Chords: When comping behind a vocalist or a soloist, playing these 2-note chords leaves space for the bass player and the keyboardist to do their thing. Trust me, they'll appreciate you for it!
Going Modal! Diminished: FREE lesson on the Diminished scale, plus blog links & Tune of the Month (Jeannine)!
Tune of the Month
Hymn for Her: from the CD, My Ship. This is a song I wrote in 1986 as a Christmas gift to my wife, Andrea. It pretty much states my philosophy of marriage, love, sex, and babies. We were so poor we couldn't afford much of a Christmas that year. My two daughters were very young at the time and I would work on the recording while Andrea was at the grocery or running errands and the girls would be my lookouts and come running - "Dad! Hide the song! Mom's home, Mom's home!" Turns out that this gift has kept on giving for years and years - giving back to ME that is! What a huge return for such a small investment! The original title was Andrea's Song and can be found in its original form on my 1991 release, Waiting. A few years later I added the chorus, which didn't exist on the original recording of the song. It was at that time that I retitled it Hymn for Her.
Unit 5: 7th Inversions - Update
I have discovered two fretboard diagram mistakes in the videos. The videos have been corrected and the updated PDF has been posted. If you purchased Unit 5 at anytime in the past you received an email last Tuesday, July 5 &/or Friday, July 8. That email contained a link whereby you can download an updated PDF for free.
If you ever find a mistake in any of my lessons - bring it to my attention; the first person to do so will get one lesson series of their choice for free!
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