Have You Bitten Off More Than You Can Chew?
- Jay EuDaly
- 7 hours ago
- 5 min read
One of the most common things I see among people who teach themselves is, they take in and try to deal with too much data. So one of my main jobs as a teacher in that case is to steer them away from all the information they're trying to learn and require them to laser-focus on One. Single. Thing.
Don't bite off more than you can chew; it's better to practice a-little-a-lot, rather than a-lot-a-little.
The examples of this malady - too much data - are all over the place. I see it on Reddit threads, Facebook groups and so on, ad nauseam. Here's one example I lifted from a Facebook group:
So what's wrong with this?
Well, nothing really; everything is correct. There are several things about it that I appreciate:
The emphasis on the root. Good! But I'm wondering, "Why green?" Is there a reason?
All the intervals are defined. Good! Question; why is the minor 7 labeled "b7" rather than, "-7"? The major intervals are labeled with a triangle, meaning "major." The minus sign is the corresponding symbol for “minor.”
There is no reference to the key (which is D btw) from which “Mixolydian” is derived. It is simply presented as an A Major Scale with the 7th flatted. I agree with this concept for reasons I won’t go into here.
My questions are really nit-picking, although I'm genuinely curious as to what the answers would be. Whoever created this graphic is obviously knowledgeable, and as I said, correct with all the information presented here.
Anyway, so why then am I using this as a negative example?
Too much info! How is the student supposed to PRACTICE all this? What do you actually drill - daily - with the goal of integrating it into your actual playing?
Well then, you may say, how would you teach the Mixolydian Mode?
I'm glad I asked me that question!
Below is a screenshot of the very beginning of the lesson on the Mixolydian Mode from my lesson series,
Without going into what I would consider essential prerequisite knowledge (see the 5-Lesson Foundational Series below) and cutting straight to the chase, I would reduce the above graphic down to two, 2-octave patterns:
The numbers in the circles are the intervals, the numbers across the top are fingerings, the root is blue, the flat-7 is yellow (not gonna go into why, but the colors are intentional).
I idiosyncratically call the flat 7 a “Mixolydian 7” (ML7) because it is the distinctive thing about the Mixolydian Mode. It’s what distinguishes the Mixolydian Mode from the Major Scale.
Yes, on the 6th-string pattern there are notes available on the first string and on the 5th-string pattern there are notes available on the 6th string. Why are those not included?
For reasons having to do with ear training, I want the scale to start and end on the root, whether ascending or descending.
Here is the relevant part of the lesson video:
These scale patterns are what many guitar teachers would call the “3-note per string patterns.” That’s fine. I call them “1st-finger patterns” because the root they start from is fingered with the first finger.
If you want more information on why I teach 1st-finger patterns first, go here.
Incidentally, these fingerings do not exist in the CAGED method. I’ll leave that right there.
Are there other fingerings/patterns for the same scale?
Yes, there are several more. But remember, it’s better to practice a little a lot.
With just these two patterns you can play the Mixolydian Mode in every key. The fretboard diagram that started this blog is overwhelmingly the key of A, and only A. Yes, you can move it around if you already know the fretboard. But that’s a LOT of data to move around.
Notice that I think about A Mixolydian as its own key. NOT the 5th mode of D major.
If the student can play the above in every key to my satisfaction, and wants the other fingering patterns, I will present them in the same way, one at a time, drilled in every key to my satisfaction, before moving on to the next one.
Isn’t what I’ve presented a more efficient, less confusing and more functional method? I think so.
Have you bitten off more than you can chew? Remember; practice a-little-a-lot.
I try not to play the “old man card” but sometimes I can’t help myself:
In my formative stage - mid to late 1960’s - we didn’t have access to all this information. I was a young teenager trying to learn by listening to records and the radio. Believe me, when I copped something from the Animals, the Beatles, B.B. King, CCR, Cream or Jimi Hendrix, it was one single thing and I practiced the shit out of it!
The summer between 7th and 8th grade, I had discovered the Minor Pentatonic Scale. I knew it in only one single position. I remember walking around the house all day with my Burns Baby Bison electric guitar slung over my shoulder playing the Minor Pentatonic over and over and over again, the whole summer. That’s like 8 hours a day for 3 months. That’s how you do it! One thing, over and over.
By the time I was 15 I was getting paid to play the little I had practiced a LOT! That story is here. There are guys that basically do one thing and make millions. They do that one thing really well.
How About 5 Lessons?
The 5-Lesson Foundational Series teaches the Circle of Keys as an organizational mechanism by which you ensure that whatever you learn is drilled in every key in all possible positions. It also gives you a method to find any note, anywhere, without memorizing note names on every string. That is a beautiful thing!
Almost every lesson I teach presupposes these 5 lessons.
You can download the 5-Lesson Foundational Series right here with no further obligation or commitment:
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