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Improvising with Exotic Scales - Part 3
(12 Aug 04)
Rhythm is the key!!!
Sometimes you can get an "exotic" sound out of a scale with just messing with the rhythm a little bit, check this example of the D minor scale:
Midi file -- Powertab file
That sounds a lot like a Russian polka type of thing (I got it from somewhere, I can't really remember where I just spawned it from memory), and I'm not using anything different from the Dm scale.
A lot of the time, if you work on a scale you can reproduce a rather exotic sound by just mimicking the rhythmic pattern of the music you're trying to emulate (using only our good old faithful pentatonic scale try mimicking some African rhythms and you'll be surprised at your discoveries), so go ahead and get your metronomes out and work some rhythmic patterns, it's worth it.
Just one more thing before I move along; combine your rhythmic patterns, don't just sit there and play odd groupings all night long and expect something to come out of that, make it breathe, use silence…
Melodic/rhythmic improvisation is a very hard aspect of musicianship to master; I have by no means mastered it. Don't limit yourself to the few concepts I'm explaining here, use your imagination, come up with your own stuff.
There are tons of great articles on this website that'll help you achieve whatever you want (Tom wrote one fairly recently on the subject of creativity that hasn't got the attention it deserves, it's worth checking out), but what it comes down to is how far you want to take things. Eric has said many times that it's up to you how much time you'll spend practicing a thing (scale, lick, progression, jam; whatever) and it's very true. And it's all part of your own musical self, where do you want to go with this? Is this even part of what you want to do? What's the point of learning how to improvise if you're going to play cover songs 24/7? Same thing what's the point of, say, learning and spending time on getting incredible shredding chops if you play and love classic country? You get my point.
Chris has also made a point on learning stuff that you can put into practice; I agree with that and it's also very true that theory by itself is very sterile, just an academic delight; but once you put it in practice on your instrument (whatever that might be), all those big words, Dominant whatever sharp this flat that, start almost magically to really make sense, just like science is just sterile without experimentation. That's how music theory is without actual music. Ok lecture mode off, let's continue : .
Listen!!!!!
So you want to get exotic sounds under your fingers huh? How about you get them between your ears first? There's a lot you can learn by just actively listening; improvisation is, after all, doing some playing and A LOT of listening (that's why it seems so hard for us guitarists).
Develop a taste for world's music; for instance, if you want to get the Latino sound down? Well, start by getting hold of some Bosa Nova, Salsa, Merengue and whatever else you can think of that can be somewhat related to it (I even have some native Andean Music in my record collection).
Do you want to get some of those Middle Eastern sounds down? Same thing, get a hold of some traditional music (hey this is Texas and even I can find some stores that hold those traditional middle eastern type of things… they may not be at Tower Records, but some of those ethnic stores have real Arabian, Indian, etc music).
Listen for those exotic sounds in their purest way, without any kind of alteration (globalization is making that harder and harder but oh well, get the best you can) that way you can sort of import those sounds to whatever style you have, some players have even been lucky enough to travel and experience that music themselves. I lived in South America most of my life, so experiencing Country and The Blues have had that kind of an impression on me, it's seeing a native form of art in a foreign land.
We got into music by listening, we listened to our favorite records over and over until one day we said "you know what? I want to do that!" and started our musical journey, but it's common that we are so caught up in learning how to play that we forget how to listen.
We have no problem with doing 4 hours of chromatic mechanical exercises but one hour of ear training sounds like torture… let's try and change that, let's put the guitars down and listen for a change, just a few minutes every day, even pop music has something to say (sometimes), listen to instruments other than guitar, from the Kazoo all the way up to classical Pianists, and don't forget that a lot of the jazz's masterpieces were originally written on wind instruments, so go for those too. There is so much good music out there that we could spend literally years listening to all of what was recorded before we were born up to our time (and that just selecting the real good stuff : ).
Sing!!!!
Yes you read correctly, singing is the best way to internalize a sound, sing everything you play, better yet, while working on a scale, internalize its sound until you can just recall it out of the blue, that'll free you from your instrument and help you come up with melodies from your head (instead of your fingers).
Sing the scale and work little by little, if you can't match the pitches at first don't despair, keep at it, it's worth getting those skills down. Once you can sing them, work one degree at a time. You can take it easy and work on the 2nd (we are assuming the root) one day, then the 3rd and so on.
More important than learning a fixed pitch, work on getting the interval right, remember how much vocal energy it takes to reach it, that way you'll be able to sing the scale even if you don't have any pitch reference, use your imagination, my brothers and I (all musicians now) used to play little games like singing a 5th or, a 4th , M3 or m3 to anything to a defined pitch (we even tried that with the blender, it drove my mom nuts lol). So come up with your own method to remember intervals, get familiar with them both harmonically (vertically) and melodically (horizontally), think about it.
Scales are nothing but a bunch of intervals put together. Wouldn't it be nice to come up with a melody in any given scale while at work just by humming? Personally, I would like nothing better than to just play guitar all day, but there are annoying little things like working, eating, commuting, etc. that get in the way. And I know the same is true for all of us. So resources like being able to sing any given interval come in handy and can turn your driving, cooking, even showering time into part of your practicing routine. I am still working on my intervals (singing vertical minor seconds and sevenths is tough : ) but I am already reaping the results of training my ear when performing, teaching, practicing… even my singing is improving (nice added bonus!! : )
So give it a try and see what that can do for you.
More Real Life Application:
Most people at Ibreathe know that I am mainly a rock guitarist, even though my taste goes way beyond that, with that in mind, I wanted to mention Mr. Vai's contribution to the musical world with his album Alive in the Ultra World, this album is FULL of exotic scale examples and real world application, with tracks such as Burning Rain, Incantation and Iberian Jewel, it's a definite recommended listening for those wanting to find ways to apply these scales in a rock environment, a very melodic album but, given Steve's performance, the album is very much shredder friendly as well.
Here's an example from the song Babushka
Midi file -- Powertab file
Steve uses the Phrygian dominant scale and a rather weird rhythmic grouping (polyrhythm baby yeah… ) to achieve that sound… so hard to describe, found in Hungarian folk music. He wrote this song for Romania but to me it's always sounded reminiscent of Hungarian dances… but then again since those cultures are so closely related… tough one to nail, not so much the playing itself or the melodic inflections (ever so scary on Vai's songs) but the accuracy of the rhythm… Listen to the record and you'll see what I mean.
In the song Principesa, Mr. Vai uses a very tango-like rhythm to emulate a traditional song from Italy (also found in music from Argentina, both cultures are related as well, pick out any world history encyclopedia and you'll know what I'm talking about… the Italian immigrants contributed to the growth of Argentina and Brazil's culture by providing a taste of folklore from their terra mater). That song is also a must hear.
Conclusion:
Alrighty guys I guess that's it for now. I hope you have enjoyed this series of articles (took me long enough to complete them), and hopefully I've been able to shed some light into the "dark mysteries" of improvisation (use alternate major and minor seconds now… :D )
I'd like to thank the guys at Vai.com for allowing me to publish material from Alive in the Ultra World Album and transcribe the example. Also Guni and Clive who are doing an excellent job at keeping IBM going, and you guys, members who help each other (yours truly included) grow as musicians everyday, keep up the good work guys.
Until next time, keep rocking.
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Guitarist, instructor and songwriter, Jorge, a.k.a. forgottenking2 is one of the top contributers in the iBreatheMusic community. Check out his website.
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