Symetrical Serendipity

[Brooks]

dec 2015 -

"serendipity is a big part of my style";

a less pretentious (& more honest) way of saying that is;

"i come up with a lot of licks & runs when i try (& fail) to master someone else's lick or run".

often i will mess with a lick or run, and i can't quite get it to flow smoothly,

and after awhile i will change some notes until it falls under my fingers,

thus giving me my own somewhat original lick that i can actually play.

example - i have been messing with the whole tone scale for years,

which uses one of my fave concepts, symetrical fingerings.

the whole tone scale is all whole tones, which is 2 frets on the guitar.

EVH & Zappa are the most obvious folks i can think of who sometimes use it.

this example works in G major or A minor

(due to the notes G - A - B being

1 - 2 - maj3 in G maj,

or b7 - 1 - 2 in A min) ;

-------------------------------------------9-11-13-15

---------------------------------8-10-12-------------

------------------------6-8-10-----------------------

----------------5-7-9--------------------------------

--------4-6-8----------------------------------------

3-5-7------------------------------------------------

put on some delay and play this scale descending and you will hear

the cheesy "going back in time" effect used sometimes in TV & movies, haha.

i have never been very comfortable w/ the whole tone scale,

and have only developed 2 runs/licks that i can execute worth a shit;

---------------------------------

---------------------------------

------------------------6-10-8-

----------------5-9-7----------

--------4-8-6------------------

3-7-5--------------------------

and

-----------------------------------------------

-10-8-----12-10------14-12------16-14--

-------8-----------10----------12----------14

-----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------

i stick them together for a cool run i like to use

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------10-8-----12-10------14-12------16-14---

------------------------6-10-8--------8-----------10----------12----------14

----------------5-9-7---------------------------------------------------------

--------4-8-6-----------------------------------------------------------------

3-7-5-------------------------------------------------------------------------

ok, back to "serendipity";

i have been trying to get this fast descending whole tone run under my fingers, but i suck at it;

13-11-9---------------------------

----------12-10-8----------------

--------------------10-8-6-------

----------------------------9-7-5

------------------------------------

------------------------------------

i kept messing with it, fumbling around until i found something that i could play smoothly and came up w this;

13-11-9-8-----------------------------------

-------------12-10-8-7----------------------

--------------------------11-9-7-6---------

-------------------------------------10-8-6-5

------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------

now its fingering is truly symetrical, and has 4 notes per string (but its no longer a "whole tone" scale,

but some sort of hybrid 2 octave scale when played across all strings (see below);

i could research it and find a proper music theory name, but who cares).

now its easy to play forward or backward, and it gives a similar "out" jazzy sound like the whole tone scale.

descending, i use pinky - middle - index, then slide my index down 1 fret;

same reversed for ascending (index, slide index up 1 fret, middle, pinky)

--------------------------------------------------------8-9-11-13

-------------------------------------------7-8-10-12------------

--------------------------------6-7-9-11-------------------------

---------------------5-6-8-10------------------------------------

----------4-5-7-9------------------------------------------------

3-4-6-8----------------------------------------------------------

i think the reason i like this is because its fingering is very similar to the half whole diminished run i like to use;

---------------------------------------------------------9-10-12-13

--------------------------------------------8-9-11-12------------

--------------------------------6-7-9-10-------------------------

---------------------5-6-8-9------------------------------------

----------4-5-7-8------------------------------------------------

3-4-6-7----------------------------------------------------------

anyways, the bigger idea here is "serendipity"....

try looking at some lessons or tab,

if they don't feel right after a reasonable amount of practice,

CHANGE them until you can play it. and don't worry about right or wrong notes,

use your ear to get you in and out of these ideas.

[it's me HHB]

Ive noticed that first lick you developed in your playing several times/ways.

[crunchee]

Taking cues from songs and making it your own is all part of developing a musical education and style. The Beatles did it frequently, so did Led Zep.

[Brooks]

"A great player named Jack Zucker posted a cool George Benson styled lick with a lot of symmetrical fingerings, which I love to employ. As usual for me, I spent 2 minutes trying to learn it before I gave up and mutated it into something that 1) I could actually play, & 2) was something I could (kinda) call my own (is any lick really original? probably not)".