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Practice Track: D dorian

Here is a practice track for all levels of guitar player. It is a piece in the Dorian Mode. Use the notes of the C major scale to improvise a melody, however the root note will be a D, and the notes of the D minor triad will be prominent! The practice track is four repeats of a 16 bar chord progression:

||: Dm |Dm |G |Dm |
| G |Dm |G |F |
| G |F |Am |Dm |
| F |G |Am |A7 : ||

Note that the 16th bar, just before the repeat, introduces the C sharp in the A7 chord, so for this bar use D melodic minor instead of the Dorian mode (i.e. just substitute C sharp for C in the Dorian mode).

D Dorian practice track

Have fun!

Rob

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C major Practice Track: C & G7

This is a simple practice track for beginning guitarists. The drums provide a basic rock beat behind a simple bass line and open position chords. The chords are C and G7:

||: C                  |                       |G7                 |                       : ||

Use it to practice making up a melody (improvising!) using the notes of the C major scale. Listen carefully for which notes go better with each chord.

Practice Track: C & G7

Have Fun!

 

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C major practice track

Here is a simple practice track for practicing improvising in a C major scale. The chords are

|G               |Am               |Bm7b5              |C                 : ||

It is suitable for any player who can play the C major scale! When you are playing, see if you can listen to each note, and pick out notes which go with the chords.

C major practice track: V-vi-vii-I

Playing the guitar is about making the most of what skills and techniques you have, being musical with the things that you CAN do. Don’t worry about things you can’t do – just focus on what you can do, and be as musical as you can. The more you play, the range of things you can do increases – especially if you have a good regular practice routine.

As an example, here is a melody part for the same progression played entirely in first position, using only one octave from the G string up to G on the top E string:

C major practice track with lead (melody):

So be as musical as you can with the skills and technique you have. It is a good habit that will strengthen your playing as you continue to improve your technique and skill level. And don’t forget to have fun!

 

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Keep It Simple

Something I like to tell my students is that good music comes from a place of simplicity. If you are struggling to execute whatever musical ideas you are trying to express with your playing, your attention will be on the technical demands of what you are doing. There won’t be a lot of focus left for the music itself. The result will be playing that sounds technical and unimaginative. If however you play from a place of simplicity, a comfort zone well within your technical capacities, then the technical aspects of your playing can go on to auto-pilot, and you can give 100% of your attention to the musicality and expressiveness of what your are playing. The result will be much more musical and interesting for the listener.

You will also find that adopting this approach helps everything stay relaxed, so that you play with greater finesse and accuracy, even if it might be well below your technical capacity. I find that as one tries to push one’s limits technically, one often tenses up, which results in stiff and inaccurate playing. So play what you find simple, stay relaxed, and focus on the music rather than your technique when playing.

Of course as one develops as a player, through regular steady practice, one’s technical capacities increase. One’s zone of simplicity expands to encompass things that would have once seemed impossible. In fact, you can look at your practice routine as a way of expanding your zone of simplicity.

So when performing, play in your zone of simplicity, and concentrate on the music. And always be working on increasing your zone of simplicity through your practice routine. But don’t take my word for it, try it out in your own playing, and see if it works for you!

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Practice Track: A natural minor, 3/4 time.

Here is a practice track to help you get familiar with playing 3 beats to the bar. While a great deal of music commonly heard in rock and pop is in 4 beats to the bar, playing in 3 beats to the bar is important for the well rounded musician, even if it’s only so you can play the bridal waltz if you get wedding gigs!

The chord progression is

||: Am         |Am           |G              |Am          : ||

It is a slow (90 bpm) 3 beats to the bar, with each beat divided into shuffle eights, which you can hear if you listen to the drums.

Use the notes of the A natural minor scale (same as C major) to construct a melody over the progression.

Practice Track: A natural minor, 3/4 time

Enjoy!

 

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Practice Track: Am D9 Funk

Here is a practice track for those wanting to polish up their soloing over a funk style A minor groove. The place to start with soloing over this groove, which alternates between Am7 and D9 is the A minor pentatonic scale. There are six fingerings of the A minor pentatonic scale which cover the entire fretboard. Practice in each of the fingerings until you know them all well, then practice going between pairs of fingerings, until you can play anywhere on the neck of the guitar!

Here are the six fingering patterns – notice that the first is identical to the sixth after making adjustment for the open strings.

The minor pentatonic approach is however just the beginning of what you can do. You can also try A natural and Dorian minor scales. Since Am and D7 are the ii and V chords of the G major scale, you can also use the G major scale.  Try working off  the A minor seventh and D7 or D9 arpeggios. You might also like to experiment with the B minor pentatonic scale and the E minor pentatonic scale, as both of these scales contain only notes from the G major scale. As always, let your ear be the judge!

Here is the practice track:

Practice track Am7-D9 funk groove

Enjoy!

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Practice Track: C major I-vi-II7-V7

This practice track is done in an Indie Rock style. The rhythm section is composed of drums, bass, and rhythm guitar, with a tenor guitar line that is similar to the bass part, but an octave higher, and playing on all the beats.

The progression replaces the diatonic D minor chord which fits with the C major scale, with a dominant seventh chord, the D7. This substitution is a common one in Jazz and swing tunes, and gives the progression a stronger blues flavour than would otherwise be the case.

(1) The simplest approach to soloing is to play in C major throughout, being careful to avoid F over the D7, which would clash with its F#.

(2) A more sophisticated approach  is to play in C major, changing to D mixolydian (G major) for the D7 chord. One can then outline the chromatic decent from F# in the D7 chord, to F in the G7 chord, then E in the C major chord, to effectively emphasise the changing harmony.

(3) Another approach is to play exclusively in the A minor pentatonic scale (C major pentatonic), using bends to reach chord tones. E.g. over the D7 chord bend from E (in the A minor pentatonic scale) up one tone to F# (chord tone in D7); also bend from G up a tone to A (chord tone in D7, and also in A minor pentatonic scale). Likewise over the G7 chord, bend from A (A minor pentatonic) up a tone to B (chord tone in G7), bend from E (A minor pentatonic) up a semitone to F (chord tone in G7). There are four such bends for each of the four tones in each chord, however some of them will finish on chord tones outside the A minor pentatonic, others will  end on chord tones included in the A minor pentatonic.

It turns out that the melody for the children’s nursery rhyme “Have you seen the Muffin Man” can be played over this progression, an example of approach (1). Below are examples of the three approaches outlined above:

Lead approach (1)

Lead approach (2)

Lead approach (3)

Now, try your own:

Practice track with no lead

Have fun!

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Practice Track: Blues feel – G7 and C7

Here is a practice track in a medium tempo blues feel. It is suitable for beginning and intermediate bass and guitar players to work with.  The chords are

||: G7             |                  |                    |                   |C7            |               |                |             : ||

A distinctive feature of many blues styles is the triplet feel – each beat is divided into three parts, counting 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a etc.

Free MP3 download: G7&C7 blues feel at 80bpm

There are two rhythm guitar tracks accompanying the drums. One plays a typical shuffle rhythm accompaniment:

The other plays G7 and C7 chords on the first beat of each bar and on every beat of the bar leading up to each chord change. This will help you to anticipate the chord changes, and adjust your playing accordingly!

For bass players:

(1) Start by playing a bass line using only tonics, G for the G7 chord, and C for the C7 chord

(2) Then try using tonics and fifths for each chord.

(3) Explore using the b7 for each chord. F for the G chord, and Bb for the C chord.

(4) Explore anticipating the chord changes with chromatic or diatonic runs up to or down to the new chord root (use the mixolydian modes built on the root of each chord for diatonic runs).

(5) Use G7 and C7 arpeggios to create bass lines.

For guitar players:

(1) Use the G minor pentatonic scale over both chords

(2) Use G major pentatonic scale over G7 and C major pentatonic over C7

(3) Use G and C mixolydian modes over G7 and C7 chords respectively

(4) Use a G minor pentatonic scale but add a B (major third) over the G7 chord, and an E (major 3rd of C) over the C7 chord. These notes can be obtained by fretting, or by bending from a note in the minor pentatonic scale. Here is a diagram in third position:

The G minor pentatonic scale notes are in black, with the major thirds added in white.

Have fun!

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Practice Track: F major ii-V-I

This practice track is done in a light rock style, and is great for practicing soloing using the F major scale. The chords are

||:F                |Gm               |C7                 |F            :||

Other approaches to soloing (besides the F major scale) you can use are (i) F major (D minor) pentatonic scale (ii) F major pentatonic for the F chord, followed by G minor Pentatonic for the G minor and C7 chords, (iii) A minor pentatonic for the F chord followed by G minor pentatonic for the Gm and C7, (iv) F major, G minor and C7 Arpeggios with passing notes from the F major scale. Any combination of the preceding of course will also work!

All the above approaches are really just using the F major scale, but give different selections of notes which help create different sounds. Using the pentatonic scales is cool because it allows you to make use of a well known scale, and get maximum value from fingering and scale shapes that you might already know well.

So download the practice track below, and start having some fun!

Free Mp3 Download: F major II-V-I practice track.