Harmonic Minor, Backings Options

[kjutte]

Hey Muris!

I just learned all the 7 harm minor boxes.
I find it a cool scale, but also I think it's hard to express myself with feeling, as in regular minor mode.

If I don't find a way to make all the patterns useful in my everyday jamming, I'm afraid I'll forget them,
and all this work will be for nothing.

What was your approach on this?
How can I use the scale in an expressive way, without it getting boring?

What's your advice in general about this subject?
Also, do you have any proposal to the kind of backingtrack I will need to train this?
I need something in a onekey modulation, and just run the scaleboxes up and down so they really get sticked on my brain

Best regards

[fatb0t]

Kjutte, same issue for me dude... For instance I always used to fall back on the minor pentatonic scale in the root position as like a home base (a base where I could use phrasing and sound convincing)...I'm curious to see what Muris thinks is a good home base for the harmonic minor scale before it becomes second nature like the major scale has for us...

[kjutte]

Kjutte, same issue for me dude... For instance I always used to fall back on the minor pentatonic scale in the root position as like a home base (a base where I could use phrasing and sound convincing)...I'm curious to see what Muris thinks is a good home base for the harmonic minor scale before it becomes second nature like the major scale has for us...

Well, my problem is that I find the scale a bit dull. I like a harmonic minor shred line or two, maybe some arpeggios, but that's it. And you gotta know all the fingerings to be versatile.

[Muris Varajic]

Just a tiny correction before I try to help here,
you said that your work will be for nothing if you
forgot all those patterns you learned.
I can't agree,none work is for nothing,
sooner or later you'll ran into things you played before
and you'll feel happy,sort of.

Harmonic minor(pure as it is) IS tricky,
if you overuse it you might start sounding like Malmsteen and that's all.
My approach to every scale is always to visualize the whole fretboard.
Good idea is to play each scale on every single string,
that shows you where you're really at,distance between degrees etc.
Learning all 7 boxes(3nps I guess) is pretty vertical stuff,
we go up and down and up and down.
Try to move horizontal as well,
do some position jumping,make wider intervals,
wider intervals always sound more melodic
compared to step by step degrees.

Those are some ideas that I'd apply if I were you,
let me know if it helps and ask if I missed something.

[JamesT]

Muris, I like your response that no work is for nothing .
I just spent three days working on your intermediate pentatonics lesson (had to focus on pentatonics for a few days cause I drove a staple through my left middle finger (ouch). not as bad as it sounds but it wrecked my ability to play diatonics and forced me to play only pentatonics while it healed) and wondering about how I will be able to keep my tapping skills current with my alt-picking efforts, legato, and now new to me from another lesson ... sweeping. It's encouraging to know that whatever I'm working on currently will in some way lend itself to some future work if not more than to make that next piece easier to learn or memorize. The skills required for mastery of this instrument are vast and yet there is hope that one day they will all come toghether and be spontaneously useable.

I'd like to learn more about how to balance my practice efforts to achieve diversity when soloing and also when writing.

This post has been edited by JamesT: Dec 9 2008, 09:24 PM

[Muris Varajic]

I'd like to learn more about how to balance my practice efforts to achieve diversity when soloing and also when writing.

That is probably a major task for every musician,trust me.
It's about knowledge but also discipline,
you need to know how not to cross the line
in order to keep it musical interesting without playing
only bunch of licks you've learned.
I believe the point is to actually LISTEN to what your playing,
try to look at it from a point of natural listener,
this is very hard tho since we're taking our work pretty personal
but we do need to a doze of self criticism,in a good way of course.

[kjutte]

Just a tiny correction before I try to help here,
you said that your work will be for nothing if you
forgot all those patterns you learned.
I can't agree,none work is for nothing,
sooner or later you'll ran into things you played before
and you'll feel happy,sort of.

Harmonic minor(pure as it is) IS tricky,
if you overuse it you might start sounding like Malmsteen and that's all.
My approach to every scale is always to visualize the whole fretboard.
Good idea is to play each scale on every single string,
that shows you where you're really at,distance between degrees etc.
Learning all 7 boxes(3nps I guess) is pretty vertical stuff,
we go up and down and up and down.
Try to move horizontal as well,
do some position jumping,make wider intervals,
wider intervals always sound more melodic
compared to step by step degrees.

Those are some ideas that I'd apply if I were you,
let me know if it helps and ask if I missed something.

Thanks muris, I will try to work this way

[Muris Varajic]

Thanks muris, I will try to work this way

Cheers.

[kjutte]

Cheers.

Speed of light reply

[Muris Varajic]

Speed of light reply

I was there