Chords for Improvising Using Chord Tones - Essential Bluegrass Licks
Tempo:
73.675 bpm
Chords used:
G
D
B
F#
G#
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[D]
[G]
[D]
[G]
[D]
[G]
[D]
[G]
I'd just like to talk a little bit about chord tones.
And in our system, in the Western music system,
all of the chords we have are described in terms of
what note of the major scale they are.
So we can take a major scale like G for instance,
and describe those notes with numbers.
So the major scale would [B] be [G] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, [F#] 7,
[G] and back to 8 or 1.
And what we can
In our system, we take every other note of that scale,
the 1, the 3, and the 5,
creating a major chord triad.
And we can do that for any [D] key.
[G#] In this case, with Crooked [G] Stonepipe, we have the [D] two chords, the D.
So if we took the D major scale, again counting [B] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
and back to 1 again.
We [D] take the notes 1, the notes 3, and the notes 5.
So D, F sharp, and A become 1, 3, and 5.
And the octave [G] note becomes 1 again.
And we can keep going higher.
1, [Gm] 3, and [C#] 5 again.
So those become the primary notes of that chord.
And one thing about improvising that I'd like to say is
essentially [Bm] what you're doing when you're improvising
is creating various degrees of tension.
And you can think about it in terms of support and contrast.
I think that's the essential element of improvising.
And in your improvisation, you decide how much you're going to support
what's going on either melodically or harmonically.
Or you can contrast that.
And a way to support a melody would be using chord tones.
And as we get into tones that aren't chord tones,
they create more textures that could be considered to be contrasting
as opposed to supportive.
So these chord tones are your really base notes
that [G] are support notes for the tune.
So I'm just going to play through a segment of the tune here
using only chord tones.
And a nice way to start, if you'd like to try this,
is play only quarter tones and only using chord tones.
So you're limiting your choices.
And in some ways in improvisation, you always limit your choices
to a certain degree.
You can decide, you know, I'm going to use this scale
or I'm going to add only this note to this scale.
And that creates, sometimes that [A] gives you an opportunity
to create a certain [G] type of sound.
And in this case, we've limited ourselves to three notes for the G chord
and to three notes on the D chord.
So let's try that, going from the beginning of the tune.
And maybe what I'll do is I'll play the A section of the tune through
just so you get a sense of how this would fit into the melody of the tune.
So let's play the tune once through, and then I'll do a quarter note improv.
One, two, three.
[D]
[G]
[D]
[G]
[D]
[G]
[D]
[G]
[G]
[D]
[G]
[D]
[G]
[D]
[G]
I'd just like to talk a little bit about chord tones.
And in our system, in the Western music system,
all of the chords we have are described in terms of
what note of the major scale they are.
So we can take a major scale like G for instance,
and describe those notes with numbers.
So the major scale would [B] be [G] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, [F#] 7,
[G] and back to 8 or 1.
And what we can
In our system, we take every other note of that scale,
the 1, the 3, and the 5,
creating a major chord triad.
And we can do that for any [D] key.
[G#] In this case, with Crooked [G] Stonepipe, we have the [D] two chords, the D.
So if we took the D major scale, again counting [B] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
and back to 1 again.
We [D] take the notes 1, the notes 3, and the notes 5.
So D, F sharp, and A become 1, 3, and 5.
And the octave [G] note becomes 1 again.
And we can keep going higher.
1, [Gm] 3, and [C#] 5 again.
So those become the primary notes of that chord.
And one thing about improvising that I'd like to say is
essentially [Bm] what you're doing when you're improvising
is creating various degrees of tension.
And you can think about it in terms of support and contrast.
I think that's the essential element of improvising.
And in your improvisation, you decide how much you're going to support
what's going on either melodically or harmonically.
Or you can contrast that.
And a way to support a melody would be using chord tones.
And as we get into tones that aren't chord tones,
they create more textures that could be considered to be contrasting
as opposed to supportive.
So these chord tones are your really base notes
that [G] are support notes for the tune.
So I'm just going to play through a segment of the tune here
using only chord tones.
And a nice way to start, if you'd like to try this,
is play only quarter tones and only using chord tones.
So you're limiting your choices.
And in some ways in improvisation, you always limit your choices
to a certain degree.
You can decide, you know, I'm going to use this scale
or I'm going to add only this note to this scale.
And that creates, sometimes that [A] gives you an opportunity
to create a certain [G] type of sound.
And in this case, we've limited ourselves to three notes for the G chord
and to three notes on the D chord.
So let's try that, going from the beginning of the tune.
And maybe what I'll do is I'll play the A section of the tune through
just so you get a sense of how this would fit into the melody of the tune.
So let's play the tune once through, and then I'll do a quarter note improv.
One, two, three.
[D]
[G]
[D]
[G]
[D]
[G]
[D]
[G]
Key:
G
D
B
F#
G#
G
D
B
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ I'd just like to talk a little bit about chord tones.
And in our system, in the Western music system,
_ all of the chords we have are described in terms of
what note of the major scale they are.
So we can take a major scale like G for instance,
and describe those notes with numbers.
So the major scale would [B] be [G] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, [F#] 7,
[G] and back to 8 or 1. _ _
And what we can_
In our system, we take every other note of that scale,
the 1, the 3, and the 5,
creating a major _ _ chord triad. _
_ _ _ _ And we can do that for any [D] key.
[G#] In this case, with Crooked [G] Stonepipe, we have the [D] two chords, the D.
So if we took the D major scale, again counting [B] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
and back to 1 again.
We [D] take the notes 1, the notes 3, and the notes 5.
So D, F sharp, and A become 1, 3, and 5.
And the octave [G] note becomes 1 again.
And we can keep going higher.
1, [Gm] 3, and [C#] 5 again.
So those become the primary notes of that chord.
And one thing about improvising that I'd like to say is
essentially [Bm] what you're doing when you're improvising
is creating various degrees of tension.
And you can think about it in terms of support and contrast.
I think that's the essential element of improvising.
And in your improvisation, you decide how much you're going to support
what's going on either melodically or harmonically.
Or you can contrast that.
And a way to support a melody would be using chord tones.
And as we get into tones that aren't chord tones,
they create more textures that _ could be considered to be contrasting
as opposed to supportive.
So these chord tones are your really base notes
that [G] are support notes for the tune.
So I'm just going to play through a segment of the tune here
using only chord tones.
And a nice way to start, if _ you'd like to try this,
is play only quarter tones and only using chord tones.
So you're limiting your choices.
And in some ways in improvisation, you always limit your choices
to a certain degree.
You can decide, you know, I'm going to use this scale
or I'm going to add only this note to this scale.
And that creates, sometimes that [A] gives you an opportunity
to create a certain [G] type of sound.
And in this case, we've limited ourselves to three notes for the G chord
and to three notes on the D chord.
So let's try that, going from _ the beginning of the tune.
And maybe what I'll do is I'll play the A section of the tune through
just so you get a sense of how this would fit into the melody of the tune.
So let's play the tune once through, and then I'll do a quarter note improv.
_ One, two, three.
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ I'd just like to talk a little bit about chord tones.
And in our system, in the Western music system,
_ all of the chords we have are described in terms of
what note of the major scale they are.
So we can take a major scale like G for instance,
and describe those notes with numbers.
So the major scale would [B] be [G] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, [F#] 7,
[G] and back to 8 or 1. _ _
And what we can_
In our system, we take every other note of that scale,
the 1, the 3, and the 5,
creating a major _ _ chord triad. _
_ _ _ _ And we can do that for any [D] key.
[G#] In this case, with Crooked [G] Stonepipe, we have the [D] two chords, the D.
So if we took the D major scale, again counting [B] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
and back to 1 again.
We [D] take the notes 1, the notes 3, and the notes 5.
So D, F sharp, and A become 1, 3, and 5.
And the octave [G] note becomes 1 again.
And we can keep going higher.
1, [Gm] 3, and [C#] 5 again.
So those become the primary notes of that chord.
And one thing about improvising that I'd like to say is
essentially [Bm] what you're doing when you're improvising
is creating various degrees of tension.
And you can think about it in terms of support and contrast.
I think that's the essential element of improvising.
And in your improvisation, you decide how much you're going to support
what's going on either melodically or harmonically.
Or you can contrast that.
And a way to support a melody would be using chord tones.
And as we get into tones that aren't chord tones,
they create more textures that _ could be considered to be contrasting
as opposed to supportive.
So these chord tones are your really base notes
that [G] are support notes for the tune.
So I'm just going to play through a segment of the tune here
using only chord tones.
And a nice way to start, if _ you'd like to try this,
is play only quarter tones and only using chord tones.
So you're limiting your choices.
And in some ways in improvisation, you always limit your choices
to a certain degree.
You can decide, you know, I'm going to use this scale
or I'm going to add only this note to this scale.
And that creates, sometimes that [A] gives you an opportunity
to create a certain [G] type of sound.
And in this case, we've limited ourselves to three notes for the G chord
and to three notes on the D chord.
So let's try that, going from _ the beginning of the tune.
And maybe what I'll do is I'll play the A section of the tune through
just so you get a sense of how this would fit into the melody of the tune.
So let's play the tune once through, and then I'll do a quarter note improv.
_ One, two, three.
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _