Welcome back to this month’s lesson, fellow pickers. I hope you all got your metronomes cranking last month. Well, keep it running, because this month we will cover getting your scale patterns to connect across the neck.
| “Many players practice scales in different positions but don’t know how to connect them for fluid lines that weave across the neck.” |
This month’s examples use a very common technique among guitar shredders like Satriani, Vai, Gilbert and yours truly. It uses three notes per string while moving from position to position.
The picking pattern is an alternating down, up, down, up. You’ll need to shift your hand up to the next position by always starting the next position with your first finger on your left hand – similarly, you will shift with your pinky finger when descending. You can also try doing these as pull-off and hammer-on exercises. Make sure you start your metronome at a slow tempo of 55 beats per minute. Every 30 to 60 seconds, speed up one click until your playing becomes sloppy.
Exercise 1)
This example uses the A minor scale – or A Aeolian mode – with a triplet timing. There are three notes per beat or six notes per beat when you get faster. It starts on the 5th fret on the root note and ends at the 17th fret. Try recording a rhythm track to jam to – A minor to F major for 5 minutes. Then practice the examples and make up a few of your own.
Exercise 2)
This example is a descending pattern with a triplet timing. This one will most likely be harder to play fast, so take your time, start slow and then try all pull-offs to strengthen your left hand.
Exercise 3)
Here we are using the E minor scale – or E Aeolian mode – with a 16th note timing. However, if you look at the pattern, you’ll see it could easily be played as a triplet run. Playing 16th notes gives it a cool syncopated feel. As with the last example, try recording an E minor to C major backing track to jam to.
Exercise 4)
Here’s the descending version, again with 16th notes. Try to see all the notes in the scale and not just memorize the pattern. The more you explore the neck, the freer you’ll become with your ideas.
Good luck with it. Visit me online if you have any questions.
Gary Hoey
you can email Gary at: info@garyhoey.com
garyhoey.com
myspace.com/garyhoey
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Diamond Pedals Dark Cloud
True to the Diamond design ethos of our dBBD’s hybrid analog architecture, Dark Cloud unlocks a new frontier in delay technology which was once deemed unobtainable by standard BBD circuit.
Powered by an embedded system, the Dark Cloud seamlessly blends input and output signals, crafting Tape, Harmonic, and Reverse delays with the organic warmth of analog companding and the meticulous precision of digital control.
Where analog warmth meets digital precision, the Dark Cloud redefines delay effects to create a pedal like no other
But by gosh, if delay—and its sister effect, reverb—haven’t always been perfect for the music I like to write and play. Which brings us to the Fishman EchoBack Mini Delay. The EchoBack, along with the standard delay controls of level, time, and repeats—as well as a tap tempo—has a toggle to alternate between analog, tape, and digital-delay voices.
I hooked up my Washburn Bella Tono Elegante to my Blues Junior to give the EchoBack a test run. We love a medium delay—my usual preference for delay settings is to have both level and repeats at 1 o’clock, and time at 11 o’clock. With the analog voice switched on, I heard some pillowy warmth in the processed signal, as well as a familiar degradation with each repeat—until their wake gave way to a gentle, distant, crinkly ticking. Staying on analog and adjusting delay time down to 8 o’clock and repeats to about 11:30, some cozy slapback enveloped my rendition of Johnny Marr’s part to “Back to the Old House,” conjuring up thoughts of Elvis trapped in a small chamber, but in a good way. It sounded indubitably authentic. The one drawback of analog delay for me, generally, is that its roundness can feel a bit under water at times.
Switching over to tape, that pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top. With the settings at the medium-length mode listed above, I could see the empty, glass hall the pedal sent my sound bouncing down. I heard several pronounced pings of repeats before the signal fully faded out. On slapback settings (time at 8 o’clock, repeats at 11:30), rather than Elvis, I heard something more along the lines of a honky-tonk mic in a glass bottle. Still relatively crystalline, which actually was not my favorite. I like a bit more crinkle—so maybe analog is my bag....“That pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear, pristine replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top.”
Next up, digital. Here we have the brightest voice, and as expected, the most faithful repeats. They ping just a few times before shifting to a smooth, single undulating wave. When putting its slapback hat on, I found that the effect was a bit less alluring than I’d observed for the analog and tape voices. This is where the digital delay felt a little too sterile, with the cleanly preserved signal feeling a bit unnatural.
All in all, I dig the EchoBack for its replications of analog and tape voices, and ultimately, lean towards tape. While it’s nice having the digital delay there as an option, it feels a bit too clean when meddling with time of any given length. Nonetheless, this is surely a handy stomp for any acoustic player looking to venture into the land of live effects, or for those who are already there.
