Intermediate
Intermediate
• Understand the basic elements of the CAGED system.
• Learn the “rules” for adding outside notes.
• Expand your view of the fretboard in every key.
Have you ever asked yourself if you “know” all your scales? Well, one might answer that question with the chromatic scale. Simply put, the chromatic scale is all 12 notes. Chromaticism plays an important role in the construction of melodic lines in jazz, allowing dissonance to resolve into consonance. Jazz players are fond of a famous quote that basically states: No matter where you are on the neck, if you hit a “wrong” note you’re only a half-step away from a “right” one. This lesson will show how to integrate chromatics into major and minor CAGED scale forms, as well as provide examples of jazz lines. While this lesson centers around a major scale, this method of visualizing chromatic scales works with all scale types.
Let’s begin with a fingering for a chromatic scale. Ex. 1 shows an ascending and descending one-octave chromatic scale in open and first positions. We’re starting on C, so I used a Cmaj7 chord as the underlying harmony.
Ex. 1
Let’s expand that idea in Ex. 2. Here we are starting on F and playing a chromatic scale up to the A on the 1st string before descending to where we started. Because we aren’t using any open strings, this fingering can easily be moved up and down the neck.
Ex. 2
To clearly see how to integrate the chromatic scale into the major scale forms, I believe it’s best to start with one-octave major scale fingerings. Since we want these to be movable all over the fretboard, I’ve written them in 2nd position to avoid any open strings.
Ex. 3 is based on the “A” shape in the key of C.
Ex. 3
Ex. 4 is based on the “E” shape in the key of G.
Ex. 4
Ex. 5 is based on the “C” shape in the key of D.
Ex. 5
Ex. 6 is based on the “G” shape in the key of A.
Ex. 6
Finally, Ex. 7 is based on the “D” shape in the key of F.
Ex. 7
Now that we have our scale forms, let’s add in the chromatics by filling the spaces between the diatonic major scale tones. There are two possible fingerings for the chromatic scales derived from these forms, due to the guitar’s tuning. The following group of examples illustrates these fingerings.
Ex. 8 is based on the “A” shape in the key of C.
Ex. 8
Ex. 9 is based on the “E” shape in the key of G.
Ex. 10 is based on the “C” shape in the key of D.
Ex. 10
Ex. 11 is based on the “G” shape in the key of A.
Ex. 11
Finally, Ex. 12 is based on the “D” shape in the key of F.
Ex. 12
Generally, melodic lines are constructed using a balance of scalar and arpeggiated movement. Think of chord tones (root, 3, 5, 7) and the extensions (9, #11, 13) as areas of resolution. Chromatic passing tones are initially inserted between whole-steps, allowing connections and resolutions to chord and scale tones.
In measure one of Ex. 13, Ab is inserted between A and G, allowing a descending chromatic passage. Also, note the Eb inserted between E and D. Most of this example makes use of this device.
Ex. 13
In Ex. 14, I’m using mostly descending chromatic passing tones, but observe the ascending chromatics in measures one, two, and four. I briefly hit a C# in the first measure. Normally, I would resolve to D. Instead, I skip to E and then descend chromatically to D.
Ex. 14
By now, these chromatic devices should start to sound familiar to your ear. In Ex. 15, I’m pretty much sticking to ascending and descending chromatic movement.
Ex. 15
Ex. 16 balances the ascending and descending chromatic movement. Notice the four-note motivic sequence in measure two.
Ex. 16
Ex. 17 starts off with a very cool way to skip between two chord tones. In this case, we move from the root (F) to the 7 (E) and then descend chromatically to D. From there we skip up to the root and then leap down to A before approaching the root chromatically from G. When you start to isolate and analyze the nuances of these lines, they become easier to integrate into your own playing.
Ex. 17
Once you understand the basics of integrating chromatics into a one-octave major scale form, then you can apply those same principals to the full CAGED fingerings. Ex. 18 shows each fingering.
Ex. 18
Ex. 19 illustrates how to expand the full “C” shape to include all the chromatic notes.
Ex. 19
Ex. 20 expands on the “A” shape.
Ex. 20
Ex. 21 expands on the “G” shape.
Ex. 21
Ex. 22 expands on the “E” shape.
Ex. 22
Ex. 23 expands on the “D” shape.
Ex. 23
Ex. 24 expands on the “C” shape in closed position.
Ex. 24
The following examples cover the full range of the scale forms. All of the examples are over a major 7 chord quality.
Ex. 25 makes a straight-ahead use of ascending and descending chromaticism. To avoid turning your line into a total chromatic passage with no whole-steps, it’s important to balance diatonic and chromatic movement. Of special interest in this line is measure four, which leaps from G to E to G and follows with an ascending chromatic approach to A.
Ex. 25
In measure one of Ex. 26, notice the chromatic descent from A to G. This is followed with an ascending Gmaj7 arpeggio. The rest of the line is made up of various ascending and descending chromatic movements. A special moment occurs in measure four, where D skips to Ab and then moves down to F# before resolving on G. The G is therefore approached chromatically from both above and below, which is called a double-chromatic approach.
Ex. 26
Ex. 27 kicks off with almost a boogie-woogie pattern. When it gets to A, a skip occurs from A to C# (root to 3) and then moves to a chromatic descent from B to A. Similarly, a skip in measure four moves from D to E before resolving chromatically to D.
Ex. 27
There’s more sequential writing in the first measure of Ex. 28. The first two beats establish a bit of a chromatic motif that catches the ear. Measure three uses one of my favorite chromatic devices, where on beat 3 you skip up from a root to a 5 and then drop to the 7 and descend chromatically as little or as much as you want. In this case, I went chromatically from G# to F#.
Ex. 28
Finally, we have Ex. 29. If you’ve made it this far you must really love chromatics! We kick off with a downward leap from the root to the 3 before ascending chromatically to the 5. Always try to keep chord tones on the strong beats, as this will help give your lines focus and direction.
Ex. 29
In the early ’60s, some of the British guitarists who would shape the direction of our instrument for decades to come all found themselves at a concert by Sister Rosetta Tharpe. What they heard from Tharpe and what made her performances so special—her sound, her energy—must have resonated. Back at home in the U.S., she was a captivating presence, wowing audiences going back to her early days in church through performing the first stadium rock ‘n’ roll concert—which was also one of her weddings—and beyond. Her guitar playing was incendiary, energetic, and a force to be reckoned with.
On this episode of 100 Guitarists, we’re joined by guitarist Molly Miller, who in addition to being a fantastic guitarist, educator, bandleader, and performing with Jason Mraz, is a bit of a Sister Rosetta scholar. We chat with Molly about Sister Rosetta’s “immediately impressive” playing, which blends jazz, gospel, chromaticism, and blues into an early rock ‘n’ roll style that was not only way ahead of its time but was also truly rockin’.
While creating her new solo record, Kim Deal was drawn to exploring the idea of failure.
Deal isn’t smiling on the cover of Nobody Loves You More, her new album, but the art bears some similarities: Deal is floating on a platform in an expanse of gentle, dark blue waves, accompanied only by a few pastel-colored amps, her guitar, a stool, and a flamingo. It’s an unmistakably lonely image, but for Deal, failure doesn’t mean loneliness. It’s not even necessarily a bad thing.
“I mean, at least something magnificent was tried, you know?” says Deal. “At least there was something to fail. That’s an endearing thing. I think there’s a sweetness to seeing somebody get their ass kicked, because they were in it. It warms my heart to see that, just people getting out there. Maybe it gives me the courage and confidence to try something. It’s okay if I get my butt kicked. At least you’re trying something.”
“I think there’s a sweetness to seeing somebody get their fucking ass kicked, because they were fucking in it.”
Nobody Loves You More feels at least a little like Van Ader’s journey: an artistic project so long in the making and so precious to its creator that they’re willing to break from all conventions and face the abject terror of being judged by the world. That might seem like nothing new for Deal, who’s played music professionally for over 35 years, first with Pixies, then with the Breeders. But this LP marks her first proper solo album under her own name—a thought that mortified her for a long time. (“I like rock bands,” she says.) Even when she recorded and released what could be called “solo” music, she released it under a pseudonym. Initially, it was to be Tammy and the Amps. “I still was so uncomfortable, so I created Tammy and the Amps,” explains Deal. “I’m Tammy, who are my band? It’s the amplifiers downstairs in my basement. But the Tammy thing sort of got on my nerves so I just dropped it, so it was called the Amps.” She also assembled a band around that concept and released Pacer under the Amps’ name in 1995.
The cover art for Nobody Loves You More echoes the doomed last voyage of Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader.
This new record hums with the soft-loud energetic alchemy that defines much of Deal’s previous works. The opening title track is a slow, romantic strummer with string arrangements, while “Coast” is faintly ska-indebted with horns and a ragged Blondie chord progression. “Crystal Breath” gets weirder, with distorted drums, synthy bass, and a detuned, spidery guitar lead. “Disobedience” and “Big Ben Beat” continue the darker and heavier trajectories with fuzzy stompers interspersed with ambient, affective interlude tracks like “Bats in the Afternoon Sky.” It’s a patient, sensitive, and unmistakably scrappy record.
Some of the songs on Nobody Loves You More are as up-close and personal as solo records get. One in particular that’s drawn attention is “Are You Mine?,” a sleepy-eyed, lullaby ballad. At first listen, it could be taken for a love song. (In fact, Deal encourages this interpretation.) But it’s a song about her mother, for whom Deal cared in her home while she died from Alzheimer’s. The song title comes from a gut-wrenching moment.
“I was in the house, she doesn’t know my name,” explains Deal. “She’s still walking, she can form words, but she doesn’t know what a daughter is or anything. She passes me in the hallway, stops, grabs my arm and says, ‘Are you mine?’ She doesn’t know my name, she doesn’t know who I am, but there was a connection. I knew she was asking if I was her baby. I said, ‘Yeah, mama, I’m yours.’ I’m sure five seconds later, she forgot that conversation even happened. It was just a flicker, but it was so sweet. To have her not see me in so long, and then for one brief second, be recognized in some capacity…. She was such a sweet lady.”
Deal’s mother wasn’t the only loss that went into this collection of songs. Her father passed, too, after a prolonged illness. “My dad was this big bravado sort of personality and watching them get extinguished a little bit every day… I don’t know,” she says. “They both died at home. I’m very proud of that.” But writing “Are You Mine?” wasn’t painful for Deal; she says it was a comforting experience writing the gentle arpeggio on her Candelas nylon-string acoustic.
Deal assembled the bulk of Nobody Loves You More in her Dayton, Ohio, basement, recording with Pro Tools and a particularly pleasing Electrodyne microphone preamp. (Some of the songs date back more than a decade—versions of “Are You Mine?” and “Wish I Was” were initially recorded in 2011 and released as part of a series of 7" singles.) Deal recorded a good part of the record’s drums, bass, and guitar from home, but other contributions came in fits and spurts over the years, from old faces and new. Her Breeders bandmates, including Mando Lopez, Jim MacPherson, Britt Walford, and sister Kelley Deal, all pitched in, as did Fay Milton and Ayse Hassan from British post-punk band Savages, and the Raconteurs’ Jack Lawrence.
Kim Deal cared for her parents in their Dayton, Ohio, home until their passing, an experience that colors the music on her new solo record.
Photo by Steve Gullick
Kim Deal's Gear
Guitars
- '90s Fender Stratocaster
- '70s goldtop Gibson Les Paul
- Candelas nylon-string acoustic
Amps
- Marshall JCM900
- 4x12 cabinet
- Kalamazoo combo
Strings & Picks
- .011-gauge strings
- Dunlop Tortex Standard .60 mm
One day, ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer stopped by the studio to see what Deal was working on. He listened to “Wish I Was,” and scrambled together a lead idea. Deal kept the part and expanded it over time, leading to Klinghoffer’s writing credit on the record.
Deal used her trademark red ’90s Fender Stratocaster HSS along with a ’70s goldtop Gibson Les Paul for most of the electric work, pumped through either her long-time Marshall JCM900 or a tiny vintage Kalamazoo combo. Deal has never been a gearhead—at one point on our video call, she uses a tooth flosser as a pick to demonstrate some parts on her Candelas. “Kelley is a pedal person,” she says. “I’m not doing leads. I’m just doing a rhythm that needs to sound good.”
“I don’t think I’m taking it very well still, actually, or I’m a sociopath because I don’t even talk about [Steve Albini] in the past tense.”Over the years, Deal’s sonic thumbprint has been tied up in the work of her good friend and frequent collaborator Steve Albini, the producer, engineer, and musician who died unexpectedly in May 2024. (Deal quips, “Steve’s the lead character in my own life.”) Albini and Deal began working together in 1988, on Pixies’ debut LP Surfer Rosa. Their friendship continued over decades—Deal even performed at Albini’s wedding in Hawaii, for which he gifted her a ukulele—and the final sessions for Nobody Loves You More were under Albini’s watch. His parting hasn’t been easy.
“I got a text: ‘Call me,’” remembers Deal. It was a mutual friend, telling Deal that Albini had passed. “He told me and I just said, ‘You’re absolutely wrong. That didn’t happen.’ I don’t think I’m taking it very well still, actually. I don’t even talk about him in the past tense. I say, ‘What he likes to do is this.’ I never think, ‘What Steve used to like to do.’ My head never goes there. I wanted to record a song that wasn’t working and I said, ‘I need to do it from top to bottom at Albini’s.’ That’s not going to happen.”
YouTube
Along with Rob Bochnik and Spencer Tweedy, Kim Deal plays two tracks from Nobody Loves You More for a holiday fundraiser in November 2024 in Chicago.