Archives for November 2014

The Mighty Mixolydian Scale over A Blues

May 14, 2019 by Klaus Crow

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So why do you want to use the mixolydian scale for blues?

Well, not that there’s anything wrong with the pentatonic scale, on the contrary, the pentatonic / blues scale is the most essential scale for blues music.

But if you want to take it a little further and jazz it up with some nice fresh sounding notes to expand your improvisation possibilities then the mixolydian scale is a great addition.

The mixolydian scale is one of the 7 modes derived from the major scale. It’s the fifth mode and contains a flat seventh compared to the major scale.

If you already know how to play a major scale you only have to lower the 7th degree by a half step and there’s your mixolydian scale.

Major scale = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Mixolydian scale = 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7

Because the mixolydian scale contains a major 3rd and flat7 (b7) it’s perfectly fit to play over a dom7 chord. And as you might know, the dom7 chord is the main ingredient for blues music.

Now you know how the mixolydian scale is build up, you want to know how to combine mixolydian and pentatonic into your improvisation.Continue Reading

A Golden Productivity tip for Practicing Guitar

By Klaus Crow 7 Comments

March 29, 2021 by Klaus Crow

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Sometimes you can feel like you’re stuck in a rut and wish you would make more progress with practicing.

It seems there’s always something else coming up in the midst of practicing.

You get distracted, you think of an idea while you play something and you go along with that idea and that idea leads to another idea and so on. No progress in what you actually should be practicing.

Another time you feel like this fast lick is too challenging, so you throw in the towel and decide to play something else that feels good instantly. No progress there.

Or you feel absorbed by everything around you and stuff that is on your mind and as a result you lack focus. Progress? Nope.

So how do you change this?

You set time limits for practice.

If there is a time limit and the clock is ticking, you know there’s no time for your mind to wander and think of other things. It’s easier to focus because you don’t have that much time to squander and you want to go straight to work and practice that riff, solo or song. It makes it more manageable.Continue Reading

How to Benefit from The Circle of Fifths and Fourths

By Klaus Crow 15 Comments

May 14, 2019 by Klaus Crow

The circle (or cycle) of fifths, also called the cycle of fourths is a diagram that gives all kind of handy information on key signatures, chords and scales in a quick and clear manner.

Besides that, it’s an awesome practice tool to improve your guitar playing.

The circle displays all 12 notes of the chromatic scale (those are all the notes in western music) and moves clockwise in intervals of fifths.

An interval of a fifth is equal to 7 semitones or 7 frets on the guitar.

Counter-clockwise the circle moves in intervals of fourths which is equal to 5 semitones or 5 frets.

The circle of fifths is generally used for the study of classical music whereas the cycle of fourth is more often used for the analysis of jazz music, but let that not stop you because there is so much to gain from the circle for any style of music. Make it part of your knowledge of music theory. It will help you in many ways.

Let’s check it out:

Recognizing key signatures
The cycle of fifths is an easy way of finding the key signature of a song. The cycle will show you how many sharps or flats each key contains. At the top the key of C has no sharps or flats. Turn one step clockwise each time and the sharps add up. Next to C on the cycle you’ll find the key of G which has 1 sharp, then D has 2 sharps, A has 3 sharps and so on.

If you go anti-clockwise one step each time the flats up. To left of C you’ll find F which has 1 flat, then Bb has 2 flats, Eb has 3 flats, Ab has 4 flats and so on.

This is useful also and especially if you can’t read music. When you see a music score which makes no sense to you, but you see 3 sharps in the beginning of the note staff, you’ll know that the song is in the key of “A”. Continue Reading