The Guitar Diaries #12 (Season Finale)

Last week's lesson was a return to form after the below-par session of the previous week (more on that below). We reviewed the use of the diminished scale and went into it in a bit more detail. We also discussed sweep-picking and went over a couple of cool exercises, before finishing up with another jazz standard, "All Of Me".

The application in which the diminished scale appeared was in the song "(Up A) Lazy River", in a part where the chord progression goes from E flat major to E diminished. The suggested scales for improvising over these chords were E flat Lydian followed by E diminished. It works well because the two scales share a number of important common tones.

Like the diminished seventh chord, the diminished scale has a nice symmetry to it. The diminished scale is formed by alternating tone, semi-tone intervals, resulting in a scale with eight notes. You can think of it as a diminished seventh chord with an extra note added a semi-tone below each chord tone. Or, as I realised during the lesson, you can look at it as two diminished seventh chords a tone (or semi-tone) apart. This idea forms the basis of a cool arpeggio lick that the teacher showed me (and which prompted the interlude on sweep-picking technique).

By the way, sweep-picking, for the heathens, is a technique for picking single notes across successive strings in which you "sweep" across the strings, in a kind of controlled strumming motion. It's distinct from the usual "alternate" picking, in which you alternate between up and down strokes between successive notes. Sweep-picking is usually considered as a kind of "advanced" technique (it's the kind of thing you read about in Vinnie Moore or Paul Gilbert columns in Guitar World magazine). When mastered, it allows you to play the kind of blistering 3 octave arpeggios that make you wanna reach for some hair spray and spandex (or so I'm told..).

On that note, Steve came off with a classic quote during the sweep-picking discussion. I jokingly commented that I wasn't aware that sweep-picking was commonly used in jazz playing. He jumped on that remark, saying "Aw yeah! Jazz players were sweep picking way before bloody Frank Gambale -- he just went and made a pig of himself with it!"


Anyhow, this lesson brought to a close the initial 12 week run of "The Guitar Diaries". I had decided during the week to take a break and then cast around for another teacher. There were a number of reasons for this. Firstly, after three months of weekly lessons I've amassed a fair amount of material but have been steadily falling behind; a few weeks off will provide a much-needed breather in which to review and assimilate this stuff. I've also stumbled on another rich seam of learning material in the form of the Musician's Institute series of books. There are a few things there that will give me plenty to chew on for a while (in particular, I'm loving Ross Bolton's "Funk Rhythm Guitar Essentials"). Of course, learning from books is no substitute for regular interaction with a teacher, but I figure a kind of "study break" is a good idea (and probably will be at regular intervals going forward).

Another issue that came to the fore last week was the slightly erratic personality of the teacher. While there's no doubts about his ability as a player, there are times when I've found his attitude a little negative (a hint of jaded bitterness) and his personality a bit overbearing. In last week's lesson this was exacerbated by the fact that he'd obviously had a couple of drinks before the lesson. Now, while he was by no stretch of the imagination intoxicated, there was a noticeable edge to his mood that kind of soured the lesson and left me feeling a bit disgruntled. So, I figure a break is a good idea. As I say, I'm thinking of trying out another teacher and see how that goes. I won't rule out going back to Steve, but for now I think it would be good to get a fresh perspective.

Stay tuned for TGD Season Two...