Guitar lessons, music theory and personal philosophy on video, presented by Tomo Fujita, professional guitarist and Professor at Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts USA.
I'm making a lot of progress in my playing, but still am struggling with seeing the interval for any chord I play. I'm specifically talking about complex chords. For example, I was watching Tomo's video for "isn't she lovely" on YouTube, and I'm having trouble being able to connect the extensions. I've been practicing my arpeggios from the CAGED system, but I just want to make sure I'm practicing efficiently. Should I just keep learning and practicing arpeggios, or is there something else I should do? I would really appreciate any help!
Tomo just released a video today that stresses the triads upon which you can use the CAGE approach.
I think the idea is that in any given position, you will have a different C A G E fingering, depending on which string has the root of the chords in your progression. The video used a B.B. King blues example.
The important take away, for me, is to know the roots everywhere, and the 3 and 5 will fall out automatically for the triad, because you'll know those intervals automatically, having drilled and learned all the triad inversions.
You'll notice the fingerings resemble C A G or E, so you'll build a sense of muscle memory and visualization the more you practice. However, you won't really be thinking in the shapes, but you'll be thinking in roots and positions instead, while training yourself to hear them.
With a solid foundation in triads, the other extensions will follow naturally. 9 (or 2) is one above the root; 7 is one below the root; 13 (or 6) is one above the 5; 11 (or 4) is half above the 3. You may have to visualize some notes an octave up or down to analyze them, but that comes naturally with repetition.
When analyzing the extensions initially, just count up the major scale from the root to the note in question; eventually these relationships will get "burned in" so you don't have to count, plus, you'll also start to hear and see them better.
I think the other take-away is that, once you know where your scale tones are, you don't have to practice scales as "scale exercises" up and down, lickety-split. While that may be well and good for muscle-building and picking accuracy, it is not so good for improvising. There are too many notes for the musical context that you're in when you are playing over any single chord. Not that you should "forget" scales, but let that knowledge be the backdrop from which you draw to practice musically over chords.
Don't know if that answered anything about "connect the extensions".
So keep working, and apply the Tomo aphorism: don't expect too fast!