Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

Hey Ken, I hear you on the pentatonic jail and not a prison. Am in a similar battle to escape that shape. The etude is what is helping me out and using that chromatic crow bar. Now it seems paying much more attention to the 6th and planned phrases of degree intervals. Trying to know the intervals with R37 5,6th to break the shape with occasional chromatic on the 2nd, not sure about the 4rth too much tho. Plus playing in an unfamiliar key. I am digging this new way to practice with greater focus. It is working, and now I get so much more enjoyment. Cheers~

It really can feel like a prison, can't it? One of the things I've been doing is taking some of the tunes that Tomo is introducing us to and analyzing them bar by bar. For example, one of the first tunes I started working on was Blue Monk. You know the first chord is Bb, so how does a Bb triad fit into the phrase being played in the tune. What inversion is the triad? What are the non chord tones that are being played that are in the Bb major scale, and what are the chromatics? I've been doing this in my head (now I need to put it down on paper so I can refer back/study). I've started to "see" the scale tones that live around the triad. I continue that chord by chord.

It's really freeing to get out of that da%$ed box. The way I look at it is as long as you know the chord you're playing over, you KNOW there are at least 3 notes you can play that will sound AWESOME! And think about the second half of the hotel cali solo to see what you can do with triads.

Thanks guys!

Learn tunes & analyze them!

Melody, melody and melody!

Blue Monk Melody ...M3 to 5th (Chromatics)
Amazing phrase! You can create your phrase from here!

Less notes and more space!
Same Old Blues is a great song!
You can play all triads on top 3 strings!
D...F#...Bm..Bm...
D...F#...Bm..Am D
G..Gdim..D....C B....
E7...A...D...Aaug...

Thank you.

Tomo

Awesome thread so many ideas!! I keep my list with a variety of lessons all trying to touch on this improvement to my practice. Keep it on a rotation about two or three weeks, same foundation every day. Am looking forward to Friday ear training, imagining there will insight there. Either way, BLUE MONK, the two Etude soloing lessons generation 1 & 2(red then white fonts) Ken I don't have a computer in front of me so I cannot paste links easily. Plus arpegios working towards the diatonic collection in key of C. Pay attention to all intervals is a focus. It makes sense that listening to these blues we tend to fall into old patterns, great to experience this in new keys with different focus, thinking interval now and phrases not shape, still we know we can. THANK YOU TOMO!! so much expertise and insight in your lessons. My take is Don't expect too fast. I like JJ CALE's version of same ol' blues, check it out. Anyways, ears are on! Looking forward to Friday :) - johno

Thanks Johno! Yes, so many avenues at the GW. I like the rotation concept. Keeps it fresh and moving. I tend to dig deeper in one area (like the method book) which can get dry and boring. Maybe I’m at a reevaluation point. This seems to occur for me every few months.
Honestly, I believe a major deficiency in my playing is finding/using various rhythms with simple 2-3 note phrases. That’s one aspect of Bonamassa’s playing I sometimes don’t care for: getting punched in the mouth repeatedly! Freddie, Albert, BB, Chris Cain let me breathe.
Here’s to taking a breath with simple phrases!

Thanks Ken for sharing your thought!

I love a few dry exercises like "Method Book" "Triad 3 ways" "Chromatic scale" etc.

Joe Bonamassa can play with less notes. Don't worry! He is very rich so everything is okay with Joe! Those 3 Kings are so great! Chris Cain is so amazing as well as Matt Schofield!

Thank you.

Tomo