7/27/2019 Romain Pilon Masterclass Malta 2013

Romain Pilon Jazz Guitar Masterclass 18 Jul 2013

Practice Tips

 
 Sing while practising!!
 
 The goal is not SPEED but ARTICULATION and KNOWLEDGE OF THE FRETBOARD.
 
 Work on LEGATO!!
 
 Always play CHORD with scale!!
 
 Switch exercises the minute you feel you’re becoming mechanical.
 
 Use as many notes per string as you deem necessary. 4 notes per string seem to
work best but sometimes 3, sometimes 5. Do not worry too much about fingering.
Avoid adhering to a method.
  Try sliding the first finger into the second note on the string. Try sliding the 2 first


notes on each string too.

  Work on building your own phrases/clichés.


Combine

  Visual (place on neck)



  Aural (know your scale sound)



  Intellectual (know which flats and sharps feature in this key)



Knowing the Fretboard

The Mick Goodrick Single String System

Scales onFone
keys e.g. string.Bb),
(include String by string:Eb),
Bb (include linear. e.g. start
Eb (include with
Ab), AbC(include
major on B string
Db), then
and so on.cycle the

Digital Patterns with Metronome

1 2 3 4 / 4 3 2 1 on all strings
Many combinations of above e.g. 1 3 2 4 / 4 2 3 1
Pick alternately

Major Scales and Chords

Use positions on Diatonic Modes rather than CAGED

Ø
e.g. GΔ7, A-7, B-7, CΔ7, D7, E-7, F#

Play important tensions for each position e.g. 13 in Dorian, b9 in Phrygian, #11 in Lydian
Follow up with diagonal scales along the neck in such a way as to utilise the whole of the
fretboard.

Play alternate 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, 7ths, octaves all along the WHOLE fretboard, both as
intervals and as double stops.

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Romain Pilon Jazz Guitar Masterclass 18 Jul 2013

Hitting the same note on two adjacent strings will not sound exactly the same, giving an
interesting feel, just like sax players' false fingering.

Being Able to Switch from one scale to another on the Fretboard

Try ascending in one key and descending in another say a relative minor or a fifth below
and so on, first staying in the same neck area and then using the WHOLE fretboard.
Try the cycle of 4ths as a basis e.g. up in C, down in F, up in Bb, down in Eb, and so on.
Start with Ionian, then Dorian, then Phrygian, etc, always relating the key you’re in with the
ROOT.

Repeat all of the above with Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor (possibly only 5th degree
important)

Play 3s and 7s to changes in a standard on all strings

Pentatonic Scale fitting

Major and Minor Pentatonic scales on the 1st, 2nd and 5th degrees will fit chords with a root
on the 1st degree. So, for instance, C, D and G major pentatonic will fit CΔ7#11 and D, E and A
minor pentatonic will all fit Dm7. 

#11
Major  CΔ7 chord 1 2 3 #4 5 6 7 Resultant
Major scale Maj Penta : 1 2 3 5 6 C D E F# G A B chord ext. 
C CDEFGAB CDEGA x x x x x 6, 9
D D E F# G A B C# D E F# A B x x x x x 6, 9, #11
G G A B C D E F# GABDE x x x x x 6, 9

Note: C, D, G major pentatonics are respectively equivalent to A, B, E minor pentatonics.

Minor  C-7 chord 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 Resultant

Nat Min (b3, b6, b7) Min Penta : 1 3 4 5 7 C D Eb F G A Bb chord ext. 
C C D Eb F G Ab Bb C Eb F G Bb x x x x x 11
D D E F G Bb C DFGAC x x x x x 6, 9, 11
G G A Bb C D Eb F G Bb C D F x x x x x 9, 11

Note: C, D, G minor pentatonics are respectively equivalent to Eb, F, Bb major pentatonics.i 

Both Major and Minor Pentatonic scales will fit DOMINANT chords on the same root.

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Romain Pilon Jazz Guitar Masterclass 18 Jul 2013

Dominant  C7 chord 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 Resultant

C D E F G A Bb chord ext. 
C major penta CDEGA x x x x x 9, 13
C minor penta C Eb F G Bb x x x x #9, 11

Also, the Major pentatonic scale on Bb will fit the DOMINANT (sus4) chord on C.

sus4
Dominant  C7 chord 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 Resultant
C D E F G A Bb chord ext. 
Bb major pentatonic Bb C D F G x x x x x 11 (sus4)
Bb minor pentatonic Bb Db Eb F Ab x x b9, #9, #5

Additionally, the Major pentatonic scale on F will fit the DOMINANT (13) chord on C.

(13)
Dominant  C7 chord 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 Resultant
C D E F G A Bb chord ext. 
F major pentatonic FGACD x x x x x 13
F minor pentatonic F Ab Bb C Eb x x x #9, #5

Conversely, as is the case with major and minor pentatonic scale fitting, taking Bb as the 1 st 
degree, its major pentatonic scales on the 1st, 2nd and 5th degrees will all fit the dominant
nd
chord with a root on the 2 degree (C7):
Degree Major Pentatonic Dominant Chord on 2nd degree
1st Bb C7(sus4)
nd
2 C C7(9,13)
th
5 F C7(13)

Furthermore, the major pentatonic scale on C’s tritone substitute F# will fit the DOMINANT
(altered, possibly also b9, #9) chord on C.

F# major pentatonic: F# (b5 in C), G# (#5 in C), A# = Bb (b7 in C), C# (b9 in C), D# (#9 in C).

(alt)
Dominant  C7 chord 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 Resultant
C D E F G A Bb chord ext. 
F# major pentatonic F# G# A# C# D# x x x x x b9, #9, b5, #5

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Extending all the above pentatonic scale chord fitting further, one can end up using
pentatonics on ii-V7-Is as illustrated in the following example in CΔ7:

ii V7 I
Dm7 G7 CΔ7 
options Minor pentatonics Major pentatonics on Major pentatonics
st nd th st nd th st nd th
on 1 , 2 , 5 degrees 1 , 2 , 5 degrees on 1 , 2 , 5 degrees
st nd st
(taking D as the 1 degree) (taking G as the 2 degree) (taking C as the 1 degree)
and on tritone substitute

D, E, A minor penta F, G, C, C# major penta C, D, G major penta

equiv. to D, B, A, A# minor penta A, B, E minor penta

Choice 1 A minor penta (Dm11) A minor penta (G13) A minor penta (CΔ7) 
#11
Choice 2 A minor penta (Dm11) A# minor penta (Galt) B minor penta (CΔ7 ) 

For Half Diminished chords, one can use the minor pentatonic on the 4 th degree (e.g. F
minor pentatonic = Ab major pentatonic on Cm7b5) while taking good care not to be trapped
by the b9 (and b13). 

(b5)
Half Diminished  Cm7 chord 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7 Resultant
C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb chord ext. 
F minor pentatonic F Ab Bb C Eb x x x x x b13

It is worth trying practising pentatonics skipping notes, alternating in thirds, fourths, fifths
and so on and also mixing them with other scales such as bebop and altered. Pentatonics
sound angular while bebop scales sound more linear. 

Bebop Scale fitting

Bebop Dominant adds the natural 7th to the Mixolydian. i.e. 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 7

The natural 7th is never to be played on an important beat.

th nd th th
The Bebop Dominant scale will fit the 5 degree of any key and also the 2 , 4 and 7  
degrees of the same key. e.g. C Bebop Dominant scale will fit:
#11
C7 (V in F) G-7 (ii in F) BbΔ7 (IV in F) Em Ø (vii in F) 

Bebop scale in F 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 7
F G A Bb C D Eb E
C7 C E G Bb V7 x x x x
G-7 G Bb D F ii x x x x
(#11)
BbΔ7   Bb D F A IV x x x x
Ø
Em   E G Bb D vii x x x x

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Using Scales as Chord Voicings to build Modal Voicings (Chord Scales)

Modal voicings are built by starting with a scale and taking 3 or 4 intervals from it, e.g. root,
2nd, 5th (6th sounds happy, 7th sounds unstable) and creating chords with those intervals
from each note of the scale.

For instance, with the C major pentatonic scale: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 = C, D, E, G, A. Taking every

other note in the scale (treating the scale as a looping list) yields C E A D as the first chord,
then moving the up the scale a step at a time yields: D G C E, E A D G, G C E A, A D G C.

Similarly, for the C minor pentatonic scale: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 = C, E, F, G, B. Alternate notes up a

step each time gives: C F B E, E G C F, F B E G, G C F B, B E G C.

Try the same concept with other scales e.g. dorian (major), altered (melodic minor)

Experiment with Drop 2 and Drop 3 voicings. 

i
 http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/theory/27138-scales-over-2-5-1-progression.html  
https://www.google.com.mt/webhp?hl=en&tab=ww#hl=en&q=pentatonic+on+ii+v+i&safe=off  

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