Guitar Gym: Triad Chord Scales - Melodic Minor

Developing great a ironclad vision of triads is not about just mindlessly playing an chords over and over. There has to be a method to the madness...

First and foremost you need to create what I call in my Guitar Gym Online Classroom a Workout
Schedule. My Workout Schedules carve out a set amount of time on set days of the week that slot out precisely what it is your going to play. This helps big time and the results are inspiring to say the least! And, this is not as much time as you might expect. If you're working on just one skill such as the one here in this course you need but 15-30 minutes a day depending on how many Workouts you want to drill down. That said, you could set it up so you do a morning and evening session. The key is focused, disciplined practice time with a metronome. Just stick to your "WS" and let your fingers do the rest!

Speaking of focus and discipline when starting to put together your own WS keep this mantra in mind: You absolutely must start out playing the Workouts slow and gradually climb up the tempo ladder to the target tempo. No if's, and's or lazy butts about it. Even if you think you can play the Workout at the assigned tempo, trust me, knock it down and build. You may be masking playing anomalies you don't even know are there by jumping into passages before their ready. Slowing down what you're playing will reveal what you may need to work on. Do it!

Not only does starting out at the modest tempo ensure you'll get the most out of your practice time, but it will also help to prevent any injuries. Notice I mentioned 15-30 minute Workout Schedules, spaced out if you want to do more, and not marathon sessions. Playing in reasonable blocks of time is a much safer way to build your muscle memory as well as help you attain the ultimate skill in playing proficiently on the guitar: The art of relaxation. If you're relaxed and keeping your practice time calculated and spaced out, you'll be safe and successful.

Welcome to Guitar Gym :: Triad Chord Scales - Melodic Minor - the most intensive chord scale study you may ever play through. There's a LOT going on - more than any other Guitar Gym course to date.

To best organize all that's going on here I instituted a few Guitar Gym Series firsts. The first first is an additional Prerequisite Level making four levels of triadic to-do's. Within the "Prereqs" as well as the following three Levels will be another first in the form of "Workout Groups". The Prereq Level is four Workout Groups made up of three Workouts each. They will be enumerated as such:

#1A, #1B, #1C
#2A, #2B, #2C
#3A, #3B, #3C
#4A, #4B, #4C

Levels #1-3 are made up of three Workout Groups made up of four Workouts each. They will be enumerated as such:

#1A, #1B, #1C, #1D
#2A, #2B, #2C, #2D
#3A, #3B, #3C, #3D

When all is said and done throughout all the Levels and Workout Groups Guitar Gym :: Triad Chord Scales - Melodic Minor comes out to be 48 Workouts large!

Yet another GG first is the manner in which the tempo rises throughout the entire course as well as how you drill each Workout. Instead of the tried-and-true three tempo tier system all my previous Gym courses have employed this time each Workout will rise in tempo by a single bpm within in each Level. The goal is get to 101bpm by the 48th and final Workout. Celebrating the great 48 you'll start at 48bpm and incrementally rise throughout each Level. Celebrating the three notes in a triad formula you'll add 3bpm from level to level. Eventually the math will work out to 101bpm, trust me! This approach helps stealthily reinforce the constant shuffling of the 21 chords that make up the chord scale and chord scale cycles you're about to take on. The breakdown of tempos is as follows:

Prerequisite Level: 48bpm-59bpm
Level 1: 62bpm-73bpm
Level 2: 76bpm-87bpm
Level 3: 90bpm-101bpm

To further that goal I've switched up the manner in which the repetitions are carried out. Instead of a time-based system that changes per Level, each Level will have a number of "reps" required. Starting with the Prereq Level it will go like this:

Prerequisite Level: 2 reps
Level 1: 3 reps
Level 2: 4 reps
Level 3: 5 reps

This rep-based system dictates the length of the Jam Tracks as well. Instead of a click track running for a set amount of time, these tracks provide the exact amount of "clicks" needed to play each Workout as required by the reps designated to that Workout. This is a useful advantage if you're not yet up to monitoring your reps while you play, especially for those higher rep counts!

While all these firsts influence how the course flows in a very positive way, there's one more notable facet of the design that's equally valuable. I call it "Sawtooth Neck Flow." It's simple, really: The Prerequisite Levels starts on the 3-2-1 string set and has you playing your way down to the 5-4-3 string set. From there Level 1 starts on that same string set and has you play back up to the 3-2-1 string set. Level 2 progresses back to 5-4-3, while Level 3 works its way back up to 3-2-1. In my head this up and down motion is much like a sawtooth waveform, but then again I'm a bit of an audio nerd at times!

As you work through this entire course you'll be working under two key foundational concepts of my own doing. The ascending/descending repetition is designed to drive home a concept I call "Chordal Gravity." It's simple, like the basics of gravity, what goes up must come down. In this case, what ascends, must descend. Over and over I see player's chord visions seem incomplete and splintered and one reason is they only drill ascending chord sequences. The other is my vision of the neck as being a conveyor belt where what progresses to the end comes back at the top. This is how I organize the neck in boundaries helping to me to effectively play in all keys. To do this I don't allow myself to play any triad shapes with open strings as well as no chords being played in the 13th position or above. This allows all my chords to have a consistent visualization while containing any key within one octave. Otherwise some keys are played from the I chord to vii˚ chord with no restrictions while others run out of neck real estate. Complete command is what we're going for and this how I do it.

Before engaging in the deluge of chord scale cycles (more on that later) that await you have the Prerequisite Workouts to help acclimate you to chord scale playing. Even if you have some experience with chord scale study it will be extremely beneficial to play through these Prerequisite Workouts first.

Prerequisite #1-3 Workout Groups all follow the same approach. You'll play through close voiced harmonized scales, or in non-guitar nerd terms, chord scales. All the chord scales will be built from a C harmonic minor parent scale. You'll always start on the top string set (3-2-1) ascending and descending in 3/4 time. You'll play through the diatonic chord scale order of:

Minor-minor-augmented-major-major-diminished-diminished, AKA m m aug M M dim dim.

Later in the course you'll learn these are Linear/Static Cycle 2 (ascending) and Cycle 7 (descending) sequences.

In regards to the commonly used roman numeral system aka the Nashville numbering system the chord scales would be seen as follows:

i - ii - bIII+ - IV - V - vi˚ - vii˚

The first three Prereq Workout Groups will progress down adjacent string sets: 3-2-1, 4-3-2 and 5-4-3 respectively. They will always start on the neighboring inversions relative to Workout #1A's starting C major triad. The 4-3-2 string set is a 2nd inversion chord scale and the 5-4-3 string set will be a 1st inversion chord scale. If you've gone through Guitar Gym :: Triads Level 2 Workouts you'll know exactly what's going on in regards to the starting points. It's all that horizontal chord tone hopscotch stuff!

* Take note: There will be no chord scales played on the lowest string set, 6-5-4, in this course. The shapes played on that string set are often not needed as they're considered muddy. At the same time the 6-5-4 shapes are identical to the 5-4-3 shapes so you're not missing out on any neck vision opportunities. All good!

Prerequisite Workout Group #4 follows an approach called "All-Per-Degree" as donned by the great Gerald Carboy - creator of the famed 7-Tone program href=http://www.chrisbuono.com/guitar-instructio
private-lessons/diatonic-7-tone/ target =
blank>7-Tone program I teach. While I'll go into this in detail in Prerequisite Workout Group #4 Introductions know that the Chordal Gravity idea is contained within each All-Per-Degree sequence for each chord in each harmonized scale. Chordal what? Lemme explain...

Once you've mastered these four Prerequisite Workout sets you're as ready as you can be for the vat of chord scale cycles in following three Workout Groups. Good thing because it will be ON!

In Prerequisite (Prereq) Workout #1A you'll play a root position close voiced harmonized scale (chord scale) in C melodic minor ascending and descending on the top string set (3-2-1) in 3/4 time. Here and many, many times after you'll play through the diatonic chord scale order of: Minor-minor-augmented-major-major-diminished-diminished, AKA m m aug M M dim dim.

Beware after playing the B˚ (vii˚) chord you'll descend back down the order of chords starting with A˚ (vi˚). In other words, don't continue up to the neighboring C minor (i). Remember, we're at the very beginning of starting to establish the "Chordal Gravity" that will allow us to more easily and successfully modulate these chord scales. To do that two key parameters must be in play at all times: No open strings and no chords played in the 13th position or above.

Prereq Workouts #1B and #1C will progress down the lower adjacent string sets - 4-3-2 and 5-4-3 respectively. The catch is they will start on the neighboring inversions relative to Workout #1A's starting C major triad. The 4-3-2 string set is a 2nd inversion chord scale and the 5-4-3 string set will be a 1st inversion chord scale. If you've gone through Guitar Gym :: Triads Level 2 Workouts you'll know exactly what's going on in regards to the starting points. It's all that horizontal chord tone hopscotch stuff!

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Tempo range: 48bpm-50bpm
Repetitions: 2 reps

In Prerequisite (Prereq) Workout #1A you'll play a root position close voiced harmonized scale (chord scale) in C melodic minor ascending and descending on the top string set (3-2-1) in 3/4 time. Here and many, many times after you'll play through the diatonic chord scale order of: Minor-minor-augmented-major-major-diminished-diminished, AKA m m aug M M dim dim.

Beware after playing the B˚ (vii˚) chord you'll descend back down the order of chords starting with A˚ (vi˚). In other words, don't continue up to the neighboring C minor (i). Remember, we're at the very beginning of starting to establish the "Chordal Gravity" that will allow us to more easily and successfully modulate these chord scales. To do that two key parameters must be in play at all times: No open strings and no chords played in the 13th position or above.

Prereq Workouts #1B and #1C will progress down the lower adjacent string sets - 4-3-2 and 5-4-3 respectively. The catch is they will start on the neighboring inversions relative to Workout #1A's starting C major triad. The 4-3-2 string set is a 2nd inversion chord scale and the 5-4-3 string set will be a 1st inversion chord scale. If you've gone through Guitar Gym :: Triads Level 2 Workouts you'll know exactly what's going on in regards to the starting points. It's all that horizontal chord tone hopscotch stuff!

----------------------------------

Tempo range: 48bpm-50bpm
Repetitions: 2 reps

In Prerequisite (Prereq) Workout #1A you'll play a root position close voiced harmonized scale (chord scale) in C melodic minor ascending and descending on the top string set (3-2-1) in 3/4 time. Here and many, many times after you'll play through the diatonic chord scale order of: Minor-minor-augmented-major-major-diminished-diminished, AKA m m aug M M dim dim.

Beware after playing the B˚ (vii˚) chord you'll descend back down the order of chords starting with A˚ (vi˚). In other words, don't continue up to the neighboring C minor (i). Remember, we're at the very beginning of starting to establish the "Chordal Gravity" that will allow us to more easily and successfully modulate these chord scales. To do that two key parameters must be in play at all times: No open strings and no chords played in the 13th position or above.

Prereq Workouts #1B and #1C will progress down the lower adjacent string sets - 4-3-2 and 5-4-3 respectively. The catch is they will start on the neighboring inversions relative to Workout #1A's starting C major triad. The 4-3-2 string set is a 2nd inversion chord scale and the 5-4-3 string set will be a 1st inversion chord scale. If you've gone through Guitar Gym :: Triads Level 2 Workouts you'll know exactly what's going on in regards to the starting points. It's all that horizontal chord tone hopscotch stuff!

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Tempo range: 48bpm-50bpm
Repetitions: 2 reps