oNTHECD .
s; TnACXS OO-O6
I ttllhole tone $cale
You don't have to wait for an augmented chord to
use the whole tone scale. Shaun Baxter shows
you how to use it over a minor chord vamp...
* Amelodic minor scale has an unbloken
The purpose ofthis, and many
oft}te other principles that we have
studied in Creative Rock since it
started, is to expand your options
by Biving you access to ear-catching
tonalities that fall outside the tried
and tested scales tlat are normally
associated with rock. These of
course include the minor
pentatonic (1 b3 4 s b7), minor
blues scale (r b34b5 5 b7),
Aeolian mode (r 2 b3 4 S b6 b7)
and Dorian (r 2b3 4 S 6 bZ).
Before we look at this month's
solo study, let's recap on some of
the theory. The whole tone scale is
so named because it is composedof
consecutive tone intervals. In this
artide we are going to look at using
E whole tone when soloing in an A
minor rock context. There are ways
ofjustilyiry this:
To illustrate the first way, E
whole tone implies E9#5O5) chord,
providing the opportunity to set up
some musical tension and release in
the forrn of a perfect cadence:
Eg#5\bsJ//lAml//
In other words, it's possible to
intuoduce E whole tone iDto your
playing by imagining the
m progression shorrn above, which produces a
strong sense of 'tension andrelease'.
OOOO Moderate/Advanced
T--
The second way ofintroducing the E whole
L rNro
l
tone over Am is to use A melodic minor as a
I wrtt rMPRovEYouR
potential'doorway', allowingus to lead the
lXty: nm Mwnole ronescale knowledqe
listener towards the whole tone scale.
TEMPO:'l44bpm vl\,linor(ontextwhole-toneuse
Over a tlpical Am chord vamp, mostjazz
1
CD:TRACKS60-66 g0verdllmuriGlity
L,\ST MONTH, WE looked at a 16-bar solo
players would use a combination ofA minor
pentatonic, A Dorian mode and A melodic
that demonstrated ways that you could use minorscales.
the whole tone scale when soloing over a AMind A c D E G
minor chord lamp. scale:
P€ntatoni. I b3 4 5b7
This month, well be looking at anotler
16-bar solo using the same principles, and
AASCDE T,,G
this second solo can be attached seamlessly Dorian: 12b34 5 6b7
onto the end of the previous one to create one AMelodc A B C D E f+
3z-bar long performance. Mlnor12b34 567
M TRA0I( BECofrD The sound of thevholo tone scale iB Derhaps mt as commonly associated with genres such as rocl and blues as it ls with
, 1.o o. trrion styles [ouo; it is iGtartly rccogl sauc in the molody t0 tho trne ]ao Plaoo Uke lhmc, from Grug llom's album r060ecthr
.-l lshrapnel Becords). Howo ls a rock/fusion guitarist who's oross€d over into doing sessions for some ofthe biggest names in rock and pop.
66 Guitzlleclmiques February 2010
whole tone sequence from C up to G#. This
provides us witi an opportunity to seduce the
ear with a whole tone motif/fragment, which,
once latched onto by the listener, canbe
shifted up and dolr,n in tones guiding us
convincingly into the E whole torle scale:
E Whole tone E F# G# Bb C
b6 b7
D
As you can see, ttris scale hasn't even got an A
note in it, but, ifset up properly, the relendess
logic ofthe musical sequence will make the
idea work (because it sounds colvincingto
the listener); however, it does help if any E
whole tone idea (which, remember,
rcprcsents tension in this context) is resolved
in an appropriate way (in this case. back to
notes tlat relate toAm).
Diagram 1 shows the notes of E whole tone
as they appear on the guitar neck, whereas
diagrams 2,3 and 4 providejust a few ofthe
self-contained fingerings ofthe whole tone
scale that can be shifted (unchanged) Iaterally
up and down the length ofthe guitar neck in
intervals ofatone (two frets).
Diagram 2 stays ovel one area ofthe
fretboard; Diagram 3 is a three-notes-per-
string pattern that drifts diagonally up the
neck, and Diagram4 is a two-notes-per-string
pattem that can be treated like some sort of
mutant pentatonic shape.
Try experimenting with your own
fingerings for this scale, and then practise
shifting them up and doum the guitar neck in
vadous whole tone intervals. This idea should
realJy spice upyourgeneral soloing. E
lJ This study rvill expand
your options by giving you
access to an ear-catching
tonality that falls outside
the tnied and tested scales
that are normally
associated with nock tt
GETTHETONE
.. :.:.t. li , i
'#
r
;.'. 1 ,
'w' #-'# 'ffi
DDLE IREBLI
M REVERB
I used a stock rock sound for this month3
demonstration, justtoshowthis scalebeinq
used with a rocksound.lused a FenderStratso I
also used a distortion pedalto provide a bit more
G# punch to the single<oil sound.
l
 t/ll}l0t_r T0ilt $cALt PI2

o
X
x (Y x ,: n
o J
x E
o
(2)

(4) (6) (3) (4) (6) (3)

lBars 2-3lTwo-handed tapping doesnl haveto befasti it canjust be used as a throughthescale,creatingarhythmicallyinter€sting'3against4,feel(known

good wayof playing wide intervals smoothly. Here, a three-note motif is cycled as a hemiola).

A minor pentatonic - - - - -, E wholetone

A dorian -- -
BU

E wholetone

3/1s-I1 --1

February 20'10 GuitalTechniques 67

 trE$$0t{: CRIAIIIII R0Cl(

[8ars 6-12]This particular passage show5 how onc€ you have sedu<edthe
listener into accepting the whole tone scale,you.an Iingeron it as long as
the musical logic ofyour lines is strong enough (the listener's ear wlllaccept
it as sou nd ing 'correct'). This can be done by exploiting the symmetry oflhe
scale to generate 'themes' which can be developed by shiftinqthem up and/
ordown in various combinations of tone intervals, such as a majorseconds
(one tone), majorthirds (two tone), diminished fifths (three tones), minor sixths
(fourtones)and minor sevenths (five tones)etc. This section is based mainly
on the use of 7b5 arpeggios (from bar 6 to bar 10)- ln bar 11, a six-note figure
comprising thirds is cy<led down throughrhe s<ale. Each motif(indicated
in th e tra nlcription) comprises a descending major third, followed by an
ascending major third, followed bya descending majorthjrd (notethat only
the firstfour notes ofthe third motif are played). Finally, bar 12 is d€voted to
shifting an arbitrary six-note arpegg io shape in an ascending and descending
manner up the neck.There is a long complicated nameforeach one ofthere
arpeggios, butthey were simply d€rived byexperimenting )

E
B 7119-1s-t
'17^17- S-1V21-
G
D

E
B 3-{-.|3-11-7-11
G
D

E
. E_
ry -*.ff:==_5_*11,7_ ____4_13
B 9- 11-7-4-7- 1s-11_
G
o
E
11

-11-

E wholeione -
A minor pentdtonic ----------aL
E 1 2- l 6-1 4-10-1 4
B
G
D

58 Guitadlbdmiqu6 Februa ry 201 0

I
-, : - ': :'.1: T
'1

with various convenientfi ngerings, and you should try€xperimenting with IBars l4-161 You may have notic€o ii"- :
some ofyour own shapes as well. Tonrh,solostud) havebeerl,fted,o, .
lBar I3l As previously mentioned, it's important that we resolve each E whole th€wholetonescaleoveranaugmented.horc.- :
tone idea with something that relates backto our'home' chord of A minor. how the same ideas workjus! as well in a different .:
--i
ln this case, the previous seven bar E whole tone section is resolved back 6nishes offwith a simpleyet effe€tiveVan Halen styler.pir : : :
to Am by playing this four-notes per-string A rninor pentatonic idea, which to the whole tone scale whi(h is shlfted in tones laterally dov/n _: : ii!
inco pordres borh pic(irg and f'Fri ng ha.ld ldpping. before inishing on an A root note, to correspond with the ina Am,:tr.r::

E
B

rl 6 tt 6
6
A minor pentatonic -
E
/5,- l- Z\ ZA
a
__ _ ,_ ^_ r5_r9__ _ llgTtir_r r ,__________ rr I re- ------- L_
D

E
-

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Feb rua ry 20 I 0 GuitarTechniques 69

 I
oN THE cD ;p rnacxs oz-zo

know the kind of thing (you have been

following tlese columns, haven't you?).

nhythln chaltge$
In 1930, George Gershwin unwittingly created
bebop's defining progression.Welcome to the wild
and wi y world of 'rhythm changesi..
chromatic approach notes and
staggering back and forth over
the bebop bridge, not to
mention self-consciously
splitting infi nitives. This
month, however, we're
throwing all caution,
trepidation and prudence to
thewinds, donning our
speedos and diving swan-like
into the bop wellspring as we
tackle perhaps the archet,?al
progression of bebop - the
sequence klown as 'rhlthm
changes'.
The rhythm changes are
basically the chord
progression from the 1930
George and Ira Gershwin tune
I Got Rhlthm - the name
Iiterally rcferring to the chord
changes of I Got Rhlthm - but
over time it's become removed
fTom its Gershwin roots to be
more recognised as a form in
itsown ght, much like the
12-barblues.
The use ofthe rhlthm
changes progression in jazz is
a prime example of something
lorown as contrafact - the
process of taking an existing
sequence, giving it a bit of a
harmonic spit and polish,
pasting a new melody line on
m top and collecting all the royalties for
yourself, Contmfact is particularly associated
OOOO Moderate/Advanced with bebop, and many famous bop tunes are
Maybe play it as uptempo swingor, ifit's a
fasttune, try it as a ballad. Write a new
melody over tle sequence - try mming up
with (or adapting) a Charlie Parker style
bebophead, or perhaps something slowand
wistful, You may find at ttre end of it you're
left with something largely unrecognisable
ftom the odginal. In fact, that's probably
advisable, as coplright laryers aren't
generally renowned for their forbearance...
Anyway, back to the matter in hand.
Rhlthm changes have proved particularly
fetile grcund for bebop musicians, as Track
Record suggests. and this month we regoing
to be examining the basic rh1'thm changes
form in its most often used key, Bb, and
discussing some common variations. The
sequence is a 3z bar, AABA form divided into
I bar sections - Example r demonstrates the
basic Gershwin progression, while Example 6
featurcs some ofthe commonbebop changes.
The initialAsection (Examples 2 to S) is
esseltiallya mioi AABA form in itself,
comprised ofa couple of short I-\I-II-V
progressions (in Bb, the chords Bb G7 lCmT
F7 lBb G7 lCmT F7 I played twice) followed
bya I-r7-rv-#rvdim orb nb7 lEb Ebdim l)
and another I-VI-II-V, although oD the two
subsequent A sections ofthe form the last
two bars revert to variations ofa I-V-I ( lBb
Fz lBb l). The B section revisits ourold
friend the bebop bddle (lDZ Dz c7 G7 C7
lC7 F7 F7 ), which u'e covered ertensively
back in GT17o, 17r and 172, and ultimately
leads us rather agreeably backto Bb for the
firalAsection. fl
lJ Iate ttre ctrord pnogresslon
of an existing standard, give it
a harmonic polish, paste a new
melody line on top and then
collect allthe royalties t,
GETTHETONE
i.t:
www

tK!I!b
!!!S wuturnovrvoun
TSoloingvorabLla,y
I
based on the progressions ofpopular
standards - eg Charlie Parker's Omithology R€VERA

(basedon How High The Moon), Ko Ko You can use any sound you feel is appropriate
TTEMPOT 200bpm gl Harmonic knowledqe
(Cherokee) and Donua Lee (Indiana). forthe ideas here. Fora good classicjazz
I 67'79 ti
CD: TRACKS lazz repertoire
I'd encourage you to experiment with 50und, usethe guitar's neck pickupwith the
O\ERTHE PAST few columns we've been contmfact - it's a great compositional tone controlrolled offto around 3 or4 (or take
dipping our metaphorical toes, somewhat exercise. Take, say, a Beatlestu[e andmess the treble down on the amp), and set upa
gingerly, into bebop's seething waters - witl the sequence a little - domiDant 7ths warm alean tone on youramp.Thick strings
furtively suweilling the oeur.'re of Charlie resolving to every possible chord, II chords in work better, as does a hollowbody guitar, but
Parker, crudely shaping bop lines fi'om front ofdominant tumarounds at the neitherareessential.
elemental motifs, hazily tangling over end ofthe progression,
^hs, substitutions - you

TXACI( BEC0BD ?he rhythmchanges hauehecomo the basis for numerorcJazz standards including I Got Rhythm itself (from uhich th3 term
was derived), AnthropoloEy,/Ihriving fr0m A Biff, 0loo, Cotton Tall, Celepity, An oscar Fon lheadwell, Moos€ The liloooh, Ihxterlty, Lester l.3aps
ln, Straigmcn Up And lly niglrt, Salt Peanuts, Susoone and, uould you belieyo, meet The tllntstoncsl

76 GuitalTerhniques February 20'l O

I
I
R]|YTHll/l CHAIIGI$ t_tARiltil0 zoilt

EXAMP1I T BASIC CDTFAGK 68

This demon5trares the lGot Rhythm chord sequence that provides the basic ln the original tune the ending is a little different, with two extra bars added,
framework for rhythm changes- but I've left this offas per the bebop model.

E"L

l;--
-Bt F7 Bl

E"t

Examples 2to 5 demonstrates some common, interchangeablevatiationson lVl li V (or turnaround); it's a good example ofthe standard jazz pra.tice of
the A section of rhythm change5. The 6rst sequence is something of a bebop putting a V chord in front ofevery chord possible (and often a ll chord in front
blueprintforthis section on which the othervariations arebased - noti.e how ofthat'see Ex3)- The main change in bars 5 and 6 is to the final(hord which,
the addition of the G7 in bar'l turns the repeating two-bar sequenae into a similarly to bar 6 ofthejazz blues sequence, commonly becomes an Edim7.

B' G7 Cm7 F7 Bi c7 cm7 F7

EXAiIPLE 3 RHYTHM CHANGES FIRSTS

For Example 3 we've substituted a lll(Dm7) (hord forthe l(Bbi, giving us a llF andVchords in ba153and4.Task see how well your chord knowledge is by
vl ll-V-lin bars 1 & 2 and 7 & 8, then the same thing but with b5 subs forthe Vl playing all of these chords within a 5/6 fretboard tpan.

Cm7

)
February 201 0 Guitarl'ecluriques 77
 -l I
8 BARS - CDTRACXT4
The variation in Example 4 comes in bars 5 to 8, with an Fm7 introduced beforethe Bb7 to give us a ll-V-linto Eb, and a b5 subtitutionforthe llchord in bar8,

CD TRACK 76
This examplefeatures a great chromatic ascending sequence, with the BdimT bar6, with Ab7 substituting forthe EbmT (you could also leave it in on beat 3
acting as a sub for G7b9 and the C*dim7 acting as a sub for A7b9, which togiveavery shortll-V)and leaving us with a rather pleasjng four- ba r series of
resolves to the Dm7 chord in bar 3.The other big chanqe is the last chord in ll-Vs leading back to Bb.

UIPLE 6 SAMPLE RHYTHI\4 CHANGES PROGRESSION CDTRACXTA

This combines some ofthese ideas into a full rhythm changes sequence. bridge section l've !rsed one ofthe most comrnon substitution ideas that we
B
Check out bars 15 and 15, where a ll'V-l in Bb marks the end ofthe section, discussed ba.k in GT170, with short ll'Vs settinq up ea(h chord change and
followed by an 47 setting up the moveto DTforthe B section. Forthe bebop leading backtothe fr nal A se.tion.

78 Gultalleclmiques February 2010