Synaptic Studios — Gil Namur

Exercise and trust your ears!

July 4, 2009 By Gil Namur 2 Comments

Steve Howe Live - Click to visit Steve Howe’s Web Site

Years ago, I jammed with an incredible pianist. Classically trained, he could play anything you put in front of him. Not only was he a great sight-reader, he would also put a lot of feeling into everything he played. His only problem was that without sheet music, he was lost. If we played a 12 bar blues, despite the fact that he had an exhaustive knowledge of scales, he had no idea how to improvise over it. It was very frustrating for him. In time, he learned to use and ‘trust’ his ears. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Improvisation, Lessons Tagged With: improvisation, solo

A Promenade With Your Muse

April 25, 2009 By Gil Namur 8 Comments

Have you ever had a dry spell? You know, where you can't get motivated or inspired to play your instrument? If you're like me, you might even put a few of your guitars out on stands and leave them where you will always see them hoping that the sight of them will encourage you to play. When you pick up your guitar and start playing, you feel as if you've played these chords a million times and there is no creative spark to continue. It's like driving on a road you have traveled many times and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Creativity Tagged With: blues, Chords, progression, solo

Technique: Proper Thumb Positioning

April 11, 2009 By Gil Namur Leave a Comment

A question that always comes up is where should my thumb be? Over the neck or behind it? The answer depends on what you are playing. If you are playing scales, there is a great benefit to having your thumb behind the neck as it allows you a much greater stretch. Conversely, having the thumb over the neck is the only way to play some chords and a great help when bending strings. Have a look at the following 3 pictures for an example of where your thumb should be when playing … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Lessons, Technique Tagged With: Chords, major

Exercises: Mirrors

April 10, 2009 By Gil Namur Leave a Comment

This exercise is aimed at improving your technique, building strength in your hands and improving your double picking across strings. It may also help you to develop some interesting and original chops that you can work into your solos. Click here if you’re not sure how to read the scale blocks. The basic idea is to find a pattern .. and then make a mirror of it .. Now, play them together. In this example, I am starting on the 4th … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Lessons Tagged With: rock, Scales

Scales: Exercises 123 234 345

April 10, 2009 By Gil Namur 4 Comments

This exercise is aimed at improving your technique and offering you extended scale phrasings. The basic idea in this exercise is to play the first 3 notes in the scale, then, starting at the second note in the scale play 3 more, then, starting from the 3rd note in the scale play 3 more etc. If the scale was numbers, the pattern would be: 123 234 345 456 567 678 789 etc Remember that these exercises can be played anywhere on the neck using any … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Lessons, Scales, Technique Tagged With: major, minor, Pentatonic, technique

Improvisation Blues in A (Swing Feel)

April 10, 2009 By Gil Namur Leave a Comment

This is standard blues progression with a jazzy feel to it that is great to solo over. Work with the A Minor Pentatonic scale over this progression. Try to play it in all 5 positions mentioned in the A Minor Pentatonic lesson. The chords for this progression can be found in the page of all the chords used at this site. For the Bb13, play the A13 chord block shown on that page but play it on the 6th fret. For the E9, play the D9 chord block shown on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Improvisation, Lessons Tagged With: blues, Chords, improvisation, minor, Pentatonic, progression, solo

Improvisation: Am7 FMaj9 Progression with MP3

April 10, 2009 By Gil Namur 2 Comments

This is a slow and moody groove that is wonderful to solo over. Start of by working with the A Minor Pentatonic scale over this progression. Try to play it in the 3 positions mentioned in the A Minor Pentatonic lesson. Then work in these scales: (Over the Am7) A (Jazz) Melodic Minor .. Same pattern as the G (Jazz) Melodic Minor scale shown in lesson but played 2 frets higher. (Over the Am7) A (Dorian) Minor .. Same pattern as the G (Dorian) Minor scale shown in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Improvisation, Lessons Tagged With: major, melodic, minor, Pentatonic, progression, solo

Scales: The D Major Scale Harmonized 3rd and 5th degrees

April 10, 2009 By Gil Namur 2 Comments

This lesson is almost identical to the A Major Scale Harmonized 3rd and 5th degree. I have added it in order to show how once one pattern is learned, it can often be used on a different set of strings. These are highly recognizable sounds often heard in rock and country playing but used also in all forms of music. The block below consists of chords moving up the fretboard. The first chord has a red line through it to highlight its pattern. The second is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Lessons, Scales Tagged With: Chords, major, progression, rock, technique, Theory

Scales: The A Major Scale Harmonized 3rd and 5th degrees

April 10, 2009 By Gil Namur Leave a Comment

These are highly recognizable sounds often heard in rock and country playing but used also in all forms of music. The block below consists of chords moving up the fretboard. The first chord has a red line through it to highlight its pattern. The second is in blue, the third in red and so on. These are the chords that are the result of harmonizing the A Major scale 3rd and 5th notes. The theory behind scale harmonization is covered in theory lesson 7. If … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Lessons, Scales Tagged With: Chords, major, progression, rock, technique, Theory

Scales: The G Major Scale Harmonized

April 10, 2009 By Gil Namur Leave a Comment

The block below consists of chords moving up the fretboard. The first chord has a blue line through it to highlight its pattern. The second is in red, the third in blue and so on. These are the chords that are the result of harmonizing the G Major scale. The theory behind this is covered in theory lesson 7. The chords names are as follows. GMaj7 Am7 Bm7 CMaj7 D7 Em7 F#min7b5 GMaj7 ( Please not that the F#min7b5 chord is also known as the F# half … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Lessons, Scales Tagged With: Chords, major, technique, Theory