Playing Outside
Hi Guys and Gals! Welcome to this months tutorial which is all based on 'outside' playing. Now I'm not suggesting that you all find a nice field somewhere and play in the fresh air. Rather the way in which fusion and jazz guitarists (and these days many rock musicians) play phrases and ideas which are unrelated to the key they're in at the time. But why on earth would you want to do that? Surely that'd sound terrible playing notes which don't fit in the key we're in. Well...not quite true - although some of the sounds I'm going to present today may take some getting used to if you're not familiar with their sound. Music is all about tension and release. This is something we've looked at before in my Melodic Minor tutorial. Without creating tension or dissonance in our music we end up with bland, boring sounds which have no movement or purpose. When we're improvising over one chord vamps it's often difficult to create tension and release as there's very little harmony to play off. We need some methods which will help us create this feeling of movement over this single chord. I'm going to present five different concepts which I use to create this tension and release by playing outside, giving us tension notes which will then resolve giving us this feeling of movement and purpose. Move onto the next video for concept number one.
12 Lessons
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1
1:24
Lesson · 1m Playing Out - Introduction
Hi Guys and Gals! Welcome to this months tutorial which is all based on 'outside' playing. Now I'm not suggesting that you all find a nice field somewhere and play in the fresh air. Rather the way in which...
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2
2:22
Lesson · 2m Playing Out - Using the 4th Bar
This first method is based on an idea I took from Greg Howe's playing and is a very 'open' and simple concept. It's based on the idea that music is divided into simple phrases which are then combined into...
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3
2:30
Lesson · 3m Playing Out - Using the 4th bar (Example)
I've transcribed the first section of each improvisation leaving you some left to work out and transcribe yourself if you want to. Each transcription should give you an idea of the kind of phrases I play and...
Tab
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4
1:29
Lesson · 1m Playing Out - Side Stepping
Okay, how did you get on with that then? Hopefully it was okay... Our second method is really simple to understand and I'm going to call is 'side stepping'. This is a method which is tailor-made for guitarists...
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5
1:56
Lesson · 2m Playing Out - Side Stepping (Example)
Here's the transcription for the first section of my improvised solo. I use Am Pentatonic and A Dorian throughout.
Tab
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6
1:33
Lesson · 2m Playing Out - Using Shapes
Using shapes refers to the idea that we can use material other than scales to play out. In order for an outside phrase to work, the listener simply needs something to latch on to. In this way we can use...
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7
1:32
Lesson · 2m Playing Out - Using Shapes (Example)
With this method I've written out the shapes I've used and their sequence method without the rest of the solo so that you can stick them into your own improvisations. Hopefully they'll spark your imagination...
Tab
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8
2:21
Lesson · 2m Playing Out - Wholetone/Diminished
Now, this method should really have a tutorial all of it's own but we'll leave that for the future. For our outside playing in this example we'll be using two symmetrical scales - the wholetone and diminished...
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9
1:34
Lesson · 2m Playing Out - Wholetone/Diminished (Example)
In this example video I use A Dorian for my inside playing and A Wholetone and A diminshed for my outside playing. I've included the scales for your convenience too. I also sneaked in an A# diminished line at...
Tab
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10
2:21
Lesson · 2m Playing Out - Anything Goes
The final method we'll use for playing out relies on the following idea, "Anything will work if you play it fast enough!" This may sound like a bit of a cop out but in fact it's a very effective method for...
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11
2:09
Lesson · 2m Playing Out - Anything Goes (Example)
Haha! This isn't my best playing ever but presents some interesting ideas about just how out you can go when you're shredding. I think this is an idea you should use sparingly if possible - it gets a bit much...
Tab
- 12 3:02 Backing track · 3m Playing Outside - Aminor7 Backing Track Here's the backing track outlining an Am7 chord throughout. The 4th bar has a drum fill in and this is the one you want to use primarily for your outside playing! Good luck and remember to concentrate on your...
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