Keyboard Magazine - March 2008 - (Page 40) PLAY beginner PENTATONIC PERMUTATIONS LESSONS Amplify your prog power with five-note scales. by Andy LaVerne The Road Home (Magna Carta) Take virtuosic facility, unbridled creativity, years of classical study at the Juilliard School, and add influences like Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Patrick Moraz, Gentle Giant, Yes, ELP, Jimi Hendrix, and a generous offering of talent — and what do you have? Keyboard wizard Jordan Rudess, of course! According to Jordan, disciplined practice with a metronome is key to being a successful player: “I learned all of the inversions of every major and minor chord and, over the years, have become comfortable getting to any chord in any inversion quickly,” he says. “This was a foundation for being able to improvise.” Jordan demonstrates his keyboard command and improvisational skills in his organ solo on “Tarkus” from his new solo CD, The Road Home. We can follow Jordan’s lead and example by extracting material from his “Tarkus” solo and practicing it to further our own musical understanding, fluency, and development. Jordan draws material for this searing performance from the pentatonic scale — a five-note scale — and uses it with power and originality. Play through the below examples and get your prog on! Ex. 1. Jordan draws material for his improvisation from the C major pentatonic (five-note) scale, which is shown in 1a. The following tones from the C major scale make up the C major pentatonic scale: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. Jordan’s solo on “Tarkus” centers around an A minor tonality. Play through the fifth mode of the C pentatonic, shown in 1b, and you now have a pentatonic scale that has a tonal center of A. This is also known as an A minor pentatonic. With the addition of one chromatic tone, the five-note A minor pentatonic now becomes the six-note A blues scale, shown in 1c. Jordan makes great use of this scale along with the pentatonic in his “Tarkus” solo. After you get comfortable with the A minor pentatonic and A blues scale, transpose them to other tonal centers. a) b) c) Systematic Chaos (Roadrunner) Ex. 2. Even though the pentatonic scale is composed of five notes, a good regimen for practicing pentatonics is to play them in four-note groupings, as shown in 2a. Practice this ascending pattern, and then transpose to other tonal centers. What goes up must come down, and 2b shows the A minor pentatonic exercise descending. Once again, follow Jordan’s advice, and transpose to all keys. a) b) 4 4 etc. etc. Ex. 3. 3a shows a simplified riff from Jordan’s solo, which uses notes from the A minor pentatonic and A blues scale. Jordan adds a note a fourth below the top notes on beats 1 and 3; you can learn more about using fourths in the intermediate lesson. Practice this riff slowly, and, as Jordan does, use a metronome. Once you’re comfortable with 3a, move onto the sixteenth-note pattern in 3b, which is closer to what Jordan actually plays in his solo. Keep that metronome going, and transpose this riff to other keys. a) b) 4 4 LESSONS 3 4 intermediate REACHING FOURTHS AND BEYOND Use quartal chords and arpeggios like Jordan Rudess does. by Andy LaVerne As you continue to explore Jordan Rudess’ organ solo on “Tarkus,” you can see the emergence of a recurring intervallic device: the use of fourths. Fourths can be used as chordal and melodic tools, and Jordan does both in his solo. The use of fourths is not limited to the interval of a perfect fourth; it can also occur as an augmented fourth. The source of fourths is usually a scale, and that scale is often a major scale, or a mode of the major scale. It’s the position in the scale that dictates whether the fourth is perfect or augmented. As we discovered in the Beginner lesson, Jordan’s organ solo is in the A minor tonality. A good source of fourths in this case would be the A natural minor scale (A Aeolian mode), which is a C major scale starting on A. The A natural minor scale is also known as the relative minor to C major. They both share the same key signature, which is no sharps and no flats. Let’s see how this all relates to the use of fourths in Jordan’s solo. Ex. 1. 1a shows fourths grouped in threes, based on the A natural minor scale (A Aeolian mode). These groupings are known as quartal chords, which means they’re built in fourths. Notice the incidence of perfect and augmented fourths, which is dictated by the prevailing key signature. By arpeggiating the quartal chords in triplets, and alternating ascending and descending groups (1b), you now have a melodic pattern to practice, slowly of course, with the use of a metronome. As you gain facility, bump up the tempo gradually. a) b) For more on Jordan, visit www.jordanrudess.com. Follow Dream Theater at www.dreamtheater.net. 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 40 keyboard 03-2008 http://www.jordanrudess.com http://www.dreamtheater.net
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