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Modal Guitar Beautiful mode-based harmony tutorials provide the musical environment to improvise melody.

Chord maps and a single focus on a particular mode for each tutorial.

Here's a mode-based guitar study ... actually it is in the Key of D Major ... Particularly so for the "Verse" ... the "C...
16/11/2024

Here's a mode-based guitar study ... actually it is in the Key of D Major ... Particularly so for the "Verse" ... the "Chorus" does not change key, although it certainly benefits the improvisor if they view that section as a combination focus of E Dorian and A Mixolydian modes.

E Dorian is the 2nd mode of D Major, whilst A Mixolydian (also known as the "Dominant 7th Scale") is the 5th mode of D Major Scale.

When you think about it, that makes sense as the 5th chord, the "five chord", of the key of D Major, is a Dominant 7th type of chord. In this case, A Dominant 7th... matching perfectly with the A Mixolydian mode.

Why think about things this way? In any chord progression, there is the tonic chord and tonic note of the tonality to think about when drawing melodic lines during a solo...

Here, that tonic note is the note D, and the tonic chord is D Major 7th; the resolution chord, usually, potentially.

The "Chorus" section features a lot of E min9 type chord playing, and some of the A7 chord sound. So... there are two other tonic notes to think about there, when improvising. The note E, and the note A.

Interestingly, many improvisors choose to avoid playing the actual tonic note of the current chord-in-play unless they wish to illustrate a sense of resolution, musically. That could be just a temporary resolution or the completion of their solo. Even then, perhaps the 9th of the chord they complete their solo along with, could be a more musically interesting way of phrasing their realtime melody.

08/09/2024

Believe it or not, last night I got lost in an area where I know *most* of the landscape like the back of my hand.

Bemused and interested, I kept on going and the road became narrower...
.. more and more the surroundings seemed to travel back in time until it felt like I was driving through a mysterious yet pleasant scene in the Shire from Tolkien's 3-part novel "Lord of thje Rings", or the precedinng novel, "The Hobbit".

And then arrived somewhere familiar.

"The road goes ever on..."

14/04/2024

Tone, texture, tuning. Some producers of electronic song styles just keep it cool and don’t go defining drum samples.

If they want a different rhythm instrumentation kit vibe to sequence with, they simply and sensibly just go find another sample or a programmed drum type or perk instrument modelled synth patch.

For some reason I do enjoy redefining or detuning retuning drum samples…. It’s fun. Sometimes also fruitful. Occasionally… ummm…. “Why did I even think that was anywhere near a good sounding vibe?”

The thing is, if something good does happen, there is a high possibility the result will not be in standard concert tuning.

So that means any synth bass, chord or melody patch needs to be fine-tuned to suit the detuned redefined drums and perk.

It’s all about the vibe sure and yet the fine-tuning is a requirement. And it is interactive- the drums then count require a finessing down or up a few hundredths of a semitone to help everything be a happy audio massage.

And after all of that there is the groove, the conversation of the song progression, structure and dynamics.

After all of that I may just need to hire an employee with the sole task of naming the songs.

There was a painter in the 1950’s who would pay a journalist $50 for each title he gave to the painter’s accomplished artworks. Genius move.

29/02/2024

I am convinced Chlorophyl holds a secret or two regarding harvesting solar energy and importantly, the storing of energy. Also to note, leafs have the capacity to self-heal cells.

But one of the challenges for modern science is that during the energy conversion process, a substance that is deleterious to the process or natural materials involved is created, possibly as a by-product. From my research, if memory serves correctly, this is then converted back to either Chlorophyl A or B (yes, there are two types, interesting enough.

There is something else that seemed integral to the process, forget the name momentarily, starts with a capital T. Possibly to do with strength and structure of cell walls.

Currently chlorophyll efficiency is measured at 3 percent, whilst Photovoltaic solar cells are measured at 10 percent. To address, this, the idea of other pigments introduced to the chlorophyl, to access light wavelengths such as ultraviolet - to increase the efficiency.

Also, the Chlorophyll "panels" could "grow", perhaps.

For countries where sunlight is scarce sometimes, stored sun light energy in the form of "Chlorophyll Energy Pod Containers" could be delivered, at a good discount, especially in the early days as the world prepares for the 2033 transition to banning fossil fuels.

For if fossil fuels are not banned by 2033, the climate warming trend continues. And there is enough water in the ice caps of Greenland to raise global sea levels by ... wait for it ... 24 feet! If melted. But more than that we have a responsibility to future generations, our generations, and all of the current ecosystems, with innocent, amazing, beautiful creatures wild, great, and small.

Maybe Chlorophyll-inspired technology is only part of the solution, especially regarding energy storage, although if eco-scientists investigate the energy storage potentiality of Chlorophyl from say five different angles, I am sure in 5 years they will have astounding results.

And the world needs astounding results from those heroes of our generation.

19/02/2024

With all this "AI" talk going on, I have to wonder, what about "EI" - "Emotional Intelligence" ... consisting I suppose of body language, voice tone, small pauses or the lack thereof, direct or deflecting response to questions, demonstration of interest in the other, and how so, and the maturity to know when that is not so necessary and when. it is vital, at least for a time.

"AI" might be about the facts and the options ... "EI" is ab out ... well I am a male and supposedly females are better at this kind of thing.

Optimism springs afresh in the heart of an untrained philosopher, lol ... maybe "EI" is about awareness of context, the "facts surrounding the facts" - and perhaps, without wishing to be obviously making a reference to programming, the "meta data", the data about the data.

19/01/2024

The scientists call Gravity and Magnetics the two "weak forces", referring to the fact that they do sometimes travel vast distances through space, only quite slowly.

Obviously there is another field similar yet totally different to the Higgs Boson field, that they travel through or feel the impediment of, thereby slowing them down a bit or weakening the strength of their signal.

Magnetics is like the sense of smell, and Gravity could be likened to the sense of hearing. There is another sense that does not necessarily make any noise; moreso designed to perceive, and that is eyesight.

If there were to be a third "weak force", that could be "time", and likened to eyesight, completing a "three musketeers of weak forces known to man."

Not that there needs to be "three musketeers of weak forces". Perhaps there really are only two.

Humans might not travel through time, or if they do, they don't tell their friends about it. Time itself however, does travel, in its own way. Perhaps it is only "perceived" to have traveled, or "lagged behind" the speed of light, for what we look at now in the starry sky of the evening, is supposedly "ancient history". It isn't real time with such long distances involved.

Talking of time, humanity was given the "starting gun" in 2023 to ban fossil fuels within ten years, with the climate scientists calculating that in fact all the temperature rising would in fact most likely be *reversed*.

Imagine that. How cool would that be? Pun unintentional. The extreme weather events also would not only not increase in severity and regularity. If we ban fossil fuels by 2033 then the extreme weather events shall phase out. The planet's ecosystem of the global climate shall heal itself.

Sure, there are other factors. But the big group of climate scientists who came out last year and declared the results and conclusions o their research, said the main thing is this: planet earth's human population needs to convert all power supplies to clean non-carbon-particle-emitting renewable sources.

And ban fossil fuels.

Just like we banned Chlorofluorocarbons in the late 1980's to er over Antarctica from getting bigger and stop it moving northwards to Tasmania and South Australia.

By the early 1990's, that ozone hole had retreated to its "usual" very small size and location over a small area of Antarctica - and nowhere else.

he news these days repeats the same stories just in case somebody missed the main story of the day. Perhaps the news stations could reappraise their approach, and perhaps have a "five minute report on what the various big corporations are donating and doing with the donations towards ensuring the ban on fossil fuels happens before or by 2033."

That would be of much interest to the population and the radio stations who report things most interestingly will get more listeners, therefore higher revenue for advertising and such, presumably.

03/01/2024

Heart and soul, I don’t believe hidden cameras mean a thing
We’ve got to save our precious only ecosystem
As a side benefit then future generations
Will have the opportunity
To find the ecosystems and observe how they are thriving
Long after we have have gone
And the reasons for the flourishing
Are the choices made today, yesterday, and tomorrow
All in all we as a species have a ten year window
Global ban on fossil fuels
And a sensible transposition renewable
Everybody everyone every single person:
2033
Window of climate opportunity

20/06/2023

I awoke from a 3am dream and made this composition recording arrangement ... title:"Existential Party" or "High Bohemian Soiree".

07/09/2022

There are two Pentatonic Scales. The Major Pentatonic and the minor Pentatonic.

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There are 3 minor Modes and the minor Pentatonic Scale may be used to improvise over each of these without a "harmonic problem".

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minor Modes and the minor Pentatonic
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Importantly: Using the same letter name as the tonic:
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E Dorian ... play E minor Pentatonic phrases, lines, motifs ... and sound like you mean it. What's more, sounds like you know it.
Dorian mode is much more for the funky.

E Phrygian... again: play E minor Pentatonic phrases, lines, motifs ... and sound like you mean it. You are gonna sound like the E Phrygian pro in the room. Or the stadium.
Phrygian mode is much more for the contemplative... or the let ride wild bring the metal chunk Phrygian riffs.

Hint for the Metal enthusiasts: look up the structure of "Phrygian Dominant" - although I happen to believe it is much more appropriately named as "Phrygian Major". Anyway what's two syllables between fellow musicians? Not much.

Or, alternatively, the source of irritable debates that last decades. Anyway don't worry about that, Phrygian Major totally rocks the vibe for metal rock. Better forget about using regular minor Pentatonic for that though, and neither use Major Pentatonic. It's an exotic. It's the 5th mode of the Harmonic Minor Scale.

So E Phrygian Major Mode is derived and found and structured by starting on the E note and playing up and down the octave of the A Harmonic Minor Scale. Why? The E is the 5th note.

E Aeolian is also known as the Natural Minor Scale, it is the most common in classical, romantic, and to some degree Baroque. And a lot of contemporary easy listening.
.. again: play E minor Pentatonic phrases, lines, motifs ... and sound like you mean it. You are gonna sound like the E Aeolian melody maestro. Keep it simple and find those sweet tones.

When ready, progress onwards to the entire E Aeolian Mode. This contains the E minor Pentatonic Mode, with two more notes: the natural 2nd (or 9th) and the minor 6th note (also known as the b6 note). Enjoy.

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11/08/2022

Evening guitar sounds from half an hour ago..

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