ARE YOU READY FOR A REAL WORKOUT? Our last stop on the soul train focused on single, double, and triple sixteenth-note motifs, and utilized static dominant-seventh- based chords (which, of course, can...
ARE YOU READY FOR A REAL WORKOUT? Our last stop on the soul train focused on single, double, and triple sixteenth-note motifs, and utilized static dominant-seventh- based chords (which, of course, can be applied to any of the following examples) to form some funky I- and IV-chord vamps. This month we’ll travel into deeper rhythmic and harmonic territories. So let’s get to it.
BUILD A LIBRARY
The collection of grids in Fig. 1 groups five different two-chord diatonic and modal chord progressions covering major, minor, and dominant tonalities (Imaj7-IIm7, IVmaj7- IIIm7, Im7-Im6 [IV9], I7sus4-I7, and IIm7- V7), into sets of threes, with each pair of chords voiced on different strings. The first row transfers a Imaj7-IIm7 progression across three string sets (up in fourths), and the second row follows suit, but recasts the chords as a descending IVmaj7-IIIm7 progression. The third and fourth rows feature all the grips you’ll need to set up a slew of funky Im7-Im6 (or Im7-IV9) and I7sus4-I7 grooves. Finally, we add one extra set of voicings to the IIm7(9)-V7(13) progressions in row five. Get comfy with each pair individually, and then play through all of them back-to-back for one bar each to form a pretty cool 32-bar progression. (Recognize any songs in there?)
HIT IT EIGHT TIMES
Here’s the drill: Choose a two-chord progression from Fig. 1, establish a tempo, and apply both to any of the sixteenth-based rhythms in Examples 1a through 1i to establish a two-chord vamp. The idea here is to play the first chord on the first pass and the second chord on the repeat of each measure. You can vamp indefinitely, or move on to each subsequent example and/or chord set. We begin with two full sets of sixteenth-notes played on beats