Chromatic Scale picking

Stuart Legg · Posted 10 Apr 2015 5:18 am

I think now is as good a time as any to kill this demo.
I was organizing my old work sheets when I came across some I had made in regards to Chromatic Scale picking.
I started this when I noticed that guitar players used Chromatic licks a lot but there was very little Chromatic Scale licks found in any of my achieves of steel guitar music.
I at the time assumed and I think correctly so that the steel guitar just does not lend itself well to Chromatic Licks.
I thought well it’s just the natural tendency to just accept it and not try to overcome some steel guitar short comings.

So I thought maybe if I found places on the neck where Chromatic licks flow from one lick to the next on the neck with little or no wide range bar movement it might be a start in the right direction.
I spent a few days on the project at that time and I was amazed at the numbers of places the Chromatic licks just made convenient paths for these licks to flow together.
Here is one example of a nice E7 to A resolve using Chromatic licks that show how the path flows.

midi audio
Cick Here

Larry Bressington · From: Nebraska

Very good Stu.
_________________
A.K.A Chappy.

Stuart Legg · Posted 10 Apr 2015 6:42 am

Here is a couple of worksheets I used for this project
This is the worksheet I used for the above E7 to A

Here is the worksheet for my given scales

Brett Lanier · From: Hermitage, TN

Cool lick man. I found it a little smoother to play the first three notes all on the 7th fret on strings 10,9,8 w/ A ped and E lever. And for the last note, there's an A right there on the 3rd fret 7th string under the note you just played. Sorry I don't have the know how for tabbing things out on the computer.

Stuart Legg · Posted 10 Apr 2015 7:10 am

Your right Brett as I said there are a lot of good flowing paths.
Now the crap is going to hit the fan because I’m going to suggest a conclusion I came to in all this at the time.
Take a page from the lead guitar players Hybrid picking or chicken picking.
Place your picking hand so the palm rests lightly on the bridge (just so it mutes all the notes slightly and stops the sustain somewhat) and alternate pick with your thumb and first finger or second finger which ever you are most comfortable with. You’ll find all this critical to this type picking in achieving a good sound.
You may find you can pick faster by placing the first finger of the picking hand (finger pick and all) against the pick on thumb for support and use the thumb pick like a straight pick. This leaves the second finger free to hybrid pick.
Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it on these following examples.

click here midi clip

steve takacs · From: beijing, china via pittsburgh (deceased)

Very, helpful stuff here, Stuart. Thanks a lot. For me, it always quicker if I use the second finger to pick rather than the first, so that first finger being used to provide support to the thumb could work well when alternating thumb and finger 2. stevet

Stuart Legg · Posted 11 Apr 2015 2:44 am

Here is an overly simplified jazz approach to chromatic scale picking.
You just noodle around in each chord with some set note pattern.
Lets say we are in a Major chord we could go from the 3rd of the chord to the 1st of the chord by playing 3 2 b3 b2 2 b2 1. I'm talking about notes within a chord. The numbers don't represent chords.
or 1 to a 6 played 1 b7 7 b7 6
or 1 to a 5 played 1 b7 7 6 b7 b6 6 b6 5
or 5 to a 3 played 5 4 b5 4 3
You have to learn speed or you'll never get this Chromatic licks to work
I don't like the way the assenting parts of this tab sounds (bad pattern choice) so I only use this example because it shows descending licks correctly but this will give you some ideas on the steel where you can play these licks..

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

The midi licks are helpful. Good stuff.
_________________
Those that say don't know; those that know don't say.--Buddy Emmons

Tony Dingus · From: Kingsport, Tennessee, USA

Nice phrases. I need to work on those.
Thanks Stuart.

Tony

Stuart Legg · Posted 12 Apr 2015 8:28 am

Sorry I was just showing a high path and a low path simultaneously in the same tab. I hope no one tried to play them in unison Laughing

I thought I would try to find something on the web similar to my tab and I ran across this (it's on guitar but explains the theory of it)and the guy explains it much better than I did. He is showing it based on a minor chord or pentatonic scale but it is very similar to what I did in a major.
I never realized it is considered a secret trick of Chromatic scale Jazz. Amazing stuff, worth applying to the steel guitar. I love this approach to Jazz. Can you just imagine smoking your buddies with these licks at the next jam. I don't think it's something you should try in "Your Cheatin' Heart"

click here

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