Another way to learn

Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

I see a lot of requests for teaching materials as people start learning steel and a great majority of these are of the "learn this tune" type of instruction. And those are great resources and many are great products.

I would like to suggest a different way to go about learning not only steel, but any instrument. Of the 3 years I took off from playing steel to learn how to play jazz cornet, one of the best things I was introduced to was the Jerry Bergonzi series on jazz improvisation. The value of the series lies not in just learning jazz improvisation, but how to play easily with any chord progression, no matter how complicated the chords, no matter what style of music.

volume one of a multivolume set gets you started by restricting you to 4 note clusters: the 1, 2, 3, 5 notes over a major chord (in the key of C that would be C, D, E, G). This applies to not only Major chords, but dominant chords, extended chords, etc as well. Minor chords are the 1,3,4,5 (in the key of C minor this would be C, Eb, F, G). You are limited to playing these notes at first and you play through the permutations.

Permutations means the order the notes are played. For instance, on a major chord you can play 1,2,3,5 or 2,1,5,3, or 3,2,1,5, etc. There are 24 different permutation for each 4 note group.

I can't tell you what a gas it is using this method to improvise for the first time on a tune with a complicated chord progression.

When applying this method to steel, besides the permutations, you have options as to which place on the neck you find the notes, if you want to come up or go down to reach one of the notes, etc.

By using this method, you learn your tuning backwards and forwards and learn the neck really well. You also learn how to play over any chord changes, no matter how complicated and it all will sound fantastic. And all of this can be accomplished in a few days of practice.

The great thing about this method is that it forces you to learn your own licks, to develop your own style and it frees you so you can play over any song, in any style. no theory to learn, just practical note groupings. As the series progresses, you move beyond the 4 note groupings, but you don't go further until you've absorbed each lesson.

It is great fun, and very satisfying. Some of you might like it.

I take the jazz tunes that Jerry uses as practice tunes, put them into band in a box, set the band in a box setting to a more country style, and just practice away.

Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

I should add that the Bergonzi series is one of the simplest, easiest to follow instruction books on improvising that I have ever found.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Bill, if you don't already have it, I recommend the Hexatonics book, I believe volume 7. There are other similar books on triad pairs, such as Gary Campbell's and Walt Weiskopf's (both of which I own and can recommend), but if you're familiar with Bergonzi's style, then you might like his volume better (it is more exhaustive and has a more wide ranging approach).

I think using triad pairs is really a perfect way of exploring improvisation for steel guitar, being that the instrument is tuned in such a way that major, minor, diminished and augmented (with a little tweaking of tunings) triads are so readily available.

I advocate learning everything and anything you can digest. I've used many different approaches over the years and, although it doesn't always show, I have a lot of those tools under my belt should the music call for them. The Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns is one of the greatest sources of patterns ever written. Yusef Lateef's book, Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns, although I don't own it, looks like a great book, as well and I play to buy it soon--a Jazz version of Slonimsky's book.

All this, coupled with transcribing, is a great way to learn how to improvise.
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Sonny Jenkins · From: Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx

Hey Bill,,can you give us a clip of some examples of this? Have you gone on to any of the more advanced volumes? Sounds like a very useful series.

Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

sonny,

I'll try and get some recorded over the next few days as examples.

Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

Ray Shakeshaft · From: Kidderminster, Worcs, UK.

Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

"but I just cannot see how one can learn to play lap steel without some basic theory. (by play I mean play whatever you want). "

The problem is, as I see it, that theory is too often explained in the abstract and it is often hard for new players to translate what they read in the theory books to practical playing situations. this is where the Bergonzi series really shines I think.

Someone with absolutely no musical experience might take longer than a few days, but for anyone who has played basic guitar, but has never played lap and/or improvised, I stand by my assertion that the Bergonzi books are one of the fastest methods available to get you up and playing anything you want.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Here's a little on the Hexatonics volume (this is an excellent web site, by the way):

http://davidvaldez.blogspot.com/2007/07/jerry-bergonzis-approach-to-hexatonics.html
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Jon Nygren · From: Wisconsin, USA

Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Roman Sonnleitner · From: Vienna, Austria

Bill,
umm, isn't that method you're describing simply using the lowest 4 notes of the pentatonic scales (both minor and major)? Doesn't look that new/revolutionary to me, just another way of getting into pentatonics...

Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

Roman,

What I described is the first lesson in a 9 volume method series. It goes on from there. And yes, the reason he picks this to start is because of the overtone series.

BTW, one of the volumes in the series is dedicated to pentatonics.

It is a very comprehensive method of improvisation training.

Ray Shakeshaft · From: Kidderminster, Worcs, UK.

Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

ebb · From: nj

jerry is the greatest

here is another interesting take
http://jodyjazz.com/george.garzone.jazz.improvisation.instructional.dvd.html

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Ed, that Garzone stuff is wild. I've been checking it out for the last 6 months and I've come to the conclusion that I just don't have enough time to spend with it in this lifetime. His students go through a painful process that takes years to get this stuff down. Also, I have concluded that it is beyond the scope of the steel guitar.

I like his playing a lot, though, and I have 3 of his CDs.
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Sonny Jenkins · From: Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx

Let see if I understand Bill's first post,,,,If the song is in C,,,and the band is holding C chord,,,I'm noodling with the C, D, E, and G notes,,,up, down, sideways etc. The song changes to F,,,I shift my noodling to the F, G, A, and C notes,,,,then the song goes to G(7),,I start using the G, A, B, and D,,,is that basically what this says?

Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

Yes that is it Sonny.

He starts by having you play 1,2,3,5 for each change, then choose one of the permutations that begins with 2, then 3, then 5. So in your example you would first start practicing

C, D, E, G
F, G, A, C
G, A, B, D

Next time through you might practice 2,1,5,3 or

D, C, G, E
G, F, C, A
A, G, D, B

When you got that down, you would start mixing and matching

1,2, 3, 5
5,1, 2, 3
3, 2, 1, 5
or in your example:
C, D, E, G
C, F, G, A
B, A, G, D

Or whatever. Of course this is on major chords, minor chords are 1, 3, 4, 5.

For a 3 chord song such as you used in your example, this would give over 13,000 unique combinations to play.

Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

Of course, it gets a lot more interesting when you are looking at more interesting progressions and more complicated chord forms. With this method, you can, with just a little effort, play appropriate music over the most complicated chord progressions within days. I would suggest getting Volume one of the series and trying it yourself.

This is just the beginning. He gets into "editing" which is basically NOT playing certain notes, or holding others, and then he gets into different 4 note groupings. But you start simple, get your ear adjusted to those sounds before moving on.

Rob Segal · From: New York NY

Mike Neer wrote: ".....I have concluded that it is beyond the scope of the steel guitar."

Why, Mike? Very curious as to your thinking on this.

Rob

Mike Neer · From: NJ

The key to playing Garzone's method is having complete access to every inversion of the four types of triads: major, minor, diminished and augmented. The basic premise is to play a triad in arpeggio, then move up a 1/2 step and play another triad--however, the 2 triads cannot be the same inversion and, in a perfect world, shouldn't be the same type of triad. If you played an Em triad ending on B, then the next note would have to be either be Bb or C, and should be either major, diminished or augmented (this is not absolutely necessary). There should be an avoidance of patterns, so you really have to be able to mix it up on the spot. It's really much more involved than this, but even at it's most basic level (using only one type of triad, say major), it's a gargantuan task.

Here is a nice overview of the concept:
http://simonpurcell.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/george-garzone-concept-worksheet1.pdf

With guitar, it is very feasible, although it takes years of practice; with the steel guitar, I believe we're hampered by the limitations of using only a single bar.

Maybe somewhere out there someone can and will do it, but I don't think it's possible without pedals and man, his/her right hand technique had better be superhuman.
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Jerome Hawkes · From: Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA

regarding the original topic of limiting the beginning stages of improv to a select group of notes - thats how a fellow player advised me to do it - he had learned this back in the 60's before all the new age mode thinking took hold. i'll try to breifly summarize it this way:
the mastery of tetrachords
a major key is comprised of tetrachords (4-notes + 4 notes) - you have in C both the bottom 1/2 of the F scale (so-la-ti-do in F / C_D_E_F) and the upper half of the G scale (do-re-mi-fa in G / G_A_B_C) - joined together they are a C scale.
so you need to be able to determine just what key you are in aurally - thus he had me sing fa-mi-re-do to understand the top 1/2 of the tetrachord and so-la-ti-do for the bottom 1/2 and they were to be considered "separate" until i could understand and distinguish the difference at which point they could be joined. this "restricted" method freed me from trying to cram 8 notes into my improv and sounding like white bread (cause i didnt know what to do with 8 notes outside of running scales and patterns)

many, many famous melodies play off the relationship of these 2 tetrachords - the first motif being in 1/2 and the resolution of the motif in the other 1/2

OK - this sounds weird and not along the lines of teaching a full major scale right from the first lesson - but, i think too many players are stuck in patterns and boxes and home positions and it helped free me from that mindset (which at the time i was fairly intrenched in btw)

its a simple device, you dont have to "learn" anything you dont already know - you just have to restrict yourself to these tetrachords until you can hear the key center/chord outline.

sometimes you have to use the old zen trick of emptying your cup before you can fill it back up - as Roman posted earlier, on the surface one could say, whats the big deal, its just the first 4 notes of a major scale - but really its much deeper than that - i think of the mysteries of the C6 tuning that get slowly revealed to me daily that have been right there before my eyes and hands for years and never discovered - those ah-ha moments are what keep you digging in to it religiously every day.
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'65 Sho-Bud D-10 Permanent • '54 Fender Dual-8 • Clinesmith T-8 • '38 Ric Bakelite • '92 Emmons D-10 Legrande II

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