my ukulele progress

I played around with my Edim7's. I explored these possibilities:

Using the open G and E strings, I pulled off from one shape to the previous to the open string.

Using the notes on the C and A strings, I made doublestops

I bounced back and forth between two adjacents shapes

I see other possibilities, but I left them untried.

*****************
Here's some negative harmony for E

Emin
Dmaj
Cmaj
Bmin
Amin
Gmaj
F#dim

******************

Last thing I worked on was a re-introduction to the modes of E Harmonic Minor. The last time I did this was an my re-entrant Kamaka. With my Yorkie I will be able to play both sets of shapes. It isn't as bad as it seems. Initially it looks like there are 14 shapes, but there are only seven actually. For example, if you play a D# Super Lokrian bb7 from the G to E strings, However if you start the shape on the C string (as you would on a re-entrant) then you're playing the G Ionian #5, as long as you play a few extra notes on the A string.

I had a less than satisfying day music-wise. I can usually embed re-entrant scales within Linear scales. But there seemed to be a problem with my Harmonic Minor modes. At first I thought maybe I had made an error. Nope, I went back and re-checked everything and I was perfect.

Here's the thing. Modes are wonderfully predictable and symmetrical and scientific. Like the mechanisms of a sunrise. So check out the first note of each mode: E, F# G, A, B, C, D#. Now look at the first note of each mode on the C string: A, B, C, D#, D#, E G. They should be just as orderly as those first notes from the G string. But they aren't. Those last three are wonky. And they wonky because of how I play the scales. I could play them in such a way as they would be E, F# G as you'd expect. However to do that would require some big stretches and non-intuitive fingerings. So my linear and re-entrant shapes are not going to seamlessly work together in two cases. It isn't a really big deal. It is only an issue if you want to sweep across all four strings.

As an update to my endeavors: as I mentioned earlier, my method of playing the modes of the Harmonic minor renders two of the fourteen shapes without a partner. For example the linear Lokrian 13 shape contains re-entrant Phrygian Dominant. The two exceptions are the linear Dorian #11 and the re-entrant Lokrian 13. To overcome this shortcoming, I used a blank fret board map to include all the notes of the E Harmonic Minor. With this information I can fill out the two renegade shapes by using the notes of the adjacent shapes. An additional value in having a Harmonic Minor fretboard map is that it allows me to see outside of the shapes. It makes it possible to slide up or down and improvise with groupings of notes that aren't necessarily restricted to a particular shape. It also lets me see how to make chords with these particular notes. This allows for some strumming or quick note selection since I could hold down a chord and pick the notes. Lastly, it makes it easier to plan out some double pull-offs so that I can make a cascade of sound as I ascend the fret board.

Since I recently made a E Harmonic Minor fret board map, I was taking inventory of what I had to work with in that mode and here's what I found:

1. The dominating feature was the A/F#/D#/C dim7 shape that occurred at fret 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17. That will lend itself to a lot of arpeggios.

2. as far as conventional shapes are concerned, I immediately saw B7, Am7, C, Em, and G+

3. If I stretch my fingers around I can form many nameless chords using tones from this mode. Well, they are nameless to me. I assume they all have names but I am just unaware of them.


The upshot is that I have many options. For example, there are countless double stops. Also, it so happens that all the open strings are part of this system, so that I am primed for double pull-offs and pedal point technique. Something I am interested in takes root in the guitarists of my youth who purportedly favored the Harmonic Minor and were able to create a cascade of notes from low on the fret board to the upper ends. I very much want to map out these runs which will transition from the chords played low on the fretboard to the high frets were the soloing usually take place. It always seemed like a sonic and emotional crescendo where the foundations of the lower pitches found resolution in the higher sounds.

I am especially eager to mess around with the 11th fret, my favorite area in which to play. That area has the B Phrygian dominant, the dominant shape of the minor pentatonic, and now the recurring dim7 shape of the E Harmonic Minor.

Even though I'm a Roots musician, I never play the blues per se. I tend to think that the blues are obsolescent and a Zeitgeist of a time long past. I enjoy the historicity of the blues and listening to them as historical data, but new blues songs I find trite and silly. For example I have the raw material to make a new First World Problems blues. I went to the market today at 6 a.m. The market opens that early, but its grocery clerks don't get there until 7 a.m. Therefore I had for the first time (and the last time) use the self checkout function. I was upset and found this almost unacceptable. Why would I go to a place of business and do the work myself? It is like going to a restaurant and cooking the food yourself. So I have my own problems and I could very easily fit them into a blues format, but it seems like it would be a parody of the real thing and would insult the tradition.

So what's a Roots musician to do? Make new music. I'm actually experiencing an embarrassment of riches with all the Harmonic Minor material that I've laid out for myself. I'm going into analysis paralysis because there is so much to do. Therefore I thought I would just abstract a few items to work on.

I'm going to wind up my metronome for accompaniment and select two musical depots. At the bottom of the fretboard I'm going to focus on the A Dorian #11 in the 2nd position. Also at the 2nd position is the subdominant of the E minor pentatonic. So I have plenty to work with. I could have gone with the G Ionian #5 at the open position, but I abhor open strings; they throw all my shapes off.

At the top of the fretboard I am focusing on the E Aiolian #7 at the 16th position. Obviously there is also the root shape of both the major and minor E pentatonic.

So those are the two end points. I am going to connect them with runs of arpeggios of the dim7. The idea is to wank around the 2nd position and then ascend the fretboard and culminate in some soloing at the 16th position.

I haven't mapped out the run yet, but I assume it will chiefly be arpeggios of the dim7, but I don't know. Maybe I will have to include some other notes. I'll have to see about that.

I have a little time before I have to do something so I thought I'd write out the runs I devised.

A 15 14 12 0 E 15 14 12 0 C 12 11 9 0 G 12 11 9 0

G 5 4 2 0 C 6 4 3 0 E 8 7 5 0 A 9 7 6 0 A 12 10 A 15 14 A 19 18

C 7 6 E 8 7 A 7 6

That last one I could play them in any order.

I've been practicing those musical runs and it is definitely an acquired skill--at least to do it smoothly. To be honest, I haven't really put much effort into it. My mind has been preoccupied with something that I've been wanting to do for years, or perhaps even a decade. I've always wanted to devote some time to the poetry of Pindaros. In grad school we read a lot of the lesser poets, but somehow the greatest, most self-consciously poetic figure was left out of the curriculum. I suppose it was thought that Pindaros, like Homeros, is so central that, of course, you'd read him on your own.

So I've been reading me some Pindaros. It is tough. The meter is very complex. Fortunately he talks about himself and his craft a lot so that you can get an impression of what comprised creativity and poetry from his point of view. There is one line I ran across in the third Nemean Ode which I like. It refers to his poem as a "pom' aoidimon Aioleisin en pvoaisin aulon," which could be rendered to something like a "melodic drink [floating] on the Aiolian breezes of the flute." The Aiolian is my favorite mode and my default mode. In fact I actually think that the uke, like the guitar, is made to play in the minor although the major seems to be the primary go-to of modern music. But that's for another time, I suppose.

I have been practicing those runs, and I have to say this is an instance when thoughts on paper do not translate to playing. Those runs just don't sound appropriate. Maybe if I could play 1/32 notes I could squeeze them into an acceptable space. But as it is, they interrupt the flow of things. I have to scale them back a bit to fit into what I'm doing. I'll try a different approach later.

Being a bit stonewalled in that regard I turned to playing some sheet music. Sight reading from sheet music on a stringed instrument is a bit of an art form because there are a few options. I have noticed that if you make the correct decisions, things work out well. Obviously someone could just slide up and down a string and play a song, but that's a lot of work. If you make the correct choices, then things work out horizontally. It gives me a new respect for those individuals who worked out the ukulele centuries ago. The relationships of the strings just work. It is a thing of beauty.

There's a conversation going on about what kind of music does one play. I am a roots musician but I can't really join in that thread because what motivates me is to get as far away from that traditional tinny ukulele sound as possible. My stance would seem polemical juxtaposed to other people's even without trying. So it is better to let them have their colloquy and I can remain here devoted to not making snappy musak. I was watching a video of a very popular youtube ukulele instructor and he was introducing jazz chords but in his hands it soon turned into typical ukulele sounds: edentate reggae elevator music. Ugh. What does it have to be that way?

I'll never solve that mystery. I'll keep my goals closer to the ground. For example, I'm going outside to map out an open D minor tuning. I keep my cigar box tuned to open D, but as you may see from this journal, I don't ever play in Ionian. Why do I keep the tuning? Or why do we only use major triads in open tunings? Maybe it is because they are buttery and generic. Maybe the D minor it too much of a commitment to a particular sound and therefore more of a one trick pony. I'll see.

Aside from that I have been practicing transitioning between modes in the harmonic minor. What I'm working on currently is going from the A Dorian #11 at the second fret to the A Dorian #11 located at the ninth fret. I will provide details later.

Following up on the last entry, here's what I've been doing regarding runs.

#1. The Dim7. The harmonic minor fretboard is dominated by a dim7 chord. In the harmonic minor harmonization the II and the VII, F# and D#, are diminished. This recurrent dim7 chord is both the F#dim7 and D#dim7. I tend to think of it as D#dim7 functioning as a leading tone. To get from Linear A Dorian #11 to the re-entrant one, I arpeggiate the D#dim7 at frets 2, 5, 8, and 11. If you stop at 8, you're at the bottom of A Dorian #11; if you go to 11, you're at the top. I prefer the latter because from 11 is one of my favorite places to hang out.

The drawback of this run is that it moves horizontally and I wanted something more vertical in order to take advantage of double pull-offs. Accordingly, I can up with

#2

G2,4, 5 (On G string pluck 5th fret, pull off to 4, pull of to 2)
C6, 7 9
E11, 12

The last pull off puts you smack dab in the middle of the re-entrant Dorian #11. From there you can move to the A string or the C string.

So why all this fuss about moving on the fretboard? I think of it in terms of Baroque Concerti wherein there's the ripieno, the communal music that the group plays. Then there's the concertino, or the solo. The ripieno tends to be lower-pitched and the concertino is higher. So the way I think of it is that you play lower on the fretboard to establish the rhythm of your song and you move up the fretboard to play solos. This is born out by the practice of the neo-classical metal guitarists of my youth. Also, when playing the blues, it seems like moving up the fret board establishes a crescendo of sorts in which you start low and build up towards ending at the top.

I did some work on my open D minor tuning. It confirmed a pet theory of mine: that the ukulele like other stringed instruments is designed to play in the aiolian mode and that the ionian is just a variation. Unfortunately music is taught the other way around. Anyway, here's what I found with an open minor tuning. On every single dotted fret (since my ukulele is custom its dotted frets are 3, 5, 7 10, 12, 15, 17 and 19) either all four of the notes are members of D minor pentatonic or three of the notes are with a fourth note being one fret away. It is so regular and beautiful. It will make it a breeze to slide between the dotted frets and play the notes. Another nice thing about the open tuning is the ability to play the blues in two octaves--if you have a 19 fret instrument (sorry, soprano!).

Maybe it is the beer talking (over the past seven hours or so, I've had seven--which isn't a lot over time), but I just bought a Dunlop cry baby wah wah pedal. It is the last thing I need in my arsneal to sound like my heroes. Well, at least, I have no longer a technical reason to not sound like my guitar heroes. However, I don't have the chops. Now I have fuzz, I have distortion, I have chorus...there's no excuse to not sound awesome.

I'll be waiting for it. Until then, one of my favorite patreon contributors just uploaded a tutorial on "freebird" and I downloaded the notation for the slide intro. I'm not really interested in the rest. I'll be adapting that to my open D minor tuning and trying to play it. It will be weird because I never play other people's music.

* * *

I just shaved with a straight razor despite the beers and the results were mixed. At a certain point I looked up and noticed that despite the inebriation I had only caused a little bit of blood on a cancerous mole I have. That was good, but then my guard was dropped because of my vanity and I immediately cut myself along the cleft of the chin.

* * *
Okay, I'm finishing my 8th and final beer. I don't want to make it appear that this is a regular occurrence. I'm an essential worker; I have worked through the pandemic. When my days off pop up, I get a six-pack or two and celebrate life. I have an itinerary to keep: drink my beer, sober up, take my wife out for our traditional july 4th dinner, do laundry, play ukulele.

So I do have a very definite plan...even with the beer. Also I have some research to do. There has been a merging of three threads. My reading, my discussion with my wife, and my watching of youtube videos, has all triangulated towards the fourth book of the Georgics and the treatise on honey coming from carcasses. I need to re-visit the primary text.

I suppose the ukulele world has been wondering where I have been (as if!). I ripped the nail on my right ring finger. I didn't know it until recently but that's my main strumming finger. I strum with a loose fist and didn't know which finger was the actual plectrum. But once I injured my finger it became obvious that it was the prime strummer and it hurts to strum.

I could have just strummed like they show you in newby videos with the index finger, but I prefer to be me.

In lieu of playing I was reading some British novels written around WWII. One salient characteristic of this literature is the presence of war privations and rationing to promote the common weal. It is yet another glimpse into how broken our world is in comparison. On a daily basis you can read about people freaking out because they have to wear a mask to curtail the spread of the virus. I wonder what these people would do if we had to ration our resources. We are so soft.

Now that my hand feels better, I did play around with the A Dorian #11. Here's a few observations:

1. Harmonic minor modes make some interesting and somewhat exotic melodies.
2. I like using the D# dim7 to walk up to the A on the 9th fret.
3. I have some double hammer-ons that I use to bridge the space between the 2nd and 9th frets. I haven't had the same success going back down using pull-offs. Maybe it is a technical difficulty.
4. The re-entrant A Dorian #11 is contained within the linear E Aiolian #7, making the transition between the tunings rather seamless.

I am going to further explore the D# dim7 angle and see what I can come up with.

I have been working on the Lydian #2 in the open position to complement the Dorian #11 (I am, of course, talking about the re-entrant tuning). I am fairly comfortable with the Dorian #11 and the Phrygian Dominant right above it. So I have that area of the fret board covered. With the Dorian and Phrygian, we're talking about the fourth and fifth intervals of the key--which are totally central. Another central sound in the key is the sixth, the relative minor. In the harmonic minor the sixth if flattened and is a C. That means the C Lydian #2 employs open strings. I hate open strings because it throws my shapes off. However, I am going to overcome my prejudice and embrace this shape with its five fingerable notes and three open string notes.

I made some headway on my interests.

I am beginning to see why Pindaros was never taught although he is acknowledged to be the cornerstone of ancient poetry. He would be a hard sell nowadays. He is very earnest and doesn't seem to be a bit ironic. In contrast, other poets such Kallimachos, Horatius, and Vergilius did what they had to do under tyranny in terms of their courtier-poetry. However they included some ambiguous material that gave them some independence--some resistance. Pindaros gleefully wrote for the elite even when the elite were on the way out. Democracy was surging at the time but Pindaros clung to his patrons. His aim was to celebrate his patrons and immortalize them so that they (and he) could approach the status of hero like Herakles or Achilleus. Therefore he is not a very likable personage. We want someone with his own voice, someone who stands for what we believe in politically and morally. He seems to be sincere in his allegiances. I'll keep on investigating in the hopes of finding some unique voice that isn't corporate.

My harmonic minor studies proceeded much more satisfactorily. I already had the E Aiolian #7 and B Phrygian Dominant under my belt. I added the A Dorian #11 and the C Lydian #2. With the addition of those latter two, I have the fret board pretty much covered. When I formally decide to add the final three modes it shouldn't be too much of a problem because I'm already playing them partially. The G Ionian #5 is closely linked to the C Lydian #2; the F# Lokrian 13 is connected to the B Phrygian Dominant and the D# Super Lokrian bb7 is part of the G Ionian #5.

At this point it is a bit impossible to annotate what I'm actually doing because I'm just improvising up and down the neck. I do have a tendency to start off with two adjacent notes (e.g., the D# and E of the A Dorian #11) and then move to a lower string and play its three notes. Aside from that it is just going where my fingers lead. I do bust up this parade of melodies with a chord progression in E Harmonic Minor: Em, B7, D, Am (I know D isn't diatonic; I do it just because I like it). I use that progression as a little interlude and I either transition to the A Dorian #11 from the Am chord or I start ascending the fret board with D#dim7 until I get to a lattitude that suits my attitude.

I focused today on playing around the 11th fret which is my favorite. There's a lot to do there. There is the B Phrygian Dominant as well as the dominant shape of the E minor pentatonic. If you extend the Phrygian Dominant to the G string, it becomes the F# Lokrian 13. Right below the Phrygian Dominant is the A Dorian #11 which becomes the E Aiolian #7 if you extend it out to the G string. And right above the Phrygian Dominant is the G Ionian #5 / C Lydian #2.

I assume there are similar clusters of shapes everywhere on the fretboard. Right now I'm just playing what and where I like; I will explore later.

I have been stricken by the guilt once again. I bespoke my Yorkie to be everything that I love, and I do in fact love my Yorkie. My Kamaka is designed to be everything that I do not care for: it is high G (basically a 3-stringed instrument) and its Spruce sound board is meant to emphasize its shrillness. My reasoning was that although I know and believe my opinion, my opinion is still an opinion. So let's assume that the traditional sound has some merit that I cannot perceive--trusting in the generations of players. The Kamaka was designed to give me balance. The problem is that I don't often want to be balanced. Hence, the guilt. I have this wonderful instrument and because I have it, someone else doesn't have it. I feel the need at times to justify having it. This is one of those times. I'm going to put Yorkie to sleep in its velvet-lined case for a while and play on my Kamaka. The problem is finding something to do that the Kamaka can actually do with the liability of only having three strings. At this point I think I will take up again my studies in Rhythm Changes in E. A lot of that project is chordal and a re-entrant uke can play chords albeit a bit tinnily. And if I want to play over the chords, the top three strings have some options.

I just got off work. It is 3:30 a.m. and therefore I am bound to the moratorium of playing ukulele 'til my wife awakens. However I can do some planning. It is never advisable to disregard Bill1 and this case in no exception. Bird Changes are an excellent suggestion. I actually have "Blues for Alice" although I never listen to it. I receive stuff like Charlie Parker or Chick Corea as gifts because people think I like it. I am more of a Thelonious Monk guy; Bebop always seemed too frenetic for me. But listening and playing are totally different. I may not want to listen to bebop but playing it is fun.

So I just cracked open an imperial stout and now I'll do some thinking out loud.

I will definitely watch the video pertaining to Bird Blues that was published by Jens Larsen, a jazz guitarist who videos I like to cull for ideas.

Now to get organized. "Blues for Alice" runs thus:

FΔ7
Eø | A7b9
Dm7 | G7
Cm7 | F7
Bb7
Bbm7 | Eb7
Am7 | Db7
Gm7
C7
FΔ 7 | D7
Gm7 | C7

That's the progression. I think I will substitute a Fm6 for the FΔ7 because I like the sound better. Aside from that I'll play it as it is. But let's look at the formula of the progression:

IM7 viiø7 III7 vi7 II7 v7 I7
IV7 iv7 ♭VII7 iii7 VI7 ♭iii7 ♭VI7
ii7 V7 IM7 VI7 ii7 V7

That's better; it is easier to see what's going on with the Roman numerals. Plus, I will be able to transpose this to E, my favorite key.

That should keep me busy for the month of leisure that I have before me. I do have a job. I am fortunate enough to be in an industry that has worked throughout the pandemic. On August 17th, one month from now, I will begin teaching three online college courses to supplement my income. By then my Bird Blues should be smooth.

I realized that I was conflating two things: Bird blues and "Blues for Alice." Bird blues is more of the general template and "Blues for Alice" is an instantiation of that template with some variations.

Both the general and specific iterations have the first six bars, so I was focusing on them. The key is to find the appropriate voicings of the chords. I guess that comes with the territory. When all I could play were cowboy chords, you just played the voicing you knew and chalked it off to experience if it didn't sound right. I remember feeling that way about the key of Bb. It just sounded off.

There are a few opportunities for altered chords in what I'm doing. I usually go for b9 chords in this situation because I find the #9 is an uncomfortable stretch. But there is the fifth interval to consider.

When I drive to work I purposely drive north on 2nd street because of the local color and the visual stimulation. On the right hand side of the road there is the soup line and on the left, directly across, is a fast food joint with a line of cars with tinted windows and air-conditioning all awaiting their processed food handouts. I love that dichotomy. Or further up the road, there is the Rio Bravo microbrewery where you can see satisfied bourgeois sipping their designer drinks while directly across from that is Coronado park which is festooned with the mobile Caravansarai of the homeless whose brains have been addled by too much alcohol.

I bring all this up because on 2nd street there is a building which is named flat twelve. I immediately equated that to music and thought a b12 is an odd thing--something I have no recollection of having seen. However a flat 12 is the same as a flat five. That would be another way to alter a dominant chord. Obviously a sharp five is an augmented chord, but a flat five is equally admissible. I will be looking into whether or not it is a convenient thing to fret a D7b5.

Penultimately I want to observe that I forget how excellent my Kamaka is. It is my dedicated high G, bright, traditional ukulele and it was designed that way to represent that side of ukuleledom which I don't really like but which I feel a need to reverence due to its tradition. Nevertheless it has an ungodly amount of sustain the resonance. It is plain to see why Kamakas are Kamakas and why we pay $2000 for them. They are a cut above. Plus, I have some super slinky strings on the Kamaka. I believe they are Fremont Concert size strings. Whatever they are they are slight and bend like crazy. It is a joy. I think my Yorkie has tenor Worth strings on it. A bit stiff. I will definitely migrate toward concert scale strings.

Ultimately I wanted to share my observation that I was reading a person specifying that straps took too long to put on. How many milliseconds of effort are we talking about? My straps are always on, so that it only takes a fraction of a moment to throw it over my head. On my Yorkie, the strap never leaves ever. I intentionally purchased a baritone case for the Yorkie so that it would be a bit large. When I put the Yorkie to sleep in its velvet lined coffin, I wrap the strap around the lower bout of the body. That makes the ukulele fit more snugly in the case. My Kamaka is a different situation. Kamaka cases are fitted exactly. They are as tight as a sorority sister's party dress. Accordingly I have to take the strap off when laying my Kamaka to sleep. But when I take the Kamaka out to play it for a week or two, then I put the strap on and leave it on. It really is no hindrance.

I have been busy but taking solace in tinkering around with "Blues for Alice." I'm still trying to find voicings I like. Right now I am tending to start high and move down the fret board. I did look at one ukulele tutorial online, but I turned it off within five seconds because the musician was just mimicking the lines that Charlie Parker plays. What kind of jazz is that? If I want to listen to something cryogenically frozen, then I'll just play my CD. But why would I want to listen to a live version of a dead thing?

So that's my mind set. I'm trying to get a progression that I like. Then I'll plan out the arpeggios/scales to play over the chords. Then I'll fail and succeed in creating something. I will most probably watch a few theory videos about these blues to make my progress less hit and miss. I know these blues are essentially a bunch of ii-V movements, but I would like to learn a bit more so that I could make more informed decisions.