my ukulele progress

I ran across this new (to me) progression. Briefly analyzing the notes, I could see it was written in A. Since I'm currently working in E, I transposed accordingly. Here's the progression:

vi b Δ
V7
I m7
I m7
vi b Δ
V7
I m7
VII°
VII°
iii b 7

Sometimes as I play this I change a few things. Sometimes I substitute a B+ for the B7. The augmented chord works really nice in this key because all you need to do is add two fingers to the previous chord.

Sometimes I prefer a closed chord for the Em7. I really don't like all the freebies that the uke offers such as the Am7, C, etc.

The progression has two D#°; however I prefer to play D#°, D°, C7. I am also obviously substituting a C7 for a C m7 in order to get that descending chromatic sound for a turnaround.

I didn't really experiment with making the D#° a D#ø because the dims have an easier fingering.


Aside from that I just practiced playing the whole fretboard. I would start on the 4th fret with E major and end on the 18th fret with the D# Lokrian. Then I go down to the E on the 19th fret (which gives a resolution of sorts to the modal run I have just accomplished) and improvise the tonic pentatonic shape, working my way back down the neck--until I am at the 2nd fret playing the dominant shape.

Yeah...I know I'm letting myself down by avoiding my goals of fingerpicking. Some days I just don't have the gumption for it. I really dislike playing songs and that's what the fingerstyle workbook does. I know, by inferring from the opinions of others, that I am in an extreme minority in this regard. Almost everybody wants to play songs. I, however, want to make songs. For example, with the progression I've been discussing today, I would like to be able to play it with some thumb droning. But I have to play song after song in my workbook until I pick up what the essence of fingerpicking is. Then I can apply it to my improv. It would have been nice if I could have found a resource that just instilled principles without songs. Alas! such are my woes.

My eventual goal is to apply the fingerpicking principles I deduce to my cigar box guitar which I have tuned to open D7 (D Gb A C). I have already made a fretboard chart for this new tuning and I have highliighted all the positions that use a note from the D minor pentatonic. There are a bunch of new shapes to play with...and by shapes I don't mean pentatonic shapes, but rather shapes of notes on the fretboard that contain appropriate notes. I see diamond patterns or a quincunx, or something that looks like a dom7 movable chord.
 
I had recently been watching the lick of the day put out by Hawaiian Music School...at least, I think that's the sponsor. Hitherto nothing had really struck a chord with me. However, today they played a blues riff. I didn't really want the whole riff. It was the first four notes that caught my attention. The musician played them by making this chord like a movable m7 chord with an added hammer-on.

I played them using the tonic pentatonic shape. It was the 1st, 2nd, and 4th notes of the scale. The noteworthy 4th note of the riff was outside of the scale. Since I'm playing in E, the note should have been an A, but it is a g#. Patently, what's happening is that the riff at this juncture, moves into a major pentatonic. I have largely ignored the major pentatonic (like I'm currently ignoring my current goals), but it is on the edge of my knowledge.

So now I am pretty much moving on from the riff to thinking about how to transition from the minor to the major pentatonic. I know famous musicians have done this; I just haven't had the opportunity.

Here's what I did. I played the riff: the three notes from the tonic shape, then the G#, then I hung out with that distinctive G# for a bit. Then I bent it down to the A of the dominant shape. From there, I was back in the minor pentatonic, so I just played my way back down to the E from which I had started.
 
I've recently been reading about new ukulele players and how they universally are supposed to go to a music store to get their instrument. I've never found that too useful. When I go to a music store I spend about 30 seconds with the instrument: visually inspect it, check the action, play a few notes on the dotted frets to make sure it intones correctly over the entire fretboard...and then give it to the tech to set-up. While I am waiting for the instrument to come back, I don't play other ukuleles because they all sound the same with perhaps some little nuance. An A is an A, regardless of what ukulele you have. For me, the bonding experience takes place over time and there's nothing I can do in the store to facilitate or predict that. So as I await the return of my instrument, I browse around the guitars, the banjos, the upright basses, and just look at other stuff. That 30 seconds is what differentiates the online experience from the in-store experience...a total throw-away, if you ask me. But no one is asking me.

As I was killing time, waiting for my bath time, I was re-reading a jazz book and found a good chart detailing the function of chords, which is useful in making up progressions:

V7 dominant of I
IIm7 subdominant of I, precedes dominant/substitutes for IV
IΔ tonic
VI7 precedes II
IIIm7 subs for I, often after V7
VIm7 Subs for I, follows I or between III and II
I7 dominant of IV
IVΔ tonic relief, temporary key center
Vm7 IIm7 of IV. Usually precedes I7 when it is dominant of IV
IVm7 passing chords between IVΔ and IΔ, or between IIm7 and I
II7 subs for IIm7, usually between VI7 and V7
bIIIm7 subs for VI7, usuallybetween IIIm7 and IIm7
bVII7 between IVm7 and IΔ


That's a baker's dozen of the most frequent contexts of these chords, in their order of importance. The 1st 3, e.g., make up 75% of the chords. This isn't exhaustive. For example it doesn't even mention diminished chords of augmented 7's which are peppered throughout the examples of this book. I guess they are numerically insignificant. I'll be trying some of this stuff in my key of E and see what's up/
 
I hit an interesting snag in practicing my thumb as a drone. On the re-entrant tuning, you're supposed to go: 3rd string and then 4th string. That's all well and good if I'm just playing with the thumb. As soon as I mix in some chords with the left hand the problem begins. When I transition to a new chord, my right hand immediately plays the 4th string whether it is the time for that string or not. It totally ruins the pattern.

It is interesting because it shouldn't be a problem. It reminds me of the meters of Roman drama. In Roman drama, you learn about iambic lines and trochaic lines and you learn them as different things with different functions. However they are the same thing. An iambic line goes: short syllable, long, short, long, etc. Trochaic lines are long, short, long, short, etc. But...if you take an iambic line and apply the phenomenon of anacrusis to it (i.e., suppress the first syllable), then it becomes trochaic. They are the same thing, except for the 1st syllable.

The same thing applies to the thumb drone. With linear tuning it goes 434343434343. Re-entrant tuning uses 34343434. If you suppress the first beat of a linear drone, then you have a re-entrant drone. There is nothing new to learn. I only need to convince my mind and fingers of this and I'll be okay.
 
I made a couple of unfortunate investments recently. I bought a copy of Blues Theory Revolution and Harmony and Theory. They didn't really benefit me. I should start by saying that these books are excellent and I could have used them earlier in my career, but they do not fit me currently. I suppose it is to my credit that I say that I didn't learn much from the blues theory book. It shows that I had already learnt much of that stuff already. I don't know what I was hoping for. I suppose my assumption is that I don't know everything and I was hoping that the book would go deeper into the blues and, perhaps, discuss which scale degrees perform what function. I don't know. As it is, what I was able to gather from the book are a few new progressions. E.g., it suggested substituting a 7#9 for the V chord.

Similarly, the Harmony book is evidently great, but just not what I'm looking for. After some introductory chapters which provides some good overviews of basic terminology, it devotes itself to instructing its readers on how to create chords. Although I don't actually have this knowledge down pat, it is unnecessary. For the ukulele, the chords are already made; I don't need to construct them from scratch.

Live and learn, I suppose. I'll try to get some supplementary reading material later. Hopefully, it will be more cost-effective.
 
I've been playing around with the V of the V (the dominant of the dominant) and I came up with a 16 bar blues.

I | IV7 | I | I|
Iv7 | IV7 | I | I|
V7 of V | V7 | I7 | IV7|
I | V7 | I | I |

The transition from the V of V to the V sounds somewhat like an end, that is why I went to the I7. This way that ending is the ending of one part, but then another part starts. I like the last four bars because of its stuttering: the resolution comes, but then the dominant removes it only to be re-established in the final two bars.
 
I guess I'm progressing. My wife was lying down reading and I was just improvising between frets 2 and 19. I decided I wanted to go pressure cook some barley for dinner and I got up. My wife was annoyed and said, "hey! I was listening to that" as if I were a radio which someone turned off. At least I'm at a point where my music is listenable.

To that end, I've been working on my lyricism. My left hand is fine. Don't misunderstand; I know my chord transitions aren't as quick and smooth as they need to be. However, that are adequate for what I'm doing. What is holding me back is the right hand. I need something to put amidst the chords. I guess I'm trying to say I need a melody...a riff...a leitmotif. So I have been trying to duplicate some vocals on the ukulele. Since I play blues-based Americana, I think the human voice is the sound I am looking for--the lilt, the intonation, the intervals of the voice is something I am trying to get in my melodies. So I have been revisiting some Led Zeppelin vocals...stuff from "How many more times" or "You shook me." Led Zeppelin stole that stuff from black bluesmen and now I'm stealing it from them to understand vocal lines. Since Led Zeppelin is just an ornate skiffle-band, their stuff is very pentatonic, which fits what I do. Sometimes I lift the vocals note for note (as I hear it) and use that as the riff. Sometimes, once I see the pattern, I alter it.
 
I worked on my lyricism a bit by communing a bit with a book I have by Lil Rev. It contains an approximately thirty page section of blues riffs. Unfortunately, the riffs are categorized by key. I want to play all of them in any key, so I've been analyzing what they're doing and making formulae. It is sllightly difficult because the riffs contain notes from the major scale. My formulae assume the pentatonic scale. Therefore there are a few otiose double-flatted scale degrees.

I played around with one of the alternative progressions I found in a book I recently acquired:

I7 | I7 | IV9 | IV9
I7 | I7 | V9 | IV9
I7 | #I° | IIm7 | V7#9

This one wasn't so bad. At least, I thought it was going to be a train wreck with those dom9's. 9's are so problematic because of how we mix and match its permutations. Often times there is a very subtle mismatch in the tones. E.g., I played the above progression in C which meant I needed an F9 and a G9. The shapes I have memorized is a F9 without the dominant degree and a G9 without its tonic. Each of these variations of the dom9 sound good by itself, but a little off in a musical context exhibiting both. This progression didn't do that. As a matter of fact, the most glaring deficit of this progression (at least in this key) was the C7. The most common form of this chord has all those open strings in it, which really sounds brassy next to all the buttery jazz chords. And that final 7#9 is a little difficult
 
Gee, I was a little happy that my transitions were a little better. Reading a couple of pages of this thread makes me think I need a music theory class. Well, somewhere down the road
 
Oh Captain Janeway, you're your own worst enemy. I'm sure no one is harder on you than yourself. As a matter of fact, I bet if we got together in whatever performance context you engage in, I would totally be blown away. I'm sure my timing would be off, my transitions too clumsy, and there's no way I could stay in the pocket and strum in support of what the group was doing. I'm okay at what I practice and so are you. Eventually we'll both be the complete package, but we have a ways to go. I think it is important to be excellent at what you do, regardless of what you do. So keep on being excellent and build on your successes.
 
I've been progressing on my little side project of universalizing the keyed licks in my Lil Rev book and I am finding it very rewarding. I know a lot of people spend their whole musical life engaged in mimesis and trying to perfect copying the sound they see in their tablatures. That even seems to be the definition of being a musician. Just talk to any young guitar player and, to them, what it means to play guitar is being able to play the songs from their favorite bands.

I'm not going to denigrate that; let's just say it isn't my cup of tea.

My current little project moves beyond mimesis and it has been very eye-opening. It is a perfect illustration of the value of music theory.

For example, the first lick in the book showed a little lick in which you bend the tenth fret on the E and then play the seventh fret of the A. You can spend time and perfect that formation and you can even move it up or down the neck. But that's it. However, once you analyze the lick and see that you are bending the third degree of the pentatonic scale and then playing the fourth, then a lot of possibilities arise.

First of all, my instruments are have by design 19 frets. I have been studying the key of E and at least in that key I can squeeze in 7 pentatonic shapes (all five of the shapes, plus an extra tonic shape really high on the neck and an extra dominant shape really low). I haven't investigated other keys so that I don't know if 7 shapes is the rule for all keys. Anyway...I have seven shapes, each of them with a third and fourth degree, and now I can play the riff in many places and not in the solitary way that the tablature demonstrated.

An added bonus is that this riff now can serve as the all-important linkage between pentatonic shapes. The key for me is to be able to transition from one shape to the next. Otherwise it sounds rather scale-like and not so musical. That's where this riff comes in. To illustrate with one example: the dominant shape has a third degree on the C string and the subtonic shape has a fourth degree on the C string. It is possible to play around with the dominant shape, then start the riff by bending the third, then slide up to the subtonic shape and play the fourth, and then continue noodling around in that shape. Of course, I would have to experiment because I might jump up an octave and that might possibly have an adverse effect on the riff.

And that's just one example restricting the transition to the C string. Other strings would have different possibilities and then there's the possibility of not restricting the transition to a single string but moving between two strings.

That's why this process has been very illuminating for me. I have gone from a single tablature to many, many possibilities. Instead of having a riff, I now have a methodology.
 
I am clearing out my "smart phone." It isn't really a smart phone. I have never even had a cellular phone. It is a moleskine: a leathern pocketbook with a moleskine and writing implement. I just call it a smart phone because it serves the same purpose as one--especially if I fold a crossword puzzle into it, so that I can while away the time as I wait in line somewhere.

Anyway, since I am clearing it out, I thought I would transfer the musical notes here for posterity's sake. If you want my notes on potatoes fondant or the Greek poet Lykophron, then you're out of luck.

First of all, I found a nice little blues progression with some strange chords in it:

I | VI7 | II7 V7 | I
I | VI7 | II7 | V7
I | I7 | IV | VI°
I | VI7 |II7 V7 | I

The thing that's special about this is the VI chord in both its 7 and dim voice. Also the II before the V is a cool sound. After all the II is the dominant of the dominant V chord. So it is a good ramp-up to the resolution. The next item is a chord progression that I remember already putting on this thread. I actually remember where I got that from, which is odd. Most of the things in my moleskine seem random because I don't remember the context in which I wrote the note.

The next thing looks like the Rhythm Changes progression:

1: I V of II II V I v of II II V
2: I V of IV IV bIVm I V of II II V
3: I V of II II V I v of II II V
4: I V of IV bIVm I V I

II7 II7 V7 V7
I7 I7 IV7 IV7

repeat 3 & 4

I think that's right, but it is hard to read a few of my scribbles on the topic



The next thing appears to be an 8-bar blues progession

I | V | IV | V
I |IV | I | V


Then I see two turnarounds :

V | VI | II | V
V | III | II | bII

They both have discernible methods. The first one has a lilting effect, going dominant to the major sixth (whose sound I can't picture in my head [if you can picture a sound]) to dominant of dominant to dominant. Turning around to the tonic will seem natural after all these dominants. In the second turnaround it is more chromatic. The last bars start at the major third, descends to the major second, then the flatted major second. The tonic is the natural successor in this line-up.


Next up is some minor blues:

i | i | i | i
iv | iv | i | i
VI | V | i |i

I have a little side-note encouraging me to substitute some i7's for the i's and to substitute a V7#9 for the V in the 10th bar.
 
I saw the title of a thread encouraging us to share how we practice. I didn't click on it because I have the feeling that I've been talking too much and I don't want people to get too sick of me. However, what I did today is a somewhat representative example of what I do. I went to random.org and generated a list of random numbers with which I randomly played major chords in natural keys. I also used my metronome to time the transitions.

A thought just occurred to me. There is a difference in how I practice and how others practice. It is the paradigm that I use. And it is the paradigm that everyone I knew growing up used. It is the classical/jazz player. Although none of us would ever be good enough to be in an orchestra, we always practiced like we were: we practiced in all keys and practiced scales and arpeggios and that type of thing. A lot of ukulele players, on the other hand, focus on something specific like a C-F-G7 progression that is in the song they want to play.

I guess I am doing the specificity thing--to an extent--by focusing my studies to the key of E. And I'm going to keep on that track because I haven't depleted the usefulness of this key. I am still learning where all the notes of this pop up on my fretboard and I am shying away from some of the problematic degrees of the scale such as the 2nd, 3rd, and 7th degrees which are the c#, g# and d#. I don't consciously avoid them, but when I retrospectively examine what I like playing, I see there is usually a flatted third and second in it.

To remedy that, I was wanking around with the melodic minor harmonization. Unless I am mistaken, it goes:

i ii bIII+ IV V VI° VII°

This still side-steps the C# but it has a lot of other challenges. I can see the F#minor isn't that hard per se, but it is just one of those things I have to think about. Right now it isn't natural. Similarly the G# isn't natural to me, and it is a bit difficult. I think I will try to make it easier by altering how I play it. Since it has roots on the G and E strings, I could just play it like a G minor chord, but a fret higher, and mute the G string so that it would only be a three-finger chord instead of a four.

Anyway...I also noticed that I really like using the VI as a passing chord to the V. Visually, there is only one note that is different and maybe that is why I like it. There's probably a theory-reason why it I like it, but I don't know it. However the same doesn't apply to the bII+, the G+, and the E minor. Well, it does and it doesn't. depending on where you play it in a progression, it either sounds good or grating because of the one-note difference.
 
as an addendum to the previous post, I went to my ukulele and tried a modified G# minor. I found a really easy version for me. The key is to remember where to put the middle two fingers on the 3rd and 4th frets. The second fret takes care of itself. I just barre it unevenly--i.e., I put no pressure on the tip of my finger but press down with my proximal phalanges thereby muting the G string and fretting the A string. I can form the G# quickly as long as I stick those middle fingers.

As for the C# minor, I had this impression that its pitch was rather high in comparison to, for example, the E minor. However I am not hearing that now. Obviously if I play it 1444, the sound is a little bit higher than 1104
 
I'm learning quite a bit from my on-going side project of amassing some more lyrical material. I am still universalizing items that I am finding written in a certain key. The biggest lesson that I am learning is how a lot of these licks sequence their degrees and that they use notes outside of the pentatonic scale although they are blues licks. For example, the last lick I ran across had this formula:

you start by bending the III, then play this triplet: bIII bII bI, and then play a V and finish with a bI.

Of the six notes in this lick, four of them are flatted. I don't think that I, if left to my own devices, would have thought to venture outside of the scale. I don't necessarily think that is bad. There are more than enough notes between the second and nineteenth frets to play. Possibly I would have utilized a flatted note as I slide into my note and I did play around with using a note from the major pentatonic while playing a minor pentatonic. However i wasn't doing anything systematically.
 
I had 30 minutes or so to kill. I just put some fondant potatoes in the oven for my dinner tonight at work.

I thought I would practice the important skill of transitioning from chords to notes and of forming the E minor chord, something which I still haven't nailed although it is such a cornerstone chord.

So I played the E minor chord in some galloping strum. It was something like dumdittydumdumdumdumdittydum or something like that. I just kept that going in a groove then I would break into a quick foray into some quick improv of the E minor pentatonic. If you use the dominant shape, it is right there in the same proximity as the actual chord. So all you have to do is wank around (making sure to bend the III of course) and end up on the I with your ring finger. Then I just need to re-position my middle and index finger and the chord is galloping again.

I used to use this back in the day with C major and the C minor pentatonic, admittedly a less well-matched duo.

Anyway, when that got a little stale, I started galloping into the natural minor progression (i-iv-v), transitioning to the melodic minor (i-ii-IV), to the harmonic minor (I-IV-V). It was kind of a mega-progression consisting of three smaller progressions.

That gave me some quality time as the potatoes roasted.

I wonder if people are familiar with fondant potatoes?

1. peel and cut off the ends of the potatoes (thereby making little cylinders). Cut them in half
2. let them soak for a few minutes in cold water to de-starch
3. turn the oven on to 425 and put a heavy skillet with some fat on a burner set to high
4. turn the skillet down to medium-high
5. dry the potatoes
6. put them in the skillet, season them, and brown the ends
7. when the ends are brown, drain the fat, add some butter and herb
8. add some stock
9. roast for half an hour

I know they sound rather indulgent, but I don't eat fast food or snack at all. So this is as bad as it gets for me, and that ain't that bad
 
Oh Captain Janeway, you're your own worst enemy. I'm sure no one is harder on you than yourself. As a matter of fact, I bet if we got together in whatever performance context you engage in, I would totally be blown away. I'm sure my timing would be off, my transitions too clumsy, and there's no way I could stay in the pocket and strum in support of what the group was doing. I'm okay at what I practice and so are you. Eventually we'll both be the complete package, but we have a ways to go. I think it is important to be excellent at what you do, regardless of what you do. So keep on being excellent and build on your successes.

Thanks. You wouldn't be blown away, I'm a rank beginner. I think part of my problem is I try to do things too fast and get frustrated. Did find one son that's really slow that I changed from A key to C and I'm working on it just to keep a nice slow rhythm. Taking a group class and also a voice class just for the musicality and so I don't embarrass myself in a group. I know where I want to go with this. If I keep practicing I'll get there
I appreciate the cheery words.
 
I have noticed a thing or two about some problems I have been having. I previously mentioned how I had improved my ability to play G#minor with a barre chord. Well...if the position of the middle and ring fingers are exchanged, then it is an E minor chord since the E minor, like the G# minor, use a G string that is extraneous.

However, I have to resist using these forms as crutches because ultimately it doesn't work. It is better to just make chords that are not derivatives of other chords. For example, I used to make the E minor chord by making a G major and then place the pinky down. Same thing with the G# minor. I used to conceive of it as an E major chord with an added pinky. The problem here is that you need to make one chord and then alter it to make the other chord. That takes time--time which we sometimes don't have. It is better to cut out the middle man and go straight to the desired chord.


I am eagerly anticipating my new tenor ukulele which is to be my linear ukulele. It is going to add a dimension to my practice. For example when I roll through my modes with my re-entrant Kamaka, I start on the 4th fret and play the ionic mode (I could start on the 1st fret with the C# aiolian , but that wouldn't start with the root note that I like) and end on the 18th fret playing the D# Lokrian. The linear can do all that since its top three strings will be the same. But it also will have another series of modes played on the bottom three strings. It will start with the G# phrygian and end with B mixolydian on the 16th fret. This will be a challenge because these linear modes are played slightly differently. But then I will have two places to play everything. For instance I could play an E ionic at the 4th fret or the 9th fret depending on which string I start with.
 
I've been a bit swamped lately with work, so I haven't really done much with the ukulele except in terms of employing it as an anodyne to life. I've been playing some very comfortable progressions, like a blues progression with ninth chords in it. It ends its turnaround with a 7#9 chord and couldn't remember how to form that...so I just used a 7 chord and it sounded fine...albeit a bit less tasty.

I have been doing some thinking and playing. This is going to sound a bit silly, but my knowledge is extremely patchy since I learn things without a system. I wish I could learn systematically but every book I find is either childishly simple or light-years ahead of me. Anyway, my revelation of the day is that, like my pentatonic scales, modes are circular.

I kind of knew this, but I had never actually made it concrete in my understanding. For me, the ionian mode is the first mode and all the others follow as you move up the fretboard. But it isn't the first...and there is no last; they all just keep circling. the E ionian starts on the 4th fret, but D# Lokrian starts below it on the 3rd and C# aiolian starts on the 1st. This is actually good to know because I love the aiolian. It is the basis of the pentatonics and it is the kernel of every cool song. Whenever I hear a cool song and I sit down and figure out the melody--sure enough it is just the aiolian mode.

So with those three modes, I have pretty much got the first five frets covered. And those are important frets. Many players never move beyond them. I have been linking the modes: starting with the tonic on the 4th fret just to establish it, I start the aiolian, then move to the Lokrian, and end with the ionian. It is kind of like a I IV V progression where you start with the solid I, and move to a more dissonant IV and then to an even more dissonant V only to return to the I.

I especially like the Lokrian and the Ionian played together. Being adjacent, they share many notes. What's nice about the Lokrian is that if you run through its notes and hit the end, all you need to do is play the next note on the fretboard and you have your tonic with which you can end it all in resolution or you can then use it to keep on going by playing the Ionian mode, which you're now in.
 
Top Bottom