我的結他雜記：reuse 5 major scale fingerings for harmonic minor

The 5 shapes taught by Jimmy Bruno have been very valuable to my playing of not just major scale but also arppegios (major 7, minor 7, dom 7, min7b5 ) Even for minor (aeolian) scale,  it's just the matter of finding the relative major. However, playing mixolydian b9 b13 scale (or 5th mode of harmonic minor ), it requires more thinking. For example, to play the scale over G7b9b13, consider we are raising the 7th (Bb to B) of the C minor scale, which has Eb major as its relative.  So,  with G as the root,  it's basically playing the major scale 2 whole step down but start with G and raise the b3 to 3rd (i.e. Bb to B)

我的結他雜記：swinging 8th notes in jazz

When I started the Berklee jazz class, the first forum post by our instructor was about how to swing 8th notes. Actually, the first thing he mentioned was how NOT to swing 8th notes. The common way of treating them like tripplets with the middle missing usually ended up with choppy sounding dotted 8th plus 16th note, which is OK for other styles but not jazz. For jazz, the 8th note should be played evenly (same duration) Here's another good explanation I found on the web. His suggestion is the same as our instructor: it's better to play even 8th note slightly behind the beat (i.e., the 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &) even if it is not the ideal or "perfect" swing. It works out great for me because of my inability to stay ON the beat. I mean, I'm usually behind anyway. Our instructor thought I did that intentionally and liked it!

Also check out what renowned jazz saxophonist David Liebman said about the same topic.

我的結他雜記: Berklee Jazz 101

在Berklee今個學期終於上期待已久的主修課堂:爵士結他101。短短一個月(即四堂)所教的內容可謂十分緊湊，目標就是在chord progression伴奏下，彈單音solo lines。第一堂練chord tones( root, 3rd, 7th)，要彈不是最低那個八度，主要練第五把DGBE 弦上的音。接著三堂分別是練maj 7, min 7, dom 7的arpeggios, approach 。其實和Jimmy Bruno 教的差不多，只不過用較多的樂理名詞概念來解釋，亦提供大量練習曲，包括比較『抽象』純為練熟chord tones/ approach notes 的，也有一些jazzy licks可『即抄即用』的;這些都是Bruno 所無的。當然，Bruno的宗旨是no nonsense, 所以樂理名詞可免則免了。至於範例，Bruno 的網站包括學生上載彈奏及他回應的短片（我只用過他的舊教學網，不知新的是否如此），跟片學彈是學習過程一部份，只是沒有譜可跟而已，其實也是練聽力的好機會。

目前最大的難題倒是和跟Bruno 學時一樣，就是未能把這些chord tones/ approach notes 組成jazzy 樂句。問過Berklee 的老師，他說是沒有公式可跟的，他能教的只是『工具』，必須練熟這些工具，熟到即可應用，再加上多聽多抄(transcribe)，累積咁上下經驗，才能即興solo。以前Bruno 也只是叫我多點跟片學彈 。總括他們所言就是:前路漫漫，連Berklee 也無必『掂』秘技可授，實在有點沮喪，恐怕彈爵士此夢難圓。

無論如何，今日我在Berklee勉強能跟得上進度，當年跟Bruno學的5 shapes 居功至偉。5 shapes 其實就是由CAGED 五個open chord 衍生出的五個major scale fingering patterns 。從中可以『抽出』I ii V chord ( maj 7, min 7, dom 7 )的arpeggio fingerings，在結他頸上任何一處都可彈以上任何一種arppegio，並即知對應的major scale，再由此可彈major scale 的modes 。(雖然Bruno 不主張從scale/mode 的角度思考，他教的是考慮ii-V-I整個progression的pitch collection，正正就是shape之中每一粒音）

其實Berklee和Bruno教的很多殊途同歸，例如：
1) Berklee教maj 7或min 7 chord tone可從scale中下一個（較高）音去approach。Bruno教solo時可以由低至高彈arpeggio，然後由高至低彈scale；其實這樣彈的話正包含這些scale approach tone。
2）Berklee教dom 7 arpeggio的b7音，可從root去approach；Bruno也教dom 7 arpeggio可從whole step之上去approach，b7上一個whole step正是root!（不過Berklee有教dom 7 arpeggio的3，不宜用scale tone去approach）
3）Berklee教min 7 chord伴奏時，可彈低whole step之maj 7 arpeggio來solo，就是dorian sound。這個maj 7 arpeggio正是該min 7 chord的b7, 9, 11, 13音。Bruno一直教I ii V任何一個arpeggio都和整個progression夾，無需刻意I arpeggio配對I chord，也是這個道理。

上過這些課，想起十二年前買Herb Ellis《All the shapes you are 》一書，教的其實也是這些道理：練熟ii-V-I progression的arpeggios及scale tones，聽熟他示範配合數十個chords的licks。書中介紹了多個fingerings，他稱之為major scales, minor scales及dominant scales，其實和Bruno教的fingerings同出一轍。不過名字就有少少誤導：他的minor scale fingerings其實是dorian mode而非minor scale一般指的aeolian mode（他用minor一詞是指配合ii min 7 chord吧）；而dominant scales當然就是mixolydian mode。Ellis的建議是認熟每一個fingering對應的chord形（他也叫這做shape，但此shape不同Bruno教的5 shapes），solo時多用chord tones及approach notes。和Berklee及Bruno教的都是同一回事。唉，如果十二年前有人解釋給我聽就好了！不過其實我在08年分別請教過一位結他老師（爵士非其專長）及網上論壇，結果還是靠自己搞清楚。現在我用這本書的CD來練transcription，畢竟特地為教學示範而彈的lines比較易聽易明。