These videos are so useful, insightful, down to earth, and straight to the point. So many other established RUclips channels are more concerned about the fluff and their number of subscribers, but this channel feels like you are just hanging out with somebody who is extremely talented and kind enough to want to selflessly share things with people who appreciate it. Thank you, Rick.
As a bluegrass mandolin player, who dabbles in jazz and also plays guitar, these videos are really useful. Especially this one, this idea can really turn up the heat on a contemporary bluegrass solo just by using one of these ideas even. Awesome videos!
My friends and I jam in my basement, and have 1 song that's only 2 root notes ( for the most part), and I've been struggling to compliment the song w/ my bass. You read my mind, thanks Rick B.
The sus4/3 arpeggio immediately made me think of the intro to Michael Jackson's song 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You'. I haven't thought of that song in decades.
Thank you for this great inspiration. Please excuse my lack of understanding. There is a E-B sustained sound as a background. But why these apreggios? It’s sounds amazing and i like to apply this concept to different sounds. If anyone can give some information it would be very delighted. All the best for you all
You pick a chord progression you want to play over that sound and then play arpeggios that fit that chord progression. It really does not matter what chord progression you pick as long as you like how it sounds, like Rick played one that was just every chord in E major in alphabetical order.
Great stuff again, Rick! Got some great ideas on expanding my vocabulary and facility, for sure. Really impressive the gift you have for not only internalizing all of this material, but also communicating and teaching.
Hey Rick! Thank you so much for your videos. You have a fine ear and you're an admirable pedagogue. Your uploads are helping me refocus on my aspirations in film and video game scores. This is such a valuable resource. Thank you :D
One of the best videos so far... Liking this format... Feel like we're downloading your brain... Maybe you'd play some of these structures.against a drum track sometime so we can hear your rhythmic concepts real clearly, too. Amazing channel!
The number of subscribers seems to be growing by 1000 every day or two now. Word is spreading! At the current rate we might come close to 250,000 by Christmas!
Wow man, Rick...your fretboard visualization is off the charts. How do you manage to instantly play an arpeggio of the top of your head like that? Do you use some sort of CAGED, interval, or just plain scalar/arpeggio shapes? It would be nice to know how your brain works in applying all this stuff. Great job!
"The CAGED system derives its name from five basic open chord shapes: C, A, G, E, and D." So, I think the question is are you visualizing chord shapes, or visualizing intervals, or using scales/modes to quickly know where find the notes you want to play?
Wow. That is awesome (to a slacker like myself who only occasionally ventures outside of a I IV V world). I could spend 6 months digesting this one. Thanks.
Always wondered about how to get past "just hitting notes that are in the scale for that chord" (average shredder) to "creating emotive content or telling a story with contrasts, tensions, resolutions" over one chord -- Steve Howe is one of the kings of that. This is how to start. Thanks! (Also hooks right into your other videos on why Claus Ogerman was such a giant!)
Rick, given the modal backing of E5, why do you not name those arpeggios from the perspective of an E tonic (keynote)? For example, wouldn't a C major triad over E be an Em6 arpeggio?
stumbled upon your chris cornell seasons tutorial last Thursday , RIP CC. thanks for that. been playing it on my guild acoustic for days now. had learned a different tuning years back but forgotten it since then, your tutorial was spot on for me and easy to get thru.
I accompany yoga classes using guitar, synth drones and a looping pedal. This video has really opened up some FUN improv ideas for me. Thank you for parting the complacency fog a little.
Hi Rick. I enjoyed the video, but am not entirely sure what it is that you're doing. I have some basic understanding of chords and it sounds like you're playing a sustained chord in the background, but then how do you know what to play on top? Are you just taking the notes of the chord and playing them in some pattern on top, like going up on every other note of the chord?
Okay, I understand the MmmMMmD concept and how changing the starting point within that creates the modes. What I DON'T understand is how you arrive at the chord substitutions. How do I determine for instance, in the Dorian mode (mmMMmDM) what chords I can substitute for just the basic major and minor chords?
I could be wrong, but I believe those chord substitions are constructed from notes found within the E Major and/or minor scale that are also in the chords he had picked. Basically, he could have played a regular B major, but the notes of Bmaj7 was also in the key of E so he added them to further color the chord. Think of it like ordering vanilla ice cream (Emaj) but they added a cherry on top (Emaj7). It's still Emaj, just with added cherry goodness that goes well with chord and is in key. I hope that makes sense.
Wow...this sounds *_beautiful..._* Also, this is an excellent explanation of a really cool concept I hadn't given much thought. Will definitely be incorporating this method in my own songwriting from now on. Thanks for the great channel!
Very impressive, as usual. I do have a slight doubt about the title. I think this would have been better called 'playing over a drone', since an open perfect fifth isn't really a chord, although it does restrict the improvisor a little more than a pure root drone. Perhaps you could give an example of soloing over a tune with very few changes - a modal tune like 'Little Sunflower', for example - where the improvisor has to play over a more complex chord for extended periods?
Rick how are you coming up with these progressions.. over E 5 .. what is thinking behind your choices? Thank you as always for your time and effort on your channel
Rick - very nice lesson. Question: When you are playing through the C Major Lydian scale over the E5, are you only playing the notes C, E, F# and G? It sounds beautiful, but I can’t seem to get that sound. Are you mixing the order of the notes randomly or just playing the notes ascending and descending. It’s a little too fast for me to figure out exactly what’s going on.
Is it possible to analize this way pedal point part of Allan Holdsworth's solo in Devil take the hindmost? It seems to me that he superimposes his own chord progression during the pedal point part.
Rick, help me understand something. The arpeggios you’ve picked, to me, seem outside the key of E (key is an assumption on my part since you’re working over an E5 (E-B) tonally). If that’s true (outside/not the key of E) then are you choosing arpeggios that simply “contain” E & B?
It's really helpful to watch you actually improvise solos in real time with explanation. I would love to see some videos like this over a jazz backing track. I'm kind struggling to play hip stuff over changes (as opposed to just "groping!")
Hello Rick, I can analyze the notes from the various scales you played over the E5 and draw from that. But can you share the thought/theory process that lead you to choose said progression(s)? Thank you.
zenncatt I had the same question. My guess is that it could have been any C scale with an E natural (not Eb). This allows us to work our way up to B, while ensuring we don't clash with the E-B pedal. That means the two choices are C Lydian or C Ionian. My theory is that C Ionian would have worked but it's kind of vanilla so he chose C Lydian.
To the guitarists that are watching: I'm feeling hindered on learning the fretboard because the action on mine is so high. Can you please recommend a reasonably priced guitar that is more easily playable to look for? thanks in advance!
Hey Rick, I play your videos for source of new ideas for improv and composition. So I wrote a song a few years ago. The line leaped in octaves. I worked it off and on finally finished it. 'Octave Dance" Now I see thanks to you., I see that this technique has a name. "octave displacement". I will look for the video you promised on more on Octave Displacement .. Thanks
Really good video! I am confused why you chose to use C Lydian Major over E5 as oppose to C# Lydian Major? The regular C seems to be at odds while playing over E5. Yet when you do it, it sounds great.
Seems strange to me, as C is sharp in the key of E-Major as well as F, G and D. So, if I were to play C-Lydian over a E5 chord, there were would be at least three notes that I think would be pretty jarring. But perhaps I am missing something important here.
Just concentrate that E and B are the notes that they should be there. E5 is just that: E and B. The other notes are free and that's the key. While you keep those two notes, or two pair of notes(for instance D and A, C and G, or any interval) you can improvise using harmonies from many many many scales and modes. That's the key. For example if you want to keep E and B on the bass (E5), and you can use E Major then use E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#. Do you want to modulate to C Lydian? You can do it, even just keeping E5 on the bass as the chord, but then use the notes C, D, E, F#, G, A, B. They only share 3 notes, but 2 of them are E and B. And that's fine
It's because chords are usually created by stacking thirds. The 2 and the 9 are the same note in the scale but the chord will be 1 3 5 7 9. If you play 1 2 5 it is a sus2 chord, so i think that's why it's not an add2 chord.
Wow, how very cool... Not something one thinks of every day, and the first thought from someone might be "?? thats gonna be boring..". But how very NOT boring!
These videos are so useful, insightful, down to earth, and straight to the point. So many other established RUclips channels are more concerned about the fluff and their number of subscribers, but this channel feels like you are just hanging out with somebody who is extremely talented and kind enough to want to selflessly share things with people who appreciate it. Thank you, Rick.
When you play it on guitar, it sounds so much like Final Fantasy VII Prelude. Awesome.
I WAS THINKING THE SAME GODDAMN THING
Emin9 arpeggio. nailed it.
This is one of the finest music lesson YT Channels out there. Bravo and thanks, Rick! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Wow... always great ideas! and wow, made me smile with "meet George Jetson." Always high five from Dallas.
Just what i needed, thank you Rick
You are very welcome my bass friend!
As a bluegrass mandolin player, who dabbles in jazz and also plays guitar, these videos are really useful. Especially this one, this idea can really turn up the heat on a contemporary bluegrass solo just by using one of these ideas even. Awesome videos!
What a find, you bugger, looks like you're assisting me to the next level, jazz waffle to jazz coma, Rock On Bro X
Thank you for putting that description. It really helps!
your lessons are re-teaching me how to play guitar. it's really amazing what you do!
My friends and I jam in my basement, and have 1 song that's only 2 root notes ( for the most part), and I've been struggling to compliment the song w/ my bass. You read my mind, thanks Rick B.
The sus4/3 arpeggio immediately made me think of the intro to Michael Jackson's song 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You'. I haven't thought of that song in decades.
Wow, that C-Lydian maj. over E sounds so good !
BleakAutumnMist Sounds like the beginning of Who wants to live forever from Queen.
"Meet George Jetson." Ha! Good one!
Playing those arpegios across all 6 strings is not an easy task... Well done!
Thank you for this great inspiration.
Please excuse my lack of understanding. There is a E-B sustained sound as a background. But why these apreggios? It’s sounds amazing and i like to apply this concept to different sounds. If anyone can give some information it would be very delighted.
All the best for you all
You pick a chord progression you want to play over that sound and then play arpeggios that fit that chord progression.
It really does not matter what chord progression you pick as long as you like how it sounds, like Rick played one that was just every chord in E major in alphabetical order.
This is SO helpful. I think this is what Nile Rodgers does on 'Savoir Fair', and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out exactly what was going on.
I learn so much every time I watch. You rock, professor. Also, the C Lydian is way cooler than the C Maj. Thanks.
Great stuff again, Rick! Got some great ideas on expanding my vocabulary and facility, for sure. Really impressive the gift you have for not only internalizing all of this material, but also communicating and teaching.
Great stuff, Rick! 👍🙏
Hey Rick! Thank you so much for your videos. You have a fine ear and you're an admirable pedagogue. Your uploads are helping me refocus on my aspirations in film and video game scores. This is such a valuable resource. Thank you :D
best instructional account on youtube. period!
One of the best videos so far... Liking this format... Feel like we're downloading your brain... Maybe you'd play some of these structures.against a drum track sometime so we can hear your rhythmic concepts real clearly, too. Amazing channel!
The number of subscribers seems to be growing by 1000 every day or two now. Word is spreading! At the current rate we might come close to 250,000 by Christmas!
Wow man, Rick...your fretboard visualization is off the charts. How do you manage to instantly play an arpeggio of the top of your head like that? Do you use some sort of CAGED, interval, or just plain scalar/arpeggio shapes? It would be nice to know how your brain works in applying all this stuff. Great job!
+Joseph Lara thanks Joseph but i'm not sure what you're asking me? I don't know what caged interval means?
"The CAGED system derives its name from five basic open chord shapes: C, A, G, E, and D."
So, I think the question is are you visualizing chord shapes, or visualizing intervals, or using scales/modes to quickly know where find the notes you want to play?
Picksalot exactly, that's what I meant. Thanks for clarifying.
Joseph Lara he spent hundreds of hours memorizing them.
bass player. 🙂
Wow. That is awesome (to a slacker like myself who only occasionally ventures outside of a I IV V world). I could spend 6 months digesting this one. Thanks.
Your videos are super informative, Rick! I will have to watch way more of them. Thanks for making and uploading!
Don't worry about finding home, you never leave. Beautiful stuff man 👍🏾
Always wondered about how to get past "just hitting notes that are in the scale for that chord" (average shredder) to "creating emotive content or telling a story with contrasts, tensions, resolutions" over one chord -- Steve Howe is one of the kings of that. This is how to start. Thanks! (Also hooks right into your other videos on why Claus Ogerman was such a giant!)
The story about becoming very drowsy from expired NyQuil in a stuck elevator
That Lydian Major arpeggio is something I have heard in a number of Mastodon songs. Great sound.
This video is GOLD!!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge Rick
Love this .......It was very helpful for newbe when you called out the scale while you are playing. Thank you for all you do.
This channel is pure gold! So much things to learn!
Rick, given the modal backing of E5, why do you not name those arpeggios from the perspective of an E tonic (keynote)? For example, wouldn't a C major triad over E be an Em6 arpeggio?
It would change the way he’s phrasing the arpeggios though
stumbled upon your chris cornell seasons tutorial last Thursday , RIP CC. thanks for that. been playing it on my guild acoustic for days now. had learned a different tuning years back but forgotten it since then, your tutorial was spot on for me and easy to get thru.
I accompany yoga classes using guitar, synth drones and a looping pedal. This video has really opened up some FUN improv ideas for me. Thank you for parting the complacency fog a little.
Breathtaking virtuosity! 🙏🎸
I can´t thank you enough for sharing your knowledge.....cheers from Portugal!!
never ceases to amaze. Thanks Rick!
Another very useful video ... As always, my eternal gratitude to you, dear Sir !
Thank god we have you on this planet man
What guitar and amp are you using for this? Sounds amazing!
this is amazing!!!!! thanks a lot for sharing this lesson!!! \m/
Hi Rick. I enjoyed the video, but am not entirely sure what it is that you're doing. I have some basic understanding of chords and it sounds like you're playing a sustained chord in the background, but then how do you know what to play on top? Are you just taking the notes of the chord and playing them in some pattern on top, like going up on every other note of the chord?
Okay, I understand the MmmMMmD concept and how changing the starting point within that creates the modes. What I DON'T understand is how you arrive at the chord substitutions. How do I determine for instance, in the Dorian mode (mmMMmDM) what chords I can substitute for just the basic major and minor chords?
I could be wrong, but I believe those chord substitions are constructed from notes found within the E Major and/or minor scale that are also in the chords he had picked. Basically, he could have played a regular B major, but the notes of Bmaj7 was also in the key of E so he added them to further color the chord. Think of it like ordering vanilla ice cream (Emaj) but they added a cherry on top (Emaj7). It's still Emaj, just with added cherry goodness that goes well with chord and is in key.
I hope that makes sense.
Rick, again you are my motivational hero. Thank you!
Wow...this sounds *_beautiful..._* Also, this is an excellent explanation of a really cool concept I hadn't given much thought.
Will definitely be incorporating this method in my own songwriting from now on.
Thanks for the great channel!
Is it better to practice arpeggios and triads through tabs or figuring them out yourself?
Very impressive, as usual. I do have a slight doubt about the title. I think this would have been better called 'playing over a drone', since an open perfect fifth isn't really a chord, although it does restrict the improvisor a little more than a pure root drone.
Perhaps you could give an example of soloing over a tune with very few changes - a modal tune like 'Little Sunflower', for example - where the improvisor has to play over a more complex chord for extended periods?
Rick how are you coming up with these progressions.. over E 5 .. what is thinking behind your choices? Thank you as always for your time and effort on your channel
Awesome Rick... just what I was looking for at the moment! Thanks so much.
can you do an episode on improving rhythm, time etc
Nicely done , saving for future reference 👍
Rick - very nice lesson. Question: When you are playing through the C Major Lydian scale over the E5, are you only playing the notes C, E, F# and G? It sounds beautiful, but I can’t seem to get that sound. Are you mixing the order of the notes randomly or just playing the notes ascending and descending. It’s a little too fast for me to figure out exactly what’s going on.
Your pattern playing is so on point.. i'll have to look into to get mine sounding smooth like that!
Which video was the circle of fifths one that you referenced?
+Michael Ramirez ruclips.net/video/XJBDA3jNZ9Q/видео.html
0:50 Hey you beginning chord Pink Floyd
Can you please elaborate on what you meant by "these are...self-contained sounds"?
Is it possible to analize this way pedal point part of Allan Holdsworth's solo in Devil take the hindmost? It seems to me that he superimposes his own chord progression during the pedal point part.
I think this is a composition based on E, B and F# pedal points. The melodies (composed) were originated from improvisation.
Rick, help me understand something. The arpeggios you’ve picked, to me, seem outside the key of E (key is an assumption on my part since you’re working over an E5 (E-B) tonally). If that’s true (outside/not the key of E) then are you choosing arpeggios that simply “contain” E & B?
I get it. I don''t know why this is the first time Ive learned arpeggios this way its gonna take practice but thank you Rick your original.
This is my favorite video of all time
The first Guitar jam reminded me of Led Zeppelin's In the evening intro buildup.. Awesome video👍👍
It's really helpful to watch you actually improvise solos in real time with explanation. I would love to see some videos like this over a jazz backing track. I'm kind struggling to play hip stuff over changes (as opposed to just "groping!")
Wouldn't it be simpler to call Asus4/3, Aadd4, since the 3rd is still being played and not substituted? Thanks for the great videos!
At the rate I'm going, ill be able to play that for my own funeral music.
Sounds like Prelude from a video game called Final Fantasy.
I listened to it. Your right! Haha
THAT'S IT! Thank you!
Where are these progressions coming from? Like why would a C Lydian major and D major work over the E5 chord?
1:00 SLASH - Fall to pieces
Would these arpeggios work on la Grange because I feel like the riff is mostly just one chord
This is the way I want to able to play. Love your channel thank you so much!
Wonderful video. And lovely to see that Danelectro getting some love too.
Why did you choose those three chords to solo over?
Beautiful Rick! Nice job!
Hi Rick you are a fantastic teacher and fantastic musician. Am I wrong or you are Italian ? Cheers from Italy
Fantastic tutorial. Given me lots of ideas. Great playing too!
the parts at 1:01 and 1:31 reminded me a soft machine tune
great!!
Hello Rick, I can analyze the notes from the various scales you played over the E5 and draw from that. But can you share the thought/theory process that lead you to choose said progression(s)? Thank you.
zenncatt I had the same question. My guess is that it could have been any C scale with an E natural (not Eb). This allows us to work our way up to B, while ensuring we don't clash with the E-B pedal. That means the two choices are C Lydian or C Ionian. My theory is that C Ionian would have worked but it's kind of vanilla so he chose C Lydian.
The arpeggios are very like Final Fantasy Prelude. Nice.
To the guitarists that are watching: I'm feeling hindered on learning the fretboard because the action on mine is so high. Can you please recommend a reasonably priced guitar that is more easily playable to look for? thanks in advance!
Yamaha 611hfm. If that's too high then check out ibanez rg or epiphone or fender classic player.
Some more awesome. This is good tips. Thanks !
simply beautiful.
Clear, creative and so generous to share your wealth of knowledge like this... Consider me a disciple :-)
+Joseph Danza excellent!
Hey Rick, I play your videos for source of new ideas for improv and composition. So I wrote a song a few years ago. The line leaped in octaves. I worked it off and on finally finished it. 'Octave Dance" Now I see thanks to you., I see that this technique has a name. "octave displacement". I will look for the video you promised on more on Octave Displacement .. Thanks
Really good video! I am confused why you chose to use C Lydian Major over E5 as oppose to C# Lydian Major? The regular C seems to be at odds while playing over E5. Yet when you do it, it sounds great.
C Lydian: C, D, E, F#, G, A, B. C# Lydian: C#, D#, E#, G, Ab, Bb, C (there is no E and B in that scale, so it could be more "dissonant").
Seems strange to me, as C is sharp in the key of E-Major as well as F, G and D. So, if I were to play C-Lydian over a E5 chord, there were would be at least three notes that I think would be pretty jarring. But perhaps I am missing something important here.
Just concentrate that E and B are the notes that they should be there. E5 is just that: E and B. The other notes are free and that's the key. While you keep those two notes, or two pair of notes(for instance D and A, C and G, or any interval) you can improvise using harmonies from many many many scales and modes. That's the key. For example if you want to keep E and B on the bass (E5), and you can use E Major then use E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#. Do you want to modulate to C Lydian? You can do it, even just keeping E5 on the bass as the chord, but then use the notes C, D, E, F#, G, A, B. They only share 3 notes, but 2 of them are E and B. And that's fine
Yup. Modal interchange. The good ol' bVI-bVII-I progression.
You're a wizard Rick.
nice! - good examples to get one out of the rut of doing their same old riffs
Thanks so much for the vid! Really helped me solo over C7 #9 on Brasiliance!
very cool!
I enjoy Ricks videos. Don't understand most of what he says in them but I watch anyway. This theory stuff is so far over my head.
Why do you call it an add 9 instead of an add 2?
It's because chords are usually created by stacking thirds. The 2 and the 9 are the same note in the scale but the chord will be 1 3 5 7 9.
If you play 1 2 5 it is a sus2 chord, so i think that's why it's not an add2 chord.
Beautiful. Still don't get how people could dislike these vids XD
Love soloing over ANY one chord....
Wow, how very cool... Not something one thinks of every day, and the first thought from someone might be "?? thats gonna be boring..". But how very NOT boring!
Still today, thank you for your work
great lesson. you're the best!
This jam reminds me of one of my favorite songs evar - opener from Phantasy Star 2 for Genesis!
Sounds Like Bach in a way. TY Rick. Hey how about doing the Bach Chaconne? lol.But,I'm sure you can break that down easily.
Well...you just gave me an endless amount of homework to do. : ) But man, that stuff sounded great!
amazing lesson - very convincing!