Bob Reynolds Virtual Studio

Comments

  1. This is helpful. I’d like to see something similar on how to practice modes of a scale. Because the Ionian mode is so strong in my ears, it’s not easy to find a tactic for practicing the other modes to get them as their own thing. If that makes sense.

    • That does make sense, Mike. I know what you mean: like if you go to practice D Dorian, or G Mixolydian, and start from either root, you can’t help but hear C Ionian. Right?

        • Further exploration reveals that I can hear all of the modes in my head except for Phrygian. I hadn’t practiced the modes systematically but I’m putting them into my practice. There’s not much more to it than that — practice systematically. And Phrygian should be easy —- it’s just the seventh mode of Lydian (I’m not serious, but I’m not wrong). Actually there is a 2-octave Phrygian flute run up and down in Scheherazade, if anyone knows that one. We use whatever we can get.

  3. Hi Bob,

    It would be great if you could confirm I understood the video correctly, it is pretty packed with things to practice. From what I took in the video, you describe three exercises:

    – Exercise 1: Straight and broken major triads, in all 12 keys. Just like the pdf you attached, very straight forward.

    – Exercise 2: A similar exercise for all second triads of each ii-V-I groups of chords (12 groups in total). Here it becomes a bit interesting because we are mixing major, half diminished and minor triads.

    – Exercise 3: practice improvising with the second triad over the ii-V-I changes of their respective chords. Also straight forward.

    I need a bit of help understanding the point of exercise 2. Is it so I can fluently play and practice with exercise 3?

    Also, is there any value on doing broken and straight chords like in Exercise 2 (ii-V-I groups of chords) but with the full 4 notes 7th chord? As in the pdf from bar 19 to 29, but instead of adding the root of the second triad again, adding the root of the first triad.

    thanks in advance!
    Alberto.

      • Sorry if the questions are confusing. When I ask about doing broken and straight 7th chords “like in Exercise 2”, I mean do them in groups of ii-V-I. Meaning doing broken and straight of a group like Dm7-G7-CM7 one per day. But of course, since these chords have 4 notes you could only do from bars 13 to 26 (I used the wrong numbers in my previous comment).
        The question was if it makes sense to do something like this, but I can see it might be completely out of the point of the video lesson.

        • All good. The main point of this lesson is the benefit and importance of having a single triad available to you through the full range of the horn AND in multiple rhythmic combinations. The practice of gaining this sort of technical proficiency with the triad(s) opens up many doors when improvising with them that won’t be available without this facility. Does that help clarify?

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