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Thread: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

  1. #1
    Registered User ahmandolin's Avatar
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    Default Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Hey y'all,

    I've been wanting to make a few videos that highlight techniques I work on in the practice room and with my students. The idea is to cover concepts that I hope pickers will find interesting and to provide a fresh look at the fingerboard. It was hard to not make this a forty minute video (yawn) because there a lot of variations that can be altered.

    I got into this concept from listening to the master Jesse McReynolds and from an article by Bill Frisell in the book Arcana edited by the saxophone guru John Zorn.

    Let me know what you think,

    - Andrew Hendryx



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB79b2z_1uY

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  3. #2
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Andrew,
    For us older generation it would be helpful to have it written out.

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    Registered User ahmandolin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Hey George,

    Thanks for the reply. I've been experimenting with having the tab in the video but it seemed visually busy. I'll post a link to the tab asap and experiment with adding the tab into my next video. If you know the best way to do this let me know.
    -Hendryx

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    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Thanks for sharing these exercises, Andrew, a simple concept but one I'd not heard presented before. Very helpful, and much appreciated.
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    Registered User ahmandolin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Hey Mark,

    Glad it was helpful. You can take this concept and move it all all around. Check out F# natural minor. I use this all the time. The open A is the minor 3rd of the chord and the open E is flat 7. Great notes to let ring.

    number = fret () = string
    4th (D) 6th (D) 0 (A) 9th (D) 4th (A) 5th (A) 0 (E) 9th (A)

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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Andrew, this is a 'fresh look' at the fingerboard for me. Here is a "TAB" from you video. (for us 'old guys' ha, ha.)

    G Maj
    5 7 9 10
    5 7 9 10

    5 0 9 10
    5 0 9 10

    12
    7 9 10 12
    7 9 10

    12
    0 9 10 12
    0 9 10

    But I wonder why the open strings concept is interesting to you. Can you explain a little more and tell us what the 'mentors' said?

    "I got into this concept from listening to the master Jesse McReynolds and from an article by Bill Frisell in the book Arcana edited by the saxophone guru John Zorn."
    Last edited by DougC; Aug-21-2018 at 10:37am.
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    I apologize if I missed the explanation in the video but what is gained using the open strings?

    I use open strings for the ease of it and maybe the ring but was wondering if there was more

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    Registered User ahmandolin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Hey Mark,

    By letting open strings ring when you play musical passages you can get some interesting intervals to ring out. Play a G (5th fret of D string) and hold it down while letting the open A ring out. This creates an interval of a major second. It is a little dissonant and I would say beautiful. If you were playing the melody of a song you may play it once closed and a second time open to achieve a different sound without changing the notes.

    Using open strings in scales also lets you facilitate bigger position shifts. The best example I can think of at the moment is David Rawling's guitar playing. He often highlights two notes a major or minor second apart and lets them ring in his musical passages to add tension to his phrases.

    All and all it is just a concept. Hope this helps.

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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Doug,

    I just added tab to the video. This was in fact the way to go. Thanks for the feedback and the tab! I'll try to make a little study that shows similar phrases and how playing them in various ways changes the sound of the phrase and can add dissonance or a cascading effect.

    -Hendryx

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Iv7s1KXlvw&t=8s
    Last edited by ahmandolin; Aug-21-2018 at 12:24pm.

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    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    A year back I began training myself with a few tunes to hold notes as long as possible to allow for notes to ring longer on a string while fingering other strings, it brought about a fuller sound, but also an economy of finger movement, and I'm still practicing that on anything that doesn't require a pizzicatto effect. That's what intrigued me about the approach Andrew shows in this video. Watch it again with the thought of ringing intervals in mind (especially second intervals).
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    This scale method with the ringing 'second intervals' would have never occured to me. I usually use open thirds and fifths. So this sound does not seem useful. I suppose the type of music makes a big difference. And the chord of the tune, 'going into', or 'out of' probably is a big factor.
    Could you provide a musical example?
    I'll watch some David Rawling's guitar in the meantime, and see what I can learn.
    I'm sure it is quite effective but I have to hear it 'in context'.
    thanks
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Major second "ringing" in context, play the first note of St Anne's Reel using D note, 2nd string 5th fret and keep it ringing while playing E note 1st string open followed by F# note 1st string 2nd fret - and keep that D on 2nd string ringing until you get back to it in the melody.

    Other examples abound in the tunes I mentioned having started this work about a year ago, notably Father's Hall by Nancy Blake, Hollow Poplar by Norman Blake, Big Sciota and others. There are places where you can hold a note and allow it to ring while moving up the melody starting a 2nd up ...

    Likewise, when moving down a melody, allowing an open note in the melody to continue ringing while moving down the melody on the next string, beginning with a 2nd interval down.

    I'm sure Andrew may give you better examples, but I've been playing a lot of tunes like this, and could show a video example if my writing here is unclear.
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    I think the thing to see is that in Andrew's exercise, the held note (or open note, going down) when playing through a scale will be followed by a major or minor second depending where you cross strings in the scale, but that somewhat dissonant interval is quickly replaced by a third interval, then fourth, etc. and the ringing note is allowed to ring as long as possible. I suppose maybe it's a matter of taste as to whether one finds this useful.
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Yes and example would be helpful.
    It seems that a scale over a drone note is fairly common. I assumed that the root would be the note that usually gets to "ring".


    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Gunter View Post
    Major second "ringing" in context, play the first note of St Anne's Reel using D note, 2nd string 5th fret and keep it ringing while playing E note 1st string open followed by F# note 1st string 2nd fret - and keep that D on 2nd string ringing until you get back to it in the melody.

    Other examples abound in the tunes I mentioned having started this work about a year ago, notably Father's Hall by Nancy Blake, Hollow Poplar by Norman Blake, Big Sciota and others. There are places where you can hold a note and allow it to ring while moving up the melody starting a 2nd up ...

    Likewise, when moving down a melody, allowing an open note in the melody to continue ringing while moving down the melody on the next string, beginning with a 2nd interval down.

    I'm sure Andrew may give you better examples, but I've been playing a lot of tunes like this, and could show a video example if my writing here is unclear.
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    Oval holes are cool David Lewis's Avatar
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Interesting and well-presented. to develop this technique further, you might want to look at progressive banjo playing - Tony Trischka, Bill Keith, Bela Fleck, Noam Pikelny, Scott vestal... and many others. The banjo is of course tuned differently to the mandolin, but some of the scale and harmony techniques might give you further ideas.

    Congratulations on a worthwhile and excellent video.
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Yes and example would be helpful.
    OK, here's a quickie.

    This is the PDF:
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	FathersHall-G-NancyBlake.pdf 
Views:	103 
Size:	31.9 KB 
ID:	170386



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eze7C1xk-zQ

    Holding down a note as long as possible when crossing strings, allowing that note to ring, makes a subtle difference overall. The video gives some idea of what I'm aiming for in the first eight measures, but I've incorporated that approach throughout this and other tunes, and the benefits have been multiple: (1) fuller sound, (2) more economy in fingerings in melody playing, (3) more precision to note strings without deadening other strings.

    In this example, the first instance allows the root G to ring, but the second instance allows a D to ring while pedaling the E ... D being the fifth in Gm

    The Chord changes to Cmajor as you can see on the PDF, on the E note (D is still ringing) and the melody moves then from a ringing open E back to the D over a C chord.

    Granted, this is not exactly what's happening in Andrew's exercise, but perhaps shows why I think I might be able to get some mileage out of it, as this is the kind of stuff I'm looking to incorporate. Like you, I find that his concept is giving me some new perspective on the fretboard.
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Hey ya'll

    Cool discussion. I made a quick demo of how open strings and alternate fingering can change the sound of a phrase. In my experience it works well in ballads and less in barn burners.





    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyv-wq2nIaM

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  23. #18
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    Default Re: Two G Major Scale Open String Studies

    Thanks Andrew, subtleties like that can make a world of difference.

    (Correction to my own post - the tune Father's Hall is in the key of G, not Gm)
    Last edited by Mark Gunter; Aug-22-2018 at 10:34am.
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