10 Ways to Resolve Tension

artyman

Fareham UK
Stress is the mind overcoming the bodies natural desire to knock the daylights out of some prat that desperately needs it!  ;D
 

Griff

Vice Assistant General Manager
Staff member
So... I've never met Oz Noy, but I have friends in the area who are friends with him and they hang out when he's in town.

I've listened to a lot of his music over the years and it is definitely... not for everyone.

And if you listen to it, tension is his middle name and "resolving" the tension doesn't ever seem all that high on his list of priorities ;)

But aside from all that... are you all really interested in learning how to make these outside sounds? I love this stuff and I'd be happy to teach it, but I really didn't think too many folks were interested.
 

Shodai

Blues Junior
Griff,

Tension in music is inevitable, be it mild or extreme. Even in the blues. Tension gives texture to music, makes it interesting, and evokes emotions in people.

Resolution allows a release of that tension, leaving the listener satisfied that the passage is complete.

I don't think we need to get into the extreme aspects of tension and resolution, but perhaps an explaination and demonstration of the concept from one of the best instructors that I've ever seen might be helpful.

Let's face it, you have a special gift of taking complex issues and making them understandable to the average guy.

For what it's worth.
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
IMO, there is a big gray area where jazzy sounding blues transitions to bluesy sounding jazz.
Depending on the particular tune, chord progression, and situation, there are times when sticking strictly to the minor pentatonic scale is absolutely the right thing to do, and times when mixed minor and major sounds is appropriate and sounds great. Then there are times and chord progressions when altered chord tones, or almost anything goes, although not every blues fan's ears might agree with that!
Personally, I get bored with strict adherence to the pentatonic scale, especially in extended length blues jams. It takes a really good player with a big vocabulary to keep that sounding fresh for a long period of time - but that's what we strive for, right?
I like my ears to be challenged at least a little bit. I liked some of those examples.
Tom
 

vashondan

Blues Doobie
So... I've never met Oz Noy, but I have friends in the area who are friends with him and they hang out when he's in town.

I've listened to a lot of his music over the years and it is definitely... not for everyone.

And if you listen to it, tension is his middle name and "resolving" the tension doesn't ever seem all that high on his list of priorities ;)

But aside from all that... are you all really interested in learning how to make these outside sounds? I love this stuff and I'd be happy to teach it, but I really didn't think too many folks were interested.

yep
 

KevinS

Blues Newbie
For the sake of the examples in his article, I think Oz did a pretty good job of coming back "inside"
to a more familiar place and resolving that "outside" tension.  As Griff said, it's not quite as obvious
in his real playing.  I do like those "outside" excursions and would be interested in Griff's take on some
of those sounds and how/where to use them.
 

HotLks

Blues - it's in me and it's got to come out.
I read the article and listened to all the sound clips.  My impression is that he really likes to stretch the envelope with tension.  Some of it was OK and some was not interesting to me.  I thought that if I look at the patterns for the different modes, I could manage the tensions in the context of those scales.  In the end I said to myself that I'm not really interested in leaving my laser focus on blues styles and patterns.  I'll address the issues of resolving tension in some of the other modes when I get to them.  And I will certainly get to them if I want to play any of Roy Buchanan's stuff.

See you down the road [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
 

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
So... I've never met Oz Noy, but I have friends in the area who are friends with him and they hang out when he's in town.

I've listened to a lot of his music over the years and it is definitely... not for everyone.

And if you listen to it, tension is his middle name and "resolving" the tension doesn't ever seem all that high on his list of priorities ;)

But aside from all that... [glow=yellow,2,300]are you all really interested in learning how to make these outside sounds?[/glow] I love this stuff and I'd be happy to teach it, but I really didn't think too many folks were interested.

So I listened to all 10 examples.  Just reminds me of that A Tonal junk my brother wrote his symphony for his PHD from U C Berkeley.  Sure I went to his works with various groups in the City mostly performed at art museums.  I enjoyed the art much better that the music.  That says a lot cuz my idea of decorating a room with art is putting a guitar on a stand in the corner.....

I'm sorry, this tension stuff has it's place.  It's NOT what I am interested in learning - not today.  It sounds like it doesn't know if it's jazz or blues so it just sounds like wrong notes are sprinkled all over the composition.  I'm not saying I won't listen to it a little bit in the future.  It does mean I'm not going out of my way to hear it.  It's just not authentic Blues music...... I'm interested in Blues.  Not hybrid Blues.  It's just my opinion.
 
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