mpaq
Canfield, Ontario, Canada
Im taking another dive through the Slow Blues Supplement course, and before I spend too much time practicing what might be potentially bad habits, I thought I'd run it by you all to get your opinions on the best approach...I know enough about Griffs style to know that if he teaches something a certain way there must be a good reason for it, even though it may initially seem less intuitive than other approaches, given the fact that there are so many ways to look at the fretboard.
(As an aside, for those of you that are discouraged by this concept my advice is to keep at it because the light bulb moment happens when you can pivot off the root notes without thinking about boxes).
When mixing the sounds, lesson 4 advocates picking a root to work with, and pair of boxes to give the major and minor sounds in EITHER the left or right facing patterns......this means overlaying different box shapes in the same place but emphasizing the same root note. For example with a 5th string root you could choose to play the right facing minor box 4 and then stay in the same place but play a different box for major...in this case that would be box 5 for the right facing pattern. This overlay requires a little mental gymnastics to get your head around in that instant you need to switch. However....
If you look at the chart on pg 38 it shows you that the minor right facing boxes correspond to the major left facing boxes and if you change your finger on the root you can pivot off that root in the either direction. You will get the same results (major and minor sounds) but with this method you only have to know one shape for both sounds.
So assuming you've decided to stay with the right facing minor boxes ( to keep it simple) it comes down to this (on a 5th string root) .... A) you can use box 4 minor right and change to box 5 in the same direction (overlayed) OR B) use box 4 minor right, and when you get back to your root, change your finger and go left with the SAME pattern or box for the major sound.
Option A is how Griff teaches it, but option B seems a lot more intuitive to me and efficient in the sense that you're forgetting about boxes and learning to pivot off the roots. You still have to know which minor right facing boxes to use on each string root, but once you know that you don't have to complicate things by memorizing which major boxes to use with which minor (ie 1&2, 4&5,2&3, 5&1,3&4 for the minor and major sounds respectively). You just use the same box pattern but in the opposite direction off the root.
So I choose option B for my practice regimen.....is there a disadvantage to this approach ?...is it just a matter of different strokes for different folks or is there a good reason that you would want to use the overlay method? Mix in the other variables (string, left facing minors) and theres a lot more to memorize....
(As an aside, for those of you that are discouraged by this concept my advice is to keep at it because the light bulb moment happens when you can pivot off the root notes without thinking about boxes).
When mixing the sounds, lesson 4 advocates picking a root to work with, and pair of boxes to give the major and minor sounds in EITHER the left or right facing patterns......this means overlaying different box shapes in the same place but emphasizing the same root note. For example with a 5th string root you could choose to play the right facing minor box 4 and then stay in the same place but play a different box for major...in this case that would be box 5 for the right facing pattern. This overlay requires a little mental gymnastics to get your head around in that instant you need to switch. However....
If you look at the chart on pg 38 it shows you that the minor right facing boxes correspond to the major left facing boxes and if you change your finger on the root you can pivot off that root in the either direction. You will get the same results (major and minor sounds) but with this method you only have to know one shape for both sounds.
So assuming you've decided to stay with the right facing minor boxes ( to keep it simple) it comes down to this (on a 5th string root) .... A) you can use box 4 minor right and change to box 5 in the same direction (overlayed) OR B) use box 4 minor right, and when you get back to your root, change your finger and go left with the SAME pattern or box for the major sound.
Option A is how Griff teaches it, but option B seems a lot more intuitive to me and efficient in the sense that you're forgetting about boxes and learning to pivot off the roots. You still have to know which minor right facing boxes to use on each string root, but once you know that you don't have to complicate things by memorizing which major boxes to use with which minor (ie 1&2, 4&5,2&3, 5&1,3&4 for the minor and major sounds respectively). You just use the same box pattern but in the opposite direction off the root.
So I choose option B for my practice regimen.....is there a disadvantage to this approach ?...is it just a matter of different strokes for different folks or is there a good reason that you would want to use the overlay method? Mix in the other variables (string, left facing minors) and theres a lot more to memorize....
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