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Advanced Modern Rock Guitar Improvisation


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I was following a thread here, and saw a post by JonFinn. His sig had a link to information about a book he wrote, titled "Advanced Modern Rock Guitar Improvisation". I bought it and it arrived today.

 

I've only spent about an hour with it and the accompanying DVD, and I felt compelled to post that in that short time it gave me a genuine "A-ha!" moment. The concept is simple, and when I heard the beginnings of it I thought (as I suppose many others have) "oh, I know that". But as soon as the concept is taken one step further, it's light-bulb-city.

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Hey thanks you guys! That book was vry much a labor of love for me. Th hardest part was figuring out where to start and where to stop. It took me almost 10 years to write it.

 

I have only one suggestion. Work all the way through the book, beginning to end, then go through it all a second and third time. Play every example and think about how the example relates to the written text.

 

The second and third time around, the information you got in the later chapters will make you re-think the earlier chapters.

 

Good luck, and may you always cross the Warp Refraction Threshold safely!

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I was thinking about the Warp Refraction Principle, and the issue with the 3rd string. If you tuned the guitar so that all of the strings were perfect fourths, what would that tuning be called?

 

Tuning that way would mangle all of the chord shapes that we're familiar with, and I'm not sure barre chords would work at all.

 

But would the lead shapes be significantly easier? Using the technique in the book, I see they're already simpler than I had always thought. But what if it was just that one bit easier to visualize? I suppose if the trade-off was worth it we'd have heard more about it by now.

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I'm anxiously awaiting my copy of this book.

 

In fact I ordered all four of Jon's books about a month and a half ago, and they all came in back ordered from the distributor except One Guitar Many Styles, which I just received.

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A bass is still tuned with fifths. Cellos, violins and violas are tuned to perfect fourths, so it would be like a six string violin.

 

 

I'm pretty sure you've got that exactly backwards. Celli, violas and violins are tuned in 5ths (from lowest to highest pitch), while the contra bass is tuned in 4ths (from lowest to highest pitch). Also, a bass guitar is tuned in 4ths, just like the lowest (pitch) four strings of a standard guitar.

 

cheers,

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No its not really just that at all.

 

More a systematic look at the logistics of how the fretboard is laid out. It is a very different and cool approach - least I thought so. It affected my approach and got into my playing even though I have a good grasp of the modes and all that too. Maybe not for everyone like anything but I would recommend it highly.

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I was thinking about the Warp Refraction Principle, and the issue with the 3rd string. If you tuned the guitar so that all of the strings were perfect fourths, what would that tuning be called?


Tuning that way would mangle all of the chord shapes that we're familiar with, and I'm not sure barre chords would work at all.


But would the lead shapes be significantly easier? Using the technique in the book, I see they're already simpler than I had always thought. But what if it was just that one bit easier to visualize? I suppose if the trade-off was worth it we'd have heard more about it by now.

 

 

You just hit the nail on the head. It's exactly why I wrote the book! When I hit that "brick wall" I spent years banging away with no progress. Finally I decided to start over as if I knew nothing. I think that major 3rd interval exists to give us the Hi and lo E strings (to make barre chords easier). In fact, Stanley Jordan (two-handed tapping guy) tunes his guitar in 4ths: E, A, D, G, C, F for exactly that reason. He never plays open strings, or barre chords so he has no need.

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No its not really just that at all.


More a systematic look at the logistics of how the fretboard is laid out. It is a very different and cool approach - least I thought so. It affected my approach and got into my playing even though I have a good grasp of the modes and all that too. Maybe not for everyone like anything but I would recommend it highly.

 

 

He's right. At first glance it looks like a bunch of easy to play modal stuff. I've heard that comment many times. When putting it together, I wanted the examples to be easy to play so that the reader kept his/her focus on the idea being presented. The examples (if you PLAY them, not just look at the pictures.....) try to demonstrate the idea being put to use. It was written on multiple leves: 1) For the intermediate player looking to go to the next level. 2) The pro that's looking for a different approach to what they already know.

 

After I finished writing it I thought, "I could spend the rest of my life exploring all the possibilities. What did I get myself into?"

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Silly question for Jon: Tell us more about the Ibanez on the cover. Was/is this your favorite guitar? Who gets to decide what goes on the cover of a book?

 

 

That's an Ibanez S-Classic. an S-series guitar w/a hard tailpiece and a 3/3 headstock. I have a custom made one w/ a Wilkinson tailpiece and HSH pickup setup w/ Seymour Duncans. That guitar is kinda hard to play, but it's tone is amazing.

 

I sent a picture of the S-Classic over to the folks at Mel Bay, but they designed the cover.

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That's an Ibanez S-Classic. an S-series guitar w/a hard tailpiece and a 3/3 headstock. I have a custom made one w/ a Wilkinson tailpiece and HSH pickup setup w/ Seymour Duncans. That guitar is kinda hard to play, but it's tone is amazing.


I sent a picture of the S-Classic over to the folks at Mel Bay, but they designed the cover.

 

 

Why is the one with the wilky harder to play than the other one? Is the action the same?

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Why is the one with the wilky harder to play than the other one? Is the action the same?

 

 

I'm not sure why it's harder to play. It just is. It's probably a combination of things. I asked them to make a neck that's thicker and wider than normal. All the decisions about design were about tone. When I do a set-up, I favor tone and intonation over ease of playing.

 

The Wilkinson seems to have no effect on ease of playing either way.

 

To be honest, the guitar could use a full-on overhaul but I don't wanna be without it for any length of time. Probably it will just fail completely at some point then I'll do something about it.

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