Backwards and forwards on the guitar

simultaneously!

What do I mean by ‘The Zone’? It is that mental space that allows for serious motivated attention in which to pursue an interest. Seeing how the ‘Russian Method’ or at least a portion thereof, worked on the keyboard in finding that space when practicing to develop skill further. I decided to try and find it on the guitar using my invention, ‘The Sonique Spiderweb’ as an aid.

This way of playing scales is of course possible, however the guitar is unique in that some notes that sound identical can be fingered quite differently, that being said the principle is the same.

The idea is to move from a root pitch 3 octaves apart through the sequence of notes/intervals making up the scale. Instead of playing all the notes in a scale an octave apart simultaneously as is common on the piano keyboard, (now that I think about it, that would be a challenge on the guitar! which will be explored soon, thank you very much mind of mine). Back to topic. We move away from the root pitch by both ascending and descending through the intervals. An example in the A major scale can be seen here.

Here are the specifics in writing

So we begin 3 octaves apart with the A pitch.

Then moving away from the root up in pitch to the major 2nd a B note and down in pitch to the major 7th G#/Ab,

(it is possible to go in either direction with the intervals, higher or lower in pitch, current example shows one way)

Next we move up to the major 3rd C#/Db and down to the major 6th F#/Gb

Then up to the perfect 4th D and down to the perfect 5th E

Then up to the perfect 5th E and down to the perfect 4th D

(same notes different octaves!

as will be the case as we continue)

Now we move up to the major 6th F#/Gb and down to the major 3rd C#/Db

Then up to the major 7th G#/Ab and down to the major 2nd B

once again at an octave A note or pitch

Then inverting again we move down to a major 7th G#/Ab and up to a major 2nd B

Down to a major 6th F#/Gb and up to a major 3rd C#/Db

Then down to a perfect 5th E and up to a perfect 4th D

Followed by its opposite up to a perfect 5th E and down to a perfect 4th D

Then up to the major 6th F#/Gb and down to the major 3rd C#/Db

Then up to the major 7th G#/Ab and down to a major 2nd B

And voila we are back to the root A note and none the less worse for wear.

invigorating innovation

So we can see two ways to reference and relate to the scale, one by the note names, but also as importantly by the intervals or distances from the root. I have found a kind of mnemonic device to remember this. Octaves are obvious, 2nd and 7th begin with the same 2 letters, the 3rd and 6th intervals are divisible by 2, and 4th and 5ths are right next to each other.

So, while this can be a challenge if we haven’t done this before and that is kind of the point here. This can be a useful method for getting into the zone or put another way, a more involved mind set for practicing other concepts we would like to make progress with.

merci