Help me out here: fills?

Matt-White

I'm a rivvim player ... Please help dumb and dumber out guys.

Take a very, very simple verse progression in Am, for example: Am, G, F.
The scale I use will be the basic pentatonic.
Now, if I play fills over the progression (or want to solo on it), do I move 'with' the chords and play alternatively in the pentatonic box shape for Am, then G, then F?
Or: Do I keep all notes in the Am shape since it's the key of the piece? I currently do the latter, but I'm not sure if it's 'right'...

Renesongs

You stay in the the box shape at Am (5th fret) because Am G and F are all cords in the same key. Other chords in this key are Dm Em and C - I could give you some really fancy explanations but lets keep it simple for now ?

Heath

strangely enough i was going to ask the same question this morning ........

Satriani

Rene pretty much said it, but it really depends on how you want to sound. If you wanna sound like another million guitarists out there, then stay in Am pentatonic. If you want to be original. and get a couple of fills you would never have thought of going, then start learning scale construction, and how/when to use scales. Following chords in a progression always yields sweeter results, just takes time to learn which to use ?

NorioDS

I'm with Meir although I'm guilty of sticking with the one scale throughout the song, every time I've deviated and tried to follow the chords, I've found 2 things:

1. Amazing complementary licks that are absolutely delicious and really wake you up from a boring part of the song and...
2. Some stuff just DOESN'T go together and sounds horrible. Learning what & why is very important to making it all gel well together.

Marty Friedman has an awesome DVD on improvising and following the chords in the song. Quite advanced stuff but, I believe, the natural next step if you're already comfortable with improvising and can handle some theory.

Matt-White

Tx dudes!

Garth-S

If you can learn all the minor pentatonic box shapes, and each major key's relative minor, you are A for away. I think that that is the best starting point. That way you can follow the chords, or add some colour by using the different box shapes...

Matt-White

Garth S wrote: If you can learn all the minor pentatonic box shapes, and each major key's relative minor, you are A for away. I think that that is the best starting point. That way you can follow the chords, or add some colour by using the different box shapes...

Aha! I've got the box shapes down, because I started out as a blues freak. So now I need to cram the majors' relative minors into my head?

Renesongs

So now I need to cram the majors' relative minors into my head?

The Pinky rule. If you play the minor pentatonic (or blues scale) Your first note is the Minor key and your pinky is the major key e.g. First finger at A, A is minor 2nd note (pinky) is at C the relative major or first finger at B is minor 2nd note (pinky) is D the relative major ?

Lethe

Norio wrote: I'm with Meir although I'm guilty of sticking with the one scale throughout the song, every time I've deviated and tried to follow the chords, I've found 2 things:

1. Amazing complementary licks that are absolutely delicious and really wake you up from a boring part of the song and...
2. Some stuff just DOESN'T go together and sounds horrible. Learning what & why is very important to making it all gel well together.

Marty Friedman has an awesome DVD on improvising and following the chords in the song. Quite advanced stuff but, I believe, the natural next step if you're already comfortable with improvising and can handle some theory.

Hell yeah, Marty Friedman is super awesome. Sweet!

Satriani

Matt White wrote: Now, if I play fills over the progression (or want to solo on it), do I move 'with' the chords and play alternatively in the pentatonic box shape for Am, then G, then F?
Or: Do I keep all notes in the Am shape since it's the key of the piece?

First off, only stupid people never ask questions, so don't think your questions are dumb. To answer that particular question, you most certainly can move pentatonically within the chords and you will start to see the merits of moving with a chord progression rather than stagnating on the tonal centre all the time.

Once you get comfortable moving around pentatonically, try and use Major and Minor scales with the same thought process, and see what those extra 2 notes actually give you ?

Matt-White

Satriani wrote:
Matt White wrote: Now, if I play fills over the progression (or want to solo on it), do I move 'with' the chords and play alternatively in the pentatonic box shape for Am, then G, then F?
Or: Do I keep all notes in the Am shape since it's the key of the piece?
First off, only stupid people never ask questions, so don't think your questions are dumb. To answer that particular question, you most certainly can move pentatonically within the chords and you will start to see the merits of moving with a chord progression rather than stagnating on the tonal centre all the time.

Once you get comfortable moving around pentatonically, try and use Major and Minor scales with the same thought process, and see what those extra 2 notes actually give you ?

Tx man! I suspect I need to find something new, that's why I asked. And, as always, I'll just have to go and DO and practice it...