"Knock On Wood" Backing Track For Everyone

[john]

right William. it will make more sense once we know the chordal notes that are making up the melody.
so, playing in D: F# E D is the same as playing B A G in the key of G.
(3, 2, 1) when we can think in numbers then we can transpose seamlessly.

[William Cingolani]

Right on Johnny. Thinking in numbers is the way to go. Gregorian mode (do re me fat sol la ti do), and then the chromatic scale, and then comes the numbers With the same tones and simi tones as the Chromatic scale and the Gregorian mode. So here we are with Kansas City in F#. Play the F$ scale. F# G# A# B NATURA C# D# E# F# Outline the CHORDS (F# A# C#); (B D# F#), (C# E# G#) and then play Kansas City with the numbers. Start out, “I’m going to Kansas City, Kansas City Here I come…….1# 3# 5# 8# 6# 5# 6#……8# 6# 8# 8# 8# 6# 5#…..

Well Going by the numbers makes a lot of sense.

[Michael]

@ William: Thinking about our scales in terms of numbers is…everything. If we see a song in D Major and the notes go something like E,G,F#,D–E,A,G,D,–E,B,A,D–E,C#,B,D—thinking in terms of numbers, we see a pattern in D major of 2,4,3,1–2,5,4,1–2,6,5,1,–2,7,6,1. Now using that pattern of numbers and transpose it to C Major; we have D,F,E,C–D,G,F,C–D,A,G,C–D,B,A,C. If we know our scales inside-and-out and think in terms of these numbers, we can transpose any song to any key much more easily v.s. thinking about them strictly as ‘notes’ if you get my meaning. Especially when playing with other players and the guitar player is talking to us about a lick/riff where he wants to really emphasize the 3rd and 7th in his riff and he’s playing in E Major on his guitar while I’m on the Alto, I automatically know that for me, E Major for my guitar player means C# for me on the Alto and the 3rd and 7th in C# Major would be E# and B#(there’s really no such thing as a B# on the piano keyboard, it’s a C Natural, how ‘crazy’ is that LOL). If I was on Tenor playing with him and he’s in E Major, that would mean F# Major for me and the 3rd and 7th of F# Major is A# and E#. Thinking in terms of this numbering system, which is based on the degrees of the scale itself, makes things so, so much easier 🙂 Without this numbering system….wow, things would get pretty crazy and there would be all kinds of confusion going on between the players on the band. At the very least, it help to save time and get to playing more without having to ‘waste’ it because we have to stop what we’re doing, pull out the music sheet, see what notes he’s talking about, etc.

[Anonymous]

Hi Michael, in the past posts like this used to make my head spin, but now that I have my table, I can follow and say, yes I see.

If anyone else wants a free copy just click on this link.

http://tangram.co.za/grid.pdf

[William Cingolani]

Right on Michael: One other thing that plays into my playing/practice is what I call kinesthetic memory playing. I wish I could do it better. E.g. I was blowing “The Green Grass of Home” in F#. I know it in the key of G and A. So I start it off like Tom Jones would sing it. Key of F#; 3#, 4 nat, 5 nat, 5#, 5#, 5#, 6# 5# – The old home town looks the same…. or A# B B# C# C# C# D# C#

After a few bars I let my kinesthetic memory take over and my fingers seem to hit the right note most of the time. Probably most musicians use that muscle memory thing. I suppose that’s playing it by ear.

[Michael]

@ Jeff–that chart is way more complicated than it need be; all this stuff we’re talking about is very straight forward and easy to understand. People wanna make things as good as they can and in the process of doing so they usually end up making it too complicated 🙂 I guess what I can do (seeing how I have to wait to finish complete my Oral Cavity therapy sessions anyway) is to make a few videos covering these very topics that are very simple, easy to follow and share them for members here on Johnny’s site. It’s much easier to understand this kind of music theory when we keep things simple, not over-analyze things, etc.. This kind of stuff being presented by folks in such a complicated way is probably what scares a lot of Sax players away from learning about it…and this stuff is REALLY important. Piano players know this stuff, guitar players know it, and we need to also and that’s the bottom line…I’m sure Johnny will whole-heartedly agree with what I’m saying too. You only need to take 1 look at his Major Scale course to see what I’m saying.
@ William–Cool stuff, we’re all different and there’s different things that work for each of us. Some of us learn better by sight, others by sound, etc.. Find what works for you and stick with it 🙂

[Anonymous]

@Jeff – Thanks for sharing the Grid.Pdf, i’m recently finding it a very useful reference for the current jazz work i’m workng on.

Don’t let negative comments put you off from sharing any other very useful stuff that you come up with or come across – keep sharing them on the forums.

Also It would be a shame to miss out on useful stuff that would benifit other members like myself because of a few negative comments.

Its like i said before – don’t expect to please everyone, some us are grateful for the time and effort taken.

[Michael]

Sxpoet: Nothing negative was meant in any way, shape or form…at all. Some of us get a lot of those charts and others don’t; we’re all different. Glad to know they help you…but you are right about one thing–it’s impossible to please everyone. I will tell you this much–after what I’ve been through this year and I do start uploading (which I do simply for fun) I will NOT put up with ANY negative comments that you have a history of directing towards me…I hope I’ve made myself clear on this matter.

[Anonymous]

Michael – i stopped making negative comnents. Can we start again, you used to be such a nice guy.

[Pete]

Hi Michael
I have to agree with what you are saying, lets keep it simple
and to the point when we are dealing with scales and intervals.
Good idea of yours to put out a video and simplify things
your theory of music is a lot better than mine at the moment,
so every idea helps.
Keep on blowing.

[Author]

Posts