Interval Patterns

The guitar naturaly lends itself  to "shapes", chord shapes, scale shapes, arpeggio shapes. At first we set out to learn and memorise as many shapes as possible and certainly shapes do make memorisation of theory easier. How ever care must be taken to avoid the trap of  playing shapes and not hearing the notes they contain. I use this handout to help my students break free of  "shape thinking".

The first example deals with the 3rd, 1st, 5th and 7th of each chord. I recommend you study and play one bar at a time singing the intervals as you play them. I often focus on just the first bar by playing the D minor 7 chord while my student plays and sings, 3, 1, 5, 7. Only move to the next bar once this can be executed with confidence. 


This lesson handout focuses on playing over a ii-v7-i in C.  The next step is to take the same patterns through the cycle of fifths.When you feel comfortable with the execution of these patterns try applying them to the jazz standard All The Things You Are.

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