Alex Hutchings: Minor Rock Fusion - The Bonus Licks Lick 01 JTC Says - With all of these licks, you'll find that Alex tends to use either Dorian or minor pentatonic as his "home" scales... that's simply the standard approach with minor 7 chords. We're playing over Fm7 here, here, so start with F Dorian (F G Ab Bb C D Eb) and F minor pentatonic (F Ab Bb C Eb). You'll also notice plenty of chromatic notes from outside the scales. Alex sometimes uses these to generate simple lines, like the end of measure 6, but he'll also create more complex patterns such as the second beat of measure 8 (t he notes go D-Db-C-D-Eb-C).
Lick 02 JTC Says - For this lick, Alex gives us a clean-tone funky chord figure in Bb minor. You could interpret these chords in different ways, but one way is to think of measure 1 as Fm9 over a Bb bass, and then measure two as Bbm9.
Lick 03 JTC Says - We're back to Dorian here, but this time in Bb (Bb C Db Eb F G Ab). Again, Alex uses chromatic notes... either to fill in between between scale notes, or to lead into scale notes from above or below (these are called "neighbour "neighbour notes"). A good example of the latter is the A note in measure 3, leading into the Bb root. Also note the series of diatonic arpeggios in measures 4 and 5. Alex plays through C minor, Db major, Eb major and F minor... all of these belong to the Bb Dorian scale.
Lick 04
JTC Says - The melodic material here is the same as Lick 3, but the emphasis here is on creating a smooth flow of notes, switching from straight 16th notes to sextuplets (from four notes per beat to six notes per beat). Note the different approaches in measures 1 and 2... the first ascending pattern is played with economy picking, but the descent and second ascent is played legato.
Lick 05
JTC Says - We now move to C# minor, where our home scales will be C# Dorian (C# D# E F# G# A# B) and C# minor pentatonic (C# E F# G# B). This lick is all about chromatic notes, so you might like to try looking carefully at the Tab and figuring out which notes are Dorian and which notes are chromatic additions. Alex uses chromatics in two ways here. In measures 2 and 3, he's mostly using chromatic neighbour notes, but in measure 8 he takes a pattern and moves it down in major 3rds. Symmetrical patterns are great for generating unexpected "outside" sounds. (this pattern works best in Alex's EADGCF tuning)
Improvisational Lick JTC Notes In this extended solo, Alex puts into practice some of the ideas we've seen in the shorter licks, but placing more emphasis on phrasing and melody... essential tools for making longer solos more interesting!
There's nothing too complex here; we're playing over a series of minor 7th chords, so our scales are primarily Dorian or minor pentatonic. Here's the set of scales you can use...
Gm7 Dorian: G A Bb C D E F Minor pentatonic: G Bb C D F
Bbm7 Dorian: Bb C Db Eb F G Ab Minor pentatonic: Bb Db Eb F Ab
Fm7 Dorian: F G Ab Bb C D Eb Minor pentatonic: F Ab Bb C Eb
Dbm7 Dorian: Db Eb Fb Gb Ab Bb Cb (you might prefer to interpret this as C# Dorian: C# D# E F# G# A# B) Minor pentatonic: Db Fb Gb Ab Cb (or C# E F# G# B)
Cm7 Dorian: C D Eb F G A Bb Minor pentatonic: C Eb F G Bb
The exception here is that tense B9b5 chord at the end of each sequence. sequence. At the very beginning, Alex ignores ignores this and starts with a G Dorian line. Then, in measures 16-17 he uses the half/whole diminished scale (B C D Eb F Gb Ab A), ending measure 18 with a G Dorian phrase in expectation of the chord change. He uses Mixolydian (B C# D# E F# G# A) in measure 34 and completely ignores the chord in measures 51-52.
Improvisation Lick
Improvisation Lick Continued
Improvisation Lick Continued
Improvisation Lick Continued
