The secret is to judiciously select tones that rub the chord of the moment in satisfying ways. You need to absorb melodies that exist within the scale, Robben advises, so your ears start to hear music. Like most scales, the HW sounds pretty grim played as an ascend. Play it a few times to get the scales sound in your ear. 2 shows a useful two-octave fingering to get you started. Youre not just following your fingers.Įx. This approach can be limit- ing in terms of speed, but it frees you up melodically. There are dozens of HW fingerings and patterns, but no sweat, says Robben, you dont have to memorize them all: I dont lock myself into any particular fingering. These tones are particularly effective played over dominant-7th chords. It puts hops classic altered notes-i9, #9, and #lI-at your fingertips. Used skillfully, the HW makes a terrific sub for the good ol pentatonic blues scale. The major scale and its respective modes offer only seven notes: the half-whole (HW) scale is an eight-note deal. The scale is constructed from strictly alternating half- and whole-steps.

If theres such a thing as a magic bebop bullet, this is it. To master the fretboard, you need to practice your favorite lines in various positions and across different string groups. Furthermore, the F&F# interplay is ear-grabbing. 5: When the change goes to FS-the IV7-Robbens not afraid to hit E.Yeah, it falls outside the scale, but it makes complete harmonic sense. At times, however, blues harmony demands the l-l4 in an otherwise HW passage. Tuning in Once you tune into the HW sound, the 4-Fh in the key of Ccan sound rather lame against the 17 chord-in this case, C7.

I made up a couple of licks and realized here was the sound I was looking for. I asked him, Whats all that out shit you play? And he said, Most of it is based on the half-whole scale. We opened for Larry Coryell for a week at the Ash Grove in L.A. Up to then, Id been using real standard 7th- and Sth-chord voicings and blues scales. I was about 18, Robben recalls, playing with Charlie Musselwhite. Youre not Blues just following your fingers.

Robben ford revelation chords