I'm going over Jeff Newman's excellent Up From The Top course but there's a part of the F lever video where he teaches harmonised major scales which puzzles me a little. When the scale (or phrase you derive from it) ascends Jeff uses the A pedal+F*lever, but when descending he substitutes the D*lever to get the same notes 2 frets up.
Ascending scale in E:
1_______________________________________________________
2_______________________________________________________
3_______________________________________________________
4_______________________________________________________
5___3A___5A___7A___8A___10A___12A___14A___15A_____
6______________B________________B_____B_______________
7_______________________________________________________ 8___3F___5_____7____8F___10F____12____14____ 15F_____
9_______________________________________________________
10______________________________________________________
Descending scale in E:
1_______________________________________________________
2_______________________________________________________
3_______________________________________________________
4_______________________________________________________
5___17___14A___12A___12____10____7A___5A____5______
6__________B_____B________________B____________________
7_______________________________________________________ 8___17D__14____12____12D___10D___7____5____5D_____
9_______________________________________________________
10______________________________________________________
His reasoning is that he's observed many pro players play descending licks with the D lever and ascending licks with the A/F combination. Not a hard and fast rule, but in general.
I'm curious to know if this is true for players on the forum and if so, how does it benefit you, the notes in both scales being the same? If you learned this method from Newman's course did you stick with it? Is there another explanation for why this is a good idea? (Jeff says "it's just easier" which it isn't!).
This is a great course for newbies, it's got me to where I can start jamming along to songs in different keys and I can certainly see the advantage of getting your left knee moving like this. My brain hasn't really got a hold of why the D lever (2 frets up) makes a good substitute for the A pedal/F lever when the notes are identical, and why this should be linked to left or right direction of play across the frets.
*F lever= E-F raise
*D lever= E-Eb lower[This message was edited by Jonathan Shacklock on 21 June 2006 at 12:17 PM.]
[This message was edited by Jonathan Shacklock on 21 June 2006 at 12:18 PM.]
[This message was edited by Jonathan Shacklock on 21 June 2006 at 12:19 PM.]
