Expand your blues repertoire with this lesson on how to play Greg Koch’s Mean Streak
Many several years back, I experienced a band called Greg Koch and Tone Controls, and in 1993 we released our to start with album, eponymously named. The audio that we played was mostly blues-based mostly, but we frequently tried out to thrust the ball down the discipline a very little bit by incorporating some unpredicted chord adjustments and harmonic equipment. A very good case in point is the track Mean Streak, which will be the target of this lesson.
Mean Streak is a funk shuffle in the critical of G that stays within the “blues changes” parameters, ahead of venturing into a a lot more strange and harmonically complicated turnaround, as demonstrated in Figure 1.
Throughout this two-bar phrase, I start out with E7#9#5, voiced with a broad extend that spans the 3rd-to-7th frets, adopted by A7#5 – D7#9 – Ab13. As you can see, a significant F notice resides at the best of these last three chords, serving as a common tone although the inherent harmony develops beneath it.
In Figure 2, I exhibit how this turnaround functions within the composition of the tune across the total 14-bar variety.
Pursuing the turnaround, the music settles into a shuffle groove that effectively moves from the I chord, G13 – which I embellish with a repeating chromatic ascent, from F13 to F#13 to G13 – to the IV chord, C9 (much more chromaticism involved by using the Db9 – C9 descent, as well as the Bb9 – B9 – C9 ascent). This is adopted by a return to F13 – F#13 – G13, and then a restatement of the turnaround.
Combining the shuffle groove with the eighth-take note syncopation and the chromatic accent of F – F# – G is something I picked up from the basic John Mayall tune Suspicions (Pt. 2), which I uncovered through a great compilation album, Seeking Back, that was produced in 1969.
Determine 3 illustrates a rhythm component alongside the traces of Suspicions (Pt 2), and Determine 4 signifies a very similar melodic line performed in excess of the simple groove.
I “funked up” the tactic listed here by increasing the essential dominant 7th chords to 13ths. When fretting these grips, I’ll generally hook my thumb over the top of the neck to fret the sixth-string root notes. If this unconventional method feels unpleasant or arduous, you can of course sort the chords in the standard way, with the index finger fretting all 6th-string roots.
There are, of system, quite a few distinct selections just one can choose when soloing above this turnaround, but just one tried-and-legitimate solution is to perform the E total-tone scale (E, F#, G#, Bb, C, D) above all of the chords
When soloing around the “bluesy” portion of the tune, I’ll typically count on common minor pentatonic-, blues scale- or Mixolydian-based phrases. Having said that, when soloing above the turnaround, the much more-intricate inherent harmony invitations a broader scope for be aware choices.
There are, of class, a lot of different possibilities a person can just take (which we will take a look at in depth in yet another column), but one particular tried out-and-legitimate strategy is to engage in the E complete-tone scale (E, F#, G#, Bb, C, D) around all of the chords.
Despite the fact that some of the notes may perhaps clash a little bit with unique chord tones throughout the development, I uncover that the ear “accepts” this twisted angle if you can devise efficient strategies to make it work. For me, there is virtually an limitless wide variety of methods to vacation as a result of total-tone thoughts, so I inspire you to check out out this multi-intent scale.
