"Road Signs"

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Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion

Excerpt: Hi Guys! Welcome to the tutorial! This time around we'll be breaking down the meoldy from my tune "Road Signs". Proceed to the following videos and we will begin the learning!

Media Length: 0:59

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Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion

Excerpt: So I thought I'd fill you guys in a little bit on the back story of this tune. The thought process behind it was inspired specifically by three different players and two specific tunes. I originally came up with the beginning of the melody after seeing a lesson from Scott Henderson. In the lesson, he spoke about using stacked 5ths, in turn creating a chord...

Media Length: 1:24

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Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion

Excerpt: We'll start off the breakdown by discussing the first two bars of this melody. It starts off with the stacked 5th idea that originally took from Scott Henderson. This first part is outlining an Amin11 chord. You can see this in the first 6 notes. The notes are played in this order: 1 - 5 - 9 - b3 - b7 - 11   OR   A - E - B - C - G - D  As yo...

Media Length: 3:43

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Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion

Excerpt: Now we will move onto the next two bars of the main melody. Here we are outling a Dmin7 chord with some added extensions. I'm starting with the same type of stacked 5ths idea that leads into further arpeggiations. At this point we've learned half of the main melody. On to the next video!

Media Length: 2:21

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Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion

Excerpt: At this point we are at what sounds like a repeat but actually it is a variation on the main idea. What I've done is added an odd time signature of 3/4 to the first half and then changed the melody slightly on the second half. The main thing to notice is the bar of 3/4. This will appear at the 3rd measure.

Media Length: 2:50

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Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion

Excerpt: Now we'll move on to what I guess you could call the B section of this tune. It's a simllar idea, seeing that there are still the continuous 8th notes happening during the melody, but now we'll modulate to the key of Bb Lydian. The first run outlines an Am chord and then it moves into the Bb Lydian idea. After that you'll hear the Melodic Minor come into ...

Media Length: 4:25

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Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion

Excerpt: The final runs are the funnest part! We'll start of with a triplet run through the Dm7b5 arpeggio.  After that, moving onto an F dorian run and finally leading into an E augmented run that emphasises the E7 alt chord that is taking place.  Keep in mind that the very last lick can be improvised in any manner that you would like. I've included the...

Media Length: 5:01

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Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion

Excerpt: And here we have the full backing track. Hope you enjoy! Full tab below.

Media Length: 0:57