FordScales - What the heck is "FordScales?"

[GCAN]

Yeah RSI really sucks! I changed the approach to guitar completely because of it, nowadays I just try to rest more and keep hitting the gym, it helps a lot. Hope yours are under control

The open and closed patterns, that’s how I learnt the diatonic scale and the harmonic fields that follows… The chromatic approach sounded a AWESOME thing to work on, it probably will help in developing the use of chromaticism more often! Thanks a lot about it I will give it a try!
Any way this kind of visualization, at least to me, is more “organic”. Cause you can connect more easily the fretboard, and get a better feel about chords in different positions and using various strings. Those CAGEDs were natural at some point when I was improvising, cause sometimes I wanted to use a few patterns and to connect them “better” I started doing things like those CAGED shapes.

Kudos for the arranged phrase!

[RockStarJazzCat]

Well thank you, @GCAN! Such kind words!

With regard to injury, thankfully I’m rather comfortable when playing music or typing. It’s using scroll wheels on mice, texting, and such that break the ergonomics and hurt me when under stress at my day job. The world is getting kind of ridiculous in terms of day to day UX. Lot of devolution in design. But I’m not bitter.

GP 7.5 is a huge advance over GP 6 and comprises features that are used regularly in my charts. I recommend upgrading. The iOS version has caught up version-wise recently too.

I never related the FordScales open and closed patterns to open-position chords. I was living in a world of enharmonic voicings and drop-2’s at that time. Studying jazz with pianist/mentor/friend Eric Gunnison back then, I was fascinated with drop two voicings a la Bret Willmott’s Complete Book of Harmony Theory and Voicing, and the relationship of common guitar jazz voicings to what folks like Holdsworth were doing. But that shouldn’t stop others from referencing what works for them! “Organic” yes, and free-range.

Glad you find the FordScales Chromatic Approach compelling. Two string cells significantly reduces the overhead in mapping and remembering scale structures while working in multiple keys. Here is G major for example…

      E     F# G
A     B  C     D

So it’s useful for “chromaticism,” but moreso about bounding diatonic materials with some granularity. One learns major scale construction once, and the mappings are sort of like folded single string mappings.

Here are some more, Eb major and B major…

   Eb    F     G  Ab
   Bb    C     D

and

   D# E     F#    G#
   A# B     C#

Easier to find on two strings than to type in the forum for sure! Trying again, with numbers… Gmaj, Ebmaj, Bmaj

  . 6 . 7 R .
9 . 3 4 . 5


  R . 9 . 3 4
. 5 . 6 . 7


  3 4 . 5 . 6
. 7 R . 9 .

…the dots are placeholders for the six-note per string areas. They’re like a little musical möbius strip. Enjoy!

[AGTG]

“FordScales,” Open and Closed Patterns

4   5   6
1   2   3
5   6   7

and

2   3 4
6   7 1
3 4   5
7 1   2

The later system that answered my original observation is a six note per string chromatic approach using the note A (for a variety of reasons) as an anchor point. This affords me a pianistic view of the fretboard where the melodic patterns lay within the physical structure, but everything is within that structure, the chord tones, the scales… (It’s what I later learned Barry Harris would refer to as the “God” scale.)

“FordScales Chromatic Approach”

               Eb E  F  Gb G  Ab
            A  Bb B  C  Db D
         Eb E  F  Gb G  Ab
      A  Bb B  C  Db D
   Eb E  F  Gb G  Ab
A  Bb B  C  Db D

I understand the chromatic note pattern, which is very cool as it actually makes utilizing the fretboard once you know all the notes even easier (I’ve just started the process of memorizing all the notes).

But I don’t get the “open and closed patterns” above it. Could you explain what those numbers mean and how they can be utilized with the chromatic note pattern?

Wait, is it supposed to be the order of notes in the major scale and the corresponding finger/fret pattern?

[RockStarJazzCat]

@AGTG

I understand the chromatic note pattern, which is very cool as it actually makes utilizing the fretboard once you know all the notes even easier (I’ve just started the process of memorizing all the notes).

Well, shouldn’t take you very long now, huh?

Seriously though (and I was on my way out the door when I responded), memorize the six notes per string and wherever you are on the neck, should be pretty quick to identify the surrounding notes. Good luck and thanks for the kind words!

  Eb E F Gb G Ab
A Bb B C Db D

[RockStarJazzCat]

@AGTG

Wait, is it supposed to be the order of notes in the major scale and the corresponding finger/fret pattern?

Understanding a little theory is extremely helpful, no?

WWHWWWH

…major scale, whole steps and half steps.

(Again, was on my way out the door)

The structure of the major scale is commonly expressed a couple of different ways…

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (as a scale)

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 (in thirds)

I also wrote about “tetrachords” and listed a bunch of them, including the exotic ones, in solfege, on one of the recent ear training threads. Splitting the structures in half makes scales in general easier to memorize for their symmetry. e.g. WWH WWH is the same as WWHWWWH with the whole step in the middle implied.

If you have any questions after playing with it for awhile, let me know? The patterns and the chromatic approach are different beasts entirely. The former will help you play anywhere on the neck quickly, and the latter is handy for when you have a need to reduce overall complexity by introducing some framework for theoretical and practical exploration. Cheers and good luck, D

[RockStarJazzCat]

So the FordScales concept has its patterns, but it also comprises insights about, and research into, solfege, which I try to leverage as much as possible…

Aural skills, voice, and permutation study a la Bergonzi

Having brought up tetrachords, probably useful to list them… Diatonic Tetrachords do re mi fa - major do re me fa - minor do ra me fa - phrygian do re mi fi - lydian “Exotic” Tetrachords do ra mi fa - phrygian-major do re me fi - lydian-minor do ra mi fi - phrygian-lydian-major do ra me fi - phrygian-lydian-minor

[JakeEstner]

tagged on origin of the phrase - was something arbitrarily constructed/composed by me for the sake of the other discussion

[RockStarJazzCat]

For the adventurous, here are some blues scales, min and major versions…

    (b5)  5   .   .  b7   .
  R   .   .  b3   .   4


      Eb  E   .   .   G   .
  A   .   .   C   .   D


      .   5   .   6   .   .
  R   .   2 (b3)  3   .


      .   E   .   F#  .   .
  A   .   B   C   C#  .

All other blues scale patterns may be derived by rotating the notes through the cell.

    (b5)  5   .   .  b7   .
  R   .   .  b3   .   4

      4 (b5)  5   .   .  b7  
  .   R   .   .  b3   . 

      .   4 (b5)  5   .   .    
 b7   .   R   .   .  b3    

etc.

[RockStarJazzCat]

@JakeEstner

tagged on origin of the phrase - was something arbitrarily constructed/composed by me for the sake of the other discussion

@GCAN, there’s the origin. @JakeEstner’s mighty talented and a nice guy too.

[RockStarJazzCat]

Borrowing a subject from the “Fretboard Visualization” thread, and @patternblue…

Fretboard Visualization Methods

And this Japanese scale I like called “In Sen” (1, b2, 4, 5, b7):

So yeah, within the chromatic system, given a root note and the structure of the “In Sen,” I immediately have 12 patterns in mind for the same, because musically, it’s all one pattern. And, those twelve patterns each fit on two strings.

For example, here is the pattern @patternblue expressed on the Fretboard Visualization thread, expressed in the key of C, within the FordScales chromatic…

1 b2 4 5 b7  (Insen)

Expressed on root C…

    .  .  F   .  G  .    
.  Bb  .  C  Db  . 

And similar to as illustrated by @patternblue on the other thread…

F Insen…

  b7  .  1 b2  .  .
.  4  .  5  .  .

Gb Insen…

   . b7  .  1 b2  .
.  .  4  .  5  .

G Insen…

   .  . b7  .  1 b2
.  .  .  4  .  5

There is obviously a lot more repetition of similarity with the pentatonics as one rotates them around the chromatic cell. Here is one more, wrapped to Ab…

Ab Insen Scale

    5  .  . b7  .  1
b2  .  .  .  4  .  

Don’t know if any of that is interesting, but it took me many a mile in its general application.

[RockStarJazzCat]

Fwiw, despite “unsupported file type” message, the link for the Confirmation FordScales arrangement seems to work, but one’ll need to “open in…” gp7.x.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4365jimLkwTNG5nVDB6bjV6ZjVsZUhTNXpacVc3U2MyS1JZ

Let me know if there is some other problem?

Not quite ready to pay SoundSlice to host premium content constructed in a different app. They let you post publicly for the world for free, but not with any control of origin domains and visibility. Five dollars a month for that!

[RockStarJazzCat]

So enough whining about tools for now, here is how the key of C major/A minor lays on the fretboard starting on the fifth fret, sixth string, FordScales Chromatic position…

                  .  E  F  .  G  . 
               A  .  B  C  .  D
         .  E  F  .  G  . 
      A  .  B  C  .  D
   .  E  F  .  G  . 
A  .  B  C  .  D

And for comparison and contrast, here is C (ascending) melodic minor/B altered…

                  Eb .  F  .  G  . 
               A  .  B  C  .  D
         Eb .  F  .  G  . 
      A  .  B  C  .  D
   Eb .  F  .  G  . 
A  .  B  C  .  D

And C harmonic minor…

                  Eb .  F  .  G  Ab
               .  .  B  C  .  D
         Eb .  F  .  G  Ab
      .  .  B  C  .  D
   Eb .  F  .  G  Ab
.  .  B  C  .  D

Happy Labor Day weekend to folks here in the states. Pleasant Sunday to all!

[RockStarJazzCat]

But I don’t get the “open and closed patterns” above it. Could you explain what those numbers mean and how they can be utilized with the chromatic note pattern?

Hey there @AGTG, I think I answered your latter question, but not the first.

The FordScales Open/Closed patterns are moveable, and intersect with the FordScales Chromatic pattern, and themselves.

The open and closed refer to the general spread of the hand while playing, the closed pattern occupying four frets (at least referencing diatonic major), and the open pattern occupies five (again referencing major).

The Berklee positions I originally learned are based around stretching from the pinky or from the index finger to reach notes outside of the boxes. The ring and middle are thought to stay together in their diagrams… That led to exploration of wider voicings more akin to what I perceived my primary music hero, Allan Holdsworth, doing in performance. The moveable FordScales Open/Closed patterns have some of the advantages of three note per string playing, and one may find utility in being able to identify a handy pattern anywhere they happen to be on the neck.

The FordScales Open/Closed Patterns don’t imply any particular fingering per se, just general open and closed hand moments. Sliding, bending, stretching… All of the guitarisms we enjoy are viable within the frameworks.

Here is an example of the open pattern joining with itself. One may see why I moved on to other visualizations after playing with them for awhile. I think @patternblue did too albeit perhaps more akin to Goodrick’s “Moveable Mini Positions” from The Advancing Guitarist?

      4     5     6
      1     2     3
4     5     6     7
1     2     3
5     6     7

And lets say one needed to play a whole-step up with a chord change, one may find a pattern within reach quickly, the O’s represent the pattern immediately above, with the pattern for the change overlaying it with X’s. The O’s in parenthesis represent tones not present after the change.

    X (O) X  X     O
    X (O) X  X     O
(O) X  X     X     O
(O) X  X     X    
 O     O     O

Folks have found it all very powerful, but please be careful and prefer slides and position shifts to stretches if one is not used to playing in the wider stretch realm. If one is playing scales up and down, there may be more hand friendly, perhaps easier, ways. On the other hand, if one is improvising melodies on the fly the patterns become more—please excuse the pun—handy.

[RockStarJazzCat]

Since I brought it up in @tommo’s thread on ascending…

                  .  E  .  F# .  G# 
               A  .  B  .  C# D 
         .  E  .  F# .  G# 
      A  .  B  .  C# D
   .  E  .  F# .  G# 
A  .  B  .  C# D

…FordScales Chromatic Approach, A Major. Starting in 5th position, ending on the first string 16th fret.

[RockStarJazzCat]

Since I brought it up in @tommo’s thread on ascending…

                  .  E  .  F# .  G# 
               A  .  B  .  C# D 
         .  E  .  F# .  G# 
      A  .  B  .  C# D
   .  E  .  F# .  G# 
A  .  B  .  C# D

…FordScales Chromatic Approach, A Major. Starting in 5th position, ending on the first string 16th fret.

…which of course, is enharmonically equivalent to, D Lydian, and the five other remaining related modes of the A Major scale.

Patternwise, take the major scale by the same name and raise the fourth to derive the Lydian mode in parallel. In terms of the 12 notes of the FordScales Chromatic Approach, the musical structure for Lydian may start on any tone, and wraps around as necessary, but is always the same.

The physical shapes the scale makes on the fretboard within each key and the virtual bounds of the 6nps chromatic scale are relatively memorable, and consistent through the octaves.

Happy Friday all!

[RockStarJazzCat]

For @BullseyeBrewtality, with regard to Zakk Wylde playing in two keys A Minor and F Minor:

I’ve posted the FordScales Chromatic A Minor pattern before. Here goes again. Bear in mind that the A I’m starting on is at the fifth fret on the low E string. Also I’ve graphically illustrated the shift between the G and B strings.

A Natural Minor 

                  .  E  F  .  G  . 
               A  .  B  C  .  D
         .  E  F  .  G  . 
      A  .  B  C  .  D
   .  E  F  .  G  . 
A  .  B  C  .  D


F Natural Minor

                  Eb .  F  .  G  Ab 
               .  Bb .  C  Db .
         Eb .  F  .  G  Ab 
      .  Bb .  C  Db .
   Eb .  F  .  G  Ab 
.  Bb .  C  Db .

The other “positions” may be found by starting the chromatic scale reference point from a different starting “A” note.

Two keys, two patterns, but really, it’s just one melodic pattern laying differently within an arbitrarily located chromatic scale (starting on A alternating with Eb, six chromatic notes per string).

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Peace out,
Daniel

[RockStarJazzCat]

*Re “warp refraction principle,” Wikipedia article mentions Finn’s book in 1999, but he was writing about it in the Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine in at least January 1996.

[carranoj25]

Just started reading about FordScales today on this thread, maybe im just mentally exhausted, but is this the correct thread to start on? Not really sure Im understanding the concept

[kgk]

Your Ford Scale system looks cool, but I am not well read in music like you are, so I just do things from first principle. You already know this, but if one just takes a guitar and tunes it in 4ths, and then uses “relative do” (1=root, 2=second, etc.), then there are very simple repeated patterns, where you definitely show many of them. I actually tune in 4ths because I am not smart enough to memorize more than one scale or deal with the B string, I need translational invariance . I have to sacrifice certain things—for example, no bar chords (as I can’t finger them!)—but I can’t do that anyway, as it sounds terrible on my amp given my distortion and effects. (Indeed, I rarely play more than 4 notes per chord, so 4ths work well for me.) I navigate with many tricks, but the orange boxes are probably the most important.

I’m looking forward to learning more about your system, it might have things that I can use to help me navigate even faster! (The diagram has the thickest string on the bottom, and the thinnest string on the top; I might have drawn it upside-down from standard practice, I’m not very well read and don’t know what the usual convention is. The nut is to the left, the bridge is to the right.)

[RockStarJazzCat]

@carranoj25, thanks for your interest. As I’d not really released much about the system until I shared on the CTC site, yes, this is as good a starting point as any.

Some things that FordScales II in particular can help with include learning the notes on the neck extremely quickly, and it can significantly reduce complexity in sight-reading. If one has run up against the frustration of reading through a Charlie Parker transcription while making fingering decisions on the guitar, FordScales II may help, as it’s helped me.

FordScales I is more helpful to others than it ultimately has been for me; the two patterns of FordScales I were kind of an answer to others that had presented three or more patterns. Depending on what you are looking for, either system might be of interest.

Happy to answer specific questions.