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To help myself learn to use scales over chord changes I use computer animations or slide shows in a word processor. They will play image scale charts over and over for you. With this ability you can place scale charts for different chords in the order you want them and learn to change scales as the chords change. It is some of the best practice I've ever devised.

I set up Band In A Box or some similar program to play the changes over and over. Following the charts on paper worked but the computer really made the difference. I've created Quicktime Movies that you can download that shows this in action. I have them in both Mac & PC versions. The Mac versions are Stuffed and the PC versions are Zipped. Mac users need Stuffit & Pc users need ZipIt. These movies are stand-alone applications that you can play right at your computer once you've downloaded them.

Download Movie

C6th Movie for Mac (590k)
Universal S-12 Movie for Mac (614k)
C6th Movie for PC (587k)
Universal S-12 Movie for PC (618k)

What makes this really happen is the fact that I can study each pedal or combination of pedals as a new tuning. If I lower my E's (4 & 8) on a Universal I can think of that as an entire new tuning. The charts allow me to freeze that picture and play from there. Let's look at the charts of the Universal tuning. 

This is the pedal set up for the Universal.

  • K1 is RKR
  • K2 is RKL

    The chord progression we are studying is: 

    Ami	Ami	Ami	Ami
Bm7b5	Bm7b5	Bm7b5	Bm7b5
E7b9	E7b9	E7b9	E7b9
Ami	Ami	Ami	Ami

    first chart

    We use this over the A minor chord. It is the Aeolian mode. Notice that we have K1 (flats 4 & 8 half) engaged. We can study this pattern and find places to solo. This not only shows you pockets but the entire fretboard.

    The light blue shows you where to find the Ami chord.


    second chart

    Over the Bm7b5 I picked the diminished whole tone scale. Notice that P5 & K1 are both engaged. Once again you can see what happens to the entire fretboard when these two pedals are pushed.

    The yellow shows you where to find the Bm7b5 chord.


    third chart

    Over the E7b9 I chose a Harmonic Major #3 scale. It is the mode that is created from the Harmonic Major scale starting on the 3rd tone. Any scale can be studied as a mode. They create their own family of scales. For more on scales see that section.

    The dark blue is where you find the E7b9 chord.


    animation chart

    This is an animation using the three previous images. You can see how the music changes when you changes chords or pedal combinations.

    Want to see the C6th version of this study?? C6th version