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Learn How to Play Rock Music on Your Violin. Basic/Intermediate Level

Mariana Aulicino VOLUME I

rock Violin + Rock+Violin Learn How to Play Rock Music on Your Violin. Basic/Intermediate Level VOLUME I

Copyright © 2016 by Mariana Aulicino Design & Editing: Milagros Lacaze Published: 30th April 2016 www.rocktheviolin.com

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

table of content

INTRODUCTION

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OVERVIEW

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The Pentatonic Scale

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I. About the Pentatonic scale

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II. The Gm scale on the violin

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III. Long notes with the Gm scale. Exercises #1 & 2 IV. Speeding things up: bow strikes over the scale. Exercise #3 V. Digging deeper: the seven most used tones. Exercise #4

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Quiz

? Time to Rock! Repertoire: “Purple Haze” (Jimi Hendrix)

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Tips! & Cheat Sheet: A. 7 most used scales. B. Exercise #4: all tones. C. Quiz results.

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INTRODUCTION Many violinists had asked themselves if it’s possible to make a change in their careers, breaking away from the path of classical music – the one imposed to us by the choice of instrument. Classical music is not everyone’s passion, even if we tend to start from there; however, it shouldn’t be the only style that string instruments perform. Myself in particular, I discovered that rock music moved me – that was after long, tedious and frustrating years of formation and performing in the world of classical music. Rock music was what I wanted to listen to, play and write – in other words: to devote my life as a musician. After making that hard decision, I started asking myself the critical questions: how do I start playing rock on the violin? How do I break away from the “string virtuoso” stereotype? You know the kind: those who cover rock songs, but they do it without really separating themselves from that classical music background. How do you introduce the violin in a rock band as a lead instrument, and not just an arrangement in the background? I decided to start analyzing the great guitarists and their style of playing, the melodies performed by singers, and even groovy basslines. I understood that was the path to follow, and from there I could start the endless adventure of leading a rock band with my violin. After some time, and having talked to my violinist friends, I realized I’m not alone and that there are many others who are passionate about rock music. However, I noticed most of my colleagues don’t have the necessary tools to get started. This is why I decided to share what I’ve researched; and also, what I’ve learnt from the great guitar teachers I had through the first years of my adventure into the world of rock and roll. In this series of books, you'll learn different exercises to work on the pentatonic scale, the base of blues and rock music. You'll set your fingers and your mind free and improvise, like you never thought you could (even if you've never done anything but read sheet music). For information about violin gear, sheet music to download, technique tips ro rock out, and much more, please visit www.rocktheviolin.com

Mariana Aulicino

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overview Music is based on scales. Scales are basically a group of notes. To understand them better, we can look at a keyboard (as in piano, not a computer!). It’s very easy to work out how scales are formed. Let’s begin with the major scale. The easiest one is the C scale. It starts with the C, then the following notes are D, E, F, G, A, B, and C again. Looking at the piano’s keys, we can see that between C and D; D and E, there are black keys. However, there isn’t one between E and F; B and C. Why is that? Whole steps have an extra note in between. On other words: whole steps are two half steps together. The half step between C and D is C# (or Db): C-sharp, or D- flat. The same note has both names. In the same way, between D and E there’s D-sharp (D#) or E-flat (Eb); between F and G there’s F-sharp (F#) or G-flat (Gb); between G and A there’s G-sharp (G#) or A-flat (Ab); and, finally, between A and B there’s A-sharp (A#) or B-flat (Bb). The only two notes that have no half step in between are E and F; and B and C. This means that between them, there’s only a half step, not a whole step.

On the piano, this is easy to figure out. There’s a whole step between C and D, another one between D and E, and a half step between E and F, where there’s no black key in between. On the violin, when the fingers are next to each other, that’s a half step. If there’s a distance of two fingers, that’s a whole step.

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overview All major scales have the same structure: ! Tip whole step

whole step

half step

whole step

whole step

whole step

half step

Now we know how major scales are constructed. In the previous page, the example showed C major scale, which means it begins in the C note. What’s D major scale, for example? It’s simple: using the same structure (whole step - whole step - half step - whole step - whole step - whole step half step) we begin in D. This time, some notes will be sharp (or flat); we need to use the black keys to complete the scale. Here’s what D major scale looks like on the keyboard:

D major scale is formed by: D, E, F#, G, A, B, C# and D. We can do the same with every scale; it’s just a matter of following the structure WS-WS-HS-WS-WS-WS-HS. You can practice starting in every note, including sharp/flat ones. Now you know every major scale! Each note is also a degree on the scale. For example, on the C major scale, C is the first degree. Consequently, D is the second degree; E is the third; F is the fourth; G is the fifth; A is the sixth; and B is the seventh. The first degree of a scale is also known as the tonic, because is the one that shows the tone (scale) in which we’re playing. The fourth degree or note is called subdominant, and the fifth degree or note is called dominant. This names are going to come in handy when we start learning all about pentatonic scales, which are rock’s bread and butter.

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overview In the violin, however, half steps aren’t always the same. In the piano, Csharp is the same key as D-flat; but in this string instrument, there can be a tiny difference. Yes, it’s the same position; but the finger will be a little bit further up if it’s a C#, or a bit behind for a Db. This small difference makes the violin sound so bright, in comparison to other string instruments with frets (like guitar and bass). Keeping this in mind will improve your playing, and your instrument will sound deeper and much more powerful. The sound, even without amplification, will reach the people further away in the audience. Continuing with the scales, let’s see what they look like on the violin’s fingerboard. Here, the easiest scale to play is G major, which begins with an open 4th string (the lowest in pitch). Following the pattern we used before (WS, WS, HS,...) for major scales, this one will be: G - A - B - C - D - E - F# - G. This is what it will look like in the violin’s fingerboard, in the first position: Please note the half steps are marked in a different colour (yellow): F# should be played closer to the G, to give that brightness - as explained before. Open strings are marked with a white square.

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1st string = E - 2nd string = A - 3rd string = D - 4th string = G

How to play G major scale: - On the G (4th) string: Open G, A with the first finger, B with the second finger, C with the third finger. - On the D (3rd) string: Open D, E with the first finger, F# with the second finger, G with the third finger (closer to the F#, it’s a half step). - On the A (2nd) string: Open A, B with the first finger, C with the second finger (closer to the B, it’s a half step), D with the third finger. - On the E (1st) string: Open E, F# with the first finger, G with the second finger (closer to the F#, it’s a half step).

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overview Let’s learn now about the minor scale. It’s just as easy as the major scale, but with a slightly different pattern. This time, we’ll use the A minor scale: in the keyboard, we don’t need to use any black key. The scale is formed by the notes A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. The structure of the minor scale is: ! Tip whole step

half step

whole step

whole step

half step

whole step

whole step

Like we did with the major scales, we can try starting with another (tonic) note. Here’s G minor scale in the violin, which will come in handy when we start improvising over the pentatonic scale. Following the same structure, the notes will be: G, A, Bb, C, D, E, F, and G. This is what it looks like in the violin’s fingerboard. Please note that the Bb should be played rather close to A, and the second B and the F from the first string go really close to the beginning of the neck.

How to play G minor scale: - On the G (4th) string: Open G, A with the first finger, Bb with the second finger (closer to the A, it’s a half step), C with the third finger.

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overview - On the D (3rd) string: Open D, E with the first finger, F with the second finger (closer to the E, it’s a half step), G with the third finger . - On the A (2nd) string: Open A, Bb with the first finger (closer to the neck; it’s a half step with an open string), C with the second finger, D with the third finger. - On the E (1st) string: Open E, F with the first finger (closer to the neck; it’s a half step with an open string), G with the second finger.

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The distance between a note an another (whole or half step) is called an interval. That is, the difference between two pitches.

Now that we refreshed our major and minor scales, we’re ready to start learning about the pentatonic scale... and to start rocking!

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THE PENTATONIC SCALE I. About the Pentatonic scale Pentatonic scales are rock’s foundation. They aren’t the only scales used (for example, in prog-rock or metal, there are others used often); however, in classic genres like rock’n’roll or blues, the minor pentatonic scale is the most common. In other words, you can pretty much improvise over any classic rock song using the pentatonic scale, and it will sound right. This is why it’s so important to learn this scale on the violin, in every tone. Now, every time we want to improvise over a rock backing track, or jamming with a band or a musician friend, we’ll be able to play with ease, like the great guitarists! The best action to take is to try all those boring and forgotten scale and sound exercises, but with the minor pentatonic scale. This is the easiest way to learn and remember the pentatonic scale, whilst practicing those sound exercises for violin in a way that will be much more fun, and it’ll rock! As a result, we will get a much more powerful and potent sound with our instrument. Unlike with the minor and major scales, the pentatonic (as the name says) has only 5 notes, instead of 7. Hence, the minor pentatonic scale has the 5 degrees off the minor scale: 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th.

II. The Gm scale on the violin Using the structure of the pentatonic scale we just learnt, let’s try the G minor pentatonic scale on the violin. It’s formed by the notes: G, Bb, C, D, and F. This is how to play it (don’t forget what we said of the half tones!):

- On the G (4th) string: Open G, B with the second finger, C with the third finger. - On the D (3rd) string: Open D, F with the second finger, G with the third finger . - On the A (2nd) string: Bb with the first finger, C with the second finger, D with the third finger.

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THE PENTATONIC SCALE - On the E (1st) string: F with the first finger, G with the second finger. To learn how the Bb should sound, and to play it from the open G string in tune, check out the Tips! section at the end - you’ll see a very easy way to get the tuning right.

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