D Major/Minor progression and exercise

[CanyonCarver]

I thought I'd post this little work tonite.
There are 2 or 3 unfortunate clams in my playing but I'd like your opinion on the improv.
I'm trying to switch major/minor to follow the chords.

[ericgtr]

Sounds like you have a pretty good grasp on it, you have some nice licks in there. I could be wrong here but it sounds like you are working on scales or modes.

One thing about major to minor is that it should go from dramitic/sad to happy. One way I work with this is to make the chords and not the scales work for me, for example soloing over a G major/E minor progression using a standard G major solo will give this effect. Since it works with the relative minor there isn't as much time worrying about the right scale changes and more of my efforts can be put into feel of the notes.

Of course I say this because I am not very good at changing around scales so I try to cheat where ever I can [img]images/smilies/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[CanyonCarver]

Pentatonic and modes, yes.
I'm just beginning with it. With more practice it'll take shape I'm sure.
The progression is nothing but and exercise, not a song.

[Stiglar]

i don't think major should always sound happy and minor should always sound sad especially if your changing between the 2 in the same song ...

i thought you did quite good in this CC ... the key in chord change improv is target notes ... target that C# and F# for the Dmaj section quite hard cause they are what make it Dmaj not Dminor basically .. and i'd recommend trying straight Major scale licks .. ..

the hardest part is getting it to sound like a melody between the 2 chords ...

i think you've done a good job on it so far ... getting the grips of this kinda stuff is quite hard as i said when your thinking so hard about modes and chords and scales it's very easy for your playing to become quite scalic ..(not saying you sounded very scalic cause i thought you actually did a good job at fighting that off ... some of my attempts at this kinda stuff were far far worse !) The whole melody thing can be quite hard to get down

but keep it up ! it sounds good i'd love to give this a crack myself !

[ericgtr]

I didn't mean to imply that I didn't like it, actually I think it's pretty cool. I just thought I would throw something out there that works for me is all [img]images/smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Looking at the original post again I see that the change is from major to minor on the same chord, forcing you to change modes. Can't fake anything there [img]images/smilies/icon_mad.gif[/img]

[CanyonCarver]

Thank your for the constructive comments.

If you want, I can bounce the backing track for this progression and let you have at it. It's quite interesting I think, as the progression makes me get out of my comfort zone, and changes often enough so I can't possibly linger very long on any pattern. It's a pretty difficult process to me but my teacher feels that I need to attack the next step and challenge myself more.

[ericgtr]

Your instructor is a slave driver [img]images/smilies/chucks.gif[/img] Alright, post it up when you get a chance and I'll have a stab at it [img]images/smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[CanyonCarver]

My instructor is the best there is for me. This guy kicks ass. I would recommend him to anyone in my arear looking for some serious shredding theory and practice.