Guitar Lesson: Pitch Axis Theory & Modal Harmony

[P00TANARA]

what is that black thing behind at the end of the guitar??

[aeropagitica]

@P00TANARA It is the controller for a hexaphonic MIDI pickup that you can see installed behind the vibrato unit at the bridge.

[supern00b]

pitch ACKsis

[icmbld]

I was recently messing around with some weird chords all in with E as the root and then improvising in a scale that matches the chord. Now I've just found out there's a name for it. Awesome. Great lesson.

[mikko522]

Excellent video...question...do you find that you can use pitch axis when you only consider the common tones through a progression without the bass "droning" that pitch tone? Example say your progression is Cmin7 to Fmin7 back to Cmin7 then Ab13 and G aug 7th return to Cmin7 ...now consider Eb the pitch tone...maybe even Ab for most of it...start your solo mode with Eb Ionian to Eb lydian ( basically subbing Fdom7 for Fmin7) now to Eb mixolydian carry into Ab13 ?

[mixermantim]

Love the tone,

[Harvester66633]

noooooo it's too difficult for me i didnt understand anythink

[LukeSniper]

Nice work! I was explaining pitch axis to somebody, but didn't have the resources to actually play anything for them, so your video helped out!

I've come across your stuff in the past before too. All of it is very well done.

[healinggreen]

I've learn a lot hehehe, thanks sir

[KaioriBreathe]

damn, makes it seem so easy watching this

[Aranya009]

quick question: whats that "black thingamajig" [excuse my illiteracy XD] RIGHT under your bridge? a sustainer or something?

[PrisonerInGlass]

@Aranya009 I think it's a guitar synthesizer

[Aranya009]

@PrisonerInGlass :O they've got guitar synthesizer's now!?

[PrisonerInGlass]

@Aranya009 Yup, have for a long time now lol.  a Roland of some sort.

[Aranya009]

@PrisonerInGlass Roland GR-20, aint it? nice



[zyxomma1]

So are there standard 'mode progressions' within pitch axis? is there a set of rules like there are with diatonic progressions? How do you decide which chord variants go with which modes?

[cambria3]

@zyxomma1. - Which Chord Variants Go With Which Modes? Pick the chords yourself. Just make sure that if using a Lydian mode, that your chords fit that mode.

EG. The D Major scale is D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D which does not contain G#. G# is not in the D Major scale but it is in the D Lydian scale (D, E, F#, G#, A, B, C# D). if in Major, you would play D Major 11 (D, F#, A, C#, E, G). If in Lydian you would play D Major 9 with 11th sharpened (D, F#, A, C#, E, G#).

[gregsbest]

Great playing style. You remind me of some of Eric Johnson's work.

Great down to earth approach.

Many Thanks, G.

[aug5ya]

thx....a lot !

[anthonym612]

So....great instruction and...where was the example playing with the instructor stepping folks through each change? Apparently people should just guess?

[pinfinity]

wow, nice tone :-)

[belaksl62]

Its not Joe...

[hohohohohoe]

joey?? maybe its joe satriani!

[ACS1994]

for the aeolian mode chords can I play D phyrigian too if i want because the b2 is Eb and the aeolian mode chords don't have Eb? Very helpful and inspiring lesson the best one on this topic on all of youtube =D.

[jb1563700]

The hardest thing about this is putting it in a musical context. From a purely theoretical point of view, it's a piece of cake.

[evanparker]

i watch this video whenever i want to feel like less of a nerd about anything. music, or non music.

[BlikeNave]

@dYinGinFeRnO The power chord is made up with the root and the fifth (1 + 5). This doesn't have any notes that say that it is minor or major, so it could be any of the major modes except for locrian (which has a flat 5). But if it's a power chord, (1 + 5), that 1 + 5 fits into Ionian, dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, and aeolian. So a power chord lacks the quality of specific modes (major/minor), but it contains the attribute of fitting within most of the modes.

[AhYaOk]

@BlikeNave yeah thats true which is also why the 5th can be avoided a lot of times in a chord but still get the favor. its sort of a neutral tone. kind of a jazz approach which gives you more fingers to fret notes with. lol

[ibanezxiphos700]

@dYinGinFeRnO

if its a power chord with a b5, use locrian :P

[Guitareben]

Oooh "the riddle" by steve vai is a perfect example of this.

[goodlife6942]

i swear i been playing guitar for 6 years i mostly play by year i took music theory for 1 year in high school man it was hard but i got some great stuff out of it at first iwas so dam lost it was worser than math had some hard times and its not easy.

[InvisibleMasquerade]

@dYinGinFeRnO No problem, glad to help another musician! There is also this great book The Guitar Grimoire...get it and you'll have scale knowledge out your eyeballs :)

[InvisibleMasquerade]

@dYinGinFeRnO that was a bad answer, sorry, well also for example, if it was C major power chord, then you could use C ionian, or D dorian, E phrygian etc... does that make sense?

[InvisibleMasquerade]

@dYinGinFeRnO if its a major power chord then you can use ionian mostly :)

[EstevanMusic]

Great lesson Andrew!

If anyone wants a song of this technique in action, Joe Satriani has a real cool song called "not of this earth", which uses the technique.

[Wiseman501]

@EstevanMusic You know, most of satch's songs use pitch axis theory. lol. Surfing with the alien, made of tears, raspberry jam delta v and so on. dream theater uses it too. :]

[EstevanMusic]

Ya I know lol.

Not of This Earth was the first one that came to mind, and it is easily identified.

[MABdragon561]

This is was very helpful!! Thanks so much for making these vids for all of us! You're Great!

[iwantagoodnameplease]

Excellent. I was always curious about Pitch Axis theory.

[AcidBong]

Oh, wow! Thanks Andrew! This vid explained quite a few things that will keep me practicing and jamming for a long time! As always you are a frikkin genius! You're precisely the type of guitar instructor I'd pay top dollar for private lessons, if only I lived close enough. Keep up the excellent vids!

[kotekotekitty]

reminds me a little of the game grand turismo lol but WAYYYYY better

[stsgabe]

this is really cool stuff, was this composed or is it improvised?.sounds very modern, not sure I'd call it jazz but it is not pop or rock, very interesting love the tonality

[bigdawgandrewm]

@stsgabe smooth jazz

[stsgabe]

good point, that would be it

[col33145]

Thanks Andrew excellent lesson alot to get you teeth into thanks

colin

England

[ronemahone]

Andrew do you listen to wilco? Their current guitarist nels cline, is awesome i get the impression you would like him too.

[riffism]

@12design21...it's a midi pickup. It converts the magnetic signal from the strings into a midi signal.

[d3188p]

great video as always very interesting topic, didnt even know pitch axis theory existed lol

[12design21]

I am just curious what is that black thing on the guitar behind the bridge?

[Cazaq]

Midi pickup.

[12design21]

What does it do?

[Cazaq]

It basically transforms your guitar into a midi controller , allowing the player to control synths and anything with a midi input by fretting notes.

It works by measuring the distance from the pickup (the black strip inbetween the magnetic pups) to the point of contact (i.e fret) then converting the information to a signal which if feed into the Roland unit at the players feet.

Some guitars (Godin especially) come equiped with these from the factory (using piezo saddles).

[gaud2029]

I was sure it was looking at the pitch to determine the MIDI note..

[12design21]

Cool. Thanks

[gooney0]

@12design21 Yeah it's a Roland MIDI pickup. The pickup part is between the bridge pickup and the bridge. The larger black piece has controls.

[cyrsnxw]

Your videos are insightful as always. I love this videos' topic.