Out of the Pocket IV Chord

[Vinni Smith]

Hey all. Vinni Here.

Here is a little out of the pocket thing I like to do over a IV chord when soloing with the Blues. I like to go into a diminished mode in the middle of the IV chord. It gives a sense of wandering and a strong pull back to the I chord.

Here is one of the positions I use to do this.....

Let's say we are in A. A=I D=IV and E=V.
The notes for the trick would be D# F# A. Then go up three frets and do the same, and then again up three frets.
Now this can be played a number of ways. You can sweep it, indiviually pick it up or down and it sounds good played as a chord with a nice lead tone on it as well.

It is an easy trick that I have done for years and I don't even remember where or when I picked it up. It sounds very cool and is fun to do and always seems to raise some eybrows when pulled off correctly.

For a soundbyte example of this, please visit www.broadjam.com and type Vinni Smith into the search area. It will take you to about 25 of my songs. Just click on the song "Vinni's Blues". I do this trick on the guitar solo of that song.

On another post I will turn you on to playing a whole tone scale over the V chord. It is an out of the pocket thing as well that gets a lot of attention from the listener and is fun to do...........

Enjoy and please tell me what you come up with.

vinni

[Tim]

Vinni – Great music there! You should record an album. I need some help though. I am a newbie to all this guitar stuff. I can not determine when you make that “out of packet” change in the song. Can you tell me in what bar it takes place? Once again … Great Pickin’.

[Vinni Smith]

Thanks Tim, I'm glad you liked the pickin'

I do this @ 3:40-3:60.

I had to go listen to it.........

vinni

[Tone2TheBone]

George Harrison used to call diminished chords "the naughty chords". Good stuff.

[Vinni Smith]

George Harrison used to called diminished chords "the naughty chords". Good stuff.

That's great! I like that.

Thanks man

[jpfeifer]

Vinni,

Great suggestions for getting outside on the IV and V chord. Thanks for the tips. I'll check out your songs and listen for it.

-- Jim

[Robert****]

Thanks Vinnie. The Dim stuff is cool. On the last half bar on the A, you can also do a dim triad thing - A#, C#, E.

Even cooler is the Dim scale itself. On any Dominant chord, you can play little licks from the Dim scale, but you start the lick one half-step above the chord in question. Now it sounds jazzy. For example, in E7 - play E, F, G, G#, and so on. I say so on, because this is a pattern - one half step, one whole step, on half step, and so - it repeats forever.

Hope that makes sense. I sense another video lesson will be coming...

[Tim]

I'll watch and listen. You guys are way above my head, but I will be there one day.

[Vinni Smith]

I'll watch and listen. You guys are way above my head, but I will be there one day.

Don't worry to much about it. It's all nonsense anyway............

vinni

[Robert****]

Yeah, as long as it sounds good, who cares anyway!

[SuperSwede]

Hey Vinnie, the "V Chord" sounds like a great new product from you...
Perhaps a little chord finder book to those that order 10 picks or more ?

[jpfeifer]

Yeah, that dimished lick is cool. This scale outlines a dominant chord with a b9 very nicely because you get b9, Major 3rd, 5th, and b7 with that diminished lick.

The other one that's really popular is the Altered Dominant scale that you were referring to. It's a Melodic Minor scale played 1/2 step higher than the root of the chord that you're soloing over. That scale has all the nice alterated tones like b9, #9, #11, etc.

There's a bunch of cool ways get more mileage out of a blues progression with things like this. I've been wanting to make some lesson examples for some of the ones that I like to use.

-- Jim

[Robert****]

Jim, I use the altered dominant scale and the melodic minor scales a lot. I love it. The Dim scale is great too, you can use it over just about any chord, if you do it right.

[Vinni Smith]

Hey Vinnie, the "V Chord" sounds like a great new product from you...
Perhaps a little chord finder book to those that order 10 picks or more ?

The V Chord!~
Hmmmm
Me likey!

BTW guys, Yes, the half tone/whole tone diminished scale does seem to work anywhere in the blues. It sets up a very cool vibe that makes it look and sound like you really know what you're doing. In my case though, that is just a smoke screen. Robben Ford's instructional videos has the best demonstration of this sytle that I have seen.

vinni

[Vinni Smith]

There's a bunch of cool ways get more mileage out of a blues progression with things like this. I've been wanting to make some lesson examples for some of the ones that I like to use.

-- Jim

Well, what are you waiting for? I need some new stuff!