Top 3 Exotic Scales: FULL COURSE (Patreon)

Welcome to Top 3 Exotic Scales! If you've ever felt limited by your lack of scale knowledge, this course is for you. I remember feeling trapped when trying to solo as a teen. During lead breaks with my band, I could never break out of the pentatonic box. When I began listening to bands like Megadeth and Dream Theater. I couldn't believe the range of emotion guitar players like John Petrucci achieved. It wasn't until music school I learned his secret weapon....EXOTIC SCALES muhahaha! 

⭐️ My ground breaking method includes 5 keys. The scale itself, a lick targeting tendency tones, the scale's primary chords, a few bars of counterpoint and finally an exotic guitar riff muhahaha. On Screen tabs, guitar pro files, lick breakdowns and the mp3 for this lesson are attached below  The problem is, learning a scale shape doesn't get you anywhere. Without an understanding of how to target tendency tones and outline chords, you just end up making a mess. Once I realized how scales actually work, my lead playing changed forever. The objective of this course is to unlock the hidden power within any scale. Our goal is to create song ideas with these magical notes, not just blaze through lifeless patterns. So grab your axe and let's do this! 

🎸E PHRYGIAN DOMINANT SCALE

Without question the most popular and well known exotic guitar scale is phrygian dominant. It sounds like an Ancient Pharaoh spreading his curse across the land. The notes of E Phrygian dominant are E-F-G#-A-B-C and D. She wants the D son! There's two central pitches that make this scale deliciously EVIL. The flat 2nd and the major 3rd. It's like a major scale seasoned with exotic spices. The best way to familiarize yourself with phrygian dominant is by improvising over a drone, like the one below 

E Drone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUjoYO6VX_g

A drone is a recurring pitch that helps us form an emotional bond with a musical idea. Listen carefully to how each pitch affects your emotional state

E PHRYGIAN DOMINANT LICK

Once you've explored the phrygian dominant scale over a drone, try making a signature lick to unlock the mysteries of the pyramids muhahaha. In order to create something exotic/erotic, target the defining pitches of the scale. An E major chord or E-G# and B form the underlying tonality of phrygian dominant. Use tendency tones like the flat 2nd F to enrich the basic ingredients with delicious spices. Another way to capture an exotic sound is through articulation. Bending, slides, vibrato and legato bursts are a few ideas to get you started. I begin my lick with a melody or main theme to arrest the listeners attention. It's often better to save fast playing or flashy techniques for a later point in your solo. Step one is to reflect your inner state and capture that exotic vibe with a strong line

⭐️Practice Strategy: MEAT

Where do you start and what's the best strategy to get things up to speed fast? Try using my MEAT approach to quickly learn any musical passage. MEAT is an acronym standing for Main Idea, Execution, Assemble and Timing. We start by gathering basic information about the piece. What's the key and scale being used? In this case, we're basically in the key of C, except for the presence of the G# note. The next step is deciding what techniques are appropriate to properly execute the music. For this passage we'll be using legato, slides, bends and even a little fingerstyle. Once you have a basic understanding of the piece, it's time to assemble each section. Break the music down bar by bar, or even beat by beat. Don't be ashamed to make these bite sized chunks as small as you need to. Using a timing reference point like the metronome is the final step in my practice strategy. Lock into the groove and make each note vibrate with charisma and energy. For best results, try looping a short section and play it over and over 

E PHRYGIAN DOMINANT CHORDS

The most common mistake I see beginners and even intermediate guitar players make is not knowing where to use a scale. You can't just rep phrygian dominant randomly and expect it to sound good over any song. The trick is spotting the right harmonic opportunity. For example, whenever you see the chords E and F, that's your cue to get exotic. The phrygian dominant scale sounds amazing over these two magical chords. In fact, E and F chord progressions form the basis of many songs. Flamenco music, Spanish classical guitar and even pop music. The E major chord in particular has a strong emotional pull. It's like a sudden plot twist in a good movie, driving up tension that begs for release

BRAIN BREAK: Push Ups

Another thing that begs for release is my breasts after a good workout. Let's hit a set of 50 push ups to reset the brain and initiate the next phase of learning 

COUNTERPOINT

The greatest weakness guitar players have when it comes to songwriting is what I call the C WORD, or counterpoint. Counterpoint is the study of how musical voices move. It's what makes your lines interesting. Here's a short counterpoint phrase in Phrygian Dominant to ignite our imagination. Be careful though, you might unlock the Pharoah's crypt muhahaha! Unfortunately there's a lot of rules when it comes to writing counterpoint but f$%K all that. Our main goal is to plant ideas we can grow into songs later. Begin using counterpoint by making small alterations to power chords 

E PHRYGIAN DOMINANT RIFF

The whole point of learning scales is to flex on noobs and impress the babes with 200 bpm shredding right? Muhahaha. With that wholesome goal in mind, the final step is writing a RIFF. Riffs are the most powerful thing a guitarist can play. Use lines from the counterpoint phrases to get you started. (0-0-0 meme) By adding your low E string as a pedal, you can start to hear a song take form. Now, let's be honest, sometimes we just don't feel inspired to create something special. Good news is you don't have to wait for lightning to strike. Truth is you can force inspiration with my PMS method. PMS stands for Personal experience, movies, music and stories. I like to contemplate the myth of the evil pharaoah... rising from his pyramid crypt to exact revenge on all who oppose him. Visualizing an idea helps us write something powerful

🎸E BYZANTINE SCALE

My second most go to exotic guitar scale is incredibly evil and delicious. It sounds like an ancient monster arising from the sands of time. It's called the Byzantine Scale. The Byzantine scale is almost the same as phrygian dominant except for one note. The notorious raised 7th degree. This pitch adds some very exotic/ erotic spice to the equation. Starting on E, the pitches are E-F-G#-A-B-C and D#. Let's try it out over a drone 

E BYZANTINE LICK

There's two ways you can summon the diabolical spirit of the ancient Byzantine scale. First, target the tendency tones. Key pitches like the flat 2nd, major 3rd and raised 7th. Secondly, utilize exotic sounding guitar articulations like bending, vibrato and legato. These mechanisms help us break free of traditional western music by playing the notes in between the notes. For example, in this bar I bend the B string against a ringing high E string. The dissonant rub between frequencies ignites our interest, leaving us hungry for more

⭐️Recording Tip: DIMEBAG PHASE CANCELLATION

For those of you interested in recording better leads, try this secret to beef up your solo sound. Copy your track and move it slightly out of time with the first performance. Dimebag Darrell used this technique to get an otherworldly tone in his leads. It's called phase cancellation. By having two identical sound sources playing simultaneously, you get audio waves cancelling each other out randomly. It's a magical sound the devil himself would be proud of muhahaha

E BYZANTINE CHORDS

You'd probably get kicked out of your band if you tried shredding the Byzantine scale just anywhere. That's why it's crucial to know the primary chords that arise from this primEVIL scale. I chose the chords E(b9)-Am and B to conjure the Byzantine sound. The core root movements convey a strong I-iv-V progression. The E major b9 chord is a wonder to explore. The b9 interval or F note adds a fiery spice common in flamenco music

BICEP CURLS

It's time to get my biceps on fire with 20 reps for the Byzantine scale. A secret tip to avoid tendonitis is weight lifting. Pumping blood and oxygen into your problem areas can be a tremendous relief if you're struggling with repetitive stress injuries muhahaha

COUNTERPOINT

Once you've got the scale, lick and chords under your fingers, it's time to explore song ideas with the Byzantine scale. I put together a few bars of two voice counterpoint to generate phrases that could be used in a song. I absolutely love the contrary motion line in the first bar. Contrary motion is when two voices move in opposite directions. Here you can see the top line going down, up, up. The bottom line opposes these movements with an up, down, down trajectory. The chords implied from these dyads are E-F-E and B. So spicy muhahaha 

E BYZANTINE RIFF

The time has come to rock on level 666 my friends. Channel inspiration from your personal experience, movies, songs, or stories to concoct a mighty riff. I used elements of my lick, chords and counterpoint phrases to piece together a short composition with the Byzantine scale. You can see the first 4 bars are taken from my counterpoint figure. I moved the theme up an octave and added a pedal tone for good measure. Next, the band comes in hard and heavy on the main theme arranged for rhythm guitar. I can't stress the importance of 0-0-0 or pedal tones enough here. By using my open low E string as a reference point, exotic scales become more palatable to our ears. I threw in a massive bend here, emphasizing the raised 7th degree. Bending strings is probably the single most powerful way you can communicate an exotic sound muhahaha

Recording Tip: Guitar Double Tracking

A pro tip for getting the best rhythm guitar tone is double tracking. This is when you record two separate takes of the same part. Beware! Copy and paste will not work! Pan each unique performance hard left and right in the stereo field. The resulting effect adds a magical depth and rich heaviness that will take your recordings to the next level

E HIRAJOSHI SCALE

The time has come for us to journey across the seas to the far east. The Hirajoshi scale is a perfect substitute if you're ready to break out of the pentatonic box. The Hirajoshi intervals are the root, major 3rd, sharp 4th, 5th and major 7th. It has a wistful, nostalgic sensation similar to the Lydian mode. Let's get acquainted with this exotic sound by improvising over a drone

E HIRAJOSHI LICK

The time has come to craft a lick with the Hirajoshi scale. By playing all the tones across the fingerboard, we sound a rich major 7 sharp 11 arpeggio. Play this sequence 69 times and you'll turn into a sushi roll muhahaha

Recording Tip: Synth Secret

I added a Stranger Things synth sound in my mix for this lick to make it more interesting. I call this concept, compound texture. By having multiple instruments play the same line, you get a dynamic range of tone that's more captivating. Marty Friedman said in a recent guitar world interview that he "hopes the guitar solo dies a slow and painful death." Friedman stated, the problem with modern solos is they're just a way to show off, instead of adding real value to the song. By evolving our style and sound, maybe we can resurrect the guitar's popularity again

E HIRAJOSHI CHORD

I'm addicted to the mysterious tonality that results from sounding all the Hirajoshi pitches at once. This chord is called Emaj7b5. Haunting, transcendent, sacred....I feel like I could write an entire song around this one sound. Rumour has it this chord works even better than playing wonderwall at a party muhahaha

Shoulder Raises

As we're expanding our scale knowledge, why not expand our shoulder width as well? Let's take a brain break and hit 20 reps of side lateral raises. This is the best exercise I know to get that inverted triangle look

COUNTERPOINT

It's now time to explore the Hirajoshi scale using the C WORD, counterpoint. This sacred art was developed by Bach to add richness and depth to a musical idea. Try counterpoint for yourself by starting with basic power chord shapes. Next, change intervals around within the scale to find different ways to play the same chords (Em-D-C)

E HIRAJOSHI RIFF

James Hetfield of Metallica has said the riff is the primary engine of metal music. Why? The answer is simple. Riffs contain the trifecta of musical elements, melody, harmony and rhythm. With that in mind, it's time to make a short song with the Hirajoshi scale. As before, use the powers of pedal tones, primary chords, counterpoint and licks to compose a riff that reflects your emotions. Take a moment to check in with yourself and enter a meditative state. Writing music is a sacred ritual that must not be rushed. Eliminate distractions and listen for the sound of your own voice, buried deep within your subconscious mind

Recording Tip: Drum Programming

Programming your own drum parts has become an essential skill for musicians these days. I use EZ Drummer to make my one man band dream come alive. Drum programming works pretty much the same in any recording interface. Use the piano roll window to input cymbals, snares and kick drums. Drag the notes around to land on specific beats. The main thing you want to focus on when programming drums is finding a groove that feels natural and human. Try randomizing the volume of each hit to make it sound more organic

🛑I'm curious, which exotic scale did you like most? Can you see yourself using these scales in your own music? Get the full tabs, guitar pro files, lick breakdowns and mp3 play along tracks for this lesson below. Shred until death my friends muhahaha