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¨ Konarak has been teaching guitar theory and performance through group classes & master classes for the last twenty years. ¨ He is currently writing a book on music called Guitar Gita, the first chapter of which was serialized in Bangalore Bias (Excerpt below) ¨ He currently takes master classes with advanced learners only. ¨ For details contact: 91-080-25585395 or email Konarak_reddy@yahoo.co.in
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5 o'clock on MG Road. The air is cool, a dark December evening. 3 Aces, where Barton Court now stands, a small single storied air-conditioned space used for cabaret, drinking, dining and rock music. Our band went in one afternoon when the cabaret was on. Peter B, the drummer for the girls, was in love with a stripper, and they had a room upstairs. I remember Peter’s huge white bulky body in underwear opening the door and introducing us to his new girlfriend. She was famous for an innocent line that she delivered after she sat her big ass down on a nervous customer “Would you like to see my bum?” After some silent squeaks from the largely male audience she used to slip her panties down for a brief second. The crowd loved her and she was very popular. She later married the great drummer Jerry D, but that’s another story. Back to the music - every evening at 3 Aces, 6-7 pm, live rock. An excited queue outside, a packed audience, entrance Rs 10/- only.
Leather jackets, drain pipes, motorbike guys with Camarillo Brillos and long hair. People cross the road easily not bothering to look for traffic ‘cause there isn’t any. It’s the 1970’s. On the other side of the road is Parade Grounds, a huge field and easily accessible. Groups of young people in circles, playing music, chatting or simply having fun. The Human Bondage is going to do a one hour non-stop set. The lights go down, a huge round of applause. They come on and play the set through. The Who, Chicago, Ten years After, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Traffic. Their stage gear - a Vox 30 for guitar, Fender Bassman for bass and Fender Twin Reverb for vocals. They haven’t heard of PA and frankly don’t need it because they sound great with stage gear alone.
Listening to Human Bondage playing Hendrix’s version of Dylan’s “All Along the Watch Tower”. The three chords used are A minor, G major and F major. All these chords appear in the C major scale and are part of the diatonic harmony of C major. Building chords using the diatonic harmony of the scale…That is, chords built on each degree of the C major scale using notes only from that scale. On the 6th degree, that is the note A, you will have built the A minor chord, on the fifth degree you will have the G major chord and on the 4th degree, the F major chord.
Improvising on the C major scale i.e. C Ionion Mode in “All Along the Watchtower” works. Also try using the A minor pentatonic scale.
There must be some kind of way out of here A min G maj F maj G maj Said the joker to the thief A min G maj F maj G maj There’s too much confusion A min G maj F maj G maj I can get no relief A min G maj F maj G maj
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A steak house at the bottom of Brigade Road where Mota Arcade now stands. With an arbor and rooms at the back. Freaks from Europe passing through Afghanistan and Pakistan while heading to Goa stop here. Lots of dope and music. I got my first Eko semi-acoustic guitar from a freak who had traveled through Pakistan and used to spend the night in Cubbon Park and busk on MG Road. Later I added two Gibson Hum bucking pick-ups to it and it sounded unique and hot and stayed with me for many years. I remember composing songs and realizing that if you said there were composed by Led Zeppelin or Blind Faith or Traffic, the audience really loved it! If you said “I made it up”, a certain uncertainty about whether it was really good entered the space. We used to take tunes and turn them upside down. Re-harmonizing Traffic’s “Somebody’s Trying to be heard”, using jazz riffs, extended chords and finger style playing, this was one of our favorites. See below…
Well, the simplest way to improvise on A min and D 7 is to first understand that both these chords are in the diatonic scale of G major or Ionian Mode. So playing G major on these two chords is fine, and the modes to play will be A Dorian on the A minor and D Mixolydian on the D7. These modes have the same notes as the G major scale but start on the second degree which is A, and the fifth degree which is D. Coming to Bar 4 - 8, you have the G minor chord and the C 7 chord. Improvising on the F major scale or Ionian Mode works fine on these changes. You can also use the G Dorian mode for the G minor, and for the C7, the C Mixolydian mode is fine.
Listening to guitarist Gussi Ric with his band Void playing Zeppelin’s “Communication Breakdown” on Sugandar home made amps with natural distortion, Ahuja amps and Gaffar’s sound from Shivajinagar. All these are minor hassles for Gussi. Even his electric guitar is made locally and not true after the 7th fret. Not to worry, his solo for Zeppelin’s “Since I’ve been loving you” was amazing. He played brilliantly while using the tremolo arm to keep the guitar in tune in the higher frets.
Chord-Scale relationships using the minor pentatonic scale… Playing the progression D min 7, G7 and C major 7 as seen below. Try using the three minor pentatonic scales A, Bb and B. Be brave, use the A minor pentatonic scale for the D min 7 chord. Use the Bb minor pentatonic scale for the G7 chord. You will play outside the parent scale and thus create tensions. Bb which is the # 9 of G7 chord, Db which is b5, Eb which is #5, F which is the 7th and Ab which is the b9. Then for C major, play the B minor pentatonic scale. Hey, you just played chromatically right from A minor pentatonic to B minor pentatonic over a II minor 7, V 7, I major 7 change!
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The Look Out Farm Band with the amazing Dave Liebman were brought down by the U.S.I.S. and played in the Mount Carmel College hall. I jammed with him before the show in the classrooms. I wonder if the nuns knew all that happened there. We hung out later at Chin Lung, another good space for live music. I got an email from him recently about how he rode around Bangalore on a Bullet that fateful night, looking for answers. Dave Liebman is a saxophonist and a genius improviser. He has consistently been placed among the top finalists in the Downbeat Critics' Poll since 1973 in the Soprano saxophone category. His artistic output has ranged from straight ahead classic jazz to chamber music; from fusion to avant garde. "Liebman is one of the most important saxophonists in contemporary music...a leader and artist of integrity and independent direction." - Downbeat Magazine
We Indians warmed up to jazz once it was safely absorbed and white people had accepted it in their culture. So a kind of intellectualism hampers the true music. Where were we when the slaves were singing for freedom with chains fastened to their left leg, so that when they walked, due to the weight on their feet, the accented beats were on the 2 and 4? Our own folk music is so beautiful for its passion and its yearning. Imagine an expression of Indian folk music and blues that comes straight from the heart…
There are many ways of improvising or playing outside the parent scale. One way is to use the Altered Scale on a functioning dominant chord eg: G7 chord going to C major 7 chord. Below is the G altered Scale. Try it on a G 7 chord and resolve it on the C major chord.
We are now using the tensions #9, b9, #5, b5, 7 for the G7 chord. At last we feel we are getting somewhere. Logic starts to intervene. Is that a good or bad thing? Who truly cares? Maynard Ferguson, the legendary trumpeter. Big band leader, he is a three time Grammy nominee, consistent Downbeat and Playboy Jazz Poll award winner and a potent force in the world of music. He arrives in Bangalore, India. We were gigging together at Sai Baba’s ashram in Whitefield. Sai Baba shook his hand and made a necklace to put on Maynard. Alas! The head was too big and the necklace too small. Never fear, the hand shook again and again. Lo and behold the necklace grew bigger and bigger each time. Maynard’s wife was one of the 12 original friends who traveled with Timothy Leary and experimented with Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD). LSD was not a banned drug in the ‘60s. Below is an A flat diminished scale (symmetric scale) whole step, half step. Try it on a G 7 chord and resolve it on the C major chord. Try using diminished patterns based on this scale on a functioning dominant. e.g. G7 resolving to C major 7
Practice. Play hard, and play from the heart.— Konarak Reddy
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Guitar Gita |
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Part I |
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Part II |
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Part III |
