Duration: 9:27 · 1080p Stream
Master video playlist mapped. Ready for batch offline download to media/videos/improv101-7-5.mp4.
Drill the overlays until they're automatic — this is the hardest skill in the course. Working in free time, you'll run the seven triad targets in order, then out of order (around the circle of 4ths) to keep yourself honest, in both the rectangle and the stack. Then you'll apply them to the "Little Wing" progression — including its out-of-key F chord — and add approach notes and enclosures: pentatonic notes that lead you to land on a target right on the beat. Short, frequent sessions, even visualizing away from the guitar, are the way in.
What follows is this lesson’s section of the Course Guide — you can read it here or in the full guide →
These exercises focus on developing rapid recall of the triad overlays presented in the previous video. The goal is to practice retrieving these shapes from your memory until they feel like second nature. It’s okay to start by referring to a diagram, but the faster you get away from a visual reference, the faster your brain will remember this information on its own.
Exercise 1: Visualize an A minor pentatonic stack on the fretboard. Play the root and the other notes of the stack to establish the sound of A minor. Then, starting with the I chord (C major) play the triad target notes from the I overlay. Continue with the ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and viº chords, playing the pentatonic scale followed by the triad target notes.
Exercise 2: Repeat Exercise 1, but this time recall the overlays and play the target notes in cycle-of-4ths order: IV, viiº, iii, vi, ii, V, I
The song “Little Wing” is in the key of E minor, so its baseline scale for improvisation will be E minor pentatonic. The relative major key is G major, so the Nashville numbers are relative to G. These are the Nashville numbers for the key of G/Em:
| Triad | Nashville number |
|---|---|
| G | I |
| Am | ii |
| Bm | iii |
| C | IV |
| D | V |
| Em | vi |
| F#º | viiº |
| Six of these chords appear in “Little Wing,” and you know how to find their chord tone targets using the overlay approach. There’s also an F chord in the progression, which would be labeled ♭VII in the Nashville system, but the easiest thing to do is just memorize the target positions for it. Here they are in the rectangle and stack: |
It might be helpful to think of these target notes as being like the IV chord targets, with one note raised by one fret.
It is not necessary to memorize these extra patterns to use this system in general, but sometimes, if a song contains a borrowed chord (i.e., a chord from another key), it’s worth doing.
The concept of Approach Notes is the idea of playing some number of notes from the underlying pentatonic scale that lead up or down to a target chord tone. The basic idea is to be able to play a short phrase that lands on the target note on a strong beat (e.g., right on a chord change).
It’s worth practicing playing one, two, three, and even four approach notes leading to chord tone target notes.
Exercise 3: Focusing on one E minor pentatonic stack, for each chord in the “Little Wing” progression (vi - I - ii - vi - iii - ii - IV - I - bVII - IV - V), visualize the triad target notes overlaid on the stack and play two scale tones that lead into a chord tone target. Practice approaching from above, below, or a mix of both. For some target notes, you may need to borrow one or both scale notes from a neighboring rectangle.
Exercise 4-n: Repeat Exercise 3 with an E minor rectangle and with different numbers of approach notes.
It will take some time and practice for the triad overlays to become second nature, but this is practice time well spent. This visualization technique is highly effective, and your efforts will pay off later.
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