The Am7b5, more commonly known as the minor 7 flat five (m7b5) chord, is a half diminished 7th chord that contains A, C and E as notes.
This chord type can be useful in many situations and makes an ideal connection between chords.
Scales
Musical scales are essential building blocks of music and an indispensable skill for those attempting to improvise. A musical scale consists of a series of notes played one after the other in an order determined by its quality, such as 12 notes for a chromatic scale or five for major pentatonic.
There are various scale patterns available to musicians that can be employed, each offering its own distinctive qualities. A popular one is the major scale, consisting of seven separate pitch classes (or “scale degrees”) arranged in an organized pattern; its first note, known as its keynote (or tonic), rises an octave above each note after it. Furthermore, their order can also be altered to alter its character further.
For instance, the melodic minor scale features an unconventional interval pattern that makes it sound “leaner” than its natural minor equivalent. In particular, its sixth and seventh scale degrees sharpen when ascending through this scale but flatten down when descending. Jazz musicians frequently employ this scale to add smoothness to stepwise melodies.
Blues scale is an indispensable tool for creating memorable melodies and hooks, being based on the major scale but featuring its own special pattern of whole and half steps that gives it its distinctive sound. Minor pentatonic scale has another distinct sound due to its five note structure with many gaps and skips in its pattern; once learned though it becomes incredibly useful among musicians worldwide.
Finally, there are two diminished scales that are extremely challenging to play but possess beautiful sounds: bebop scale and diminished pentatonic scales have distinctive sounds often employed in jazz music with diminished seventh chords; each scale contains its own chromatic passing tone while both also offer two unique voicings which are sharp and flat respectively.
Intervals
Musical intervals measure the distance between two pitches. Intervals can be both harmonic and melodic, in that they may sound together (harmonic) or separately (melody). As more space separates these notes, larger intervals tend to sound stronger; but intervals can also be extended or contracted accordingly.
The most prevalent intervals include unisons, thirds, fourths, fifths and octaves; these may be major or minor and never perfectly in quality due to increasing number of semitones in an interval resulting in its sound becoming stronger with each additional semitone added; major or minor non-perfect intervals provide another level of complexity by either being amplified or diminished over time.
There are two methods for calculating an interval’s size: either by counting lines and spaces between notes, or comparing their pitches on a staff to that of an tonic note in a scale. When an interval is not perfect, its size can be increased or decreased based on how many half steps exist in it.
Intervals can also be inverted, which allows them to move up or down an octave by changing both upper and lower pitches. For instance, a fifth from C to G can be transformed into a sixth by raising C while simultaneously lowering D; this technique is known as inversion and it’s commonly found in melodies.
There are various ways of referring to intervals, with the most popular method relying on numbers and quality. A unison refers to any interval spanning one whole tone while major third and tritone represent intervals spanning three, four and six whole tones respectively – there may also be other terminology for intervals that fall outside this description but this won’t be covered here.
Scale Positions
This lesson explores how to play the minor seventh flat five chord (also known as A half diminished) across seven positions on the fretboard. Each position offers unique scale patterns and chord structures based on one common root shape, making it easy for you to quickly see how scale degrees connect on various scale degrees across the fretboard.
As we explore each position, it becomes easier to spot how intervals connect and which chord is a semitone below the root note. This will enable us to connect scale patterns together while keeping the same hand position for easier switching between them.
An important part of understanding music theory lies in knowing that every major scale contains multiple positions that can be used to form different chords, making up each key signature and all its scale shapes. You can use this information to construct your own ‘fretboard’ by recognising patterns within scales and learning how to apply them across chords.
This method can be especially helpful when improvising as it offers you greater versatility in the keys you can play in, and helps prevent you from becoming stuck in one area of the fretboard by easily switching between positions using root notes of chords as guides.
Each position features two instances of its defining root shape – for instance, Position 1 has it on the 6th string while Position 2 on the 4th. Each of these positions also have patterns based around this same root form.
Patterns can be critical in helping musicians connect the scales and chords they learn in one hand position to those across the fretboard, which many musicians struggle with – spending too much time practicing one scale without connecting it with any chords they are using it for.
Arpeggios
Arpeggios can be heard in numerous songs, like the Guns N’ Rose classic “Don’t Cry”. An arpeggio is simply the sequence of chord tones played individually instead of together; for instance, when using G major scale chords such as C, E and G individually you could create an arpeggio of this sort; something Yngwie Malmsteen does in numerous other songs too!
Arpeggios offer more than just variety and depth to your lead playing – they also help you understand harmony more linearly by teaching how to build scales from root note to octave note – giving you an edge when learning more complex chords or progressions.
Practice all of the arpeggio shapes for every major and minor chord to build your repertoire of arpeggios. Some arpeggio shapes, such as C major arpeggio, may be easy to learn while others more difficult – to start out, focus on those which come easily for you to master and work your way up from there.
Once you have mastered some of these, try mixing them in with your scale-derived licks to add an extra flair to your soloing – 12 Bar Blues is a good place for this experimentation!
Consider two arpeggios when adding complexity and interesting sounds to your lead playing: minor triad (root, third and fifth of the minor scale) and dominant seventh arpeggio (root, flatted third, flatted fifth and flatted seventh of the major scale). Both provide nice, complex sounds without having to change chords or keys.
Arpeggios may present beginner guitarists with a challenge; they should be learned alongside chords and strumming patterns for best results. Once you understand them though, mastering them will add immense benefits to your playing and make you sound much more professional – just remember to take your time when learning them and practice regularly!