Study Materials

 

When shedding, I have various study materials I use.  Many of these materials are things that I've created, such as multiple scale fingerings.  For example, I can take a phrygian dominant scale, and write out 2-octave and 3-octave fingerings for it.  I have dozens and dozens of these types of scale fingerings.

And there are chord voicings and fingerings.  These are usually not so much chords in the typical sense; they're harmonic structures of my own creation with various fingerings.

Other materials are what I'll call method books, even though some books in this category aren't truly method books.  Two examples that are currently on my music stand are:

• Polyrhythmic and Polymetric Studies - Dusan Bogdanovic.  This is a fantastic book for learning polymetric and polyrhythmic concepts.  It's designed for guitarists.  An effective and impactful route to changing your thinking.  Not an easy book, but so fascinating and helpful.  This book has been on my music stand for several years.
  
• Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns - Yusef Lateef.  Just a massive tome of rare scales and patterns using those scales.  Yusef had his own approach to scales; many of them are spread across two octaves, but with no repeating notes.  Others are harmonized.  All are provided in non-traditional ways.  This book is relatively new to me; I've been using it for less than a year.  But it's very exciting to me; there is so much there, and it's presented in a very original way.  The photo at the top of this blog post is from this book.
  

And scores.  I'll often sight-read non-guitar scores.  Not only to help my sight reading, but also to reveal new and unusual fingerings that I'd otherwise never find.  One current example is the Bach French Suites.  Playing Bach keyboard pieces on guitar is not a simple matter.  I have many orchestral scores, and at times I'll grab one and shed from it.  Recently, I did this with Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony.  Again, many non-guitaristic elements are revealed, and these tend to find their way into my playing in something of a tendril-like fashion.  

There are other books through which I rotate.  In other words, I may not shed from them daily, but I make sure to work from them once or twice a week.  One example of these is Techniques of Musical Language by Olivier Messiaen.  To be specific, the techniques are Messiaen's, which is endlessly fascinating to me.

There are always new materials and old materials.  I'll never run out of shedding materials.  Which is both exciting and encouraging, as it means constant growth and expansion.

-kk