Should I be thinking: try to land on the third of the chord/triad on the changes?

[lueders]

Neil, your lead playing secrets is really awesome! & I have what I hope is a simple question.

Phrasing wise, (especially at the end when you were really cookin') you're always landing on the right note at the right time.
I'm wondering if there is a piece of the puzzle that I'm missing...

If understand the theory correctly...in any standard major or minor triad. You have a: 1 (root), 5th, & a 3rd.
So an A major-triad is: A, E, C#. If it were minor it becomes A, E, C. (after you flatten the third) & I realize this puts the 1,3,5 in different
positions (within the chord) depending on what chord shape you are dealing with. I think I'm good to that point.

But, my question is: Should I be thinking: try to land on the third of the chord right on the chord change...more often than not? (Since the third is sort of the distinguishing note of the specific chord.)


Thanks, and sorry about to be a pest...just trying to get a better handle on it...


Cori

[thereshopeyet]

Thanks

[lueders]

Thanks for the response on this, Dermot.
I dunno, I might be overthinking this. Maybe it doesn't matter so much.
Maybe landing on the fifth directly over the change is okay or even desirable.

[thereshopeyet]

Thanks

[mark]

lueders wrote:

But, my question is: Should I be thinking: try to land on the third of the chord right on the chord change...more often than not? (Since the third is sort of the distinguishing note of the specific chord.)

My answer would be yes but not necessarily.

The third would be a good note to hit as the chord changes, but equally you could hit the 5th or the root note.
All these would sound correct against the chord.

You could also play a non chord tone. This would create more tension and you would probably want to resolve back to a chord tone, soooner or later.

The way I look at it is, that the root, third and fifth are your safe notes and will always sound and will probably make up the majority of the notes that you will play.
Non chord tones need to be added to give the lead/melody some interest.

[lueders]

Thanks Mark,


So your answer is yes but not necessarily. Good, I suppose that gives me permission to go on thinking about things like I was.
Guess I just needed to know my thinking wasn't totally faulty. lol.


And yeah, I dig what you are saying... yeah all three of your options are going to sound good, or at least okay against the chord.
Afterall, they make up the chord itself. And yes the way Neil does it is brilliant the with his instinctual phrasng with the passing
tones and the whole bit. To sum up though, it seems (of the three choices) we have decided the third is best for highlighting the
actual change right?


thanks again for taking the time mark! I appreciate it...

[wrench]

Cori, could you be thinking about Part 7: Connect the Dots where Neil talks about moving from one chord to the next by selecting notes on a common string and playing connecting notes along the way? Neil mentions this again in Part 9: Non Harmonic Additions. After reviewing those myself, I don't get the impression that you must land on a 3rd. I get the impression that you must play the triad if you are playing the chord, and you must play the harmonic or non-harmonic notes (in other words any notes of the key) when playing a lead.

Dan

[mark]

lueders wrote:

To sum up though, it seems (of the three choices) we have decided the third is best for highlighting the actual change right?

I wouldn't say that.
If you really wanted to define the chord changes, it would be best to play the root notes as the chord changes. this would really outline the chord progression.

What the third does is defines the chord type - major or minor

[lueders]

mark wrote:

lueders wrote:

To sum up though, it seems (of the three choices) we have decided the third is best for highlighting the actual change right?

I wouldn't say that.
If you really wanted to define the chord changes, it would be best to play the root notes as the chord changes. this would really outline the chord progression.

What the third does is defines the chord type - major or minor

Yeah, thats true... I think that's what I wanna shoot for actually (most of the time at least) is to define the "type of chord"...a little less generic/vague than the 5th...a little more color. This might be a personal preference thing ...a little bit?

But I dunno maybe I'm all wet? Lol!

[lueders]

Hey Dan, thanks for jumping in here. In short I agree with everything you said... & Yes, Neil doesn't mention thirds specifically.
I realize you have other options...besides landing on the third over the change, for sure.

I guess what I am getting at is if i was going to be ridiculously anal retentive about this whole thing...oops too late? LOL!
I am trying to whittled down the formula even more...


Sorry to be redundant, but I believe a person could transcribe the skeleton of a minimalist solo...by penciling in these 3rds on beats where the changes occur... I'll fill in the off- beats with...the root, the fifth, or passing tone note within the key...Anyways, I'm gonna give it a try and see if the formula holds up. Think I'll try this as a starting point, anyway.
Like you guys said though, there is more than one way to skin a mountain lion.

Off to experiment...