Be ready to face the unexpected…meter

Tennyson Williams commented a few days ago here saying he knows a very good rock guitar player, knowing all the chords in the book, that can’t handle bossa nova. Well, this is probably because that guy focused only on rock and, while this is not a bad thing, it limited him.

The fact is that, if you think about it, so many great hard and heavy rock guitar licks come from outside rock, like from blues for example! Think of all the pentatonic licks you hear everyday played on an overdrive on all the greatest guitar hits! These bits are there because that guy playing them tried to also grow into other directions than heavy rock.

If you hear chromatic passages in metal, this is probably because that guitar player tried to dive into jazz at a moment. Following the same idea, bossa nova would help too, I guess. Crossing the line helps almost every time when it comes to music.

However, licks and scales are not the only issue when trying to improvise out of your musical comfort area, we should also count the rhythmic part of your licks. Doesn’t that sound familiar to you? I mean, if you are used to play 4/4 rock meter all the time, you probably have your licks ready for this even in your sleep, but how about trying to play what you are used to on a more exotic meter? How about 6/16 or 3/8? Well, trust me, in most of the situations, your licks won’t fit in, you will find yourself in an uncomfortable situation trying either to fill spaces, either surprised by the fact that the bar just ended. Your 4/4 improvisations won’t save you this time…

The fact is that in a real life situation you probably won’t need to play all kind of styles day by day, unless you play for the musical section of your local theater, I guess, but being able to improvise in unorthodox meters may help you a lot to face an unexpected challenge and to grow as a complete musician.

…now I shut my damn mouth and go play some bossa nova…

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