Chord Voicings Masterclass
Tetrachord Scales - Part 1
“Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant concept and teaching. I love Randy's playing and concepts and teaching. He is so concise and logical in his teaching. Everything makes sense and eas…”
About this masterclass
Randy Johnston teaches a fingerboard method built on tetrachords — four-note patterns that make up half of a scale. Instead of memorizing CAGED shapes or three-note-per-string patterns in every position, you learn how a few simple tetrachord shapes can generate all the modes of the major scale anywhere on the neck.
What's covered
- What a tetrachord is, and how two tetrachords stack to build a full diatonic scale (e.g. the Ionian tetrachord's whole-whole-half pattern)
- The handful of fingerings you need, and how to combine them up and across the fingerboard
- Adjusting tetrachord fingerings when crossing the third-to-second string (the major-third tuning gap)
- Extending the concept to modes of melodic minor, harmonic minor, the diminished scale, and the whole-tone scale
- Using one fingering concept to learn and transpose melodies all over the neck — demonstrated with the melody of Solar
If you've ever learned a melody in one position and felt you had to relearn it in ten others, this method gets you there with far less memorization. Includes 3 pages of PDF materials in standard notation with chord block diagrams. Full video is 27 minutes. This is Part 1 of Randy's tetrachord series.
Lessons in this masterclass
Lessons
- 1Tetrachord Scales I Full Video + Download27m 24s
Reviews & Ratings
"Tetrachord Scales-Part 1-Randy Johnston"
Always loved Randy's playing-this is my first exposure to his teaching. Have to say, his approach makes jazz guitar a whole lot simpler and much more logical-not necessary to learn endless fingering patterns. This system allows you to actually play much more melodically, which is really what it's all about!
"Very helpful, taught in a relaxed, fun manner"
Randy seems like the kind of guy you could easily talk to over drinks between sets at Fellini's in Charlottesville (oh, wait - I DID do that!) This is a great lesson that teaches a concept that I wish I had learned years ago. In just a few short minutes I feel like I've learned an easy way to escape the box pattern of playing on the fretboard. Not to mention an easy way to play a diminished scale! That alone was worth the price! Really looking forward to part 2 (and beyond).
"Tetrachord Scales --Part 1"
Thanks, Randy! This concept immediately added to my understanding and gave me things that I can use in my improvising today!!! Very clear presentation of a new way of seeing modes and scales. John
"Fantastic!"
Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant concept and teaching. I love Randy's playing and concepts and teaching. He is so concise and logical in his teaching. Everything makes sense and easy to learn. I can't wait to work with this concept. I'm a semi professional player of many years, and I've never come across this concept before. Just brilliant. Highly recommended. Can't wait for the second part and more classes from Randy. He reveals these secret gems that I find enhance my knowledge and playing.
"Insightful "
Helpful perspective on scale fingerings. Shows how to simplify the fretboard by seeing scale position fingerings in terms of combinations of their simplest components. Looking forward to the next part of the class.
"Simple and effective"
Any help that simplifies this "stupid" instrument is welcome. I think that We try to overcomplicate simple things. Great players play in a horizontal way not a pure vertical as normal pedagogy teaches.
Related Courses
About the instructor
