Its very cool. Now I'm gonna branch out from that basic picking technique stuff (just practicing it maybe an hour per session). I wanna learn to choose notes relative to chords and chord progressions. But I habitually approach learning by straying way off the appropriate path. For example, the ii - V- I maj7 is something I can play OKAY over, and I should move on to something a little harder. But I picked something that is maybe a little TOO advanced. Iwas I having trouble playing something reasonable over a simple bass line, that IMO should naturally invoke a i - bVI maj7 - V. It was just the root of the i, then the P5 and then root of the VI and V respectively.
I began hearing and wanting to play the maj 7 degree over the i minor chord (like a harmonic minor scale). To stray further from normalcy, I next wanted to hear the tonic's root and then the tonic's maj 7 over the bVI maj7 chord (this is the M3 and m3 of that Maj 7 chord, I think, so basically I'm starting with a major 7th chord, and then momentarily making a minor major 7 chord out of it. I should progress gradually from a basic sound, of course, but I get curious and the next thing you know I'm hearing something bizarre but intriguing. Its like I have one little musical angel on one side, saying go back and learn to play "Takin' Care O' Business" By Randy Bachman.
But there's a devil with these kaleidoscopic eyes saying, "just jump, its right there waiting and you think that BTO stuff is WAY boring anyway! Don't waste the opportunity, jesussaddle. Look into the pool of unused notes...."
But this all began re the subject of "Thinking TOO MuCH" and I know there are people who would say, stop thinking, and just hear and sing those notes and learn where they are on the guitar. I'd like to do that, but songs I like are sometimes the ones that are the hardest for me to try and sing. Those notes are way delicate and only sound right in just the right places and times.
As an example, you know, that song Drifting, by James Hendrix, "Drifting, on a sea of forgotten...." I always get pitch-ignorant around the word "teardrops". I can even hear it in my head, but when I try to vocalize it, its always not quite right. Its like the chord choice under that word is so creative that its a little un-hearable (or maybe its really basic and common, but not for me).
YouTube - JIMI HENDRIX VIDEO: Drifting 3:46
Here's another twist, probably the opposite, with what I think is a cool melody, but that has some well placed and unexpected chord choices, against what would maybe be a common melody (maybe?).
YouTube - Randy Crawford - Hoping love will last
Anyone else have any examples? Melodies and chord progressions that rise to the top?
I figure I'll try to learn some of these sounds I have trouble hearing now, about an hour a night or more.