Acoustic Lesson of the week    

                         

 

 

    

                                                              

Lessons written by:  Jeff Fiorentino

 

 

Lesson title:  Intro to Latin

 

                                

TUNING FOR THIS LESSON:

 

ALL GUITARS TUNE TO:  E, A, D, G, B, E.

 

 

 

 

Lesson Features
The song track The Jam along track The Video Guitar Lesson

 

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Tabs & Lesson

 Original score by:  Jeff Fiorentino

  Transcription by:  Jeff Fiorentino

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This Lesson's difficulty level  1-10 scale

4

 

 

 

Main Lesson

 

Key of:  Am and Em

 

 

We will be dealing with a couple keys here for lesson purposes, A minor and Em.  These are two very common keys for Latin style music as well.  Now when I refer to Latin style playing here I'm not referring to Flamenco playing which traditionally is a finger style done with all of your fingers.  These players usually have very long finger nails that they use as little picks.  Or at the very least a long thumb nail.  Like that guy on HSN or what ever that sells guitars.  LOL 

 

This lesson deals more with a Gypsy Kings type style of playing.  Its a style I'm pretty familiar with.  When I first came to Los Angeles back in 1992 I was not familiar with Latin music at all.  I grew up a small rural town in Massachusetts.  There really wasn't much Latin influence there.  But when I got to LA wow it was everywhere and these guys can play man. 

 

At any rate I started to get into it and familiarize myself with the basics of it. 

 

Below is a great Latin style exercises and fun little things to mess with to get yourself acquainted with the style.  The Latin style of playing will pop up quite a bit here on jfrocks UNplugged.  There will be much more to follow this lesson.  I encourage you to embellish and expand on what is below.  Use the lesson below as a guideline to tinker from and experiment from.  I'm only giving you an idea to start with here, you can infinitely expand on what is below. 

 

We will be working with 3 main scales here for our lesson.  Aeolian, Locrian, and Phrygian.

 

Aeolian is the minor scale plain and simple.  Locrian is a minor scale but the 2nd and 5th are flattened.  Phrygian is a minor scale as well however only the 2nd is flattened.  These are 3 very important scales to know.  There are other scales larger 8 and 9 tone scales often called gypsy scales but these are usually based on a Locrian or Phrygian but have other chromatics thrown in for good measure.  We'll look at some of those at a later date.  And of course other modes are often used as well such as Dorian mode etc.  Again we will explore other options on later lessons.  For now we will work with what I call the big 3. 

 

 

Below are our 3 scales in A minor.  Simply slide them for other keys or, use their properties to find the notes for other keys.  Properties meaning what makes them what they are. 

 

  

 

A minor scale or A Aeolian scale.  Notes:  A, B, C, D, E, F, G.

 

 

E_________________________________7_8_10_12_13_15_17_
B__________________________6_8_10____________________
G____________________5_7_9___________________________
D______________5_7_9_________________________________
A________5_7_8_______________________________________
E__5_7_8_____________________________________________

 

 

 

"A" Phrygian scale.  Notes:  A, Bb, C, D, E, F, G.

 

 

E________________________________6_8_10_12_13_15_17____
B_________________________6_8_10_______________________
G___________________5_7_9______________________________
D_____________5_7_8____________________________________
A_______5_7_8__________________________________________
E_5_6_8________________________________________________

 

 

 

"A" Locrian scale.  Notes:  A, Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G.

 

 

E________________________________6_8_10_11_13_15_17____
B_________________________6_8_10_______________________
G___________________5_7_8______________________________
D_____________5_7_8____________________________________
A_______5_6_8__________________________________________
E_5_6_8________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

Exercise:  Simple chord pattern with broken up chords forming double stops.  And leads.

 

We've talked before about breaking chords apart to form double stops or two note chord sections.  This is very important in Latin music.  Below is an exercise using an Am to G to F to E7 chord pattern.  Classic Latin chord pattern.  Obviously I'll expand on all of this and explain what we are doing here on the video. 

 

 

 

E_______ 8---10___8_________ 7_7___8__ 10________________________0___5h_
B_______10--12__ 10____0____8_8__ 10__12________5-6-5___5________0______
G__5_________________ 0____________________________7____7_5___ 1______
D__7________________   0_____________________3_____ ____________0______
A__0_________________ x_____________________3_________________ 2______
E____________________ 3_____________________1_________________ 0______

 

 

 

Double time feel from above

 

I will go over picking technique a bit on the video.  The feel is important here.

 

 

E_______________________________________________________________
B________________________________________________________________
G________5_5________5_5__________________________________________
D________7_7________7_7___repeat same pattern for each chord__________
A__7___________ 7_________________________________________________
E__5__5 ________5_5_______________________________________________

 

 

 

Above pattern is over an A minor.  Do the same pattern for the chords listed below.  But add in the 2nd string for the E7 which is the last chord on the line below. 

 

 

E__________________________________________________
B_____________3_____________________________________
G__4____2_____1____________________________________
D__5____3_____0____________________________________
A__5____3_____2_____________________________________
E__3____1_____0________________________________

 

 

 

 

Leads that can go over this Latin style of course

 

We will use all the scales mentioned earlier in this.  We will follow the chord pattern rather slickly using hammer ons and pull offs and minor 7ths of chords for added flair.  I will break this down for you on the video of course.  I have written the chords over the leads so you can try to figure out the relation.  Remember the scales from earlier and remember that the minor 7th of a chord is a key element in Latin feel.  At least this style of Latin anyway. 

 

 

       Am                           G                                                  F                                    E7

 

E_____________________________________________________________
B__5-6-5___5___________________________________________________
G_______7___7_5__4_7~___4-5-4___5_4-5-4-0__5~__5////_5----10_8__7~__
D____________________________7________________________________
A_____________________________________________________________
E_____________________________________________________________

 

 

 

E__________________________________________________
B__________________________________________________
G_7//////__10_8__7_7//////__10_8_7_7///////_10_8_7~__________
D__________________________________________________
A__________________________________________________
E__________________________________________________

 

 

 

Keep the pick moving the section below is done very quickly

 

E_________________________________________________________________
B_________________________________________________________________
G_7_8_10_8_7~__7_8_10_8_7~__7_8_10_8_7____________________________
D______________________________________10_8_7_8_10_8_7_6_6________
A__________________________________________________________7______
E______________________________________________________________0__

 

 

 


From here we switch key to the key of E

 

E__0_0_0_________________________________________
B__0_0_0___0_____________________________________
G__1_1_1___2_____2_2_2__4_2__1___________________
D__2_2_2___3_____3_3_3__5_3__2___________________
A__2_2_2___3_____3_3_3__5_3__2___________________
E__0_0_0_____________________0___________________

 

 

 

Below the scale being used in this pattern in the key of E would be the E Phrygian scale.

 

 

E____________________________________________________________________
B_____5_____5_____5_____5_____5_____5_____5_____5_____5_____5_____5__
G____________________________________________________________________
D__2_____0_____3_____2_____0_______________________0_____2_____3_____
A________________________________3_____2_____3_______________________
E____________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

E_______________________________________________________________________
B____5_____5_____5_____5_____5_____5_____5_____5_____5_____5___4________
G________________4_____4_____4_____4_____4_____4_____4_____4___4________
D_0____________________________________________________________x________
A_______3_____2_____2_____2_____2_____2_____2_____2_____2______2____2~__
E_________________________________________________________________2_____

 

 

 

We will explore many more Latin techniques in future lessons of course.  But for now this should be a good start.  Remember some of the details I mentioned on the video lesson about chords and using portions of them and also remember the feel of this type of music.  Because you could change the feel on all of this and make it any kind of music you want really.  So for it to sound Latin it must have a Latin feel.

 

 

Also remember you can use the same scale notes around open strings to create speedy riffs with Latin flair.  Below is the tab of the example I gave on the video lesson using the A minor or A Aeolian scale in the open position to add some Latin flair to an otherwise simple A minor to E7 chord pattern.

 

 

E_0___1-3-1-0___1___________________ 0_________
B_1__________3___3__1-3-1-0_0__0____ 0_________
G_2_________________________2______1_________
D_2________________________________0_________
A_0________________________________2_________
E__________________________________0_________

 

 

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