Aeolian Life
IF THERE’S ONE thing that rock, blues, jazz, country and funk guitarists have in common, it’s that most of us enjoy playing in minor keys and tonalities. There’s just something about the inherently darker feel of a minor harmonic environment that speaks and resonates so well on our instrument. Couple that with the fact that all guitarists, lead and rhythm players alike, love a good riff, and we arrive at the point of this lesson: how to craft your own minor-key riffs. Whether you’re a rookie, intermediate player or seasoned veteran, check out this sampling of 21 darkly enticing musical ideas. There’s bound to be something that will stoke your creativity.
E MINOR SCALE PATTERNS ALONG THE FRETBOARD
For the sake of continuity and comparison, all the examples in this lesson are based on the E natural, or pure, minor scale (E, F, G, A, B, C, D), also known as the E Aeolian mode. First, check out the neck diagram in . Here we show five different box patterns of E natural minor, laid out end to end, as they overlap and connect in order, from the open position all the way to the top of the fretboard. Note that once you get to Pattern 5 (at the note above the first octave has to be played on the D string. In the upper position, that note can now be fingered on the G string’s 11th fret. Take some time to play through the patterns to get a feel for how they segue into one another. This is important, as many of the following riffs toggle back and forth between neighboring patterns.
