7-Tone Interval Mastery
IT’S NOT UNCOMMON for a hotshot high school guitarist to venture off to music college and quickly discover he’s no longer the only player in the room with chops. Speaking from experience, it’s humbling. Pursuant to my wake-up call, I decided not only to up my musical game but also to redefine it. As an undergrad at William Paterson University who transplanted from the Jersey Shore, I set out on a search that led me back to my hometown area, where I met bassist Gerald Carboy. By then, Gerry was a well-rounded, veteran professional musician who logged time playing with the likes of Tal Farlow, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kevin Eubanks, Barry Miles, David Sancious and Jeanie Bryson. Unbeknownst to me, he’d been living right under my nose all along.
It was during fusion music’s heyday in the 1970s, when Gerry had become a high-caliber troubadour, that he developed a teaching program called . It featured a cog called “7-Tone” in reference to the seven-note, or , scales, such as the major, melodic minor and harmonic minor scales, and all their modes. With the objective of keeping his own musical senses and chops in peak condition when not touring, Gerry organized “7-Tone” to be a rigorous plan of attack through all seven diatonic modes, one that included a deep dive into intervallic scale studies, among other concepts. If you’re fortunate
