Ok I've had a good listen to B.A.Y II.
This is a long post and I might come across as arrogant, it really isn’t meant to patronise in any way.
I'm actually studying theory at home today so this is actually a really useful exercise for me in preparation for a music theory lesson I’m having next week.
It would be wrong of me to presume my ideas are going to help as I’m not the world’s most gifted guitarist or most knowledgeable musical theorist, but I can get along ok.
Technique will get better as time goes by, but I think compositional ability is always what makes the distinction between a good technical guitarist and a great musician.
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Looking at just the first half of the piece I can hear the following chord progression.
A 5 add 9 (A, E and B)
G 6 (G, B, D, E)
C Maj 9th (C, D, E, G, B)
B sus 4 (B, E, F#)
That is quite a nice choice of chords and there are loads of options to play over them
Looking at that first half, you run through that progression twice and then on the 3rd and 4th time add the lead over the top
I think when it comes to simple melody, the notes that you play on the first beat of a chord are the most important as they really highlight the harmony.
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I’ll give you specific examples from the point when the lead comes in after about 40seconds.
Over the first beat of the A 5 add 9 you bend the string from D to E (A, E and B) The D adds some tension as it is the 4th which kind of implies an A minor 11th.
Over the first beat of the G 6 you bend down from E to D; that sounds fine because it’s all chord tones from the G6’s (G, B, D, E)
Over the first beat of the C Maj 9th you slide up from F to G. C Maj 9th has (C, D, E, G, B) F can cause a bit of a clash as it is very close to E; although, only briefly, you can see that’s a lot of different notes playing at the same time which kind of creates tension.
Over the first beat of the B sus 4 you play a D, which is very close to the E and again causes tension with the (B, E, F#) I would stick with B, E or F# or if you still wanted to include the D perhaps incorporate it in an e minor 7th arpeggio.
The second time the A 5 add 9 comes round you play G then A then G which is fine as you are going from the 7th to the root and back
The second time the G 6 comes round you bend down from C to B. The C clashes a bit with the B as it’s so close.
The second time the C Maj 9th comes round you bend from D to E which is like going from the 2nd or 9th to the 3rd. The bend is a bit out of tune but you can work on that easily, just make sure if are bending with your 3rd finger you have the 1st and 2nd finger behind it on the same string to give you more strength and control.
The second time the B sus 4 comes round you play some Ds, Bs and As which are the 3rd, the root and the 7threspectively. Any sus 4 chord never has a third in it, so I would probably avoid the 3rd just to allow the chord you are playing over to come through more.
What I noticed straight away was that you are picking notes for the lead that are not wrong, they are in the right key, but you have a tendency to home in on notes that increase tension which is rarely resolved from a musical perspective. This can be a good thing, but in the context of this piece the rhythm is gentle and melodic and the tension in the lead doesn’t quite fit.
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So what would I do? Hmmm…
Some options that spring to mind….
I’d look at the notes in all the chords. All of them contain B and E, so I’d think of the scales diatonic to the key that really emphasise those notes. I could improvise with an E minor scale all day over that, but it may get me out of a rut if I tried noodling around with B Phrygian.
I often practice by playing one note over each chord change until I get a feel for the way each one contrasts with the root note of the chord.
I would listen to the progression 4 times whilst playing one note over each chord. The first time round I would play the root note of each chord, the second I’d play the 7th note in relation to each chord, the third time I’d play the 5th and the final time I’d play the thirds. By contrasting each note with the chord this way it forces me to build a melody that flows with the rhythm of the piece. Just ask if you don’t know how to work these notes out.
Personally I would consider splitting the bar with the B sus 4 so the first half is B sus 4 and then for the second half of the bar play a B7. This is effectively switching briefly to E harmonic minor. This makes the A5 add 9 that follows sound more like ‘home’. For the lead you could bend the 11th fret on the E string up to the twelfth or vice versa, that would emphasise the D# which is the only difference between E harmonic minor and E natural minor. You could also play an F# diminished arpeggio or a G augmented 5th arpeggio which is very similar and both contain that important D#.
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I’ve mentioned lots of theoretical stuff but I’ve noticed from your posts you are well aware of all your scales.
Just ask if you want me to explain anything.
Don’t worry if this stuff doesn’t come straight away it takes ages of practice before it becomes second nature.
Just remember there are no rights and wrongs in music but learning theory helps work out why something sounds like it does and I think it makes it easier to replicate things quicker.
