This month Andy G Jones shows how using seven-note groupings can spice up your soloing, taking inspiration from the great Steve Vai.
This month we’re going to examine the use of seven-note groupings.The seven-note group is different to most of the rhythms we’ve looked at to date, as it can’t be evenly divided. There are a number of ways to groups the notes within the seven, but they are always uneven. Common subdivisions are 4+3 and 3+4.
Example 1 shows these subdivisions in both 7/4 and 7/8 time signatures - the only difference being the length of the basic unit of the pulse. Then we’ll look at a riffy melodic line over a last 7/4 groove. Within the 7/4 groove if we play eighth notes, there are many different ways to groups the notes - some of the bars of this line suggest a 3+4 beat grouping and others seem to want to reverse it - this is a common feature in both prog rock and fusion.
From that point we’ll look at a soloist’s approach to using seven-note subdivisions of the beat over a 4/4 groove. Steve Vai was our inspiration for this approach. His free-wheeling improvisations often use these groupings. Vai’s music is notoriously difficult to notate. In fact a young Vai did a transcription book of Frank Zappa’s playing while he was playing with him, and few have been brave enough to follow in his footsteps. It’s highly likely that Zappa’s own unworldly improvisations were a considerable influence on Steve, rhythmically at least.
Vai’s playing is essentially rock based, but there are other influences from jazz and classical styles, even Eastern European folk music. As a result, the rhythms that he gravitates towards are extremely varied.
While this lesson is not a tutorial on Vai’s style, I’ve explored a number of different uses of sevens that he also likes to employ.
It might help to verbalise the seven-note group, although obviously beyond a certain speed this will be impossible to say out loud. As with learning how triplets feel, it may take a
