Slidemeister (Chromatic & related only - no Diatonic discussion) > Chromatic Playing Techniques

Walter Bishop Jr. "Theory of Fourths"

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jazmaan:
In recent weeks I've been woodshedding on exercises from Walter Bishop Jr.'s "Theory of Fourths".  WBJ was best known as one of Bird's later pianists.   But he continued on as a solo artist and jazz educator long after the Bebop Era and stylistically moved on to more modern post-bop sounds.   In the 1970's he became intrigued with a simple exercise/challenge:  Play the entire cycle of fourths within 2 bars and within one octave.    That exercise led him to deeper investigations into fourths and how they could be applied to modern music and culminated in his writing a book called "Theory of Fourths".   We are very fortunate that he lived into the 1990's and actually videotaped himself explaining his theory.  You can watch the video here: 

http://youtu.be/_LgE6M-ZCbQ

The book is also available for free online.  I'll post a link later if anyone is interested. 

A few minutes ago I posted a Youtube of myself playing the basic beginning exercise that led to his theory.   As he says its a "deep" and different sound.   At first it seemed alien to me, but the more I played it, the more I began to recognize fragments of it popping up in different songs.   The most obvious being the first three notes of the "Star Trek Theme".     

Its an intriguing way of playing all twelve notes in the Chromatic scale in a way that links them in a musically useful manner.   The more I drill it, the more I get out if it.   (I'll talk about what I'm getting out of it in another post.)  Bishop recommends drilling it every day as part of your daily practice routine.

Here I play it in C, F, Bb, Eb & Ab.      I'm still working on taking it through all 12 keys, although the more I play it, the more I realize its not really 12 different segments,  its really just one continuum.

This is just Exercise 1.   Exercise 2 is playing it backwards!

http://youtu.be/qUpPgu09S28

(And by the way you may notice I'm not using the "Elbow Plant" in this video!)

Winslow Yerxa:
Fourths as a way of voicing chords is an important device that can free up piano and guitar playing, especially in modal jazz idioms.

You can also state scales in seconds (the standard way), in thirds (how we usually construct and name chords and their extensions) and in fourths.

Thanks for posting this David. I look forward to the ways that Bishop has explored fourths.

pyro_fire60099:
I love this, Thanks Dave!

HallelujahAL:
This exercise is extremely easy to play on the left hand side (stradella bass) of an accordion as the buttons rise in fifths and descend in 4ths  ;D. I've just been mucking around with it - hey, I can now bebop or whatever it is you guys call it!
 ;D

jazmaan:
If the exercise is too easy for you in its basic form, in both ascending and descending form, then try this slightly more advanced iteration.   Instead of moving up and down the keyboard when changing keys,  you must play the exercise in all 12 keys while confined to a single C - C octave.   This means the exercise will shift form a little every time you change keys in order to stay within the C to C boundaries.

I love it when, in the video Bishop says,  "If you play this enough, you start to hear things!"   So true!

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