The Ionian, due to its pleasant and satisfying nature, is incredibly versatile. In this unit, we will be exploring a completely different genre that heavily relies on this mode, in the form of Brit Pop. Despite this being a completely different sound to what we have just explored in unit 3, you will notice the feeling of home is still a prevalent characteristic of the chord sequences explored in this unit. We will be covering fuller, richer barre chord sequences based in the Ionian and we will also be looking at how to use the Ionian practically to build a guitar solo. Here, our sequence is in the key of Bb Ionian, so let's get warmed up by going through this scale!
Again, the best way to understand the functionality of the chords in the Ionian is by referring to them in Roman numerals. Below is the sequence in Roman numerals:
In this particular key - the key of Bb Ionian, the chords would be as follows:
Now you've got the chords, take a look at the guitar tab section for the tab (this is sections A and B together)
Let's tackle the second section in this lesson. As always, let's begin with the roman numerals for the chord chart. Here are the roman numerals for section B:
Now we have the roman numerals, lets apply that to the key of Bb major:
Now you've got the chords, take a look at the tab in the guitar tab section (this is section A and B together):
It's now time to tackle the lead part on top of this Brit Pop chord progression, and as you may have guessed, it's very much based on the key of Bb Ionian. The whole solo is very much rooted in box 1 of our full scale and pentatonic scale, and in true Brit Pop fashion, we do stick quite a lot to the pentatonic notes, adding the 4th and 7th more rarely than in other styles. The scale shape can be found in the fretboard diagrams.
As you work through the first section of the solo with Dion's guidance, pay close attention to the way that Dion frets the notes. The little slides, the vibrato, the held notes followed by short sharp notes... This all goes a very long way to helping us make the guitar sound as fluid and as "vocal" as possible! Don't just learn the solo as is, take the solo, attribute it to the box, and then make it sing! "
As we move through the second part of the solo, we are now moving out of the pentatonic shapes more and more, really working with the full 7 notes of the Ionian scale in Bb. We are now using two key shapes to work through the solo, which can be found in the fretboard diagrams.
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