Ander Nieri - 20 Diverse Fusion Licks

1.All of Andre's licks are played over the same chord progression. The chords ar e basically in the key of A minor (the Bb13 can be interpreted as a tritone subs titution for E13) but the chromatic movement means we can easily experiment with a wide range of scales, treating each chord as a different tonality if we choos e. The easiest approach is to use A Dorian (A B C D E F# G) or minor pentatonic (A C D E G) for the Am7 and Bm7 chords, and this is what Andre does here. He also a dds the bluesy flat 5 (Eb) over the Am7. For the Bb13, he switches to E Phrygian Dominant (E F G# A B C D). You probably noticed that this is very much NOT a Bb scale! Remember what we said about trito ne substitution? We're hearing Bb13, but thinking E13. Finally, we're back to A Dorian (with some chromatic passing notes) for the final Am7. 2.Once again, Andre starts with A Dorian (A B C D E F# G), and those natural har monics are a cool way of building some sustained notes into your single-note lin es... just hit the note and leave it to ring! For the Bm7, though, he switches t o B Dorian (B C# D E F# G# A). And this time, he uses Bb Lydian Dominant (Bb C D E F G Ab) over the Bb13. This is a good scale for adding a slightly altered sou nd, and it has the same notes as E Superlocrian, another great altered dominant scale, and hinting at the tritone substitution thing again! 3.Andre's approach here is the same as in Lick 2 - A Dorian, B Dorian, Bb Lydian Dominant. Note how he leads chromatically into the Bm7, starting from the E not e in measure 3. The G# note over the Am7 (measure 6) adds a little melodic spice . 4.There's much more chromatic stuff happening over the first Am7 in this lick. F or the Bm7, Andre keeps it simple, mostly using minor pentatonic (B D E F# A). T his time, the Bb13 line is simple Mixolydian (Bb C D Eb F G Ab), always the most obvious choice for a dominant chord. 5.After the A Dorian (A B C D E F# G) start, we have a nice blues scale (A C D E b E G) line in measure 3. The Bm7 phrase is all about wide intervals... watch th e string skip on the first beat! 6.Now Andre completely changes his approach, using a series of tight double-stop lines, punctuated with muted bass notes. This one is all about rhythm and groov e. The rhythms get more sparse over the Bb13 and Am7, so take great care with th e timing. Those offbeat 16th notes should have a snappy feel! 7.Now let's take the wide intervals to another level! Andre sometimes uses hybri d picking (pick & fingers) for these arpeggio licks, so you could try that too. The line over the Am7 chord starts off with some stacked 5th intervals, moving t o an interesting stretched line in measure 3. Andre does a lot of licks like thi s... using extended fingerings to access unusual melodic lines. The G over the Bm7 means we're using Aeolian (B C# D E F# G A) this time; again, the fingering is pretty unusual, so take your time. We have a new scale for the Bb13... Bb Phrygian Dominant (Bb Cb D Eb F Gb Ab). You may prefer to read Cb as plain old B (although Cb is actually correct here). 8.There are more double stops in this lick, and covering even more range than in Lick 6. Study the Tab and plan your position shifts... Andre is basically joini ng together a series of small chord shapes, adding melodic lines around them (th is is especially true over the Bb13). The F#-E pull-off in measure 5 gives a coo l Am6 sound, typical of the Dorian mode (the final chord is the related Am7add6) .

9.The line over Am7 is perfect for hybrid picking - use your 2nd and 3rd fingers to pluck the notes on the B and G strings. The arpeggios over Bm7 and the later Am7 demonstrate one of Andre's cool fingering tricks, stretching the shape to a ccess a different set of notes. 10.Normally, over a minor 7th chord, you'd use scales that actually contain the minor 7th (Aeolian, Dorian, minor pentatonic) but the G# notes give a really coo l twist over the Am7. There are other chromatic notes here, but this is basicall y A melodic minor (A B C D E F# G#). It's not quite so obvious over the Bm7, but that A# note hints at B melodic minor (B C# D E F# G# A#). We then have a tiny burst of Bb blues scale (Bb Db Eb E F Ab) over the Bb13 which quickly develops into a kind of diminished-flavour symmetrical pattern. 11.There's another symmetrical pattern over the Am7 here, allowing Andre to move smoothly from the 15th fret down to the 11th fret. There's another symmetrical pattern over Bb13 (with a diminished flavour, as in Lick 10) taking us into the first really fast passage. The final Am7 line is all minor pentatonic (A C D E G ) but watch the stretched fingering. 12.There's some tricky fingering over the Am7... the descending Am7 arpeggio des cends chromatically and then (measure 3) you have a linear phrase along the B st ring. The melodic trick here is quite common in jazz, approaching a target note (the A on the 2nd beat) by playing the notes immediately above and below, and th ese neighbour notes can also be chromatic (like the G# which doesn't belong in t he regular Dorian scale). What's happening over the Bb13? The first few notes sound like an E7 arpeggio (t ritone substitution, remember?) so we can interpret the whole scale as E Superlo crian (E F G Ab Bb C D). But of course, this scale has the same notes as Bb Lydi an Dominant... it's up to you! 13.Starting in A Dorian (A B C D E F# G) again, but Andre leans heavily on that bluesy flat 5th (Eb). The partial bends on the C notes also add to the bluesy vi be. For the Bm7, we just slide up 2 frets to the parallel shape, but there's a much clearer Dorian (B C# D E F# G# A) sound here. 14.This lick starts in the same vein as Lick 13 with the flat 5ths (Eb) and slig htly bent minor 3rds (C). We're then in stretched arpeggio territory for the Bm7 ... practise carefully, making sure you can make that first stretch, using your 2nd finger for the 15th fret and your 1st finger for the 12th fret. The rest of measure 4 might look like a standard descending pentatonic pattern, but remember we're in B, not E, so the fingering is a little awkward in this position. 15.Until the Bb13, this lick is even more bluesy than the last two, but then wha t happens? The symmetrical pattern is built from the B diminished arpeggio (B D F G#)... this is a cool trick to play over any dominant chord. Just go up a semi tone and play a diminished arpeggio (the result is a Bb7b9 arpeggio without the Bb root). 16.Don't try to be too precise with the gradual bends at the start... it sounds better with a slightly lazy sound. The Am7 line is mostly pentatonic (A C D E G) but note how Andre uses the F# instead of the G in measure 2, for that Robben F ord sound. Then we have Bb Lydian Dominant (Bb C D E F G Ab) over the Bb13, foll owed by a fast Dorian line for the final Am7. Note the added Eb at the end which allows us to use that convenient 16-17-19 pattern. 17.So, you've had some practice with Andre's stretched four-finger arpeggio shap es, so let's take things up a level. This lick is very difficult, but at least y ou get to relax briefly with that long tapped note over the Am7. Andre plays tho se rippling lines with his fingers, but you could sweep-pick or economy-pick if

you prefer. 18.Here's another great example of how Andre uses hybrid fingerpicking to simula te a sweep-picked arpeggio sound (you might find this slightly reminiscent of Br ett Garsed). If you're going to use the same approach, work very slowly at first ... your fingerpicking needs to be SUPER accurate and consistent! The patterns b ecome more fragmented (and possibly even harder) over the Bm7 and Bb13, but thes e lines will be easier to adapt for regular pick technique. 19.We're back to the wide intervals and string skipping again. Although these li nes aren't particularly fast, the melodic shapes are quite unusual and the finge rings require accurate position shifts. This is especially true in measure 3, wh ere you have to move quickly from a 15-12-10 pull-off shape to the 14-16-15-17 a rpeggio shape. We get to learn another new scale for Bb13... this is the whole-tone scale (Bb C D E Gb Ab). The last two notes don't belong in the scale; they're leading chrom atically back to the Am7, where Andre rips a really cool legato line. Not too fa r from the sort of thing Guthrie sometimes plays! 20.The last lick starts with a full-on arpeggio workout. As before, Andre uses h is pick and three fingers to play these rolling patterns, but you can always try sweep-picking if you don't trust your fingers. The crucial thing is the changin g top note, which means you need to plan the fingering carefully. Andre plays an other symmetrical B diminished pattern over the Bb13.