Sonic Resource Guide
Sonic Resource Guide: an improvising musicians guide to pitch class set improvisation
Have you ever wondered:
- How many different chords you could derive from any given scale?
- How a standard chord can be used in all keys?
- If a new way to enrich your playing by using new scales and structural approaches?
Below is a sample page from the book. This hexatonic scale is one that I use a lot in my music. Most of the music composed on Art of the Blues, as well as Spooky Actions recording of Arnold Schoenberg’s 5 Piano Pieces uses this scale
Tons of Useful Information
The excerpt above from the Sonic Resource Guide give you:
- The pitch class set/scale in note names plus the prime form and the degrees.
- A list of every chord in every key that will work over this scale.
- the Symmetric Difference which is the scale would be formed by the 6 notes you are not using. Useful when playing outside the key center.
- A list of all three note subsets in prime form. Use as chords or melodic lines.
- A list of all four note subsets in prime form. Use as chords or melodic lines.<
- A list of all the ways this scale can be combined into 3 two note groups. A very useful improvisational idea.
- A list of how this scale can be combined into two sets of three notes. This is aa great improvisation method that I use often when improvising.
You can see that just one page of the Sonic Resource Guide can give you great detail on a scale and show you not only how to use it over chords but additional information that you can use in various improvisational concepts.
Sonic Resource Guide reduces all possible scales to manageable 220 possible combinations.
Explore Sonic Resource Guide and you will gain insights into the unique aspects of most possible scales. This is a book that any improvising musician should own.
Sonic Resource Guide is a reference book for the application of set theory principles to jazz improvisation.
This means you can take the logical organizing principles behind set theory and use this information to make a clear and concise exploration of the possibilities behind any scale. Truly meant for the musician who wants to explore new sounds for improvisation or composition.
The aim of Sonic Resource Guide is to bridge a gap in music education
Sonic Resource Guide bridges the gap between highly mathematical pitch class theory books and the often limited scope of jazz improvisation methods by demonstrating numerous musical relationships that an improviser can use to create fresh sounding musical content.
Gain new insight into melodic and harmonic relationships.
The many melodic and harmonic relationships of these pitch class sets are listed to enable a musician locate these relationships and utilize them within their own playing. Along with each pitch class set is a listing of possible related jazz chords.
Find immediately the hidden relationship found in scales that will open up a whole new world of sound possibilities.
The various melodic and harmonic relationships of these pitch class sets are listed to help a musician locate and utilize these relationships within their own playing. Along with each pitch class set is a listing of possible related jazz chords.
Where appropriate a listing of all three and four note chords can be found to aid in creating varied and unique harmonic palettes, as well as three, four, six and eight note subset relationships to help in exploring subset based musical ideas.
Jazz and progressive Rock musicians will find this book user friendly
Jazz musicians will find this book user friendly because all relationships are listed as both pitch names and scale degrees. Set theory students will find each pitch class set is also expressed in its prime form.
Create any scale on the fly and immediate find out the hidden relationships in the common scales you know or create new scales at your whim.
An index containing a simplified set list is also included to help in locating a prime form’s scales from any note combination. There is also a brief theory section exploring some of the uses of the information presented. Further books will explore these theoretical relationships in depth.
- Additional Information:
-
- Digital Edition 978-1-59489-889-1
- 702 pages
- What people are saying:
-
- Sonic Resource Guideis a completely different way to look at improvisation, and it presents an extremely organized and logical approach. I studied 12 Tone and Serial music in college but it never dawned on me to use it for jazz and rock improvisation. Does it work? Well I say first check out some of Arnold’s music and see if you think it works. Go to YouTube, type in “bruce arnold” and listen. I think it works across multiple idioms. Blues, Jazz, Rock pitch class sets can work. One of my favorites is “Beauty Queen” which sounds like Jeff Beck meets Led Leppelin. It takes a minute to get into Sonic Resource Guidee but give it a chance it’s fantastic! F. Kim
- I’ve studied with Bruce Arnold via skype for a few years working on his pitch class improvisation method. Sonic Resource Guide is a book I use every day to access different Hexatonic scales for my own original work and to improvise with. If you want to get a more contemporary sound in your playing check out Sonic Resource GuideR. Stein
- I’m a straight ahead jazz guitarist and I’ve been using Sonic Resource Guide to create solo guitar ideas over standards. There is a complete list of possible ways to form chords with each scale plus how those chords or complete scales work over every chord in every key. it’s like someone sat down and just handed you this treasure drove of ideas…come to think of it, that’s exactly what it is! Plug in Bruce’s Reharmonization methods in Chord Workbook Volume One and Volume Two and you have it all. Thanks Bruce! D. Nold.
- Sonic Resource Guideis obviously not a book you “master.” It’s a reference guide to all scales. Boiling everything down to 220 scales is a great idea. You don’t have to deal with a bunch of formulas and stuff you need an advanced degree to comprehend. Just write down a scale, write down the number of the intervals, look up the scale. For instance if I have C, D, E, F, G, A, B, that would in half steps from “C” 0,2,4,5,7,9,11. “0” is C, D is 2 half steps above C, E is 4 half steps above C etc… Easy!! Then look up the scale and BAM! you have a huge number of 3 and 4 note chord voicings that work over the scale. Every place you can use C Major in every key. This is way cool! T. Goldings.
Take your playing and understanding of music into the 21st Century with Sonic Resource Guide
Status: Digital book is available for immediate access.
- Recommended books to use with Sonic Resource Guide
- What should I work on after Sonic Resource Guide?
-
- Please contact Bruce for suggestions on you next line of study