Playing Fusion

[Norton]

I wanna be able to play fusion type of things.What kind of scales or things should I practice?

[Endrik]

scales?

how about jazz phrasing, chromatics, rhythms, syncopation, swing and free-time feel, passing tones, out of box thinking, improvising over chord changes, chords chords and more chords, timing timing and more timing... also you have to work your ass off to get your chops in shape... and better than ever before... becase no other electric genre is more technically demanding than fusion
and well that's not enough because you have to listen and study shit loads of different music... from big band jazz and expressionism to modern classical music and latin... because that's what fusion is... it mixes all the different styles together.

good luck, it takes years to sound decent in that type of music

[Norton]

scales?

how about jazz phrasing, chromatics, rhythms, syncopation, swing and free-time feel, passing tones, out of box thinking, improvising over chord changes, chords chords and more chords, timing timing and more timing... also you have to work your ass off to get your chops in shape... and better than ever before... becase no other electric genre is more technically demanding than fusion
and well that's not enough because you have to listen and study shit loads of different music... from big band jazz and expressionism to modern classical music and latin... because that's what fusion is... it mixes all the different styles together.

good luck, it takes years to sound decent in that type of music

I said things, I know there's a lot to learn.I just asked what to learn

[Endrik]

I said things,

uhh, what?

I just asked what to learn

all the shit I wrote down

[tanpsi]

I don't know if there are any current guitarist who would admit to being called fusion, it had a bad name for a while.

But I would listen to some of the early Mahavishnu records, Miles Davis Bitches Brew, Al Dimeola, Larry Coryell (sorry about spelling).

That's the start of fusion, listen to what the guitarists are doing.

If you've got shred skills they will translate well , but the hardest things to learn will be odd time signatures and key changes within songs.

[Norton]

uhh, what?



all the shit I wrote down

things= all the shit you wrote down




that's what I meant

[Endrik]

But I would listen to some of the early Mahavishnu records, Miles Davis Bitches Brew, Al Dimeola, Larry Coryell (sorry about spelling).

yep, you named all the right stuff, I'm not a big fan of the new fusion, old-school is the real deal

also Jean Luc Ponty, Tony William's Lifetime, Return To Forever and other Chic Corea's projects, Joe Zawinul, Weather Report etc.

things= all the shit you wrote down




that's what I meant

oh yeah

[Norton]

Oh,I do listen to Mahavishnu and some Return to Forever. I guess I'll get into them more.

[metalhead28]

Endrik is right on. People have alot of different interpretations about what Fusion is, some people see it as elevator music for yuppies, and with some of the glossy fusion of the 80's that's what it sounded like.
The older stuff is the best place to learn about the genre.
Once you get into it there are alot of other artists you should check out though.
Some of my favorite players that I would consider fusion would be Allan Holdsworth, Scott Henderson (Some of the Tribal Tech stuff almost fits in to the above mentioned categorty, but alot of it is great), Frank Gambale, and even Ohm with Chris Poland.
Once I was into fusion for a while, it became a gateway into straight Jazz, world music, and all sorts of different stuff. It will really influence you as a player. Good luck.

[NEWYEARKID]

Depends

Some jazz does'nt have changes..the whole modal thing by Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock..Examples: "So What" by Miles is a static vamp(one chord).
Some fusion has very few time changes or none at all: Eric Johnson, Shawn Lane or Steve Morse come to mind. Some fusion has a million changes and nothing to do with jazz: Allan Holdsworth springs to mind.
Endrik is correct: Fusion is very difficult because its all encompassing. Jazz Rock fusion is very different from all the other fusions(Indian music/fusion-Shatki
70's McLaughlin, Latin/jazz-Al Di Meola, Blues/jazz-Robben Ford/Scott Henderson). A lot of our guitar heroes who've influenced us are indirectly inspired by fusion-Vai's exotic mode choices came from Zappa's being influenced by modern jazz/classical, Yngwies neo classicism owes as much to Al Di Meola as it does Blackmore/Uli Jon Roth, Joe Satriani studied with Lennie Trisatano, Shawn Lane loved Holdsworth and McLaughlin. The early Van Halen was inspired by Allan Holdsworths early playing. Before Vai and Malmsteen, 99% of rock guitar was strictly pentatonic licks..suddenly harmonic minor, diminished and lydian sounds became more accepted.