Jean Marc Belkadi

Who is the most influential electric guitarist of all time? Hendrix? Clapton? Page? Van Halen? Wrong. You’ll need some lethal debate skills to prove that any rock guitarist would even have a stage to stand on without help from St. Louis’ own Charles Edward Anderson Berry—“Chuck” to his fans and friends. With his rapid-fire two-string eighth-note riffs and legendary stage swagger, Berry single-handedly put rock and roll guitar on the map. So, if all guitarists have ol’ Chuck to thank, then who the heck influenced him?

Piano players.

You don’t need to be a musicologist to hear how Berry took boogie woogie piano riffs, applied them to guitar, and cranked ’em through an amp so loud that asbestos flakes likely snowed down on the Eisenhower-era gymnasium crowds he so thoroughly “reeled and rocked” in the ’50s and beyond. Berry’s sound, of course, opened the floodgates to so many wild electric guitar styles that today, unfortunately, most guitarists rarely look to other instruments for inspiration.

Los Angeles-based guitar guru Jean-Marc Belkadi is one of the exceptions.

“The polytonal and bi-tonal licks I’m going to show you are directly inspired by listening to pianists such as Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, as well as saxophone players like Michael Brecker and Joe Henderson,” says Jean Marc Belkadi, one day before embarking on a clinic tour of Europe (which would include a stop in his native city of Toulouse, France). The examples Belkadi shares can be used in rock, jazz, fusion, even shred metal, and they all have a cool, modern sound. And, thanks to sweep technique, they can each be played quite fast. Also, any of the examples can be used as an exercise to improve sweep timing, because keeping the notes evenly spaced as you rake your pick across the strings in either direction is one of the trickiest challenges of the style.
 

Sensei to the Stars

You don’t have to be an amateur guitarist to need guitar lessons. Even the pros like a good schoolin’ now and again. And if you’re a professional guitarist, singer, or actor in the Los Angeles area who’s fishing around for a guitar teacher, it probably won’t be long before someone refers you to Jean-Marc Belkadi. Like his mentor, the late, great guitar genius Ted Greene, Belkadi is quickly emerging as one of the most in-demand and respected guitar instructors in Southern California and beyond. Over the years, the former GIT staffer’s roster of students has included Dweezil Zappa, Ricardo Montalban, Rafael Moreira (Rock Star house band), Joe Holmes (Ozzy Osbourne, David Lee Roth), Joel Whitley (Stevie Wonder, Lauryn Hill), Justin Derrico (Pink), inger/actress/John Denver ex-wife Cassandra Delaney, Matchbox Twenty drummer Paul Doucette, Sean Matthew Landon (Michael Landon’s son), Austin Ward (Sela Ward’s son), and even Martin Chirac (grandson of the former President of France, Jacques Chirac).
 

Huh?
 

By loose definition, a polytonal melody travels through multiple keys, chords, and/or harmonies in a relatively short amount of time, typically over a static background key. If the phrase tags only one other tonality, it can be more specifically described as bi-tonal.
 

Tips From the Grand Master
 

When it comes to sweep picking, Frank Gambale is the style’s undisputed champion, in both senses of the word. With his impossibly fluid lines and flawless command of the technique (shows marked superiority), Gambale is unparalleled as a sweep picker. Plus, he has always been the style’s most impassioned and articulate proponent (militant advocate or defender).
In the September ’87 GP, Gambale shared some of his insights into his signature playing approach with an eloquent lesson article entitled, simply, “Sweep Picking.” Here are some of the pointers he offered: 1.Keep the notes as separate as possible—almost staccato (short)—at first, especially when crossing multiple strings. Newcomers to sweeping tend to run the notes together. 2.Watch your picking hand and make sure you are using a single movement when sweeping across strings, not separate successive strokes. 3.Always practice with a metronome or drum machine, making sure that the notes are clean and even. 4.Be critical and honest when evaluating yourself. It’s harder to sweep at slower tempos, so start with medium ones (sixteenths at q=60-100 bpm). Guitar Player Magazine article  here 

EX. 1 "This is a bi-tonal lick combining various C and Bb major triads", says Belkadi. Try it over C7 vamp for a nice C Mixolydian sound, or over a static Bb major background harmony to effect a more "outside" Bb Lydian vibe. Keep the notes evenly spaced in time, even if it means you have to slow the phrase down significantly.
 

EX. 2 Truly polytonal, this sweeper contains multiple major triads (can you ID'em all?) from the G diminished "half/whole" scale ( G, Ab, A#, B, C#, D, E, F). Use this colorful Belkadi phrase for wacky sounds over G7 jams. Or think of G13 b9 as the V chord and resolve the angular lick with the saccharin sweetness of a C major (I) voicing.
  

 EX. 3 Here's a fun "Swiffer" riff that employs three major triads and jumps aound the fretboard in leaps of a minor third. For a trippy modal sound, play it over plain ol' C major.

EX. 4 Use this sweeping weapon to mount a major 7 assault on the key of A minor using saucy G# that imply Am(maj7). This is also Belkadi's first example that intermingles solo (single-string) picked notes with multi-string
sweeps.

EX. 5 Another Am(maj7) excursion, this passage has two things in common with the previous example:1). 

The second bar is a melodic mirror of the first (notice it is visually symmetrical to the preceding bar), and 2) If you want to remain in the multi-string sweep realm, you may play the first note in each descending grouping as an extension of the same upward sweep that carries you through the ensuing three notes. (The second note in each cluster will have to be played as a pull-off). When ascending (bar2), simply hammer every fourth note to
stay in sweep land. 

EX. 6 "Here's a bi-tonal idea based up around the 12th fret, says Belkadi. Again, notice the musical mirror (bar2).

Jude Gold | Guitar Player magazine “People light up when I play this stuff,” says GIT (Musicians Institute) instructor and author Jean-Marc Belkadi, describing the typical reaction of students who hear him throw a blast of chords into the middle of one of his solos. “I’m not talking about playing chord melody, where you’re literally harmonizing a theme with various voicings. I’m talking about using chords in your solos, improvisations, and lead guitar riffs totally on the fly, whether you play blues, rock, R&B, or jazz.”

Sharing musical examples inspired by Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, George Benson, Pat Metheny, Kevin Eubanks, Grant Green, and several other jazz legends, Belkadi hopes this Master Class will help Guitar Player readers gain insight into the under-documented art of soloing in two-, three-, and even four-part harmony. “What is the logic behind these techniques?” Belkadi asks rhetorically. “Is there a system I can learn? How does it work? Which chords can I use and why? What is the mentality being employed? Can I use my comping skills within my solos? These are questions my students ask me all the time, and the answers are often simpler than they expect.” Let the demystification begin.

Beefed-Up Blues

In the right hands, the blues scale never gets old. Some guitarists have built amazing careers off its six notes (the root, b3, 4, b5, 5, and b7— or, for instance, G, Bb, C, Db, D, and F, in the key of G). That said, if you like adventure, there are myriad ways to dress up your workhorse blues-based leads in snazzy new colors. One way is to harmonize them with parallel melodic motion. “This lick sounds impressive,” says Belkadi, playing Ex. 1. “It sounds like a bunch of hipster jazz chords, but if you listen closely, it’s really a simple blues lick in the top voice that has been harmonized.”

The blues lick in question is the highest note of each chord. First, play the single-note melody by itself. (It occurs almost entirely on the first string, dipping to the second only for the last eighth-note of the first complete measure.) Then, add the harmony notes to each pitch. “You’ll see I’ve simply built a 13 chord below each note,” details Belkadi. “Except for the last grip in bar 1, it’s the same fingering each time. This parallel harmony gives the line a totally different emotion than it would have by itself, and there are several other chordal approaches you can try. For instance, you can get an extremely cool Wayne Shorter-type sound by applying suspended harmonies below a C blues lick, like this [Ex. 2].”

If you like that entrancing quartal sound, be sure to play through Ex. 3, in which Belkadi shows you how to expand on the parallel-motion approach by harmonizing nearly every melody note with two different chords. “This is another Wayne Shorter thing,” shares Belkadi, “though it is probably also inspired by Joe Diorio and Ted Greene. These colors work beautifully in a C minor blues tonality, and have a very full yet completely open sound.”

Completing our arsenal of blues scale harmonization approaches is Ex. 4, which demonstrates how put meat on the bones of a single-note blues line using beefy dominant chords. “The concept is easy once you get it,” encourages Belkadi. “Alternating Bb and A 9 and 13 voicings fatten up your descent down the A blues scale.”

Chromatic Tactics

A simple way to add chromatic notes to an ordinary progression is to squeeze chromatic neighbor tones between each chord [Ex. 5]. “But I also take a lot of inspiration from McCoy Tyner and other pianists,” shares Belkadi. “This is a total Herbie Hancock thing [Ex.6]. Let the open A string ring and play the rising voicings over the top. The hammer-on/ pull-off in each chord adds a nice flourish. Or, if you want to end this type of lick on a comfortable G7 blues maneuver that every guitarist knows, try this [Ex. 7]. Barre the chords with your 3rd finger, perform the single-note slides with your 1st.”

ModALLY AWESOME

Just as a huge frozen pond is a great place to learn to ice skate, modal jams —grooves based primarily on one scale or tonality—are great musical environments in which to test your knack for soloing with chords. The first modal approach is to stay within the given scale. For instance, in the key of A minor (or its relative major, C) there is no limit to the number of intriguing chords you can come up with, as proves Ex. 8. In this phrase, you’ll see several open-voiced grips that remain diatonic to (that is, use only notes from) the C major/A natural minor scale.

“You can also build chordal lines from less common scales,” adds Belkadi, proving his point with Ex. 9, which houses an enchanting group of F harmonic minor clusters. (Tip: This maneuver is tailor-made for the Ellington/Mills/Tizol classic “Caravan.”) “Or, check out E Phrygian [Ex. 10]. Let the low-E string ring throughout so your ears stay rooted in that Phrygian sound, or you may hear these harmonies in the key of C major, which is made up of the same seven notes.”

Them Changes

Of course, chordal stabs can also work brilliantly in music with a set pattern of chord changes, which is why typical II-V-I progressions— pivotal cadences in many jazz, pop, and soul songs—offer a great place to get started in this practice. Ex. 11 would be a standard II-V-I in the key of D major—if it hadn’t been modded by Belkadi. “Here, we’re not just playing neighbor notes,” observes Belkadi. “We’re surrounding the Em7 and A13 grips with neighbor chords chromatic approach voicings—making the journey to the resolution chord, D6/9, an exciting one. Or, try a less chromatic II-V maneuver using an altered dominant [G7#5] chord as our V [Ex. 12].”   Read more.

Spank How to Slap, Pop, Yank, and Smack Magical New Sounds out of Your Favorite Guitar.

"Okay, guitarslingers, enough’s enough. For decades, funk bassists have been having heaps of fun with this whole “slap/pop” thing,
and we guitarists—a typically me-oriented bunch not known for being generous with the spotlight have, for some inexplicable reason, politely let our four-stringed brethren have this flashy style all to themselves. Well, it’s time we finally grabbed a fat slice of the slap/pop pie, especially because a slapped guitar yields astonishingly cool textures that bassists simply can’t match" says Jude Gold in Guitar Player. For more get the Belkadi's book  here  

Bustin Out! by Jean Marc Belkadi
The Top 12 Coolest Ways to Play Outside Licks on Guitar. As a guitar instructor at GIT in Hollywood, California, I’m thrilled to report an
exciting trend: Young guitar students are increasingly into playing again. That’s not to imply there weren’t still throngs of kids hungry
to learn adventurous guitar styles during the height of the grunge, nü-metal, and pop-punk eras—three arguably uninventive, creativity
stifling periods in guitar’s recent history. It’s just that lately, well, lead guitar seems to be experiencing a resurgence, as it has once again captured the imaginations of up-and-coming guitarists everywhere.
But it’s not just any kind of lead guitar my students want to learn. Whether they’re into hard rock, hard bop, or any genre in between,
the inspired newbies who come through my door often have one thing in common—they want to play rebellious, radical, harmonically
irreverent lead guitar lines that annihilate all clichés. They want to play conversation killing riffs that drop jaws and inspire wide eyed fascinatio amongst their listeners and peers alike. In other words, these budding
mavericks want to learn how to play outside. In the spirit of fearless melodic extremists such as Arnold Schoenberg, Frank Zappa,
John Coltrane, Allan Holdsworth, Buckethead, John Scofield, Scott Henderson, and other pioneers of the non-diatonic frontier,
the following approaches will help you get off the beaten path the next time you’re taking a solo. Why? Because sometimes nothing sounds more right than the wrong note. Here come 12 cool ways to hijack the scales, chords, and theory you already know in order to play unrestricted lead guitar lines that gleefully shatter the established notions of what you should or shouldn’t play. So fasten your seatbelt. You’ve devoted years of practice to learning how to stay “in the lane” musically. We’re now going to veer off the well traveled highway of mainstream guitar and do some serious harmonic and melodic off-roading.

Major Realization
The first thing I point out to my students is that you don’t necessarily have to play non-diatonically that is, outside of the scale that suits the given tonality—to create the perceived effect of an outside lick. For instance, let’s say you’re improvising in the key of C major. Even if you never leave the C major scale, you can create a wildly subversive sound by attacking the scale with the simple pattern of wide intervals employed in 

Ex. 1. Where most guitarists’ first instinct would be to improvise lyrical lines using stepwise, scalar motion, this example uses contrary motion on distant strings to create an extremely out sounding yet brightly diatonic, inside phrase. (The lick, of course, also works perfectly over Am, the relative minor of C.) As with all the other examples in this lesson, once you’ve learned the required moves, be sure to also try the phrase in reverse, as well as at a range of tempos.

Chromatic Assault
Another simple way to get outside sounds is through unbridled use of the chromatic scale—in other words, freely tagging any or every note on the fretboard, regardless of what key you are in. Using two strings and a chromatic pattern that employs ascending and descending slides, Ex. 2 is a sonic war machine. It's powered by an aggressive fretboard pattern that suggests the more strident and volcanic riffs of Vernon Reid, Buckethead, or Steve Lukather.

The Big Dipper
Most guitarists know the minor pentatonic scale better than the back of their hands, yet don’t realize how convenient it is for creating refreshingly out phrases. As demonstrated in Ex. 3, if the band is vamping on Am and you move the A minor pentatonic scale up a half-step for the second half of every measure, you imply the Bbm7 harmony shown in parentheses. As suggested by the three common pentatonic box patterns printed above the notation staff, this alternating inside/outside sound is created by blazing down eight notes of the first A minor box, shifting up one fret and ascending those same eight scale degrees of the Bb minor pentatonic box, and repeating the process with each new pentatonic box. Dipping in and out of dissonance, this riff is a pentatonic rollercoaster ride.

Half/Whole Helter Skelter In a sense, Ex. 4, much like the major-scale riff that opened this lesson, utilizes string skipping, a simple pattern, and is fully diatonic. This time, however, it’s only diatonic to a very mysterious sounding group of notes the A diminished (or "half/whole") scale. Try this riff the next time you’re vamping over A7, and you’ll be sure to attract attention as you spray the background harmony with #9s, #11s and other stinging chord extensions. For a meatier sound, try double-stop approaches to this scale, such as the one in Ex. 5.

Kaleidoscopic Patterns
Taking inspiration from the late, great jazz maestro and GP columnist Howard Roberts, Ex. 6 proves that a fun, easy way to create outside sounds on the guitar is simply to play geometrical patterns on the fretboard. This lick, with its columns of ascending fourths, uses a visually predictable pattern to create an unpredictable melody. It generates one of an infinite number of new sounds you can create by simply visualizing a fretboard pattern and then playing it.

Supreme Horn Licks
Perhaps no musician made outside notes sound more in than John Coltrane. That’s because there was always both passion and concept behind every pitch that poured forth from his horn. One thing the legendary reedman was known for was superimposing various triads over a static background key, as in Ex. 7. Here, to stunning aural effect, a succession of major triads (Gb, Eb, C, and A) each of which is a minor third lower in overall pitch than the previous is projected against the background A7 vamp.

Whole-Tone Heaven
Don’t forget to check out the whole-tone scale when you’re looking for new melodic colors. One fingering for the scale is presented above the notation staff in Ex. 8. As if the enigmatic scale didn’t sound out enough already, here, as we ascend the scale, we’ve applied octave displacement where some scale tones have been bumped up an octave to heighten the notes already ethereal quality. Ex. 9 offers a two-string whole-tone pattern that’s fun to play fast.

Did Mean to Impose
Another fun demonstration of superimposition is Ex. 10. Here, alternating Aadd9 and Ebadd9 arpeggios are stamped onto an ordinary background harmony of A major. Building half of the riff’s add9 arpeggios on the key’s tritone, Eb—the so-called "devil’s interval"—we add a dangerous and dissonant melodic intrigue to the otherwise happy sounding passage.

Sweeping Success
For some rising triplets that tap into the innate power of a B5 groove, give Ex. 11 a spin. If blazing speed appeals to you, know that this lick can be executed quickly by playing the first two pitches in each triplet with a nimble downward sweep of the pick.

12-Tone Rows
Few if any licks sound more modern and atonal than 12-tone melodies one of which is presented in the first measure of our final phrase, appropriately numbered Ex. 12. But Austrian-born composers Arnold Schoenberg and Josef Matthias Hauer were pioneering angular 12-tone music as early as 1919. The concept behind this genre of composition is simple: Arrange all 12 notes of the chromatic
scale in whatever sequence you like in a row in which—unlike tonal music—no group of notes predominates. The way you eliminate tonal and modal focus is simply to ensure that no pitch recurs until all of the other 11 have been played. This idea is easy in theory, but tricky to put into practice on the fretboard.

Outward Bound
Now that you’ve tackled all the riffs in this lesson, realize that each example herein is merely a musical springboard. Once a given technique has launched you in a new musical direction, experiment with anything that can alter your melodic and timbral trajectory for further outside adventures. This can mean tweaking the tempo, changing the melodic direction, employing dynamics, engaging effects, accenting select notes while ghosting others, changing the time signature or rhythmic groupings, or transposing the phrase up or down in pitch. Each example has been presented with no key signature (i.e. in the key of C) because, although chord symbols are provided for every example, they are to be treated only as possible harmonies the rhythm section might play behind the written lick. (Don’t forget that often the quickest way to make a lick sound out is to simply modify or substitute the chords that accompany it.) And finally, be sure to innovate. Take inspiration from these techniques and invent some of your own outside approaches, because if everyone started playing these rad riffs, they would lose their rebel sound. Co-written with Jude Gold here 

By Jean Marc Belkadi.  Just about every Guitar player in the world knows how to play the simple, three-note C chord in Ex1. But far fewer guitarists realize that because this triad’s root, 3, and 5 (C, E, and G, respectively) all reside within the same octave, it’s a perfect example of close harmony. Why is this little fact even worth knowing? Because, if you understand close harmony, then you’re one step closer to understanding open harmony, the use of which will allow you to create some uniquely tantalizing chords, riffs, and textures.

If you’re not familiar with open harmony, introduce yourself to it by playing through the open voicings in EX. 2. Yes, they are all C chords, but, wow, do they sound different from the C in the first example! This is because in each C triad, one of the three chord tones has been displaced up or down an octave. In other words, the root, 3, and 5 collectively reside in two octaves, which is exactly why these triads have such a vibrant, sparkly and, well, open sound .

The real fun with open triads begins when you plug them into chord progressions and arpeggiate them - a practice common to pianists, classical guitar composers, and Jazz guitarists, but somewhat alien to the average
rock or blues picker. Here’s an example of how it works: If you are asked to play a standard II-V-I-VI  in the key of C, instead of simply strumming an ordinary Dm-G7-C-A7 progression, try revoicing the chords as open triads and arpeggiating  them as show in EX. 3 . Now, suddenly, you  don’t have a mundane, workhorse chord progression, you have an alluring guitar part; Remember that smooth voice-leading is often preferable in any chord
progression, and in many cases - particularly if you have a bassist playing the roots for you - you can get an even more open sound by leaving out a seventh chord’s root in favor of its 7, which is exactly what happens with A7 and G7 in this example. For more bursts of this hip, rootless harmony, try EX. 4, an arpeggiated progression in D minor. In this example, only the Bm7b5 chord tags its root.  
Read here 

By Jean Marc Belkadi. As you probably noticed with the many C chords we saw in EX. 2, one interesting and fun thing about using open harmony is that if you’re playing a triad, you don’t always have to make the lowest note the root. That bass note can be the 3 or the 5 instead. This freedom allows you to dictate the bass line of a given progression. Few things sound more natural than a bass part that moves in stepwise, scalar motion, so why not try creating some open-voiced progressions with this feature? EX. 5 contains a descending bass line; EX. 6 an ascending bass line.  Read here 

 Blue Moves by Jean Marc Belkadi.  There’s something magical about blues turnarounds. They mark -- with great satisfaction -- the harmonic climax of the 12-bar cycle, whether they’re opening or closing a tune. So why do most guitarists only bother to learn a small handful of them? Truth is, you can crack open a treasure chest of hip turnarounds by simply spending a few moments experimenting with the ones you already know.

The saucy G7 maneuver in EX.1, for instance, wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary. If, that is, it was played by Ray Charles on a Rhodes keyboard. Guitarists, however, often simplify this type of turnaround by leaving out the middle voice. But that middle voice -- the chromatic D-Db-C-B  descent on the third string- creates a burst of harmony that adds a new dimension to this otherwise generic lick.

Now, without adding another voice, try further refreshing this turnaround by dropping the root, G, an octave, so that it lies between the other 2 voices. This yields such rich sounding cadences as Example 2a and 2b. Remember,
when using either of these turnarounds to close a tune, tack on a meaty bII-I shift at the end- like the Ab7-G9 move we learned in the first example for added finality.

Another way to breathe new life into old turnarounds is to use your 1st finger as a capo to create virtual “open” strings, as in EX.3. This lick is usually played three frets down in the key of E, with the first string ringing open while the minor thirds descend chromatically on the second and third strings. Here, in the key of G, we create the same effect by barring the strings at the 3rd fret and letting the first string drone throughout.

Moving up to the key of A, we see in EX.4 that by simply adding an octave, a turnaround can sound fuller- as proven by the parallel octaves that occur on the second and fifth strings during the last three beats of bar 1.

For an especially climatic closer, try EX.5 which employs the always ear-catching, Bach-approved contrapuntal approach known as contrary motion. It happens throughout this riff as two chromatic lines move in opposite
directions. For extra impact, slap a spicy A13#9 chord on the end.

Finally, for that wide-load sound, try exploring a fat, four-fingered closer such as EX.6 --the Mack truck of blues turnarounds.  It features the tonic, A, pedaling on the second and fourth strings throughout most of bar 1,
while the other two voices drop chromatically. Notice that the F7-E7 shift at the end features jazzier, more inventive voice-leading than is typical of many blues riffs. The progression may be slightly trickier to play in this manner, but, as is the case with all of the examples in this lesson, your ears
will appreciate your fingers’ extra efforts. Check the Blue Moves Exercises more here

Guitar Player Chops builder Column by Jean Marc Belkadi. Perfect Fourths are easy to find on the guitar. Just strum the open strings
in standard tuning and you’ll hear several fourths. Perfect fifths, too, aren’t hard to spot. Bang on an open-position E chord, and you’ll find one between the two lowest strings. Ironically, though these simple intervals sound cool and are right at our fingertips, few guitarists know how to incorporate them into their solos.

However, hotshots like Joe Diorio and Rodney Jones- perhaps inspired by intrepid Jazz pioneers such as John Coltrane and Mc Coy Tyner- play spectacular lines like the one in EX1. Starting on the end of beat four in the
pick up measure, this pattern uses descending fifths and ascending fourths to surf the F major scale in a dazzling manner. (The pattern also works in D minor.) If you can play just the first six notes, you’ve got this lick nailed.  
To complete it, just repeat the same fingering three frets down, starting with the 4th finger at the twelfth position. Voila!

Fuse the catchy riff from “ Message in a Bottle” by the Police with the exhilarating head to Eddie Harris’s modal classic, “Freedom Jazz dance" and you might get EX.2. It introduces two new fingering shapes for rising and falling fourths and fifths. Try these Am11moves over the chord shown here, or in the keys of Am11E minor or C chord shown here,  major.

Finally, see if you can integrate all three of these fingerings into a solo. In EX. 3, the 12 pitches that cover the first three beats twice employ the six-note shape we learned in EX.1, while the rest of the example uses grips from EX.2. The amazing thing is how angular, adventurous, and “outside” all of these diatonic licks sound-they add wild colors, yet never step out of their respective keys. More here 

Guitar Player Session Column featuring: Jean Marc Belkadi. The next time you're looking for a way to juice up your blues line, try this: Pick a blues scale, and then combine it with the blues scale located a minor third (three frets) below. As you’ll see, this composite blues scale can be used in several ways.
Let’s begin with a regular C blues scale (C, Eb, F, Gb, G, Bb, or 1, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7). Dipping a minor third below gives us an A blues scale (A, C, D, Eb, E, G). Now if we absorb the A blues scale into the C blues scale, we get a colorful
C  composite blues scale: C, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, A, and Bb (see the charts on p. 145). In addition to the C blues scale’s six tones, we get the 9 (D), 3 (E), and 13 (A).  That’s a total of nine notes -- a plentiful palette.

Shared roots. Ready to dig into some deep chord/scale relationship? (To streamline the process, bear in mind that we’ll sometimes spell a scale tone or chord tone enharmonically. That is, we’ll use C instead of  B#, or perhaps A# instead of Bb. Despite the name change, the note is the same.)

Composite scales sound great played over dominant chords built from the same root. Try EX.1, which features a C composite line played against C7. Alternatively, you could use C9 or C13 as background harmony.In EX.2, we
drop an E composite blues (E, F#, G, G#, A, Bb, B, C#, D) over an E7#9 (E-G#-B-D-G, or 1-3-5-b7-#9). This is a perfect application for the composite blues scale. To liven things up, let’s toss in two chromatic passing tones
-- the 7 (D#) and #5 (B# or C).

It’s not unusual to hear jazz players such as George Benson and organist Jimmy Smith play a composite blues over a major - 7th chord from the same root -- despite the fact that the scale has ab7, which can clash with the chord’s #7. To hear the effect, try EX.3: an Eb composite blues (Eb, F, Gb, G, Ab, A, Bb, C, Db) line against Ebmaj7 (Eb-G-Bb-D or 1-3-5-7). Sometimes “wrong” is funky!

Offset tricks. You can play a composite blues scale over other chord types, too. The trick is knowing how to offset the scale root in relation to the chord root in relation to the chord root. (It can be tricky to work out these associations, so be patient and go slowly.) For Instance, over a minor 7th chord, play the composite scale located a fourth higher. To improvise over Dm7 (D-F-A-C or 1-b3-5-b7), for instance, you’d play a G composite blues scale (G, A, Bb, B, C, Db, D, E, F).
Notice how, in addition to Dm7’s chord tones, the G composite blues scale offers G, Bb, B, Db, and E. If you relate these notes to Dm7, you get the 4 (G), #5 (Bb or A#), 6 (B), 7 (Db or C#), and 9 (E). EX.4 is a G  composite blues line played against Dm7.

More offsets. Here’s another way to use the composite blues scale: When you encounter a major 7, move up a fifth from the chord’s root and play a composite blues scale. For example, to improvise over Amaj7 (A-C#-E-G# or 1-3-5-7), grab an E composite blues pattern. Along with Amaj7’s chord
tones, the scale provides F#, G, Bb, B, and D. Against the backdrop  of Amaj7, this translates as of 6 (F#), b7 (G), b9 (Bb), 9 (B), and 11 (D). To experience the colors of this offset formula, play EX.5.

You can play a composite blues scale over a min7b5 if you begin the scale a minor sixth above the chord’s root. To solo over F#m7b5 ( F#-A-C-E or 1-b3-b5-b7), for instance, play a D composite
blues scale, which provides the chord tones for F#m7b5, as well as D, F, G, Ab, and B. Using several enharmonic equivalents, this translate as b6 (D), 7 (F), b9 (G), 9 (G#), and 11 (B). EX.6 demonstrates this sound.

Recycle. The offset approach may seam like a lot of work -- and it is a challenge to think in these terms. But there is a major benefit: Once you’ve mastered a few composite scale fingerings, you can use each pattern in numerous ways -- thanks to offsets. The more opportunities you have to use a
given fingering, the more effective it becomes. It’s recycling, applied to Guitar. Guitar Player Magazine Issue here 

Part 1 Scales are the building blocks of nearly all melodic improvised lines, yet simply climbing up and down a favorite scale is a foolproof recipe for creating lines that are as enticing as leftover scrambled eggs. So how can we make scale-base lines and licks sound personal and unique? One simple, yet powerful way to give scales a fresh spin is with octave displacement Here’s the concept: Simply play the notes of any given scale in ascending or descending order, but shift a few of the notes up or down an octave from their normal placement. EX. 1’s leapfrogging line illustrates the process. As the phrase moves through C Lydian (C, D, E, F#, G, A, B) several scale tones get displaced, and this transforms the plain-Jane scale run into a wily lick John Scofield would be proud to play.

A similar contoured phrase, Ex. 2 uses A harmonic minor (A, B, C, D, E, F, G#) to create an altered-dominant sonority against E7b9. Again, we avoid the by the book, scale-run doldrums by octave-displacing a few tones.
Simple? Yes. Hip? Definitely.

A slightly different take on the altered-dominant flavor, Ex. 3 illustrates how a D half-whole scale (D, Eb, F, F#, G#, A, B, C-- so named because of its alternating half-step/whole-step construction) can be used melodically to convey the harmonic essence of D7b9.

Example 4 and 5 demonstrate other intriguing dominant applications: an F whole-tone scale (F, G, A, B, C#, Eb) over F7#5 and
a chromatic scale over E7#9, respectively.

Ex. 6 is a line built from F melodic minor (F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, E) a tasty scale choice for minor/major 7 chords-as shown here-and for minor 6 chords  as well. Read here