We’ve created a bunch of Spotify playlists for our courses and workshops. Some playlists are defined by a single chord progression so you can use them to learn the sound of that progression. Other playlists include multiple chords and progressions, but all taken from a short list (e.g. chords 1, 4, 5D and 6-), so these playlists are intended for testing your ability to feel these chords and recognize them. You’ll see all of these playlists on the page for the IFR profile on Spotify:
Tom, whilst being a brilliant guitar player and a super nice chap, is mostly oriented towards playing over chords rather than through them, hence the focus on each chord root number being 1. By doing that, he aligns the Solo app with how most of the world thinks about harmony, and of course that gives him a huge potential market for it. The mental gymnastics needed to do that is different to IFR. You need to be thinking about the next chord in a different number system to the current chord.
This is perfect for chord based guitarists who need to be planning which extensions to use on the next chord, or discussing changes with other musicians, but I can’t help thinking it leads to improvised melodies that are composed of one melody per chord put one after the other. A bit like a blues/rock guitar player just playing the licks they know one after the other.
Btw, I asked him if he could enhance the app to work the IFR way as well and he said no.
The IFR Spotify playlists are SUPERB! Thank you so much for this David et al.
Some folks seem to have a natural knack to hear B and immediately realize, “Oh, same chords as A”. Others of us need to have that muscle pointed out and then work it a bit. Either way, such perception is our human heritage and natural right, available to us if we choose to value and pursue it.
