Archive for April, 2009

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New Section: Going beyond the written changes

Friday, April 24th, 2009

1.  soloing outside the chord.

2. improvise with advanced scales

3. play more sophsticated solos by applying advanced scales

4. use chord subs in your solos

When solo, you play it safe by playing inside the chord changes

or

you can go wild and play outside.

If you take the more daring approach, you will need to brush up on some advanced chords and scales, cuz this approach requires a more sophsiticated understanding of chord and scale theory.

What exactly does it mean to play outside?

  • Playing notes that fall outside the normal chord tones.
  • to some it is playing tones to a different chord than written
  • to others, playing chormatic notes not normally part o the underlying scale.

We will examine all these outside approaches.

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Summary

Friday, April 24th, 2009

1.  Most songs utilize either major or minor scales — or one of several scale-like modes

2. Major scales almost always work with major keys and chords; minor scales work best wth minor keys and chords

3. Pentatonic scale works with both major and minor chords as well as with dominant 7th chords

4. Apply a single scale to an entire song, or play different scales for different chords within the song.

5. When you are playing a scale based solo, empahsize the tonic, third, and 7th of the scale and be sure to employ a mixture of step-wise and skip-wise motion.

Exercises:

1.  play a solow based on the underlying scale (G major) ued in the following chord progression:

G    Em   Am   D7

2.  play a solo based on the specific scales or modes identified with the individual chords in the following progression:

Gm7   C7   FM7  BbM7

3.  play a solo over the following chord progression using the pentatonic scale:

Eb    Fm   Gm    Ab  Bb7

4.  play a solo based on the specific scales or modes identified with the individual chords in the following progression:

Am   Dm  Gm  E7

5.  Play a solo based on the specific scales or modes identified with the individual chords in the following progression.

DM7   GM7   Em7  A7  GM7

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5. Improvising on Scales and modes

Friday, April 24th, 2009

How exactly do you use the scale to create a solo?

It is simple: just pick and choose between the available notes in the appropriate scle.

At its most asic — you can simply run the notes in the scale.

Remember: you don’t just play a single scale, you fit the scale to the type of chord.

  • eg. for Dm chord, you play the D melodic minor scale
  • for F chord, you play F major scale (not C major scale)
  • for G7 chord you play G mixolydian mode, otherwise known as the G dom scale.

C:  C D E F G A B C

Dm:  D E F G A B C# D

F: F G A Bb C D E

G7: G A B C D E F G

this in fact is a good way to practice your scales.

Identify the appropriate scale for each chord in a progression and run each scale up and down until you have mastered it.

This way, you will be familiar with the available notes when you encounter each chord type in the future.

But running up and down the scales is not the height of improvisational creativity.

There are other approaches you can use to construct a scale-based solo.

Emphasizing key scale tones

One of the imp things to know about scale-based solos is that not all notes of the scale are equally important.

In particular, there are 3 key scale tones:

  • emphasizing these notes to create more cohesive solos:
  • the 3 key degrees are:

1.  tonic: you can’t neglect the home tone of the scale. Start or partic. end your solo on the tonic note to lend a degree of finality to what you are playing.
2.  3rd: the 3rd degree of the scale defines its harmonic nature: that is , whether the sale is major or minor. Emphasize the 3rd to emphasize the color of the music.

3.  7th: the 7th degree of the scale is the leading tone:  this note positions you to a return to the tonic. It also, along with the 3rd, defines the major or minor (or dominant) nature of the scale.  Emphaszie the 7th to add tension toy our solo.

1 2  3 4   5  6   7 8

–empahsize these three key tones of the scale.

don’t forget the chord tones.

in any given scale, the scale tones used to create a chord are the most imp notes at that point in time.

Using step-wise and skip-wise motion

When you play the notes of a scale in your solo, move up or down the scale, start and end on any given note.

Remember those key scale tones.

You add interest to your solo by varying the intervals between the notes you play.

That is, you should employ a mixture of step-wise and skip-wise motion.

Step-wise motion is just as it sounds.

Move from one note to the next note one step away in the scale.

In the c major scale:  step-wise motion moves from C to D to E and so no.

Or go in another direction: from C to B to A and so  on.

When you run the notes of a scale, you employ step-wise motion:

C:  C D E F E

Dm:  F E D C# D

F:  C D E F G A Bb A

G7:  G F E F G

Skip-wise motion:

employs larger intervals.

Instead of moving in smooth steps, you skip from one note to the next, in intervals of a 3rd or more.

For eg. in C major scale: a step-wise solo might skip from C to E to G

or

from C to F to A

or

from C to G to B — up or down, or in some combination of directions.

C:   c  e  d  g  f  b  c

Dm:  d  c#  d  a  g   e  f

F:  f  c  Bb  a  c  e  f

G7:  g  b  d  g  f

step-wise solos are smoother than the skipwise.

skip wise solos are more angular.

vary your solo lines between step wise and skip wise motion to suit your own personal tastes.

Tip: you don’t have to limit yourself to intervals of a third or less.

Feel free to introduce larger leaps in your lines: 4ths, 5ths, 6ths or 7ths.

It’s even ok to include the occasional jump of an octave or more.

Remember — the larger the leap, the more distinctive it sounds; the more attention it does to itself.

Use large leaps for dramatic effect — and to mark your own personal style.

Play patterns

When you are picking and choosing scale notes to play, it’s not the notes themselves that are important,it’s the patterns they form.

When you have all 8 notes of the scale to play with, you can create lots of interesting melodic patterns.

when you’ve mastered your scales and are ready to use those scales to form both short and long patterns, there’s more in later sessions.

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5. Improvising on scales and modes

Friday, April 24th, 2009

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4. Using scales and modes within a solo

Friday, April 24th, 2009

There are 2 different approaches to improving on scales and modes.

You can choose scale/mode that fits within the entire song (based on the key of the song) or you can play different scales and modes for each chord inthe song.

Fitting scales to a song’s key:

First approach is te easiest as you only have to worry about a single scale (unless the song changes key somewhere in the middle).

It’s quite simple: identify the key of the song and play the major or minor scale to the key

For eg. if you are playing a song in F major, you base your solo on the F major scale.

this scale works with all diatonic chords.

I  IV  V7 progression

You can play the notes of the F major scale agaist the F, Bb and C7 chords.

Even if the song has a more complex chord progression:

I  vi ii V7  — the F major scale still works.

The same technique applies if a song is in a mionr key.

You will know its’ minor by the chord changes.

For eg. if key signature is F — but the chords: Dm Gm Am — the song is actually in the key of Dm.

Play a solo based ont he Dm scale and you are ready to roll.

Fitting scales to a songs chord

The 2nd approach is more difficult.

It also results in mor sophisticated improvisation — base your solo on the scales that fit the individual chords of a song.

This means playing different scales for each chord in the progression.

It also means playing scles that often include different notes than the scale that goes with the underlying key whichis sometimes a little difficult to get used to.

But even though it takes more work to learn all the diffeent scales, you end up with a lot more notes you can choose from for your solos.

Which scales go with which chords?

On the most basic level — major scales go with major scale chords

minor scales go with minor chords.

Dominant 7th — V7, play the notes of the mixolydian mode.

Let’s say you are playing a song in the key of C:

C major scale:  C D E F G A B

You now come across an F major chord:

Instead of playing C major scale, you play  F major scale:  F G A Bb7  C D E

— while most of the notes are the same, that Bb definitiely isn’t in the C major scale

— but when you employ the scale – to -chord approach, you play the Bb.

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3. Understanding Pentatonic scales

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Understanding Pentatonic Scales

It is a 5-note scale hence the name penta-five.

The cool thing about the pentatnoic scale is thatit can be used with almost all chord types, which makes it an easy scale to fall back on in just about any solo situation.

There are 2 different pentatonic scales: major and minor


Major pentatonic scale

this is the most familiar one.

the intervals between the notes in the major pentatonic scale:

W  W  W+H  W  W+H

C  D  E  G  A

If you play the major pentatonic scale can be had by playing all the black notes on a piano starting with Gb.  It is a Gb pentatonic scale.

The resulting sound is a trifle oriental.

If you alter the order of the notes, you get a very versatile tool chest to use in your solos.

for this reason, the pentatonic sale is one of the secret weapons of skilled improvisers, it can be used in any number of  musical situations.

You can play pentatoinc scales with major chords, minor chords, and dominant 7th chords — and they all sound great.

Here’s something cool about the major pentatonic scale.

In any major key — there are actually 3 major pentatonic scales you can employ in your solos

— starting on the tonic, 4th, and 5th of the key.

For eg.  In C major, you can play:

  • C major pentatonic:  C D E F A
  • F major pentatonic:  F G A C D
  • G major pentatonic:  G A B D E

Each of these pentatonic scales has a much different feel when played against the underlying key; try soloing on each of the 3 pentatonic scales to hear the differences.

Tip:  I prefer the sound of the major pentatonic scale that starts on the 5th of the underlying scale; it fits well with both the I and the V chords.

Minor Pentatonic Scale

Even though this 5-note scale is used less frequently than the major pentatonic scale, it is still a useful tool.

The intervals between the notes int he minor pentatonic scale:

W+H    W   W   W+H   W

1  b3  4   5  b7

C  Eb  F  G  Bb

Interestingly, the minor pentatonic scale contains the same notes as the major pentatonic scale starting a minor 3rd up.

So C minor pentatonic scale contains the same note as the Eb major pentatonic scale — and the A minor pentatonic scale is reserved for use with minor chords and on occasion, dom 7th chords.

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2. Understanding Modes

Friday, April 24th, 2009

If a scale is a combination of 8 successive nots (with that 8th note an octave above the first), do any 8th notes make a scale?

Not necessarily.

Some 8-note combinations are called modes.

Modes date back to the medieval church and Gregorian chant and were first called church modes.

The name of each mode is based on the final note of the mode, in Latin.

There are 7l different modes:

  • each of which can be thought of as a starting on a different degree of the major scale
  • you stay within the relative major scale
  • you just start on different notes
  • for eg. the Dorian mode: like starting on the 2nd degree of a major scale
  • the Phrygian mode — start on the 3rd degree of a major scale
  • the Lydian — the 4th
  • the Mixolydian: the 5th
  • Aeloian — 6th, same as the natural minor scale
  • Locrian — 7th

Not all modes are common in popular and jazz music.

The most used modes are:

Dorian, Mixolydian, and Locrian

The Ionian and Aeolian are also popular, but that’s because they are identical to the major, and natural minor scales respectively, so there is nothing new to learn.

Dorian Mode

Dorian mode can be thought of as starting on the 2nd degree of a major scale.

It sounds like a natural mionr scale but with a raised 6th.

eg Scarborough Fair — composed entirely in Dorian mode.

The intervals between the ntes in the Dorian mode:

W H WWWHW

1  2  b 4   5   6   b7

The dorian mode is apprpriate to play with mnor 7th chords.

Mixolydian Mode

the mixolydian mode can be thought of as starting on the 5th degree of the related major scale.

It’s essentially a major scale with a lowered 7th, b7.

Cuz it fits so well with dominant 7th chords, the mixolydian mode is sometimes called the dominant scale.

Intervals are:

W W H W W W H W

In relation to the major scale: the scale degrees go:

1  2  3   4   5   6  b7

C D E F G A Bb C

Cuz of the b7, the mixolydian mode is very approprite to play againt a dominant 7th chords.

Locrian Mode

Starts on the 7th degree of the related major scale.

It’s probably the weirdest sounding of all the modes cuz all the leading notes are in all the wrong places.

It is often used in jazz improvisation.

Intervals between th notes in the Locrian mode go like this:

H  W  W  H  W  W  W

In realtionship to a major scale, the scale degrees go:

1  b2  b3  4   b5   b6  b7

The locrian mode is appropriate to play with half-diminished 7th chords (a minor 7th chords with b5)

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1. Understanding major and minor scales

Friday, April 24th, 2009

A scale is 8 successive pitches within a one-octave range.

Any given scale has specific interval relationships between the different degrees of the scale.

That’s how you can describe different types of scales, a major scale contains different intervals than those found ina  similar minor scale.

These different intervals give each type of scale its unique sound.

The most common scale is called the major scale.

Major scales are happy scales.

They have pleasant and expected intervals at every turn.

The minor image of the major scale is the minor scale.

Minor scales are sad scales, the intervals between the notes sound a little depressing.

Both major and minor scales can start on any note.

No matter which note you start with, each scale has its own specific combination of intervals between notes.

Major Scale

What makes a major scale major is the 3rd degre of the scale — M3.

Intervals between the notes in the major scale:

WWHWWWH

1234567

Minor Scales

Minor scales sound a little lss ‘up’ than major scales.

This is partly cuz the 3rd note of the minor scale is a minor interval, whereas the 3rd note of the major scale is a major interval.

That little half step between a minor third and a major third makes all the difference in the world.

While there is only one type of major scale, there are actually 3 different types of minor scales:

  • the natural
  • melodic
  • harmonic minor

Natural minor

— the easiest minor scale to construct is the natural minor scale.

you can think of the natural minor in terms of its corresponding major scale.

when you start and end a major scale on the 6th degree, instead of the tonic, you gt a natural minor scale.

Here’s an example:

C Major scale: C D E F G A B C

Now, move up to the 6th note or down 2 notes:

A B C D E F G A — A natural minor.

Each natural minor scale shares teh same tones as a specific major scle.

The following table shows you which minor scales match u with which major scales.

CM — Am

C#M – A#m

DbM – Bbm

DM – Bm

EbM – Cm

EM – Dbm or C#m

FM – Dm

F#M – D#m

GbM – Ebm

GM – Em

AbM – Fm

AM – F#m or Gbm

BbM – Gm

BM – G#m

CbM – Abm

The C natural minor scale is like playing the Eb Major scale but starting on the 6th degree C.

C D Eb F G Ab Bb C

W H W W H W W

1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7

Natural minor scale is appropriate to play against most minor chord forms.

Harmonic Minor

The harmonic minor scale is similar to the natural minor scale except the 7th degree is raised 1/2 step.  This results in a distinctive interval of a minor 3rd between the b6th and the natural 7th. This is an usually large interval in any scale.

C  D  Eb  F  G  Ab  B  C

W   H   W   W   H   W+H  H

The harmonic minor scale is appropriate to lpay against minor chords with a raised 7th — so called “minor major 7th” chords.

Melodic Minor

The final minor scale — the melodic minor scale fixes that large interval between the 6th and the 7th degrees by raising the 6th.

Looking at it another way, the melodic mionr scale is the natural minor scale with a raised 6th and 7th — or from another perspective, it’s a major scale with a lowered 3rd.

This results in the following intervals between notes:

W  H  W  W  W  W  H

1   2  b3   4  5   6   7

The melodic minor scale is very popular in jazz tunes and ahs a somewhat dark quality. IT is an appropriate scale to play with all minor chord forms, particularly the minor 6th chord.

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Soloing on Scales and Modes

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

1.  Making sense of major and minor scales

2.  Get acquainted with the 7 different modes

3. Work with pentatonic scales

4. Use scales and modes within a solo

5. Improvise on scales and modes

In the earlier sections, yo learned how to create solos based on the notes of a sno’gs chods.

Playing only chord tones can be somewhat limiting and in the wrong hands, can result in solos that sound more or less like arp exercises.

If you were to open up yur improv, you need to go beyond this chord based approach to embrace entie scales.

Key to playing scaled based solos: know your sales.

All of them.

Backward and forward and inside out.

Know which scales to play against which chords.

This section provides an intro to basic scale theory — how to construct the most common scales and use these scales to create great sounding solos.

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4. Improvising across chord progressions

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Now we know what common chord progressions are and how best to move from one chord to another, let’s apply this knowledge to solo.

1. Soloing thru simple changes

I  IV  V7 progression in the key of C

common tone approach:

Let’s start with common tone appraoch.

First transition from C to F –> use C common tone to briege C to F.

From F to  G7 — common tone is F.  Use F to bridge between them.

From G7 to C — You don’t want to focus on common tones; instead, you want to emphasize the leading tones in the V7 chord: B and F.  Pick one of these and use it to end the phrase and set up the transition back tot he C chord

leading tone approach:

Using leading tone to transition fro one chord to the next.

C to F –> leading tone is E.

F to G –> leading tone is C  (in the F chord) to lead to the B in the G7 chord.

G to C –> Either B or F leading back to the C chord.

2.  Soloing through more complex changes

I  vi  ii V7

With this progression, you have 4 transitoins to navigate, including that final V7 to I change.

common tone approach:

C to Am –> 2 common tones to choose: C and E. Pick one and use it to bridge the 2 measures.

Am to Dm –> one common tone: A; Ride on the A across the measuer

Dm to G –> 2 common tones: D and F. Pick whichever one fits what youare playing.

V7 to I –> can choose either the B or the F and use them to lead back tot he appropriate notes  in the c chord.

leading tone approach:

tackle the same chord progresson using leading tones.

First transition is most difficult one cuz there are not any leading tones.

Your choice — to use one of the 2 common tones: C or E or to flow from the sole non-chord tone G up to the A of the Am, which while it isn’t quite a leading tone serves a similar function.

C                    Am                 Dm                    G7

C G E G      A   C  C   E        F   D   C   A     G   B   B

From Am to Dm, you can use the leading tone of E in the Am to move up tot he F in Dm chord.

From Dm to G7, there are no leading tones — go with the non-common tone — flow from the A (in Dm ) to either the G or the B in the G7 chod.

Finally from V7 to I — chooose one of the 2 leading tones (B or F) to lead back to C chord.

Summary

the whole point of learnign to play thru chord changes, instead of chopping yoru solo into chord-cenric phrases, is to help you develop the ability to lay a complete melodic line.  It is not about soloing on a C, then soloing on a F and then soloing on a G7.  But C F G7 progression.

The only way to develop this ability is to practice.

Keep playing whent there is a chord change.

Don’t stop just cuz there is a different chord to play to.

Focus on the common tones and for those V7 chords at the end of a phrase, the leading tones to I.

You want each measure to flow naturally into the next, without any unnatural pauses or awkward intervls.

The key word here is flow, workign on creating a full 4 bar or 8 bar solo that’s a signle musicl thought, rather than a compilation of several different chord based ideas.

The Least you need to know

  • chord based on the diff degrees of the scale are notated using Roman numerals, uppercase for major chords and lowercase  for minor chords.
  • Unless you want your solos to sound like disjointed chord-based phrases, it’s impto make your solo flow naturally across all the chords in a chord progression.
  • For your solo to flow across chord changes, you need to either emphasize theh common tones between the chords or use leading tones to move from one chord to another.

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