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.
Tags: chord progression