You have to know how chords are constructed in order to solo over a chord progression.
1. Arpeggiating the chord.
Work with the notes of the c hord in order, either top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top.
Play arpeggios!
You can build improvisations by arpeggiating the notes of the underlying chords.
eg.
C: 1 3 5 8 1 3 5
Dm: 1 3 5 8 1 3 5
Am: 1 3 5 8 1 3 5
G: 1 3 5 8 1 3 5
This technique works best when there are a lot of rapid chord progressions in a song.
If you find yourself sitting on the same chord for several meeasures, you are going to get tired of playing that same arp over and over.
Of course, your solo can become more sophisticated when the chords are more complex. That’s why a lot of jazz music uses extended chords. When yo have more notes in the chord to work with, you can do more in your solos.
For eg.
CM7: 1 3 5 7 8 7 5
Am7: 1 3 5 7 8 7 5
FM7: 8 7 5 3 1 7 5 7
G7: 1 3 5 7 8 –
Tip: You can add needed variety to an arpeggiated solo by altering the rhythm of the notes. That is, don’t play straight 8ths; make some notes shorter and some longer and add some synocapation to make things more interesting.
2. Inverting the chord
Need to learn all the inversions of a chord.
When you invert a chord, you give yourself more melodic variety when you solo.
If you see a CMaj7: don’t have to play C E G B one after another.
Instead, you can play 1st inversion arp: E G B C
2nd inversion: G B C E
3rd inversion: B C E G
For eg:
CM7: 5 7 8 3 7 8 3 5
FM7: 3 5 7 8 5 7 8 3
Dm7: 1 3 5 7 7 1 3 5
G7: 3 5 7 8 1 3 5 –
3. Arpeggiating around the melody
Play arpegiios centered on the main notes of the melody.
Start by identifying the key tones of the melody, typically by eliminating passing tones and other ornamentations.
These key tones should be part of the underlying chod.
You can then play an arpeggio of that chord, starting on the melody note and moving down and back up the other chord tones.
Use 16th notes are arpeggiate around the chord.
4. Changing the Order
AT this level, you aren ot limited to pure up and down arp.
You will use all the notes of the chord.
You play them in whatever order you want.
C Maj 7 — 4 notes to work with: C E G B
Play these notes in any order:
C E G B
C G B E
C B E G
B C G E
or any combination.
Don’t limit yourself in strict arpeggios.
use whatever combinations work best for you.
By mixing up the order of the ntoes, your solo will sound more spontaneous and less like you’re practicing arpeggios.
When you combine this non-arp approach with a little rhythmic variation, you can create some very advanced sounding solos like the one here:
C: 8 3 5 1 3 5 1 –
Em7: 5 7 3 1 5 7 1
Am7: 5 8 7 3 7 3 5 –
G7: 7 5 8 3 1 –
5. Using only selected chord tones
Don’t use all the notes in the chord.
You can skip around through any or all of the chord tones, in whatever order makes sense melodically.
Think of it this way.
Each note of a chord is like a club in your golf bag.
Pick and choose which clubs you want to use in a given situation.
Work with a C Maj 7 chord. Use C E G B
- You might choose only play E G and B
- or just B C and E
- or just B and C
- maybe repeat E several times and never play the C
- maybe use all 4 notes.
- it’s your choice.
When you reach this leve, you are really utilizing a song’s chord to their fullest extent.
The notes of a chord are just suggestions.
You can choose to use a particular note or not to use it.
Notes can go in any order, backward or forward or even not be played at all.
Just cuz you see C7 chord doesn’t mean you actually have to play the C
The C note is there if you want to use it but how you use it if at all is entirely up to you.
6. Choosing Key Chord Tones
If you pick and choose which notes of a chord to use, how do you know which are the most imp chord tones?
It’s going to differ from song to song.
Root: — at the end of a phrase, it’s hard to beat the finality of a chord’s root note.
Root note plays an important role in teh harmony throughout the song as well and is always good when you need to release any tension you build in solo.
Third — the 3rd of the chord defines its harmonic nature (major or minor) emphasziing the 3rd during a solo hleps the empahsize the uynderlying harmony of a song.
3rd is particularly powerful when moving from a major to a minor chord. or vice versa.
Playing the 3rd as part of your solo reinforces the major to minor change.
Extended Notes — you can create a very sophisticated melody by emphasizing the extended notes of a chord, in particular 7ths and 9ths.
6ths and 11ths are also good if you want to go there.
A solo based in these upper extremities of a song’s harmony can sound light and airy, and is particularly effective in jazz or a jazz rock.
CM9: 9 7 9 8 7 –
Dm9: 7 5 7 8 9 –
Am9: 7 8 9 7 5 3
G9: 3 1 7 9 –
Third and 7th of the Dom 7: Here is something you definitely need to know.
in a dom 7 chord, the most imp tones aren’t the R or the 5th but 3rd and b7
This is the key to make a good solo.
In a dom 7 — esp one based on the 5th of the scale, the 3rd and 7ths are notes you want to empahsize.
That’s cuz these notes are leading tones that drive you right back to the ky tones of the tonic chord which follow.
For eg.
In key of C, the Dom7 based on the 5th tone of the scale is: G7 chord: G B D F
- the 3rd B, is a leading tone that leads up a half step to C, the root of the tonic, C major chord.
- the 7th of the G7 chord, F, is a note that leads a 1/2 step down to E — the third of the tonic.
- They are powerful notes, particularly if you use them to lead to the natural following notes.
Here’s something else about the 2 notes:
— played together, they form an interval known as tritone.
If you know anything about music tehory, tritone is very sinister sounding interval, sometimes called the devil’s interval.
It’s an interval that is filled with tnsion.
As you learn to introduce the concept of tension and release into your improvisation, you will find that these 2 notes particularly useful to set up the tension leading into the release at the end of your phrase.
Emphasize the 3rd and 7th notes of a dominant 7 chord — which lead to the R and 3 of the following tonic chord.
A leading tone is a chord tone that is half step away from a tone in the following chord. Leading tones are typically found in chord based on the 5th or dominant, of the scale, that are followed by chords based on the tonic of the scale. V7 to I.
Melody notes — while you are focusing on the song’s chords, do not forget the melody.Foc your chord based solo on thekey tones of the song’s melody line, just use the melody as a jumping off oint for the chord tones that you play.
7. Utilizing non-chord tones.
As much variety as you can achieve by improvising on the notes of a song’s chord progression, if your solo consists solely of chord tones, it can get a little boring. That’s why you want to introduce non-chord tones, as appropriate, into your solos.
The easiest non-chord tones to add are passing tones and approach notes.
- use passing tones to bridge the gap between 2 chord tones
- Use approach notes to led into key chord tones
Remember that these non-chord tones are subsidiary to the notes contained in the chords; they are embellishments to the chord-based melody, not key tones in and of themselves.