Archive for the ‘chord’ Category

1. How chord progressions work

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Let’s take a look to see how chord progressions are put together and how they are notated.

Chords and Scale tones:

A chord can be formed from any note of the underlying scale, with that note of the scale as the root.

Where in the scale the chord falls determines the type of chord that is formed: major, minor or dim

When playing a song in major key:

  • major chords are formed form the 1st (tonic), 4th and 5th scale tones.
  • minor chords are formed from 2nd, 3rd and 6th scale tones
  • dim chord is formed from the 7th scale tone

Roman Numeral Notation

To better understand these relationships, chords are sometimes notated using Roman numerals.

Each scale tone has its corresponding Roman numeral.

–the tonic of the scale is I

–the 2nd tone is II

etc.

Upper case signifies major chords.

Lower case for minor chords

I  ii iii IV V vi vii

This type of Roman numeral notation is good in that it lets you refer to a chord type independent of any specific key.

If you hae an extended chord, the extension is added to the right of the Roman numeral.

Dom 7 chord based on the 5th of the scale is notated as V7.

m7 based on the 3rd of the scale is notated: iii7

All of these numbers are necessary to help us talk about chords in relation to one another, so that we can talk about a universal chord progression independent of a given key.

When we talk about a I IV V7 progression, you can translate that progression into whatever key you are working with:  C  F  G7 in key of C

Bb Eb 7 in key of Bb

Composers can create chords that fall outside the underlying scale.

Just cuz the chod based ont he 3rd of the scale is naturally a minor chord doesn’t mean that you can’t put a major chord there instead.

That would make it a III chord instead of the expected iii chord.

A diatonic chord is one that falls naturally, within the underlying scale; diatonic notes are notes contained within the underlying scale or key. NOn-diatonic chords are those that contain notes that are not part of the underlying scale.

Nashville Number system

In country music, esp among studio musicians, a different type of chord sheet is often used.

This method of writing chords is called Nashville Number system, and it uses regular number instead of Roman numerals.

In Nashville Number System — everything revolves around the tonic of a given key.

Tonic chord is assigned the number 1.

Chord based on the ii of the key — a minor chord – is assigned the number 2m

Chord based on the iii of the key — minor chord, assigned the number 3m.

Major chords are distinguished by number only while minor chords have an added ‘m’.

Extensions are added as superscripts to the right of the number, sothat a dom 7 chord based on the 5th of the sale is notated as 5 (7) upper 7

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Soloing through chord changes

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

1.  Understand chord progressions

2.  Play thru chord changes with common tones and leading tones

3.  Familiarize yourself with common chord progressions

4. Improvise across chord progression

  • If all you do in a solo is play notes that fit within the individual chords of a song, you are only halfway there, cuz you are only playing to the chords, not to the song itself.
  • a song is made up of multiple chords, in a set progression.  It take all those chords, played one after another, to define the song’s harmony.  It’s on this chord progression, after all, that the song’s melody is based.  The song is more than just the sum of its chords; it’s the sound that arises from the changes from one chord to another.

The chords in a song dno’t xist independent of one another.

They exist in relationship to one another.

Your solos should explore not only the chords themselves but also the relationships between the chords.

Your solos, to be complete musical ideas, must flow thru and betweeen and across all of a song’s chord changes, just as the snog’s melody does.

Your solo should not start and stop at each chord change; it should bridge the chods with a smooth melodic line.

To play thru a series of chord changes:

  • you need to know the relationships between the chords, which notes they have in common, how one chord leads to another, where the tension builds and where it is released
  • you can then pick those chord tones for your solo that best lead from one chord to another, and that help create a uniform melodic idea.

This section — examines how chord progressions are put together, details some of the more common chord progressions and shows how to build a solo across all these changing chords.

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Improvising on chords

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

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.

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Soloing on chords

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

Need to:

1. understand basic chord theory

2. working with extended chords

3. play altered, altered bass, and compound chords

4. improvising on chords

Earlier, we learned about creating solos based on a song’s existing melody.

This type of soloing certainly requires creativity but it is not pure improvisation.

True Improvisation:

–you throw out the melody and compose an entirely new melodic line based on the song’s underlying chords

–it requires an incredible amount of skill to improvise in this manner as you need a thorough understanding of chords and scale theory

This section deals with this type of from the ground up improvisation, starting with chord-based improvisation.

All songs are composed of one or more chords, on top of which flows a melody.

The chords define the harmonic structure of the song.

It is this harmonic structure that forms the basis for your improvised solos.

CHORD THEORY:

— to improvise over ason’gs chord, you have to understand all there is to know about chords.

— need to know how chords are formed, what notes they contain, how to base a solo on those chord tones

–at its most basic: a chord is a series of 3 notes stacked one above the other, spaced at an interval of a third apart.

  • first note is called Root of the chord
  • middle note: either a major or a minor above the root — this is called the third
  • top note: a perfect 5th above the root

The basic form is called a TRIAD, cuz of those 3 notes.

Easiest way to envision this basic triad is to look at the white keys ona piano.

  • place your first finger on any white key
  • skip a key to the right
  • place your next finger on the third white key up from the fist key
  • skip another key to the right and place your 3rd finger on the 5th white key up

No matter where you started, you are now playing a chord.

Depending on the precise intervals between the 3 notes, you have 4 different types of chords:

–major

–minor

–diminished

–augmented

You need to learn all 4.

MAJOR CHORDS

a MAJOR chord is defined by themiddle note of the triad.

the middle note is a major 3rd above the root

C E G — root position

E G C — 1st inversion

G C E — 2nd inversion

An inversion is simply a different way to arrange the notes of a chord.

When the root of hte hcod is at the bottom, this is called the root inversion or root positoin.

In the 1st inversion, the 3rd is on the bottom and the root is on the top.

In the 2nd inversion, the 5th is at the bottom, with the root in the middle and the 3rd on the top.

It is imp for you to learn chords in each inversion so that you can vary the order of the  notes you play in a chord based solo.

1 – 3 – 5

The major hord is a very imp chord.

Chord based on the tonic, the 4th and the 5th tones of every major scale are all major chords.

Many rock songs use only major chords, typically I-IV  or  I -IV – V progression.

MINOR CHORDS

A minor chords is identical to a major chord except for the 3rd.

A minor chord — the middle note is a minor 3rd above the root.

Top note still perfect 5th above root.

I  b3  5

C minor chord:

C  Eb  G — Root

Eb G C — 1st inversion

G  C  Eb — 2nd inversion

the minor chord is almost as imp as the major chord.

Chords based on the 2nd, 3rd and 6th of every major scale are all minor chords.

You find minor chords in many common chord progressions including:

I ii  IV V

I vi IV  V

In these progressions, the minor chords are subsidiary chords with the song eventually resolving to a major chord. Obviously minor chords are more imp when playing in minor keys.

DIMINISHED CHORDS

A diminished chord is like a minor chord with a b5. The middle of the triad is a minor 3rd above the root while the the top notes is a m3 above that — a tritone above the root.

1  b3  b5

A tritone is a flatted 5th or raised 4th interval.

Using a C dim chord:

C  Eb  Gb  — Root

Eb Gb C  — Ist inversion

Gb  C  Eb — 2nd inversion

Diminished chords are not frequently used in popular music although they sometimes pop up in jazz tunes.

The chord based on the the 7th of the major scale is always a diminished chord.

AUGMENTED CHORDS

Our final type of triad is the augmented chord.

An augmented chord is like a major chord with a raised 5th.

The  middle note of the triad is a major 3rd above the root, while the top note is a major 3rd above that — an aug 5th above the root.

1 3 #5

Like the diminished chord, augmented chords are rarely used in popular music.

there is no scale tone in the major scale from which you can naturally build an augmented chord.

WORKING WITH EXTENDED CHORDS

If you are familiar with reading music, chords can be built with more than 3 notes.

When you get above the basic traid, the other notes you add to a chord are called EXTENSIONS.

The chords themselves are called EXTENDED chords.

Chord extensions are typically added in 3rds above the basic triad.

Triad is composed of Root, 3rd, 5th, the first extension to add is the 7th, then 9th, and 11th, 13th.

Extended chords sound more hamronically sophisticated than basic traids which is why many composers like to use them. They provide more notes for you to use in a chord-based solo.

Think about it.

If you are soloingon triads only, you only have 3 notes you can play.

If you are soloing on 7th chords — you have 4 notes to work with.

If you are soloing on  9ths — you ahve 5 notes you can use.

Tip:  While it is imp to eventually learn all these types of extended chords, if necessary, you can simplify the music and play a solo based on the basic triad of an extended chord.

SEVENTHS

The most common chord extension is the 7th.

It’s so common to be expected in most jazz tunes.

You create a 7th chord by adding another 3rd on top of the 5th of the basic triad:  1 3 5 7 structure — the equivalent of playing every other note in the scale.

4 Basic types of 7th chords:

  • major
  • minor
  • dominant
  • half-diminished

Major 7 & minor 7 — are sweet sounding

Dominant 7 and half-diminished 7th — have their own internal tension.

Dominant 7ths

–sometimes called the 7th chord

–takes a major triad and adds a minor 7th on top.

–1 3 5 b7

–the 5th tone of the scale is called the dominant tone, which is where the dom7th chord gets its name.

The dom7th chord is esp imp — frequently used — extension in both jazz and popular music.

When you build a 7th chord from a 5th tone of the major scale, that chord is always a dom 7.

Dom 7 chord — with its mix of major triad and m7 introduces tension to a song and helps lead the chord progression back to the tonic chord I.

Major 7ths

Maj 7th chord takes a standard major chord and adds a maj 7th on top of the existing triad.1 3 5 7

Minor 7ths

Min 7th chord takes a standard minor chord and adds a minor 7th on top of the existing 3 notes.

The 7th is actually a minor 3rd above the 5th of the chod.

1  b3  5  b7

Half diminished 7ths

–takes a dim chord and adds a m7 on top of the existing 3 notes.

–7th is actually a minor 3rd above the b5 of the chord.

— 1  b3  b5  b7

C half diminished 7 chord — Cm7 (b5)

When you add a 7th to the dim chord that falls on the 7h tone of the major scale, you always form a half-dim 7 chord.

Half dim 7 chords are seldom used in popular music but are often found in jazz.

Sixths

All chords are based on notes a third apart from each other but there is one exception to that rule: the 6th chord.

A 6th chord: basic triad with an extension added a major 2nd above the 5th of the chord — ie. a 6th above the root.

If you add a 6th to a maj chord, you have a maj 6 chord.

If you add a 6 to a minor chord, you have a min 6 chord.

The notes of maj 6 are: 1 3 5 6

min 6 — 1 b3 5 6

Ninths

A 9th chord adds another note a 3rd above the top note of the 7th chord.

–5 individual notes, each a third apart.

–you can have 9th  chords based on both major and minor triads with both a maj and min 7ths.

Maj 9th:  1 3 5 7 9

Min 9th:  1 b3 5 b7 9

Dom 9th: 1 3 5 b7 9


Elevenths

An 11th chord adds another note a 3rd above the 9th for 6 notes.

When you are adding an 11th to a major or dom chord, the 11th is almost always sharped #11, esp in jazz.

When you add an 11th to a minor chord, 11th is natural note of the underlying scale.

Major 11th — 1 3 5 7 9 #11

Minor 11th — 1 b3 5 b7 9 11

Dominant 11th — 1 3 5 b7 9 #11

C Maj 11 — C E G B D F#

C min 11 — C Eb G Bb D F

C11  —  C E G Bb D F#

Thirteenths

A 13th chord adds yet another note a 3rd above the 11th for 7 notes in total.

Major 13th:  1  3  5  7  9  #11 13

Minor 13th:  1  b3  5  b7  9  1 1  13

Dominant 13th:  1   3    5   b7   9   #11  13

C Maj 13:  C  E  G   B  D   F#  A

C min 13:  C  Eb  G   Bb  D  F  A

C 13:  C  E  G   Bb  D  F#  A

WORKING WITH ALTERED, ALTERED BASS AND COMPOUND CHORDS

Chords can not only be extended they can be altered in a number of ways.

Altered chords

It’s possible to use flas and sharps to artificially lower or raise any of the notes of a chod.

Chords modified in this fashion are called altered chords.

You find a lotof them in jazz.

Altered notes are typically indicated by a + (for a raised note) or a  b (for a lowered note).

Lowered notes are typically enclosed in parentheses.

Cm7 (b5) — this is altered chord in the form of the half – dim 7th

You can also alter a chord by adding or subtracting notes.

To add a note to a chord (typically an extension several notes above the basic traid) the added note is included within parentheses, accompanied by the word ‘add’.

For eg. to add a 9 to a basic C minor chord — Cm(add9)

To subtract a note from a chord (that is, to not play a particular note), the unwanted note is preceded by a minus sign (-).

For eg. C7-5 :  you play a C7 chord but don’t play the 5th


Altered Bass Chords

Don’t confuse altered chords with altered bass chords.

In an altered bass chord, all notes of the chords are as normal but the chord is played over a different bass note. This is typically indicated by the chord followed by a slash followed by the bass note.

For eg. to indicate a C7 chord with an F in the bass –>  C7/F

Compound chords

There’s the concept of the compound chord.

A compound chord is actually 2 chords combined, played one on top of the other.

compound chords are notated like a fraction with the higher chord on top and the lower chord on bottom.

For eg. F Maj 7 chord on top of a C Maj chord:  FM7/C

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Music Terms Appendix

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Intervals

  • an interval consists of 2 notes that an occur successively ( a melodic interval) or simultaneously (a harmonic interval)
  • names for intervals consist of 2 parts: a prefix such as perfect, major, minor, augmented or diminished followed by a number indicating the distance between the 2 notes. If that number is less than 8, the interval is called a simple interval. If the number is 8 or more, the interval is a compound interval.
  • simple intervals have compound equivalents. For eg. a 2nd plus an octave is called a 9th; a 4th plus an octave is called an 11th and a 6th plus an octave is called a 13th.
  • in major scale, the intervals from the tonic to the 4th, 5th, octave or their compound equivalents are referred to as perfect; they are diminished when contracted a half step and augmented when expanded a half step.
  • the intervals from tonic to the 2nd, rd, 6th, 7th and their compound equivalents are called major.
  • they are called minor when contracted 1/2 step, diminished when contracted a whole step and augmented when expanded a half step.
  • when intervals have he same number of half steps but are spelled differently, they are referred to as enharmonic.
  • develop your ability to recognize these intervals by playing them on the piano.

Modes of major scale:

  • C major
  • D dorian
  • E phrygian
  • F lydian
  • G mixolydian
  • A aeolian
  • B locrian

Modes in melodic minor scale

  • C melodic minor
  • D dorian b2
  • E lydian augmented
  • F lydian Dominant
  • G Hindu
  • A locrian #2
  • B altered

Diatonic 7th chrods in Major keys

  • chords are formed from scales by stacking in 3rds on each scale degree, every other note in the scale
  • chords that are derived from the same parent scale are called diatonic chords
  • in any major scale, the chords built on the first and forth scale degress (notated as IM7 and IVM7 ) will always be major 7th chord
  • the chords built on the 2nd, 3rd, 6th scale degrees — ii7 iii7 vi7 are minor 7th chords
  • the chords built on the 5th scale degree (V7) will be a domianant 7th chord
  • the chord built on the 7th scale degree will be called half-diminished.

Diatonic 7th chords in minor keys

  • the pirmary diatoic 7ths chords are derived from either the natural minor or aeolian scale
  • i7  ii half dim 7,  IIIM7,  iv7,  VIM7
  • or the harmonic minor scale (the V7, vii half dim 7 chos)
  • on rare occasions, the v7 and bVII7 chords from natural minor, the iM7 from harmonic minor and the IV7 and #vi half dim 7 from melodic minor may also be used.

Cm7  — D half dim 7 — EbM7 —  Fm7 —  G7  — AbM7 —  B dim 7

i7        iihalf dim7            IIIM7      iv7         V7       VIM7       vii dim 7

Chords and their relationship to scales

Below is a list of all chords commonly encountered in jazz improv.  After the chord name is the name of the scale or scales that maybe used in improvising over the chord

1.  Major 7th, major 6th,  major 9th

  • scales: major, lydian, major pentatonic, major pentatonic a perfect 5th above the root

2.  Major 7thb5; M7#11,  M13#11

  • lydian, major pentatonic a major 2nd above the root

3.  M7#5

  • lydian augmented

4.  m6, m13

  • dorian, minor pentatnoic a major 2nd above the root, mino/added 6th pentatonic

5. minor 7th, minor 9, minor 11

  • dorian, aeolian, minor pentatonic, minor pentatonic a perfect 5th above the root, minor/added6th pentatnoic

6.  minor (major 7)

  • harmonic minor, ascending melodic minor

7. minor 7b5; half dim 7

  • locrian, minor pentatonic a perfect 5th above root, minor pentatonic a major 2nd below root, locrian #2, minor/added 6th pentatonic a minor 3rd above the root

8. m9b5; half dim 9

  • locrian #2, minor/added 6th pentatonic a minor 3rd above the root

9.  dom 7, dom 9

  • mixolydian, major pentatonic, dominant pentatonic

10. dom 9b5

  • whole tone, lydian dominant

11. dom 9#5

  • whole tone

12. Dom 7th#9; dom 7b9

  • inverted dim, altered

13. dom 7#9b5

  • inverted dim, altered, major pentatonic an augmented 4th above the root

14. dom 7#9#5; dom 7 b9#5

  • altered major pentatonic an augmented 4th above the root

15.  dim 7th

  • diminished

Upper structure or slash chords

formed by placing a chod above a bass note that does not belong to the chord or by placing one chord over another with a diffeent root

the upper chord is placed to the left of a slash, the bass note or lower chod to the right

these slash chords are also viewed as altered chords or chords with extensions

eg. A/F  — A triad over F bass  — same as FM7#5

eg. B/F7 — B traid over an F7 is equivalent F7b9b5

Improviser should learn to recvognize both ways of spelling chords.

Keyboard and guitar players tend to think in terms of slash chords

horn players prefer to see a single chord with extensions or alterations

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Diminished Scales and altered dominant 7 chords

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Diminished scales aternate between half steps and whole steps.

There are only 2 modes in this family — the scale that begins with a whole step is called a diminished or diminished (whole-step) scale:

C  diminished scale:

C  D  Eb  F  Gb  Ab  A  B   C

If you begin with a half step, the resultant sale is called an inverted diminished or diminished (half step) scale:

C Db  Eb  E  F#  G  A  Bb C

Because of their symmetrial alternatin of half and whole steps, any diminished mode starting on C, Eb, Gb or A will contain the same pitches (or their enharmonical equivalent).  Likewise the D, F, Ab and B diminished modes as well as the Db, E, G and Bb diminisehd modes, all have the same pitches in common.

C dim =  Eb dim =  Gb dim =  A dim

The diminished scale is used when improvising on diminished traids, fully diminished 7th chords, diminshed/major 7th chords and a bitonal chord whose upper extensions form a triad a half step below the root of the chord.

Although a couple of the scle tones clash with the chord, the dim scale may also be used with discretion over min 7th and half dim 7th chords, esp when they resolve to an altered dom 7th chord in the context of a ii-V progression.

Dim traids consists of a root, a minor 3rd and a dim 5th.

A fully diminished 7th chord — is a diminished triad with a diminished (doubly flatted) 7th added and a dim/major7th chord consists of a diminisehd triad with a major7th added.

Dim chords usually function as passing chords between more stable sonorities.

All the notes in the dim scale work well over the dim th chord with the:

–2nd, 4th, b6th & M7 having the most color

The inverted dim scale is used when improvising over a dom7th chord with a b9, #9 or b5 — pariticularly when the chord is functioning as a V chord in a major key.  In minor keys, V chords are best colored by the altered scale.

The inverted dim scale also may be used over two bitonal chords, one formed from a triad a dim 5th above the root and another formed by a raid a maj6th above the root.

The dom 7th b5 chord consists of a root, a major 3rd, a dim 5th and a  min 7th.

A dom 7#11 chord consists of a dom 7 chord with an aug 11th added.

Adding a min 9 to a dom 7 chord creates a dom 7 b9 chord

dom 7 #9 chord consists of a dom 7 with an aug 9th

All the notes in the inverted dim scale work well over the altered om chords: the melodic use of the #9 and b9th high characteristic of bebop and post – bop styles.

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Chord Progression

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

Knowing Chord-scale relationship simplify the harmonic demands of the tune.

Many chord progressions are:  1 6 2 5

I  vi  ii  V  I

Many such chord progressions utilize the same notes in their respective scales.

So when you recognize these relationships, you can reduce a multiplicity of chores to a few basic key areas.

For example:  All the Things You Are

the chord progression is:

Fm7  —  Bbm7  —  Eb7  — AbM7  —  DbM7  — Dm7  G7   CM7

these chords can be analyzed as:

  • vi  –  ii —  V  —  I  —  IV   in key of  Ab
  • then followed by ii — V  — I    in key of C

It is important to hear to hear these theoretical relationships, not just understand them intellectually.

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