JazzScaleTheory byGlennT.Mori copyright2001 Version VersionBeta1.0 ersion Beta1.0 ReleaseDate: ReleaseDate: March19, March 19,2001 2001
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JazzScaleTheory byGlennT.Mori copyright2001 Index: Objectives Prerequisites ChapterOne:DerivativeApproachtoBuildingScales/Modes ModesDerivedFromtheMajorScale ModesDerivedFromtheMinorMode ChapterTwo:OtherScales BluesScale SymmetricalScales Whole-Tone DiminishedScale Half-WholeDiminishedScale BebopScales ChapterThree:ScalesfromSuperimposedChords ChapterFour:Chord/ScaleFamilies ChapterFive:ParallelRelationshipsBetweenScaleandModes Scale/ModeRelationshipsbyAlteringOnePitch Scale/Mode Scale/ModeRelationshipstothe RelationshipstotheWholeT WholeToneScale oneScale Scale/ModeRelationshipstotheDiminishedand Half-WholeDiminishedScales ChapterSix:CommonTones ChapterSeven:ChoosingWhichModetoUse ChapterEight:PracticeSuggestions WritingOutScales WhenLearninga WhenLearningaNewT NewTypeofChord ypeofChordorScale orScale ModeShifting Transcribing FinalThoughts Notation/Names
Objectives: Theobjectiveofthefollowingdiscussionistoexaminetheapplicationofscalesandmodestothe processofjazzimpro processofjazzimprovisati processofjazzimprovisation. visation. on. Atthetimeofthiswritingthisdiscussionisnot Atthetimeofthiswritingthisdiscussionisnotintendedtoexplain intendedtoexplain basicmusictheorynordoesitlookextensivelyatharmonicrelationshipsbetweenadjacentchords. Italsodoesnotincludeextensivepracticeexercises,thoughtherearesomesuggestedpracticemethodsmentionedinpassingthroughoutandsummarizedattheconclusion. Itisintendedtobeathoroughexaminationoftheapplicationofsomekeyscalesandmodesasthey areappliedintheprocessofjazzimprovisation,and,assuch,includesallthewaysthatIknowof lookingathowscalesandmodesrelatetoeachotherandtochordsand lookingathowscalesandmodesrelateto eachotherandtochordsandmelodies. melodies. melodies. Thismeansthat Thismeansthat Thismeansthat someconceptsarediscussedmorethanonceindifferentapproaches. someconceptsarediscussedmorethan onceindifferentapp onceindifferentapproaches roaches. . Thisarealsomanydifferent Thisarealsomany Thisarealsomanydifferent diagramsdesignedtosummarizeinformationandtohelptoclarifyvariousapproaches. Onereasonforusingavarietyofapproachesisthatdifferentapproachescanbemoreusefulin differentsitu differ differentsituations. entsituations ations. . Forexample,findingcommontonesisonewaytoapproachaG7#9 Forexample,fin Forexample,findingcomm dingcommontones ontonesisone isonewaytoapproachaG7#9toCm7but toCm7but thisapproachisnotsousefulwhenyoucometoaCm7whenplayingmodally thisapproachisnotsousefulwhenyoucometo aCm7whenplayingmodally. . Ifyouareonly Ifyou Ifyouare areonl only y analyzingwrittenmusicyoumightnotneedavarietyofapproachesbecauseyouhavethetimeto applyanyoneapproachofbuildingscalesandmodesthatyouaremostcomfortablewith. applyanyoneapproachofbuildingscalesandmodesthatyou aremostcomfor aremostcomfortablew tablewith. ith. Ifyouare Ifyouare usingtheorytohelpyouimproviseinvariedsettingsyoumayfindthathavingavarietyofapproachesisusefuldependinguponthespecificsofthesituation. Eachapproachwilltendtoleadoneinaslightlydifferentdirectionwhich,throughtheprocessof exploration, exploration,willlead exploration,willleadtodifferentimprovisationresults. willleadtodiffer todifferentimpr entimprovisat ovisationresu ionresults. lts. Youcanthinkofeach Youcanthinkofeachapproachasavalid oucanthinkofeachapproachasavalid toolandthechoiceoftoolwillaffecttheoutcome. toolandthechoiceoftoolwillaffect toolwillaffecttheoutcom theoutcome. e. Ultimatelythemoreapproachesthatyoucan Ultimatelythe Ultimatelythemoreappro moreapproachestha achesthatyoucan tyoucan assimilate,themorecompleteyourmentalconceptwillbe. Ifyouarefamiliarwithjazzscalesbutwanttolearnmore,focusonthesectionsthatapproachthings differentlyfromtheapproachthatyouaremostfamiliarwith. differentlyfromtheapproachthatyou aremostfamiliar aremostfamiliarwith. with. Ifyouare Ifyouarenotfamiliarwithjazzscales notfamiliarwithjazzscales atall,focusononesectionatatimeoronsimilarportionsofeachsection,suchasonlyportions dealingwithdorianmodes.Ifyoutrytoassimilateallofthevariousapproachesatonceyouwillend upconfusingyourself.
Prerequisites: Prerequisites: Beforeusingtheinformationincludedhereyou Beforeusingtheinforma Beforeusingtheinformationincludedhereyou tionincludedhereyoushould shouldunderstandbasicmusic shouldunderstandbasicmusictheory shouldunde understandbasicmusictheory rstandbasicmusictheory. theory .. ThefollowThefo Thefollo llowwingisalistofsomeofthetermsusedin ingisalistofsome ofthetermsusedinthediscussion. thediscussion. Therearenoexplanatio TherearenoexplanationsoftheseparticuTherearenoexplanationsoftheseparticunsoftheseparticulartermsandconceptsbecauseitisassumed lartermsandconceptsbeca lartermsandconceptsbecauseit useitisassumedthatyoualreadyunderstand isassumedthatyoualreadyunderstandthem. isassumedthatyoualready thatyoualreadyunderstandthem. understandthem. them. Pleasereadthrough Pleasereadthrough thelist,and,ifyoufindsomethatyouarenotfamiliarwith, thelist,and,ifyoufindsome thatyouarenotfamiliarwith,findabasicmusictheory findabasicmusictheorysourcetolearn sourcetolearn thembeforereadingfurtherinthisdoc thembeforereadingfurtherinthisdocument. ument. Chromaticscale Majorscales Minormodes I,II,IIIIV I,II,IIIIV,VVI, ,VVI,VII VII Chordconstruction Inversions Root,3rd, 5th, 7th Tonic Wholestep,Halfstep Minorsecond,Majorsecond,Minorthird,Majorthird,Perfectfourth, Minorsecond,Majorseco nd,Minorthird,Majorthird,Perfectfourth,Perfectfifth,Augmented Perfectfifth,Augmented fourth,Diminishedfifth,Tritone,Ninth,Eleventh,Thirteenth Superimpose,superimposition Modulation Dissonance,consonance
Therearemanypossible Therearemanypossiblesourcesfor sourcesforthisbasicmusic thisbasicmusictheory,inclu theory,includingthestan dingthestandardgene dardgeneralmusic ralmusic theorytext,“Harmony”byW theorytext,“Harmony”byWalterPiston. alterPiston. alterP alterPist iston on. . Y Youmayalsobeabletofind oumayalsobeabletofindsom oumayalsobeable oumayalsobeabletofind tofindsomeinternetresourc someinternetresources. einternetresources. es.
ChapterOne: ChapterOne: DerivativeApproachtoBuildingScales/Modes: DerivativeApp DerivativeAppro roachtoBuildingScales/Modes: ModesDerivedFromtheMajorScale:
Mostchordsandmodescanbederivedfromtheeitherthemajorscaleorthemelodicminormode. (Note: (Note: Injazzoftenthetermsscale Injazzoften thetermsscaleandmode andmodeareusedinterchangeably. areusedinterchang areusedinterchangeably. eably. However,standardmusic However,stan However,standard dardmusic analysiscallsthemajorscaleascale,whileallsequenceofpitchesthatcanbederivedfromthe scale,includingtheminormode,arenotcalledscalesbut scale,includingtheminormode,are notcalledscalesbutmodes. modes. Allotherspitchsequ Allotherspitchsequencessuchas Allotherspitchsequencessuch encessuch as wholetone,diminishedandbluesscalesarecalled wholetone,diminishedand bluesscalesarecalledscales. scales. scales. Ihaveappliedthisnamingconvention Ihaveapplied Ihaveappliedthisnamingconvention throughoutprimarilybecauseitistheconventionthatIusebyhabit.) Tobuildmodesfromthemajorscale,simplystartonanoteofthescaleotherthanthetonicandgo uptotheoctaveaboveusingthenotesofyour uptotheoctaveabove usingthenotesofyouroriginalmajorscale. originalmajorsc originalmajorscale. ale. Forexample,usingtheCmajor Forexample,usi Forexample,usingtheCmajo ngtheCmajorr scalestartonthesecondnoteofthescale(D)andgouptoanoctaveaboveusingthenotesoftheC majorsc majo majorscale. rscale. ale. Youhavenowbuilta YouhavenowbuiltaDscalewiththenotesD, ouhavenowbuiltaDscalewiththenotesD,E,F E,F,G,A,B,C, ,G,A,B,C,andD. andD. Wheneveryou Wheneveryou startascalef startascalefromthes startascalefromthesecondnoteofanymajorscalethescaleiscalledadorianmode. romthesecondno econdnoteofany teofanymajors majorscalethes calethescaleis caleiscalledad calledadorianm orianmode. ode. Inthekeyof Inthekeyof Inthekeyof CmajorthescaleiscalledaDdorianmodebecauseDisthestartingnoteandbecauseitusesthe notesthatareinthekeyofCmajor.
Eachdegreeofthemajorscalehasamodeassociatedwithit.Themajor/minorscalesystemof WesternmusicdrawsuponthemusictheoriesoftheancientGreeks,andasaresultmanyelements ofmusictheoryst ofmusictheorystilluseGr ofmusictheorystilluseGreeknames,includingthemodes. illuseGreeknames eeknames,includ ,includingthemode ingthemodes. s. Themodebuiltfromthethirddegreeof Themodebuiltfrom Themodebuiltfromthe thethirddegreeof themajorscaleiscalledthephrygianmode. themajorscaleiscalledthe phrygianmode. phrygianmode. Themodebuiltfromthefourthdegreeiscalledthe Themodebuiltfrom Themodebuiltfrom thefourthdegreeiscalledthe lydianmode,thefifththemixolydianmode,thesixththeaeolianmode(alsothenaturalminor),and theseventhlocri theseventhlocrianmode. theseventhlocrianmode. anmode. TheseriesfromCtoChasanametoo;theionianmode,but Theseriesfrom TheseriesfromCtoC CtoChasanametoo;theionianmode,butmostmusimostmusiciansaremorefamiliarwithitasthemajorscale. So,fromthekeyofCmajoryoucanbuild: Cmajor(ionian) Ddorian Ephrygian Flydian Gmixolydian Aaeolian Blocrian OrinthekeyofAbmajoryoucanbuild: Abmajor Bbdorian Cphrygian Dblydian Ebmixolydian
Faeolian Glocrian andsoon,foralltwelvekeys. Mo Mod od de e Major
K Ke ey ey y/ /N / No No otte teess C
Db Db
D
Eb Eb
E
F
G
Ab Ab
A
Bb Bb
B
Dorian
D
Eb Eb
E
F
F F# #
G
A
Bb Bb
B
C
C# C#
Phrygian
E
F
F F# #
G
G# G#
A
B
C
C# C#
D
D# D#
Lydian
F
G Gb b
G
Ab Ab
A
Bb Bb
C
Db Db
D
Eb Eb
E
Mixolydian
G
Ab Ab
A
Bb Bb
B
C
D
Eb Eb
E
F
F F# #
Aeolian
A
Bb Bb
B
C
C# C#
D
E
F
F F# #
G
G# G#
Locrian
B
C
C# C#
D
D# D#
E
F F# #
G
G# G#
A
A# A#
Eachmodehasaparticularpatternofhalfsteps(h)andwholesteps(W)whichdefinesitssound. Mo Mod od de e Major
11-2
2--3 3
3 3---4 4
W
W
h
W
W
W
h
W
h
W
W
W
h
W
h
W
W
W
h
W
W
Lydian
W
W
W
h
W
W
h
Mixolydian
W
W
h
W
W
h
W
Aeolian
W
h
W
W
h
W
W
Locrian
h
W
W
h
W
W
W
Dorian Phrygian
4 4--5 -5
5 5---6 6
6 6---7 7
7 7--8 -8
Notethatasyoumoveupthroughthesequenceofmodes,thelocationofthehalfstepsshiftdownwardseachtime. wards wardseachtime. eachtime. Thisissomethingtokeepinmind Thisissomething Thisissomethingto tokeepinmindifyoupract keepinmindifyoupracticethemodessequentiallyie. ifyoupracticethe icethemodessequentia modessequentiallyie. llyie. C major,thenCdorian,thenCphrygian,etc.
Forthebeginningimproviserthemostimportantmodestostartwitharethedorian,mixolydianand majormod majo majormodes. rmodes. es. Thesemodesprovidethenotesforthe Thesemo Thesemodes desprov provide idethe thenotesforthemostcommonprogressionin mostcommonprogressioninjazz;theII– jazz;theII–V– jazz;theII–V– I. Learningthedori Learni Learningthedorian,mixolydianmodesandthemajorscaleinalltwelve ngthedorian,mixo an,mixolydian lydianmodesandthe modesandthe majorscaleinalltwelvekeyscombinedwiththe keyscombinedwiththe bluesscaleinallkeyswillallowyoutofindaworkablesolution(workablebutnotnecessarilythe idealsolution)forplayingoverthemajorityofjazzstandards. ThemodesfortheII–V–I,theV–IandtheII–Vprogressionsareallinthesamekey,soto simplifyyoumaythinkaboutplayinginone simplifyyoumaythink aboutplayinginonekeyovertheentire keyovertheentireprogression. progression progression. . Forexample,the Forexample,the Forexample,the progressionDm7–G7–Cmaj7(usingDdorian,GmixolydianandCmajor)isallinthekeyofC majorsoyoucanusethenotesfromtheC majorsoyoucanuse thenotesfromtheCmajorscale. majorscale. majorscale. However,thelimitationofrelyingonthis However,theli However,thelimitati mitationofrelyi onofrelyingon ngonthis simplifiedmethodisthatyoumissthedifferenceinfunctionandsoundofeachnoterelativetothe chordthatissound chordthatissounding. chordthatissounding. ing. InthepreviousexamplethenoteFwillsoundgoodovertheDm7 Inthepreviousexa Inthepreviousexamplethenot mplethenoteF eFwillsoundgoodovertheDm7andthe andthe G7sincetheFisimportantchordtoneinbothchords,butitwillnotsoundasgoodovertheCmaj7. Infactthefourthdegreeofthemajorscaleisconsideredan“avoid”notewhenusedoveratonic majorchord. majorchord. Anavoidnoteisonethatdoesnotsoundparticularlygoodandshould Anavoidnoteisone Anavoidnoteisonethatdoesnotsoundparticularlygoodandshouldusedonlyasa usedonlyasa
passingtone. Anotherlimitationofthesimplifiedmethodisthateventuallyyouwillneedtolearntheindividual modes. modes. Ifyourelyon Ifyourel Ifyourelyonthesimplifiedmethodyouwill yonthesimplifiedmethodyouwillhavedifficultysubstitutingmodes(ie.the havedifficultysubstitutingmodes(ie.the lydiandominantdiffersfromthemixolydianbyonlytheraisedfourthstep)orplayingmodally(ie. whenplayingmodallyDm7isnotthesameasCmajorbecauseDisthetonalcenterandnotC). Onethingthatmakeslearningthesethreemodeseasieristhattheparallel(parallelmeaningstarting withthesamerootsuchasCmajor,CdorianandCmixolydian)modesdifferfromeachotherby onlyonenote. onlyone onlyonenote. note. Forexample,if Forexample,ifyoutaketheCmajorscaleandlowertheseventhdegreetoaBb,you Forexample,ifyoutake youtaketheCmaj theCmajorscal orscaleandlowe eandlowerthesev rtheseventhdeg enthdegreetoa reetoaBb,you havetheC havetheCmixolydian. mixolyd mixolydian ian. . Ifyounowlowerthe Ifyou Ifyounowlowerthethirdtoan thirdtoanEb,younow Eb,younowhavetheC havetheCdorian. dori dorian. an. Seethe Seet Seethe he scalechartsectionformoreinformation. Theaeolianmodeisthenaturalminor Theaeolianmodeisthenaturalminorthatisrelatedto thatisrelatedtotheoriginalmajorscale. theorig theoriginal inalmajo majorsca rscale. le. Thismodeisan Thismod Thismodeis eisan optionwheneveryouhaveatonicminor. optionwheneveryouhavea tonicminor. tonicminor. Thelocrianmodeisparticularlyimportantwhenyouare Thelocrianmodeis Thelocrianmodeis particularlyimportantwhenyouare playinginminorkeysbecausethelocrianisfrequentlyusedwiththeIIchordintheII–V–iin minormode. minormode. Thelydianmodeisoftenusedasan Thelydianmodeis Thelydianmodeisoftenusedasanalternativeforthemajorscalebecausetheonly alternativeforthemajorscalebecausetheonly differenceistheraisedfourthdegreewhichaddscolourtothemajorsoundandeliminatestheperfectfourthdegreewhichisan“avoid”note fectfourthdegreewhich fectfourthdegreewhichisan“avoid”noteinthemajorscale. isan“avoid”noteinthemajorscale. inthemajorscale. Thephrygianmodeisoccasionally, Thephrygianmodeis occasionally, butnotfrequentl butnotfrequentlyused. butnotfrequentlyused. yused. Whenitisused,itis Whenitis Whenitisused,itisoftenintendedtoimpartaSpanishflavortothemusic used,itisoftenint oftenintendedto endedtoimpartaSpanishflavortothemusic
ModesDerivedFromtheMinorMode:
Thesameapproachisusedtobuildmodesfromthemelodicminor Thesameapproachisusedto buildmodesfromthemelodicminormode. mode. Instandardmusi Instandardmusictheory Instandardmusictheory ctheory themelodicminormodehastwodifferentformswherethesixthandseventhdegreesareraisedin theascendingformandloweredinthedescendingform. theascendingformandlowered inthedescendingfo inthedescendingform. rm. Injazztheorythemel Injazzthe Injazztheorythemelodicminorisalways orythemelodic odicminorisalways theascendingformonly. theascendingformonly . Itissometimes Itissom Itissometimesreferredtoasthe“jazzminor”. etimesreferr referredtoas edtoasthe“jazzminor”. Youcanalsothinkoftheminormodeasthemajormodewithaloweredthirddegree.Sincethe ascendingmelodicminororjazzminorhastheraisedsixthandseventhdegrees(F#andG#inA minor),theonlyremainingdifferencebetweentheparallelmajorandminoristhethirddegreewhich isanEinAmajorandanEbinAminor. FromthekeyofCminortheresultingmodesare: Cmelodicminor Dphrygian#6 Eblydianaugmented Flydiandominant Gminordominant Alocrian#2 Bsuperlocrian
Mo Mod ode de Melodicminor
K Keey ey C
C# C#
D
Eb Eb
E
F
G
Ab Ab
A
Bb Bb
B
Phrygian#6
D
D# D#
E
F
F F# #
G
A
Bb Bb
B
C
C# C#
LydianAugmented
E Eb b
E
F
G Gb b
G
Ab Ab
Bb Bb
Cb Cb
C
Db Db
D
LydianDominant
F
F F# #
G
Ab Ab
A
Bb Bb
C
Db Db
D
Eb Eb
E
MinorDominant
G
G# G#
A
Bb Bb
B
C
D
Eb Eb
E
F
F F# #
Locrian#2 Locrian#2
A
A# A#
B
C
C# C#
D
E
F
F F# #
G
G# G#
Superlocrian
B
B# B#
C# C#
D
D# D#
E
F F# #
G
G# G#
A
A# A#
Mo Mo od de de Melodicminor Phrygian#6
1 1--2 -2
2 2---3 3
3 3--4
4-5
5-6
6-7
7--8 8
W
h
W
W
W
W
h
h
W
W
W W
W
h
W
LydianAugmented
W
W
W
W
h
W
h
LydianDominant
W
W
W
h
W
h
W
MinorDominant
W
W
h
W
h
W
W
Locrian#2
W
h
W
h
W
W
W
h
W
h
W
W
W
W
Superlocrian
Alsoavailableforuseistheharmonicminorwithitsloweredsixthandraisedseventhdegrees. Alsoavailableforuseistheharmonicminorw ithitsloweredsi ithitsloweredsixthandrai xthandraisedseve sedseventhdegre nthdegrees. es. This createsanaugmentedsecond(minorthird)betweenthesixthandseventhdegrees. 11--2 2
2 2---3 3
W
h
CHarmonicminor C
D
3 3---4 4
4 4---5 5
55--6 6
W
h
W Eb Eb
F
G
6 6---7 7
7 7--8 -8
m3 m3 Ab Ab
h B
C
Theharmonicminorandthemelodicminoraresonamedbecauseinstandardmusictheorythe harmonicversionofthemodesuppliesthenotesthataretobeusedwhenwritingharmoniesin minorkeyswhilethemelodicminor,withitsascendinganddescendingversions,isusedinmelodic lines. lines. ForexampleinC Forexa ForexampleinCminoraGchordwouldhaveG,BandD,anFchordwouldhaveF,A mpleinCminoraG minoraGchordwou chordwouldhaveG ldhaveG,BandD, ,BandD,anF anFchordwouldhaveF,Aband band C,whilethemelodiclineswoulduseAandBwhenascendingandAbandBbwhendescending. Injazzthemelodicminor,dorianmode,aeolian(naturalminor)andharmonicminorareallavailable foruseastonicminorscales,withthedorianandmelodicminorbeingthemostfrequentchoices. Thephrygian#6(the“#6”referstotheraised6 thdegree,ie.thephrygianmodebutwithamajor6 th insteadofaminor6 th)isnotcommonlyused. )isnotcommonly used. Instead,thelocr Instea Instead,thelocrianmode(fromtheseventhmodeofa d,thelocrianmode ianmode(fromthes (fromtheseventhmod eventhmode eofa majorscale,seeabovediscussionaboutmajorscalemodes)ismoreoftenusedinaII–V–iprogressioninminorkey gressioninminorkeys. gressioninminorkeys. s. Thelocrian#2(locria Thelocri Thelocrian#2(locrianmodewitha an#2(locrian nmodewithamajor2 major2 nd)sometimesservesasasubstituteforthelocrianmodebecausethemajorsecondisnotasdissonantastheminor2 nddegreeofthe locrianmode.
Thelydiandominantdoesnotnormallyfunctionasascaleforthefourthdegreeinminor,butinstead isusuallyusedasasubstitutemodefordominantchords. isusuallyusedasa substitutemod substitutemodefordomi efordominantchor nantchords. ds. Thefourthdegreeofthemixolydianmode Thefourthdegree Thefourthdegreeofthe ofthemixolydianmode isanother“avoid”note,andthelydiandominant,likethelydianmode,hasaraisedoraugmented fourthdegree. fourth fourthdegree. degree. Notonlydoestheraisedfourthavoidtheavoidnote,butit Notonlydoesthe Notonlydoestheraisedfourthavoidtheavoidnote,butitalsocreatesasemitoneor alsocreatesasemitoneor leadingtonebeneaththefifthdegreeofthescale.Theaugmentedfourthasemitonebelowthefifth supportsfifth,andtheperfectfifth,inturn,increasesthestrengthoftherootofthechord. Theminordominantmodeisnotusedwiththedominantchordinminormode. Theminordominantmodeisnotused withthedominant withthedominantchordinmin chordinminormode. ormode. Insteadthe Insteadthe Insteadthe superlocrianisthestandardscalefortheVinminormode. superlocrianisthestandardscal efortheVinmin efortheVinminormode ormode. . Asaresult, Asare Asaresult,inCminortheII–V–i sult,inCmino inCminortheII rtheII–V–i –V–i th th progressionusestheDlocrian(7 modeofEbmajor),Gsuperlocrian(7 modeofAbminor)andC melodicminorordorian. WhenyouplayoveraII–V–Iprogressioninamajorkey,allofthepitchesforthestandardmodes tousecomefrom tousecomefromonemajor onemajorscale. scale. scale. Thisisnotthecase Thisisno Thisisnot tthecaseinminor inminormodes. mode modes. s. Oneofthedifficultiesin Oneo Oneof fthedifficultiesin learningtoplayinminormodeisthatthemostcommonmodesfortheIIandVinminormodeare nottheonesthatautomaticallycomefromthecorrespondingminormode. ch cho hor ord rd iiii V i
mo mod ode de D llo oc ocr cri ria ian an G ssu u up pe per erl rllo oc ocr cri ria ian an Cm me el elo lod odi dic ic mi min ino nor or Cd do or ori ria ian an
D G C C
no not ote tes es of of mo mod ode des es iin n C mi min ino nor or E Eb b F G A Ab b Bb Bb A Ab b Bb Bb B C C# # Eb Eb D E Eb b F G A D E Eb b F G A
C F B B Bb b
SothepitchesusedinthemodesarenotallthefromthesamekeyastheyarewhenyouplayaII–V –Iinmajorkeys. ch cho hor ord rd iiii V i
mo mod ode de D llo oc ocr cri riia an an G ssu up upe per erl rlo loc ocr cri riia an an Cm me el elo lod odi dic ic mi min ino nor or Cd do or ori ria ian an
C C C
no not ote tes es rre eo eor ord rde der ere red ed tto o co com omp mpa par are re w wiit ith th C m miin ino nor or D E Eb b F G A Ab b Bb Bb C# C# Eb Eb F G A Ab b Bb Bb D E Eb b F G A D E Eb b F G A B Bb b
B B
Particularlynotableisthefactthatthesuperlocriandoesnotincludethetonic(C)ofthefollowing tonicminorbutinsteadhasahalfstepbelowandabove. Thisrelationshipbetweenpitchesofthescaleschangesagainifyousubstitutethelocrian#2forthe locrianmode,orusetheaeolianortheharmonicminorasthetonicminor. locrianmode,orusetheaeolianortheharmonicminoras thetonicminor. thetonicminor. SeethesectiononComSeethesectiononCom SeethesectiononCom-monTonesforfurtherdiscussiononthepitchrelationshipsofthesemodes.
ChapterTwo:OtherScales Thefollowingscalesarenotderivedfrommajororminorscales. BluesScale:
Theeasiestscaleforbeginningimproviserstoworkwithistheblues Theeasiestscaleforbeginningimproviserstowork withisthebluesscale. scale. Ifyou’veplayedwi Ifyou’v Ifyou’veplayedwithit eplayedwithit thit beforeyoucanprobablystillrememberthefirsttimeyouplayeditandhoweasyitwastomakeup somethingthat somethingthatsoundedin somethingthatsoundedinteresting. soundedinterest teresting. ing. Ifyouhaven’tplayedwithitbefore,I Ifyouhaven’t Ifyouhaven’tplayedwithitbefore,Irecommenditasa recommenditasafirst first scaletolearnwhenlearningtoimprovisebecauseitiseasytomakeupsomethingthatsoundsgood usingthebluessc usingth usingthebluesscale. ebluesscale. ale. Atthesametimeitisdifficulttocomeupwithsomethingthathasn’tbeen Atthesametimeitis Atthesametimeitis difficulttocomeupwithsomethingthathasn’tbeen doneorusedmanytimesalreadybecausethebluesscalehasbeenusedsomuchforsolong,butthat shouldn’tdiscouragebeginnersfromhavingfunwithitandgettingastartintoimprovising. Thebluesscaleisnotamodeofeitherthemajoror Thebluesscaleisnota modeofeitherthemajororminorscales. minorscales. minorscales. Likethepentatoni Likethepentatonicscalesof Likethepentatonicscales cscalesof of orientalmusicorotherethnicscalesitisafolkmusicscalethatisnotderivedfromtheWestern Europeancommonpracticetheoryofmajorand Europeancommonpracticetheory ofmajorandminorkeys. minorkeys. minorkeys. Ithas,however, Ithas,however Ithas,however, beenmergedwith beenmer beenmerged ged with major/minortonalconcepts. CBluesscale CBluesscale
m m3 3 C
M2 M2 Eb Eb
m2 m2 F
m2 m2 m3 m3 F F# #
G
M2 M2 Bb Bb
C
Notethechromaticstep-wisesequencefromtheperfectfourththroughthetritonetotheperfectfifth, theminorseventhdegree,theminorthirdandtheabsenceofa theminorseventhdegree,theminorthirdand theabsenceofaseconddegreetothescale. seconddegreetothe seconddegreetothescale. scale. Allnotes Allnotes soundgood,andthereareno“avoid”notesinthescale. Thestandardchordforthebluesscaleisthedominantseventhchord,orC7forthe Thestandardchordforthebluesscaleis thedominantseventhchord,orC7fortheCblues. Cblues Cblues. . Note Note thedifferencebetweenmajorthird(E)inthechordandtheminor thedifferencebetweenmajorthird(E)in thechordandtheminorthird(Eb)inthescale. third(Eb)inthesc third(Eb)inthescale. ale. This contrastisoneofthemostcharacteristicelementsofthebluesscalewhenitisusedinjazz. contrastisoneofthemostcharacteristicelementsofthebluesscalewhen itisusedinjazz. itisusedinjazz. Pitchwise,thebluethirdshouldactuallyliesomewhereinbetweentheminorandmajorthirdwhichis somethingtokeepinmindifyouareasingerorafretlessstringedinstrumentplayer. AlsonotethattheC7chordwiththeCbluesscaledoesnotneedtoresolvetoanFchordbutfunctionsasatonalcenteritself. Itisalsopossibletoaddamajorsecondtothescale,ortoaddamajorthirdwhilekeepingtheminor third. third. Ontheotherhandinamorerock-orientedsituationthetritonemightneedtobeomittedfrom Ontheotherhandin Ontheotherhandinamorerock-orientedsituationthetritonemightneedtobeomittedfrom thescale. thescale. Theappropriaten Theappropriatenessofthesechangesdependson Theappropriatenessofthes essofthese echangesdependsonthemusicalcontext. themusicalcontext themusicalcontext. . Inaminorkeythe Inaminorkeythe blueswilluseam7chordinsteadofa7chord.
SymmetricalScales:
Symmetricalscalesarescalesthathaveapatternthatrepeatswithintheoctave. Themostessentialofthesymmetricalscalesisthechromaticscale. Themostessentialofthe symmetricalsc symmetricalscalesis alesisthechromat thechromaticscale icscale. . PresumablyyoualreadyunderPresumablyyou Presumablyyoualreadyund alreadyunderer-
standitsconstruction,andthepointofmentioningithereisnotethatonewayofapproachingany improvisationistouseonlythechromaticscale;thekeyishow improvisationistouseonlythe chromaticscale;thekeyishoweachnoteisused. eachnoteisused. eachnoteisused. Overanygiven Overanygiven Overanygiven chordanychromaticnotewillbeeitherachordtoneorapassingtonebetweenchordtonesorbetweenotherpassingtones. Youcanvieweach Youcanvieweachchromaticnoteintermsofitstensionandcolor oucanvieweachchromaticnoteintermsofitstensionandcolorrelativetothechord. relativetothechor relativetothechord. d. ForexamForexample,overaG7thenoteEhasacertaincolorwhichisverydifferentfromthecolorandtensionlevel oftheEb. Thecolorand Thecolor Thecolorandtensionwillalsochange andtensionwillalsochangedependingonhow dependingonhowthenoteis thenoteisused. used. used. TheEbmay TheEb TheEbmay wanttoleadtoE,ordowntoD,oritmayanticipateanF# Æ 7inthenextmeasure,oritmaybepart of aEbmchordsuperim aEbmchord aEbmchordsuperimposedthatissuperimposedovertheG7,oritmay superimposedth posedthatis atissuperimposedovertheG7,oritmaybepartofa bepartofasequential sequential melodicpatternthatisbeingcarriedovertheG7chord,oritmaysimplysitagainsttheG7chord.
Whole-Tone Whole-ToneScale: Scale:
Ifyouuseeverysecondnoteofthechromaticscaleyouwillcreateawhole-tonescale. Ifyouuseeverysecondnoteofthe chromaticscal chromaticscaleyouwil eyouwillcreate lcreateawholeawhole-tonesca tonescale. le. Forexample, Forexample, Forexample, theCWholeTonescaleisasfollows: 11--2 2 CWholeTone
2 2---3 3
W C
3 3---4 4
W D
4 4---5 5
W E
5 5--6 -6
W
F F# #
6 6--7 -7
W
Ab Ab
W
Bb Bb
C
Notethatthereareonly7notesor6differentpitchesinthescale;onceyoureachtheseventhnote youhavealreadyarrivedattheoctave. Theotherinterestingthingaboutthewholetonescaleisthatthereareonlytwo. Theotherinterestingthingaboutthewholetonescaleisthatthereare onlytwo. Transposethescale Transposethesc Transposethescale ale uponehalfstepandyoucreatetheotherwholetonescale: Db Db
Eb Eb
F
G
A
B
Db Db
Ab Ab
Bb Bb
C
D
NowtransposethescaleonemorehalfsteptostartonD: D
E
F F# #
andyouhavethesamenotesasyouhadin andyouhavethesame notesasyouhadintheCwholetonescale. theCwhol theCwholeton etonesc escale ale. . DisnowtherootinsteadofC, Disnow DisnowtherootinsteadofC, andF#isthethirdinsteadofE,butthenotesinthescalearethesamesoyouonlyneedtopractice twoinordertobeabletoplayinallkeys. Thewholetonescalelacksaleadingtoneanywhereinthescale(ie.thenoteahalfstepbelowthe tonic,BinthekeyofC,orEinaCmixolydianmode)anddoesnothaveaperfectfifthabovethe root root (aGabovetheC)whichwouldincreasethestabilityofthe (aGabov (aGaboveth ethe eC)whichwouldincreasethestabilityoftheCastheroot. Castheroot. Castheroot. Italsohasa Italsoha Italsohasavery savery open,homogenoussoundbecauseofthewholesteps. open,homogenoussoundbecauseofthewhole steps. Theseallarereaso Theseal Theseallarereasonswhythewholetone larereasonswhythe nswhythewholetone scalecansound scalecansoundasifthe scalecansoundasifthereisnorootorasifanyofthenotescouldbetheroot. asifthereisno reisnorootora rootorasifanyo sifanyofthenot fthenotescoul escouldbethero dbetheroot. ot. Thiscanbean Thiscanbean advantagewhenplayingimpressionisticallyorformodulatingtoremotekeys. Ontheotherhand,ifyouputaCinthebassandusetheEandBbintheaccompanimentitwill soundlikeaC7witha9 th(D),raisedfourth(F#)and (D),raisedfourth(F#)andraisedfifth(G#)inthescale. raisedfifth(G# raisedfifth(G#)inthescal )inthescale. e. ThisisparticuThisisparticularlytrueifthefollowingchordisanFchordsincethiswillsoundlikeaV-Iresolution.
DiminishedScale:
Thediminishedscaleusesaseque Thediminishedscaleusesasequenceofawholestepfollow nceofawholestepfollowedbyahalfsteprepeate edbyahalfsteprepeatedfourtimes dfourtimes withineac with withineachoctave. ineachocta hoctave. ve. Forexampl Forex Forexample,togofromCto ample,togo e,togo fromCtoC: C: 11-2 -2 Diminished
22-3 -3
33-4 -4
44-5 -5
55-6 -6
66-7 -7
77-8 -8
88-9 -9
h
W
h
W
h
W
h
W C
D
Eb Eb
F
G Gb b
Ab Ab
A
B
C
Notethatthereare8differentnotesinthescale,9notestothe Notethatthereare8differentnotesin thescale,9notestotheoctave. octave. octave. Because Bec Becausethereareonly7 ausethere thereareon areonly7 ly7 differentletternamesforno differentletternamesfornotes(A,B,C,D,E, tes(A,B,C,D,E,F,G),oneletterna F,G),oneletternamealwaysge mealwaysgetsusedtwice(in tsusedtwice(inthe the precedingexamplethere precedingexamplethereisanAandanAb). precedingexamplethereisanAandanAb). isanAandanAb). Thereasonthatthereare9notestotheoctaveisthat Thereasonthatther Thereasonthatthereare9notestotheoctaveisthat eare9notestotheoctaveisthat therearefourhalfstepsan therearefourhalfstepsandfourwhole dfourwholestepsinthescal stepsinthescalewhereasthe ewhereasthemajorscaleh majorscalehasonlytwoha asonlytwohalf lf andfivewholesteps. Thechordtonesforthisscaleareaminorthirdapa Thechordtonesforthisscaleareaminorthirdapart(C,Eb,Gb,A),spellingoutadimin rt(C,Eb,Gb,A),spellingoutadiminished ished chord. chord. Anotherwa Anot Anotherwayofcreatingthis herway yofcreatingthisscaleis scaleistosuperimposetwo tosuperimposetwodiminishedchords. diminish diminishedcho edchords. rds. Inother Inothe Inotherwords, rwords, takeaCo7chord,supe takeaCo7chord,superimposeaDo rimposeaDo7(D,F,Ab,B)cho 7(D,F,Ab,B)chordandyou rdandyouhavethenot havethenotesforthedimin esforthediminished ished scale. Becausethepatternrepeatseve Becausethepatternrepeatseveryminorthird,there ryminorthird,thereareonlythreedifferen areonlythreedifferentdiminishedscal tdiminishedscales: es: 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
C
D
Eb Eb
F
G Gb b
Ab Ab
A
B
C
Db Db
Eb Eb
E
F F# #
G
A
Bb Bb
C
Db Db
D
E
F
G
Ab Ab
Bb Bb
B
C# C#
D
Eb Eb
F
G Gb b
Ab Ab
A
B
C
D
Eb Eb
WhenyoureachtheEbdiminished WhenyoureachtheEbdiminishedscalethepitchesarethesam scalethepitchesarethesameasthoseintheCdiminishe easthoseintheCdiminishedscale. dscale. Therefore,youonlyha Therefore,youonlyhavetopractic vetopracticethreediffere ethreedifferentdiminished ntdiminishedscalesaslon scalesaslongasyoumen gasyoumentallyadjust tallyadjust rd th th forwhichnotesfunctionastheroot,3 ,5 ,and7 .
Half-WholeDiminishedScale:
Ifyoustartthediminishedsc Ifyoustartthediminishedscalewiththeha alewiththehalfstepfirstandth lfstepfirstandthenthewhole enthewholestepyougetad stepyougetadifferent ifferent diminish dimi diminishedscale. nishedsc edscale. ale. Nowthesca Now Nowthescalehasaminorseventhinsteadofamajorseventh,andthe thescalehas lehasa a minorseventhinsteadofamajorseventh,andthefourth fourth pitchofthescaleisadiminishedfourthor pitchofthescale isadiminishedfourthoramajorthirdabove amajorthirdabovetheroot. theroot. theroot. Because Bec Becauseitincludesaminor auseitinclud itincludesa esaminor seventhandamajorthird,thisscalewillnowwor seventhandamajorthird,thisscalewillnowworkwellwithinthefamilyofdom kwellwithinthefamilyofdominantharmon inantharmonies ies andscales. ThisscaleiscalledtheHalf-WholeDiminished(or8NoteDomina ThisscaleiscalledtheHalf-WholeDiminish ed(or8NoteDominant)becauseitstartswithahalf nt)becauseitstartswithahalf stepfollowedbyawholestep,wherea stepfollowedbyawholestep,whereastheusualdiminish stheusualdiminishedscalestartswithawhole edscalestartswithawholestepfollowed stepfollowed byahalfstep.
11-2 -2
22-3 -3
33-4 -4
44-5 -5
55-6 -6
66-7 -7
77-8 -8
88-9 -9
h
W
h
W
h
W
h
W
Half-WholeDiminished
Theothermethodforbuildingthescale Theothermethod forbuildingthescaleistostart istostartonthesecond onthesecondnoteofthe noteofthediminishedscale. dimi dimini nish sheds edscal cale. e. In otherwords,thehalf-wholediminishedisthesecondmodeofthediminishedscale,justlikethe dorianisthesecondmodeofthemajorscale. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
D
Eb Eb
F
F F# #
G G# #
A
B
C
D
Eb Eb
E
F F# #
G
A
Bb Bb
C
Db Db
Eb Eb
E
F
G
G# G#
A# A#
B
C# C#
D
E
Notehowthesecondandthirdpitchesofthescalesarenotatedinthechartbelow. R
b2 b2
#2 #2
M3 # 4
P5 M 6 m7
8
D
Eb Eb
E# E#
F# F#
G# G#
A
B
C
D
Eb Eb
Fb Fb
F# F#
G
A
Bb Bb
C
Db Db
Eb Eb
E
F
F F# ## ##
G# G#
A# A#
B
C# C#
D
E
TheF##isnoteasytoworkwithwhenyouarepracticingyourscalesbutitisaccuratefromatheoreticalstandpoint. reticalstandpoint. Injazztheorytheflatte Injazztheory Injazztheorytheflattedninthandtheraisedninthcanrep theflattedninthandtheraisedninthcanreplacethemajorninthin lacethemajorninthin dominantchords,andoftenbothareusedat dominantchords,andoftenboth areusedatthesametime. thesametime. thesametime. Thehalf-wholediminishedscaleconThehalf-whole Thehalf-wholediminish diminishedscaleconedscaleconsistsofaroot,flattedninth,raisedninth,majorthird,raisedfourth(oreleventh),perfectfifth,major sixthandminorseventh. Forpracticingpurposesyoucan,likethediminishedscale,superimposeadiminishedchordontop ofadiminishedchordtogetthepitchesofthescale(ie.EbdiminishedontopofaDdiminished). And,likethediminishedscale,thethirdtranspositionofthescalehasthesamepitchesasthefirstso fromapracticingstandpointthereareonlythreehalf-wholediminishedscales. fromapracticingstandpointthereareonly threehalf-wh threehalf-wholedimin olediminishedsc ishedscales. ales. Infact,sincethe Infact,sincethe Infact,sincethe half-wholediminishedscaleisamodeofthediminishedscale,practicingthethreediminished scalescoversthefingeringsforallofthehalf-wholediminishedscalesaswell. However,keepinmindthattheharmonicimplicationsofthepitchesarenotsymmetricallikethey arewiththedimini arewiththediminishedsca arewiththediminishedscale. shedscale. le. Thechordtonesarenotthefirst,third,fifthandseventhnotesofthe Thechordtonesare Thechordtonesarenot notthefirst,third,fifthandseventhnotesofthe scaleliketheyinthediminishedscale,butinsteadarethefirst(root),fourth(majorthird),sixth (perfectfifth)andeighth(minorseventh)notesofthescalealongwiththeflattedandraisedninths. Youmayinsteadwanttopracticethehalf-wholediminishedscalewithitscloserelative,the superlocrian superl superlocrianmode. ocrianmode. mode. Botharedominantsubstitutesand Botharedominantsubstitutesandcanoften canoftenbeused beusedinterchangeably. interchangeab interchangeably. ly. Trythem Trythem oneaftertheotherandyouwillnoticethattheybothstartthesamewiththeflattedandraisedninth, themajorthird,theraisedfourthandthe themajorthird,theraisedfourthandtheraisedfifth. raisedfifth. raisedfifth. Atthispoint Atthispointthesuperlocrianmodeprogresses Atthispointthesuperlocrianmodeprogresses bywholesteps.
R CHalf-WholeDiminished
C C C
CSuperlocrian CWholeTone
D Db b D Db b
E Eb b E Eb b D
M M3 3
# #4 4
E E E
F# F# F# F# F F# #
8
G
A A Ab b A Ab b
B B Bb b Bb Bb
C C C
ThisiswhythesuperlocrianmodeisalsocalledtheDiminishedWholeTonescale;itstartslikethe half-wholediminishedscale,thenchangestothewholetonescaleaftertheoverlaponthemajor thirdandaugment thirdandaugmentedfourth thirdandaugmentedfourth. edfourth. . Alternatively,anotherwaytobuildthesuperlocrianmodeisto Alternative Alternatively,anoth ly,anotherwayto erwaytobuildthesuperlocrianmodeistousethe usethe wholetonescale,omittheseconddegreeandreplaceitwiththeraisedandlowered wholetonescale,omittheseconddegreeand replaceitwiththeraisedandloweredninths. ninths ninths. . Seethe Seethe sectionwiththewholetonescalechartformoreinformationonbuildingmodesfromthewholetone scale.
BebopScales:
Bebopscalesarescaleswithanaddedpassingtone. Thedominantbebopscaleaddsamajorseventhtothemixolydianmode. Thedominantbebopscaleaddsa majorseventhtoth majorseventhtothemixolyd emixolydianmode. ianmode. Theresultisthatthereisa Theresultisthat Theresultisthatthereisa thereisa non-chordtonebetweeneachchordtoneandanevensequenceofchordtonesandnon-chordtones throughoutthescalenomatterwhereyoustartinthe throughoutthescalenomatterwhere youstartinthescale. scale. Thisworkswe Thisw Thisworkswellparticularlywhenyou orkswellparti llparticularly cularlywhenyou whenyou startyourplayingonadownbeatwithachordtone.
Do Dom omi min ina nan ant nt be beeb bo bop op
1 C
2 D
3 E
4 F
5 G
6 A
B Bb b
7 B
8 C
Themajorbebopscaleaddsanotebetweenthefifthandthesixthdegreesofthemajorscale.
Ma Maj a jo jor or be beb ebo bop op
1 C
2 D
3 E
4 F
5 G
G G# #
6 A
7 B
8 C
Theminorbebopscaleaddsamajorthirdbetweentheminorthirdandtheperfectfourth,addinga majorqualitytothesoundofthescale.
Mi Min ino nor or be beb ebo bop op
1 C
2 D
E Eb b
3 E
4 F
5 G
6 A
7 B
8 C
Thereasonfortheaddednoteistohave8notesineachscalesothatitiseasytocreatealinethat consistsofasteadystreamofeighthnotesorsixteenthnotes.Thisissomethingthatyouhavetoplay andcontrastwith7notescalestohearthedifferencethatthe andcontrastwith7notescales tohearthedifferencethattheaddednotemakes. addednotemakes. addednotemakes. PlaytheCmajor, PlaytheCmajor PlaytheCmajor, mixolydianandminorscalesandcomparethemwiththebebopversionofeach mixolydianandminorscalesandcomparethem withthebebopversionofeachscale. scale. scale. Listenfor Listen Listenfor for howthe7notescalesseemtostopincomparisontothebebopversionswhichseemtowantto continueon.
Ch Cha hap apt ptteerT erTh rThr hre ree eee::
Scca Sc al ale leesF sFr sFro rom om Su Su up p peer erriim im mp po po osse sedC edCh dCho ho or rds rd ds
BuildingScalesFromSuperimposedChords:
Anotherwaytolookatscalesandmodesistothinkofthemastwochordsthatareeitherstackedon topofeachother(likeanextendedchord)orsidebyside(likeabi-tonalchord).
th
Major Lydian LydianAugmented Mixolydian LydianDominant Superlocrian Dorian Aeolian MelodicMinor HarmonicMinor Phrygian Locrian Locrian#2 Diminished Half-WholeDiminished
7 chor chord d
D Dist istan ance ceto to nextchord nextchord
Superimposed triad
M Maaj a j7 j7 M Maaj a j7 j7 M Ma aj a j7 j7# 7#5 #5 7 7 ∅7 m m7 7 m m7 7 m mM Ma Maj a j7 j7 m mM Ma Maj a j7 j7 m m7 7 ∅7 ∅7 o7 o7 o7 o7
W W W W W h W W W W h h W W h
m M M m M m m o m o M M o o7 o7 o o7 7
Example
C CM Ma Maj a j7 j7 Cm Cma maj a j7 j7 Cm Cma maj a j7 j7# 7#5 #5 C C7 7 C7 C7 C ∅7 C Cm m7 m7 C Cm m7 m7 C Cm mM mMa Maj a j7 j7 C Cm mM mMa Maj a j7 j7 Cm Cm7 m7 C ∅7 C∅7 C Co o7 o7 C Co o7 o7
D Dm m D DM Ma Maj a jj D DM Ma Maj a jj D Dm m D Dm ma maj a jj D Db bm bm D Dm m D Do o D Dm m D Do o Db DbM bMa Maj a jj D Db bM bMa Maj a jj Do D Do o7 o7 D Db bo bo7 o7
Guitarplayersthataremoreathomethinkingintermsofchordsratherthanscalesmayfindthisway ofthinkingeasiertoconceptualize. Anotheradvantagetothisapproachisthatiseasiertogofromthisapproachtoextendedchordssuch as11 as11 and13chords. and13chord and13chords. s. Notonlywillthes Notonlywilltheseextendedchordsseemlessintimidatingifyouare Notonlywilltheseextende eextendedchords dchordsseemlessintimidatingifyouarealready already familiarwiththisapproach,butitalsomakestheextensionsofthechordsmoreaccessible. Focussingontheextensionsisanotherapproachtoimprovisingortogettingdifferentsoundsoutof yourimprovisations. Ifyoualreadyknowyourscalesandmodes,youdon’thavetosuperimposethechordsinthesame mannerasabove. manneras mannerasabove. above. Forexample,insteadofaDmtriadoveraC7 Forexample,ins Forexample,insteadofaDm teadofaDmtriadoveraC7togetamixolydianmode,you togetamixolydianmode,youcan can buildaB Æ 7oranFmaj7insteadwhichwillgiveyouthesamenotesasDmoverC7butwillgive youadifferentsoundbecauseoftheharmonicandpassingnotefunctionsofeachnote,assuming thatyoucanalreadyhearthoserelationships. thatyoucanalreadyhearthos alreadyhearthoserelati erelationship onships. s. Harmonicallythiscanalsobeinterestingwhenwriting Harmonicall Harmonicallythiscanals ythiscanalsobe obeinterestingwhenwriting forabigbandbecauseyoucanputtheC7inthetromboneswiththeFmaj7inthetrumpetsandhave thesaxesoverlapwithaB Æ 7.
Ch Cha hap apt ptteer er Fo Fou our ur: r:
Ch Cho ho or rd // S rd Sc ca cal ale le Fa Fam ami mil ili lie ies es
KeyCharacteristics:
Therearesomebasicgroupsorfamiliesofchordsandmodes.Eachfamilyhasanessentialsound whichisdeterminedprimarilybythekeycharacteristicpitchesofeach. whichisdeterminedprimarilyby thekeycharacter thekeycharacteristicpi isticpitchesof tchesofeach. each. Eachofthechordsand Eachofthe chordsand modesthatbelongtoeachfamilyhaveinthemthekeycharacteristicsthatdefinesthefamily. Thevalueofgroupingintofamiliesisthatoftenthesechordsandmodesareinterchangeablewithin thefamily. Forexample,whengivenaMaj7chordyourfirstchoicewouldbetouseamajorscale. Forexample,whengivenaMaj7chordyourfirstc Forexample,whengiven aMaj7chordyourfirstchoicewouldbeto hoicewouldbetouseamajorscale. useamajorscale. However,youcanoftensubstitutealydianmodeandhaveaslightlydifferentflavourofthesoundto workwith. F Fa a am m miil ily ly Major
Ke Key ey p piiittc tcch h he es es
C Ch h ho or orrd ds ds
S Sc ca ca alle les ess/ /m / mo mod ode deess
M3andM7
Maj,Maj7, Maj6,Maj9 asabove with#11 7,913,7b9, 7#9,7#9#5 7#9,7#9#5 7# 7#1 #11 11 m,m7 m, m7, ,m6 m6 m,m6, mMaj7 ∅7 o o7 7 7 7# #5 #5
major,lydian,lydianaugmented
Dominant
M3andm7
Minor
m3andP5
Half-diminished
m3ando5 m3ando5 o5 o5 an and nd o7 o7 M3 M3 an and nd #5 #5
Diminished Wholetone
lydian,lydianaugmented mixolydian,lydiandominant,superlocrian, half-wholediminished,wholetone, lly y yd di dia ian an d do om omi min ina nan ant nt,w t,wh ,w ho hol ole le tto on one ne, e, d dori orian an, ,ae aeol olia ian, n,ph phry rygi gian an melodicminor,harmonicminor llo oc ocr cri ria ian an, n, llo oc ocr cri ria ian an #2 #2 d diim imi min ini nis ish sh he ed ed w wh ho hol ole le tto on on ne e
Thekeyorcharacteristicnotesofeachfamilyarethestrongestandthebestnotestouseinamelody orasoloifyouwanttoidentifytheunderlyingchord. orasoloifyouwantto identifytheun identifytheunderlyi derlyingchord ngchord. . Thatisnotmeanttosuggestthatyoushould Thatisnotmean Thatisnotmeanttosugg ttosuggesttha estthatyousho tyoushould uld usethesenotesprominentlyallthetimebutratherthatyoushouldbeawarethatthesenoteswillfit moststronglywhenyoudousethem. Notethatthecharacteristicnotesofthedominantfamilyareatritoneapart. Notethatthecharacteristicnotesofthedominant familyareatriton familyareatritoneapart. eapart. Theinterestingthing Theinteresting Theinterestingthing thing aboutthatisthattheinversionofatritoneisstillatritone,whichmeansthatthedominantchorda tritonefromyouroriginalchordwillhavethesamecharacteristicnotes. tritonefromyouroriginalchordwillhave thesamecharacte thesamecharacteristi risticnotes. cnotes. ForexamplethecharacterForexamplethechar ForexamplethecharacteracteristicnotesofaG7chordareBandF isticnotesofaG7 chordareBandFandthecharacteristicnotes isticnotesofaG7chordareBandFandthecharacteristicnotesofDb7areFandCborB. andthecharacteristicnotesofDb7areFand ofDb7areFandCborB. CborB. Thisis thereasonthatthetritonesubstitution,oneofthemostcommonchordsubstitutionsinjazz,worksas wellasitdoes. wellasitdoes. does. Ifyouarenotfamiliarwiththe Ifyouar Ifyouare enotfamiliarwiththetritonesubstitution,thetritonesubstitutionallowsthe tritonesubstitution,thetritonesubstitutionallowsthe performerorthecomposertoreplacethedominantchordwiththechordandthescaleatritoneaway. Forexample,ifyouareinthekeyofCandcometoaG7chord,youcanreplacetheG7withaDb7 chordandusetheDbmixolydianmode. Dominantchordsbynaturearetensionchords,traditionallyseekingresolutionfromthetensionto thetonicmajororminor. thetonicmajororminor . Themusicallangu Themusi Themusicallanguageofjazz,however,acceptsmoredissonancethan callanguageofjazz ageofjazz,howeve ,howeverr,acceptsmoredissonancethan
commonpracticeharmonyandinajazzcontextthedominantchordsdonotalways commonpracticeharmonyandina jazzcontextthedom jazzcontextthedominantcho inantchordsdonotal rdsdonotalways waysresol resolv res resolve. olve. ve. e. Still, Still, becausethedominantfamilyisbynatureatensionsounditsupportsmorealterationsandsubstitutionsthantheothe tionsthantheotherfamili tionsthantheotherfamiliesofchords. rfamiliesofchord esofchords. s. Ninthsinadominantchordandscalecanbeloweredor Ninthsinadomina Ninthsinadominantchordand ntchordand scalecanbeloweredor raisedorboth,eleventhscanberaised,andeventhefifthcanberaisedorraisedandloweredatthe sametime,aslongasthecharacteristicmajorthirdandminorseventhsremainpresent. Theotherfamiliesdonotacceptasmanyalterationsalthough4 thscanberaisedinmajorscalesand 7thscanberaisedinminorchordsandscales. scanberaisedinminorchordsand minorchordsandscales. scales. Sincethe4 Sincethe4 thdegreeofascaleormodeisnotachord tone,ifamodewitharaised4 thisspecificallydesiredbythecomposerthechordwilloftenbe notatedwitha#11and/ortherewillbea#4 thdegreeinthemelody.
ChapterFive:ParallelRelationshipsBetweenScalesandModes Scale/ModeRelationshipsbyAlteringOnePitch
CMaj7#5 LydianAugmented C,D,E,F#,G#,A,B,C ↑ ↓ #5 b5 ↑ ↓ CMaj7#11,CMaj9#11 Lydian C,D,E,F#,G,A,B,C ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ #7 b7 #4 b4 ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ C7#5, C9#5 Cma j j7 7 Lydian Dominant Ma j jo or C, D, E, F#, G, A, Bb, C C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ #6 b6 #4 b4 #7 b7 #3 b3 ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ C7, C9, C13 CmMa j j7 7 Lydian Minor Mixolydian Melodic Minor C, D, E, F#, G, Ab, Bb, C C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C C, D, Eb, F, G, A, B, C ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ #4 b4 #6 b6 #3 b3 #7 b7 #3 b3 ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ Cm7, Cm9 CmMa j j7 7, Cm Ma j j9 9 Melodic Minor Dominant Dorian Harmonic Minor C, D, E, F, G, Ab, Bb, C C, D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb, C C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, B, C ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ #3 b3 #6 b6 #7 b7 ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ Cm7,Cm9 Aeolian C,D,Eb,F,G,Ab,Bb,C ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ #5 b5 #3 b3 ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ Cm7b9(iii) C∅7(addD) Locrian #2 Phrygian C, D, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ #9 b9 b6 #6 b3 #3 ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ SpanishPhrygian C∅7 Locrian Harm onic Dominant C, Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C C, Db, E, F, G, Ab, Bb, C ↑ ↓ #4 b4 ↑ ↓ C7#9#5,C7#9#11 Superlocrian C,Db,D#,E,Gb,Ab,Bb,C
Howthechartworks: 1) 1) Pickany Pick anymod mode/sc e/scale aleon onthe thecha chart rt 2) 2) Followanarrow Follow anarrowtoanoth toanothermode ermode. . The Th Thearrowwill ear arrrowwilltellyou tellyouwhatno whatnoteoft teofthemode hemodeneedst needstobe obe raised(#)orlowered(b)inordertochangethemodetothenewmode. Forexample,findthemajorscalenearthetoprightareaofthe Forexample,findthemajorscalenearthe toprightareaofthechart. chart. Thenfindthemelod Thenfindthemelodicminor Thenfindthemelodicminor icminor belowandtotherightofthemajorscale. belowandtotherightof themajorscale. themajorscale. Thearrowthatpointsfromthetotheminormodetellsyou Thearrowthatpoi Thearrowthatpointsfro ntsfromtheto mthetotheminormodetellsyou thattochangethemajorscaletothemelodicminoryoulowerthe3 rddegreeofthescale. Thereisalsoanarrowthatpointsintheoppositedirection. Thereisalsoanarrow thatpointsintheopp thatpointsintheoppositedi ositedirectio rection. n. Thisarrowtellsyouthatinorderto Thisarrowtell Thisarrowtellsyouthat syouthatin inorderto reversethechan reversethechangeandgof reversethechangeandgofrommelodicminortomajoryoudotheoppositechange. geandgofrommel rommelodicmin odicminortomaj ortomajoryoudo oryoudotheoppo theoppositecha sitechange. nge. Togofromthe Togofromthe rd melodicminormode melodi melodicminormode cminormode tothemajorscaleyou tothemajorscaleyouraisethe3 scaleyouraisethe raisethe3 degreeofthemelodicminor. ForthekeyofCmajor,the3 rddegreeofthesc degreeofthescaleisE. degreeofthescaleisE. aleisE. LowertheEtoa Lower LowertheEtoanEbandthemodebecomes theEtoanEbandth nEbandthe emodebecomes Cmelodicminor Cmelod Cmelodicminor. icminor. . Conversely,ifyouwanttochangeaCmelodicminormodetoaCmajorscale, Conversely, Conversely,ifyouw ifyouwanttocha anttochangeaC ngeaCmelodicminormodetoaCmajorscale, rd raisethe3 degreefromanEbtoanEnatural. Aboveeachscale/modenamethereareoneormorechordsnoted. Aboveeachscale/modenamethereareone ormorechordsnoted ormorechordsnoted. . ThesechordsarethemostcomThesechordsare Thesechordsarethemost themostcommonchordsusedtoindicateeachscale/mode. Changestotheseconddegreeofthescaleshavebeennotedas Changestotheseconddegreeof thescaleshavebeennotedas9thsratherthan2nds. 9thsratherthan2nd 9thsratherthan2nds. s. Thereasonis Thereasonis th th that9thsarefrequentlyaddedtoanytriador7 chordandthemodificationofthe9 oftenappearsin thechordsymbol. Whenyouchangeonlyonenoteofascale/mode,thesoundofthescalechangesslightly.Modesthat arelocatedclose arelocatedclosetogether arelocatedclosetogethersoundsimilar. togethersoundsim soundsimilar. ilar. Forexample,youcanoftenuseeitherthedorianorthe Forexample,youca Forexample,youcanoften noftenuseeitherthedorianorthe aeolianmodeforthesameminorseventhchord. Ifyouchangetwonotes(ie.taketwostepswithinthe Ifyouchangetwo notes(ie.taketwostepswithinthechart),thesoundchangesevenmore. chart),thesoun chart),thesoundchanges dchangesevenmore. evenmore. For rd example,whenyoulowerthe3 degreeoftheMajormodeyou degreeoftheMajormodeyougettheMelodicMinorMode. gettheMelodicMino gettheMelodicMinorMode. rMode. Ifyou th alsolowerthe7 degree,you degree,younowhavethe nowhavetheDorianMode. DorianMode. DorianMode. Becauseyou’venowchangedtwopitches Becauseyou’venow Becauseyou’venow changedtwopitches fromtheoriginalMajormode,thesoundofthescalehaschangedevenmore. Asyoumovefurtherawayfromyourstartingscale,thesoundofthescalechangesmore. Asyoumovefurtherawayfromyour startingscal startingscale,thes e,thesoundoft oundofthescale hescalechanges changesmore. more. Thismay Thismay seemtobeanobviouspointbutitbecomesrelevantwhenyouusethecharttoconsiderscalesubstitutionsorscala tutionsorscalarcontra tutionsorscalarcontrasts. rcontrasts. sts. Forexample,ifyou Forexamp Forexample,ifyouareplayingovera le,ifyou areplayingoveradominantseventhchordyoucan dominantseventhchordyoucan useamixolydianmod useamixolydianmode. useamixolydianmode. e. Insteadofmixolydianyoumaysubstitutealydiandominantmode,but Insteadofmixol Insteadofmixolydianyou ydianyoumay maysubstitutealydiandominantmode,but becausethereisonlyonenotedifference(theraised4 thdegree;F#foraCscale)thedifferencein soundisnothuge. soundis soundisnothuge. nothuge. Thentrysubsti Thentrysubstituting ThentrysubstitutingaCSuperlocrianmode(bottomrightquadrantofthechart) tutingaCSuperloc aCSuperlocrianmode rianmode(bottom (bottomright rightquadrantofthechart) andyouwillfindabigdifferencein andyouwillfind abigdifferenceinsound. sound. Thesuperlocri Thesupe Thesuperlocrianmodefarawayfromthemixolydian rlocrianmodefar anmodefaraway awayfromthemixolydian modeonthechartbecausemanynotesaredifferentbetweenthetwomodessothereisabigcontrast insound. Itisworthnotingthattheparticulardegreeofthescalethatyouchangeisalsoafactorindetermininghowmuchthesoundofthescalechanges. inghowmuchthe soundofthescalecha soundofthescalechanges. nges. Forexample,thechangeofthethirddegreeofthe Forexample,the Forexample,thechangeofthe changeofthe thirddegreeofthe scalefrommajortomelodicminorchangesthe quality qualityofthesoundaswellasthecolourofthe
soundofthescale,soitisabiggerchangeinsound soundofthescale,soitisabiggerchangeinsoundthangoingfromthedo thangoingfromthedoriantotheaeolianmod riantotheaeolianmodes es th wherethe6 degreeischanged. degreeischanged changed. . Seethesecti Seeth Seethesectiononchord/scalefamiliesfor esection ononchord/scalefamiliesformoreinformation. moreinformation. Eachmemberofeachfamilyofchord Eachmemberofeachfamilyofchordsarecolorcodedsimila sarecolorcodedsimilarly sarecolorcodedsimilarly. rly.. rly . Allmembersofthemajo Allmembersofthemajorfamily rfamily areblue,allmembersoftheminorfamilyaregre areblue,allmembersoftheminorfamilyaregreen,thedominan en,thedominantfamilyisred,andthehalf-d tfamilyisred,andthehalf-diminiminishedfamilyispurple. Threemodeshavenocolorandnochord Threemodeshavenocolorandnochordsindicatedwiththem. Threemodeshavenocolor andnochordsindicatedwiththem. andnochordsindicate sindicatedwiththem. dwiththem. Thelydianminorandthe Thelydianminorandthemelodic melodic minordominantarenotfrequentlyused. minordominantarenot frequen frequentlyuse tlyused. d. Thethirdis Theth Thethirdistheharmonicdominant,themode irdistheharmonicdominant,themodebuiltfrom builtfrom thefifthdegreeoftheharmonicminormode. thefifthdegreeoftheharmonicminorm ode. Insomeinst Insom Insomeinstancesthismodeisreferredtoasthe einstanc ancesthi esthismode smodeis is referredtoasthe SpanishPhrygianmode SpanishPhrygianmodeandcanbeu andcanbeusedwheny sedwhenyouorthecom ouorthecomposerarese poserareseekingaSpan ekingaSpanishorflaishorflamencosound. mencosound. OtherreferencescallthismodetheHarmonicMinorInverseand Otherreference OtherreferencescallthismodetheHarmonicMinorInverseandstatethattheSpanscallthismodetheHarmonicMinorInverseand statethattheSpanishPhrygianisan8notesca ishPhrygianisan8notescale(C,Db,Eb,E,F, le(C,Db,Eb,E,F,G,Ab,Bb,C)whic G,Ab,Bb,C)whichisthephryg histhephrygianmodewith ianmodewithan an addedmajorthird,ortheharmonic addedmajorthird,ortheharmonicdominantwithanadd dominantwithanaddedminorthird. edminorthird. Notetheboxcreatedbytherelationsh Notetheboxcreatedbytherelationshipbetweenthefou ipbetweenthefourtonicminorchoice rtonicminorchoices;dorian,melod s;dorian,melodic ic minor,harmonicminor,aeolian. minor,harmonicminor ,aeolian ,aeolian. . Allofthese Allof Allofthesehavethesamefirstfivenotesanddifferonly thesehave havethe thesamefirstfivenotesanddifferonlywiththe withthe sixthandseventhdegrees. Lowerboththe sixthandseventhdegrees. Lowerboththesixthandseventhdegreesand sixthandseventhdegreesandyouhavethe youhavetheaeolian. aeolian. Raisebothandyouhavethemelodicminor. Raisebothandyouhave themelodicminor. Raisesixthbutlowertheseventhand Raisesixthbutlowertheseventhandyouhavedorian, youhavedorian, andlowerthesixthbutraise andlowerthesixthbutraisetheseventh theseventhandyouha andyouhavetheharmo vetheharmonicminor. nicminor. Anotherthingtonote:thesuperlocr Anotherthingtonote:thesuperlocrianandlydianaug ianandlydianaugmentedmod mentedmodesareattheextremeend esareattheextremeendsofthe softhe chartbutsameseriesofnotes,sincetheyarebothmodesderivedfrom chartbutsameseriesofnotes,since theyarebothmodesderivedfromthemelo theyarebothmodesderived fromthemelodicminormode. themelod themelodicmin dicminormode. icminormo ormode. de. By workingthroughthechartandmo workingthroughthechartandmovingthehalfstepsaro vingthehalfstepsaroundwehavemov undwehavemovedtheminorseco edtheminorsecondsfrom ndsfrom th th th th betweenthe5 and6 degreesandthe7 and8 degreesforthelydianaug degreesforthelydianaugmenteddo menteddowntotheroot wntotheroot nd rd th and2 degreeandthe3 and4 degreesforthesuperlocrianmode.
Scale/Mode Scale/ModerelationshipstotheWhole-T relationshipstotheWhole-ToneScale oneScale
Thefollowingchartlooksatanother Thefollowingchartlooksatanotherrelationship,this relationship,thisonebetweenthewho onebetweenthewholetonescaleandthe letonescaleandthe modesderivedfromthemelodic modesderivedfromthemelodicminormode,allofwhich minormode,allofwhichincludeaseriesof5conse includeaseriesof5consecutivewhole cutivewhole tonessomewherewithinthemode. Thewholetonescalehasonlysixdifferentpitches. Thewholetonescalehas onlysixdifferentpitches. onlysixdifferentpitche s. Bytakinganyone Bytakinganyonepitchandreplacingitwith pitchandreplacingitwith thepitchesonehalfstepaboveandbe thepitchesonehalfstepaboveandbelowtheoriginalpitch lowtheoriginalpitchyoucreateasevenno youcreateasevennotescalewhichwill tescalewhichwill beoneof beoneofthemodesofthe themodesoftheminormode. minormode. Converselyyoucanreplaceparticula Converselyyoucanreplaceparticularadjacentpitches radjacentpitches withinmodesderivedfromthemino withinmodesderivedfromtheminormodeandtheresultwillbethewh rmodeandtheresultwillbethewholetonescale. oletonescale. Forexample,takethesec Forexample,taketheseconddegre onddegreeoftheCwhole eoftheCwholetonescale(D)a tonescale(D)andreplace ndreplaceitwithaDbandaD# itwithaDbandaD# andyouhavetheCsuperlocrianmode. andyouhavetheCsuperlocrianmode. Csuperlocrianmode. Thiswasdiscussedearlie Thiswasdiscussedearlierinthedescriptionofthe Thiswasdiscussedearlierinthedescriptionofthehalfrinthedescriptionofthe halfwholediminishedscaleandhow wholediminishedscaleandhowthesuperlocria thesuperlocrianmodecombin nmodecombinesthelowerportion esthelowerportionofthehalfofthehalfwholediminishedscalewiththeupp wholediminishedscalewiththeupperportionofthewhole erportionofthewholetonescale. tonescale.
C∅7(addD) Locrian#2 C,D,Eb,F,Gb,Ab,Bb,C ↑ split 3 ↑
C7#5,C9#5 LydianDominant C,D,E,F#,G,A,Bb,C
↓ meld 3&4 ↓
↑ split 5 ↑
↓ meld 5&6 ↓
C7#5 Wholetone C,D,E,F#,G#,Bb,C ↑ ↓ meld split #9&b9 9 ↑ ↓ C7#9#5,C7#9#11 Superlocrian C,Db,D#,E,F#,G#,Bb,C
↑ meld 4&5 ↑
↓ split 4 ↓
MelodicDominant C,D,E,F,G,Ab,Bb,C
↑ meld 6&7 ↑
↓ split 6 ↓ CMaj7#5 LydianAugmented C,D,E,F#,G#,A,B,C
Thisshowshowsimilarthewholetonescaleistothesuperlocrian,locrian#2,lydiandominantand lydianaugmentedmodesandexplainswhythesemodescanhaveaverywholetone-likesoundif youdon’tplaythesplitnotes(non-wholetonescalenotes). youdon’tplaythe splitnotes(non splitnotes(non-whol -wholetonescal etonescalenotes) enotes). . Forexample,trytousetheC Forexample,try Forexample,trytouse tousetheC superlocrianmodebutdon’tplaytheDborD#anditwillbeimpossibleforthelistenertodetermine whetheryouareusingthewholetonescaleorthesuperlocrianmodesincethenotesthatyoudiduse arethesameforboth. Thetwowholetonescalesarerelativelyeasytolearnandthischartmaybeusefulwhentryingto findthenotesforanyoneofthemodesthatyoucanbuildfromit. findthenotesforanyoneofthemodesthatyoucan buildfromit. buildfromit. Forexample,if Forexam Forexample,ifyouhaven’tquite ple,ifyouhaven youhaven’tquit ’tquitee learntthesuperlocrianmodeyetyoucanusethewholetonescaleandthenaddtheraisedandloweredninth. Or,achallengingthingtotrymightbetostartwithasuperlocrianmode,thenleaveouttheraised andloweredninths(DbandD#inaCsuperlocrian)effectivelyturningintoawholetonescale,then takeadvantageofthewholetonescale’sambiguityandestablishadifferentnoteastheroot,saythe E,addtheraisedandloweredninthsfortheEsuperlocrian(FandE##orG)andthenresolvetheE chordtoA,amajorthirdawayfromwhereyoustarted!
Scale/ModeRelationshipstotheDiminishedandHalf-WholeDiminishedScales Scale/ModeRelationshipstotheDiminishedand Half-WholeDiminishedScales
Thischartisverysimilartothepreviousonebutinsteadlooksattherelationshipsbetweenthe diminishedandhalf-wholediminishedscalesandthemodesthataresimilar diminishedandhalf-wholediminishedscalesandthe modesthataresimilartothem. tothem. tothem. Notethe Notethe appearanceagainofthesuperlocrianmode.
C7#5,C9#5 LydianDominant
C7#9#5,C7#9#11 Superlocrian C,Db,D#,E,Gb,Ab,Bb,C
C,D,E,F#,G,A,Bb,C
↑
↓
↑
↓
meld 2&3
split 2
meld 6&7
split 6
↑
↓
↑
↓
C7b9b5 Half-WholeDiminished C,Db,E,F,F#,G,A,Bb,C
↑ | ↑ | ↑ | |
| | ↓ | ↓ | ↓
shift up ½ step
shift down ½ step
↑ | ↑ | ↑ | |
| | ↓ | ↓ | ↓
↑
↓
meld 4&5
split 4
↑
↓ Cm7b9 Phrygian#6 C,Db,Eb,F,G,A,Bb,C
CmMaj7 MelodicMinor C,D,Eb,F,G,A,B,C
↑
↓
meld 5&6
split 5
↑
↓
Co7 Diminished C,D,Eb,F,F#,G#,A,B,C
↑
↓
↑
↓
split 3
meld 3&4
split 7
meld 7&8
↑
↓
↑
↓
CMaj7#5 LydianAugmented C,D,E,F#,G#,A,B,C
C∅7(addD) Locrian#2 C,D,Eb,F,Gb,Ab,Bb,C
Probablythemostimportantpartofthischartistheuppersectionwhichincludesthelydiandominant,superlocr nant,superlocrianandhalfnant,superlocrianandhalf-wholediminishedscales. ianandhalf-wholedim wholediminishe inishedscales. dscales. Notonlyarethesescales Notonlyarethesescalesrelatedtoeach relatedtoeachother other asindicatedinthechart,theyareallcommonjazzscales,andtheyalsoallfunctionasdominant scales. scales. Thismeansthatyoucan Thismeansthat Thismeansthatyoucanoftenfreelysubstituteonefor oftenfreelysubstituteonefortheother. theother. theother. Thisiswhy Thisiswhyitisvaluableto itisvaluableto understandhow,bychangingoneortwopitches,youcanchangethescaleandthecorresponding soundofyourimprovisation.
Ch Cha hap apt pte ter er Si Siix x: x:
Co Com omm mmo mon on To on neess ne
Theconceptofcommontoneslooksatnotesthatarethesamebetweenanytwoormoregroupsof notes. notes. Thegroupsofnotescouldanytypeof Thegroupsofnotes Thegroupsofnotes couldanytypeofgroupinglikechords,scales,amelodicfragmentor groupinglikechords,scales,amelodicfragmentoran an atonaltoneclust atonalto atonaltonecluster. necluster. er. Forexample,betweenaC7chordandanF#7chordthereare Forexample,betw Forexample,betweenaC7chor eenaC7chordand dandanF#7chordtherearetwocommon twocommon tones,EandBborA#,andfournon-commontones,C,G,F#andC#. Inmostcircumstancesachordhasallofitstonesincommonwiththescaleormodethatwillbe used. used. Themostcommonexce Themost Themostcommonexceptiontothisisthebluesscalewithaminorthirdthatisusedover commonexceptionto ptiontothisisthe thisisthebluesscalewithaminorthirdthatisusedoveraa dominantseventhchordthathasamajorthird. Thewideruseoftheconceptofcommontonesistolookatadjacentchordsorscalesinaprogression. Forexample,look sion. Forexam Forexample,lookatthemodesinthestandardII–V ple,lookatthemodes atthemodes inthestandardII–V–Iprogressioninminorthatwas –Iprogressioninminorthatwasdisdiscussedearlier. ch cho hor ord rd II II V I
mo mod ode de D llo oc ocr cri ria ian an G ssu up upe per erl rlo loc ocr cri riia an an Cm me el elo lod odi dic ic mi min ino nor or Cd do or ori ria ian an
C C C
no not ote tes es rre eo eor ord rd de er ere red ed tto o co com omp mpa paarre re w wiit ith th C m miin ino nor or D E Eb b F G A Ab b Bb Bb C# C# Eb Eb F G A Ab b Bb Bb D E Eb b F G A D E Eb b F G A B Bb b
B B
CommontonesbetweenallmodesaretheEb,FandG. Commontonesbetweenallmodesare theEb,FandG. theEb,FandG. BetweentheDlocr Betwe BetweentheDlocrianandGsuperlocrian entheDlocrianandG ianandGsuperlocrian AbandBbarealsocommontones. AbandBbare alsocommontones alsocommontones. . BetweentheGsuperlocrianandtheCmelodicminorBisalsoa BetweentheGsupe BetweentheGsuperlocr rlocrianandtheC ianandtheCmelodicminorBisalsoa commontone,andbetweentheGsuperlocrianandtheCdoriantheAisalsoacommontone. Ananalysisofcommontoneswillgiveyousomepitchesthatwillworkovermorethanonechord. Thismaymakeitsimplertoplayoveraprogressionsinceyoudon’thavetobeasconcernedabout theindividualchordchanges,aslongasyoupayattentiontohoweachnoteisgoingtoworkover eachchord. eachchord. Intheexampleabove,theEbisgoingtohave Intheexampleabove Intheexampleabove,theEb ,theEbisgoingtohavealotoftensionoverthe alotoftensionovertheDhalfdiminDhalfdiminishedchordbecauseofthehalfstepfromtherootD,butitwillsoundstrongwiththeCminorchord. TheFwillsoundgoodwiththeDandGchordsbutwon’tsoundasgoodovertheCminorchord. Commontonesalsoworkwellaslongsustainednotesoverchordchanges,orassustainedtrillsover thesameprogression. Non-commontonesaregoodnotestouseifyouwanttoemphasizeachord’sindividualityrelativeto theotherchords. theother theotherchords. chords. Forexample,theC#aboveexistsonlyintheGsuperlocrianmodeandwouldbe Forexample,theC# Forexample,theC#aboveexis aboveexistsonlyin tsonlyintheGsuperlocrianmodeandwouldbeaa goodnotetousetohighlightthepresenceofthesuperlocrianmode. Thesamerecommendationsapplywhenselectingmode Thesamerecommendationsapply whenselectingmodesubstitutionsaswell. substitutions substitutionsaswell. aswell. Forexample,ifyou Forexample,if Forexample,ifyou havechosentosubstitutethelydianmodeforthemajorscale,emphasizingtheraisedfourthdegree willhighlightthefactthatyouaremakingthissubstitution. willhighlightthefactthatyou aremakingthissu aremakingthissubstitu bstitution. tion. Ifyoudon’tplaytheraisedfourthat Ifyoudon’t Ifyoudon’tplaytheraisedfourthatall all thesubstitutionwillnotbeheardatall. Onefinalreminderaboutcommontones;ifyouusethestandarddorian–mixolydian–majorscale overaII–V–I overaII–V–I progression progr progressioninmajor,allnoteswillbecommontones. essioninmajor, inmajor,allnotes allnoteswill willbecommontones.
Ch Cha hap apt ptteer er Se Seev ve veen n: n:
Ch Cho ho oo os osi siin n ng gW Wh hi hic icch hM Mo od od dee to to Us Use se
1) Startwiththekeythatyo Startwi Startwith thth thekeythatyouarein. uarein. uarein. Ifthereisno Ifthere Ifthereisnokeysignatu isnok k eysignatureandyouk reandyouknowthetun nowthetuneisnotinC eisnotinC majororAminor,checkth majororAminor,checkthefirstandlastch efirstandlastchordsofthepiec ordsofthepieceforhintsforth eforhintsforthekey(beaw ekey(beawarethat arethat somepiecesinminormodemayend somepiecesinminorm odemayendintherelatedorparallelmajor intherelatedorparallelmajorkey). key). key). Onceyou’ Once Onceyou’vedeteryou’vede vedeterterminedthekey,mostcho minedthekey,mostchordsthatfitthekey rdsthatfitthekeycanusethesc canusethescaleormode aleormodesderivedfro sderivedfromthatkey. mthatkey. Alsolookformodulationstootherkeys. Commonplacesforthisto Alsolookformodulationstootherkeys. Common Commonplacesforthistooccurareinthe5 placesforthisto occurareinthe5 thand/or6th barsofeightbarphrasesandinthebridgeorBsectio barsofeightbarphrasesandinthebridgeorBsectionofanAABA barsofeightbarphrasesandinthebridgeorBsectionofan nofanAABA,ABAorAAB AABA,ABAorAABform. ,ABAorAAB form. form. Ifyou Ifyou knowthereisamodulationtoanotherkey knowthereisamodulationtoanotherkey,usethescalesandmo ,usethescalesandmodesfromthatkey ,usethescalesandmodesfromthatkey ,usethescalesandmo desfromthatkey desfromthatkey. .. Ifyou Ify Ifyou’ve ou’ve ’ve studiedtraditionalmusictheory studiedtraditionalmusictheorybeawarethanmodu beawarethanmodulationsinjazzareoften lationsinjazzareoftenmuchbrieferthanin muchbrieferthanin traditionalharmonyandareoftendone traditionalharmonyandareoftendonewithoutpivotchord withoutpivotchords. withoutpivotchords. withoutpivotchords. s. Inmanycases Inmanycasestraditionaltheory traditionaltheory wouldlabeljazzmodulationsasatonic wouldlabeljazzmodulationsasatonicizationrathertha izationratherthanafullmodulation. nafullmodulation. Onceyou’veidentified Onceyou’veidentifiedamodulation amodulation,applythesc ,applythescalesappro alesappropriatetothatke priatetothatkey. y. 3) 3) TheII–Vp The II –Vprogressio rogressionisth nisthemost emostcommon commonprogressi progressioninj oninjazz. azz. Lookfo Loo LookforII– kforII–Vprog Vprogressions ressionsin in eitheramajororaminorkeyorboth. eitheramajororaminorkeyorboth. Rememberthetableofchordfamilieswhen Rememb Rememberthetableofchordfamilieswhenyoulookfor erthetableofchordfamilieswhen youlookfor theseprogressions. theseprogressions. TheIIcouldbe TheIIcouldbeanychordfromthe anychordfromtheminorfamilyifthe minorfamilyiftheprogressionisin progressionisin major,orfromthehalf-diminished major,orfromthehalfdiminishedfamilyiftheprogressio familyiftheprogressionisinminor,andtheVchordcou nisinminor,andtheVchordcould ld beanyofthechordsinthe beanyofthechordsinthedominantfam beanyofthechordsinthedominantfamily. dominantfamii ly. ly. YoumayalsofindtheminorformofIIandV(ie. Youmayalsofindtheminor oumayalso oumayalsofindtheminorformofIIandV(ie. findtheminorformofIIandV(ie formofIIandV(ie.. half-diminishedandaltered half-diminishedandaltereddominant)resol dominant)resolvetoatonicmajor. vetoatonicmajor. OftenyouwillfindaseriesofII–V OftenyouwillfindaseriesofII–Vprogressio progressionsinsequen nsinsequence,suchas ce,suchasaseriesthatgoe aseriesthatgoesdownby sdownby wholesteps,downbyha wholesteps,downbyhalfsteps,arou lfsteps,aroundthecycle ndthecycleoffifthsorthrou offifthsorthroughacycleofm ghacycleofmajorthirds. ajorthirds. Ifyoufindaprogressionthatrepeatsafter Ifyoufindaprogressionthatrepeatsaftermodulating,app modulating,applythesamescaleswith lythesamescaleswithappropriate appropriate transpositions. transpositions. 3)Looktothemelodytohelpdeterminewhatscalesor 3)Looktothemelodytohelpdetermin melodytohelpdeterminewhatscalesormode ewhatscalesormodeswouldbeappropriate modeswouldbeappropriate. modeswould swouldbeappropriate. beappropriate. . Forexampleif youaregivenaG7chord youaregivenaG7chordbutthereisaC#in butthereisaC#inthemelody, themelody,thisimpliesthata thisimpliesthataGlydiandomi Glydiandominant nant wouldbemoreappropriatethan wouldbemoreappropriatethanamixolydianmod amixolydianmodebecausethelydi ebecausethelydiandominantmo andominantmodeincludes deincludes theraisedfourth,C#. Whenlookingatmelodynotes,don’t Whenlooking Whenlookingatmelodynotes,don’tbe atmelodynotes,don’t atmelodynotes,don’tbeconfusedbychroma beconfusedbychromaticpassing confusedbychromaticpassing ticpassing notesthatdon’tneedtobeincludedintheharmony notesthatdon’tneedto beincludedintheharmony. . Thereareso Ther Therearesomerulesfordetermining earesomeru merulesfo lesfor rdetermining whetheramelodynoteshouldbeco whetheramelodynoteshouldbeconsideredwhe nsideredwhendetermining ndetermininganappropriate anappropriatescaleforimproviscaleforimprovisation,butessentiallyyou sation,butessentiallyyouneedtorelyo needtorelyonyoureartote nyoureartotellyouwhethe llyouwhetherthatnoteisacru rthatnoteisacrucialpartof cialpartof thesoundorwhetheritfunctionsasapassing thesoundorwhetheritfunctionsasapassingtonewhichsupp tonewhichsupportsatruechordtone. ortsatruechordtone. 4) Ifachordsustainsforalen Ifa Ifac cho hord rds sus ustainsforalengthoftimeyo gthoftimeyoumaywantt umaywanttoconsideru oconsiderusingmoreth singmorethanonescaleo anonescaleorr mode,perhapsbeginnin mode,perhapsbeginningwiththemostconson gwiththemostconsonantoneandcha antoneandchangingtoprogre ngingtoprogressivelymore ssivelymore dissonan dissonantone dissonantonesasyougo. tonesasy sasyougo ougo. . Youcandothesamethingevenifthechorddoe oucandothesamethingevenifthechorddoesn’tsustainbutinsn’tsustainbutinsteadreappearsfrequently.. steadreappearsfrequently . Eachti Eac Eachtimethechordappears htime methechordappearsyoucould youcouldusea useadifferentscale. differen differentscale tscale. . Likely Likely candidatesforthistreatmentaremino candidatesforthistreatmentareminor(especiallyinmod r(especiallyinmodaltunes)anddomin altunes)anddominantchords. antchords. 5) Whentryingtodeterm When Whent try ryin ing gtodeterminewhichm inewhichmodeofafa odeofafamilytoapp milytoapply ly,youmayw ,youmaywanttofirstt anttofirsttrytheoneth rytheonethat at hasakeysignaturethatisclosesttothekeyof hasakeysignaturethatis closesttothekeyofthepiece. thepiece thepiece. . Theonetha Theo Theonethathastheclosestkeysignanethathasth thasthe eclosestkeysigna-
turewillhavethemostcommontoneswiththe turewillhavethemostcom montoneswiththeoriginalkeyandisoftenasafe originalkeyandisoftenasafebet. bet. 6) 6) Or,youmaywanttodo Or,y ,you maywanttodotheopposite theoppositeassuggeste assuggestedin5)andlookf din5)andlookforopportu oropportunitiestohavem nitiestohavemore ore contrastingnoteseitherwiththeorigin contrastingnoteseitherwiththeoriginalkeyorwithadjacen alkeyorwithadjacentmodes. tmodes. 7) Evenifyouarenotagoodpia Even Eveni if fyo you uar arenotagoodpianist,someti nist,sometimesfindin mesfindingthebestmod gthebestmodechoicereq echoicerequiresgoingt uiresgoingtoa oa keyboard,findingthe keyboard,findingthechordsforyo chordsforyourlefthand, urlefthand,andnoodlin andnoodlingoverthech goverthechordswithyo ordswithyourright urright handuntilyoufindsome handuntilyoufindsomenotesthatsee notesthatseemtoworkand mtoworkandthentryingtoa thentryingtoanalyzewha nalyzewhatmodeitisthat tmodeitisthat youareusing. Thiswillapplyespeciallywh Thiswillapplyespeciallywhentryingtofin entryingtofindthebestmo dthebestmodestoapplyo destoapplyoveraprogre veraprogressionof ssionof chords. Thisisbecauseeventhough Thisisbecauseeventhoughone Thisisbecauseeventhoughonemodemayseemto one modemayseemtobeusableoveracertainchord,in beusableoveracertainchord,in thecontextoftheotherchordsanoth thecontextoftheotherchordsanothermodemaymake ermodemaymakemoresense. moresense.
Ch Cha hap apt ptteer er Ei Eiig gh ght htt::
Pr Pra rac act cti tic iccee S Sug Su ug gg ge ges est sttiiio on ons ns
WritingOutScales:
Whenyouarestartingoutasanimprovisoryouwilloftenhavetoplayasolousingscalesthatyou arenotcomfortab arenotcomfortablewithye arenotcomfortablewithyet. lewithyet. t. Thesolutiontothisistowriteoutthescalenearthe Thesolutiontoth Thesolutiontothisisto isistowriteoutthescalenearthechordsymbolor chordsymbolor onaseparatepieceofmanuscript. onaseparatepiece ofmanuscript. ofmanuscript. Ifyouaresomewhatbutnotentirelycomfortablewiththe Ifyouaresomewha Ifyouaresomewhat tbutnotentirelycomfortablewiththescales scales inapiece,onlywriteoutthenotesforthe inapiece,onlywrite outthenotesforthescalesthatyouarenot scalesthatyouarenotcomfortablewith. comfortablewi comfortablewith. th. Don’trelythe Don’trelythe Don’trelythe writtenscaleswhenyoudon’tneedto. Ifyouarefamiliarwithascalethatissimilartotheonethatyouwanttouse,writeonlythenotes thatyouarelessfamiliarwith. thatyouarelessfamiliarwit lessfamiliarwith. h. Agood Agoodexamplearethe examplearethelydianandlydian lydianandlydiandominantmodes. domina dominantmo ntmodes des. . You maybecomfortablewiththemajorandmixolydianscalesandthesescalesdifferfromthelydianand lydiandominantmodesbyone lydiandominantmodes byonenote;theraised note;theraisedfourthdegree. fourth fourthdegr degree. ee. Inthiscaseyoucan Inthisca Inthiscase seyoucanwritedownjust writedownjust theraisedfourthdegreetoremindyouwhichnoteisdifferentfromthemajorandmixolydianmodes.
WhenLearningaNewTypeofChordorScale:
1) 1) Learntoplaythe Learn to playthechord/scal chord/scaleinone einonekeyfirst. keyfirst. keyfirst. Arpeggiat Arpeg Arpeggiatechords giatechordsandplay andplaythescale thescalesoverthe soverthefull full rangeofyourinstrument(fullrangemaynotbenecessaryforpiano). 2) 2) Getfamiliarwit Get familiarwiththed hthedistanceb istancebetween etweeneachno eachnoteinth teinthesequen esequence. ce. Forexample,a Forexa Forexample,aminors minorseventh eventh chordhasaminor chordhasaminorthird,majorthird,minor third,majorthird,minorthird,majorsecond. third,majorsecond. third,majorsecond. Thedorian Thedorianmodegoes modegoes modegoes WhW WhW WWhW. Trytodothiswithoutmusicasyouaretryingtodevelopyourmusclememory,yourmental conceptandyourinnerear. conceptandyourinnerear . Thiswillhelpyou Thiswi Thiswillhelpyouwiththenextstep. llhelpyouwith withthenextstep. 3) 3) Learnthe Learnthecho chordan rdandsca dscalein leinall1 all12key 2keys. s. Startwithscalechartsifyouprefer,butworktowardsdoingthis Startwithscalechartsifyouprefer ,butworktowardsdoingthiswithoutwrittenmusic. withoutwrit withoutwrittenmusi tenmusic. c. Youcan Youcan usewrittenchordprogressionsorevenjusthandwrittenstartingnotesasbelow. Usecommon Usecommonsequentialpatternstogothrough sequentialpatternstogothroughallkeys. allkeys. Forexample, Forexample, A Assc sce cen end ndi din ing ng ch chr hro rom oma mat ati tic ica cal alllly ly A Assc sce cen end ndi din ing ng b by yw wh ho hol ole le sstte tep eps ps T Th h hrro rou ou ug gh gh tth he he cy cy yc cl cle le of of fi f if ift f th ths hs De Des esc sce cen en nd di din ing ng ch chr hro rom om ma at attiic ica cal alllly ly De Des esc sce cen en nd di din ing ng b by yw wh ho hol ole le sstte tep eps ps By By mi min in no or or tth hi hir ird rds ds By By ma maj a jo jor or tth hi hir ird rd dss
C C C C C C C
C# C# D F B Bb Bb Eb Eb E
D E Bb Bb Bb Bb Ab Ab F# F# Ab Ab
Eb Eb F# F# Eb Eb A F# F# A Db Db
E Ab Ab Ab Ab Ab Ab E Db Db F
F Bb Bb Db Db G D E A
F# F# C# C# F# F# F# F# B G D
G Eb Eb B F A Bb Bb F# F#
Ab Ab F E E G D Bb Bb
A G A Eb Eb F F Eb Eb
Bb Bb A D D Eb Eb Ab Ab G
B B G Db Db Db Db B B
Atfirstyoumaywanttofocusonkeysthatyouarealreadyusinginyourcurrentbandbecause thosekeyswillhavethemostimmediateapplicability. thosekeyswillhavethe mostimmediate mostimmediateapplicab applicability. ility. Keepworkinginallkeysthoughbecause Keepworkingin Keepworkinginall allkeysthoughbecause
manypiecesmodulate manypiecesmodulatethroughava throughavarietyofkeys rietyofkeysoryoumayfin oryoumayfindthatyouha dthatyouhavetoplayafam vetoplayafamiliar iliar tuneinanunfamiliarkeyto tuneinanunfamiliarkeytoaccommo accommodateasinger dateasingerorabeginner orabeginner.. 4) 4) Exploretherel Explore therelationship ationshipbetween betweenvarious variouspitches pitchesofthe ofthescale. scale. scale. Particula Parti Particularlyimp cularlyimportantis ortantisthe the relationshipbetweeneachnoteandtherootofthescale. relationshipbetweeneachnoteandtherootof thescale. Forexample,thedorianmod Forexample,thedorianmodehas Forexample,thedorianmodehasa ehas a M2,m3P4,P5,m6andm7relativetotheroot. M2,m3P4,P5,m6andm7relativetotheroot. Playingthescaleinthirdsordoingother intervalicexerciseswillhelpwiththis. Thereasonforthisstepisthaty Thereasonforthisstepisthatyoudonotwa oudonotwanttoalwayssta nttoalwaysstartyoursoloon rtyoursoloontherootofthesc therootofthescale ale andyoudo andyoudonotwanttoalways notwanttoalwaysmovebystepsthroughthe movebystepsthroughthescale. scale. scale. Gettingfa Gett Gettingfamiliarwithallthe ingfamilia miliarwitha rwithallthe llthe intervalsinvolvedinthescalewillhelpfreeyo intervalsinvolvedinthescalewillhelpfreeyoufromtheselimitation ufromtheselimitationsandwillhelpwiththe sandwillhelpwiththe nextstep. 5) Findorcreateyourownm Find Findo or rcr crea eateyourownmelodicpat elodicpatternsthatuse ternsthatusethescaleand thescaleandsoundgood soundgoodoverthecho overthechord. rd. Practicetransposingthepatterntoall12keysusingthesequentialpatternsinstep3). Practicetransposingthepatterntoall12keys usingthesequentialpatternsinstep3). usingthesequentialpatternsinstep3). This accomplishesanumberofimportantthings: a) a) Helpstoreinfo Helps toreinforcethe rcethemental mentalconcept conceptofthe ofthenotesa notesavailable vailableineach ineachmode. mode. b) Ifthepatternclearlys Ift Ifthe he patt patteernclearlysupportsthe upportsthesoundqua soundqualityofthech lityofthechordandofth ordandofthemodebye emodebyemphasizi mphasizing ng chordtonesandcharacteristic chordtonesandcharacteristicscalenotesitwillhelpdevelo scalenotesitwillhelpdevelopyourinnerear’sco pyourinnerear’sconceptofthe nceptofthe qualitiesofthesoundofthechordandscale. c) Ifyouuseavarietyofp Ify Ifyou ouu use sea a varietyofpatternsitw atternsitwillfurtherh illfurtherhelptofreey elptofreeyoutochoos outochoosenotesothe enotesotherthanthe rthanthe rootasastartingnoteandtochooseintervals rootasastartingnoteand tochooseintervalsotherthanstepwise otherthanstepwisemotion. motion. d) d) Thepatternsthemse Thep epatte tternsthemselvesmaygi lvesmaygiveyousom veyousomethingto“f ethingto“fallbackon” allbackon”whenyoue whenyouencountert ncounterthe he chordin chordinactualimprovisationsituations. actualimprovisationsituations. actualimprovisationsituations. The“fallingback The“fallingbackon”may on”mayhappensubconsciously happensubconsciously andflownaturallyoutofyo andflownaturallyoutofyouplayingan uplayingandmaynotne dmaynotnecessarilybe cessarilybeabadthing. abadthing. JerryCoker’sbook“PatternsforJaz JerryCoker’sbook“PatternsforJazz”isbasedonthisappro z”isbasedonthisapproachandinclud achandincludessomegoodpatessomegoodpatternstouse. Anothersourceistotranscribeapatternfrom Anothersourc Anothersourceistotranscribeapatternfromasolo,ortouse eistotranscribeapatternfrom asolo,ortouseanysolotranscripanysolotranscriptionandlookforinterestingpatternstoisolateandlearn. Youcanalsodevelopy Youcanalsodevelopyourownpatte ourownpatternstouse,bu rnstouse,butthedifficulty tthedifficultywillbethefactthat willbethefactthatyouarestill youarestill learningthisnewscalean learningthisnewscaleandyoumayha dyoumayhavesomedif vesomedifficultycreatin ficultycreatingsomethin gsomethingthatuseseno gthatusesenough ugh essentialcharacteristicsofthatscale essentialcharacteristicsofthatscalesothatthepatternwillhelpdev sothatthepatternwillhelpdevelopyourinnerea elopyourinnerear’sconr’sconceptofthesoundofthesca ceptofthesoundofthescaleandchor leandchord. d. Ontheotherhand,onerecomme Ontheotherhand,onerecommendedmethod ndedmethodfordeveloping fordevelopingyourimprovisa yourimprovisationalabilityisto tionalabilityisto regularlywritedownintere regularlywritedowninterestingideasth stingideasthatyoucome atyoucomeacross(you across(yourownorsome rownorsomeoneelse’sid oneelse’sidea)so ea)so thatyoucanbuildaownrepertoireofpattern thatyoucanbuildaownrepertoireofpatterns. thatyoucanbuildaownrepertoireofpatterns. s. Y Youthenneedtobeabletotaketheseideasand outhenneedtobeabletotaketheseideasand beabletousetheminallkeys,justlikethepracticepattern beabletousetheminallkeys, justlikethepracticepatternsabove. sabove. 6) Chordsrarelyexistiniso Chor Chords dsr rar arelyexistinisolation,sode lation,sodeterminesom terminesomelikelycho elikelychordsandscal rdsandscalestopreced estoprecedeand/or eand/or followthescalethatyouareworkingon,an followthescalethatyo uareworkingon,andthenfindordevelo dthenfindordeveloppatternstouseoverthe ppatternstouseovertheentire entire progression. progression. Forexample,tothemixolyd Forexample,tothemixolydianmode Forexample,tothemixolydianmodeyoucanaddthe ianmode youcanaddthemajorscale(aV majorscale(aV–Iprogres–Iprogression)orprecedeitwiththedo sion)orprecedeitwiththedorianmode(II rianmode(II–V)orboth(II–V– –V)orboth(II–V–I). I). 7) Ifyouhaveacomputer Ify Ifyou ouh hav ave ea acomputer,soundcard ,soundcard,speakersa ,speakersandsequenc ndsequencingsoftwa ingsoftwareoraccom reoraccompanimen panimentsofttsoftwarelikeBandinaBox,yo warelikeBandinaBox,youcancreate ucancreateordownload ordownloadvampsusin vampsusingprogressio gprogressionstopractice nstopracticewith. with.
CreateII–V,V–IandII–V–Ivamps, CreateII–V,V–IandII–V–Ivamps,firstinmajorandlaterinminor,andtr firstinmajorandlaterinminor,andtransposethemto ansposethemto allkeys. Or,gettogetherwithsomemusicianfriendsandtrythesamething. AnotheralternativeisthefirstfewplayalongissuesfromJameyAebersold. Anotheralternativeisthefirstfewplayalong issuesfromJam issuesfromJameyAeber eyAebersold. sold. Aebersoldhasan Aebersoldhas Aebersoldhasan an entireseriesofplayalongswithmusicinC,Bb,Ebandbassclefwithprofessionalmusicians doingaccompanime doingaccompaniments. doingaccompaniments. nts. Thefirstissuesaregoodfordevelopingthe Thefirstissuesare Thefirstissuesare goodfordevelopingthebasics,whilethebulk basics,whilethebulkofthe ofthe seriesisfordevelopingyourrepertoireandexpandingtherangeofyourplayingexperience.
ModeShifting:
Onceyou’vestartedtogainsomefamiliaritywithafewscales,youmaywanttotrymodeshiftingto getfamiliarwiththedifferencesbetweenmodes. Forexample,s Forexample,startby Forexample,startbyplayingaC7chord. tartbyplaying playingaC7chor aC7chord. d. Useametronometomakesureyouarekeepinggood Useametronom Useametronometomakes etomakesureyou ureyouare arekeepinggood time. time. ThenruntheC Thenrun ThenruntheCmixolydianmode. mixolydianmode. mixolydianmode. ThentrytheC ThentrytheClydiandominant. lydiandominant. lydiandominant. ThentheC ThentheCsuperlocrian, superlocrian, half-wholedim half-wholediminishe half-wholediminishedandwholetonescales. inishedandwhole dandwholetonescale tonescales. s. Trymixingtheorderbygoing Trymixing Trymixingtheorderbygoingmixolydian, mixolydian, superlocrian superlocrian,whole superlocrian,wholetone,oranyotherseries. ,wholetone,orany tone,oranyotherser otherseries. ies. Themostlogicalsequencestotryareby Themostlogicals Themostlogicalsequence equencesto stotryarebygoingfrom goingfrom lessdissonanttomoredissonantbutyoucanalsogothe lessdissonanttomoredissonantbutyou canalsogothereversedirection. reversedirecti reversedirection. on. Alsotryplayingeach Alsotryplayin Alsotryplayingeach geach modeinthirdsorfourths,ornoodlingwiththenbeforegoingtothenext modeinthirdsorfourths,ornoodlingwith thenbeforegoingtothenextscale. scale. scale. Trythesamething Trythe Trythe samething withthemajor,minorandhalf-diminishedfamiliesofscales. Whatyouaredevelopinghereisanunderstandingofhowthedifferentmodesrelateandcompareto eachother,whatnotesareincommon,whatisdifferent,andhowthequalityofthesoundchanges witheachdiffer witheachdifferentmode. witheachdifferentmode. entmode. Thiswillhelpyoutofindthenotesoflessfrequentlyused Thiswillhelpyou Thiswillhelpyouto tofindthenotesoflessfrequentlyusedmodeswhen modeswhen youneedthemandwillalsohelpyoutoknowwhereyouareheadingwhenyouwanttotrysubstitutingscales.
Transcribing:
Thisprocedureisimportantforlearningallaspectsof Thisprocedureisimportantfor learningallaspectsoftheartof theartofimprovisation,notjustscales. improvisatio improvisation,notjustsca n,notjustscales. les. The objectivehereistolearnwhatamasterimproviserhasdonewhileatthesametimedevelopingyour ownear-to-inst ownear-to-instrument ownear-to-instrumentconnection. rumentconnection connection. . Theear-to-instrumentconnectionhelpsyouto Theear-to-inst Theear-to-instrument rumentconnectionhelp connectionhelps syoutounderstandwhat understandwhat isgoingonaroundyouaswellastohelpyougetthethingsthatyouhearinyourheadoutthrough yourinstrument. Transcribesolosyourself. Transcribesolosyourself. yourself. Playing/analy Playing Playing/analyzingother /analyzin zingotherpeople’stranscriptionshas people’stranscriptionshasbenefitsbutdoes benefitsbutdoesnot not helpyoutointernalizethesoloortodeveloptheear-to-instrumentconnectionaswellastheprocess oftranscribingdoes. Sometipsandsuggestionsfortranscribing; a) a) Startwithless Start withlesscomplex complexsolosby solosbymusicians musicianswhopla whoplaythes ythesameinst ameinstrumenta rumentasyoud syoudo. o. Orstart Orst Orstart art byjusttranscribingheadstosongsthatyoudon’tknow byjusttranscribingheadstosongsthat youdon’tknow. . Headswillhave Heads Headswillhavefewernotes,simwillhavefewernot fewernotes,sim es,sim--
plerrhythmsan plerrhythmsandwill plerrhythmsandwillthereforebeeasiertotranscribe. dwilltherefo thereforebeeas rebeeasiertotr iertotranscri anscribe. be. Workyourwayuptomore Workyourwayuptomorecompliorkyourwayuptomorecomplicatedsolosandonesperformedonotherinstruments. b) b) Writeitdow Write itdownasy nasyougo. ougo. Thiswillhelp Thiswil Thiswillhelpyouto youtogoback gobackanddo anddoanalysis analysislater later.. c) Ifitgetsdifficul Ifit fitg get etss difficulttopindo ttopindown,findt wn,findthepitche hepitchesfirstand sfirstandthengob thengobackand ackandfindther findtherhythm. hythm. Writedownthenoteheadsandaddthestemsandbarlinesafterwards. d) Theeasiestwaytodot The easi easieestwaytodotheactualtr heactualtranscribing anscribingthesedays thesedaysistoconver istoconvertanaudiofi tanaudiofilefromyou lefromyourr CDintoastandardcomputersoundfile(.WAVforWindows)andthenuseasoundediting programsuchasCoolEditorGoldwavetoisolatesmallportionsofthesolosoyoucanlisten tothatportion tothatportionoverando tothatportionoverandoveragain. overandoveragai veragain. n. Ifthesoloisatafasttempoyoucanevenalterthesound Ifthesoloisat Ifthesoloisatafastte afasttempoyouc mpoyoucanevenal anevenalterthes terthesound ound filetoaslowertempowithoutchangingthepitchtomaketranscribingeasier. W Workingwithsmallfragmentsofasolomakesfindingpitcheseasierbutit orkingwithsmallfragmentsofasolomakesfindingpitcheseasierbutitalsomakes orkingwithsmallfragmentsofasolomakesfindingpitcheseasierbutit alsoma alsomakes kes defindefiningtherhythmmoredifficult,soyoumayhavetogetthepitchesfirstandgobackforthe rhythmasinc).
FinalThoughts:
Thisisobviouslynotacompletediscourseonjazztheoryorimprovisationasithasonlytouchedon thesubjectofharmonyandhasnotdiscussedrhythmormelody thesubjectofharmonyand hasnotdiscussedrhythmormelodyatall. atall. Thisisnotbecaus Thisis Thisisnotbecausethese notbecausethese ethese otherelementsarelessimportantbutbecausethisdiscoursewasspecificallyfocussedonscalesand modes. Infact,betweenrhythm,melodyandharmony,harmonyistheleastimportantelementofjazzimprovisation. provis provisation. ation. Itisentirelypossibletocreateavalidimprovisationwithcreativerhythmand Itisentirelypos Itisentirelypossibleto sibletocreate createavalidimprovisationwithcreativerhythmandmelody melody overstaticharmonyorwithoutpayingattentiontocorrectharmonyatall. overstaticharmonyorwithoutpaying attentiontocorr attentiontocorrectharmo ectharmonyatall. nyatall. Scales,anextensionof Scales,anextens Scales,anextensionof ionof harmony(scalescanbeviewedaschordtonesplusextensionsorchordstoneswithpassingtones), areevenlessimportantbutareoftenthefirstthingthatbeginningimprovisersfocuson. areevenlessimportantbutare oftenthefirst oftenthefirstthingthatbe thingthatbeginnin ginningimprovi gimprovisersfo sersfocuson. cuson. Partlythis Partlythis isbecauseifyouplayasolothatislimitedrhythmicallyandmelodicallybutyouuseallthe“right” notesitmaysoundboringbutatleastit notesitmaysoundbo ringbutatleastitdoesn’tsoundwrong. notesitmaysoundboringbutatleastitdoesn’tsoundwrong. doesn’tsoundwrong. Ifyouchangetotherightchordsat Ifyouchangetotherightchordsat Ifyouchangeto therightchordsat therighttimeatleastyousoundlikeyouknowwhereyouarewhereasifyoufocusonplaying interestinglinesbutdon’tmakethechangesyoumaysoundasifyouarelost. Also,themelodiccontourofanimprovisationislessrestrictedthanisrhythmandharmony,anditis easiertomakeuprhythmsthatfit(ie.intimeandwiththecorrectfeel)thanitistofindpitchesthat fit,sothereisatendencytostartwithandtofocusonharmonyandscaleswiththeassumptionthat rhythmicandmelodicdevelopmentwillcomelater rhythmicandmelodicdevelopment willcomelater. . Butw Bu Butwhywait? twhy hy wait? Spendsometime Spendsome Spendsometimeplayingby timeplayingby yourselfwithoutharmonicconsiderationsoroversinglelong yourselfwithoutharmonicconsiderationsor oversinglelongsustainedchords. sustainedchord sustainedchords. s. Ifyouconcern Ifyouconcern yourselftoomuchwithscalesyouwon’tpayenoughattentiontowhatyouandthemusiciansaround youaredoing,andyouwillhaveatendencytoplaytoomanynotes,tonotvaryyourrhythmsandto notleaveenoughspa notleaveenoughspace. notleaveenoughspace. ce. Gettingscalesunderyourfingerswillhelpyoutomake Gettingscales Gettingscalesunderyour underyourfingers fingerswillhelp willhelp youtomakethechanges,but thechanges,but developingagoodrhythmicandespeciallymelodicsensewillhelpyoutogivemeaningtothenotes thatyouareplaying.
Notation/Names:
Jazzhasamultitudeofnotationalandnamingconventionsforexactlythesamething. Jazzhasamultitudeofnotationalandnaming conventionsfor conventionsforexactlyth exactlythesamethin esamething. g. Forthe Forthe musicalelementsinthelefthandcolumnthisdiscourseusesthenamingconventioninthemiddle column. column. Commonalternativesareinthe Commonalternati Commonalternativesare vesareintherighthandcolumn. righthandcolumn.
Majorchord Minorchord Diminishedchord Halfdiminishedchord th
Dominant7 chordwith th th raised9 and5 Raiseddegree Raiseddegree Lowereddegree Lowereddegree Superlocrianmode Half-Wholediminished
Us Usse ed ed
O Ottth he her er n no o otta tat attiio io on n nss/ s /n / na na am m me es es
Maj m o 7#9#5
M, ∆ m miin in, n, Mi Min in D Diim im m7b5 Alt
# b ssu u up pe per erl rlo loc ocr cri ria ian an half-w half-who hole ledim dimin inish ished ed
+ aallt lte ter ere red ed, d, d diim imi min ini nis ish sh he ed ed w wh ho hol ole le tto on one ne 8 8no no note tedom domina inant nt
∅
References:(Incomplete) “Harmony”Piston,Walter “PatternsforJazz”,Coker,Jerryetal Aebersoldseries CoolEdit Goldwave “AJazzImprovisationPrimer”,Sabatella,Marc