Chord-based soloing redux

[Virgman]

I made this up using typical 7th chords in 2-5-1 progressions to show how you can relate chord shapes to scale notes. You learn a few of these and you can improvise over just about any jazz tune.

 

When you learn a tune you need to know the underlying chord and where you are in the tune as the chords pass. Learning to combine the chord shape and underlying tones helps to pull this together. Obviously, the arpeggios are also there too.

 

You would add your passing tones as you see fit. They are not included here.

 

Joe Pass advised to practice this way in one of his videos. A way to practice is to play the chord, then play the underlying scale. Go up and down the fretboard chromatically with each chord.

 

Take a look.

[JonR]

Query/correction: your E7 line (following Bm7b5 going to Am) is using E mixolydian (A major) scale. Surely that should be A harmonic minor, or melodic minor, if not some jazz altered scale?

The Am7 is using A dorian, which is OK (for an Am7) - but a tonic minor chord is likely to have a maj7, ie melodic minor scale.

[joenovice]

Traditionally and strictly speaking about diatonics, you're right that in the key of Amin the dom E7 would be addressed with A Melodic Minor or A Harmonic Minor.

I think in jazz language though this is totally cool as written in the OP's example. There are ways to address it with theory like mode mixture..... more importantly, it works for the ear so long as the resolution back to Amin happens on the chord change. You can actually use that C# to push the resolution into C fairly well. It can also have a pseudo-sense of key change to G (A dorian) .... especially if you build a line that hints at the D7 going to Bmin7(b5) which can sub for G9.

Side Note: On rare occasions I've heard people force the maj3 over a minor tonic with some success. It really just depends on the strength of the melodic line and context.

[JonR]

 

Traditionally and strictly speaking about diatonics, you're right that in the key of Amin the dom E7 would be addressed with A Melodic Minor or A Harmonic Minor. I think in jazz language though this is totally cool as written in the OP's example.

Not in conventional jazz language, and - in any case - not in a beginner level demo like this. (It just looks like a mistake to me.)

 

For beginners, A harmonic minor is probably the first choice. Following that (going with jazz convention) would come:

 

E altered (F melodic minor);

E HW dim;

A melodic minor.

 

Then possibly E wholetone.

 

I'm sure you're right A major can be made to work, but it's not right for this context, IMO. It's misleading. (E HW dim does also contain the C#, but as part of the general chromaticism of that scale.)

[joenovice]

Well... you know what they say about opinions....

Personally, I'd put E altered at the end of the list. So many students are told "play F M.M. for that out sound" but, when they try it, they just sound like crap. It's the most involved application because it requires the most melodic preparation to make logical use of the tension in those lines. Definitely would not teach that one till they were most advanced and sensitive to tension.

Using E mixolydian for chord-scale relationships might be the easiest thing for a true beginner to understand..... unless your beginner already knows about altered chords and harmonic minor scales.

For real beginners learning the chord relationship thing, I usually just start with arpeggios and limitations to just those notes for teaching chord-based soloing.

[JonR]

 

For real beginners learning the chord relationship thing, I usually just start with arpeggios and limitations to just those notes for teaching chord-based soloing.

Again, I agree.

When it comes to full scales, the easiest option is to fill in the remaining notes of the key scale. That results in mixolydian for major key V chords, and harmonic minor for minor key V chords. It gets no easier than that.

[Virgman]

Hey guys,

 

Sorry I wasn't able to respond in a timely fashion, my phone has been out for a week!

 

Indeed, I realized the Dominant chord should be an altered chord in the example, i.e. E7+, but was unable to fix it. My phone line went dead soon after I posted the thread.

 

However the sample licks sound fine to me so I'm going to leave it as is. I was going to change it but had second thoughts as the lick sounds good to me.

 

Good catch!

 

Personally I don't think all that harmonic minor/melodic minor scale stuff. I just look at the use of the #5 as a out tone. If you want to use it you use it. I think major scale and go from there.

 

But what do I know? I never went to music school. I grew up in a log cabin on the banks of the Mississippi, walked 12 miles each way to a one room schoolhouse in blizzards with a hot baked potato in my pocket. At night I did my ciphering by candlelight on the back of a flat shovel with a piece of chalk. Daddy worked in the mines. Momma spun yarn from wool from our sheep.

[JonR]

 

But what do I know? I never went to music school. I grew up in a log cabin on the banks of the Mississippi, walked 12 miles each way to a one room schoolhouse in blizzards with a hot baked potato in my pocket. At night I did my ciphering by candlelight on the back of a flat shovel with a piece of chalk. Daddy worked in the mines. Momma spun yarn from wool from our sheep.

LOL.

Did she then weave your guitar strings from their intestines?

[Virgman]

It should? Why? The lick is pure mixolydian, plain E7 is fine. The problem (or rather the argument) is that it's in the key of A minor (preceded by Bm7b5, followed by Am7). Therefore the scale should - IMO - reflect that. It needs to have a C natural, not a C#. Whether you use F natural or F# is more optional (ie, harmonic or melodic minor). But plain E7 is still fine. If the E7 was altered, then the scale would definitely have to be different. Harmonic or melodic minor would still work, but so (if you wanted it) would more exotic stuff like E wholetone or E altered. Well, you know the rule: if it sounds good it IS good. But try A harmonic or melodic minor and see if it doesn't sound better . Maybe start with an Am chord, before the Bm7b5, to hear the minor key context better. And then listen to how those C#s in the licks sound. On an E7, it's a C (or at least enharmonic with C), which is "in" in A minor. If you play it as a #5 on the chord (E7+), then yes it adds a hint of dissonance. But it's still only really "out" if the key is A major. Which (in this case) it isn't. (Er, or unless you're using the A major scale over it, which you are. Then E7+ will definitely sound "out".) Even in a minor key? LOL. Did she then weave your guitar strings from their intestines?

 

Well, Jon, if I used the E7+ then I wouldn't have used the E Mixo scale. Wouldn't sound right. But all this complicated talk is making my head hurt.

 

Now, regarding my guitar strings, I worked sorting coal after school so I could buy them.

 

Here's a pic of me with my brothers at the mine. I'm the one way in back, kind of blurry...

 

[jeremy_green]

That's a nice family portrait Virg. Wise of the photographer to choose a shallow depth of field with your stunning good looks.