working it into your ears

[halfwhole]

hi,

 

i've realized that one of my problems with improvising is that the ideas in my head aren't clear/loud enough to translate into fluent playing. here's an interesting exercise that i've been using to try and fix that.

 

basically, take a tune with lots of chord changes. i've been dicking around with easy stuff like summertime, autumn leaves and blue bossa.

 

start with just the 3rds and 7ths, no go through a few choruses only playing these notes on the 1st and third beats. these are the strong beats for the harmony and if you analyze any jazz lines, the likelyhood of 3rds and 7ths on these beats is very very high, whatever the player's style may be.

 

once you can do that, try improvising a melody with only the 3rds, 7ths and parts of hte tune's melody. remember to stress the 1st and 3rd beats.

 

now, do it again, but add approach notes to each chord tone. for example, on a D-, you'd play E to F and B to C. do that with the whole tune. the goal is to hear th eguide melody of 3rds and 7ths.

 

now approahc the chord tones from above. then try approaching with two notes, first from above, then below. always finish with the chord tones on the 1st and 3rd beats.

 

it's a cool way to practice that gets rid of this scale/chord bull{censored} that plagues my playing. notice how it also helps you hear the resolutions on the important beats.

 

i've been doing this for about a week and noticed that it really helps. try it! and never forget about the melody of the tune!

 

thoughts? advice?

[halfwhole]

i also wanted to add that this method has changed the way i listen to solos! i've started to hear the inner guide melodies during long lines.

you can also do my method with the root and 5th to work all the chord tones in your ears, but i would start with the 3rd and 7th

[heavy D]

You're on the right track. 3rds and 7ths are generally what we might call the "guide tones" They steer the harmony, and explain the movement/function of the chord. As far as the "beats 1 and 3" thing, I wouldn't worry so much about that. It's true that in a lot of bebop that happens, but it's not something I would recommend focusing on.

Now, as far as 3rds and 7ths go, let's take an actual tune, you mentioned Autumn Leaves. Here's the first 4 chords:

Cmin7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | Ebmaj7 |

The first thing I want to point out here is how these chords move. The all move/resolve up a 4th. C to F is a 4th, F to Bb a 4th, and Bb to Eb a 4th. Why is this important? Because of the way 3rds and 7ths work in this context. Let's start with Cmin7, the 7th of which is Bb. Now let's look at the next chord, F7, and it's 3rd, which is A. Bb is a half step away from A. A half step movement is the strongest resolution we have. So the main thing I'm trying to show you here is that when chords move in 4ths, the 7th of one will lead to the 3rd of the next.

Basically when you're working with harmony like this the important thing is to learn (and hear) how the chords resolve to each other. You can take each note in a chord and see how it can resolve to a note in the next chord. Paying attention to the 3rds and 7ths is great, but here's a very basic exercise I'd recommend- it's simply running a 4 note arpeggio for each chord (in 1/4 notes). So you'd have:

1)------------------------------------------5--etc...
2)--------------------------------------6
3)---------------------5--8--------7
4)------5--8------7------------8
5)---6---------8
6)8

Don't sorry about the fingerings, you can use whatever's natural to you. But you should run these in multiple octaves and positions, and really grind this sound into your ears. You'll notice that each arpeggio ends on it's 7th, which is good for your ear as well. But don't forget about the other tones, and try and here how they move to the next chord. After you get this down, start going up one, then after the 7th come down starting with the 3rd:

1)
2)
3)
4)------5--8--7-----------------------6--5
5)---6------------8--6---------5--8----------6--5
6)8----------------------8--6------------------------6--5....

Again, this is to get the sound into your ears, and also get some stuff under your fingers. Also, if you look I made that one note red, the reason being it's a dominant 7th over the Bbmaj7 chord. When you're running these exercises you can choose either, I decided to throw it in there to illustrate the fact that you can use whatever tension you want, so long as it resolves strong enough.

Anyway, after this the next step is to make lines with this stuff. I recommend trying to do this as soon as you can, but you should also keep up with the exercise part of this as well. Go back and forth. As you said earlier, leading tones are important. Look at ways to go from that 7th to 3rd movement with chromatic leading tones. Build up a book of licks and ideas that you like, and try and transcribe things off records, figure out how they work, and add them to your book. IMO listening is just as important here as playing is.

After this, start investigating some of the other movements. For example, what if we made that: Cmin7 | F7b9 | Bbmaj7? How does altering the V7 lead to a stronger resolution? How about Cmin9 | F7b9b13 | Bbmaj9? Etc. This is where the fun starts...

[jonPhillips]

Now, as far as 3rds and 7ths go, let's take an actual tune, you mentioned Autumn Leaves... The first thing I want to point out here is how these chords move... ...This is where the fun starts...

 

 

What a great post. You could pay decent money to a guitar teacher and not get as much useful information in 30 minutes as is outlined here... Thanks for posting.

[halfwhole]

nice won heavyD!

thanks

 

let me explain the beats 1 and 3 thing a bit more, it lets you internalize a little guide melody that is generally very singable. then you add the approach notes while still keeping that same guide melody. then you add two approach notes, then three. once you hit 3 approach notes, you have a steady stream of 8ths that still has the inner guide melody.

 

i was doing this earlier and really surprised myself because it sounded like someone decent was playing my guitar!

[Stackabones]

Try singing your lines.