T RANE P HRASING ON C OLTRANE

CHANGES

This is the basic, and well known, Coltrane Changes progression in C

As you can see, it is based on Maj7 and 7 chords around three keys (C, Ab and E)
placed each at a major third distance from the other two.

Trane uses this progression in several tunes. Id like to focus the analysis on two
of them: Giant Steps and Countdown.

The Giant Steps version of this progression is based on a three bars pattern (here
transposed in C).

The Countdown version is similar to the basic one. Countdown is based on

Tune Up and these changes are used as a substitution for a II - V - I progression,
therefore they begin with the IIm7 chord. This is usually considered as the standard
Coltrane changes substitution for II - V - I.

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 In these progressions we can find three kind of chord motion:

1) IMaj7 - V7 a minor third up like Cmaj7 - Eb7

2) V7 - IMaj7 a perfect fifht down (the normal dominat/tonic motion)

like Eb7 - AbMaj7

3) IIm7 - V7 a minor second up like Dm7 - Eb7

These motions start always on the same bar movement:

1) and 3) on the first movement. 2) on the third movement.

Now well take the patterns which are played by Trane on these chords in his
solos on Giant Steps and Countdown. First well look at the single changes and
after at the combination of them. The patterns are all transposed in CMaj7, C7 and
Dmin7.

P AT T E R N S ON THE I MAJ7 CHORD

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PATTERNS ON THE V7 CHORD

PATTERNS ON THE IIMIN7 CHORD

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COMBINATIONS OF IMAJ7 AND V7 CHORDS (CMAJ7 - Eb7)

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COMBINATIONS OF V7 AND IMAJ7CHORD (Eb7 - AbMaj7)

The combinations illustrated here are those actually used by Trane in his Giant
Steps and Countdown solos (the historical recorded versions).

We can use these combinations or take the original single patterns and try to
combine them in different ways.
 Combining in various ways these patterns we can now try to build original
phrases on the Coltrane Changes progression.

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