nee | ele JAZZ LESSONS FEATURING DETAILED INSTRUCTION, PLAYING EXAMPLES, TIPS, AND MORE ON A HUGE VARIETY OF JAZZ GUITAR TOPICS ae BY JOHN HEUSSENSTAMM ) PAUL SILBERGLEIT abut Dhoom eI = ¥ ¥ 7 . t = or S + ie eects tt iy} i Poe 44 ——— Finally, we put it together with an example of some more natural and varied comping, using elements of the previous exercises, EXAMPLE 4 +4 + =! | SS = a teed In the long run, listening to great players is what gives us a sense of how this is done (whether they play guitar, piano, or another chordal instrument), and listening to those we play with is important in tailoring our comp to the situation. But with some nice chord voicings, and a taste of basic jazz rhythms, we can get our comping underway. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE = 5TURNAROUND IMPROV Atypical turnaround in a chord progression often consists of IVI-i-V-l harmonic movement, which, for example, could mean 8:6-G7-Cm7-£7-B46 in the key of B (G7 being a common substitute for the Gm7 that occurs naturally in the Be major scale). We call ita turnaround because it so frequently functions to bring us to the top of the tune again, from the end of one chorus of a repeating song form. But this chord sequence is quite frequently found at the beginning or in the middle of a song— sometimes twice or more in a row—and we would do well as improviser to consider how to approach it. This is especially true when the changes last only two beats each ata bright tempo! Here's a basic outline of this sequence for a major-key version in jazz, played twice in a row with two beats per chord, with possible chord shapes. We'll stay very simple these first two measures, then vary ita bit for the next go-around with a different kind of major chord for | and 9ths on our VI7 and V7 chords, EXAMPLE 1 Bt lean. Dbmai? G9 cu? Fo Braj? =e & eg EE Lets first try improvising on this progression using only tones from the scale of the key: B: major. Here's a refresher on that scale, in the position welll use it: ‘And now here's an example of turnaround improv purely within the major scale. EXAMPLE 2 Bt L210 (0-13) bs GT cm m be a == = =i Notice that, even though we never leave the Bb major scale, you can hear a sense of moving away from the home chord and back again in the line as the changes progress, That's because this Idea was constructed in such a way as to reflect the sound of the basic Bt, Cm7, and F7 chords along the way, even if it kind of coasts through G7. 6 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINENext, we can be even more specific to the changes by using chord tones only for each, switching gears as necessary within the line. Before trying this, let's take stock of what these tones are, looking at arpeggios through the Sth for the whole progression, That i, well cll it maj, G7s9, Cms, and F719 for the sake of this exercise. be a eee 7 SS SS = ——= = ss 1 =r : = ; ‘ —— = Here's line that goes twice through the turnaround chords using only these chord tones for each ithough perhaps in a different octave than where we reviewed them). EXAMPLE 3 To up the ante and change our texture one more time, we'll now try playing through this progression with changing scales to reflect each new chord. Let’s say for now that welll keep the B> major scale for both our Bumaj7 and Cm7, and welll use an. altered (or super Locrian) scale for our altered F7 and G7 chords. Att See Fae e . ae FS beba tei = r — oe oo = ur final example shows a much more stepwise scalar line through the repeated tumaround, using almost exclusively the tones of these scales, changing according to which chord is at hand (our litte exceptions, for the sake of good melodic flow, are the second note in measure 2, the last note in measure 3, and the third and fourth notes in measure 4). EXAMPLE 4. Tec? ane com tbo Bhai? cut Fie Bhi? geeraeeerapeerettee ttre i epblee ees a Once familiar with some of the ways we can get through these chords in our linear improvisation, it may be more natural 10 mix our methods a bit, playing now more simply, and now more specifically, with a bit of space along the way between phrases. In any case, learning to work with this -VI-ii-V-I motion can be helpful for many situations. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE 7THE MAJOR II-V- The harmonic movement known as a ii-V-1 is one of the main building blocks of chord progressions found in jazz, as well as. any other styles. tis tremendously helpful for an improviser to recognize this grouping of chords when it comes along in a tune and to have an idea of how to play on it as a unit itis called “two-five-one" after the tones ofthe scale (for @ given key) that are the roots of each chord, The naturally occurring J-V-1in a major key, using seventh chords, involves a minor seven for i, a dominant seven for V, and a major seven for |. Here's a very normal fi-V-I in C major, along with a C major scale for reference. Dn? Gt ma? ee 68 ULL IAT !F we were to approach improvisation on this chord movement by way of the most obvious scales, we might choose D Dorian for Dm7, G Mixolydian for G7, and C major for Cmaj7—only to realize that these are really all the same set of tones (modally related to each other)! We could indeed solo on these changes using only notes of the C major scale, but we'd do best to have some idea of what is actually in each chord, and how they move ftom one to another. Otherwise, while thinking only of one bunch of notes to play from, we may never achieve a sense of ii-V-1 motion within our linear ideas, Let's get a look at the basic content of these three chords in arpeagio form (the root, 3rd, Sth, and 7th of each, in orcler) => (aE oa We can experiment, for starters, with lines that use only these chord tones for each as it goes by, like this one (realize that we just looked at them in only one octave, and here these notes may be in a higher range}: EXAMPLE 1 Notice that there's a tendency for the 7th of a chord to lead to the 3rd of the next one, whether directly, or bouncing off of another note in between. Next well expand our options by including other notes from the scale while still emphasizing the sound of the individual chords. Most often, these additional scalar tones can be seen as color tones of the basic chords, anyway (Ais the 9th for a G7 (or 6th for a C major chord, while E can be a Sth on Dm/, etc) 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEEXAMPLE 2 a Ot Jew (0-73) -

5 pit = j + Use your good judgment as to when to make use of tis or any bass-and-chords kind of guitar rhythm. Ina full band with a bassist it would likely be too much! Different time signatures yet certainly exist in jazz, 5/4 having been a famous one for quite a while, with others gaining in Popularity in the current era, 3/4 time, though, is a well-established aspect of the style, and with some listening, practice, and ‘awareness of its flow, you can be on your feet with chordal rhythms in this meter. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 39. eS, ee ee OR ee eT al ere OME ee aa we ees = ic = Geen? ate eee40 LESSON #19: [KyZ3-fo]Me}| {cj Historically, a sizable majority of the jazz repertoire has been in 4/4 time, and it's easy to wind up focused on this meter exclusively in our practice. But the jazz waltz, or tune that swings in 3/4, has long been a significant part of the tradition, and ‘an aspiring musician in the style should get comfortable improvising in triple meter as well as“in 4” in large part a matter of learning to feel the 3/4 swinging groove through hearing it performed by the pros and some playing time of your own. But we may have done so much development of melodic ideas in 4/4 that we could ask ourselves, on a case-by-case basis, “how would | play that line for the same chord progression in 3?"To explore this way of thinking, we'll take a few 4/4 phrases and see how they might be adapted for a 3/4 jazz tune. Here we have a very basic ji-V-I idea in a major key, which works when the first two of these chords take up two beats apiece, in 4/4 time: Its also possible in 3/4 time that the first two chords will split one measure, but more likely that they will receive a measure each, now meaning three beats apiece. In effect, we need to do something to stretch out the material we had for those chords, iF using the same basic melodic idea as before. This could be done by increasing the duration of these tones, which used to be all 8th notes, and adding a little space, or by adding notes to the phrase and keeping the steady stream of &ths: Let's look at another line that was originally made up entirely of 8th notes, but this time for a minoi the first two chords last a full measure each (four beats apiece in 4/4 time, of course): (1-73) Bnvbs . Be Ant ee os SF] ee Its possible for a similar chord movement in 3/4 meter to take place with two measures each for the 8m715 and the E7, requiring some stretching out of our 4/4 idea. But it too might involve only one measure apiece for those chords, such that weld have to somehow condense the phrase. In the case of this particular line, it works out very nicely if we allow the last tones that were previously played on Bm745 to spill over into the E7 measure (a good chord-to-chord flow is stil maintained) and judiciously omit a couple of notes after that. The following new version works at least as nicely for 3/4 as the old one did for a/at 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE‘To wrap up, and get a better idea what the flow of 3/4 soloin 1g might be like, let's check out this example of improvisation on a jazz waltz chord progression: EXAMPLE 1 d=150(=19) Bbmaj? ate Cm Gat Fm Eno A few features to notice are: Where we see two chords in measure 4 the second chord offically enters on the “and” of 2, but the soloist might treat this alittle loosely, here really going into Fe? territory on the last beat (with the last two notes). Altogether, the movement of this line through the changes is pretty seamless at that point anyway. y Some of the rhythmic figures from the earlier 3/4 examples in this lesson can be fount Quarter note, &th rest, and three 8th notes rhythm in measure 3, or the classic: gesture in measures 5 and 6. id in this passage, such as the quarter note plus quarter-note triplet } Whether or not we havea bebop-lke 8th-note texture going on, these lines simply land well on each new chord, measure for measure, in triple meter. Whether lively or relaxed in character, the jazz waltz is an imy Tying your hand at improvisation in 3/4, and considerin 2 fong ways in being ready for such a tune. portant aspect of the music and can add variety to our repertoire, \g what ideas you might come up with or adapt for this meter, can go 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 41ar 42 TECHNICAL TIPS FOR THE SAME-FRET SYNDROME Its in our nature as guitarists te play more than one note a time, taking advantage of our multiple strings even within a melodic solo statement. Stila jazz player needs the homn- or voice-ike skill to cleanly execute single-note material without unintended gaps or overlaps between tones. And one situation that can frequently pose a problem in tis regard Is when two oF more notes in a row must be played at the same fret on neighboring strings (or perhaps on distant strings. The two main techniques | use to get through these spots, within written melodies or improvised ideas, are the finger roll and finger substitution. Let's look frst at a couple of short phrases based on an Am? arpeggio in the fifth position. At issue here are the notes we play at the Sth fret on the G and B strings, likely both with the first (index) finger. If we barre those two strings, fretting them both at once as in a chord, they will ring at the same time. And if we hop over from one string to the next with the tip of the same finger, we might make it OK, but this is difficult, inefficient, and likely to give us an unwanted “breath’ or little break in the line. Amt ete What we need to do here, for distinct tones and a legato flow, isto roll with that frst finger. In the first measure, place it on its tip as usual for the note C on the third string, and roll off the tip onto the flatter part of the finger to fret the second string. This takes some slow practice to get going smoothly, coordinating the release of the earlier note with the sounding of the next one. For the second measure phrase, the finger roll needs to happen in reverse. When descending with this technique (heading to a higher-numbered string and a lower pitch), we need to strategize a litle more ahead of time: to play the note E here, place the index finger more flatly on its underside at the Sth fret ofthe B string, such that you can roll up onto its tip on the G string, ‘Again, slow practice is the key, especialy now for correct initial finger placement, as well as for the timing of things Next we try some more challenging finger roll situations: the index finger rolling down (in pitch) through three notes of C minor in a classic, often-used jazz lick, and then a more modern-sounding, perfect 4th-based line, involving an upward roll through four strings, as well asa smaller roll with the pinky. EXAMPLE 1 ack20 For that longest roll, we may need to let our finger subtly shift across the strings to fret each note separately, trying not to bend them out of pitch as we go. For any of these moves, let your finger be at a relaxed angle, maybe just a litle off of the tip, and avoid crushing your knuckle in towards the fretboard in the flatter position (for health’s sake). Your hand might need to shift a bit too, 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEOur next example, with lines built around an Am7, and then a Dm7, calls for a different technique yet. All these notes are playable within the fourth position for Am7, or the fifth position for Dm, but if we stick with a one-finger-per-fret principle, we wind up needing to do awkward reverse-rolls with our second and third fingers between the third and fourth strings ‘More natural in these cases is to substitute a finger for the one that would've had double-duty at the same fret, placing our fingers according to the fingering numbers shown here: EXAMPLE 2 Finger substitution is generally done with the higher-numbered finger on the lower-numbered (higher-pitched) string and ‘may call to mind some familiar chord shapes. We finish here with three versions of the same musical line, played with different positioning and fingerings, to see how these techniques can be applied in various ways to the same situation. Pay attention again to the finger numbers above the Notes, as well as the tab, and you will also get a taste of skipping over a string with finger-rolling or substitution. At the very last measure, | break the rule about which finger to use as a substitute in what direction, but that is because there is a whole position shift going on: EXAMPLE 3 es 2 eee = + 10 p08 10 pi hio® aah @ ——— These are, above all, techniques for you to experiment with as you seek the best-sounding and most natural options for Playing the melodies and ideas of your jazz repertoire. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE 43ALTERNATE PICKING BY RHYTHM Alternate picking—the use of both down- and up-strokes with the pick for efficiency in playing single-note lines—is familiar to.many guitarists. In this lesson, we look at a particular use of it, especially for swung &th-note melodies and solo ideas in jazz. ‘As opposed to a method that prescribes switching pick direction depending on which way we'te moving to the next string (with speed in mind), this approach involves a built-in groove in the picking hand, gained from allowing it to move continuously with the beat. Its kind of a micro-version of common strumming pattems from other styles, in which the right hand keeps moving down and up to the pulse of the music, catching all downbeats with a downstroke and all upbeats (the “and” counts) with an upstroke, regardless of where there is space in between. {mn jazz, we can apply this upstrokes-for-upbeats approach to our single-note playing, while still using mostly downstrokes for typical comping (chording). To get this regularity of right hand movement going, we fist practice our scales, or other steady- stream-of-notes kind of exercises, with a completely consistent alternate picking pattern, like so: Then we can ty playing tunes and improv ideas—especially bop melodies, with their abundant sth-note-based rhythms— letting the momentum of the right hand continue, now with a swung lit to its timing. A melodic pattem such as this one (which is a syncopated version of the C major scale descending in 3rds) is a good place to start, making sure to hit each note with the pick stroke indicated. EXAMPLE 1 Next, we can try more of a complete phrase like this one, which fits a i-V-I chord progression in the key of F. Notice that, if there are a few upbeats in a row in its rhythm, we indeed use a few upstrokes in a row, allowing our picking hand to subtly keep movin’and groovin’ along the way. EXAMPLE 2 xt On cr Foi? Sopa Yo¥n¥ny avany 44 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEHere's a similar line, with a more constant flow of 8th notes, but with another lesson in letting rhythm rule the picking direction—pull-offs are used to sound a couple of notes on downbeats, so we still wind up with a few consecutive upstrokes. EXAMPLE 3 Fray? These next phrases present us with a couple more particular challenges of alternate picking. In the first case, we have a triplet, which can throw us offtrack when were geared up for two notes per beat. ironically, | chose to deal with it here by first breaking the upbeat-upstroke rule, then slurring with a half-step slide, and later getting back on track with two quick ‘upstroke in a row; it just felt right this way! In both cases, there is an across-the-strings part for which some may choose to use sweep picking, but | prefer this alternate pattern, when feasible, for rhythmic control and momentum, EXAMPLE 4 sca J=2m (1-13) e = greets n | nvavavay —j F & {would not say that this alternate picking method is essential for everyone playing jazz guitar, at least not all the time. Its applicability may depend on other elements in your technique. For some, “allowing the hand to move with the groove" may ‘mean allowing the thumb and forefinger to do this, if you use a more localized picking motion, or something else entirely # youre not a pick player. Plus, there is a greater rhythmic flexibility in some modem forms of the music—not to mention ballads and other situations in which we may have more time to approach each note. Technique can indeed color the shythmic feel of our playing, but ultimately it's up to each of us to listen to the groove we hear in our mind's ear, however we ‘92t it to come out on the instrument. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE 45,46 STRAIGHT-4, STRAIGHT AHEAD LESSON #22: Straight-4, or “four-to:the-bar’ chording is a great part of the jazz guitar tradition. Iti also sometimes referred to as “Freddie Green style,’ after its| most revered practitioner, who for half a century anchored the rhythm section of the Count Basie Orchestra with his chunk chunk" groove. It is essentially what the name implies: quarter-note chords played on each beat of a 4/4 measure. This would seem simple ‘enough, but itis a particular skill to do it well and make it swing (and help the band to swing with you). Rhythmically itis not just a continual blur of sustained quarter notes, each running right into the next. There needs to be just a litte release between each chord (letting it be muted by lifting the pressure of your left hand). But it also should not sound like @ march, with a short chopping sound on each beat due to too much release. You could think of the timing of this release as having to do with the swung-ness of the quarter-note rhythm (or better yet, just listen to some Freddie Green and try to get a feel fori As for chord voicings, this is usually @ good place to be moderate or minimal in size, and some small root-3rd-and-7th kind of chord shapes can work very nicely for the texture, Here welll use these three-string chords to try playing through a standard progression in straight-4 rhythm: EXAMPLE 1 cm FI Big? Da ag he fRIe inte 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINEa by filing in with some passing and neighbor chords, still of this three-string type, to create some of the effect of a walking bass line. We still really think of the progression as the basic changes we started with, even as we lead into them from a half step above or below with all these extras, which are shown in parentheses (and if you're a fan of fretboard diagrams, please bear with me—wete gonna stick with tab this time for nneatness): EXAMPLE 2 deus (209) cmt (abn) Fr (eb/G BG FA) bmg (cm? cém) — pm aby G7 (D7) ert SS = SSS EHS === 7 @ Se we ein / ‘ h— : = BS Here are a few more things to keep in mind about straight-4 chording: Asis the case with a lot of jaz chording, we need a unified sound for each chord (the tones sounding together and not like an arpeggiated strum), with a pick attack that is firm enough, but not harsh. Remember, ‘chunk chunk’ not “brrrap brrrap" The quarter-note groove is quite regular—not a“long-short-long-short’staccato-on-beats-2-and-4 treatment of the chords that can imply an old-school two-feel. } Itworks best on acoustic, but we can render it OK on electrified instruments with careful tone and touch. Freddie Green himself used an unamplified archtop to play with a whole big band, } !thas particular functions in the music and generally does not work where more variable comping is called for in.a modern small jazz group (including in the bop genre). Depending on the sittation, we might find use for itn a big band, a retro-styled performance, or very small settings like a duo, where guitar alone accompanies a horn, voice, Piano, or another guitar: Or perhaps we can use It for backing a bass solo. } Keep the volume low. Felt more than heard is the classic description of its role in the swing-era big band, and in other scenarios it could be more obnoxious than tasty if we play it on top of our bandmates, rather than behind them. You might afford a little more sound sometimes—like in a guitar/trumpet duo—but don't bury that bass soloist! The straight-4 approach to chords is an important study for the jazz guitarist, to be in touch with the tradition, and to have this texture available for the right setting. Its also a great way to solidify the chords to a tune and our sense of time along with it 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE 47.48 MB) TWo-NOTE sabeethhiieeg) CHORDAL SHELLS For the times that less would be more in our choice of chord shapes, movable shell voicings can be a handy and tasteful option. Basically, i's the root, 3rd, and 7th of a chord that really define its main type, and we're talking about breaking various kinds of chords down to these essential tones (and then leaving off the root, to boot), What we have left are very compact, easy-to-play, and flexible little two-string volcings that can still serve to outline a chord progression, especially when put together with the walking line of a bassist, Because they are so pared down, there is less concern when we use them whether somebody else in the band is playing assth, a natural versus raised 9th, etc, on any given chord—those members are simply not there! But also because these voicings are so spare, the same small shape on the fretboard will actually be the 3rd-and-7th shell of ‘more than one chard, so they may be tougher to keep track of than to execute. In this lesson, well take a look at how some larger, more familiar chord forms can be trimmed down to reveal the shell shapes, which is helpful for locating them on the instrument. Well also hear how a chord progression can be rendered with minimal range of sound and movement through their use. Here are some of these bigger to-smaller “evolutions for basic chord types: Bb7, big barre —BD7, better size for jazz 3-note Bb7 ofr or fi barre Bbm7, better size for jazz 3-note Bbm7 ‘Bbm7, 2-note shell Pte Aeon terion for if a cvoicing snot Bbmaj?——_Bbmaj7, 2-note shell ee fr fader ier ie HY +H S Ciewm rear 7,2 tl t Str f 6fr Bh fr PRE a ee ee ‘tiene Aste Str ee ‘se ote 6fr teh ote if The notes that are the 3rd and 7th for any chord can be found in all areas of the fretboard, but for now welll stick with these shell voicings that lie on the middle two strings only. This is both technically and sonically convenient, as it puts us in a mellow midrange that rings clearly enough while blending nicely with others in the band, Please be aware—we don't automatically get the right notes for these by taking any chord shape and cutting it down to the middle strings. In the examples above, that's where the needed tones happen to be. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEHere are similar shells for a few other basic chords, without the same derivation process. Se if you can relate them to larger vvoicings that you know. For any six” type of chord, we're actually using its 3rd and 6th tones: Bb6 Bbmo 6 Em6 Bb°7 or Db°7 or E°7 or G27 ‘ste ise iste Sie ate Remember that chords with °5;"#9” etc, wl just use the shells ofthe same chord types without the alterations, since the 3rd and 7th don't change (and if you come across a half-diminished seven, it's effectively the same as minor seven with a Sth), Notice that, for all these different chords, we have used only three shapes of shell voicing on the fretboard! Among all the overlapping forms, we could also see that the 8-7 and E7 examples give us the exact same thing for their shells, They are tritone substitutes of one another, and this is one place where they “meet” Although for B17, the chordal 7th is on the bottom and the 3rd is on top, and vice versa for £7, Let's try some of these in context to hear how they might sound in a tune. First, we'll play through the following progression with fuller, more normal-sized chords: EXAMPLE 1 aca8 cm rtb9Bbmayt Fmd pb7#s bajo bmg lego ie ee Sou gieggloe Fyecgisn ate iE? Er a? & fee & ‘And now let's try it with our shell voicings (made up of notes that are often called the guide tones of the chords): EXAMPLE 2 a0 (22-03) Dat chy cmt Bhar Ent Eas Fimo Baptin Gipgtier pli ci Exiiae Egil ul i it] == { te LTE 4 These two-note wonders give us a great way to start small and leave room to build when we are comping, to come down for something quiet like a bass solo, to play something light that can blend with piano or organ, orto just be subtle and tasty. Try ‘them on a blues progression or on another tune that you like. Check out where to find the shell voicings for the chords you need and see how it works! 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 4950 Ble) Ey. ta JUMPING TRACKS In this lesson, we look at how some very typical patterned scale practice can be applied to changing chords in a process that might serve simply/as further exercise, but may also yield musical results that we consider "keepers" for our improvisational approach. control Fitst lets consider a couple of common ways that jazz musicians play their scales in patterns in order to gain techi beyond the straight-up-and-down method. For the purpose of ths lesson, wel abel these ‘Pattern I" and "Pattern 2" although there are many possible variations ofthis scalar practice regimen. In Pattern 1, we play through the scale in groups of four consecutive descending notes, starting with the tonic, and doing the same thing from each next tone downwards. Here's how it looks on a C major scale, within a limited range: Realize that we could certainly go further with this pattern or play it in reverse, in different ways—moving the group of descending notes up through the scale or using groups of four ascending notes, etc. Many permutations are possible, including the use of smaller or larger note-groups, and you could certainly try coming up with some of these on your own. This next pattern is one that involves a change of direction within each grouping, and it could be described as “up one step in the scale, up one more step in the scale, and back down a 3rd interval to the starting note’ with that whole unit moving up stepwise through the scale. Notice the word “step” here refers to the distance to the next note in the scale—not necessarily a whole step. Here's how it sounds on C major: It can be plenty enough practice material, for starters, to play one-at-a-time through the various scales in our repertoire, using different up-and-down pattems such as these. But here's the clincher of ths lesson, as it pertains to soloing on changes: welll now tty to maintain one of these patterns while shifting to different scales along the way to reflect a particular chord progression. ‘Weill start with a progression that goes back and forth between two major chords (the major seven #17, to be exact), a half step apart, changing every measure. Here are the scales welll need! 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINEEXAMPLE 1 22160 (9-52) Domai Cmaj7#, es Doman Here's what we get when applying Pattern 1 to these two Lydian scales, for a Cmaj7#11 to Demaj7411 progression, starting from the highest point we can around the second position on the fretboard: Cmaj74i bid Tea use these scal atta nh Baty on 87 ses ees Lets try one more application, for the beginning of a Bs blues progression (8+7-B:7-B17-B17#9 for the fist four measures). We'll EXAMPLE 2 a be be be ba MAteclmmrtasin irre he f sates E = * é ‘ 7 = * = + And welll run Pattern 2 through them, starting on the tonic Bin the fifth position. Notice that the only difference between ‘ur first two scales is that D becomes D+ (for E57, effectively) —a change that is evident as we hit the second measure: After getting a good handle on basic scales and practicing them with some typical patterns, you cah experiment with your ‘own mid-pattern scale-switching and see what works well for certain progressions. At the least, it's a great dril for quickly Jocating scale tones on the guitar and, at best, it can lead us to cool new sounds for soloing 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE STSto) Etta “THE LICK” A particular YouTube video, one that went viral in the jazz world, featured a ridiculously varied assortment of performers all playing one little seven-note phrase dubbed “the lick’ It included famous jazz musicians, rock and dance bands, and solo and ‘orchestral classical performers. t was put together for the humor of it, but its probably no accident that this simple melodic «ellis so widespread, particularly in the language of jazz. {n this lesson welll take a look at “the lick” itself—not just to play what everyone else does or because it’s funny—but because It is a classic example of a versatile musical idea with many applications, especially for improvisation. Here itis, basically, in A minor At = and again, with alittle jazz- 7 = style slide into = oS ‘the fifth note: In terms of what it is, it seems most obvious as a minor line, using tones 1, 2, 3, 4, 2, and 1 of a minor (or Dorian!) scale, starting and ending with the tonic, or the root of a minor chord. But the realty is that this unit, defined by its particular interval pattern, can fit into many scales, chords, and situations, often in more than one way. Well look here at how it fits with several commen chord types, comparing it to some specific voicings as we go, and in the process try all ofits possible one-position fingerings (there are five, in standard tuning): itt perpen Abit ery z Cor yige y= wie sot Ef = — as ‘2 fete eld ] ae cau ats rot | You may notice thus far that we've checked it out starting only from either A or £—but taking on a different harmonic character from chord to chord. 52 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEAfter trying some diferent fingerings and placements of the lick, we can attempt to use it in an improvised setting, or for starters, atleast consider where we might apply it ina progression. This may be easier where the chords each last @ couple ‘measures oF more (or with good old minor sevens!) but here's an example of ‘the lick” being used throughout a blues in F. Play it bit loosely, sometimes varying the rhythm, cutting it short, or changing or adding a few notes—in a way that results in motivic development of the initial idea—but always working with the chords like we described: EXAMPLE 1 Another reason that the lick is so prevalent is simply that it has a strong sound to it. There are many possible scalar patterns ‘of tis sort, But they may not all strike us as being so solid. Even if one could joke about its apparent overuse, this famous lick §San important part ofthe jazz vocabulary and a great example of the potential in one small snip of melody. Lett inspire you to find and explore your own building blocks of the music! 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 5BTHE EXTENSION DIMENSION ‘The odd-numbered members of a chord beyond the 7th are called its extensions, and focusing on them as a soloist can add 2 colorful dimension to your playing. In this lesson, welll try an approach to playing on the upper extensions of a couple fundamental chord types, along the way taking a look at the scalar origin of each to be clear on what those tones are. Let's start with the minor seven chord, using the Dorian scale to derive the full gamut of its tones (this works better than the natural minor scale by the time we get to the chordal 13th, which will be determined by the scalar 6th). Here the tones are numbered for the scale with the idea that we are repeating at the actave, while when enumerating chord tones we keep counting upwards. This is how the scales 6th becomes the chord’s 13th, etc. and how Dm, extended, becomes Orm13 = Realize that the chordal arpeggios resulting from this process are more like lists of chordal members, while in the chord forms we actually play (our chord voicings), they have usually been reordered, often with non-essential tones omitted. tS good to know, for many purposes, what all the tones of the chords we play relly are and to practice them in arpeggio form in different places. But beyond this, we can look at what other chords are found within the arpeggio of the chord in question. There will be several possibilities, but let's note first that from the Sth on up in this Dm13 arpeggio, we have exactly the tones of ‘Am9—A, C,£, G, and B (the further up we go, the more we're looking at a chord that sits in the extensions of the original one) Now we can test out the implications for improv purposes on a Dm7 chord. Welll do this by trying something purely within Am9 chord tones, basically n their own arpeggio form (wich well move to the fifth position on the fretboard, fora litle variety EXAMPLE 1 = OF on 54 Ant Amsco pee 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEFor a dominant seven chord, well ook at the extensions on the unaltered dominant, with nothing flatted or sharped except for a 211th. This calls for the Lydian dominant scale, which is a Mixolydian (dominant) scale with a raised 4th degree (avoiding the natural 4th or chordal 11th, which could clash with the 3rd). G7 will thus become G13é1 Ln Doan (13811 Aree ee ee Rodd Sh 7h 9H 11 1a SS —— ae _* —S rr = —— = z oe ~ 5 Let's again consider the chord-within-the-chord that is rooted on the Sth of the arpeggio, which in this case will be Dm(maj9} (spooky sounding thing with a major 7th in a minor chord), and focus on its arpeggio tones to solo on G7: EXAMPLE 2 IS also possible to play on the dominant chord extensions that come from @ regular Mixolydian scale, which gives us a normal minor seven chord built on the Sth of the dominant seven—a very Wes Montgomery kind of sound. The chordal 1ith is then the non-raised 4th of the scale, which can clash with the 3rd, but within that arpeggio from the Sth it can imply the sound of a suspended chord, or ofa ii-V chord pair (as if in this case, Dm7 were the ii and G7 were the V). For major seven chords, a Lydian scale will give us the fully extended major thirteen #11, here again avoiding the clashing Ath/Tith that was in the more obvious scale (major). We can find a major nine arpeggio from its Sth. We need the right scale for each chord, of course, and the system may seem less clear for certain chord types, especially those that have been altered after the fact (for altered dominants, consider where all those sharped and flatted tones may be, whether or not they fit neatly into new arpeggios). But experiments in staying up among the extensions, wherever we can find them, can yield interesting new possibilities for our improvisation. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 5556 MAJOR SEVEN #11 ‘The major seven chord with a 11th tone is an interesting animal among jazz chords. It has afresh, oblique kind of sound, often calling to mind the Sth” accent of bebop harmony. It can be interjected as a surprise coloration where a more normal major chord is expected, but could also be specifically called for in a composition, maybe harmonizing that raised 11th note in the melody or used in a modal setting, This chord Is very related to the Lydian scale, equivalent to a major scale with a raised 4th degree, which could be used to generate the chord when played upwards in 3rd intervals: conti Aneaso & 5 i ba Every tone of this scale can thus be part of the chord, harmoniously. This doesn't work so easily from the tonic of the major scale, given the potential lash between its 3rd and 4th tones. Notice that the #11th tone is enharmonically equivalent to a sth, which means same pitch, different name in theory (F# vs. Gy in this case). As you see, it comes from the 24th of the scale, which we could think of as either the 4th degree naturally found in Lydian, ora raised 4th from a major scale (so In case you ever come across the designation *maj7i5;'you'll have an idea what is meant). Here are some movable shapes for major #11 chords on the guitar. Well include maj9411 voicings, as well as another variety that is technically not even a major seven chord, though it is part of the major family—the 6/9 chord with a#IIth on it—which isa very pretty option that we don't want to leave out. We'll stick with C as the root for our chord shapes and soloing examples for clarity. It can all be transposed later on! cart cmap cmaptivocds cit Cngrhincrds Cnujsitcrbs. Cmaps sti | Ina band situation, use your ear if you'te going to throw one of these in where not expected! It can add interest to the tune, but the 11th could clash against the chordal Sth if someone else is playing it melodically. And even though its possible to include the reqular Sth in the chord, these common guitar voicings leave it out for simplicity’ sake (and you know we're not sustaining all seven members ofthe extended chord together on a standard guitar anyway!) 100 JAZZ LESSONS | \UITAR LESSON GOLDMINELets take a look now at a couple of linear ideas based on a Lydian scale approach to improvising on CmajZA1. Be sure to ‘compare them to the chord shapes from the third or seventh positions, EXAMPLE 1 ce O= = Jeno (9-73) maj i re a = + coer iB fave remove the tonic and Sth from C Lydian (when sustained in a medium or high range, these two tones can actualy be dissonant against parts of the chord), we'e left with another familiar formation useful for the situation—the 8 minor pentatonic scale. Here's how that may sound when applied EXAMPLE 2

2:ta’ BOSSA RHYTHM Various Latin American rhythms have become an integral part of the jazz tradition, not least among them the Brazilian bossa nova. Many songs of ths relaxed and melodic style are fixtures in the repertoire, and jazz musicians have freely adapted other tunes to be played with a bossa rhythm, as well as writing their own bossa-fiavored compositions. We guitarists in particular would do well to have at least some grounding in the genre, since our instrument has a lot to do with its fundamental sound. The bossa nova beat is based on even 8th notes, as opposed to the usual swing 8ths of straight-ahead jazz, although it may sometimes have a bit of a swung lilt to It—especially in the hands of a bop-styled musician! As with much of Latin jazz, itis sometimes played more authentically, and sometimes highly modified. Bossa nova guitar in its original form involves fingerstyle chording (traditionally on nylon strings) in a way that was developed and popularized by Joao Gilberto. A chordal groove like this one would be typical, with the right-hand thumb sounding the bass notes, and the fingers playing and muting the rest of the chord: EXAMPLE 1 ace Qe or O= Bossa = 138 Ebina ‘When playing a bossa in the context of a mainly straight-ahead jazz band, we may want to comp with a more unified texture, without the bass-and-chords technique. Using a pick or your thumb is certainly alright for this kind of chording (as are steel strings), even though the fingers can stil lend a nice touch. Here's a basic bossa rhythm that can be played in this way and applied to different chord progressions—though welll stick with the same changes for nowy to focus on the rhythm (notice that the next chord in the progression is often anticipated by a half of a beat): EXAMPLE 2 Ebmsp Bono Fao 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEThis is a slightly busier version, for which | particularly like to use the fingers instead of a pick. We can use the same chord shapes as above, now shown in tab: EXAMPLE 3 Bossa 1=138 Bhi Ebns abo Fn ik a . ats - ae = = tte SS HS =< app — i=} + z == =F ¢ tp a on ae — These rhythms are usually mixed and varied through the course of an actual tune. The more the musical situation leans towards jazz overall, as opposed to an authentic bossa setting, the more it may call for us to comp with variation and flexibility, like we would do in comping generally. In a jazzer’s bossa, the progression we've been working with might come ‘actoss more like this: EXAMPLE 4 Bbuo Abus Fino t == eee { —t The rhythmic nature of soloing is also affected by the bossa groove. Many of the linear ideas we develop for straight-ahead. jazz can work in this style, using a relaxed even-8ths feel as opposed to swung, but welll often want to shape our lines in a different way altogether. Here's an example of how we might improvise on part of this progression if it were swung like a regular jazz tune, and one way the same basic statement could be adapted ifit were a bossa instead: EXAMPLE 5 & Akey factor in getting a good feel for bossa nova rhythm—chordal or melodic, authentic or jazzifec'—is of course listening to it as played by the pros. You could check out the seminal guitar playing of Jodo Gilberto (especially with tenor saxophonist Stan Getz and the tradition’ greatest composer, Antonio Carlos Jobim), Wes Montgomery soloing on “Canadian Sunset” or trumpeter Lee Morgan's beautiful jazz bossa “Ceora’” From Brazilian to hard-bop and beyond, there's much to enjoy and explore as you try your hand at this beautiful side of jazz. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE 5960 Blo) Esta THE OCTAVES TEXTURE ‘a.common device The technique of playing melodic lines in octaves, doubling each note with the same note an octave away, Used by jazz guitarists to beef up their sound and add textural variety. Most famously associated with Wes Montgomery, it's been part of the palette for artists as diverse as Wes, Django Reinhardt, and John Scofield, each making it fit their own unique style. The handiest way to play these octaves is with their notes two strings away from each other (with one inactive string in between) and also two or three frets apart, depending which strings we're on. The natural fingering for this formation is with the index finger on the bottom note and the third finger on the top note if i's on the D or G string (two frets higher), or the fourth finger ifs on the B or E string (three frets higher). The string in between is muted by the index finger (at east if you're a pick or thumb player), and we'll use all downstrokes for starters With this approach to the fingering, ets try a & major scale in the octaves texture (and we'll go past one octave of the scale— dontt get the uses of the word mixed up!) With reasonable knowledge of the fretboard and some practice, it can be relatively easy to see where these octave shapes lie, bt it's another thing to execute them cleanly in licks or melodies. This texture presents a different technical challenge than single-note lines, since it requires us to scoot around the guitar with much less variation in finger-usage for the left hand, Oftentimes, where staying close to one position would normally be good for efficient fingering, we may want to move more vertically along the neck (between higher and lower frets) for ergonomic octaves. This is most apparent when we try playing in octaves for melodic ideas that jump around, more than in step-by-step scalar motion, of for chordal arpeggios, which move in 3rd intervals. To check out how this can work, welll contrast two different fingerings (or positionings, really) for an Amt arpeggio, shown in the tablature below: Amt Anas (Opin 1 The first of these options stays closer to one position and follows a shape that works well for the top notes if they are played alone. The second one takes a more vertical route that minimizes the back-and-forth jumping of the index finger for the bottom notes and is less jagged altogether. In this method of fingering octaves, the ring finger and pinky usually switch off a bit as we move between string sets, while the index finger is the constant. Considering how it will need to move can be helpful when working out how to play an octave run, 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINETo work this technique into your playing, try some of your favorite tunes or ideas in octaves (you could start with slower- moving things) and see what works well for you in terms of placement on the fretboard. Besides what's smoothest for the hand and fingers, there's also the consideration of where you might quickly find the phrase on the guitar, if you were in mid- flight on an improvised solo. Much of what applies to the kind of melodic ideas we want to play is the same for octaves as for single-note material generally. Here are a few lines that would sound fine with normal one-string-at-a-time delivery, but come across nicely with the octave treatment. Our frst example is at the beginning of a blues progression in B: EXAMPLE 1 And now here are some octave lines on a bossa nova in A minor: EXAMPLE 2 Octaves can also be used for some one-note colorations behind a melody or rhythmic statements ina solo that would fall lat with ordinary single-string playing. As much as they are often used deliberately to evoke the sound of Wes, we can do like jazz guitarists have done for generations and make the octaves texture part of our own musical toolbox. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 61MINOR SHAPE MADNESS Whether studying extended chordal arpeggios, the hatmonic content of scales, or chord shapes on the fretboard, we can Quickly realize how much overlap of note material there i, even between very different-sounding chord types. Our system of harmony is full of chords found within chords, and this has big implications for an improviser. The common ground between various harmonies is especially evident in certain minor-sounding formations, viewed either in terms of scale tones or chordal members. Listen to, and take a look at, this frequently heard melodic idea in the jazz language, as it compares to the forms of four different chords with which it fits perfectly (all shown here with some potential variation, to help show their relationship to the line). We'll call it"Minor Shape 1° for the purpose of this lesson: Bhm6 (och) Eb9 (ori AMZ oro) GmIb5 (orcibs) sie siepse | Hirmase it 2 HEE Png ray & a é For use of this little phrase in multiple situations, itis handy to be aware of exactly how it relates to each chord. We could say, for example, that it starts on the 9th of a minor chord, the 13th of a natural dominant, the #9th of an altered dominant, or the Tith (seems like an added 4th) of a minor seven ‘5 chord (could be called half-diminished). Each of these chords, as well as the line itself, contains a minor tiad—a Bs minor triad in this case—where we barre the top three strings forall of these voicings. The second, third, and fourth notes of Minor Shape 1 make up this same unit. The only other tone actually found in this melodic phrase is the one it starts with: the chordal 9th or scalar 2nd (relative to B> minor) The final two notes ofthe line are just a repeat ofthe frst two an octave lower The scalar common ground between these chords, as they are, is basically the 8 melodic minor scale. If we start from the note A this becomes the A altered (or super Locrian} scale, and starting from Es produces the B. Lydian dominant scale. be Notice that the tones of our versatile soloing idea are just the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Sth degrees of this scale. The firs five tones of the minor scale altogether yield numerous melodic possibilities that are flexible in the same way and very often used In jazz improvisation. Notice too that this part of the scale will stay the same through different versions of minor, or the similar Dorian scale (if our 8 minor chord were @ minor seven, wed probably look to B» Dorian instead, and the related G Locrian may be preferred for the Gm7!5). 62 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEUltra-mobile minor melodic cells like these can be found in the improvisation of many players—sometimes even in smaller bits and pieces: Gbiepiertee beraplpeer Pepe — z 4 Here as well, we can make note of how each line is connected to the chords we may wish to play it over, Those that begin with the tonic B will ft a B» minor chord starting on its root, £9 starting on its Sth, A7i9 starting on its b9th, or G75 starting onits 3rd, To realize just how versatile these minor ideas are, check out how this standard chord progression can be played on using ‘mostly just Minor Shapes 1 and 2, of fragments of either one (now transposed to various places). Note we're using a one-fat key signature now, for the key of D minor: EXAMPLE 1 Try applying some of these minor shapes on your own, and see where they fit! 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 63an 64 THE CHROMATIC CONNECTION LESSON #31: Ie can be fun and interesting to include some chromatic fret-by-fret motion in our jazz improv lines, stepping outside of regular scales, creating a different kind of flow, and sometimes invoking a more modern sound. if we wish to maintain relevance to the chord or chord changes along the way, ita good idea to be clear on where the chord tones are and seek to connect them or target them with our half-step movement. Well tke a look here at a few examples of how this may work in specific situations. You may be able to compare these linear ideas to familiar chord shapes to see how they relate, But for each of them, I'l first show where the pertinent chord tones lie ina close-by area of the fretboard, almost in the form of the official arpeggios (which are builtin 3rd). In doing so, I'l focus mainly on the notes welll want to spot in the melodic example at hand, including 9ths and TIths, The “R" stands for “root by the way! Here's one for a C7 chord: EXAMPLE 1 m cca be oR Woah br nba 2 2 It starts off on D, the natural Sth for C7, connecting it by half step to the root, then moving similarly down from the 7th to the 5th (Bs to G) and further downwards to create a chromatic enclosure of the 3rd (circling around E before landing on it) It finishes with another pair of descending half steps to connect root to 7th, and by the time its done, all twelve tones of the chromatic scale have been used, while the sound is still very C7! Notice that any note placed on beats 1 or 3 here is a basic chord tone (the root, Sth, and 3rd respectively). Let's try one now for Cmaj7: EXAMPLE 2 rat 0:10 | ‘Conn chord toes 30 Te a ae con? atte # abe obo ee How to move by half steps on the guitar is most obvious along one string (fret-by-fret), but we do of course need to know where to find them between strings, and this comes into play twice within this phrase. Like our previous example, it puts some chord tones on strong beats, connects them chromatically, and uses an enclosure of the 3rd. You could try this same line ‘on Am? as well, given its strong connection to Cmaj7! 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINENext, here's an idea for a ji-V-’ in Be minor (though it seems to start off a lot like our frst example). This one sounds best with alittle speed to it: EXAMPLE 3 orbs Freed ne i ee a a be t=: As the second measure of this phrase begins, the half-step descending tones on the B string start to bounce off of other notes in between, on the G string, in a kind of pattern reminiscent of the hip modern stylings of Pat Metheny or John Abercrombie, Here it lends a brief ‘outness”to the line, in particular because the note G landing right on beat 1 doesn't really fit with the F7\915 chord, and neither does the E that follows. But on the next beat, they move down to G. and , rejoining the chord tones, All this works as part of a chromatic flow targeting the F on beat 3, from which we continue in a more chord-shaped kind of way through our altered F7 and into &.m7. Half-step motion is found abundantly in the melodic material of jazz, sometimes sounding very “inside’—normal, perhaps even old-school—and sometimes bringing us into more contemporary territory, with a bit of surprise to the sound, even while staying close to the changes. It can be also used in heading “outside, for a kind of playing that is less concerned with chord progressions altogether, still, where relating to harmony is a goal, we can be better prepared for chromatic adventures. ‘by mapping out our chord tones well and keeping their sound and location in mind as we construct our lines. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 65MB SUSPENDED DISBELIEF said (FUN WITH SUS CHORDS) ‘The suspended four chord is common in popular music as well as jazz, and can be built based on either a major triad or dominant seven chord. It involves using a scalar natural 4th degree instead of the major 3rd that is usually there in these chord types (that is, F instead of Eif it's C major or C7). This 4th tone might, as the name implies, be “hanging” there with a tendency to move back down to the 3rd. In jazz, we're pretty much talking about the 75us4, and the chord is more likely than in other styles to stay as-ls not reverting to the use of the major 3rd). It may be played as an interesting substitute for a regular dominant seven, as a colorful sound for its own sake, or to harmonize that chordal 4th tone when its sustained in a melody. Here are a few basic movable shapes for the 7sus4, each preceded by the regular dominant seven voicing to which it relates (you can see where the chordal 3rd originally was): Abt AbTowst = C7 Tsu Bb7 Bb Tas FT Foust ame Gime el fae ee ee if FEE E pa Bre wait ait it a at There are two main things to keep in mind that can help us find more and more variations of the dominant seven with 2 suspended 4th: Extended dominant seven chords—that is, nine and thirteen chords, mainly the natural type—can also be made into sus4 chords by replacing the chordal 3rd with the 4th tone (the natural TIth of a dominant chord winds up being the same note as our 4th). The 7sus4 chord is very much like @ minor seven chord built on its Sth, including the possible extensions of the 9th or 1ith fon that minor seven chord (its 11th actually brings us back to the root of the sus chord, while its 13th creates something else again, which welll discuss later) Exploring the possibilities in either of these ways can often lead to the same thing, for specific voicings. As an example, let's see how we might arrive at this D9sus4 voicing from two different angles. D9 Ddsust Gan, abr Ey or 21333 mit 23333 wn Now considering the dominant nine or thirteen shapes you may know, if you also know where that chordal 3rd is, you have some place to look for dominant sus4 options. And so too, if you think about what you know for minor seven, nine, or eleven shapes—use the right tone as the root (a perfect Sth below or perfect 4th above the root of the minor seven), and you'r in suspended city! (Make sure it's a real minor seven type of chord though and not a minor six chord or minor with a major 7th.) But aside from all the figuring-out, here are some of the nifty extended sus4 voicings that can be derived in those ways (some of them are pretty stretchy—dontt get hung up on the toughest ones at the moment) Bb9sus4 —-Bb9sus4.-—-BI3sus4 *Bbi3susd —EbYsus4 -—*EbIJsus¢ © Eb I3sus4 EP 3sus4 i str sf we Begone 5 fia ot pam Tr BB 121333 TH) 13 121d 15 0/9 SSON GOLDMINE 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITARAnother slick possibility is adding the major 3rd back into the 7sus4 chord, as illogical as that may seem! The resulting chord could be called a 7sus4{add3}, but is sometimes referred to as a Zadd4. Here are a couple of voicings like, with the 3rd up on. top: FTsus4(add3) BbTsus4(add3) ste te If we refer to the minor seven chord built on the Sth of a 7sus4, making it a minor thirteen chord will also re-introduce that, 3rd tone—that is, Cm13/F = F7sus4{add3). Its a really cool sound, but use discretion if you want to try it where a 75us4 is specifically called for to avoid an unwanted clash. To hear how these suspended sounds can lend a new flavor to an old form, let's put them to use for a sus chord subbed-out version of the blues in B>. I'll be based on a simple three-chord progression, aside from the sus chords, some half-tep lead: chords, and a surprise harmony at the turmaround. Some particular voicing options will be shown above the measures ‘which | use them, and Ill sometimes switch off between a couple of these for each main chord as | comp (maybe leaving off a bass note or two as wel). EXAMPLE 1 case @ Gy = Latin-Fonk Bias abr tit ie fete ‘He fe a BbTsust brawl rouse ot ff fF = = wher Birast Boise a BbTsusd a a =) FIS(or9)susd EbI3(or9)sus4 AbQsusd AbTsustladd3) BPL3sust Frew! Boast brat = a £ = Whether you're playing them where written into a tune or throwing them in on your own initiative, try some of these neat voicings and start having more fun with sus chords! 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 67HIGH SUSPENSE (SOLOING ON SUS CHORDS) improvising over a dominant seven chord with a suspended 4th is a lot like playing on regular, unaltered dominant sevens, but itS good for a soloist to know the distinction between the two and to be aware of some helpful concepts for melodically digging into the sus4 sound. ‘The 7sus4 chord basically uses the natural 4th tone of its scale (the Mixolyclian, or dominant scale) in place of the major 3rd that wed normally expect. For example, a G7sus4 will contain the note C instead of B, as in plain old G7. Let's look at Just a few chord shapes for reference; well stick with G as the root within this lesson: Bighare Snap morejuz~ Same aking weno ndyverion, Nero Graust Grsusd Grsust st or ae ip fail a Bie Mixolydian may be the most obvious scale to turn to for dominant seven improv material, and we can use it for the 7sus4 as ‘well. When playing over the regular dominant seven, we need to be careful how we land on the scale’s 4th degree because of its potential clash with the chordal 3rd. We might even be inspired to think of Mixolydian with a raised 4th instead (Lydian dominant), which avoids this clash. But that is no issue with the 7sus4! That 4th tone is right there in the chord, and now we may even have to be cautious in how we involve the scalar 3rd, Stil, the full Mixolydian scale can work as a source of melodic tones for this setting Here's a refresher on the scale, followed by an example of how its tones can sound on G7sus4. In this instance, both the 3rd and 4th (the notes B and C, respectively) are certainly included in the line, but, to considera finer point, the 4th is emphasized ina way that would not sit well against a regular G7 It does, however, bring out the suspended sound nicely: EXAMPLE 1 Our next example also draws from tones of G Mixolydian, but besides emphasizing the 4th degree, It makes heavy use of the perfect 4th intervals that can be found in the scale, echoing the “athy” character of the chord. This gives a modern sort of flavor to the phrase: EXAMPLE 2 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE‘An important observation for both chordal and melodic playing on the 7sus4 chord is that it is very related to the minor seven chord built on its Sth. This means that D minor seven ideas can typically fit hanc-in-glove with G7sus, and that gives us a different angle for our improvisation. Taking the minor seven approach actually amounts to playing more in the upper extensions of the suspended dominant—G7sus4 could really be G9sus4 or G13sus4, and playing off of Dm7 or Dm9 tends to lead us to those higher-numbered tones. Here now are a couple of lines that might come more naturally when thinking Dm/, though they work beautifully for our G7sus4 chord: EXAMPLE 3 mass Gruss Gras The first of these is based more on Dm? arpeggio shapes (including an Am7 arpeggio that interlocks perfectly with the extended Dm7 chord). The second one has more scalar motion and even includes the note Ci. That tone was not part of our original scale or plan at all, when considering G7sus4, but as it quickly leads into the note D within an essentially Dm7 idea, it blends in just fine, We also get a B—the officially non-included 3rd, relative to the G7sus4 chord—ringing prettily on top for ‘amoment. ‘One more tip for applying potentially familar licks to the 7sus4 chord: if you're tempted to think of G minor pentatonic for soloing on this unit (rooted on G), you might come up with something you like in that way, but consider D minor pentatonic instead, using what we've learned of the Dm7/G7sus4 connection: EXAMPLE 4 10 1 As you try these concepts with different 7sus4 chords, remember that the minor seven relationship is with a chord built on the Sth of the original chord (or of its Mixolydian scale). For example, with B:7sus4, we'd look to B-m7. The dominant seven sus chord is a really cool harmonic coloration that appears frequently in jazz, whether moving to a regular dominant, or as a substitute, or just as a sound unto itself. Having a way to approach it as an improviser is a good thing! 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 69SEQUENTIAL ESSENTIALS Sequential chords are a frequently heard feature in jazz tunes, in which we have several of the same kind of chord—or pair or small group of chords—in a row, moving around to different roots or keys. ‘Sometimes this is obvious enough, with a row of dominant seven chords, for example, moving up or down in a fairly patterned way, like so: Fr a pb? a SSF FSS SS | ‘And sometimes it a little more involved, and maybe trickier to recognize. Consider the following pragression: cm oF Bom? Eb? am? DT Ebaby nt Obey Sa a a a a oe a eee In this case, what's moving down in sequence is a pait of chords: a ii-V formation (a full i-V-I chord movement in the key of Be would be Cm?-F7-Bsmaj7, and here in our first measure we have everything but the | chord). The next measures each have ‘a minor seven and dominant seven pair, related to each other in the same way (which may be clear if you sound them out on the fretboard), until these changes resolve to Gm7. So the iI-V is moving as a unit, first down a step, then down a half step, and then a tritone away (three whole steps, either up or down arriving at the same chords by namel, When trying to solo on the progression, this seems like a lot of moving around in short time, and it is—especially at fast tempos. But in getting started, the good news is that, since we have the same kind of chords repeatedly, we can focus on some things to play just for those two chords and practice moving them around to different keys as needed. In this way, sequential progressions present a nice opportunity for clearly targeted practice. It may be simpler where we have only one chord type, or are moving the same distance each time. But in reality, the chords of the li-V pair are so related and intertwined that its more like finding things to play on just one chord for this sequence. And then comes the part about aiming for these different harmonic areas.. To give this a whi, let’ look at some sample ideas for a one-bar II-V on Cm?-F7. Notice that each of these little melodic cells ‘would also sound fine on either Cm? or F7 alone. Well call them Ideas 1, 2, and 3, just for reference, These quite traditional phrases use entirely C Dorian tones and basically outline the chords (compare with a Cm? or F9 shape around the 8th fret, all with a sense of swing, Next, let's take each of these and move it through the progression, transposing it for each new ii-V. Through the fist three measures, well do this the easy way, moving the whole fingering along the same strings. But even though we could keep that going with a jump up the neck for E5m7-A.7, much of the lesson in fretboard- and jazz chord-navigation would be lost if we did—so we must find another way. 7O 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEEXAMPLE 1 Gm cmt m bm? Ebr Ant pr ebm abr Got Sometimes this kind of repetition through the changes can sound cool just by itself, but to finish our process we should mix it up a bit. Try going through the progression again, for each ii-V hitting one of these phrases, in the right place for the right chords, but not the same idea each time. It might go something like this (with just a little rhythmic variation leading into Gm? at the end): EXAMPLE 2 2-20 (9-03) cmt FD bm Ebr k = : 4 + mat 5 = In the long run, well do best with a bigger vocabulary of ideas to draw from, as well as allowing ourselves to modify thelr thythm, content, and range as we go. This sort of sequential practice helps us to start building that vocabulary and to quickly find where we want to be on the fretboard as the chords to the song move along. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 7772 Ble) Exit JAZZ HEMIOLA Don't worry, this is not a rare disease caught only by those who improvise on a swinging groove! Hemiola refers to rhythmic figures that repeat as ifto imply a certain meter, while being played in a different meter. For example, a three-beat long phrase that occurs repetitively, end-to-end, in 4/4 time would constitute a hemiola. In this lesson, welll take a look at a few classic licks in the jazz language that lend themselves well to this kind of rhythmic repetition, First of let's look at this typical ‘playing in 3rds" pattern often used for scalar practice, and a common rhythmic variation of it With either the raw pattern or that initial variation, we have a rhythm that fits into 4/4 meter in a very plain sort of way. But let’s change it up a bit and vary the variation by adding in one more quarter note for each repeated tone: 3) (6S fae Now, for each pair of scale tones, we have a figure that lasts three beats instead of two. On its own, the pattern sounds as if tis in 3/4 time. Placed in 4/4, you can see that the repetitions begin at staggered places in the measure, instead of always on beats 1 oF 3.A scalar pattern like this one can be applied to many situations. Next, check out this little phrase, also a three-beat-long figure, repeating in 4/4 time. We could say it comes from the F melodic minor scale, starting on the second tone (Gi. Its really quite a flexible unit—one that fits nicely with a few different kinds of chords in the same way as the whole scale. Compare its sound to that of each of the chord shapes shown here: Ff pbobit E79 tegen aie aff fae HSI asi For yet another potential source of jaz hemiola, consider the beginning of the blues scale—played up and down repeatedly with 8th notes, it can make a musical statement of gritty attitude. But how much of it should we play repeatedly? By experimenting with different starting or turning-around points, we can create various rhythmic groupings that either coincide or contrast with the meter ofa tune. For example, if we start at the tonic, go up to the Sth tone and back, turn around on the bottom note again, and so on, the result isa unit of eight 8th notes, which will start at the same place in a 4/4 measure each time. if we leave off that top note in our up-and-down pattern, we get a sixnote figure, again implying three over four. The following figures demonstrate how these two possibilities compare. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEThe following musical example features a one-chorus solo on a brisk A minor blues using all these hemiola figures in context with some variation. It begins with the scalar pattern of 3rds, as ifit is going to be the plain version, but then the extra notes sneak in to create the hemiola. From the last half of measure 3, the melodic minor line we discussed is used for two different minor chords in a row and winds up starting ftom a different point when we hit Dm? (I've put in fingerings here, since the Dm part of this can be a litte tricky to execute). EXAMPLE 1 [At measure 7, we get one additional repeating lick: a classic three-note, one-anc-a-half-beat-long, almost-twangy blues figure, with a more rapid hemiola effect of its own. The example concludes with our main blues scale gesture itself, seriously messed with for rhythmic variety, as the bottom note is left off on one go-around, and the high point changes each time, For all we may try in our jazz improvisation, to flow from one idea to the next in an ever-changing stream of tones, sometimes a litle immediate repetition with rhythmic moxy can hit the spot 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE 73.74 A SNEAKY SUB-CHORD CYCLE LESSON #36: In this lesson, we try an exercise for soloing on a very common chord cycle that has dominant sevens moving around the circle of fifths. Well use three principles or procedures: 1) turning dominant seven chords from natural to altered before resolving down a Sth, 2) the use ofa tritone substitute, or dominant seven chord three steps removed from another one, to turn it into an altered dominant, and 3) the cyclical practicing of short melodic ideas to have them ready for use on different roots or in different keys. The chord progression at hand is dominant sevens moving one to the next in a V-I direction (root goes down a Sth each time), before finally resolving to a major chord the same way: br a a Fo bmg? OR LLZA DITA TTA 7 the use of alterations to accentuate the move of each chord to the next, it may look like this: br pris, a ons a cree mh rts Bbmaj? OE ZZZLA DATS LLLL ALTA ALLL SS TL PPP ‘And now, with trtone substitution, we conceive of these altered dominants as being natural dominants instead, but with their roots three whole steps (or half an octave) away: br Abr or vbr a oh A » bai? OLA LLLP DPA PD ADA PPL AP LL LALAAP AA LLP Notice the great similarity between the altered chords we swapped out and particular versions of the tritone subs we put in: pits. ADI rts bo. See a Next, we come up with a couple of things to play on our dominant seven chords, Just one measure long and fitting hand-in- glove with the chord tones. Welll play them first on D7 alone. Notice how Idea 1 overlaps with a D9 chord shape at the fourth position (or an A minor chord, or A Dorian scale), while Idea 2 traces a D13 shape at the 10th fret. ‘Sager Now we take these short licks, one at a time, and place them on every chord in our subbed-out cycle. This requires transposing them of course, and for practicality we'll need to play them with at least one more fingering each. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEFinally, we combine the two ideas in a pattern, drawing from the work above, to play through this chord progression. | suggest a cycle like this one: EXAMPLE 2 With some variation in rhythm and note choice (not to mention some additional ideas too), we can be on our way with something to play for the subbed-out cycle! 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 75.aS Sto) EX7Aag HARMONIZING ONE TONE When we've come along a bit in our jazz comping (chordal accompaniment), we certainly want to have a variety of ways to render each chord of 2 tune. Also, we should go beyond playing something that is merely correct for each individual chord and choose our voicings so that they work together nicely in the progression. A chordal exercise that can help us to take stock of the chord forms we know, spur our creativity in how we use them, and inspire us to learn new ones is attempting to harmonize one single note with all the chords in a progression—or at least a good part of it. This means choosing a note (probably in the key of the tune, but not always), looking for versions of the chords with that note at the top, and playing them in sequence. (One word of warning: this will not be as easy, or even feasible at all, with every note for every progression. So don't get too frustrated if ts not working in a particular case, but just let it lead you to explore the possibilities! The blues progression is an especially good place to try this, since the form is open to so many variations and chordal substitutions. Here's an example of how we could play the changes to a blues in F—the jazz version, of course—while harmonizing the tonic the whole way through (the note F). We're allowing for voicings that leave off the root or put a different note in the bass and definitely including alterations and substitutions. The bottom line is that it ultimately sounds good as a ‘whole, while keeping the one note on top. Ill comp in a rhythmically flexible way while using the chord shapes shown: EXAMPLE 1 eat Cpe) 76 waa (2293) bs Fa Innl taggin HI 5 = 3 = E = = S| ho 87 A Bb mrs prio ee tir pei se ae | find that with something close to the basic jazz progression fora blues, I can get through this harmonizing exercise smoothly ‘enough using the tonic, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Sth, 6th, or 7th tones of the key as the note on top—iee, in the key of F, the notes F, G. As, Bh, C,D, or Es. Doing this with any other notes would either sound quite dissonant or require more bending of the original progression. You cant really have any kind of B» dominant seven chord with the note A in i, for example. A couple of hints if you want to pursue this further on your own: the Sth of a key often works particularly well for the blues ‘and many other progressions (as you long as you don't insist on including the #iv diminished chord, trying to harmonize C with B7 and so forth). And don't forget the possibility of the 7sus4 chord. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINELet's go through the F blues progression again to see how it could sound with A: on top the whole time (the less-usual shapes for 8:7 and B°7, in the middle of this example, are there because they help maintain good flow from chord to chord) EXAMPLE 2 E = 44 That's kind of a special property of the blues and related forms—being able to get away with the minor 3rd throughout when. it's not a minor key tune! The one-note-on-top sound can actually fit nicely into our comping from time to time, but it’s not an overall end-goal so much as an exercise, Other chord-melody skills can come into play as well as we consider what flow or contour of tones we may want on top of our chords. The main thing isto keep listening for what sounds good in context and keep exploring. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 7778 1B -S-to) Ext: DOUBLE-STOP DELIGHT (One way to vary our soloing texture, besides the use of octaves or full-blown chord-melody improvisation, is by playing harmonized melodic lines with double stops (two strings played at once]. This can be done with different intervals (distances between the two notes that are played together), but itis physically easiest on the guitar with 3rds or 4ths, since they are relatively simple to play on neighboring strings in standard tuning. These intervals may also work most smoothly for musical reasons in a lot of settings, and in this lesson we will look at a couple of possibilities for improv with 3rd- or ath-harmonized ideas It isan established part of the training regimen for classical guitarists to play their scales harmonized in 3rds, and we would do well to at least get a startin this discipline before trying to improvise with the double-stop sound. In preparation for our frst ‘musical example, let's try this with two different scales related to an A minor setting: the A melodic minor and A Dorian scales. Well ust use a short span of each, one tone past an octave, with similar fingerings that both involve three harmonized notes peer pair of strings. Fingering numbers are written above: In either case, tones from the exact same scale are used for both the top and bottom parts. | encourage you to practice these going up and then heading back down again the same way (the melodic minor traditionally reverts to the tones of the natural minor on the way down, with lowered 6th and 7th degrees, but we can stick with the official ascending version here in both directions for the sake of our present study). Along the lines of these scales in 3rds, check out this way of soloing on a chord progression, which eventually moves from ‘m7 to Cm7 and beyond: EXAMPLE 1 Its mostly the Dorian material that is used here for the minor seven chords (going up to C Dorian for Cm7), with a couple of chromatic slide-ins. By the end, we've heard some pretty 3rd intervals that involve tones of an altered F7 and finally Bomaj7. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LE:Next, well geta taste of harmonization with 4ths. This too can be applied to diatonic scales (major, minor, and modally elated scales), but well ty it here with G minor pentatonic, as good background for our second musical example, and just because it works nicely with this scale! Here are two slightly diferent ways to harmonize it, again through just more than one octave, with fingering numbers shown above: OM Feo Mer Patni) feet et Ss _ — In the first version, we've harmonized the entire thing with the perfect 4th interval, which is particularly easy to find on the ‘uitar, as most neighboring string pairs are tuned that distance apart (meaning that notes on the same fret of both strings will form a perfect 4th, save for the G and 8 strings together) But not all the tones in the resulting lower part actually belong to G minor pentatonic—the A that is on the bottom of the fourth harmonized note is the exception (even itis indeed part of a regular G minor scale, or G Dorian). In the second version, all tones in both parts are from G minor pentatonic, but one pair of notes forms a major 3rd interval instead of a perfect 4th—ie, the D and Bat the 3rd fret of the second and third strings. However, this sounds quite normal, since all the tones really do belong to the same scale, and it also lies very naturally on the instrument—it’s a place where musicality and fretboard convenience meet Both approaches are used within this segment of the blues in G, and yet another major 3rd is thrown in atthe start of the second measure to go with the C7 chord, At that point, the note on top is E, and we've technically stepped outside of G ‘minor pentatonic. EXAMPLE 2 e135 (0-03) it —4 [As you may notice, we also go just beyond G minor pentatonic as we hit the highest note in measure 3, the Ds, creating a blues scale inflection. It too is harmonized with a perfect 4th, and the resulting A below it comes from none of the above- mentioned scales—the emphasis here is more on just playing in 4ths, With some study of how scales and melodies can be harmonized in 3rd or th intervals (or beyond), we can add a new double-stop element to our solos in a way that is pretty striking, or both! 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE 7980 A TRANSPOSITION DISPOSITION LESSON #39: Transposition, the act of moving melodic or harmonic musical ideas from one key to the other (or playing the same thing starting on a different note), is an important skill for musicians in general, but especially so for a jazz player. Not only might we want to play a tune in our repertoire in some other key, with fairly litle warning, but the very art of improvising and comping on chord changes requires that we can place the bits of pieces of our musical vocabulary (licks, chord voicings, etc) wherever we need them in terms of pitch. Not only that, But the very process of transposing sharpens our sense of relationships between ‘ones or chords, paving the way for better improvisational spontaneity down the road, In attempting to do this it helps, of course, to be musically literate—not just in terms of being able to read, but also Understanding something about how notes are related and having the ability to identify them and find them by name on ‘our instrument. However, even for those who are not the most steeped in this kind of thinking, a couple of other approaches ‘an come into play: pure use of our ear to hear when we've successfully moved an idea to where it needs to go, and fretboard logic. It may really be a combination of these things that allows a guitarist to transpose, but here we'll take a look at how we might use the layout of our instrument, from different angles, to get the job done. Suppose we have a musical phrase like this one, knowing that it fits with a Gm7: What if we wish to play the same line, but now for Bm7 instead? A very common guitar approach is to move it along the same set of strings, relating it to positions that may be familiar from basic chords, such as the barre chord, Our fingering was initially in the third position, where weld find our big Gm barre chord (and many other chords on G), so weld move it up to the eleventh position, where the similar Eom chord would be found. Bb? This is all well and good, though so far we're stil limited to having our phrase, transposed for Exmi, pretty high up on the fretboard and in this particular range of pitch. But now, short of being able to name al the notes involved and locate them elsewhere on that basis, we can simply use our ear to make sure we have the seme thing, note for note, as we try to move to a different string set. Here itis frst at the same pitch, but on higher strings, and then placed an octave lower (still plenty recognizable as the same unit, if we pay attention} ebm? 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEAnother way we might have arrived at these same possibilities for the Eim7 phrase would've been to move the original idea to other strings and fingering shapes first, giving us a new angle on where or how it might be played. Notice that, as either melodic or chordal shapes move across the strings in standard tuning, notes on the B or high E strings are simply one fret, higher than they would have been on the lower four, and vice versa: Gat Emr ont hn be £ f E ——— : co : © fos T | ee es : 4 In both these instances, of course, at least some idea of where to find something by name was required. like to point out to students, if they fee! that the fretboard isa big sea of hard:-to-name notes, that they have some fairly pat concepts to lean on ‘or navigation: if you know the names of the open strings, you pretty easily know what notes you have at the 12th fret, the ‘octave point, If you know how the guitar is tuned, you have some ready “signposts at the Sth (or 4th) fret, where the note on ‘one string isthe same as the next string open. From there, you do ultimately need to know the spelling of a chromatic scale, or basically where the sharps and flats are in our musical system (between ‘naturals’ or notes named with plain alphabet letters), to find your way around, If you've played any piano, you've probably got this or can at least visualize a keyboard to remember where there are whole steps or half steps between things. In any case, here itis, in a nutshell ‘A-Ai/Bs-B-C-Ci/D\—-D-Ds/B-E-F-FH/G-G-GUA-A (half step by half step, or fret by fret) Many of these ate indeed named in two ways. We say that AZis enharmonic to B: (same note as we hear it diferent possible names). Carefully using this info, you can find or identify any note by name on the guitar. Much could be said also about transposing chord changes, but here I'll just point out that we can look at the relationship. between the roots of a series of chords, right where they sit on the guitar, and then move this formation up and down or ‘across the strings to find new places for any given chord or the whole progression. Since re-fingering things is so tied in with transposition on the guitar, | have here a little challenge for you—-one that is not exactly transposition, since it involves the same phrase repeatedly in the same key, but can really lead us to explore where something might be played on the instrument. What we have here is an A major seven arpegaio, starting with the 7th and proceeding up through root, 3rd, Sth, and the 7th in the next octave. | have found 16 different exact places to put it on the fretboard—three each in the lowest and highest registers, and ten in the middle range, within the following parameters: no ‘open strings, first two notes always on same string, always within a span of six frets, no higher than 17th fret. There is certainly overlap of frets/strings used, but at least something different in the shape or location each time, and that is how | recorded this exercise for the sake of the enclosed CD—honest! I'll how you my fist location, Can you find the others? EXAMPLE 1 SS ae oe aa rr ———S - SS =E a | = a Try using the concepts of this lesson to put some of your favorite licks, melodies, and chord progressions into different keys. Transposition is a skill that improves justin doing it and is both practically necessary and good for us in our development as. jazz guitarists. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 81ja -\-te) Ete] SLASH CHORDS An interesting phenomenon we sometimes come across, in reading through the chords to a tune or arrangement, is the presence of slash chords. No, 'm not talking about the flailing-arm strumming sounds of Pete Townshend in concert, or harmonies written by the onetime guitarist from Guns N’ Roses, but rather the kind of chords whose symbols look like "D/G" or “Bmaj7/F"—ie,, with a slash in the middle. These read as" over G" or “E-flat major seven over F* and are used to designate chords for which the note under the slash is in the bass (or on the bottom of the voicing, anyway). This note on the bottom may or may not be a regular part of the chord named on top. Ifitis, then the slash chord designation simply serves to call for a specific inversion of this chord (a voicing with something other than the root on the bottom), as in the following cases: cI Gmaj7/BFIEbEm7bs/Bb Aa sie Eeaegsir Frise ce HH ae ras mi rir Other times, the particular combination of the chord on top and the note below results in a more complex harmony—one that could often be named in some other way as well—but for which the slash chord may suggest to us a certain voicing or way of putting it together. Notice that, where the chord symbol above the slash is just a root name, it does indeed indicate a simple major triad to be played over the bass note: Eb GIA cmaj7/D Gmja Cmy/D BC or F13)9{n0 root] (orAbmust) —(orDIdaust) —(orAMOmsd) —COrd7D8sus4)—CorCmayrésy CorB7#9{noro0t)) Str fo jeter ot paar ni 34ll Tad When we see a slash chord on a chart, it can be a mistake to assume that we should go to the fist place on the fretboard we usually think of for the main chord and then try to change the bass note. A good case in point: if we needed "B7/As' and tried to use this familia 8.7 shape at the 6th fret, But with the bottom note moved down two frets to Av along the low E string, weld have an awkwardly incomplete chord. Better would be to use the third voicing shown below, which could also be called just "Bu/ Ab! since Avis the 7th of Bs7 and makes a complete 8:7 when combined with the B major triad (this slash chord is indeed a ‘third inversion of B47, meaning the 7th is on the bottom): br Bhryab Boyyab (common) —(notgreatattempt) _(orjustBb/Ab) G an a re Pi 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINEHere's a progression using slash chords which could mostly be thought of by different names instead. Il present them here with the slash” symbols on top of the staff, and, in most cases, an alternate way of naming them shown above the fretboard diagrams. These chords actually function much like we would expect from the alternate names—a lot of A7-type chords leading to D-something-or other, etc. EXAMPLE 1 Atsusibo Atabono 7h) Dowd DYC G/B GayBh Aust ADéstaoTM Diu) se ise hi se tae se is fe ria CD DIC GR GmyBh mwa AD oT Notice that in measures 1,2, 5, and 6, we briefly get the effect of a pedal tone, or note that stays constant in the bass while chords change above it. Slash chords can also be used in such a way as to create unique sounds that are less likely to be heard in standard harmony. The following progression is an example of the sort of compositional technique where one simple unit (here again, a major triad) moves in opposition to a bass line, creating different slash’ combinations along the way: EXAMPLE 2 You can do your own exploration with slash chords, both to seek out unusual new sounds, and to be ready for combinations and inversions that may come up in the music you play. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 83GREAT LEAPS saith WITH BABY STRIDES Certain challenging chord progressions have become the proving grounds, and stumbling blocks, for many developing jazz improvisers, A progression like this one, which seems to be constantly changing key, has often been cause for conniptions, but thete are some relatively painless ways to get started on it: Boa? DT Gna? BbT Ebnait Am D7 Gat B67 ema FET Bat at why ebm &t FLD A PIAL IA PA A AAL ALA LDAP APA First, lets observe that it moves in a regular cycle between three major key areas—B, G, and B—and everything that goes on in between the corresponding major seven chords is really just leading into each of them. These lead-ins are actually the very normal movements of V-I (ike D7 to G), oF ji-V-I (ike Am7 to D7 to G), that we see in song after song in the jazz repertoire, simple or complex alike. ‘A common exercise for improvisation on such changes is to play a scalar pattern from the root (or another tone) of every chord. And that makes alot of sense, as we need to scope out the notes that pertain to each chord and be able to find them again quickly. But here well try a different approach, though it also involves “mapping out" some of the harmonic territory in the progression, The main idea is this: as an alternative to the tones-on-every-chord method, tty focusing on the resolution (the “leading in’) to each new major key with simple, very short V-I lines that you may already play in other settings. We still wind up playing something on nearly every chord, if not all of them, but its a different way of getting our bearings. For an example of a short “V-| lines” dril, well use this same litle phrase for heading into each major seven chord, It fits entirely within the major scale of the key itis used for, and here itis transposed for the three keys in which well need it: Gmait br Bbmai? Fi Bai? a-thete a b ss Now welll try placing it in the progression, wherever the V-I resolutions take place (well use nothing extra, aside from a starting note on 8maj7). Notice that this lick is actually just a bit too long most of the time, so initially welll use just the first four notes, which take care of landing in each major chord, and then play the whole thing where we have enough space. After getting used to the phrase in each key, make sure to play through the whole exercise in tempo: EXAMPLE 1 Ebmaj? 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINENext welll work with a more substantial idea, a classic {line (also entirely from the major scale of each key): An? DT Gait Fo? bt bm? clot rT? veri tehee fete a = ae el a TE? vee Here too, as we place this line for each resolution in the progression, welll chop it down to just the essential V-I part for most spots (skipping the first four and last two notes) and play more or all of it where it its: EXAMPLE 2 er oa Bhnagt Fer sana? Fat Bh Emap To go further in this process, we really need to work out our ideas in different positions and fingerings, besides having more of them, and mixing and modifying them as we go. And ultimately, we don't want to ignore the major sevens of this progression, or flowing from them into the next key area, either. Solid memorization of the changes is also helpful to the improviser so he or she always knows by sound and by name what's coming around the corner. ll make no bones about it; progressions like these require some very specific hard work to master, beyond our “hit-the-resolutions" approach. But these baby strides are a way to begin. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 851B =S-fo) EZ THE HALF-STEP HOUDINI Even those of us aiming to be an “inside” sort of improviser in modem jazz, always observing the key and chord progression as we go, can sometimes use a bit of “outness" in our playing—the sound of breaking out of those changes a bit, hopefully in an ear-pleasing way, Short of being a totally outside jazz musician (pertaining to a less chord-oriented free or avant-garde approach), we can experiment with momentarily escaping the zone of the chord on which we are soloing. In this lesson, well try a couple of devices for moving 2 half step up from where we are expected to be and quickly back again. First we'll look at a modal setting in which’a single chord (and scale) may be the basis for improv for many measures in a row. In both parts of Example 1, vie start in a way that fits the Dm7 at hand, and the D Dorian scale along with it, and then move into tones that imply Bm7 for a moment before getting back home. Caution: a progression that stays on Dm? for a long time might eventually move to Em? for real, and we don't want to sound as though we've simply gotten there too early by mistake! So welll keep our outside excursions brief. EXAMPLE 1 aes ht nee In the first case, we really do stick with Dorian, or chord tones, for efther Dm7 or E57 (considering color tones like the 9th, ‘Ith, or 13th), moving around largely with chordal arpeggio shapes. In the second case, there's a lat of chromatic movement and some notes that are not technically part of the scale or chord, even while the overall sound still fits Dm7 initially. But before it’s done, this prevalent half-step melodic motion helps us slckly blend into Bim? territory and back. Next welll make a similar move from a major chord, playing momentarily as ifthe whole thing were a half step higher, this time ‘with a more particular harmonic implication: leading back into the chord from a half step above it can have some of the same mojo as V-I resolution—ie, like a G7 heading home to Cmaj7. G7 could pretty naturally be replaced by a D- dominant seven chord, its tritone substitute, and having Dt major seven there instead gives the whole thing a new flavor. (However, coming back down from a minor chord a half step above, asin the previous example, is further removed from this phenomenon.) So visiting a D-maj7 area, from the home base of Cmaj7, could be just an outside twist to keep things interesting, or it could be a substitution for more common changes that move away and come back to C. In both parts of Example 2 on the next page, where the offical chords show a normal ii-V-l harmonic movement in the key (Dm7-G7-Cmej7), we go up a half step in our note-choice to impose the sound D:maj7 instead, for at least part ofthe time that really belongs to Dm? and G7. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEEXAMPLE 2 Oe s Je190 (235) 4 Notice that in this second key-of-C instance, the imposed D-maj7 tones could be conceived of as Fm7 material as well. For our final scenario, we'll try implying a ii-V chord substitution—one that is actually a common device built right into some bebop-style compositions. Where a ii-V-1 is to take place (here, the Am?-D7-Gmaj7 chunk of this progression), an extra li-V Pair is snuck in before the regular one, only a half step above it. That would give us Bom7-£7-Am7-D7-Gmaj7 for these last ‘three measures, two beats per chord until reaching Gmaj7. But in our present situation, we won't wait for a composer or bandmate to tell us that this substitution will happen. Rather, in the middle of this passage, we will go ahead and play one fret higher than we're supposed to, by surprise, before sneaking back down into the Am7 tone-zone that was expected: EXAMPLE 3 es ane (2-73) Gmay tbo This stuff is quite mild as far asa taste of “outside” playing goes, and some of itis really based on chordal theory afterall. Stil, | advise a good basic grounding in playing chord changes before implementing too much of it. Remember, we're talking about taking something that is essentially wrong (playing a half step out of key) and trying to make it sound right, like 2 hi refreshing break from the usual. It’s like advanced wizardry for Harry Potter and his classmates—powerful and potentially dangerous in the hands of the inexperienced! But play around some with these harmonic ideas, staying aware of where youd normally be for the chords, and you can add a colorful touch of outness to your lines. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE 87a S-te)] Ekta QUINTESSENTIAL QUARTALS In the chords and melodies that we generally play, written or improvised, we find a varity of intervals, or distances between notes. These intervals can be between successive notes (as in a melody) or between notes sounded together (ina chord) and are labeled in music theory with names like “major 3rds, "perfect Sths, ‘octaves,’ or higher numbers such as “9ths” once they are larger than an octave. Familiar melodic ideas, while usually containing quite a mix of these intervals, tend to be built especially around stepwise motion along a scale (like an E down to a D, or up to an F), or motion in major or minor 3rds along a chordal arpeggio, one chord tone to the next (lke G up to B, or down to E), A unique, modem effect can be created by basing our single-note lines more on the perfect 4th interval. This is the distance from the note D up to the next G or down to the next A, equal to two and half steps, or five frets along one string. It’s the first melodic move we hear in “Taps” or “Here Comes the Bride” and is relatively easy to find on the guitar in standard tuning, since ‘most neighboring pairs of strings are tuned a perfect 4th apart (all except strings 3 and 2, the G and B strings, which are a ‘major 3rd apart), That is, ifyou play a note at the same fret of two different strings, next to each other, you've got a perfect 4th, unless you're on the second and third strings together. Let's check out an example of how a standard chord progression may be approached with such an emphasis on perfect 4ths. One technical tip: to play lines like these that involve this interval repeatedly, we might need to strategize a bit with our fingerings. Multiple notes at the same fret will likely require some rolling of the fingers (looks like barring, but we try to get only one tone at once), and position shifts are needled along the way as well EXAMPLE 1 Bhai? ey Abmai7 ab be Pret fe * ‘The perfect 4th interval appears plentifully in conventional tunes and licks, but not with the same kind of repetition that we have here—two or more of them often occurring in a row (lke at the beginning of measure 6) or separated perhaps by whole steps (as happens twice in measure 4). Though the extra use of it may take us beyond the usual kind of ii-V-" ideas we'd hear ‘on this progression, these lines still very much fit each chord change along the way. Comparing the chord shapes on the next page with the notes found in specific parts of Example 1 can help make this clear (notice that certain alterations or versions of the chords have been assumed or imposed by the soloist in this case). 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEMeasure Measure |: Measre2; Measure Fm? Bom? Bb 7eZeowy Eb7H#D ADS Abmnajt3) ——Ab7}2 bro eof Ge ie Sean Se f Bee pan ne ie zea Vase Vonage Vane a Mean 5 Measie 6 Measures 7&8 Dbmaj7 bbs Dmui#s oe “ctti Cmaji3#11 ae str = ay i. 13241 ari 1h ran Tia ® Sow Sih on op Perfect 4th-based lines can also be a vehicle for stepping outside of traditional harmony altogether. This is a technique that ‘can be heard in the playing of jazz greats such as tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris and pianist McCoy Tyner. The linear ideas of our next example, over an F7sus4 vamp, start very much inside the chord with 4th-based figures that never leave the corresponding F Mixolydian scale until about halfway through measure 4, when a particular pattern is continued, such that we wind up hitting plenty of out-of-key tones before coming back home: EXAMPLE 2 comma er oo The pattem, starting at the beginning of that measure, could be described as going down two perfect 4ths in a row from our starting point and repeating that whole three-note unit a minor 3rd further down each time (from A now instead of from C, and so on). Notice that right as we repeat the unit, moving from D up to A to do so, we get a perfect Sth interval, which is the inversion of a perfect ath (D down to A would've been a 4th). So in a way, ths plan simply leads to a continual stream of the same interval. Following it, we wind up with some colorful dissonance against our main harmony and then a chance to rejoin the key, as the pattern re-enters the tones of the scale (other patterns are possible too, though this one happens to work out nicely) Whether for a fresh sound as we improvise on chord changes, or for purposes of heading “outside or for a little of both, exploring perfect 4th-based ideas can add a new aspect to our melodic improvisation, 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 89Bf) Ett MOTION WITHIN CHORDS When we initially try playing the chords to a tune, we might be thinking in terms of one way to play each—at least for any single time it appears. But in real performance, jazz players may often vary a chord right as its being played, either by moving between different voicings or by allowing one or more tones to change within a basic shape. This skill comes in handy, ‘especially for those situations in which a song lingers a while on one chord. In this lesson, we look at a few common device’ in jazz harmony for creating such movement and how it can help enliven the flow of a song. Fist off, check out this example of comping through the first four measures of a blues in Bb. Only the basic chord symbols are written above the staff here (with an acknowledgment of the altered &:7 towards the end), while the exact nature of the harmony actually shifts a bit from moment to moment, showing how an experienced player might embellish the changes: EXAMPLE 1 Here are some key factors to note about the internal movernent in the above example: ) Throughout, we're using mainly voicings that seem like familiar chord shapes with the usual root on the bottom omitted (from the A or low E strings), which can be helpful for mobility. A couple of them actually have the root included on top. In a band setting, the bass generally covers these chordal roots anyway, and leaving them off is often good way to vary the texture, even when we're not trying to move around so much. ) In measure 1, 8:7 is played with a popular bluesy figure, expanding the plain dominant seven chord by moving its tones up and back short ways through the Mixolydian scale. n this case, we're not moving quite as much with the bottom note. b Inmeasures 2 and 3, B7 and 8:7 are both given a brief sus4 treatment, letting the chordal 3rd move up a half step to the 4th and back, fora momentary 7sus4 sound. In the third measure, this is done with a 8-13 voicing for B.7. ) 7:9 and 749 chords are often interchangeable, and late in measure 4 we take advantage of that principle, using first. a 8174925 voicing and right after it a B.7S95. Ths creates some melodic motion from the #3th tone to the9th on the high E string, The second-to-last thing heard is really a D9 shape—nothing weld want to land on for too long here, lest it clash against the very different harmonies that are actually part of the progression—but it's really just there to slide quickly up into the real chord we mean to play: an 6.9 (for £7) This is a common sort of move that you have likely heard. Let's now see what may happen on another progression using some other ways to create harmonic motion where just one chord officially takes place. Again, only the basic chord symbols will be shown in the next example, like the ones we might find on the lead sheet to a tune, while variations based on those main chords take place underneath, 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE.EXAMPLE 2 ra on Jem (2.73) nt ‘Some important features of this example: ) Again, we have frequent rootless chord voicings. Gm is initially expanded in a similar way to the 87 at the beginning of Example 1 ) In measure 3, we get first a Gm9 voicing and then a jump up to a G7sus4 shape, which could well represent Gm11 (without the chordal 3rd). ) The first thing in measure 4 is a Gmt1 shape (mostly a stack of perfect 4th intervals), followed by the same thing a step higher, or AmiI. This second chord works nicely to expand the essentially Gm7 sound in alternation with the original chord (ts tones too can all be found in the G Dorian scale). But nelther this nor any kind of Am7 would work s0 hot standing alone to represent Gmn7! ) The beginning of measure 5 demonstrates a very typical method of moving within a minor chord. The second shape in this measure is a plain C minor triad with the note C on the bottom (on string 4). Notice that we moved into that note from a D above it (the chordal Sth, in a brief dissonance), and that after the minor triad this “voice” proceeds downwards by half step, technically giving us Cm{maj?) and then Cm7 before reaching the note A on the 7th fret, which is by then part of the F7+9 chord. ) Bimaj7 is embellished by its 7th tone moving chromatically down to the 6th in measure 6. As measure 7 begins, Am7s5 appears fist with its 11th tone on top, which then moves up by half step into the usual 1th, ) For D7, the 29 voicing is allowed to ring while the #5th (or 13th) tone is added on top. > Lastly, within a Gm9 chord shape in measure 8, the Sth tone of G minor (the note D on string 2) moves up by half step, taking us through Gm9#5 to wind up on Gm13 (with the 9th stil on top). ‘These are just a few well-established ways to create harmonic motion within one basic chord. Try them out in some songs you play and see what else you come up with that sounds good to your ears! 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE — 9Ty= BS Sle] Eri THE TROUBLE WITH SCALES “What scale do you use to play on this?" is a common question asked by those seeking to learn improvisation. It's an understandable one, as we fee! the need to have something to go by—a sure formula of some kind, when approaching this art of infinite possibilities, And indeed, we should learn our scales wel, and there is much helpful information to be had in relating their tones to particular chords. We can then be equipped with a tool for getting started in many harmonic situations. The trouble is, scales do not tell the whole story when it comes to improvising—not even about note choice. They can initially free us up by giving us a place to start that at least doesn’t sound bad, but then trap us into a box of limitations if we consider any one scale to be the total “how-to of playing on a certain chord or progression. Here welll take a look at a couple of examples of how this may be the case, considering a few common scalar approaches to a dominant seven chord, with some musical ideas that may or may not follow those guidelines. For a natural dominant seven chord—ie., one without alterations such as a flat or sharp 9th or sharp Sth—a pretty clear answer to the question of scale might be the dominant, or Mixolydian scale, which is the one that is said to generate this chord (through the use of its 1st, 3rd, Sth, and 7th tones, etc). Another popular way to go about improvising on the dominant seven is to be less concerned with specific chord content and just play from the blues scale, especially if its the tonic (| chord) ina blues form or the basis for a one-chord vamp (this scale may actually be used throughout the blues form, but its first tone ‘would be the root of the | chord, or the tonic of the key). The tones of these two scales are shown here on C, continuing through two octaves (or a little beyond), and located in the seventh or eighth positions on the fretboard: os Now here are a couple of phrases that could be played on C7 and would sound normal enough in a jazzer’s vocabulary: EXAMPLE 1 In both these cases, we have some bluesy flavor, as well as clear reference to chord tones, including the note E, the major 3rd of C7. This could be described in terms of a mix of the C blues and C Mixolydian scales, neither of which would by itself contain all the notes in either line. Notice that there's some scalar overlap here, since the Ist (toot), 5th, and 7th tones of the dominant scale or seven chord—C, G, and Bin this case—are also present in the blues scale (note too, that Dé, which begins the second idea, is the enharmonic equivalent of E). 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEto the Mixolydian scale, for fiting @ natural dominant chord, could be the Lycian dominant scale, or the Mixolydian with a raised 4th degree, which avoids the potential clash of the natural 4th sustained against the chord (and also accommodates a#I1th, the lone alteration that'l itn with this type of dominant seven). ‘Consider now the following pair of ideas for C7 improvisation: EXAMPLE 2 170 (1-03) : ut Again, we have lines that could be described as a mix of two scales—this time the Mixolydian and the Lydian dominant which are both quite specific to the chord, The difference here is only the use of the natural versus raised 4th (F vs. Fé), but if yOu try substituting one of these notes forthe other within either of these phrases, you might find that its character changes Quite a bit in terms of natural melodic flow, or how it sits with the C7 chord. Both of those notes are used purposefully in both phrases, and this would never happen if we stuck strictly to one suggested scale or the other. The main point is not that scales are unhelpful to the improviser, but that what ultimately rules the day are musical ideas, whether or not they can be summarized by any single scale (other than the chromatic scale, which contains all twelve tones ‘wee working with). Ideally, scales help us to find the notes and melodies we hear in our mind's ear by clarifying relationships between tones, both in theory and on the fretboard, as well as by pure sound. If exploration of a scale leads us to discover ew combinations that we like and that stick with us in our imagination, that$ all well and good too (as long as we don't ‘mistake it for the ultimate “how-to”)! 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 93esto) Ee COMPING TEXTURE Often underrated among the endeavors of playing jazz is the art of comping, or playing the chords behind a solo or melody, usually ina rhythmically and harmonically flexible way. Pianists may be the most widely heard compers in the legacy of great jazz recordings and performances, but guitarists are indeed called upon frequently for this skill. It is good to pay attention to how great players comp, how they support a soloist and relate to the band as a whole with their chordal rhythms and textures—perhaps responding to the soloist, inspiring them, or just staying out of the way! Due to its highly variable nature and its requirement of great sensitivity to the improviser (notice the word "comp" is short for ‘accompany’, itis an aspect of playing with room for creativity, depth, and continual growth on a par with soloing itself In this lesson, we will focus mainly on hoi we can vary the density, and with it the intensity, of our comping to ft different musical situations or to be better equipped to build and come down in dynamics through the course of a tune. Welll check out «a few contrasting examples of how comping might sound, all on the same standard chord changes and at the same swinging ‘tempo. Please remember that these are indeed just examples intended to give you an idea about potential rhythms and chord voicings, but not anything to memorize note-for-note for real-world use! This first demonstration is geared towards a rather sparse sound, with only the middle two strings used for each chord, and lots of space; in this case especially, the assumption is that we'e playing along with at least a bassist to fil things out. EXAMPLE 1 These tones are all 3rds or 7ths of the chords (except for the E in measure 1, which is the 6th of G major). We shouldn't forget that if we want to allow the texture to be on the thin side, we could go as far as to lay out entirely while a soloist holds forth, at least fora while! Next we try a more middle-ofthe-road density of comping, with some common root position four-string voicings, filing out the rhythm a bit and sticking mainly with the low and middle range of the guitar, For this and the final example, I've noted between the staves where chordal variations have been made (extensions, alterations, substitutions, or passing chords). Keep in mind that harmonies may be anticipated, often coming in a half of a beat earlier than indicated by the basic chord symbols shown on top. 94 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEEXAMPLE 2 bo? Amr mar 5 ant os 2 | = - r ; ° > = Saar A (E79) (79) (Ben? BTeS Amo Abo majo) § Baa —— j Ss | — — Finally, here's what it might be lke if we decide to go great guns on this progression with some five- or six-string voicings, busier rhythm plus more sustain, more alterations or substitutions, and greater jumps in range: EXAMPLE 3 mcs deies (2-7) Goal? Amt Didust Ab3 Gmail 3 3 | GF : ret = 3 eS i o mar 5 ee birdie f SEK wo Rawk wrk ot Bhs Att Amit ATS Gnarlin nym my $ "4 7 oS 1 E ; i = —— 4 Other possibilities of texture certainly abound, with higher or lower groups of strings on the instrument, different rhythmic approaches, and a variety of chord voicings and substitutions. And yet, exploring these options is just a start towards truly accomplished comping, It's an important step, but the true practice comes in playing with other musicians, gaining experience in comping for real improvising soloists, and listening well as we do. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEmac 00 | ar 96 ON SIMPLICITY sanded) (WITHIN COMPLEXITY) ‘Along our path towards becoming accomplished jazz improvisers, we do want to learn diligently how to deal with chord changes, not always "skating’ through by merely playing in the key of a tune, But we can sometimes get so focused on each chord, by name or by detail, that we lose sight of some simple, relatively easy melodic possibilities that can hit the spot and round out the palette of a sophisticated soloist. So, in this lesson, welll look at a couple of passages in reverse order of more complicated to less complicated—fist with the sort of full-blown lines that might result from thorough consideration of the harmonies at hand, followed by far easier options that ae still stylistically on the mark. Here's an example of a very bop-oriented, playing-the-changes approach to a I-VIsii-V turnaround progression in Be: EXAMPLE 1 a4 (11-13) Boma as cmt A Bhog? GT cm Y Bhai? In this case, we basically switch gears harmonically every two beats to acknowledge the new chord. The choice of notes could be described in scalar terms—with little exception, using tones of the B- major scale for Bsmaj7, G altered scale for G7, C minor (or maybe Dorian) for Cm7, and F altered for F7—or relative to chord tones for each harmony, considering alterations on the F7 and G7 chords. Whew! If this kind of thinking is new to you, don't panic. Its certainly possible through practice, listening, transcription, and lessons like these, to leatn how to handle chord changes in this manner even in a spontaneous way. But now, supposing we either have some ability with all that (and are trying hard to apply it throughout every solo we play), or ‘cannot yet handle such specifics and need a more basic way to get started, let’ take a look at an example of something else that might work in the same context: EXAMPLE 2 ” a cm A Bbmay GT cmt "7 bmi? These short phrases are made up almost entirely of Br major scale tones (which are, in fact, ell within Bs major pentatonic), aside from the blues flavored Ci/D.. We could also analyze these tones vis-a-vis the chords and say that the D towards the end of measure 2 implies an F13 and that the Dt in measure 4 makes it an F7+13 (or F75). However, both by its sound and by how weld find it on the fretboard, it makes even more sense to just call it a groovy little mostly--major idea that works! Now let's consider a different short chunk of a progression, one which could also be called a tumaround, of a different sort (moving chtomatically down from the tonic chord, finally leading from VI to ii) and which, upon looking at it, may seem more complicated than it really needs to be. Welll check it out on the next page first with another detail-oriented kind of line. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEEXAMPLE 3 Here we have a very guitar chord-shaped approach to our note selection, drawing from particular voicings to bring out the flavor of each change, with a few connecting tones in between. You can see how this works by comparing the tab above with these shapes: cs pres BbI3 AIR Dm tte se FA ie Vee ae aase 1393 cee fig Avery different method of improvising through these harmonies is to find a common tone, which we easily have here with the note G, and do something that emphasizes itor simply stays on it for awhile (shown here ultimately moving to €, the th of Dmg: EXAMPLE 4 Oe 20 7 Without getting quite so pared down, we can stil try some rather down-to-earth melodic ideas that technically fit all the chords, while sounding more as if we're just playing along in the key (or in this case, with very C7-related tones): EXAMPLE 5 ae abst ae s ~e bee Fe to,» fF pect tees foe ‘ us en A 8 This line too could be explained in terms of members of each chord (E being the #11th of B.7, C being equivalent to B¢, which Is the #9th of A7, etc.) but more ideally, after some familiarity with the sound of this progression and a couple of C7-oriented scales, our ears may just tell us itl fit. Ultimately, its up to our ear and our taste where we use this kind of simple idea, versus material that digs deeper into the chords. I's best, in the jazz realm, not to be stuck in harmonically un-specifc tertory, never really playing the changes, but its important not to forget about the simple, groovy things either! 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITARLESSON GOLDMINE 97MD TRANSCRIPTION mmamannedd AND ANALY Sic ‘The process of transcribing the improvisations of great musicians—1 Ourselves on the guitar, writing them down, learning to play jazz. Aside from all the theor someone steeped in the music might actuall anyway, figuring out recorded solos note-for-note, and perhaps picking them apart for useful ry and principles we could study, ly play and itcan show us how th playing them information—is a valuable too! in this provides us with reablife examples of how 'e theory really applies and where it comes from, Gat a We could Begin by making some overall observations. There's a mostly swung 8th-note text with @ few decorative hammer-on/pull-of figures, a couple of flurries of 16th nates ands breath here and there. Guitarists 2nd other jazz Improvisers who are in mid ight will vary their touch and timing. and nee everything will come across exactly ‘enh ght write It neatly on the page. Some notes may be held just alte longer or shorter, and others may be ghosted (only pally sounded), and we can mark these with parentheses in a transcription i wa Ie Through most of the solo, 1 2 (third and fifth notes), whi re at this easy-medium tempo, notice the Ab in measure sure 3 to go with F7. One that started in measure 2 string of filler chords. And in this setting, it w« Jazzers often give it and converging again at D7, 998 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE CE eeLets look now at a couple of other lines within the solo, what they mean harmonically, and how they might feed into different improvisational situations, In measures 9 and 10 of this progression, leading into measure 11, there is aii-V-I chord movement, a very common formation found in a lot of tunes. Consider the phrase | play for it from the last half of measure 9, up to the downbeat of measure 11. It begins very much within the key of F (or, one could say, with notes of the G Dorian or C Mixolydian scales), but by the last part of measure 10 enters the territory of the C altered (or super Locrian) scale, implying an altered C7 chord, At the F7 chord, the phrase lands on a C, the chordal 5th, and we've come home neatly, We can understand more about how this line is formed by comparing it against these chord shapes (notice it traces the Grn7 especially before really moving on to C7 with the C79#5 material): Gu? cr tof Sir 12534 The whole idea could be transposed to different keys for use inal kinds of songs. f we wanted to use it fora ii-V-l in Bs major, for example, we could simply move the whole thing down seven frets on the guitar—or learn to play it on a different string set. Here we see how this could work for the key of Bs in the middle region of the fretboard, both with a direct transposition of our transcribed line, and with a slight variation of it inspired in part by what seems more natural to play in this area of the guitar! Coming up with our own variations of transcribed ideas is indeed an important part of the picture. (-1}) ca T a The quick runs at the ends of measures 4 and 8 both relate to their dominant seven chords in a way that is similar to the ‘end of measure 10, with tones that nearly all belong to an altered scale, and hug an F7##5 or 074945 shape, respectively What if we wanted an altered F7 line to lead to Bom7 in another tune? Here's one way that the idea from measure 4, and it's conclusion from measure 5, could be adapted 3} ibtvs fp et A z — prs Bhi? be mph Ox Bh. Transcription and solo analysis can help us develop improvisational ideas and understand how the jazz language works, whether we choose simpler or more challenging solos, and whether we analyze each detail or just use the process to absorb: the influence of the pros. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITARLESSON GOLOMINE 99Ble) Ect: ON TIMING AND FEEL In pursuing our sills as improvisers in a harmonically sophisticated music, we can get so caught up in the search for tones and lines that we lose sight of an important principle: the timing with which we play anything can have as much impact on our musical statement as the nates we choose, and more. Beyond basic choice of rhythms, or metronomic accuracy, this has to do with the fee! of our playing—nuances of timing and touch or dynamics beyond what could be written in notated music. A style or sub-gente can call fora certain feel, an individual player can have a feel that helps characterize their own unique sound, and there are different kinds of feel that can be tapped into for expressive purposes. The bottom line for understanding and developing a good fee! in jazz (or any style) is of course listening, to observe it and absorb it from the great players of the music. Still, here are some tips and concepts you may come across with regard to approaching a good swing feel in your lines (note that "swinging" can pertain to many styles of jazz across the ages—itis very relevant to the modem player and not confined to Swing Era music} ) Play behind the beat: By this we mean to lay back on it on purpose, in a hip, often relaxed kind of way, which is different than dragging or falling behind. ) Play 8th notes straight to make them swing: This is especially good advice if someone is over exaggerating the swung timing, but probably not too literally true, else we could never meaninafully talk of swung &ths! It’s a useful thought to play around with in any case, pethaps related to the next idea. b Accent the upbeats: A general assumption in music might be to put more emphasis on the notes that fall on downbeats, right with the pulse of the tune, but a jazzer might at least even this out a bit with some accent on the “ands in an 8th-note flow. While involving tone and dynamics, this has an impact on the rhythmic feel. Now as a practical exercise in timing and feel, | have a challenge for you—one that | will take on myself in the recording that accompanies this book. Lets try to play both of the following linear ideas, one faster and one slower, with three distinct approaches: moderate or normal (reasonably relaxed while swinging “in the pocket”) laid-back (behind the beat), and aggressive (with more of an edge). You may want to try this yourself before listening to my version—It's OK if we don't come Up with the exact same timing! EXAMPLE 1 a 100 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR :SON GOLDMINEPlease be aware that this is not the same thing as creating variations of the essential rhythmic figure (anticipating notes, switching 8ths and quarters, adding triplets or rests, etc—that is a valuable, but different, exercise). We're aiming here for variations that would, if written again on paper, look the same as what we had in the first place. These are explorations of the feel with which one basic idea can be played. We may even come across melodies or ideas that would fall flat, sounding meaningless or corny, if not played with = particular kind of feel. For example, here's little phrase which, to my ears, needs a special vibe put on it (probably a laid-back one) to sound like much of anything at all and would lose its mojo if delivered more literally or hard-swung; sometimes the presentation is the content! EXAMPLE 2 (One method of style-specific timing practice is to transcribe and play along with the recorded solos of the greats—not just for ines and technique, but to study and emulate their feel, seeing if you can rhythmically “walk in their footsteps” for 2 while. Ail of them have something to offer by way of feel, but certain guitarists, and others, come to mind for particular Favors Wes Montgomery strikes me as firmly swinging straight down the middle, Jim Hall as gracefully relaxed, Pat Martino and George Benson on the more aggressive side, each in their own way. And Grant Green Is amazing for his use of time, often saying a lot with relatively few notes—most famous perhaps for his laid-back side, but listen to his long, epic solo on “t Ain Necessarily So’ and you!ll hear extremes of behind-the-beat as well as on-top aggression. Among tenor saxophonists, | think of Joe Henderson and Stanley Turrentine for a harder-edged rhythmic approach, while Dexter Gordon and Hank Mobley a= exemplary of behind-the-beat playing, Along with other considerations of rhythm and use of space, a focus on precise timing and feel can make all the difference for everything we play—written or improvised, few notes or many. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDM102 hfe) Ete BALLAD PLAYING Even with the frequent fast tempos, complex chord changes, and syncopated rhythms found in jazz, the biggest challenge for an aspiring musician in the style can be playing well on a ballad (a very slow tune). A true ballad feel is distinct from @ down-tempo swing groove, or the 12/8-meter atmosphere of a slow blues. Time-wise, it involves a lot of space, which needs to be filed with a degree of grace and probably with something beyond the swung chordal rhythms or 8th-note lines that we cultivate in bebop. Here more than anywhere, listening to great players is the main key to finding out about comping and soloing in the specific setting. But in this lesson, we'll check out one example each of chordal and melodic playing on a ballad and make some helpful observations as to how these skills may be approached. These are a few factors to consider generally ) There can be a lot of space and a need for a great deal of patience not to rush the tempo (or simply play too much!) } Dynamics (where we play louder or softer) will be especially important to our expression in this sensitive environment. For certain kinds of songs in the music, we're used to one principal division of the beat, such as even &th notes for a ‘bossa, or swung 8ths (a close cousin of 8th-note triplets) for a straight-ahead jazz tune. But the ballad feel often entails a particular mix of even 8ths and triplets for the underlying division, which can be heard in all the instruments of the band, ‘The following example of ballad comping shows these characteristics, as well as other features of chordal playing, in the super- slow situation: EXAMPLE 1 cc 700] Ballad 1=50 The flexibility between Bth-note triplets and even 8ths can be heard throughout, with seamless shifting from one to the other. Measures 1 and 4 are mostly “triplety” measure 2 is all about even division, and measure 3 quite clearly uses both. The 16th notes at the beginning of measure 2, or towards the ends of measures 1 and 2, really represent even division of the beat. We may allow ourselves a more arpegglated touch on a few chords in this situation, more so than we usually would at 2 swinging tempo, That is, they may be sounded with a looser sweep across the strings, as at the end of measure 2 and in measure § (think “brrring’ instead of ‘chung’, or played with their notes stacking up in a distinct rhythm as in the beginnings of measures 2 and 3 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINENotice too that, for most chords in the given progression, there is actually a. good amount of movement going on. When ‘we comp on a ballad, itis as good a time as ever to have a variety of voicings for each chord and be able to move around a bit, even within a basic shape. There are many possibilities as to how this may be done, but the point is really that the extra harmonic motion can help the rhythmic flow of a tune so slow. Here, the basic chords have certainly been interpreted such that Fmaj7 might also be F6/9, A7 can be altered in different ways, and F7 could be F7sus4 moving to F1319, etc Let's try now an example of melodic soloing on a ballad, using the same changes and stil recognizing the significance of space and dynamics: EXAMPLE 2 abo, The triplet figures through most of measure 1 really represent swung 16th notes in this setting, where swung 8ths would bbe awkwardly slow. Some expressive ornamentation, like the short slide-in and multiple pull-offs at the start of measure 2, can be nice. Variety of rhythm and phrasing is extra-helpful for playing on ballads; as exemplified by the figure at the end of measure 2 and the sudden flurry of 32nd notes at the end of measure 3. And here too, we get a mixture of triple and duple division of the beat (triplets vs. even-8ths)—the run of 32nd notes is based on even division, and so is the 1éth-note phrase towards the end, by and large, despite the triplet decoration in the middle. The masterful performance of a ballad is considered the height of maturity fora jazz musician. Do some good listening, try the ideas put forth inthis lesson, let yourself relax into the tempo of the ballads you play, and you can start down that road! 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE 103LESSON #51: ffefe), [ods [o) | People often come to guitar lessons claiming they know the major scale, but in truth they really haven't done much with it creatively or musically. This lesson is designed to help you see how to get as much as possible out of one octave, or one position, Using the C major scale. Hopefully, you'll get the idea and make up as many of your own variations as possible, Notice that | use a simple &th-note rhythm throughout these exercises. Try to play all the notes evenly and strive to get a smooth sound, C Major Scale e ee Te A-p SEeS VARIATIONS: Q* £8) ‘The main idea is to break away from sounding as if you're playing a scale straight up or down. Try and come up with different ‘ways of playing those notes. MORE VARIATIONS C4) zy 2 Moderately fast 104 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINENumeric Log Scale Exercises These exercises work up and down through the scale in order, but they do so by a pattem of 1-2, 1-2:3-2, 1-2-3432, etc. for the ascending one and 8-7, 8-7-7, 8-7-6567, et. for the descending version. This demonstrates how even strict scalar motion can sound interesting with a litle thought behi mx ) 0:35 | Meaty ast ae = % aS — 2 = = e What did other musicians and composers do to write thelr music? They invented their own melodies and sounds, and so should you. Experiment with this, and through trial and error you'may surprise yourself and find you're quite a good composer as well. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 105BSS to) Ezy CREATIVE SHIFTING It’s fun to imitate and copy the riffs of other people. You can get an idea of how other musicians have approached music and have come up with their style. However, its a common aspect of jazz to not only learn a tune, but to improvise, or take a solo, in the middle. The following study was the first thing my first jazz instructor taught me; you play seven 8th notes, rest, and then you must come up with another melody in another position. That 8th restis all the time you get to think about it. Heres an example in C major. EXAMPLE 1 “ Playing over chord changes is a common goal for all jazz students. This exercise, with its seven 8th notes and an &th rest, is ideal for learning how to think quickly when you're improvising over changes. Here in this exercise, we go back and forth from ‘C major to E: major. EXAMPLE 2 O= Moderately fast : Coa Ebmai? mai? Ebmai? 106 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEThis line of thinking works with rock or fusion styles too. Using an A minor pentatonic scale, we can shift from one position to another. The main thing is to have another melody ready in a different area, but you only get an 8th rest to come up with that new idea EXAMPLE 3 Tacx? gattet rp. ete —i—t 5 A Here's an example using the A harmonic minor scale, EXAMPLE 4 SSS == >= It's also a great way to practice diminished arpeggios. The little time you get between each arpeggio allows you to move into the new position, EXAMPLE 5 mach? With any new concept, we have to start off slowly. When I first heard Pat Martino, | thought it was impossible for anyone to do that. He is able to keep coming up with fresh new lines one after another! It would blow my minal it's important to pause ‘or rest in order to give yourself time to generate new ideas. Once you get a fee! for this kind of thinking, you can mix in new rhythms and experiment with other phrasing ideas. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE 107B= STo) Fixe ONE STRING THING While traveling in India, | took a few lessons with a teacher who played bamboo flute, or bansuri. The melodic exercises he taught me were best played along one string. At first | thought people would think | was silly for trying to squeeze as many notes as possible from just one string. Not long after that, | watched a John Abercrombie video in which he was emphasizing the need to be fluent with melodies on just one string. f you work these up to speed, you should hear the Indian style, John McLaughlin is a master of this sort of thing. Throughout these exercises, use altemate picking. EXAMPLE 1 Om a2 Moderately There are many variations, and of course | encourage you to make up some of your own. m using primarily triplets that lend smselves to three-fingered patterns. Ths is essentially the descending version of the first example. EXAMPLE 2 mas ot = Moverately pag ltctteteetee Ste berteetee fee Oey Se ee eee ee eee = & This example shows you how much you can get out of just a three-note fingering. Write down some numerical sequences using just the numbers 1, 2, and 3, and then practice playing them. For example, here's what a sequence of 1-2-1-3-2-3 sounds like when moved to various positions. EXAMPLE 3 mat e oe Moderately au eee eee vs eter etete etet etet tet 2 eee te 108 100JAzz LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE== = $2012 9 10-9 1210-19108) 0 8 7 87 8 8 6 BO —— i = ——— = 1 To play these 16th notes quickly, | slide the first or fourth finger of my left hand to play two notes. You can really move your hand quickly f you lighten your grip on the neck. EXAMPLE 4 Oe a2 Moderately iterteees em 9797S 97S 4S Doubling three-note triplets is essential for speed metal playing. EXAMPLE 5 Moderately pide tctecteee S Try working these ideas with various scales, on different strings, and with various rhythms to see what you can come up with 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE 109Ble] Ext a TWO STRING THING It logical to run melodies along two strings because of the dynamics and nature of the guitar. like to recognize small groups of notes and create sounds within that area because my fingers can reach everything. Connecting these melodies will be the future goal. | explain to students that these long solos I take are like Christmas lights; you polish every little melody or riff you play and then connect them all together. Hopefully in the end, it wll sound like one long, perfectly played melody. EXAMPLE 1 cs Medierately Here I'm connecting two positions by sliding. EXAMPLE 3 a a se ‘a eMre soa wo bt, ee eet Notice the E note on the Sth-fret B string being repeated in this next example. | call this pedaling. EXAMPLE 4 Os az T psf ss s7e 7s he i B ae TIO 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEmoves through different positions and is designed to train your hand to move up and down the fretboard. if you find this dificult, you should slow yourself down and pick each note clearly, The speed you seek will come later if you practice correctly, It wouldn't sound good anyway if you're struggling to play ths fast, especially infront of an audience! EXAMPLE 5 = ‘1 See. ewe ware = ‘Arpegaios can be practiced along two strings as well. Ths realy gets you out of the habit of just scaling all the notes up and down. We skip notes to get a different sound. EXAMPLE 6 a - ‘Moderately fast, Obviously the main idea in this lesson is constructing lines or melodies along two strings. We should eventually attempt this with all the major, minor, and pentatonic scales. EXAMPLE 7 mc 0:52 Moderately fast gies £ 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE ™|B Ste) E33 WORKING WITH ARPEGGIOS Arpeggios are a great way to break away from too much scalar playing. Its a huge world of harmony that separates the hobbyist from the professionals. | was listening to a great pianist one day and, compelled to ask him how he reached such a high level, | asked, ‘Where did all those beautiful melodic ideas come from?" His one-sentence answer changed my musical life: "Practice your arpeggios” And that was that. Its also how chords-and chord systems get organized, so if you're serious, you'd better get started. To keep things simple, these passages have been written in the key of C major. ve identified each arpeggio or chord type. Remember that all these arpeggios and notes were created from just one scale: the diatonic C major scale. EXAMPLE 1 Moderate fast In this example, there are what | call cascading arpeggios. Pat Martino seems to effortlessly blaze through these types of ines and has no trouble playing them at lightning-fast speeds. The picking technique required to play these arpeggios at quick ‘tempos is called sweep picking, Watch the picking directions in the music. When “sweeping’ through several strings, allow the pick to continuously move in the same direction smoothly. EXAMPLE 2 Its important to understand how this exercise was put together. All the notes are found in the C major scale and have been broken up into arpeggios. This sort of logic gets beautiful results and is the beginning of a complete departure from sounding as though youtee playing a scale in linear fashion, EXAMPLE 3 gp Ts Moderately fast oz Fass reed T2100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEHere we have three octaves of G7 resolving to notes of C major EXAMPLE 4 TRA 2 . ‘Moderately fast or 3 Here are two octaves of Dm9 resolving to notes of C major. EXAMPLE 5 This one starts with a C major arpeggio and then runs through more notes of the C scale. EXAMPLE 6 TRAC 0:44 2 Moderately fast ee — ap ees # 2 ere] Sometimes the most basic mathematic ideas pay off when you construct melodies. At first, you might think it’s too predictable, but by making litle changes and adding notes here and there, you can break the patterns and hide anything that might sound too rigid. Good luck with this and strive to get the results you desire. This C major line was inspired by Joe Pass. | call these add9 or slash 9 arpeggios because the 2nd or 9th note of the scale has been added to the basic 1-35 triad/ arpegglo. Use alternate picking. EXAMPLE 7 TAs 051 Bz —_ Moderately fast Codd Fake Gada J 474 | 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE TISB= -S-le) E:s-)-Ha MINI BARRE MINI SWEEP ‘Anyone who plays the guitar with a pick should try and develop this technique. There are several ways to apply the mini sweep, but here fm using it in conjunction with a two-string finger barre of the left hand. In each triplet, two notes get played by pressing down with your first finger. Everywhere on the fretboard, this interval is called a 4th because the notes are four degrees apart according to a scale. For example: G AB C= 1234. The interval between 1 and 4 equals a perfect 4th in music. However, between the B and G strings (or second and third, respectively), barring there creates a major 3rd interval. This is one Cf many techniques that helps you break away from conventional melody and line construction. These first exercises are in the key of G major. EXAMPLE 1 Oni a2 pe Eee 1512 at a4, ® 0 EriteErete. Yan Yond ain a ee Some of my favorite stuf in jazz is using pentatonic scales unlike the way blues guitarists use them. | listened to pianists McCoy Tyner and Jan Hammer and loved how they treated those sounds. Here's an example in G minor pentatonic. EXAMPLE 2 gf | 114 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEOf course, this makes picking pentatonic scales more dificult, but that’s the reason for the high degree in musical achievement by many outstanding jazz musicians. Jazz is a musical institution and can be studied in many of our top universities and colleges. Jaz commands a great deal of respect. Youll have to practice quite a bit to master these exercises. Hopefully this will inspire you when you discover these may sound different than what you normally thought pentatonics should sound like EXAMPLE 3 aa Ope) Y eG Here's a G diatonic major exercise with alternate picking. EXAMPLE 4 ver > sn Sx a per eet ete -e ete tt En Ete, fee SPO Tew OW R) WRN RM BR ee Tg OR BE eg 208 me 7 + Give this technique a whirl; you may be surprised at the sounds you're able to come up with. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLSTART LOW, END HIGH In most of these lines, mm using the three-note octave system that relates to the fretboard of the guitar. By dividing the strings into three groups (low, middle, and high strings), you can structure long ascending lines that have very convenient fingering patterns that repeat themselves. There's no end in developing these, but the three-octave system is 2 good place to start G MAJOR RUN Gears Cpneia, 40 oe So INDIAN STYLE G MAJOR RUN eax 0:10} ‘Moderately 2 G HARMONIC MINOR (DJANGO/ROCK/METAL) iz D2 sescnee az ee e607 F 4 rarer a a V16 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEThis exercise will definitely force you to not play in one pentatonic position. When a player feels stuck in one position, he or she needs to lear how to movel You have to look ahead and see where the next notes are located and know what they sound like. This is great for blues players, but it’s a prerequisite for the jazz musician. G MINOR PENTATONIC eee Though | used the three-octave system through most of the runs, it’s hard to play in this style, so there's a need to somehow simplify the approach. Eventually, you can go up or down without the need for so much symmetry. For this next one, us= alternate picking and slide the first fre-hand finger for the last two notes of each group. GMAJOR Moderately eee Th TTA tee fir, fier aoe | rs —— | 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 171B -S-fo) Et: START HIGH, END LOW Visualizing the entire fretboard and creating descending melodies can be difficult and confusing in the beginning for some students. By sticking to the key of C major and keeping the music theories simple, you can better tackle this aspect of music ‘on guitar. These examples have logical ideas in mind to help you learn how to do it yourself. EXAMPLE 1 This line starts with a sequence and contains descending arpeggios. EXAMPLE 2 peeietee he When you have a perfect 4th interval on the same string, don’t anchor the index finger and try to make the distance with your fourth finger. You can quickly shift your hand if you have a light grip. Sliding around the neck of the guitar is an art that needs to be developed in jazz. This exercise will force you to develop that skill. EXAMPLE 3 Moderately fast ‘There seems to be a lot of random notes in this melody, and in a way there is. | stick with the C major scale, but there's a lot of ‘movement within a small area of the fretboard. This is another concept that helps you expand your ability to create lines for the guitar. To play jazz lines and not run out of ideas requires a tremendous amount of study and practice. EXAMPLE 4 M18 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEThere's nothing like a good sweep picking line to make you sound like a studied jazz musician. The inspiration for a line such as this comes from listening to keyboard artists like Brian Auger and Lee Michaels. EXAMPLE 5 Oe This line was constructed using legato triplets. This technique is a must to have under your belt. It requires considerable strength in the pinky to tap these hammer-ons and have the notes sound out clearly. Look ahead and always have a sense of what's coming up. You must be able to play notes and anticipate what's next. EXAMPLE 6 SIZ Moderately fast ‘The whole idea is to see melodies running from right to left, or high to low in regard to sound, There might not be an exact Circle of educational material to teach you how to do ths, but | suggest you listen to different instruments besides the guitar and go for the sound rather than the convenient fingerings. EXAMPLE 7 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE TISSCALE POSITIONS AND BROAD SEQUENCES | took a class of music composition at Santa Monica Junior College, and the first thing the teacher got into was sequencing lines or melodies. By using fingering positions on the fretboard, we can put sequences together if we familiarize ourselves with where these notes are. It takes a great deal of practice, but the reward is being able to construct lines quickly, which is essential in order to be a competent jazz musician, These sequences are built from two positions of the C major scale. EXAMPLE 1 ‘Try to visualize the two patterns next to each other. Whatever line you create in one position, duplicate that order of notes in the next group. The fingerings won't be the same, but what you hear in this case are the next notes up or the next notes over in the same key. EXAMPLE 2 d 120 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINEKeeping track of the notes in the first half of this exercise is the key to understanding what's coming up next. Imagine the creative freedom in being able to spontaneously sequence melodies up and down the fretboard. EXAMPLE 3 az Here's what | call“zigzagging’ in this next example, and it’s very difficult to see the relationship between the first and second half ofits melodic structure. Study this ine over and over until you see the logic that was used in putting it together. EXAMPLE 4 ] 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMINE 121LESSON #60: file>)=-31 By.v 474 If we play a diatonic C major scale over a Cmaj7 chord, the sound you hear is an lonian major mode. | call modes the “sound ‘you hear” because one scale can create different modes or sounds. Try this first example of C major lonian, and welll discuss this more the further we get into the lesson, EXAMPLE 1 ‘sen 18 coz The C major scale has no sharps or flats, and so itis with the D Dorian minor scale. Since both of these sounds come from the same notes, what determines the difference? The answer is the chord or bass note being played in the background, What you have in the background affects the way the notes sound. Try this D Dorian minor line, EXAMPLE 2 Moderately =f oa w 7 OE ap. ws Using the notes from the C major scale again, we are creating a new mode called E Phrygian minor. This is a very popular Spanish sound, and you hear it in Latin jazz all the time. Remember, this is the C major scale over E minor. | don't want to confuse you with technical stuff, but the scale degrees based on E would be (1-4243-4-5-46-47). EXAMPLE 3 Oe 122100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLOMIThis s the F Lydian mode; | love the sound of this. t's a fine way to break up the monotony of hearing only the lonian major scale for a major chord sound. Just remember this is the C major scale over an F major type chord. EXAMPLE 4 6) TIGK10 Fina? ozs) iw = te Moderately Fae ee ik a s—— The Mixolydian sound is great for blues and Latin music. Always remember the notes are from the C major scale over a G dominant seven type chord, EXAMPLE 5 “She ODE a. This is the pure natural minor sound. The A natural minor or Aeolian mode is very common and needs to be used. When students say they're tired of hearing the A minor pentatonic scale, | show them this first. It sounds great with any music realy, but it’s a must for the budding rock musician, EXAMPLE 6 TRACK Am? Moderately fast = epee tei tees ELE = 20 pa A 7 {— The Loctian mode is really the Jazz musician's territory. Ths is the beginning of the trip through the world of the avant-garde jazz. and modem dissonant sounds. Get used to hearing this, and you'll be on the way to playing melodies over unusual altered chords. EXAMPLE 7 Bm7bs Burbs Bape’ ae Mert fat Bo Eg oe With moder jazz comes a serious study. Unless you're prepared to put in the work to know what the possibilities are and what other musicians have done, these new sounds are hard to implement. Work hard and dont give up. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 123Ma GROUPING CHORDS ah FOR SOLOING This chord progression is very similar to many jaz standards and should provide you with an adequate accompaniment for practicing your improvisations over chord changes. To simplify our approach in playing over so many chords, we should analyze any tune to see how chords can be grouped into keys. The purpose of this is to demonstrate that we only need to apply one scale to groups of chords that are related to one key. There are many approaches or angles you can take, but the basic principles in this lesson are important to learn for any jazz student. EXAMPLE 1 mat eT Got crema tha? Bha? An? Ghat Fm a a & fe ‘fe fee ie e by rear Fs = Se § } tm ctr Fema? Gtm? ach, Femaj7 Bmaj? Bm? fe & Fe & Ee | ae A é = 8 i 4 ol ae ae ae cE q $ E :— z + { } { { Z 4 j im t ant map it oe ste bt sn ERS BE ee ae 4 Hadiaaticniges a 2 =f — = ant py Gar om ngs SRR er a # +P - 2 + + 3— = = Pr oo 3 S ; ; a t F = ——t { + - 124 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR 3SON GOLDMINEaz The key of F major is Fmaj7, Gm7, Am/7, Bomaj7, C7, Om7, and Em7+5, Of the first eleven chords in the previous progression, only two are not in the key of F major: Bom7 and Gém7. Since those outside-the-key chords come and go quickly, you can ‘choose to not pay attention to them. In that case, you can solo over the first section using just the F major scale. When these non-diatonic chords (8:m7 and Gim7) pop up, you can emphasize their chord tones by adding them to your melodies. The same progression is transposed up a hal step to F# major in measure 9 and again another half step to G major in measure 17 ‘At the end of the form, in measure 24, a i-V (Gm7-C7) leads us back to the home key of F for the repeat. These transpositions by half step are a common occurrence in jazz This lesson of playing over chord changes was designed to teach you a concept. My intention was not to show you the melodies to use in the future, but inspite you to work at making up your own using this same system. If you like what is contained within these lines, then by all means incorporate them into your style, but please try to venture ahead using your ‘own creative gifts. Jazz calls for your own spontaneous expression. EXAMPLE 2 rc 120 Fa? ont br Fait Bont Bhat Ana Gta 6 om cr Emit tat ot ema a Yinag st Bat abut Ant tnt cl Fm? Bat aon ont ons {ve tried to make it obvious that the melodies from the scale directly relate to the chords. Tis is about as conservative as you get from me, but I like it just as much as jazz that can go outside the obvious theories. When you study jazz standards, you discover how musicians/composers harmonize their scales with the chords. Try to do this by writing out some of your own chord progressions with the harmonizing scale/melodies. 100 JAZZ LESSONS | GUITAR LESSON GOLDMINE 125°