Re PRR ro JAZZ GUITAR SINGLE NOTE SOLOING — VOL. I By Ted Greene Dale Zdenek Publications a division of Lyndale Corporation OZ BOX 3245 WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA 91361 All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in ‘any manner without written permission from the publisher. COPYRIGHT © 1978 BY DALE F, ZDENEK International Copyright Secured Printed in the United States of AmericaACKNOWLEDGEMENTS So often in this life, special people pass our way, offering us their own unigue form of personal warmth not thinkiag of the lasting beneficial influence they wi)} have, just by being who they arc, Many such individuals have shared themselves with me in some way, and [am much the better for it. And some have had a direct influence on these books being written. For instance, my friend, Klaus Lendvian, who took the time to help me tune into certain melodie conceptions which had been just beyond my grasp for years. And Don Troiano, who exposed me to Chuck Wayne's "Arpegeio Dicuionar:”, which had an awakening effec on me, showing me the tremendous value in the study of chord tones, And then th material which finally tw number of reasons, all the students who encouraged me in my attempts to organize the ied into these backs. A few kind words meant a lot to me, for a Possibly most of all, Tam grateful to all the wonderful players whose sounds captured my heart and helped me to love music the way I do, Although thank you isn’t enough. | offer a sincere round of it to all these people, and also to any others who have been of help. Without them, these books couldn't have been written Typeset: Bob CampbellVOLUME 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION HOW 10 APPROACH THIS BOOK ceteeeeee 1 FUNDAMENTALS: The Major Selac; Intervitls, Chords, and Chord Tones, 2 SOLOING OVER MAJOR TYPE CHORDS: The Major Seale, The Lydian Scale: How to Memorize Runs; Arpeggios; Position Playing and Left-Hand Fingering: Major Chord Forms: Major Chord Runs: Melody Notes; Fear Vs. Ear: Group-2 Major Chords and Soloing, Group-3 Major Chords and Soloing 3a) SLURRING and DECORATION - Part 1: Half-step Slides; Scale-Tone Slides; Pollofls; Hammer-ons, Trills . sels eattraseoapionitenoet , by) TEMPO: 8th Notes, Triplets, [6th Notes and Double-timing . 4 THE DOMINANT 7th SCALE: Group-] Dominants; Group-2 Dominants, Chord Forms; Dominant 7th Type Arpeggios and Runs Melody Notes; Combining Scales in One Position .....2-.4..c00ecceeseeee 5 THE MINOR 7th SCALE: Minos 7th Chord Types; Chord Forms; Minor 7th Type Arpeggios and Runs, Melody Notes: Combining Scales in One Position... 6 THE OVERTONE DOMINANT SCALE: Naturc’s Overtone Series; Group-3 Dominants; Chord Forms: Overtone Dominant Arpeggios and Runs; Combining Scales in One Position .... . . 7 ALTERED DOMINANT SCALES (TYPE 1,2, and 3): Attered Dominant Chord Types: Chord Forms: Altered Dominant Arpeggios and Runs TABLE OF CONTENTS ~ VOLUME II | PLAYING THROUGH CHANGES: Condensed arpeggios: More on Solaing in One Position: 4 Note Arpeggio Fragments, Progressions for Soloing Over see 2 CHROMATIC TONES: Lower Neighbor Tones, Upper Neighbor Tones. Chromatic Passing Tones 3 SOLOING OVER 'FAST! CHANGES: Focusing on Higher Chord Tones, Essential Notes; Spasse Plaving. « 4 SLURRING and DECORATION « Part2: Consecutive or Combined Putloffs, Ham Slides: Grace Notes . : - : § RHYTHM and PHRASING: Accents: Syncopation; Polyrhsthm; Rhythmic Displacement, Legato ‘and Staccato: Ghost Notes, Vibrato, Delayed Notes and Playing Behind the Beat 6 MELODIC PATTERNS: In Position; “Lengthwise” and Shifiing Positions; Exercises 7 (MORE) ON SHIFTING and CONNECTING POSITIONS: & COMPLETE SOLOS and DEVELOPING A MELODY LINE... 9 THE MINOR 788 SOUNDS: Four Common Scales: arpeggios, Chord Forms and Runs ons and 10 THE MELODIC MINOR SCALE: Chosd Forms, Arpeggios ané Runs; The Minor 7th Scale formé and m6, ® Chords THE HARMONIC MINOR SCALE: Arpeesics:Chord Forms. Mino Ke) Sole 11 THE DIMINISHED 7th CHORD: Chord Forms, Arpeggios, Runs: The Diminished and Runs, Modern Diminished 7th Type Arpeggios Pc ccens 12 BASING YOUR SOLO ON THE GIVEN MELODY: Decorating or Varying Given Meio, Jazz Treatments ofa Plain Melody 13. THE DIATONIC VIEW, TONAL CENTERS and TONAL SCALFS: Diatonie 7th Chords: Roman Numeral Symbols, Diatonic Playing and Thinking, Keys or Tonaf Centers; Special Treatment of ii znd vit (Phrygian and Aeclian Scales): Other Diatonie Chords: Diatonic Chords of Other Scales; Diatonie Progressions; Tonal Scales; Understanding Chord Progressions, Chiomatic Progressions tt 4 ALTERED DOMINANT. SCALES — Parl 2: Type 4 (Half - Whole Seale), Arpeason and howd Forms, Type 5. 749 Arncgsios and Chord Forms: The Whole Tone Seale Chord Formsand Arpesgios a. cnsseworen PARTING COMMENTS - 36 39 82 94 9 2 30 38 al 63 04 69 8 9% ” n0 4 123, 129INTRODUCTION Many years ago, there was a period when I was buying and listening to albums by many of the guitarists of the time such as Tal Farlow, Johnny Smith, Howard Roberts, Wes Montgomery ar¢ ‘Joe Pass, to name a few. Because | loved the sounds that they made, occasionally, | would try to fiz what they were doing. At first, because I didn’t have a really good ear, this Was an almost total diss like, on a good day, if L was lucky, 1 might figure cut one part of one song on one album, And ever. "> these little successes would excite me, they Would also leave me with an empty feeling — you kno’ might figure out one of Wes's really good licks, but { would usually end up with just that: one good. but no understanding of why it worked, or why Wes used it where he did, of where he was fingering i Tcould make up similar runs, or anything. And whenever I was fortunate enough to get together with a good jazz-player (to try and play = or c¥en to take some lessons) as soon as they started playing, I would be so thrilled by what they’ we that one of (0 things would happen: either a) [ would barely be able to talk and I would just want to -. them play and listen to them for hours, or b) L would want to say 50 much, to ask 50 many questions. ** might babble out a few things like, "What was that? Wow! How'd you do that? Will you show me + Il pay you anything. How'd you learn that? Was that a ml chord? Man, if only Ecould do that H ~ you get that fone?” And so on. Sometimes such comments would frighten others away ("Hello Martha? Tl be home early ford: there’s this ¢razy Kid down here at the store . .. ") but usually. other players were gracious enough to = shart at least some of their Knowledge and put up with me for at least a little while. But there was another mistake | was making at the time: when someone would teach me soi chord of song or cun, U would be so excited that { would usually forget to ask why they did what the (I was just so overjoyed that, asa result, the “feeling” part of me would kick in real strongly, but the “third - part sould kind of temporarily take a vacation). On those few occasions when I did remember to ask “a> Twas usually greeted with answers that boiled down to “I found these sounds by ear, but Tdon’t know «* they work.” Well, at some point in time, | started to make sense out of what the chocd end of jazz guitar wasab.- and more and more, I saw a clearly lit path to follow in this area. But the single-note area of jazz playing was another story. I bought quite a few books on this ¢ subject, each of which had something Lo offer, but 1 seemed to keep running up against one of three pr > lems: cither 1) the books only went up to a certain level, but didn’t deal with the really ‘hip’ sounds tha favorite players were using. or 2) if they included better sounds, the explanations were almost to: absent. This Was discouraging because by this time, 1 was looking for principles. for the “whys”, so could understand which sounds worked at certain times, because. in this way [ figured it would be cas = for me to consistently make up good-sounding runs, and not have to just Aope that what | would play e+: certain chord changes would work. if my eat was in good shape that particular day. Also, I was gettir, lot of students who were very interested in jaz soloing but dida’t know where to even begin, 80 I rez wanted 10 be able to explain it to them (if any of you are teachers, you have probably experienced the jos seeing an interested student grasp & concept that he or she didn’t understand before. [find this to be «=: of the truly great pleasures in life) Any wily;the third problem way ) if book included good sounds and some explanations of prineipiss it always seemed to be confusing. and to propose some very cumbersome burdens on the brain. For instars: one well-intentioned author told me that the proper seale to use with an £47%925 chord is the G Lydia Augmented scale, When J read this, | asked myself, “Doesn't this seale ceally have the same motes a5 27 En? scale with a Few modifications?” As it (urns out, this is exactly the Case, as you will see (or already kno’ One of my basic outlooks on many things for the last five Or six years seems to be, “Get rid of the confusio= where ponsible” or "What's really going on here?” This has served me well and Lhope it will help you, t So there scemed to be a need for a book that would explain the principles of jar soloing clearly. so 3 to take any unnecessary complexities out of this beautiful area of music, Hundreds of hours have also bs spent Losing to insure that the book is foaded with musical cxamples that are satisfying and even exciting (when E was lucky)Since Tam a guitarist, this book is laid out for the guitar, but because the principles contained on these pages are Virtually the same for any instrument, | hope [have the good fortune to collaborate someday with ober individuals, with the purpose of writing this muiteria! out for many other instruments, 1 had hoped this material Would all fit into one hook, but it didn’t Work out that Way, Ay L wrote and rewrote, it kept getting kirger and kiger until Hfinally had to aeept the fact that it Was getting out of han! and had became two volumes, of whieb this is the fit Inthe Table of Contents vou will getan idea of some of the topics 10 be cosered in each volume, in ease you are curious where Velume T keads to. 11 you have any questions or comments on this book or Volume I, drop me a line in cate of may publisher Thanks for being willing to study, for being willing 16 work a little for something, This means a lot to me and. especially, to you. HOW TO APPROACH THIS BOOK Before we talk about how to approach this book, there are just a few things that seem to reguire mentioning: In the title of this book the words ‘Single-Note Soloing’ are used. What does this mean? Many of you probably know, but for these wha don’t: ‘Single-Note Soloing’ is another way of saying ‘Single-Note Playing which means playing ane note at a time or, more accurately. playing successions of single notes. which form melodies. This book tries to answer the three main questions about single-note playing. namely } What notes can you play. especially when someone else is playing the chords behind you and you arc doing the soloing. in other words, WHAT NOTES OR SCALES SOUND GOOD OVER ANY GIVEN CHORD PROGRESSIONS? 2 WHERE ARE THESE NOTES ON THE JNSTRUMENT? and 3 HOW CAN YOU MAKE THESE NOTES SOUND INTERESTING? (This mainly involves being able to play these notes in many beautiful, flowing combinations.) The word jazz was also used in the title of the Book and you might ask. “What is jazz?” or "What do you mean when you use the Word ‘jazz’ in your title?” Those are fait and good questions, although they are hard to answer. But, admitting that this is just a rough definition at best, for now, | might say that “Jazz is a form of music which has evolved in the 20: Century. mainly in America, and uses sich, sophisticated harmonies (chords), much improvisation, and often. but not always. interesting and exciting rhythms.” As you might know, in almost any type of music. there are different styles: in jazz there have been (and still are te tn extent) quite 2 few. which have been given suck funny titles as Swing, Bop, Cool and others This book will deal with sounds which are common to many of the different styles of jazz In order to get the most out of the book, it is recommended that you: 1) Know how to read music, at least a little, and be willing to learn more about it if necessary 2) Be willing 10 practice faithfully (the enjoyment you will reap is truly worth the time spent) 3) Please. please have PATIENCE. You won't learn to solo in one day. but you wiff siart seeing results within a matter of weeks if you work at it. The art of jazz soloing can be taught — | have experienced this with yuite a few students over the last few years, using very similar material to what is in this book. 4) To save time in the long run, g0 through this book in order, from front 10 back. Otherwise, you will miss things that you will have to go back for later anyway. 3) Do listen to jazz (if you're not already}, so that you have better understanding of what the material in this book should sound like. A good part of the way we learn music is the same way we learn to speak a language: by osmosis, that is. by being exposed to the sounds until they become a part of us, until they seep in, little by little. That is one reason why ihere ase so many musical examples in this book — to virtually flood your brain with the sounds of jazz until they become a part of you, and flow out of you naturally Have you ever noticed how whole sentences flow from your mouth without you having to think of each separate word before you speak? Well, it happens the same way in music — if you study it sincerely, and really Work at it, MUSIC IS A LANGUAGE — IT CAN BE TAUGHT, IT CAN BE LEARNED 3FUNDAMENTALS A large portion of a jazz player's single-note resources is derived from the group of sounds known as ALES. What is meant by the word ‘scale? Although it is not crucial for us to have a rigid definition, it tht help if you had some idea of what we are talking about, so the following rough description is offered: A scale és a fixed group of notes, usually built in an ascending direction from a fixed starting note. THE MAJOR SCALE AND INTERVALS In jazz, as in many types of music, the scale known as the MAJOR SCALE is used as a foundation ‘nn which we can build all other scales. So, it is important that you know the names of the notes in the jor scale in all the different keys. Following is a list, for future reference, of these Major scales, You do’t memorize all this information yet — just remember it is here in case you need it later. Key of CDEFGABC rofG: GABCDE FRG Key of: FG A By C DE F yofD: DE F#G A BCH D Key of Bh; BS C D Es F G A Bo yofA: AB C# DE Fa GFA Key of Es: Es F G Am Ba C D Eh vofE: E Fe Gt A B Ca Dr E Key of Ab: Ab Bh C Dh Eb F G Ab sof B: B C# D# E Fe Gt at B Key of Dh: Da En F Gh Ah Bo Cc DA vof Fé; Fi Gi A B Ci De Ee Fa Key of Gb: Gh An Bh Ch Dr Es F Gh vof C#: C# Da Et Fa Gt Ax Ba C# Key of Cx Ch Da Es Fh Gh Ab Ba Ch Vhe first tone of any scale is called the root (Ex. : Eb is the root of the E> Major scale). Before we can go any further, we have to talk a little about INTERVALS, because scales are built ‘intervals. The term interval in music, refers to the distance between two notes (and the sound resulting ‘n playing these notes), The most basic type of interval is known as the HALF-STEP. This refers to distance between two adjacent notes... for instance: A to BA, Bh to B, B to C, C# to D, Eto F, and Gto As, all examples of the half-step interval. The other basic type of interval is the WHOLE-STEP. which is ply a distance of 10 half-steps . . . some examples of whole-step intervals are: A to B, Bé to C, B to C7, 0 E, E to Fi, and Gr to Ap. If this little section is confusing to you, then you probably never learned ur "musical alphabet” which is now listed here for those who need it (Ca) (Fb) Ab A Bb OB OC) OUDs 6D COE OE OF OCGh GA AB Ga At (Ba) CF De (Es) Fe Gt At ete. If you are even moderately serious about jazz (or almost any kind of music), then you have to know alphabet backwards and forwards, So if you don’t, now’s the time to memorire it (not playing-wise, “head-wise”). K., now back to Major scales Notice that the intervals between the notes in any Major scale are the sume as those in aff of the Major es, For instance, compare the notes in the G and D Major scales. The basic pattern of intervals is same for both scales WHOLE STEP WHOLE STEP i STEP WHOLE STEP WHOLE STEP WHOLE STEP 15 STEP sek this to see if i's true:The different notes ina major scale are often referred to by number, for instance, if you see the statement "G is the 4th of D*. thiy means "G is the 4th note in the D major scale" “This number business also applies to interval. ‘To expkin® intervals are not only classified by the terms ‘hall-step” and ‘whole-step’, but also by numbers (which eter to the distance between the notesk: so the statement "G is the 4th of "also means “Gis a Ath interval from D7 or 'G isa 4th intervat higher than 1)” (not lower, because all intervals are counted upward unless otherwise indicated this is commonly accepted). Don't spend much time worrying about ali this right now — the only reason it is given is to acquaint you with some of the terms. used in this book, and at least a dittle of the reasoning behind them, Much of this information will come Into clear focus aS you progress through the book If you already knew about these terms, 1 thank you for bearing with me and ask for a little more of your patience because there is still a bit more introductory material to be covered. (Please read it even if Jou think you know it, because you may have mised something in your musical education somewhere along the way.) CHORDS AND CHORD TONES In order 10 understand soloing. you have to understand chord construction, because a very large portion of z jazz player's single-note resources comes from that proup of sounds known as CHORD TONES. What are chord tones? This is hind of like asking. "What color is an orange?” Meaning. chord tones are simply the notes in a chord (the words “tone.” and “note” are often used interchangeably also the word “degree”... Examples: “the tones in a chord,” “the notes in a chord.” and "the degrees of a chord” all mean the same thing). So how do you know what tones are in any chord? The answer to this is not very difficult: All chords have a certain group of tones called a formula, that is derived from the major scale. For example. major 7th chords have the following formula: 1,3. 5,7... this means that the chord tones of an A Major 7th chord would be the Ist, 3rd, 5th and Tih tones of the A Major scale. or: 1A, °C, “E and “Gi. And the notes in an Eh Major 7th chord would be 'EA, *G. ‘Bh and °D (which are the Ist, 4rd, Sth and 7th tones of the Eh Major scale), Make sure you understand this before going any further. More cxamples— a Minor 7th chord has the following formula: 1.3.5. 47. (Note: the symbol “4” placed before any tone in a formula means you lower that tone by a half-step, The symbol “#” placed before any tone ina formula means you raise that tone by a half-step). Soa C Minor 7th chord would contain the following tones: 'C\Es, SG and “Bh, which are the Ist, flatted 3rd, Sth and flaited 7th tones of the C Major scale, Here are the notes in an A Minor 7th chord: tA,8C, *Eand °G. Notice chat the #3 and 47 cones do not always end up being “fat” notes — for instance, in the A Minor 7th example above, the 3 is C (not Ch) because the “regular” 3rd note in the A Major scale is C#, and when you lower C# by one half-step. you end up with C (not CA). MORE ON CHORDS The most basic kind of chord in music is called a triad: it is a chord that almost always has some type of Id and 5 in its formula. For instance, the Major triad’s formula is 1, 3, 5; the Minor triad’s is |, 63, 5; the Diminished triads is 1, 43, #5: and the Augmented triad’s is 1. 3, #5. Triads are not used with any great frequency in jazz, except in an advanced concept where they are “stacked” on top of each other or on other chords, creating sounds commonly referred to as polychords . .. but this will be covered much later, So for now, we will move on.Seventh chords are an important and commonly used chord in jazz, Their formula almost always nsists of some type of 1. 3, Sand 7. The important different types of seventh chords and their formulas | be discussed gradually, as you encounter them while you are progressing through the book (and ume II also). Notice in the basic formula for 7th chords (I. 3, 5, 7) that every other number is used — that is, only * “odd” numbers, no “even” ones like 2,4, 6, and 8. Please don't worry about why this is (it would take ges to explain it, and that’s not necessary now), just notice that its this way, O.K., what if we add on the st “odd-numbered” tone... we would have I, 3, 5,7 and 9, which is the general formula for all types of uutiful sound known as ninch chords. Wai a minute,” you may be say B, “there é no 9th tone in the Major seale, it stops on 8, right?” Nope . . . not for chord-building purposes it doesn’t. It is normally written out, “twice in a row” or ar the span of two octaves (an octave is a Special interval: it is the distance between the Ist and 8th tone & Major scale}. For instance, here is the D Major scale written out over two octaves, with the tones nbered 'D 3B ORE 4G 3A 4B CH 6D OF FH NG EA OB UCE BD Just as 8 is the same letter name as 1, you may have noticed that 9 is the same letter name as 2, The ‘erence between these “lower” and upper-partial” numbers, as they are sometimes called, is7. right? | from 8 leaves 7. of 2 from 9 leaves 7. Got any ideas what the next important upper-partial number is after 9, in chord building? If you said you've just won an all-expenses-paid tour of Dizzy Gillespie's home in Aintitcool, Alaska (sorry, Diz). ‘ously, though, you should have said 1 because, as explained, the chords discussed so far have all been It using only the odd-numbered tones. When the formula is now expanded to I. 3, 5.7.9 and II, you are talking about some type of eleventh td, And when you expand itto 1, 3, 5,7, 7,9, UL and 13, youare talking about some type af thirteenth chord, Notice that an I Ith is the same letter name as the 4th, and the [th tane is the same letter name as the Once again the difference between the lower and upper partials is 7 (4 from I is 7. 6 from 13 is 7). This Dusiness is only discussed so that Later, it will be easy for you to memorize which tones are which. The many forms of ninth, eleventh and thirteenth chords are unquestionably the most important tds in jazz, and you will get plenty of information on them, especially on single-note material based on ‘hord fones as you go through this book, and also Volume Il The “even-numbered” tones like 2, 4, and especially 6, are sometimes used in the formulas of certain ds, This is really only because some people just prefer to think of a9 asa2,an 11 asa4,oral3asa6— 'y for no other reason. So when you see certain formulas (later in the book) which include 2. 4, or 6, "Ube shocked, it's just our friends 9, I and 13in disguise, If you know these tones by Both sets of numbers, will be better prepared for what you may encounter “out there” in the real world of the recording fio, jam sessions or what-have-you.SOLOING OVER MAJOR TYPE CHORDS A jazz player is called upon to solo over many different kinds of chords, but luckily, these chords can be classified in groups. and within these eroups, many of the chords can “lake” the same scale ( when some- one says that a certain kind of chord “lakes” a certain scale, what they mean is that that particular scale sounds good when pliyed with that particular chord.) And while we're on the subject of some common jaz7 slang, there are two other words which must he mentioned a little now, so as 10 avoid confusion later, namely, the words “over” and “changes”. You might hear somebody say something like. “Man. did he play an autrageous solo over those changes!” What is being said here is that somebody played a great solo at the same time that somchody ele was playing a chord progression (chord “changes") with which the solo fit (because selos arc melodies. the ear often hears them as notes that form a testure that sort of lays “over” the chords, hence the use of the word over”) So anyway, back to soloing over changes... the first group of chords that we are going 10 discuss soloing over are the MAJOR types. All major ty pe chords are based on the simple major triad (1.3.5). The major type chords can be broken up into three smaller groups. with each of the chords in any one of these smaller groups having much similarity in terms of sound, with all of the other chordsin the same small group. We will discuss these groups and their related scales, one al a time. MAJOR CHORDS — GROUP 1 (Group 2 and 3 will be discussed at the end of the chapter) This group includes the following chords: Name FORMULA SYMBOL NAME PORMULS SYMBOL MAJOR TRIAD 1 NOXE (MAJOR) ADD 9th 1.3. 5.9 9 or add 9 MAJOR) 6 1.3.5.6 6 (MAJOR) 69th 1 69 69 ory MAJOR 7th 13.5.7 a MAJOR 7/6/01 qe 6.7.9 or S13 or A7/6/9 MAJOR 9 -1.3.5,7.9 do or MAJOR 13th 1 7.913 MAJOR 7,th 1 67 Ato REMEMBER: These ate just tee ways of ‘rigs the san thin In jazz, all of these group | major chords most commonly take one of two scules. either the MAJOR or the LYDIAN. As to which of the two to use, it is almost always a matter of personal preference... they both sound good in most cases (more on this to come at the end of this chapter) The construction of the Major scale, you already know. As to the Lydian’s, it is simply a Major scale with a #4th instead of the regular 4th. Example: The D Major scale has the following notes; > 'D 7 °F «G ‘A *B 7C# (D) AFH GH SA “BUCH D) Coming up soon will be diagrams of one of the important ways to play the D Major and D Lydian scales (the Key of D was arbitrarily used for illustration purposes, but theoretically, any key could have been chosen). In order to make sure that you understand how to interpret these nd other diagrams used in this book, the following explanation is offered: The D Lydian seale has the following notes; > "D4) In any diagram that has white dots (non-darkened-in circles), add these notes in to your routine after you have fully learned the darkened-in notes, You probably don't snderstind why this is being done that’s quite alright... it would take more espkination than it is worth for either you or me — let's just say that this procedure is being followed to help you learn to hear the scales faster... to absorb the sounds more quickly Hore are these diagrams now in the key of Dy Here is the same diagram. but this time showing you P MRR SAE) ich fingers of the ill DP LDU Some hand to use. T -- This symbol means that 7 2 the o note is an optional replacement for the ® which is connected by the 4 in other words, use either one Here are two fingerings of Use whichever is this Lydian seale. more comfortable. So what should you do with these diagrams? Nothing much for now. just play through them a bit. just geiting a little familiar with them (a thorough study of both scales and related material will be coming up in a little while). Remember. first play the dark dots, then after you know how to play these, add in the white dots. Now. learning to play a scale with all the notes in alphabetical order as you have just done is necessary but naturally you also have to learn many ways to mix up the scale notes, so your playing will sound interesting. Since we are talking about using the Major and Lydian scales for the group | major chords (remember), one good way to approach mixing up the notes of these scales is to “center around” any group | chord tones which happen to be in these scales (this “centering” will be best explained by the musical examples to follow soon). Now this may surprise you: ALL OF THE GROUP | MAJOR CHORD TONES ARE IN EACH OF THESE SCALES That is why these scales work so well over these chords! Let’s check it out and see: Take, say, D4 9 it contains the notes 'D #F# SA °C# and °F. All of these notes are in both the Major and the Lydian scales, or look at D 6/9... ithas the notes 'D*F# A $B and °E.all of which ate also in both the Major and Lydian seales, or D413... it has the notes 'D *F# ‘A “C# SE |B {which is six of the notes in either the Major or Lydian scale). Coming up soon are musical examples of “runs” (little musical phrases), first using only the group 1 chord tones, then a few including the somewhat exotic-sounding #1 1th chord tone (which will be discussed at the end of this chapter), and then finally some runs that just kind of freely mix up the notes of the Major scale while still often centering on the group | major chord tones, These runs are given to show practical examples of some jaz? “lines” ("lines" means the same thing as “runs"} using the material we have discussed so far. so as hopefully to. at least in some small way. serve as models to help you, and inspire you in making up your own runs. 9Any and all of these runs may be used over any of the major chords discussed so far (that is, the yup | major chords). For instance, a run based on the D49 chord tones will work over a D chord or a \7 chord os a Dé chord or a D4 9 chord or a D9 chord, ete. In other words, a D9 run doesn’t only tk over the D® 9 chord, but rather over any of the major chords in group 1). And naturally, if you make tuns of your own based on the Major or Lydian scales, of just major chord tones. these runs too will tk over any of the group | major chords. While you certainly are not expected to memorize all the given runs, you may find that you will want memorize some of your favorites. Nothing wrong with this — almost every great player started out ‘morizing some runs, to help him in making up his own, HOW TO MEMORIZE RUNS The key thought is: LEARN A FEW NOTES AT A TIME. I's as simple as that. In other words, on't try to play through a whole run of say, 20 notes, and expect to memorize the whole thing at once “you are a very advanced musician, you may be able to, but otherwise . ...). Take it in small bites. like aybe four notes at a time. Also, make sure, when you are memorizing any run, that you are learning to ee" the notes on the fingerboard, not just reading the notes on the paper. In other words, after reading y, the first four notes in a run, turn away from the music and try to play these same four notes while you ISUALIZE THEM ON THE FINGERBOARD — not necessarily thinking of the names of the ates, but just seeing where they are on the fingerboard and the little “shapes” and patterns that they end 2 making. You can either look right at the fingerboard while you are doing this or, just picture it in your ind as you cither stare away or close your eyes. Any of these mans of “seeing” the notes are fine Then repeat this same process with the next four notes and so on. THIS 1S VERY IMPORTANT U can't stress this whole visualizing bit enough. [t is one of the keys to the instrument. If you do this, au will be making up your own runs very’ soon, because your brain will remember (although reluctantly first!) more and more little fragments from the various runs you have visualized, and you will auto- ratically start combining (or varying) them in your owa way Try to analyze what it is that you like (r don’t like}about certain ruas, so that you can make up runs F your own that will be satisfying to you. Play all the examples with a jaze-swing feel (using “jazz 8th notes") as well as with a “straight” feel, nd some volume accents (on both feels) if you know what all this means — if not. this will be explained juch later, but for now, just play the examples trying to instill a jazz flavor in them, in the best way you now how. Remember, these runs are given mainly to show examples of which notes sound good over lost major chords, and to illustrate some nice ways to mix up these notes. So even if you're not quite able > “phrase” these runs in a jazz-like manner yet, you Will still be learning to see where these notes are on the ngcrboard by playing through the examples. And knowing which notes to play, and where they are, re the hardest parts for most people in leasning to play jazz, harder than the “how”, which tends to come airly casily with practice, and enough exposure to the music. Also, a good teacher, can shoW you in one two lessons, how to play with a jazz feel, so you might check into this if you feela pressing need in this area MAJOR CHORD FORMS — PART 1 There are a few chord forms which, if learned, will make the upcoming single-note runs much easier to sualize and memorize. ere they are If you want to do the best you can for yourself, one thing you will want to do is analyze which chord tones lie on Which strings in these diagrams = OPTIONAL NOTE We're almost ready to get to some music but there are just a few more things to discuss or mention first, 10ARPEGGIOS At the top of many of the pages in this ook will he diagrams of ARPEGGIOS. What isun arpeggio? Simply. the notes of « chord but played one at atime. Another way to describe an arpepgio is: The sound created by just playing the tones of a chord. uswally from the lowest to the highest fone ot vice versa: Example: Here are some ways to play the D7 arpeggio with the chord tones played “in order” While it is important to know the chord tones “in order” as presented above (this gives a solid foundation upon which to base many runs as you will see if you are not already aware of it), there are many interesting ways to mix up the notes in an arpegeio. And z lot of the upcoming runs, as mentioned, just use chord tones, so essentially, these runs will be examples of ways to mix up the notes in arpeggios. So. as with the chord forms given 2 few paragraphs ago, you will want to learn the arpeggio diagrams, because they will speed up your visualizing and memorizing of the musical examples. Also they will increase your understanding of the given runs, which will help you to make up your own runs sooner. Later in the book, when there are as many as 12 arpeggio diagrams on one page. you needn't learn them all, but at least learn a few — you won't be sorry you did Also, make sure you memorize the given scale fingerings wherever you encounter such diagrams, because they too. play 4 big part in muck of the material in this book and jaz in general Remember, when memorizing anything. to take it @ few notes af a time. This. naturally. applies to arpeggios and scales as well as runs One last thing for now. While the arpeggios, scales and runs are only given in one key. they should be transposed to af least a few other keys (if not all keys), because as you know, fortunately, all music is not played in the same key AJOR CHORD RUNS using only Chord Tones (Area 1) ARPEGGIOS SCALES DAr De Dip PE Del? Bane BTp47 chord tones only (D, FRA and Cf) ‘ 1 1 Petter = rs a 3 a oar $4 ‘ { sce explanation on page 1 D*9 chord tones only (D,F#,A,C#and E) ‘ b/9 chord tones only (D,F#,A and E) Use the “rolling” technique described 4 , tes mM sy Le past hak : See Se Se ate ro ees eit t Dont pity the F? nove with the tip f your fingst (his holds true for all sila situations whete You Would hase te jump your finger frogs string € string) es2 tae zy 2 2 be ae rer = SS D§ chord tones(D,F#,A and B) wie? oo rowers $ $ . D8/9 chord tones (D,F#,A,B and E) a 2 deragia fe ies SSS eER A Tees 14 D49 #11 chord tones Ey a 4° (optional 12DAT chord tones only hdoFe »Aand Cf) ate 1 7 2 . ot te rant : sce explanation on page 13 D49 chord tones only at it Nap (D,F#,A,C#and E) . 24 wo o Tees een oss aga 1 obo Pega ef fopert 4 te Hie= = D/9 chord tones only (DsF#.A and E) A Satum" Sy ene Hee ee 4 rae TR és ores 2s _ PN ee ==. Fr SES fe fe 4 14° 4 Don’t play the FF note sith che dip of your finger rue for all similar situations where You would have to jump soue finger frogn string to string). D°15 chord tones (D, F#,A,C#,E and B) * 4 2 - te pte = } 14 DO9FIL chord tones 4 ees Teo | vt bi optional ¢5 vlp/9 #11 chord toncs only 18/9 $11 chord tones only a~o owen 1 chord tones only 142 | Wheneser fee oF mon totes in any sun fie on adjacent strings amd on the same Sel, yew Will probably want Lo Ae a “ening” Technique in whichever lelt-hand finger is bein used on these notes. Ir ihe eases where ihe Fist these notes to be pladed 160m a higher string (in pitch) thn the second note, sow will find 1 helpful te plas the firs note, NOT on the ip nf whatever finger you are Using. but rather, slighily Aigher up on sour finger: then the second ote is played om the Up. sy ou"roll* your finger (all This sounds, much harder than it teal i) Here are two reasons for using a “rolting” technique on adjacent notes: 1) You will get a nice “horn-like” smoothness to your runs that you cannot easily achieve by jumping one finger fram nate to nate: and 2) vet you will not get a chordal sound out of adjacent notes (both ringing together) the way you would if you just plopped one finger down on hoth notes and held it while you played the two notes in succession. Here is @ picture of what this rolling technique would look like if you used it on the following notes: pn 4th © $< on Sth string ADGBE ‘ aeayig THe Ft NeTe, PANG THE CH nave Remember, the first note (in this case, the F#) is not played on the tip of your finger when the next note is on a lower (in pitch) string (in this ease, the next note, Ca, is on a lower string). This technique only takes a little time to get used to, and really helps to give your playing a good sound so 1 hope you check it out 13When the first of two notes to be used in the ‘rolling’ technique is on a lower string than the second note, > process is pretty easy: the first note is played on the tip of your finger and the second one is not, but you kind of roll off of the first one as you play the second one: 4 If you have trouble understanding this 3 “rolling” technique, reread this section carefully; if you are then still troubled, try getting together with a good teacher ora friend who uses this technique (many, many players do). Sa EADGBE Example oes oe ee When you have dhree or more adjacent notes. you will be able. using common sense and a little ex peri- entation, to work out similar solutions; and left-hand fingering will definitely be listed in this book in uations where unusual solutions seem in order. Many of these solutions take the form of two different agers being used for adjacent notes (as you will see). MORE THAN ONE PLACE The guitar is an unusual instrument, in that the same pitch may often be played in more than one place or instance, the following note may be played in five places: 1) Ist string (the skinniest string) — open 2) 2nd string — Sth fret 3) 3rd string — 9th fret 5 4) 4th string — [4th fret 5) Sth string — 19th fret The same also holds true for scales and runs, that is, many of them can be played in more than one ace (in fact, sometimes many places) This phenomenon starts out as a disadvantage to a guitarist, but ends up actually working in his favor, ris is a Whole subject in itself) if he realy learns the instrument, One of the purposes of this book is to teak up” the fingerboard and learn it in small bites, so that when we eventually connect them, the guitar MW not be a frightening or mysteriouy instrument any more, but instead, 4 good and treasured friend POSITION PLAYING AND MORE ON LEFT-HAND FINGERING All of these previous musical examples are illustrations of what is commonly known as position playing playing in one position. In this style of guitar playing, your left-hand fingers stay around one area or osition” of the fingerboard at a time. This is a very practical technique and is used by almoyt every top itarist in jazz (and in other fields too). Now don’t get me wrong, there are other useful approaches to left ad fingering and they will be discussed too, but position playing iy a very good way to get your feet wet id get fast results and good sounds. So that's where we'll begin A common way to name any position is by the fret number that the [sf finger (left-hand) is playing the tes on, For instance, all of the previous examples of Major chord runs were in the 2ad position, because at’s the fret number that the Ist finger was playing the notes on. To further illustrate, here is a D Major ale in the 7£h position 14If the Ist finger is used on more than one fret. the position will be given a “double” name. Example: This would be referred to as the D major scale At in the 3rd-4th position You may be wondering how you determine which lefi-hand fingers (aside from the Ist) to use on the different notes in any given position. A lot of this will be determined by common sense and experimenta- tion, and the choices do vary for different size hands: also, in many’ cases. more than one fingering will work out preity well Leer HAND FINGERS Even considering all this, to make the reading of the notes easier throughout this book, one or more fingerings have been listed for most examples. These fingerings will work smoothly (with a little practice in some cases) for a smal), medium o large-size hand ... give them a fair shake and you will sce (but fee! free to change any fingering to suit your own taste too)... try to consider the ‘Tong-run’ here — something that is harder in the short-run may be better. much better, in the long-run. MORE ABOUT POSITIONS Throughout this book (and Volume 11) you will notice that musical examples have been written out with the Jefi-hand fingering notated in many different positions, This was done for many reasons, but two of the main ones are 1) To show the beauty of the layout of the guitar, and to share with you the wonderful feeling that comes from an understanding of the entire fingerboard. 2) To show the advantages (and disadvantages if so) of each position (for a given type of sound), by musical examples, not words (you know, one example is sometimes worth “a thousand words’). Quite often, the exact same run, of one with a slight variation, may be listed in many different positions When you notice this, you might wish to compare the differences in fingering (and otherwise if so) that occur from position to position, because this will help to teach you more and more abou! this amazing instrument and its incredibly beautiful and well thought-out layout (whoever invented or evolved the tuning of the guitar, was 2 remarkably practical person, or more likely. group of persons). You may wonder if it’s really necessary to learn how to play in all the given positions. The answer is: only if you want to really know this instrument and be comfortable soloing virtually anywhere on the fingerboard, over just about any chord progression that one could imagine. “Yes,” you might say, “but is this necessary?’ No, not absolutely, if you just want to have a little fun with jazz soloing on guitar, but if you are serious about learning to play well, you will have to learn AT LEAST three or four positions of any scale that you are going to use, and also naturally, some runsin each of these positions. The reasoning behind this statement is based on not only my own experience, but that of many others — Joe Pass knows all his scales in af least five positions, ofien morc; Wes Montgomery played his sounds alf over the fingerboard (he must have had many positions — you know this to be true if you ever sew him play) and so on. , Now both of these men, and most jazz guitarists, have used other techniques, besides position playing, to create runs and to move around the fingerboard in general. But most of these techniques involve really just connecting one position to another... but you have ta have something to connect fist so... 1sMAJOR CHORD FORMS — PART 2 In the same way that the first group of chord forms (on page 10) were meant to help you “see” the runs rat followed shortly thereafter, the following chord forms are meant to help with the upcoming pages Jat contain other positions of major chord runs. The chords arc listed below in groups, which correspond » the order of positions which will be covered. So What you can do is, when you get to a new position of ans, arpeggios, etc., come back to this page and memorize the chord forms that relate to that neXt, osition. For completeness’ sake, [ have included the chord forms that you already learned for the D major ay in the 2nd position. As before, if you analyze which chord tones tie on which strings, you will be doing yourself a service. = OPTIONAL NOTE a shyt phot ae ft oto 16par akg Bee Fe we ee] 6¢ ett I 7 Some of the above chords do not include aif the chord tones, but that’s “show biz” (actually, this sityation is not that uncommon), If you have big troubles with the left or right hand fingerings on these chords, see a good teacher or see my book. Modern Chord Progressions. 1can’t go into explanations here because it would take pages, and this is not a chord book (GROUP 1) MAJOR CHORD RUNS using only Chord Tones (Area 2) hord toned ARPEGGIOS SCALES wea DAT 2H Ae at ea oa (eeee)47 chord tones only ae erie S71 g3 D4!3 chord tones only FEp6/o Fil chord tones only a page chord tones only D/2#11 chord tones only (Group 1) MAJOR CHORD RUNS mainly chord tones, but slso the 4h) Fingered for the 2nd position again We TIS Compare this run with the previous one... Notice anything? (This technique will be giscussed later). Spee 7 | .‘3rd 4th Position ; zi safe (Group 1) MAJOR CHORD RUNS using only Chord Tones (Arca 3) (CHORD TONES) ARPEGGIOS SCALES DAT Dt D7 Db Déh D Major Lyian ZEEE HE Many fingerings are possible in the above arpeggios and scales... EXPERIMENT... and notice the given fingerings in the following runs 20 -=| 2 oe 1 a 4 ate ot oie 13 fat, ‘Fs — 1 fee <—f Notice the unusual finger ay well for tke Some ca G 4 4 ing solution here, : a 2 4 B® chord tones /9 chord tones D413 chord tones z 6 D_ 42 4, 2ien, Sa aS] a —_——— = = © ees pots ot D49$11 chord tones, p/o#il = 4 chord tones rm D8/9411 chord tones Ss +7 “En @? 13411 D chord tones erre TE att (Group 1) MAJOR CHORD RUNS Using only Chord Tones (Area 4) (CHORD ToNEs) i —- ARPEGGIOS SCALES | | | - 7 DAP Dt D6 ih D Major D Lydian 7 Tes 7: D9 chord tones a ie” chord tones 2 j - © ar?86/9 chord tones 2 1 trite =| ‘he same notes). a St eh: Fete. fe =EEFe| (Group 1) MORE MAJOR CHORD RUNS 2 ae a24 s2ef ii Su fen J teett ort rt FS a —+Sime notes but an octave higher > octave higher wsing 4th interval go ee Teel'o tert et Ee pn wnat: a ae ziigeree Sao = oa @ 2 (Group 1) Ravan. MAJOR CHORD RUNS y using only Chord Tones ( Area) (CHORD ToXes) | — ARPEGGIOS | SCALES G Major G Lydian ele iL@ 34 G4" chord tones site 1 £ 1 ‘attee-Ki]) if oe Ze owls eS Some? = “SE = | wale $25 ® Eo chord tones G49 Flchord 2 2 © (Group 1) MORE MAJOR CHORD RUNS 5th Position 32MELODY NOTES The following information is given with the hopes that it may help you with a certain aspect in making up your own tuns: The only note in the Major scale that is not a group-I chord tone is the 4th (also called the 11th), the only note in the Lydian scale that is not a group-1 chard tone is the # Ath (also called the llth or +1 1th), However, even though the [Ith is not commonly considered to he a "good" melody note when played over the group-1 major sounds, the #1 1th is, Naturally. this brings up a necessary discussion about “good” and “bad” melody notes. A good melody note can be determined by the following little test Over a given chord. can the note in question be sustained? If so, itis a good melody note for thai particular chord. That is, you can finger on a good melody note and it will sound fine, it will not sound out of place or forced as will a “bad” melody note. Of course. all of this is dependent on personal taste, but most of the great jazz players have amazingly similar taste as far as what notes are good melody notes. Here is a list of 200d melody notes for the group-1 major chords (these are just guidelines, not rules): Root: OK. in low or middle registers; also can be used in high register, but not if the chord you are playing over has the 7th on top (highest pitch), because then the root and the 7th will clash (of course, some people enjoy cleshes more than others, so be true to your ears first, not to these guidelines... 9th: Bad in low register, good in middle and higher registers. Note: “There is @ special case where this is good but you'll hear about it later. 3rd: Good in any register except maybe very low # llth: Bad in low register, unusual in middle and higher registers. Sth: Good in any register. 13th (6th): Not too good in low register, good in middle and higher registers Tih: Bad in low register. good in middle and higher registers (unless the chord you are playing over has the root on top — then the 7th is not always good). In case you're not sure what the term ‘register’ means, it refers to different parts of the range of notes on the instrument . .. for instance, the A note on the Sth fret of the 6th string is in the low register, while the A note on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string is in the middle register. and the A note on the Sth fret of the Ist string is in the high repister — these are all just approximations — there are no rules here as to where the “cut-off” points are for the different registers — you make your own decisions on this) Remember, the above chart of melody notes has to do with the dingering aspect or, which tones sound good for endings of phrases, if you want to sustain these notes. FEAR VS. EAR After reading all of this little section above, I'm sure some of you have asked the question, “How will I know which specific chords someone else is backing me up with, let alone what notes are on top?” Let's face it — there will be some situations where you won't know almost any of this beforehand, in which case you'll have to get by on sheer guts, your ear, and maybe playing ita little safe, But often in these situations, 2 sensitive rhythm player will listen closely and let you lead the way with your lines, and try to match his chord changes to what you are playing, instead of the other way around. And your ear is going toconstantly be improving if you are studying hard. This is a natural evolution that takes place in virtually all serious players. But don't expect to study hard and suddenly have @ super good ear in say, one month — it doesn’t work like this. It will take more like a few years, but there will come a time, even after just a month of good studying, when you will notice some sizeable improvement in your musical hearing, and this type of thing will keep happening, but little By little, in a more gradual, almost not noticable-at-times manner. Remember, music is a language, and languages take a while to learn 33Anyway, for those of you with the patience to still be following me . . . remember, we were talking about situations where you have to solo and don't know what specific chords you are soloing over (even though you may have a general idea). Well, luckily, there will also, in all probability, be many situations where you will be playing with people you know of have played with before, and you will gradually get used to what specific chord changes they tend to like in various different situations So just keep at it, there will be good days and bad days, in music as in life, but the more you study, the faster you'll learn. I don't buy any of these theories that you should work for say, a half-hour or 45 minutes and then take a break to “rest” your mind for 10 of 15 minutes. Your mind doesn’t need this rest (that’s part of what sleep is for) if you keep a positive and determined attitude. In fact, you can practice efficiently for five or six hours in a row (assuming you have the time), right now, if you really want to and befieve that you can. Attitude makes a big difference. Granted, your hands or other parts of your body may get tired or sore fora little while, but this will pass, Human beings have withstood things many times Worse than this in order to accomplish their goals. GROUP-2 MAJOR CHORDS AND SOLOING This little section is going to be really easy. Here itis The group-2 major chords are simply any of the group-I chords with a #11th dded. Examples: Group I: D6, 9 ('D 9F# 5A 6B *E) ——___—_____» Group 2: D6 9811 (1D F# A *B°E “'G#) Group !: D47: (1D Fs 5A °C#) —>Group?: D ALL: (1D OFS 5A °C: The group-2 major chords take the Lydian scale, Let’s put this another way: if you are ever required to solo over any major chord with a #1 Ith init, use the Lydian scale to build your runs from (there are other possibilities too, but we don't want to make the picture overly-complex for now). This will give you a beautiful collaboration of chord and scale Also, if you are making up your runs froma chord tone (instead of scale) viewpoint, you can use any of the group-t chord tone type of runs that you have already covered in this book (or that you made up yourself), and also. all those runs with the #11th in them, But the runs that had the “regular” [th (4th) tone in them wort work very well over the group-2 major chords, because the Ith in these runs will clash with the 11th in the chords. On the subject of melody notes: the “good and bad” melody notes over group-2 major chords are the same as for the group-I chords with the following difference: Very often, players like to voice group-2 major chords so that the #1 [th is on top. in other words. so that it is the highest pitch in the chord. When this is the case, the Sth is not a very good ending note in the higher register because it clashes with the #11th (24th). So, to summarize this section: Soloing over group-2 major chords is virtually the same as soloing over the group-I chords, except we don't use the Major scale, only the Lydian. GROUP-3 MAJOR CHORDS AND SOLOING These chords are not very commonly used in jazz, but we will discuss them a litle, just in ease you run into one sometime The group-3 major chords are simply any major chords where the 3rd is replaced with either the 4th or the 2nd. Examples Sawte PORMELY sy ainot SUSPENDED 1a} S'S" | These are the three most common a 12,8 Dor Btoes T ADD 3th SUSPENDED Like 9sts 7 types of group-3 sounds auThe sisand 9 sus chords take the Major seale and sekited runs, The"2"chord takes either the Major or Lydian scales and related rns. All the melidy note principles discussed so far apply to the above chords. with the exception that the 4th is a good melody note in all registers, and the #4¢h is. as before. an unusisat and uscaible sound in thy middle aind high registers, but only over the"2"chord, not the ther two CE het you know why) Incase you don't kaow any ways to play these chords, here are a few forms: fin HEE ¢ Heed | tig wll he explained ler - Deas DiRT De SME BUS DD pia mea ' fe? PE aSa fore Uy oF I find these to be very interesting sounds, even though they are not commonly used in jaz? — 1 hope you do too. (Who knows - maybe in the future, we'll write some new kinds of jazz that use these sounds too). For the curious: A common chordal movement in classical and popular music is that of resolving suspended or 9 sus chords 10 major chords. Here is a little progression that 1 was experimenting with, which illustrates this type of sound aso called Bef 4 As Guus o 8 iat eh 1 Hy 3spc ITT TE SLURRING AND DECORATION - PART1- — AS you know, we normally use both hands to produce a sound out of the guitar — that is, the left hand pushes down some note(s) and the right hand picks the appropriate strings. But, as some of you may again know, there is alsa another very common way, or more accurately, group of ways, which all involve your left hand alone doing the work (after a little help from your right hand). These ways, and the sound Broduced by them, are all usually referred to. as SLURRING. There are a few types of slurring that axe commonly used by jazz players, because a) The slurred notes add variety to a player’s overall style and b) They sound terrific. v's as simple as that. So we will discuss these important types of slurring, one at atime, @ HALF-STEP SLIDES (also called CHROMATIC SLIDES): Which Notes are Lnvotved Manner in which the Notes are Played ‘Any note in a scale and the note which is ‘The note which is a Y2 step lower is picked, a half-step lower and then you sfide into the “regular” nowe (without picking it), Examples; 4th Position pra [AN sturring is indicated by am between the notes involved. Rhythmic Variarion 23 A tie, rot shar, tight? (Because both these notes are the same pitch) Most often, the Yj step “approach” note is put on the weak part of the beat (you know, on the “and” if you're counting “I and 2 and,” etc.) in jazz, because most players who use the 14 step slide type of sound Just seem to prefer it that way (not because it's “right” or “wrong’). So, experiment and see what You think Try and make up some runs in each position of the major scale now, using this {-step slide principle ‘on some of the notes. © SCALE-TONE SLIDES: Which Notes are Involved Manner in which the Notes are Played Any note in a scale, and the note which The note which is one scale step higher or is one degree higher ar lower in the same scale. lower is picked, and then you slide into the “regular” note (without picking it) 36As with the step side principle, the side usually nccurs From the weak art Of the heat ta the strong part. Tesunples ith De - 6481 ith dry Sometimes you have to start of go “out of position” (as far as the fingering goes) on these slides. Also Sometinees bury wh ward fingerings develop with this prineiple when you are trying 16 pliy in one position - ata time. In other words, the seale-tone slide works well on some nates in cach position of a scale. but not aif notes. tn tact, wetually. this principle is better as u means to connect one position with another, that is, to change position, than it iss a “staying-in-one-position” type of prineiple. (This will be discussed in Volume IL) But, ay the above runs illustrate. it does work well. as mentioned on at least some of the notes in a Position of a scale, so you may wish to try making up some runs using it - @ PULL-OFF - Which Notes are Involved Manner in which the Notes are Played Any two notes (within reach of the left- The higher in pitch of the two notes is hand fingers) on the same string picked, and then whichever left-hand finger You are using for this first note, “snaps” off the String sideways (in either direction) so as to sound the lower note, which has been held NOTE; The lower note’ is nof picked by the (while this has becn going on) with a different | Bek bunds an abo the lover ove for nem, Kithond fngr Will be one of the notes in the scale you are working with at that moment I: pull offs | Examples . ith Pos. 4 x, | 1 dt ef athe $24 srt Se ESS 7 —— it Also play this tun without the slurs to compate what they add (or don't add) according lo sour taste, oo t= - | 4 + As usual, the slur effect (in this case, the pull-off) in the above examples starts on the weak part of the heat. heeause this seems to “swing” more, at least to my ears. From here on in. itis up to you in deciding what you do with these slurring principles. You may wish 10 upply cach one to all the major scale positions (and to all the other sounds coming up in this book, and Volume I) and it certainly wouldn't hort if you did, But there will be no rigid routine given ~~ it’s up to you to take the initiative in this arca, 37Me @ HAMMER-ONS: (This is kind of the opposite of the pull-off) Which Notes are Involved Manner in which the Notes are Played Any two notes (within reach of the lefte The lower in pitch of the two notes is hand) on the sume string, picked, and then an appropriate finger on the left-hand *hammers” down on the higher note [but thig higher note is not picked by the right hand). NOTE: This higher note, for now, will be found in the scale you are working with at that moment, With the exception of a special useage known as the grace note, (to be covered in Volume I), hammer-ons, by themselves, have not been commonly used by most jazz guitarists. But they are commonly used as part of the device known as the trill, which will be discussed next @ TRILLs: For the curious: In Baroque music this principle is called the ‘reverse mordent’, and the word ‘trill means something else, but that’s Baroque music, and this is jazz (This is what” How dare you call this book jazz, I'll have you know that [ have my pee-H-deee in’ ethnosemanticmusikologeewhiz, and 1 take strong affection to your remark that this lovely little book of bop operas could in any way be constewed as being related to jazz — why the obesity of the man, Mildred — next thing you know, he'll be telling us that you can play jazz on a Telecaster”) Seriously . Which Notes are Involved Manner in which the Notes are Played ‘Any note and the note which is either a ‘A note is picked, and then very quickly, a % step or whole step (or even more) higher second note, which is a 14 step, whole step or more higher, is hammered on and then quickly pulled off to the first note again Examples: 2nd Position a, tee ¢ ae 3 Don't try to “count” the trill — just realize that all three notes 4% of the trill collectively take up 4 a beat, that is, the same amount of time as one eighth note. = In other words, in the above example, the first eighth note (A) is being replacd by the three notes in the trill (A BA). Actually, another way to look at this, and a way that I prefer, is that A 15 not really being replaced, but instead, is just being decorated, you know, like we're kind of playing around with the A note, but not getting rid of it, just enhancing it Here are more examples of the trill remember. don’t be frightened by the way the trill looks on. paper, it's really just three notes all adding up to /4 a beat, or taking the place of one eighth note. It’s much casicr to play (with a little practice, naturally) than it looks, and it really sounds good at even a moderate tempo. 2nd Position Piper ot PS Cf eat Vo step or sealatone stide ale | aa & hI piobably’find it more diffieut IN'with these fingers, But again, aetice is the hey 4th Position The trill s more commonly used on the strong part of the hex! than the weak one, but eperiment and see what you like, Also, just a Suggestion’ Many of the runs in this book and Volume I are really ripe for trills, so-as you learn new runs (and arpeggios), it would probably make them even more enjoyable if you were to add trills in here and there. There will be more talk on the subject of sturring and decoration in Volume HT but all of the material in this chapter should be more than enough for quite a while. TEMPO: 8TH NOTES, TRIPLETS, 16TH NOTES AND DOUBLE-TIMING At medium and fast tempos, which most of the runs in this book are intended for, the normal unit of rhythm in jazz is the 81h note. Great players often create a very fluid sound by running long streams of 8th notes together in measure after measure during one of their good solos. For these reasons, and because 8th notes are relatively casy to read, the majority of notes in this book are written this way, with occasional quarter notes, triplets, and 16th notes thrown in, There is something else special about 8th notes in jazz, and that is: much of the time, 8th notes are not played as 8th notes even though they are written that way. To further explain, one of the most common rhythmic feels in jaz2 is one known as swing. This is actually the most common ‘groove’ in jazz. permeating Virtually all the styles since its history, up to the last few years, when rock feels have taken over as the most common, of at least come up on an equal footing with swing. (Latin feels are also very popular now and have been,off and on for 20 or 30 years, but that’s another story, and since 8th notes are played “regularly” in Latin and rock feels. there’s no problem here). In the swing feel, each group of two 8th notes is actually played as if it were a group of three triplets, with the middle one tied or missing. The ear then only hears ¢wo notes, which it inter prets.as kind of funny 8th notes. 39As you may have guessed, the “STRAIGHT® ats “SWING Bhs s swing Teel is much casier to Used in Latinand rock |] More commonly known as “JAZ2’ play than it is to talk about rhythms. Bths or delayed 8ths. Used in bebop ft is hoped that you can play and swing rhythms swith this feel already, but if ti not yet, go on for now. ‘As was advised earlier, all the 8th notes in this book should be played as jazz Bths and straight 8ths, because both feels are necessary to today’s music. Note: One thing that lots of successive #th notes lack is rhythmic variety but this subject will be covered in Volume If, after you have learned how to play long, fluid lines (it will be easier to break up the rhythms then). At slow tempos, the 16th note,or 8th tote-triplet often take over as the normal rhythmic unit of jazz, This is not so much an intellectual process as itis a normal, intuitive reaction of a player to want 10 fil \up the empty spaces that result from just playing 8th notes at a slow tempo for too long. In other words, once you know how to solo using 8th notes, if you then at some time find yourselt in @ situation having to solo over a stow tempo, you will automatically shift (0 16th notes or 8th note-triplets to fill up the space (at least some of the time) or to make your solo more driving Players who possess great technique often love to break into 16th notes at medium (or even fast!) tempos; this is commonly referred to as double-timing. But vaturally, aguiring such a skill takes many hours of first learning to play solidly in 8th notes at these medium and fast tempos. Then the double-timing will start co fall together, little by litle, because you have built a solid foundation from which it can naturally grow. The speed that is required here comes of course, as a result of constantly pushing yourself a litt gradually increasing the tempos on all the runs you are practicing, but also by making sure you ate playing cleanly at any tempo before moving on to a faster one. Some players even recommend practicing slowly at the beginning of each practice session, to get the coordination patterns between your hands ficaily locked into the brain before you start playing at your normal tempos. 40 & ‘THE DOMINANT 7TH SCALE Play the following runs 4th POSITION, Shun POSITION These are examples of typical jazz runs derived from what is known as the DOMINANT 7th SCALE. This scal very important in jazz (and popular music) because of at least 10 reasons. 1) It sounds good. (especially the runs derived from it) and 2) It fits beautifully over quite a few of the most commonly used dominant 7th type chords (more on this coming up soon). So, just what is @ Dominant 7th scale? Definition: with a lowered 7th tone (this tone will be symbolized by the following: #7), Examples of Dominant 7th scales: b> D DOMINANT 7th SCALE 1D [EOFS «G14 4 D MAJOR SCALE ——~ 1D 2E “Fe «G *A BCH 'D cc} BA MAJOR SCALE ——~ 0Bh °C "D Es SF *G °A *Bh [—___ ae DOMINANT Tih SCALE OBR °C °D «En °F «a Fras "a The Dominant 7th scale is simply a Major scale Notice that the term "t7” means that the 7th tone is lowered one-half-step, NOT that the lowered 7th tone always ends up being a “flat” note. Example: In the above D Domninai because the “regular” 7th in the D Major scale is C# and when you lower Cz by one-half-step. you end up with C (not Ch). This logic should he familiar to you from the earlier section on chord formulas. 7th scale, the 67 is C (not Ce, As you may know, there are many kinds of dominant 7th type chords which are used in jazz, but (as usual), they can be organized into groups, according to similarities of sound. So which of these chords can iake the Dominant Tth scaie? The secret ties in analyzing the chord tones of the Dominant 71h scale, which are as follows: IMPORTANT 3, 5, 67.9 WW, and 13. 2 @ O) ‘Any chord containing some combination of any of (but only) these chord tones, can take the Dominant 7th scale. ese is a hst of the most commonly used of these chords: NaME Dominant 7th Dominant 9h Dominant 76th (or 7) 1300) Dominant 13th FORMULA Las 1a S079 La ST 3 1.3.8, 6,47 138.67. 9.13 SYMBOL NAME Dom. 7 suspended 4th Dom. 9 suspended 4th or Dominant 1th Dom. 7/6 suspended 4h Dom. 13 suspended 4th or Dominant 11/1 3th 41 FORMULA WA 8.07 1.4. 8.07. 908 WSO 14a S07 13 La 56.07 14. 80791 Hsvr7, 01 13 SYMBOL 9 sus oF Wl for 113 13 ss 0 nag sus)For the curious: ‘The Ilth and 3rd are not often played together in the same chord because they tend to clash to most ears. Notice that the chords listed on the previous page aredivided into two groups. Also notice that forevery chord in the group on the left, there is, in the group on the right, a corresponding chord which has the exact same formula except for one thing: the 3rd has been seplaced.by the 4th or Lith, Check this out... the two groups will be referred to as the group-I and group-2 dominants. In case you are wondering about the names of these chords, specifically about words like “dominant” and “suspended”, the explanations are Jong and unfortunately not too logical, so we'll take a pass on this subject here (it’s better left for a book on Harmony). . In this chapter, as in the major chapter, there will be chord forms and arpeggios given for each position {of the Dom. 7th sounds); and as before, you will want to learn these — ome group of chords and arpeggios at @ time to fit each position as you encounter them. You will also find it in your best interests to learn the scale fingerings given for the different positions of the runs, as many af the cuns are derived from just freely mixing up the notes of the Dom. 7th scale. Remember to VISUALIZE the notes on the fingerboard as explained catlier, especially for any runs that you like enough to memorize. And as before, it would probably be good for you to try phrasing all runs as “jaz7” &ths and “straight” Sths, If you're still having some difficulties in making the runs (you have kearned so far) sound like jaz7, it is probably the time to try to find a good teacher to take at least ane lesson in the “feel” of this, music, (Just a suggestion: Take a tape recorder 10 your lesson if you can, because we humans aren't blessed with the memories of elephants or recording tape.) Naturally. you will want to learn your favorite sounds out of all this material in more than one key. Thave found certain orders of keys that sound very good to my ears so | would like to share them with you if you care to try them: 1) For the first three positions (which start in the key of BA7) try the following order of keys for each arpeggio and run (and the scale diagrams too) B47, (F7), D7, B7, Ab7, E47, C7, A7, (G7), E7, D7, B67) = optional 2) For the last position that starts in BY7 (7th-Bth fret). try the following key order: BAI, G7, E7, C7, AT, F#7, Eb7, BT, Ad7, F7, DT 3) For the position that is given as G7 (an the 7th fret), try the following key orders: G7.E7,Da7, F7, A7, Fé7, Bo7, Ba?. G7 or G7. E7, D67, AT, F#7, E57, C7, AS, F7, D7, B7 4) For the two positions that are given in the Key of E7, try the following key orders: 7, Ds, F7, D7, F#7. En7. G7, BY, As7, (F7) You may have goticed that most of the intervals between all these keys are ascending Or descending SRDS. It just seems to sound good to me this Way GROUP Land GROUP 2 DOMINANT 7th TYPE CHORD FORMS bs ets be BALL Malus SAF 3h 3 3 aH L ia ne] He Tey tim & ith atte practice The tip of your fest finger goes on the Fe note and the side of your finger xets the G note \ his de possible and practical 42SHP RELow gaa Be BD alos Bt if eR ns oA a a NOTE: The term "17" is wsed 0 REE EET etic ete eed ae hows sound strange to fy tbe following chord fos mes 10 adjust your ear to the new sound 43an) E13 EM Et3sus aa 7j a One last thing: When you play the scale fingerings on many of the following pages, you may notice that they are the same as those for the Major scale you have already learned. Example: The Bo Dominant 7th scale contains the same notes as the Eb Major saale. While it may help you at first to think in this “short-cut” way, in the long run, you have to know your Dominant 7th scales from their own roots, not only according to which major scales have the same notes. So I sincerely advise you against thinking in this “short-cut” way because you would not be laying the right foundation for more advanced sounds in the future which are built on the Dominant 7th scale. Have you ever done something the wrong way, and then later, had to go back and do it right, the way you should have in the first place? It wasn’t a very thnilling experience, was it? So as one who also believes in real short-cuts where they exist, I say to you, as a friend: Don’t fall for the “oh, dom. 7th scales, they’re really just major scales up a 4th-irap” — it will only tend to make things harder later if you do, DOMINANT 7th RUNS (Aare) CT ARPEESIOg —————— [ BsDOM.7 SCALE 1 Bol3 Bal3sus Bél3sus Bb13/11 Bad oa Shee 3 Ae 36 hat a oe $ B?? chord tones 44 {Wel 1 L aeRhythmic Varisition Free scale usage Gat TG Sat oy 4 Variation on previpus example using chromatic slides - ee deat. sig poet on a2Sth thy 4 = tales 4 oe be ht a i ve SSeS ee put il ~ 433 and here too Dag —#. au 2DOMINANT 7th RUNS (area 2) Lk [cas —_—— 4 r BeDOM7 SCA’ Br9 BAY Bel3sus Be 3sus Bol3/ 11 ‘ae ee te B? 9 chord tones Ny % . ‘ Variations =a Spee BPs geo oe Here ts a rhythmic variation of the 3rd 13th run listed above on the other 13th runs.Bo 13 sas and here too 9 chord tones B13 chord tones a Rhythmic variation on 9th chord run aboveVariationDOMINANT 7th RUNS [ GDOM7SCALE 4 -_ ARPEGGIOS | Go G9 GIs Gia eas 17 Gi3sus Gi3sus G9, 11 a f 7 ‘8 i ve re? fat - dutty th oO. ° or E(G13) oD bs ee ‘ Try rhythmic variations #4 on these runs, as before.using 4th intervals orcDOMINANT 7th RUNS (Ares 6) r E DOM.7 SCALE s : EIB El} EI3 EI3 r—El3sus/17— El3sus renews El3sus El3sus £13, 11 eee ARPEGGIOS = E8 chord tonesae 9 2 wsing slide(s) using 4th ti BeDOMINANT 7th RUNS (rea 7) [EDOM SCALES 3 9 E9 E13 EN} EI3. J El3sus/17 El3sus/17-~ E13sus — geeeewe i an [ ARPEGGIOS iz Elisus E1311 ee F9 chord tones E}8 chord tones * = 1 abies wot . © vets ca =S—e SS et1 = a a3 sys tage ~ 199 3 aid tay ° te SS = 2 roses 2 4ylp wet — see pt or C§,B,A Fa ae Ft == ay : a at 7 paar 2 2tes Lor oe ‘ : cee feet * oy et wk Pri t i lk Ee Hie it [he i sh eS we EAE FS ig) BSE eRe. ay oa ot} a alr L228 88 ' =| 87EXTRA POSITIONS ——- A RPEGGIOs ——, FFE DOM.7 SCALE 4 You may wish 10 try some of the tune “ae 8 FT ee! These wo diagrams, yo 7 Tingerngs generate By the arpobeio ae 7 S inde dagrameat elt EL EI ELS The folloning ofpeggins and curs have the AT and 9 as the low notes. Otherwise thi chapter TE thicts so, nay do you think U dint just rite shem out before, see the bottom of the pa hey’ af similar tothe fist (wa groups you Aad im the fist O40 positions” Think about this. then [———— ARPEGGI0s ——— ¢ E DOM.7 SCALE E13 ER ELS Ceeg 8- | Hr you said REGISTER, you were on the maney reste, but high enough so that these to tones do range notes), But it you have a teste even! way Gown around the 2nu oF 3 lasing lies imJ ARPEGGIOS ——— F DOM. 7 SCALES enon Be in 44 Sth position | WHERE TO USE THE DOM.7 RUNS You may be wondering which of the runs you have been Working on in this section will Work over which dom. 7th type chords. A big part of the answer to this lics in remembering the difference between the group-| dominant chords anc the group-? dominant chords. Do you remember what itis? One group has - the 3rd in the chords, and the other group has the Lth (4th) instead So... for maximum synchronization of runs and chords, seu could generalize and say that if a run contains the 3rd. vse it over any of the group-1 dominants. and if it contains the [1th usc it over any of the group-2 deminants, And if a run contains both (or neither) the 31d and 1th, use it over any chord in either group of chords. But watch oui for ending or lingering tones. Here is a chart (just like you had in the major chapter), that may help when you are making up your own runs & GROUP-2 DOMINANT CHORDS (LINGERING) MELODY NOTES OVER GROUP. Root: O.K. in any register over either group of chords, th: Poor in low register. good in middle and high registers{over either group of chords). 3rd: 1) Over group-! chords, it is good in any register. except maybe very low 2) Over group-? chords, it is not very good to most ears, except in the very high register. where it sounds like ¢ 17th, not a 3rd (but if the chord you are playing over has the £1th on top, it might | not work). ~ 1th: 1) Over groupe! chords, it is not very good in any register, 2) Over group-2 chords, it is good in any register. - Sth: Good in any register, 13th (6thy: Poor in low register, good in middle register, very good in high register unless the chord you are playing over has the 47th on top. in which case the two tones may sound a little strained to you. b7th: Not too good in low register, good in middle register. good in high register Unless the chord you are playing over has the 13th (6th) on top. ; Remember. these are just general guidclincs that many players scem to adhere to. but your earsiare still a the final judge. If you hear Sounds that you like which seem to go against the above guidelines, rejeet these guidelines and go with what you like — you have to be true to yourself. - 39COMBINING SCALES IN ONE POSITION On the following pages you wil! see examples of runs that combine the Major and Dom, 7th scales, in one position at a time. This type of guitar playing isa fittle preview to what happens when you have to solo over a Jot of chords in one song or piece. You will want to know scparate scales for the different chords in the song, but if you know enough positions of each scale, you will be able to stay in one little 5 or 6 fret area and play through the whole song; and if you choose to, you will be able to do this again in a different 5 or 6 fret area, and actually, in about seven different 5 or 6 fret areas. When you can do this (and there will be lots more material coming up to help you in this respect) if you should then want to move allover the fingerboard when you solo, instead of just staying in one area at a time, it will be very easy (just be patient and keep studying and you will see this is true), ’ Over the runs on the following pages. you will sce chord symbols. These chords can be played by another guitarist (pianist or ?) while you are soloing, or, you can put them on tape and then play the tape back and soto over it — either way is fine The chords are given because if you hear these runs over the intended chords it should really give your ears some pleasure, and your brain some food for thought (because you will be hearing how these runs tually sound in a musical context, how the different chord tones in the runs seem to “behave” over the chords). The rhythmic feel of the chords is open to yous interpretation, but it is hoped that you are playing with a good sense of a jazz feel now (as mentioned earlier) if you are going to he putting the chords on tape, so that the package of chords and solo fines ‘wilh sound like “the real thing”. These runs will be much easier to visualize and learn if you determine some arpeggios and chord farms (all of which you have, of course, already had) which seem to relate in terms of their chord tones (and location) to the chord tones in these runs. This won't be hard to do, if youhave been “doing your homework” up till now, And by all means, if you get the urge, make up some tuns of your own based on the given chord progressions 2nd & 3rd cht Position pls car c47 bag ta, 604th & 3rd Position AST aat 625th & 4th Position yer 3 ee bide aee Gis oy aaa aay eae ~~ ,t—— pth Aat 2: td‘7th Position ide tutte oat Qe Baa cary Ry md ITH . Or 1 4 ‘Tht | e 1 ut| oes sagagee ae oa, 8 | ait get ee \ f fetr 0 aopt TTS 2 5th & 4th Position 6S662 * f THE MINOR 7TH SCALE As soc mits howe nine TUCGn 7) type chords ave a very inpuorcant pact at fare ceed sur eosin other kinds of music: so naturally, we will discuss solwing over them The most common and important scale used in jav7 for soloing over these chords, will be valed (you auesed it) the MINOR 7th SCALE. Definition: The Minor 7th seale is simply at Major Seale with LOWERED 31d (3) and LOWERED Tih (7) tenes F\omples of Minor Tih scales A MINOR Tih SCAL ACB OC 4D OSE SEH GOA GMINOR Th SCALE: 1G 7A BR AC DE 'G (Ce MINOR 7th SCALE: 'C# ODF OE 4FH CGF tA OB OCH So. which m7 type chords take the shove scale? As before in other chapters, the answer lies analyzing the chord tones in the seale, which are ay follows: 1.43, 5.7, 9 IL and 13, Asyou might suspect, any chord containing some combination of any of (but only) these chord tones, can take the Minor 7th Scate. (NOTE: There is actually another criterion for determining when the m7 scale can be used, oe afte stele eT . HOA iat me tat al o MINOR 7th TYPE ARPEGGIOS AND SCALE Remember, you don’t have to learn aff these arpeggios. just some of your favorites maybe, SEE EEES Eth tt zh enil aL Bs EEO ; emt fe ul wl, Reals fir ee et me es cesar BERET aD eeceke s kofthNaty ‘alae oe a g fe You will probably notice that zach m7 scale has the same notes as a major scale whose root is a whole step lower, But, as cautioned before on dom. 7 scales, for your own good, don’t think of the m7 scale in this way now. What is of value to you in this viewpoint will surface and be discussed later in Volume I 2nd Position Tape the chords zCompare this run with the 2nd one on this page, , ) DA t Em Notice * '3/4 time can be very attractive in jazz creating the feel known as “Jaz Waltz”. You may find it highly stimulating for variety’s sake, to make up some runs in 3)4 time, as above, or even just using the Major (or Lydian) scale, or just the Dom. 7 scale. nAth Position Em? alse Va ne 1 @unusual finger= 444 ing of trill (sina) pas 435 ae Som % F not on tip (amn ded) ee = “Se ie SETTER et = Fe See sth example in this position =3 Emon previo ase) Tth Position = ir aGare ae e 5th Position ot |Compare the nest 3 runs cm? cm? Bo 7 3S nates n the space of 1 best (si Re dzeutsed on Vol.Compare the next 3 examples re 4424 spe te a7 cm? 2 (Sif prepared,yes?MELODY NOTES Any im? run given so far will work over any of the m7 type chords given at the beginnin's “this chapter That's that. pe choresgeental As for ending notes, here are some guidelines which yau may wish to try (LINGERING) MELODY NOTES OVER MINOR Tth TYPE CHORDS Root: O.K. in any register, although sometimes it sounds a title lifeless 9th: Bad in low register, very good in middle and high registers unless the chord you are solving *\°t CAS the D3rd om top, in which case there is a clash unless the chord is voiced very low b3rd: Good in low and middle registers; fair in high register unless the chord you are soloing over MY He ‘9th on top in which case, forget it (unless you like strony clashes) Uth: Can be excellent in low register if the chord you are soloing over is aot voiced very bow. 1h": EME Lith is exeelleat io the raiddle and high registers ne OVEF Is nat voiosd very ia Sth: Good in low and middle registers, fair in high register ye 13th (6thy: Poor in low register, fair in middle seginter, hut can be ver in high register, ertally when the 13th is preceded by the 9th and Ilth tones. Buti che chced vou ance salatng ever ts tHE Y 7th on top, the 13th may rub you the weacy way, ntess the churd is voiced low 7th: Not too good in low register, good in middle and high reyisters untess the 13th is on top of His Hrd you are soloing over, in which case, forget the 47th in at lean the high register. = = Here is another run, based on a common chord progression, which combines Major, Domin ttt 7th and Minor 7th colors: which combines Major, Mainly in 4th Position re 24 a4 wet Mainly in 2nd Position Aat © Mainly in 5th and 6th positions . ~ area tee tral - 40Do 2 ors Se “id wit a 13 vsTHE OVERTONE DOMINANT SCALE An almost magical group of sounds in jazz (and Impressionistic and other music as well) are those that come out of the Overtone Dominant Scale. The scale itself is not too exciting but the arpeggios and runs that can be derived from it are absolute knockouts, especially when these sounds are heard along with certain chords, which also emanate Srom the Overtone Dominant scale. The Overt. Dom, scale acquires its name from Nature's Overtone Series. If you're wondering about this. join the club. I don't know that mucky about it either. I've read books on it but they all tell me the “what” not the “why” of it, but maybe no one has an answer for this “why” yet. (Or maybe I didn’t read the Fight books). But it é a fascinating subject, especially when paralleled with the evolution of harmony. In fact, when viewed in this light, the implications become awesome. Wile admit Series: ing to my limited knowledge on the subject, here is a rough description of the Overtone When any tone is sounded, it produces many other very faint tones which are known as overtones. These overtones always form the same pattern, Here is an example of this pattern, assuming that low E is, our sounded tone (the sounded tone is often called the fundamental in the Overtone Series) EB Bp ch D E R=ROOT 3 eee If we alphabetize all of the above pitches so as to form a scale, we would get the following FUNDAMEN Fa NE 2FR IGS As SB Ce UD AE Notice that we get a #4th and h7th inthe scale, which leads us toa definition The Overtone Daminant seale is simply a Dominant 7th seale with a #4th tone instead of the regular tth A few more examples C OVERTONE DOMINANT SCALE: 'C 2D 'E “FR 9G SA BA SC As OVERTONE DOMINANT SCALE. ‘Ay 2Bh 'C MD SE SF Gh 1An F# OVERTONE DOMINANT SCALE: 'F# °G# ‘Ae UB? ‘C¥ SDE OE “FE It you try plying these scales and are not very satisfied with the sound, | don't blame you remember, the beauty doesn’t lig so much in the seale as in the arpeggios and runs that come from this, seale (this will be itustrated suon). So which chorus take the Overt, Dom. seale? As usual, the answer lies in analyzing the chord tones of the scale, whieh are. 1.3.5, 07.94 #1 bow, and Ls AS you may be expecting Any chord containing some combination of any of (but only) these chord tones can take the Overtone Dominant scale. Here is a list of such chords, which will be called the GROUP 3 DOMINANTS: 82 bo: ro" ro bo TO bo. Pe w! ate ate se wand