Another ii V I   substitution Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

April 30, 2009 by finerethanLet’s look at the second half of Blue Bossa.  The chords go to: Ebm7 for one bar Ab7 for one bar  then Dbmaj7 for two bars.  Anytime you have a longer ii V I setup like this, you can compress the two and five chord into one bar, then put another two five a half step below into the next bar.  In the example of Blue Bossa, it would look like:  Ebm7  Ab7 in one bar, then Dm7  A7 in one bar, resolving to Dbmaj7 for two bars.

Try this out with any tune that has ii V I progressions with long harmonic rhythms.  Take a look at All the Things You Are, which is riddled with long ii V’s and enjoy making them chromatic!  This is another sax player trick for how they play so many notes at a time without running out of ideas.  They are chromaticizing the ii V parts of songs.  Enjoy!

turnaround   substitutions Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

April 28, 2009 by finerethanEver play Half Nelson or Ladybird and wonder where those chords at the end come from?  Let’s take a look.

We start with the standard diatonic turnaround: C Am Dm G7.  This is I vi ii V for those of you who like to think of it this way.  The first substitution is to make the turnaround chords dominant, because a dominant chord has more momentum than a minor 7 chord: C A7 D7 G7.  The next step is to play tritone subs for all the chord: C Eb7 Ab7 Db7, and voila! You have the Half Nelson turnaround.  This substitution will sound great even if you play it over the standard turnaround, and any piano or guitar player with experience will be able to catch it the second time around.  Especially if you use some kind of melodic sequence like: 1 2 3 5 of the chords, or an arpeggio.  Sometimes I’ll also walk this underneath a solo to try to push some tension or to try to push a soloist in a direction.

Fun blues   substitutions Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

April 27, 2009 by finerethanSorry for the long delay, I’ve been on the road with the Max Allen Band for several days.  Today, we’ll look at a way to play Giant Steps changes over an F blues.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, Giant Steps chords move in a sequence of up a minor third and then resolving to the new one chord (down a fifth).

The same thing can be done with a blues progression; we’ll use an F blues.  The first four bars of a 12 bar F blues are an F7 chord, which gives you a lot of time to play different substitutions.  Putting Giant Steps changes makes the first four bars look like: F7 Ab7 Db7 E7 A7 C7 F7 B7 then the four chord of Bb7.  Each chord lasts two beats until you get to Bb7.  Notice how the sequence works: F7 up a minor third to Ab7 then resolve down to Db7, then up a minor third to E7, then resolve to A7, then up a minor third to C7 then resolve to F7; at this point the sequence is done, but I put in the tritone substitution of B7 to keep the feeling of the chord changes moving two beats at a time.  The beauty of this is that the sequence is strong enough that it can all be played over an F7 chord.  If you’re playing with a piano or guitar player that can hear this substitution, even better.

The best way to approach these changes is to sequence your melody line too.  You can use John Coltrane’s lick: 1, 2, 3, 5 over each chord, which would be F G A C over F7, then Ab Bb C Eb over Ab7, then Db Eb F Ab over Db7, and so on.  What I found on the bass is that I have to have an ascending and descending lick to make it all fit comfortably; so I usually play F G A C over F7, then Ab Eb C Ab in a descending arpeggio, then Db Eb F Ab over Db7, then E B G# E descending over E7, and so on.

This is a really nice substitution, and actually fits a lot of places where you have a static dominant chord.  If you change the last chord, in this case the B7, you can basically make this resolve anywhere.  Enjoy!

Diminished scale   fun Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

April 17, 2009 by finerethanActually, the diminished scale most commonly used in jazz is called the auxiliary diminished scale.  It’s really the second mode of a diminished scale.  A normal diminished scale is eight notes and goes whole step, half step, whole step, half step until you reach the octave.  It’s Yngwie’s favorite scale!  The auxiliary diminished scale goes half step, whole step, etc…

The way you use this scale is on a chord that looks like: X13b9.  Actually any dominant 13 flat 9 chord is pretty much a guaranty to use this scale.  It’s a nice substitution over any dominant 7 chord.

Let’s take C13b9.  The aux diminished scale that goes with this is: C Db Eb E F# G A Bb.  This scale is such a nice choice because it gets

the natural 5th, the flat 9, the dominant 7, and the thirteenth (A) that are all important parts of the sound of the chord.  This scale would also sound nice over a C7 chord.

To transpose, just take start from the root of the chord and play half step, whole step…

major pentatonics for #5 major   chords Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

April 14, 2009 by finerethanThe last commonly used mode of melodic minor is called lydian augmented.  As you might imagine, this is a lydian scale with a #5.  It’s also the brightest sounding scale you can play, because every interval in the scale is either major or augmented.  This scale is used over any chord that looks like:  Xmaj7#5  or X+maj7.  It’s also a nice substitution over any Xmaj7 chord, but you have to be playing with a piano player that can hear.  Sax players get a lot of mileage out of this scale.  If you’re ever on a gig playing a major 7 chord and wondering, “what is that cool out sound,” this is it.

Let’s take a Cmaj7#5 chord.  The scale that goes with this is: C D E F# G# A B.  As you can see, it’s all major or augmented intervals; you get a major 2nd, a major 3rd, a #4, a #5, a major 6th, and a major 7th.  These are the same notes as A melodic minor; so you can also think of this scale as the third mode of melodic minor.

An easier way to get this sound is to use major pentatonic b6.  Taking Cmaj7#5, play E major pent b6 over it and get: E F# G# B C, which gets all the important sounds of the chord, plus this gets you away from thinking about roots, which is a big pitfall for all begining improvisors and all bass players in general.

To transpose, make it III/I (three over one) for any chord that has maj7#5 attached to it, and for extra tension any chord that has maj7 attached.

using the whole tone   scale Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

April 13, 2009 by finerethanThe whole tone scale is made up entirely of whole steps and only has six notes.  For example, the C whole tone scale is: C D E F# G# A#, and the Db whole tone scale is: Db Eb F G A B.  Technically,

there are only two whole tone scales, because if you were to start one on D, you would have: D E F# G# A# C, which are the same notes as the first scale above.

The most obvious use of the whole tone scale is for augmented dominant seventh chords, for example, the second chord of “Take the A Train.”  The tune goes: C6 (or Cmaj7) for two bars, then D+7 for two bars.  You can play whole tone starting from D, and get the major third, sharp five, and flat seven that make up that chord.

A less obvious use of this scale is for ANY dominant seven chord.  It’s especially fun to do later in a blues solo.  Say you’ve played about 2 choruses and going into the third chorus of an F blues.  The first four bars of the form is over an F7, so why not try it here?  It adds quite a bit of interest, and is spelled F G A B C# Eb.  Then resolve it to Bb mixolydian.

This also works in ii V I progressions.  If we go to the user friendly Dmin G7 Cmaj7, try playing F major pentatonic over Dmin, the G whole tone over G7, then C lydian over Cmaj7.   It gives you a nice outer space sound in the middle of your solo.  Enjoy!

more tritone substitution   fun Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

April 12, 2009 by finerethanIf you scroll down this blog, you’ll see another entry about tritone substitutions and why they work.  Basically, any dominant chord resolving to it’s respective one chord can be substituted with another dominant chord a tritone away.  In practical terms, this means that Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 becomes Dm7 Db7 Cmaj7.  Notice that Db7 is a tritone (or #4) away from G7.

The true scale that goes with the Db7 is called lydian dominant.  You can think of it as a dominant scale with a #4 (like lydian) or a lydian scale with a b7 (like dominant).  The notes would be: Db Eb F G Ab Bb Cb.  As you can see, the #4 or lydian note is G, which gives a nod to the G7 that it came from.

Another example in a different key would be to take ii V I in F: Gm7 C7 Fmaj7.  It would become: Gm7  Gb7  Fmaj7, and the lydian dominant scale would be: Gb Ab Bb C Db Eb Fb.

You can also use pentatonic b6 to create lydian dominant.  Look at it as II/I (two over one).  In the case of Gb, you would play Ab major pent b6, which gives you: Ab Bb C Eb Fb, which are all the important

notes in a lydian dominant sounding scale.

These scales are useful for any tritone substitution or any chord that looks like:  X7#11.  Enjoy!

more with minor ii V i   progressions Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

April 10, 2009 by finerethanOkay, so we have our minor ii V i progression where we treat the ii chord with locrian or superlocrian, the V chord as altered, and the i chord as either dorian or melodic minor, but every V chord that resolves to minor will not be a fully altered sound.  The more “inside” way of treating the V chord is as a dominant 7 flat9 chord.

Sound let’s look back at the progression: Dmin7b5 to G7b9 to Cmin7.  Again, you would play locrian, superlocrian, or one of the corresponding major pents over Dmin7b5, and you would play C dorian over Cmin7.  Over the G7b9, you would use a scale called either Spanish phrygian, or the fifth mode of harmonic minor.  The notes are G Ab B C D Eb F.  Notice this scale is the same notes as C harmonic minor, but starting from the G.  So this scale gives you a more inside version of a dominant chord that resolves to a minor i chord, because it has the flat nine, but also has the normal fifth.  From the root, you get root, flat nine, major third, perfect fourth, perfect fifth, flat sixth (flat thirteen), and flat seven.

So enjoy trying out this scale.  This is the more appropriate choice when you’re looking at a chart and you see: X7b9.  Altered really is more of an outside substitution in a chart, but you will run across fully altered sevenths too (see the song “Invitation”), so it’s worth knowing both.

apply major pentatonic to minor ii V i   progressions Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

April 9, 2009 by finerethanNow we have a couple of options, using both major pentatonic and major pentatonic b6 to make some really inside/outside sounds over a minor ii V i progression.

Let’s take Dmin7b5  G7  Cmin.  I leave the seventh off of the Cmin to show you some options.

Over Dmin7b5, you can play Eb major pent, Bb major pent, or the

more preferrable Ab major pent.  You can also play C major pent b6, which will give you a major 2nd and sound more “jazz.”  You can also just play a straight locrian: D Eb F G Ab Bb C, or a superlocrian scale: D E F G Ab Bb C.

Over G7, you can play G major pent, C major pent, or F major pent, but you’ll find these don’t resolve to minor one chords as nicely.  You can also use Eb major pent b6, which gets all the nice notes of an altered scale and resolves very nice to a minor one chord.  You could also just play an altered scale: G Ab Bb B Db Eb F.

The Cmin chord is also very flexible, you can play Eb major pent, Bb major pent, or F major pent to make a Cmin7 sound, or you can use G major pent b6 and get a Cmin maj7 sound (most piano players are good enough to get out of your way when you do this).  You can also play C dorian: C D Eb F G A Bb, or C melodic minor: C D Eb F G A B.  I find that the pentatonic scales are more fun choices for more outside sounding stuff.

another way to look at the minor 7 flat 5   chord Posted in band shows, bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock,

scales, soloing on April 8, 2009 by finerethanMinor seven flat 5 chords function as the ii chord in a minor ii V i.  The “usual” scale is to play locrian, but it has too many ugly notes in it that you have to be careful of.  The hip choice is to play superlocrian, or locrian #2.  The scale has many names, but it always means a locrian scale with a raised 2nd, or really since locrian has a b2, it really means a locrian scale with a natural 2nd.  This choice gets rid of some of the ugly and makes a hip natural 9 sound.

Let’s take Dm7b5.  D locrian would be spelled: D Eb F G Ab Bb C D.  D super locrian would be spelled: D E F G Ab Bb C D; so you change one note between the two.  Incidentally, this scale is the sixth mode of F melodic minor, so if you want to look at it like F melodic minor starting on the sixth degree, be my guest.

To continue with our major pent b6 idea, you would play bVII/I, in this case C major pent b6 over Dm7b5.  This gives you C D E G Ab, which gives you the flat seven, the root, the major 2nd, the fourth, and the flat five: all important notes to superlocrian.

To transpose, just keep thinking bVII/I.  So for Fm7b5, play Eb major pent b6.

tritone   substitutions Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

April 3, 2009 by finerethanThe II V I in the key of C is normally expressed as Dmin, G7, Cmaj7.  What you’ll find is, that the dominant chord’s ability to take disonance is much greater than any other chord.  The first simple trick to get yourself some more outside notes is the tritone substitution.  The way this works, is you take the G7, and play like it’s a dominant chord a tritone away, is this case, the tritone substitution would be Db7.

The reason this works so well is this: the third and seventh of a G7 chord are B and F.  The third and seventh of a Db7 chord are F and Cb (or B).  So the notes with the strongest “tendancies” are shared by these chords.

So if you were soloing over this Dmin G7 Cmaj7 progression, you would just treat it as, Dmin Db7 Cmaj7.  It’s not necessary for the band to know because all the notes from a Db mixolydian scale work: Db Eb F G Ab Bb B.  This gives you a fully altered version of G7 (we’ll be getting into altered later, suffice it to say, these notes work well against a G7 chord).

You can also apply major pentatonics to this concept.  Try playing F major pent over Dmin, then Db major pent over G7, then D major pent over C.  It gives a nice, strong, outside sound.

Incidentally, this trick works over static dominant 7 chords too.  Take the song “Brown Eyed Blues.”  The bass solo is over a B7 chord, so you could start in B, then move to an F mixolydian or major pent scale, then back to create some interest.  It also works in blues changes.  If you’re playing an F blues, trying treating the fourth bar as a B7, resolving to Bb7 in the fifth bar.   Enjoy!

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another way to apply major pentatonic to II V I   progressions Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

April 2, 2009 by finerethanAnother way to look at II V I progressions is to treat the I chord as lydian.  So, back in the user friendly key of C, we have Dmin G7 and

Cmaj7.

This makes our choices: F C and G major pent over the Dmin, F C and G major pent over the G7 and D C and G major pent over the Cmaj7.

Some things to try:

1) G major pent over Dmin, to F major pent over G7, to D major pent over Cmaj7.  It’s like instant hip!

2) F major pent over Dmin, to G major pent over G7, to D major pent (2 beats) resolving to C major pent over Cmaj7.

This will broaden your tonal palette with major 7 kinds of chords.

Enjoy!

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apply pentatonic major to II V I   progressions Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

April 1, 2009 by finerethanNow that we know how major pentatonic applies to all the different modes, let’s look at how these scales apply to a II V I progression.

In the user friendly key of C, the progression would be Dm G7 Cmaj7.  The Dm chord is your dorian chord, so the choices for major pent are bIII/I or F major pent, bVII/I or C major pent, and IV/I or G major pent.  The G7 can be mixolydian, so the choices are I/I or G major pent, IV/I or C major pent, and bVII over I or F major pent, and finally, let’s stick with Ionian for Cmaj7, and play I/I or C major pent, IV/I or F major pent, and V/I or G major pent.

So to simply, the choices for this progression all boil down to C, F, and G major pentanonic scales.  So here are some things to try:

1) play G major pent over Dmin, F major pent over G7, and G major pent over C maj7.  You’ll notice the G major pent sounds totally different over the Cmaj7 than it does over Dmin

2) play F major pent over Dmin, C major pent over G7, and C major pent over Cmaj7.  This gives you a true “leading the changes” sound.  The C over G creates a lot of tension that resolves very

nicely without you having to do anything.

3) play C major pent the whole time.  This especially works if you take advantage of the quartal sound of pentatonic.  Try a sequence like, E A G D C E D A G C A E, or A D C G E A G D

4) play G major pent the whole.  This one is nice, as it has no “handle with care” notes, and all the resolution is happening in the rest of the band.

5) play F major pent over Dmin, G major pent over G7, and C major pent over Cmaj7.  This will give you the most “inside” sound.

As you can see, there are quite of few choices.  So experiment and have fun!

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using pentatonic major with   locrian Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

March 31, 2009 by finerethanThe last major mode is locrian.  This scale is used over minor seven flat five or half diminished chords.  In jazz, this chord functions as a ii chord in a minor ii/V i.  It can also function as a substitution for a V chord; you see this VERY rarely outside of Romantic era classical music, but I’m sure someone out there could find a Steely Dan tune where it happens.  Let’s take a C-7b5 chord: C Eb Gb Bb.  You’ll notice that this chord has, surprise, a flat five in it, and locrian is the only choice of major modes that has a flatted fifth note.

C locrian is: C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C, and again you have three choices of major pentatonics that fit into this scale.  The first is Ab major pent: Ab Bb C Eb F.  Again, the flat 6th, in this case, Ab, is a handle with care note, as landing on it too much will start to make the chord sound like an Ab7; the rest of the notes are legal and fun.  The second choice is Db major pent: Db Eb F Ab Bb, which gives you some nice tension, as it’s a half step away from the root.  The most locrian choice is the third: Gb major pent: Gb Ab Bb Db Eb.  This scale gets both the flat five and the flat second, which are the main notes that make locrian sound like locrian.

When I’m using this method and soloing, I usually go straight to the Gb major pent, as most minor seven flat 5 chords don’t last that long in the songs they’re in.  The other scales offer some nice resolutions too though, which I’ll get into when I get some time to

write about melodic minor modes.

Next up, we’ll look at using this with II V I progressions.

Enjoy!

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using major pentatonic with   aeolian Posted in bass, jazz, lessons, music, music theory, rock, scales, soloing on

March 30, 2009 by finerethanThe second to last of the major modes is aeolian, or natural minor.  This is the kind of minor that can also be called a relative minor, because it has the same notes as the major scale it’s related to.  For example C aeolian: C D Eb F G Ab Bb is the relative minor of Eb major: Eb F G Ab Bb C D.  Notice how the notes are the same, but the starting point is different.  Playing pentatonic major over a C minor chord/key to create aeolian makes a distinctive sound, and admittedly not one of my favorites.  I’m a jazzer, and I prefer using dorian as minor all the time, but it’s important to know aeolian for those times when dorian just sounds wrong.  Many rock and pop tunes use aeolian minor, especially metal.

The first choice over a C aeolian minor situation is Eb major pent: Eb F G Bb C.  It gets all the important minor notes, without the F, this would be a C minor 7 arrpeggio.  The second choice is Bb major pent: Bb C D F G.  This is a little more “floaty” sounding, no real tension notes, but it’s much more across the key because it doesn’t use the third of C minor, which is Eb.  The third choice is Ab major pent: Ab Bb C Eb F.  This is a nice one, but the Ab must be handled with care.  This note is supposed to resolve to a G in normal classical music usage, but as the scale has no G, it can create a nice across the key kind of sound; however, if you land on the Ab too much, it starts to make the C minor sound like Ab major for some reason.

So to transpose, look at it like: bIII/i (flat three over one), bVII/i (flat seven over one), and bVI/i (flat six over one).  In the key of G aeolian, you would use Bb major pent, F major pent, and Eb major pent.

One more to go, then we’ll look at applying all of this to ii V I progressions.

Enjoy!