Effective Soloing over a Bb BluesPodcast #8 - Additional notes

© Copyright Darren Dutson Bromley 2012

Essential chord tones (part 2)

Last week we stripped a blues progression down to just Root, 3rd and 7th, this week we are going to go one further and strip it down to its two most essential notes, the 3rd and the 7th.

Seventh chords consist of four notes, a root, a note a 3rd above it, the note a 5th above the root and the note a 7th above the root.

For example looking at a Bb major scale.

Bb C D Eb F G A (Bb)

From Bb, (the root) the note a 3rd above is D, the note a 5th above is F and the note a 7th above is A.

Bb C D Eb F G A

Root 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Bb D F A

These are the notes which are used to construct a Bbma7 chord.

To make the chord a dominant 7th, the 7th note is flattened. This would be written as Bb7

Bb C D Eb F G A

Root 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th (b)7th

Bb D F Ab

To make the chord Bbm7, the 3rd and the 7th are both flattened.

Bb C D Eb F G A

Root 2nd (b)3rd 4th 5th 6th (b)7th

Bb Db F Ab

These formula apply to all keys, the configuration of notes remains the same regardless of key.

Root, 3rd, 5th, 7th is the formula for a maj7 chord. Root, b3rd, 5th, b7th is the formula for m7 etc.

Each of the notes of a chord has a specific role. The function of the root is to name the chord, the 3rd describes tonality, whether the chord is major or minor. The 5th adds padding, unless it is altered in which case depending on how it is altered it can have a number of different roles and the 7th describes function, whether the chord needs to resolve onto another chord or not.

Lets use a Bb7 chord as an example.

The 5th can be omitted as it doesn't offer much to the chord other than fattening out the sound. I know this trivialises the 5th, the sound the 5th can offer to the texture of a chord can be wonderful but its role to the function of the chord is minimal.

The root can, surprisingly, also be omitted. It's role is really just to name the chord. The 3rd is very important as is the 7th, these two notes can't be omitted.

It is quite possible to play a progression using chords which contain only 3rds and 5ths and it sound quite recognisable, this is because all the essential information as regards tonality and function are contained within in these two notes.

Here is a blues in Bb.

The progression sounds surprisingly coherent considering how little is actually being played.

Having an understanding of how these two notes work is really useful, particularly when playing in a situation where there is no other harmony instrument such as a piano or another guitar. A popular instrument combination is guitar, bass and drums or even just guitar and bass. The guitar needs to be able to highlight the harmony when soloing,

otherwise it can sometimes sound unclear harmonically. One way to do this is to smuggle in these two essential tones into a solo to highlight the harmonic movement of the progression without detracting away from the solo. Pianists generally do this very successfully as the instrument is laid out in such away that it is conducive to do so. It is much more difficult on the guitar and at first needs planning and practise.

Here is a blues in Bb. Try and make the dyads (two note chords) quieter than the melody notes to create the impression of the two parts been independent. Listen to the example on the podcast for the feel and dynamics.

Try this technique in other situations with other chord types, the rules are essentially the same for virtually all chords. Also listen to lots of pianists and see how they use this technique to create rhythmic interest as well a highlighting and defining the harmonic progression.

See you next time.