Chord Tone Chord Tone Soloing f or or Jazz Guitar www.fundamental-changes.com es.com Published by www.fundamental-chang
ISBN: 978-1-910403-22-8 978-1-910403-22-8
Copyright © 2015 Joseph Alexander Alexander
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All rights reserved. reserved. No part of this publication publication may be repro reproduced, duced, stored stored in a retrieval retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing from the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. publisher.
www.fundamental-changes.com
Also by Fundamental Fundamental Changes
The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar Book One: Rhythm Guitar The Complete Guide to Playing Bl ues Guitar Book Two: Two: Melodic Phrasing The Complete Guide to Pla to Playin ying g Blue B luess Guit G uitar ar Book Three: Beyond Pentatonics The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar Compilation The CAGED System and 100 Licks for Bl ues Guitar Fundame Fund amental ntal Cha Changes nges in Jazz Gui Guitar tar:: The T he Maj Major or ii V I Minor Min or ii V Maste Ma stery ry for Jazz Gui Guitar tar Jazz Blues Soloing for Guitar Guitar Scales in Context Guitar Chords in Context Part Part One Jazz Guitar Chord Mastery (Guitar Chords in Context Part Two) Two) Complete Technique Technique for Modern M odern Guitar Funkk Guit Fun G uitar ar Mas Mastery tery The Complete Technique, Technique, Theory and Scales Compilati on for Guitar
Chord Tone Chord Tone Soloing f or or Jazz Guitar www.fundamental-changes.com es.com Published by www.fundamental-chang
ISBN: 978-1-910403-22-8 978-1-910403-22-8
Copyright © 2015 Joseph Alexander Alexander
The moral right of this author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. reserved. No part of this publication publication may be repro reproduced, duced, stored stored in a retrieval retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing from the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. publisher.
www.fundamental-changes.com
Also by Fundamental Fundamental Changes
The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar Book One: Rhythm Guitar The Complete Guide to Playing Bl ues Guitar Book Two: Two: Melodic Phrasing The Complete Guide to Pla to Playin ying g Blue B luess Guit G uitar ar Book Three: Beyond Pentatonics The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar Compilation The CAGED System and 100 Licks for Bl ues Guitar Fundame Fund amental ntal Cha Changes nges in Jazz Gui Guitar tar:: The T he Maj Major or ii V I Minor Min or ii V Maste Ma stery ry for Jazz Gui Guitar tar Jazz Blues Soloing for Guitar Guitar Scales in Context Guitar Chords in Context Part Part One Jazz Guitar Chord Mastery (Guitar Chords in Context Part Two) Two) Complete Technique Technique for Modern M odern Guitar Funkk Guit Fun G uitar ar Mas Mastery tery The Complete Technique, Technique, Theory and Scales Compilati on for Guitar
Sight Reading Mastery for Guitar Rock Gui Guitar tar UnUn-CAG CAGED: ED: The CAG CAGED ED Syst System em and 100 Lic Licks ks for f or Rock Gui Guitar tar The Practical Guide to Modern Music Theory for Guitarists Beginner’ss Guitar Lessons: The Essential Guide Beginner’
Massive thanks to the wonderful Pete Sklaroff for recording the audio for this book.
Contents Introduction How to Use This Book Chapter One: ii V I Major Chapter Two: I vi ii V7 (7b9 Substitution) The 7b9 (Diminished) Substitution Chapter Three: I7 VI7 II7 V7 Chapter Four: I (ii V7 I) i Chapter Five: I (i V I) The m7b5 Dominant Substitution Chapter Six: I II7 iim7 V Chapter Seven: I7 IV7 V7 IV7 Chapter Eight: ii V I Minor Chapter Nine: The Minor Blues Chapter Ten: I biiDim7 ii biiiDim7 Chapter Eleven: Descending ii Vs Chapter Twelve: The Tritone Substitution Chapter Thirteen: III7 biii ii bII7 I Chapter Fourteen: Further Progressions Chapter Fifteen: Exercises to Practice Changes Conclusions
Other Books from Fundamental Changes Be Social
Introduction Jazz guitar soloing can be a complex affair, especially when it comes to soloing over chord changes.
In contrast to modern pop songs, jazz ‘standards’ often change key many times in the space of just one chorus. This level of harmonic complexity can force the soloist to navigate a minefield of theoretical concepts while trying to find something musical and creative to play. It is normally the case that thinking too much while playing is the biggest obstacle to spontaneous creativity.
It is also true, however, that in order to play the right notes at the right time, the soloist must know the chord changes inside out. A deep understanding of how the song is constructed is essential if solos are to flow freely and creatively.
Finding the balance between a cerebral and a truly spontaneous improvisational approach is one of the most important challenges that any jazz musician faces.
Along with understanding and memorising a jazz chord progression, guitarists often find themselves with the additional, instrument-specific challenge of learning to play the correct chords, scales and arpeggios all over the neck . Unlike with the piano, there can be many different shapes to learn for just one arpeggio.
Learning to play all the arpeggio and scale shapes for just one chord is challenging enough, and this task is compounded when you consider that chords are rarely played in isolation. When you solo over two or more chords in a sequence, it can start to feel like you’re walking through treacle.
With hundreds of jazz standards to learn, even finding a starting point can be difficult when it comes to learning to solo on the guitar.
Of course, if jazz soloing was really seen in these terms, no one would ever dare to play a note. The answer to all of these challenges is to simplify our thinking and to find the common ground that forms the basis for the majority of jazz progressions.
The first thing to realise about jazz is that there aren’t actually as many jazz chord progressions as you might think. While there are hundreds of jazz songs, many of them use incredibly similar sequences of chords. For example, it was common during the bebop period for players such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie to write new melodies over the same chord changes as existing songs.
The melodies of Anthropology (Parker/Gillespie), Moose the Mooche (Parker) and Oleo (Rollins) are all played on the chord changes of I Got Rhythm (George Gershwin).
During the bebop period, jazz was probably at its most complex in terms of navigating difficult chord progressions. The Hard Bop and Modal periods that followed were generally less harmonically complex which, in turn, allowed soloists to be more melodically adventurous. Obviously there will always be exceptions to this rule, notably in some forms of jazz fusion and also John Coltrane’s Giant Steps period.
This book examines and teaches you to solo over the thirteen most commonly occurring chord progressions which form the backbone of jazz.
I can’t say this book covers every possible chord sequence that you will come across in your journey as a jazz soloist, but the chord progressions addressed in these pages will occur time and time again in your studies. These common structures form the basis of all azz music.
Now we have reduced our focus of study to just the thirteen most common chord progressions in jazz, we can turn our attention to some of the specific challenges of the guitar.
The greatest priority of any musician should be to simply make music. Forgetting all the perceived complexities of jazz soloing for a minute, if there were a simple way to create a memorable melody over a chord progression, shouldn’t that the obvious starting point?
Sometimes, jazz chord sequences can be approached by using just one ‘parent’ scale. For example, the chords in the following sequence all belong to the key of Bb Major:
You can solo over this whole progression using the Bb Major scale and most notes in Bb Major will sound good at any point in the progression. This approach is fairly common in pop and rock music.
The problem with a scalic approach is that jazz (and especially bebop) doesn’t often form its melodies around scales. It instead tends to view each chord as a separate unit and improvisations are based around the arpeggio of each chord, rather than the ‘parent scale’ of the progression.
An arpeggio is simply the notes of a particular chord played in sequence rather than all at the same time. You can think of playing an arpeggio as ‘sounding out’ the syllables of the chords one by one, just as a young child might sound out the word ‘di-no-saur ’. When you play an arpeggio, you are spelling out the chords in your solo and articulating their unique sound.
Arpeggios are the basis of jazz soloing and there are various ways of linking different arpeggios in a chord sequence together. It is the targeting of arpeggio notes over changing chords that forms the backbone of jazz soloing.
Think of arpeggios as the skeleton of a jazz solo and the scales and substitutions that can be used as the flesh and features that sit on the skeleton to add interest and human uniqueness to the solo.
This book teaches you to link together arpeggios over the most common chord progressions in jazz, along with some important substitutions and some tips and tricks for easier, more creative soloing.
While all the chords in a sequence might belong to one parent scale, arpeggios are the tools that help us play the correct scale notes over the correct chord.
Referring to the previous diagram, the parent scale of Bb Major contains all the notes from the arpeggios of Cm7, F7 and BbMaj7 as shown in the following table.
Scale of Bb Major: Bb C D Eb F G A
Chord
Arpeggio Notes
Cm7
C
Eb
G
Bb
F7
F
A
C
Eb
BbMaj7
Bb
D
F
A
As you can see, the arpeggio notes of each chord are all contained within the parent scale of Bb Major, but each chord only contains a selection of four notes.
The notes belonging to each arpeggio sound stronger/safer when played over their own chord. For example, the note Eb sounds stable when played over a Cm7 chord, but if you were to play an Eb over a BbMaj7 chord, you would hear a slight clash that would need to be resolved.
When you practice soloing with arpeggios over chord changes, you are learning to hear and locate the strongest notes of each chord. As well as learning to ‘play changes’ on the guitar, you are learning to hear how these target notes sound and feel. Once you have internalised these strong sounds, your melodic lines will naturally begin to lead towards them in your solos.
This technique of targeting the changing notes in a chord progression is called hitting the changes. Of course, as you improve and develop as a musician, you may well decide that you like target, non-arpeggio notes, however, that kind of control and musical discretion is always built on the ability to hear and play strong, arpeggio-based changes on your instrument.
With enough arpeggio practice, it becomes easy to use scales in a creative, targeted way. By training your ears with arpeggios, you will always be naturally and unconsciously led to the strongest notes to play on each chord, and you will develop great melodic freedom in your solos.
One of the challenges unique to the guitar is that there are many ways to play the same scales, arpeggios and chords on the fretboard. This may create the feeling that you should be able to play any structure, anywhere on the neck. This is a common misconception and is simply untrue, especially when you’re first starting out.
While total fretboard mastery is a great target, this should be a very long term goal. Even the best jazz guitarists tend to stick to their favourite areas on the neck. Of course, there are some incredible guitarists out there who literally can play anything anywhere on the neck, but this is as a result of years of dedicated study.
Remember that the goal of practice is to make music quickly and effortlessly. The goal is not to get bogged down in every conceivable fretboard permutation.
If you have read any of my other books, you will know that I am a big fan of the CAGED system. The CAGED system gives you five shapes or fingerings of any chord, scale or arpeggio that will completely cover the neck.
When you are learning jazz guitar soloing, I would strongly advise you to learn each progression in just one area of the neck to begin with. Master the changes in just that one area, because what you’re really doing is training your ears to hear the changes.
Your musicality will quickly develop, and you will soon start to allow your fingers to be led by your ears.
If you can internalise the sound of one complete chord progression in one position on the guitar, you will find the transition to other areas of the neck much easier. This focused approach helps to develop great ears and a supreme confidence in hitting the changes in that initial fretboard area. This allows you to quickly add all the other melodic aspects of azz that make the music come alive.
Each of the thirteen foundational chord sequences in this book are taught in one area of the neck. The whole concept is that you master one position before moving on to another. As the book progresses, you will find yourself being pushed into using different fingering patterns and covering more of the fretboard.
In one sense, this book gets more harmonically complex as you progress but in another sense, it begins to get easier as you find that you are reapplying many of the chord, arpeggio and scale shapes that you have already learnt.
The chord sequences in this book represent the majority of progressions you will come across as a jazz guitarist. However, these progressions should only be treated as isolated exercises that help you to target the defining notes of each chord, and learn the chromatic and rhythmic ideas that form the basis of a jazz guitar solo.
This book should be used in conjunction with other traditional approaches to learning jazz solos. These include, but are not limited to:
-
Listening to great jazz instrumentalists
-
Learning the melody of the tune that you are working on
-
Learning transcriptions of solos
-
Transcribing solos
-
Referring to lick/vocabulary books
-
Playing with other jazz musicians
This book helps you to master the fretboard skills and essential progressions in bebop while teaching you to add all the chromatic approach notes and jazz guitar techniques that will get you playing much closer to an authentic jazz sound.
Don’t forget to download the accompanying free audio files from www.fundamentalchanges.com/download-audio/ .
Images on Kindle can be double-tapped to enlarge them.
How to Use This Book This book isolates the thirteen most common sets of chord changes in jazz and teaches you to solo over them using the most appropriate arpeggios and chromatic additions.
The technical language of jazz can be quite daunting at first, but don’t worry. Every single concept in this book will be introduced slowly and musically with plenty of examples. The following section provides a brief overview of how this book works. Anything that sounds complex will be taught in a very straightforward manner.
Each chapter begins by giving the chord progression to be studied, along with examples of where it can be found in music and some suggested listening. Any important theory points are given, along with key centres and a brief analysis of the changes.
Each study example is taught in one position on the guitar and this should be your only focus to begin with. At the end of the chapter, there are other suggested positions to explore once you have mastered the initial suggestion.
The most important and beneficial thing you can do when you’re learning to solo on chord changes is to internalise the sound of the progression. This can be accomplished by playing through the chord shapes, and by learning everything very thoroughly in just one position on the guitar. Play along with the backing tracks to help with your time and musical feel.
You will find that the concepts are much easier to apply to other positions if you can hear and feel the changes first. Many great solos use only the first position of the minor pentatonic scale because it works so well. Learning to solo over changes in one position is enough work for now.
The chapter begins begin by showing the appropriate chord shapes to use. Once these chords have been mastered, the correct arpeggios are shown built around these chords. Depending on your level, your first job might be to memorise them.
The best approach to learning to solo over changes is to focus on very small areas of the neck. For example, progress will be much quicker if you focus on how the arpeggio notes differ between chords over a two-string group.
Many exercises and musical examples are given in each chapter although it should be stressed that these are just a starting point ! Your job is to find as many routes between the arpeggio notes as possible. There are an unlimited number of ways to navigate through the chord changes and these will be discussed at length in each chapter.
Practice each sequence using 1/4 notes (one note per beat) and use the backing tracks to help you. They are deliberately very slow. Stick to small areas of the neck and try to exhaust the possibilities available to you.
As you gain more confidence, introduce some 1/8th notes and then combine 1/4 notes and 1/8th notes. Don’t worry: many musical examples will be given along the way.
The next stage in your development is to introduce some chromatic notes. Think of this stage as ‘joining the dots’. Again, this will be explained in detail in each section, but the basic idea is to add notes that join the arpeggios together as smoothly and melodically as possible. There are many extra exercises given in chapter fifteen that can be applied to each chord progression in this book. These exercises may target a specific interval from each arpeggio, combine intervals, give you a rhythmic concept, or even get you playing outside of the original chord tones. This kind of practice improves your fretboard skills and musical understanding, and also helps you to further internalise the sound of the progression.
Arpeggio Substitutions
In jazz, it is possible (and common) to play different substitute arpeggios over a chord. Substitutions introduce rich-sounding additions to the original chord such as 9ths, 11ths or 13ths. The most common substitution in jazz is to play a new arpeggio that begins from the 3rd of the original chord. This concept is explained and discussed at length in chapter one.
Every progression in this book contains at least one functional dominant 7 chord. A functional dominant 7 chord is one that resolves to a tonic chord, for example, F7 to BbMaj7. Functional dominant 7 chords allow a wide range of different arpeggios to be played over them. The most important of these dominant substitutions will be introduced gradually throughout the book. Sometimes these substitutions have fairly scary/cool names like “The Tritone Substitution”. Don’t let the name put you off, the concept is fairly simple.
In music, dominant 7 chords are normally a point of tension in a song. Because they are tense, and will quickly resolve to another chord, jazz musicians are happy to add extra tension to these dominant chords.
Extra tension is given to dominant 7 chords by adding chromatic alterations to their original harmony. For example, the sequence F7 to BbMaj7 could equally be played as F7b5b9 to BbMaj7. Soloists introduce this kind of altered tension in the melody by using specific clever arpeggio substitutions in place of the original F7 chord.
Whenever a new substitution is introduced, there is a full explanation and many accompanying musical examples to help you incorporate them naturally into your playing. It is important to remember that all of these clever substitution arpeggios are simply options. The only way to judge them is to try them out and if you don’t like them, discard them for now.
Complex substitutions aside, if you’re new to jazz soloing, your absolute priority is to master the first level (root to 7th) arpeggios over each set of changes. Once these arpeggios are mastered, you can then start to introduce chromatic notes and substitutions into your arpeggio playing.
75% of a Bebop solo is based on the first arpeggios that are taught in each chapter. You should definitely spend the majority of your time learning these. Maybe 20% of the solo will use simple substituted arpeggios and maybe 5% will use the more complex ideas taught later in the book. Use your practice time wisely.
Have fun!
Joseph
Chapter One: ii V I Major
This progression can be heard on Backing Track One.
Key Centre: Bb Major.
Parent Scale: Bb Major.
The Major ii V I progression is the bedrock on which jazz is formed. It can be heard in almost every tune from the late swing period onwards. It is important to know that in jazz, the iim7 chord was a slightly later addition and found more popularity during the bebop period. In the majority of the swing era, this chord progression was normally written as simply V I. The ii chord was added by bebop players to provide additional soloing options without affecting the tonality of the progression.
Good ‘workhorse’ tunes that feature the major ii V I sequence are:
-
Blue Bossa
-
Tune Up
-
Autumn Leaves
-
Perdido
-
All the Things You Are
Along with many others.
The process you will learn in this chapter will be repeated in each following chapter using different chord changes. Do not rush the following steps as the work you do now will help build a deep understanding and musical feel for the most commonly played chord changes in music.
Begin by learning the chord progression and chord shapes.
Memorise these chord shapes and play them with Backing Track One. These chords form visual ‘anchors’ for everything that follows in this chapter.
The following arpeggios are the ones that you need to know to solo over each chord in turn. Notice that they are built on the previous chord shapes. Try to visualise each chord shape as you play up and down each arpeggio.
Position One Arpeggios:
Use the following steps to help you memorise each arpeggio shape. Before each step, play the chord associated with each arpeggio (shown in black).
Play the arpeggio ascending from the root. The root is shown by the black square dot. -
Play the arpeggio ascending from the lowest note on the sixth (bass) string.
-
Play the arpeggio descending from the highest note on the first (top) string.
-
Ascend and descend the arpeggio from the lowest note to the highest.
- Repeat the previous step, but this time say the name of each interval out loud as you play it. For example, for the Cm7 arpeggio above, say, “Root, flat three, five, flat seven”.
When you can comfortably play these arpeggios, try linking all three arpeggios together using the following steps (you do not need to have memorised each shape yet, it is O.K. to read them from the paper).
Ascend each arpeggio in turn from the root. Take a short break between each arpeggio. -
Ascend each arpeggio in turn from the lowest note on the sixth string.
-
Descend each arpeggio in turn from the highest note on the first string.
Ascend the first arpeggio from the lowest note, descend the second from the highest note and then ascend the third from the lowest note.
-
Reverse the previous step.
Be creative with your exercises and find new ways to memorise these arpeggio shapes. Even writing the arpeggios out from memory can be very beneficial if you don’t have a guitar to hand.
When you are feeling confident, it is time to begin the playing some exercises to target chord changes. The first task is to focus on a tiny part of the guitar and find as many ways to change between the arpeggios as possible.
Using Backing Track One, begin by isolating the top two strings of the guitar and play four notes from each arpeggio in each bar (1/4 notes).
Example 1a:
In the previous example, the chord sequence is repeated twice, and on each repetition I have shown a different way to navigate the changes. The only rule is that I hit a tone from the new arpeggio each time the chord changes.
The examples in this book are only a starting point. Your task is to find as many ways as you can to navigate between each successive arpeggio. Staying on these two strings, let your fingers go for a walk around the arpeggio shapes and see how many routes you can find to ‘hit the changes’.
When you begin to run out of ideas, switch to the next two-string group, i.e., the second and third strings, and repeat the exercise. Here are two possible routes through the changes.
Example 1b:
Repeat this process moving across each two-string group: Strings three and four, four and five, and finally five and six.
It should be clear by now that some notes are common to more than one arpeggio. If you wish to repeat a note on a chord change, this is acceptable just so long as the note exists within both arpeggios.
Gradually, you can start focusing on slightly larger string groupings. The following example shows the same exercise played across the second, third, and fourth strings.
Example 1c:
Find as many ways as you can to navigate the changes using just this three-string group.
Work through every possible adjacent three-string group and then progress to four-string groups. You will quickly build up a wide variety of ways to link each arpeggio together. All the work you do here will pay huge dividends in the future.
As you get better, start doubling up some of the rhythms by adding some 1/8th notes. A great way to begin is to add 1/8th notes on just the final beat of each bar.
Example 1d:
Repeat this exercise but try varying the beat on which you place the 1/8th notes. Gradually introduce more 1/8th notes to each bar until every single note is an 1/8th.
Joining the Dots
The next stage in the process is to play a non-arpeggio note on beat four of each bar. There are three ways to do this.
1) With chromatic passing notes: A chromatic passing note fills in a one-tone gap between arpeggio notes in different chords.
2) With scale tones: A scale tone can also be used to fill in a gap, but the scale tone will always come from the chord’s parent scale. In this chapter, the parent scale is Bb Major.
3) With chromatic approach notes. These are just like chromatic passing notes, but they can be played either side of the target tone.
These three techniques are the most commonly used decorations in jazz music and they are always used to smooth out the transition between notes in different arpeggios. This is easier to see and hear musically.
Study the following example carefully. Pay attention to the first five notes.
Example 1e:
On beat four of the first bar, I have added a chromatic passing note to fill in the gap between the Cm7 and F7 arpeggios. Even though this note has nothing to do with either arpeggio, it bridges the gap between the notes in the arpeggios. The sequence of notes beginning on beat three is G, G#, A; and forms a chromatically rising melody.
The same technique is used at the end of bar two, where I join the b7 of the F7 arpeggio (Eb) to the 5th of the BbMaj7 arpeggio (D). The sequence of notes is Eb, E, F.
This idea is repeated in bar four, where I link the 5th of the BbMaj7 chord (F) to the 5th of the Cm7 chord (G) using the chromatic note ‘F#’.
Whenever there is a one-tone distance across a chord change, it can be filled with a chromatic passing note in this way.
In bar five, I use a scale tone to link the chords of Cm7 and F7. The scale tone works in the same way as a chromatic passing note, but the note comes from the tonic Bb Major scale:
I used a scale tone because the distance between the changing arpeggio notes was greater than a tone and the scale tone was the smoothest way to link the two notes.
Finally, between bar five and bar six I used a chromatic approach note. I used a chromatic approach note because the last note of the F7 chord (Eb) and the first note of the Bb chord (D) were only a semitone apart and, therefore, there is no gap that I can fill chromatically. I needed to play something on beat four to lead into the BbMaj chord so I ‘leapfrogged’ the target note (D) and played a note one semitone below the target note (C#). This meant that I could surround my target note by a semitone on each side.
This is a very common technique and the three notes together (Eb, C# and D) form an important melodic structure called an enclosure. Think of an enclosure as a sandwich with the target note as the filling.
The following example shows another route around the changes and makes use of all three techniques described above. Each technique is marked on the music.
Example 1f:
Analyse the previous example to make sure that you understand how the different techniques function. Reread from the ‘Joining the Dots’ heading if you are unsure of anything.
The most important concept to work on is the chromatic passing note pattern. This is when you fill in a one-tone ‘hole’ between arpeggios. Begin by adding a chromatic passing note on beat four of the bar because this will add to the strength of the melodic line when targeting the arpeggio note in the next chord.
If no chromatic passing note is available, then try ‘sandwiching’ the target note with a chromatic enclosure (approach note) or targeting it via a scale step using the Bb Major Scale.
Begin with simple, two-string groupings and explore as many ways as you can to join the dots using a chromatic passing note on beat four.
As you gain confidence and vision, gradually start using three-string and four-string groupings.
Finally, begin to introduce 1/8th notes just as you did in example 1d. The following example shows just one way to add 1/8th notes to beat four of each bar.
Example 1g:
Work through example 1g and make sure you understand how I have navigated from one chord tone to the next on each change. Remember, there are hundreds of different ways to play through these changes. It’s up to you to put in the time to find as many routes as possible. Gradually add in more beats of 1/8th notes as you progress.
When you practice these ideas, start off very slowly without using a metronome or backing track. As you become familiar with your territory, introduce the backing track and ensure you always hit a correct arpeggio tone on beat one of each bar. Don’t worry about mistakes, they will always happen at first, and they help you to learn more quickly.
The real goal is to forget about constant lines and patterns and to gradually leave space in your playing. The idea is to play shorter phrases that run across the bar line. You will find that your playing immediately sounds a lot jazzier.
Here is one melodic idea that uses all the melodic concepts covered in this chapter.
Example 1h:
This previous line is constructed completely from chord tones and chromatic approach notes. The only thing that has changed is the rhythm.
3-9 Extended Arpeggios
I would advise you not to progress to this section until you have been playing the previous root position arpeggios comfortably for a couple of weeks.
Until now, we have focused on arpeggios that spell out each chord. The notes of the arpeggio are identical to the chord and contain the intervals 1, 3, 5 and 7.
These arpeggios are spelled:
Cm7
C
Eb
G
Bb
Intervals
1
b3
5
b7
F7
F
A
C
Eb
Intervals
1
3
5
b7
BbMaj7
Bb
D
F
A
Intervals
1
3
5
7
A useful and common technique in jazz and other forms of music is to build a new fournote arpeggio from the 3rd of each chord. Instead of playing 1, 3, 5, 7, we will play 3, 5, 7, 9.
The effect of this is to add the richness of the 9th interval to our melodies, and also to avoid the root. You’ve probably noticed by now that resting on the root in the melody can have a bit of a ‘full stop’ to the melody, especially on the tonic chord (BbMaj7).
By avoiding the root, we can add richness and momentum to our solos.
To form a 3-9 arpeggio, begin on the 3rd of the chord and build up four notes. For example:
Cm7 (1-b7)
C
Eb
G
Bb
Cm7 (3-9)
C
Eb
G
Bb
D
Intervals
1
b3
5
b7
9
The notes in the Cm7 extended arpeggio are Eb, G, Bb and D.
Repeating the process for the F7 and BbMaj7 chords, the following 3-9 arpeggios are generated:
F7 (1-b7)
F
A
C
Eb
F7 (3-9)
F
A
C
Eb
G
Intervals
1
3
5
b7
9
(1- Bb
D
F
A
BbMaj7 (3- Bb 9)
D
F
A
C
3
5
7
9
BbMaj7 7)
Intervals
1
You may notice that these extended arpeggios form new arpeggios in their own right. For example, the notes in the BbMaj7 extended (3-9) arpeggio, D, F, A and C, form a new arpeggio of Dm7. Knowing this can be both a benefit and a distraction. If you’re just starting out with exploring extended arpeggios, it is definitely a distraction, so don’t worry about the theory for now.
The previous three extended arpeggios can be played in the following way in this position on the guitar:
The roots are included but greyed out for your reference. Do not play them in these arpeggios.
Repeat the process of learning these arpeggios as was shown on page ten. Time spent here will make the following stages easier and quicker. Remember, you only have to learn these arpeggios once to know them for the rest of your career.
While you’re learning each extended arpeggio it will be of great benefit to hear the original chord playing in the background. This will help you hear the added 9th note in the context of the original harmony and teach your ear to ‘accept’ it as a chord tone. Learning music is essentially about learning to hear new things.
Record yourself playing a Cm7 chord and loop it while you practice the b3-9 arpeggio. If you don’t have the facility to do this, try these Apps that will do it for you. Check out SessionBand: Jazz for iOS and iReal Pro for Mac for iOS.
Remember to play the chord associated with each arpeggio before playing the arpeggio itself.
When you are becoming confident with the feel and sound of each arpeggio, repeat this entire chapter, substituting 3-9 arpeggios for the original root position shapes. Begin by working on two-string groups before progressing to three- and four-string groupings. The following exercises show a few ways to link the 3-9 arpeggios over the changes. These are just to get you started. As always, the key to success is for you to explore these ideas in as much detail as you can.
Example 1i: (Top three strings)
Example 1j: (Middle three strings)
Example 1k: (With approach notes)
As you gain confidence, add 1/8th notes on beat four and gradually increase their frequency as you gain fluency. Remember to start to leave spaces between your phrases and use these ideas to make music. The point of any exercise to help you develop new musical ideas. Simply breaking up these long streams of notes will go a long way towards helping the music come alive. Don’t forget to listen to great players.
There are other arpeggio options for the F7 chord and we will come to these later in the book. For a deeper study of the Major ii V I progression, check out my book Fundamental Changes in Jazz Guitar.
As your skills develop, you may wish to apply the ideas in each chapter to other positions on the guitar. The following chord and arpeggio diagrams will help you to use the previous concepts in new areas.
The following positions should not be attempted until you are confident in your ability to apply arpeggios in the first position fluently and from memory. It is also recommended that you study some of the other common progressions in this book before returning to this section.
1-7 Arpeggios, Chords and Scales:
3-9 Arpeggios and Chords:
Chapter Two: I vi ii V7 (7b9 Substitution)
This progression can be heard on Backing Track Two.
Key Centre: Bb Major.
Parent Scale: Bb Major (Bb Major Pentatonic is a common scale choice over all four bars).
The I vi ii V progression is extremely common in jazz and is featured in many jazz standards. The sequence was popularised by George Gershwin with the tune, I Got Rhythm and has been a jazz staple ever since. While you will often see it played in its original form, as shown above, the quality of each chord is often changed. The quality of the chord is whether it is Maj7, m7, or 7, etc. For example, it is fairly common in jazz to hear each in the sequence chord played as a dominant 7 voicing.
The I vi ii V progression is known as a turnaround chord sequence because it is often found at the end of a chord progression and turns the song around back to the start. If all the chords in the I vi ii V sequence are diatonic, as shown above, then the parent Major scale (Bb Major in this case) can be played over the whole progression.
You will come across the I vi ii V progression time and time again in jazz, and some useful tunes to study are:
-
I Got Rhythm
-
Oleo
-
Moose the Mooche
-
Isn’t It Romantic?
-
Heart and Soul
The basic chord voicings can be played in the following way:
Here are the arpeggios that you will need to use to solo over these chords. The good news is that you already know three of them.
As you can see, three-quarters of this progression forms the ii V I studied in the previous chapter. The only addition is the vi chord (Gm7).
Spend time learning the Gm7 arpeggio thoroughly before exploring two, three and finally four-string sequences of arpeggios over the chord changes. As you’re working through the following examples, you will notice that the arpeggios of Gm7 and BbMaj7 have many notes in common. Try to target the one note that changes between these chords.
Here are some ideas to get you started.
Example 2a:
Explore every two-string group thoroughly before increasing the range to three strings.
Example 2b:
Explore every three-string group thoroughly before increasing the range to four strings.
Example 2c:
Explore every four-string group thoroughly before increasing the range to five and six strings.
As your confidence grows, start to add some 1/8th notes as you learned on page twelve. Begin by adding 1/8ths on beat four, before shifting their position in the bar and gradually increasing their frequency.
When you can confidently navigate through these changes using just arpeggios, start to incorporate some of the chromatic ideas from the previous chapter. Remember, the three chromatic techniques were:
-
Fill in a one-tone gap between different arpeggios with a chromatic passing note
-
Fill in a larger gap between arpeggios with a scale step
- Sandwich a chord tone with an approach note pattern if the new arpeggio note is only a semitone away on beat three
The following examples show different ways of combining these ideas although you should focus on just one chromatic technique at a time.
Example 2d: (Adding chromatic ideas to beat four)
Example 2e: (Adding 1/8th notes on beat four)
Example 2f: (Using rhythms and approach notes to construct a melody)
3-9 Extended Arpeggios
It is normal to play extended 3-9 arpeggios over the I vi ii V progression.
Here is the 3-9 arpeggio for the Gm7 chord.
Gm7 (1-b7)
G
Gm7 (b3-9)
G
Bb
D
F
Bb
D
F
A
Intervals
1
b3
5
b7
9
It is shown here in combination with the other 3-9 arpeggios in this sequence:
Just as in chapter one, work through the chord progression and substitute each of the original arpeggios for 3-9 extended arpeggios.
You will quickly notice that the Gm7 b3-9 extended arpeggio contains the same notes as the BbMaj7 arpeggio. The fact that these two chords have so much in common is generally problematic for soloists who are looking to target changing guide tones. In many songs the vi(m7) chord (Gm7) is often changed to become a VI(7) chord (G7).
The chord of G7 contains the note B so this is a rich new note to target when moving from the Bb in the BbMaj7 chord. This common alteration is addressed in the next chapter.
To practice 3-9 arpeggios over the changes, begin with two-string groups and gradually move across the guitar before increasing the area to three- and four-string groups.
The following example will get you started.
Example 2g:
Practice using these arpeggios extensively, and gradually add in the approach note patterns and rhythmic ideas that we have covered so far.
The 7b9 (Diminished) Substitution Jazz soloists use a wide variety of non-diatonic arpeggio substitutions to add interest and tension to solos.
A non-diatonic substitution is one where the substitute arpeggio contains notes from outside the key centre or parent scale of the chord. One of the most common places to use a non-diatonic substitution is on a functional (resolving) dominant chord. In the previous example, the functional dominant chord is F7 and it is resolving back to the tonic chord of BbMaj7.
F7 is seen as a point of harmonic tension that is released when it resolves to BbMaj7.
As the dominant chord (F7) is a point of tension in the progression, jazz musicians reason that it is O.K. to add any additional amount of tension to the solo at that point, just so long as the tension in the melodic idea finds resolution when the chord resolves to the tonic in the next bar.[1]
The most common substitution on a functional dominant 7 chord is to play a diminished 7 arpeggio from the 3rd of the dominant chord.
Let’s see which notes are targeted when we play a diminished 7 arpeggio from the 3rd of F7 (A).
F7 (1-b7)
F
A Dim7 Intervals
1
A
C
Eb
A
C
Eb
Gb
3
5
b7
b9
As you can see, when an A Dim7 arpeggio is played over the chord of F7, the notes are almost identical to the 3-9 arpeggio that we studied earlier. The one very important difference is that the root (F) has been removed and replaced with a b9 interval (Gb).
This can be seen by comparing the following diagrams:
In the first diagram, the root of the chord (F) is shown with a triangle, and the root of the A Dim7 arpeggio is shown with a square. Can you see that the only change is that the root of F7 has been removed and ‘moved’ up a semitone?
This is the most common substitution for a dominant chord in jazz.
The A Dim7 arpeggio contains all the important notes of the F7 chord[2] and an additional b9 interval. The sound created is F7b9.
The following example uses 1-7 arpeggios for each chord but uses the A Dim7 arpeggio on the F7 chord to create an F7b9 sound.
All you need to think about is raising the root of the F7 arpeggio by a semitone.
Example 2h:
Treat the b9 interval exactly as if it were a normal chord tone.
Here is another example that uses chromatic approach note ideas.
Example 2i:
This final example adds in some 1/8th note rhythms.
Example 2j:
Try out the previous three ideas with Backing Track Two. Can you hear how the b9 interval adds colour and tension to the dominant chord? It is common for the Gb in the F7b9 chord to resolve to the note F in the BbMaj7 chord.
Spend a few days exploring the 7b9 sound. As you get more fluent, add in the 3-9 extended arpeggios on the other chords and combine these with the 7b9 arpeggio on the F7.
The following positions should not be attempted until you are confident in your ability to apply arpeggios in the first position fluently and from memory. It is also recommended that you study some of the other common progressions in this book before returning to this section.
As your skills develop, you may wish to apply the ideas in each chapter to other positions on the guitar. The following chord and arpeggio diagrams will help you to use the previous concepts in new areas.
1-7 Arpeggios and Chords and Scales:
3-9 Arpeggios and Chords:
Chapter Three: I7 VI7 II7 V7
This progression can be heard on Backing Track Three.
Key Centre: Derived from chords in Bb Major. Each chord’s quality is converted to become a dominant 7 voicing.
Parent Scale: The simplest scalic way to approach this progression would be to play Mixolydian on each chord, e.g., Bb Mixolydian, G7 Mixolydian, C Mixolydian and F Mixolydian. In practice, many different scales are used.
The diatonic I vi ii V progression in the previous chapter frequently occurs in jazz and forms the basis for many popular standards. However, some of the chords in this progression are often altered and given different qualities.
The quality of a chord is the part after the root note that describes its mood and construction. For example, a chord’s quality could be Maj7, m7, m7b5, 7, 7b9 or even something like 13#9.
In jazz, any chord can have its quality changed, and the most common alteration is to make some chords into dominant 7s. In the I vi ii V progression, the vi chord (Gm7 in the above progression) will often be played as a dominant 7 chord (G7). Even the I chord is sometimes changed to become a dominant 7 to create a bluesy effect.
It is less usual to see the ii chord (Cm7) played as a dominant voicing, but it is included in this chapter for practice.
As well as being converted to a dominant chord, the vi chord (G7) is often played as a G7b9 chord. This is a perfect opportunity to use the 7b9 ‘diminished’ substitution taught in the previous chapter.
The basic chord voicings for an all-dominant set of rhythm changes can be played in the following way:
Here are the arpeggios that you will need in order to solo over these chords in one position. They are all dominant 7 arpeggios, but these are new shapes for you to learn. After this chapter, you will have mastered each of the five dominant 7 arpeggio shapes commonly used on guitar. This will greatly enhance your command of the fretboard.
The 3rd of G7 (B) can be played in two locations (marked by diamonds). Choose the easiest one for you.
As always, explore routes between these arpeggios over small string groups.
Example 3a: (Two strings)
Explore every two-string group thoroughly before increasing the range to three strings.
Example 3b: (Three strings)
Example 3c: (Four strings with rhythm variation)
Try to add some chromatic approach note ideas to create melodic variation.
Example 3d:
Example 3e:
After you have spent time trying to exhaust the melodic possibilities of these arpeggios on two-, three- and four-string groupings and adding as many chromatic passing notes as you can find, move on to the following 3-9 arpeggios on each chord.
3-9 Arpeggios
The following examples use 3-9 voicings on each chord, although I recommend that you practice by isolating one chord for a 3-9 arpeggio, and using 1-7 arpeggios on the remaining three. For example, play Bb7 3-9 and play the other three chords as 1-7 arpeggios. By working in this way, you will isolate the sound of the 3-9 arpeggio over each chord and develop your ears and musical feel.
I would also recommend only using the 3-9 arpeggios on the Bb7 and C7 chords to begin with, because the G7 and F7 chords are often played with altered (# or b) 9ths which we will explore later.
Always begin by working on two-string groups and gradually shift each grouping across the guitar before tackling three- and four-string arpeggio groupings. It may seem like more work, but you’ll learn the pathways more thoroughly and spend less time on them overall.
The following examples will sound strange when played out of context until your ears learn to ‘hear’ the harmony with no backing track. Learn these examples very slowly with Backing Track Three so that you can hear each 9th extension in context.
You may not immediately warm to every sound you hear so give these exercises time. If in a few weeks you still don’t like a particular extension over a particular chord, there are plenty of other things to play!
Example 3f: (Two strings)
Example 3g: (Three strings)
Example 3h: (Four strings)
Explore these concepts as carefully as you can over small string groups. Eventually, you may discard some sounds that you don’t like. Don’t forget to add chromatic approach notes to target each chord change.
7b9 Substitutions
As stated above, the 3-b9 diminished substitution is a more common choice on both the F7 and the G7 chords.
A functional dominant chord is one that resolves to a chord an interval of a 5th below it. For example, G7 to C7 is a functional dominant movement, as is C7 to F7 and F7 to Bb7. The movement from Bb7 to G7 is not a functional dominant movement as these two chords form an interval of a 6th.
With that in mind, most players would not use a 7b9 substitution on the Bb7 because it is moving to G7, but it is a very useful sound on both the G7 and F7 chords.
As we have discovered, playing the ii chord as a dominant 7 is a bit of an acquired taste, but it does allow us to use the 7b9 substitution on a ii chord that would normally be minor. Once again, I would recommend that you begin by selecting just one 7b9 substitution to use at a time. Try starting by only using the G7b9 substitution and play 1-7 arpeggios on the other chords. There are many permutations, so be organised with your practice.
In the following examples combine 1-7, 3-9 and 3-b9 arpeggios, but I strongly suggest that you begin by substituting just one chord at a time.
Example 3i:
Example 3j:
Example 3k:
There is a lot of mileage to be gained by working with these arpeggios. This process may take you some weeks, but the internalisation of these sounds is worth it. I VI II V changes are often superimposed over other, more static chord progressions and they’re a great way to get an ‘outside’ sound over a simple harmony.
C7 to F7 is a very frequent movement in jazz, as is Bb7 to G7 so by working hard over these changes you will be well prepared for a wide variety of musical situations. Don’t forget to add lots of space and remember that your ultimate goal is to play well developed, melodic lines.
You should always set aside part of your practice time to simply play your guitar and make music with these concepts. Forget about constant rhythms and try to create a memorable melody that hits the correct chord tones.
The following melodic examples may help to get you started.
Example 3l:
Example 3m:
Other Chord Qualities in I VI II V Progressions
The examples in this chapter have all been based on a chord sequence that contains only dominant 7 voicings. The real truth is that you will most often see a combination of the ideas in this chapter and in chapter two.
This is probably the most common way to play the progression:
The Maj7 tonic and the dominant 7s on the VI and V chords create many useful chord tone movements (voice leading) between the arpeggios.
This sequence should be the next stage in your practice. Apply all the concepts from the previous three chapters to this new progression.
The arpeggios for this chapter can also be played in the following position on the guitar.
1-7 Arpeggios and Chords
3-9 Arpeggios
3-b9 Arpeggios
Chapter Four: I (ii V7 I) i
This progression can be heard on Backing Track Four.
Key Centre: Bb Major moving to Eb Major (then possibly Db Major in bar four).
The chord sequence featured in this chapter combines two essential progressions into one exercise. The first three bars can be viewed as a key change (modulation) from Bb to Eb Major, or simply as a decorated chord I to IV movement. If you have ever played a blues, you will know how important the I-IV chord progression is. In a blues, however, chords I and IV both are normally played as dominant 7 chords. This sequence is studied in chapter seven.
In the above progression, chords I and IV (Bb and Eb) are both played as Major 7th chords (as is diatonically ‘correct’ in the key of Bb). There is, however, a modulation occurring in bar two which is signified by two chords from outside the key.
In the key of Bb Major, we would expect the V chord (F) to be played as a dominant 7 chord but here it is played as a m7 chord. The following chord is Bb7 that resolves to EbMaj7. If you isolate bars two and three, you can see that the Fm7 chord is chord ii in the key of Eb and the Bb7 chord is chord V in the key of Eb.
The first two bars of this progression contain two ‘Bb’ chords. The first Bb is played as a Maj7 and the second Bb is played as a dominant 7 . Seeing two chords with the same root but different qualities is a clear sign that the tune is temporarily changing key. The tonic (I) chord (BbMaj7) becomes the V7 (Bb7) in the new key of Eb Major.
Using both BbMaj7 and Bb7 arpeggios in two bars can present a challenge to the improviser, so this is an essential area for practice. This type of modulation, in which the original tonic chord becomes a dominant ‘pivot’ chord, is very regular in both jazz and pop. It appears in:
-
Satin Doll
-
Cherokee
-
Joy Spring
-
Have You Met Miss Jones?
-
There Will Never Be Another You
In bar four, the new tonic chord (EbMaj7) becomes Ebm7. Again, this kind of movement occurs frequently in jazz. If this sequence were to continue, the Ebm7 chord would probably become the new ii chord in a Major ii V I into the key of Db Major (Ebm7 - Ab7 - DbMaj7).
A fantastic tune to work on in order to practice this kind of Major to minor movement is Solar, by Miles Davis. This movement also occurs in tunes such as:
-
Moose the Mooche
-
All of Me
-
All the Things You Are
-
There Will Never Be Another You
The chords for this sequence can be played in the following way:
The 1-7 arpeggios for each of these chords can be played as follows:
Another challenge in this chord progression is that we are now faced with two chords in ust one bar.
Often, especially at high tempos, improvisers simply ignore the ii chord (Fm7) and focus on using scales and arpeggios that are based around the dominant chord (Bb7). Despite this, any good improviser has spent time practicing the articulation of both chords ii and V in the same bar, and if they choose to ignore the ii chord, it is always a conscious choice.
Learn the arpeggios using the method described in chapter one, and as soon as you feel ready repeat the process of mastering each interchange on two-, three-, and four-string groups. You may wish to isolate bar two and work on it separately due to the quick changes.
Example 4a: (Two strings)
What you will probably immediately hear is that using the Bb7 arpeggio over the Bb7 chord in bar two doesn’t really highlight the change between BbMaj7 and Bb7. This is because there is only one note difference between the chords of Bb7 and BbMaj7.
Ideally at this point we would want to reflect this important key change in our solo so my suggestion is to immediately introduce the Bb7 3-b9 substitution over the Bb7 chord.
The following examples use a D Dim7 arpeggio over each Bb7 chord to create a Bb7b9 tension.
Example 4b: (Three strings)
Example 4c: (Four strings with 1/8th notes)
As you begin to master the changes, practice targeting chord tones with chromatic approach notes.
Example 4d:
Example 4e:
3-9 Extended Arpeggios
Using extended 3-9 arpeggios over this progression creates some interesting voice leading opportunities.
When we create an extended 3-9 arpeggio, we are building a new arpeggio from the 3rd of the original chord. This has the effect of omitting the root of the original chord and replacing it with the 9th.
Although the following examples freely combine all of these 3-9 arpeggios, I would strongly advise you to begin by incorporating just one 3-9 arpeggio at a time into your practice routine. These substitutions crop up all the time in jazz solos and by mastering ust one substitution you open up a whole range of soloing opportunities.
Go slowly, carefully and methodically. Start by switching out just one chord to substitute with a 3-9 extension, and as you gain confidence, begin to use two or more substitutions. You will quickly find a new world of melodic choices.
Example 4f: (1/4 notes)
Example 4g: (Adding 1/8th notes)
Example 4h: (Adding 4h: (Adding chromatics)
Finally, leave some space and think more about when you when you want to phrase the notes of your melody.
Example 4i:
Example 4j:
There are many extra exercises in chapter fifteen that you can use to help you master all the changes in this book.
As you start to become very confident with the chord changes in this position on the neck, try moving to a new area by using the following diagrams:
Chapter Five: I (i V I)
This progression can be heard on Backing Track Five.
Key Centre: Final Centre: Final three bars are in Ab Major.
Parent Scale: Bar Scale: Bar one: Bb Major 7 Bars two to four: AbMaj7.
This progression has quite a lot in common with the one in the previous chapter. A Maj7 (BbMaj7) chord becomes a m7 (Bbm7) chord, which is now the first chord of a Major ii V I progression in a new key. In chapter four, it was chord IV that became a minor chord, in this chapter it is chord I that is ‘minor-ised’.
This type of chord movement is extremely common in jazz, and a useful way to modulate to a new key.
The Major to minor movement occurs in many jazz tunes including:
-
How High the Moon
-
Tune Up
-
Cherokee
-
One Note Samba
-
Solar
As we have studied the last three bars of this progression before in chapter one (albeit in the key of Bb Major), we will take this opportunity to introduce a new altered substitution on the dominant chord (Eb7).
Begin by using the following chord shapes to play through this progression:
The following 1-7 arpeggios can be used to solo over the chord sequence in this position. Learn them thoroughly using the methods described in chapter one. As you have already worked with these chord positions in chapters one and two, they should be quite familiar to you.
Focus your time on learning the change between BbMaj7 and Bbm7.
Begin by learning the chord tone movements on small groups of strings but as you have studied this position before, and because the Bbm7 chord is the only new addition, you may find it easy to begin with a larger string group.
Try to play these examples over Backing Track Five as soon as possible to hear how they work in context.
Example 5a: (Four 5a: (Four strings)
Example 5b: (Four 5b: (Four strings with chromatics)
Example 5c: (Four strings with chromatics)
To simplify your practice, focus on finding as many pathways as possible that move between BbMaj7 and Bbm7. You may wish to work on these chords in isolation.
Next, try using 3-9 arpeggios over this sequence. The arpeggio shapes you need are here:
Be careful though. Both BbMaj7 and Bbm7 have the same 9th (C). You may wish to use a 3-9 arpeggio on one and not the other to introduce an extra target note between the chords.
I would recommend starting with a 1-7 arpeggio on BbMaj7 and a b3-9 arpeggio on Bbm7 because the first three chords would otherwise all contain the note Bb. You can use Eb7 (3-9) or Eb7 (3-b9). Personally, I’d begin with the 3-b9 extended arpeggio.
Example 5d: (Four strings)
Example 5e: (With 1/8th notes)
Example 5f: (1/8ths with chromatic approach notes)
Explore as many ways as you can to combine these arpeggios.
The m7b5 Dominant Substitution As soloing on this progression is already quite familiar from chapter one, this is a good time to introduce a new substitution on the dominant chord.
We will play a m7b5 (minor seven flat five) arpeggio on the b7 of the dominant chord.
The dominant chord in this progression is Eb7. The b7 of Eb is Db, so we will play Dbm7b5 over Eb7 .
This table shows the intervals that are introduced by playing a m7b5 arpeggio on the b7 of the dominant chord.
Chord/Arpeggio Eb7
Eb
G
Bb
Dbm7b5
Intervals played root (Eb7)
against 1
3
5
Db Db
Fb (E) Abb (G)
Cb (B)
b7
b9
#5
3
When we play a m7b5 arpeggio on the b7 degree of Eb7, the intervals played against the root (Eb) are b7, b9, 3, #5.
Look back to chapter two and refresh your memory of the Dim7 substitution. The intervals played against the root with that substitution were 3, 5, b7, b9. This new m7b5 substitution introduces only one new extension to the chord, the #5. Even though only one note is different to the diminished 7 substitution, the #5 extension creates a very different feel in your melody.
To play a m7b5 arpeggio on the b7 of the Eb7 chord in this position, you can use the following shape:
For now, ignore the notes on the bass string and begin your practice on the fifth string. You will find the arpeggio easier to play and master. Record a loop of yourself playing an Eb7 chord and play the substitute Dbm7b5 arpeggio.
You will hear the altered tensions (the #5 and b9) jumping out at you and they may sound a bit awkward in this context, but they work beautifully when resolved correctly. This is shown in the following examples.
Example 5g:
Example 5h:
Example 5i:
Introducing a new substitution can take a lot of time and careful practice. It’s not just a case of knowing the arpeggio shape, you need to learn to hear the effect of the new alterations to the chord, and also learn how to control (resolve) them.
Remember; there is no hurry to progress, simply try to slowly incorporate the new sound into your vocabulary.
The following examples combine all of the elements in this chapter into realistic, melodic phrases.
Example 5j:
Example 5k:
Try approaching this chord progression in a new position on the neck as you become more confident with these sounds.
Chapter Six: I II7 iim7 V
This progression can be heard on Backing Track Six.
Key Centre: Bb Major with a dominant II chord.
Parent Scale: Bb Major over bars three, four and one. Use C Mixolydian over bar two.
The progression in this chapter crops up surprisingly regularly and has a recognisable feel. It often occurs in Latin music, especially in the work of Antônio Carlos Jobim.
This chord sequence, when viewed from bar three onwards forms a ii V I in Bb Major, although, in bar two, there is a dominant version of the iim7 chord.
This chord sequence occurs in many tunes, including:
-
Take the ‘A’ Train
-
Donna Lee
-
The Girl from Ipanema
-
Desafinado
-
Mood Indigo
As 75% of this chord progression is already quite familiar to you, this chapter will be used to introduce a specific set of interesting chord substitutions instead of taking the stepwise approach used previously.
The chords and 1-7 arpeggios are given below, and you should master these before attempting the new substitutions in this chapter. You know the process by now, so methodically work through the steps taught in the previous five chapters.
The chords for this sequence can be played in the following way:
The 1-7 arpeggios for these chord shapes are:
Memorise these arpeggios before applying them to small sets of string groups over the backing track. You may wish to isolate the change from BbMaj7 to C7 as this is the significant new sound being introduced.
Work with these shapes until you’re comfortable playing 1/4 note lines over Backing Track Six while adding a few 1/8th notes and chromatic passing notes.
As most of the progression in this chapter is already familiar to you, you can use this opportunity to introduce a new sequence of extended arpeggios that are regularly played over a ii V I chord sequence.
For the remainder of this chapter, 3-9 arpeggios will be used to solo over each chord in the progression apart from on the dominant chord (F7). On the F7, we will use the ‘m7b5 on the b7’ substitution from chapter five.
These arpeggios are:
When we form a 3-9 extended arpeggio, we actually create a new arpeggio that begins from the 3rd of the original chord. For example, in chapter one, page seventeen I show that the notes of the extended 3-9 arpeggio of BbMaj7 contain the notes of a Dm7 arpeggio.
I have added the names of the new substitute arpeggios in brackets in each diagram above. Remember that we’re playing the ‘b7 m7b5 substitution’ on the F7 chord. The b7 of F is Eb, so the arpeggio used is Ebm7b5.
In the following examples, we are going to ‘think’ only of the substitute arpeggio being played on each chord. John Coltrane used to do this, and he used to write in each substitution choice over his original chord chart. In other words, he wasn’t thinking of the changes in the tune, he was thinking of a different set of arpeggios that could be played instead of the originals.
The following chart shows the chord sequence with all the substitutions written in brackets above the chords.
Keeping this in mind, now let’s explore the arpeggio substitutions for this chord sequence.
The original chords are played on the backing track, but we will be playing the substituted arpeggios in brackets.
Example 6a:
Example 6b:
Example 6c:
Expand upon and investigate these ideas as much as possible.
These substitutions really start getting interesting when they’re played as sequences on the top three strings. The following lines are typical of this kind of approach.
Example 6d:
Example 6e:
Don’t forget to practice leaving space and building melodies with each concept you learn. One simple way to do this is shown here.
Example 6f:
This sequence of substitutions is extremely important to know and is often used by master improvisers to navigate the ii V I and I VI ii V progressions.
Make sure you fully understand the concept of ‘playing the substitutions’. The idea is to commit to the substitute arpeggio you are playing, rather to than the original changes. Of course, it is essential to know what changes are being played, but by thinking of the substitutions you can strongly commit to a melodic idea and play with a great deal of confidence.
Use the substitutions in this chapter in other keys. One other beneficial progression on which to use this approach is the following:
The ‘m7b5 on b7’ substitution can be used on the G7b9 chord using the same arpeggio shape as the Ebm7b5 arpeggio from this chapter. Simply move the whole shape up by one tone to become Fm7b5. Here’s just one example.
Example 6g:
Chapter Seven: I7 IV7 V7 IV7
This progression can be heard on Backing Track Seven.
You can think of this sequence as a ‘distilled’ 12 bar blues. This chapter studies how to link arpeggios over the strongest sounds in the blues progression.
Key Centre: Based around chords I, IV and V of Bb Major. All chords are converted to dominant 7 voicings.
Parent Scale: The first choice scale approach would be to use a Mixolydian scale over each chord in turn, e.g., Bb Mixolydian, Eb Mixolydian and F Mixolydian.
Popular jazz blues tunes include:
-
Billie’s Bounce
-
C Jam Blues
-
Au Privave
-
Straight No Chaser
The 12 bar blues is one of the most popular played jazz forms, and while jazz musicians routinely add some fairly sophisticated changes and alterations to the basic form, at the heart of all these progressions is the traditional sequence that you probably already know well:
The most common alteration to this progression is to add a ‘I VI ii V’ turnaround over the final bars, although there are many other variations which will be studied in later chapters. The full jazz 12 bar form tends to be some variation of the following:
In this chapter, we examine the three chords that form the ‘original’ 12 bar blues as these chords are the seed from which all jazz progressions eventually grow.
The basic chord voicings can be played in the following way:
These are the arpeggios that you will need in order to solo over these chords in one position:
Begin by learning to link these arpeggios together on small areas of the neck. Gradually work across the guitar using groups of two-, three-, and four strings.
The Eb7 arpeggio is the only new shape to learn.
Example 7a: (Three strings)
Example 7b: (Four strings)
Example 7c: (Four strings with rhythm variation)
Next, target the chord tones on the beat by using chromatic approach notes and scale tones.
Example 7d:
Example 7e:
3-9 Arpeggios
As you have already studied the 3-9 arpeggios for both the B7 and the F7 chords in this position, applying these arpeggios here should be fairly straightforward. A lot of this information has been covered so instead of giving 3-9 examples here, I will leave you to do your own exploration. This kind of self-driven practice is very beneficial. For reference, the arpeggio shapes you need are:
7b9 Substitutions
In the movement from Bb7 to Eb7, the Bb7 chord is acting as a dominant chord to Eb7 and forms a functional V-I relationship.
It can sound a little awkward to use a 7b9 substitution for the whole Bb7 bar as Bb7 is the tonic chord in the progression, but by using it for a short period towards the end of the Bb7 bar we can create an interesting tension that resolves nicely to Eb7.
As always, there are plenty of other substitutions that can be used at this point, but the 7b9 diminished substitution is an easy way to add tension and melodic interest. The B7b9 substitution (D Dim7 arpeggio) can be played like this:
The following lines use 1/8th notes on the Bb7 and show the use of a Dim7 substitution at the end of the bar.
Example 7f:
Example 7g:
Only one note changes between the Bb7 and the D Diminished 7 arpeggio, but that little bit of extra tension adds a great deal of interest.
Dominant substitutions are often applied to bar four of a full jazz blues just before chord I moves to chord IV. With a whole bar of music to play with, you can get very creative with substitutions. For more ideas, check out the tritone ideas in chapter twelve.
The following examples contain many arpeggio approaches such as 1-7, 3-9 and 3-b9 arpeggios. They also use chromatic approach note ideas to target changing arpeggio tones.
Example 7h:
Example 7i:
Try the ideas from this chapter in the following position on the guitar neck:
For more information and detailed lessons on the jazz blues progression, check out my book Jazz Blues Soloing for Guitar.
Chapter Eight: ii V I Minor
This progression can be heard on Backing Track Eight.
Key Centre: Bb minor (normally seen as Harmonic minor but can be viewed as Melodic minor).
Parent Scale: Bb Harmonic minor, but it is normal to play Locrian or Locrian Nat 9 on the iim7b5.
The minor ii V i progression is extremely common and occurs in many tunes. It functions as a musical ‘full stop’ in much the same way as the Major ii V I.
The theory relating to the construction of the minor ii V i is a little more complex than that of its Major equivalent, so we will just focus on the actual chord, for now, rather than its origins.
For much more information and study of the minor ii V i check out my book Minor ii V Mastery for Guitar.
Tunes that extensively feature the minor ii V i sequence include:
-
Alone Together
-
Summertime
-
Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise
-
Beautiful Love
-
Autumn Leaves
Learn some of these tunes to get a feel for how the minor ii V i sequence feels musically.
The minor ii V i introduces the m7b5 chord. Its intervals are 1, b3, 5, b7, and this is of course mirrored by its arpeggio. In the progression above, I have shown the dominant chord as a 7b9 voicing. However there are many other available chromatic alterations to this chord.
The chords for the minor ii V i progression can be played like this in the key of Bb minor:
It is not uncommon to see the tonic chord (Bbm7) played as a BbmMaj7 chord. We will touch on this later. The arpeggios for each chord can be played in the following way:
Learn the new arpeggios by following the steps detailed in chapter one.
One important thing to notice in this sequence of arpeggios is that only two notes change between Cm7b5 and F7. The b5 of Cm7b5 falls to the root of F7 and the b7 of Cm7b5 falls to the 3rd of F7.
You should be aware that if a 7b9 substitution is used on the F7 chord, then only one note changes between the Cm7b5 arpeggio and F7b9. Musically, this is neither good nor bad, but because this book focuses on targeting changing chord tones it is not the most useful substitution to explore.
As ever, begin by using a two-string group to practice targeting the changes, and gradually move the two-string group across the strings before moving on to three-string and fourstring groupings. Patience here will get you fluent very quickly.
Try to exhaust every possibility before moving the string grouping or adding an extra string.
Example 8a: (Two-string group)
Example 8b: (Three-string group)
Example 8c: (Introducing 1/8th notes on beat four)
Refer back to previous chapters for more ideas on how to introduce new rhythms.
Next, add in some chromatic approach note patterns.
Example 8d: (Two-string group)
Example 8e: (Three-string group)
Extensions and Substitutions
There are a great many substitutions and approaches that can be used when soloing over minor ii V i progressions. I can only scratch the surface here, but for much more information get hold of my book Minor ii V Mastery for Jazz Guitar as it delves deeply into this important jazz guitar progression.
The first stage is to examine the 3-9 extended arpeggios over each chord. Due to the fact that there is some ambiguity as to the construction of the minor ii V progression, I will deal with the ii chord (Cm7b5) as if it derives from the 7th degree of the major scale.
To clarify the theory of this, please see Minor ii V Mastery for Jazz Guitar.
Here are the 3-9 arpeggios for the Cm7b5 and the Bbm7 chords. For the moment, use the 3-b9 diminished substitution on the F7.
Focus on the Cm7b5 extended b3-b9 arpeggio. Can you see that the notes form a new Ebm7 arpeggio? I have marked the new root with a diamond.
Now look at the Bm7 b3-9 arpeggio. Can you see that the new arpeggio formed is a DbMaj7 arpeggio? Again, the new root is marked with a diamond.
Knowing that an extended 3-9 arpeggio will always form a new 1-7 arpeggio from the 3rd of the original chord is very useful because any licks we already know around the new arpeggio can be used over the original chord.
Some Important Diminished 7 Chord Theory
In each of the previous chapters, we have used a diminished 7 substitution on the 3rd of the dominant (F7) chord to create an altered 3-b9 sound.
One important thing to know about diminished chords is that they are symmetrical. In music, a symmetrical chord or arpeggio is one where each note is an equal distance apart . In a diminished chord, each note is the distance of a minor 3rd (one and a half tones) away from the next.
This can easily be seen if we play the notes of A Dim7 along one string:
As all the notes are the same distance apart, any note can be seen as the root of the chord. For example, the chord of A Dim7 is the same as C Dim7, Eb Dim7 and Gb Dim7.
Because the arpeggio of A Dim7 is identical to the arpeggio of Eb Dim7, you can solo over the first two chords of this progression by thinking Ebm7 to Eb Dim7. (Remember, Ebm7 is the extended 3-9 arpeggio of Cm7b5.) For example:
Example 8f:
Using substitutions in this way not only allows us to introduce new chord tones and extensions into our playing, they can also help us to simplify our thinking over difficult chord changes.
You know how to explore these arpeggios by now, so use Backing Track Eight to explore these arpeggios over the minor ii V i in Bb.
Begin by using the root position 1-b7 arpeggio on the Bbm7 chord, and introduce its b3-9 arpeggio later when you’re confident with the extended arpeggios on chords ii and V. Remember to gradually add chromatic approach tones and to work on leaving space to form memorable melodies.
Another important arpeggio substitution to learn (when you’re ready) is to use a Major 7 arpeggio on the b5 of the m7b5 chord.
Over the Cm7b5 chord you would play a GbMaj7 arpeggio creating the intervals b5, b7, b9 and 11 over the Cm7b5 chord:
This is a great sound when used in conjunction with the diminished ideas from the previous page. Read the previous page again to remind yourself that A Dim7 is the same as Gb Dim7.
This is really useful because we now have another simple way to think our way through the changes:
Over the chord change of Cm7b5 to F7, we can think GbMaj7 to Gb Dim7. This is shown in the following example.
Example 8g:
In example 5f, we thought in terms of Eb arpeggios over the first two chords of the sequence, and in example 5g we thought in terms of Gb arpeggios over the first two chords. This kind of simplification can make complex sequences easier to solo over, and help us to create strong melodies instead of ‘chasing the changes’.
A final suggestion that ties into example 5g is to play an Fm7 arpeggio over the final Bbm7 chord. If we have been thinking in terms of Gb arpeggios on chords ii and V, it isn’t too difficult to simply move down a semitone to Fm7 (the 5th of Bbm7) and play a m7 arpeggio on chord i.
Playing an Fm7 arpeggio over Bbm7 targets the intervals 5, b7, 9 and 11.
The following example uses the arpeggio sequence GbMaj7 - GbDim7 - Fm7 over the minor ii V i sequence.
Example 8h:
There are many possible substitutions to explore, but they should all be investigated on the firm foundation of knowing the basic 1-7 arpeggios.
As your confidence with arpeggios develops, you may wish to use a more scalic approach to playing over this sequence. The scale of Bb Harmonic minor works very well over the whole progression and Bb Minor Pentatonic (Blues) works very nicely on the Bbm7 chord.
When learning to solo over jazz chord changes, always work on arpeggio articulation before using a scalic approach.
Arpeggios and chromatic approach notes form the language of jazz (especially bebop). Scales are a way to fill in the gaps between targeted arpeggio tones.
Example 8i:
Example 8j:
When you feel you are confident with the minor ii V i in this position, begin to explore the following area of the guitar:
Chapter Nine: The Minor Blues
This progression can be heard on Backing Track Nine.
Key Centre: C Minor.
Parent Scale: C Harmonic Minor can be used over this whole progression, but C Aeolian is a more common choice. C minor pentatonic/blues is also used.
The minor blues is one of the most frequently played jazz progressions and is an especially common request at jam nights. Normally played at a high tempo, this 12 bar blues progression differs from the ‘standard’ jazz blues because of its minor key centre, and the relative simplicity of its harmony. A full minor blues will often look something like this:
As you can see, there are long periods of static chords, and most of the harmonic interest is generated in bar nine by the non-diatonic Ab7. In a harmonised Harmonic minor scale, chord bVI naturally forms a Maj7 chord. There is only one note difference between the written Ab7 and the diatonically ‘correct’ AbMaj7 so most improvisers will ignore this clash, especially at high tempos.
Jazz tunes that use the minor blues structure include:
-
Mr PC
-
Equinox
-
Blue Train
-
Israel
All of the above tunes are variations on the basic 12 bar minor blues although they do contain different changes and substitutions.
The chords for a ‘basic’ minor blues progression can be played in the following way:
Despite the fact that the tonic chord is a Cm7 (often written as Cm on a minor blues chord chart) there are two great arpeggio choices to use over C minor. As this progression derives from the C Harmonic minor scale, a C mMaj7 (pronounced “C minor Major 7”) arpeggio is a good choice over the Cm7 chord.
A mMaj7 arpeggio has the formula 1 b3 5 7. It’s a minor triad with a natural (or major) 7th added and is one note different from the regular m7 arpeggio we have been using so far.
I suggest you begin by learning to solo over the changes using the m7 arpeggio below and when you get more fluent, introduce the mMaj7 arpeggio into your playing.
An important point to mention is that playing an Ab7 arpeggio over both the Ab7 and G7 chords in this minor blues sounds great too. Instead of the soloist being forced to follow the chords, we can play one arpeggio for two bars and let the harmony increase the tension in the solo line.
Begin by using 1-7 arpeggios over small areas of the neck before adding chromatic approach notes to chord changes and introducing 1/8th notes.
Remember, the following examples are just the tip of the iceberg and simply show you the process. The most beneficial way you can use this book is to exhaust every possibility as fully as you are able.
Learn the melodies to some of the tunes mentioned above and incorporate these exercises into your solos (Mr PC is a good tune to start on).
Example 9a: (Two string group)
Example 9b: (Three string group)
Example 9c: (Four string group with chromatic approach notes)
When you feel you have gained fluency with these arpeggios, try letting the melody breathe a little and add some space between the phrases.
A good exercise is to begin a line about halfway through a bar and play a flowing melody across the chord change. Here’s an idea to get you started.
Example 9d:
Next, it’s time to introduce the extended 3-9 arpeggios on each chord. They can be played in the following way:
Notice that I have used the 3-9 arpeggio on the Ab7 chord and the 3-b9 arpeggio on the G7 chord. This is because the b9 note of G7 is Ab and you have already heard this pitch as the root of the Ab7 chord in the previous bar.
Once you have learnt these arpeggios, apply them to small groups of strings and then find ways to move chromatically between the chord changes.
Example 9e: (Three strings)
Example 9f: (Four strings with chromatic approach notes)
Example 9g: (Combining 1-7 and 3-9 arpeggios)
Finally, take a more melodic approach and think about space and flowing lines. When you are using these ideas on a full 12 bar minor blues, you can link all of these ideas together with the C minor blues scale.
Example 9h:
Chapter Ten: I biiDim7 ii biiiDim7
This progression can be heard on Backing Track Ten.
Key Centre: Bb Major.
When does a series of substitutions become a chord sequence in its own right? This is the question I had to ask myself before including the above progression in this book. The first three bars of this sequence function as a substitution for the I VI ii progression that was discussed in chapters two and three.
The B Dim7 chord in bar two is functioning as a substitution for the chord G7b9. Remember that we can build a diminished chord on the 3rd of a dominant chord (e.g., B Dim7 on a G7 chord) to imply a 7b9 tension.
Bearing this in mind, the first three chords of this sequence can be seen as BbMaj7 – G7b9 – Cm7, a chord progression I encouraged you to investigate on page thirty six There is a little twist in bar four, however, as we would normally expect to see an F7 chord or substitution leading back to the tonic BbMaj7.
However, the C# Dim7 chord in bar four does not imply F7b9 as you might expect. C# is the 3rd of A7 , not F7, so the C# Dim7 in bar four is a substitute for A7b9.
A7b9 is the dominant chord of D so bar four strongly suggests that the following chord would probably be a Dm7. We already know that Dm7 is a common substitution for the chord of BbMaj7 because Dm7 is the arpeggio created when we form the BbMaj7 3-9 arpeggio.
Another way to look at this is to examine the bass notes of each chord. They form the chromatically ascending sequence Bb, B, C, C#…. The next chord is practically begging to be a Dm7.
This kind of substitution is common and provides a great way to add interest to the frequently played I VI ii V sequence. By adding an A7b9 in bar four and resolving to Dm7 (BbMaj9) the harmony breathes new life into the sequence.
The chords for this sequence can be played using these chord shapes:
The arpeggios for these chords can be played in the following way:
Despite the note C# being a whole tone above B, notice that you can move the B Dim7 arpeggio down by a semitone to play a C# Dim 7 arpeggio (Bb Dim7 and C# Dim7 contain the same notes).
In fact, when I’m playing the C# Dim7 arpeggio, I’m actually thinking Bb Dim7, because it has the same root as the tonic chord (BbMaj7) and so it is easier to see and remember.
Begin as always by learning the above arpeggios and then work with small string groups to master the changes.
Example 10a: (Low strings)
Example 10b: (High strings)
Example 10c: (Chromatic ideas and 1/8th notes)
Example 10d: (Melodic approach)
Example 10e:
When looking for arpeggio substitutions to play over these changes, it is important to bear in mind the function of each chord, particularly the C# Dim7 in bar four.
Remember, the C# Dim7 is really a substitute for an A7 chord, so any arpeggio substitution you can use over A7 will work here.
This means that we are not restricted to playing only the C# Dim7 arpeggio (A7b9). Instead, let’s use the m7b5 on b7 substitution for this chord. The b7 of A is G, so we will play a Gm7b5 arpeggio over the C# Dim7 in bar four.
For the BbMaj7 bar one, it is worth keeping this arpeggio as a simple 1-7 arpeggio because the likelihood is that the chord in the fifth bar fifth bar of this progression would be Dm7.
Remember that the 3-9 extended arpeggio of BbMaj7 forms a Dm7 arpeggio so by playing it in bar one we lose an opportunity to develop the harmony later in bar five. Of course, this is quite subjective and there is absolutely nothing wrong with playing Dm7 over BbMaj7 in bar one.
To keep things simple, we will leave the B Dim7 arpeggio as it is, and introduce the b3-9 arpeggio on the Cm7.
The new arpeggio sequence becomes:
Moving to:
Use the following examples as a starting point for your own investigations.
Example 10f:
Example 10g:
Example 10h:
Remember to work in small string groups whenever you introduce a new arpeggio or substitution.
As you gain confidence, try to expand these concepts to the following fretboard areas.
Chapter Eleven: Descending ii Vs
This progression can be heard on Backing Track Eleven.
Key Centre: Bb Major.
Parent Scale: None, but ‘thinking’ Mixolydian of the dominant chords in each bar is a good choice at fast tempos.
The chord sequence in this chapter is one of the trickier sequences in jazz. A series of chromatically descending ii Vs are played that begin from chord iii of the eventual resolution point of Bb Major.
It should be noted that this kind of descending chord sequence can begin at any point in a tune, and not necessarily resolve to the tonic key. For example, bar four of the above progression could quite easily be Bm7, Fm7 or even Gbm7.
This type of descending sequence is a big feature of a ‘Charlie Parker-style’ blues, and can be heard in tunes such as:
-
Blues for Alice
-
Four on Six
-
Satin Doll
-
West Coast Blues
While it is possible to solo over this chord progression in one position of the guitar, it is far more practical to ‘follow’ the chords down on the neck of the guitar and use rhythm and chromatics to add interest to the melodic line.
Just because we are using descending shapes on the guitar, it does not mean that our melody needs to descend too. As the chord sequence is fairly busy, playing sparse, ascending melodies over the changes can add great interest to the melodic line as you will see.
The chord shapes to learn for this sequence are as follows:
As you can see, we are using the same pairing of chords to descend the neck in each bar.
The arpeggios for these chord shapes are:
This may look like an intimidating number of notes, but really there are only three pairs of descending arpeggios here. We can play as much or as little as we like when we use them.
We will begin with a common technique in jazz soloing and play only the 3rds and 7ths of each chord in order to create a chromatically descending melody.
Example 11a: (Middle strings)
Example 11b: (Top strings)
Of course, you can target any arpeggio tone on the chord change, but the 3 and 7 guide tones are a very strong place to start.
Next, play a short melodic motif that descends with the changes.
Example 11c:
There is no obligation to play over every chord and leaving a lot of space can be very effective. The following example uses a chromatic idea to target the 3rd of the dominant chord in each bar.
Example 11d:
Try writing some lines that target chord tones from just the iim7 chord in each bar.
The following examples target the 9th of each minor chord and use a chromatic 1/8th note run. You learnt these 3-9 arpeggio shapes in chapter five.
Example 11e:
Of course, lines can get as chromatic and as complex as you like:
Example 11f:
When you’re working on ideas like this in the practice room, it’s very important to listen to your favourite musicians improvising over these changes. I often sit with the full chord chart in front of me and simply listen to where the soloist plays their lines.
You’ll be surprised to notice that individual soloists often leave space over the same chord changes on each chorus. You can read what you like into this, but I find it quite comforting to know that even the best players have a limited number of ways that they approach a solo.
Another idea that occurs frequently is to play in contrary motion to the chord changes. This chord sequence descends rapidly, so why not construct some lines that ascend in contrast to the harmony?
Planning out some lines and then embellishing them can be a great way to find an ascending melody through tricky descending changes.
First, let’s find specific arpeggio notes that ascend over each chord in the progression. This can be easier to do lower down on the neck, but we’ll stay in this area as it is already familiar.
The interval of each arpeggio tone is written underneath the notation.
Example 11g:
Now that I have created an ascending path through the changes, I can fill in the gaps with chromatic passing tones. Notice that there is only one note in the following melody that descends. I was forced to do this when the closest two arpeggio tones were only a semitone apart.
Example 11h:
Finally, I can add a few 1/8th notes and add space to create a more melodic ascending phrase.
Example 11i:
This can be quite a challenging process, but these ascending lines really help your solos to stand out melodically.
Learn these arpeggios in other positions on the neck and write as many of your own lines as you can. Try learning the following sequence of arpeggios when you are confident with the ones in this chapter.
Chapter Twelve: The Tritone Substitution
This progression can be heard on Backing Track Twelve.
Key Centre: Bb Major
The tritone substitution is an extremely useful device in both jazz composition and soloing. The concept is as follows:
You can substitute any functional dominant 7 chord for another dominant 7 chord that is the distance of a b5th (three tones) away.
For example, the tritone substitution of G7 is Db7 because Db is a b5 away from G. The tritone substitution of F7 is B7 because B is a b5 (three tones) away from F.
When understanding how this substitution works, the key concept to remember is that we are ‘allowed’ to add any amount of tension to a functioning dominant chord.
Let’s see what intervals the notes in B7 create when played over a chord of F7.
F7 (Original chord) B7 (b5 substitution)
B
Interval formed in relation b5 to F7
D#/Eb
F#/Gb
A
b7
b9
3
The chord of B7 has got two very important notes in common with F7: the 3rd and the b7th. The 3rd and b7th are the most important intervals when defining the sound of a chord.
The 3rd of B7 (Eb) is the b7th of F7. The b7th of B7 (A) is the 3rd of F7.
The other two notes in the chord of B7 (B and Gb) form the intervals b5 and b9 against the F7 chord respectively. These two notes are great tensions to introduce on a functional dominant chord.
By playing an arpeggio of B7 over the chord of F7, a soloist implies the chord of F7b5b9.
This rule works for any functional dominant chord.
The tritone substitution is an important substitution in jazz soloing, and it is also used as a compositional device in melodies and chord progressions.
One feature of using the tritone substitution in a chord progression is that it creates a chromatically descending bass line.
For example, instead of the progression Cm7 – F7 – Bbmaj7, by playing the tritone substitution of F7 (B7), the chord sequence now descends Cm7 – B7 – BbMaj7.
This can be heard in the following sequence.
Example 12a:
Both chord sequences function the same way musically, but they sound very different.
The following songs feature a tritone substitution in their harmonic construction. The tritone substitution can be spotted by its chromatically descending bass line.
-
The Girl from Ipanema (Gm7 - Gb7 - F)
-
Footprints (Gbm7b5 - F7#11 - E7)
-
Have You Met Miss Jones? (BbMaj7 - A7 - Abm7) and (GbMaj7 - F7 - Em7)
Play through the chords of the tritone substitution using the following shapes:
The arpeggios for these shapes can be played like this:
When you’re learning to use tritone substitutions in your soloing, it is helpful to keep your melodies on the higher strings of the guitar. This helps you to hear the altered extensions to the F7 chord in their higher register.
The following exercises will help you to begin exploring the unique sound of the tritone substitution on a ii V I. The backing track is playing the sequence Cm7 - F7b5 - BbMaj7 but we are substituting a B7 arpeggio over the F7b5 chord.
Example 12b: (1/4 notes)
Example 12c: (1/8th notes)
Example 12d: (Chromatic approach notes)
Any functional dominant chord can be preceded by its iim7 chord and this also applies to the tritone substitution. You will often hear soloists playing the tritone substitution and the ii chord that would normally precede its substitution. The rule is:
Any dominant chord can be preceded by a m7 chord a 5th above.
In the examples above, the original F7 chord is substituted for a B7 and the ii chord of B7 is F#m7.
This means that instead of simply playing an F7 arpeggio in bar two, we can play F#m7 and B7.
On paper this looks like:
The B7 is the b5 substitution of F and the F#m7 is the ii chord of the B7.
It may seem strange to play F#m7 over F7, but to see what intervals the arpeggio notes of F#m7 form over the original F7 chord, look at the following table.
F7 (Original chord) F#m7 (chord ii F#/Gb of b5 substitution)
A
C#
E
Interval formed b9 in relation to F7
3
#5
Natural 7
The only pitch to be slightly wary of when using this substitution is the E because it forms a natural 7 that clashes with the b7 in the F7. However, as these substitutions are normally played fairly quickly, any clash is immediately resolved so there is no great problem as long as you don’t ‘sit’ on the E for a long period of time. If you wanted to, you could simply play an F# minor triad (F# A C#) and avoid the E natural altogether.
The F#m7 arpeggio is played in the following way:
Add this arpeggio into the practice exercises.
Example 12e:
Example 12f:
Example 12g:
Example 12h:
This combination of substitutions may sound a bit ‘out there’ to begin with, so incorporating them into your playing can take time.
Moving forward, we can also play extended 3-9 arpeggios on both the Cm7 and the BbMaj7 chords.
Here’s just one example of all these arpeggios in conjunction with each other.
Example 12i:
The tritone substitution is a very important device in jazz that you should take the time to become familiar with and we will look at some more examples of its use in the next chapter.
The tritone substitution can be used anywhere where there is a functional dominant chord (not just in a ii V I). A common place to hear it is in bar four of a jazz blues leading to chord IV.
The first eight bars of jazz blues normally looks like this:
In bar four, the Bb7 acts as the dominant chord of Eb7. The tritone substitution of Bb7 is E7, so we can substitute the Bb7 in bar four for an E7 and then use an E7 arpeggio at that point. The E7 can then be preceded by its chord ii (Bm7) so the progression now becomes this:
Try it using these substitutions on a jazz blues backing track.
Chapter Thirteen: III7 biii ii bII7 I
This progression can be heard on Backing Tracks Thirteen and Fourteen.
Key Centre: Bb Major
This progression is a substitution for the I VI ii V turnaround. The final two bars form a ii V I into the tonic chord of BbMaj7 and use the tritone substitution idea that was taught in the previous chapter. chapter. This idea is common in the music of Joe Pass and George Benson.
The chords in bar one are substitutions for chords I and VI in the original I VI ii V turnaround progression. A little theory is required in order to understand how these chords are derived.
By now, you should be comfortable with the idea that the chord Dm Dm7 is a common substitution for BbMaj7 and can be viewed as a rootless BbMaj9. Jazz musicians frequently alter the quality of quality of any chord in a progression. In this case, the original BbMaj7 chord has been substituted for a Dm7 chord and then the Dm7 chord has had its quality changed to a Dominant 7.
In the second half of bar one, the Dbm7 can be seen as a tritone substitution for what would have originally been the G7 chord.
You learnt in chapter twelve that you would normally expect the tritone substitution to be played as a dominant 7 chord (as in bar four), but once again, the quality has been changed. This time, the change is from a dominant 7 7 chord to a m7 chord. Playing a Dbm7 arpeggio over a G7 chord creates a G13b5b9 sound.
The result of all these substitutions is that a chromatically descending progression is created from chord III (D7) down to chord I.
It’s worth noting that because the quality of any of the chords in this sequence can be changed, you could play each chord in the first four bars as a m7, a dominant 7, or even as an altered dominant 7.
One final thing to bear in mind when approaching this sequence as a soloist is that the progression in this chapter is already a fairly complex set of substitutions for a simple I VI ii V turnaround:
As we are now playing complex substitutions in our solo, and the rhythm section will still be playing the original chord sequence, there is no need to play additional additional substituted ideas. The listener is already hearing interesting substitutions.
The best thing to do is to stick to simple, rhythmically strong ideas that clearly outline the arpeggios in brackets.
Begin by learning the chords that will form the basis of the arpeggio sequence.
Even though we could learn this progression in just one fretboard position, learning this descending sequence is much easier. It will allow you to hear the changes more easily and avoids many complex arpeggio movements that would occur if the progression was learnt in one small area.
When you’re confident with these chord shapes, learn their associated arpeggios:
As with the ideas in chapter twelve, it’s useful to focus on learning these arpeggios on higher strings so the extensions and alterations to the original chords can be heard clearly.
There are two backing tracks for this chapter. The first has the chord sequence as it is, and the second contains the original I original I VI ii V progression so that you can fully hear the effect of these substitutions.
Begin by using 1/4 notes to find pathways between each arpeggio.
Example 13a:
Example 13b: (Add 1/8th notes)
Example 13c: (All 1/8th notes)
It is possible to introduce some more interesting rhythms to these changes.
Example 13d:
Example 13e:
Next, add chromatic ideas between the changes.
Example 13f:
Example 13g:
Finally, let’s use the 3-9 substitutions on the Cm7 and BbMaj7 chords.
Example 13h:
Example 13i:
The substitutions in this chapter are quite advanced and require a lot of practice before they become second nature. While exercises are important for learning the theory and application of substitutions, the real long-term benefit is aural.
The ultimate goal is to be able to hear how these substitutions sound in context so that you are free to make melodies without worrying about arpeggios and theory.
When you’re ready, apply the ideas in this chapter to the following fretboard area:
Chapter Fourteen: Further Progressions While I have tried to be as thorough as possible in the exploration of common jazz chord progressions, there are, unfortunately, some sequences that I haven’t had room to include. The examples given in the main part of this book should be your priority, but there are some other progressions that you should be aware of.
The following is a brief summary of these chord progressions. I hope that after working through this book, you can apply the methods taught to quickly master these new progressions.
Rhythm Changes Bridge
This is an extremely common chord progression because it is the middle section of any ‘rhythm changes’ tune such as I Got Rhythm or Oleo. This sequence doesn’t have a chapter to itself because most of the progression is covered in chapter two.
Descending Root Movement on a Minor Chord
This sequence occurs in quite a few minor tunes, such as My Funny Valentine and Yesterdays, when there is a prolonged period on a minor chord. The idea is that the root of the chord (in this case, Bb) descends by a semitone each bar.
Ladybird Changes
This is an unusual turnaround made famous by the jazz standard Ladybird.
Of the three chord sequences in this chapter, the first two are definitely worth spending some time on as they do crop up regularly in jazz standards. Apply the methodical approach you have learnt in this book and make sure you isolate the changes on small string groups before playing longer lines, adding chromatic notes and forming melodies.
The real secret is to listen and transcribe what your favourite musicians play on these changes. Their note choice will sometimes surprise you, but often the analysis of their playing can open up many interesting doors for you as an improviser.
If nothing else, listen to when the jazz greats play their phrases and try to emulate them.
There are many other great ways to work on playing changes and the following chapter gives some bullet point practice ideas that are very helpful when developing your ears and fretboard knowledge.
Chapter Fifteen: Exercises to Practice Changes The practice ideas in this chapter are some useful guides and strategies to help you memorise important chord changes, arpeggios and sounds. In essence, they boil down to developing your fretboard knowledge by being very specific about which pitches you are playing on each chord and when you are playing them.
Every arpeggio in this book is shown on a fretboard diagram with each interval of the arpeggio marked. Roots are shown as squares and other arpeggio tones are shown as circles.
As you know, certain notes are stronger sounds when it comes to ‘spelling out’ chords in your playing, the most important tones in any chord are the 3rd and the 7th.
By targeting specific intervals of a chord in our practice, we not only develop our fretboard skills, but we also develop our ears. You will never learn to play music just by looking at diagrams on a page. Music needs to be heard and felt . Do you know what a 9th feels like over a major chord?
The following exercises will help you connect your ears to your guitar.
This list of practice ideas has been carefully chosen. They may take take you months or years to work through and even the best musicians will struggle to play all of them. It’s not that they’re impossible, they’re simply a big task.
Begin by picking a chord sequence or tune that you’re familiar with, put on a backing track, and then explore the following ideas.
-
Play only the root of each chord on beat one.
-
Play only the 3rd of each chord on beat one.
-
Play only the 7th of each chord on beat one.
-
Play only the 5th of each chord on beat one.
Play only the 9th of each chord on beat one (natural or b9/#9 on a functional dominant).
-
Play the 3rd then the 7th.
-
Play the 7th then the 3rd.
-
Play the 3rd and 7th together as a mini chord.
-
Play the root, 3rd and 7th together as a chord.
- Play a semitone below the root and then the root of each chord (try this with the semitone approach note on the offbeat of the previous bar and land on the root on beat one). - Repeat the previous step, but play the semitone below the target on the beat and play the target off the beat. -
Repeat the previous two steps with the 3rd, then the 7th and finally the 5th.
Play a semitone below the target, a scale tone above the target and then finally hit the target. -
Repeat all the previous steps but this time target beat two of the bar.
-
Repeat, but target beat three of the bar.
-
Repeat, but target beat four of the bar.
Target the root by ascending from two semitones below as 1/8th notes. For example, target the note C with the sequence Bb, B, C. -
Repeat the previous step but target the 3rd.
-
Target the 7th.
-
Target the 5th.
-
Target the 9th.
-
Play the 3rd, 7th and 9th as a sequence (#9 or b9 on a dominant).
-
Play the 7th, 3rd and 9th as a sequence.
-
Repeat the previous two steps with the intervals played as a chord.
-
Descend through arpeggios as far as you can.
-
Ascend through arpeggios as far as you can.
Play four 1/8th notes, an 1/8th note rest and continue this sequence to create some great displacement ideas. -
Play phrases of two 1/8th notes.
-
Play phrases of three 1/8th notes.
-
Play phrases of five 1/8th notes.
-
Play one-bar phrases beginning on beat two.
-
Play one-bar phrases beginning on beat three.
-
Play one-bar phrases beginning on beat four.
Repeat the previous three steps beginning on the off beats (the ‘and’ of each beat).
This list gives some great pointers for your practice. I recommend that you pick one idea and practice it solidly over one tune for a while before moving on to a different idea on the same tune. Incorporate a few of these exercises into your existing practice routine and you’ll quickly start to hear the benefits.
If one idea is too hard try a different one, but be careful to be objective about what constitutes a challenging exercise, and what is a bit beyond your level right now. As you’re already working on soloing over jazz changes, I would suggest that the first fifteen exercises should be at just about the right level.
Practice in short bursts. Set a timer for fifteen minutes and make sure you stop when the buzzer goes. Take a break and return for another session later.
Video record your practice. Not only will this prepare you for playing live, it will help you gauge your progress. Don’t watch the recording back for a day, it will help you be objective and dispassionate about your playing.
Go slow, you’ll learn more and gain more confidence from doing one thing very well than doing ten things poorly.
Transcribe, listen and smile when you play.
Conclusions This book has covered the most common chord changes that you will see as a jazz guitarist. While there are of course other sequences that occur, you will be surprised how many times you will be faced with these fundamental changes in jazz guitar.
When you do come across new chord changes, they will often be a substitution or a progression covered in this book. The first thing to do is look at the context in which the changes are played. For example, if the new chord sequence is in the last two or four bars of a tune, then it’s probably some sort of substitution for a ii V I, a I VI ii V or a iii VI ii V progression. This won’t always be the case, but it’s a good start.
If you suspect that a new chord sequence is a substitution for a turnaround, look to see what intervals the notes in the new sequence would form over the original changes, just as we did in chapter fourteen.
Chromatic bass movement is often a sign of a tritone substitution and don’t forget that the iim7 chord of the substitution is also used.
Look at the bass movement between the dominant chords in a complex sequence and if the movement is chromatic between the dominants and there are m7 chords between each dominant, then you’re probably looking at a sequence of tritone substitutions with the iim7 of each one added.
Often in The Real Book, you will see ‘alternate changes’ written in above a simple chord progression. A great way to learn arpeggio substitution is to spend time working out how the written substitutions relate to the original chords.
If a chord progression is completely new to you, the methods shown in this book should allow to you to master it quickly. The secret is to focus on playing the arpeggios over a very small, two-string area. Gradually move the two-string group across the strings before moving to three and four-string groupings.
Focusing on such a small area may seem like overkill, but I promise that you will learn and internalise the changes much more quickly in this way.
Gradually begin to ‘join the dots’ with chromatic approach notes and then add some 1/8th notes on beat four. As you work through more and more tunes, this process will take less and less time. Before you know it, you will be able to play a convincing chord tone solo over any jazz standard chart on sight. The more you do, the quicker you will recognise similar progressions recurring time and time again.
Remember to practice melody and rhythm. Break up your phrases to add interest and musicality to your solos. Bebop, at its worst, can become a competition to see who can play the longest stream of 1/8th notes.
Listen to the artists you like, and notice where they take breaks between phrases. Bebop is an art form that developed on saxophones and trumpets. The one thing that these instruments have in common is that the player needs to breathe in order to play a phrase of music so wind and brass players have a natural phrasing advantage.
As guitarists, it’s a mixed blessing that our lines aren’t reliant on our need to breathe. It is easy to forget to break up our lines into human phrases. Listen to the great saxophone and trumpet players if you want to hear what bebop phrasing sounds like.
More modern players, such as Pat Martino play extremely long lines of 1/8th and 1/16th notes. However, these lines are articulated with stunning pick control and dynamics. These longer lines have an internal structure which is extremely hard to replicate.
Many guitarists and keyboard players like to sing the lines that they play. This not only helps to connect our ears to our fingers and guitar, it also forces us to stop playing when we take a breath. George Benson is a master of this.
The greatest piece of advice I can give you is to work on these exercises in conjunction with transcribing great solos that use these changes.
Always be working on a transcription, even if it’s only for five minutes a day. Also, there are now many high-quality transcriptions of the greatest artists’ playing. I always have a Joe Pass or Wes Montgomery transcription on my music stand, and trying to master their phrasing is probably the biggest part of my practice these days.
Essentially, the exercises in this book will teach you where the ‘correct’ notes are on the guitar and how to structure your solo around them. Understanding how jazz vocabulary is truly used is a different skill.
This book provides the fundamental skeleton of jazz solo construction and, although this kind of practice is essential, it is transcribing and learning solos from the masters that will transform these building blocks into living, breathing music.
Have fun!
Joseph
Other Books from Fundamental Changes The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar Book One: Rhythm Guitar The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar Book Two: Melodic Phrasing The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar Book Three: Beyond Pentatonics The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar Compilation The CAGED System and 100 Licks for Blues Guitar Fundamental Changes in Jazz Guitar: The Major ii V I Minor ii V Mastery for Jazz Guitar Jazz Blues Soloing for Guitar Guitar Scales in Context Guitar Chords in Context Part One Jazz Guitar Chord Mastery (Guitar Chords in Context Part Two) Complete Technique for Modern Guitar Funk Guitar Mastery The Complete Technique, Theory and Scales Compilation for Guitar Sight Reading Mastery for Guitar Rock Guitar Un-CAGED: The CAGED System and 100 Licks for Rock Guitar The Practical Guide to Modern Music Theory for Guitarists Beginner’s Guitar Lessons: The Essential Guide
