Archive for the ‘The Jazzy stuff (but good for every style!)’ Category

Just a few examples from the triad pairs video:

http://www.playgtr.net/triad-combinations-also-known-as-triad-pairs/

This is a scale I use really often and that can be incorporated in many different progressions. The Harmonic major scale is nothing but a major scale (in the example C major C D E F G A B) with the b6th instead of the natural 6th. So C Harmonic Major is C D E F G Ab B. It can be used in progressions like Fm – Cmaj7 (IVm – Imaj7), Abmaj7 – Cmaj7 (bVImaj7 – C  maj7) or G7(b9) – C maj7 (V7(9) – I maj7)…of course these are just some of the options. Try and experiment with the modes from this scale and all the stuff usually done with a major scale, this time with that b6th instead of the natural 6th. Good Luck!

Very simple concept widely used in jazz ( but good for other styles). Like shown in the video, G7 and Db7 are two chords a tritone away (tritone=6 semitones) that share the same 3rd and 7th.

G7= G B D F

Db=Db F Ab B 

as you see the notes B and F are common to the two chords. This means that I can also substitute the IIm chord that usually comes before it (as in a II-V-I) 

I can play both

Dm7 G7 Cmaj7

Abm7 Db7 Cmaj7 

Throughout the last few years, every time I learnt a new chord I always tried to associate the right scale to cover that same area. Watch the video and you'll understand what I mean.

I always found the 'Aebersold style' chord scale relation ship quite limiting, because it shows you what notes you have available, but not which ones are important and what function each note has…(so to speak, what effect a note has when played against a chord at a specific time).

Of course all the material that follows has to be used tastefully and with strong melodic and rhythmic sense! Even though every note you play is justifiable in a way or another, this does not mean that you can play randomly. You need to know the rules before breaking them, so that you can control what you play, not you are 'played by your instrument' or (even worse) you pretend you are playing free jazz…

The two following have to be read from the bottom up. Check out the example: at the bottom you have the chord, followed just above it by the chord scale. The strongest, most consonant notes are the chord tones, and at the opposite end of the spectrum there are the 'out' notes…very dissonant, to be used to create a lot of tension. Try to apply to all chord types.

Function:

'out' (everything else)

Tension (b9's and so on)

extensions(color)

target chord tones

mode(scale)

Chord

Example:

G#

Bb B# Eb E# (ext – tension)

B D F# (extensions -color)

A C# E G (chord tones – target notes)

A B C# D E F# G (mixo mode)

A7(dominant 7)

| / / / / |

Modes Pt 3: Recognizing modal chord progressions.

     We have seen in the three previous videos where modes of the major scale come from and how to analyze them. Here I will show you how to use them. So in this video you will find a brief introduction to how to recognize basic modal chord progressions (=chords from part of a tune, or chords that make up an entire song). I also want to demystify something I always hear from a lot of younger players: you need to know modes only if you play jazz. The sequences of chords in the video are not just from jazz standards, but from a lot of pop, rock, funk tunes.

     So, why do why have to recognize modal progressions? Well, once you have identified correctly the progression, you can use the correct mode to build a solo over it, or a guitar part, with all the right notes! An obvious example of 'wrong' modes recognition, is when, like in 'Oye como va', a soloist uses the Aeolian mode instead of the Dorian. One of the notes in the scale (the 6th) will clash with the chords played by the accompanist.  Or in "Flying in a blue dream" if you used C major to solo over it, when you land on the note F natural this will sound very wrong…as the song is in C Lydian which contains F# in it.

     One thing I want to add to the video: I found a lot of examples on the net about people using the Spanish example E7 – F7 to identify a Phrygian progression…that is not correct as Phrygian is a minor mode and E7 is a major (dominant) chord. That type of progression takes the Phrygian Dominant (sometimes called Spanish Phrygian scale) which is the 5th mode of the Minor Harmonic scale. But that's another lesson…

I will list below some songs that are built around a mode or a chord progression that is not only major or from the natural minor scale. I will add more examples as I run across more of them…for now these are just those from the video.

Ionian

As we said Ionian=major scale…so all those songs that contain chords from the harmonized major scale and gravitate heavily toward the 'I chord' (e.g.=C major, if we are in the key of C major) . Usually, like when we say 'this song is in the key of … major' that's what we mean.

Dorian

So What (M. Davis), D Dorian – Impressions (Coltrane) D Dorian – Oye como va (Santana) A dorian -

Phrygian

Nardis (M.Davis) E Phrygian, first two bars – Ana Maria (W. Shorter) intro and interludes (G phrygian).

Lydian

Flying in blue dream (J Satriani), C Lydian

Mixolydian

Kiss – (Prince), A mixolidian

Aeolian

All those songs that we call 'minor'. An example I use in the video is 'Europa' by Santana where most of the original progression is in C aeolian in the original. Also the bridge of 'Milestones' (new) by Miles Davis is in A aeolian.

Locrian

As I say in the video this mode and the progressions connected to it are not used a lot. Maybe a good example would be a long 2-5-1 in minor, like in the second four bars of 'Windows' by C. Corea.

This is a another classic chart to understand how modes are built by comparing them to the major scale staring from the same note…you’ll see right away how D Dorian is a minor mode and how it differs from D major scale.

Printable PDF: Modes Pt3

C Ionian = C major by constitution and it is a Major mode. 

D Dorian 

As you can see the difference here is that the Dorian mode has the minor 3^rd (F natural instead of F#) and the minor 7^th (C natural).  The Dorian Mode is a Minor mode

 
E Phrygian 

Here not only we can see the minor 3^rd and the minor 7^th but also the minor 6^th and 2^nd . This last note gives the characteristic sound to this mode. This is a minor mode.

 
F Lydian 

A major mode with the raised 4^th (Bb raised to B natural). Quite an interesting sound, used a lot for its dream like qualities.

 
G Mixolydian

This is called a major dominant mode, the characteristic note is the minor 7^th on a major scale.

 
A Aeolian

This mode is also known as Relative minor or Natural minor. Has a minor 3^rd, minor 6^th and 7th

B Locrian

Maybe not as popular as the other modes, but used quite a lot in many jazz standards and similar tunes this is a minor mode with minor 2^nd , 3^rd, 6^th and 7^th. Also the characteristic note is the diminished 5^th, that makes this mode one of kind among those from the major scale.

Modes of the major scale Pt2.

In the first video I showed you all the modes from
one scale (C major), where all the modes shared the same notes, each one
starting from a different note. Here I’ll do something different: all my
modes will start from the same note (C). Of course all these modes will
belong to different major keys. This allows me to understand the
structure of the modes, comparing them in a key (C) where it easier to
calculate intervals. This is called the ‘parallel approach’.

C Ionian

C D E F G A B

C Dorian

C D Eb F G A Bb

C Phrygian

C Db Eb F G Ab Bb

C Lydian

C D E F# G A B

C Mixolydian

C D E F G A Bb

C Aeolian

C D Eb F G Ab Bb

C Locrian

C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb

And, as usual, this is the nice printable PDF for you to hang on the
wall:

Modes of The Major scale: parallel approach

     Modes are a simple subject that sometimes can be misunderstood. Modes are 'inversions' of a scale, a scale 'within' a scale that takes life of its own.
     In this first series of videos about modes I show you the modes from the major scale: these are just 7 other scales, built with the same notes from the major scale, only starting from a different degree of that major scale. As an example these are the modes of the C major scale:

C Ionian
C D E F G A B

D Dorian
D E F G A B C

E Phrygian
E F G A B C D

F Lydian
F G A B C D E

G Mixolydian
G A B C D E F

A Aeolian
A B C D E F G

B Locrian
B C D E F G A

You can Check out and Print This PDF File for All the modes nicely notated: Modes of the Major Scale

I am sure you have noticed by now that, as I was saying, all these modes share the same notes, but from a different starting point. This makes them 'sound' different when isolated and played as a 'key' of their own, as the center of gravity is now shifted. I will show you in the next two videos a couple of different approaches to get to grips with these modes.

      The video is self explanatory. I will just link the original PDF file I show in it in case you want to print it out.

Printable PDF: Transposing