In this lesson we’ll look at 2 short phrases played by Miles Davis and 2 short phrases played by John Coltrane on a live recording/video of them performing the tune “So What”. All of these short melodic ideas are based in the blues and we’ll play them back to back (Miles’ melody first, Trane’s melody second) through the keys.
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The melodies make a nice exercise that should help you developed some blues based melodic material over minor 7th chords or even dominant 7th chords (dominant 7 with #9 and #11). You can hear Miles play the first 2 melodies in this exercise at the beginning of his solo and Coltrane play the 2nd two melodies from this exercise at the end of his solo. Although I think transcribing entire solos is one of the best things you can do to developed your ear and musicianship, I also enjoy looking at small phrases from of solos and working the shorter ideas through the keys.
~ Enjoy!
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