128: C Major Triad add #11
You can use the major Triad add #11 tetrad or four Note cell in a variety of harmonic context. There are 96 ways to order any four notes within and octave and a half and so there are a lot
Lessons
127 Amazing Scale Warm Up!
I discovered this warm up with some help from my friend Peter Schlamb. I did if for a few days before a gig and was shocked at how it changed my entire time feel and attention to the groove. I
11 Days for Big Band.
I’m working on a big band pieces for large ensemble. Here’s the first one. To support mattotto.org please visit the store: https://mattotto.e-junkie.com/
125: Blues for Alice
Two of my friends, Peter Schlamb and Matt Villinger, mentioned working on Blues for Alice by Charlie Parker during Covid. They’ve been playing it through the keys, one key per week, really trying to get it down. I thought I’d
124: Shell + triad
By playing a G7 Shell (1,3,b7) and adding a triad over that basic structure, you can create a lot of harmonic voicings and melodic material.
123: Ear Warm Up
A warm up that activates both your ear and your sound. Trying to discover smarter ways to warm up and do ear training is often on my mind when teaching. Many students spend time doing long tones but still have
122: Major Melody – Triplets grouped in 5
A Simple Major Melody: Exploring Diatonic Enclosures and Descending 6ths I’ve been working on a little melodic exercise that I think you’ll find really useful. It’s a simple major melody utilizing an enclosure and diatonic 6th and is grouped in
Harmonic Major modes over 2-5-1 in Minor
Harmonic Major modes over 2-5-1 in Minor. I’ve been working on using the 7 modes of Harmonic Major over various chords as alternate scale choices. The example below uses two scales over a minor 2 – 5 – 1 –
7 Note Diminished Scale
Steve Cardenas, one of my favorite guitar players, taught me how to create a 7 note diminished scale. These scales work over Dominant b9 (half/whole) type diminished as well, but we’ll look at regular Diminished 7th in this example. There
Lesson 150: Blues Etude – 4 note cell
Here’s a blues etude that uses some different 4 note cells (tetrads) and various scales. By writing an etude you can learn to hear melody that specifically reflects an underlying concept and later improvise using the concept alone. The original
Composition “Basheer”
I always enjoy writing contra-facts over chord progressions I like to improvise on. This is an easy one that is based on the Gigi Gryce’s song Minority. Gigi writes great tunes; always melodic and fun to blow on harmonically. I
Track 7. A Way
This piece is based on a re-harmonization of the chord progression to Dave Brubeck’s song, “In Your Own Sweet Way”. I added an interlude of descending Sus Chords as an alternative solo section as well as simplifying the chord changes
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