Free Jazz Education and Music
This is a short etude I wrote over the chord changes to My Shining Hour in concert C. The etude utilizes a lot of modern-ish concepts in terms of rhythmic groupings and harmonic/triadic substitutions. You’ll find several uses of #9
This is exercise works as a supplement to my book “Jazz Vocabulary Vol. 1 Harmonic Major” or on its own. There are three mp3s for this scale practice below, one at 40bpm, one at 80 bpm and one at 160bpm.
In lesson 20 and 21 we worked on using chromatics as melodic material over specific harmony. Continuing along these lines, this exercise is another ii-7 – V7- Imaj7 using the chromatic scale. The melody ascends from the minor 3rd
Although we all practice chromatic scales over the years, sometimes it’s challenging to actually use them as convincing melodies while improvising. One thing I’ve noticed is that every other note of a chromatic scale creates a whole tone scale, and
Here’s a short melody I worked out using minor 3rds descending by half steps. It works well as a V7 to i minor cadence and after the descending minor 3rd passage I added a short 5 note minor melody to
Using bigger intervals when improvising can help create an interesting contrast to your linear ideas. This is a melody comprised of a spread triad in 2nd inversion and 2 upper-structure “tensions”; the 11th and the 9th. These melodies are played
Improvising over a Drone or Pedal has been something I’ve always enjoyed. Not only is it relaxing and simple, it really helps me hear scales, modes and melodies. When a single note instrument is your main axe, you need a
Here is a simple melody that will help you hear diminished as diminished, not merely as a dominant 7(b9). This is fairly easy idea that is played through the keys around the circle of fourths starting in concert C. It’s
Playing larger intervals can help to break up more linear ideas in a creative way that still sounds melodic and outlines the harmony clearly. This exercise in comprised of consecutive 5ths through Lydian, so it will work well over Major
Lots of great melodies are no more than a triad with a bit of stepwise embellishment. This exercise takes a spread triad in root position and embellishes the 3rd at the top of the voicing with upper and lower neighbor
Finding new ways to construct melodies over a major chord can be challenging as Ionian, Lydian and Lydian augmented seem to dominate the harmonic landscape in major. This lesson uses a melody that incorporates b9 and b13 over major. Although
The whole tone scale can be a bit too transparent to use frequently during improvisation. I’ve found that by conceiving of it both in augmented triads and with chromatic passing tones it becomes a little less obviously “whole tone”. This
