-Lesson 60: Diatonic Sequence
This lesson covers a great melody from one of the Bach Cello suites which has been extended slightly to cover the whole major scale. The sequence outlines the main seven chords found in the major scale (in the key of
Free Jazz Education and Music
This lesson covers a great melody from one of the Bach Cello suites which has been extended slightly to cover the whole major scale. The sequence outlines the main seven chords found in the major scale (in the key of
I thought it might be nice to work with a variation on Lesson 1 (Spread Triads) – In this exercise we play spread major triads a tri-tone apart, a sound which will work nicely over a dominant 7th chord with
This is a nice triadic idea that works through a dimished scale. By simply playing 2nd inversion major triads down by minor thirds you get a nice melodic line that clearly outlines the 4 major triads found in diminshed harmony.
This is a short, 1 chorus etude over John Coltrane’s Giant Steps progression. It incorporates a few different conceptual ideas which I find useful. In bars 1-2 and bars 5-6 what is sometimes referred to as a “classical augmented” scale
I’ve always found it effective to work on a specific melody in order to incorporate a general concept into my playing. For instance, when learning to use the #5 on the dominant 7th or i diminished as a substitute for
In this lesson we look at embellishing a triad with specific upper and lower neighbor-tones. The bulk of the exercise will focus on a major triad with surrounding embellishment from the major scale although the concept can be applied to
Chromatic and diatonic enclosures are a great way to begin working with melodic embellishment. In this exercise the 3rd of both a major triad (with an added 9) and the 3rd of a minor triad (with an added 9) are
Finding melodies on a single note instrument that really bring out the sound of more complex types of harmony is often a challenge. Here’s a Major 7 #5 melody I found the other day while doing some slow improvisation. It’s
Here’s an easy way to begin to introduce some wider intervals into your improvisation while still maintaining melodic and harmonic integrity. This exercise uses a dominant 7th chord, and also includes it’s upper-structure tensions (9, #11, and 13). The melody
When starting out as an improviser, the half diminished 7th chord is often a difficult chord to hear and play over melodically. Even after working on it for years the half diminished chord can still be more challenging to sing
Here’s a short melody that uses all the notes from the Altered Scale (the 7th mode of the Melodic Minor Scale). While chord-scale theory can be a valuable part of learning to improvise, finding an actual melody, not just the
Here’s an intervallic diminished sequence that I wrote while in Leipzig on a short avant-garde tour in the late 90’s. We had many long days of doing nothing before the sound check and gig so I composed this short melody