While working on major 7th and minor 7th “drop 2” chord voicings, I found a nice shape to work on through the keys. Drop…
Read Full Blog Post-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…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 59: Spread Tri-tone
I thought it might be nice to work with a variation on Lesson 1 (Spread Triads) – In this exercise we play spread major triads…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 58: Triad Diminished
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…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 56: Giant Steps Etude
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…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 55: ii – V7#5 -i dim
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…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 54: Triad w Neighbors
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…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 52: Enclosures
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…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 51: Maj 7 #5 melody
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…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 50: Wide Intervals
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…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 48: -7b5
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…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 46: Altered Melody
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…
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