-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
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.
Scales have been a popular thing to practice in both the jazz and classical world for years. Playing through scales as been compared to a painter mixing paints from the primary colors. Scale practice can help you hear subtleties in
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
The sus4 chord can be found in most genres of music; blues, jazz, rock, classical, folk, hip hop, etc. In a normal C7 chord, the 4 notes are C (the root), E (the major 3rd), G (the 5th), Bb (the
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
Bird may be my all time favorite melodic improvisor. His sound, feel and ideas still seem fresh and alive and I enjoy him more and more the older I get. I’m always shocked when I put on a side I’ve
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