-Lesson 157: 96 Melodies from any 4 Notes.
In this lesson I explain how to find and practice the 96 melodies for any 4 note structure or 7th chord. In this example I play the 7th chord through the modes or chords of the major scale. This method
Lesson 155: Blues Etude using Diminished and Triad Pairs
Etudes are a great way to learn new ideas, phrases, concepts and vocabulary. This is a short 12 bar etude I wrote and have been digesting over the last 6 months or so. Memorizing the etude is just the beginning,
Lesson 152: Maj Triad add #11 Tetrad
The 4 note cell or Tetrad using 1, 3, #11, 5 has many harmonic contexts and can be used for creating voicings, improvising melodically and composing. This lesson outlines one simple melody from the tetrad the descends skipping voices. After
Lesson 146 Part 1: Countdown, Giant Steps, Tri-Tonic
This is a 3 part series on ways to practice and think about Countdown my John Coltrane. This is on of his challenging tri-tonic tunes based on the song Tune Up. Countdown is one of those tunes that, depending on
Lesson 142: Dominant Shell add #11
The 4 note structure or tetrad made up of 1, 3, #11 and b7 is a very useful note set for voicings and improvising over all sorts of dominant 7th chords. These 4 notes are common tones from both lydian
136: Woody and You
Here’s a transcription of my tenor sax solo from the Alliance album (2020). This is over the chord changes to Woody and You (Dizzy Gillespie) on a contrafact I wrote called Woods. In the transcription I tried to notate what
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
Lesson 149: What is This Thing Called Love.
Using only the 1,3,#11,7 Tetrad (or 4 note set) I’ve been using this 1, 3, #11, 7 Tetrad (4 note set) for years in both composition (voicings for big band or small group part writing) and as a group of
~New Video Series~
105: 1,9,5,13
In this video I practice using a 4 note cell or “tetrad” consisting of just the 1st, the 9th, the 5th and 13th degree of the major scale. In C this would be C, D, G and A. An interesting
103: -7b5 chords
In this practice video I’m working on minor 7 b5 chords or half diminished chords. I’ve found that by just focusing on the 4 notes of the 7th chord (tetrad or tetrachord) I strengthen my understanding of the structure and
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