jazz is major

How the hell to those guys do that?! That's a thought that first got me interested in jazz improvisation. It seemed like spontaneous composition, sometimes tuneful, sometimes not, but jazz improvisation to me represented the musical freedom I wanted - a place where almost anything goes and harmony can really be explored.

I started studying jazz improvisation over 20 years ago and spent a lot of time transcribing bebop solos and trying to get inside the minds of jazz legends to find out what they were thinking about when they improvised so freely and effortlessly.

It wan't long before I realised that what I had to do was forget about modes, and all the other fancy scales that I had learned before and make jazz improvising as simple as possible in order to free my mind of technical barriers and fill it with harmony.

I found out that I could just use one scale for everything - the major scale. I just needed to understand where and when to use it to create tension and release. Or, as some some people call it, 'Home' and 'Away'.

I find this is a much more practical way to improvise and forces me to listen more to what is going on around me. 'Away' sounds can be diatonic[tension] or 'altered'[tension] but I tend to think of 'away' sounds as just 'altered' - non diatonic - because when I improvise jazz ,this simplistic method helps.

delayed resolution

In this clip I am playing roughly the same lines over Fm7 Bb7 to Ebmaj. I am focusing on using major scales only to achieve tension over the V chord. You wont' hear much resolution in this clip because I'm using 'delayed' resolution - what that means is rather than resolving to a note from the 1 chord (Ebmaj) , I can stretch the tension a bit further by not resolving at the same time as the chord change. some Jazzers call this harmonic side-stepping.

you might be able to hear the backing chords change at one point to a Gm - C7 ( 2-5 in F) But what I play over this is no different to what I play over the Fm7 Bb7 ( 2-5 in Eb) . I still use Eb major scale over the Gm because it has the same triad as Eb major 7. For tension over the V chord I just side-step into E major scale which is kind of a tri-tone root from the Bb. I'll explain this in more detail.

Side-stepping and tri-tone subsitutes

So if you want to play tension over a V chord you can use a device called side-stepping or tri-tone substitution to get altered tension, rather than using modes or particular scales. Look for any chord that contains the 'altered' notes of a Bb7 chord ( #5, b9, #9 etc.).

For example, look at the E major 7 chord, to see why this works so well over the Bb7 (V chord in Eb). Overlay the Emaj7 on the sound of a Bb7 chord, you'll notice that you hit both the b7 and the b9 of the Bb7, as well as the sus4.

So this is the thinking that frees me up to forget about all the different scale names and just use major scales to make any altered sounds I need.

This is a diatonic 1 V1 11 V in Eb:

Ebmj7 Cm7 Fm7 Bb7

But I might think: Ebmj7 C7alt Fm7 Bb7alt to improvise over.

The good news for me is that I can do this with one scale. I can play E major over both the C7 and the Bb dominant chords.

I like the sound of an Ebmj7 chord over the Bb7 and also over the C7 because it gives me the #5and #9 of the C7 chord.

So then all I have to think is home (Eb major) and away ( E major ) and I have all the tension and release I need ove this 1 V1 11 V. On the guitar this is easy since I have to do is move the same scale shape up on fret.

Another device I use to get jazz tension over my V chord (Bb7) is to side-step one up from the V chord(Bb7). If I'm feeling lazy I can just play B major over the Bb like before. But I really like the sound of a B minor 9th arpeggio because I can pinpoint the #9 and b9 on my Bb7 chord, as well as the #5. A really great sounding tension that simulates the dominant 7 sharp 9 chord.

This is one of the things I love about jazz - even the theory is free! you have to learn all the textbook harmony first, but when it comes to playing, I can apply the harmony any way I like.

Here are some chords I think about to play 'away' over the Bb7 V chord.

E major7
B major7
Bdim
Bm9
Abm6
Db9
Fm7b5

yes, the last 3 chords are the same apart from the roots.

Home

So what's left? the 'Home' sound. well, that is much easier. Major chord, major scale, minor chord, minor scales. But what if all I have is my major scales? Then I use the major scale over minor chords ( Ebmaj over Fm7 or Gm7 etc.). I don't use major scales as as a replacement for harmonic minor and melodic minor sounds, just as my replacement for natural[relative] minor when I have the key harmony straight.

For example, my minor chord is Fm7, so I play Eb major scale because Fm7 is the two chord in Eb .

and just for fun...

One other thing I like to do over static major chords is play the major scale of the major chord a fourth up from my root because I know it has the b5 in it.

For example, take the Eb major chord. I sometimes play a Bb major scale over it so I get the classic b5 sounds. It's the A natural from the Bb scale that is the b5 in the Eb scale.

jazz rules

I suppose it comes down to this - there ain't no rules in jazz, only guides to help us learn the language. It's all about how we use harmonic tension and resolution and how musical we are. Its a free language and a never ending journey and I love it.

Hope this is interesting for someone other than me. Happy to answer any theory questions you might have.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse