Mike's Music Musings

An instructor once told me that a great skill to develop is the ability to translate one lick to multiple scales and chord qualities. Music is made up of patterns and thematic development of a motif, which is usually expressed over changing chords. Accomplishing this involves understanding how scales are constructed, and which of the scale degrees are stable versus unstable . This is just another way of saying which tones carry tension and which tones carry the absence or resolution of tension. Chord tones are stable, and the non-chord tones are more unstable- especially if within a half step of a chord tone. For example, the b9 really wants to resolve to the 1, and the 4 is begging to resolve to the 3.  Non-chord tones with a whole step relationship, for example, the 9 or 6 in a major scale, are more stable and depending on the context can act as stable or unstable tones. Notes that are neither chord tones nor non-chord tones (i.e., outside of the scale) can be also expressed as ...

I've been thinking a lot about connecting chords, especially with strong voice leading. I have been asking myself, when playing through progressions, how would I use only Drop2 chords to work my way up and down the fretboard?  I started with a simple ii-V and realized I had come up with the intro to "Wave," perhaps in the same way Jobim discovered it. Step 1: Start with the ii-V in C, starting with the root position Dm7.  Work up the fretboard, which is a drop2 G7 3rd inversion.

In the midst of a heat wave affecting two thirds of the country this week, and in the midst of my guitar-hammond organ obsession, I decided to transcribe this cool line by Wes Montgomery.  This entire month I've been heavily rotating his album with Jimmy Smith, "The Dynamic Duo," and this is the second to last track on the album.  The line features descending 5th intervals over a minor ii-V progression.  Though the net movement is downwards, you can also hear ascending 4th intervals to set up the following descending 5th- I think the 4th interval is what really makes this line sound cool.

One of the vinyl LPs hanging framed on my wall is called "Soul Survivors" by Hank Crawford and Jimmy McGriff.  I've recently been on a guitar/hammond organ kick, and this is one of my favorite examples.  Though the album features George Benson on guitar, this particular track is played by Jim Ponder. One of the devices Ponder uses several times in his solo is a guitaristic feature called "sweeping," done by dragging or 'sweeping' the pick across several strings in one fluid hand movement.  This creates a cool type of phrasing which highlights the note at the top of the sweep with a flurry of notes leading into it.  Over this blues form, sweeps are played over upper extensions of the dominant chord, starting from the 5th scale degree.  For example, over F7, a Cm7 or Cm9 arpeggio is played.  Given the mechanics of the guitar, sweeps are more easily played in some positions than others.  Ponder uses two different positions in this solo.

Here's a transcription of a guitar solo over the song  "Verve"  by Organ Freeman.  The transcription includes analysis of the harmonic devices used by guitarist Erik Carlson.  It starts off bluesy but quickly gets into the realm of jazz fusion, utilizing a melodic minor sound over a static minor 7th chord.  Tension and excitement is built with heavy chromaticism, followed a jarring tritone run.  Check it out!

Here's a Cory Wong lick I transcribed from his playing with the Fearless Flyers.  The lick is over a IV-I in "Under the Sea" and is relatively simple, and sounds great uptempo.

This post is a follow up from my last, which explored the use of augmented triads from the melodic minor scale.  I was interested in the other triads that make up melodic minor, especially since all but the augmented triad are featured twice consecutively.  This unique feature makes melodic minor especially ripe for the use of triad pairs as a soloing technique.

Minor ii-V-i chord progressions can be challenging for the beginning improviser, with vast harmonic possibilities that are not intuitive to unfamiliar ears.  While laying on the couch sick I was thinking about the triads that make up the melodic minor scale, as well as its applications.  Knowing that the locrian natural 9 scale (a mode of melodic minor) is a potential substitute for the locrian (a mode of the major scale) over the ii, and that the altered scale (also a mode of melodic minor) can be used over the V chord, I wondered what it would sound like to use the same triad quality over both chords in their different harmonic contexts.  I decided to start with my favorite triad, the augmented triad.

The May 2019 tune of the month is "Someday My Prince Will Come," originally from the 1937 movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" but now a classic jam tune for jazz musicians.  The song is also a waltz, written in a time signature of 3/4.  The song features several interesting harmonic devices, including passing diminished chords (both a biii dim and a #I dim).  This part of the tune can be challenging to solo over, so I've transcribed the improvisational phrases used by Miles Davis in his classic recording to see how he approaches soloing over this tune.  Note that I've also posted a blog about quoting the heads of jazz standards as one other possible approach.

When most people think of bebop, they think of linear eighth note lines.  While this is certainly a major part of the bebop language, playing that is too linear can sound boring and predictable.  Octave displacement is a great way to break up the linearity in your playing by introducing wider intervals.  Octave displacement is done by breaking up an arpeggio run (ascending or descending) and at any point changing the octave of the notes.  See below for four examples over ii-V chord progressions.

Having begun reading Pat Martino's autobiography, I am listening to more of his music and have started picking up some of his vocabulary.  Pat Martino is a master at constructing complex lines with an impressive ease of articulation.  While these fast and complex lines often leave my jaw dropped, I find that another technique he uses can lead to exciting and sometimes "mind bending" results- repetition of a simple phrase with rhythmic displacement.  While the phrase is repeated, the rhythm section can build energy and excitement to the solo, which then leasts to an energy burst when the soloist ends the repetition.  Pat can also "spice up" simple lines by repeating them and introducing interesting rhythmic displacement, as well as chromatic notes.

Studying how the Coltrane Changes chords connect allows the improviser to create lines which more strongly outline the changes, with better voice leading. This post will only consider the chord movement of I to bIII7 because the other change is a common V-I.  All examples are transposed to the key of C.

This month I'm learning "The Girl From Ipanema" and I've been studying its chord changes so I can better navigate the tune when soloing.  I've discovered a few cool concepts along the way which I'll share here.

Here I'll share my transcription of an awesome, bluesy turnaround played by George Benson in "Frim Fram Sauce."   It pretty much ignores the changes and instead treats the entire thing asa a Bb blues, walking the phrase down chromatically and ending with a nice major blues lick.

Whether you know it or not, you've heard the minor line cliche before.  The progression is a key feature in songs such as: In a Sentimental Mood This Masquerade My Funny Valentine  This device can be an effective way to add harmonic motion to a chord, especially when it's held for an extended period of time.  Over a minor chord, the harmony could be thought of minor - minor/major7 - minor7 - minor6.  The minor line cliche can also imply a ii-V progression, starting from the root of the minor chord and landing on the third of the dominant or major 7th of the I.  T he minor line cliche obvious or obfuscated, weaving other notes through and around it. It's helpful to study famous minor line cliches and come up with your own.