Linear J

azz Imp
rovi

sation S
eries /
Ed Byrn
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FUNCTION
A
L
JAZZ GUIT
AR

LINEAR JAZZ IMPROVISATION

Functional
Jazz Guitar

LINEAR JAZZ IMPROVISATION

Functional
Jazz Guitar

Ed Byrne

Copyright 2009 Dr. Ed Byrne

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher. For more information, contact the author at
Ed@ByrneJazz.com.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

11

1. JAZZ THINKING
Primary Activities of the Jazz Practitioner
Jazz as Language
Approaching Jazz
Essential LJI Elements
Easy Method for Deriving Scales from Key
Developing a Style
Identifying & Fixing Limitations
Band in a Box and Play-Along CDs
Praxis
Practicing with the Playback Files

13
13
14
15
17
18
19
20
21
22
23

2. GUIDE-TONE LINES & CADENCES

Chord Cadences voicedDrop 2 in 2 Inversions
Root progression
Basic Swing Comp

25

3. PRACTICING CHORD FORMULAS

Circle of Fifths
Harmonic Formulas
Drop Two Cadences
Rhythmic Accompaniment Styles
Basic Swing Comp Rhythms
Cadences

43
44
45
47
48
49
51

4. BLUES
Chords
Root Progression
Bass Line
Comp
Riff-Style Comp
Minor Blues
Equinox Minor Blues
Funky Basic +9 Blues

73
78
84
90
97
103
107
137
143

5. BOSSA NOVA COMPING

Cadences
Bass
Comping Voicings and Rhythms
Montuno

149
150
154
162

6. LINEAR MELODIC SOLUTIONS

Various Cadence Licks
V7 Lick
GTL Solo
Root Progression solo
Minor Blues solo
Minor Blues Scale Solo

167
172
183
189
195
201

7. DIATONIC MODAL PLANING

1st Inversion Triads
3-Note Voicings in 4ths
Dorian in all keys

207
208
210
212

8. ADVICE
Ear Training, Transcription, & Vocabulary
LJI Chords
Internalizing Intervals
Sight-Singing
Transcription
Internalizing Tunes
Internalizing Chords
10-Tune Starter List
Starting Jam Sessions
Ideological Preconceptions
Guitar and Piano Comping
Reading Lead Sheets

219
219
220
221
222
223
224
227
228
229
230
231
232

CONCLUSION

233

APPENDIX 1 Harmony

234

APPENDIX 2 Harmonic Clichs

236

APPENDIX 3 Modes

242

PREFACE
Most of the guitar students I have taught had, when we met, been
frustrated by contemporary jazz education, namely Chord Scale Theory, the
reigning pedagogy through which students are taught jazz improvisation,
since it doesnt offer a clue as to what to say, supplying only the correct
notesseven at a time. The student who is left to figure out meaningful
linguistic content on his or her own too often tends to flounder from having
been sidetracked by practicing scales out of theoretical books in their back
rooms, never even venturing out to play with othersthe very point of
learning guitar.
It would therefore be irresponsible to begin their tutelage with the finer
points of Linear Jazz Improvisation, in which one learns how to use the
salient information contained in specific compositions in melodic
improvisation when they havent yet gained basic small jazz ensemble skills
and an intimacy with the jazz language itself.
The latter begins with the blues forms and such functional skills as
comping and soloing on cadences in various rhythmic styles. It is these
essential skills that we shall attack head-on in this volume. We will do this
artfully, and it is hoped that you will find these etudes to be as fun as they
are educational.
Ours is a unified approach to learning all aspects of the basic cadence and
blues forms, skills which can be readily applied to all jazz repertouire,
including standard tunes from the Great American Songbook. We will
address all the essential ensemble roles, such as the fundamental bass role,
the linear accompaniment role of the guide-tone line, and the voiced chord
and rhythmic accompaniment (comping) styles of swing, bossa nova, and
funk. Finally, we will learn extended solo lines on all of these basic
elements.
We shall not attempt here to be ground breakingor to demonstrate all
possibilities or new paths. Neither shall we offer fingering positions or
special guitar techniques. But if you learn these exercises by rote with the
sound files, you will be able to play real jazz with others.

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11

Know your story and be able to deliver it in a powerful personal style.

INTRODUCTION
We approach our practice regimens on two essential tiers. The first
involves idiomatic formulas: the various kinds of blues scales and forms, ii7
V7 I cadences, the twelve-bar blues, jazz rhythms, articulations,
inflections, and vibratosall of which must be learned in all twelve keys
throughout the entire range of your instrument. You must also listen
extensively, transcribe, and learn to speak the very language of jazz.
This is the traditional way in which jazz practitioners have learned their
craft, besides apprenticing with master practitioners. The challenge is to then
personalize jazz idioms and link them to the essential compositional material
of specific tunes, which constitutes the second tier: the Linear Jazz
Improvisation methoddeveloping a specific melody in particular.
It is the former skills that we shall address in this volume: How to master
the various basic skills and roles jazz music requires, and to use them in
performance with others. This book will give you a firm foundation in the
generic language, necessary understandings, and skills you will need in
order to function well in playing jazz with a group.
In an extemporaneous art form such as jazz, how one thinks has a direct
and profound impact on performance. Jazz is a language; its practitioners are
public speakers. When you learn to speak, you first learn by listening and
picking up figures of speech; then you learn to use them in your own
personal manner by combining them into sentences and paragraphs to tell
your story. The process is the same when learning jazz.
The public speaker must have stories to tell (a repertoire), know them
(the compositions), and have the vocabulary necessary to tell them in a
compelling manner. We therefore practice telling each story, work out the
rough parts, and then learn how to vary it in a variety of ways: short versus
long versions, various introductions and endings, substitute words, phrases,
rhythms, moods, and pacing. As with public speakers, there are all kinds of
jazz performers: insincere, slick, spontaneous, those who use easy-tounderstand vocabulary, those who use complex language, and those who
deliver memorized statements.

12

Moreover, jazz demands a different approach than that demanded by precomposed music. Most jazz practitioners regularly practice things that the
classical musician does not. These skills can best be learned in a focused and
systematic manner.
This book contains nine Finale files to practicing with. These are a
succession of idiomatic paradigms on each basic role, based on given major
and minor guide-tone lines and common cadences, 12-bar blues types, and
sophisticated melodic formulas to the same, in addition to modal planing. In
this effort, all etudes here are interrelated. The book closes with strong lines
on everything covered previously. There are different rhythmic feels in
sections, so the document has been broken into nine separate sections for
ease in practicing. These are basic yet hip lines, paradigms of each function.
Sing and play with the supplied play-back files in all keys, and you will
learn everything you need to know to get started playing guitar in a jazz
group. First read, then visualize, then just sing and play. Then play them
without the files, with a metronome alone.
It takes an active effort to effectively incorporate new vocabulary into
your story (repertoire). After you learn the entire book, go back and mix and
match. For example, play the off-beat pecks comp against the walking bass,
or playing one of the (given) blues lines against the blues comp. Improvise
freely on the given solos, by creating your own solo from its vocabulary.
Start, for example, but merely playing an entire line, but leaving certain
notes out. Try resting a few beats and before catching the line up by
changing and doubling the rhythm.
Be able to sing everything you play: Singing is the key to internalization.
First listen to the entire document, both to understand how it develops, and
then learn to sing along with it until it is internalizedand only then break it
up into sections for practicing. After you have learned each section,
improvise on all of its materials and vocabulary. Everything in this book is
interrelated, so you can mix and match everything when practicing anything
in this book.
Ed Byrne

13

CHAPTER 1

JAZZ GUITAR THINKING

The aim of technique is to be able to play what you hear.

Primary Activities of the Jazz Guitarist

1. Improvise in all tempos and rhythmic styles on everything you practice.
2. Sing everything to internalize.
3. Practice formulasin all keys, in the instruments entire range.
4. Learn new vocabulary.
5. Listen. Transcribe.
6. Learn functional keyboard harmony.
7. Analyze lead sheets and scores.
8. Build a repertoire.
9. Practice, play, rehearse, and perform.

14

The only difference between jazz and any other spoken language
is that you can't order a cup of coffee with it.

Jazz as Language
You have to have interesting stories to tell (a repertoire of tunes), which
requires practice focused specifically on that goal. These skills can be
learned in a focused manner. Since you can't count on more than one
lifetime to master what you need in order to accomplish your goals, its a
question of priorities. If you wish to nurture the spontaneous in performance,
you have to have a lot of different ways to tell your story. It's up to the
individual to decide to what degree he wants to be spontaneous, and then
develop and master it. Everything must be internalized by the time you
perform.
There are many things to practice, and a lot of different ways of going
about it. Dont limit yourself to any ideology, or any one way. When you
feel the need to expand in one direction or another, adopt new strategies for
the woodshed. Seek out new vocabulary, and do trial runs to incorporate it
into your story.
Do not, however, confuse the process of practicing with that of
performance. Leave the woodshed behind. View your practice activities as
relatively exclusive of performance in the now. Trust that practicing will
demonstrate a meaningful effect on your performance as it is organically
ready to do soas it evolves in your subconscious mind.

15

Jazz musicians practice what classical musicians do not.

Approaching Improvisation from a Classical Background

Most jazz practitioners regularly practice things that the classical
musician does not, such as playing formulas (figures of speech) in all keys,
and across the entire range of the instrument. Jazz also has the blues:
Practice, for example, improvising on the blues scale (C, Eb, F, F#, G, Bb in
the key of C) with a metronome at a given tempo in all twelve keys; then
practice the twelve-bar blues that way.
If you are addressing jazz from a classical (Western art music)
background, you need to adopt a different mindset in order to play jazz
effectively. Composition is frozen improvisation; improvisation, melted
composition. If you compose an improvisation, you cannot then expect to be
able to perform it in the same way in a jazz context that you would perform
a written classical piece. Its not spontaneousand it will come off as such.
Moreover, it will not allow for the essential group interplay; it must be
different each time you perform it to be in the now.
Your ideas must also contain the language of jazz: its phrases, rhythms,
articulations, inflections, vibratos, and clichs. If they do not, you need to
listen to jazz recordings of masters, sing and transcribe them. If your written
ideas already speak the jazz language, translate them into a more
spontaneous idiom. Begin by creating several ways to paraphrase each
phrase. You don't have to recompose it drastically at first. Just leave a note
out here and there, change a rhythm slightly, begin the phrase a half or
whole beat later and adjust the rest of the phrase to make it fit within the
meter and number of measures in each phrase. Do this without writing it out,
by repeatedly singing and playing it spontaneously. In this way your original
ideas will evolve organically into alteredand then newideas. This is the
nature of improvisation, which begins with paraphrase.
If you want to do this systematically, try Linear Jazz Improvisation, with
which you would, for example, reduce a composition down to whole and
half notes placed on the beat (by removing pick-ups, repeated notes and nonharmonic tones) and then apply chromatic modifiers to embellish the
essential melody notes. Combine the reduced melody with the reduced

16

rhythms that can be found in the piece, and develop and permute both. This
results in an ability to identify your basic ideas. Develop them.
Above all, find ways of delivering your message in a spontaneous
manner. Start by finding six solutions for each phrase. Since jazz requires a
form of oral composition, write less and practice more at improvising. You
have to run a lot of choruses, keep listening to what's coming out, and make
adjustments until you like what you hear. Develop many different solutions
for each phrase.

17

The most direct path to meaningful improvisation is to address

the essential elements of specific compositions.

Essential Elements
By essential elements I mean the melody, which I reduce by eliminating
repeated notes and non-harmonic tones; the guide tone lines, which are the
essence of the harmonic progression, but in the form of melodic lines; the
root progression, which is itself a line; and the rhythms of the composition
also reduced, by eliminating motor rhythms (eighth-notes that don't create
rhythmic hits).
Once I have identified and memorized these elements, I begin to
systematically develop them. My method, Linear Improvisation, offers ten
chromatic targeting groups with which to modify all of the essentials
mentioned above. This was the stuff of development for traditional
composers of all Western styles. Targeting of reduced melodies can be
combined with rhythmic development. of their reduced rhythms, which in
turn can then be paraphrased and permutated. For example, it can be offset
by a half beat (started off of one instead of on one, and then begun on beat
two, and so on). We then combine this process with chromatic targeting.
The result is that you quickly learn the most pertinent aspects of a
composition, so that when you improvise, it has meaning with regard to the
piece you are playing, beyond improvising generic licks and patterns. This
method works without Greek names and theoretical jargon that is nonessential to your mastering of improvisational skills. If you practice the
manner in which is presented in this method, you will gradually and
organically shed the merely technical; and the composition will begin to
speak to you.

18

Easy Method for Deriving Scales

While the Linear Jazz Improvisation method is not about scales and
modes, there is a much easier means of deriving them than through the
complicated chord scale theory.1 Begin by employing the scale of the key of
the composition. When chords appear that contain notes which are chromatic
(foreign) to that key, alter those pitches accordingly. For example, when a
G7 appears in a progression in the key of F, use the F scale, only change the
Bb to B (the third of the G7, which is chromatic to the key of F). While the
results are often the same as with chord scale theory, they are sometimes
profoundly different. For instance, the last chord of the A section of
Desifinado in the key of F is a Gb. Berklee College would call for a Gb
Lydian Mode, but with my approach you have: Gb, A, Bb, C, Db, E, and F.
There are no Greek names, no theories necessary: simplicity itself. An added
benefit of this approach is that, rather than thinking locally (from chord to
chord), you are liberated to think more globally (through the key of the
entire phrase). Incidentally, the scale cited above is actually called the
Persian scale, but it just came up as a natural consequence of the
progression.
While chord scale theory is the prevailing pedagogy in jazz, it is not the
most direct path to meaningful improvisation, which would be to address the
essential elements of specific compositions. Moreover, seven-note scales
often present too much meaningless information to the listener, especially
when these scales are derived from chords rather than melodies. They also
tend to be too conjunct. How often, for instance, do you hear a good melody
or line that moves exclusively stepwise? Many artists agree: Joe Henderson,
for example, used to say, I don't want to sound like the index of a book,
meaning that the graduates of college jazz departments sounded to him like
they were demonstrating their knowledge of scales out of a book, rather than
improvising meaningful statements on the specific song. Good lines,
moreover, are usually propelled forward by means of chromatic nonharmonic tones (as with Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Parker, Davis, et al), and
chord scales don't address the blues, which can be played over virtually any
harmony.
1

For a detailed discussion of chord scales and jazz modes, see Understanding Scales and Modes in the
appendix below.

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Honesty is the true path to creating a personal style.

Developing a Style
Jazz books tend to suffer from an overabundance of hyperbole and
misinformation: genius, influential, original, sheets of sound, avoid notes
statements which misdirect, either implicitly or explicitly encouraging
students to be original, for example. Says who, and why should we care?
The primary traditional quality a jazz artist can possess is to have his or her
own personal style. Just be true to your self. Learn every word in the
dictionary without prejudice. For ideological reasons in a misguided quest
for originality, some artists rule out certain musical elements because they
have been done before. Never make such pre-determined judgments with
regard to chords and scalesor any other soundbecause whenever you do,
you lose: It's all vocabulary. Even the vanilla flavor of the Mixolydian
mode is perfect in the right circumstance. Dissonance and color are
dramatically more effective following plainness; it is effective to precede a
rich voicing with a simple triad.
In learning ones craft it is never too soon to begin the process of
developing a personal style. While imitation is a good way to begin,
excessive imitation, at its worst a shortcut to impressing the uninitiated
audience, ultimately causes musicians who overindulge in this practice to be
redundant and irrelevant. Learn the basic skills and become educated as to
the differences among the various masters styles. Conscious
experimentation with musical elements in search of fresh results has always
been essential. One need only look to jazz history for confirmation of this
practice: Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Coltrane and most other great
jazz artists consciously experimented in order to expand their artistic
vocabularies.
Once you are in performance, though, disregard details such as chords
and scales. Concentrate instead on the global climatic flow of the solo and
on the rhythm sectionand especially the audience reaction. Tell your story,
make your point, and get out. Regardless of your audiences demographics,
you still have to come at them with confidence and attitudein all
circumstances. You need also to pull it off in the end with a climax.

20

One achieves music mastery not by talent alone,

but by dint of hard work and dogged determination.

Identifying and Fixing Limitations

The most important factor in reaching music mastery isn't talent, its
consistency and hard work. This is especially true for contemporary jazz
musicians, since rehearsals are at an absolute minimum. People are now
recording and performing a greater variety of styles than before, making it
essential to be solid on fundamentals in order to be able to digest a great deal
of sophisticated information in a hurry. Fixing your limitations relieves
stress and gives you confidence as a player, but you have to put in the time,
since being aware of your limitations and actually taking action to fix them
are two very different things.
Even with the knowledge of how to play something, you still must
consistently sit down and do the kind of slow, painful, repetitive practice
needed for improvement to occur. Go back, slow it down, and reconsider
your options; then persevere until it feels comfortable. Fix weaknesses by
slowly working through a tune to find out what you really want to be
playing, instead of just what your hands are comfortable finding. This kind
of practicing is mentally draining, but it is necessary, direct, and effective.

21

Dont rely on play-alongs.

Band in a Box and Play-Along CDs

While Band in a Box and play-along CDs are valuable tools to help one
get started on the improvisation processto hear the chord changes and the
groove, perhapsdo not over-rely on them. Ultimately, we must wean
ourselves off these tools before the become crutches. The only way to be
truly independent in group interplay is to first be able to play by oneself and
hear the rest. Then go out and play with others or the entire enterprise is
meaningless.
This book supplies no fewer than nine sound files to make the learning of
these skills easier and more fun. However, they primarily serve the function
of allowing you to practice comping rhythms, for example, against the
different rhythms and functions of the bass and drums. These files, too, are
intended only to serve to get you started. Ultimately, you should be able to
play all of this material without them, with merely a metronome. Then you
should improvise on all of it extensively.

22

PRAXIS
Cadences & Blues:
All keys
Inter-Related Basic Roles
Major & Minor Key Solutions
Essential Rhythmic Feels
Sing to Internalize
Learn it Straight, then
Develop a Personal Style of Articulations, Inflections, & Vibratos.
Improvise on Everything You Learn

23

Finale Notepad Sound-File Playback

This book is best learned with the supplied sound files, intended to be
played back in Finale Reader, a free and easy download. These are not PlayAlongs, though, but rather, Practice-Alongs, so please dont expect pseudomusic here.
1. Download Finale Reader (free & easy).
2. Open and save the practice files in Reader.
3. Playback tools are standard.
4. To stop and go back to any place in the document for more replays, press
the stop icon, and then type in the measure numbers.
5. Play the entire book back in Finale Reader, singing it until memorized.
Then gradually learn each exercise with each of the complete playback files,
both vocally and on your instrument. When that is learned, play it from
memory with a metronome alone.
6. Play and Sing each exercise as written (separately and simultaneously).
7. Play and Sing it without looking (by rote).
8. Set the documents playback for specifically what tempo youd like for
each exercise by selecting the tempo menu and typing in your desired tempo
numbers.
9. Play back one exercise type in Reader, while practicing.
10. Slow it down to practice difficult sections.
11.

Insert repeats into the Reader document to work sections out.

12. Improvise on it; experiment with vibratos, articulations, inflections,

rhythmic styles, and tempos.

24

25

CHAPTER 2
The inspiration for performing jazz is in the audience's reaction
and the group interplay. Maintain that image in the practice room.

GUIDE-TONE LINES & CADENCES

Guide tone lines constitute the essence of the harmonic movement in a
chord progressionin the form of a linewithout requiring one to think
chord symbols. Practitioners routinely use guide-tone line technique for
creating both melodic background lines and improvisations which move
through the center of the chord changes. When you ferret out the thirds and
sevenths of the chords in the progression, you will find two lines. Although
they both tend to descend in stepwise fashion or remain on the same pitch
before descending, one usually moves a bit more than the other. These two
lines can also be combined and embellished with diatonic scale notes or
chromatic non-harmonic tones.
One can combine guide tone lines in a variety of ways for more complex
results, but to create a background line, make a simple counter line. While
making it swing, still don't be afraid to leave some notes sustained and on
the beat. For best results, sing while creating. Add rhythm. Paraphrase it, and
it will gradually evolve organically into an improvisation. This
embellishment process can also be practiced systematically by applying
chromatic targeting.
In the exercises below, we focus on specific examples of guide-tone
lines, root progressions, and basic swing comps, based on the two most
common chord cadences. As with everything else in this book, we shall
learn these lines in all keys. Since we need to be able to play everything in
all keys, we often move through the Circle of Fourths, which is the harmonic
foundation upon which tonal music is based. We will be progressing though
the keys in the following succession: C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db/C#, Gb/F#, B, E,
A, D, G. To get you started on your way to getting used to running all new
materials through this process, everything is written out in all twelve keys;
but you should get off the page as soon as possible. With regard to chord
symbols, first memorize them, then visualize (ideate) them, and then forget
them and go for the sound.

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CHAPTER 3

PRACTICING CHORDS FORMULAS

Equivalent to figures of speech, formulas are especially prominent in
bebop, which is often performed at race-track tempos in which formulas
help facilitate rapid release. Improvisation is usually largely comprised of
things the improviser has said before, of what at a given moment in
performance he chooses to say and what is left outout of the thousands of
things that he could have said. The question then becomes which version of
the formula is the paradigm, since when a wind player needs to breathe, for
example, the formula will have to be modified.
In this and many other ways, one formula evolves into manyhowever
related. In spite of our systematic practice of idioms in every key as a basic
praxis, in the heat of performance they find a great many unique ways of
coalescing, the end of one becoming the beginning of another, for instance.
This is especially true of all the traditional rhythms from which all AfricanAmerican music is derived. Create your own licks from the learned formulas
below.

44

Circle of Fifths

45

Harmonic Formulas ~ Some Preliminaries

In playing chords on the guitar, it is important to understand voice
leading, which involves minimizing movement between chords. The upper
part of the chord is grouped together as a single unit with minimal
movement between the chords, while the bass line moves independently,
predominately employing leaps:

ii7 V7 I Cadence
Since the ii7 V7 I cadence is the most ubiquitous harmonic clich in
tonal music, frequently even occurring in several keys in a single passage,
jazz practitioners work this out in its various forms in all keys and rhythmic
feels.
Triads are rarely used in jazz, in favor of the richer 7th, 9th, 11th, and 13th
chords. A seventh chord can be placed in root position, first inversion with
the third in the bass, second inversion with the fifth in the bass, or in third
inversion with the seventh in the bass:

46

Seventh chords in close voicing require long stretches for the left hand,
especially when inverted.

Due to this limitation most guitarists use semi-open, or drop two

voicings. To create a drop two voicing from a 4-way close voicing, drop the
second voice from the lead down an octave:

Inversions of seventh chords become far more user-friendly for the guitar
when using drop two:

So expedient for the guitar is the drop two voicing that we will begin by
focusing on specific examples of both first and second inversion drop two
cadences.

47

Drop Two Major ii7 V7 I

It is not our intention here to supply an anthology of all possible guitar
voicings and comping rhythmsor of all possible cadences.2 Rather, we
shall take the most common, and learn how to use them in specific practical
musical solutions. We shall introduce two inversions of drop two guitar
voicings in both major and minor modes, as well as a few more modern
voicings for the blues, bossa nova and funk. Finally, we include modal
planing of first inversion triads and three-note diatonic quartal voicings.
Most of the time we avoid sounding the chord roots in the lowest guitar
voice, since to do so both interferes with the function of the bassist, but also
tends to ground the chords, having the effect of impeding the forward
motion of the rhythmic groove, especially in swing feel. On the other hand,
in Latin, funk, and other even-eighth-note feels in which melodic ostinato
bass lines are prevalent, octave doubling can sometimes actually enhance the
bassists line.
Altered to ii, V7-9 i7(6/69), the ii7 V7 I cadence works in the same
way in minor keys. It is not uncommon to combine major and minor
cadences, for example, the minor ii, V7 resolving to major I, and major
version of ii7 V7 resolving to the minor key i7.

See Appendix 2 for an extensive list of harmonic clichs, to which you can adapt and apply all of the
same voicings found in this book.

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Rhythmic Accompaniment Styles

Accompaniment creation (comping) is a sophisticated art unto itself, in
which steady metronomic time and idiomatic rhythmic vocabulary are
essential to the jazz guitarist. An accompanist provides harmonic and
rhythmic support for both the melody and the soloists. To create interesting
accompaniments, the guitarist should think of the upper notes in the chords
as a counter melody to the soloists lines. Most important, however, are the
basic jazz rhythmic styles as they are used in comping, which shall be our
focus.
Transcription is the best way to extend your comping vocabulary. Take
your three favorite guitarists and compare how each comps on similar
tunesa bossa, for exampleat the same tempo. Pretend you recorded each
track many years ago and you've forgotten what happened. Take note of
what surprises you, what you wouldn't have done. Figure out why it works.
Learn the entire compat least by just singing or tapping the rhythms out.
Principles you will discover include:
1. Withhold your forces: Don't comp on the head in the same way as you
would the solo sections. Play fewer attacks, and place more of them on the
beat than off. Use the compositional elements in your accompaniment, as
Herbie Hancock does best.
2. While the head is often about creating tension with hits, the
developmental sections (solos) should level off and swing with fewer
interruptions. It should also make you dance. Use rhythmic repetition in your
accompaniments. It has to be felt physically in order to be effective. Since
lines should not become redundant, sounding as filler to keep it all going,
allow them to breathe.
3. Support the soloist in a variety of ways as he builds towards a climax.

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Basic Swing Comp Rhythm

The most basic swing comp in accompanying improvisations is
comprised of short chord punctuations rather than long sustained chords, an
approach that promotes swing by creating a yin and yang between the
accompanists anticipations and the bassists quarter-note walking on every
beat. This arrangement swings without crowding the soloist.
Written

Played

Applied

For variety, place an occasional chord on the beat instead of anticipating

itbut not too often, or the hypnotic swing groove will be lost.3

For pedagogical reasons we do not vary the pattern in these pages: This basic comping skill begins by
learning to control the consistent placement of these anticipations. Moreover, beginners almost always
over-vary this pattern to the point that the effect is ruined, before having learned to control the placement of
these pecks.

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In the pages below we have the basic major and minor cadences for you
to learn in all keys, applied to the rhythm above. In addition, we will learn
paradigm versions of all their related root progressions, as we will do also in
the chapter on blues forms which follows.

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CHAPTER 4

BLUES
The blues has been an essential element of jazz since its inception,
sometime at the beginning of the 19th century. Blues tunes can take many
different forms, the most common of which is the 12-bar blues (found both
in major and minor keys). There are also 16, 24, and 32-bar bluesand
blues ballads as well. Summertime, for example, is a minor 16-bar blues;
Watermelon Man is a major 24-bar blues; Angel Eyes, You Don't Know What
Love Is, and Willow Weep for Me are all minor key 32-bar blues ballads. I've
got Rhythm and Confirmation are 32-bar blues, but with common tonal
bridges.
In the traditional 12-bar blues the lyrics follows an AAB form: a 4-bar
statement (A) that is repeated (A), followed by a different, concluding,
statement (B). The basic progression involves movement from I to IV, back
to I; and then IV, V (or V, IV), back to I. The 24-bar blues is usually an
augmentation of the 12-bar type, with each measure occupying two
measures instead of one. In the case of Watermelon Man, the V7-IV7
progression in measures 9-10 is played three times instead of once. Sevenths
were added as blue notes, rather than for their dominant functions. By using
this basic formula as a template and substituting other chords that function in
similar fashion, or by adding additional secondary cadences, you can easily
find alternatives to this, but a blues progression will still most often at least
suggest the basic I, IV, V form.
Beyond these, there are no empirical rules. Many blues melodies contain
blue notes (b3, b5, b7), such as Summertime (a minor 16-bar blues with b5 in
the melody), but not necessarily. Overall, there is a mood of sadness or
hardshipbut not defeat or self pity; and if the melody doesnt specifically
contain blue notes, it usually nonetheless lends itself to their application in
improvisation. There are often chords in the chord progression that contain
or suggest blue notes, such as the added sevenths to the basic progression
cited above, or the Ab7 appearing in the key of C or C minor, suggesting the
b3 and b5 blue notes (as we will find later in the Equinox-type minor blues.
In the post bop period (1950s), one procedure was to do a 12-bar blues as an
AABA form, using a common blues progression for the A sections, while
inserting a tonal bridge to add relief from the blues in the middle of each
chorus.

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Twelve-Bar Blues
The twelve-bar blues is still perhaps the most common form in jazz
today, and the kinds of things one plays on a blues are the same as what
practitioners do on jazz standards. As stated above, the most basic blues uses
only three European chords, those built on scale degrees I, IV, and V. While
I functions as a tonic chord (T) at rest, IV active subdominant (SD), and
most active is V dominant (D). The chords most commonly take the form of
seventh chords, such as C7, F7, and G7, but the sevenths function as blue
notes, rather than as part of the tritone, the characteristic augmented fourth
(flatted fifth) interval between the seventh and third that defines the D
function.

Below is the most basic traditional 12-bar blues. If you know it well, it is
relatively easy to adapt to other forms.

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Jazz Blues
The jazz blues will most often employ more than the three basic chords,
with substitutions either replacing or enhancing the original blues chords.
These substitutions are usually related to the original chords. Common chord
substitutes are secondary ii7 V7 I cadences, passing diminished chords,
and turnarounds such as I vi ii V, which is a clich cadential device used to
smoothly return to the first chord at the tunes beginning.
When you play a blues in a jam session today, the progression below will
most likely be usedor something close to it. It is this major blues
progression that we assume in this chapter:

In the example above, the C7 in m.1 is the I chord; but rather than
remaining on I in m.2 as we did in the basic blues above, this example
moves to F7, IV. M.3 returns to I, and in m.4 we find a secondary cadence,
ii7/IV7 V/IV7, instead of remaining on I.
The F7 in m.5 is IV7, while F#o7 (#IVo7) in m.6 serves as a passing
chord, connecting F7 to C7/G. On the C7/G in m.7, the 5th of the chord (G)
is in the bass instead of the root. Since the G bass is the 5th of the C7, this
constitutes a second inversion. Another secondary cadence, ii7/II to V7/V7,

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can be found in mm.8-9. Count up the scale from D to find the ii7 V7 I
progression. In mm.11-12 the I vi ii V progression acts as a turnaround to
the I chord.
We will also learn a few variant ways of voicing the chords of these same
cadences. We will not, however, attempt to offer an anthology of voicing
possibilities. Instead we shall focus on essential three and four-note voicings
with no roots on bottom, often substituting 9 for 1, 13 for 5, or 11 for 3. In
actual practice, added tensions and color notes in chord voicings need not be
specified in their notation, since their interpretation is usually left to the
individual players discretion.

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The Minor Jazz Blues

As with the major blues, there are many variants. In this chapter we shall
learn the ubiquitous minor blues form below:

Notice that, like the major blues, the minor blues is still based on I, IV,
and V. As with the essential cadences, both versions retain these basic
chords, only in a different version. As we observed with minor cadences, to
the ii7 is typically added a flatted fifth, while the V7 gains a flatted ninth.
The tonic and subdominant become minor seventh chords (i7 and iv7), and
the ii7-5 often replaces the iv7 chord in measure 5.
We will also learn the now standard minor blues form of John Coltranes
Equinox, which is a basic I, IV, V blues, only in minor. Instead of the typical
minor cadence in measures 9-10, it employs (in C minor) Ab7 to G7, in
which the Ab7 substitutes for Dm7-5.
For the most common major and minor blues, we will also learn specific
riff-style comps, in which the chords are played in swing rhythm with
somewhat varied repetitious four-measure sustained rhythmic phrases.

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CHAPTER 5

BOSSA COMPING
While the even eighth-note feel of the Brazilian samba, from which the
North American Bossa Nova developed, is most often played in cut time (2/4
or 2/2 meter), the bossa nova is in common time (4/4 meter), and is usually
performed at a moderate tempo. We shall now apply to the cadences covered
earlier the two most basic Brazilian comping rhythms of this style, each with
its most common variant in which each two-measure rhythmic pattern is
displaced,.

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CHAPTER 6

LINEAR MELODIC SOLUTIONS

The special challenge of playing meaningful ideas on the guitar is to avoid mindless
scales and patterns. Since it's easy for your fingers to run amuck, singing everything you
practice, both with and without the guitar, will help you focus directly on melodicism.

Melodic Formulas
To complete our process of thoroughly learning the basics of jazz
performance in modern jazz common practice, we shall now learn paradigm
solo improvisational lines on everything covered above: guide-tone lines,
root progressions, and the various cadences and blues.
We begin with the common cadences, and then cover some with colorful
melodic tensions, before learning a few very hip blues lines that go with the
blues styles we learned earlier. Since the final blues line is entirely based on
the most common (minor) blues scale, it will work on both the major or
minor blues tunes.
After learning these lines as written, improvise on them. Use them as a
basis for vocabulary, while re-forming them into your own style, beginning
by merely leaving certain of the notes out or by slightly altering their
rhythms. You have to invite new vocabulary into your existing story. To
help in facilitating this, return to the playback and play one role against the
play-back of another. Also, learn them in different rhythmic styles, and
experiment with inflections.

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Swing
Swing rhythm is the traditional regional rhythmic style of continental
United States. Swing rhythm is written in 4/4 meter but is played using a
12/8 or triplet subdivided feel. The slower the tempo, the more marked this
subdivision is felt.
A prerequisite to creating swing feel is that every attack be placed
precisely within this 12/8 continuum. We can see below how a chromatic
targeting group is normally notated vis--vis how it should be interpreted.
Written

Interpreted

To practice playing swing feel, begin by running choruses in which you

improvise swing eighth-note lines with a metronome. Imagine a 12/8
continuum. Start by accenting the first eighth-note of each triplet
subdivision, and then shift your accents off of the beat to the third eighthnote in each triplet subdivision; then practice mixing accents. While this will
take time and practice to perfect, it is nonetheless only a starting point
towards achieving a good sense of swing feel, since there are many variants
and styles.
Each rhythmic style, moreover, has its own definitive generic rhythms,
basic rhythmic patterns for each of the most common jazz rhythmic styles
what we have been learning.

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Start with dead center time and go from there.

Practicing Time Placement

Time-placement is learned by listening to (and playing with) master jazz
artists, and they don't always play dead-center metronomic time. Instead,
they often focus on locking into the drummer's ride cymbal, for example.
Individual artists rhythmic stylistic approaches vary greatly. Some Harlem
black bands horn players consistently play even eighth-note feel over a
swing rhythm section style. On the other hand, Joe Henderson and Kenny
Durham would often use a swing feel over an even eighth-note rhythm
section feel. All other variant approaches in between are done as welloften
within a given phrase by a single player. There are also a variety of styles in
which you lay back a bit, or play slightly on top (ahead) of the time.
However, in your practicing, start with dead center time and go from there.
If you can do this consistently, you can then more easily learn to increase
your placement control by placing lines ahead or behind the time at will.
Placement consistency can be improved systematically in the woodshed
in a relatively short time with a little metronome treatment in swing
subdivision. Jazz rhythm shares a salient characteristic with African rhythm:
duple against or within triple meters. There are always several such dualities
co-existing in any master jazz performance. In improvising lines, we place
notes dependent upon which of these dualities we wish to be in at a given
moment, which can change on a dime.
Feel 4/4 straight-ahead swing time on beats two and fourunless it's real
fast, and then think in a normal half-time (on beats one and three). Notice
that the very count-off by the band-leader involves finger-snapping on beats
two and four. This is because in swing feel the strong beats are reversed
from the normal Western 4/4 meter in which beats one and three are the
strong beats. It only takes a little getting used to once you have this
understanding. This turned-around effect is not present, however, in most
other rhythmic styles, such as samba and funk, which tend to maintain the
usual hierarchy of metric stress. If you must tap your foot, do it inside your
shoe so it can't be seen or heard.

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Articulations & Inflections

Inflections and articulations are the most overlooked aspects of jazz education.

Jazz Inflections, Articulations, Gestures, and Vibratos

Jazz articulations, inflections, and vibratos are, in addition to African
rhythm, the salient characteristics which distinguish it from the rest of
Western art music. They are best learned through an ongoing process of
transcription. They then must be internalized to the point where they are
incorporated into the very fabric of your personal style. There are as many
ways of using any of them as there are individuals to play them. These
characteristic effects can be combined at will. Below is a short list:
Bend
Scoop
Fall-Off: lip, half-valve, chromatic evaporating
Rip
Portamento/Glissando
Tremolo, Shake, Trill
Doodle Tongue
Growl
Flutter Tongue
Grace Note
Vibrato(s)

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The Blues Scale

The Blues Scale is based on the Pentatonic Scale, which contains five of
the Blues Scales six notes.

The blues effect is created through the superimposition of blue notes

(minor third, flatted fifth, and minor seventh) over a diatonic (containing
only notes in a given key) major or minor key. There are many types of
blues scale frequently in use, both major and minor. Perhaps the most
ubiquitous is the Minor Blues Scale, comprised of pitch classes 1, b3, 4, b5,
5, and b7: C, Eb, F, Gb, G, and Bb. You could think of this pitch collection
as a C minor pentatonic scale with the b5 (Gb) added:
Minor Blues Scale

Blue notes can be played over virtually any harmony. Try, for example,
sounding the Cm Blues Scale over every C chord (C, Cm, Cm, C7, C #5,
and so on, one at a time).
We have a 12-bar blues based on this scale for you to learn below. It will
work over both the major and minor blues progressions in this book.

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CHAPTER 7

DIATONIC MODAL PLANING

Planing is a technique in which a vertical structure is moved up or down
in step-wise fashion. Extremely useful in moments of harmonic stasis
(absence of movement, such as vamps and modal playing) is Diatonic
Planing, in which we plane in similar motion while retaining the notes of a
given diatonic scale or mode.
In long modal vamps or vamps involving sustained dominant or minor
chords, one can create the sense of movement through planing even when
the chords do not progress. Two of the most useful forms of diatonic planing
in jazz involve either first inversion triads or three-note voicings in fourths.
Here below we introduce all of the modes in this manner, before
transposing the Dorian mode version of diatonic planing in all keys. To
supply transpositions for all seven modes, however, would fill too much
spaceand it is the perfect assignment for you to begin to transpose
something in all keys on your own.

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CHAPTER 8

ADVICE
Ear Training and Transcription
Listening is the essential skill of the musicianr.

Pay Attention
Make yourself aware of the sounds around you by transcribing TV
commercials, traffic jams, bird calls, and the cricket symphony in your back
yard. Transcribe them in your head with solfeggio, which in a single syllable
identifies the hierarchical relationship of each and every note in relation to
the tonic (do) of a key, or the priority note of a mode.
It is also the jazz practitioner's task to internalize the essential chordal
vocabulary of the language, seen below. Sing all adjacent and non-adjacent
intervals of each until no calculation is needed (by non-adjacent intervals, I
mean those that are not immediate neighbors). For a major triad, for
example, besides 1, 3, and 5, sing 1, 5; 3, 7; or 1, 7, etc. Improvise at length
on each chord all over the range of your instrument. Sing the same. Do this
in all keys, since they sound and feel different in different registers. When
you move into a new house, you must plan how to get home. After you've
gone home from every direction, you just go home without a thought, and
you can recognize it immediately.

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4 Triads
Major (capital letter), e. g., C
Minor (m)
Augmented (+)
Diminished (o)
12 Basic 7th chords

-5
m7
m

7
7sus4
7-5
+7
+
o7
o
These chords are the basic harmonic vocabulary of jazz. Linear Jazz
Improvisation Books II and III will help you internalize them by applying
ten different chromatic targeting patterns to each one.

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Internalizing Intervals
Solfeggio is the best tool for internalizing intervals. The beauty of
solfeggio is in its naming of the relationship of each and every note within
the keyin a single syllable. For example, Te says minor seventh of the key.
There are many different approaches to learning intervals, however, and
most are worthwhile. One approach to reckoning two intervals is to sing up
the major scale. For example, to hear the interval of C up to F, sing the four
letter names up the major scale: C, D, E, and F to reach a perfect fourth, and
then just sing the interval. If you have difficulty identifying augmented and
diminished intervals, compare them to the perfect, major, or minor
counterparts of the pitch class. Compare, for example, an augmented fourth
to a perfect fourth or perfect fifth by repeatedly alternately singing and
playing each interval. To reckon the seventh of a seventh chord in relation to
its root, begin by dropping the seventh an octave and getting a grasp of it as
a second, and then transpose the seventh up an octave. Sing both versions
repeatedly and compare them until they are familiar.
Another method is to concentrate on the sound quality of the interval, the
way it rings and resonatesits timbre. Yet another way is to identify
intervals by using famous tunes you know. Maria, for example, is good for
remembering the augmented fourth interval, since its melody begins with
that interval. Practice singing at the keyboard or with the guitar, and carry a
pitch pipe with you. Play the intervals up and down throughout the entire
range of your instrument. Sing it and it will gradually become internalized.
Do this with every interval. After a while you won't have to calculate at all.
Apply this process to each of the four triad and twelve seventh-chord types;
repeatedly sing each chordal arpeggio. Memorize how each sounds in every
key. Learn the harmonic clichs in the same manner. Sing solos with it: Start
with small phrases, whatever you can handle, and go from there.

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I will never be able to sing.

Get Over It
Singing will act directly as an adjunct in the service of your instrument,
as should also the keyboard. Many believe they are incapable of singing,
because they haven't yet done it, or they had a bad choral experience in
schooland it does take time to develop these skills. We all, however, must
use our voices for tonal memory, learning vocabulary, and ultimately for
communicating musical ideas to other musicians.
Sight Singing
1. Practice sight-singing intervals and melodic passages from the Melodia
Sight Singing book (with solfeggio syllables): Melodia Sight Singing is
specifically designed for the development of sight-reading skills (don't allow
yourself to stop, no matter what).
2. Practice rhythm sight-reading through Louie Bellson's rhythm book.
3. Practice sight reading standard tunes with solfeggio syllables: melody,
guide tone lines, and root progression.
4. Put together a group of friends to do these activities.

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Transcribe to learn the language of jazz.

Transcription
If you copy one artist too much you could become a clone, but most of us
learn a great deal from this process by drawing from a variety of players. To
get started, memorize Miles Daviss solos on So What and Someday My
Prince Will Come, and Kenny Durham's solos on Recorda-Me and Blue
Bossaimprovisations which are melodic and do not contain too many fast
passages. Learn also to sing their inflections, articulations, and vibratos.
You could write them out, but that is more difficult and less to the point
with regard to learning vocabulary, since the latter focuses on developing
notational skills as well. Many ideas that you transcribe would never occur
to you otherwise. Each phrase learned in this manner can be paraphrased and
recomposed and combined in ways that bear your own sonic fingerprint.
Listen to jazz recordings with particular attention to what rhythms are used.
In this way you will learn the rhythmic language and also the particular
rhythms found in the tunes you're working on. Study also recordings of
traditional African music, as well as its Brazilian and Cuban relatives.

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Its often easier for the musically illiterate to learn by rote

than it is for the educated.

Internalizing Tunes
Learning tunes is accomplished by degree. The more you run choruses,
the more ideas present themselvesand your sonic fingerprint organically
evolves, forming itself into the composition. The more you work on a tune in
this fashion, and the more you perform it, the more it will grow. The
composition will begin to speak to you. But some songs, such as Lush Life,
take even a master a lifetime to internalize, so don't expect to gain intimacy
upon one listening or practice session. Here's how to internalize a tune:
1. Reduce the melody down to whole or half notes (depending on the
melodic rhythm of the particular tune) by placing every note on the beat and
removing all repeated notes, pickups, and non-harmonic tones. You are left
with the song's essentials.
2. Play the reduced melody on the piano.
3. Sing the entire song repeatedly.
4. Sing the first four measures repeatedly until it sinks in.
5. Sing the second four measures repeatedly until it sinks in.
6. Put the two phrases together.
7. Go through the entire tune in this manner: simply, so that it will stick in
your memory.

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Do all of the above with a metronome. Since you want to program your
subconscious mind to remember the exact melodic rhythm for further
development, take care never to add or drop a beat. There are usually only
two primary ideas in a given song. It helps to study recorded performances
of the tune. After you finish with this preliminary process, you can then
concentrate on developing your own personal phrasing style and
improvisations on the piece without fear of forgetting its essentials or getting
lost.
Use the same process to internalize the chords. Guitarists and pianists in
particular must remember the chords in some fashion, since they will need to
accompany as well as solo. Develop the ability to remember both the melody
and the chords, but first learn the melody, then the chords, and then put them
together in the manner cited above. As you get more practice at it, the
process will become easier, and you will eventually be able to do both at
once.
Transcribe and analyze many songs of different types. The more different
tunes you examine, the easier it will be for you to recognize their various
types. Gradually you will be able to adapt to new tunes rapidly, whether
reading or hearing. Once you are capable of recognizing the various song
styles, you will only need to remember those things that are different from
its type. Try to get past the intellectual and analytical. After the tune is
learned, forget all calculations and work by ear. Eventually, youll be able to
skip the intellectual process altogether.
The talented and illiterate often develop the essential memory skills much
faster than the literate, since the former have gotten into a habit of relying on
their ears out of necessity. Intellectual skills, although helpful in many ways,
are not essential to an extemporaneous art form such as jazz. Many masters
have been musically illiterate. Moreover, no matter how intellectual and
literate one becomes, one still needs to ultimately lose such thinking in order
to tap into the most direct and spontaneous forms of improvisation.
Therefore, internalize progressions by singing them in the form of arpeggios
through the entire form, and sing the guide tone lines and root progressions.
First you need to be able to sing arpeggios of each and every chord
separately: the four triad types, the twelve seventh chords, and the various

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ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords. The more you develop and rely upon
your tonal memory, the less you will need to intellectualize and analyze:
You just know.
This process begins with the blues and standard tunes, which are still the
types of tunes most often used in jazz. Tunes containing late nineteenthcentury extended harmony and twentieth-century non-functional chord
successions are more advanced and therefore more difficult at first to learn,
yet they too can be memorized in this same manner. It just takes dogged
determination, hard work, and time to develop. In transcribing chord
changes, transcribe the lead line first, then the bass, and then ascertain the
chord quality (sing the thirds and sevenths). After enough such
transcriptions, you will get to where you hear entire progressions as clichs.

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Look the music overthen put it away.

Internalizing Chords
Solfegge the reduced melody, guide tone lines, and root progression of
standard tunes. Memorize everything, unless time restrictions make it
impossible. Minimize the symbols and reading as a step towards
internalizing a song. Know all the basic song types. Be able to recognize and
sing chord phrases (harmonic clichs such as I, vi, ii, Vsee Chord
Appendix 2 below). When sight-reading, first look over a lead sheet, and
then put it away.
In developing your musical memory, begin by playing a single recorded
phrase back, and then stop and remember it; and then sing it back or write it
out. If a slow-down tool helps at first, use it; but ultimately you need to be
able to hear it all as you would transcribe a sentence in English. Get yourself
to the level at which you need to rely on nothing but your ears, memory, and
a pencil. Internalization follows an organic and gradual transformation from
reading, to visualizing (ideating), to minimalization (visualizing only a few
landmarks), to the point where once the tune begins you calculate nothing of
that sort.
It's easier to transcribe chord changes when you first know the basic
formulas. Start with the lead voice, then the bass, then the second from the
top on down. You should be able to deduct some of it after you recognize its
inner patterns. Try also writing down a tune you already can sing.

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Ten-Tune Starter Repertoire

The list below is an arbitrary suggested beginning repertoire. It includes
the basic song-form and rhythmic types, and is comprised of tunes which
everyone knows. It would also make a good performance set. Add tunes that
you are particularly into. To be practical, these tunes should be those that
most practitioners know, and they shouldn't be too difficultand they
should be good tunes. Feel free to substitute similar tunes in the various
categories.
1. Swing Standard: There Will Never Be Another You.
2. Bossa: Blue Bossa
3. Waltz: All Blues
4. Ballad: In a Sentimental Mood
5. Blues: Blue Monk
6. Changing Feels: Green Dolphin Street
7. Funky Blues: Watermelon Man
8. Classic: Summertime
9. Bop Blues: Au Privave
10. Swing Minor Standard: Autumn Leaves

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Music is meaningless without others.

Starting Jam Sessions

Musical activity must not be confined to ones solitude. Jazz must be
played with and especially for others. It's not that the scene is worse than it
used to be with regard to jamming, it's just that it's different: Outside of
schools, jam sessions have largely moved from public to private. You just
have to get started at creating your own.
1. Go to the local clubs on open mike night. Meet the players, and then find
out who seems to be like-minded and might want to jam. Setting this up in
advance to meet once a week is best, since it sends the message that the
activity will continue regardless of any individuals absence. It also
minimizes the necessity for phone calls, which are convenient opportunities
for participants to cancel under pressure from family. Most important,
though, is that with a regular schedule it becomes part of the participants
schedules.
2. Try posting an ad in the local papers' classifieds, something like:
Beginning (intermediate?) jazz (fill in the instrument) looking to jam with
others. Do this and it will change your musical life. With determination, it
succeeds even in the most remote geographical areas.
3. Invite everyone who can playespecially those better than you. Find out
who is reliable and cool. Invite them back. Schedule it for every week at the
same time and place regardless of who comes. Make music, learn, and have
fun. The word will get out that there is playing going on.

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Ideological Preconceptions
Ideology is the kiss of death to the artist, along with preconceived notion
and over-stylization. Some jazz artists limit their music for various
ideological reasons, such as the black artist clinging excessively to quartal
voicings and avoiding the rest of the harmonic vocabulary presumably
because it's white, or the white artist avoiding clich jazz rhythms and blue
notes because that's black and he wants to be original.
With regard to over-stylization, as much as you strive for fresh
vocabulary, its still essential that you understand why, what, and to whom
you are communicating. If you wish to be understood, you must be grounded
in a language. Many scholars unrealistically believe that the best audience is
one comprised of musicians following the score, but the real game is in how
honestly and effectively the artist balances the fresh with the
understandable and then puts it across. Its your responsibility to tell your
story in a concise and clear manner, and to lead the listener from one point
to the next, culminating in a clear and decisive climax.
Since there is no urtext (definitive blueprint) in jazz comparable to a
Beethoven score, one must have a clear understanding of intention and
contentand then be able to communicate it effectively in the moment. Jazz
is about gaining your own voice within the language and tradition, while
continuing to assimilate the harmonic advancements of the twentieth and
twenty-first centuries. Tell your own story honestly. Prepare to deliver it
effectively in your own personal voice.

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Find another dimension in which to create background interest.

Guitar and Piano Comping Together

When playing in a group that includes both guitar and piano, some basic
accommodations are needed. Since jazz pianists usually take over the
comping role, leaving the guitarist to find another dimension in which to
create background interest, guitarists should bear the following suggestions
in mind:
1. Work out ahead of time which of you will comp for which soloists. One
can comp while the other rests.
2. Let the pianist comp while the guitarist plays guide tone lines. The
guitarist can, in this way, supply the essential harmonic movement in a
melodic and rhythmic fashion, while the pianist does the bulk of the
chording.
3. Play bits of the reduced melody (reduced to whole or half notes placed on
the beat).
4. Play a soft, repetitive rhythm guitar part behind the pianist.
5. Have the guitarist supply effects that do not interfere with the piano
comprhythmic, motivic, and electronic.
6. Listen to experienced musicians such as Jim Hall, John Abercrombie,
Mick Goodrick, John Scofield, and Kirt Rosenwinkel.
Accompanists should avoid chasing the soloist down, repeating every
phrase or constantly employing big chords containing with prime dissonance
without variety, especially with constant motor rhythms, such as running
eighth-note chords which become merely a pulse that saturates the sonic
spectrum without supplying specific rhythmic support or interplay.

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Reading Lead Sheets

Reading lead sheets involves moreand differentstrategies than those
needed for merely reading lines. It involves recognition through rapid
analysis and a quick understanding of the compositions construction, its
song type, and its harmonic clichs. Ultimately, when reading a lead sheet
for the first time, you will think, that's like such and such, except for this
four-measure extension or that chord substitution. Therefore, reading lead
sheets requires song analysis skills.
Basic Process of Song Analysis
1. Determine the primary and secondary keys.
2. Determine the recurring form of the tuneits phrase and key
progression.
3. Analyze the syntax of every chord in the progression (or succession).
4. Analyze the syntax to each and every melody note with regard to the key
it's in, as well as the chord over which it resides.
5. Do this to many different types of tunes by a variety of different
composers. Start with your own repertoire, then the various blues forms,
and then all the standard song types.
In practicing, it is better to think globally (in the overall phrase and key)
than locally (chord to chord, or chord-scale to chord-scale); the results will
be more musical and logical. Once you have internalized a tune, begin
running choruses while keeping the themes in mind. Learn to recognize the
licks that you continually attempt to play, and when they are rough, stop and
work them out; then continue the process, putting them back into context. As
you internalize a tune, you will not have to think about any of these things in
performance.

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CONCLUSION

Congratulations! You have just completed a rather hefty course in jazz

guitar, which covered basic cadences, blues scales and licks, the 12-bar
blues progressions of various types, accompaniment rhythms, and some
basic strategic thinking.
You are now ready for Linear Jazz Improvisation, Book I, where we
explore melody reduction and rhythmic development in depth, based on the
salient elements of specific compositions.

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235

APPENDIX 1
HARMONY
Secondary Key Areas (Cadences)
Early in the tonal period, it became obvious that the seven diatonic
chords were predictable, and that secondary key areas (cadences borrowed
from keys other than the primary key) were needed for variety, movement,
and interest. By employing a dominant of a diatonic chord, you increase the
need for resolution and further propel the progression forward towards the
primary cadence. Since secondary cadences do not last long enough (usually
fewer than four measures) to establish true modulations, they merely suggest
temporary chromatic key relationships that enhance the primary key; but the
tritones (augmented fourth intervals) of the secondary dominants
dramatically increase the need for resolution into momentary secondary
keys. This form of harmonic enhancement is commonly applied to any chord
in a progression.
Chord Progression & Chord Succession
Chord progression, the cornerstone of tonal music, is movement
essentially through the cycle of fourths, culminating in a cadence (SD, D, T).
A chord succession, a late nineteenth-early twentieth-century development,
avoids tonal functionality. It is a series of chords that merely supplies
melodic movement and color.
Modal Interchange
From the earliest days of tonal music, composers have observed a close
relationship between the relative major and minor modes in key
interchanges within a given progression or overall composition, since they
share the same key signature. There is a similar close relationship between
the parallel major and minor modes, since they share the same tonic (but
with different key signatures). These are used as color additions to the
composers palette. By extension, any of the diatonic major and minor mode
chords in a given key can be interchanged, and are often found juxtaposed in
successive passages.

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Harmony evolved as a result of coinciding lines.

Chord Substitution
Chord substitution involves the replacing of one chord with another. The
simplest form of this would be to replace a diatonic chord (having only notes
within the key) with another of the same or similar function. For example, in
the key of C you could use any of the following tonic chords (at rest)
relatively interchangeably:
Tonic: I; iii7, vi7
Subdominant: ii7, IV, bVII7
Dominant: V7 and vii7
The next most common type is the Tritone Substitute Dominant (SubV7),
a dominant chord whose root is an augmented fourth away from V7,
resolves down a minor second instead of up a perfect fourth. The (bII7-5) is
used interchangeably with V7. As with secondary dominants, there are also
secondary substitute dominants. The reason these two chords are similar is
that they share the same tritone, the characteristic interval which defines the
dominant function, since the tritone wants to resolve to tonic.
For example, in the key of C the F leans towards E, while B, the leading
tone, leads to the tonic, C. These notes retain the same tendencies regardless
if they appear in G7 or Db7. Both G7-5 and Db7-5 share the same four
notes: They differ in that D moves up a perfect fourth (or down a perfect
fifth) to the root of the tonic chord, while SubV7 descends chromatically.
While the ubiquitous ii7 V I cadence offers the strongest possible root
progression (through the cycle of fourths), ii7 bII7 I is the second strongest
root progression, descending in minor seconds.

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APPENDIX 2

HARMONIC CLICHES
Chords gradually evolved by being constructed up in thirds. Western
tonal music is based on progressions that travel through the circle of fourths,
culminating in a cadence based upon a subdominant (active) chord to a
dominant chord (most active), and resolving to a tonic chord (at rest).
Subdominant is characterized by scale two and four, dominant by the tritone
(augmented fourth) interval between the leading tone and the fourth scale
degree, and tonic by scale degrees one and three. Dominant is called such
because it has the strongest need to resolve. The V7 is the dominant chord in
all major and minor tonal progressions. The SubV7 (bII77) chord, however,
shares the same tritone. In addition, just as there are secondary Ds, there are
also secondary SubV7s.
ii7 (ii), V7, I (m7, m6, m69, m)
ii7 (ii), Sub V7 (bII7), I(m7, m6, m69, m)
bvi7, bII7, I (m7, m6, m69, m)
bvi7, V7, I (m7, m6, m69, m)
Any component of a major or minor cadence can be employed in any
combination, for example, ii7 V7 i7 and ii V7-9 I. On the SubV7 chords,
b5 (#11) is an option. Learn these in all keys:
Note: For convenience of reading, all examples are in C. All major or minor
chords can take the form of a triad, 6, 69, 7, or .

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Clich Cadences
ii7 V7 I
Dm7 G7 C
ii V7-9 i
D G7-9 Cm
ii7 V7 i
Dm7 G7 Cm
ii V7-9 I
D G7-9 C
ii7 bII7 (subV7) I
Dm7 Db7 C
ii7 bII7 i
Dm7 Db7 Cm
ii bII7 I
D Db7 C
ii bII7 i
D Db7 Cm
bvi7 bII7 I
Abm7 Db7 C
bvi7 bII7 i
Abm7 Db7 Cm
bvi bII7 I
Ab Db7 C
bvi bII7 i
Ab Db7 Cm

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bvi7 V7 I
Abm7 G7 C
bvi7 V7 i
Abm7 G7 Cm
bvi V7 I
Ab G7 C
bvi V7 i
Ab G7 Cm
IV V I
FGC
IV V i
F G Cm
iv V i
Fm, G, Cm
iv V I
Fm G C
ii7/iii7 V7/iii7 I
F#m7 B7 C
ii7/iii7 V7/iii7 i
F#m7 B7 Cm
ii7/iii7 V7/iii7 I
F# B7 C
ii/iii7 V7/iii7 i
F# B7 Cm

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Clich Progressions
I vi7 ii7 V7 I IV
C Am7 Dm7 G7 F
I VI7 (V7/ii7) II7 (V7/V7) V7 I IV
C A7 D7 G7 C F
I #i7 ii7 V7
C C#o7 Dm7 G7
I biii7 ii7 V7
C Ebo7 Dm7 G7
iv iv7 ii V7-9
Fm Fm/Eb D G7b9
IV iv7 iii7 biiio7 ii7 V7 I
F Fm7 Em7 Ebo7 Dm7 G7 C
I bIII bVI bII7
C Eb Ab Db
I IV bVII7 II7 I VI ii7 V7
C F Bb7 E7 A7 Dm7 G7
bv iv7 iii7 biiio7 ii7 V7 I
Gb Fm7 Em7 Ebo7 Dm7 G7
i bII7
Cm Db7
I bII7
C Db7
I #io7 ii7 #iio7 I/3, III7 IV #ivo7
C C#o7 D-7 D#o7 C/E E7 F F#o7

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I ii/iii7 V7/iii ii/ii7 V7/ii ii V7 I

C F# B7 E A7 D G7 C
I ii/iii7 V7/iii7 ii7/bIII V7/bIII ii7/ii7 V7/ii7 ii7/bII V7/bII ii7, V7 I
C F# B7 Fm7 Bb7 Em7 A7 Ebm7 Ab7 Dm7 G7 C
Cycle 5:
C7 F7 Bb7 Eb7, etc
Dm7 G7 C; Gm7 C7 F; Cm7 F7 Bb, etc.
Down in Major seconds:
Dm7 G7 C; Cm7 F7 Bb; Bbm7 Eb7 Ab, etc.
D G7-9 Cm; C F7-9 Bbm; Bb Eb7-9 Abm; etc.
Down in SubV7s (1/2 steps):
C7 B7 Bb7 A7, etc.

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Line Clich
Line clich, a harmonic commonplace, is used to achieving melodic
movement over harmonic stasis, as with In a Sentimental Mood, which has
various versions of Dm: (Dm) Dm, Dm, Dm7, and Dm6. Contrapuntal
Elaboration of Static Harmony (CESH) is the pedantic term for this.
Some Line Clichs:
i, I, i7, i6, bVI
Cm, Cm, Cm7, Cm6, Ab
i, bVI/3rd, i6, bVI/3rd
Cm, Ab/C, Cm6, Ab/C
In the Bass Voice:
(VI7 over b2 bass) V7/II7, (II7 over 1 bass) V7/V7, (V7 over leading-tone
bass)
V7, (I7/b7 bass) V7/IV, etc.
A7/C#, D7/C, G7/B, C7/Bb, etc.

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APPENDIX 3

MILES & MODES

To learn what Miles Davis thought of his music from his so-called modal
period (circa 1958-63), the best source is his own account in Miles: The
Autobiography, in which he states that he was prompted toward improvising
on fewer chords by Gil Evans' arrangements of George Gershwins Porgy
and Bess, for which Evans in places wrote Davis only a single pentatonic
scale on which to improvise. He also writes that George Russell
recommended pianist Bill Evans (no relation to Gil) to Davis in 1958 for
Daviss small group LP, Kind of Blue, on the strength of Evans' knowledge
of the music of French Impressionist composers Claude Debussy and
Maurice Ravel. Davis subsequently became infatuated with Ravels
Concerto for the Left Hand, and spent roughly the next thirteen years
incorporating his musical devices from that particular piece into a distinctive
Davis style of what some historians (Winthrop Sargeant, for example) aptly
termed Impressionist Jazz, in which Davis used unresolved melodic
tensions, quartal harmony, non-functional chord successions, extended pedal
points, bi-tonality, and other salient characteristics of early twentieth-century
Western art music.
Jazz is not modal, howeverincluding Daviss music of the period in
question. Jazz scholar Barry Kernfeld calls this music Daviss Vamp Style,
explaining that it doesnt fulfill the musical characteristics which scholars
attribute to modal music. In brief, modality is a medieval style based on
melodynot chords, unlike Mozart's music, whose melodies are guided
byand even usually outlinechord progressions which move forward
through the circle of fifths towards tonal cadences. True modal music is a
melodic, rather than a harmonic, concept. Even when harmony is introduced
to modality, it does not guide its behavior; and the mere absence of chord
progressionsor the presence of pedal pointsdoes not constitute modality.
Since Daviss music was beautiful by any standard, his misunderstanding of
the term modal is irrelevant, but his belief that his music was modal does not
make it so.
This misunderstanding of modality has had a profound effect on jazz
improvisation pedagogy. The prevailing approach in modern times is to

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arbitrarily assign modes (chord scales) to each chord in a tonal progression

that was designed to accompany a tonal melody. The problem with this
procedure is that it fails to address the primary stuff of the tonal
composition: melody, guide tone line, and root progression. Moreover, to
assign three different Greek mode names to a tonal ii7 V7 I (D Dorian, G
Mixolydian, and C Ionian) cadence, for example, is tedious and misleading,
since it is in the key of C major; if you combine the three modes, you come
up with the obvious: a C major scale. In the latter context, it is also less
restricting to think globally through the key, rather than locally from chord
to chord.
To summarize: From 1958 on, Davis was searching for a way to play
more motivically and to be less constricted to running chord changes while
improvising. In the process, he became captivated by Ravel's various
devices. While he thought that this constituted modality, he was in reality
incorporating early twentieth-century Impressionist devices into jazz.

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PRACTICING MODES
Dont overuse scales:
You can only take them so far before it becomes absurd.

Major and Minor Modes

As tonal music evolved, it needed more devices in order to supply
elements of surprise and color. From its origins in tonal music, there has
been a two-fold relationship between the major and minor modes: relative
and parallel. They are often used interchangeably, such as in Wave, Alone
Together, Lament, and many other tunes. The frequent mixture of major and
minor modes within cadences reflects that.
The traditional origin of chords in minor is from the harmonic minor
scale, hence the name. The ii and V7-9 are diatonic to the harmonic minor
mode. This can progress to any version of a tonic chord: Cm, Cm7, Cm6,
Cm69, Cm (the traditional version is melodic minor for tonic minor). The
version of the tonic that is employed usually depends on its context. The i6
(tonic minor chord with an added major sixth) usually comes at the end of an
eight-measure phrase in Duke's music, for example. Today, however,
everything and anything goes. For surprise, expectations are often thwarted:
ii7 V7 i7 or ii7 V7-9 I, for example. SubV7s are treated in similar
manner.
The easiest way to think scales is as follows: harmonic minor for the first
two chords, Dorian (for i7), melodic minor (for m), and the pentachord
itself for m69 (Cm69 = C, D, Eb, G, A). There are, however, many other
solutions, and a great many other alterations can also be employed mostly
for their color qualities. It should be kept in mind, however, that the more
pitch classes one includes in the harmony, the more restricted the soloist
becomes. In addition, approach those alt fake book symbols with skepticism,
since they are often there unnecessarily.
Practice scales through all keys, the entire range of the instrument, with a
metronome. After learning scales, improvise on them one at a time until they

246

are internalized. Below is a short list of the most common scales. Regardless
of the mode, or the number of notes in that scale, they should all be practiced
in all inversions (modes).
Blues (6 notes; 6 modes; 12 keys)
Major (7 notes; 7 modes; 12 keys)
Harmonic Minor (7 notes; 7 modes; 12 keys)
Melodic Minor (7 notes; 7 modes; 12 keys)
Anhemitonic Pentatonic (5 notes; 5 modes; 12 keys)
Diminished (Octatonic) (8 notes; 2 modes; 3 transpositions)
Whole-Tone (6 notes; 0 modes; 2 transpositions)
Six-Note Symmetric (C, D#, E, G, G#, B: 6 notes; 2 modes; 4
transpositions)
If we use the C scale as our example, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C would be
Ionian, D to D (D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D) would be D Dorian; E-E, E
Phrygian; F-F, F Lydian; G-G, G Mixolydian; A-A, A Aeolian, B-B, B
Locrian (B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B). Dorian mode is spelled starting from the
second degree of a major (M) scale. D Dorian would be a C scale, only
beginning and ending on D (D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D). C Dorian would be
spelled like a Bb scale beginning on C: C, D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb, C (still one
octave). These, of course, can be spelled and played in more than one
octave. Work this out in all twelve keys.
There is always a hierarchy of notes in both tonal and modal music,
centered on do. To establish one of these pitch collections as a mode, as the
priority note (for example, D in D Dorian), you need to establish its
ascendancy by: (1) quantitative emphasis, playing it more often than the
other pitch classes (notes), and/or (2) by qualitative emphasis, putting it in
prominent places (phrase beginnings and endings). It helps to be able to
identify the priority note in a mode, and to be familiar with the characteristic
harmonic signature (color note) present in each mode:

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Ionianscale 4
Dorianscale 6
Phrygian scale b2
Lydian scale +4th
Mixolydian scale b7
Aeolian scale b6
Locrian scale b2 and b5
As a practical matter, fingerings for any or all of the modes based on the
C scale, for example, will be the same, regardless of which mode it is, since
they are all inversions of the same seven-note gamut. In practicing these
scales, keep track of all the keys and inversions you do, to ensure you cover
it all. Try to get all to a similar level at first, and then return repeatedly to all
of it again at later times at increasingly faster tempos. You could stay on
each key for longer periods of time, or you could try to get through a given
scale in all keys (or transpositions) in a given day. Both ways are beneficial,
yet have somewhat different results. Therefore, do them both ways. After
learning each mode, add non-harmonic tones to each, starting with leading
tones; then improvise frequently, both vocally and instrumentally, on each
modeespecially to get used to hearing one note at a time as the priority
note.
Modes of Major
I C ~ Ionian
ii7 Dm7 ~ Dorian
iii7 Em7 ~ Phrygian
IV F ~ Lydian
V7 G7 ~ Mixolydian
vi7 Am7 ~ Aeolian
vii B ~ Locrian

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Modes of Melodic Minor

Im Cm ~ Real Melodic Minor
ii7 Dm7(-9) ~ Dorian-9
bIII Eb+ ~ Lydian Augmented
IV7+11 F7+11 ~ Lydian b7 (Overtone Scale, Lydian Dominant)
V7-13 G7-13 ~ Mixolydian b6
vi9 A9 ~ Aeolian b5
VII+7-9, +9, -5, +5, B+7 ~ Altered Dominant (Superlocrian)
Modes of the Harmonic Minor
Im Cm ~ Harmonic Minor
ii D(-9)
bIII+ Eb+
iv (iv7) F (Fm7)
V7-9-13 G7-9-13 (most common)
bVI-5 Ab(+9)
VII7-5, -9, +9, -5, +5
All of the modes of the major and melodic minor are frequently used. The
harmonic minor, however, is usually preserved for its fifth inversion (V7-9
in minor key areas). Other symbols could be added, and they are numerous.
In most cases, however, it's best to ascertain which scale is involved without
all the extensions, since they are not usually all needed in the voicing itself.
Each example involves the same scale, regardless of the chord or
inversion in terms of fingering and dexterity. However, if you want the root
to sound as a priority note, then the inversion will cause a different hierarchy
of notes; the notes will want to behave differently, due to the re-arranging of
the scalar intervals. Learn to sing and play improvisations on each and every
mode while maintaining each modes priority note as do. Do this in different
registers, since they sound and feel different when transposed more than a
third. Learn each of them in all twelve transpositions. Learn them throughout
entire tunes, changing modes from chord to chord. Sing each of them

249

repeatedly until they are internalized. Sing all adjacent and non-adjacent
intervals of each. In addition, all their chords and all chordal voicings can be
memorized in the same fashion as with scales. Do the same with virtually
everything you are learningthen lose the visual and mental intellectual
thinking.
Chords of Modes of Major
IC, C, C9, C6, C69, C13(no11), Am11/C ~ Ionian
ii7Dm, Dm7, Dm9, Dm11, Dm13, C/D ~ Dorian
iii7Em, Em7, Em11(no9), F/E, F-5/E, E7sus4-9, B/E ~ Phrygian
IVF, F, F9, F+11, F-5, F13, G/F ~ Lydian
V7G, G7, G7sus4, G9sus4, G13sus4, F/G, G9, G13, F-5/G ~
Mixolydian
vi7Am, Am7, Am9, Am11 ~ Aeolian
viiB, B11(no9) ~ Locrian
While we have added six and six/nine to the list for major, they usually
take pentatonic forms. Tension 11 works well in the bass of any m7 or
chord. Since there are three different m7 chords and two chords, in order
to know which mode to apply, you need to understand how each chord is
functioning within the progression (since, for example, ii7 takes Dorian,
while iii7 takes Phrygian, and vi7 takes Aeolian). This can sometimes be
important in certain secondary cadences, keys of the moment, for example, in
the key of C:
|| F# B7-9 | Em7 || is ii7/iii7 V7-9/iii7 | iii7 (F# Locrian, E harmonic minor
over B, Em7 Phrygianusually not Dorian). There are always exceptions,
however. Analyze many tunes of different types at the piano.

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Chords of Modes of Melodic Minor

Im: Cm, Cm, Cm6, Cm69, Cm9, Cm, 9, 11, 13 ~ Melodic Minor
ii7: Dm7, Dm, Dm6, Dm11(no9) ~ Dorian-9
bIII+: Eb+ ~ Lydian Augmented
IV7+11: F7+11, F9+11, F13, F7-5, F9-5 ~ Lydian b7, Overtone Scale,
Lydian Dominant
V7-13: G7-13, G9, G7sus4, G9sus4, G7-13, G9-13 ~ Mixolydian-13
vi9: A9, A, A11 ~ Aeolian-5
VII+7-9, +9, -5, +5: B7-5, -9, B+7, B7-9, +9, +11, -13 ~ B+7 ~ Altered
(Superlocrian)
Due to the resultant minor ninth interval, avoid -9 in any minor chord
voicing, even when it is in the scale. Avoid 5 and -5 (or 5 and #11) in the
same voicing on dominant chords. In the melodic minor mode, some use
7sus4-9 as a form of ii7 chord. This is misleading and illogical, though,
because that symbol would indicate a dominant type chord, implying a
major third (F#) in the collection (if there were one). The A7sus4-9 chord is
in reality a V7-9, only with its fourth degree sustained and not resolved to
chord tone major three. The pitch collection would implicitly be D, Eb, (F#),
G, A, C, with the B pitch class unspecified. A better solution, perhaps,
would be to call it instead a Cm69/D.
Chords of Modes of the Harmonic Minor
Im: Cm, Cm, Cm9, Cm11 ~ Harmonic Minor
ii: D, D11 (no9)
bIII+ Eb+
iv F, Fm7, 9
V7-9-13 G7-9-13 (most common), G7sus4-9, -13
bVI-5: Ab(+9), Ab-5 (+9)
VII7-5(-9, +9, -5, +5)

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Chords of the Melodic Minor

The traditional source of chords in the minor mode is the harmonic
minor, hence the name. As tonal music developed over time, however,
various other combinations have evolved, such as those below. Since chords
have traditionally been constructed in thirds, the diatonic chords of the
ascending melodic minor would be as follows: i (), ii7 (-9 in scale), bIII+,
IV7-5 (+11), V+7 (9-13), vi (9), VII+7 (with any of the following, in any
combination: -9, +9, -5 (+11), +5 (-13). Triads are also employed. The ii7
rarely has a -9 in the chord itself, since it would sound like a bIII+ (no 3 or
5) in third inversion; and it creates a minor ninth interval between the
chordal root and the flat nine, which is usually reserved for a dominant
chord. 1, -3, 5, 7, 9 can be found in several other scales as well, most notably
the harmonic minor.
In a minor cadence such as ii7, V7, i7, use Locrian on the ii. The
melodic minor mode suggests a major ninth, which is a good option at times,
creating a momentary major third of the key in a minor key. The V7 usually
takes the harmonic minor (-9 only). The i chord could imply any minor
scale, depending on context. Don't use the alt symbol, because it isn't a
chord symbol, but rather, a prescription for a scale. Be specific: VII+7 (with
any of the following, in any combination: -9, +9, -5 (+11), +5 (-13)and
only use the tensions which you specifically want to be sounded. The
remaining notes should be left to the players discretion.

Linear Jazz Improvisation

Ed Byrne
Linear Jazz Improvisation Books 1-3
Linear Jazz Improvisation Songbook Series:

Blue Funk
Blue Pasa
You Are All Things
Selma by Searchlight
I'm Near a Rhapsody
Riffraff (F Blues)
Blue Rendezvous

Functional Jazz Guitar

Linear Jazz Improvisation Book 4: Bichordal Triad Pitch Collection Etudes
Linear Jazz Improvisation Book 5: Polytonal Triad Etudes
Speaking of Jazz: Essays and Attitudes
Hot Licks ~ Jazz Standards
Information about these great jazz books can be found at:
www.byrnejazz.com
Plus, learn about online lessons, live and in real time.
About Ed Byrne:
Ed Byrne is a trombonist, composer/arranger, educator, and author who has performed
and recorded with most of the jazz worlds leading musicians during a career that has
spanned four decades, including Chet Baker, Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus, Dizzy
Gillespie, James Brown, Eddie Palmeri, and countless other international artists. He
earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Studies from the New England Conservatory of
Music, and is the recipient of numerous honors.
Ed has sat on the faculties of Berklee College, Baruch College, University of the Arts,
Greenfield Community College, and the University of Rhode Island, and has written
many texts on jazz improvisation. He is an active and innovative educator and clinician,
with many of his students going on to high-profile careers, including Kenny Werner, Abe
Laboriel, Chip Jackson, Freddie Bryant, Mark Elf, Papo Vasquez, and Gary Dial.