5 Steps to Becoming A Lyrical Master With Altered Dominants: A Lesson With Stan Getz

By Forrest • Jazz Concepts • Jazz Musicians • PRO • Chords • Dominant • Stan Getz

Alterations are at the heart of jazz. In no other genre of music can you freely alter chords in a such a fluid and flexible manner. As chords whiz by, the soloist has the freedom to add all sorts of chord alterations to their melodic lines. But it requires a sense of how these altered chord tones behave and a certain kind of know-how to use them effectively.

1. Introduction
2. Before You Start, Make Sure the Dominant Chord Resolves
3. Step 1: Stop Thinking Scales. Instead, Focus on Melody Using One Alteration
4. Step 2: Learn to Use Scale Fragments to Travel Between Alterations & Resolutions
5. Step 3: Use the Shape of Your Line to Setup the Alteration
6. Step 4: Use Common Licks as Starting Points and Transitions
7. Step 5: Learn to Use Alterations on the Resolution Chord to Create Multiple Points of Tension & Release
8. Becoming a Lyrical Master With Altered Dominants

Top Tunes This Lesson Applies To:

Autumn Leaves

The best place to start experimenting with alterations is over the dominant chord because that’s where you have the most options. But, if you’ve ever tried to alter a dominant chord before, you know that it’s not that easy.

Here’s the situation…

You’re about to play over a dominant chord. You see this on a lead sheet, or you know a tune by heart…

… and your thought process might go something like this…

Which scale should I play

Your initial reaction? Scales. You think to yourself…

“What scale am I going to play if I want to alter the dominant chord?” Clearly not the boring old Mixolydian and after a moment of thought, you now believe you have several options to approach dominant alterations, and then even more scales come to mind…

More scale options

So now that you have your scale choices, you think you’re all good. But then when you go to play, why do things not sound right? Why does it sound mechanical? Why does it sound forced?

What are professionals doing that makes their use of alterations sound so good and how can I do it too?

Working alterations into your playing is a gradual process. One that can be mastered one step at a time…

Before you start, make sure the dominant chord resolves

When you first start to use altered tensions over dominant chords, you may think you can use them everywhere.

I remember thinking, “Okay, now that I’ve got the altered-scale under my belt, I’m gonna use it everywhere, and everyone will think I’m awesome!”

Well, not so much…

I used that altered scale everywhere I could, but, I didn’t sound good at all. In fact, my playing became more ambiguous than it was before because just playing the alterations won’t make you sound good.

You have to know when and where to play them.

A good rule of thumb is you can freely use alterations when the chord resolves down a perfect fifth. This means that G7 moves to C.

C Major, C minor, C7…doesn’t matter, just as long as it’s moving to C.

Root movement

Now, is this a set-in-stone rule? No, but it’s a guideline that will help you immensely because when the root movement does not resolve down a perfect fifth, introducing alterations can weaken the existing harmony and make it sound like you’re lost or don’t know the chord changes.

So, for now, limit your use of alterations to any dominant chord right before it resolves down a perfect fifth.

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