The Confusion Around Minor Chords FINALLY Explained
Remember the first time you played a modal tune like Impressions and how fun it was to wail over a minor chord? Maybe you’ve had this experience, or maybe it’s in your near future, but one thing is for sure: it’s fun just to let loose on a minor chord vamp and solo for hours! ...
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How The Chord-Scale System Has Failed You: 6 Steps to Freedom With Scales and Modes
The Chord-scale system has become the most established and widespread method for teaching jazz improvisation…And it’s no mystery why. So often, scales—more specifically the modes of the major and melodic minor scales—get passed-off as the most important aspect of learning to improvise. It’s as if by magic, you learn a couple scales and their modes, and ...
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A Lesson With Bill Evans: 14 Techniques to Master the Minor ii V Progression
What do you play over a minor ii V? Minor ii Vs are notoriously tricky. As compared to their brother, the ii V in major, the ii V in minor adds quite a few more challenges. First off, instead of a minor 7 ii chord, it has a minor 7 b5 ii chord. This causes ...
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Formulas For Applying Jazz Language To Different Harmonic Situations
As the article last Wednesday discussed, learning to apply language to tunes is crucial because it puts the language into context, allowing your ears and fingers to gain an understanding of how to integrate the language into your overarching concept. Over time, the language you practice this way will spontaneously materialize in new form, surprising ...
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Fundamental Ear Training: Seventh Chords
In our first article of Fundamental Ear Training Exercises, we covered how to choose an ear training partner, the correct mindset to approach ear training with, and exercises about singing & hearing intervals, harmonic intervals, and triads. After you feel you’ve got a pretty good handle on everything presented in that previous article, it’s time ...
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4 Ways to Use the Melodic Minor Scale
The melodic minor scale is a scale that every musician should be familiar with and eventually master. But what many players don’t realize is that this scale encompasses much more than 8 notes to drill in the practice room… Aside from a minor scale variation to memorize, the melodic minor scale presents a number of ...
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