Which scales
If i play a progression ie C6 Am7 Dm7 G9 . Which scales would you choose to improv over it. Playing as a Jazzy big band type of groove?.How would you play them ie include bends or not? How would you make your scale fit with the style of prog. Dos and donts. Cheers
Your progression is firmly in the key of C, so the C major scale is a clear choice for improv. If you're going for a jazz sound, you'd probably want to focus more on chord tones than scales. Play runs that outline and emphasize the 4 notes in the chord being played. If the song has a main melody, you could also try working out variations of it.
How much difference is there between C6 and Am7? Not much.Originally Posted by JAYJO
If i play a progression ie C6 Am7 Dm7 G9 . Which scales would you choose to improv over it. Playing as a Jazzy big band type of groove?.How would you play them ie include bends or not? How would you make your scale fit with the style of prog. Dos and donts. Cheers
If it was in C, what you have there is a I VI II V progression - or does it sound like it resolves on the G?
It sounds like it resolves on the C6.
Ive been using the Cmajor scale but have developed a habit of just running up and down the scale in little bursts and stutters trying to get a kind of swing but my picking isnt accurate enough for the groove im trying to play.
So as suggested i wil try and target the chord tones though the chord changes may be a bit too quick maybe melody will be more useful.(cheers SevenSharpNine). Ive not worked out a melody yet so i think that will be necessary. As you can tell its early days for me on this so any help is much appreciated.
Last edited by JAYJO; 25th October 2012 at 10:11 AM.
Maybe there's a difference in terminology - to my mind, if the progression ends on a C6 it resolves to C6 or (if you've written the complete progression) it ends on a G9 (which is what the progression resolves to)... it's key center can be different and then you get into cadences...
If any of that makes sense; which one sounds right?
My main contention with learning scales over arps and licks
I'd recommend slowing it down... the feel of swing is the important thing - where the emphasis lies - it is far too important to sacrifice for speed... find a comfortable speed where you can groove and slowly take it up a notch - 5-10bpm a week, maybe.
I think both are a little too prescriptive - playing the changes fastidiously sounds robotic. Joe Pass figured any II chord can be played over as if it was the V chord. It leads the ear. This is where I am going next, see I told you I was going there.
The dominant chord is a MASSIVE playground: start without taste or restraint! G mixolydian over that won't even sound like a solo from an accountant on valium.. it'd be like somone failing to pass comment on seeing superman. Most common are the super-locrian (used where G9->C6 aka functioning) and lydian dominant (G9 to anywhere else) - of course don't use them all the time but they're cultural artefacts.
Robben Ford uses the super-locrian all the time in this capacity (interestingly omitting the b5) - the musical pull on our ears when we hear a dominant chord is SO strong we can take amazing liberties in the solo played over it without too much fear of our listeners losing the thread.
Larry Carlton plays the pentatonic scale a semitone down ... over the dominant returning to I...
My advice is give it a whirl with a nice slow backing track, divide the progression into two parts the sane part and the insane part - the Am7 -> G9 can all be nuts... to my mind... the I VI ...who knows? experiment
The easiest way to get a good swing sound is to play with a leading beat right before the down beat. It creates a kind of galloping motion that is closely associated with swing music. You can find some good examples on the wikipedia page on Swing:
music. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_%...mance_style%29
Just scroll down to the section on Swung Notes.
That should be able to help you get a decent swing feel, even if you're just running through consecutive notes of the scale.
try these to get some outide sounds
C6=Cmaj scale
Am7= Bm pentatonic
Dm7=Am penta
G9= A#m penta
and if it resolves to C with it eeems like
C=Bm penta
this is something i done the other week as part of my practice....its the 2 5 1 of these ...so the Dm7 G7 C6 so it will give a idea of the sound...and its all pentatonics..
heres the link
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11890360
Cheers, ive looked into the super locrian and have started to use the melodic minor scale (which i should have learned long ago. Ive read up on the wiki link and listened to the examples thanks. I found Barneys post easiest to follow obviously because of the pentatonic connection as i mainly use the penta crutch. How did you decide which pentatonic scale to use over each chord?
Barney is pretty awesome at delivering what ya need
for Am7...you could look at the Bm penta took from the phrygian mode 3rd mode of G.. iff you looked the the Am as the 2nd chord of G....or it has notes took out of the A dorian scale....
for the Dm7...the Am penta can be derived from the aeolian mode 6th of C...the Dm7 is the 2nd chord of C
for the G9 by using A#m penta ..its giving alterations to the G9 chord ..#9.. b9..#5..b5..+ the b7..
for the C6....you have all the notes out of the C scale apart from the #4..F#..this will give a lydian sound..
hope it all makes sense...there will be other ways at looking at it...
you could play Am penta through the lot of it to with a jazz feel to stop inside..or to go outside a bit by playing the last 3 chords with the pentatonics moving up half steps...so you have different choices...
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