Visual Composer/guitarist
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Joined: 11-November 05
Posts: 121
Member Number: 317
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lesson 3
lesson #3
now that we have seen and studied the modes with a jazz perspective let's apply this to a jazz situation...
I will add a typical jazz progression of chords... in it, i will be improvising on paper...
The art of improvising comes from many decades, but the fact about improvising on paper and knowing how each notes functions comes from the Romantic Impromptus... Pieces written at the moment.. improvised themes and variations, mainly for piano...
I have focused on Franz Schubert's impromptus's regarding this situation.
if you can, listen to any of his 8 impromptus... this is not homework, it is just a suggestion.
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How does it work?
you have to keep in mind all the knowledge you have in order to improvise at your highest level... there is no THE BEST IMPROVISER OF THE WORLD... but there is the highest level of improvisation within each person's knowledge...
If a young 4 year old kid only knows C, D, E, F and does not know about G, A, B, or flats or sharps... he can improvise rhythms, structures or play really dynamically with those 4 notes (C, D, E, F)
in jazz there are not limitations in your creativity when it comes to improvising.. but there are limitations in skills, knowledge, and human aspects...
example: a guitar player cannot play a chord of 10 notes... a pianist can... so, if you are improvising and feel like playing a C MAj 9 with a sharp 11th and b15 you are going to have to leave some notes out...
in this lesson we will learn how to deal with this shortcuts and find a way out when stuck in traffic...
Traffic:
lets take a chord.. such as... C maj
C Maj is a major 3rd chord, with a fifth
that means C maj = C, E, G,
E min is a minor chord with a fifth
that means E min = E, G, B
lets put C maj and E min together...
C maj (C, E, G) + E min (E, G, B) = C maj7
ok, that is basic basic basic harmony... substitutions of chords, imposition of the third degree, relative major, however you learnt it in college..
but... in a jazz situation, we are going to actually superimpose notes from the extension, even if they are not there... that means, adding D, or F as C maj9 or C maj11......
how do we know what extensions to add?
answers:
1-based on the tonality or key signature
2-based on how the voices will resolve in the next chord
3-using escape notes or neighbor/passing tones to create chromaticism.
which one should we use?
ALL OF THEM... in order..
in real life, you use more than 3.. like advanced substituions, secondary leading tones, outside playing, bitonality, but we will get into those in lesson 5 or 6...
for this assignment lets focus on those
Example for assignment:
I will create a progression
Em7, A7, Dm7, G7, Cmaj7, Bm7, Em7, Am, D7, G Maj.
ok, in what key are we in???
at the beginning it looks like C maj7....
why?
because Em7, belongs to C maj, so does Dm7, and G7 is the dominant/mixolydian chord that really tells us what to do...
note: everytime you want to analyze a piece, try to target the dominant chords first to see where and how many times or where in the piece they hit an ionian chord... if the piece ends with ionian, it is most likely that this is the key signature...
what happens with A7?...
well, it is just a secondary dominant chord functioning as a passing chord to Dm7 which happens to be the second degree or dorian mode of C maj...
We will have a whole chapter for secondary leading tones, chord tones, secondary dominant chords, secondary diminished chords, etc in next lesson, but before we do that we have to find ourselves lost, remember that.. this is jazz, not classical training.
so, if the first 4 bars are in the key of C and it ends with Gma7, maybe they modulate.. remember Cmaj is an ionian mode in the key of C but is also a lydian mode in the key of G..
I will explain
there are basic chordal with extended 7th functions in tonal music...
those are:
Maj7 (usually the first and 4th degree of every major scale)
min7 (usually the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th degree of every major scale)
7 or Dom7 "stands for dominant 7 chord" (always the 5th degree in major tonal music)
min7b5 or half diminished (7th degree in major scales)
so, we started with Em7, and end with Gma7, we could think we are in the key of G, except for the fact that Em7 goes to a chord that resolves to Dm7... that chord is A7, the fifth degree of Dm and Dm7 does not belong to the key of G.... therefor Em7 belongs to C maj
this will all make sense as you continue working on it...
Assignment:
in order to correct and see what to do with this i will encourage you to write a phrase of quarter notes over each chord
Em7, A7, Dm7, G7, Cmaj7, Bm7, Em7, Am, D7, G Maj.
try to stay tonal, and make sense out of it... you can apply classical music rules like "resolve the leading tone up a leap", Target 3rd, no parallel fifths, etc
but, if you are going to do this tell me, so i can correct this, otherwise it will still be considered improvisation..
1-post a PDF file and a MIDI file with the notes you are using...
2-on top of each note, write the function of the note related to the chord, example: if you play over Em7 the notes G, F# you should write 3, 2
3-do it only once.. i will correct them and we will do several more but i need to correct them before we advance...
finally it is explained...
good luck.
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“If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.” -Gustav Mahler
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