Playing inside

[spiritbomb]

Hello people of jazzguitar.be!

I'm wondering if you can play notes within the key only and make something sound jazzy. Will improvising ONLY within the key sound jazzy enough? If so, can you give me an example of where and how it is done. When I try to improvise with only "inside" notes, it doesn't sound jazzy at all. But when I start to add chromatics in then it starts to sound more like jazz. I would like to know if it is possible just to play "inside notes" and have a very jazzy melody.

Thanks very much!!!!

SpiritBomb

[ksjazzguitar]

Sure you can sound jazzy with "inside" notes. Accenting, swing, landing on interesting extensions. They all can make it sound jazzy.

Of course, it will sound better with some other colors on you palette. All inside can get rather monochromatic.

Peace,
Kevin

[spiritbomb]

You're right, but maybe I'm just at the level that I can improvise just within a major scale and make it sound jazzy.

Thanks for your input!

[jokron]

Matt Otten, Jazz Guitar

And search on youtube for Matt Otten, there are some demonstrations called "get creative with one scale" that shows how you can sound jazzy with only one scale. There's also "get creative with tal scales"...

Jokron

[spiritbomb]

Thanks jokron!!

Hey he's really helpful in getting me started to improvising without sounding too bad with one scale.. thanks!

[JonnyPac]

I'm really into playing "inside" myself. Though I think playing pan-diatonicly (using one scale for several chords in the same key) is a bit lazy and potentially dissonant (ie holding an F note over an Em in the key of C is not such a good thing). Modes have unbelievably huge potentials.

Outlining the chord tones, extensions, and modal passing tones for each change can sound very tasty. It can sound very jazzy without bothering musicians that are not prepared to encounter bi-tonal moments. I enjoy bringing elements modal jazz to rock, indi-post-rock, country, folk, and whatever setting is at hand. Going nuts on the chromatic/outside motif stuff usually sounds inappropriate in any non-jazz/fusion form of music.

I consider it "inside" when the chord at hand and the parent scale are played simultaneously, even if the the parent scale is harmonically sophisticated or "dissonant" to some ears (such as Bb13+11 and Bb Lydian Dom. from F Melodic Minor).

[jokron]

Use coloring tones in the chords or play different arpeggios over the same chord, for instance:

On a Cmaj chord (C-E-G-B), play en E-7 arpeggio (E-G-B-D) and you're actually playing an Cmaj add 9 starting on the 3rd.

On a D-7 chord (D-F-A-C) play an A-7 arpeggio (A-C-E-G) and you're actually playing a D-11.

Think of the scale as a pool of possible tones and play with them, trust your ears more than what you see, or as Miles Davis put it: "Play what you hear, not what you know", actually meaning, learn to listen to the music so that you hear what tones wants to be played.

Jokron

[rabbit]

Miles Davis & Lester Young, masterfully 'inside.'

Read about it here:

5) Miles Davis and Lester Young - Do The Math

The whole thing is excellent (I'm a Lester Y. junkie) but more
on this is covered specifically in the 'Oh, Lady!' portion.
At the bottom of this page:

Lester Young Centennial - Do The Math

[JonnyPac]

Thanks Rabbit! Awesome article. I couldn't agree more. Bag's Groove is one of my faves too.

[jokron]

Originally Posted by JonnyPac

Thanks Rabbit! Awesome article. I couldn't agree more. Bag's Groove is one of my faves too.

+1 !



Jokron

[rabbit]

Gentlemen, Thank You.

Glad you enjoyed it and appreciate the feedback.
Nice to know I'm on someone's wavelength,
even if only tenuously.