Chromatics

[P_Jay]

Today when I returned to Matt’s chromatics lesson I broke down the bars in BIAB and one chord at a time, played the 4 noted cells per chord in a cycle of 4ths. So for example, I punched in Dm7 for 1 bar followed by Gm7 for one bar etc., through the 12 keys so I could hear what the little phrase sounded like in 12 keys. With the backing track that BIAB provides I could hear the harmony. I found that I could hear the ‘jazz sound’ as I played but, although I could see on the neck where the target notes were and lay the round I was too busy listening to the sound to remember the specific interval that each tone represented. Which raises a question for the student. What’s the best way to connect the jazz tone I hear with the underlying theory? I need to know why it works in order to make it applicable anywhere not just with Matt’s lesson. I’m not looking for short cuts. I look at the neck and I can see every note on it and lately I’ve been seeing those notes as part of the cycle of fourths but I want to somehow take the notes I’m hearing and using the concrete underlying theory, push my fingers towards the frets that are correct for the jazz tones using the theory. I’m fine at using my ears to choose tones when I improvise. But I find I only improvise really well when I study what’s going on in this way first. So like I take those 4 bars Dm7-G7-Cmaj7-A7b9 in Example 3 and I write the intervals above each note. I take each chord individually using BIAB, put in a 4ths cycle, play over it and listen to the way it sounds and I can hear the jazz sound in my playing. It’s very exciting. Fuck me I’m playing jazz! You know, I can hear it. And once I really have the phrase under my fingers I start playing with it and I notice changes in the harmony particularly when I stumble a bit like accidentally hitting the 3rd that was supposed to be on G7 but I drag a bit and play it over Cmaj7. What’s going on? Okay I can work it out. I’m not looking for specific answers but I would like to ask the really experienced players a simple question: Knowing the theory, if you go yea that’s a cool sound, do you try and figure out what’s going on and if you do, how do you do it?

[Goofsus4]

Yes. If I stumble onto anything that sounds really different and good to me, I just analyze the notes I was playing in terms of what musical intervals they formed with respect to the chord I was playing over. Then I try to put that within the context of the key I am playing in. Then I'll try to use that to play the same idea in different areas on the neck so I can really reinforce it. I do the same thing whenever I take an idea from another player. I'll analyze what they are doing that I like, then I'll play that idea everywhere I can think of, embellish it, fractionalize it, etc. until I own it and have fully incorporated it into my improvisational toolbox.

[m78w]

Glad the chromatics lesson was able to help you out. The way I do it is, if something sounds good I just try and take that sound and play it over a million different situations.

For example, if I played a chromatic lick that worked well over G7, I would then take it through 12 keys using 7th chords. After that I would do the same thing, 12 keys, with m7 chords, so starting on Dm7 and using the same lick figure out how it fits those chords. Than I would do it for maj7 and m7b5.

If I get through all of those sounds and can apply the lick or pattern in all keys then I try and take it "out" by moving it around the chord I'm on. So up a fret, down a fret, up 3 frets, down 3 frets etc. To try and use it as a motive and not just a pattern, sort of growing the lick into a longer musical phrase that explores more of the harmony, not just the "inside" sound.

Hope that helps,
Matt

[voelker]

Memorize this interval pattern: 4-1-5-2-6-3-7

if you start on a D chord and you play a G note, the 4th (first interval from above), it's obvious that when you move to the G chord, your G note becomes the 1, but follow the pattern through the cycle and the G note becomes the 5th of C, the 2nd of F, the 6th of Bb, the 3rd of Eb, and the 7th of Ab. This is where it flips to #/b. The 7th becomes a #4/b5. Overall the pattern ends up looking like this:

b4-b1-b5-b2-b6-b3-b7 - 4-1-5-2-6-3-7 - #4-#1-#5-#2-#6-#3-#7

like colors are enharmonic, 5-2-6 are only represented once cuz they have whole steps on either side of them: 4-5-6, 1-2-3, 5-6-7. Applied to your example; the 3rd of G (B), becomes the 7th of C.

[P_Jay]

Thanks guys. This from Matt, is interesting; ‘…try and use it as a motive and not just a pattern, sort of growing the lick into a longer musical phrase that explores more of the harmony’, So what you’re saying is to start developing a line, play the pattern inside and then outside by half a tone or so, and join the two together so as to develop a phrase with consonant and dissonant movement? Cool. I’m going to try that.