Giant Steps: Simplifying the Coltrane Matrix

A jazz guitar lesson written by Matthew Warnock

  Questions or feedback about this guitar lesson? Click here: Giant Steps @ The Jazz Guitar Forum

Part 1: Single Note Lines

This article is the first in a two part series that will deal with navigating the chord changes to John Coltrane’s masterpiece Giant Steps.  In this article we will look at three simple motives that can help us develop single note lines that outline the chord changes, while the second part (next week) will deal with comping and chord soloing over these same changes.

There are many ways in which we can solo over the first eight bars of Giant Steps, often referred to as the “Coltrane Matrix.”  Though many books and articles deal with playing the scales to each chord in order to outline the changes, we will instead look at 3 short melodic ideas that can be used in their place. 

Each of these 3 motives can be found throughout Coltrane’s solo and in the solos of many musicians that have recorded the tune since.  The use of three and four note motives to navigate these tough chord changes is especially useful on the guitar since each of these motives can be played on two or three strings at most.  Adding these motives to your practice routine allows us to outline each chord without having to think of a big five or six string scale or two octave arpeggio and we can stay in one position throughout the entire matrix.

Motive One: Triads

The first motive that we'll use to outlint the Coltrane matrix is the root based triad: 1-3-5

For the purposes of this example each triad is written with the same rhythm, two eighth notes and a quarter note.  Once we have the triads under our fingers feel free to alter the rhythms for any or all of the chords and actually make some music.  Triads are often overlooked in a traditional jazz context, but they can be a great tool when navigating tough chord changes like those found within Giant Steps. 

Example 1

Here are the 1-3-5 triads for the first four bars in ascending fashion.

Example 2

In the next example the triads from example 1 are now presented in reverse order: 5-3-1.  Though it may be tricky to get used to beginning a triad from the top down (fifth to the root) this is a great way to bring triads into our lines without sounding like we are simply running up the chords. 

Example 3

Now that we have the ascending and descending triads under our fingers we can start to alternate between the two. 

In this example we will ascend the first triad then descend the second triad.  Notice how the first note of the second triad, A, completes a B7 chord when added to the first chord.  The same thing occurs with the first note of the fourth chord, F on the Bb7, which produces a G7 chord.  Though these connections are not necessarily important to the harmony of the tune they may help when we are working on finding fingerings for these exercises.

Example 4

The next exercise is the reverse of example 3, where the first triad is descending and the second triad is ascending.  Now the first note of the third chord, D, is the root of the previous chord and completes a one octave 1-3-5-8 triad.  The same thing occurs between the fourth and fifth chords where the Bb on the downbeat of bar three completes a Bb triad, 1-3-5-8, from the Bb7 chord in the previous bar.

Motive Two: Four Note Arpeggios

Now that we have worked out the triads for each of the chords in the Coltrane matrix we can move on to the four note arpeggios for each chord. 

For the purposes of this article each arpeggio is presented in only one position on the neck.  After this position becomes comfortable feel free to play these arpeggios on different string sets and positions on the neck.  As with our first motive we should feel free to alter the rhythms of each arpeggio once we have basic eighth notes under our fingers.  One way to do this would be to play a triplet on beat one and a quarter note on beat two or vice versa.

Example 5

The first example presents the four note arpeggios for each chord in ascending order.

Example 6

This example presents the 1-3-5-7 arpeggios in descending order.

Example 7

Now we can begin to alternate between ascending and descending arpeggios.  This example is only one possible fingering, feel free to explore other fingerings to open up these ideas to different positions on the neck.

Example 8

The following example is a reverse of example 7, where the arpeggios are now alternating between descending and ascending fingerings.

Motive Three: 1235

In the next four examples we will look at one of Coltrane’s favorite motives: 1-2-3-5

This motive has become an essential part of the improvisational repertoire for many famous jazz musicians, including Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, Jerry Bergonzi and Miles Davis to name a few.  In order to make this as simple as possible it is important to think of each root as 1.  Then we just play 1-2-3-5 over each of the chords, instead of thinking of this motive within the different keys, which would mean thinking about the D7 motive as 5-6-7-9 in the key of G. 

Example 9

The first example presents the 1235 motive in ascending order over each chord in the progression.

Example 10

This example presents the previous exercise in reverse order: 5-3-2-1.  Getting used to playing this motive backwards can be a bit tricky as the fingerings start to get a bit awkward depending on what string set we use.  Though it may be a difficult to get down this exercise can improve our technique as well as our ability to blow over Giant Steps.

Example 11

As with the previous exercises we can now play the 1-2-3-5 motive alternating between the ascending and descending versions. 

There is now a bit of a jump between the second and third chord and the fourth and fifth chord as the last note of one and the first note of the next is a perfect fourth.  The fourth interval one the guitar can be played by using one finger on the same fret over two different strings.  Instead of playing each note with the tips of our fingers, as we have been taught to do, try barring these two notes, which will allow for a smoother transition between each chord.

Example 12

In the next exercise we will alternate the 1-2-3-5 motive between the descending and ascending versions. 

In this example the perfect fourth interval is now ascending between the second and third, and fourth and fifth chords.  Between the second and third chords we can use the bar technique from the previous example, though because of the tuning of the second string the fourth interval is now over two frets so we can use two different fingers for these notes.

Motive Application

Example 13

Now that we have worked through the three motives (triads, arpeggios and 1235s) we can mix them all together to create lines over the Giant Steps chord changes.  For the purposes of the exercise we are only using eighth notes, once these are comfortable we can alter the rhythms to create more interest in our melodic ideas.

Example 14

Here is another example of how we can mix our three motives to produce a line over Giant Steps.  These examples are only a few ways to maneuver through Giant Steps, once you have checked them out start making up your own lines. 

Start by writing out the lines away from the guitar and then playing them to see how they sound.  Once this becomes comfortable practice doing it on the spot at a slow tempo, then slowly raise the tempo until it gets closer to the original recording.  The best way to do this is to use a program like Band in the Box as it allows us to change the tempo and hear our ideas against the harmony at the same time.

Example 15

Now we can take these ideas and apply them to the first eight bars, the Coltrane matrix in Eb and B.  Again, the exercise is written in straight eighth notes so feel free to alter the rhythms or to write your own lines with more variety in the rhythms.

Example 16

The last example is another line written over the first eight bars of the tune using our three motives.  Once these examples are under your fingers try writing and improvising your own lines over the first eight bars using the three motives we have learned in this article.

Conclusion

Now that we have these three motives under our fingers and in our ears we can add to our repertoire by developing our own Giant Steps melodic ideas. 

We can do this by taking motives from Coltrane’s solo, or any other famous recording of the tune, or by simply making up our own melodic ideas.  Using these simple three and four note motives can be an easy way to negotiate through any series of tough chord changes, not only Giant Steps. 

After working these motives through Giant Steps try taking any of these three motives, or any you come up with yourself, and apply  them to other songs with tough changes such as Lazybird, Moments Notice and Stablemates.  Not only does using short motives help us to navigate these tough tunes, but it can also give our solos a sense of continuity that may not be found when we rely on scales, arpeggios and patterns.

Part 2: Giant Steps: Comping & Chord Melody

Back to Guitar Lessons