Tune Up Reharmonisations

**oleo20** · 04-11-2009, 08:59 AM

Anyone got any nice things they do with this tune,the chords from the first 8 are brilliant for reharming, heres some reharms ive been playing for the first 8, (i'll assume you can work out where the melody goes on the top of the chords so i dont have to tab it out)

Emin11 Ebmaj7 | A7#11 Cmaj7 | Dmaj7 Dmaj7 | Dmaj7 Dmaj7

or

Gb7#9 E7#9 | C7#9 Db7#9 | Eb7#9 Eb7#9 | Eb7#9 Eb7#9

or

C13 B7#5 | Emaj7#5 Db7#9 | Gmaj7#5 Gmaj7#5 | Gmaj7#5 Gmaj7#5

or

Gb7#9 F9 | Emaj7#5 G13 | Emin-maj9 Emin-maj9 | Emin-maj9 Emin-maj9

or

F/G Eb/F | B/C# C/D | D/E D/E | D/E D/E

just a few ideas ive been playing round with, if your struggling to figure them out most of the extensions written up there like #5, min11, the sus one at the (one of my favourites) uses the 3rd of each triad as the melody note for example F/G = Fmaj triad over G and the melody note is an A.

Have fun and let me know what you think....

**JohnW400** · 04-11-2009, 11:53 PM

Here's one I like. G/A for Em, F#/A for the A7 then A/D, for the Dma7. great tune.

**franco6719** · 04-12-2009, 04:17 AM

You'll need to go into some detail on these reharms for this middle-aged and out-of-music-for-15-years-brain, I'm afraid. What's the theory behind all of this?

Some of the stuff is obvious. But, for example, even in the fist bar: how does Cmaj7 follow from A7 and the lead to Dmaj7?

Gb7#9 for Emin7? Don't get it.

**franco6719** · 04-12-2009, 04:19 AM

Originally Posted by JohnW400

Here's one I like. G/A for Em, F#/A for the A7 then A/D, for the Dma7. great tune.

I understand THIS well enough.

**franco6719** · 04-12-2009, 06:11 AM

Never mind.It's all coming back again....I just have to think these things out longer nowadays.

**Luan** · 04-12-2009, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by franco6719

You'll need to go into some detail on these reharms for this middle-aged and out-of-music-for-15-years-brain, I'm afraid. What's the theory behind all of this?

Some of the stuff is obvious. But, for example, even in the fist bar: how does Cmaj7 follow from A7 and the lead to Dmaj7?

Gb7#9 for Emin7? Don't get it.

just think of the notes of the melody, not the original harmony.

**ZzaJMarc** · 04-12-2009, 03:49 PM

Countdown is a good tune up reharm

**gravitas** · 04-12-2009, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by ZzaJMarc

Countdown is a good tune up reharm

QFT

**franco6719** · 04-13-2009, 03:42 AM

Originally Posted by Luan

just think of the notes of the melody, not the original harmony.

Yes. I was thinking too much in terms of reharmonization while improvising and comping.

**oleo20** · 04-13-2009, 09:07 AM

Gb7#9 can be subbed for Emin7 because they both share a common tone, A.

by playing an A over Emin7 you are playing the 11th thus Outlining the chord as Emin11.

by playing an A over Gb7 you are playing the #9 thus outling the chord as Gb7#9.

You can do this with whatever tune you want when reharmonizing, Pat Metheny does this a lot in his compositions.

for example he'll would have a D for example as a pedal on the top of a few chords that all share D as a common tone.
Maybe something like this...

Cmaj9 - the D is the 9th

Abmaj7#11 - the D is the #11

Fmaj13 - the D is the 13th

Ebmaj7#5 - the D is the #5

Emin7 - the D is the 7th

Gmaj7 - the D is the 5th

etc etc

This possibilities are endless, Metheny uses this technique where the common tone is often part of the upper structure of the moving chords underneath, so basically he'll play a D and use it as the 9th of one chord and the 11th of the next etc rather than just using it as the 7th 3rd or 5th etc

This is also a cool technique to use when playing over tunes with lots of changes, Just find common tones between all the chords so your solos can have more sustained notes.

**franco6719** · 04-13-2009, 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by oleo20

Gb7#9 can be subbed for Emin7 because they both share a common tone, A.

by playing an A over Emin7 you are playing the 11th thus Outlining the chord as Emin11.

by playing an A over Gb7 you are playing the #9 thus outling the chord as Gb7#9.

You can do this with whatever tune you want when reharmonizing, Pat Metheny does this a lot in his compositions.

for example he'll would have a D for example as a pedal on the top of a few chords that all share D as a common tone.
Maybe something like this...

Cmaj9 - the D is the 9th

Abmaj7#11 - the D is the #11

Fmaj13 - the D is the 13th

Ebmaj7#5 - the D is the #5

Emin7 - the D is the 7th

Gmaj7 - the D is the 5th

etc etc

This possibilities are endless, Metheny uses this technique where the common tone is often part of the upper structure of the moving chords underneath, so basically he'll play a D and use it as the 9th of one chord and the 11th of the next etc rather than just using it as the 7th 3rd or 5th etc

This is also a cool technique to use when playing over tunes with lots of changes, Just find common tones between all the chords so your solos can have more sustained notes.

So, the basis then is that ANY chord that simply shares one or more common tones with another can be substituted for another, taking account of the melody notes. Is that the idea? Or does it have to be the melody note specifically that they share in common?

**franco6719** · 04-13-2009, 01:25 PM

Never mind. I just went to play around with some of the ideas and answered my own question.

**oleo20** · 04-13-2009, 01:49 PM

yes you are right that any chord that shares the same note can be subbed but i think its generally used when reharmonizing a tune rather than just throwing complete random subs over the standad changes of a tune....but at the end of the day its whatever you hear man so if your playing over a static Cmaj7 chord and decide to playing F#maj7 then do it man!and do it with conviction!

**DINOEL GANDINI** · 04-20-2009, 08:17 AM

just an idea

**fast1** · 04-20-2009, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by ZzaJMarc

Countdown is a good tune up reharm

may i ask why is it so?

**oleo20** · 04-20-2009, 09:46 AM

john coltrane reharmonised tune up and wrote a tune called countdown, which uses the same changes but 'coltraneified' (if thats even a word!)

so basically for every ii V I coltrane goes through 3 may key centres in order to get to the I from the ii, so much like giant steps.

let me elaborate for a quick sec here,

Dmin7 | G7 | Cmaj7 is a ii V I in Cmaj

Dmin7 Eb7 | Abmaj7 B7 | Emaj7 G7 | Cmaj7 this is the same ii V I progression but with added coltrane subs in there.

notice how it travels through 3 key centres Ab, E and C.

you can also outline these changes when playing over a standard ii V I if you want to go outside for a few bars, so maybe the first few bars of Autumn Leaves??

Cmin7 | F7 | Bbmaj7

can be changed to...

Cmin7 Db7 | Gbmaj7 A7 | Dmaj7 F7 | Bbmaj7

anyway, over and out .....

**Luan** · 04-20-2009, 03:08 PM

We are talking about reharmonization for an arrangement or a improvised one for a substitution, solo, etc?
when you do an arrangement, the only thing that matters is the melody...

**franco6719** · 04-21-2009, 04:22 AM

Originally Posted by oleo20

.but at the end of the day its whatever you hear man so if your playing over a static Cmaj7 chord and decide to playing F#maj7 then do it man!and do it with conviction!

Exactly.

**franco6719** · 04-21-2009, 04:29 AM

Originally Posted by Luan

We are talking about reharmonization for an arrangement or a improvised one for a substitution, solo, etc?
when you do an arrangement, the only thing that matters is the melody...

But, seriously, It has to sound somewhat....what's the word I'm looking for....musical? Think about it: you or I could reharmonize "All the Things You Are" instantly by using only 7b9 chords with the melody on the top string. Who is going to listen to such a monstrosity? There has to be some tension, resolution, voice leading and so on in a real chord-melody arrangement or it sounds like bloody lunacy.