Quitting Practising Scales in Isolation

[Christian Miller]

I think of the distinction between chord-scalar and diatonic thinking as a difference in point of view. Voice leading is, in a sense, baked into the diatonic perspective, which is reflected in the functional names of the notes within a key: the subdominant, tonic, mediant, and so on.

In the chord-scale view, voice-leading becomes a separate layer of discussion, added on top of the chord-scale framework from the point of view of the chords through devices like guide tones. From that perspective, we might say “the 7th of the first chord resolves to the 3rd of the next.” From the diatonic perspective, we would instead say “the subdominant of the key moves to the mediant of the key.” I think both of these points of views exists in classical music also (4-3 suspension for example).

Christian's point if I understand it correctly is that sometimes one point of view is a more natural choice to understand and play within the style of a certain influential player.

I think I would still say the 7th moves to the 3rd etc. That’s stuff been around for centuries. The functional names for things, indeed functional analysis itself is much more recent.

But to address jazz improvisation, if you are improvising on All the Things for instance, you might just take a generalised angle on the first few bars, playing Ab major and then C major. Depends on the player or a single player might take different tacks in the same solo. You often find that with Rhythm Changes solos obviously.

Although I think people would tend to take quite a diatonic approach on something like ATTYA because the chord qualities are all diatonic. (You can obviously do modal interchange stuff and so on.)


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[AllanAllen]

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[Tal_175]

OK, going back to switching scales. I think playing continuous scales over the changes of a tune is a very good exercise. But it's hard in the beginning and progress tends to be is incremental. That's why I think it's good to come up with variations that incorporate other elements because working in just continuous scales for long stretches can be both difficult and a bit boring.

Here are two variations that I use in my daily practice when working on tunes:

- Trade 2's, or 4's: Alternate continuous scales with comping every 2 or 4 bars. For changes where playing continuous scales feels especially difficult, you can simplify by playing ascending or descending scales starting from a chosen scale degree until you get your bearings. When you get bored of the scales, you can insert your licks during the solo sections. You can also practice chord solo ideas in the comping sections.

- End of 3 - End of 4: This is a self-comping exercise. In every odd-numbered bar, when you reach the end of 3, comp the current chord, then comp the next chord on the end of 4 (anticipate it). Just play single notes on the even numbered bars. So in each two bar space, you get a bar and a half of single notes that requires switching chords. You can play continuous scales there. But self comping also lets you hear the chords and makes you work on self comping. It's also a good way to work on your time. I do this with a metronome.