Getting Started with Chromaticism / Approaches / Enclosures

[jamiehenderson1993]

...

[pamosmusic]

Another thread from last week:

Calling Petey - Chromatic ornaments for 1 note

(i believe i am petey in this situation, but me and a few others replied with some pdfs we’ve made for stuff like this)

[pamosmusic]

This is equally true for the major scale thread, but if you have all this stuff you’re getting into and feel reasonably comfortable with half of it, you need to be transcribing.

What do you do with this stuff?

dunno — what does Grant green do with it?

[jamiehenderson1993]

That thread is a goldmine - thank you for sharing.
To be honest, I'm not really doing anything with it at the moment other than jamming over tunes in my bedroom really. But enjoying it regardless.

I'll normally pick a progression (after having shedded the Major Scale stuff or this chromatic stuff for a while) and just see what comes out in my playing. I really should be recording it and keeping a record, but I'm so strapped for time I'm just trying to squeeze in any time I can manage.

[Jimmy blue note]

I'm not from the transcribing school but let me offer a thought whether it helps or not.
First, become really comfortable with playing diatonic, or straight, with a strong melodic sense. This means develop a strong sense of the gravity of strong notes, whether they be conventionally accepted chord tones, or your own favourite and personal notes and dyads. And here's something I think is really important: Develop a sense of swing and phrasing, find your own take on space and dynamics and have your own take on flow within a harmonic block.
I think this is important because I feel that embellishments, ornaments and your own take on "outside" melody will work WITH a strong sense of phrasing. I've seen a lot of students struggle with plugging in the notes for effect without feeling; licks without context.
If your sense of diatonic flow is strong, the introduction of chromaticism has a natural place and it enforces something that relates to the listener.
I find that even though Michael Brecker and Kenny Garret is amazing to listen to, magical even, to understand where they are in musical language comes from strong roots in the swing era. If you listen to Paul Desmond, you can hear the flow of melodicism that comes from Frankie Trumbauer, if you listen to Sonny Rollins, you hear how strong Lester Young played by being strongly melodic. Coltrane wouldn't be Coltrane without Don Byas. If you listen to Charlie Christian, you have to hear Lester Young whether you know it or not. John Scofield is the evolution from Jim Hall-with serious immersion in middle Coltrane. How those iconic players found and used chromaticism through bop and post bop is the story of 'outside' coming into the music. And it's always swinging.

If you swing hard, even the most outside music sounds in the pocket. If your phrasing is struggling to say something, no amount of fancy non diatonic devices can help you from just sounding wrong.

That's one person's take on it anyway.
Good luck!

[GuyBoden]

You need to know your chord tones to play the 'Approaches and Enclosures' successfully over songs.

I listened to some Fats Navarro songs and heard how he uses 'Approaches and Enclosures'.

This PDF dissertation by Russell C. Zimmer has some insights into the Fats Navarro style:
https://csis.pace.edu/~varden/navarr...ssertation.pdf

Example from PDF:


ASAP, start playing simple 'Approaches and Enclosures' over Jazz Standards.

Edit:
Navarro solo on 'Nostalgia' same as the 'Out of Nowhere' changes, notation in pdf.
http://csis.pace.edu/~varden/navarro.../Nostalgia.pdf

[Tal_175]

Typically you work on these by picking one device at a time and applying it to scales, cycles or changes of a given tune. This is all good but there is another way. Those who attended Barry Harris workshops or studied his approaches from other sources will recognize this other way. Pick a small set of these devices along with the basic scales and arpeggios. Then pick a tune and build lines over each chord of the tune using this specific set of devices making sure the lines you build over each chord also connects with the next chord until you endup with a complete solo. Use the same set of devices (concepts, vocabulary etc. however you call them) until you get good at building lines with them. Then add new devices to your set.

[jamiehenderson1993]

Typically you work on these by picking one device at a time and applying it to scales, cycles or changes of a given tune. This is all good but there is another way. Those who attended Barry Harris workshops or studied his approaches from other sources will recognize this other way. Pick a small set of these devices along with the basic scales and arpeggios. Then pick a tune and build lines over each chord of the tune using this specific set of devices making sure the lines you build over each chord also connects with the next chord until you endup with a complete solo. Use the same set of devices (concepts, vocabulary etc. how ever you call them) until you get good at building lines with them. Then add new devices to your set.

Another great comment - is there a good video you could link that you found helpful or that explains this? Or maybe an example solo like one you describe?
I'm excited to try this

[pamosmusic]

Another great comment - is there a good video you could link that you found helpful or that explains this? Or maybe an example solo like one you describe?
I'm excited to try this

Google Barry Harris — lots of old videos of him and most of them will consist of him leading a class through this process.

It’s unforgiving but super fun to try and do it along with him at his pace.

disclaimer: make sure it’s actually Barry and not a video of someone doing Barry stuff. Exception would be Chris Parks on the Things I Learned from Barry Harris channel. His is quite good. There are a few others too, but you may as well check out the big boss first.

[alltunes]

My question is, what do I do with this info? Like is there a systematic way of parsing this or am I making this WAY more complicated than it needs to be? Should I just be looping a progression and trying out a few of these things over the chords and seeing what sounds nice to my ears?

Thanks in Advance.

I recently ran across this YT by mandolinist Mike Marshall (he plays anything with strings) and found it to be a pragmatic lesson on how to apply at lease some of the techniques you mentioned. It is mandolin but you’ll get the idea.

[pamosmusic]

This is very much a work in progress, but I’ve been working on a line building process with some students and trying to get it written up. This is the first installment, and relevant to the enclosure stuff here

bop lines 1 - stick the landing.pdf - Google Drive

[jamiehenderson1993]

This is very much a work in progress, but I’ve been working on a line building process with some students and trying to get it written up. This is the first installment, and relevant to the enclosure stuff here

bop lines 1 - stick the landing.pdf - Google Drive

Peter, these guides are always amazing! I've seen a few of them now & they really are excellent! How do you make them? Is it using Word and copy-pasting from Musescore?

If you listed these for sale on your site I would certainly buy a few, they really are excellent quality. Is that something you've considered?
When you finish Part 2 of Bop Lines, I'd love a copy of that - this is such a great intro!

[pamosmusic]

Peter, these guides are always amazing! I've seen a few of them now & they really are excellent! How do you make them? Is it using Word and copy-pasting from Musescore?

If you listed these for sale on your site I would certainly buy a few, they really are excellent quality. Is that something you've considered?
When you finish Part 2 of Bop Lines, I'd love a copy of that - this is such a great intro!

My PDF game is, indeed, on point. But unfortunately I make them all on Finale, start to finish. So I have to get into Dorico here soon. I'm signed up for the free trial but I've been putting it off.

Honestly, yeah, I've thought about what to do with them. Still trying to figure that bit out. And this particular series is up to 15 parts ... about thirty-five pages. (shout out to Allan for beta testing them for me, though I did just realize I sent the old version of this one with a typo still in it that he caught -- oh well)

We'll see.

[jamiehenderson1993]

My PDF game is, indeed, on point. But unfortunately I make them all on Finale, start to finish. So I have to get into Dorico here soon. I'm signed up for the free trial but I've been putting it off.

Honestly, yeah, I've thought about what to do with them. Still trying to figure that bit out. And this particular series is up to 15 parts ... about thirty-five pages. (shout out to Allan for beta testing them for me, though I did just realize I sent the old version of this one with a typo still in it that he caught -- oh well)

We'll see.

Incredible! Well, let me know if you do decide to sell them, because I'd pay good money for this series alone!

[AllanAllen]

Something I've been shedding recently in my practice is trying to develop my knowledge and fluency with chromatic notes. Having done a bit of digging and transcribing I've found that some really common devices are:

• Chromatic below or above any chord tone (of a single arpeggio)
• Chromatic below or above the Root of a target chord (can practice this diatonically on each chord)
• [Repeat above for 3rd, 5th, 7th etc]
• You can then repeat all of the above with a double chromatic approach tone
• Chromatic neighbour tone through an arpeggio (hit the target and desc or asc by a half step before hitting the target again)
• Enclosure to the R, 3rd, 5th etc (Scale tone above, chromatic below then Target note)
• [You can also reverse this and do (Chromatic below, scale tone above then Target)
• Double Chromatic Enclosure (hit the chromatic below the chromatic below!!), then Scale tone to Target)

It's kind of endless .....


My question is, what do I do with this info? Like is there a systematic way of parsing this or am I making this WAY more complicated than it needs to be? Should I just be looping a progression and trying out a few of these things over the chords and seeing what sounds nice to my ears?

I've checked out Cecil Alexander's YT vids on Bebop and the Jerry Coker Book "Elements of the Jazz Language", but I'm a bit stumped as to how to apply this? Are there Etudes or a book of exercises that actually demo this like the Coker book above?

Thanks in Advance.

Are you learning songs and playing with people? You can't master jazz in your bedroom, and then go play with other people... You have to play with other people as soon as possible.

[GuyBoden]

You can use 'Approaches and Enclosures' with arps to make them a bit more interesting.

Below, is a simple example using an 'F Major arp (pivot)' and an enclosure around the 'C Major root':


Many more example licks here:
https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/impr...mpendium-3.htm

[Bob_Ross]

Slight Digression: Can anyone point me toward a source for where the term "enclosures" originated, or how/when/where it got popularized?

I consider myself a fairly well educated musician: I earned a Bachelor of Music degree from The Berklee College of Music, and a Master of Music degree from The New England Conservatory of Music. I studied music theory & arranging in high school before getting those degrees, and I continued reading academic papers and articles for years after getting those degrees. Plus I took guitar lessons from a handful of hip literate jazz cats (including Chuck Loeb! ...once) throughout my late teens.

But all of that education was pretty much before the explosion of the internet. And in all that education I never encountered the term "enclosures".

Reading a summary of "enclosures" (thanks to Google's AI Overview) I get the impression it's just another name for what I was taught to call Upper + Lower Approach Notes. Is that all it is?

And, is "enclosures" a term that sprung up in the last ~25 years via some internet influencer(s), or was it a legitimate musical term from way back that I simply managed to never cross paths with?

Thanks.

[wolflen]

Slight Digression: Can anyone point me toward a source for where the term "enclosures" originated, or how/when/where it got popularized?

I consider myself a fairly well educated musician: I earned a Bachelor of Music degree from The Berklee College of Music, and a Master of Music degree from The New England Conservatory of Music. I studied music theory & arranging in high school before getting those degrees, and I continued reading academic papers and articles for years after getting those degrees. Plus I took guitar lessons from a handful of hip literate jazz cats (including Chuck Loeb! ...once) throughout my late teens.

But all of that education was pretty much before the explosion of the internet. And in all that education I never encountered the term "enclosures".

Reading a summary of "enclosures" (thanks to Google's AI Overview) I get the impression it's just another name for what I was taught to call Upper + Lower Approach Notes. Is that all it is?

And, is "enclosures" a term that sprung up in the last ~25 years via some internet influencer(s), or was it a legitimate musical term from way back that I simply managed to never cross paths with?

Thanks.

Bob..very impressive academics .. I'm more impressed with your lesson with Chuck Loeb!

Musical terms that describe different aspects of technique, theory, harmony and melody evolve as our language does..to add new words to
describe a repeated event in daily life..the "hip-hop" dialect is a good example..using new terms to describe common events,people, places etc.

"He is "fly"...the party was "Phat"..in your "grill"..

to me an enclosure means "to surround"..it could be seen by some as quotation marks or similar grammatical devices to highlight a particular
word or phrase..in music it would be notes.

I studied with a guitar god for two years..in that time he never used the term "mode"..I did not realize he was teaching me them but not using
that term..I recall we studied "scale degrees"

[GuyBoden]

For any player just starting using Enclosures over chord changes, it's a good idea to start simple. Try targeting the roots or thirds over ii-V-I chord changes.

Below, a simple enclosure example:


Edit:
Then change the rhythm of the notes.
Example below:

[Al Haig]

My question is, what do I do with this info? Like is there a systematic way of parsing this?

My goal with my thread was to summarize the different types into groups to make them easier to remember and use. I came up with:

Approach: 1-3+ chromatic notes from above or below.
Enclosure: Half or whole step from above, half step from below. Or reverse.
Run through: Main note, whole or half step from above, half step below, main note.
Neighbor tone: Main note, whole or half step up or down, main note.

You can also combine them like in your op example of an enclosure with 2 chromatic below to 1 note above, which would be approach and enclosure in my system. A guy in Open Studio class came up with a cool one which was neighbor to enclosure which sounds pretty CP. Main note, scale tone above, main note, chromatic below, scale tone above, main note (to interval below).

[RobSilver7]

“My question is, what do I do with this info?”

One thing you could do is get the Charlie Parker book and look at all his solos and identify how these chromaticisms are used by him (and all other bebop players). Most of Bebop is built on spelling out chord movements, using these chromatic skills.

[Al Haig]

^ Absolutely. That's how jazz lines first clicked for me when I analyzed the CP omnibook. Plus his use of chromatics to embellish chord tones.

[GuyBoden]

For any player just starting using Enclosures over chord changes, it's a good idea to start simple. Try targeting the roots or thirds over ii-V-I chord changes.

Below, a simple enclosure example:


Edit:
Then change the rhythm of the notes.
Example below:

For any player just starting using Enclosures over chord changes, below shows a slightly more complex practice example of using Enclosures than my previous posts.

[Christian Miller]

You can learn an awful lot by closely examining a head like Along Came Betty. Also listen out for the way players embellish melodies. Often they’ll use enclosures.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rpjazzguitar]

If I understand it, the idea is that you have a target note.

In most of the examples the strong beats (right on 1 and 3, for example) are chord tones.

So, if you're playing eighth notes in 4/4, you start on a chord tone. Then you have three unspecified notes and then another chord tone. So, 1 and 3 are chord tones. 1& 2 2& don't have to be.

So, how are you going to connect the chord tones in a way that doesn't sound too jagged?

I'd probably just scat sing until I found something I like and then I'd put it on the guitar.

But, for a more structured approach, you could pick chord tones for 1 and 3. Then, decide that 1& be a half step from 1. And, then, that 2& be a half step from 3. And, then you fiddle around until you get something that sounds good to you.

If you can, write the line in a notebook or notation software in standard notation. That has a way of cementing things in memory.

Then you could mix in whole steps, or other intervals. You could listen to the greats and copy some of their ways of connecting things.

And, whatever you do, the most important thing is time-feel. So, don't make the mistake that some have (me) and neglect time feel while you're doing a lot of musical math.