SHOULD we study and practice scales and modes?

**princeplanet** · 05-08-2010, 11:48 PM

This whole argument about whether chord tones are more useful than scales confounds me. Scales give you the notes between the chord tones, they are your allies! Sure, you can get by with simply filling in chromatics between chord tones, and the reason you do this is to make sure the CT's land on strong beats. But if you use the "bebop" versions of common scales where you insert a chromatic to ensure starting on a CT in a scale ensures every other note is a chord tone, then there's no problem.
Anyway, using a long(ish) scale run to land on an important note and beat that has been targeted will usually sound OK, even if the run included non CT's on downbeats. Rythmic resolution is important too, right? Of course, you have blues scales where you can play with flagrant disregard for CT's, as they are an idiomatic sound that needs not resolve tensions the same way as usual. Again though, resolution in the time domain is "key"....

**Space Pickle** · 05-09-2010, 06:32 PM

The reason I argue against just running scale patterns is just due to my personal journey of learning how to play changes. I could never get running scales to work for me. It was always too much information: you have 2 octaves, so that's 15 possible notes plus you have different positions around the neck depending on how many patterns you know. I didn't play modes (now I think we can all agree THAT is a colossal waste of time) but I knew my theory quite well so I always knew what my key centers were and that let me put the right scale on the chord.

Even so, I wasn't improvising. Changing scales like that is hard, so I had to think really hard to keep up with medium tempo tunes and was unable to play uptempo. None of my lines anticipated the harmony or even really acknowledged the details of the harmony, either. More importantly, I wasn't hearing my lines so it was all just wank.

Then somebody clued me in to a few common jazz cliches. I learned the Gone but Not Forgotten lick, the Cry me a River lick, the Honeysuckle rose lick. I also got tipped off to playing chromatic approach tones (or whatever you want to call them) and a couple bebop scale licks, and it was like a lightswitch being flipped on. Because I was able to reduce the chord changes to (generally) either V or I and I was focused on playing a very small subset of the material (my cliche licks + chord tones + bop scales) I was all of a sudden able to hear my lines in my head.

I'm not saying I'm a great player. At this point in my career I can basically cop Grant Green when I'm having a good day but at least I'm on the right track. It's better than bashing my head against the wall trying to run scales. I'm also not saying don't learn scales. You should know the theory cold (i.e. what chord is derived from what mode or what scale) and you should be able to execute the scales in practise but my experience with improv has been that that's not the right track to get on. Just my personal take on it.

**Sailor** · 05-09-2010, 08:37 PM

Love the response spacepickle...very encouraging for someone who can already play and somehow feels the need to master all modes in all keys before proceeding. I will give your comments thorough thought.

Thanks, Sailor

**princeplanet** · 05-10-2010, 12:43 AM

Originally Posted by Sailor

Love the response spacepickle...very encouraging for someone who can already play and somehow feels the need to master all modes in all keys before proceeding. I will give your comments thorough thought.

Thanks, Sailor

Sure, but don't just throw away all the scale work, change it a little to make it useable. For example, alter every scale you know to ensure every down beat note is a chord tone, for c maj 7 try cdefgabdcdefgabd etc (or instead of the bdcd bit try bc#cd)
descending try: c Bb B agfed c Bb B agfed etc . Remember that you can start on any chord tone and always sound "in" against the chord. For C6 (Am7) the way to go is cdefgg#abc which works in descending also. For Am6 you have abcdeff#ga (descending also). For Dom7 chord it's mixo +nat 7th (or b9).
Not only do the chrom alteration leave you sounding right against the chord, but they sound way more "jazzier" than straight scales. After a while you work out intervallic patterns and your own licks based on these ideas. You then blend them in with your chord tone/arp based ideas. Add chromaticism, symmetrical scales, blues scales etc and you are well in your way to a formidable arsenal.