Vol.4 - Mastering Improvisation

The Complete

Jazz Guitar

Method

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JODY fiSHER

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The Complete Jazz Guitar Method

Beginning. Int

ermediate· Mastering

Chord

/Melody· Mastering Improvisation

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JODY FISHER

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Alfred,

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publishing. and the

National Guitar

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America's

finest guitar

SGt;ools,

have

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to bring

you

th

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best. mos

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progressive

educational

tools poss

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We

hope

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enjoy

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fine

products

from

Alfred

and

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Natio

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Workshop.

Copyrlgh/ C MCMXCV Alfred PubIJsfW)g Co" lne. All nghts reserved. Pnnlcd In USA

Acqut$IIICn. fId.I~I. muse; ')'pftumng . ... renor des'f1'I N.Ir..NtII GI..nxt, Worl<shop MS CO ~ MId ~rtld by Slflve RobMson .t SUlodJitf1 Room Only Studios, Fom.an.a, c.kfolflQ

Ph(Jfo .CQUlsir>Oll: MIChIJIII A/I8in. Workshop Arts

Cover pII% Jeff OShIro'

c-erdeqm;

Ted E.,bJrltlManhfl WlClm.fIIl CoIlsull"'!1 editor. Unk ~msberper. AlflfIfJ Publtshttfl

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ... .. INTRODUCTION ... S

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Chapter 2 -The Minor Scales and Their Modes_":

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Lenon I: The MelodIC M,I'IOf' Sale

Lenon 2: The Modes of the Melodic MII'IOf' Sale Lesson 1: ArpeggIOs In the Melodic M,nor Snle Lesson 4. The HumonIC MIIlOI'Sale

Lesson 5: The Modes of the Harmonic MII'IOf' 5ule Lesson 6: Arpeu'os in the HarmOl'1lC MInor Sale

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,-Lenon I: Chord Supenmpomioo _ _ _ " __ '_'~_"'_"' ____ ~""M' _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ "

Lesson 2: Melodoc Plttems B.ued Around Arpegpn SO

Lesson 1. Melodic Plttems Sued Around Chord ShIpes _ 52

Chapter" -Eight-Tone Scales 53

The Elght·Tone ii·V? SCale ___ ._N.~

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53 The Elght·Tone 1 Sc:a.le __ ._ .. _. ___ ._._ .. __ ~ .. _ ... _ .. _. ____ • __ .. ______ ..

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53

2 Table 0( Contents

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S~ConncctlngYour Idcu ~'" Lc~o~ I :Thc-Ch;omnic Connectl, .. ,

LCHon 2; Accentv~un& lhe DIfference Belween Keys ..

Lesson] LeHon" Lenon 5

Repnl,ng ~n tdn ,n D,fferent Oct;Jves . RhythmIC Mowfcs,,, ... ..

MelodIC ConnectIon ...

Lenon 6 Oiatonic Connection ... " ... .

CODA--A Medley of Suggestion! ond Musical Concepu Play'"g on Ihe ExtenSIons Usm& Adv~nced Pent;Jtonin ...

PI~y'n& on the EJnensoons Us.ng Tones From I] Chon;

Pl1yon& W,th Wider Intervals.

SymmetriCal MotIves ..

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';~:'i.~,r?;,::·,t>:"'S5-.;;".7' ··,~·:rr:\K;~·7?~1j . . . ___ ,-,. _.~._ •. _.,., ... ,._. :...-. .. !L.,~;t ... 55 . .... 57 ... S9

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.. ... 60 62 .. ... 62

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. ... 63 ... 63 .. ... 6)

A compact disc is available for each book in this series. These discs can moke Icarning with these baoks cosier ond mort' enjoyable. This sym.' "I will appear ncxt to every example that is on the

:

0.

Use the CO to h. iJ insure that you are capturing the feel of the examples, interpreOng the rhythms correctly, and so on. The Track num!..crs below the symbols correspond directly to the example you wont to hear. Trock / will help

you tune to the CD. Have fun!

ABOUT TH( AUTHOR

Jody Fish!!,. h~s worked profeulon~lIy in ... irtu~Jly all $tries of music during his career, from stnight-ahead ;and contempor.ary jnz, to rock 'n' roll, country. pop and show tunes. He uught Guitar and JUI Studies :It the University of Redlands ttl Southern California and

;at the Idyllwild School of Music and (he Arts (ISOMATA). An active performer tn the

Southern Cillifornia area. he still mainQins ;a priViltC! teillching pMlCtice. serves on the fac-ulty of the University of

u.

Verne, ilnd ;n an ISSOClue director of the National GUitar

Summer Workshop's California ~lnd N:l5lwille campuses Jody Fisher is the lurnal'" of the Guilor Mode Encyclopedia, also published by the Nuional GuiurWorkshop and A1(red.

4 About the Aumor

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I NTRODUUION

GUItar students typically spend a lot of time looking around for informulon that will take them to a higher level. When I was growing .'p. it was very dIfficult to learn how to play jazz. There were no instructional videos, and the books that were available were just not

very helpful. There were no guitar Khools. Most students were self-taught and some

look tenons. but really good teachers were very hard to find. I w;u lucky-rve had some

great teachers.

Today. there are videos, books, guiur schools, upes, CDs and very ulented tuchers all

over the place. But there is nili something missing: books thu give a complete overview of whu you need to know to become a proficient juz guitarist. Hopefully, this seriu fills that gap.

A,ny student who suru with Ikeinnin:jau Guitar and proceeds through the entire series will be exposed to most of what they need to know to play jan guiur. You will find some complelC subje<:u in this book, as well as some very simple ideas that you un start to use immediately. Chapter I begins with a discussion of improvising over altered dominant chords.

This book is not for beginnen, It is for guit:ilrisu that have worked through 8eginningjazl Guitor and Intermediore j011 Guil:or, or have received the same sort of information else· where. To get the mOst out of this book you should be proficient with the penutonic

sules, blues scales, the major scale, diatonic hilrmony lind chord scales, transposition,

diatonic arpeggios, neighbor tones, triads, licks and formulas for eICtended and altered

chords.

Each leuon in the first two books had tWO seperate sections. The "A" sections dealt with harmonic principles and chord work while the"S" sectiom handled the tOpiC of single.line

improvisation. This entire book (oncerns ruelf with single.line improvisation. It suns

right where the "S" sections in the intermediate book left off. Moster;n: Jazz Guirar;

Chord/Melody starts where the "A" seclions of the intermedilile book left off. You may

want to go through the book in order, or you m3Y want to use it as a sourcebook of

concepts and techniques to investigne in your own way.

The concepts and exercises in this book ilre intended to inspire you for a lifetime of study and enjoyment_ Since juz improvisation is an ever expanding field of information. one

never really finishes doing this work.. Enjoy the journey.

•

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•

•

Improvising Over Altered

Dominont (hordJ

Altered dominant chords Ut some of the: most distinctive sounds in jan. Much of the

ch.lllienge and enjoyment of playing jazz comes from learning how [0 improvise using the altered tones from these chords. At times. th,s may seem like a formidable usk. and in

some repects. it is. The key is to digest this m:lterial 3. litde at 11 time.

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Before we move much further. let's define some vocabulary. You will see the term device quite often. For Our purposes, a de'lice is any tool thn we use for improvising. Scales, licks. upeggios and melodic patterns are all considered devices. Another term that will be used often is ideo. An ideo

is simply any melodic indination you may have at any particular time. I( you have been improvising exclusively over un'lltered diatonic chords, you 'lroe probably

wondering how to surr adding the ~Itered tones. There are man)' ways, but we will begin by using sc~les. A chord with ~Itered tones is a chord that conuins a ~5 (or II I). :5,~. ~

or 'lny combination of chese. Many students believe th~t you simply ~dd these tones co existing sc~les and ~rpeggios thOlt you already know. This is pan of the picture. but there are many easier and more organized ways to ~ccomplish the same end. There are different

scales ch~t cont'lln these altered tones. Part of the tuk at hand is to leun which altered tones ~re found in what scales. then organize these scales in your mind and practice apply-ing them over the 'lppropriace chord change~. The first of these scales we'lI be ulking about is che diminished scale.

The formub (in half steps and whole steps) for the diminished scale is W-H.W_H_W_H_ W-H.

Here it is in G. diagramed along nch individual string where the formula is eisy to see.

THE G DIMINISHED SCALE

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Chapter I-Improvising Ov.,or Alterc:d Dominant Chords 7

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The diminished scale is especially important in jazz improvis.1tion because it has multiple uses. Obviously. it works well over diminished triads and diminished 7th chords. When

you start this scale on the root of a diminished chord. the scale contains all of the chord tones of aU four possible enharmonic spellings of that diminished chord.

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A litde less obvious is the dlmmished scale's use over altered dominant chords. When we apply the diminished sule to altered dominant chords (excluding the =5, since the dlmished

scale has a 15). we play the scale whose root is one half step higher than the root of the

chord. For instance, play an A~ Diminished scale over an altered G Dominant chord.

Example 5 shows how the ~S (or :11). ~.and '9 are included in the Kale.

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Example 6 shows

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chords thiS scale can be used over.

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Part of your training as a jazl! musIcian IS to learn to recognrze the sound of altered tOnes in chords, This will help you know

which sCiles to use and whn notes to emphisize. Ear.training·h beyond the scope of this book. but it IS well worth

your time to investigne this subject

thoroughly.

Chorley Chriltion

8 Chapter I_Improvising Over Altered Dominant Chords

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Here are (our fingerings for the diminished scale In G. Memorize and prOlCllce them with

melodic patterns that you know. Also.lun spend some tIme noodhng around WIth them.

This wilt help you get aquainted with the sound.

THE G DIMINISHED SCALE

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XV These fingerings require quite a few shifts from one position to another. When pruticing shifts, try to make it sound like there wu no shift 'll 'lIt Do not slide into position or

lessen the time value of ilny nOle to get to the neKl note in time. If you ilre Shifting from your fourth finger to your first finger on the same string. listen to how it sounds when you

pl.lly the first note WIth your first finger and the second note with your third finger. Then

try to duplicate that sound with the correct fingering. Your listener should not be able [ 0

he.llr the ShIrL

Some plOlyers prefer to look at this scale as the "half_whole" scale when It Is used over

.lIitered dominant chords. The sule still alternates whole seeps and half steps. it's just that you start with a half step instead of a whole seep. as in the diminished sule. If you prefer this way of thinking, then the scale would begin on the roOt of the Olltered dominant chord

instead of.ll hOlif-step above. It's a matter of personal preference. ExperimenL

CNpter I-Improvising Over Altered Dominant Cht.>rds 9

7

Here Is a sampling of licks based on the diminished 5c~le. Memon:c the ones you like ~nd

U~rt using them oyer diminished ~nd ~rtered domin~nt chords In your solos. The ublnurc

proYided shows only one of the possible fingerings for these licks. Experiment pbYlng

them In ~n possible fingerings. Try mJking up Ilcb of your own, too.

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I 0 Ch~pter I- Improvising Over Altered Domin~nl Chords

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Here is ~n eX.1mple of the dimini$hed $c~le c.ned in the chord progreuion from the firn SIKteen b"rs of Duke Ellington's -T"ke the "A" Train," linen to Joe P"ss and Wes Momgomery for their frequent use of the diminished scale.

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12 Chapter I-Improvi$ing Over Altered Oomin"nt Chords

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Thb ,ule Is very useful for soloing over altered dominant chords. Here is the formula for

the whole tone sule: W.W_W_W_W_W. W

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The following diagram shows the C Whole Tone scale along smgle urings.

THE C WHOLE TONE SCALE

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There are really only twO whole tone scales. Because of the arn.ngement of whole Steps, whole tone scales beginning from every other note on the chromatic sule contam ident!-ul tones (remember that we can enharmoniident!-ully respell any note). Or, you un mink of the whole tone scale as repeating itself every malor 2nd.

look at the last note of me CWholeTone scale in Example 1 S. On paper. the last nOte, C. looks like a diminished 3rd (AI to C) instead <Jf a major 2nd (AI to B~. which are both whole step Intervals. ThiS makes the last inte~1 in the scale look unlike a whole step on paper. The enharmoniC spelling, C. is used because the B: is more difficult to read.

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The CWhole Tone scale contains the same notes ;1.5 the 0, E, FI, GI (A~) and AI (B1

Whole Tone scales,

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chord. Example 17 shows the G

W~ole Tone scale and the chord tone~ It conUins. Example 18 shows some chords the

scale will work over.

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Here ;Ire five fingerings for the CWholeTone sule. Memorize ;lnd pract,ce them from all roots. Be sure to apply your melodic patterns too.

THE C WHOLE TONE SCALE

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Here are some lieks based on the whole tone scale. Learn the ones you enJoy and ;tart

using them over dominant chords with a IS orIS. Making up licks of your own is something you should be doing all the time. It's a good way to get to know the scales you are learning, The licks you leun should alw.lys be practiced in all fingerings and octaves, The

tablature is only here to give you a quick SUrt.

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Antonio Carlos jobim, and utilizes the whole tone scale on 715 chords. It also u~e~ the diminished scale over both diminished chords and altered dominants.

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The formul~ for the super locri~n scale is: H_W_H·W.W_W.W. It is aClUally the seventh mode of the melodic minor scale. By suning on the seventh degree of the melodk minor scale and proceeding to the Hrne note one octave higher. you crcate a super laerian mode.

This scale is a weaving together of the diminIshed and whole tone scales. The flnt h1if of

the scale is diminished and the second moves in whole tones. learn the scale along indio

vidual strings. Here it is in E.

THE E SUPER LOCRIAN SCALE

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This scale has multiple uses. It works well over miniS (half-diminished) chords since it

corresponds to the vii chord in the harmonil.ed melodic minor scale. We will discuss this

humony in grener decilluer in this book.

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~S~ J I ).IS. ~ and !9--every pouible alteruion! 8egin this scale on the root of the altered

dominant chord you wish to improvise over. Some players prefer to think of this as sarting on the root of the melodic minor scale one half step above the root of the altered dominant

chord. In other words. when improvising over an altered G7 chord you could think in terms of playing anA~..Melodic Minor scale. instead of a G Super locrian scale. It all leads to

the same place and is a muter of personal preference.

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Here are several licks bued on the super Icerian sule. Tr;anspose them to all possible keys .lind sun using them in your solos. ElCpenment with d,fferent fingerings. too.

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There ~re many wlyS to solo over illtered dominant

chords, and we will cover many of them in thiS book. The

diminished. whole tone 'I'd super toenan scales shoulJ

be conSIdered b.uic. lnrn these well and you wIn find

chern useful in almon every s.[uuion where altered chords

ne present. Veteran juzen Tal Farlow. Wes Mont80m .

ery. John Scofield and Pu Metheny all use these sounds.

listen to alot of jazz played on .1111 instruments OInd you

will become bmlhar with these devices.

Pat Matheny

20 Chapter I-Improvising Over Altered Domlnam Chords

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Now thilt you have surted experimenting with the ;IIltered tones found in the diminished,

whole tone :lind super loerian sQles. you m ... y be wondering JUSt where these sounds ue most useful.

The answer i~: any time you need to improvise over an altered dominanl chord. Many times this will be in the context of ii· V7-1 progressions. although altered chords ue

cer-uinl)' found elsewhere as well. It is tr;lldicion ... 1 to alter the V7 chord in ii· V7-1 progreso

siam. Just m;ake sure (h.lt the altered tones don't clash with the melody or 5010 being played at the time. Cood (lHC should dictltc your choices.

You need to be able to recognire the altered sounds within the chords, ;and then choose the ;appropriue scale to solo with. One relson lltered tone recognition is so imporu.nc is thlt we need co spell ovt the chord chlnges in ovr solos by snning phrlses on chord cones. Spelling out the chlnges refers to making sure we un actull1y heu che chord chlnges

in the solo-even if there is no chordal lccompanimenc being played . .If chis concept is

new for you check out the wS·· sections in Ch1pter 2. Lessons 3 through 7 in Intermedlote Jou Guicor.

Many pllyers like to scart their phnses on the highest lltention in the chord. For

ex-ample. when playing over 1

GrS:<IJ.

suning 1 phrase on the ~ would really capture the flavor of the chord. You should feel free to scart on any chord tone. You will have to experiment ;lnd let your ear be )'Our guide.

Below. you will find mlny enmples of the use of lltered scales over ii-V7-1 progressions.

You will ;lisa find examples of neighbor-tone approaches to chord tones to help with

spelling out th~ changes (neighbor. tone approaches <Ire covered thoroughly in Chapter 2 of Intermediate Jozz GUltor). Once you have learned these enmples. St1rt making up your

own. The task at h1nd is to leun to get from whnever device you 1re using to improvise over the ii chord to the .lIlcered sule of your choice for the V7.and fin.llily to a device that

works well over the I chord. Secoming proficient n this takes a while. $0 h;lVe patience.

The good news is that 1S you pursue this study. you will gain more concrol over your solos

than you could ever imalline. The options .lire numerous 1nd so are the potential melodies.

Hlve fun!

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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ w _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ,

10-<1

22 Chapter I-Improvising ~r Altered Dominant Chords

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24 Ch<apter I-Improvising Over Altered Domin~nt Chords

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26 Chapter I-Improvisinl Over Altered Dominant Chords

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You should be getting comfortable using the diminished, whole tone and super !cerian

scales within the context of ii-V7-! progressions. Make sure you are training your e~r to

recognize the various altered tones when you hear them. While aU of this training Iuds to some very powerful improvising skills, there is still another step thac will help you locate your altered tones more easily.

In Intermediate jazz GUitar you learned some fingerings for the diatonic arpeggios. At that point. you were learning how to SUrt your phrases from chord tones and how to e mbel-lish them with neighbor tones. Now that you are playing over chords with altered tones,

you need a system to quickly locate those tones not found in the diatonic sule. Don't

paniC! You don't need to learn a new set of arpeggios. The system that foHows is a quick and easy way to memorize where all the altered tones are in relation to a chord·s root.

Thir.k of these as small isolated clusters of alee red tones-not scales. and not arpeggios.

These dusters should be memorized. You will actually find them very easy to learn. Here's how you use altered clusters: Your ear tells you that a

crs

chord is being played. You decide to start your phrase from a chord tone. You locate a

75

cluster and begin a phrase with one of those tones and continue on with :"""'hatever device comes to mind. These dusters are particularly helpful when the chord changes are moving along quickly

and there is no time to really develop a scale idea. Hitting one of the chord tones ensures thlt you will still be spetling out the changes. This is a more effective way to begin phrases and reinforce the altered sounds than only working with scales.

There are eight different kinds of altered duners shown here (7'S. 7lS.

A,

"1-9. rs~,

I-Sl9. ,..S~ and 7:S~) and there are five clusters shown over the fingerboard (or each one. Each cluster has a roo~ (R). a )rd (3) and a 7th

(7)

in addition to whatever altered tone(s)

there may be (S.lS. ~ or ~). The naturalS is also added to chose clusters in which there

is no altered S. Playing these clusters will help you hear the basic structure of the chords.

Pat Martino

28 Chapter I- Improvising Over Altered Dominant Chords

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30 Chapter I- Improllising Over Altered Dominlnt Chords

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32 Chapter 1-lmproYising Over Altered Dominant Chords

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Here are some examples showing me use of altered dusters. Eath example is shown in one posItion and ocuve. It is very important to pl~y all of the examples In ~II possible fingerings and octaves. By mis stage of your development, this process should be consid·

ered basic and routine with everything you le.lorn.

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LESSON 6: RI;VAMPING LICKS

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hlr-monic situuions. Revamping your licks in this

manner is :a very good way of gecting more mile-age out or them, It will also gua~ntee thu you

always have enough ideas to use for 0111 the

vari-ous altered chords,

In Example 52, the original lick (A) is put through

a number of altcrnions (B-l). PUt some of your

Own licks through the same changes.

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34 Chillpter I-Improvising Over Altered Dominant Chords

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The Minor

Irotes

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Their Modes

In this chJpter yoCl will be IC<lIrning .. bout the melodic and harmonic minor sules and their modes. LeJrning this m.nerial will give you more w~s to handle illtered dominant

chords lind other interesting hJrmonic situations you will encounter Iner in this book.

Take your time with this. This chapter serves liS il basic overview of the subject.. For;li

complete study of each mode. I suggest you work through the Guitar Mode Encyclopedia, also published by Afred and the NationJI GuiurWorkshop.

These sounds have been used for centuries in many different

contexu.

listening to players such as Frank Gambale. Scott Henderson, Mike Stern and John Scofield will show

you how lhese sounds work in the contemporary jau style.

The three minor scales that are most commonly used in our culture are the natural minor, the melodic minor and the harmonic minor. The natural minor scale is the same as the Aeolian mode and was introduced in Intermediate Jazz Guiter.

Tnditionally. the melodic minor scale is thought of as a n.atun.1 minor scale with raised sixth and seventh degrees. but only in die ascending form. The descending form returns

to the natural minor. The reasons for this have to do with melodic composItional devices used in classical music. In chis book., and most others involving jazz studies. the term "melodic minor" refers to che ascending form only. Some jazz musicians call chis scale the "1al.Z minor."

You should approach the study of the melodic minor sale the same way you worked with the major scale in the previous volumes of this series. The first step is to check out

the fingerings. They are labeled based on the string and finger used to play the lowest rOOt in the fingering. Fingering 611 means that the lowest root found in the fingering is on the sixth string and played with the first finger.

sn

would indicate that the root is found on the fifth string and played with the second finger.

This system of labeling fingerings works well for the major and minor scales. Fingerings

for the other scales we have studied thus far in this book do not fall so neatly into this system. In any case. most of the things you learn need to be explored In all fingerings-not JUSt the ones used for examples in this book, In the subsequent !essons we'lI uke a look at the chords and modes genen.ced by this scale and their applications. Following all that we'll investigne some arpeggios relued to this scat~,

36 Ch:r.pter 2- The Minor Scales and Their Modes

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along single strings.

THE F MELODIC MINOR SCALE

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Here are six fingerings for the melodic minor scale in locked positions. They :are shown here in the key of A Minor. but you should move these around the fingerboard to alt the

keys and pnctice them with a variety of melodic patterns.

A MELODIC MINOR

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Chapter 2-The Mioor Scales and Their Modes 37