So, I want to take a second today and address what has become a pretty touchy topic with
some of you on social media regarding chord scales. Specifically, the chord scale labels
that you might find below the chords in Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro. How we found them,
why they're there, and how to use them. To be clear, these chord scales are not here to inform
you which scale to play on every single chord. Running scales up and down over a progression,
is not the way to approach improvisation. I repeat: Improvisation is not scales! Okay, so why are they
there then? "If you're new to mDecks Music, we create music books and apps, piano arrangements, and we
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So subscribe and hit the bell, and join us for exclusive access to our ever expanding library of
music resources." Let's talk about the chord symbols shown in any lead sheet. So here I have Afternoon
In Paris, and you can see Cmaj7 Cm7 F7 to Bbmaj7, and so on. These symbols are
very useful for improvisation because they give us information about the harmonic progression. These
chords paint a picture of tension and release in the tunes harmony. When I see this Cmaj7, I know
the note E will sound very consonant - because it's the 3rd of the chord. That means that if I target
the E on this chord, I can release any tension created by other notes that I've been playing so
far to that point. The same applies to this G7b9. Having a b9 in the chord symbol tells me
the Ab is a good note to use over this chord. Can I play other notes? Can I play an A natural?
Of course you can! But you know it'll create much more tension than the Ab. A Cmaj7
is built with the notes C E G and B. This allows us to classify these four notes as chord tones.
And we can go even further and classify C as the root and E and B as the guide tones. The root
is what bass players usually concentrate on, and the guide tones hold the essence of the chord.
But what about all the other notes? How do they fit in to thisCmaj7? This Cmaj7 chord
symbol is a 7th chord, and offers a picture of the entire spectrum using just four notes C E
G and B. But isn't a D a great note to use over a Cmaj7? What about F# or Ab?
Well, hold that thought... First, let's take a look at the other chord we mentioned earlier G7b9.
Now, the G7b9 tells us a bit more. G7b9 is G B D F and Ab - five notes! Now, we have all
the chord tones in the chord and one tension - the Ab. This b9 tells me that the progression
is borrowing from the minor mode. When we use the b9 on a dominant chord, we get a dominant
that implies a minor target. So if i want to really target minor, I could play a b13 - Eb - as well.
So why not write the chord out as a G7b9b13. In this case we'd be providing information on
six notes. With the chord symbol expressed like this, the minor target implications are even
stronger. The b13 - Eb - has a definite pull towards the Cm chord. Or if we wanted to imply
minor, but underneath secretly say I'm still going to go to Cmaj7, we could write a G7b9(13) .
This is a nice sounding G7 chord - both borrowing from minor and targeting major at the same time.
We can always decide to paint a more complete picture of a chord by labeling more
tensions. In the Cmaj7 we could write Cmaj7(9) or even Cmaj7(9,13) or, if we want a lydian
sound ,write Cmaj7(9,#11,13). Now, we are specifically asking for seven notes in the chord
C E G B D F# and A, the problem with chord symbols is that they are also used by the rhythm
section to create voicings for comping. So, if we write Cmaj7(9,#11,13) the rhythm section
will try to play the complete chord - because it's tradition to intentionally write altered tensions -
when we need the piano or the guitar player to play those specific tensions. So if I want to imply
lydian, I would just write Cmaj7#11, but if we write Cmaj7(9,#11,13) we're telling
the rhythm section to make sure that they play all of these tensions. And that's how most people
are interpreting these chord scales. Chord scales are giving the harmonic implications of seven notes.
Writing Lydian underneath a Cmaj7, is like saying Cmaj7(9,#11,13)
with the only difference that we're not telling the rhythm section that they have to include
all of these notes. So, these chord scales are like chord symbols in a way. They supplement the
information provided by the chord symbols. Also chord scales allow us to provide
information on avoid tensions. On this Cmaj7 - paired with the Ionian scale - we're also saying:
"hey, there's an F natural in this Cmaj7". We could have never written Cmaj7(9,11,13) unless
we wanted this chord to sound awful! But the chord scale notation is ideal, since it tells us the F is
part of the overall sound on this tonic sounding chord. Can we play an F# instead? Of course!
But that's not the point! Any note goes with any chord! It's a matter of what we want to say and
how we want to say it. If I use the F natural to connect some chord tones on this Cmaj7, we'd get...
That sounds inside! Now, what happens if I use an F#?... Now it sounds outside! It implies a
completely different harmonic function. It's not wrong, it just moves away from the expected path.
So, from now on when you see one of these chord scales, view it as additional information on
the chord that it's paired with. This Am7 paired with Aeolian, is telling me that a b6
is a much more inside sounding connector. While the Dm7 paired with Dorian,
says that the natural 6th sounds more inside. And yet the chord symbols are both minor 7 chords!
And of course the information provided is also improved by functional analysis. Like in "Recorda-me"
where these Am7 Dorian and Cm7 Dorian chords are both functioning as a one dorian - implying
the natural 6th could be used as a target, while this Cm7 dorian is functioning as a
iim7. Here the natural 6th would add too much of a dominant texture, and therefore
would be better utilized as a stepping stone - rather than a target note. Otherwise, we would
lose the subdominant sound that we want on a iim7 chord. Thanks again for watching, to
dive deeper into some of the topics that we talked about today, you can click on this video - that talks
more about chord chord-scale pairing (USTs) - and this video right here - with a full analysis of Recorda-me