You must avoid making this one mistake while practicing!
So, the other day I was practicing this bebop lick...
I thought I had it, but when I tried it over a 2-5-1 backing track, it sounded wrong. At
different tempos, the swing was wrong, and at any tempo, some of the notes sounded awful. "Is it me,
or is this lick not as cool as i thought?" "If you're new to mDecks Music - we create music books and apps,
piano arrangements, and we discuss: improvisation , songwriting and sometimes, we take music theory
to strange and uncharted places. So subscribe and hit the bell, and join us for exclusive access to
our ever expanding library of music resources..." Guys, it's not always you! We always assume the backing
track is correct but many apps or backing tracks out there, aren't always a good match for the lick
that we're practicing. Some apps - like iReal - don't adjust the swing when we change to different
tempos, and very often use voicings that clash with our lines. Let me show you how I use Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro
to practice licks, to make sure that the backing track is actually there to help me
get better. So this lick is supposed to work on a 2-5-1. I create a new song open the analyzer and
enter Dm7 G7, and then 2 bars of Cmaj7. I hit analyze... there! A 2 5 1 in C major. Now when I
look at this lick, the descending line over the V chord is actually using the half diminished scale,
also known as the half-whole scale. And that was one of the issues when I was practicing with
other backing tracks. The voicings that these apps were playing were completely oblivious to
this subtle, yet crucial, aspect of the lick. But in Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro we can tell the app: "Hey,
make sure that you're using the half diminished on the V chord" Now I have aV7 that is paired
with the half diminished scale, and my lick is going to sound amazing with the voicings that
Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro will play now. All I have to do, is just use the 12 key workout tool.
The lick is four measures long, and iIll choose to modulate by perfect fifths let's try it...
Awesome! So it wasn't me after all. And if I change the tempo, the app will adjust the groove
to match it. And if I find a key that's hard - like here on this Ebm7 - which
is a bit tricky on the fingers - I can click on it and then choose to loop these four measures