Jazz Line number 1...
In order to take full advantage of this workout, we will first analyze the line and then you
will play a series of self evaluating exercises viewing the lick from different perspectives.
You can only go to the next exercise once the current one has been mastered in all twelve keys.
This line works well over a dominant chord and it is based on the mixolydian scale.
Remember the whole point is not to memorize the line, but to teach our ears and hands to
hear and say musical idioms that are part of the jazz language...
Oh, one more thing…. Practicing licks is a workout
not Improvisation! You do not want to play a rehearsed line when
you are improvising and sound like a robot. Improvisation is about being in the moment
and having a natural musical conversation where you know what the other members of the
group are talking about.
Ok let’s get started!
The line starts on the 1. C --in C7-- and moves to the b7 which is Bb.
Here’s your first challenge! Use the 7 as a passing tone between 1 and
b7. And play 1, 7, b7 in all keys. So this is a chromatic line.
Over F7, it will be F, E, Eb.
I loaded the dominant workout in Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro with 1 bar per chord which goes
around the circle of fifths.
Practice challenge 1 until you can play along with the piano player in our demo....
So how did you do? Ok, let’s keep analyzing the line.
So the next note is the 6th embellished by an upper neighboring tone. So we play 6, go
up a 1/2 step, and come back to 6. Then the 5 and the #11.
Notice that all these notes are part of the C mixolydian scale except for the #11, which
we can consider a target for practicing purposes. So we can outline this first part as a descending
line 1, b7, 6, 5, #11.
So here’s Challenge 2. Play this line in all twelve keys. We are ignoring the embellishment
at this point. Remember you are playing a descending mixolydian scale starting on the
1 and targeting the #11.
So here’s C7 in red and here’s F7 in blue.
Again we will use a 1 bar dominant workout around the circle of fifths, see if you can
play along....
Ok! Now we will think on our next target note, which
is the fifth -- here-- We are double approaching this note from bellow
and above, sometimes call "trapping the note."
we are approaching chromatically from the #11 and using the next note in the mixolydian scale
from above, which is A.
So here’s challenge 3!
We are adding the approach to the fifth, and then skipping down to the 1 as key reference.
So a mixolydian downward line starting one 1, targeting the # 11, and then double approach to the 5th.
And here’s in F --B is the #11--
Then we trap C -- which is the 5th -- and we leap down to one -- which is F --
We can now use a 2 bar dominant workout over the circle of fifths.
Practice this line until you can play along with our demo....
All right! The next note we want to use as a target is a 9th or 2.
So here’s Challenge number 4. We will just approach the 9 or 2 from the 1.
In C -- it's C to D-- and in F -- it's F to G--
So, we can go back to a 1 bar per chord dominant workout.
And here it is….
Our next target is the 3rd. We are approaching the 3rd using a double
chromatic approach from bellow and also trapping the note from above.
We start on the 9th, or 2. Then there are two lines embedded in the approach
A chromatic line going up -- from 9 to 3 -- and a chromatic approach from the 4th down
to 3. This is sometimes called "double trapping."
So the target is the 3rd we start on the 9th. One line goes up chromatically
and the other comes down. The actual shape is a leap up, leap down and
resolve.
So, here’s Challenge 5! We’ll start on the 9th and double approach
the 3rd trapping it. Then we will leap to the 1 as reference.
And this is how it looks in F7.
Here’s the demo. Try playing along....
Ok, last part of our line starts on the 3rd, where we left off.
Our target is now the 1. and it does 3, 5, 6, 1.
This is part of the pentatonic scale.
And don’t forget we were arriving at the 3rd by a chromatic approach from bellow!
So here’s challenge 6! We will consider two targets: he 3rd and
the 1. We get to the 1 using the pentatonic scale
starting on 3. And we approach the 3rd chromatically from below.
and here is in F7. and here’s challenge....
So far we’ve seen the entire lick, except for the embellishment with the neighboring
tone. So it would be a good idea to simplify the
embellishment for now leaving out the neighboring tone which will give us two eighths.
Here’s challenge 7, the entire lick without the embellishment.
Let’s play it!....
Great! Before we add the embellishment, lets take a look at the rhythm for the entire lick.
So Challenge 8 is to play the entire lick using a chromatic descending line starting
on the 1. This is also a great exercise to incorporate
rhythmic phrases that are part of the language. Here it is....
That’s it! We’ve analyzed and looked at the lick from different points of view. Using
and defining many concepts that are essential in the jazz language such as:
Scales degrees: 1, 3, 5, 6, b7, 7, 9, and #11.
Chord Scales: we talked about Mixo and Pentatonic.
Passing Tones: we used the 7th as a passing tone between 1 and b7.
Upper Neighboring Tones: the Bb above the A.
Target Notes: #11, 9 and 3.
Approaches, double approach, chromatic, triple and the concept of trapping.
And rhythm, using a chromatic descending line.
So we are ready to play the entire lick. In the process, we’ve done lots of ear training
and clarified all those concepts. Now it's time to play the entire lick. Let’s do it!
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Bye! :)