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4th Chords and Quartal Harmony

30 June 2010

As I have discussed in previous posts, traditional harmony/theory constructs chords in intervals of a third. There is another type of chord construction that is quite common in jazz, called “quartal harmony” or sometimes better known as “4th chords.” Quartal harmony is most commonly associated with the modal jazz of the late 1950′s and 60′s. [...]

Upper Structure Triad Soloing

21 June 2010

4 Comments

Triads are cool. Without them, Bach probably would have been a hay baler or something to that effect. Without triads, I would probably be writing about air guitar or something mundane like the proper way to stuff your spandex before playing that 80′s high school reunion you got tapped to do. A triad, as you [...]

Rhythm Changes for Dummies

16 June 2010

0 Comments

Now before you get your panties in a bunch, the picture on the left is just for fun. There is no “Rhythm Changes for Dummies” book, though I’m sure someone has thought about writing it. If you’ve ever wondered where the “Rhythm” in “Rhythm and Blues” comes from, now you know. “Rhythm Changes” is a [...]

Jazz Blues Lines

15 June 2010

0 Comments

Sorry there was no post yesterday, everyone. I was quite under the weather yesterday due to a bad allergy attack from spending time in a house with three cats. Needless to say I’m not their biggest fan. Anyway, I wanted to start off the week by giving you some actual material you can practice with. [...]

Improvising Pentatonics

8 June 2010

2 Comments

I’ve been digging into pentatonics since starting my new practice regimen for my Six-Month Challenge. I’ve mostly been starting with Jerry Bergonzi’s “Pentatonics” book, which is very good. There are a lot of very cool pentatonic applications over certain chords that will give some very interesting sounds. I’m going to show you a few, but [...]

Spice Up Your Pentatonics

23 March 2010

0 Comments

We all play them. We all play them all the time. We all play them all the time pretty much the same way as everyone else. Sure, you can bend the note longer, or change your vibrato somewhat, but for the most part we’re all pretty much riding the same animal. So what can we [...]

Jam Tracks Added

19 January 2010

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The Downloads page now features two jazz jam tracks, with more jam tracks to be added as time goes on. The first two are ii-V-I progressions in the keys of Bb Major and Eb Major.