Do you have your list ready?

It’s that time of year again.

It’s the time of year when we all try to take a step back, look at what we’ve done over the past year and, more importantly, look at what we have not done. This is is the time of year when we mentally prepare ourselves by assembling a list of 800 guitar-related resolutions we want to accomplish in the new year.

We’ve all been there: learn all of the scales, arpeggios, cop a bunch of Charlie Parker licks, work on my picking… you know the drill.

For me, it was a very hard year for guitar in terms of practicing. I was not consistent at all, and I’ll be the first to admit that overall I lacked the motivation to see things through.

So for 2011 I am taking a more general approach.

This coming year my guitar resolutions is actually just one and, is perhaps, the hardest resolution you could ever make.

“Keep Going!”

Yes, as simple as it might sound, my resolution this year is to just keep plugging away at the guitar. I will set no specific long-term goals; I will not come up with a long list of things I absolutely must be able to do by this time next year; I will not kill myself to try and squeeze in a session with every free moment I have.

Nope. Not going to do it.

What I am going to do, however, is let the moments I have with my guitar be great moments. If I happen to be practicing something specific then I will be happy and appreciate what I’m working on. If I’m working on a new Din Within song with Mark, I will pour my heart and soul into my writing. If I (hopefully) get to do a few jazz shows with the quintet then I will make sure to listen and learn from the great players I surround myself with. If I’m working on my blog — which I wholeheartedly plan on continuing to do — I will be committed to writing the best that I can, in the most honest way I know how.

In other words, I’m not going to sweat it. I’m going to go with the flow.

You have to understand, this is not an easy thing for me to do. I’m always busy with a thousand things, I am always in a hurry, and I always overload my life. It’s no wonder I couldn’t keep up a regular practice schedule!

If I manage to walk away being just >thismuch< better as a guitar player than in 2010 then I will consider my resolution a monumental success.

As you start working on your list for 2011, be honest with yourself. Don’t try to take on too much. If you can’t stay motivated then there is no point.

Keep Going!

It’s Time for Your 2011 Guitar Resolutions is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Come Together Move Apart

I would like to get things rolling again here on Fretterverse by talking about a new CD from one of my friends, Nat Janoff. I have known Nat for a while now, and I was very happy when he sent me his latest CD – Come Together Move Apart.

One of the things I love the most about “the scene” is that there seems to be a never-ending supply of great music out there. Sometimes you have to look for it; other times, like in my case with having a friend of tremendous talent, it comes to your doorstep.

And so, without any further delays, I want to pick right up where I left off and get the ball rolling again while talking about a great new CD from a great jazz guitarist.

Nat Janoff

Come Together Move Apart can be appreciated as both music to listen and chill out with, as well as music for the serious jazz enthusiast. For me, I like to listen both ways, so this is a great CD for me. And I’m not just saying that because Nat is a friend (would I lie to you guys?). Accompanied by John Escreet (piano), Francois Moutin (bass), and Chris Carroll (drums), Come Together Move Apart is one of my favorites of 2010.

So let’s dig in, shall we?

The CD opens with Mood. I am quickly reminded of Pat Metheny. I honestly don’t know if Metheny is an influence of Janoff’s, but it definitely has that vibe. Janoff’s lines are smooth and lively on this track, with excellent comping highlights from Escreet.

Shorter Times opens with a nice drum solo from Carroll; very musical and expressive. It sets the mood quite nicely for the head, played by both Janoff and Escreet in unison and harmonized. Carroll takes the first solo, and it’s quite evident that the song is taking it’s cues from saxophonist Wayne Shorter (song title notwithstanding). Carroll rips it up with angular lines and great chords. Janoff knows well enough to stay out of the way until it’s his turn to solo. He really goes for it on this one, and it results in a very raw but ripping solo with some nice augmented triad arpeggios. The songs breaks into a bass solo by Moutin that is more “out” than the rest of the song, but unlike most bass solos it doesn’t slow down. Moutin and Carroll play very well together, especially on this song.

Song #3 – For Now – slows things down quite a bit, with a very nice guitar intro and 6/8 vibe. I am reminded of Peter Bernstein and a bit of Brad Mehldau piano work. Janoff’s songwriting maturity shines through here. I think “vibe” is definitely the right word. It has a nice mellow groove that flows throughout, even when Janoff is displaying yet another one of his excellent solos. Some great blues/pentatonic flavor in his solo on this tune!

Hope Fills My Heart is my favorite song on the CD. It retains a lot of the mellower vibe and is a great follow-up to For Now. More of the Metheny sound can be heard. (I really do need to ask him if he’s a Metheny fan.) I think it’s not only Janoff’s lines and melodies, but also the ride cymbal work of Carroll that reminds me so much of Paul Wertico. Moutin takes another great solo on this song.

Sketch 1 starts off almost as if it was going to become a free jazz romp, but quickly slows things down and evens out to create a really nice ballad ambiance, again reminiscent of Metheny and Mehldau. This is the least favorite of mine on the CD, but that’s not to say it’s a bad song. It just didn’t quite grab me as much as the others.

Moutin sets up an interesting bass line to start off Sunday Morning. This song has a nice mixture of vibes to it, from mellow ballad-like melody to slightly atonal and more angular soloing from Escreet. It’s a bit hard to define exactly what this song sounds like, as it mixes a bunch of feels together. But it’s also one of the most interesting songs on the CD, so well done to Janoff and crew.

Sketch 2 is, understandably, familiar sounding. I get the impression that this, as well as Sketch 1, were loosely written and mostly improvisational. Like Sketch 1 it’s towards the bottom of my favorites on the CD, but the piano interlude towards the end of the song is an excellent moment in the CD.

My second favorite song, Partly Cloudy, sounds like a very good spring or summer song to me. A nice punchy drum beat and catchy melody keep the song bopping along. It has nice punch and is one of the better vehicles for Escreet’s great piano playing.

The CD closes with Transit, a song that is in the same vein as the first few, which makes it a great closer. Janoff breaks out the rotovibe/tremolo for his solo, and throws in a little distortion to spice things up. This is perhaps Janoff’s best solo on the CD; he really puts it all out there and gives it all that he’s got. I love this solo, and you will too!

All in all, Come Together Move Apart is a great CD. If you are a jazz fan, guitar fan, or just good music fan, you will enjoy this CD. I don’t just say that because Nat’s a friend, but because good music is good music regardless of who’s playing it.

For more information on Nat and purchasing his CD (I recommend you do so), you can visit Nat’s website.

Nat Janoff: Come Together Move Apart is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

These are not the roots you're looking for.

It’s fun chord Friday here on Fretterverse! I can’t believe how long it’s been since we’ve broken out the staff paper and done some actual guitar work. I hope you had a chance to digest and start working on yesterday’s phrasing exercise. Though you should continue with the phrasing work from yesterday, today we’re going to go back to my favorite subject.

One thing that I love about jazz is the variety of tonal colors coming from the harmony instruments. A good comper will never play the exact same thing twice in the same song, very unlike rock and roll. It’s this variety that adds the spice to the soup and makes for a very tasty tune.

And so with that in mind we’re going to look at a concept that I call “root substitutions.” The general premise here is to substitute the note of a chord – in this case, the root (duh!) – with another note in order to give your comping a much more interesting sound.

How interesting? Well, that part is up to you. All I can do is give you hints and suggestions. I will tell you that these chord subs, along with a very nice looking, wide-brimmed, red velvet pimp hat, will make you the coolest player ever! Since I’m all out of hats, I’ll have to help you with the chords.

First, a few concepts. In jazz, frequently the person providing the harmony will raise the 4th note of the major chord scale in order to give a Lydian sound. So we’re going to do the same thing. Throughout the examples we’ll be playing in the key of C Major but raising the ‘F’ notes to ‘F#’ for a Lydian sound. Do not get confused! We are not playing in the key of D Major, as much as your ear and brain may want to think that way. We’re still playing in C Major but using a Lydian sound.

The basic chords we’ll be using are standard diatonic 7th chords with the 5th removed, working on the 5-4-3 string group (A, D, G strings). Here is the first chord:

As I said, no 5th. Taking out the 5th will open up the chord’s sound a bit. With this structure in mind, and taking the #11 substitution into consideration, here are all of the chords in C Major:

As you play through the examples, again, remember that we’re in C Major. The second chord is going to sound like a D7, which technically speaking it is, but you have to think in terms of C. If it helps, use a backing track to play a walking bass line in C to help get the sound in your head. You can take the root note of each chord and displace them up an octave to help avoid register clashes with the bass:

Try both of those on the 5-4-3 string group and get the sound into your ear. When you have done this a few times, go back to the first set of chords and substitute the root note of each chord with the next note of the C Major scale (keeping in mind the #11).

As you can see, in the first chord we substituted the root – ‘C’ – with the next higher note of a C Major scale – ‘D’. The next chords replaces ‘D’ with ‘E’, and the next chord replaces ‘E’ with ‘F#’. What I love about these substitutions is that the typical guitar chord intervals are changed to give us more piano-like voicings instead. I much prefer these sounds to the ones created by the typical block chord.

But, everyone’s mileage may vary. If these chords are way too hip for your elbow-patched blazer, you can displace the new root of each chord up an octave as well:

A tad bit too much on the Masterpiece Theater for my taste, but it’s better to have all of these chords available in your mental chord dictionary.

Once you’ve practiced this chord substitution for a while, you can move the entire chord structures up an octave. This may end up sounding much better when a bass player is present. Obviously, you want to be able to play all of these chord ideas in every key and in every area of the fingerboard. You can also start to add more substitutions to hip the chords up even more – especially on the V7 chords of each key.

Bottom line? Experiment and have fun!

Chord Hacks: Root Substitutions is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

"blah blah, like, blah blah blah."

You know how your girlfriend talks and talks and talks?

And talks, and talks, and talks?

And talks some more?

You know how much you bitch to your friends about how she just goes on and on and on forever, barely taking a breath in between sentences?

You know how you wish she would just ease up and stop yapping away for even a brief moment so you can give your ears and brain a rest?

Well, guess what? That’s exactly how we feel about your guitar playing!

Yeah, I said it. Your guitar playing is just as bad as your girlfriend’s motormouth. The day you stick in even a 16th note rest in your solo is most likely the day your girlfriend is going to stop talking your ear off. (In other words, it’ll probably never happen!)

MORE NOTES! That’s what you keep thinking. But trust me, you don’t have that much to say musically that warrants eight million notes in the space of 16 bars.

Well, I’m here to help. We’re going to try an exercise today that will hopefully get you to stop thinking about all of the notes and start thinking about the spaces in between. It is the spaces, by the way, that make the music – not the notes themselves!

Here’s what I want you to do:

1. Get a piece of paper and cut it into ten pieces.
2. Using the numbers 1 through 10, write one number on each piece of paper.
3. Fold up the pieces and put all of them into a hat.
4. Mix them up.
5. Pull out one piece of paper at a time and lay them out beside each other on a table.

If you did it right (and I sincerely hope that you didn’t mess this up; I mean, a three-year-old can do it) you should have something like this on the table:

4    8    2    1    10    5    9    6    7    3

Now here’s the next step: put on a backing track. I don’t care what kind – whatever style of music you like, use that kind of backing track. You are going to improvise over the backing track, but you can only play the number of notes you chose in order, inserting rests in between each number.

So, your first phrase will only be four notes. Then you have to rest! Then you play eight notes. Then you have to rest! Then you play two notes. Then you have to rest! Get the idea? When you get to the last phrase – and after you rest – you go back and start with a four-note phrase again.

I’m not so concerned with how long you rest in between each phrase, but I would suggest you do so for slightly longer than you probably think you should. Most likely you have conditioned yourself to play and play and play, so this is a great way to open things up and work inside the music rather than on top of it.

Good luck!

Learn to Phrase by Numbers is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Jazz Guitar Harmony by Jody Fisher

I love chords. Love ‘em, love ‘em, love ‘em!

I’m one of “those” guitar players that gets off on hearing great guitar rhythm playing/comping than a great solo. Especially in regards to jazz, comping and playing the right notes and chord voicings is where it’s at. There is nothing like hearing a new chord underneath a nice melody line in a ballad that sends shivers up my spine.

Let’s be honest. Guitar solos are great. We all know that; that’s why we started playing guitar to begin with, right? Without a great harmonic background to support that ripping solo, however, it’s just not the same.

And so, in my desperate quest to try and pass myself off as a jazz guitar player (still working on it…) I purchased pretty much every jazz guitar harmony/chord book there is. We’re talking dozens and dozens of books. I think I kept the jazz guitar education community gainfully employed for a few months.

Of all the books I bought, only a few managed to stick out and stay on the top of the pile. Though most covered the same material, it’s all in the presentation. Jazz Guitar Harmony, written by guitarist Jody Fisher, is one of the books I continuously turn to time and time again.

You can tell a lot about a jazz guitar player by his chord voicings. I believe, even more so than how he solos. So there must be something about Fisher’s playing that I really like, because I love this book! All of the material you would expect and require from a jazz guitar harmony book is covered here. I think it’s the way Fisher presents the material that strikes a chord (pun intended) with me.

There is not a lot of text explanation, but there are lots of examples to play and practice. Chapter 1 – a very short chapter on triads – is the only group of pages without direct practice material. But once you quickly get into Chapter 2 you are off to the races!

It’s both apparent and obvious to me that Fisher is a very good teacher, as his book builds progressively upon previous chapters to expand your chord vocabulary and knowledge of jazz harmony concepts. But it’s not just a book of chords to learn (though I have circled many a chord voicing to make sure I add to my playing). Rather, it’s a book that gives you just enough material to immediately add to your bag of tricks but also plenty of inspiration and a pathway to work out other ideas on your own. Nothing is too far-fetched or out of place; Fisher provides you with exactly what you need to know to get better quickly and build upon the foundation in your own way.

In addition to chords, progressions, leading tones, backcycling, passing chords, reharmonization, tritone substitutions, and a whole host of other ideas are presented in the book – all with simple but easy-to-understand explanations and lots of examples. I guess I should also mention that every example is written in standard notation and tablature, so you don’t have to be a sight-reading guru in order to get a lot out of this book.

I was hoping to be able to show a few pages from the inside of the book, but for copyright reasons I thought better of it. You can, however, see some example pages from Amazon’s page, so I encourage you to check it out and see some of the material.

Jazz Guitar Harmony also comes with an audio CD in case you are one of those players (like me) who learn better when you can hear what’s going on along with seeing it on the printed page.

If you couldn’t tell already, I highly recommend this book. It is densely packed with important information but not so big that you will feel overwhelmed. A great book for both beginner and intermediate jazz guitar players.

Jazz Guitar Harmony by Jody Fisher (book) is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Since we here in America are heading into an extended holiday weekend to celebrate our birthday, I figured it would be a good time to get some of these tracks done so you all can practice in between your beer and hot dogs.

If you all can do me the solid of downloading the tracks to your computer first that would be awesome. It will cut down on the bandwidth usage and save me a few pesos.

I still have a few more that I would like to do, including some rock, latin, and fusion tracks, but these should keep you plenty busy for now.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend (holiday or not), and encourage you all to keep going and enjoy!

Jam Track Friday is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

The basic tracks are the normal, standard chord progression. No surprises, with one at 110 beats-per-minute and the other at 200.

The advanced tracks have slightly more complex chord changes, but nothing crazy. They are also at 100 and 200 beats-per-minute.

The jam tracks can be found on the Downloads page.

Enjoy!

Rhythm Changes Jam Tracks Added is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

So rather than sit around and do nothing, take this opportunity to put your guitar in your hands and do something productive. That certainly has to be better than flipping through the reality shows on TV, right?

But you’re probably thinking that 10 minutes isn’t enough time. To that I say: Hogwash. Only 10 minutes to practice? No problem!

Although 10 minutes certainly is not a substitute for a full-on practice session, I’m sure we would all much rather play guitar for those 10 minutes than do nothing. 10 minutes every day is also better than one hour once a week!

Here is a list of productive practice activities you can accomplish on guitar in a very short amount of time; choose one the next time you have a few brief moments to spare.

1. Chord Inversions - Take one string group and one chord quality (m7, Maj7#5, etc) and play all of the inversions for that chord in as many keys as you can on that string group.
2. Position Scales - Pick a scale and play it in all 12 keys but only in one position on the fingerboard.
3. Sweep Picking Control - Choose an arpeggio and slowly work on keeping your picking hand consistent throughout the sweep so all of the notes are even in tempo and dynamics.
4. Intervals - Pick a scale and play it in 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, or whatever interval you choose.
5. Sing and Play - Sing a melody out loud, and then try to reproduce it on the guitar. Great ear training!
6. Gymnastics - Choose a finger gymnastic exercise and practice it up to the 12th fret on all strings, then back down again.
7. Arpeggio - It can be one arpeggio in all 12 keys, or choose a single key and play all of the diatonic 7th chord arpeggios horizontally up and down the fingerboard.
8. ii-V-I Improvisation - Pick one key and improvise over that key’s ii-V-I.
9. Four Notes Per String - Play a scale using four notes per string.
10. String Skipping - Choose a simple Major scale. Play every other note one or two octaves higher, which forces you to skip strings and concentrate on fingering and accurate picking.
11. Intonation - Play a scale very slowly, and concentrate on getting your finger to nudge up against each fret every time. Make sure your pick strokes are clearly articulated and full.
12. Name That Note – Without looking, place your finger on any note on the fingerboard. Then look at the note and see how quickly you can identify the note name.
13. Commercial Jam - If you happen to have the TV on while you are waiting around, you will inevitably hear music in the commercials or the show. Try playing along with it; learn the melody or figure out the chord progression and play along with it.
14. Name That Key - Choose a key and name all of the notes. You can also do this with scales, modes, and chords.

I’m feeling in an even mood today, so I’ll leave you with fourteen. As I said, these can all be done in short amounts of time and will definitely help you to improve your playing.

Just make sure you put the guitar down when your better half is ready; the dog house isn’t big enough for effective practicing!

Only 10 Minutes to Practice? No Problem! is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Not that kind of scale, knucklehead!

There are two primary schools of thought when it comes to scales and improvisation. The first is to treat each chord as a separate entity and improvise using certain scales/modes over each one individually. I like to think of this as “vertical improvisation” as the player deals with each chord individually.

The second is to think more linearly – “horizontal improvisation” – by finding the cadence patterns and chord progressions that fall under a certain scale/mode, and then adding certain alterations to spice up the lines.

Both ways work, but does one necessarily work better than the other?

Is there a secret method or special trick you can use to master the scales and chord progressions and be able to become the fiercest soloist on the block?

First and foremost, let’s answer the question:

No, there is no trick!

Hey, it's cheap...

C’mon folks, if you thought there really was a trick then I have some land to sell you. There are no tricks, no matter what people tell you. Both methods require hard work and lots of shedding, so let’s dispel any notions to the contrary.

Vertical Improvisation

As I mentioned previously, vertical improvisation deals with each chord as a separate entity. Surely, you would identify certain progressions such as ii-V-I’s as a single unit, but the overarching principle is to look at each chord on its own. For example, let’s take a ii-V-I in the key of Ab Major:

Bbm7 / / /  |  Eb7 / / /  |  AbMaj7 / / /  |  / / / /  |

A typical vertical improvisation approach to this progression would go like this:

Bbm7 = Bb Dorian mode
Eb7 = E melodic minor scale
AbMaj7 = Ab Major or Ab Lydian mode

This is obviously not the only way, but it is perhaps the most basic for vertical improvisation.

Improvising this way requires the player to first memorize all three of these scales and, secondly, know how to play them in all areas of the fingerboard.

Horizontal Improvisation

Let’s take the same ii-V-I in Ab:

Bbm7 / / /  |  Eb7 / / /  |  AbMaj7 / / /  |  / / / /  |

Jimmy Bruno

Using the Horizontal Improvisation approach, you would think of this whole section as being all in the key of Ab Major. In this way you really only need to learn one set of fingerings or scale (for lack of a better term). However, this in and of itself is going to sound very stale and boring. Jimmy Bruno, as an example, teaches in his Guitar Institute that you make certain alterations to address certain sounds in the progression – he calls them “outside notes.”

This approach requires the player to have all of the fingerings for the key figured out on the entire fingerboard, as well as knowing where all of the altered/outside sounds are within the larger framework. When playing a b9 during the Eb7 you essentially need to know where all of the ‘E’ notes on the guitar are, but you need to know these as b9′s and as the note names. It’s a lot harder than you think.

The Hybrid

Pat Martino

There is a pseudo third school of thought which I think of as something of a hybrid. Pat Martino comes to mind in this method. In his approach, everything is reduced to a minor sound. (It’s really more of a Dorian mode sound than a regular minor one.) His concept is similar to Bruno’s in that he thinks of everything as minor (as compared to Bruno thinking in Major), but all of the alterations are already included in Martino’s lines. If you study Martino’s approach you will see that it’s not just a “Dorian” sound but a highly chromatic/altered concept within a tonal center. The lines themselves inherently teach you all of the alterations and color tones by simply learning his approach to playing. There is no analysis or specific identification of one note being the b9 or this or #5 of that; it’s all about the sound.

Which Way is Better?

Well that’s the million-dollar question now, isn’t it. To be honest, I can’t definitively answer that. It’s really up to you to decide what works best for you. I have had great amounts of success with both. Bruno’s system filled in many holes I had in my fretboard knowledge in a very short amount of time. My knowledge of the guitar is 1000% better thanks to his method. But I’ve also had success with the vertical approach (and I’m studying Martino’s approach currently).

My suggestion, however, is for you to try all of the approaches and see what works for you. I recommend you work one at a time so as to not confuse yourself. Start with one and milk it for as long as you can. When you’ve gotten all you can out of it, move on to the next. It will probably take you a very long time in each one before you switch, so be patient.

Most importantly, have fun!

Learn the Modes, or One Big Scale? is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

John Coltrane

Welcome to what is, perhaps, the hardest aspect of jazz improvisation; what has made many a musician cower in the corner while others step up to the plate, knock back massive grand slams, and take home the hottest girl in the club (hopefully not the girl that came in with the guy now cowering in the corner).

To date, the rite of passage for aspiring jazz musicians has been whether or not they can effectively improvise over the song Giant Steps, the seminal composition by tenor saxophonist John Coltrane.

What makes the song – and others like it that Coltrane wrote – so challenging, is a sophisticated chord progression that has proven to be very difficult for most to play, let alone master.

So, What Are the Changes?

The basis of Coltrane Changes lies in the interval of a Major 3rd. This interval divides the major scale into three equal parts – C, E, and G#/Ab – for example.

Where it gets a little tricky is understanding where (and how) these changes get applied. Let’s take a standard ii-V-I progression in the key of C Major – Dm7 / / /  |  G7 / / /  |  CMaj7 / / /  |  / / / /

What we want to do here is target the last CMaj7, but we get there by substituting the rest of the progression with the Coltrane Changes. Since we know we want to end up in C Major, we can use the Major 3rd cycle to get there. In this kind of progression, where the ii-V-I lines up evenly across four bars, the changes line up like this:

Dm7 / Eb7 /  |  AbMaj7 / B7 /  |  EMaj7 / G7 /  |  CMaj7

What we’ve done here is worked forward towards the CMaj7 while moving backward in intervals of Major 3rds. So, after two beats of Dm7 we know we want to get to Ab Major (Maj7 chord). To get there we put its V7 chord in front of it – Eb7. So, two beats of Dm7 and then into a V-I in Ab Major (Eb7 to AbMaj7).

After Ab Major we want to go down another Major 3rd to E. (If you are having trouble with this, maybe a quick review of enharmonic note names will help.) Precede the EMaj7 chord with its V and that gives us B7. To finish things off we want to have the V of C Major lead us to the last chord, so we use G7. You might be able to visualize it better this way:

-- (V7  | I)    (V7 | I)    (V7 | I)
Dm7 Eb7 | AbMaj7 B7 | EMaj7  G7 | CMaj7

Where this becomes even more interesting is when you apply this Major 3rd/Coltrane Changes principle to reharmonizing other jazz standards. As a very basic example, try improvising over the above changes with the song “Impressions.” Since Impressions uses a long modal vamp on Dm7, you can think of that Dm7 as the ii chord in C Major. The above example is technically in the key of C, so you can really open up the way you approach a solo by playing thinking these changes while you solo over a long Dm7 chord pedal. Very cool stuff!

Coltrane wasn’t necessarily the first person to play around with the Major 3rd progression, though he certainly is the one to bring it to the forefront. The song “Have You Met Miss Jones” by Rodgers and Hart (1937) has a bridge section with a Major 3rd cycle. You can check out the Wikipedia page on Coltrane Changes for a bit more information about that.

I certainly won’t claim to have mastered this concept; not by a long shot. But I really like the idea of superimposing a seemingly unrelated chord progression and making it work. Consider this concept – Coltrane Changes – to be a goal to aspire to, so you can get your girl back from you-know-who during the next local jam session.

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