I would love to be able to figure out the chord progressions of a lot of the Fusion stuff that I’ve been listening to recently. I was wondering how I can learn to figure them out including the voicing and chord extensions etc.? If anyone has any good tips or resources to help that would be great! Thank you! :)

TLDR: As an improviser, viewing the ii as a sustained V7 is a much better way of approaching the 2-5 in a 2-5-1. Outline the minor chord is a flavor, both a dominant in relation to the tonic.

Sometimes we must challange the building blocks of our own systems to gain some insight, which I believe I have and wish to share. The diatonic 2-5-1 is not what we are taught.

We all know the descending tritone shell in a circle of fifth, where the chords all have a dominant quality. Its a clear voice leading movement creating and resolving tension along with the bass that fall a fifth. In my view this is what we should have as a basis for analysis of a 2-5-1.

For a 2-5-1 to Cmajor we should think D7 G7 C7. What we do in a regular diatonic 2-5-1 is that we cram these chords into a major scale, but this also alters their functions. For a 2-5-1 to C we apply the C major ​as the scale we cram this movement into

D7 -> (F# -> F) -> Dm7

G7 fits as is

C7 -> (Bb -> C) -> CM7

This in turns alter the defining voice leading movement. From

(F#, C) -> (F, B) -> (E, Bb)

To

(F​, C) -> (F, B) -> (E, B)

This modifies the sound and in my opinion the function of for the 2 in particularly.

We​ change the voicing leading by loosing movement to having one semitone movement per chord change plus a decending fifth in bass, C -> B, F -> E.

This also turns the 2 from having a tritone with a tension (C, F#) to sounding more resolved with a fifth/fourth (C, F). So when I listen to the movement 2-5, I dont hear a tension pulling the 2 to the 5 as I do when the 2 is dominant, but the it feels natural.

In my opinion the function of the 2 has changed completey here, the only important movement is C -> B. Example, rootless 25 voicing

Dm9 (F A C E)

G13 (F B C E)

What Dm9 here does it acting like a suspended dominant. We literally have

G13sus/D -> G13.

In other words we have a suspended dominant to a regular dominant over a falling fifth in bass movement​. This could change your view on how to play over 2-5 as a 5sus - 5 which simplies everything. And it is your choice to sustain a dominant, hence its 5 - 5 - 1.

If you wish you can of course outline the minor chord but IMO this a flavour but should NOT be taught to be the standard way! It teaches the 2-5 the wrong way.

If you wish to break the diatonicism, playing D7 G7 will outline the actually 5-1 to the dominant (V/V to V for the pedantic), but Dm G7 is merely a sustained dominant which is an optional flavour.

What does this mean for the minor 251?

Dm7-5 has the same origin as the Dm, D7, cramed into another scale, harmonic minor, becoming D F Ab C. It looses one of its voice leading movements but retains the other one (C -> B). By the same logic it acts the same as the Dm to a G7, its

G7sus(-9)/D -> G7-9 -> Cm6 (or mM7)

And again sustaining is optional, so playing G phrygian donimant language over both is perfectly fine.

Another consequence of this that we reveal that the important notes defining this chord are Ab and C (not the third). The Dm7-5 is in fact functionally Fm6/D, which is why a voicing like D G Ab C works equally well. And why if you wish to distinguish the 2 you play Fmelodic minor.(

I’m new to jazz and fairly new to reading music, I was hoping you could tell me what this slash symbol is besides the b flat 6 and c minor 7. Thanks!!

I recently started jazz piano lessons and I am currently learning the rootless 2-5-1 progressions in major and minor. In a minor key the 2 is a half-diminished chord. However, my teacher has me constructing the chord as 1-4-b5-7.

I am very curious and often ask him to explain the “why” for things like this, but he sometimes is unable to articulate answers adequately to satisfy my curiosity.

If someone could please elaborate on why the chord is played this way it would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: 7 is flat. D-G-Ab-C in the key of Cm.

I've spent a prodigious amount of time building a site to help people practice. No accounts, no cookies, no tracking, no money. It takes a chord chart and:

• Picks a scale for each chord, and displays them.

• Give you an option to choose your own scale if you want something else.

• Does functional analysis, showing the rule it used to get there, also allowing you to override the analysis engine.

• Gives you guide tone lines and arpeggios to practice with.

I'm not trying to make any money with this. I'm just a software engineer with a vibraphone hobby. Any feedback from the wizards on this subreddit would be greatly appreciated.

https://chordscalemaker.com

​

Thanks!

KevDog

A routine for getting jazz vocabulary from the record into your playing

I like to think of licks as vocabulary in a language: you hear it, you say it, and then you use it in your own sentences. Here's the routine I use to make a phrase really mine, with a little Hank Mobley phrase from "This I Dig of You" (Soul Station) as the example:

1. Find a lick you love on a record. Something that makes you go "what was that?". Loving the sound is what keeps you coming back to it.
2. Write it down as intervals over the chord. Over a G7 this one goes 1, 7, b7, 9, 13, b13, 5. Seeing what each note does against the chord turns it from a shape into an idea you can move anywhere.
3. Listen to it in all 12 keys and sing along. This is my favourite step. I loop it around a II-V-I cycle and sing it until it lives in my ear, no instrument needed. Once you can sing it, playing it comes much more naturally.
4. Find it on your instrument by ear. Sing the first note, find it, then the next. This is where your ear and your hands start talking to each other.
5. Play it in all 12 keys.Around the cycle, II-V-I by II-V-I. After a few keys you stop thinking about notes and start hearing the shape of the line.
6. Put it into a real tune and play with it. I play along with There Will Never Be Another You and drop the lick in wherever it fits, then try it over substitutions and different chords. That's the fun part, where it starts sounding like you.

The nice thing about this order is that ear comes first and fingers second, so the lick shows up on its own when you improvise.

Full disclosure: I built a small app called EarBop to make steps 3 to 6 easier (transposing, backing, showing where a lick fits in a tune). The video shows the whole process. Link in the comments if you want to try it, but the routine works just as well with iReal Pro and a pencil.

How do you all internalize vocabulary? Sing first, or straight to the instrument?

i'm trying to do an big band arrangement of "face of melinda" by opeth and this is the first vocal melodies. but its too linear and sounds kinda boring when you play it without the lyrics. can someone help me or give me tips on how to turn this melody in something more interesting? thank you in advance

(sorry for the bad resolution of the image. also this is G clef with no sharps or flats, 80bpm)

Hey i’m looking to meet/talk to other bass players or jazz musicians who want to help each other out, give each other advice or maybe do transcriptions. Just hit me up!

My jazz teacher says he is using a combination of Mixolydian and minor blues for each chord and Lydian dominant for Ab7. When I check online it says technically he is thinking in terms of mixing both major and minor blues scales with bebop language. The whole concept of matching modes to chords pedagogy wasn’t around back then. I’m very confused at the correct way to think about all of this.

hey guys! recently been getting into and i’ve been looking for some websites to learn and practice jazz theory, aural as well as written. if you have any recommendations, or maybe even books, let me know please!

Hey,

I been playing guitar for 20 years but my scale vocabulary is quite poor. I've been learning clarinet for the past year, aimed at playing jazz. I'm currently focused on learning my scales properly, as well as instrument technique.

I'm looking for a book that will teach me jazz theory for improvisation, that I can grow with as I become better technically at the instrument.

I've found several brick-style jazz theory classics, but I'm looking for a more exercise-oriented approach that won't ask me to already know all scales in all 12 keys. I have a lot of experience with improvisation but I need to improve my harmonic vocabulary.

Ideally, I'm looking for a book that will take standards, analyze their harmony, explain why certain scales work with each section, and offer exercises to improvise over that tune. Then move to another standard, adding complexity and new concepts with each exercise. Does this exist?

Thank you all!

A routine for getting jazz vocabulary from the record into your playing

I like to think of licks as vocabulary in a language: you hear it, you say it, and then you use it in your own sentences. Here's the routine I use to make a phrase really mine, with a little Hank Mobley phrase from "This I Dig of You" (Soul Station) as the example:

1. Find a lick you love on a record. Something that makes you go "what was that?". Loving the sound is what keeps you coming back to it.

2. Write it down as intervals over the chord. Over a G7 this one goes 1, 7, b7, 9, 13, b13, 5. Seeing what each note does against the chord turns it from a shape into an idea you can move anywhere.

3. Listen to it in all 12 keys and sing along. This is my favourite step. I loop it around a II-V-I cycle and sing it until it lives in my ear, no instrument needed. Once you can sing it, playing it comes much more naturally.

4. Find it on your instrument by ear. Sing the first note, find it, then the next. This is where your ear and your hands start talking to each other.

5. Play it in all 12 keys.Around the cycle, II-V-I by II-V-I. After a few keys you stop thinking about notes and start hearing the shape of the line.

6. Put it into a real tune and play with it. I play along with There Will Never Be Another You and drop the lick in wherever it fits, then try it over substitutions and different chords. That's the fun part, where it starts sounding like you.

The nice thing about this order is that ear comes first and fingers second, so the lick shows up on its own when you improvise.

Full disclosure: I built a small app called EarBop to make steps 3 to 6 easier (transposing, backing, showing where a lick fits in a tune). The video shows the whole process. Link in the comments if you want to try it, but the routine works just as well with iReal Pro and a pencil.

How do you all internalize vocabulary? Sing first, or straight to the instrument?

Exact time at 0:15

Anybody could help me transcribe to exact voicing that McCoy time uses here? I think that is a ∆(#9).I know that this tune is a modal piece and that the lydian #2 #5 is a available scale but Anybody could note the voicing that you hear? At least the notes?

Scommetto che pochi di voi sanno della super imposizione di un arpeggio diminuito maj7 (1 - 3b - 5b -7) a partire dalla terza maggiore dell’accordo … es. sul Bb7 suonate l’arpeggio Ddim maj7 …
Provatelo e fatemi sapere :-)

For school I need to understand this technique but I’m struggling to use it effectively. It doesnt sound quite right. I need to listen more to understand I think. Any dramatic modulation in a song is fine.

Is the bassline in this song syncopated? I cannot wrap my head around the rhythm. I think it might be syncopated triplets in some part or maybe just syncopated 16ths. Also how to better understand and internalize syncopation and rhythm.