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The Chord-Tone System
By Ernesto | April 10, 2008
I just wanted to share my approach to learning to play over changes. What has worked for me is to stick to playing the basic chord-tones: 1-3-5-7. I take whatever tune I’m working on, and improvise at a very slow tempo, only with chord tones.
The objective is to really get inside the changes, to really LISTEN to the sounds of the chords and how they can be represented melodically. Once I’m comfortable with this, I slowly increase the tempo until it gets moderately fast.
Now, this is nothing new. Many people recommend doing this, especially to those suffering from "scale-itis." But I take this a step further by systematically adding tensions to the chords. Again, nothing new…but I just wanted to show how I organize this stuff in a way that works for me.
Once I have the basic chord tones down, I bring the tempo down again and start improvising with the 3,5,7 and 9 of each chord. So, for example, over a Cmaj7 I would play the notes of an Em7 arpeggio. Over a C7 you can play either Edim7 or Em7b5; depends if you want an altered sound or not. I generally stick to using altered only when it resolves up a fourth. Over a Cm7b5 you can play either Ebm7 or Ebm(maj7). The latter gives a natural 9 which may take some getting used to.
So now what we’re doing here is basically avoiding the root of each chord, and adding a new color: the 9th. So now you can focus on really getting to know the sound of the 9 over each chord. If you find one that sounds strange to you, try really leaning into it to get used to the sound. This is great ear training!
Also, by avoiding the root, we’re forcing ourselves to resolve our lines in not-so-obvious ways.
So once you get comfortable with the 9th, you can start improvising with 5-7-9-11. For maj7 and dominant chords, play the #11. For an altered sound just play the tritone sub (b5-b7-b9-3). And finally, 7-9-11-13. Here you can use a m7b5 chord starting from the 7th for an altered sound (Over C7 alt play Bbm7b5).
Needless to say, before embarking on this, you really have to have your arpeggios down. I’ll write about that on another post.
Two books worth checking out if you like this approach: Mel Bay Guitar Arpeggio Studies on Jazz Standards by Mimi Fox and Melodic Structures by Jerry Bergonzi.
Topics: Guitar, Improvisation, Lessons, Practicing |
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