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Exercise
— switch — The Cycle Shells with Color Rootless Voicings Bud Powell Left Hand The Turnaround Tritone Substitution Reharm the V Diatonic Sevenths Secondary Turnaround Minor ii–V–i Minor ii-V-i with ♭9 Minor Turnaround Diatonic 7ths in Minor Backdoor Progression Twelve-Bar Blues Minor Blues Bird Blues Blues Stride LH Blues Walking Bass Rhythm Changes Boogie Blues Shuffle Rhythm Changes Bridge Blues Rootless (Evans) Coltrane Changes Blues Pedal Point Standard Intro Blues Block Chords Two-Handed Comping Blues Freddie Green Charleston Comping Bebop Blues Comp Freddie Green Comping Blues Guide Tones Walking Bass Charleston Blues Tritone-Sub Walking Bass Bud Powell Blues Drop Two Two-Handed Modern Blues Stride Bass Stride with Melody Quartal Voicings Upper Structure Triads Hybrid Voicings Kenny Barron Voicing Sus Chord Vamp The Mu Chord Maiden Voyage Chord 4-Way Close Pedal Point Lydian Vamp Phrygian Vamp Bossa Nova Guide Tones Bebop Scale Dominant Bebop Dorian Bebop Bebop Minor The Enclosure ii-V-I Lick Pentatonic Patterns Plain Locrian Melodic Minor Dorian ♭2 Lydian Augmented Lydian Dominant Mixolydian ♭6 Locrian ♮2 Altered Scale Harmonic Minor Phrygian Dominant Half-Whole Diminished Whole-Tone Scale Minor Blues Major Blues Aeolian (Natural Minor) Dorian Mode Ionian (Major) Lydian Mode Minor Pentatonic Mixolydian Mode Phrygian Mode Whole-Half Diminished
(MED. SWING ♩=80 )
24
Jazz Piano · The Major-Thirds Cycle
Coltrane Changes
I – ♭III7 – ♭VI – VII7 – III – V7 – I, twelve starting points
Play exercise
The octave divides evenly into three major thirds: C, A♭, E,
C again. Coltrane's harmonic insight was to cycle through those
three tonics as if they were equal in importance — no one of
them is "home" longer than the others. A V7 separates each maj7
from the next, so the progression sounds like a series of
cadences that never actually land for long.
The shells alternate A/B-form just enough to keep the voice
leading minimal: each chord change moves both voices by a step,
sometimes a third. Despite the dizzying key motion, the LH
barely shifts. That's the trick — the harmony does all the
travelling; the hand stays put.
Cycle I → ♭III7 → ♭VI → VII7 → III → V7 → I
Pattern Every maj7 is preceded by its V7. Three major keys, equally weighted.
Jump to
C F B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B E A D G
3
2
1
O
O
O
G
7
E
3
1
2
O
O
X
C
3
2
X
O
O
O
E
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
C
3
2
X
O
O
O
B
7
2
1
3
4
X
O
1
1
1
3
X
X
A
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
A
2
1
3
X
O
O
F
3
2
1
X
X
O
A
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
F
3
2
1
X
X
O
E
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
4
3
1
1
1
X
D
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
D
1
2
3
X
X
O
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
D
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
A
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
4
3
2
1
X
X
G
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
G
4
3
2
1
X
X
2fr
E
1
2
3
4
X
X
1
3
1
2
1
1
G
7
E
1
2
3
4
X
X
D
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
1
3
2
4
X
X
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
C
3
2
X
O
O
O
A
1
1
1
3
X
X
B
7
2
1
3
4
X
O
A
1
1
1
3
X
X
G
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
3
1
2
O
O
X
E
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
F
3
2
1
X
X
O
D
4
3
1
1
1
X
E
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
D
4
3
1
1
1
X
C
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
2
1
3
X
O
O
A
D
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
4
3
2
1
X
X
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
G
A
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
G
4
3
2
1
X
X
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
1
2
3
X
X
O
D
F
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
1
2
3
4
X
X
B
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
4
3
2
1
X
X
2fr
G
2
1
3
4
X
O
B
7
E
A
1
1
1
3
X
X
3
1
2
O
O
X
G
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
E
3
1
2
O
O
X
E
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
3
2
X
O
O
O
C
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
A
D
4
3
1
1
1
X
2
1
3
X
O
O
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
A
2
1
3
X
O
O
A
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
3
2
1
X
X
O
F
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
1
2
3
X
X
O
G
4
3
2
1
X
X
D
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
D
1
2
3
X
X
O
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
4
3
2
1
X
X
2fr
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
G
B
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
G
4
3
2
1
X
X
2fr
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
1
2
3
4
X
X
E
The Daily Drill
Hear the symmetry
5 min Pick one key. Play through the cycle very slowly, calling out each maj7 destination aloud: "C – Ab – E – C." Hear the major-third cycle as an axis, not as a sequence. 10 min Cycle three keys at a time, ♩ = 70. The fingerings change radically between adjacent shells — that's expected. Smoothness comes from acceptance of the disjunction. 3 min Apply to a tune. Replace the ii–V–I in the last 4 bars of Tune Up with the Coltrane substitute (♭III7 – ♭VI – VII7 – III – V7 – I instead of ii-V-I). Do that to every ii–V–I phrase of the tune (it has three, in D, C, and B♭) and you've built Countdown . 3 min Sing the bass line: I, ♭III, ♭VI, VII, III, V, I. Major thirds, fifth-cycles, the symmetric architecture. Without that anchor in the ear, the upper voicings drift. Why three keys, not four or six? There are only four ways to divide 12 semitones evenly: by 2 (tritones), 3 (augmented triads / stacked M3s), 4 (diminished 7ths / stacked m3s), or 6 (whole-tone). The major-thirds division splits the octave into three equal parts that each fit a major scale — making it the unique "symmetric" cycle where every step is itself a viable tonal centre. Coltrane built a whole language on this one mathematical fact.
Twelve semitones, three equal thirds. The octave's own axis of symmetry, sung.