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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 )
54
Jazz Piano · The Skeleton of a Solo
Guide Tones
b7 → 3 → 7 through ii–V–I, all twelve keys
Play exercise
The 3rd and 7th of a chord define its quality (major, minor,
dominant). String them together across a progression and you get
a guide tone line — the simplest melody that
respects every chord change. On a ii-V-I, the strongest version
is b7 of ii → 3 of V → 7 of I : a half-step descent
followed by a held note. Two motions, three chords, one perfect
little phrase.
This is the first solo line you should be able to play in all
twelve keys. Every bebop melody, every Bill Evans single-note
improvisation, every Hank Mobley line is decoration on top of
this skeleton. Hear the skeleton first; the ornaments will
have somewhere to land.
The line b7 (of ii) → 3 (of V) → 7 (of I). Half step down, then hold.
Why it works 3 of V and 7 of I are the same note. The line resolves once and rests.
Jump to
C F B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B E A D G
C
3
2
X
O
O
O
2
1
1
X
X
O
D
m
7
G
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
F
3
2
1
X
X
O
1
3
1
1
1
1
3fr
G
m
7
C
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
1
3
1
2
1
X
3fr
C
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
E
1
2
3
4
X
X
1
3
1
1
1
1
F
m
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
A
1
1
1
3
X
X
1
3
1
2
1
X
B
m
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
D
4
3
1
1
1
X
1
2
3
4
X
X
E
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
G
4
3
2
1
X
X
1
3
1
1
1
1
4fr
A
m
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
4
2
1
X
O
O
C
m
7
F
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
E
3
1
2
O
O
X
1
3
1
1
1
1
F
m
7
B
7
2
1
3
4
X
O
A
2
1
3
X
O
O
1
3
1
2
1
X
B
m
7
E
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
D
1
2
3
X
X
O
2
O
O
O
O
O
E
m
7
A
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
G
4
3
2
1
X
X
2fr
2
1
X
O
O
O
A
m
7
D
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
The Daily Drill
Sing it first
3 min Play the line in C very slowly with a metronome. Sing along — internalising the b7→3 half-step resolution by voice is half of why this exercise exists. 8 min Cycle three keys. Hear the descent and the held note. The line is asymmetric on purpose: motion then rest. 4 min Play the other guide tone line: 3 of ii → b7 of V → 3 of I. (For C: F → F → E.) Same skeleton, different voice. Real solos use both. 5 min Play the b7→3→7 line in the RH while comping shells in the LH. The LH and RH should sound like one line spread across the hands — because they are. Why the 3rd and 7th, not the root or 5th? The root tells you the key; the 5th is the strongest overtone of the root after the octave and adds nothing new. But the 3rd distinguishes major from minor, and the 7th distinguishes maj7 from 7 from m7 — and together they form the tritone in every dominant chord. They are the two notes the bass player isn't playing and the only two that change when chord quality changes. Tracing them is the most information-efficient melodic skeleton possible. (Aebersold called the 3 and 7 "the most important notes in jazz.")
Shells in the LH, guide tones in the RH — the same two voices in both hands. The simplest possible jazz duet, with yourself.