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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 )
20
Jazz Piano · The 32-Bar Form (A Section)
Rhythm Changes
I-vi-ii-V cycling, eight bars × twelve keys
Play exercise
This drill distills the A section of rhythm changes to
eight bars of the I-vi-ii-V cycle, played twice ,
one chord per bar. (The real A section moves twice as fast — two
chords per bar — and detours to the IV in bars 5–6; get this
skeleton automatic first, then double the harmonic rhythm.)
Bebop heads layered melodies on top of this cycle; Parker
wrote Anthropology , Moose The Mooche , Dexterity ,
and a dozen others on these exact chords.
The shells alternate A/B-form so that each chord change moves
one or both voices by a step — never by a leap. The cycle voice-
leads smoothly enough that the LH almost doesn't move; the
second pass is identical to the first. Eight bars of rock-steady
cycle, then the bridge takes you somewhere else (a separate
exercise's worth of harmony).
A section I – vi – ii – V (one bar each, repeats over 8 bars)
Same shells Alternating A/B forms — second pass is identical to first.
Jump to
C F B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B E A D G
A
m
7
2
1
1
X
X
O
D
m
7
2
1
X
O
O
O
C
3
2
1
O
O
O
G
7
3
2
X
O
O
O
C
2
1
1
X
X
O
D
m
7
3
2
X
O
O
O
2
1
X
O
O
O
A
m
7
G
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
1
3
1
1
1
1
3fr
G
m
7
2
1
1
X
X
O
D
m
7
F
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
D
m
7
2
1
1
X
X
O
3
2
1
X
X
O
G
m
7
3
2
1
X
X
O
F
1
3
1
1
1
1
3fr
3
2
4
1
O
O
C
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
3fr
C
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
3fr
G
m
7
B
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
1
3
1
2
1
X
3fr
C
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
3fr
G
m
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
F
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
3fr
C
m
7
E
1
2
1
3
1
X
B
7
E
1
2
3
4
X
X
1
3
1
1
1
1
F
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
3fr
C
m
7
B
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
1
2
3
4
X
X
1
3
1
2
1
X
B
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
F
m
7
A
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
A
1
1
1
3
X
X
1
3
1
2
1
X
B
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
F
m
7
E
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
1
1
1
3
X
X
1
2
3
4
X
X
E
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
B
m
7
D
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
A
7
D
4
3
1
1
1
X
1
2
3
4
X
X
E
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
B
m
7
A
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
4
3
1
1
1
X
1
3
1
1
1
1
4fr
A
m
7
1
2
3
4
X
X
E
m
7
G
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
4
3
2
1
X
X
G
1
3
1
1
1
1
4fr
A
m
7
4
3
2
1
X
X
1
2
3
4
X
X
E
m
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
D
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
4fr
4
2
1
X
O
O
C
m
7
G
m
7
B
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
4fr
G
m
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
4
2
1
X
O
O
1
3
2
4
X
X
B
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
C
m
7
4
2
1
X
O
O
1
3
1
1
1
1
F
m
7
C
m
7
E
2
1
3
4
X
O
B
7
4
2
1
X
O
O
C
m
7
3
1
2
O
O
X
1
3
1
1
1
1
F
m
7
3
1
2
O
O
X
E
2
1
3
4
X
O
B
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
3
1
2
1
X
B
m
7
F
m
7
A
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
F
m
7
2
1
3
X
O
O
1
3
1
2
1
X
B
m
7
2
1
3
X
O
O
A
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
2
O
O
O
O
O
E
m
7
B
m
7
D
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
B
m
7
1
2
3
X
X
O
2
O
O
O
O
O
E
m
7
1
2
3
X
X
O
D
1
3
X
O
O
O
A
7
2
O
O
O
O
O
2
1
X
O
O
O
A
m
7
E
m
7
G
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
4
3
2
1
X
X
2fr
G
2
1
X
O
O
O
A
m
7
4
3
2
1
X
X
2fr
2
O
O
O
O
O
E
m
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
D
7
The Daily Drill
Cycle, then cycle again
5 min Play the 8 bars in one key, slowly. The shells repeat after 4 bars — the form is two identical halves. Once that's internalised, you've absorbed the most-used chord cycle in jazz. 10 min Cycle three keys at a time. Once the I-vi-ii-V pattern is automatic in one key, the pattern's shape transfers directly to every other key. Use the cycle of fourths to your advantage. 3 min Apply rhythmically: instead of whole notes, play the chords as Charleston stabs (rest, chord, rest, chord) per bar. That's the comping pattern that fits the bebop heads. 3 min Sing one of the heads (Oleo or Anthropology ) over your chord playing — at half speed, since the real tunes run the cycle at two chords per bar. When you're ready, double the harmonic rhythm and add the IV in bars 5–6; then it fits like the record. vi as Gm7 vs G7 In strict diatonic rhythm changes, the vi chord is a m7 (Am7 in C, Gm7 in B♭). Many bebop heads — especially the Parker ones — use a dominant 7 chord on the vi degree instead (A7 in C, G7 in B♭) as a secondary dominant of the ii chord. Both are common; both work. The diatonic version is what's notated here (cleaner shells, smoother voice leading); switching to the dominant variant adds a chromatic colour without changing the form.
Four chords, eight bars, two passes. Half of bebop is built on this cycle.