In the first example, each chord is either the 6 chord (eg F6 represents D-7) or the dim7 chord. But we introduce the concept of ‘borrowing’. This example takes the same bass and melody, the same chord analysis and the same resulting 6/dim scales. How can we spice the voicings up a bit? The remainder of this article shows how. Doesn’t it sound a bit … old fashioned? Like Glenn Miller, but without the big band. In the arrangement so far, all the parts are moving in parallel. It is most often applied to melodies with a lot of diatonic scalar movement.īut wait a minute.
Its not the pale moon that excites me chords how to#
That’s how to apply 6/dim scales in the simplest way. But the point is, any chord can be represented by a 6/dim scale, so we start our explanation with a 6 chord.īars 3 and 4 are the same but up a tone. You don’t need to first think of the F6/dim scale and convert it to D-7/dim scale after a while you can go straight there.
You can think of there being a resolved side of the scale, the 6 chord (D F A C) and an unresolved side, the diminished 7 chord (C# E G Bb). So we can harmonise the melody using only this scale and alternate the block chords D-7 and C#o7. The Eo7 is the same as C#o7 which sound like a rootless A7b9 which is V of D-7.
But how do we know what notes to include in the chords?įor the first two bars I have dispensed with the G7 chords and am treating everything as D-7. The block chords are using drop-2 voicings. Referring to the example above, I’ve sketched out the melody (rhythm simplified for block chording and notation purposes) and included a bass line which a bass player might play during the head. How might we voice the melody in the first four bars if we were playing with a bass player and wanted to use block chording to grab the audience at the outset? We’re only looking at options using 6/dim scales for this article. I’ve heard people say, “do we have to play that boring tune?” In my opinion, they are limited by conventional thinking there is a lot to explore if you know how. For the purposes of voicing and improvisation, we can take a reductionist approach they can be thought of as mere II V progressions in C and D (even though the E-7 A7 feels like III VI7). These in turn might be thought of as ‘two goes’ approaches to cadences which never resolve. The first four bars are usually thought of as: This article shows how both of these can work by applying the techniques to Duke Ellington’s, Satin Doll.
The other is that you can create non-standard chord voicings that sound great and make sense to the ear within the harmonic progression. One is that it allows you to move chord voicings even when the chord progression is not changing. There are two aspects to the 6/dim scale approach as espoused by Barry Harris. I had been working on Barry Harris movements using 6/dim scales.
“What was that chord you were playing in Satin Doll? It sounded great, I’ve never heard it before.” This is not an everyday experience for me. A few years ago, I was on my way out after playing a trio gig in Edinburgh’s Jazz Bar, when I was stopped by a member of the audience.
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