Scott Lerner Discussion

[jackaroo]

Here's one for you Scott...

I spent most of the morning breaking down II V Is, and some turnarounds. I keep hearing this tonality, and seeing this intervallic relationship in some of the lines I was transcribing. I'm not sure what it's called modally, but it seems to revolve around a 1/2 step, whole step, 1/2 step kind of pattern. Sounds like a mix of diminished and whole tone tonallities almost. I seem to hear it most on the V chord. Often with a b9. Are my ears playing tricks on me? How does this work? I understand looking at the V as an augmented chord, but raising the tonic too? I was also hearing lines with the raised 4. 3 and minor 3? Bizzare. Are there any rules !!!?Reminds me of the melodic minor scale sometimes too. What the hell is that!

How do you bebop fluent people think at first about these things to get a grip. Please spare me the whole "it's either tonic or dominant" thing. That one doesn't work for me yet. I can't help but think in terms of chords first, and how I'm playing chord tones, or extending chord tones chromatically to get to the next chord.

The whole b5 substitution concept seems tied to the tonality I'm talking about. In that the V with a b9, say C7b9 shares E, Bb and C# notes with F#dominant 7th chord a tritone below. Am I on the right track?


HELP!!!!







Thanks,

Jack

[scottl]

You are on the money Jack!!

Over the V chord is where lots of cats (me included) like to use the more outside sounding ideas. Frequently one can play the altered scale (7th mode of melodic minor) over the V. If you look at the scale, you find both a half-whole diminished sound as well as a whole tone sound!

The scale is h-w-h-w-w-w in the half step and whole step construction. Another way to look at it is to play the melodic minor scale up a half step from the root of the V.

A simple trick to try is to play a major triad a minor third below the root of the V. ie, play E triad over the G7alt in a iiV-I in the key of C.

I have lots of tips, licks, and tricks here on my site www.scottlernermusic.com/lessons

Scott
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www.scottlernermusic.com

[mdc58]

Hi Scott,

Great stuff on your lessons page! I noticed that the licks1b.jpg will not load. It seems to be corrupt. Is there another option for getting to that file?

Thanks
Mike