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Woodshedding - Learning to Play!
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 716
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 716 |
What you're describing here is the vertical approach to improvising based on a separate chord scale for each chord in a progression that most 'agrees' or is most consonant with the sound of the chord. Of course you can go beyond that by treating a minor II as a III or a VI chord and a V as resolving just about anywhere. Relating it to the diminished or some other symmetrical scale yields more possibilities. In a sense this is how 'outside' playing works.
In this method a lot comes down to what notes are present in the chord voicing.
One of the reasons shell voicings became popular i think is that apart from staying out of the way of the bass player it allows more latitude in scale choices for the improvisor. So 1 b3 b7 can yield more scale choices than a very prescriptive dorian voicing like 1 b 3 56 b7 9 for example. What you lose in harmonic colour in the accompaniment you gain in freedom of linear movement.
This vertical chord scale approach isn't the only method obviously. In a diatonic situation of quickly moving II Vs leading to a tonic it's sometimes better to improvise on the tonic key center a group of chords are resolving to. Any passing harmonic alterations to each passing II V can be accommodated by changing or adding to the scale you're employing at the key center to which the 2 4 or 8 bar sequence etc resolves. So improvisation becomes a mixed modal or modal interchange scenario on the one root for a number of bars.
Lying in between these options is the method of tonicizing each II V as belonging to its own key centre' the choices determined by the V chord which potentially belongs to any number of key centres.
All this is a way of describing what is called 'Tonal Gravity' which was coined by George Russell in his study 'The Lydian Chromatic Concept Of tonal Organization' which was not only the first and most important attempt to codify chord scale thinking but which also opened up the possibility of using all the intervals and scales residing in the Chromatic scale in an organized way based on degrees of dissonance relative to the tonic. This method is based on manipulating the resolution tendencies of chords to control the amount of tension generated.
The idea being that the Lydian is the true tonic that most agrees with the resolving tendency of II V with Cm7 F7 for example belonging to Eb Lydian. There are a number of graded scales you can use on that tonic to achieve the desired degree of increasing dissonance. Alternatively you can go 'outside' by using scales on tonics lying in a flat or sharp direction round the circle of fifths from Eb. Obviously the further away from Eb your tonic resides round the circle the more dissonance you'll achieve.
HTH
Alan
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