Lessons from Jazz/World to 20 Century Classical Music Harmony Rhythm and Theory
Author: Modern Music Theory and Application
Clifford Martin is a trained classical musician and composer. His 1st study being piano and composition and a deep study in the application of modern music theory. He also studied jazz piano and jazz drums privately.
This website is a catalogue of ideas and musical concepts for improvisation and composition.
Today, a quick look at John McLaughlin’s “Pentatonic” guitar concepts for playing over the Coltrane Changes.
Although I am employing alternate picking guitar technique at quite a fast rate, these pentatonic’s simplify things enormously.
THE RHYTHMIC SIDE OF THINGS:
To keep the solo line tight, we will count in a basic manner,
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
This way, you will know where you are in the bar and what chord you are playing over.
To begin with I use the B major pentatonic scale. Next, I employ a simple 2 finger pentatonic scale over D7 and GMaj7.
I then play the second part [same fingering] up a semitone and land on the note D for the EbMaj7 chord, counting 1 2 3 4 in preparation for the next chord.
John McLaughlin Giant Steps BMaj7, D7, GMaj7, Bb7, and EbMaj7 for guitar players.
For the first three chords I play what could be called “A Dorian Pentatonic”. But, I am not really thinking in that way. [I am just adding the F# note for the 3rd of D7]. This in turn creates a very simple and “Fluid” guitar fingering that is very common to most guitar players and hence easy to play.
John McLaughlin giant steps guitar chords Am7, D7, Gmaj7, Bb7, EbMaj7, F#7, and BMaj7.
On the F#7 chord I play an F#7 arpeggio that then resolves into an Eb minor arpeggio for the BMaj7 chord.
McLaughlin Musical notation showcasing the BMaj7 and EbMaj7 chords alongside the F#7 arpeggio.
For then next part, I again employ a simple Pentatonic to get through the first three chords.
This Bb minor leaning works well because over the Bb7 chord it gives us the “Blue note”. Finally we use our A Dorian Pentatonic again to resolve to GMaj7 for our last three chords.
Here, I just use C#m pentatonic and F# Pentatonic to land on the D# to nail the change to the BMaj7 chord. Very simple and very common guitar fingering.
Musical notation highlighting C#m7, F#7, and BMaj7 chords for McLaughlin’s giant steps.
For the last part, I employ an Fm9 arpeggio and a C minor pentatonic scale that then goes up a semitone and repeats our C#m7 F#7 to Bmaj7 phrase.
Music notation for Fm7, Bb7, and EbMaj7 chords, illustrating McLaughlin guitar techniques.
But, this time we land on an F# for the 5th of BMaj7.
Today, a look at John McLaughlin’s emotional and melodic chords for composition and reharmonisation.
PART 1:
The key to both parts of this blog is the employment of the 1st Inversion Major chord and its resonant guitar voicing:
Below, is the key voicing shape: Here, we have F Major as a 1st Inversion [or F/A] voicing:
Diagram showing the F Major 1st Inversion (F/A) chord voicing.
From this, let’s take the sequence from John’s classic “Electric dreams/Electric Sighs” composition.
John’s melodic harmony:
We will start with a basic E Major chord that will then go to an Eb first inversion chord:
Chord progression from E Major to Eb first inversion in a musical notation.
From here, we will resolve this by moving to Ab minor:
We will now repeat the pattern, and, create an ascending sequence with F#/A# resolving to B minor:
Chord progression featuring F#/A# resolving to B minor, illustrating melodic harmony.
There is now an implied cadence with Em7 to A7. But, this doesn’t Modulate to the key of D,
Instead, we carry on with the sequence. This time we employ Ab/C to Db minor[enharmonically C#m]
Musical notation illustrating the Ab/C to C# minor chord transition, highlighting melodic harmony.
And finally, we do resolve, but, this is back to our tonic chord/Key of E Major.
Musical notation showing a B/D# chord transitioning to an E chord.
FULL SCORE:
Musical score featuring various chord progressions and their notations for melodic harmony.
With this type of beautiful, creative, melodic harmony, it’s a good idea to apply arpeggios to underline it and give it movement.
Musical notation showcasing arpeggio chord transitions including E, Eb/G, Abm, F#/A#, Bm, and Em.Musical notation illustrating chord transitions with A7, Ab/C, C#m, B/D#, and E.
PART 2
The minor b6 and First Inversion Chord Relationship:
Most people seem to have a preference for the minor 6th chord, [which in this case has the F# or the Major 6th].
But, the minor flattened 6th chord [F natural in this case] has an amazing character of its own, [especially when it resolves to the first inversion, as we will see].
What makes the minor chord with a flattened 6th work really well is to move down to a first inversion chord.
EXAMPLE:
Here, we have a Db minor chord moving down to a 1st inversion Ab Major chord:
Notice the flattened 6th note of A at the top moving down a semitone to the Ab note:
Illustration of the Db minor flat 6th chord to 1st inversion Ab Major chord, highlighting the flattened 6th note.
This smooth chordal transition works beautifully when creating melodic sequences.
Diagram illustrating the transition from Db minor to Ab major first inversion, highlighting the flattened 6th note.
Let’s now add some more first inversion chords:
Here, we employ F#m/A with the bass resolving a half step down to the G # note.
Once again, we have a wonderful melodic transition, this time going to the E first inversion chord.
Illustration of F#m/A and E/G# first inversion chords highlighting tone and semitone relationships.
In order to move away from cliche-dom we will now alter the harmony a bit.
Here, we will add a chord of D9/F#[1st inversion] and let the bass move down a semitone to a chord of F7 [but with a Maj7th also and a #11th].
Chord diagram illustrating the first inversion D9/F# and F7Maj7#11 chords
To complete this example, we will exploit chains of 7 Sus4 chords: Here, are the first three chords moving up in semitones.
Illustration of 7sus4 chord transitions in semitones, featuring Bb/C, B/C#, and C/D for musical composition.
Here are the next three chords moving up in semitones :
The 12 Major Triads/Slash chords music lesson in theory and practice:
Please watch video above for detailed info:
Hi Guys,
Today, a look at altering harmony and cadences with triads, slash and altered chords.
PART 1:
To begin with let’s take a pedestrian V to I cadence,
Now, let’s add some colour to it.
Illustration of a V to I cadence with altered substitutions, showcasing the Db/C and C/F slash chords.
Here, we can see the slash chord of Db/C resolving to C/F:
The Db/C harmony creates a powerful dominant chord of Csus/b9/b13
Musical notation illustrating the Csus/b9/b13 chord, showcasing its structure and components.
With this in mind let’s now apply this and cadence to the minor key [FmMaj7]
V to I cadence illustrating altered slash chord substitutions in a minor key.
Straight away, we can see and hear how easy it is to manipulate and alter the harmony with slash chords.
They also possess a unique flavour and colour that really shines out on the guitar due to the Major triads being very bright. This way they naturally cut through and resonate.
PART 2: Extending 1 simple Triad:
In this example, we will take a simple triad of F Major 1st inversion [F/A]
From this, we will add melodic notes/movement in the top and bottom to extend the harmony, and, finish with a 7sus4 cadence of F/G to Cmaj7#11
Visual representation of F Major triad variations, including F/A, F6/A, F#m7b5, and F/G, showcasing chord extensions.
Let’s now add this to a complete chord sequence:
Chord sequence demonstrating triads and harmonization techniques.
PART 3: Harmonising a melody:
We will now take the simple melody below,
To exploit this, we will employ altered and slash chords starting with G7#9 moving to Eb/E
Melody harmonization using the G7#9 and Eb/E slash chords.
We will now repeat this, but, add a chord of E/F in between to harmonise the Ab note:
Finally, resolving back to the Eb/E slash chord
Chord diagram for E/Eb, illustrating finger placements for guitarists.
FULL HARMONISATION EXAMPLE:
John McLaughlin Guitar Harmonization with slash chords and altered chords
PART 4: 12 TRIADS over I bass note
In this exercise we will play all 12 Major Triads over a single C [as root] Bass note.
Chord progression visual for 12 Major Triads over a C bass note, illustrating various slash chords.An illustration displaying the progression of 12 Major Triads over a C bass note, highlighting various chord combinations.
