A short line from jazz fusion pioneer and guitar great john mclaughlin
John Mclaughlin Jazz fusion guitar improvisation tab and music notation
John Mclaughlin Jazz/Fusion Improvisation Guitar Line
Category: Altered dominant scale chord theory and application lesson
Dennis Sandole Polytonal/Extended Scales
When looking at even the most well known scales we still find other scales embedded within them.
B Altered Scale contains a whole tone scale and a Diminished scale giving it an exotic sound.
C Diminished scale contains two mixolydian tetrachords. The first being of the root and the second being of the flat 5:
We can of course extend scales as we have looked at in Jazz Scale Extensions
DENNIS SANDOLE: Bi tonal scales, polyscales[MULTI] scales concepts/ideas.
Dennis Sandole Scale Lore: Developing Poly/multiple scales. Although being most noted as John Coltrane’s Mentor/Teacher Dennis Sandole was unique in his musical thinking.
Here is an example of a polytonal scale idea:
Here we have another polytonal/multiple scale idea:
Here we employ triplets.
Below are some “Mixed up” ideas as concepts to get a flow and to syncopate and get a feel for it. These are only exercises but create interest by the way the different scales appear and move.
16ths mix #2
16ths mix #3
Here are some of Dennis Sandole’s own sketches/ideas
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John Mclaughlin Jazz Fusion Line Breakdown
There are two parts to this. The second lesson is a variation. The dominant chord in this 2 5 1 is altered.
This creates a nice way to create flow with the fingering when alternate picking in the style of John Mclaughlin. As you play through the Notation/Tab [below] this will become apparent very quickly.
John Mclaughlin guitar lesson finishing with a D flat Triad for G7 alt
LINE BREAKDOWN: Breaking down the line into 4 note cells [Tetrachords]
TETRACHORD 1
TETRACHORD 2
TETRACHORD 3
TETRACHORD 4
TETRACHORD 5
TETRACHORD 6
TETRACHORD 7
TETRACHORD 8
VARIATION of the John Mclaughlin jazz fusion improvisation guitar lesson finishing with an E flat Triad for the G7 alt
For more info John Mclaughlin has a DVD:
John Mclaughlin Acoustic Jazz Alt Dom Lick
John Mclaughlin Altered Dominant Line. Break each group into 4 note cells [Tetrachords] and learn 1 group of 4 notes at a time with the fingering and then join it all together.
6 2 “5- ALTERED” 1
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Breaking Down Jazz Improvisation “OUTSIDE” Playing
Breaking down Michael Brecker!
When looking at musical notation it can seem like random notes. But if we break down each group into 4 note groupings called “Tetrachords” we can break down the music theory and play each group on our instrument.
We can then remember the “Sound and Shape” of each cell and then join them together. In turn we can then apply these cells to our own instrumental playing/improvisations.
FULL SOLO LINE/PHRASE
1st Grouping of 4 notes [Tetrachord]=E flat Pentatonic shape/sound [Mixolydian]
2nd Tetrachord=A flat Minor triad and 4th interval [or #11 #9 and #5]
3rd Tetrachord=Minor scale fragment [#11 Lydian]
4th Tetrachord=Changing cell. [From flat 9 to C Jazz melodic minor]
5th Tetrachord=Very “Outside” D major pentatonic/4ths
6th Tetrachord =D major Pentatonic sound/shape [very “Out”]
7th Tetrachord=C minor arpeggio and 4th
8th Tetrachord=B flat major Pentatonic sound/shape
9th Tetrachord=C Melodic “Jazz” minor [Augmented] sound/shape [same as 4th Tetrachord]
10th Tetrachord = Perfect 4th and major 3rd creating triad pairs sound/shape [or E flat minor 11 implication or G FLAT/a flat]
Lastly= Flat 6 for C minor
CONCLUSION:
In terms of fingering and musical application on our instruments learning shapes and “Connections” and breaking phrases down into 4 note cells [Tetrachords] is really useful because complex lines can be understood and learnt quickly.
In turn this gives us lots of patterns for improvisation and theoretical knowledge to improvise with as opposed to just playing scales and arpeggios.
If you found this easy then try and break this little solo down into” Hexatonic” scale application. You might find it really interesting!
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Jazz/fusion improvisation Altered scale Theory Lesson
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Today we will look at a John Mclaughlin alternate picking Jazz/Fusion improvisation cadence employing the altered dominant chord! Please watch the video below and then try it out yourself.
As you will see this cadence employs the Altered scale. It is a 2 [minor 7 flat 5] going to 5 [ “Altered Dominant”] 1 [major 7th]. This being Dm7 flat 5 G7 altered resolving to C major7.
I also employ a flat 5 substitution on the Dm7 flat 5. All of this resolves though and slips nicely into the altered dominant 5 chord. I also use pentatonics within the altered scale for rhythmic flow. Please look at the TAB/MUSIC below and play through it yourself to see and feel how it all “Naturally” unfolds. I employ alternate picking the same as John Mclaughlin.
John Mclaughlin alternate picking altered scale line Music/Tab
VARIATION With an A flat Pentatonic shape replacing A flat minor/Major Arpeggio for the flat 5 substitution.
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