Pat Martino Melodic Minor Guitar Improvisation | Jazzimproviser.com
Hi Guys,
Today, a look at Pat Martino’s use of the melodic minor scale. We will employ the same jazz tools as the previous video.
The Melodic Minor Scale
As, you can see below the melodic minor scale is the same as the major scale but with a flattened third.
This scale works well, when played over altered Dominant chords.
In this case we have an Ab7 chord that is then altered. To play over this we employ the melodic minor scale by playing it a half step up.
So, for Ab altered we can exploit the A melodic minor scale as it is a half step up.
Below, the Ab altered chord:
Jazz chromatic Tools:
To begin with, let’s use our old friends the “Target tones”.
Once again [as in last lesson] we will start with an upbeat. This sets the rhythmic flow of the chromaticism and the jazz phrasing. From here we will employ some simple chromatic scale tones.
We will now exploit the phrase by bringing in an arpeggio for melodic effect. [Also, notice, the flattened 6th and the major 3rd interval with chromatic descending movement].
Rhythmically, we start on the off beat once again.
In the next bar we will employ some basic melodic minor scale before adding our colourful chromaticism.
Now, we will bring in our chromatic set up which is a mixture of target tones and chromatic scale. [Notice, we end the phrase on the leading note of A melodic minor scale the G#].
VARIATION:
We could also fit in our classic jazz melody/motif from our previous lesson.
On a last note, we can also ascend with our target tones and chromatic set ups:
Pat Martino’s Guitar Improvisation Techniques | Free PDF Download
Please watch video above for detailed info:
Hi Guy’s,
Today, a look at how jazz guitar legend Pat Martino approaches jazz improvisation.
This unique insight is strictly for guitar players, [although, players of other instruments may well find some of this extremely interesting and probably useful].
Pat’s approach to guitar improvisation is also a brilliant method for any guitarists that find playing through complex chord changes difficult or confusing
EXAMPLE 1: “Coltrane Changes”
Okay, let’s say we are given this set ofchord changes to improvise over.
Well, this is a lot of chords in different keys and with harmonic shifts to get through. This is 3 Chords per bar!!!
At a fast tempo this is a lot of different scales and arpeggios to connect together quickly!!!
So, what do we do???
Here’s where Pat’s unique approach comes into play.
Pat would approach this by employing the minor.
So, if we take a closer look at our sequence we will notice three sets of ii V7 I’s.
Now that we have this, let’s exploit Pat’s minor topic/minorisation improvisational technique:
To do this we will employ the dominant chord and make it minor:
So for Bbm7 we will use Fm,
for F#m7 we will use C#m
and for Dm7 we will use Am.
In the example below we can visually see it all set up.
EXAMPLE: “minor” shapes to build from:
This allows us to play freely and easily without worrying about messing up harmonically or rhythmically when connecting/playing through the changes.
EXAMPLE 2–Modal slash chord application:
Let’s now exploit this with 7sus4 chordal movement and slash chords.
As before w will make the dominants minor:
F#7sus7 = C#minor
Ab7sus4 = Ebminor
B7sus4 = F#minor
[DbMaj7 = Fminor or Bbm7]
VISUAL CHART: with dominant minor application below.
BASIC minor shape examples to build from:
EXAMPLE 3:
Minor ii V7 Application:
Finally, let’s add a chain of minor ii V7’s
Here we will employ biii as our minor-isation for easy improvisation:
For example with F#m7b5 the biii will be Am. [F# to A is a flattened 3rd or minor 3rd]
To make this really authentic we will add the 6th to the minor arpeggio:
So,
F#m7b5 = Am6
Em7b5 = Gm6
Dm7b5 = Fm6
Example: Classic Jazz Seq Lick:
With this in mind we can either sequence our way through the chain of chords or play freely by exploiting minor biii
IN CONCLUSION
In conclusion this was a brief look at Pat Martino’s brilliant approach to jazz improvisation through any chord changes on the guitar.
The guitar unlike the piano cannot play the same shape through countless octaves, so, when improvising on the guitar we need to be selective[in what actually works] so that ironically we have the freedom to let go and just play.
The minor topic [minorisation] technique allows us to achieve the guitar improvisers aim in a short period of time. For any student frustrated or seeing no end in sight, Pat’s methodology is a shining light. This method can save you 20 years of practice and frustration.
