Many of you have asked me to publish more pages from the unpublished book on intervallic studies by jazz guitar legend Pat Martino:
Here are some excerpts/pages from the book that you might find interesting/insightful and useful:
SCALES:
Firstly, we see Pats thoughts on the many scales available to create his intervallic studies:[He seems to have had an impressive encyclopaedic knowledge ofscales].
Here, Pat lays out the main/commonly used scales to his preferred/choice of harmony [inversions/voicing’s]
Here, his harmonicexpansion is continued: Again, scale to harmony [chord voicing’s].
This page demonstrates once again, scales and harmony with possibilities and personal choices. It’s interesting to see Pats chord voicing’s available for development with his unique intervallic concept:
[It presenst a unique glimpse into Pat’s theoretical outlook, considerations and harmonic outlook].
Full Study: The Melodic minor scale EXAMPLE:
Now, let’s take a complete study. Here is the first one of the melodic minor set :
Pat’s studies to be completed:
Towards the end of the book we find that Pat was either still working on the book or he didn’t have time to complete [in all 12 keys] everything that was in his mind.
Here is an Example:
Although incomplete, here we see Pat preparing studies for the Spanish Gypsy scale, with the key points of string order and correct guitar fingering:
LAST EXAMPLE: FULL STUDY
Lastly, we have a full study with the Hungarian minor scale: Once again notice the string order and Pat’s choice/recommended guitar fingering.
IN CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, these are some of the important pages of the book, although there are lots more studies of interest and some more interesting pages [chords/scales] that I will publish in a later blog. But, this is the main core for those interested.
Judging by this book, although, Pat was an amazing jazz guitarist/composer and improviser he also seems to have been a great theoretician and super creative individual with a vast knowledge of music and not just jazz:
Finally, I would like to say a big thanks to Mark Koch for sending me the book and making all of this possible.
Pat Martino’s Minor Conversion Jazz Technique: Chromatic Devices and Examples
PLEASE Watch Video above for detailed info:
Hi Guys,
Some of you have said “How do we make Pat Martino’s minor conversion technique actually sound jazzy?”
Okay, let’s take a closer look!
CHROMATIC JAZZ TECHNIQUES FOR MINOR CONVERSION
There are 5 essential devices to employ for this:
1] Target tones:
These are employed to target a specific note. In this case E the 5th note of Am.
The use of an anacrusis/upbeat works best with target tones as this also sets up the jazz phrasing.
2] Chromatic scale.
This is usually delivered in fragments:
3] Side stepping:
In this case we are moving the interval of a tone down a semitone:
4] “Classic” Jazz passing melody/MOTIF:
This is heard a lot in Charlie Paker’s playing as well as Pat’s improvisations.
5] Minor arpeggio/min7th:
This is really useful and simple melodic tool for improvisational manipulation:
PART 2:
Analysis/Example- Pat Martino’s ii V7 I
In this example we can clearly see Pat’s exploitation of chromatics and how fluid they are in creating a long phrase.
We can see the target tone set up with an upbeat. Next we can see the manipulation of the chromatic scale, also, with a chromatic mix of scale and target tones. The minor arpeggio descends easily whilst the classic jazz motif/melody comes into play to round the phrase off .
This creates a very convincing jazz line in the “Minor conversion” Martino jazz guitar style/approach.
To complete this ii V7 I minor conversion we will exploit the minor7 arpeggio. From this, notice, the use of simple scale movement that finishes with a variation of the “Classic” jazz melody/motif:
Minor conversion: Sequence/Juxtaposition
As an exercise to display the brilliance of Pat Martino’s minor conversion jazz technique we will take the minor 7th arpeggio from the previous bar in the previous example and sequence/juxtapose this to play through both major and minor ii V I’s
1] Example 1: “MAJOR”– the same line moves down a fourth to play a ii V7 I Vi
2] Example 1: “MINOR”– the same line moves down a fourth to play a ii V7 i Vim7b5
Shown in Full:
IN CONCLUSION:
This was a look at the essential devices any jazz guitar improviser needs to know and use for creative improvisation with the minor conversion, or minorisation technique.
As, I stated in the previous blog this simple method can save you 20 years of hard slog! Why? Because, Pat Matino’s minor conversion technique can be appliedimmediately!….
With these 5 musical improvisation tools anyone can create confident musical lines with strong and fluid jazz guitar phrasing.
