Tag: jazz

John McLaughlin’s Pentatonic’s for Coltrane Changes:[Giant Steps]

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Hi Guys,

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.

Sheet music diagram showing giant steps chord names BMaj7, D7, GMaj7, Bb7, and EbMaj7, along with tablature for guitar. John McLaughlin version.
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.

Sheet music featuring john mclaughlin guitar tablature for Am7, D7, GMaj7, Bb7, EbMaj7, and F#7 giant steps chords.
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.

John McLaughlin Sheet music showing guitar tablature for the chords BMaj7, EbMaj7, and F#7, with annotations.
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.

Sheet music displaying John McLaughlin's chord progressions and tablature for Fm7, Bb7, EbMaj7, Am7, D7, and GMaj7 in giant stpes improvisation

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.

John McLaughlin musical sheet showing chord progressions for C#m7, F#7, and BMaj7 with annotations for specific notes.
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.

Sheet music displaying Fm7, Bb7, and EbMaj7 John McLaughlin chords with tablature for guitar.
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.

A musical sheet showing the John McLaughlin chords C#m7, F#7, and BMaj7 with corresponding tablature.
John McLaughlin guitar pentatonic’s example

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Understanding Triads and Slash Chords in Music Theory

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application
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.

A musical notation diagram showing a V to I cadence with altered substitutions to the Major key, including the slash chords Db/C and C/F for music theory lesson
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 for Csus/b9/b13 chord with tablature for guitar. Example of slash chord Db/C
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]

Musical sheet displaying a V to I cadence with altered substitutions for the minor key, featuring Db/C and FmMaj7 slash chords.
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

Music sheet showing chord substitution notations for F Major 1st inversion (F/A), F6/A, F#m7b5, and F/G with finger placement.
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:

A music sheet displaying harmonization techniques with chord notations including Em9, Am, C/G#, F/A, F6/A, F#m7b5, F/G, and Maj7#11.
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

Sheet music illustrating melody notes with annotations for G7#9 and Eb/E chords.
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:

Sheet music showing G7#9 and E/F slash chord for jazz fusion reharmonisation

Finally, resolving back to the Eb/E slash chord

Chord diagram showing E/Eb slash chord and diminished harmony with fingering positions on the guitar.
Chord diagram for E/Eb, illustrating finger placements for guitarists.

FULL HARMONISATION EXAMPLE:

Musical notation displaying John McLaughlin guitar melody notes and chords G7#9, Eb/E, and E/F, highlighting the harmonic structure, slash chord and how to re harmonise a melody in jazz fusion music.
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.

Musical notation showing a progression of slash chord triads: Db/C, D/C, Eb/C, E/C, and F/C over a single bass note.
Chord progression visual for 12 Major Triads over a C bass note, illustrating various slash chords.
A musical sheet displaying the 12 Major Triads over a C bass note, highlighting various slash chord combinations.
An illustration displaying the progression of 12 Major Triads over a C bass note, highlighting various chord combinations.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

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Quick Tips for Jazz Guitar Turnarounds: Martino,Mock,McLaughlin

Posted on by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a look at playing through a Vi ii V7 I Turn around/Cadence at a quick pace/tempo.

This is in the style of Don Mock, Pat Martino and John McLaughlin. So, this employs the alternate picking guitar technique.

PART 1:

In order to achieve our goal, we will exploit pentatonic fragments and connect them together in four note groupings.

This also means that we can make use of simple guitar fingering and hence pick quick rapid phrases.

Here, is the chord sequence:

A jazz chord turnaround and cadence featuring Gmaj7, E7, Am7, D7, Gmaj, Gm7, C7, and Fmaj7 in 4/4 time.

Now, we will solo through the first two chords of I VI [Chord VI as a Domoninat 7th]

Musical notation and tab showing GMaj7 and E7 jazz turnaround chords with corresponding notes and finger placements for guitar.

Starting, on a down stroke with alternate picking, we can see how easy it is to connect these simple pentatonic’s together through the two chord changes.

Now, let’s connect the pentatonic’s over the next two chords in the same manner. [Notice the G to F# resolution for Gmaj7]

Musical notation and tablature showing jazz ii V7 I chords Am7, D7, and Gmaj7 with highlighted notes and guitar finger placements.

PART 2:

Having completed our Turnaround, let’s cadence this to a new key: This will be F Major.

To do this, we will make the G Major 7th chord, minor, to G minor 7th.

Musical notation and tab for the Gm7 chord featuring pentatonic scale connections for jazz improvisation

From here, we will carry this pentatonic scale/line along and play it over the next chord.

This will be the Dominant chord of C7 [or chord V leading to/of the new key F Major].

Notice: the use of a few chromatic notes to fill out the pentatonic scale/line.

Sheet music showing a chord progression with annotations for C7 and Fmaj7, highlighting chromatic jazz improvisational movement.

PART 3:

Full Turnaround/Cadence:

Sheet music and tablature displaying chord progression for jazz Vi ii V7 I Gmaj7, E7, Am7, D7, and Gmaj7, with annotations and notes for guitar performance.
Sheet music showing a chord progression for jazz with ii V7 I with Gm7, C7, and FMaj7, highlighting chromatic scale movement and alternate picking guitar techniques.

This, was just a quick look at how easy it is to connect long lines together through very quick chord changes, especially, at the guitar with alternate picking technique.

It’s amazing the amount of chords we can play through fluently and quickly with this simple pentatonic four note [tetrachord] approach when improvising.

This short blog/lesson was just touching the surface. But, it does still give quite a comprehensive view of what can be achieved with this approach.

It’s a good idea to apply this method to any quick chord changes that you can find [e,g “Giant Steps”] and try this.

PDF DOWNLOAD:

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