jazz – Page 8 – Modern Music Theory Improvisation and Application

Pat Martino’s Guitar Improvisation Techniques | Free PDF Download

Posted on June 11, 2024June 17, 2024 by Modern Music Theory and Application

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 of chord changes to improvise over.

pat-martino-jazz-guitar-improvisation-technique

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:

pat-martino-minor-conversion-jazz-guitar-improvisation-technique

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.

pat-martino-minor-conversion-jazz-guitar

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:

pat-martino-minor-conversion-jazz-guitar-ii-V7-1

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.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD;

pat-martino-minor Download

IF THIS LESSON WAS OF USE TO YOU THEN PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO US BELOW ON YOUTUBE, THANKS!

Modern Jazz Fusion Chords:How to create them from scales

Posted on May 10, 2024May 20, 2024 by Modern Music Theory and Application

CLICK SUBSCRIBE!

Hi Guys,

Today, a look at how to create colourful and interesting jazz/fusion chords:

Because, we are dealing with jazz/fusion we will manipulate a scale in modal form. This will be C Mixolydian:

Now, let’s add one note above each note of the mode and create 3rds. [Here we can hear the mode in double stops].

Now, we will add another note a 5th above the root and create triads.

We have now harmonised the Mixolydian mode.

As you will hear it doesn’t sound very jazzy or have a fusion-esque sound.

So what do we do?

Well, we will add another note and manipulate the chord “Voicing’s”. Let’s exploit 4ths, flattened 5ths and Major 3rds.

Ascending Chord Scale:

Descending chord scale:

THE DORIAN MODE:

Now, we will apply this to the C Dorian Mode which has another flat note, this being Eb.

C Dorian Chord Scale : Harmonisation idea:

CREATING MUSIC:

Now, let’s play these chords in a sequence and make a bit of music from them:

EXAMPLE: Notice-Motifs and melodic movement from the chord voicings:

Melodic minor quartal harmonisation

Finally, to really get that “Fusion” exoticism let’s now exploit the melodic minor scale:

Below, we have the A melodic minor scale: Notice it’s just like the A Major scale but with the 3rd flattened: [In this case C natural]

Again, we will try out some ideas to harmonise the scale with some interesting chord voicing’s:

Here is a really nice set of chords built from from the scale.

jazz-fusion-guitar-chords-lesson-melodic-minor

From here it’s a good idea to play re-harmonised chords from chord scales in sequences like:

ii V7 I

Vi ii V I

iii Vi ii V7 I

IN CONCLUSION:

This was just a basic look at how to create interesting chords from scales and modes and how to create interesting and unique voicing’s.

At the end of the day it really comes down to your own ears and imagination and sense of creativity. But, this is how easy it is to create chords from scales and then put them into sequences for composition and re-harmonisation.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

chord-scale FREE DOWNLOAD

IF THIS LESSON WAS OF USE TO YOU THEN PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO US BELOW ON YOUTUBE, THANKS!

“Minor-isation”For Backing Track Improvisation:

Posted on April 30, 2024May 10, 2024 by Modern Music Theory and Application

CLICK SUBSCRIBE!

“Minor-isation”or the minor topic.[Backing Track]

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at applying minor-isation for improvisation over a backing track:

This is a very useful way to play over ambiguous harmony or Jazz fusion chord progressions, slash chords and sometimes illogical movement/chord shifts.

So, what do we do? and how does this work?

ANSWER=Employ the minor key for everything!

Let’s say we take this chord FMaj#11 – we will go to chord iii of F Major and use that for our improvisational point. In this case it’s A minor.

minor-topic-pat-martino-minorisation-track

Let’s apply the same principle to DbMaj7#11

If we apply chord iii we have F minor:

This time we will apply it to B Maj7#11

Chord iii being D#minor [Although I have notated it enharmonically with Eb minor as some people find that easier to visualise on the guitar fingerboard]

BARS 9 TO 12

In bars 9 to 12 you will see slash chords. For these we will go to chord Vi. So for instance on Db/Eb we will use Bb minor.

Bars 9 to 11: Chord Vi:

And on C/D chord Vi will be A minor:

We could also use chord iii as we did in the first 8 bars:

Bars 9 to 11: Chord iii Employed:

LAST 4 BARS

For the last part we will employ chord iii of Db Major throughout: This of course being F minor:

Here is the chart for the full backing track and you will see how all of this works:

IN CONCLUSION:

This is just a basic example of how “minor-isation” can be exploited to create really fluid improvisation especially on the guitar in a modern smooth jazz fusion context:

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

minor-isation Download

IF THIS LESSON WAS OF USE TO YOU THEN PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO US BELOW ON YOUTUBE, THANKS!