Post by ohaiduhg on Jan 18, 2014 3:48:52 GMT -5
Edit 1/19: Altered Scale. Finished analysis on Georgia On My Mind. Also split up Chapter 1 into 2 chapters.
Edit 1/20: I added quite a bit to Chapter 4: Chord Voicings. I suggest you review that. I don't have everything I want in it, but it's a great place if you want to start reading on it and practicing it for yourself.
Welcome to the commercial music theory thread. I hope everyone on this forum who considers themselves composers looks over this. To get the full course of this I suggest joining a Jazz combo and Jazz ensemble and take Jazz improvisation classes. To fully comprehend this, playing is kind of necessary.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Chords and Scales
Chapter 2: Analysis
Chapter 3: Chord Progressions/Substitutions
Chapter 4: Chord Voicings
Chapter 5: Form
Chapter 6: Return of the Jedi
References
Introduction
Buy a Real Book or a Fake Book or whatever. Obtain one. This is a book of lead sheets to popular tunes. It started at Berklee with this sort of collection of ear transcribed songs. They aren't legal because of copyright and all that, but there are legal versions now. You can get them relatively cheap. They come in transpositions for transposing instruments so make sure you get the right one. If it says Bb on the cover you better play Tenor Sax or something. They also come in bass clef. The current edition is sixth edition. I heard 5th edition comes with a couple songs like On Green Dolphin Street, though.
www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=real+book+of+jazz&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Areal+book+of+jazz
Chapter 1: Chords and Scales
A good place to start in jazz is spelling. KNOW THAT IN JAZZ YOU ARE EXPECTED TO MAKE BIG CHORDS. BIG. CHORDS. A triad is now considered vanilla. Everything should be at least as tall as a 7 chord. It goes to 13, but I've heard rumor of a crazy 15 chord, which makes no sense if you think about it. All examples will be with the root C and pictures will come whenever I decide to make them.
C C-E-G
C#5 C-E-G# (Augmented)
Co C-Eb-Gb (Diminished symbol implied.)
C6 C-E-G-A (Know that now the 6 does not mean first inversion, but the sixth scale degree.)
Cm C-Eb-G (The "m" is needed only for lowering the 3rd because it is assumed major in any other way.)
Cm6 C-Eb-G-A (Know that the 6 is always Major 6th scale degree. The minor "m" only applies to lower the 3rd.)
Cm7 C-Eb-G-Bb
Cm7b5 C-Eb-Gb-Bb (It's a half diminished chord, but easier to read at the speed of tempo.)
CMaj7 C-E-G-B (This sometimes has a triangle instead of major)
CMaj7#5 C-E-G#-B
C7 C-E-G-Bb (Any 7, 9, or 13 automatically assumes flat-7. You have to say Maj to specify otherwise.)
C9 C-E-G-Bb-D
C add 9 C-E-G-D
C11 C-E-G-Bb-D-F
Csus C-F-G (remove the 3rd)
Csus7 C-F-G-Bb
C13 C-E-G-Bb-D-F-A (Generally omit the 11)
Then there are combo # and b.
If it says b it is flat and # is sharp. These are generally specified.
C7b9 C-E-G-Bb-Db
C7#9 C-E-G-Bb-D# (Bluesy and good in minor bossa novas)
C7b9#11 C-E-G-Bb-Db-F# (Know that the 11th can never be flatted. Natural 11 is rare. The clash is so weird it ends up as a sus chord instead.)
C7b9#11b13 C-E-G-Bb-Db-F#-Ab
You can have really any combination of # and b for different purposes. Here's an interesting one:
C7#5 C-E-G#-Bb
What makes that interesting is that is really more like a b13 chord without a 9 or 11 in it in Harmonic minor. C7#5 to Fm7
Now, you have all these chords in front of you, but what scales go over them? Here is a reference of scales I'm going to make from scratch, so it may or may not be missing some scales. There are books on this subject so you know.
C Major C D E F G A B (Otherwise known as C ionian)
C Harmonic Major C D E F G Ab B (Yes, this is a legit and tonal scale. Chopin uses it.)
C Natural minor C D Eb F G Ab Bb (Otherwise known as C aeolian.)
C Harmonic minor C D Eb F G Ab B
C Melodic minor C D Eb F G A B (In Jazz, it goes up and down the same notes.)
C Dorian C D Eb G A Bb (Bb Major starting on scale degree 2.)
C Phrygian C Db Eb F G Ab Bb (Ab Major starting on scale degree 3.)
C Lydian C D E F# G A B (G Major starting on scale degree 4. Just think raised 4.)
C Mixolydian C D E F G A Bb (F Major Starting on scale degree 5. Just think flat-7)
C Locrian C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb (Db Major starting on scale degree 7.)
C Lydian Dominant C-D-E-F#-G-A-Bb (Lydian b7 or Lydian Mixolydian.)
C Mixolydian b9 C-Db-E-F-G-A-Bb (Dominant chord in Harmonic Major.)
C Mixolydian b13 C-D-E-F-Ab-Bb (Dominant chord in Melodic minor.)
C Mixolydian b9 b13 C-Db-E-F-G-Ab-Bb (Dominant chord in Harmonic minor.)
C Pentatonic C D E G A (Typical version. Pentatonic is kinda vague in that it means 5 notes. Know that there are variations.)
C Minor Pentatonic C D Eb G Ab
Time for weird scales.
Blues
1-b3-4-#4/b5-5-b7
C-Eb-F-F#/Gb-G-Bb
Whole tone
Entirely made of whole steps.
C D E Gb Ab Bb or
Db Eb F G A B
Diminished/Octatonic
Whole-Half-Whole-Half-etc These 3 are used enharmonically for whatever chord you play it over.
1 C D Eb F F# G# A B
2 C# D# E F# G A Bb C
3 D E F G G# A# B C#
I find it easier to think of this is 4 minor go up a half step and 4 more.
C-D-Eb-F || F#-G#-A-B
Altered Scale
This scale uses b9 #9 b5 #5. You will usually get one 9 # or b and one 5.
C Db D# E Gb G# Bb (1-b9-#9-3-b5-#5-b7)
It's like starting a Melodic minor on scale degree 7.
B C D Eb F G A
Chapter 2: Analysis
How do all these combine though? You will need a Real Book. I hope you ordered one. Here are some starting grounds for chord/scale analysis.
These are the chords for Georgia On My Mind. The key signature is 1 flat. The - means minor. |1|2| is for first and second ending.
F E-7b5 A7b9 D- B-7b5 Bb-7 Eb7 A-7 D7 |1 G-7 C7 A-7 D7 G-7 C7b9#5
|2 G- C7 F E-7b5 A7#9|
D- Bb7 A7 D- D-7 G7 D- B-7b5 E7Alt A-7 D7 G-7 C7
F E-7b5 A7b9 D- B-7b5 Bb-7 Eb7 A-7 D7 G-7 C7 F (G-7 C7 for turn around)
The key is F Major. The thing about that is it is only good for the melody and determining your chord relations to some degree. The scales you improvise over don't necessarily have to go with the key signature. Now let's go over this slowly
F I chord. You will use a Major Scale, Pentatonic, or Lydian. You want to avoid the 4th scale degree unless you raise it as it can be considered a bad clash. At most, if you hit the natural 4th, resolve to the 3rd and carry on.
F G A (Bb) C D E
F G A C D
F G A B C D E
E-7b5 A7b9 Immediately you are broken away from F Major chords. This is a ii-V progression of some sort. In this case, the ii is half diminished so it is minor. This is ii-V of D minor (the vi of F). This is kind of like a case for temporary tonicization. You aren't modulating unless the rest is in D minor. This is a decoration of sorts. These chords also go together. You can play D Harmonic minor over these. Locrian goes for half diminished chords. In this case just have a natural 13.
D E F G A Bb C# (D Harmonic minor)
E F G A Bb C# D (Locrian with a natural 13)
A Bb C# D E F G (Mixolydian b9 b13)
D- vi chord. This was a pretty good guess for a next chord after those last 2. There are multiple scales you can use. In context, the D Harmonic minor could still work. Aeolian is an option. Dorian is also acceptable over this chord. Dorian is kind of the go-to scale for all things minor.
D E F G A Bb C (Natural Minor/Aeolian)
D E F G A B C (Dorian)
B-7b5 Bb-7 Eb7 This is a sort of weird chain. The B half diminished chord acts like a Neapolitan type function to Bb-7. Bb-7 to Eb7 is a ii-V progression. Anything minor 7th to a dominant 7th up a fourth is a ii-V (pronounced 2-5 btw). This is the ii-V of Ab. But what he does next is odd.
B half diminished B C D E F G A (Locrian)
Eb F G Ab Bb C Db (for the ii-V)
A-7 D7 This is the ii-V of G. So ii-V of Ab then ii-V of G. Look at it in context. G is the ii of F so it can also be over G melodic minor.
G A B C D E F# (G Major)
G A Bb C D E F# (G Melodic minor)
D E F# G A B C (D Mixolydian)
D E F# G A Bb C (D Mixolydian b13)
G-7 C7 This is the ii-V of F. F being the parent major and the key of the song. You see where this is going.
F G A Bb C D E (F Major)
G A Bb C D E F (G Dorian)
C D E F G A Bb (C Mixolydian)
A-7 D7 ii-V of G or G minor again.
G A B C D E F# (G Major)
G A Bb C D E F# (G Melodic minor)
D E F# G A B C (D Mixolydian)
D E F# G A Bb C (D Mixolydian b13)
G-7 C7b9#5 In this case you have a half cadence that leads back to the beginning of the song. The b9 and #5 are for the color (there is a G# in the melody which resolves to A). You could play an altered scale on this. The altered scale would start over the C7b9#5 though. You would use the b9 and #5 altered.
G A Bb C D E F (G Dorian)
C Db E G# Bb (C Altered b9 and #5)
G-7 C7 F This ii-V-I is in the second ending. It is a Perfect Authentic Cadence in context. Over the F Major you would prefer F Pentatonic or avoiding the Bb.
F G A Bb C D E (F Major)
G A Bb C D E F (G Dorian)
C D E F G A Bb (C Mixolydian)
F G A C D (F Pentatonic)
E-7b5 A7#9 This is obviously a ii-V going to D minor. The half diminished gives it away. The #9 usually goes to minor too. This is a decoration to bring the song to the bridge which starts with a D minor chord. The dominant chord is interesting for the reason of scale choices. Dominant chords are notorious for having anything played over them except the Major 7th. This one has C and C# in it though. Blues and a diminished scale fit over it.
E F G A Bb C D (E Locrian)
A C D D# Eb G (A Blues)
A Bb C C# Eb E F# G (Diminished scaled #2)
D- This is the start of the Bridge (the B section of the song) and it can go either way. This is the vi chord, but there is no B or Bb in the melody so you can play Natural minor or Dorian over this. You could even play F Pentatonic starting on D.
D E F G A Bb C (D Natural minor)
D E F G A B C (D Dorian)
D F G A C (F Pentatonic starting on D)
Bb7 A7 The Bb7 is a German Augmented 6 chord. The A7 is just the V chord of D minor. These chords happen so quickly and are chromatic so they sorta just pop by. At most it's just A Mixolydian b9 b13.
A Bb C# D E F G (A Mixolydian b9 b13)
D-7 More of what I've already said.
D E F G A Bb C (D Natural minor)
D E F G A B C (D Dorian)
D F G A C (F Pentatonic starting on D)
(D-7) G7 I put the D-7 in parenthesis since it is there but the same as the last chord. In this sense you are playing a ii-V of C.
C D E F G A B (C Major)
D E F G A B C (D Dorian)
G A B C D E F (G Mixolydian)
D- More the same.
D E F G A Bb C (D Natural minor)
D E F G A B C (D Dorian)
D F G A C (F Pentatonic starting on D)
B-7b5 E7Alt This is a ii-V for A. Looks like it would go to A minor.
B C D E F G A (B Locrian)
E F G Ab Bb C D (E Altered)
E F G# B# D (E Altered b9 #5 my guess)
A-7 D7 ii-V of G.
G A B C D E F# (G Major)
G A Bb C D E F# (G Melodic minor)
D E F# G A B C (D Mixolydian)
D E F# G A Bb C (D Mixolydian b13)
G-7 C7 ii V of F Major to bring you back to the A theme that ends the piece.
F G A Bb C D E (F Major)
G A Bb C D E F (G Dorian)
C D E F G A Bb (C Mixolydian)
This song uses AABA 32 Bar song form. That's pretty standard. It's not a blues, but since it has a down home southern feel to it, using "Blue" notes on occasion sound fitting.
F Ab Bb B C Eb (F Blues)
This sort of analysis should be done to as many songs as it takes for you to do it faster than you can say it. This lets you review compositions that were successful and you get and idea and respect for them. Some pieces may look odd, but, when you understand the voice leading they expect and the substitutions that are to be made, it makes sense.
Chapter 3: Chord Progressions/Substitutions
From the other thread:
You go from Tonic to Subdominant to Dominant. That is the best arch in chord progressions. There is a chord progression that is particularly used frequently.
I vi ii V
This can be substituted a million different ways. Jazz has it's own unique way of thinking as opposed to Classical. Let's do this in C Major and you can imagine roman numerals.
CMaj7 Am7 Dm7 G7
Take the G7 and go up a fifth and down a half step (tritone).
CMaj7 Am7 Dm7 Db7
That's a tritone substitution. The B and the F are enharmonically still there.
You can take the Dm7 and go up a fifth and down a half step (tritone) and make it a diminished chord.
CMaj7 Am7 Abo7 Db7
Ab B D F its basically a G7b9 G B D F Ab and Ab-Db is a circle of fifths movement. Ab-G is a neapolitan type relation.
Take the Am7 and go up a tritone to Eb and make it fully diminished.
CMaj7 Ebo7 Abo7 Db7
It is essentially the same thing as the last.
Take the CMaj7 and go up to the 3rd.
Em7 Ebo7 Abo7 Db7
You have a chord progression with some hair on it. You can also mess around with these.
Em7 Ebo7 Dm7 Db7
Em7 Am7 Abo7 G7
Whatever you want really. Be smart about it. Know these in all keys. When it comes to playing tunes, you may play the same chords over and over and may want to make them a little more interesting. Be smart about them. This is great for composing as well.
Chapter 4: Chord Voicing
This is very important for orchestration. I mean you see all these chords, but if you don't know how to voice them, your compositions will sound crappy and amateurish to say the least. Just because you see a CMaj7 doesn't mean you chunk it out as C-E-G-B and do that for all chords. Since, I am ze pianist of ze Jazz Ensemble (Beginning and Intermediate; the Advanced is an old professional) at the college, I get sheet music with a LOT on it. I get to see how the band is voiced. Also, I've learned some things from a good jazz pianist, and some from theory and some from Jazz Improvisation class. Voicing can be basic, but it can get crazy. I'm going to put down what I can about it. This section will definitely need pictures. I'm almost intimidated to begin this chapter.
Chord Voicing changes so much that to cover all of it would be very difficult. You have to keep the voices sort of in the middle. In some progressions you can sink your chords into the bass and they sound muddy, which you never want. Sometimes you need huge chords. If you have a lot of instruments going the piano can be drowned out and you need big slamming voices. Sometimes you are voicing for all the instruments, which the pianist should almost always be able to double if necessary. If you want guitar, you have to realize piano voicings may be hard. On Piano some guitar progressions can be very difficult. If you are in a small combo, sometimes you just leave the root to the bassist and the pianist goes into weird upper partial land. Hopefully I can give a little bit of basic information on this and general rules for everything, and if you have questions, I know some of you have my skype, or you can ask them in this thread.
1 rule of jazz chords is the root always stays in the bass. The 5th is very similar to the root and may be added for filler, but is generally a "plain" type of note. You want color.
A rule of thumb is that you can replace 1 with 9 and 5 with thirteen to make the chord sound better. This doesn't work in the bass but in right hand register. This leads to rootless voicings.
Try spelling out chords in fourths. That's generally a safe way to go about things. 1-5 | 7-3-13-9
Don't put 9, 11, or 13 as the lowest note. ESPECIALLY NOT IN THE BASS. Try to have 3 or 7 below them. When it comes to these chords, things will get ambiguous what the chord is and when you don't follow the general guidelines you end up spelling different chords.
Another rule is that just because the chord saaayyys C7 doesn't mean it has to be. 9ths and 13ths will be added almost as much as possible. In regular lead sheets you may only see 7th chords, but no one would expect you to play that. In more detailed orchestration they may specify the exact chord. Some upper partials can be assumed just by the context of the chord. Say you are in C and you come across A7. You can assume there is a b13. You could play regularly 13, but I wouldn't say either one is more right. It would depend the melody below it as well. My point is that there is more to it that you have to assume.
The 3rd and 7th need to be in the chord. They determine the quality the most. You fill in with the 9th 13th for color. Sometimes an 11th ends up in a chord. The natural 11th can work only in a minor chord. #11 if you want to put it in a dominant chord.
Here is a C7:
This is a different version:
Depending how bored I get I can put more up.
Now here is a ii-V-I in F major using the 2nd version of the C7.
First, look at the bass. The root is the lowest note. The 3rd of Gm becomes the 7th of C7. The 3rd of C7 becomes the 7th of F. This will happen in circle of fifth progressions.
There is very little movement as well. Things smoothely connect. Most to always things resolve down. In classical harmony 7, 9, 11, and 13 resolve down by step or disappear or keep a common tone. It's very hard to move upwards, but mostly try stepwise movement. Generally, moving up involves disappearing notes and adding notes to the top.
G-Bb | F-A-Bb-E
C-Bb | E-G-A-D
F-A | E-G-A-D
This is what I was saying about ambiguous. Look at all those common notes. You have to get a very good understanding of common notes and function. Let me spell this again.
1-3 | 7-9-3-13
1-7 | 3-5-13-9
1-3 | 7-9-3-13
Look how the chord degrees of the notes mirror. It can look weird as ****, but you look at it that way and everything is voiced fine. Being able to spell any chord up to 13 instantly helps you do this sort of thing. Gm13, C13, FMaj13 are the chords I spelled. You could play those over a progression saying Gm7-C7-F. It's just expected. It sounds hip.
(Saving up to here... Do not turn off the power or remove game cartridge.)
References
Edit 1/20: I added quite a bit to Chapter 4: Chord Voicings. I suggest you review that. I don't have everything I want in it, but it's a great place if you want to start reading on it and practicing it for yourself.
Welcome to the commercial music theory thread. I hope everyone on this forum who considers themselves composers looks over this. To get the full course of this I suggest joining a Jazz combo and Jazz ensemble and take Jazz improvisation classes. To fully comprehend this, playing is kind of necessary.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Chords and Scales
Chapter 2: Analysis
Chapter 3: Chord Progressions/Substitutions
Chapter 4: Chord Voicings
Chapter 5: Form
Chapter 6: Return of the Jedi
References
Introduction
Buy a Real Book or a Fake Book or whatever. Obtain one. This is a book of lead sheets to popular tunes. It started at Berklee with this sort of collection of ear transcribed songs. They aren't legal because of copyright and all that, but there are legal versions now. You can get them relatively cheap. They come in transpositions for transposing instruments so make sure you get the right one. If it says Bb on the cover you better play Tenor Sax or something. They also come in bass clef. The current edition is sixth edition. I heard 5th edition comes with a couple songs like On Green Dolphin Street, though.
www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=real+book+of+jazz&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Areal+book+of+jazz
Chapter 1: Chords and Scales
A good place to start in jazz is spelling. KNOW THAT IN JAZZ YOU ARE EXPECTED TO MAKE BIG CHORDS. BIG. CHORDS. A triad is now considered vanilla. Everything should be at least as tall as a 7 chord. It goes to 13, but I've heard rumor of a crazy 15 chord, which makes no sense if you think about it. All examples will be with the root C and pictures will come whenever I decide to make them.
C C-E-G
C#5 C-E-G# (Augmented)
Co C-Eb-Gb (Diminished symbol implied.)
C6 C-E-G-A (Know that now the 6 does not mean first inversion, but the sixth scale degree.)
Cm C-Eb-G (The "m" is needed only for lowering the 3rd because it is assumed major in any other way.)
Cm6 C-Eb-G-A (Know that the 6 is always Major 6th scale degree. The minor "m" only applies to lower the 3rd.)
Cm7 C-Eb-G-Bb
Cm7b5 C-Eb-Gb-Bb (It's a half diminished chord, but easier to read at the speed of tempo.)
CMaj7 C-E-G-B (This sometimes has a triangle instead of major)
CMaj7#5 C-E-G#-B
C7 C-E-G-Bb (Any 7, 9, or 13 automatically assumes flat-7. You have to say Maj to specify otherwise.)
C9 C-E-G-Bb-D
C add 9 C-E-G-D
C11 C-E-G-Bb-D-F
Csus C-F-G (remove the 3rd)
Csus7 C-F-G-Bb
C13 C-E-G-Bb-D-F-A (Generally omit the 11)
Then there are combo # and b.
If it says b it is flat and # is sharp. These are generally specified.
C7b9 C-E-G-Bb-Db
C7#9 C-E-G-Bb-D# (Bluesy and good in minor bossa novas)
C7b9#11 C-E-G-Bb-Db-F# (Know that the 11th can never be flatted. Natural 11 is rare. The clash is so weird it ends up as a sus chord instead.)
C7b9#11b13 C-E-G-Bb-Db-F#-Ab
You can have really any combination of # and b for different purposes. Here's an interesting one:
C7#5 C-E-G#-Bb
What makes that interesting is that is really more like a b13 chord without a 9 or 11 in it in Harmonic minor. C7#5 to Fm7
Now, you have all these chords in front of you, but what scales go over them? Here is a reference of scales I'm going to make from scratch, so it may or may not be missing some scales. There are books on this subject so you know.
C Major C D E F G A B (Otherwise known as C ionian)
C Harmonic Major C D E F G Ab B (Yes, this is a legit and tonal scale. Chopin uses it.)
C Natural minor C D Eb F G Ab Bb (Otherwise known as C aeolian.)
C Harmonic minor C D Eb F G Ab B
C Melodic minor C D Eb F G A B (In Jazz, it goes up and down the same notes.)
C Dorian C D Eb G A Bb (Bb Major starting on scale degree 2.)
C Phrygian C Db Eb F G Ab Bb (Ab Major starting on scale degree 3.)
C Lydian C D E F# G A B (G Major starting on scale degree 4. Just think raised 4.)
C Mixolydian C D E F G A Bb (F Major Starting on scale degree 5. Just think flat-7)
C Locrian C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb (Db Major starting on scale degree 7.)
C Lydian Dominant C-D-E-F#-G-A-Bb (Lydian b7 or Lydian Mixolydian.)
C Mixolydian b9 C-Db-E-F-G-A-Bb (Dominant chord in Harmonic Major.)
C Mixolydian b13 C-D-E-F-Ab-Bb (Dominant chord in Melodic minor.)
C Mixolydian b9 b13 C-Db-E-F-G-Ab-Bb (Dominant chord in Harmonic minor.)
C Pentatonic C D E G A (Typical version. Pentatonic is kinda vague in that it means 5 notes. Know that there are variations.)
C Minor Pentatonic C D Eb G Ab
Time for weird scales.
Blues
1-b3-4-#4/b5-5-b7
C-Eb-F-F#/Gb-G-Bb
Whole tone
Entirely made of whole steps.
C D E Gb Ab Bb or
Db Eb F G A B
Diminished/Octatonic
Whole-Half-Whole-Half-etc These 3 are used enharmonically for whatever chord you play it over.
1 C D Eb F F# G# A B
2 C# D# E F# G A Bb C
3 D E F G G# A# B C#
I find it easier to think of this is 4 minor go up a half step and 4 more.
C-D-Eb-F || F#-G#-A-B
Altered Scale
This scale uses b9 #9 b5 #5. You will usually get one 9 # or b and one 5.
C Db D# E Gb G# Bb (1-b9-#9-3-b5-#5-b7)
It's like starting a Melodic minor on scale degree 7.
B C D Eb F G A
Chapter 2: Analysis
How do all these combine though? You will need a Real Book. I hope you ordered one. Here are some starting grounds for chord/scale analysis.
These are the chords for Georgia On My Mind. The key signature is 1 flat. The - means minor. |1|2| is for first and second ending.
F E-7b5 A7b9 D- B-7b5 Bb-7 Eb7 A-7 D7 |1 G-7 C7 A-7 D7 G-7 C7b9#5
|2 G- C7 F E-7b5 A7#9|
D- Bb7 A7 D- D-7 G7 D- B-7b5 E7Alt A-7 D7 G-7 C7
F E-7b5 A7b9 D- B-7b5 Bb-7 Eb7 A-7 D7 G-7 C7 F (G-7 C7 for turn around)
The key is F Major. The thing about that is it is only good for the melody and determining your chord relations to some degree. The scales you improvise over don't necessarily have to go with the key signature. Now let's go over this slowly
F I chord. You will use a Major Scale, Pentatonic, or Lydian. You want to avoid the 4th scale degree unless you raise it as it can be considered a bad clash. At most, if you hit the natural 4th, resolve to the 3rd and carry on.
F G A (Bb) C D E
F G A C D
F G A B C D E
E-7b5 A7b9 Immediately you are broken away from F Major chords. This is a ii-V progression of some sort. In this case, the ii is half diminished so it is minor. This is ii-V of D minor (the vi of F). This is kind of like a case for temporary tonicization. You aren't modulating unless the rest is in D minor. This is a decoration of sorts. These chords also go together. You can play D Harmonic minor over these. Locrian goes for half diminished chords. In this case just have a natural 13.
D E F G A Bb C# (D Harmonic minor)
E F G A Bb C# D (Locrian with a natural 13)
A Bb C# D E F G (Mixolydian b9 b13)
D- vi chord. This was a pretty good guess for a next chord after those last 2. There are multiple scales you can use. In context, the D Harmonic minor could still work. Aeolian is an option. Dorian is also acceptable over this chord. Dorian is kind of the go-to scale for all things minor.
D E F G A Bb C (Natural Minor/Aeolian)
D E F G A B C (Dorian)
B-7b5 Bb-7 Eb7 This is a sort of weird chain. The B half diminished chord acts like a Neapolitan type function to Bb-7. Bb-7 to Eb7 is a ii-V progression. Anything minor 7th to a dominant 7th up a fourth is a ii-V (pronounced 2-5 btw). This is the ii-V of Ab. But what he does next is odd.
B half diminished B C D E F G A (Locrian)
Eb F G Ab Bb C Db (for the ii-V)
A-7 D7 This is the ii-V of G. So ii-V of Ab then ii-V of G. Look at it in context. G is the ii of F so it can also be over G melodic minor.
G A B C D E F# (G Major)
G A Bb C D E F# (G Melodic minor)
D E F# G A B C (D Mixolydian)
D E F# G A Bb C (D Mixolydian b13)
G-7 C7 This is the ii-V of F. F being the parent major and the key of the song. You see where this is going.
F G A Bb C D E (F Major)
G A Bb C D E F (G Dorian)
C D E F G A Bb (C Mixolydian)
A-7 D7 ii-V of G or G minor again.
G A B C D E F# (G Major)
G A Bb C D E F# (G Melodic minor)
D E F# G A B C (D Mixolydian)
D E F# G A Bb C (D Mixolydian b13)
G-7 C7b9#5 In this case you have a half cadence that leads back to the beginning of the song. The b9 and #5 are for the color (there is a G# in the melody which resolves to A). You could play an altered scale on this. The altered scale would start over the C7b9#5 though. You would use the b9 and #5 altered.
G A Bb C D E F (G Dorian)
C Db E G# Bb (C Altered b9 and #5)
G-7 C7 F This ii-V-I is in the second ending. It is a Perfect Authentic Cadence in context. Over the F Major you would prefer F Pentatonic or avoiding the Bb.
F G A Bb C D E (F Major)
G A Bb C D E F (G Dorian)
C D E F G A Bb (C Mixolydian)
F G A C D (F Pentatonic)
E-7b5 A7#9 This is obviously a ii-V going to D minor. The half diminished gives it away. The #9 usually goes to minor too. This is a decoration to bring the song to the bridge which starts with a D minor chord. The dominant chord is interesting for the reason of scale choices. Dominant chords are notorious for having anything played over them except the Major 7th. This one has C and C# in it though. Blues and a diminished scale fit over it.
E F G A Bb C D (E Locrian)
A C D D# Eb G (A Blues)
A Bb C C# Eb E F# G (Diminished scaled #2)
D- This is the start of the Bridge (the B section of the song) and it can go either way. This is the vi chord, but there is no B or Bb in the melody so you can play Natural minor or Dorian over this. You could even play F Pentatonic starting on D.
D E F G A Bb C (D Natural minor)
D E F G A B C (D Dorian)
D F G A C (F Pentatonic starting on D)
Bb7 A7 The Bb7 is a German Augmented 6 chord. The A7 is just the V chord of D minor. These chords happen so quickly and are chromatic so they sorta just pop by. At most it's just A Mixolydian b9 b13.
A Bb C# D E F G (A Mixolydian b9 b13)
D-7 More of what I've already said.
D E F G A Bb C (D Natural minor)
D E F G A B C (D Dorian)
D F G A C (F Pentatonic starting on D)
(D-7) G7 I put the D-7 in parenthesis since it is there but the same as the last chord. In this sense you are playing a ii-V of C.
C D E F G A B (C Major)
D E F G A B C (D Dorian)
G A B C D E F (G Mixolydian)
D- More the same.
D E F G A Bb C (D Natural minor)
D E F G A B C (D Dorian)
D F G A C (F Pentatonic starting on D)
B-7b5 E7Alt This is a ii-V for A. Looks like it would go to A minor.
B C D E F G A (B Locrian)
E F G Ab Bb C D (E Altered)
E F G# B# D (E Altered b9 #5 my guess)
A-7 D7 ii-V of G.
G A B C D E F# (G Major)
G A Bb C D E F# (G Melodic minor)
D E F# G A B C (D Mixolydian)
D E F# G A Bb C (D Mixolydian b13)
G-7 C7 ii V of F Major to bring you back to the A theme that ends the piece.
F G A Bb C D E (F Major)
G A Bb C D E F (G Dorian)
C D E F G A Bb (C Mixolydian)
This song uses AABA 32 Bar song form. That's pretty standard. It's not a blues, but since it has a down home southern feel to it, using "Blue" notes on occasion sound fitting.
F Ab Bb B C Eb (F Blues)
This sort of analysis should be done to as many songs as it takes for you to do it faster than you can say it. This lets you review compositions that were successful and you get and idea and respect for them. Some pieces may look odd, but, when you understand the voice leading they expect and the substitutions that are to be made, it makes sense.
Chapter 3: Chord Progressions/Substitutions
From the other thread:
You go from Tonic to Subdominant to Dominant. That is the best arch in chord progressions. There is a chord progression that is particularly used frequently.
I vi ii V
This can be substituted a million different ways. Jazz has it's own unique way of thinking as opposed to Classical. Let's do this in C Major and you can imagine roman numerals.
CMaj7 Am7 Dm7 G7
Take the G7 and go up a fifth and down a half step (tritone).
CMaj7 Am7 Dm7 Db7
That's a tritone substitution. The B and the F are enharmonically still there.
You can take the Dm7 and go up a fifth and down a half step (tritone) and make it a diminished chord.
CMaj7 Am7 Abo7 Db7
Ab B D F its basically a G7b9 G B D F Ab and Ab-Db is a circle of fifths movement. Ab-G is a neapolitan type relation.
Take the Am7 and go up a tritone to Eb and make it fully diminished.
CMaj7 Ebo7 Abo7 Db7
It is essentially the same thing as the last.
Take the CMaj7 and go up to the 3rd.
Em7 Ebo7 Abo7 Db7
You have a chord progression with some hair on it. You can also mess around with these.
Em7 Ebo7 Dm7 Db7
Em7 Am7 Abo7 G7
Whatever you want really. Be smart about it. Know these in all keys. When it comes to playing tunes, you may play the same chords over and over and may want to make them a little more interesting. Be smart about them. This is great for composing as well.
Chapter 4: Chord Voicing
This is very important for orchestration. I mean you see all these chords, but if you don't know how to voice them, your compositions will sound crappy and amateurish to say the least. Just because you see a CMaj7 doesn't mean you chunk it out as C-E-G-B and do that for all chords. Since, I am ze pianist of ze Jazz Ensemble (Beginning and Intermediate; the Advanced is an old professional) at the college, I get sheet music with a LOT on it. I get to see how the band is voiced. Also, I've learned some things from a good jazz pianist, and some from theory and some from Jazz Improvisation class. Voicing can be basic, but it can get crazy. I'm going to put down what I can about it. This section will definitely need pictures. I'm almost intimidated to begin this chapter.
Chord Voicing changes so much that to cover all of it would be very difficult. You have to keep the voices sort of in the middle. In some progressions you can sink your chords into the bass and they sound muddy, which you never want. Sometimes you need huge chords. If you have a lot of instruments going the piano can be drowned out and you need big slamming voices. Sometimes you are voicing for all the instruments, which the pianist should almost always be able to double if necessary. If you want guitar, you have to realize piano voicings may be hard. On Piano some guitar progressions can be very difficult. If you are in a small combo, sometimes you just leave the root to the bassist and the pianist goes into weird upper partial land. Hopefully I can give a little bit of basic information on this and general rules for everything, and if you have questions, I know some of you have my skype, or you can ask them in this thread.
1 rule of jazz chords is the root always stays in the bass. The 5th is very similar to the root and may be added for filler, but is generally a "plain" type of note. You want color.
A rule of thumb is that you can replace 1 with 9 and 5 with thirteen to make the chord sound better. This doesn't work in the bass but in right hand register. This leads to rootless voicings.
Try spelling out chords in fourths. That's generally a safe way to go about things. 1-5 | 7-3-13-9
Don't put 9, 11, or 13 as the lowest note. ESPECIALLY NOT IN THE BASS. Try to have 3 or 7 below them. When it comes to these chords, things will get ambiguous what the chord is and when you don't follow the general guidelines you end up spelling different chords.
Another rule is that just because the chord saaayyys C7 doesn't mean it has to be. 9ths and 13ths will be added almost as much as possible. In regular lead sheets you may only see 7th chords, but no one would expect you to play that. In more detailed orchestration they may specify the exact chord. Some upper partials can be assumed just by the context of the chord. Say you are in C and you come across A7. You can assume there is a b13. You could play regularly 13, but I wouldn't say either one is more right. It would depend the melody below it as well. My point is that there is more to it that you have to assume.
The 3rd and 7th need to be in the chord. They determine the quality the most. You fill in with the 9th 13th for color. Sometimes an 11th ends up in a chord. The natural 11th can work only in a minor chord. #11 if you want to put it in a dominant chord.
Here is a C7:
This is a different version:
Depending how bored I get I can put more up.
Now here is a ii-V-I in F major using the 2nd version of the C7.
First, look at the bass. The root is the lowest note. The 3rd of Gm becomes the 7th of C7. The 3rd of C7 becomes the 7th of F. This will happen in circle of fifth progressions.
There is very little movement as well. Things smoothely connect. Most to always things resolve down. In classical harmony 7, 9, 11, and 13 resolve down by step or disappear or keep a common tone. It's very hard to move upwards, but mostly try stepwise movement. Generally, moving up involves disappearing notes and adding notes to the top.
G-Bb | F-A-Bb-E
C-Bb | E-G-A-D
F-A | E-G-A-D
This is what I was saying about ambiguous. Look at all those common notes. You have to get a very good understanding of common notes and function. Let me spell this again.
1-3 | 7-9-3-13
1-7 | 3-5-13-9
1-3 | 7-9-3-13
Look how the chord degrees of the notes mirror. It can look weird as ****, but you look at it that way and everything is voiced fine. Being able to spell any chord up to 13 instantly helps you do this sort of thing. Gm13, C13, FMaj13 are the chords I spelled. You could play those over a progression saying Gm7-C7-F. It's just expected. It sounds hip.
(Saving up to here... Do not turn off the power or remove game cartridge.)
References