Advanced exercise<\/p>\n One musical theme I have noticed running through some of Mike\u2019s original tunes is the alternation between parallel major and minor keys.\u00a0 In the tune \u2018Traveled Too Far\u2019 (from Mike\u2019s CD \u2018The Green Sparrow\u2019), the vocal verse as well as the guitar solo section is based on a four bar progression which moves between F major and F minor. \u00a0 I solo over a section of the tune \u2018Andelman\u2019s Yard\u2019 that begins in A major and works its way to A minor.\u00a0 Mike uses a melodic major-minor shift in the tune \u2018Suskind Hotel\u2019, which begins with a unison lick moving from the major third to the minor third.\u00a0 Mike says this motion interested him because it is so often avoided by blues and rock players.\u00a0 (Examples of melodies starting on the minor third and moving to the major are much more plentiful – among them the second strain of the \u2018Saint Louis Blues\u2019 by W.C. Handy, another famous Memphis resident).\u00a0 \u00a0 One reason these major-minor concepts may have caught my attention is they remind me of the ancient and endless conversation among jazz players and educators about how to play the blues.\u00a0 Some texts and teachers refer to a \u2018blues scale\u2019 (the root, flatted third, fourth, sharp fourth, fifth and flatted seventh of any major scale) which is really a kind of minor pentatonic scale that, contrary to its inclusive name, only represents one of many pitch collections that get used by great blues players.\u00a0 This is sometimes paired with a \u2018major blues scale\u2019 (the root, the second, the minor AND major third, fifth and sixth of any major scale).\u00a0 In improvisation class at UVM I teach an approach, derived from Barry Harris’ teaching method, which\u00a0begins with scales based off the three main chords and gradually adds half-steps according to certain rules.\u00a0 One of the many reasons I like this approach is that I think some of the most flavorful blues lines are those that use half-steps, particularly the motion from minor to major third.\u00a0 I found an example of such a lick in a live recording of a tune called \u2018Columbus Stockade\u2019 by Scott Murawski\u2019s band Max Creek.\u00a0 The lick occurs in a piano intro by Max Creek\u2019s keyboard player, Mark Mercier.\u00a0 In the \u2018Columbus Stockade exercise\u2019 I take Mark\u2019s phrase, which deftly moves from major to minor and back to major, and transpose it through the circle of fifths. \u00a0 I have also included licks from Milt Jackson\u2019s intro to \u2018Bags\u2019 Groove\u2019 and the intro to \u2018Swamp Music\u2019 that use melodic motion from minor to major third.\u00a0 (Notice that the \u2018Swamp Music\u2019 lick follows the bebop approach of placing the dissonant minor third on the upbeat.)\u00a0 Pick one you like and learn it in all twelve keys!\u00a0Columbus Stockade lick (and more)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n TC<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bluesology (or, \u2018the Seventh [Scale] and Sons\u2019) originally posted 9\/21\/09 Lately the Mike Gordon band has played shows in Atlanta, Jacksonville Beach (Florida), and Birmingham (Alabama), as well as Memphis and Nashville (Tennessee).\u00a0 We are traveling within what might be … Continue reading ![\"Seventh](\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/files\/2012\/01\/Seventh-scales-thru-circle-5ths.jpg\")
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