Playing Over Changes

Hi there guys! Welcome to this tutorial on 'Playing Over Changes'. This is the idea of playing or improvising over a series of chords that change key every bar or other bar. We aren't going to be dealing with diatonic or functional harmony progressions in this tutorial. We'll have a separate one for that purpose. The first thing to mention is that you'll ne...

So throughout this tutorial I already mentioned that we'll be dealing with Modal Progressions which are non-functional. In other words, they don't outline one key centre as with functional progressions. Each chord is from a different key and requires a new scale. This is why we think modally rather than in keys. An example of a modal progression would be, ...

When soloing over Major chords and their derivatives we have two scales to choose from. These are Ionian (our standard major scale) and the Lydian scale. The Lydian Scale is what we'll call our 'Go To' scale for major chords when improvising in a modal context. This means that in a modal context you'll usually want to play a lydian mode over a maj chord and...

When soloing over minor chords and their derivatives we end up with three scale choices. These are our three minor modes - Dorian, Phrygian and Aeolian. As with major chords we have a 'Go To' scale choice that works best over the majority of modal progressions involving minor chords. This is Dorian which will usually sound best over the chord types listed be...

Dominant 7th chords and their derivitives use the mixolydian mode exclusively. We are only going to be dealing with un-altered dominant 7th chords in this tutorial. Any dominant 7th chords with altered extensions (b5, #5, b9, #9, #11) will be dealt with in another tutorial. Here's the list of chords which utilize the mixolydian mode. Chord Scale ...

It's fairly unusual to come across a minor7b5 chord in a modal context but when we do the scale that fits over it is the Locrian mode. It's more commonly found in a functional harmony context in a minor II-V progression which we'll cover when we look at playing over functonal progressions.

So, now you have the theoretical knowledge down of which scales to play when you see the relevant chord symbols in a modal context. Your next step is to develop your fretboard knowledge so that you can play these scales seamlessly, slipping into the next one without having to go back and start from the root note every time, thus interuppting your phrasing, ...

We're nearly there! This is the easiest exercise to expand upon. Try some of the following:- More chords of the same type (try the backing tracks with 4 chords) More chords of different types (try the backing track with different chord types) Try playing 8th notes and then 16th notes (still scale based lines though) I'd recommend that you begin with the...

One final thing. Make sure that you try singing all these scale lines as you play them. It's so important to make the link between what your fingers are doing and what you hear. When playing over changes your most important tools are your ears as they will be your guide when we get into phrasing and more complex exercises. Singing your lines whilst playing ...

Well here's the first backing track. Each chord lasts for one bar giving us the two chord sequence. Try playing a continuous scale exercise over this for the whole track.   ||: Gm7 / / / | Bbm7 / / / :||

Each chord lasts for one bar giving us the two chord sequence. Try playing a continuous scale exercise over this for the whole track.   ||: G7sus4 / / / | Bb7sus4 / / / :||

Each chord lasts for one bar giving us the two chord sequence. Try playing a continuous scale exercise over this for the whole track.   ||: Gmaj7 / / / | Bbmaj7 / / / :||

Each chord lasts for one bar giving us the four chord sequence. Try playing a continuous scale exercise over this for the whole track.   ||: Gm7 / / / | Bm7 / / / | Dm7 / / / | F#m7 / / / :||

Each chord lasts for one bar giving us the four chord sequence. Try playing a continuous scale exercise over this for the whole track.   ||: G7sus4 / / / | B7sus4 / / / | D7sus4 / / / | F#7sus4 / / / :||

Each chord lasts for one bar giving us the four chord sequence. Try playing a continuous scale exercise over this for the whole track.   ||: Gmaj7 / / / | Bmaj7 / / / | Dmaj7 / / / | F#maj7 / / / :||

In this final backing track we'll change chord types too. Each chord lasts for one bar giving us the four chord sequence. Try playing a continuous scale exercise over this for the whole track.   ||: Gm7 / / / | B7sus4 / / / | Dmaj7 / / / | F#7sus4 / / / :||