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Playing Over Changes Pt 2

Tom Quayle

Hi there and welcome to part 2 of 'Playing over Changes'. This time we'll be dealing with melodic minor chords and their associated scale choices and also with motivic development over changes. For the purpose of this tutorial a small piece of information:- All named scales start from the root of the chord in question. Our first chord type is called a Minor Major 7 chord and is chord I from the melodic minor scale. This chord is literally a minor triad with a major 7th interval on top, hence the rather strange name of minor major 7. Normally a minor triad would receive a minor 7th interval on top to create a minor 7th chord but the major 7th gives us a darker, more mysterious sound. As with last month , the purpose of this tutorial is not to teach you the scales as such but the association of the scale with the chords types listed in the video and chart below. Learn these associations (also known as chord/scale relationships) and you'll rarely find a chord that you can't tackle or don't know what to play over. Here's the chart for your perusal! Chord Scale MinMaj7 Melodic minor (from the root of chord) MinMaj9 Melodic minor (from the root of chord) Min6 Melodic minor/dorian (from the root of chord) Minor triad Melodic minor/dorian/aeolian/phrygian/harmonic minor

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14 Lessons

  1. 1 2:46 Lesson · 3m Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Minor Major 7 Chords Hi there and welcome to part 2 of 'Playing over Changes'. This time we'll be dealing with melodic minor chords and their associated scale choices and also with motivic development over changes. For the purpose...
  2. 2 1:44 Lesson · 2m Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Maj7#5 Chords Our next chord is very common in fusion and jazz music and has a very attractive but dark sound. It's called a Major7 #5 chord and is the III chord from the melodic minor scale. The scale required to play over...
  3. 3 2:52 Lesson · 3m Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Lydian Dominant Chords Our next chord type is dominant 7th chord with a sharpened 11th interval. This gives us a lydian dominant chord also known as the chord symbol 7#11. From the root note G this would give us G7#11 for example...
  4. 4 1:54 Lesson · 2m Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Locrian Natural 9 Chords Our penultimate chord type is based on a min7b5 chord, also known as a locrian chord. The difference here is that the melodic minor version of this chord contains a natural 9 and is the 6th chord of melodic...
  5. 5 2:07 Lesson · 2m Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Altered Chords Okay, our final chord type is named an altered dominant chords. If you've seen my other melodic minor tutorial you'll know that an altered dominant is a dominant chord that contains any of the following...
  6. 6 2:51 Lesson · 3m Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Motifs Introduction One of the hardest things to do when playing over changes is phrase well through the chords. In order to do this successfully we need a few things in our playing bag of tricks. The first is an excellent...
  7. 7 2:47 Lesson · 3m Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Using Motifs Okay, here's the video example with the accompanying transcription below. I'm playing over four chords. The sequence goes as follows. A7sus4, Bb7#11, Dmaj7, C7#11 so two of these are melodic minor chords... Tab Guitar Pro
  8. 8 1:37 Lesson · 2m Playing Over Changes Pt 2 - Motifs Closing Comments Now, when using motifs to play through chord changes you must remember that this is only an exercise and were you to play a complete solo this way, with very little rhythmic variation, you'd ultimately end up...
  9. 9 1:44 Lesson · 2m Playing Over Changes Pt 2 - Anticipating the changes Here's the example of anticipating the changes. The changes here are:- Amaj7, Bb7alt, Dmaj7, C7sus4 Try playing over each chord a beat earlier than it actually comes in or even two beats. Very seasoned players...
  10. 10 3:20 Backing track · 3m Backing Track - Melodic Minor 1 Here's the first backing track using melodic minor chords. The changes are:- ||: Am6 / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | F#m6 / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / :|| Use A melodic minor for Am6 Use F#...
  11. 11 2:58 Backing track · 3m Backing Track - Melodic Minor 2 Here's backing track number 2. A mixture of major and melodic minor harmony. The changes are:- ||: A7sus4 / / / | / / / / | Bb7#11 / / / | / / / / | Dmaj7 / / / | / / / / | C7#11 / / / | / / / / :|| Use A...
  12. 12 2:34 Backing track · 3m Backing Track - Melodic Minor 3 Here's backing track number 3. The changes are as follows:- ||: Am7 / / / | / / / / | Bbmaj7#5 / / / | / / / / | D7sus4 / / / | / / / / | C7#11 / / / | / / / / :|| Use A Dorian over the Am7 chord Use Bb Lydian...
  13. 13 2:18 Backing track · 2m Backing Track - Melodic Minor 4 Here backing track number 4, The changes are as follows:- ||: Amaj7 / / / | / / / / | Bb7alt / / / | / / / / | Dmaj7 / / / | / / / / | C7sus4 / / / | / / / / :|| Use A major/lydian over the Amaj7 chord Use Bb...
  14. 14 3:17 Backing track · 3m Backing Track - Melodic Minor 5 Here's the final backing track. The changes are as follows:- ||: AmMaj9 / / / | / / / / | Bbm7b5nat9 / / / | / / / / | Dmaj7#5 / / / | / / / / | Cmaj9 / / / | / / / / :|| Use A melodic minor over the AmMaj9...

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