Home
Tour Dates
Latest News
Recordings
Song Index
Lyrics
MP3 Page
Sheet Music
Photos
Biography
Booking
Press Kit Online
Workshops
FAQ
Links
Folk Alliance
Join Email List
Joel Speaks
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Tip Jar
Contact
or send
email
to Joel
Playing It Safe –
Improvising Over Chords Without A Net
By Joel Mabus
Improvising is all about taking risks. Let it be said that without taking any musical chances, an improvised solo will lie pretty flat. But on the other hand, going out on a limb can sometimes result in a crash – getting lost and never returning to safe ground is no fun either. No fun for the player OR the listener.
A great improviser is nearly always going to be a person who has had a lot of experience in taking chances. One learns this craft by being bold and fearless – and sometimes falling on one’s face. That as a given, there are a few strategies that take some of the risk out of the process, especially for the beginning improviser.
Here are three bets for “playing safe.” Please keep in mind that these are just guidelines. There are plenty of ways to break these rules and make great music. But to give some shape to your “noodling” these three guideposts will give you a way to start making sense of the improvisation process.
LET’S ASSUME, FOR OUR EXAMPLE, we will be playing a simple song in the key of C major. The melody never leaves the realm of the C scale, and the chords are all the natural harmonic triads extended from the C scale:
C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, B°
(I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, VII°)
¨
The three major Chords are the
I, IV, V – C, F, G. They
will likely be used the most in a “major key feel” song.
¨
Their relative minors, respectively
vi, ii, iii – Am, Dm, Em, may
be used as substitutes, or might be an integral part of the song structure.
¨
The VII°
(B,D,F) is
usually thought of as an extension to the V (G,B,D) chord, making
it a V7 (G,B,D,F).
THUS B°
is can be thought of as equivalent to G7.
SAFE BET #1 – Whenever you are improvising over a chord (triad) it is always a safe bet that you may play any of the 3 notes that make up that triad. Of course that includes those notes from other octaves as well.
 | So
while on the C chord, you can play the notes C, E, & G safely. |
| While
on the F chord, you can play the notes F, A, & C safely. |
| While
on the G chord, you can play the notes G, B, & D safely. |
| When
on an Em chord, you can play the notes E, G, & B. |
| So forth with all the chords. |
| NOTICE THIS: When the chord is G7, you can play the three notes of the G chord, G, B, & D -- AND/OR – play the three notes of the B° chord, B, D, & F. |
SAFE BET #2 – When the chord is a harmonic extension of the Key – it is usually a safe bet that you can improvise with the pentatonic scale of the root of that chord. (Major Pentatonic scale for a major chord; Minor Pentatonic scale for a minor chord; a diminished pentatonic scale for the VII°)
| When on the C chord, you can play the C major pentatonic scale notes: C, D, E, G, A. |
| When on the F chord, you can play the F major pentatonic scale notes: F, G, A, C, D. |
| When on the G chord, you can play the G major pentatonic scale notes: G, A, B, D, E. |
| When
on the Am chord, you can play the A minor pentatonic scale notes: A, C, D, E, G. |
| When
on the Dm chord, you can play the D minor pentatonic scale notes: D, F, G, A, C. |
| When
on the Em chord, you can play the E minor pentatonic scale notes: E, G, A, B, D. |
| When
on the B° chord, you can play the B diminished pentatonic scale notes: B,C,D,F,G. |
| NOTICE
THIS: The G7 chord can be thought of as a G,
plus the B°. Combining both pentatonic scales yields SEVEN
notes that are safe to play: G,A,B,C,D,E,F (G as tonal center) or |
B,C,D,E,F,G,A
(B as tonal center)
(The B as the tonal center creates the tension that we usually associate
with the “dominant seventh” chord.)
SAFE BET #3 – One step further, you can use the seven “church modes” to improvise from the diatonic (7 tone) scale. The actual notes remain the same – the scale notes of the key you are in – but the “tonal center” (the note you would call “one” or “DO” or the “root”) changes. The note that names the chord becomes the new tonal center.
| When
on the C chord, you can play the Ionian mode – C,D,E,F,G,A,B. |
| When
on the Dm chord, you can play the Dorian mode – D,E,F,G,A,B,C |
| When
on the Em chord, you can play the Phrygian mode – E,F,G,A,B,C,D. |
| When
on the F chord, you can play the Lydian mode – F,G,A,B,C,D,E. |
| When
on the G chord, you can play the Mixolydian mode – G,A,B,C,D,E,F. |
| When
on the Am chord, you can play the Aeolian mode –A,B,C,D,E,F,G. |
| When
on the B° chord (or G7), you can play the Locrian mode – B,C,D,E,F,G,A. |
Memorizing the names of each mode is not important, but changing the tonal center to correspond with the chord is! Try each of these modes over the appropriate chords. Start simple – just the first five notes (DO, RE, MI, FA, SOL). Then try those five notes forward, back and forward again.
When that is comfortable, try the upper end of the scale in a similar manner (DO, TI, LA SOL, etc).
©Joel Mabus 2001
plus 13,536 hits before 3/27/07 & the new server