The Chord-Scale Controversy in Jazz

[00:00:03][music] [music] What you just heard is me improvising using chord scales and arpeggios. I can't imagine how I would do it without them. Nonetheless, I've come across a wave of videos here on YouTube telling aspiring jazz guitar players to stop wasting their time with scales and arpeggios. Some claim that the whole chord scale system that the big music schools teach is outdated. Others call it academic fluff and even imply it's a scam just to make money. I'm Richie Zelen and today I want to clear up this controversy which comes down to two specific misconceptions.

[00:01:06]And be sure to stick with me because before we're done today, I want to tell you about my new book which you can download for free. It's called 10 tips to improve your jazz solos plus the myths holding you back.

[00:01:23]Before we get to the two misconceptions, I want to actually define what a chord scale is to make sure we're on the same page. And this will explain why every serious music school teaches it as a foundation and preerequisite for jazz improvisation.

[00:01:41]What I am going to show you is deeply rooted in European functional harmony and it consists of generating chords from their parent scales. So what I want to demonstrate is that scales and chords are vertical and horizontal expressions of the same harmonic unit. And although classical historical methods do not use the term chord scales which is mainly used today for reference in jazz, the underlying structural concept is the same and it predates modern jazz education by centuries. So let's take a G major scale. An entire major tonality is built from these seven notes.

[00:02:28][music] If we want to determine what chord is derived from it, we play the root, third, fifth, and seventh degrees of the scale together.

[00:02:42][music] So now we know that the diietonic scale that corresponds to a one major 7 is the major scale or Ionian. In a nutshell, that is what we refer to as a chord scale. And if I start the same G major scale from its second note, we derive the chord scale for the two chord in a major key.

[00:03:16]and we derive a minor 7th chord from it.

[00:03:21][music] Now, if you're new to harmony, it's important to note that these are dietonic scales, which means they are exclusively based on the notes of the parent scale, which is G major. And this is where some confusion regarding chord scales originates. If you don't understand harmony, depending on what harmonic function we want, we can substitute that scale with a noniatonic scale and the chord it generates.

[00:03:54]Nonetheless, it is still a chord scale.

[00:03:58]For example, say we are including a B flat 7 chord within the key of G. How do we determine its chord scale? Well, we first play the seventh chords arpeggio.

[00:04:15]Then we fill the missing degrees using only notes that are diatonic to G major.

[00:04:23][music] And the chord scale we end up with is a Lydian dominant. And this chord can now take on the function of what is also known as a substitute dominant. And it resolves to the two minor in G. So, [music] so this isn't a jazz school invention.

[00:04:55]This is centuries of functional harmony applied to jazz improvisation.

[00:05:00]Now, almost nine years ago, I put out a lesson called Stop Thinking in Scales.

[00:05:06]And I want to be precise about what I actually meant because it's been getting misread by an entire new generation of videos that are taking the concept out of context.

[00:05:18]I never said don't learn your scales. I never said don't use them. What I said was stop focusing on scales when you're improvising. Instead, focus on the melody and be sure to target the arpeggio to imply the harmony. The scale is simply your alphabet. When you speak, are you thinking about the alphabet? Of course not. It became subconsciously ingrained in early grade school so you could focus on the actual sentence, the meaning, the idea. If you still consciously had to think the letters J, A, Z, Z to say the word, and you couldn't speak a coherent sentence to save your life. Well, that same analogy applies to the scale as well.

[00:06:14]So, let's start with the first misconception.

[00:06:17]And just for the record, I'm not going to disclose any creator names or channels. Some of you, I'm sure, will know exactly who I'm referring to. And they have videos with titles like, "Stop practicing scales, quit improvising using scales," or, "I quit using scales." They sound like a direct attack on everything I just covered. I'm calling this first misconception clickbait conflation.

[00:06:49]The title implies a war on chord scale theory. Strangely enough, once you click and watch, the actual content of the video doesn't directly attack the theory at all. But unfortunately, because the creator doesn't clarify this, it leaves a lot of new students completely confused.

[00:07:10]What's really happening is the title conflates a radical claim. Horde scale theory is a waste of time with a completely standard piece of advice.

[00:07:22]Trilling scales alone won't turn you into an improviser. And every classical musician knows that. Yet those clickbait titles fool beginners into throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

[00:07:39]And we are ready to examine the second misconception. But before we do, I want to give you something that builds directly on what we've covered so far, which includes a set of proven principles to firmly guide you in your jazz improvisation studies. I just put together a brand new free ebook called 10 tips to improve your jazz solos, plus the myths holding you back. And you can download it for free from my website.

[00:08:09]And you will also get access to the Bbop algorithm, a two-part master class. Just visit jazz guitar.zalon.com.

[00:08:20]And I will put a direct link in the info section below.

[00:08:27]Now, here's the second misconception.

[00:08:30]This one is different, and I want to spend the most time on it because it's subtle, and even a lot of smart players fall for it.

[00:08:39]It is driven by a process I call faulty historical reframing.

[00:08:46]And you'll find videos out there with titles like why music schools don't teach real jazz or no scales no arpeggios just do this. Here are two perfect examples of how a faulty reframe creates a major misconception.

[00:09:05]One video attacks academic music education using a historical reframe.

[00:09:12]Charlie Parker never went to Berkeley.

[00:09:15]Now, that historical fact is completely true. But the creator builds a faulty conclusion on top of it, reframing the lack of formal schooling to mean that quartzcale relationships are just an academic scam invented to sell jazz education and that the real masters never actually played that way. And by that way he implies that the early Bbop musicians relied purely on their natural talent and their ears completely bypassing any formal study of musical harmony and that you too can do the same. [laughter] Implicit in this argument is the idea that Charlie Parker wasn't even aware of chord scales. But here is the flaw. New terms like chord scales were simply added to jazz methods later on and they were invented to easier reference existing principles and functional harmony when teaching jazz improvisation.

[00:10:24]But the underlying principle is the exact harmonic framework that Bird was using. So this is a faulty reframe because it conflates the history of modern music schools with the history of the musical principles themselves. Just because an institution wasn't teaching it in a classroom in 1945 does not mean the masters were not utilizing those exact harmonic relationships in their playing. Another video takes isolated portions of Charlie Parker's solos to demonstrate its point.

[00:11:04]Here, the creator frames the lines from an alternative perspective.

[00:11:10]This is a theoretical reframe. He implies that Parker was specifically thinking in terms of triads plus one extra tension note and some chromatic connectors.

[00:11:22]Breaking down the line to identify any existing triads is a completely legitimate way to look at it. I agree.

[00:11:31]But the reframe becomes faulty when he uses it to deduce that this was Bird's mental framework for everything and not the underlying scale and seventh chord arpeggio. His alternative perspective isn't inherently wrong, but his conclusion is what he labels as just a triad plus a random tension note actually classifies as part of a seventh chord arpeggio. The triad is simply part of that larger seventh chord foundation that he is choosing to ignore. And that happens to be the foundation that all the Bbop pioneers used in their playing.

[00:12:14]As evidence, if you examine most measures of a classic Bbop solo, you will find the third and the seventh of the chord explicitly included in the line. Now, here's what I need to clear up. Framing an established concept from a different perspective isn't automatically wrong. It's fine if you're doing it to break something down and understand it better. Jazz musicians have framed plenty of compositional concepts established by classical musicians from new perspectives so that they can apply them more easily when improvising, but they haven't reinvented the wheel. Jazz improvisation is a form of spontaneous composition based on the same centuries old principles of functional harmony. At least Bbop is.

[00:13:12]To show you what a legitimate reframe looks like, take Pat Martino for example. He liked to view scales from the relative minor perspective. On that note, let me mention that I actually studied with Pat for a brief period. We never even got to the point where I was ready to learn his relative minor approach to improvise. And that's because he knew I first had a gap to fill mastering those so-called chord scales and arpeggios.

[00:13:45]And I still have pages in his own handwriting where he laid it out step by step that same foundation. By the way, if you're interested, I show some of those pages in another lesson. You'll find a direct link in the info section below if you want to see them for yourself.

[00:14:05]Okay. Another example comes from Barry Harris. He liked to add an extra note to a seven note scale to create symmetrical eighth note lines among other reasons.

[00:14:17]And these are legitimate reframes, but they're optional alternative perspectives when you're improvising, not a substitute for the foundation chord scales provide. And whether it's Pat Martino, Barry Harris, or anyone else, these concepts are only taught at music schools after the student has already acquired a proper understanding of the chord scale fundamentals.

[00:14:46]I've come to understand why from my own experience teaching at various universities. And on that note, a disclaimer. I don't believe you have to study at an academic institution in order to become a good jazz player. As a matter of fact, my most valuable learning came from my mentors outside of school. But enough said. I leave you with these two misconceptions to keep in mind. Clickbait conflation and faulty reframing. If you can identify them, you'll never let them lead you down the wrong path. For those of you who are still with me, [laughter] I truly hope you have enjoyed this [music] lesson. If so, please be sure to like and comment. And if you haven't done so yet, subscribe. I'm Richie Zelon, and I look forward to sharing another info lesson real soon with you.

[00:15:45]Until we meet again, you know the drill.

[00:15:47][music] Practice, practice, practice. Take a break and rinse [music] and repeat. [laughter] May peace be with you.