Chord Scale Theory Isn't Enough For Every Jazz Student - Here's Why

[00:00:00]Today we're going to talk to you about why chord scale theory may not be the best approach to playing over chords.

[00:00:07]>> Wait, it's the first time we're actually doing this in the same room.

[00:00:10]>> Yeah.

[00:00:10]>> A moment of appreciation to human closeness. Look, I can touch you.

[00:00:15]>> Thought we didn't actually know or that I cut myself into videos of him talking.

[00:00:20]>> It's real. We're real.

[00:00:21]>> We're really here and we're friends at New England Conservatory at Jazz Lab.

[00:00:25]>> And I get to hear trombone right up here.

[00:00:28]What everybody wanted was to hear the trombone. They've been clamoring for it.

[00:00:32]Our community loves the trombone.

[00:00:34][laughter] >> We're here at the New England Conservatory at our alma mater and running jazz the jazz lab program where we are here for basically two weeks with musicians from all over the world.

[00:00:44]>> But we've got business to do.

[00:00:46]>> We've got business to do. And that's teach you a better way of learning to play over changes than chord scales.

[00:00:52]Because I'm here to tell you, I've tried it and it just is missing something I need. We're sharing tons of like theory and jazz and improvisation with our students and one thing that keeps coming back is the idea of chord theory. You know, students are obsessed with this idea of chord theory. What what mode should I use here? What scale should I use?

[00:01:09]>> What scale am I doing? What am I >> and then they're writing it down and writing it down and sure you can write it down, but then when it comes to playing the playing may not be there yet >> or they're just running up and down the scale and and there's no intention behind it.

[00:01:21]>> And I think this happens because they see each chord as a box of its own, a unit. Yeah, >> with their specific, you know, fingerings, patterns, rules, and tensions. And I think this kind of creates a blockage and it makes the playing so so vertical as well.

[00:01:38]>> And also waste a lot of time.

[00:01:41]>> Yeah.

[00:01:41]>> It's like giving you the alphabet and telling it to kind of speak a language just by having the alphabet at your disposal.

[00:01:48]>> It's like a mental reset every time a chord changes. So you propose there's a there's a better way. So we would like to present a different strategy and maybe a tune the tune we we were playing just before on Green Dolphin Street can be a great a great example.

[00:02:01]>> Yeah.

[00:02:02]>> So shall we dive into it?

[00:02:03]>> Show show us the way.

[00:02:06]>> I'm here to show you the way. These are the four first four bars of on Green Dolphin Street. Have a C major 7. Then we have a C minor 7. Then we have that weird is like basically a D >> D7ish >> over C.

[00:02:22]>> Yep. Then we have a D flat over C >> over this big pedal >> and we're back to C major.

[00:02:29]>> So something that like when you're learning jazz your teacher would say like oh what scale are you going to use of your C major? Well in this case normally you have two options. Some people like to use Lydian and everything. Some people are obsessed with Lydian chromatic concept. Yeah >> and you know they are part of the cult.

[00:02:44]So >> I use the heck out of Lydian when >> I love Ionian is my favorite scale of all times. basically the major scale and I'm going to write it here.

[00:02:53]>> The next chord is a C minor and so we could use either the Aolon mode or the Dorian mode.

[00:03:00]>> So, okay, I I wrote those two scales. In this case, it works pretty well that we're doing that. Now, what I would like to suggest is that when we're writing other scales that are not starting on the same C as as a root that we try to respell them starting from the note C.

[00:03:16]So you write all the scales regardless of the the key you're in.

[00:03:20]>> Mhm.

[00:03:21]>> Always starting from the same exact note. It can be the root of your or the key of your piece or it can be any random pitch that you choose. But the idea is to write all of those scales starting exactly on the same note. So for example, this third chord that you see over here, D over C, it's like a D7.

[00:03:37]>> So now we we're going to be making our um chord scale starting on a C still even though it's a D7. Yeah.

[00:03:44]>> And so we're just starting a D mixelyian on its seventh scale degree and running it up to C coming back down.

[00:03:52]>> Beautiful.

[00:03:53]>> And since we are together, let me play it. I don't always get to demonstrate things. So give me this D over [music] C, [music] >> right? And then I'm going to play I'm going to write down the scale of D flat.

[00:04:14]So a D flat over C is just a we could call it like an version of a of a D flat major 7 chord.

[00:04:21]>> And let me just write the D flat major scale here.

[00:04:25]>> So uh so you're going to use the Lydian version of D flat. So we're going to have a G natural instead of a G flat.

[00:04:31]>> That's correct. Lydian is a major scale with a raised fourth degree.

[00:04:36]>> Let me try that one. Mhm.

[00:04:39]>> [music] [music] >> So what we're creating now basically I'm respelling all the scale. Here I have a C major. Here I have a C minor Dorian.

[00:04:56]Why Dorian and not natural minor? That's >> it's just a choice.

[00:05:00]>> Common practice. Whatever you prefer.

[00:05:02]>> I also like Aolon. A good old Aol. You like a good old >> I like a good aoli. [laughter] >> This is a D7 or D mixoly. And our last one is a D flat Lydian. But notice that I I've written all the scales starting from the note C. So C is kind of my common thread, my pivot note.

[00:05:27]>> It doesn't matter where you write. The idea is that by doing this, what I'm hoping to do is to start highlighting what changes. Instead of resetting the entire thing every time you change your scale, >> we're going to just focus on the changes. So, for example, when we look the difference between the C major and the C doran, you're going to notice that the third note here is altered. From E natural becomes E flat.

[00:05:51]>> Mhm.

[00:05:52]>> And the seventh note from B natural becomes B flat. So, that those are the two notes that change. Now when we go to the D mixelyian, there are lots of notes in common. So this help you understand common tones much better. [snorts] You know the E now is going to become E natural again. The B flat is going to become B natural again. And this time your F becomes an F sharp. So this is what changes. And when I go to our um D flat Lydian then the second note changes >> over. Now we're changing it all.

[00:06:26]>> Yeah. But here's what changes and you what and what doesn't change. So if you look at the notes that don't change for example G is a note that doesn't change.

[00:06:33]>> C doesn't change.

[00:06:34]>> See so you can that's is perfect for trombone.

[00:06:38]>> Yeah. I love it.

[00:06:39]>> So now like what do you do with this?

[00:06:40]And this is where I think like chord scale theory may fall short. You have all the information. You have all the vocabulary available and then what?

[00:06:47]>> Yeah. you just I'm gonna run every scale from its root and have that huge root motion that it's not good voice leading.

[00:06:57]>> It's not conducive to creativity.

[00:07:00]>> Uh >> so here's here's what I would suggest.

[00:07:02]For example, let's choose a subset of three notes.

[00:07:05]>> Okay.

[00:07:05]>> Okay. So let's say we're going to take the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh note.

[00:07:10]>> Okay. So >> and you're just going to play over those. Okay. 1 2 3. [music] [music] >> Yeah. Okay.

[00:07:32]>> Yeah. That gives you so much more um motivic. It it gives [music] you an ability to make a motivic statement.

[00:07:44]Again, it sounds so be it sounds so intentional. It makes so much more sense. Like there's that sense of like as a listener listening to this, you see that the improviser is fully aware of what's happening in the changes. Try try 345 35.

[00:07:58]>> Try now taking the third, the fourth, and the fifth note. So now we're let's work with this subset of notes.

[00:08:05]>> And again, now we're thinking about this very rationally.

[00:08:10]>> But with time, this becomes pretty automatic.

[00:08:12]>> It's intuitive.

[00:08:13]>> Yeah. It's like as if you have lights on the keyboard and you know exactly what notes you're >> able to play or not, but you're just focusing on a subset.

[00:08:21]>> Yeah. It gives you way less things to try to keep track of.

[00:08:24]>> The more choices you have, the more paralyzed you feel, the less confident about your choice you are. So sometimes reducing the number of options, creating a creative constraint ends up being like one of the best >> solutions for practicing your creativity.

[00:08:41]>> [music] >> One, two, and one, two, three. Uh, [music] [music] try again. One. Try ascending. 1 2 [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> It's like [laughter] a barbarian playing.

[00:09:29][laughter] This is why I don't usually play with us on [laughter] the videos. All right, let me do it again. What's wrong with that?

[00:09:41]Shut up. Your instrument's so easy to do. Boop boop. That's it. Oh, I'm playing what I like.

[00:09:50]One, two, three, and [music] >> [music] >> All right. Now I've Now I've lost it.

[00:10:07][music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [laughter] >> So again like of course you you don't want to improvise the entire thing using subset of three notes.

[00:10:59]>> No it would sound odd.

[00:11:00]>> But once you apply this entire thing so if you have a piece like grind dolphin street how many chords you have?

[00:11:05]Probably >> I don't know 20 different chords.

[00:11:08]>> Yeah.

[00:11:08]>> Write all of those scales starting from the same exact note.

[00:11:11]>> And then you use subsets just to focus on the differences. those tiny differences when they get addressed >> there's such a aesthetic reward >> both to the player to the band you know to the listener as well >> well and it you cannot underestimate the power of a motive's ability to help you play melodic >> melodically in a solo if you enjoy outside of box thinking when it comes to music and improvisation and theory and harmony give us a subscribe >> and all this information here is going to be in an ebook that's going to be on our website free for download.

[00:11:45]>> And if you love chord scale theory, let us know in the comments.

[00:11:48]>> Or are are you a chord scale denier?

[00:11:52][laughter] >> We want to know.

[00:11:54]>> Boo chord scale.