🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 9

Over the past four weeks, we've been steadily building a melodic vocabulary for rhythm changes.

We've explored:

• Guide tones (3rds and 7ths)
• Embellished guide-tone lines
• Chromatic and flat 9 dominant language
• Diminished and bebop scale vocabulary

This week, we shift our focus to another essential improvisational concept:

👉 Using chord tones to build melodic lines.

Retired a while back and now have the time to get more serious about the vibes.  Thought the 15 week thing would be a good place to begin.  So here is my lesson 1 stuff.

My four root notes are F, Ab, B, and D.  I think of the vibes as an F-centric instrument, so F.  Going up or down a major or minor third takes it in more of a sharp key or flat key direction, so Ab and D.  And B is a tritone away, which takes you as far from the original key as possible.

Here we go!

From F - all modes, muting and open/close, improvisation all modes

🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 8

Over the past three weeks, we've gradually expanded our melodic vocabulary.

We started with:

• 3rds and 7ths
• Embellished guide-tone lines
• Chromatic and flat 9 dominant vocabulary

This week, we continue that progression by introducing two of the most recognizable sounds in bebop improvisation:

👉 The diminished scale
👉 The bebop scale

🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 7

Over the past two weeks, we've been developing melodic lines from the inside out.

We started by connecting the 3rds and 7ths, then expanded those guide-tone lines with more melodic movement and common harmonic variations.

This week, we take another major step toward authentic bebop language.

👉 Flat 9 dominant vocabulary.

🎵 Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months – Week 6

Last week, we introduced one of the most important concepts in jazz improvisation:

👉 Connecting the harmony through the 3rds and 7ths.

Those guide tones gave us a clear picture of the rhythm changes progression while keeping the melodic language relatively simple.

This week, we take the next step.

👉 We're keeping the same guide-tone foundation, but embellishing the lines.

I have been using an AI notetaker. When I practice I talk about things out loud. Then the app (Plaud) sums up everything and distills it down. Here's what it gave me today: 

I know some people are not into AI. But I love it. It writes my code now, records meetings and notes and my thoughts and just sums everything up for me!