Scales and Modes

Hey everyone,

Part 3 in the series on how to solo over diminished chords melodically. The diminished IV chord (Bbo7 in the key of F) comes up a decent bit in standards -- like "The Nearness of You" and "I Remember You," among others -- and it's important to be able to meaningfully solo over! Full disclosure, I'll often treat it as an A7b9 chord, or a C7b9 chord! But watch the video if you'd like to know why.

Also, make sure to watch parts 1 and 2 if you haven't already, as there might be some some things in this video that won't make sense if not.

Hey everyone,

Here's part two in the little diminished lesson series. In this lesson, I'll show you how to better think of flat 3 diminished chords to give you more melodic material.

Hey everyone,

Hey everyone,

Here's another Bud Powell lick from his tune, "Bouncin' with Bud." I like this one because it's simple! I think it's super important when playing bebop to still construct melodies to ground the music, and Bud does that great.

Here's a short video of me talking about a few different basic harmonic minor ideas and tonalities. I talk about the scale, go over the chord definitions and chord scales/voicings, and then spend a little time on a short loop play-along that's attached below!

The play-along is really just a ii-V-i loop in C harmonic minor, there are a few passing chords thrown in.

Me and drummer that will never miss a beat. Things to do with this drummer.

[ESP] Yo y un baterista que nunca se va del pulso. Cosas para hacer con este baterista.

Hey everyone,

Here's a blues block chord etude using all the diminished concepts I talked about in parts 1-3. See if you can figure out what's going on! I tried to use mostly shapes I talked about in the lessons.

Hey everyone!

I’ve got some exciting lessons for the next few months, starting with this series on diminished voicings. These three lessons will really go in depth with how you can creatively voice diminished chords, and how you can use the same shapes on non-diminished chords. Do you know the diminished major substitution? The dominant diminished substitution? The four main alterations of a diminished chord? How to use diminished shapes to play “out?” These lessons will go through all of this with a practical mindset, giving you tangible things to work on.

Hey everyone!

I’ve got some exciting lessons for the next few months, starting with this series on diminished voicings. These three lessons will really go in depth with how you can creatively voice diminished chords, and how you can use the same shapes on non-diminished chords. Do you know the diminished major substitution? The dominant diminished substitution? The four main alterations of a diminished chord? How to use diminished shapes to play “out?” These lessons will go through all of this with a practical mindset, giving you tangible things to work on.

Write in the chords and extensions for the pdf.
Learn them, play them closed and open them.
Play my solo, your solo comp the chords.