Vibraphone

Friedman Pedaling Etude #13

Dampening and Technique

🎵 Harmony Without Chords – Pt. 8: Applying Scale & Chord Outlining to Tunes – “Minority”

In Part 8, we take the scale and chord outlining concepts from the previous lessons and apply them directly to a jazz standard: Minority by Gigi Gryce. This exercise demonstrates how a thoughtful balance of linear scale motion and targeted chord tones can clearly express harmony within the context of a real tune — without relying on block chords or dense voicings.

🎵 Harmony Without Chords – Pt. 7: Scale & Chord Outlining Combinations

In Part 7, we combine two essential approaches to line construction: scale-based motion and chord outlining. These exercises move through ii–V progressions in descending whole steps, blending linear scale passages with clear chord-tone targets to create lines that sound both melodic and harmonically grounded.

Hi Tony, Hi all,

As you advised, I worked on memorizing chord changes of the standards and on altered stuff.

Here are some atempts on different tunes :

🎯 Harmony Without Chords – Pt. 6: ii–V Outlining Variants

In Part 6 of Harmony Without Chords, we expand on previous ii–V concepts by focusing on clear chord outlining and upper extensions over dominant chords, all while continuing the descending whole-step motion. Rather than relying on chord voicings, these exercises show how strong line construction alone can clearly imply harmony, even as the harmonic density increases.

This is another recording of an etude that I got a few months ago that I haven’t gotten around to posting. In this one I have a slight rush that I think was causing some issues when I got to the later sections of this piece, on top of a few mistakes here and there. However, I think that doesn’t detract to much from the piece itself. What are your thoughts? Feel free to respond with any feedback or questions you might have. I am/have posted some of the most recent etudes that I’ve done as well if you are interested in checking those out as well.

Here’s a recording I got of Friedman #9 I got back in October that I haven’t gotten around to posting until now. Looking back on this recording I thought it came out really well, though the biggest thing I would change now is just giving less time on that fermata. If there’s any thoughts or feedback on this I would love to hear, and any questions are fully welcome!

🎵 Harmony Without Chords – Pt. 5

Resolving ii–V’s in Descending Whole Steps

In Part 5, we take the ii–V ideas from the previous lessons and fully resolve each ii–V to its I chord, moving through the exercise in descending whole steps. This type of harmonic motion shows up frequently in jazz standards—How High The Moon being a great example—and it’s an important sound to internalize.

🚨 Harmony Without Chords – Pt. 4: Adding the ii Chord

In Part 4, we expand the harmonic framework by introducing the ii chord before each dominant, turning the previous dominant-focused ideas into full ii–V motion. This adds harmonic depth and forward momentum while keeping the emphasis on linear voice leading rather than vertical chord shapes.