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http://www.jazzadvice.com/keys-to-the-altered-scale/print/
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The altered scale allows access to the beautiful tensions of a dominant chord in a flash. The
effective use of this scale, however, is not easy. In this article, Ive assembled what I have
found to be the keys to utilizing the altered scale to its full potential.
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http://www.jazzadvice.com/keys-to-the-altered-scale/print/
and a natural 13th, notated commonly as G7b9. If a chord has a natural 13th (E in the case
of G7) included with altered 9ths (Ab and A# in the case of G7), then playing Eb (or D#), the
b13th (same as #5) will conflict with the harmony.
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Gradually, you will have these notes at your finger tips without having to think of the related
melodic minor. Youll just know that Ab is the b9 of G7, and so on and so forth.
Sonny uses the b9 and #9 to create a sequenced melody. It occurs at 2:39 in the video.
Rich Perry had me practice using a couple notes of the altered scale by going through tunes
and selecting pairs of altered notes to play on every chord as in the example below. Here I
chose #5 and #9 and would go through an entire tune playing this pair wherever I could. You
could make up your own pairs selecting from the altered tensions: b9, #9, #11 (same as #4
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and b5), #5 (same as b6 and b13). Try this over a blues or a standard you are working on.
Its obvious Rich has practiced and mastered these altered sounds!
By inserting chromatic passing tones between altered notes, Brecker controls which tensions
land on downbeats (the notes on the downbeats are going to suggest the underlying structure
of the line.) In this line over the G7, Brecker puts the b7, b13, #9, and b9 on down beats.
Watch how the greats use passing tones to purposefully land on specific altered notes on the
downbeats.
Once you get the general idea of inserting passing tones, you can create your own altered
bebop scales. Here are some examples:
This is the altered scale with a passing tone in between the root and dominant seventh, similar
to the bebop dominant scale. It puts 1, b7, #11, and #9 on downbeats.
This is the altered scale with a passing tone in between the b13 and #11. It puts 1, b13, #11,
and #9 on downbeats.
Heres a ten note altered bebop scale. This is the altered scale with a passing tones in between
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the root and b7, and between b7 and #11. It puts 1, b7, b13, #11, and #9 on downbeats.
You can also leave notes of the scale out as in this example. I inserted passing tones in
between the root and b7, and between b7 and #11, and then left the 3rd (E) out of the scale.
The most important thing about using these bebop scales is knowing how to integrate them
musically into your playing. To reiterate, do not just mindlessly run up and down scales. Thats
not improvising.
This is a frequent situation: Ive transcribed a line and now I want to make it my own. In the
following example, Ive imposed the altered scale over the line.
You can do this with any line you transcribe. Try writing out some variations as I did here and
then try improvising (instead of writing) around the transcribed line, using the altered sounds
as a basis for how you change the line. This method will help you rapidly integrate the altered
scale into your playing in a musical way based upon the jazz language.
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As you practice all this altered stuff, a paradigm shift will occur. Supposing youre learning
G7alt. The process may go something like this:
Play Ab melodic minor
Play Ab melodic minor from G to G
Play a blues and play 12345321 of Ab melodic minor on every G7 chord
Transcribe some altered language you hear on a recording to get an idea of how the
masters do it
Begin to feel and hear G altered as its own entity
Start to know instantaneously that Ab is the b9, Bb (A#) is the #9, D# is the #5, and C# is
the #11
Start to use pairs of altered notes over dominant chords, while understanding each resolution.
Be able to think of Db7#11 (tritone sub) as another point of view of the same altered sounds
Transcribe some more altered language you hear on a recording (this could be
inserted as every other step ;-))
Choose which altered tensions you want on downbeats by inserting half steps in various places
Be able to take lines you transcribe and impose the altered sound on top of them by writing
out a new line
Be able to take lines you transcribe and impose the altered sound on top of them by
improvising around the shape and structure of the line
Freely, confidently, and musically begin to apply the altered sounds to dominant chords in
tunes you are working on
This process is a sample. It is not a step by step how to. The point is, you begin very simply
with a small amount of information and in a short period of time, you amass much information
of looking at the same thing. The paradigm shift is the mixing and matching of all this
information. Youll transcend the idea of the altered scale, automatically knowing
the altered sounds you wish to emphasize and how best to do it.
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