Chord Substitutions for Jazz Improvisation - (Minor 7ths)

The following substitutions oer you the opportunity to 'think' of dierent chords rather than just the original harmony whilst you
are improvising. One advantage of this approach is that you can create melodic lines that are often more suggestive of the middle
and upper structures of a chord and/or add chromatic alterations. It can also really transform your overall approach to single-line
improvising, by giving you more harmonic colours but in a way that you can control without immediately becoming overwhelmed
by too many options. I suggest trying one substitution at a time at rst and please do refer to the discussed table of substitutions
for further explanation.

To begin let's take a double-time (16th note) bop style line in C minor.

b b n b
4 b b n b b b n b b b
&4
10 11 13 11 10
4 13 10 11 12 9 8 8 9 11 10 9 11 8 9 8
10 8 7 10 7 8 7 8 10 10
4 9 10

&
4 b j b j
4 b b
b b
& n b n b b n

8
8 10 8 7 7
10 7 8 9 5 9 5
11 10 8 6

j w
& bb bbw
w
w
The above line is obviously not just using a pure scale, and instead features some typical bop style embellishments to augment the
basic scale sound and create more colour and melodic ow. The notes marked in red are the Cm7 chord tones (R, b3, 5, b7)

If we now make this line our 'melodic template', watch what happens when the very same line is now transposed down by a 4th to
G Minor but still played over a Cm9 chord. The red notes now become: 5, b7, 9 11. The line has taken on a new identity now.

b # b b n n
& b # b b n b b
5 6 8 6 5
8 5 6 7 6 5 4 6
8 7 5 5 5 7 8 7 8 7 5
8 7 7 8 4 5 7 8

b j b j
&
b b
b b
& n n # b
b #

7 5
8 8 7 5 4 4 7
7 8 6 5 3
6
5 5

j w
& bb bbw
w
w
2

OK, so the rst thing we've heard here is that our original line can be intelligently transposed and still work succesfully over the
original chord. Now let's try our template line against a dierent chord type. I've transposed our original Cmin line down by a
half-step to Bmin and the underlying chord is now Cmaj7b5 or, if you prefer, Cmaj7#11. The line now highlights b5, 6/13, 7, 9

# # n
# # # # # n # n # n n n
&

9 10 12 10 9
12 9 10 11 8 7 8 10 9 8 10 7 8 7
11 9 7 9 7 6 7 9 9
11 11 8 9

n j j
& n# n #n n

# n #
& # n # n # # #

7 11 9 7 6 6
9 6 7 8 5 8
9 7 5 9 9

j w
& #n n #nw
w
w

In the next example, the template line has been transposed once more and this time is being played down a tone from the original
(Cmin) to Bbmin. The underlying chord is now changed as well to a more modal sounding C7b9sus4. The highlighted (red) tones
are also now transformed to become: b7, b9, 11, b13

b b b b n b n
b b b n b b b b b n b b b
&

8 9 11 9 8
11 8 9 10 7 9 8 7 9
11 10 8 8 6 8 10 10 11 10 8
11 10 10 11 7 8 10

bn n b n

& J J

b b b b
& n b n b b b n

10 8
11 11 10 8 7 10
10 11 9 8
11 9
8 12 8

b n
bww
w
&
J w
 3

In the nal example our template line has been transposed once again. We now play the original line up a minor 3rd to Ebmin.
The underlying chord is also changed once more and now becomes a C7altered chord or more specically C7#9. Note that the
red coloured notes now become: b7, b9, #9, #11

b b b b n b
& b b b b b b b b b b n b b b
n
4
6 7 7 6 4
5 6 7 4 3 4 6 5 4 6 3 4 3
8 6 4 3 6 3 4 3 4 6 6
5 6

b j j
& b
n
b
b bnb b
b

& b b b b b n b n b
b b b n b

3
4 6 4 3 3
6 3 4 5
7 6 4 2
1 5
6

b b j
& b
n b bnbw
w
w
w
At this point you are either totally confused about what is going on with these substitutions, or are hopefully beginning to see some
of their possibilities for improvisation. Either way, what we need now is some clarication as to when and how we can apply these
concepts in our soloing.

Firstly, I chose a single existing line for these examples so that you could see and hear how the substitutions might work, however it
isn't necessary to just use the same line every time. The more important aspect here is how you 'think' on each chord and that you
are aware of what is produced against the original chord by using these substitutions.

To supplement these examples I will be adding a table of minor 7th substitutions to my website at www.online-guitar-lessons.org
where you will be able to clearly see what substitutions can be used and where.

The table will list a variety of minor 7th based improvisational substitutions that you can experiment with and as I've mentioned
before, it's probably best to try one at a time rather than several all at once. I have found that these substitutions work equally well
in functional harmonic situations (i.e. II-V-I progressions) as they do in more open or modal settings. How you apply them is up to
you.

It is also worth noting that the template line I used was lled with bebop type embellishments and to my ears this really helps
when you use these substitutions. Others may of course disagree and do feel free to experient with less embellishments or even
none if that sounds better to you.

As a nal note, these substitution concepts were rst taught to me by the late great Charlie Banacos, but at no point in the above
music have I used his exact material which is of course copyrighted. I have to give great credit to Charlie for introducing these
ideas to me and for entirely changing my thinking about chord substitution.

The harmonic approaches and improvisational concepts discussed above are present in the playing of many modern jazz musicians,
but I should stress it forms only a part of their playing styles. I do hope you nd the above helps you in your search for your own
musical identity,

Happy Practicing,

Pete Sklaro

ONLINE GUITAR LESSONS 20016