Monday, July 6, 2009

Playing Over "Impressions"

Q: I´m playing the song IMPRESSIONS in D-7, but when I play F melodic minor it sounds good, tell me why?

A:
Good question. I'll take you through my thinking process rather than just give you my answer: Let's see, F melodic minor: F-G-Ab-Bb-C-D-E, now let's look at the scale from D, as that is the chord you are playing it over: D-E-F-G-Ab-Bb-C. That gives us a 1-2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7. Ah, this is the locrian #2 mode from melodic minor. This is a very common scale for a min7b5 chord, much better than the locrian scale or harmonic minor that a lot of guys might use. Although, not the most common choice, it is one choice for a min7 vamp like Impressions. Other choices: D dorian, A, D and E minor pentatonic, D melodic minor and if you are really daring, Ab melodic minor. Check out this
scale/arpeggio guide and try some different things. This is a lesson dealing with locrian #2.

No comments: