symetrical and altered diminished scales

kungfumonk007

Yeah - over the em that makes more sense. So he is using A altered over the emin, ignoring the ii which is just as well.

Now that I've looked closer at it though I really think that it's easier just to think of the descending section as a series of passing chromatics. From the 9-8, than from 7-5, then it is 4-3 (diatonic), then on D chromatics from 5-3, an enclosure of the 5th, and then an enclosure of the root. The only note that doesn't fit that method is the Bb, but that is a b9, so I'd rather think of it as a chromatic approach than have to jump to an altered scale to justify it.

I guess there is no real way of knowing unless we asked him Post war jazz still eludes me though. I just can't get the sound in my head or my fingers. The diminished/altered scales, the bebop scales, the weird substitutions etc. I know them, but they just don't sound right when I play them, so I must be misusing them somehow.

BluesBop Harry

kungfumonk007 wrote:

... then on D chromatics from 5-3, an enclosure of the 5th, and then an enclosure of the root.

Yes, the line starts on Bb... Bb A Ab G -- E Eb D C#
Over A7 you can play Bb dim: Bb G -E C# just fill in the frets between the notes and you got it
The difference is that the b9 is considered a chord tone

In the end the line is not really altered, just lots of chromatics and the use of the diminished arpeggio over a dominant chord which gives you the b9.