Soloing over quick changes

andy

andy wrote:

1. I'm reasonably comfortable with arpeggios and Djangoesque scale choices (at least in theory), but how do I utilize them when the chord changes every other beat and I can't get past the first two notes before we're onto another chord? Say I was going to noodle over 'Swing 42'. At the moment I would play notes in C maj until it came round to the Gmin6 and then I'd play a single Bb to reference that chord. Is this the sort of thing I should be doing, or is there another way to think about it?

Hello again -- I've been reading up on rhythm changes and have come across various concepts such as playing 'horizontally' and 'vertically' over them. The first means you play in the major scale of the entire piece except for the occasional non-diatonic tone (as per my original post), the second means playing inside each chord as it comes along, which is hard to do as the changes are usually played at a really fast tempo.

I suppose I'm playing 'horizontally'. It's certainly sounding pretty scalar and up and down-y. What do other people do to make it melodic? How might I make it sound a bit more interesting?

As always, enormous thanks to all those of you who generously lend your time and knowledge to help out the beginners.

Cheers,
Andy

tomcram

The easy way to use diminished arpeggios over dominant 7th chord is use a diminished arpeggio that is one (1/2 step) higher that the dominant chord you are playing i.i.e. for G7 use a G# dim arpeggio for C7 use C# dim arpeggio

notes of G7 = G(root) - B(3rd) -D(5th) - F(dom7th) (not the major7th-F#)
G# dim = G# - B - D - F which equals G7b9 without root
G7b9 = G -B - D - F - Ab(G#)
So a G#dim arpeggio is a G7b9 arpeggio minus the root
the scale= G, Ab, Bb, B, C#,D,E,F,G

By the way, remember that the G7-5 = Db7-5
The flat 5th of any dominant 7th chord is the root of the its tritone substitution (the tritone is the dim5th interval)(same distance as aug4th)
all the following should be flat (-5) dominant seventh chords
C7=F#7
D7=Ab7
E7=Bb7
F7=B7
G7=Db7
A7=Eb7
so if you have an altered C7 chord (C7-9) you can probably play an F#7 lick and sound good

I could post some basic chord (scale) theory if you are interested

thanks
Tom