"Aha!" moments studying gypsy jazz

Bones

D'OHHH!!!!

:-)

Kevin Furniss

yep and me............ Im still waiting for a aha moment

Paul Murray

For me, it definitely has to be getting Stephane Wrembel's book and discovering that the harmonic minor scale can be used over a minor chord as well as it's V7, i.e. E7->Am.

Also figuring out that the same 3-note chord shapes can be used for various chords, ie same shape for m6, dom 7th and dim chords.

Bones

E7, Am and Dm (IV) too.

Yeah thank goodness for those 3 note chords. Economical and my old arms are shot anyway so that's all I can use but they work great.

Lango-Django

Paul Murray, could you please tell us more? I don't understand...

Jazzaferri

One can play any note over any chord. Some are consonant and release tension, or create resolution, some are colour notes and will create tension or lead to resolution and some will be very dissonant depends what you want to say.

Using C Harmonic minor scale as an example

G 7 ......all the chord tones are still diatonic (within the scale) however the note C is considered an avoid or handle with care note due to its dissonance. The Ab is the b9 and is a colour tension note. The Eb note is the b13 colour tension. If you played the extended V Dominant chord it would be G7 b9b13. Try it on a piano.

Paul Murray

Yeah thank goodness for those 3 note chords. Economical and my old arms are shot anyway so that's all I can use but they work great.

And that too! Much easier on the fingers!

Paul Murray

Paul Murray, could you please tell us more? I don't understand...

Just to follow on what Jazzaferri (thanks by the way!). If we apply it to the E7->Am example that I mentioned:

Am Harmonic scale: A B C D E F G#
E major scale: E F# G# A B C# D#

You can see the similarity between the two. The only differing notes between the two are F/F#, C/C#, D/D#. When the Am harmonic scale is played over E7, the F note is the b9 in the E major scale, the C note is the #5 and D is the b7 or dom 7th. Therefore by playing the Am harmonic scale over E7, you are adding in the colour notes, the b9 and the #5. There are a few good examples in Stephane's book and Stochelo has a few nice examples over E7 on his 'In The style Of...' video. Hope this makes sense!

Bones

Yeah, plus those 3 note chords leave room for the soloist and bass player.

Dm6 arp: D F A B all in the A harmonic minor scale too...G# approach tone, C is b7, E is 9th, all 'good'

Lango-Django

Ok, I have the Wrembel book too and knew about the MH scale being used over its V7 chord, but what I don't understand is

[blockquote] the same 3-note chord shapes can be used for various chords, ie same shape for m6, dom 7th and dim chords[/blockquote]

OK, I get the similarity between an Am6 shape and a D9 shape...

And how diminished chords can be substituted for V7 chords...

But unless I'm reading it wrong, you seem to be implying that the same 3-note shape can be used for all three types of chords...?