Comments

• spatzo Virtuoso

  November 2013 Posts: 771

  As Emily Remler said:
  
  1. On major chords play major
  2. On minor chords play minor
  3. On non-resolving dominant chords play minor jazz scale (ie minor chord)from fifth
  4. On resolving dominant chords play minor jazz scale up an half step
  
  In other words:
  
  - on a resolving dominant play b9, b13
  - on a non resolving dominant play 9, 13
  
  That is to say on a G7 going to C (or Cm) play Abm and on a G7 going elsewhere play Dm
• Lango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator

  November 2013 Posts: 1,887

  Thanks so much, Spatzo, that was exactly the thing I was looking for!
  
  Now off to practice these excellent ideas.
  
  How lucky we are nowadays to have these kinds of resources available right at our fingertips!
  
  Thanks again, everyone!
  
  Will

  Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."
  
  Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
  
  Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  
• spatzo Virtuoso

  November 2013 Posts: 771

  Yes that's a great idea to simplify improvisation like that, that's brillant!
  
  You can find some examples of Remler phrasing on both types of dominants in that document:
  http://www.allthingsemily.com/pdfimages/Ebminor.pdf
• Lango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator

  November 2013 Posts: 1,887

  Having had a chance now to noodle around a bit with the fourth idea, eg using Abm arps over G7 chords, I realize that it in fact a very close relative of the tritone substitution of Db7 or Db9.
  
  For me, this is a sound that I just don't really dig, it sounds too techniquey and somehow artificial.
  
  But for the old school swing style I favour, the other three ideas are all great! especially using minor arps over both major chords and V7 chords, who would ever have thought of that? A much smarter fella than yrs truly....

  Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."
  
  Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
  
  Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  
• spatzo Virtuoso

  November 2013 Posts: 771

  Yes it is strange at the begining but Django used it...
  
  The good idea is to mix both arpeggios I mean for example G7 and Abm going to C. Of course an Abm6 is also a Db9 chord.
  
  So you can play G7 and give some dissonance using Abm just before resolving to C
• Bones Moderator

  November 2013 Posts: 3,333

  Django for sure used the tritone sub. I'll see if I can think up some examples later and post. I'm kind of busy right now. Lots of the contemporary players use them too. You hear it all the time on the V chord going to I.
• klaatu Nova ScotiaProdigy Rodrigo Shopis D'Artagnan, 1950s Jacques Castelluccia

  November 2013 Posts: 1,665

  spatzo wrote:

  The good idea is to mix both arpeggios I mean for example G7 and Abm going to C. Of course an Abm6 is also a Db9 chord.

  
  And Ab is the tritone of D, which fits into a ii-V-I in C - replace Dm7-G7-C with Ab(m)7-G7-C.

  Benny
  
  "It's a great feeling to be dealing with material which is better than yourself, that you know you can never live up to."
  -- Orson Welles
• klaatu Nova ScotiaProdigy Rodrigo Shopis D'Artagnan, 1950s Jacques Castelluccia

  November 2013 Posts: 1,665

  Bones wrote:

  Django for sure used the tritone sub. I'll see if I can think up some examples later and post. I'm kind of busy right now. Lots of the contemporary players use them too. You hear it all the time on the V chord going to I.

  Here's an excellent and tasty contemporary example:
  
  
  At about the 0:49 mark, Gonzalo substitutes a Bbm7 arpeggio for the Em7 in the Em7-A7-D progression.

  Benny
  
  "It's a great feeling to be dealing with material which is better than yourself, that you know you can never live up to."
  -- Orson Welles
• Bones Moderator

  November 2013 Posts: 3,333

  And at 1:11 Andreas throws him an Eb7 chord. Very common these days for accompanists to do this. Also for example the Bb7 to E7 at the end of Minor Swing rather than just E7.