Intermediate

Playing the Changes

Build melodic lines that actually fit the harmony underneath them.

By the end You'll be able to improvise lines that outline the chords, using chord tones, guide tones, and vocabulary.

Begin with “Chord Tones” →

1 Chord Tones A chord symbol like Cmaj7 isn't a suggestion — it's a specific set of four notes: C, E, G, B. Those four notes, the root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th, are the chord's chord tones. Everything… foundations tier 1 →
2 Chord Tone Soloing Chord tone soloing means building an improvised line out of each chord's 1-3-5-7 — root, third, fifth, seventh — so the melody itself spells the harmony. Strip away the piano and b… melody & improvisation tier 2 →
3 Guide Tones Guide tones are the 3rd and 7th of a seventh chord — the two notes that actually tell your ear what kind of chord it is. Everything else (root, 5th) is scaffolding; the 3rd and 7th… melody & improvisation tier 2 →
4 Guide Tone Lines A guide tone line is a slow, deliberately thin melody built from just the guide tones — the 3rd and 7th of each chord in a progression — moved from one chord to the next by the sma… melody & improvisation tier 2 →
5 Playing the Changes Playing the changes means improvising a single-note line that makes the chord progression audible on its own — no piano, no bass, nothing but the melody. Strip away the accompanime… melody & improvisation tier 2 →
6 Chord-Scale Theory Chord-scale theory says every chord implies a scale: stack the chord tones, fill in the gaps with the tensions that sound good against it, and you get a seven-note (or eight-note)… chord-scale theory tier 2 →
7 Approach Notes An approach note is a non-chord tone that resolves by step into a chord tone landing on a strong beat. That tiny motion — tension on the weak part of the beat, release on the stron… melody & improvisation tier 2 →
8 Enclosures An enclosure surrounds a target note from both above and below before landing on it, so the ear gets a small dose of tension right before the release. Instead of walking straight i… melody & improvisation tier 2 →
9 ii-V-I Vocabulary Every language has a handful of phrases you say a hundred times a day — "how are you," "excuse me," "let's go." Jazz has one harmonic phrase that shows up just as often: The ii-V-I… melody & improvisation tier 3 →
10 Motivic Development Motivic development is the art of building an improvised solo out of one small idea instead of a pile of borrowed licks. Take a two- or three-note cell and repeat it, twist it, str… melody & improvisation tier 2 →
11 Phrasing and Space An improvised solo is speech, not a stream of notes. If you never stop to breathe, a listener can't tell where one thought ends and the next begins — the solo becomes noise no matt… melody & improvisation tier 2 →
12 Building a Solo A jazz solo is real-time composition: you're writing a piece of music while you play it, and like any piece of music it needs a shape, not just a string of correct notes. The probl… melody & improvisation tier 3 →

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