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Song 19
BLUES for the EMPRESS

  1. Essential Chord tones
  2. Tritone Substitution
  3. Blues for the Empress
  4. Phrasing - Phrase length 2
  5. Practice - Major scale Diads
  6. Session Materials

    Library


Song | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | ?? |


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S 19.1 - Essential Chord tones

As explained earlier in Session 9, the major 7th, the dominant 7th and the minor 7th chords are the most common chord qualities in Jazz music.

Chord QualityChord tonesC chordsF chordsG chords
Major 7th chord

Dominant 7th chord

Minor 7th chord

1 3 5 7

1 3 5 b7

1 b3 5 b7

C E G B

C E G Bb

C Eb G Bb

F A C E

F A C Eb

F Ab C Eb

G B D F#

G B D F

G Bb D F

All three chords have their root (1) and 5th (5) in common.

Audio 9.6
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The differences between the three qualities are therefore defined by their 3rd and 7th chord tones. These the essential chord tones.

Essential Chord tones
C chordsF chordsG chords
Major 7th chord

Dominant 7th chord

Minor 7th chord

3 + 7

3 + b7

b3 + b7

E + B

E + Bb

Eb + Bb

A + E

A + Eb

Ab + Eb

B + F#

B + F

Bb + F

As recommended earlier always be aware of the essential chord tones in a song's progression and include them abundantly in your improvisations. This really ties your solo in with the harmony of the song.


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S 19.2 - Tritone Substitution

The essential chord tones of the dominant chord quality (3 + b7) are a tritone (3 whole tones or 6 semitones) apart. This is exactly half the distance of a complete octave.

The tritone is a symmetric interval.
As a consequence the essential chord tones of any dominant 7th chord are not unique to that one chord but are shared with another dominant 7th chord.

C7 (C E G Bb) = E(3) + Bb(b7) = Gb7 (Gb Bb Db E) = Bb(3) + E(b7)

This shared essential chord tones relationship is so strong that the chords can be substituted for one another in a chord progression. This is called tritone substitution.

Audio 19.1
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The tritone substitute chords are :

Substitutes
Shared tritone
C7 = Gb7

F7 = B7

Bb7 = E7

Eb7 = A7

Ab7 = D7

Db7 = G7

E + Bb

A + Eb

D + Ab

G + Db

C + Gb

F + B

= Bb + E

= D# + A

= G# + D

= C# + G

= F# + C

= B + F


Regardless what type of instrument you play, you should be familiar with the principle of tritone substitution, as it enables you to analyse chord progressions better.
Whenever you come across a chromatic sequence of chords including dominant chords, tritone substitutions are used.
For example a chord segment (6 bars from the end) in the ballad Autumn Leaves (by Johnny Mercer) goes :

Em7 - Eb7 - Dm7 - Db7 - Cmaj7

The Eb7 and Db7 chords are tritone substitutions for A7 and D7. The functionality of the chord segment consists therefore of two IIm7 - V7 combinations (resp. in D major and in C major).

Em7 - A7 - Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7

Any Circle of 5ths IIm7 - V7 - Imaj7 progressions becomes, with a tritone substitution of the V7 chord, a chromatic IIm7 - IIb7 - Imaj7 progression.

  • Gm7 - C7 - Fmaj7 ------> Gm7 - Gb7 - Fmaj7

  • Cm7 - F7 - Bbmaj7 -----> Cm7 - B7 - Bbmaj7

  • Bm7 - E7 - Amaj7 ------> Bm7 - Bb7 - Amaj7

    and so on.




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S 19.3 - Blues for the Empress

Blues for the Empress is a slow 12 bar blues in C. It has the embellished blues chord progression format. For improvisation use the C minor pentatonic scale, the C blues scale, or the C-, F- and G- Mixolydian modes.

Melody
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Keyboard players and guitarists can experiment using only tritones as chord voicings. This can produce quite a nice effect.

From C7 to F7 and from C7 to G7 involves only shifting the tritone by a semitone down or up.

Audio 19.2
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Here a good example of tritone substitution.
You can use exactly the same tritone voicings for the blues in F# as for the blues in C (shown above).

Blues in C - Blues in F#
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S 19.4 - Phrasing : Phrase length 2

The first objective in controlling phrase lengths in improvisation is learning to produce nice flowing phrases of 2 and 4 bars length. This also helps you to keep track of where you are in a song's chord progression. jf001.gif

Once you get on top of this objective you are ready for the next step : learning to vary your phrase length and to be able to start and end a phrase at any point in the chord progression.
This ability adds great interest to your solo, but takes some considerable practice to master.

A good vehicle for such practice is the 12 bar blues format. For note selection use the minor pentatonic scale, the blues scale, or the appropriate Mixolydian modes.

There are three progressive steps for practice.

  1. Example A - vary phrase length from 1 to 4 bars in length within the three natural 4 bar phrases of the blues progression.
    (The colours show phrase lengths : 2 bars - 2 bars - 4 bars - 2 bars - 2 bars)

  2. Example B - vary phrase length from 1 to 4 bars in length.
    This time extend phrases across the ending points of the natural 4 bar phrases of the blues progression.
    (Phrase lengths : 2 bars - 4 bars - 4 bars - 2 bars)

  3. Example C - vary phrase length from 1 to 6 bars in length.
    Extend phrases across the ending points of the natural 4 bar phrases and also from one blues chorus into the next.

Example A - Example B - Example C
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Included is a practice track of 6 choruses of the embellished blues in C. It uses the Phrase Schedule C shown above.

  • I play all the short phrases shown in light red.

  • You fill in the spaces in yellow.
    You may use shorter phrases within each yellow segment, but avoid stopping at the end of a line (which is the end of a natural 4 bar blues phrase).

Also write out some phrase length patterns yourself, or try to control the variations as you improvise through the choruses.
Use plenty of space between phrases.

Check out the Charlie Parker Omnibook. He was a master at this aspect of improvisation.


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S 19.5 - Practice : Major scale Diads

A diad consists of two notes spaced the interval of a 3rd apart.
Diad patterns over a scale are commonly used in improvisation.

Practise the following two patterns for the major scales in all twelve keys over a 2 octave range.
Play the pattern without reference to written music. This has the benefit of learning each scale more intimately. (As a last resort write out the sequence on manuscript paper, but stop using the music as soon as you can.)

Pattern 1 3 - 2 4 - 3 5 - 4 6

  • Over the C major scale : C E - D F - E G - F A - G B - A C - B D - etc.

  • Over the G major scale : G B - A C - B D - C E - D F# - E G - F# A - etc.

  • Over the F major scale : F A - G Bb - A C - Bb D - C E - D F - E G - etc.

Audio 19.8
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Pattern 1 3 4 2 - 3 5 6 4 - 4 7 8 6

  • Over the C major scale : C E F D - E G A F - G B C A - B D E C - etc.

  • Over the G major scale : G B C A - B D E C - D F# G E - F# A B G - etc.

  • Over the F major scale : F A Bb G - A C D Bb - C E F D - E G A F - etc.

Audio 19.9
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S 19.6 - Session Materials


ItemMidi fileSheet music
Blues for the EmpressDemo P-a-L C instr.Bb instr.Eb instr.
Easy Key for Eb instr. (C)E-PalC instr.
Swapping Phrases - Example CBlues in CPhrase Schedule

Embellished Blues
Embellished Blues - slowSwing 100 in GSwing 80 in CSwing 70 in FSwing 90 in Bb
Embellished Blues - fastSwing 130 in GSwing 140 in CSwing 150 in FSwing 120 in Bb



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© 2003 Michael Furstner (Jazclass)