The diminished 7th is (like the augmented triad) a symmetric chord. All chord tones are at equal distances (of 3 semitones) apart.
Each voicing represents therefore a different voicing for four chords.
Play-a-long track for this Embellished Blues in C, F and G are included in the Lesson Material.
Try out the three blues riffs with these tracks. You can still use the minor pentatonic and blues scales for improvisation.
Keyboard voicings
The blues provides a good opportunity for alternating chord voicings. Here the left hand voicings for the embellished blues in C. Chords alternate between root position chords for C7, and 2nd inversions for F7 and G7.
The Scale-tone 7th chords of the major scale are formed in the same way as the scale-tone triads (Lesson 6). For the 7th chords four notes of the major scale are used instead of three.
By stacking three alternate notes of the C major scale on top of the tonic C, a C major 7th chord is formed :
C - E - G - B
Stacking three alternate notes of the C major scale on top of D produces the second scale-tone 7th chord, this time Dm7 :
D - F - A - C
Stacking three alternate notes of the C major scale on top of E produces the third scale-tone 7th chord, Em7 :
E - G - B - D
and so on.
Repeating this process for each note of the C major scale produces seven scale-tone 7th chords.
The seven scale-tone chords of a scale form as it were a family. They all belong to the one major scale.
This is very important knowledge for the improviser, for the same scale can be used for improvisation over all its family chord members.
Recognising scale-tone chords in the chord progression of a song makes improvisation a lot easier. This also singles out the chords that do not belong to a particular scale.
These chords represent temporary modulations away from the main key of the song. Some tunes contain no or only a few modulations, others modulate from chord to chord.
A good knowledge of the Scale-tone Chord families helps you to understand the chord progression of each song and through this will make you a better improviser.
The above means that although a given chord may appear to be the chord member of one scale, it can in some cases be part of a modulation into another key (scale). In most cases your ear will tell you what is right and what is not.
F.
Write out the chord progression for the Embellished Blues in F and in G.
G.
Analyse the song Swing Time from the following perspectives.
1. Describe the overall format of the song (number of bars ? repeated sections ?)
2. Are there Circle of Fifths segments ?
3. Are there scale-tone chord segments and modulations
4. Write out the entire chord progression in Roman numerals (Cmaj7 is Imaj7, D7 is II7, etc.)
5. What are the sources (scales, chords) from which the melody was composed ?
H.
Write out on the Chord Inversion Diagrams the root position and all three inversions of the five 7th chord qualities for all 12 keys as shown on the example for Cmaj7.
Write out the major, dominant minor and half diminished qualities in each key on four diagrams displayed on one horizontal row.
Write the four groups of diminished 7th chords on four blocks in a row at the end.
I. Write out on manuscript paper the root position and all three inversions of the five 7th chord qualities for all 12 keys.
J.
Write out on the Scale Letters Diagrams the scale-tone 7th chords for the major scale in all keys as shown on this example for the D major scale.
K.
Write out on the Chord Inversion Diagrams the scale-tone 7th chords (all in root position) for the major scale in all keys as shown on this example for the D major scale.