ONE PHRASE, MANY CHORDS

 

Well, you might say, it is not rocket-science to develop a phrase, making use of concepts like target notes, tension and resolution, melodic skeleton and so on and so forth…but what happens when the underlying harmony change?

Do I have to finish the current phrase and start another one from the scratch? Oh no guys, even if too many beginners apply this strategy, the right option is to know how to continue the same phrase by connecting different harmonies. But how comes, for goodness’ sake?

Here are some concepts that will help us connect different chords within the same phrase.

1.       Jump: this is the simplest method: jump to the target note of the new chord (above or below) from the one we are on. In this case, from the 5^th of Cmaj7 (G) to the A/ 3^rd (C#) please notice the pivot device on G7b9:

 

 

2.       Leading tone: example, if the harmonic progression is Cmaj7 A7| Dmin7 G7 I could play the C (fundamental of Cmaj7) leading to C# (3^rd of A7). Please notice the direction changes -down/up/down/up and the tritone sub to increase tension at the end of the phrase:

3.       Common tone: this is also a simple and linear method: you use a note that is common to the two chords and that acts as a “harmonic hinge” (in this case G, 5^th of Cmaj7 and 7^th of A7) – notice the Barry Harris 6^th diminished scale, the jump between A7 and Dm7, the leading tone between Dm7 and the #5^th of G7 and eventually the bebop scale on G7:

1.       Advanced preparation: on the last beat (or the last two beats) before the chord change, already think as if you were in the new harmony. The important thing is the “mental leap”, or the ability to “abandon” the previous chord and set yourself on the next chord, before it actually arrives:

2.       Postponed preparation: alternatively, drag the previous harmony on the new one. Again, let’s develop the needed mental flexibility to be aware of the context. Let’s take Donna Lee as an example:

 

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list of “changing harmony” devices – but I strongly believe it is a decent starting point to understand how to gain fluency when harmonies change.

And now, take you instrument and practice!