9 6 OCTOBER 2004 GUITAR PLAYER L E S S O N S WOODSHED Grooving Over Jazz Changes BY PINO MARRONE For those growing up on a blues-scale diet of rock and blues, the natural inclination for improvisin g is to play modally . Howe ver , in jazz—o r in any music with shifti ng h armony— the modal approach alone brings vagueness to solos. Listen closely to any great improviser and how their every note refers to the song’s harmonic structure. But harmony is only half the battle. Phrases also hav e to groove, or they’ll s ound dead. In jazz, we don’t just improvise melodies that suit the changes, we improvise rhythmic structures that suit the groov e. Our goal is to become both harmoni- cally and rhythmically eloquent. GUIDE TONES Learning to connect guide tones and passing tones is one way to train our ears and fingers to navigate the harmonic resolutions we call cadences. And when we harmonically describe the changes while employing an enticing rhythm, the notes suddenly come alive . Bebop saxophonists from Charlie Parker to Lee Konitz have created excite- ment with simple lines such as the sequenced chromatic phrase in Ex .1. Wo rk- ing beautifully over the last eight measures of the well-known “Stella by Starlight” pro- gression, these four-note lines take place on single strings and, with successive pull-offs, each gracefully describes the chord of the moment. But the notes wouldn’t grab your ears without their catchy, repeating rhythm. TAKIN’ IT OU T Ex. 2 gains an “outs ide” sound by sequen c- ing a rhythmically displaced, perhaps Nico- las Slonimsky-inspired motif. In the key of F T A B = 160 1 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 2 1 Em7 5 Dm7 5 A7 9 G7 9 Swing feel 12 11 10 8 9 7 6 11 10 8 9 10 8 9 7 7 6 5 4 8 9 7 6 9 T A B 5 3 3 3 3 Cm7 5 F7 9 B maj7 8 7 6 5 5 4 3 2 7 6 5 4 3 7 7 8 5 Melodically and rhythmically eloquent to the last—the great Jim Hall. ADVANCED T A B = 150 4 4 Swing feel Gm7 5 C7 5 Fm(maj7) 10 11 11 7 9 10 10 6 8 9 9 5 8 8 9 5 7 8 8 4 simile EX. 2 EX. 1