Module 7: Improvisation ILesson 3intermediate⏱ 75 min + two weeks of daily work

Chord-tone soloing and targeting

Improvise lines that put chord tones on the strong beats, use digital patterns such as 1-2-3-5 to generate material, target the 3rd of every new chord, and play the changes through the F jazz blues.

Why "playing the changes" means chord tones on the beat

Listeners do not hear every note of a solo equally. The notes on beats 1 and 3 of a bar in 4/4 carry more weight than the notes on 2 and 4, and all four beats carry more weight than the offbeat eighths between them. If the heavy notes are chord tones, a line sounds like it belongs to the harmony even when the light notes wander. If the heavy notes are not chord tones, no amount of speed will hide it.

That observation turns improvisation from a mystery into a craft: decide what lands on the strong beats, and fill the rest with the arpeggio and guide-tone material you already own from the arpeggio lesson and the guide-tone lesson. This lesson teaches three ways to do that: putting chord tones on the strong beats, using digital patterns (number patterns such as 1-2-3-5) to generate lines, and targeting the 3rd of each new chord so that every change is announced the moment it arrives. You then put it all together over the F jazz blues.

Strong beats, weak beats

In a bar of swung eighths there are eight slots. Beats 1 and 3 are the strongest, beats 2 and 4 next, and the four "ands" are the weakest. The rule of chord-tone soloing is simple: beats 1 and 3 get chord tones, beats 2 and 4 usually do, the "ands" can be anything. In this lesson the "ands" are chord tones too; the next lesson is where they start to carry other notes.

The line below runs through the ii–V–I in C using only chord tones, in position II (frets 1 to 5). The first and fifth eighth note of every bar, the notes on beats 1 and 3, are the 3rd of the chord. Play it, then play it again saying "three" on every beat 1 and 3.

\tempo 110
.
\ts 4 4
:8 3.4{ch "Dm7"} 2.3 5.3 3.2 1.1 3.2 5.3 2.3 | 4.3{ch "G7"} 3.2 1.1 3.2 4.3 5.4 3.4 5.5 | 2.4{ch "Cmaj7"} 5.4 4.3 5.3 5.2 5.3 4.3 5.4 | 5.3.2 r.2 |

How to practise this kind of line: do not memorise it. Play one bar, then improvise your own bar on the same chord with the same rule (3rd on beat 1, a chord tone on beat 3), then play the next written bar, then your own. Alternate written and improvised bars until the rule is a reflex.

Digital patterns: lines made of numbers

A digital pattern is a short group of chord degrees, written as numbers, that you can apply to any chord. The most useful are built from the four chord tones:

• 1-3-5-7 and 7-5-3-1: the arpeggio up and down.
• 3-5-7-1, 5-7-1-3: the arpeggio starting from a different chord tone.
• 1-2-3-5 and 5-3-2-1: the pattern every bebop player knows, which adds the 2nd (the 9th).
• 3-5-7-9: an arpeggio from the 3rd, which lands on the 9th.

Because a pattern is numbers, not notes, one pattern gives you twelve lines per chord quality for free. Here are four arpeggio-based patterns strung together over one chord. Say the numbers as you play.

\tempo 100
.
\ts 4 4
:8 5.5{ch "Dm7"} 3.4 2.3 5.3 3.4 2.3 5.3 3.2 | 2.3 5.3 3.2 1.1 5.3 2.3 3.4 5.5 |

The 1-2-3-5 pattern deserves its own example because it is the first time you play a note that is not a chord tone: the 2nd. On Dm7 the 2nd is E, on G7 it is A, on Cmaj7 it is D. In the engine's terms these are passing tones, not chord tones, which is why the block below lists them as allowed exceptions. They work because they sit on the weak "and" between the root and the 3rd and resolve immediately upward to a chord tone. Each bar below plays 1-2-3-5 then 7-5-3-1.

\tempo 110
.
\ts 4 4
:8 5.5{ch "Dm7"} 2.4 3.4 2.3 5.3 2.3 3.4 5.5 | 5.4{ch "G7"} 2.3 4.3 3.2 1.1 3.2 4.3 5.4 | 3.5{ch "Cmaj7"} 5.5 2.4 5.4 4.3 5.4 2.4 3.5 | 3.5.2 r.2 |

To practise digital patterns, take one pattern a day through the ii–V–I in C, F and Bb from the table below, then through the turnaround from the guide-tone lesson. Play each pattern in both directions and from both the root-6 and root-5 arpeggio shape. By the end of a week you should be able to hear a chord symbol and produce any of the six patterns without thinking about frets.

Targeting the 3rd of each chord

A target note is a note you decide on in advance for a particular beat, usually beat 1 of a new chord. Everything before it is a path to it. The best first target is the 3rd, because it is the note that defines the chord's quality and because, in a ii–V–I, each 3rd lies a half step or a whole step from a chord tone of the previous chord, so the path is short.

In the Bb example below, beat 1 of each bar is the 3rd of the new chord: Eb for Cm7, A for F7, D for Bbmaj7. Look at the last note before each bar line and see how close it is to the target: G rises a whole step to A, and Eb falls a half step to D. The rest of each bar is chord tones with a little rhythm.

\tempo 110
.
\ts 4 4
:4 1.4{ch "Cm7"} :8 5.4 3.3 :4 5.3 :8 3.3 5.4 | :4 2.3{ch "F7"} :8 5.3 4.2 :4 5.3 4.2 | 3.2{ch "Bbmaj7"} :8 1.1 3.2 :4 3.3 2.3 | 3.3.1 |

The method for targeting, which you should write out before you play it the first few times:

1. Write the 3rd of every chord over the bar line where the chord starts. Use the chord tables or the chord dictionary.
2. Decide the note before it. Choose a chord tone of the previous chord that is a step away from the target (the 7th of the previous chord is usually a half step above the target, as the guide-tone lesson showed).
3. Fill the bar backwards from there with chord tones in any rhythm.
4. Play it, then change the filling while keeping the targets fixed.

Once the 3rd is reliable, target the 7th instead, then the 5th. Later in the course you will target 9ths and altered tones, but the mechanics never change: pick the note, pick the path, fill the rest.

Direction: up one chord, down the next

Soloists who only ascend run out of neck; soloists who only descend run out of breath. A simple drill for direction is to ascend the arpeggio of one chord, descend the next from the nearest chord tone, and ascend again. Here it is through the ii–V–I in F, two octaves per chord, in position I to V.

\tempo 100
.
\ts 4 4
:8 3.6{ch "Gm7"} 1.5 5.5 3.4 5.4 3.3 3.2 1.1 | 5.2{ch "C7"} 1.2 3.3 5.4 2.4 3.5 1.5 3.6 | 1.6{ch "Fmaj7"} 0.5 3.5 2.4 3.4 2.3 5.3 5.2 | 3.4.1 |

Notice the join between bars 1 and 2: the Gm7 arpeggio ends on its 7th, and the C7 arpeggio starts a half step below on the 3rd of C7. The join between bars 2 and 3 is a whole step. Nearest-note joins are what make a line sound continuous across a chord change; a solo that restarts from the root on every chord sounds like a drill, even when it is not one.

Playing the changes on the F jazz blues

Now the real test. The twelve bars below use only chord tones (every note passes check=chordtones), put the 3rd or 7th of each chord on its first beat, change direction often, and leave space. Learn it in four-bar chunks. Then use it the way the first example was used: alternate written bars with your own bars, keeping the same targets.

\tempo 120
.
\ts 4 4
:8 2.3{ch "F7"} 5.3 4.2 5.3 :4 2.3 r.4 | :8 3.2{ch "Bb7"} 1.3 3.4 1.3 :4 3.2 :8 1.5 0.4 | 1.4{ch "F7"} 2.3 5.3 2.3 :4 1.6 r.4 | :8 3.3{ch "Cm7"} 5.4 1.4 3.5 2.3{ch "F7"} 5.3 4.2 5.3 |
:4 3.2{ch "Bb7"} :8 1.3 3.4 :4 1.5 :8 3.4 1.3 | 1.3{ch "Bdim7"} 3.4 3.2 2.5 :4 3.4 r.4 | :8 2.3{ch "F7"} 5.3 1.4 2.3 :4 1.6 :8 3.5 1.4 | 2.4{ch "Am7"} 3.5 0.3 2.4 4.4{ch "D7"} 2.3 5.3 4.4 |
:4 3.4{ch "Gm7"} :8 3.3 3.2 :4 5.4 :8 3.2 3.3 | 3.3{ch "C7"} 2.4 5.4 2.4 :4 1.2 r.4 | :8 2.3{ch "F7"} 5.3 1.4 5.3 4.4{ch "D7"} 2.3 5.3 0.4 | 3.3{ch "Gm7"} 3.2 3.4 3.2 :4 2.4{ch "C7"} 3.3 |

What to listen for, bar by bar:

• Bars 1–3. F7 starts on its 3rd (A); Bb7 starts on its 3rd (D), a half step below the Eb that ended the F7 phrase; the return to F7 starts on its 7th (Eb), a half step above the D that ended bar 2. The I–IV–I of a blues is half steps all the way.
• Bar 4. The quick Cm7–F7 is handled with one 7th (Bb) and one 3rd (A): the guide tones, with the other chord tones around them.
• Bars 5–6. Bb7 and Bdim7 share three notes (D, F and Ab), so the line barely moves; the B on the "and" of 2 in bar 6 is the only note that announces the diminished chord. That is enough.
• Bar 8. The iii–VI (Am7–D7) arrives from the Eb of F7 by a half step up to E, the 5th of Am7, then lands on the 3rd of D7 (F#) on beat 3, which leads a half step down to F, the 7th of Gm7, on beat 1 of bar 9.
• Bars 10–12. C7 starts on its 7th (Bb) and resolves the 7th to E; the turnaround puts the 3rd of F7 (A), the 3rd of D7 (F#), the 3rd of Gm7 (Bb) and the 3rd of C7 (E) on each chord's first beat, and the final Bb leads back to A for the next chorus.

Practising chord-tone soloing

The habit you are building has two halves: knowing where the chord tones are, and hearing which one you want next. Practise both.

• The sustain drill. Over a backing track or a loop of your own comping, play one chord tone per chord, held for the whole bar, choosing a different degree each chorus (all 3rds, then all 7ths, then all 5ths). This is slower than the guide-tone line and harder than it sounds.
• Rhythm first. Clap a two-bar rhythm, then play it using chord tones only. Change the rhythm every chorus. This separates the two decisions you are making (when and what) so that each gets your full attention.
• Record and mark. Record a chorus, listen back, and mark every beat 1 and 3 that was not a chord tone. The aim is not zero (later lessons add deliberate exceptions) but awareness.

Quiz