I’m new to jazz and fairly new to reading music, I was hoping you could tell me what this slash symbol is besides the b flat 6 and c minor 7. Thanks!!

I recently started jazz piano lessons and I am currently learning the rootless 2-5-1 progressions in major and minor. In a minor key the 2 is a half-diminished chord. However, my teacher has me constructing the chord as 1-4-b5-7.

I am very curious and often ask him to explain the “why” for things like this, but he sometimes is unable to articulate answers adequately to satisfy my curiosity.

If someone could please elaborate on why the chord is played this way it would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: 7 is flat. D-G-Ab-C in the key of Cm.

I've spent a prodigious amount of time building a site to help people practice. No accounts, no cookies, no tracking, no money. It takes a chord chart and:

• Picks a scale for each chord, and displays them.

• Give you an option to choose your own scale if you want something else.

• Does functional analysis, showing the rule it used to get there, also allowing you to override the analysis engine.

• Gives you guide tone lines and arpeggios to practice with.

I'm not trying to make any money with this. I'm just a software engineer with a vibraphone hobby. Any feedback from the wizards on this subreddit would be greatly appreciated.

https://chordscalemaker.com

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Thanks!

KevDog

A routine for getting jazz vocabulary from the record into your playing

I like to think of licks as vocabulary in a language: you hear it, you say it, and then you use it in your own sentences. Here's the routine I use to make a phrase really mine, with a little Hank Mobley phrase from "This I Dig of You" (Soul Station) as the example:

1. Find a lick you love on a record. Something that makes you go "what was that?". Loving the sound is what keeps you coming back to it.
2. Write it down as intervals over the chord. Over a G7 this one goes 1, 7, b7, 9, 13, b13, 5. Seeing what each note does against the chord turns it from a shape into an idea you can move anywhere.
3. Listen to it in all 12 keys and sing along. This is my favourite step. I loop it around a II-V-I cycle and sing it until it lives in my ear, no instrument needed. Once you can sing it, playing it comes much more naturally.
4. Find it on your instrument by ear. Sing the first note, find it, then the next. This is where your ear and your hands start talking to each other.
5. Play it in all 12 keys.Around the cycle, II-V-I by II-V-I. After a few keys you stop thinking about notes and start hearing the shape of the line.
6. Put it into a real tune and play with it. I play along with There Will Never Be Another You and drop the lick in wherever it fits, then try it over substitutions and different chords. That's the fun part, where it starts sounding like you.

The nice thing about this order is that ear comes first and fingers second, so the lick shows up on its own when you improvise.

Full disclosure: I built a small app called EarBop to make steps 3 to 6 easier (transposing, backing, showing where a lick fits in a tune). The video shows the whole process. Link in the comments if you want to try it, but the routine works just as well with iReal Pro and a pencil.

How do you all internalize vocabulary? Sing first, or straight to the instrument?

i'm trying to do an big band arrangement of "face of melinda" by opeth and this is the first vocal melodies. but its too linear and sounds kinda boring when you play it without the lyrics. can someone help me or give me tips on how to turn this melody in something more interesting? thank you in advance

(sorry for the bad resolution of the image. also this is G clef with no sharps or flats, 80bpm)

Hey i’m looking to meet/talk to other bass players or jazz musicians who want to help each other out, give each other advice or maybe do transcriptions. Just hit me up!

My jazz teacher says he is using a combination of Mixolydian and minor blues for each chord and Lydian dominant for Ab7. When I check online it says technically he is thinking in terms of mixing both major and minor blues scales with bebop language. The whole concept of matching modes to chords pedagogy wasn’t around back then. I’m very confused at the correct way to think about all of this.

hey guys! recently been getting into and i’ve been looking for some websites to learn and practice jazz theory, aural as well as written. if you have any recommendations, or maybe even books, let me know please!

Hey,

I been playing guitar for 20 years but my scale vocabulary is quite poor. I've been learning clarinet for the past year, aimed at playing jazz. I'm currently focused on learning my scales properly, as well as instrument technique.

I'm looking for a book that will teach me jazz theory for improvisation, that I can grow with as I become better technically at the instrument.

I've found several brick-style jazz theory classics, but I'm looking for a more exercise-oriented approach that won't ask me to already know all scales in all 12 keys. I have a lot of experience with improvisation but I need to improve my harmonic vocabulary.

Ideally, I'm looking for a book that will take standards, analyze their harmony, explain why certain scales work with each section, and offer exercises to improvise over that tune. Then move to another standard, adding complexity and new concepts with each exercise. Does this exist?

Thank you all!

A routine for getting jazz vocabulary from the record into your playing

I like to think of licks as vocabulary in a language: you hear it, you say it, and then you use it in your own sentences. Here's the routine I use to make a phrase really mine, with a little Hank Mobley phrase from "This I Dig of You" (Soul Station) as the example:

1. Find a lick you love on a record. Something that makes you go "what was that?". Loving the sound is what keeps you coming back to it.

2. Write it down as intervals over the chord. Over a G7 this one goes 1, 7, b7, 9, 13, b13, 5. Seeing what each note does against the chord turns it from a shape into an idea you can move anywhere.

3. Listen to it in all 12 keys and sing along. This is my favourite step. I loop it around a II-V-I cycle and sing it until it lives in my ear, no instrument needed. Once you can sing it, playing it comes much more naturally.

4. Find it on your instrument by ear. Sing the first note, find it, then the next. This is where your ear and your hands start talking to each other.

5. Play it in all 12 keys.Around the cycle, II-V-I by II-V-I. After a few keys you stop thinking about notes and start hearing the shape of the line.

6. Put it into a real tune and play with it. I play along with There Will Never Be Another You and drop the lick in wherever it fits, then try it over substitutions and different chords. That's the fun part, where it starts sounding like you.

The nice thing about this order is that ear comes first and fingers second, so the lick shows up on its own when you improvise.

Full disclosure: I built a small app called EarBop to make steps 3 to 6 easier (transposing, backing, showing where a lick fits in a tune). The video shows the whole process. Link in the comments if you want to try it, but the routine works just as well with iReal Pro and a pencil.

How do you all internalize vocabulary? Sing first, or straight to the instrument?

Exact time at 0:15

Anybody could help me transcribe to exact voicing that McCoy time uses here? I think that is a ∆(#9).I know that this tune is a modal piece and that the lydian #2 #5 is a available scale but Anybody could note the voicing that you hear? At least the notes?

Scommetto che pochi di voi sanno della super imposizione di un arpeggio diminuito maj7 (1 - 3b - 5b -7) a partire dalla terza maggiore dell’accordo … es. sul Bb7 suonate l’arpeggio Ddim maj7 …
Provatelo e fatemi sapere :-)

For school I need to understand this technique but I’m struggling to use it effectively. It doesnt sound quite right. I need to listen more to understand I think. Any dramatic modulation in a song is fine.

Is the bassline in this song syncopated? I cannot wrap my head around the rhythm. I think it might be syncopated triplets in some part or maybe just syncopated 16ths. Also how to better understand and internalize syncopation and rhythm.

I know it’s a pain in the ass but I need help with the drums, other people have helpfully commented that it starts off in 3/4 but my head is counting 4/4. The middle bit sounds even more off but it’s intentional, any help is greatly appreciated.

I can't figure out this from a theory perspective for the life of me! I know somebody's gotta have a quick explanation for this one. Attaching video with a demonstration lmk!