Chromatic Chord Tone Patterns A scale-like approach to add chromatics to Gypsy Jazz improvisation By Jim Vence – March 2011 As a progressing Gypsy Jazz improviser, you have been probably working on your chord and arpeggio patterns, as well as various stock-in-trade licks and transcribed fragments from your favorite solos. As you assess these solos, you understand the essence of improvised Gypsy Jazz solos with arpegiatted chords, embellished with chromatic lines more often than typical scale/mode patterns. Certainly there is nothing wrong with practicing scales and modes to the extent your time allows. But if your focus is on Gypsy Jazz, there is another set of practice patterns you can use as an alternative to the repetition of running scales that exude a tonal quality more applicable to Gypsy Jazz. These exercises are based on identifying the chord tones over a chord, and playing chromatic notes within those chord tones intervals which are at least three half-steps apart; chromatic chord tone patterns (CCTP). This article describes chromatic chord tone patterns (CCTPs) you can practice to augment your development of soloing based on chord/arpeggio playing. This takes the form of playing these chromatic patterns as you would practice scales. Since they are not scales, you can select pieces from these patterns in specific groups and apply them as connecting passages between arpeggiated lines in your improvisations. The development of a CCTP for a given chord/arpeggio is as follows: 1. Identify the chord notes in ascending order. 2. Look at the interval between the notes. 3. For any interval that is at least a minor third apart, a four note chromatic pattern is available. 4. Select the four notes from the interval (you have choices if the interval is at least a major third). 5. Each four note pattern begins and ends on a chord tone. 6. Connect those four note patterns into ascending and descending lines. Included below are three pattern groups of these CCTPs. We refer to them as groups of patterns, since each pattern shown can be played with several variations of fingerings. This paper provides some sample patterns and a few fingerings for patterns you may wish to try. This paper assumes standard (EBGDAE) tuning on a six-string guitar. [email protected] (cctp_v1.doc) Page 1 of 8 Chromatic Chord Tone Patterns Pattern Group 1: Major 6th (using C6 as an example) The major 6 th pattern is derived from the sixth chord. For a C6 chord, the notes are: • C, E, G, A, C, E, G … (etc) This sequence provides the following intervals that are at least a minor third apart: • C-E, E-G, A-C, C- E, E-G, A-C ...... (G-A is too small an interval) For each of these intervals, identify the four chromatic notes to play:v 1. C-E becomes C, D, D#, E 2. E-G becomes E, F, F#, G 3. A-C becomes A, A#, B, C Now, play the ascending pattern of four note groups (e.g. eighth notes) as follows: • C, D, D#, E, E, F, F#, G , A, A#, B, C C, D, D#, E ..... You can of course reverse the pattern to practice the descending chromatic sequence. You are now rehearsing chromatic runs as you would rehearse scales, except of course you are playing the chord tones twice. In improvised passages, incorporating this type of pattern is acceptable, as it produces some pedaling of strong chord tones, and guarantees you are hitting chord tones on a strong beat when played in groups of four as quarter, eighth, or sixteenth notes. All of this is not to suggest that you run these patterns as your whole solo. Instead, as you get comfortable with the patterns this exercise produces, internalize the different fingerings and spot the chord tones, you can use segments of those patterns as lines to connect your arpeggios up and down the fretboard. [email protected] March, 2011 Page 2 of 8 Chromatic Chord Tone Patterns The good news is that when you learn the patterns and fingering for the major 6 th , you can utilize those patterns to play over the relative minor chord. The C6 pattern used can also work over an A minor, and becomes an A minor 7 th CCTP. Examples for C6 (using sharps) and Amin 7 th (using flats) is shown here: Pattern Group 2: Dominant 7 th b9 (using E7b9 as an example) The CCTP for a dominant chord takes a slightly different approach to the patterns. You can say it takes an “altered approach”, since it utilizes the feature of the dominant chord in which altered notes may be used to produce non-diatonic chord tones. Using an E dominant chord, adding a b9 to the chord produces the following intervals that are at least a minor third apart: • E-G#, G#-B, B-D, D-F Note the use of the “F”, as a flat ninth. A CCTP could be constructed without the flatted ninth by skipping the D-E interval. However, the F adds some desirable effects to this pattern: 1. The D-F interval adds more chromatic note opportunities over a dominant chord, and 2. Connecting D-F to the E-G# patterns adds an “up-down-up” sound to the connected line. [email protected] March, 2011 Page 3 of 8 Chromatic Chord Tone Patterns This pattern produces the following when played in an ascending sequence: • E, F#, G, G# G#, A, A#, B B,C,C#,D D, D#, E, F E, F#, G, G# .... In the sequence D-F and E-G#, you play D up to the F note, and then drop a half step to start the E-G pattern. In descending sequence you start with the G# down to E, and then start a half step up on F to play down to D. Pattern Group 3: Diminished Once you get the idea behind the first two pattern groups, the diminished CCTP becomes straight-forward for the intermediate jazz improviser who understands the basic theory and application of diminished chords. The chord tones of a “dim” are already set to minor third intervals, so the pattern group encompasses all twelve notes. Simply start on a diminished chord tone, play the four half-step notes (ending on the next chord tone), play the next four starting with the last note you played, and go from there. Here is an example of a diminished CCTP you may play over an E7 th (D, F, G# and B diminished): [email protected] March, 2011 Page 4 of 8 Chromatic Chord Tone Patterns Practicing CCTPs Having the basic idea of a CCTP, the next step is to construct specific patterns, rehearse them, and test them out over sample chord progressions. For this exercise, we will focus on the major and dominant patterns, and use our C6 and E7b9 samples. The goal is to develop three patterns for each major and dominant pattern. The practice approach for a CCTP is as follows: 1. Select the root note and pattern group to use (e.g. C major, E dominant …) 2. Develop three finger patterns for each of those, such as: a. Closed (no open string note) patterns starting on the fifth string b. Closed (no open string note) patterns starting on the sixth string. c. Open patterns (with open string notes) starting on the fifth or sixth string. d. Patterns restricted to one or two strings between octaves. e. Variation of the fifth or sixth string pattern with alternate fingering position. 3. Practice the pattern for two to three octaves in ascending then descending sequence. 4. Break apart the pattern’s four note groups (that start and end on a chord tone), and try: a. Vary the pattern by skipping some four note segments, b. Play a combination of ascending and descending sequences in the same pattern, c. Create additional exercises with the four note fragments as you wish. The building block of each CCTP is the four note chromatic block, each of which starts and ends on a chord tone (whether played ascending or descending). At this point, however you have rehearsed scales in the part; you can re-apply that practice to these four-note building blocks. Improvising CCTPs over songs (Chord Progressions) Once you are sufficiently tired of rehearsing CCTPs like scales, the next step is to apply them to chord progressions. This is where the investment in multiple patterns pays off. As will be shown in an “All of Me” example (chord progression C, E7, A7, D min), the key is to connect these CCTPs into a structured solo that follows the progression. The idea is not to create a complete solo from CCTPs, but to do so as a practice/rehearsal tool, and incorporate them along with arpeggios and your favorite licks into your improvisation. [email protected] March, 2011 Page 5 of 8 Chromatic Chord Tone Patterns Putting it all together -- CCTPs for “All of Me” Here are a few patterns to play over C6 and E7 th (E7b9). The diagrams below represent standard tablature representation of the CCTP, with the bold notes representing the chord tones (the bookends of each four note block), and the fret board position shown above the tablature staff for the C patterns. For example, the notation of fret 3 on the fifth string marked as position 2 means your are playing the C note with your second finger on the A string. You can develop your own fingering for the E7 patterns as you would for other CCTPs.