Jazz Greats Use THIS Instead of the Altered Scale 

That's really overused, dude.

Thanks man, I really appreciate it! Making all of this stuff digestible and accessible for people that haven't gone to music college is absolutely what I'm trying to do across the channel!

Thanks for the high quality analysis. I appreciate because I only went to business school. At 80 years old, I love learning what I can about music!

Thanks, Amber, that really means a lot! I think the complexity in music theory/education can sometimes be a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy - someone gets taught it in a complex way, so they then teach it to others in the same complex way, and on and on it goes. Sometimes we all just need to step back and reassess things to spot other ways of thinking about it - there were years of me struggling with the altered scale before I realised this far simpler way of getting there!

Thank you so much - you have no idea how much that means to me!!

No problem, Nestor! Thanks for watching!

Oh wow, thanks so much Nigel! That really means a lot coming from you!

Thanks! I'm so glad you enjoyed the book!

Oh wow thanks, Jamie! That means a lot!

@@joshwakeham you had me at the Patrick Bartley thumb though! 👍🏻🤣

​@@GetYourSaxTogether that's what got me.

That's another great tip if you want to avoid the #11, thanks for sharing!

Cool! Never thought of that, but it makes sense as the V of Abm.

Let me know how you get on with it!

Super ideas Sir. I'm on my way to try all these. Thanks.

Thanks Patrick, that means a lot!

Thanks for watching, Scott. I hope you found it helpful!

I'm so glad you like the concept - it makes the altered sound so much easier to achieve!

Thanks Michael, so great to hear the video was helpful! That minor pentatonic tip is definitely a useful one, and one I'd actually completely forgotten about - thanks for the reminder!

Thank you! I suppose another maybe clearer way to explain for would be just to play a minor pentatonic starting on the third degree of the major triad. I’m jazzed (my apologies) about your channel. You just blew the doors off for me!

Yes! Also build a minor pentatonic on the major 7th degree…for instant Lydian flavor…

@@ChromaticHarp WHOA. That is KILLER. Music just pours out when you get that lydian flavor. THANK YOU!!! Fun to vamp over Bbm7 and BM7. SO GOOD!!!

@@michaeldmytriw1047 Yes! That’s a cool Vamp!

Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy them!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks so much!

Thanks Rick, I'm glad you found it helpful! Joe Pass is someone I've not really checked out (guitarists are a bit of a blind spot for me in general), but it's great to know that this approach isn't limited to horn players!

@@joshwakeham Oscar Peterson said that Joe was a 'genius' - used to play alongside many of the greats in 1960s and 70s - well worth listening to for a slightly different type of sound. Keep up the great work 👍

Thanks for watching, it's great to hear the video was useful!

Thanks Jeff!

Thanks, Fran! It's great to hear that you enjoyed the video!

Thanks Francis. Sadly I couldn't think of a way to include the moka pot in this one!

@@joshwakeham Well, I couldn't find the words to mask my disappointment!

Yeah that is another great way to think of it!

@@joshwakeham -- You've really got me thinking today. Another idea: We could play G minor pentatonic or G blues over the G7, then go to the A♭ minor pentatonic (or minor added sixth pentatonic) and then to A minor pentatonic (or C major pentatonic). That seems to make it even easier to remember and learn because it's just a chromatic modulation. Of course, that assumes that the G7 resolves to C.

Natural 9 on the SUB FIVE is better NOT b9

@@ChromaticHarp -- I'm saying D♭9 or D♭7(9) NOT D♭7♭9. So I think we agree. The natural 9th of the tritone sub is the ♭13 or #5 of the dominant, so it works as an altered tone.

@@mbmillermo I’m sorry Mike, I thought you wrote b9 my bad!

Thanks for the tip - I'll check that out that solo!

Thank you!

Yes well said

Thanks for watching, it's great to hear you enjoyed the video!

Thanks for watching, Paul. It's great to hear you enjoyed the video!

Oh man, thinking about arpeggios/simpler shapes is a great way to get into the more complex sounds. I'm a huge fan of that way of thinking!

Oh man that sounds like an enlightening lesson!

@@joshwakeham basically bringing the scale down to six notes made everything easy in a duple time system. Same thing with diminished scales being eight notes or bebop scales at eight notes Seven note scales are lousy for eighth notes in typical jazz time signatures

Yeah that's definitely another great way to think about it!

I'm so glad it was helpful!

Thanks for watching, José! Good to hear you found it helpful. The melodic minor is such a useful scale, both for the altered sound and for other harmonic devices - I'd definitely recommend getting comfortable with it

Thanks!

Thanks Scott, that really means a lot coming from you!

Thanks Bernardo!

😂 we've all tried that before! I remember clearing the dance floor on a wedding gig years ago by trying out some 'cool' altered lines. I quickly learnt my lesson on that one!

I think if you want to get a little hip and outside on a dominant 7#9 chord in a modal or blues setting, the half step whole step diminished scale is probably going to be your best bet. Think Chick Corea, Michael Brecker, Scott Henderson ect.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

Let me know how you get on!

Yeah both are classic bits of vocab for sure!

Thanks Deryck, I'm glad I could help you find out what it is you've been playing!

My flexible face is definitely one of my best life skills 😂

Thanks, I guess 😂

Thanks Bob! Transcribing really is the only way, at least to start with, you're right.

Thanks, it's great to hear you found it useful!

@@joshwakeham man I’ve got to know where did you get your education? Very interesting stuff my friend

I did a postgraduate degree at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance here in London, studying under Jean Toussaint and Julian Siegel mostly. The main thing I learnt there was HOW to learn - I'm still getting lots of the stuff under my fingers. Everything else has just been a case of learning by transcribing and trying to keep my eyes and ears as open as possible!

What you're referring to is another great device to get comfortable with! But I don't think that's what's happening in these examples - none of them are played and then repeated a half-step up.

@@joshwakeham well, I think this comes from that device. Sometimes the "consonant" idea is implied and only the half-step deviation is played. However, I believe the Dexter example does use both ideas, and anyway he and Sonny Stitt often do this kind of device, where they will play an arpeggio lick, and then repeat that a half-step away. In any case, I wouldn't call an idea played a half step away from the standard harmony an alternative to the altered scale. It is really an alteration of the harmony, which is not to say that you couldn't play an idea based on an altered scale as an alteration of the harmony, but, as you note, the ideas in your examples are really just minor (or sometimes dominant chord) arpeggios a half step away from the standard harmony.

Sounds like we think about these things differently from each other. No harm in that!

Thanks! I've never thought of it like that before, definitely something to explore!

Yeah you're right. You can't tell for sure if it's altered or harmonic minor without having more of the notes. I was taught altered before harmonic minor - in fact I was originally taught that the harmonic minor shouldn't be used which is obviously not the case - which I'm sure influences my thinking during more ambiguous moments