Simon..reviewing this video. A good way to learn the alt scale is to put pinkie on the octave. In C, I go down by whole notes untill the thumb lands on the major 3rd (E) then half whole to to C. Notes would be C Bb Ab Gb (E D# Db C) Of course a good check is tbe 7th mode of the Db melodic minor. See below ..Edited below Db Eb Gb Ab Bb C E C .
Can you explain more? In key of C, you put pinkie on C? Then what? I don’t understand purpose of putting pinkie on the octave. I get playing melodic minor a half step up from root though
@@ironryan2009 Brian..this was something I discovered about a year ago. The right hand pinky on C is the highest note in the C alt scale. The remaining 4 fingers end on E. C Bb Ab Gb (E)..All whole tones down. That takes care of the whole tones at the top of the C alt scale. The rest of the notes are Eb Db C. It becomes very easy to this. Actually it is easier to do this than the C major scale. Whole tone down till the major 3rd E. Then half step whole pattern. This can be done in the 12 🔑 s. A little harder to see in other keys. I find C is easiest. Going up HWHWWWW.. Hope this answers your question about the pinky. The reason for the pinky on the right hand; is the other fingers will follow extremely fast. I guessing..It takes less than a second to descend in C and probably a second up. Not quite as fast on most of the other keys.
I know very little about jazz but this was so clearly explained I think I understand a little about something that seemed impossibly esoteric. Great tutorial.
Yes, altered scales do share the same tones as the melodic minor scale. But I strongly feel it's better to learn the altered scale by understanding its half step, whole step relationship and how the scale tones make up the altered chord tones of the dominant 7th. Obviously it's the same result but I just think the concept of knowing that the altered scale is made up of tonic, flat 9, sharp 9, third, flat 5(#11), flat 13, and flat 7 of the dominant will help make the scale become more ingrained in soloing as well as chord voicing. But you are of course correct in that except for the starting note (which of course is nebulous when improvising), alt and melodic minor are one in the same.
What I found is that if you just use the altered scale on a dominant chord without knowing what you're doing, it may sound horrible. That's why this video is a very good starting point, then the next step is to listen and copy a lot of examples in order to get some vocabulary, and make it sound in the style, rather than random (and being an altered scale that is made to be dissonant, random doesn't sound pretty but just wrong).
How come so many of the chords you play are missing their roots? in your improv you played FACE for example, when it should have been DFACE or FACED so you actually include the root? How is it a 2-5-1 when the chords can so easily be mistaken for, say a 4-5-3? I say 3 because you don't use C in the last chord but instead double up on E, almost instilling that E/III feeling. Could you possibly explain?
Guitar player on and off 50 years. Had Piano lessons from 7th grade to 12th grade. Paid for my ⛽ in 12th grade teaching guitar. Mainly taught country. Still not the best note reader in regards to piano. I just got the Casio W200 w/ 5 octaves. Trying to revisit easy classical at first.
Simon just revisited my comment. It was accurate untill the last part. I wrote..( See below ). I had put the C alt scale as a pictorial view. Somehow the effort was skewed. I have straightened it out. I just edited the old comment. I corrected the graphics.
Thanks, very clearly and well explained. You have shone some light on the concept of jazz This genre seems logically based and not just being random and bedlam I am being motivated to it, thanks
I have worked out several ways of doing this. Do C alt scale first..but in reverse. C Bb Ab Gb E.. now half whole steps.from E ..to C. E D# Db C. or a little less correct but easier to remember E Eb Db C.
Have you worked out your drills. Some scale like C are extremely easy. I do the easy ones first and try to see patterns Eg. C F G have the same fingering the first 4 notes.. they can be identified in various ways. One way would be Root or (R b9 #9 3)..I used to call that (R b2 #2 3)..The latter is accurate, but more often is said as the former, not the latter. I am texting might be mistake. Here are the C F and G alt scales. They can be written in various ways. Diminished W tone scale. (C Db Eb) E Gb Ab Bb C (F Gb Ab A ) B Db Eb F (G Ab Bb B) Db Eb F G
Terrific lesson. Perfectly lays it out is simple terms. So many guys get caught up in their own cleverness when making tutorials that they complicate the issue further. And they take 20 minutes to do it! I'd recommend this video to anyone who wanted to get an understanding of how to us ethe altered scale.
At 4:56 I don't get the notes. A G7 as I understand it has G, B, D, F but what he played was missing the D and instead had an A and an E. What am I missing here?
Christian Schmidt, my thought-process of the chord was that he actually played a "shell voicing" (meaning include only the essential tones 1, 3 and 7), then he just add the other color tones such as the 9th of the chord "A" in G dominant and the 6th/13th "E" of the G dominant chord.
I had a similar question a year ago on another of his videos on improvising. He tends to use rootless voicings where instead of playing a block chord from the root position, he'll play the chord starting from the 3rd and play the original root note in the bass (or leave it out an let the bass player do it). The highest note in this chord (starting from the 3rd) is now a 9th interval when you include the bass note. Without the bas note, it sounds like a 7 chord. He gets into it here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-w2V_1NkiK3c.html
@@markdavenport2613 yeah that's definitely true. You're right about jazz pianists tend to leave out bass notes since upright bassists will play it for them. In jazz theory, they don't want to double the bass note played on piano and upright bass since the frequencies of both timbres will clash with one another. That's why sometimes in a solo jazz piano, pianists also rarely play root octaves. But you are not bounded to play octaves in every situation that you need them the most. You've got the best of both worlds from them.
Hi. I’m an ear player mainly though understand some theoretical rudiments. I play modern jazz. I’m working Lennie Tristano’s Requiem, a Prelude in Bb followed by a haunting blues in F. It was written for the late Charlie Parker. The prelude is relatively easy alternating between Gmin & Cmin/G slash chords. The opening prelude is almost rubato. It gently resolves from Gmin to A7/G to Abmaj7/G. This is fairly straightforward forward to until a D7alt appears. I had to look that up and what given this fingering: D F F# A# C It sounds bloody awful. I can play round this in a kind of lazy way. But that chord as written sounds dreadful. Have I gone wrong? As I understand you video the altered scale D would start of D# and not have the clashing D. Hope you can make sense of thisz
RANDY JUDAH TORREZ ❤ < Thanks for making something that sounds complicated is actually very easy with Tutorials like this and a professional teacher Thank you Simon i really appreciate it. 🎹
One thing you could do at the beginning is point out some songs that use the Altered Scale or play something that uses it. Often you have to use a real world example of something to get students intrigued.
Please help: I am so confused by this video. I thought the melodic minor sharpened the 6th and 7th degrees ascending and flattened them on the descent. Did I get it wrong or am I missing something please? I would really appreciate your help.
In jazz music, the melodic minor is simply the ASCENDING form. In CLASSICAL music theory the 7th and 6th are lowered when descending. So for jazz simply use the ascending form of raised 6th and 7th.
Hi simon ive followed you for a year now & to be honest i just like your style. This was really useful ive locked horns with the altered scale with other tutors , but never got anywhere. You made it very simple & just seems a useable scale. It makes you expand your set of notes you dont have to avoid .. i also like your voicings they sound really modern (aka as mr. Glasper. When i first watched you i was intimidated thinking id never get near that level but a year later i won't be opening a you tube channel but i can do stuff. You arent so rigid as others so i find i can trial & error your stuff & in a morning come up wit somut. Anyway i just like to say thanks as i guess there's a legión of us out here using your stuff who never respond to. You. All the best & any bossa, montuno or amy (frank,) whitehouse would be grest.
At 6:29 I'm sorry to say: YOU'RE EXTREMELY CONFUSING THINGS!! I mean...Why in the world NOT say: "we're going from (2) Fmajor To...F SHARP or G FLAT MELODIC MINOR. THAT would at least to me make way mor sense than what you're concluding: "ALTERED 5: F-B-Eb."??????????????? What does THAT has to do with ONE HALF STEP ABOVE THE ROOT IN ORDER TO GET TO THE MELODIC MINOR!!!! Feel free to proof me wrong!!
Sorry Im 2 years late but that was his rootless chord, first one is Dminor 11 rootless, second one is V7(#5) rootless, third one is CM11 rootless. If you couldn’t dectect these you shouldn’t have watched an altered scale video.
I am a new subscriber from Philippines 🇵🇭!I really enjoy watching this kind of piano tutorials because i think i could learn how to play it somehow tho i couldn’t afford a real piano so i would just watch it instead ;)))
There are 2 keyboards that I recommend. The Casio W-200 (76 keys ) good for most sheet music and the Casio Ctk4200. More portable, but 👍 for practicing scales and many other things. The sound quality of both is fantastic. They both are great to compose on. They both record. I would like to see them have easier programming. That also is not my forte.
Been there done that..bought the T shirt. I live in my means. Learned years ago to turn down credit offers. I was given a casio Ctk4200. It only has 4 octaves. You can get a lower octave in a few seconds and play most classical music. I mostly do improv. and classical music is not my forte. Consider the 5 octave Casio W 200..It is worth looking into. The best.
I mentioned the Casio W-200.. I think it is 6 octaves..Please check..Anyways..I think it will play anything I need to play..I would buy from a reputable store in your country. It probably weighs 20+ pounds. Also try to make sure the owners manual is provided. It is on the web, but you might want to print out certain sections. Paul from Pianostyle100.
Thank you for subscribing. I have many lessons. I am not a jazz pro but I do have many tips in my videos. I only do simple videos in the classical genre. I learned some of this.. circa 72-76. Paul.
I believe it's not the same as melodic descending minor scale though, so might be confusing to say its same as altered and not refering to only ascending melodic minor scale. Since ascending melodic minor scale is the one that has raised 6th and 7th. Descending melodic minor is same as natural minor scale. At least this is what I've recently learned but since its an ocean of information on the net I might have gotten ahold of wrong information.
You know what I guess this is jazz version of melodic minor. Got explained to me that classic melodic minor is what have different ascending and descending scales
One of the ways I've been training myself to think about the altered scale is by keeping what you can, then replacing whole-tone chunks with the other whole-tone scale. For example, C mixolydian has three common notes with C alt, namely the C, E, & Bb. In mixolydian, the C & E would be connected by D, forming a short three-note whole-tone scale. F, G, & A also form a short whole-tone scale but it's the opposite whole-tone scale as E, Bb, & C. If you switch the lower part from D to Db & D#, you get a single whole-tone which comes from the opposite whole-tone scale as C & E, and if you switch the upper part from F, G, & A to F# & Ab, that becomes part of a whole-tone scale connecting E to C across the top half of the scale. It sounds really confusing explaining it in this way, but essentially, just seeing all scales as a collection of miniature whole-tone scales connected with half-steps makes it easier for me to see the visual patterns and transpose them much more quickly.
Great video, thanks for the tips! Is it just me, but the way I tend to approach the altered scale is more as a variant of the same tone diminished scale, only with 3 full tones at the end. Only because I approached and got the hang of diminished scales first, but also because their seems to be more meaningful connections between those two modes (despite different number of notes in the scales) than an altered scale and minor melodic from 1/2 tone above. Is anyone else having this kind of ideas?
The Altered scale is the same as the Super Locrian and the Lydian Augmented of the 3rd. It can seem incredibly bright but also incredibly dark making it so alien, so its basically the antithesis to the major scale as neither bright or dark like the other modes
You are correct. However, you have to separate traditional theory from jazz theory. In jazz you learn the rule and then you break it. In jazz the descending part is ignored. Remember it's theory not fact. Happy practice and playing.
