John Scofield is in many ways a fantastic jazz artist. Besides having a signature tone and always coming up with new projects and collaborations he also has a very personal melodic language. In this John Scofield Lesson, I am going to break down some phrases from his solo on Not You Again. This is a song based on the changes of There Will Never Be Another You. Analyzing John Scofield licks really demonstrates how he uses pentatonic scales, melodic minor and mixes this with bebop influences.
John Scofield has a great very practical way to use legato in his playing. In many ways, it is a pretty fantastic way to use a technique that makes it easier to play the lines in a way that makes the phrasing more interesting. The solo is also a great example of how half of playing a good solo on a jazz standard is about interpreting and re-harmonizing the standard chords while playing.
What I don’t talk about in this lesson, even if it is as interesting as the notes he plays, is how John Scofield works with tone and shapes the sound of what he plays. This aspect of his playing is not that common in Jazz Guitar, but the dynamic and tonal range of John Scofield could easily be the topic of long books.
The song, Not You Again, is off the album John Scofield recorded with Billy Higgins, Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride, and Brad Mehldau. The Brad Mehldau solo is also worth studying as he is also a master at re-interpreting the harmony. This is also the first album that Scofield recorded without using his signature chorus.
Content:
0:00 Intro – Scofield on a Jazz Standard
0:55 #1 Diatonic Pentatonic Scale
1:49 Linking Technique and Phrasing Dynamics
2:10 #1 Diatonic Pentatonic Scale – Slow
2:14 #2 Bebop Line and Phrasing
2:58 Using Legato to help add Large Intervals to the solo
4:18 #2 Bebop Line and Phrasing – Slow
4:27 Analysis of Scofield’s Legato and Phrasing 5.07 Keeping it Practical like Allan Holdsworth
5:14 #3 Altered Scale Pentatonic
5:43 Altered Pentatonic Melodic Patterns
6:16 Groups of 7 8th notes
6:31 #3 Altered Scale Pentatonic – Slow
7:00 #4 Angular Legato lines
7:51 Legato to create Angular lines 8:
24 #4 Angular Legato lines – Slow
8:27 #5 Rhythmic and Octave Displacement
8:50 Rhythmic Displacement with
9:26 #5 Rhythmic and Octave Displacement – Slow
9:31 #6 Pentatonic & Bebop melodies
10:33 Legato: Hammer on/Pull off and Slides
10:58 #6 Pentatonic & Bebop melodies – Slow
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