You have a problem if your Jazz solos sound too much like this:
In a way, this should work because a lot of things are right about this:
- It is nailing the changes
- There’s a place where you can add a nice Bebop accent
- It is actually also a motif that is being moved through the changes.
But it still doesn’t really sound ok, So what IS the problem?
“It is Jazz! It needs chromatic notes!!!”
Still not really working, let me show you why:
A great jazz line should surprise you, it should not only change direction on the heavy beats like this or even the previous one did.
Because that makes it sound heavy, the lines should have more life and more interesting rhythm, not just go from heavy beat to heavy beat like a lawnmower.
Instead, you want something that is more like this:
Of course, It isn’t so that you can never change direction on a heavy beat, but not all the time, and it pays to figure out how to make the line more surprising, so let’s look at some surprisingly easy strategies for that.
Flipping Chromatic Enclosures
A simple chromatic enclosure that you probably already know is a great hack for this!
So if you have a Dm triad
then you can add the enclosure around the notes like this:
These are called diatonic above chromatic below.
The great thing about these is that they have a direction, and can go both up and down:
And that is much more powerful than you think.
Let’s say that you are playing a Descending Dm7 arpeggio:
But you want to add a chromatic enclosure around the last note, the D. The arpeggio is descending, so if you also take a descending enclosure then you get:
But if you have the enclosure go against the descending melody then you get this:
I am sure you can hear how HUGE that difference is!
And this will help you create lines like this:
Throw In A Triad
Another useful tool is to use the diatonic triads like I am using the Am triad on Dm7 in this example:
The concept is pretty simple if you have a note where you can dip down and take a triad that fits the chord, then that will work as a way to skip around and still be a strong melody.
In example 10, I did this on the E adding an Am triad. But you could also just take the A and use the Dm triad:
That will work in a line like this where I also use it on a D diminished triad on the G7(b9):
Steal a Bebop Trick
B-roll: Illustration of the F and E -> add low A?
Often a fantastic solution is to get a large interval skip in there but that sometimes sounds very unnatural. Luckily, we can lean on the Bebop greats to give us some tricks for this!
If you are playing a melody in the scale with a half step apart, so for example F down to E on the Dm7 chord then you can throw in a lower chord tone like the 5th, A:
And this always sounds great, another place where you can use that is on the G7 between the b9 and the root adding a low B:
One of the most powerful places to learn this and also get a ton of inspiration is of course to study the Bebop Greats, and especially Charlie Parker. Check out this video, If you want to see what you can pick up from him and also how I use that in my practice and playing. I can promise you that it is worthwhile and a lot of fun!
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