Improvising Continued
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Today I will be talking about improvising over two chords that are not from the same key. Our example chord progression will be a B7 chord to a GMaj7th chord. If you are familiar with your dominant 7th chord you know that the dominant chord is the five chord of a major key. This means the B7 chord is from the key of E major. By analyzing the B7 as a five chord in the key of E we now know we can use a E major scale to improvise over the B7 chord. This is a good starting point but just one the sounds that will work over the B7 chord. We could also use our E major pentatonic scale when improvising over the B7. Since we have two different chords from different keys I like to look at the B7 in the way a blues player might approach the dominant chord. With that said I really like the sound of the B major and B minor pentatonic scale over the B7 chord. You can also incorporate the flat 5 on either the B major or minor pentatonic scale. You could also use the B Dorian and Mixolydian scale over the B7 chord. (B Mixolydain is the same notes as the E major scale.) The last sound you might want to try over the B7 chord is a E harmonic minor scale. This scale will have a very strong sound but very hip.
Next lets break down our GMaj7th chord. We could analyze the Gmaj7th chord in two different position in a major key. Our major 7th chord could appear as the one chord or the four chord in a major key. If we analyze the Gmaj 7th as a one chord we have the option to improvise our G major scale, our G major pentatonic scale or the relative minor scale to G which is E minor scale. Now if you analyze the GMaj7th chord as the four chord from the key of major we now have a whole new set of scales and sounds to work with. Now we can use our D major scale, D major pentatonic scale and of course the relative minor scales of B minor and B minor pentatonic. If you remember from our break down of the B7 chord we could use the B minor pentatonic scale over that chord. We have identified the B minor pentatonic scale will work over both of the chords in our progression. This sound doesn’t only work but sound really great!
As you experiment with the different sounds over these two chords you will find that some of the different scales compliment each other and some contrast each other. This is for you to determine while you woodshed over these two chords. My favorite is playing the major and minor pentatonic over the B7 chord and the D major scale over the G maj7th chord while still hitting at the B pentatonic scales.
Learning to improvise can be a life long journey. The better you get a it the more fun it becomes and the more you’ll probably want to get better at it. Please contact us to come in for your $10 introductory music lesson from one of our great instructors or myself to learn further about improvisation and music education. We offer guitar lessons, piano lessons, drum lessons, violin lesson, Ukulele lessons, vocal lessons as well as some orchestral instruments and more.
