Lesson 2 – Chord Sequence 1 – Part 1

Studying this lesson will improve:

Your ability to play with a swing feel

Your knowledge of pentatonic scales and chords

Your knowledge of 7 and 8 note scales

Your listening skills

Your reading skills

Trio

Bass and Drums

Bass and Piano

Piano and Drums

First, follow the attachment link.

Let us look at the first chord – Gmin7b5

You will notice that there is an ‘extra’ note in this chord voicing – the 11th (or the 4th step of the scale).

This is so that we can ‘relate’ the chord to one of our 4 types of pentatonic (5 note) scales.

The pentatonic we are using here is a Bb major pentatonic, with the 3rd flattened.

Bb C Db F G

Respelt as:

G Bb C Db F

Now the second chord – C7b13b9

The pentatonic we are using here is a Db major pentatonic, with the 3rd flattened.

Db Eb Fb Ab Bb

Respelt as:

Db D# E Ab Bb

…And the 3rd chord – F-

The pentatonic we are using here is a Ab major pentatonic, the relative major.

Ab Bb C Eb F

We could also use the Eb or Bb Pentatonics.

What voicings would they produce?

Improvise on bars 1 – 4, using all of the chord voicings (pentatonic scales) above.