[NU2SAX]

Hi all,

After becoming proficient with the major and natural minor scales, and the ii-V-i chords/progressions, what scales and chords do you recommend the beginner-becoming-intermediate start to practice and memorize? Is there a logical order?

For chords is it better to learn them individually or as part of progressions?

 

[johnnysax]

My recomendations in order of "importance":

Chords: major 7, dominant 7, minor 7, half-diminished 7, diminished 7, sus 4, augmented, etc.

Scales: Mixolydian (dominant), Dorian minor (as it is a bit more common in jazz than natural/Aeolian minor). The harmonic minor is also useful. Blues, bebop, diminshed, whole-tone, etc.

The order is based on what I am seeing in the tunes I play. Let the tunes you play be your guide. Get Dan Haerle's little pocket guide on the relationship of scales to chords. It is available from jazzbooks.com.

To answer your second question, I think you need to be able access chords however they appear. The standard progressions are very common in older tunes. More modern tunes often use chords in an innovative (i.e. unfamiliar) way.

 

[Dog Pants]

Tim Price has spelled it all out here

http://www.timpricejazz.com/lessons/saxnecessities.pdf

and a worksheet here

http://www.timpricejazz.com/lessons/chordworkout.html

 

[NU2SAX]

Thanks, am printing. You've both helped a lot. Should take me through the year.:shock: :!:

 

[saxjazz42]

one of my instructors, who is a barry harris disciple, preaches that 'the dominant chord dominates', ie, if you can understand how to get in, out of and through the dominant chord you understand alot of harmony. through substitutions and scale choices however you can make basically every note of the chromatic scale fit over a given V7 chord (the maj 7 is difficult but can be used as a passing tone, ie bebop scale).

I would start with your mixolydian and ionian modes, and work on ways to get from V7 to I. check out how guys like barry harris, bird, trane, hank mobley, sonny stitt, clifford brown, etc get from V to I.

also, is your definition of 'proficient' limited to playing the scales up and down?there are tons of ways to play a scale, all sorts of patterns you can use. no one wants to improvise just by moving up and down scales all the time...so you have to practice them intervallically as well as in a linear fashion. there was a post somewhere about a practice routine from Eastman that looked like it had alot of valuable scale patterns, you should search for that. peace, mike