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Okay, let's look at how to use these guidelines, now that we've found them.
So the first thing to do is just get yourself familiar with the sound of the
line and how the notes move. So as you play the changes, [MUSIC] just
you know, play, follow along, just play in half notes.
[MUSIC] And listen to the sound of it. Then start embellishing it a little bit,
making some rhythmic variation. still using the line
[MUSIC]. Alright, starting to sound like I'm
soloing a little bit. Here's the second line.
[MUSIC] See I'm adding a little chromatic motion here and there, filling in,
changing the rhythms, turning it into little melodic phrases.
Now, here's where the interesting part comes in.
These lines are so strong and so basic to the flow of the harmony that they're very
interchangeable. I can start my solo on [MUSIC] this line,
and switch to the next one [MUSIC]. And I can, I can go back and forth
between line one or line two or line three in the middle of the progression.
It doesn't matter. I can also switch the octave.
[MUSIC] Now it sounds now like I'm just soloing.
But I'm still keeping my mind, my focus [MUSIC] is on these you know, guidelines.
And I, I can move them around, I can switch octaves, I can switch between
them. And that gives me a lots of [MUSIC], it
sounds like I'm soloing. And in a way I am.
But instead of thinking of the individual [MUSIC] chord and scale, I'm thinking
more about this, these [MUSIC] guidelines that move me through those changes much
easier. So now, we've looked at guidelines.
Let's also consider another way of thinking about harmonies, and that's
called the common scale. In some cases you will find several bars,
several chords in a row that all share the same scale.
Let's say it's [MUSIC] D minor 7, G7, C7, A minor 7, F major 7.
There's five chords in a row and they all happen to share [MUSIC] the same notes.
So, we have the choice of course of outlining each one of those individually.
But, we also have the option of just thinking of it as one large group sharing
the same scale. One of the things we do a lot in
improvising is group the changes together into larger units, so that we can play
longer melodic themes over them, longer phrases.
So guidelines helps us get through changes that are moving a lot and, for,
make, you know, resolving and changing and so on.
Common scales help us play over an area that shares the same scales, so we change
our thinking and say oh I figure I've got one scale to work on.
Now, now I'll think of that while I'm soloing.
So that's two of the most common ways of dealing with harmony as an improviser and
we're going to look at some more.