Category Archives: Scales

Beginner, Chords, Diatonic approach, II-V-I, Music theory, Scales, Tier 5

Diatonic Approach 2 – diatonic triads

Aside

In this video I talk about how to use diatonic triads in Gmajor.
Further i present the triads in the Gmajor scale and a II-V-I in G.

Diatonic triads is a strong tool which you can use in your soloing. Further by knowing the diatonic triads you get more overview of the theory of what you are playing. You get to know where all the chords are from and you attain flexibility in you improvisation.

The material we will work on is the G major scale:
Diatonic Approach 2 - Triads_0001 - G major scale
Diatonic means that you are only using notes that are in the scale, so no notes outside the scale.

You would want to know your material by heart and also over the whole range of the saxophone.
The next exercise will help you with this.
Diatonic Approach 2 - Triads_0001 - G major scale - full range

The triads of the scale are each on one of the notes of the scale. This means you get 7 different triads in a major scale:
on the note G in the scale you have a Gmajor triad, on A you have a Aminor triad, on B you have a Bminor triad, on C you have a C major triad, on D you have a D major triad, on E you have a E major triad, on F# you have a F# diminished triad.
Diatonic Approach 2 - diatonic triads of the scale

here is an exercise how to get this into your fingers:
Diatonic Approach 2 - Triads_0001 - Diatonic triads up
This exercise is written to cover the whole range of the saxophone. Its important that you have flexibility with all material over the whole range of the saxophone because when you improvise you never know how you react to what is happening around you in a band. Maybe you need those high or low notes.

The exercise i just played was written with a little pause in between the triads, the next exercise is not,big breath!
Diatonic Approach 2 - Triads_0001 - Diatonic triads up - no rest
This exercise without the pause in it will save you time when you practise, a very small amount but everytime you play the exercise you save this time, which you can use to practise more.

You can play the triads both up and down, like in the next exercise, first triad going up second triad going down:
Diatonic Approach 2 - Triads_0001 - Diatonic triads up+down
The exercises mentioned here are free to use anyway you want, play the triads up, down, cluster them in groupings etc.
Its important that you know your material well to get more freedom in your soloing. Learn the names of the triads, make you own exercises, learn the triads over the whole range of the saxophone.

Ill now present the material of a II-V-I in G major – Am9 – D7(9) – Gmaj7(9).
There are different triads on each of these chords which i will explain in the following exercise:
Diatonic Approach 2 - Triads_0001 - Diatonic triads structures Am
The first chord, the Am9 with the notes A-C-E-G-B consists of three triads, the Aminor triad on the first degree of the Am9 chord A-C-E, the Cmajor triad on the third degree of the Am9 triad – C-E-G and the Eminor triad on the fifth degree of the Am9 chord – E-G-B.

The next chord in our II-V-I is the D7(9)
Diatonic Approach 2 - Triads_0001 - Diatonic triads structures D7
We begin with the complete D7(9) chord – D-F#-A-C-E. The triads of this chord is Dmajor triad on the first degree – D-F#-A. On the third degree of the D7(9) chord we have the F# diminished triad – F#-A-C and on the fifth degree we have the Aminor triad – A-C-E.

The last chord of our II-V-I is the Gmajor 9 chord – G-B-D-F#-A.
Diatonic Approach 2 - Triads_0001 - Diatonic triads structures Gmaj7
The three triads on the Gmaj9 chord are: on the first degree, Gmajor triad – G-B-D, on the third degree, the Bminor triad – B-D-F# and on the fifth degree there is the Dmajor triad – D-F#-A.

One of the best ways to get this material into your fingers is naturally to play the above mentioned exercises but as soon as you know the material just a bit start to get it into live material like lines you make and play, licks etc.

I have made some examples of lines that uses the diatonis triads, the first line:
Diatonic Approach 2 - Triad lick 1
I start playing a Eminor triad down ending on a B going up the Cmajor triad. Using diatonic approach notes G and E to hit the F# on the D7 chord. Playing down the scale from F# to D jumping down to a F# playing up the F# diminished triad running down the scale from C to A. Jumping up to a D on the Gmajor9 shord playing down the Bminor chord ending on a E on Gmajor9.

The next example:
Diatonic Approach 2 - Triad lick 2
I start with a Eminor triad on the B jumping down to play the triad up, playing the scale down from a till E. Jumping on to the D7(9) dragging the Aminor triad to the D7(9) in a triplet playing it down. I use the diatonic approach notes G and E to get to the F# playing down the scale. eight note rest on Gmajor9 playing the Bminor triad down ending on an A repeating the Bminor triad ending on the low D approaching the end F# with a E – A to F#.

The third example:
Diatonic Approach 2 - Triad lick 3
I play up the Aminor triad with a triplet figure, ending on the high G going down the Cmajor triad using a diatonic approach over the barline G – E to F# of the D9 playing down the Dmajor triad, jumping to the high B playing down the scale extending the F# over the barline playing down the Bm triad jumping up to the F# going down the scale to pull over a D across the barline to end on a Bm triad going down ending on an E.

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Chords, Diatonic approach, II-V-I, Intermediate, Music theory, Scales, Tier 5

Diatonic Approach 1 – Diatonic Approach Notes

Aside

This lesson describes a way to get diatonic approach notes into your playing by guiding you through certain exercises and progressions. It also gives you some prefabricated licks you can use directly in you soloing.

Diatonic notes are the notes belonging only to key which you are playing in. Fx. if you are playing in C major the diatonic notes would be the notes of the C-major scale.

Using a diatonic approach to improvising you will achieve a very clear sound in your lines without outside the key notes of course. I play for tenor saxophone in the scale of C-major.
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_C maj7 scale
The approach notes works as follows: they are the surrounding notes of a target note.

In this example my target note is G and my surrounding notes are A and F which are also the approach notes
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_approach G

when i use the approach notes on a II-V-I it could fx sound like this:
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_II-V-I no1
Here you see i approach the F of the Dm7 first with the E and the G, my second group of approach notes are in the G7 bar where i play the target note C and uses approach notes B and D, and the third approach group to the end note, A where the approach notes are G and B.

Another example of the clear sound you achieve with only using diatonic notes.
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_II-V-I no2
The first diatonic approach group is to the G on the G7 with the approach notes F and A. The second group of approach notes are to the D on the G7 with the approach notes E and C.

An exercise in getting the approach notes in your fingers could be.
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_c maj scale approach notes w rest
This exercise spells all notes out of the scale with their surrounding notes/approach notes in front.

Try to play around with the exercise and approach different notes in this way.
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_approach notes
Approach of the G, the A, the C, the E, the high G and the high A.

If you alter the rhythm of the approach note exercise you can play it more continuously.
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_c maj scale approach notes
In this way you approach all the notes in the C-major scale all the way to the high D – the 9th of the scale.
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_C maj scale to 9

If you play the approach note exercise moving down you will need to repeat the target note and use this as the first approach note.
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_approach to cmaj scale down

now we have worked a bit on the whole scale you can get down to the approach notes of the chords of the II-V-I in C. Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7.
We start with the Cmaj7 chord – the target notes are C E G B D.
start with this exercise but try as soon as its in your fingers to alter the exercise and randomize the target notes to get flexible in the execution.
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_Cmaj7 approach notes

The target notes of the Dm7 chord are D F A C E
the same rules apply, learn the basic approach notes and order, then start to experiment.
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_Dm approach notes

The G7 chord – target notes: G B D F A
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_G7 approach notes

To get some more functionality with the approach notes its important to use the method over basic chord changes.
These following II-V-I lines will show some ways to use the approach notes.
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_ex 1
First on the Dm7 chord i run down 5321 pattern to make a jump to the G of an Am7 chord on the Dm approaching F of the G7 with E and G of the Am7 chord.
I then play a 1235 of F on the G7 going up to a high E running down the G7 scale to G on the Cmaj7 playing 5321 ending on B and G as approach notes to A.

The next line of II-V-I:
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_ex 2
Starting with a run up a Am7 chord using the approach notes E and G to land on the F, going down the Dm scale skipping down to an A and making a double approach, A-C-A, to B on the G7 chord. Going down the G7 scale to approach the F on G7 with the G and the E. Going up the G7 scale to the Am7 chord on the Cmaj. Running up the Am7 chord to the 11th (D) using the B and the last mentioned D to approach the C on the C chord, ending on a B – over the barline to bar 4.

The third and last II-V-I example:
Diatonic approach notes - II-V-I Cmaj_ex 3
Beginning with an upbeat approach B and G going to the A on the Dm7 chord. Playing down the wellknown Coltrane/pentatonic run 5-3-2-1 of Dm7 approaching the F via the approach notes G and E. Going up the scale to the G7. Starting the G7 playing a subdominant Am arpeggio using C and E to get to the D. The D and B is the approach notes to the following C leading to the D. Going down the scale from the B ending on the G of the Cmaj7. Coltrane pattern 5-3-2-1 on Cmaj ending on B and G surrounding the A, jumping to D, playing in the last bar an Em pentatonic/blues fragment – B-A-G-E.

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