More Books from Sol Ut Press

Better = Smarter + FasterPractice takes many shapes. The word means different things to different people. What does it take to get better? The Practice of Practice will help you understand ways of getting better more clearly. The information will help you become a more aware musician, a more informed teacher, and a more effective parent of a young musician. Whether you play Beethoven or Bach, are into Indie pop or classic Rock, The Practice of Practice will help you become a better musician. The book covers 6 aspects of practice:

»What: Definitions, and what music practice does to your brain.

»Why: Motivation is crucial. Learn ways of keeping the flame lit in this section

»Who: A lot of people including yourself will impact your practice. Learn to use them to your advantage.

»When: This section covers how much, and what times of the day are best for practice, & more.

»Where: Where you practice matters, & more. »How: The longest section of the book includes

information about goals, structuring your practice, as well as specific techniques tested by researchers, and specific strategies pros use to get better.

www.Sol-Ut.com

book images are hyperlinked

Written by a musician, The Practice of Practice is a result of 8 years of research, including interviews with world-class professional musicians in many genres: jazz, singer-songwriting, Western classical, Indian classical, West African djembe, and others.

Jonathan Harnum, PhD, is a multi-instrumentalist, has played music for over 30 years, has 20 years of teaching experience, and is the author of five books.

Be a better musician. Don’t practice longer, practice smarter.

ThePracticeOfPractice.com

www .Bas icJaz zTheo ry . com v

B a s i c J a z z T h e o r y , v o l 1Table of Contents

Cha p te r 0 : T he C ha pt e r Ev e ry on e Sk ip s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Why Should You Listen to Me? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Skills You’ll Need To Make This Book Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Basic Jazz Theory: The Big Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Icons In The Book: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4What’s Inside: The Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter 0: The Chapter Everyone Skips . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Chapter 1: The Tune’s the Thing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Chapter 2: Major Scales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Chapter 3: Going Modal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Chapter 4: Interval Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Chapter 5: Cutting the Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Chapter 6: Extension Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Chapter 7: Pentatonic Scales and the Blues Scale. . . . . . . . .6Chapter 8: Listen Listen Listen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Codicil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Chapte r 1 : Th e Tune ’ s t he Th i ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Why Should You Learn Tunes First? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7How to Learn Tunes: By Rote or by Note? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Learn Tunes by Ear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Learn Tunes with Written Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Tune List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Memorizing Tunes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10A Tune to Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Bass Clef Version:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Scale you can use when improvising: D harmonic minor . . . 11

Ear Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Practical use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

v i T able o f C ontents

Chap ter 2 : M ajor Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

The Major Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13The C Major Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Whole and Half Steps for the Major Scale . . . . . . . . . . . 14Octave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Scales with Accidentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14F Major Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14G Major Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Major Scales with Many Accidentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Ear Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Improvisation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Practical Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Chap ter 3 : Go ing Modal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

What is a Mode? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19The Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Ionian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Dorian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Phrygian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Lydian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Mixolydian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Aeolian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Locrian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Finding Modes in Other Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Modes Using Other Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Ear Training & Improvisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Practical Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

www .Bas icJaz zTheo ry . com vi i

Chapt er 4 : I nte rv a l Tr a i n i ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Intervals by the Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25A Simple Way to Find an Interval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Interval Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Perfect Intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Major Intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Altering Perfect Intervals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Altering Major Intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Finding an Interval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Intervals Greater than an Octave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Finding Intervals in Keys Other than C . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Ear Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Improvise Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Moving On. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Ch apt e r 5 : C utt in g Th e C ho rd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

The Basic Triad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Triads in a Major Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Major Triads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Minor Triads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Diminished Triads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Augmented Triads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Ear Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Improvise Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Moving On. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Practical Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Ch a pte r 6 : Extens i on Cho rds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

General Chord Extension Info. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Seventh Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Ninth Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Other Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Eleventh and Thirteenth Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42The Half Diminished Chord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Ear Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Improvise Now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Moving On. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Practical Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

www .Bas icJaz zTheo ry . com v i i i

Chapt er 7 : P entat on i c and Blu es Scale s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

The Centrality of the Blues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45General Pentatonic Scale Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

The Major Pentatonic Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46The Minor Pentatonic Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

General Blues Scale Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Standard Blues Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Use Your Blues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Ear Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Moving On. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Improvise Now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Practical Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Chapt er 8 : L i st en and Le a rn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Why Listen? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Where to Listen Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Some Listening Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Listening Suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Cod i c i l : Book Extr as . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Book IndexScale Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

General Info About These Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61A Word on Memorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Scale Pattern Suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Pentatonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62A Note on Enharmonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Piano Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Cycle of Fourths/Fifths (Major) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Guitar Fretboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Cycle of Fourths/Fifths (natural minor) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

More Books from Sol Ut Press

Better = Smarter + FasterPractice takes many shapes. The word means different things to different people. What does it take to get better? The Practice of Practice will help you understand ways of getting better more clearly. The information will help you become a more aware musician, a more informed teacher, and a more effective parent of a young musician. Whether you play Beethoven or Bach, are into Indie pop or classic Rock, The Practice of Practice will help you become a better musician. The book covers 6 aspects of practice:

»What: Definitions, and what music practice does to your brain.

»Why: Motivation is crucial. Learn ways of keeping the flame lit in this section

»Who: A lot of people including yourself will impact your practice. Learn to use them to your advantage.

»When: This section covers how much, and what times of the day are best for practice, & more.

»Where: Where you practice matters, & more. »How: The longest section of the book includes

information about goals, structuring your practice, as well as specific techniques tested by researchers, and specific strategies pros use to get better.

www.Sol-Ut.com

book images are hyperlinked

Written by a musician, The Practice of Practice is a result of 8 years of research, including interviews with world-class professional musicians in many genres: jazz, singer-songwriting, Western classical, Indian classical, West African djembe, and others.

Jonathan Harnum, PhD, is a multi-instrumentalist, has played music for over 30 years, has 20 years of teaching experience, and is the author of five books.

Be a better musician. Don’t practice longer, practice smarter.

ThePracticeOfPractice.com