Why you can use different Scales over the same Chord

hi guys so a really common question that a lot of musicians ask when they're first sort of getting into jazz is how do I know what scale to play over a particular chord and so if you're given a um chord progression that's in a specific key why do you often hear that different Jazz musicians use different scales over those same chords and how do they pick those scales now in order to answer those questions we need to differentiate between playing in a key and playing from a key now songs are generally written in a major or a natural minor key the natural minor being a mode of the major scale anyway so you generally don't see songs with a harmonic minor key signature or a whole tone key signature or weird things like that but you can play scales and substitute in chords from a different key into a given song or chord progression so if you have a song that's in the key of C major you can still play scales and substitute in chords that are derived from a different key into that sort of C major chord progression or song now this will make more sense if we go through a simple example so let's do that now let's take the chord C major 7 so we've got c e g and B now that chord can be derived from the C ma scale right no sharps or flats that's the one chord of the c major scale so we start on the C and we build up in thirds and we build a C major 7 the C major 7 can also be derived from a G Major scale so that has one sharp the F sharp and the C major 7 chord will be the four chord from the point of view of the G Major scale or key so starting stting on the C again we build up in thirds we get to the E we skip the F Shar cuz we're building in thirds get to the G get to the B and again we've got that C major 7 chord so the C major 7 chord is both the one chord of the key of C major and the four chord of the key of G major and obviously as you can see the reason that's the case is because all the notes from the chord C major 7 are in in both the c major scale and the G Major scale the only difference is of course that the G Major scale has the F sharp but that's not in the chord of C major 7 so it doesn't really affect C major 7 so we can sort of ignore that for the moment so the chord C major 7 can be both in the key of C major and in the key of G major and the way you determine which key it's actually in is by looking at the rest of the chord progression so if for example we have a chord progression that goes D Minor 7 to G7 to C major 7 that's quite obviously in the key of C major because we've got that natural F if on the other hand we had a chord progression that went D7 G major 7 C major 7 that chord progression is in the key of G major because we've got that F Shar so let's go back to the 251 in the key of C major 7 so D Minor 7 to G7 to C major 7 now if you were playing a pop song you would probably just use the c major scale to improvise over that entire chord progression but the thing that makes Jazz a bit more interesting and a bit more dare I say Jazzy is that you're allowed to play scales from a different key in in that chord progression even though the chord progression is in C major 7 so you could play something like [Music] this right so over the D minus 7 and the G7 I was just playing the straight C major scale then when I got to the C major 7 chord I started playing in the key of G [Music] major but in inserting that F and so even though the chord progression is in the key of C major if you take that C major 7 chord and look at it in isolation because it can be derived from both the c major scale and the G Major scale you're actually allowed to play a scale from the key of G major or the G Major scale over the top of that chord despite the fact that all the other chords point to the fact that that C major 7 is technically in the key of C major um but in jazz you don't have to necessarily stick to that it'll still sound good if you play G major over that one chord because that chord can be derived from G major and incidentally playing the G Major scale over C major 7 chord means you're technically playing the C lydian [Music] mode which again as a little aside um is the mode that was used a lot during the bbop era to avoid sort of the void notes but again that's sort of an aside now in the same way that you can play the G Major scale over the C major 7 chord because you can derive the chord from the key of G major um you can do the same thing with chords for example if we take that same chord progression the 251 in C major 7 ending that little chord progression on a C major 7 sounds a little bit boring instead you could end that chord progression with a C major 9 sharp 11 and this is quite a common ending tonic chord because it adds a bit more color and texture to the chord that you're to the chord progression to the chord you're playing instead of just playing a sounds a bit plain and boring you go and already you've got a little bit more harmonic Intrigue and something that's sort of sounds a little bit more out there and Jazzy and so as you can see the sharp 11 there is the fshp and the f is in the key of G so that chord is technically in the key of G major if you were to play a C uh major 11 chord in the key of C major you'd have the natural F the natural 11 but f is a a void note so you generally don't see that um because it sort of sounds unpleasant um you generally see it sharpened but because you're playing the F that means that chord is technically in the key of G major but you've inserted it as the tonic chord the final chord of a 251 progression in the key of C major so again you're playing in the key of C major but you've put in a chord from the key of G major now this example used two major scales but you can use scales and s derived from completely different or completely other types of scales like harmonic minor scales or whole tone scales or melodic minor scales which um melodic minor scales are used quite a lot in jazz and the modes of the melodic minor scale and so my next video will be all about the modes of the melodic minor scale CU they are quite important to know when you're sort of trying to play jazz and trying to listen to Jazz really but so if we look at that same example the the C major 7 chord the reason that works is because all the notes in the C major 7 chord are found both in the key of C major and in the key of G G major therefore that chord fits perfectly the root the third the fifth and the seventh can all be found in the c major scale and the G Major scale and then any sort of different notes up here are just sort of extensions or alterations that kind of make this chord sound nice and different and Jazzy and pleasant um but it doesn't really affect the quality of the chord because it's got the major 3D and the major 7th it will still remain a C major 7 chord even if you put in a sharp 11 but you don't necessarily need all of the notes in a chord to be in a scale in order for that scale to fit over this chord the most important notes in a chord are the third and the seventh that is the guide tones and that's because they establish the quality of the chord that is is it a major is it a minor or is it a dominant seven chord and to a lesser extent the root which establishes the tonality of the chord that is this is a C major 7 chord the fifth is not really important and doesn't really add anything to the harmony or to the chord so you can in effect get rid of it or modify it Without Really affecting the quality of the chord too much anyway so if the notes of a particular scale include the root the third and the seventh of a particular chord then you can use that scale over this particular chord so for example taking the C major 7 any scale that has the notes c e and B in the scale can be used over the top of a C major 7 chord and so this idea can be applied more widely um to scales and modes that you wouldn't typically find in sort of classical music like for example if if we take the chord C7 any scale that includes the C the E and the B flat can be used over the top of a C7 chord so for example the dominant bbop scale goes C D E F G A B flat B C now because that scale has the C the E and the B flat you can use it over a C7 chord even though it also has the B which is a major 7 that's kind of a passing note it's incidental it has these three notes therefore you can use it over this chord or take for example the whole tone scale if we play the whole tone scale from C we get c d e g flat A flat B [Music] flat now that scale has a a c an E and A B flat in it therefore you can use the whole tone scale over a dominant chord over the C7 in this case now some of you are probably thinking what about the blue scale over a dominant chord that has a minor third rather than major third and that's a really good point so the next thing I'm going to say is that notes can be emitted or inharmonic and enharmonic essentially means that one note has two names this can be either a D sharp or an E flat so a D sharp is enharmonically the same as an E flat so let's take that same C7 and let's play a C altered scale over the top now A C altered scale or an altered scale is the seventh mode of a melodic minor scale and like I said earlier I'll cover melodic minor modes in a different video but essentially a c altered scale would have the root then a flat two a flat 3 flat 4 flat 5 Flat 6 flat 7 and then the root again now if you were to just sort of look at that SC scale primer Facey it looks like it has a flat third and a flat 7eventh so you would assume um wrongly that it should be played over a C Minor 7 chord because it's got the flat 3 and the flat 7 however that flat three is actually enharmonically the same as a sharf 2 which is also a sharf n so the flat 3 is actually a sharp nine and the flat four is actually in harmonically the major third so we've got the root we've got effectively a flat nine sharp nine then the major third and we've got these notes then the minor the flat 7 and back again so this scale even though it has a flat third the flat third is technically a sharp nine or a sharp two and the flat four is actually the third so this scale can actually or should actually be should actually be played over a dominant chord and so now let's look at the C blue scale we've got the root the flat 3 4 Sharp 4 5 flat 7 root now obviously because it's got that flat third you can play the blue scale over a C Minor 7 chord and it sounds fine right because the C blue scale is also more or less the same as the C minor pentatonic so it makes sense that you can play it over a minor 7 chord but again if we think of that flat 3 as enharmonically the same as a sharp two or again as a sharp nine then suddenly we don't have a flat third anymore instead we have a sharp nine and incidentally the sharp nine is a really really bluy note um and Hendrick used it a lot and I think it's actually referred to as a Hendrix chord in sort of the Guitar World a dominant sharp n chord so then now if we play the blue scale we have the root the sharp 2 or the sharp n four sharp 4 five flat 7 so we've got that flat 7 and we don't have a major third at all and that's perfectly fine the fact that we're not playing it doesn't mean it doesn't sort of exist or it's not implied by the scale um we're just kind of skipping it or emitting [Music] it and that's why the blue scale fits over a dominant chord CU even though it doesn't have the major third it also doesn't have a minor third it technically has a sharp nine and so by now you would have hopefully understood that any scale that has a major 3D and a major 7th can be played over a major 7 chord any scale that has a minor 3r and a minor 7th in it can be played over the Minor 7 chord any scale that has a major 3 and a minor 7th can be played over a dominant chord and sort of extending that any scale that has a flat third a flat Fifth and a flat 7th can be played over a half diminished chord the flat fifth in this case being a bit more sort of important to the harmony of the chord because it's an altered fifth it's not just a perfect fifth like it is with all the other chords and so now if you have a look in the picture and picture here you'll see a list of scales that you can use over each chord type now this list isn't exhaustive there are far far more scales that you can use over particular chords and I'm not going to go through every single one of these in details here because I don't want to just State them um I want to show you how they're actually derived so that you understand where they came from and how to think about them and then you'll sort of be able to use them a bit more sort of knowingly knowledgeably um and hopefully a bit more sophisticatedly but essentially over a major 7 chord you can use the ionian mode the lydian mode or the lydian augmented mode which again is a mode of the melodic minor scale which I'll go over in my next video or the major bbop scale over a minor 7 chord you can use the aolan mode or the Dorian mode mod or the frian mode though frian mode is a bit iffy over half diminished cord you can use the loan mode or the half diminished mode over a dominant 7 you can use the mixian scale the lydian dominant mode the Mixel liian Flat 6 scale the altered scale the Dorian flat 2 scale the major pentatonic the blue scale or the minor pentatonic the fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale the fifth mode of the harmonic major scale the dominant bbop scale the dominant diminished scale or the whole tone scale but essentially as you can see as I've highlight highlighted in the picture and picture the reason you can use all of these scales is for the reason I stated earlier because all the scales that are listed there that fit over a dominant chord have a major third and a flat sth therefore the guide tones are there the important notes are there therefore that scale can quite easily fit over a dominant seven chord now you can go back and rewatch this video and pause it and write down all the scales if you like um and sort of try practicing with them and see how they sound um but over the next few videos I'm going to go over many of the scales listed in the picture and pictures that we just up here um because essentially they're not just random notes that people have plopped together that you can just sort of happen to sound good over um diminished chord or whatever the scales listed are derived from existing scales so so things like the melodic minor or the harmonic minor or the harmonic major or the bbop scales um and they all have sort of an underlying Theory or an underlying idea and I think it's better to understand for example what an altered scale is and where it count and where it came from and what is derived from rather than just memorizing the notes in the altered scale and using it without really understanding what you're actually playing or why it fits or how it fits over the top of everything and so I suppose in conclusion I hope you see now that even though a particular chord progression may be in a certain key you can still play scales and chords from a different key over that same chord progression and have it sound good using different scales over a given chord produces a different sound and what sounds good or bad to you is really subjective different Jazz musicians prefer different sounds and therefore play different scales and there's no real correct scale to play play over any particular chord in jazz for example some jazz musicians play the locker in mode over a half-diminished chord While others play the half diminished mode over a half diminished chord and neither the scale is more correct or more right they both work perfectly fine over a half diminish cord because of the rules and ideas I explained earlier in this video and they're really just different options that you can use to create a different sound cool so I hope that all made sense um again feel free to leave any questions or comments and thanks for watching see you guys

Channel: Walk That Bass

Views: 86,565

Keywords: Jazz Piano Tutorial, Jazz Scales, Jazz Theory, Jazz Chords, Using different Scales over Chords, Jazz Improvisation, How to Improvise, What Scales to use over Chords

Id: 7NW8XB0_FyE

Length: 19min 43sec (1183 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 30 2016