One of the toughest things to do in jazz is incorporate chromaticism. It’s so easy to just stay inside of the diatonic scale, after all we have been working on scales since we first picked up our instruments, right? Starting to incorporate chromaticism sometimes feels like jumping off a cliff with no safety rope. It sounds and feels foreign to us.
In this episode I give you some exercises that utilize chromatic approaches in relation to diatonic triads. Diatonic triads are built off of each step of the major scale and adding an approach tone to these can turn our vanilla lines and arpeggios into something special. When starting this process you will notice that there are many non-harmonic tones involved in these exercises. As long as these notes resolve to a diatonic note, they will sound great! The key, however, is learning to use them properly and this episode is all about the exercises that will start to get this into your playing.
In Part 2, we’ll take this concept one step further by using diatonic 7th chords instead of just the triads. Until then, get this material under your belt and you’ll be in good shape for the next one. Have fun and go slow!
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