Author: Jan

Je suis cool.

Piano day (2h)

  • Jazz voicings
    • Recap major 7th, minor 7th and dominant chords voice leading around the cycle (no pauses, at 86bpm)
    • Minor to dominant and back around the cycle
    • Same with dominant to major
    • II — V — I — IV in major & parallel minor
  • Harmonic minor
    • All scales with both hands
  • Improvisation + blues
    • 12-bar major blues in C & F
    • Minor blues scales separately: C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db
    • Transitions
      • Dominant 7ths: 3-7-9 — 7-3-6 in LH, matching minor blues scale in RH (I know, but it sounds awesome!)
      • Minor 7ths: 3-5-7-9 — 7-9-3-5 in LH, matching minor blues scale in RH

Piano day (1h 40m)

  • Jazz voicings
    • Recap major 7th, minor 7th and dominant chords voice leading around the cycle (no pauses, at 86bpm)
    • Recap major to dominant and back around the cycle
  • Improvisation
    • 12-bar major blues in C & F (switching keys without pauses)
      • Shell voicings in LH, Mixo + Hm scales in RH
      • Blues scale in RH
    • Blues scales separately: C, F, Bb, Eb + trying out different fingerings

Bass day (1h)

  • Chords
    • Recap all 7th chords shapes in open & closed voicings (harmonising C, G & D scales)
    • Cycle of 4ths transitions: minor to dominant, major to dominant
    • Playing along to Autumn Leaves
    • Triads

Observations

It’s really cool that I came to the chords course already being (semi-) familiar with mixed / shell voicings that I’ve been practicing on piano! So, for example, when Scott says, it’s a 3-octave-below-1-7 or a 7-3-5, I’m not confused at all, because I already got them under my fingers on keyboard! Also, I found it really helpful to practice transitions between different types of chords on bass in 4ths — just like I do on piano — e. g. Cmaj7 to F7 to Bbmaj7 to Eb7 to Abmaj7, etc. Then minor to dominant, then minor to major, and so on. Cycle of fourths rocks! (Or shall I say JAZZ?)