THE INFINITE GUITAR - The success of the chrisjuergensen.com site led me by popular demand to publish the lessons from the site as a book called "The Infinite Guitar." This blog is dedicated to answering your questions about the book, music or the guitar in general. Got a question? E-mail it to me, you never know: juergensenguitar@gmail.com
Showing posts with label tritone sub. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tritone sub. Show all posts
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Playing Over Dominant Chords
Q: Like your style. I need some review of scales to play with regards to how the Dominant Seventh Chord is resolving...functioning as a V chord or just a secondary Dominant (which I would play Mixo or Lydian b7). If it is resolving to minor I'd play harmonic minor of the letter name of the chord it's going too.
A: here is the basic overview of the dominant scales. Let's take it by how the dominant chord is functioning. When I say functioning, I mean resolving to a I or i chord as in V-I or V-i or G7 - C or G7 - C-7. Non-Functioning means resolving somewhere else or possibly not resolving, as in G7 - F#maj7 or just a static G7 jam. Keep in mind, secondary dominants are for the most part functioning.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
The Lydian Dominant Mode and b5 Subs
Q: I played through this progression today:
Dmin7-Amin7-G7-Cmaj7
I tried using lydian dominant over the G7 chord and it sounded ok, but not that great. I know its meant to be used over a non-resolving dominant but why??
A: Although I suppose you could use the lydian dominant scale over the V chord, it may not be your best choice. If the V chord in your progression is not altered in any way, it may just be best to stick with the major scale throughout the whole thing (C major for your example progression). The lydian dominant mode of the melodic minor scale is best used over the b5 sub (or tritone substitution if you prefer). Using your original progression as our model, try a Dmin7-Amin7-Db7-Cmaj7 progression using a C major scale over the first two chords and a Db lydian dominant scale (Ab melodic minor) over the Db7. The Db7 chord is the b5 sub, it is a dominant chord placed a tritone away from the V chord.
To give you a simple explanation of why you would want to do this in the first place, substitute another unaltered dominant chord a tritone (b5th) above your V chord: it is to simply create an altered tonality. A Db7 chord placed above a G bass note looks suspiciously like a G altered chord. Look for yourself: Db7/G = G-Db-F-Ab-Cb. Analyze the intervals: G is the root, Db is the b5th, F is the b7th, Ab is the b9th and Cb (B) is the 3rd. You see, the Db7/G chord is really a G7(b5,b9) chord.
Now for a magic trick... What would you play over a G7(b5,b9) chord? That's right, a G altered scale. What melodic minor scale is a G altered mode? It is a Ab melodic minor scale. Remember our b5 sub, a Db7 chord? I told you you would want to play a Db lydian dominant mode over it. What melodic minor scale is the same as a Db lydian dominant mode? Hmm... an Ab melodic minor scale. Do you see the whole picture here? Both the altered V chord and the b5 sub chord are really the same things.
The lydian dominant scale is also commonly used over vamps as well. If you want to learn more about the lydian dominant mode go to these links:
Dmin7-Amin7-G7-Cmaj7
I tried using lydian dominant over the G7 chord and it sounded ok, but not that great. I know its meant to be used over a non-resolving dominant but why??
A: Although I suppose you could use the lydian dominant scale over the V chord, it may not be your best choice. If the V chord in your progression is not altered in any way, it may just be best to stick with the major scale throughout the whole thing (C major for your example progression). The lydian dominant mode of the melodic minor scale is best used over the b5 sub (or tritone substitution if you prefer). Using your original progression as our model, try a Dmin7-Amin7-Db7-Cmaj7 progression using a C major scale over the first two chords and a Db lydian dominant scale (Ab melodic minor) over the Db7. The Db7 chord is the b5 sub, it is a dominant chord placed a tritone away from the V chord.
To give you a simple explanation of why you would want to do this in the first place, substitute another unaltered dominant chord a tritone (b5th) above your V chord: it is to simply create an altered tonality. A Db7 chord placed above a G bass note looks suspiciously like a G altered chord. Look for yourself: Db7/G = G-Db-F-Ab-Cb. Analyze the intervals: G is the root, Db is the b5th, F is the b7th, Ab is the b9th and Cb (B) is the 3rd. You see, the Db7/G chord is really a G7(b5,b9) chord.
Now for a magic trick... What would you play over a G7(b5,b9) chord? That's right, a G altered scale. What melodic minor scale is a G altered mode? It is a Ab melodic minor scale. Remember our b5 sub, a Db7 chord? I told you you would want to play a Db lydian dominant mode over it. What melodic minor scale is the same as a Db lydian dominant mode? Hmm... an Ab melodic minor scale. Do you see the whole picture here? Both the altered V chord and the b5 sub chord are really the same things.
The lydian dominant scale is also commonly used over vamps as well. If you want to learn more about the lydian dominant mode go to these links:
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