The Improviser's Guide to Melodic Embellishment - Vol. 1 - Triads & Seventh Chords

Melodic embellishment is the use of tones outside of a chord to decorate and ornament chord tones. It is an essential and perhaps the most important component of improvised jazz melody. In their improvised solos, improvisers interpret chord progressions by playing notes that suggest, move around, point toward, highlight, or resolve to the notes of each chord. The tones that are used to embellish a chord, often referred to as non-chord tones, are generally more dissonant and less stable in relation to the chord tones being ornamented. The principle of tension and resolution, accordingly, is almost always involved. These studies are an attempt to acquaint the improviser with this principle and its application through the embellishment of a number of chords, scales, and chord progressions that regularly appear in jazz. The melodic embellishment of triads (major, minor, augmented, and diminished), seventh chords (major-seventh, dominant-seventh, minor-seventh, half-diminished, and diminished seventh chords), scales (major, melodic minor, whole-tone, diminished, and chromatic), and chord progressions (circle of fifths and II-V-I) are all explored. (175 pages)