Guitar Interactive Issue 43 Pro Concepts

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Tom Quayle

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Guitar Interactive Magazine Issue 43

Coltrane Changes ‘H

ey guys and welcome back to my column for this issue. We’re going to be changing tack a little bit for this lesson, looking at something new, in the form of a set of chord changes that re-defined what was possible in the context of Jazz improvisation and composition. John Coltrane was a revolutionary sax player whose album, Giant Steps, gave us a brand new chord sequence that has become so much a part of the Jazz canon that they have been named after the great man himself - Coltrane Changes. This particular set of chord changes was famed at the time as being incredibly tricky to play over due, in part, to its inherent complexity and the insane speed at which Giant Steps was recorded. Coltrane was said to have practised obsessively to develop his vocabulary over these chords and they have become a standard badge of honour for Jazz musicians who can successfully tackle them. Coltrane developed the Giant Steps changes by using something known as a three tonic system. Normally within most popular music, including Jazz, there is a home key with a tonic chord that the tune will resolve to, usually beginning and ending on this chord. This single tonic forms the basis of most of the music we listen to. Coltrane developed a system whereby three tonics or keys were used forming a tri, or three-tonic system. In order to find the three tonics/keys in question he divided the octave in three equal parts. If we take a starting note, such as G for example, and move up a major third, we get the note B. Moving up another major third gives us the note Eb, whilst moving up a final major third takes us back to G again up an octave. By dividing the octave into these major third intervals, we derive three notes, dividing the octave into three equal parts and giving us our three tonics or keys - in this case G major, B major and Eb major. In order to create a chord sequence based around each of these keys or tonics, Coltrane preceded each of them with their own V chord, giving us the following V-I relationships: D7 – Gmaj7 F#7 – Bmaj7 Bb7 – Ebmaj7 Coltrane arranged these V-I progressions in the following way to create his famous chord progression.

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COLUMNS_TOM QUAYLE

Coltrane Changes

Gmaj7 – Bb7 – Ebmaj7 – F#7 – Bmaj7 – D7 – Gmaj7 The genius behind his approach is that he has started and finished on Gmaj7, making this the overall ‘home’ tonic, whilst still utilising the three tonic system. Coltrane did this by starting on the first tonic chord – Gmaj7 – and then moving up a minor third

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to the V chord of the Ebmaj7, in this case Bb7. He then resolved this to Ebmaj7 and then moved up another minor third to the V chord of the Bmaj7 – in this case F#7. From here, he resolved to Bmaj7 and then moves up another minor third to the V chord or Gmaj7 – in this case D7. This clever arrangement gives a chord progression that can begin and end on the first tonic chord.

Guitar Interactive Magazine Issue 43

Let’s do this in another key to really make it comfortable. We’ll take the key of F major next. If we start on F and go up a major third we get A, move up another major third we get C#, before moving up another major third back to F again. This gives us the three tonics – F major, A major and C# major. Finding the V chord or each, we get the following V-I relationships: C7 – Fmaj7 E7 – Amaj7 G#7 – C#maj7 If we now take Coltrane’s approach to arranging these chords into a sequence, we get the following: Fmaj7 – G#7 – C#maj7 – E7 – Amaj7 – C7 – Fmaj7 This chord progression can actually be used in place of a regular II-V-I sequence in order to create more movement within the chord progression and more harmonic complexity. You must be very careful to make sure that doing this doesn’t affect the soloist or the melody of the tune you are playing, so an element of forward planning and etiquette are involved. As an example of this, we could change a II-V-I in F major:

Gm7 / / / | C7 / / / | Fmaj7 / / / | / / / / To the following: Gm7 – G#7 – C#maj7 – E7 – Amaj7 – C7 – Fmaj7 Notice that we have swapped out the Fmaj7 from the beginning of our Coltrane progression for the II chord of the key. Nothing else has changed, giving us an extended II-V-I progression with far more harmonic movement and complexity. I recommend that you try creating Coltrane Changes progressions in lots of different keys in order that you get used to both the sound it creates and its layout on the fretboard. Once you’ve done a few you will be able to find them from any given starting point very quickly indeed. In the next issue we’ll be looking at how Coltrane extended this basic progression for his tune Giant Steps and beginning our journey in developing some vocabulary over this complex harmonic chord sequence whilst soloing. As usual you will find all of these progressions tabbed out in standard tuning in the magazine. Enjoy, good luck and I’ll see you all next time. END >

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MICHAEL CASSWELL

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©All imagery Louise Ince

Guitar Interactive Magazine Issue 43

PRO CONCEPTS 42 Popping Lines

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his Pro Concepts I’m going to be talking about approaching and playing a ‘Popping Line’. We have touched on this before and it really is a facet of contemporary guitar playing that very few can get right. It usually gets ignored by you guys and considered easy, right up to the point when you are sitting in an expensive studio, being paid to play for a big name artist, faced with a name producer who actually knows what he is doing and who turns and faces you and says “OK, we need some of that single line popping funk stuff on here, y’know, like on Off the Wall by Michael Jackson”. That’s the point you suddenly realise there is a huge hole in your playing and you’ve probably spent a little too much time playing drop tuned Metal, and not enough time working on your funk chops! Most players get found out pretty quickly when dealing with this topic, and here’s why. Firstly, construction and composition of a good popping line is not easy. It has to have a musicality within the part which compliments the overall sound of the music. It has to be slightly catchy and infectious without being irritating. It mustn’t get in the way of the vocal or clash rhythmically with anything. It has to be executed perfectly (although Logic and Pro Tools can save your arse with some basic editing). It has to be the right sound and tone. And most importantly it has to have the feel and groove that makes it sit

beautifully timing wise, which means you need an excellent understanding and feel of the sub divisions that you can use in the song time signature. This means you have to know where an up stroke should be as you strike the string, and obviously the downstroke. So when you think about a good popping line like this, there is a lot to the subject and a lot to get right, which is why so many players are simply average at it, or worse, nowhere on it. There is simply no easy way to teach this style, and I have tried to skim through four examples with a loop pedal and no drummer, so you can at least see the approach, not just with the lines, but also the chordal grooves behind them. Chord ideas and grooves are another huge subject and if you look hard enough in previous Pro Concepts, you will find me covering various rhythm approaches and hear me continually say how crucial rhythm playing is if you really do want a career as a player in the industry. Even the pick you use and how you hold it can affect the end results. For a fatter warmer tone I expose less of the pick so the strings get hit with some flesh at the same time. For a more percussive popping sound then obviously a little more of the pick can be used. Everything comes from the wrist and not a stiff forearm and playing things at half speed first can help you get the feel for the part. You are dealing down and up strokes,

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COLUMNS_MICHAEL CASSWELL

Popping Lines

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Guitar Interactive Magazine Issue 43

where they sit in the 16th note subdivision, plus string muting, plus dynamics. It’s the details that really make the difference. These sort of guitar parts can crop up in many styles and genres. R&B, Rock, Funk, Blues, so it’s worth getting a feel for it. You might want to Google Paul Jackson Junior as a starting point and maybe check out his playing and session credits. It’s also worth me saying that it’s much easier to copy an already established line than it is coming up with your own cool parts. A good easy starter to try to copy and play is the iconic popping line played on the Bee Gees Staying Alive hit, which is a great example of the guitar line almost being the hook to the song. Also give Michael Jackson’s Human Nature another listen with fresh ears, as a young Steve Lukather pops and weaves throughout the song with huge feel and groove.

I can’t tell you how many times I have had to step up and compose or lay down a serious popping line to earn my money. Sometimes not just one line, but two or three that work together at the same time. The chances are, you may be in that situation at some point, so maybe you could try to replicate the ideas I demo in the tutorial to see if you find it tricky or not. Obviously try to come up some of your own ideas, record them and be truthful to yourself when you listen back. Does your playing tick all the popping line boxes? It’s a hard topic to get right and many simply don’t. But it’s a rewarding style to play when you do nail it. I really enjoy a groove within music, so I do try to get it happening if the situation allows. But it is usually with a good bass player and drummer rather than just a loop pedal! END >

Michael Casswell has a new video – Friends For Life, from his latest album Complaints About The noise. Be sure to check it out!

“Friends for Life” by Michael Casswell (Official 4K music video)

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