The Jazz Gym by Todd Johnson

The Jazz Gym by Todd Johnson: Part 1 of the Improvisers Workout Program | Melodic Reps

By Todd Johnson

Meet Todd Johnson – Hi Friends, my name is Todd Johnson and I’m excited to have this opportunity to work with you all here at Bass Musician Magazine. I’m a bass player and instructor from Los Angeles. I’ve been blessed to have worked with some of the worlds finest musicians like Mike Stern, Dave Weckl, Poncho Sanchez, Mundell Lowe and Frank Gambale in addition to being a member of the Ron Eschete trio since 1991. As an instructor, I’ve been on staff at B.I.T. (1991 – 1999) and Cal Arts (1997 – 2003) in addition to performing at clinics and festivals throughout the country. I’m currently adjunct faculty at The Master’s College in Newhall, CA. It’s been my experience that the greatest bass players all have certain skills in common. They are, in no particular order; technique, reading, bass line creation, theory and improvisation. A working knowledge of these skills is a must if you want play with the big boys. The first of these skills we’ll focus on in this column will be improvising.

As an educator, the best way for me to teach you about improvisation is through jazz. Please don’t let the “j” word scare you. My goal is not necessarily to turn you into jazz musicians. I would encourage you all to give this a shot regardless of your musical background. Jazz is just the gym we’re going to work out in. Fair enough? Once you learn to play jazz then everything else will be a lot easier. It’s like having plenty of money in the bank. You’ll never regret having a little extra currency in your harmony account. A good friend of mine refers to this as musical headroom. So, welcome to The Jazz Gym. Here’s some simple common sense solutions to get you started improvising. Your first assignment is to download the song we’re going to learn. Download the MP3 below, Autumn Leaves from the Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley cd Somethin’ Else and give it a serious listen. This version is a classic and it’s played at a learnable tempo. Too many people try to learn how to play jazz from a book with their eyes without ever really listening to it. You wouldn’t try to learn to speak Japanese out of a book, would you? Of course you wouldn’t. You’d use the book, but you’d also hang out with Japanese speaking people, watch Japanese TV and basically immerse yourself in the language. Learning to improvise requires the same thing. You have to listen to what you’re tying to learn. Now, click below for a quick preview of my Autumn Leaves video. It might give you some ideas for later on. Your

second

assignment

is

to

learn

the

melody

to

Autumn

Leaves. Learn it by ear or from a chart, but learn it. The easiest way to sound melodic is to learn melodies. It seems obvious, but as bass players we don’t do it. We spend most of our time practicing scales, arpeggios and bass

lines. The reason most bass solos sound like a doubled up bass line up an octave is because that’s what we practice! Play the melody straight, without embellishments. Be sure to listen for the holes. Basically, holes are where the rests are. Pay close attention to what you hear in those holes. This will come in handy for our next assignment. Practice playing the melody along with Miles. This may sound extreme, but try playing the melody 100 times. Remember this is a language, so if you have to stop and think about it too much you won’t be an effective communicator. This stuff needs to be internalized. The only way to achieve this is through repetition. Your third assignment is to practice playing the melody with embellishments. I want you to start dressing up the melody. Start filling in those holes we listened for in our second assignment. Play something simple and build from there. Make sure that if you hear an idea and miss it, that you go back and figure it out. Practice it a few times, then go back and play it in context several times. Repetition is critical. Improvising is often referred to as playing the melodies you hear in your head. By going back and figuring them out, you’ll strengthen and develop your ability to transcribe yourself. I realize this seems obvious, but if you don’t practice playing what you hear then you’ll never get good at it. Don’t make the mistake of just learning a scale and thinking you’ll be able to solo. It doesn’t work like that. Scales are great, but they’re just an alphabet. An alphabet doesn’t say anything by itself. You can’t just learn the alphabet and think well now I’m going to learn a new language. We use combinations of letters to form words and then sentences. Melodies are the words and sentences that scales form.

FIGURE 1 shows you the chord progression and chord structures to the first 8 bars of Autumn Leaves. Here are some chord structure formula reminders; All minor-seventh chords are (1 mi3 P5 mi7), all dominant-seventh chords are (1 ma3 P5 mi7), all major-seventh chords are (1 ma3 P5 ma7) and all minorseven-flat 5 chords are (1 mi3 dim5 mi7). I’ve provided some of the possible fingerings. These will work fine, but I would encourage you to explore other possibilities as well. FIGURE 2 shows you the scales that fit the chords for our progression. Except for the D and G Spanish-dominant scales, everything is a mode of the Bb major scale. So download and listen to Autumn Leaves, learn the melody, then practice embellishing and filling in the holes around the melody. Study and memorize figures one and two and next month I’ll show you how to add this information to our melodic workout.

Part 2 of the Improvisers Workout Program | Chord Tone and Scale Reps

By Todd Johnson

In our last training session (click here to view Part 1) we downloaded and listened to Autumn Leaves, learned the melody, then practiced embellishing and filling in the holes around the melody while using our ears to guide us. In this session we’re going engage our brain a bit and add scales and chord tones to our workout. This is an ideal opportunity to apply what you’ve learned in the Theory Dominatrix column. Realize that learning to improvise is essentially learning a language. Chord tones and scales are the vowels and consonants that make up our musical alphabet. We combine vowels and consonants to form words. We then combine various words to form sentences – melodies are the words and sentences formed by chord tones and scales. But before we can speak, we must first learn our alphabet. FIGURE 1 shows you the chord progression and chord structures to the first 8 bars of Autumn Leaves. Here are some chord structure formula reminders; All minor-seventh chords are built (1 b3 5 b7), all dominant-seventh chords are (1 3 5 b7), all major-seventh chords are (1 3 5 7) and all minor-seven-flat 5 chords are (1 b3 b5 b7). I’ve provided some of the possible fingerings. These will work fine for now, but I would encourage you to explore other possibilities as well. Your first assignment is to memorize these chord tones as notes and numbers. By that I mean, you need to know Cmin7 as “C is the 1 (or root), Eb is the b3 (or minor third), G is the 5 (or perfect fifth), Bb is the b7 (or minor seventh)”, plus you need to know the fingerings that match the notes. This information has to be internalized, so if you need to sing ’em and say ’em or make flash cards, then do it.

FIGURE 2 shows you the scales that match up with the chords for our progression. Except for the D and G Spanish-dominant scales, everything is a mode of the Bb major scale. Understanding this greatly simplifies our learning process. C Dorian is just a Bb major scale from C to C. F Mixolydian is just a Bb major scale from F to F. Once we’ve learned the Bb major scale then we’re _ of the way home. Now we only have the D and G Spanish Dominant scales (1 b2 3 4 5 b6 b7 8) to learn and we’re in good shape. Your next assignment is to memorize the scales that fit our chords. Just like our first assignment, I want you to memorize these scales as letters and as numbers. I realize this seems like a lot of memorization, but it will be extremely useful with all of our future assignments. The ideal way to practice these assignments is with a backing track. I’m providing a simple backing track you can practice with along with a demonstration

of

exactly

what

I

want

you

to

do,

so

go

to www.youtube.com/user/toddjohnsonmusic and get to work. In the next issue we’ll take a look at how to start turning our alphabet into some simple words and phrases. Have fun and play slow!

Part 3 of the Improvisers Workout Program | Talking and Listening

By Todd Johnson

In our last training session (click here to view Part 2) we played, memorized and internalized the eight scales and arpeggios that apply to our “Autumn Leaves” workout progression. We learned that these scales and arpeggios are the vowels and consonants that make up our melodic alphabet. Now that we have a grasp of our musical alphabet, it’s time for us to begin forming some simple melodic words. Remember that learning to improvise is like learning to speak a new language. You wouldn’t start off trying to recite Shakespeare would you? Of course not, you’d start with some simple words like hello, goodbye, yes, no, please and thank you. So with this in mind, let’s get started. In Figure 1 your assignment is to play the third of every chord as a half note in the upper register of the bass. Reading the example is great, but the goal is to be able to look at a chord symbol and know what the third (the fifth or the seventh) is and be able to play it. I don’t know about you, but looking at a Cmi7 chord and playing anything other than a C on the downbeat was incredibly difficult for me to learn. As bass players we’re taught from day one to always play the root of the chord on the downbeat. This is essential; maybe even sacred musical training for playing the bass, but it doesn’t lend itself to good melodic playing. So if

looking at looking at Cmi7 and playing an Eb is difficult for you, then welcome to the club! In Figure 2 your assignment is to play the 5th of every chord. In Figure 3 your assignment is to play the 7th of every chord. Once you get these notes under your hands, I want you to pay attention to what we’re not playing. Notice that I have you playing a simple half note. This means that there should be silence on beats 3 and 4. I want you to pay special attention to what you hear on beats 3 and 4 because later on we’re going to start filling in the blanks and playing what we hear on those beats. This is part of learning to play what you hear. You have to learn to listen to what you’re hearing in these holes and spaces. Then and only then can you can go about finding it. After all, you can’t talk and listen at the same time. This process will strengthen the signal from your ears to your hands and eventually allow you to play what you hear. So, go to www.youtube.com/user/toddjohnsonmusic and check out the Jazz Gym play alongs. First, play, memorize and internalize the exercises in Figures 1, 2 and 3. Then, be sure to leave some space and pay special attention to what you’re hearing in the holes on beats 3 and 4. Do this and you’ll be well on your way to adding some new words to your musical vocabulary. See you in the next issue. Have fun and play slow.

Part 4 of the Improvisers Workout Program | Short Sentences

By Todd Johnson

Welcome back to the Jazz Gym. In our last workout (click here to view Part 3) we learned how to play the third, fifth or seventh of every chord from our “Autumn Leaves” workout progression and in the process learned a few basic, melodic words. We also practiced listening to what we hear in the holes and spaces on beats three and four, basically learning to listen to what we

just

played

and

formulating

a

response.

Since

improvising

is

conversational in nature we want to become both good speakers and good listeners. This month were going to graduate from simple words to short sentences by adding some scale sequences to our repertoire. In Figure 1 your assignment is to play the 1 2 3 2 1 of each scale in the upper register of the bass. Here’s where the memorizing and internalizing of all those scales starts to pay off. I’ve provided fingerings, but feel free to use

your own. Just like in our previous workouts, reading the examples is great, but the goal is to internalize this stuff to the point where you don’t have to think about it. Be sure to continue to pay attention and actively listen to what you hear in the holes and spaces. In Figure 2 your assignment is to play the 3 4 5 4 3 of every scale. In Figure 3 your assignment is to play the 5 6 7 6 5 of every scale. Notice that each of these scale sequences is just two chord tones with a scale tone in between. Take a look at the tablature and you’ll notice that all the examples are within a five fret range, so the fingerings are easy. If you take a deeper look, you’ll notice that the first bar of Figure 1 (C D Eb D C) is the 1 2 3 2 1 of Cmi7, but it’s also the 5 6 7 6 5 of F7 and the 3 4 5 4 3 of Ami7b5. Take another look and you’ll also notice that the 1 2 3 2 1 of Bbma7 (Bb C D C Bb) is also the 5 6 7 6 5 of Ebma7 and the 3 4 5 4 3 of Gmi7. Dig a little deeper and you’ll discover that several of these sequences have multiple functions. Now isn’t this convenient? Not only is this material effective, but it’s also versatile. Your first extra credit assignment is to figure out how many of these melodic sequences have more than one function, get them under your hands and internalize them. Hey, what would happen if you played these examples in reverse order (3 2 1 2 3, 5 4 3 4 5 or 7 6 5 6 7) or started them on beat two instead of beat one? Consider this your second extra credit assignment. So, your first priority is to play, memorize and internalize Figures 1, 2 and 3. Next, figure out which ones have multiple melodic functions and get them under your hands. Then when you’re comfortable with that try playing them in reverse order. Once you can do this then try playing these figures starting

on beat 2. This ought to give you plenty to do between now and our next workout, so get to work!

To see me demonstrate and develop these

assignments, go to www.youtube.com/user/toddjohnsonmusic and check out the Jazz Gym Melodic Scale Sequences video. While you’re there, be sure to practice with the Jazz Gym Play Along. Have fun and play slow.

The Jazz Gym: Part 5 of the Improvisers Workout Program | Major II-V-I Vocabulary

By Todd Johnson

Welcome back to the Jazz Gym. In out last workout we learned some simple scale sequences over our Autumn Leaves progression in the upper register of the bass. If you finished your extra credit assignments, then you know that these melodic sequences have more than one function and sound great forwards and backwards. This month we’re going to expand our soloing concepts further and develop some major II-V-I vocabulary. This will give us some solid melodic ideas we can insert into any song that has a major II-V-I in it. When properly applied, this kind of melodic vocabulary can really make our soloing sound mature, edited and confident.

We’re going to use the major II-V-I from the first four bars of our Autumn Leaves practice progression for all of our examples. The good news is every one of these examples can be played in one hand position. Put your middle finger on a Bb on the 13th fret of the A string. Now play up and down a Bb major scale a few times and you’re good to go.

Figure 1 starts on the 3rd of the Cm7 chord, then goes down the scale and connects to the 3rd of the F7 chord. It then goes up the 3 5 7 9 of the F7 arpeggio and resolves to the 5th of the Bbmaj7 chord, then back down the scale resolving to the 3rd. Those thirds sound good, don’t they?

Figure 2 starts on the 7th of the Cm7 chord. It then goes down the 7 5 3 1 of the arpeggio and back up, resolving to the 3rd of the F7 chord. Then it goes back down the 9 7 5 and up the 7 9 3 of the F7 chord and resolves to the 5th of the Bbmaj7 chord. It’s easier than it sounds. Look closer and you’ll notice that there’s only one note difference between the first two bars and that’s the A and the Bb. Play it a few times and you’ll see what I mean.

Figure 3 starts with the 1 2 3 4 5 3 2 1 of Cm7. Next is a simple chromatic line that eventually resolves to the 5th of the Bbmaj7 chord. My former B.I.T. students will recognize this one. Figure 4 is a good example of sequencing an idea over several chords. I think you’ll like this one. It’s simple and it sounds great. In Figure 5 we start on beat 2, surround the F by a half step and end up on the 7th of the Cm7 chord. Over F7, we surround the Eb by a half step, resolve to the 3rd then use a scale tone to resolve to the 5th of the Bbmaj7 chord. Next, we play the 5 6 5 4 3 6 5 of the Bbmaj7 chord, then leave at little space and we’re in business.

In Figure 6 we start on the 3rd of the Cm7 chord then work our way up to the third of the F7 chord using a G# to make everything come out on the right beats. Then it’s back down the scale to the 3rd of the Bbmaj7 chord where we finish with a bluesy sounding C# to D that’s resolves nicely to the root. Your assignment is to play, memorize and internalize Figures 1 through 6. Once

you

get

these

under

your

hands,

be

sure

to

go

to www.youtube.com/user/toddjohnsonmusic and practice with the Jazz Gym Play Along. Try playing these figures over the first four bars of our play along, then make up your own or play one of our earlier assignments over the last four bars. For an extra credit assignment, try learning Figures 1 through 6 in all 12 keys. This will definitely keep you busy and out of trouble, so have fun and play slow. We’ll see you next time.