Jazz Improv Explained (Ridiculously Simple)

[00:00] If you've ever felt overwhelmed by Jazz 

[00:03] started today I'm going to show you exactly how 

[00:08] the right direction coming up okay so if you're 

[00:14] sidelines on getting into jazz it can seem 

[00:18] complicated so what I want to do for you today is 

[00:24] essential building blocks that will help you start 

[00:29] look at this chord progression which is D Minor 7 

[00:48] in the key of C major okay a two five one 

[00:57] entirely understand what that means right 

[01:02] is the most common chord progression that will 

[01:07] the vehicles in which Jazz musicians use to 

[01:14] progression you need to master so we're going to 

[01:20] two five one because this is going to get you 

[01:26] general so the natural first question is what 

[01:35] to make things really simple what you do need 

[01:43] the same notes that are within C Major seven so C 

[01:50] and the parent key Center has a scale and in this 

[01:59] and a lot of us know our major scales pretty 

[02:08] very simple way for you to understand just 

[02:13] of what notes we can choose over this chord 

[02:18] ng7 all share notes within the c major scale 

[02:25] play the c major scale over top of the 251 chord 

[02:37] okay now listening to that obviously 

[02:44] right the G7

[02:51] and then of course the C Major seven those are 

[02:58] nothing that's actually wrong however listening to 

[03:05] changes come out and something that you understand 

[03:09] jazz musicians sound so great is they're able to 

[03:17] differentiate a little bit let's go on to the next 

[03:23] call the modes of the major scale and in this 

[03:30] G7 is mixolydian and then for C Major seven is 

[03:37] don't worry about that because it's very simple 

[03:45] notes as the c major scale so all we're going 

[03:51] C major scale but starting on the D note over top 

[03:59] okay so it's the c major scale starting and 

[04:09] it's just a fancy name for the second mode of the 

[04:16] major scale on the second tone all right and then 

[04:21] going to start and end on the fifth tone of the 

[04:30] okay and then ionian is really just a 

[04:38] major scale so the c major scale 

[04:47] their perspective root of each chord 

[04:58] so already immediately we have 

[05:02] can actually hear the chords a little bit better

[05:05] coming out and differentiating each other 

[05:15] c major scale and another thing to notice is 

[05:21] and that's because eighth notes is a really 

[05:26] so we want to get really good at playing swung 

[05:31] course because that is very common for us to see 

[05:37] is that this still isn't the best solution for 

[05:44] seven the G7 and the C Major seven it's still 

[05:52] so what we have to start doing when we're given 

[05:57] start breaking it down a little bit for further 

[06:02] important notes and the most important notes are 

[06:09] so in our case D minor seven and then g seven 

[06:18] that's a Major Seventh right and the formula 

[06:25] flat three five flat seven and for the 

[06:34] flat seven and for the major seven it's root third 

[06:43] doing to get these chord tones is simply looking 

[06:51] is every other note in this scale and that is 

[07:00] other note in the scale is the chord tones the 

[07:05] when we're playing just the chord tones over top 

[07:10] so I want to emphasize one more time chord tones 

[07:23] tones first before I talk about scales in general 

[07:30] it's not that we don't want to know what the 

[07:34] us get the chord tones and also it does give us 

[07:38] like what other notes can we play outside of the 

[07:43] important to the chord so we want to really 

[07:48] in the case of this two five one now here's the 

[07:53] far that this doesn't really sound sound like 

[07:59] couple of Secrets and the first secret is that 

[08:06] not even close in fact the scale that they're 

[08:13] might sound controversial at first especially if 

[08:19] with me really quick essentially a chromatic 

[08:25] in western music that you can play in this case 

[08:30] sharp D D sharp E F F sharp G G sharp a a sharp 

[08:43] we're gonna play the chromatic scale over top 

[08:52] so if you're really paying attention here 

[08:57] said you can play any note that you want over top 

[09:05] and it really can be in fact this is what kind 

[09:11] to Jazz sometimes they think that it's just random 

[09:17] like we just played here however like I said 

[09:23] second secret is they do not play the chromatic 

[09:29] major scale like a scale instead we go back to 

[09:36] third and the seventh of each chord and instead 

[09:44] and that question is how can I use notes that 

[09:52] how do I find the right notes that can resolve 

[09:57] the chord tones are structural they'll make the 

[10:03] scale and every single note in between and the 

[10:10] actually have however when we stop thinking about 

[10:16] think of what notes can we use to resolve to chord 

[10:21] better understand this let's use an example of how 

[10:29] what we'll do first is we'll look at resolving to 

[10:36] for D Minor is f the third for G7 is B natural 

[10:45] I want to resolve to those and a simple way we can 

[10:52] of and resolving by a half step to that third 

[10:58] technically the key is we're trying to resolve it 

[11:04] to resolve to the third let's just say we start 

[11:10] scale or the D Dorian mode and arrive to that F 

[11:17] could do it now taking a look at the G7 let's move 

[11:23] time what we're going to do is use a note from the 

[11:29] to go a sharp to B is the third okay and then 

[11:36] the e natural which is the third but we're going 

[11:40] with a D sharp so if we're going to play this line 

[11:54] oh but this is a legitimate starting place for 

[11:59] are doing again how are we resolving to those 

[12:04] the major scale so let's look at another way 

[12:09] in this particular case what we're going to do 

[12:15] each chord but what we're going to do instead 

[12:22] a half Step Above So if we're encircling the 

[12:30] natural F sharp which is above and Pitch to F 

[12:39] F sharp is not in the c major scale it is from 

[12:44] movement and then let's do the same thing on the 

[12:52] and then on the c major we have  

[12:57] an E flat an F natural to an e natural okay 

[13:04] is called enclosure we call it an enclosure 

[13:09] and below our Target note which is again 

[13:15] now there's many other ways to approach a Target 

[13:26] to just use the third and indeed sometimes 

[13:32] ninth as we would call it and you can use more 

[13:39] Jazz musicians really become an expert is they 

[13:45] to these chord tones so take a listen to this 

[13:56] okay and here it is slowly

[14:07] let's identify where the chord tones are so in 

[14:12] seven we have an F natural okay the F natural is 

[14:21] we have a d natural which is of course the root 

[14:28] seven and then on the G7 we have a B natural which 

[14:35] have another B natural we have G which is the root 

[14:44] the flat seven and then over the C Major seven we 

[14:51] a g natural which is the fifth so every other note 

[14:59] we're using to resolve to the chord tone so over 

[15:05] okay so that g natural again is a note from the c 

[15:14] chromatic scale which resolves to the F natural 

[15:23] fifth then we go to an e natural which is part 

[15:33] note which is the root to a c which is the flat 

[15:41] resolving to be natural now we're on our G7 

[15:47] tones so we go B natural g b to G which is 

[15:57] out playing chord tones now we're gonna do 

[16:03] a flat and then chord tones G to F that's 

[16:11] the C Major seven with a third that's the 

[16:18] so the next natural question is how do I start 

[16:28] the notes that you can use and you understand that 

[16:33] can start experimenting and composing your own 

[16:39] also it's really important that you learn the Jazz 

[16:45] great jazz musicians that you love only if you've 

[16:50] understand it so I have a video on the screen 

[16:55] by ear I give you very simple steps on how to do 

[16:59] ahead and click that video on the screen right now 

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