Lesson 5: Advanced Soloing

Getting Outside

In jazz a popular concept that is often employed to "get outside the changes" is one called in-out-in. It simply means playing within the changes, abandoning them to create tension, then using them to reslove.

An great way to do this is to play a tritone [b5] away during the out part of the phrase. Als0, you can play a half step [b2] away before resolving.

Another thing to try is using sequences that don't relate to the key. An example is if you are in C major, you start off with a Cmajor 9 arpeggio then you go to an Emajor 9 arpeggio [In c it would be minor] then to a G# Major 9 arpeggio then back to Cmajor.

Remember Structure creates temporary harmonic stability even with dissonance.***

Super-imposing Chords

Popularized by jazz artists in the late fifties and sixties [especially John Coltrane] A cool way to get outside the changes is to super-impose other changes that you know will work over top.

For our first example we'll use a blues.

Original Chords:
C7 - F7

Super Imposed Chords
C7 Eb7 F#7 - F7

Note:
This implied progression works over C7 because of the relationship between dominant and diminished chords. Because a diminished chord is three minor 3rds put together there are only three diminished chords with enharmonic names. For example, C# dim7, E Dim7, G dim7, and Bb dim7, all contain those four notes. Now how does this relate to dominant chords you ask? Well if you add a root a 1/2 step lower to each chord they become dominany b9 chords. C7b9, Eb7b9, F#7b9, and A7b9. These four chords can be treated as the same chord and as such can be substituted or super-imposed.

There are also other chords you can super-impose that won't sound too dissonant as they are diatonic [relating to the key] but don't strictly follow the original progression. An example is if you treat an A minor chord as a C major chord. As long as the A minor is a tonic and not apart of a ii-V-I then both belong to Cmajor and share 3 chord tones.

You can also super impose chords that will imply altered extensions of the original chord, For example if you play an ebmaj7 arpeggio over a D7 chord you imply that it is a D11b9b13 chord.

You can also play scales from varying intervals around the target chord and still have it sound good. For example, what happens when you treat a Dmi7 chord as an Emin7 chord. Lets analyze it.
D E F G A B C
E F# G A B C# D

even though the 3 and 7 are altered you can still use this scale over dmin7 you just have to treat the F# and C# as passing tones.

Also with mi7 b5 chords, you can do the same thing you did with dominant chords earlier. In every key the 5 and 7 both function as a dominant chord and so it you take the chords from earlier C7 Eb7 F#7 A7 and use their relative min7b5 chords you have Emi7b5, Gmin7b5, Bbmi7b5, and C#mi7b5. This can be applied to soloing over Dmi7. If you treat Dmi7 [let's say like in So What] as the ii [dorian] Then you can sub the vii [B min7b5] for the three other relative chords and use Dmi7b5, Fmi7b5, and Abmi7b5.

Note: For super-imposing you can use arpeggios, or scales [especially pentatonic :) ]

There are lots of possibilities you just have to experiment.