Traidpaloozza Number 2: Approach Tones

Okay. So you think "triads are easy". They are too simple. They are boring. They are old school they are not where it's at. Man.

Well, first of all, yes they are too cool. And secondly, if you really want to add something new to your triads, one of the most common ways to spice them up is to start adding approach tones to them.

These approach tones are tones that approach each note in the triad, ergo, the name.

Exactly where this approach note comes approaching from is where all the fun begins. You can approach the chord tones from a note above each chord tone, or a note below each chord tone, or a note above and a note below, or two notes below and then one note above or...you get the idea.

Here is how it goes: first we need a regular major triad so lets use G major, so G (root), B (third) and D (fifth).

bass lick tempo 120 4/4 | G g4 b4 d4 r4 |

Now lets add an approach note from below each chord tone so, a Gb/F# in front of the G, a Bb in front of the B, and a C# in front of the D

bass lick tempo 120 4/4 | G f#-8 g bb b c# d f# g |

Sounds more zesty huh? Thats a spicy meat-a-ball huh? But it gets better. As diligent readers know, there a musical concept of strong and weak beats that has been discussed here before. Having the notes of a chord occur on these strong beats just sounds better. It just does. This last example does NOT do this however, so while it sounds kinda cool, you can make it sound even better by just shifting things a little.

The strong beats are the down beats, so if you are counting "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and", the strong beats would be the beats on the numbers, 1 2 3 4 and the "ands" are the weak beats. So if we do a little rhythmic shenanigans with these approach notes and push them back just one eighth note, look at what we get.

Approach From Below Rhythmically Arranged

bass lick tempo 120 4/4 f#-8 | G g8 bb8 b8 c#8 d8 f#8 g bb8 | G b8 c#8 d8 f#8 g2 |

Now the stronger notes, the chord tones themselves, are on the strong beats, the downbeats.

This is by far the better way to phrase with approach notes. Approach notes are not usually chord tones, they set up the chord tones, so you want to shift the approaches back so that the chord tone itself gets the down beat and comes down on one of those strong 1 2 3 4 beats.

Here is another set of approaches, the opposite of the first one, this time we will come from a note above each chord tone. So for the same G major triad, an Ab in front of the G (root), a C natural in front of the B (third), and an Eb in front of the D (fifth).

Approach From Above Rhythmically Arranged

bass lick tempo 120 4/4 ab8 | G g8 c8 b8 eb8 d8 ab+8 g8 c8 | b8 eb8 d8 ab+8 g2

But hold on, you say. There is no freaking Ab note in G Major! Those approach notes are not even in the key or the scale or the chord or anything, you can't just go adding notes like that willy nilly helter skelter hodge podge willy skelter!

Uhhhhh, why not?

Actually, you totally can. When you are embellishing a chord like this, it's okay that these approach notes are not in the key or the scale or don't seem related to the chord you are playing except that they are right next to them.

Its like this....say you have a big 4 pound steak, and you put some parsley on it, it doesn't make the steak taste like parsley. It still tastes like steak. You might get a molecule of parsley taste in there somewhere but your brain doesn't think you ate a fork full of salad all of a sudden. It still thinks "yum, dead cow parts". Well, triads are like a big fat fillet mignon cooked in garlic butter. You are gonna taste that meaty buttery garlicy cow no matter what, even if you put some fru-fru little green thing on top of a little part of it. That steak flavor still cuts through and is what you taste the most of, no problem.

That's what triads are like, they are grass fed medium well beef covered in garlic butter. Musically speaking. Even with an extra note in there, you still get the full meaty triad taste. Especially if you shift the approach notes so that the chord tones come in on the downbeats you can add all kinds of approach notes and still get the triad-y-ness of the chord you are playing.

Let's try it with two approach notes, and also get even more rhythmically crafty and make the approach notes 16th notes but keep the triads tones themselves as 8th notes.

Approach From Above & Below Rhythmically Arranged

bass lick tempo 120 4/4 ab16 f#16 | G g8 c16 bb16 b8 eb16 c#16 d8 ab+16 f#16 g8 c16 bb16 | b8 eb16 c#16 d8 ab+16 f#16 g2

Now reverse this pattern so that instead of above below, it is below above

Approach From Below & Above Rhythmically Arranged

bass lick tempo 120 4/4 f#-16 ab16 | G g8 bb16 c16 b8 c#16 eb16 d8 ab+16 f#16 g8 bb16 c16 | b8 c#16 eb16 d8 f#16 ab16 g2

There are other ways to vary the rhythms and the combinations of approach tones is endless as well. And you don't have to play the triads in R - 3 - 5 order either, try them in all the other combinations as well, but with the approach tones in front of each chord tone.

You get the idea, it can go on and on and on. For more info on this concept check out Gary Campbell, Hal Galper, Jeff Berlin, and every saxophone book ever written.

Of course this isn't just for soloing either, not so much for walking lines, but for sure on rock/pop/r & B lines you can use this all the time. Keep the approach notes shorter and on the weak beats for best results.

Try the approach notes here on major chords as well as minor chords and even the diminished and augmented. You will probably hear a few familiar licks in there from just these basic examples.

7 note phrases in Bill Evans Oleo Solo

Check this out.

Now, maybe I am looking for patterns a little too hard...but check out the multiple grouping of notes in the first 16 measures of Evans' solo. Right-click the notes and choose "View Image" to see the brackets showing the groupings.

Random chance?

Not bloody likely.

Just count the occurrence of notes, not their duration. So, it doesn't matter if it is an eighth or quarter note, just that it is a note.

Check out all the groupings of 7 notes.

That's some deep stuff.

Daily Licking 032: 16 Measures of Bill Evans on "Oleo"

Happy Pi day. And Albert Einstein's birthday. So if you saw a black hole today, thats why.

And speaking of Nobel-prize winning german physicists and the speed of gravity, how about some Bill Evans licks?

I took this one from "Oleo" off his record "Everybody Digs Bill Evans". I predict that after listening and checking out what he did in just the first 16 measures of the tune you will see why the title of that record is very accurate. It was a trio with Sam Jones and Philly Jo Jones.

Lets Talk About Rhythm

About damn time, huh.

Its a big subject, no doubt, and covers a broad range of things from just having good time, meaning things like not speeding up or slowing down, and making sure your notes are as long as they are supposed to be and your rests are a long as they are supposed to be, to being able to mesh/lock/meld/join in musical union with your drummer, to concepts like playing ahead of the beat or behind it, and to using rhythm as an element in your solos in an interesting and unifying way.

So lets just bite off a little corner for now and talk about that last one, rhythmic cohesion during a solo, or using rhythm as an element of your solo. We will also invite our friend, Mr. Chord Tone to join us as well.

When people talk solos, and especially bass solos, its always about the notes. Oh the notes, the notes, the notes, the notes! What notes can you play over this chord, and what scale substitution can you play, you know that super hip scale you heard that super hip bass player use on that super hip tune, you know instead of those boring old cord tones of the actual chord you are on. What? Play the notes from a C7 arpeggio over a C7 chord? Whatever, square. Why don't you get in your square car and drive back to squaretown and sit on your square chair at your square table and eat a sandwich, square man. Sheesh.

It's always about the notes.

But guess what, that is missing half the equation. More than half. More like, I would say almost 80% of what is going on is rhythm. You can play all kinds of notes against a chord, at this point in the game, in 2011, pretty much anything goes. The short, and admittedly glib and smart arse answer to "what can I play over a blah blah blah" is "you can play anything over anything".

But the real question is "what can I play that sounds good and convincing over a blah blah blah chord" and the answer to that is "play with solid rhythm and play the *gasp* actual chord tones of the chord itself"

Don't believe me?

Point your earholes at those notes right there for a second and then join me down there below:

bass lick tempo 90 4/4 | C7 r4 c8 g8 bb4 e8 r8 | C7 r8 c8 g4 bb8 e8 r4 | C7 r8 c4 g8 bb8 e4 r8 |

What do you notice? Anything?

Play them, with the different rhythm each one has. They all sound different, huh.

Well guess what, each measure has exactly the same notes, in exactly the same order, only the rhythm is different.

I just blew your mind, didn't I. Well, check it out. Look at the order of the notes, C, G, Bb, E. Every bar in that order.

So before you start looking for that #5Locrain2DiminishedBbOverF#MinorTritonesub scale, how about you just play with the rhythm on the chord that is already there, with the notes that, you know, make up the chord you are on?

To that end, I have been playing around with a very, very cool program I just discovered called Lilypond for a few days and well...things got out of hand. It is a notation program/programming language smooshed together and I started fooling around with it, and well, I figured some things out, then some more things, and then..well, then it got molto ridiculoso and presto.

To wit, below is a file with over 1000 measures of different one bar rhythms using only the notes from C7, thats C-E-G-Bb, and using only quarter notes and eighth notes (and rests). Thats it. This entire thing is an example of how much variance is possible with something very simple, and how easy it is to get a cool phrase going with a just the basics - chord tones and a basic rhythm.

The bass masters of this are Charlie Haden and Larry Grenadier. Yea, I know they are upright players, but they both play solos that are amazing, and yet they are not always burning up with some superhip downtown chord subs or doing scale running. They both certainly can do that, but all of their solos have such strong rhythmic phrases, even when using "just" chord tones you get reeled in by what they are doing and can't help but listen. And Sonny Rollins is the fount of all that is Ridiculoso in this regard, check out his solos on the classics like St. Thomas, Blue 7, heck, really anything he plays and see how he uses rhythm as an element even more than the notes.

So check out the pdf. There are three staves and each measure in each staff (going down) has exactly the same pitches, in exactly the same order, every time, and the only thing that is different is where the rests fall and what the rhythmic values of the pitches are.

So put on a play along track, and start reading. Some are going to sound a little mechanical, but I guarantee you will find at least one that you like and a way to play those regular old, boring, milquetoast, tap water chord tones from a C7 chord that you haven't played before.

Circle the ones you like as phrase rhythms and try playing the same rhythm across a set of chord changes using just chord tones and that rhythm. Bet it sounds like a unified phrase. Or find three that compliment each other and string them together to make a longer phrase. There is hours of stuff here.

And back to the music is a language analogy for a second, treat this file as a kind of dictionary or a reference source. You wouldn't try and write a book by just flipping to any page in a dictionary and randomly picking a word, you could, but tomato involute kunzite parabola.

This file is the same way, its for exploring and playing with, not for reciting measure by measure for your next solo. Dig in and mine it for two or three bar phrases or ways of playing the chord tones in a cool rhythm you haven't done before. Then play with that over other chords. It never ends.

Just a reminder to think rhythm and get more mileage out of those good ol' 3rds and 7ths.