Pentatonics over Jazz Chords
I've been working on the changes to "All the Things You Are." The key of the tune modulates through Ab, C, Eb, G, E. I practice by cycling through the major scale for each key, and this helps with accessing arbitrary scales all over the fretboard.
Within each key is a diatonic collection of chords moving up by fourths. A vi-ii-V7-I-IV progression occurs twice in Ab, once in Eb. I wondered how I could adapt the tonic major scale of the key to navigate through these changes. My usual approach has been to use the arpeggio of each chord as an anchor for my improvisation. That has always been a challenge to remember so many different shapes as they go by often quite quickly. So I worked out a system of pentatonic scales over each chord. Minor pentatonic (1 b3 4 5 b7) is used over m7 chords. Major pentatonic starting on the 5 (5 6 7 2 3) is used over maj7 chords. Dominant pentatonic (1 2 3 5 b7) is used over 7 chords.
Here's how it works out in Ab:
vi - Fm7 - F minor pentatonic - F Ab Bb C Eb
ii - Bbm7 - Bb minor pentatonic - Bb Db Eb F Ab
V7 - Eb7 - Eb dominant pentatonic - Eb F G Bb Db
I - Abmaj7 - Eb major pentatonic - Eb F G Bb C
IV - Dbmaj7 - Ab major pentatonic - Ab Bb C Eb F
Note that only one note changes between each scale, and Eb and F are common to all of them. Rearranged to illustrate:
vi - Eb F Ab Bb C
ii - Eb F Ab Bb Db
V7 - Eb F G Bb Db
I - Eb F G Bb C
IV - Eb F Ab Bb C
Now that's far easier to remember than the arpeggio for each chord. I'm getting that cycle of pentatonics under my fingers for each major scale position. When I switch keys in a tune like "All the Things," I only have to find the tonic major scale and visualize the changing pentatonics over it as a guide through the changes.
Brad (26 Nov 2008 at 2:04pm)
Remember, most chords can have a couple different pentatonics. For example, in All the Things You Are, the Db major chord can have a Db, Ab, and Eb major pentatonic. If you become familiar with all the possibilities, you can do some really interesting voice leading from chord to chord. I like trying to travel through pentatonics via half steps and whole steps through a chord progression
Jon (12 May 2009 at 2:02am)
Expanding on what Brad said, for example:
ii-V-I in G maj
A-, D7, Gmaj
Play penatonics: ii:Em pent, V7:Fm pent (alt. sound), I:F#m pent. (Lydian sound)
Joe (12 May 2009 at 9:46am)
Jon, that's a cool idea, sliding the minor pentatonic up a half step with each new chord.
And the pattern continues if you add the VI7 to the end of the progression for a turnaround: Gm pent gives an altered sound to E7, usually an alt chord in this context anyway.
I'm gonna try this out tonight.
Will (25 Feb 2013 at 6:42am)
Love pentatonics for jazz! Super simple would be to play just the minor pentatonic over multiple chords for the whole tonal center for starters, so many chords, in a musical way. So for a major key start with the relative minor pent - eg for c major use A min pent). I use min pentatonic for everything since I used it in rock/metal. I use say Em pentatonic over Cmajor7 and for dominant chords all kinds of choices to get different intervals. If you want the minor 7 chord tone (F for G7) you could use Dm pent, or F min pent etc. So I don't have to remember different types of pentatonics.