Improvisation VIII - "Everything I Love" Part 1
In previous posts I have mentioned how the improvisation arpeggio exercises I have been documenting are useful for learning the fretboard in a very thorough way. They can also be an excellent kind of ear-training. The rules of the exercise force specific resolutions of one chord to the next—resolutions we might not have otherwise chosen or ‘heard’. By repeating this exercise I will eventually expose myself to every resolution of one chord tone to another. Furthermore, this exercise can also be a way to target specific kinds of harmony.
In this month’s exercise I have replaced every V7 chord that resolves to its associated I chord with a tritone substitution. Tritone substations are perhaps the first substitution many jazz musicians learn. By practicing them in the context of this exercise, I can better train myself to ‘hear’ them and anticipated their resolution no matter what chord tone I happen upon.
As always, the rules of the game are:
Arpeggiate the chords of a song in 8th notes within a five-fret range of the guitar.
Starting on the lowest available chord tone in that range (in this case, A, the third of an F major 7 chord) and arpeggiate upward. Change directions only when the next chord tone falls outside of the five-fret range.
While the purpose of this exercise is to improvise according to the above rule, some may find it helpful to read through a reference exercise. You can find one chorus written out here and watch me perform it here.