Jazz Foundations

Are you about to ramp up your sight-reading skills? Do you find the process boring, tedious? We explore three ways to stay motivation through this journey.

A little recapitulation from where we've left off, a preview of upcoming episodes - and a roadmap for parallel work you can do outside of this series.

This is a rabbit hole - enter at your own perils. There are two cases where the kinesthetic approach I have shown you for guide tones 3 & 7 will need to be slightly modified. This is the first of the two, and the other will follow in the next video. This video can be skipped altogether because very few people will notice the discrepancy (we tend to compensate naturally). For those who did notice and want to understand, however, here is the explanation - which will also help you memorize and remember the two exception cases within this first figure.

We further detail the approach by showcasing the use of four broad groups to memorize the kinesthetic feel of these 3 and 7 guide tones for the I and ii chords. The end of the video warns against the fact the V chord (dominant seventh) will require slight modifications for this to work. The reason is tied to diatonic chords, which have been introduced in previous videos and which will be delved into a little further to understand the ramifications and adaptations needed. This combination of intellectual and kinesthetic approach will aid memorization.

This is the third of four methods to memorize the 3 and 7 Guide Tones in the 2-5-1 Chord progression (and also valid for guide tones in other progressions). Here, we demo what it looks like for the piano - and I invite you to reflect on how it applies to your own instrument. The objective is to recognize the physical sensations associated with playing this particular combination of notes.

Three minute tape you can place on your iPad or phone next to your instrument while practicing. Includes piano sounds and timer.

This video shows you the break-down of the drill for 2-5-1 chord progressions, using C Major as an example. Use this as reference for building in other keys.

These are the instructions for the 2-5-1 Chord Progression drill with 3-7 Guide Tones.

We use diatonic chords as a shortcut to memorizing the 2-5-1 chord progression with 3-7 voicing. Here is a refresher on Diatonic Chords to help visualize during drills.

Here are the six steps for the 2-5-1 Chord Progression, with a 3-7 Guide Tones, applied to the V Chord. Notice the use of the Mixolydian mode.