NYC Jazz Guitar Masterclasses

Ask Jordan: Episode 1

Today's episode is based on three questions from Daniel.

(1) How do you use triad pairs?

(2) How do you apply triads over altered dominants?

(3) And how do you sound outside when improvising with triads?

(1) How do you use triad pairs?

There are plenty of traditional generic ways of using triad pairs which involve arpeggiating through one triad, then arpeggiating through the next, and then moving back and forth for a while. This is a fun technique that will get you outside of sounding like you're running scales. If you can't do this yet, you should try it. It's a good way to break things down.

However in the Melodic Triads approach, there's one additional thing happening. Melodic Triads is all about learning to control tension and...

Look! Up in the sky!
It's an octatonic scale!
It's a dyad run!
It's triad pairs!

It's.......

Melodic Triads.

Yep, this whole run started with one simple major triad. But like a seed planted in the ground, watered, and tended to... it's bound to grow into something else.

Here's the basic theory going on that turned a simple A major triad into... that ^^^^

Actually first, let's talk about Bruce Lee for a second. Bruce once said that he's not afraid of a person who's practiced 10,000 different kicks once. He's afraid of a person who's practiced one kick 10,000 times. We'll come back to that in a minute. Let's pick up from the A major triad.

I'm using an A major triad over a C7 chord. There's a lot to cover, so I'm not going to explain too much about that.

I like to add a...