Chord Substitutions for Jazz Improvisation II - (Major 7ths)

The following substitutions give you the opportunity to superimpose Major 7th based lines over the original harmony of a
composition whilst you are improvising. Although the substitutions are over different chord qualities, the original major seventh
line is used (although sometimes transposed) in each case. As with previous lessons, I have highlighted (in red) the chord tones of C
Major 7th in the first example for you as a visual reference. You will then be able to see what these (coloured) tones become
(intervallically) against the new chords. I suggest trying one substitution at a time at first and please do refer to the discussed table
of substitutions for further explanation.

To begin let's take a double-time (16th note) bop style line for C Major 7th. This is going to be our 'template' line.

œ œ œ œ œ b œ n œ n œ b œ bœnœ
° 4 Ó™ œbœnœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œnœ
&4 nœbœnœ œ œbœnœ œbœnœ œ œ œbœ nœ œ ‰ Œ Ó

7 10 7 8 6 7
4 Ó™ 8 10 9 7 8 5
9 10 9 7 5 7 8 ‰Œ Ó
⁄ 4 9 6 7 9 10 10 9 7 6 5
8 5 6 7
5 6 7 9 5

4 ˙™ ˙™ U
w
¢& 4
∑ nn˙˙˙ ™™™ Œ nn˙˙˙ ™™™ Œ nnw
w
w
The above line is not just using the pure C Major scale of course, and instead features some typical bop style embellishments to
augment the basic scale sound and create more colour and melodic flow. As mentioned above, the notes marked in red within the
line are the Cmaj7 chord tones (R, 3, 5, 7)

If we now make this line our 'melodic template', watch what happens when the very same line is now transposed down by a 4th to
G Major and still played over a Cmaj7 chord. The red notes now become: 5, 7, 9, #11. The line has taken on a new identity now.

(Gmaj7 substitution)
° Ó™ #œ œ œ œnœ#œnœbœbœnœ
œ œ œ œ œ#œ
& #œbœnœ œ œ œ nœbœnœ œ œ b œ n œ œbœnœ œ œ œbœ nœ œ ‰ Œ Ó

5
7 7 8 6 7 5
Ó™ 4 7 8 6 7 5 4 4 ‰ Œ Ó
4 4 5 7 5 4 4 5 7 8
⁄ 6 7 7 6 5 3
5 6 7
5 6 7 5

U
¢& ∑ n˙˙˙ ™™™ Œ n˙˙˙ ™™™ Œ nw
w
w
˙™ ˙™ w

OK, so the first thing we've heard here is that our original line can be intelligently transposed and still work succesfully over the
original chord. Now let's try our template line against a different chord type.

I've transposed our original Cmaj7 line down by a tone to Bbmaj7 in this case and the underlying chord is now Cm7. The original
line now highlights b7, 9, 11, 13. Check the red notes for the new set of intervals against the Cm7 chord.

(Bbmaj7 substitution)
° Ó™ œ œ œ œ b œ b œ n œ nœbœ œ œbœ œ
œbœnœ œ bœ œ œ bœnœnœbœ œ œbœ nœ œ ‰ Œ Ó
& bœ œ bœnœ œbœnœ œ œ
5 8 5 6 4 5
6 8 7 5 6
Ó™ 7 8 7 5 3 5 6 7 ‰Œ Ó
7 4 5 7 8 8 7 5 4 3 3 4 5 7
⁄ 6 3 4 5 8

U
¢& ∑ bb˙˙˙ ™™™ Œ bb˙˙˙ ™™™ Œ bbw
w
w
˙™ ˙™ w
2
In the next example, the original major 7th line has been transposed once more and this time is being played down a diminished
5th (b5) from the original (Cmaj7) to F#maj7. The highlighted (red) pitches are also now transformed to become: b7, b9, 11,
#11. Note the appearance of both the 11th and the #11th here.

(F#maj7 substitution)
° Ó™ #œ#œ#œ œ#œnœ#œ#œnœnœ#œ œ œ
& #œ œ#œ œ #œ #œ #œ #œ#œ#œnœ# œ #œnœ #œ# œ ‰ Œ Ó
œ # œ n œ # œ œ nœ#œ œ œ

6 9 6 7 5 6
Ó™ 6 8 7 5 6 4 3 ‰Œ Ó
8 8 6 4 3 4 6 7
⁄ 8 5 6 8 9 8 6 5 4
7 4 5 6
4 5 6 4

U
¢& ∑ bbb˙˙˙ ™™™ Œ bbb˙˙˙ ™™™ Œ bbbw
w
w
˙™ ˙™ w
In the final example, our template line has been transposed once more. We now play the original line down a major 3rd to Abmaj7.
The underlying chord has also changed and now becomes a C7altered chord or more specifically C7#9b13. Note that the red
coloured notes become: b13, R, #9, 5. against this new chord. The b13 could also be thought of as a #5 here.

(Abmaj7 substitution)
° Ó™ œb œ œb œ œb œ bœnœ œnœ œbœbœ œ
œ œ œ œ bœ bœ bœnœ œnœbœ bœnœ nœbœ ‰ Œ Ó
& bœb œ n œ œ œnœ œ œ œ
6
8 8 9 7 8 6 5
Ó™ 5 8 7 8 6 5 4 5 ‰Œ Ó
5 5 6 8 6 5 5 6 8
⁄ 7 8 8 7 6 4
6 7 8
6 7 8 6

b ˙™ b ˙™ bbUw
¢& ∑ bnb˙˙˙ ™™™ Œ bnb˙˙˙ ™™™ Œ bn w
w
w
˙™ ˙™ w

As I have demonstrated in previous lessons, I deliberately chose a single existing line for these examples so that you could see and
hear how the substitutions might work, however it isn't necessary to just use the same line every time. The more important aspect
here is how you 'think' on each chord and that you are aware of what is produced against the original chord by using these
particular substitutions or if you prefer, superimpositions.

To supplement these examples, I will be adding a table of Major 7th substitutions to my website at www.online-guitar-lessons.org
where you will be able to clearly see what substitutions can be used and where.

The table will list a variety of Major 7th based improvisational substitutions that you can experiment with and as I've mentioned
before, it's probably best to try one at a time rather than several all at once. I have found that these substitutions work equally well
in functional harmonic situations (i.e. II-V-I progressions) as they do in more open or modal settings. How you apply them is up to
you.

It is also worth noting again that the template line I used was filled with bebop type embellishments and to my ears this really helps
when you use these substitutions. Others may of course disagree and do feel free to experient with less embellishments or even
none if that sounds better to you.

The harmonic approaches and improvisational concepts discussed above are present in the playing of many modern jazz musicians,
but I should stress it forms only a part of their playing styles. I do hope you find the above helps you in your search for your own
musical identity,

Happy Practicing,

Pete Sklaroff

ONLINE GUITAR LESSONS 2016