The Scale That Fixes Everything

When used a certain way, there is something so opulent about a major scale that I marvel at how little it gets discussed in the context of modern jazz harmony. There are countless videos, blogs, courses and books available online that trumpet the virtues of “advanced jazz harmony”, selling you on the idea of how important modal interchange is, or how you can’t call yourself a jazz musician unless you understand every derivation of the 7th mode of the melodic minor.

But so often, the little old major scale is buried beneath these harmonic buzz words and overlooked.

Today, I’m here to remind you of how powerful it is, and how fundamental to modern music, especially when it comes to improvisation, it can be.

You don’t need a degree in the symmetrical diminished scale to create tension, and you don’t need to know every triad of a lydian dominant scale to tell a compelling story through improvisation.

You can start with a major scale, you can spend more time listening than you do playing, and you can ultimately become a far more compelling voice in music, than any of the gurus peddling their Super Mixolydian snake oil methods.

Have a listen to this voice note I recorded this morning as I was working on major scales.

It would be remiss of me not to expose exactly where I first started to get a feel for this concept of complex sounding music arising from the most simplistic of harmonic ideas.

This entire album is a masterclass in everything I’m talking about, but specifically the end of “Two For The Road” where pat is playing over C and G7sus. There are elements of B major over both the tonic and the dominant chord, and just listen to the phrasing. It’s the touch, the time, and the sound that make the harmonic choices work so well.

Pat isn’t just playing up and down a B major scale because he knows it’ll sound out over C, he’s developing a relationship between the two sounds to bring you along on the journey. Never alienating you by playing too much, rather he’s always making the ear curious for just a little more.

As I talk about in the audio clip above, I’m almost always over-practicing a concept initially. I then spend many hours and days stripping away the density until I’m left with the most effective fragments of melody, and the right balance of tension and release to cultivate a deeper vocabulary as an improvisor.

I don’t want to leave you thinking that some of the advanced concepts in harmony that you’ve heard me and many other people discuss before aren’t important at some point. I think they very much are, and my library of books on such subjects are a testament to that. But it never ceases to amaze me, whether you’re building a voicing in an orchestral arrangement or playing a linear idea onstage with a trio, that any depth in vocabulary you come to possess so often comes from a place of great simplicity like the major scale.

In other news…

The transcription book will finally go to the last stages of production at the end of the month, and go to the printers in the first week of June. For anyone who pre-ordered that means your order will ship next month, and for anyone who has been eagerly awaiting the release of this book, it means it’s right around the corner!

With Japan, China, Taiwan and Europe in the books this year, there are still a few more tour dates in the calendar:

• June 4th - Bob Reynolds - Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Fullerton, CA

• June 11th - Bob Reynolds - The Baked Potato, Studio City, CA

• June 26th - Vital Information - Ronnie Scott’s, London UK

• June 27th - Vital Information - Ronnie Scott’s, London UK

• June 29th - Vital Information - Band On The Wall, Manchester UK

• July 9th - Bob Reynolds - The Baked Potato, Studio City, CA

• July 31st - Peter Erskine - Sam First, Los Angeles CA

• August 1st - Peter Erskine - Sam First, Los Angeles CA

• September 4th Vital Information - Birdland, NYC

• September 5th Vital Information - Birdland, NYC

• September 6th Vital Information - Birdland, NYC

More soon,

Janek