February 03, 2009

By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com

Minor jazz blues

I used GarageBand only the other night to create this minor jazz blues backing track in C Minor. I love playing minor blues, whether it's straight blues or swinging jazz.

Maybe you want to grab this jazz backing track and have a go at it too? I have set up a new page for
jazz backing tracks so have listen and give me some feedback.

The form for the progression is:

Cm7 | Cm7 | Cm7 | C7
Fm7 | Fm7 | Cm7 | Cm7
Gb7 | G7  | Cm7 | G7

For my improvisation, I used mostly Dorian and Melodic Minor for the minor chords. For the C7b9 chord, I like to use the Altered scale. For the Ab7, I use the Lydian Dominant (or Eb Melodic Minor). For the G7, I use Altered scale or Diminished, starting with a half step.

I try to not just play scales though, but I probably do too much any way. I'm not much of a jazz guitarist really, but I have an idea what can be done. Executing it is the hard part though...

Basically, it's about playing great lines, whether you use modes and scales as helping tools or not. I know some incredible jazz guys who never think in terms of scales and modes - they just play want they think fit. Now, that's probably the hardest thing to do well. Most of us need "helpers" such as scales, arpeggios, triads, etc.

Let me know what you think, again, the page is at http://www.dolphinstreet.com/jazz_guitar_backing_tracks/

I used my Michael Kelly Patriot Shadow into a TonePort with GearBox loaded with a AC30 Top Boost for lead, and on my solo, I added some 1987 Jazz Clean for rhythm. I used mostly my high output humbucker pickup with the volume and tone knobs rolled off slightly. Pretty nice tone I thought.

By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com

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