Graham English

A favorite scale of jazz saxophonist, John Coltrane, is the Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale.



During the 60’s, Trane, and other avant-garde musicians like Ornette Coleman, created a unique style of “playing outside” the chord changes. Often, this sound was created by playing a half-step above the tonic mode.



While it’s easy to play in D flat over the key of C, these masters of tension and release would weave in and out of the tonic as if they were tearing harmony apart and rebuilding it.

This series of patterns is designed to make you comfortable switching between two modes a half-step apart. We’ll start simple and get more complex as we go.

This particular four-note pattern changes modes every two beats. Obviously, you would want to practice this in all keys.



Download the full pattern:

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 1

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Tags: dominant 7, exercises, free lessons, HowTo, improvisation, jazz harmony, John Coltrane, modal, modes, patterns, pentatonic scales, playing outside, saxophone, tips

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 7:56 pm and is filed under Music Education, Prose. You can leave a comment if you follow my Living Room Rules. If not, you can leave a trackback from your own site.