Most all musicians can appreciate the music
of jazz sax player John Coltrane. Coltrane left his mark on the music world and changed the way we musicians look at harmonic considerations. During Coltranes [change running] period he employed most of the harmonic devices of his contemporaries, II, V7 I patterns of the bebop era,turnarounds and other formula's Read on.....
He took what he learned and made his own system of II V7 patterns. He called it 3 tonic system or better known as 'Coltrane Substitutions'
Let's look at an example.
Normal II V7 I progression
D-7 | G7 | CM7 | Resolve to I chord --> CM7
Coltrane would substitute the II V7 I in C with this
D-7 Eb7 | AbM7 B7 | E G7 ---> Resolve to I chord (CM7)
If you've done the math his formula is 1/2 step resolve min 3rd resolve minor 3rd.
From the first chord D-7 to the resolving I chord (CM7) is the same in the basic II V7 and Coltranes Substitutions but he adds a colorful selection of resolving V7 to I chords by moving up 1/2 step from D-7 to Eb7 resolve to AbM7 and so on...
=======================================
EX.1
Basic II V7 I progression
Chords are played on the inside 4 strings
Note: the G7 is a second inversion because it uses D(5th) in the bass.
D-7 G7 CM7
E|------------------------------
B|---6-----6----5---------------
G|---5-----4----4---------------
D|---7-----5----5---------------
A|---5-----5----3---------------
E|------------------------------
EX.2
Coltrane II V7 I progression (Tonic System) D-7 Eb7 AbM7 B7 E G7 CM7
E|-------------------------------------------
B|---6-----6----6-----7----9----8----8-------
G|---5-----4----5-----8----9---10----9-------
D|---7-----5----5-----7----9----9----9-------
A|---5-----5---------------7---10------------
E|--------------6-----7--------------8-------
Now if you notice there are alot of chords for a short
period of time. Coltrane was known for his speed of soloing over
many chord progressions.
Try praticing Ex.1 and then add incorperate the substitutions as in ex.2 Also try this in different keys.
next time we will look at some lead ideas over these progressions.
Until next time have fun....
| 
Services
