I really like this style of phrasing, take some great examples like McCoy Tyner, and a lot of the ‘hard bop’ jazz cats. The basic idea is this: take a scale, in this example I will use a C major scale.

Now  play all the diatonic fourths contained in C major:

In the video I am playing on a Dm (Dorian) vamp, but you can use this phrasing technique on any scale, mode…have fun.

The Chords (from the fake book-as far as I know it is not copyrighted material so I am posting the original):

One good ‘pattern’ to start familiarising with the progression in playing 1235 for every chord (meaning the 1st,2nd,3nd and 5th of every chord). For the original key it would be B,C#,D#,F#(Bmaj7) then D,E,F#,A (D7), G,A,B,D (G)and so on…

It’s all about getting used to keep your brain engaged at any time. A great exercise!

In this video I show how to use the Superlocrian mode (nothing more than the 7th mode of a minor melodic scale) to improvise over altered chords. On C7 the choice would be C Superlocrian C, Db,Eb,E, F#,G#,Bb (also known as Db melodic minor starting from C). Listen to a few examples of resolution from C7(alt) to F major and to F minor in the second part of the video.

Altered chords are a flavour of  dominant chords, where we add certain extensions: #9,b9,#5,b5. In the example on the video I use C7 as basic chord and add the extension D#,Db,G#,Gb also as combinations.

If we take a C half step/whole step scale C, Db, Eb, E, F#, G, A, Bb we see that four triads can be found within the notes of this scale: C major, Ebmajor, F#major, A major. In the video I show you how to add this new ‘flavour’ to your phrases.

These two diminished scales are built by alternating whole steps and half steps. The interval that starts the scale determines its name.

The Whole step/ Half-step alternates whole steps and half steps starting from a Whole Step

Example: C whole step/half step: C, D, D#, F, F#, G#, A, B

The Half-step/Whole step alternates whole steps and half steps starting from a Half Step

Example: C half step/whole step: C, Db, Eb, E, F#, G, A, Bb

The most common usage of these scales:

whole step/half step works on diminished chords g C whole/half on Cdim7 )

half step/whole step works on Dominant 7th altered chords (eg C half/whole on C7#9 )

To get some example phrases listen and transcribe great players like Michael Breker, Mike Stern, Scott Henderson, John Scofield among others.

For the ‘positions box shapes’  for guitar download the free ‘The Guitar kit’ in the freebies page

http://www.TrueGuitarist.com/triad-combinations-also-known-as-triad-pairs/

This is a scale I use really often and that can be incorporated in many different progressions. The Harmonic major scale is nothing but a major scale (in the example C major C D E F G A B) with the b6th instead of the natural 6th. So C Harmonic Major is C D E F G Ab B. It can be used in progressions like Fm – Cmaj7 (IVm – Imaj7), Abmaj7 – Cmaj7 (bVImaj7 – C  maj7) or G7(b9) – C maj7 (V7(9) – I maj7)…of course these are just some of the options. Try and experiment with the modes from this scale and all the stuff usually done with a major scale, this time with that b6th instead of the natural 6th. Good Luck!

Very simple concept widely used in jazz ( but good for other styles). Like shown in the video, G7 and Db7 are two chords a tritone away (tritone=6 semitones) that share the same 3rd and 7th.

G7= G B D F

Db=Db F Ab B

as you see the notes B and F are common to the two chords. This means that I can also substitute the IIm chord that usually comes before it (as in a II-V-I)

I can play both

Dm7 G7 Cmaj7

Abm7 Db7 Cmaj7